What I learned at SEC Football Media Days

What I learned last week at SEC Football Media Days in Atlanta:

▪ Arkansas Coach Sam Pittman has a jukebox in his office. Most popular tunes? “Right now, Stevie Nicks,” Pittman said. “I love her. I hope (wife) Jamie doesn’t hear this.”

▪ Arkansas is 16-6 vs. the spread in Pittman’s two years in Fayetteville. His reaction? “Go Hogs!” responded the coach.

▪ Kentucky is finally receiving preseason love. The media picked the Wildcats to finish second behind Georgia in the SEC East.

▪ Mark Stoops doesn’t care what people are saying about his Wildcats in the preseason. “I prefer to have people talking about you at the end of the year,” the Kentucky coach said.

▪ Stoops loves his quarterback Will Levis. “Everything about him is exceptional,” the coach said.

▪ The usually entertaining Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz wants to tone it down in his third season. He said he wants his Tigers to do the talking.

▪ Missouri players do not like losing to Kentucky. “There’s bad blood there,” Mizzou defensive back Martez Manuel said.

▪ Auburn Coach Bryan Harsin wasn’t afraid to address the “gorilla in the room.” Back in February, Auburn insiders launched an inquiry devised to oust the coach after one season. Said Harsin, “It was uncomfortable. It was unfounded. It presented an opportunity for people to personally attack me, my family, and also our program. And it didn’t work.”

▪ It was ridiculously cold in the main interview room at the College Football Hall of Fame.

▪ Timing is everything (1). Texas A&M wide receiver Ainias Smith was arrested on gun and drug charges two days before he was scheduled to attend SEC Media Days. He did not make it to Atlanta.

▪ Timing is everything (2). Thursday, Tennessee Coach Josh Heupel talked up the Volunteers’ bright future. Friday, the school announced it had received a Notice of Allegations from the NCAA including 18 major violations committed by former UT coach Jeremy Pruitt.

▪ Georgia Coach Kirby Smart is adamant that his national champion Bulldogs will not slip into complacency. “We will not be hunted at the University of Georgia. We will be the one doing the hunting.”

▪ Smart wants to move the annual Georgia-Florida game out of Jacksonville.

▪ Georgia quarterback Stetson Bennett is “the least-respected good player in the country,” according to Smart.

▪ South Carolina is having fun under 45-year-old head coach Shane Beamer. This is in contrast to the Gamecocks’ former coach, 50-year-old Will Muschamp.

▪ First-year Florida coach Billy Napier likes the saying, “Scared money don’t make money.”

▪ Napier’s biggest influence was his father, Bill, a longtime high school coach. “Dad showed, I think, sometimes when adversity strikes, you can choose character or you can choose compromise.”

▪ LSU Coach Brian Kelly listed crawfish étouffée as his favorite Cajun dish in his six months since arriving in Baton Rouge from Notre Dame.

▪ New Vanderbilt starting quarterback Mike Wright knows how to dress. The Fayetteville, Georgia, native wore a custom-tailored suit made by Miguel Wilson of Atlanta.

▪ One media member actually voted for Vanderbilt to win the SEC title. Side note: The Commodores have lost 20 consecutive conference games.

▪ Vanderbilt Coach Clark Lea likes to talk. His opening statement before the print/web media consisted of an SEC-best 2,340 words.

▪ Mississippi State Coach Mike Leach does not like opening statements. His consisted of seven words.

▪ Texas A&M Coach Jimbo Fisher thinks his summer war of words with former boss, Alabama Coach Nick Saban, was no big deal. No one believed him.

▪ Saban was determined to make absolutely no news during his stay in Atlanta.

▪ Ole Miss Coach Lane Kiffin has signed many mustard bottles this offseason. Remember, Tennessee fans pelted the Neyland Stadium field with objects, including a mustard bottle, during the Vols’ loss to Kiffin and the Rebels last season. In case you don’t recall, Kiffin once coached Tennessee.

▪ Beginning in 2022, offensive linemen will not be allowed to block low inside the tackle box (two spots outside the center). Tight ends will not be allowed to block low inside the tackle box.

▪ There was an average of 14.3 penalties called in SEC games last year. The national average was 14.4.

▪ SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey does not believe super-leagues are in college athletics’ future. “We are a super-league,” Sankey said.

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