The Tennessee Vols, Oklahoma Sooners, Georgia Bulldogs and Missouri Tigers took to the podium for SEC Media Days in Dallas Tuesday. Collectively, they revealed lots of interesting information that should make the 2024 season exciting. Here are five major takeaways from Day 2 of the Southeastern Conference event in Texas.
Oklahoma not ready for the league
Sorry, but somebody had to say it. Brent Venables volunteers that NFL teams tried to poach OU’s staff, a weird thing to volunteer, and Sooner media kept insisting they were ready to compete in the league. If they were ready, they would have talked about how they would dominate the league, the way the Texas Longhorns have been.
Georgia taking a creative NIL approach to discipline
We all know about the Bulldogs’ traffic violations. It seems as if Kirby Smart and the Dawgs have a way to fix that. The Georgia Collective, UGA’s name, image and likeness program, is now fining players who get into trouble for traffic issues. Could this be a new way to instill discipline in college football? Will NIL actually improve how careful players are?
Eli Drinkwitz lies at SEC Media Days about noise
Despite his statement to Josh Heupel last year and his weird videos, the Missouri Tigers head coach said his team doesn’t pay attention to the outside noise. Sorry, but that’s one of the biggest lies in the history of SEC Media Days. Eli Drinkwitz has always reacted to national media with Mizzou. This guy made a fool of himself at a basketball game last year trashing UT.
Star QBs at SEC Media Days…except one
Again, Tennessee Football is supposed to have a potential superstar in Nico Iamaleava, but he didn’t show up Tuesday. OU brought Jackson Arnold, though. Georgia brought Carson Beck, and Mizzou brought Brady Cook. Tuesday, even without Iamaleava, was one of those days to show just how elite the position could be in the league this year.
Vols maintain a relatively low profile
Part of not bringing Iamaleava was UT’s way of not making a big splash at SEC Media Days the way they did last year when Joe Milton III said he doesn’t lose in Florida. Heupel, an offensive guy, brought two defensive players and two linemen. The master at saying very little while talking a lot, this clearly seems to have been by design.
