SEC Media Days: Day 1
By Streyeder on July 23 2009 9:53 AM
Ahhh, you know the best time of year is right round the corner when the coaches of the greatest schools in the nation descend upon Birmingham, AL. The SEC Media Days is the yearly event that fills the papers with juicy tidbits and stories that attempt to discern how the upcoming season will play out. Here, and for the rest of Media Days, I'll be providing a nice summary of the juicy bits that flow out of Birmingham for all of you to see.
Mike Slive -- SEC Commissioner
According to Slive, the SEC is in a "Golden Age". We won 5 national titles and had 6 runners-up in the past year. We were able to fill our football stadiums to an average of 97% capacity and averaged 30k+ at the spring games! In the Summer Olympics we brought home 51 medals with 159 current athletes competing. As Slive said, "If the SEC was a nation, it would have finished fourth in the world in medal count."
Of course, there was the inevitable talk about secondary violations and the such. Basically taking one from Smokey the Bear's book, he reiterated that only the SEC can prevent the SEC from getting its ass in trouble. *cough*Kiffikins*cough*
Bobby Petrino -- Arkansas
Petrino expects Arkansas to be much improved over last year, but is apparently blacking out some of the game from last year. I can't imagine why. Nonetheless, UA returns more players (17) than any other team in the SEC West so there may be something to this Arky. team. It'll definitely be interesting to see how Michigan transfer Ryan Mallet (QB) fares in this league.
Bobby Johnson -- Vanderbilt
Vanderbilt's got a schedule quirk this year that Alabama fans will remember: no off weeks. Johnson's not terribly happy about it, but that's life in the SEC sometimes. He discussed how to prepare for such a daunting schedule and prevent the overworking of your players during the pre-season. Of course, last season wasn't so bad for Vandy and Bobby wans to continue to improve in the league. This has translated into improved recruiting, though I'm sure the academic requirements never help... Did I mention Vandy's also going no-huddle? I hope they didn't buy Franklin's videos.
Dan Mullen -- Mississippi State
Apparently Dan was cutting it up in his first appearance as a head coach at the SEC Media Days. "I hear Jackson State has a heck of a band," joked Mullen. "I've already put the pressure on our band director to get that going." He also praised Tebow for being an amazing athlete and person. Somewhere in there he spoke on MSU football, but nothing was more exciting to see that they had sold more than 35k+ tickets to their season opener. Sure, he spoke about National Championships...but so did Bobby Johnson...
Rich Brooks -- Kentucky
Rich wants to climb the ladder in the East. While acknowledging Florida as the team to beat (along with several others in front of you Rich) he spoke of the need to change in order to make things happen. The offense and defense are expecting marked improvement with an experienced QB at the helm and a couple of stars on defense looking to show up. Speaking of, CB Trevard Lindley spoke on Alabama receiver Julio Jones briefly, "Well, he was one of the biggest receivers I faced last year," Lindley said. "He's big for a freshman. I didn't think he was going to be that big. It was a long game, a long physical game. It was a really good matchup."
Random Tidbits:
Falls Practice Begins Soon!
Mississippi State=> Aug. 3.
Georgia, South Carolina, & Tennessee=> Aug. 4.
Alabama & Auburn=> Aug. 5.
Ole Miss=> Aug. 10.
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Tags: SEC, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vanderbilt,
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