Tag: SEC Media Days

Spurrier with the zingers!

I could sit here and give you a long news article about Steve Spurrier and what he said about South Carolina football – “We’ve got a good team at South Carolina ready to go this year. We had a little bit of a struggle in the middle of last season” – but that’s not why we look out for what the Head Ball Coach says at SEC Media Days. It’s the zingers. So here’s a collection of them: INTRODUCTION SPEECH “A lot of familiar faces out there after a lot of years coming to this event. I figured a bunch of you guys would have retired by now.” “We believe we have a fighting chance to do that. I know

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Derek Mason: 2014 Was On Me

Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason isn’t shying away from responsibility for Vanderbilt’s awful 2014 season. “We weren’t a very competitive football team in 2014, and that’s on me. I take full responsibility for that,” he said at the SEC Media Days in Florida today. “We struggled to find identity,” he said. “What we’ve tried to do in the last eight months is try to right the wrong.” When asked about pressure, he said: “It’s college football. I’ve been coaching 22 years. So my understanding is that every year I coach on a one-year mentality. That’s a mindset. That’s what you do. You understand exactly what this game is and what you have to do, and it’s about production. We’re going to

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Florida turnaround not going to happen ‘overnight’ – McElwain

The turnaround of the Florida Gators isn’t going to happen overnight, new coach Jim McElwain has said. McElwain, who came from Colorado State after head coach Will Muschamp was ousted from Gainseville after an awful 2014 (led by an horrific offense), said at the SEC Media Days: “I think part of the experience of being in this conference is realizing it doesn’t happen just overnight,” he said. He was full of praise of standout corner Vernon Hargreaves, who could well be a Top 5 pick in the 2016 NFL Draft: “I love the way this guy comes to work every day. The way he practices, the way he thrives in competition, and not only that, the way he takes care

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‘Will Muschamp is the best defensive mind in football’ – Gus Malzahn

According to Gus Malzahn, Auburn’s move to get Will Muschamp was an exceptionally positive one. “Defensively in the offseason, we hired Will Muschamp, in my opinion, the best defensive mind in all of football, not just college football,” he said at the SEC Media Days. “Our defensive players have taken on his personality, which I really like.” He added: ” He just has that presence around him that he gives all the coaches confidence. He gives his players confidence. And he’s got the it factor. So we’re very blessed to combine his defense with an offense that we’ve been running. We think the future’s very bright.” Muschamp’s Florida team last year defensively was one of the best in college football, only

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SEC Media Days: What We’re Expecting (SEC East)

On Tuesday we told you what we’re expecting from SEC West coaches on the schedule. It should be a lot of talk about the schedule, quarterbacking and good running backs. Of course, we’d love them to talk about LSU and Alabama’s penchant for getting people arrested, shitty defensive co-ordinators, and their hot wives/daughters/do-nothing husbands-in-law, but it’s probably not going to happen. Anyway, this time it’s time for your SEC East coaches. FLORIDA What Jim McElwain will probably get asked: How he’s settling into the job (“I love it down here. It’s a change from the Rockies”), how he plans to change the offense (“Don’t expect miracles, but we should be better than last year”); How tough the SEC’s schedule is (“We’re

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SEC Preview 14: Can it get any worse for Kentucky?

With a SEC losing streak that stands at 16, it’s difficult not to feel sorry for Kentucky Football fans. While their basketball players are playing like gods and pulling off last-minute victories, Kentucky football players simply find ways to lose. Sometimes heartbreakingly. Will 2014 be any different for Mark Stoops and his team?  LAST SEASON The Wildcats finished 2-10 (0-8 SEC), including losses to Western Kentucky and hated Louisville. Victories included (wait for it) Miami (Ohio) and (drumroll) Alabama State. The closest losses were by a touchdown to South Carolina and by 6 to Mississippi State, and by 9 to WKU. The rest were blow-outs. OFF-SEASON WR DeMarco Robinson was arrested for disorderly conduct, where he apparently “disorderly conduct, violation

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SEC Preview 2014: Will there be good ‘karma’ for Arkansas?

Bret Bielema’s press conference should have just said “I’m just sick of losing, and I’ll turn this ship around”, and stopped there, but it didn’t. Instead, he told the world how he was irritated about fast-paced offenses and how they might endanger players’ safety, and all we here at SEC Football Blog could think was: “Is he that scared of the way the way it’s all changing?”. Anyway, will good things happen in 2014 for the Razorbacks and their suffering support base? LAST SEASON Bret Bielema’s first season for Arkansas was probably one he’d like to forget. The Hogs went winless in the SEC, and finished 3-9. And worse than that, Arkansas’ slide seemed to happen after Jen, Bret’s wife,

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SEC Preview 2014: New coach, New Vanderbilt?

There’s a new era at Vanderbilt. Derek Mason’s replaced James Franklin as the new head coach, and he arrived at the SEC Media Days looking AWESOME in a bow tie (he won the best-dressed contest by some mile). But can Mason’s awesomeness translate into a good Vanderbilt team in 2014?  LAST SEASON Vanderbilt finished with a 9-4 (4-4 SEC) record, which includes wins over Georgia, Florida and Tennessee. They also managed to lose one of the games of the season on Opening Day against Ole Miss (by damn that was a good game!). OFF-SEASON After all the showmanship of head coach James Franklin, you wouldn’t have thought that he was just auctioning for a bigger job. Well, Bill O’Brien left Penn

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Hugh Freeze: Ole Miss not yet a total SEC team

Hugh Freeze came into the SEC Media Days a pretty happy guy. His Ole Miss team was coming off monster wins (for the program, at least) against Texas and LSU, as well as a bowl victory. He’s recruited strongly – even in the face of Alabama. He started off his press conference with a somewhat sharp word for another SEC rival: “One good thing about Media Days is Coach Spurrier isn’t talking about Ole Miss as much, wanting to play us every year.  Maybe that’s a good thing“, referencing Spurrier’s comments from 2012 about schedules where he said: “If I made the schedule, Georgia’d be playing LSU and we’d be playing Ole Miss.” But still, he told the assembled media

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Mark Richt comes out combative over Georgia drug rules

Mark Richt is used to criticism as head coach of the University of Georgia. Every year people place him on the hot-seat for either not beating South Carolina, or not beating Auburn, or losing a game they should win, or not beating a team by enough, and 2015 won’t be any different – although after beating Clemson and LSU, maybe the seat’s a LITTLE cooler. Richt’s also had his fair share of criticism about Georgia’s drug policy, which has seen the school suspend or boot a number of players over his time between the hedges. However, at the SEC Media Days in Hoover, AL, he was unrepentant. He said: “We don’t want our guys to do drugs, okay? I don’t

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