Tag: 2023 SEC media days

WATCH: Greg McElroy explains why he believes Ty Simpson will be QB1

Greg McElroy explains why he believes Ty Simpson will be QB1!

We are in the middle of the 2023 SEC media days taking place at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee.

On Wednesday, Nick Saban and the Alabama Crimson Tide will take center stage and the question that will spark the most discussion is certain to be about the ongoing quarterback competition between Jalen Milore, Ty Simpson, and Notre Dame transfer Tyler Buchner.

While in Nashville for this week’s festivities, former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy joined On3’s JD PicKell to discuss the competition and offered up some interesting thoughts on who he believes will eventually be named the starter in Tuscaloosa.

“I think Jalen Milroe is a tremendous talent,” McElroy said. “I think he’s a gifted football player. The explosiveness goes without saying. The guy’s ridiculous. Just get him the ball and see what he does with it. But there was a problem last year with turnovers and it wasn’t just the A&M game. Of 16 offensive turnovers for Alabama last year, he accounted for five of them. Having played in that offense and lived life under Nick Saban, he doesn’t forget those things very easily. So I think he’ll have to work his way back into the good graces when it comes to ball security.”

“Tyler Buchner’s been there for a very short period of time,” McElroy explained. “It’s very difficult to win the team in that short period of time. I remember back in 2014, Jake Coker transferred up from Florida State and he was supposed to be the guy. He just lost out to Jameis Winston in a great quarterback competition. Then there was this guy that was also on the team and Blake Sims had been there for four years and developed relationships with guys on the roster. So when it was close in fall camp, the guys naturally gravitated to the guy that they knew and that was Blake Sims. Ended up having a good year and Coker comes in in ’15 and wins a national championship, but he had to wait his turn for a year.

“So I think when I look at those two aspects and a guy like Ty Simpson, it’s not like he was a guy that was underrecruited or is an underachieving guy. He just hasn’t had the opportunity yet.”

McElroy certainly knows a thing or two about playing quarterback at Alabama under Nick Saban, and he definitely understands that coach Saban puts a premium on taking care of the football and managing the game.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for continuous coverage of the 2023 SEC media days and the ongoing quarterback competition in Tuscaloosa!

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Baseball, women’s basketball championships putting pressure on Brian Kelly in Year 2

Brian Kelly said he has titles on the brain after what Kim Mulkey and Jay Johnson’s team’s accomplished.

Talk about being a tough act to follow.

[autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] is faced with the task of living up to the expectations set by [autotag]Jay Johnson[/autotag] and [autotag]Kim Mulkey[/autotag] in their second seasons on the bayou.

Both of them won a national championship. Can Kelly do the same?

He had a great year one as he led the Tigers to an SEC West championship and the Tigers’ first 10-win season since LSU won it all in 2019. With the recent success in women’s basketball and baseball, Kelly was asked at SEC media days in Nashville if he had championships on the brain.

“…certainly at LSU, all we can think about is championships after what Jay Johnson did in baseball and Kim Mulkey in basketball, our success in gymnastics,” Kelly said Monday. “I’ve got a big opportunity on my hands, as well, to continue the success of what was a very good first year.”

LSU kicks off its 2023 campaign on Sunday, Sept. 3 as the Tigers look to avenge last year’s loss to the Florida State Seminoles.

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Previewing day 3 of the 2023 SEC media days

Previewing day 3 of the 2023 SEC media days from Nashville!

The 2023 SEC media days are in full swing at the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee. Two days are in the books and two remain before it concludes on Thursday.

Day 1 had LSU, Texas A&M, and Missouri take the stage, while Day 2 consisted of Vanderbilt, Georgia, Auburn and Mississippi State stepping up to the podium.

Day 3 is the one that will interest Crimson Tide fans the most. [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag], Kool-Aid McKinstry, JC Latham and Dallas Turner will take their turns with the media. Joining Alabama on Wednesday are Arkansas, Florida and Kentucky.

Let’s take a look at today’s lineup and what we can expect from each team!

Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher says ‘there’s no added pressure’ in 2023 – Sincerity, or smokescreen?

After speaking at SEC media days, Texas A&M football head coach Jimbo Fisher says he isn’t feeling the added pressure heading into the fall.

With the 2023 college football season just around the corner, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher isn’t feeling the pressure heading into the fall. Or at least he’s not showing it to the media.

With the Aggies coming off an underwhelming 5-7 campaign (2-6 SEC) last season, it naturally opened the door for questions about the team’s mindset heading into the fall. And for Fisher specifically, the media was keen to understand whether the Texas A&M head coach felt any added weight on his shoulders going into 2023.

In classic Jimbo fashion, he brushed off the notion of there being added pressure coming off the lackluster 2022 season, while noting that everyone in college football has a level of pressure on them day-to-day:

“We live under pressure every day. We put more pressure on ourselves than anybody out there ever puts on us, so there’s no added pressure because what good does that do? Does worrying make you any better? No.”

Fisher doubled down on his sentiment toward the question by instead offering insight into what the goal ahead is for this Aggie football team:

“What you’ve got to do is get to solutions. You’ve got to line up and understand what went right, what went wrong, what kind of team you have now, and that each team changes year by year.”

Make no mistake, there is pressure on Jimbo and his staff to start improving now, and while his response may indicate someone with a mellow mindset heading into the season, his actions throughout the offseason have echoed the exact opposite. In many ways, it reflects a saying he holds true to heart, “Your actions speak so loud, I can’t hear what you are saying.”

And what was the biggest action he could take? None other than hiring Bobby Petrino as the Aggies’ new offensive coordinator.

After the Aggies ranked 101st in scoring last season, Petrino was hired to light a spark and bring some ingenuity to the playbook. His track record speaks for itself, as his offenses have averaged at least 400 yards in 16-of-20 seasons and 30 points per game in 15 seasons, while his teams have eclipsed the 500-yard and 40-point thresholds five and three times.

Fisher understands Texas A&M has to win, they have to win now, and they have to win big. Part of that goal is surrounding himself with the right minds that can unlock the potential of this roster. That goal is no cakewalk, it’s the definition of “pressure.”

Just don’t expect Fisher to come out right and say it, because that only gives the competition a leg up in the bigger picture. Instead, let him, and this motivated Aggies team, show they mean business once they step back onto the gridiron this fall.

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Brian Kelly discusses need for uniformity in NIL standards

Kelly discussed the impacts that third-party actors and differing state laws have on players profiting off their name, image and likeness.

One of the biggest topics at SEC media days this week — and media days around the country as we prepare for the 2023 season — is name, image and likeness (NIL) licensing standards.

Most notably, stakeholders are concerned with the lack of uniformity in state laws regarding NIL practices. The topic featured heavily in SEC commissioner Greg Sankey’s opening press conference in Nashville on Monday, and LSU coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] touched on the topic, as well.

So I think whatever answer I give you there’s going to be holes in it because there is not much regulation,” Kelly said. “I think that the easiest answer to that question — and I’m not going to be political up here — we do want to control what we can control. But I would say that the thing that makes it difficult for us, all of us, is third-party involvement, and at what level does that third-party involvement influence the spirit of name, image and likeness. I think that’s where we’re all at.

“If there are different laws, too, in each state, then the league is not balanced, either. To me, those would be the two kind of bullet points as it relates to NIL. I’m not here to fix it. I’m here to navigate it. If I can lend my experience in any shape or fashion, I will do that. But I can tell you what we’re living, and that’s third-party involvement and different rules of engagement by different states.”

Often, those state laws are written for the benefit of flagship state universities — such as LSU. Still, the lack of uniformity and need for third-party actors, as Kelly mentioned, is certainly playing into the anxiety coaches are feeling.

It’s clear that NIL is here to stay. The question is, how will college sports and state legislators move forward in terms of setting standards and regulations.

That’s a topic weighing heavily on the sport as we approach the season, and these discussions are far from over.

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LSU coach Brian Kelly on how to close the gap with Georgia

Brian Kelly said the Tigers are slowly but surely building a program to compete with teams like Georgia.

Heading into the 2023 season, there’s one clear roadblock in LSU’s way: the Georgia Bulldogs.

The Tigers managed to dethrone Alabama in the SEC West last season, but they remained a step or two behind the two-time defending national champions, falling 50-30 to UGA in the SEC Championship.

At SEC media days on Monday, coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] discussed how his team can close that gap in 2023 and the years to come.

“You know, it’s a measurement for everybody in here to see it on the field,” Kelly said. “That’s how everybody measures is the gap closing. You know, what’s the score of the game, what’s the eye test tell me, what’s the competitiveness of that game. We’ll only have that opportunity if we get into the championship game against Georgia.

“I know that based upon how we’ve recruited and how we’ll continue to recruit that we’ll have a football roster that will be able to compete against Georgia. Is that right now? No, it’s not. But if we continue to do what we’re doing, we’re going to have a roster that can compete against Georgia, and then it’s just a matter of getting it done on the playing field so everybody then can assess they’ve closed the gap.”

LSU overachieved in Year 1, but this is still a program that’s building. It will take some time for to see the fruits of its talent acquisition strategy, and because of that, it may be another year or two before the Tigers are operating from an even playing field talent-wise.

But this team has a chance to take a step in the right direction this year, and LSU will hope it has the chance to return to Atlanta and get another shot at the Bulldogs this fall.

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Former Texas A&M DB Smoke Bouie has parted ways with Georgia, according to Head coach Kirby Smart

Former Texas A&M DB Smoke Bouie, who recently transferred to Georgia in January, has reportedly parted ways with the program.

On Tuesday morning, Georgia Head Coach Kirby Smart, who spoke to the media on the second day of the 2023 SEC Media Days (July 17-20), released a bit of surprising information concerning defensive back Smoke Bouie, who transferred to the Bulldogs from Texas A&M in early January.

This summer, it was revealed that Bouie had not been in contact with Georgia, which led to intense speculation regarding his future with the Bulldogs. As of Tuesday, Kirby Smart confirmed that Bouie is no longer a program member.

“Smoke is no longer with our team. It’s been that way for a while,” Smart said Tuesday. “It was mutually agreed to part ways, and we wish him nothing but the best.”

As a member of the Aggies’ historic 2022 recruiting class, Bouie was ranked as the 46th player in the cycle, the 3rd-ranked safety, and the 7th-ranked player in Georgia, According to 247Sports. Bouie recorded three tackles and one pass deflection in seven games last season.

“It was very disappointing his stay was short,” Smart stated. “But it was a decision that was made by both parties, and we wish him nothing but the best. He’s from the same hometown that I’m from, and I know a lot of people back there. But it was the decision that was made.”

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State NIL laws a ‘loser’ at 2023 SEC Media Days on Monday

Gerson declared “state NIL laws” as a loser from Day 1.

The Southeastern Conference’s media days kicked off on Monday in Nashville, Tennessee, with commissioner Greg Sankey taking the podium alongside coaches and players from the LSU Tigers, Texas A&M Aggies and Missouri Tigers.

The Grand Hyatt Hotel is hosting the 2023 event, which runs from Monday to Thursday. There were plenty of eyebrow-raising moments as media members prepared for the start of the 2023 SEC season, which begins Aug. 26 when Hawaii plays at Vanderbilt.

Aria Gerson of the Nashville Tennessean penned a post early Tuesday morning reviewing the winners and losers from the first day, which included commissioner Greg Sankey’s call on Congress to set national standards for athlete compensation — specifically in reference to name, image and likeness compensation in college athletics.

Gerson declared “state NIL laws” as a loser, with the following explanation.

Sankey condemned the patchwork of state NIL laws, saying there should be uniform rules that apply to everyone, and that high school and college athletes shouldn’t have to spend so much time figuring out the specific legal statutes of their individual states in order to earn money.

Although it’s unlikely Sankey’s comments will actually result in a nationwide standard, the variety of state laws have continued to take a hit among leaders in the college sports world.

The 2023 edition of SEC media days continues on Tuesday starting at 10:05 a.m. EDT with the Vanderbilt Commodores, Georgia Bulldogs, Auburn Tigers and Mississippi State Bulldogs taking the podium, respectively. The event is being televised on the SEC Network.

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Previewing day 2 of the 2023 SEC media days

Previewing day 2 of the 2023 SEC media days from Nashville!

Day one of the 2023 SEC media days has been completed and we now move on to day two from the Grand Hyatt in Nashville, Tennessee.

Day one saw LSU, Texas A&M, and Missouri take the stage, and day two will be another fun-filled event with Vanderbilt, Georiga, Auburn, and Mississippi State stepping up to the podium.

Storylines will not be an issue on Tuesday with Kirby Smart and the back-to-back national champions in town. Also, Hugh Freeze will make his SEC media days debut as the head coach of the Auburn Tigers. Zach Arnett will make his way to the podium as the leader of the Bulldogs following the sudden passing of Mike Leach and the end of 2022. Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea is fresh off an extension and has the Commodore fanbase hopeful for the future.

Let’s take a look at today’s lineup and what we can expect from each team!

Best Photos: Texas A&M 2023 SEC media days

Best photos of the Day 1 on the Texas A&M at the 2023 SEC Media days

Before Jimbo got to business he took time to speak a few words honoring Texas A&M coach Terry Price, reminding the world of the type of person that the world lost. Coach Fisher answered a ton of questions, with the most notable being “Is Bobby Petrino going to be calling plays”. In true Jimbo fashion, he said a lot but never really answered the question in this case.

Along with Coach Fisher, Ainias Smith, McKinnley Jackson, and Fadil Diggs answered a number of questions from the media. A few ears perked up when Smith started talking about how the offense has opened since Petrino joined the staff. You could see his face light up as envisioned his role this upcoming season.

Below are some of the best photos from day one of the 2023 SEC media days.

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