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ATLANTA – Day 1 of SEC Media Days is in the books from the College Football Hall of Fame, and it was an eventful day to say the least. Commissioner Greg Sankey got the festivities underway with his "State of the SEC" speech, which targeted multiple hot-button topics in the world of college football, including conference expansion.
"Talkin' season" began in earnest after Sankey's speech. LSU's first-year coach Brian Kelly, Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz and Ole Miss' Lane Kiffin followed Sankey through the gauntlet to preview their respective teams.
What happened on Monday afternoon? Let's recap the first day of the event that doubles as a college football circus.
Sankey sets the stage
There's no doubt that Sankey is one of the most powerful people in college athletics, and he used his 30-minute "State of the SEC" speech to set the tone for the future of an industry that is quickly evolving. Among the various hot-button talking points were conference expansion and scheduling, but a breakdown of Sankey's comments is as follows:
- The SEC isn't interested in expanding beyond Texas and Oklahoma as of now, and the two newcomers are still slated to join for the 2025-26 academic year.
An eight-team College Football Playoff with five or six automatic bids for conference champions will not fly in Sankey's mind.
The SEC is focused on a format without divisions when Texas and Oklahoma join, but tiebreaker scenarios have become a snag in the discussions.
Sankey wants the United States Congress to work on developing federal legislation on name, image and likeness rules across the board.
The SEC casts the biggest spotlight of the offseason with its Media Days event, and Sankey uses it to push college athletics in the direction he wants. Consider this a jumping off point for what should be a very active few years as the industry transitions to a new era.
Daniels the QB frontrunner at LSU?
Brian Kelly's first order of business once fall camp hits is to decide on his starting quarterback. He lured three-year starter Jayden Daniels over from Arizona State, convinced Myles Brennan to come back to Baton Rouge, and he has two younger prospects in Garrett Nussmeier and Walker Howard. Kelly is content with where his signal-callers sit heading into camp.
"Certainly, we have four quarterbacks," he said. "The spring really was for us to lay down our offense. We weren't really going to gear it towards any particular skill set. I feel much better about the depth in the quarterback situation. Jayden was really the only quarterback that had any experience. We're young and inexperienced at that position. I think the depth at the quarterback position is much different. Jayden and certainly Myles bring us obviously starting experience. Garrett obviously for me is an exciting quarterback. Walker is a true freshman, but there's great depth there."
Kelly told CBS Sports that the three most important factors in his decision-making process are determining which player takes care of the football, gets the ball in the hands of his playmakers and who can extend plays when the plays break down. That last point is key, because Kelly has had a quarterback rush for at least 200 yards every year since 2014. Daniels has 1,288 yards rushing and 13 rushing touchdowns in 29 games, and he is the only one out of the four who fits the bill.
Legalized cheating?
Name, image and likeness rules have changed the game, and the different methods programs and coaches use to take advantage of them have become a hot topic this year. Kiffin is never short on words and Monday afternoon was no different.
"It's like a payroll in baseball," said Kiffin. "What teams win over a long period of time? Teams that have high payrolls and can play players a lot. We're in a situation not any different than that. I'm sure other people said it. I said Day 1, you legalize cheating, so get ready for the people that have the most money to get players. Now you have it. It is what it is. As far as a general manager to manage that, we aren't allowed in the current system to manage what they make. We're not there yet. I don't know that we ever will be. That's just what I said it should be because that's what any other professional sport, which is what we are now."
Kiffin has a point. The differences in NIL laws from state-to-state have become a major sticking point, and they were the genesis of the spat between Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher earlier this summer.
Missouri confident in its defense
The Tigers had the second-worst defense in the conference last season, and things have changed quite a bit since then. Ex-defensive coordinator Steve Wilks moved back up to the NFL and coach Eli Drinkwitz promoted safeties coach Blake Baker in February -- one month after he joined the program from LSU's staff -- as a replacement. One of the main points of emphasis this offseason for Drinkwitz and Baker is developing the depth required on the defensive side of the ball to contend for championships.
"We return nine [defensive] players that have six or more starts in their career," Drinkwitz said. "We added transfer at every position on the defensive side of the ball to create competition and depth."
The new depth came in conjunction with a simplified approach that has worked well so far. Safety Martez Manuel said that the new coaching allows him and his teammates at the back end of the defense to rely on their athleticism to make plays.
Will Mizzou contend? That remains to be seen. But it's clear that the staff and players are excited about what's to come.
