SEC Media Days 2019: Day 3 Recap

Share This Post

Hey guys! Day 3 of Sec Media Days is officially in the books. You know the drill. Let’s get to it.

Nick Saban, Alabama

The Alabama Crimson Tide brought players QB Tua Tagovailoa, WR Jerry Jeudy, and LB Dylan Moses.

Saban starts by emphasizing the educational achievements of the players in the Alabama program.

The off-season was spent focusing on re-establishing the standard of discipline, and holding players accountable for a team first mentality.

Individual success should still be a goal for each player, but individual success is always magnified when the team succeeds.

He says that the leaders on the team are setting a good example and are making sure the younger players understand the standard for Alabama football.

He’s happy with the new staff and thinks each coach brings new energy to the program. (I’m pretty sure he says this every year, since there’s a new staff EVERY season.)

Steve Sarkisian is back as OC, but don’t expect a system change. “We don’t change systems at Alabama.” Sark will do some different things to take advantage of the players on the field, but the system will stay the same.

Pete Golding was an associate coordinator last season at Alabama and has now been promoted to DC.

Saban is excited to open the season with Duke, and knows that the SEC is going to be a very challenging conference this season.

Mac Jones has made a lot of progress as back up QB to Tua. Jones is learning not to play as an emotional player, and has good knowledge of the position. And he has Jerry Jeudy to throw to, so, you know, not a terrible spot to be in.

The Clemson game (beatdown) is being used as a learning tool for the team. Saban says that the team wasn’t prepared and had too many distractions at the end of the season.

On being 16-0 vs former assistants: “I think that’s not a very fair stat. All of the former assistants that we have, they get jobs. They don’t take a program over that has the established talent, culture, and all that that we have at Alabama.” Saban knows the gap is closing as teams in the SEC get better.

Tua has been progressing in the off season, focusing on his decision making. Saban wants him focused on making better choices for his health and to reduce negative plays.

They haven’t chosen a replacement on kick return since Josh Jacobs left, but Saban mentioned Waddle and Ruggs as possible candidates.

Josh McMillon has made good strides at inside linebacker.

Saban likes the idea of the transfer portal, but thinks there should be more rules associated with it.

He has a lot of respect for Duke and David Cutcliffe, and you can tell he’s been prepping quite a bit for Duke’s offense.

Is there a secret to success? “No. I don’t really know the secret to the success other than, you know, we worked hard.” Also being the crowned prince of darkness helps.

Is Saban difficult to work for? “Well, I don’t know. You have to ask some of the people that work for me. Always interesting that they may say that, but then when they get a job and they go do it exactly like we did it. So I don’t know.” (It would be weird if he said yes, but you know the answer is yes.)

Josh Jobe has showed a lot of improvement in the spring and will likely be a starter at corner.

Chad Morris, Arkansas

The Arkansas Razorback players in attendance include DL McTelvin Agim, LD De’Jon Harris, and RB Devwah Whaley.

Coach Morris is ready to start his second year as HC, and has told his players that last year has no bearing on this season.

He asked his players and staff how they would respond at the end of last season. They responded with one of the top recruiting classes in the history of Arkansas.

Arkansas has opened the door for past players to connect with current players, with a “One Arkansas” program. (Kind of like the Vol For Life program. Except not as catchy.)

The Hogs have gone from a “coach-fed” team to a player-led culture.

Morris has focused on the vision of “Every”: every rep, every play, every day matters.

The offensive system will stay the same, which is a fast-paced no-huddle tempo.

There’s a good QB battle brewing between Nick Starkel, Ben Hicks, and John Stephen Jones.

Morris expects the new OL players to contribute quickly, as they were fairly thin on the line of scrimmage last season. Myron Cunningham is a junior grad transfer who should get some major playing time.

John Chavis is back as DC with a defense that’s built for speed and stopping the run. (Except on 3rd downs, amiright?!)

It took a lot of passion from the staff and players to recruit so well after going 2-10 last season. Building a program is about being consistent.

Morris will be working closely with OC Joe Craddock on the offense. Morris is more involved than he’s ever been.

The players and staff have a goal of getting to the post season, but not on a number of wins. Morris learned in his first year how important depth is in the SEC, which made him recruit with a sense of urgency.

Morris likes the transfer pool and has a dedicated part of his recruiting group that’s assigned to monitor it.

They haven’t decided on a starting QB, and Morris likely won’t announce one. We’ll all learn when someone runs out there during the first game. That’s the fun way.

He was responsible for the McFadden Era uniforms because he likes how they look, and Arkansas will be wearing them every chance they get.

Morris sees the trend of QB’s transferring continuing to grow over the next several years.

He’s not uncomfortable or panicked after going 2-10 in the first year because “I’ve been there before.” Morris cites his tenure at Clemson and SMU as rebuilding stages for great football teams.

He’s excited to play Missouri on the Friday after Thanksgiving in Little Rock. Every one of those games that Arkansas hosts will be in Little Rock for the next several years. Who knew?

Arkansas moved from turf back to natural grass because “that’s football in its natural state.” Damn straight.

Joe Moorhead, Mississippi State

The Bulldog players in attendance are TE Farrod Green, LB Erroll Thompson, C Darryl Williams.

Evidently Joe Moorhead played QB at the same high school as Dan Marino. “Part of the reason for the diet and losing some weight, I was tired of all the recruits on the trail asking me if I played right or left tackle rather than how many yards I passed for in college. So that was part of it.” He then spends a lot of time talking about Marino, and asked him to follow him on twitter. I can’t make this up. He then offered to host Marino for a home game and to buy him beer. So, here we are.

Moorhead is really proud of the 8 win season, beating two top 25 teams, winning the Egg Bowl, and qualifying for a New Year’s Day Bowl.

They finished with a top 25 recruiting class, thanks to a unique approach in recruitment focusing on facility improvements and relationships. (No championship resume to lean on.)

The Bulldogs will be replacing a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, including the QB position. There will be a lot of competition for every spot.

They lost all four starters on the defensive line, so there will be a lot of new faces on the field when the season opens.

Brian Cole and Cam Dantzler are the only two returning players in the secondary.

He’s excited for the chemistry and culture of the team moving forward, and believes that they are trending in the right direction.

Moorhead emphasizes the importance of education to his players, noting that the NFL isn’t an option for everyone, and is usually a short trip for the ones that do make it.

Captains Darryl Williams and Erroll Thompson have improved greatly, with Williams sliding to center and Thompson being one of the best LBs in the country.

He’s very happy to have Bob Shoop as DC, and thinks he’s one of the most intelligent coordinators out there.

Penn State transfer QB Tommy Stevens is coming into a major battle for a starting job and could very well be the starter in the season opener.

Moorhead was happy with the run game last season, but wants to see more efficiency and explosiveness out of the pass game to compete with teams like Alabama.

He’s learned a lot in his first season in the SEC, mostly about tempering his expectations from last year and respecting how difficult it is to win in the SEC.

Year two is about attention to detail in order to take the next step after an 8 win season.

The Penn State atmosphere helped Moorhead prepare for the unique home field atmospheres in the SEC.

A really specific question about how the dynamic between the OL and QB works when shifting protection. I love this question. The QB has the call to shift the protection to where he sees the threat. “We want our guys to over-communicate and under-assume.” Damn it I love that answer.

Moorhead gets a baseball scoring update in the middle of all of this. Just terrific stuff.

The Bulldogs are excited to play the Ragin’ Cajuns in the Super Dome, and could prove to be a tough game with all of the turnover on defense.

Will Muschamp, South Carolina

South Carolina Gamecock players in attendance included QB Jake Bentley, LB T.J. Brunson, and WR Bryan Edwards.

Coach Muschamp is looking forward to his fourth season at South Carolina. At the end of this season, Williams-Brice Stadium is getting a $22 million upgrade. Nice.

He talks about the football team having a GPA above 3.0 last fall, which is a first for him anywhere.

“This off-season I really challenged our players to leave no doubt about the things that take no talent: effort, toughness, discipline, competitive edge. To earn what you get every single day and have a team-first mentality, which are basically the core values in our program.”

He’s really proud of QB Jake Bentley and is looking forward to seeing what he accomplished in his senior year.

Muschamp really focused on red zone inconsistencies during the off-season. The Gamecocks had too many turnovers and missed opportunities.

The defense struggled last year (to put it mildly), but they’re returning 5 seniors on the defensive front, and have a lot of guys back from injury.

The schedule is hard this season, but the schedule is hard every season. He’s focused on using the opportunity to play big games and make some big wins.

Max Iyama has been medically disqualified from football, but no specifics were given. Jaylin Dickerson is out for the year with a hip labrum issue caused by an extra bone growth on his femur. (I’ve genuinely never heard of this. And I’ve seen pretty much everything.)

The very first question is about Nick Saban’s record against former assistants. Again, you can pretty much guess how that went.

Their goal every season is to win the East. Winning the East puts them in Atlanta and gives them a chance at the play off.

Someone asked Will Muschamp about the South Carolina/Alabama game from 2010. Why in the hell would he know anything about it or have an opinion on it? Lazy ass questions late in the day.

Muschamp is excited for Jake Bentley to have some better weapons this season to help the offense be more dynamic.

The Gamecocks have a pretty deep QB roster with good competition behind Jake Bentley.

The defensive front made the largest strides in improvement during spring ball, along with the offensive line.

He’s really happy with how they’ve increased their depth along the line of scrimmage, which is the second most important thing to Muschamp (behind having a QB.)

He’ll be facing Kelly Bryant again this season, only this time he’ll be at Mizzou. He has a lot of good things to say about Bryant, and respects his athleticism.

LB Danny Fennell will be back to full speed on August 1st.

He’s asked about Nick Saban. Again. Yawn.

He’s asked about the schedule. Again.

The transfer portal hasn’t changed how they evaluate talent. “You can’t predict the portal.”

TE Kiel Pollard is poised for a break out year and has been working extremely hard since his freshman year to contribute to the team.

Will Muschamp doesn’t like the idea of the Cocktail Party leaving Jacksonville, and that makes me like him a lot more.

That’s it for Day 3 kids! Be sure to check out Day 1 and Day 2, and come back tomorrow as we wrap up the final day.

Poppa Bear is the Lead SEC Analyst for the SoBros Network, and serves as our resident expert on the human anatomy, fixin’ stuff, and tomatoes. Follow on Twitter:@SoBroPoppaBear

Check out the SoBros Shop. Subscribe to our Patreon. Give us money for no reason. Like us on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork. Listen on SoundCloud. Watch on YouTube.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Get updates and learn from the best

More To Explore