The best moments from the ACC, Big 12 and SEC media days
One week of media days down, one more to go. The Southeastern Conference, Big 12 Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference are in the books for the Power Five leagues, bringing us one step closer to the start of the regular season.
With 38 coaches and more than 100 players being interviewed, there was much to chew on.
What did we learn? Who had the best quote, the most head-scratching moment? Here’s what we learned from the SEC, Big 12 and ACC:
Texas coach Tom Herman left speechless
Credit Tom Herman for being honest. The question was asked: How many elite players does Herman feel Texas has on its roster? Herman chewed over the question. He thought about it. He smacked his lips. He shook his head, considering the question. He nodded his head. Then, after 10 long seconds, he answered: “Some,” Herman said.
“You put me on the spot there.”
The answer says something about the state of the Texas roster heading into Herman’s second season. The Longhorns are talented, since they always are. Herman’s first full signing class, inked in February, is loaded with difference-making talent. But can UT compete with the best of the Big 12, let alone the FBS? Herman’s answer might say: No, not yet.
TEN BEST: Quarterbacks | Running back | Wide receivers | Tight ends
POWER RANKINGS: American | ACC | Big 12 | Big Ten
HOT SEAT:Ten college football coaches with jobs on line entering this season
Saban blames media for Alabama QB controversy
“Still to be determined.” That was Nick Saban’s predetermined phrase for SEC media days. He used it to answer questions on several topics – but mostly, to deflect questions about the ongoing quarterback competition between Jalen Hurts and Tua Tagovailoa.
Not that anyone really expected anything different, but Saban didn’t have any clarity.
He’s not sure whether Hurts, who is 26-2 in two seasons as a starter, might transfer if he doesn’t retain the job. He’s not sure whether Tagovailoa, who replaced Hurts and rallied Alabama to victory in the College Football Playoff national championship game, will do enough to take over for Hurts for good. Saban seemed certain of only one thing.
“The No. 1 thing you will want to talk about is the quarterback controversy that you’d love to create, that you’ve already created, that you will continue to create,” he said. “And I will tell you … it’s still to be determined as to who is going to play quarterback for Alabama. So you can ask all of the questions about it, but it’s still to be determined.”
Louisville offense better without Jackson?
Bobby Petrino thinks his offense will be “better.” It’s a strange idea to consider, since Louisville is replacing a former Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Lamar Jackson. Petrino still thinks his offense will be “more balanced” between the run and pass, while his receivers rank among the “strongest corps coming back” in 2018. That may be true. But how can a Jackson-less offense be as productive? One idea to consider: In an ACC Atlantic Division owned by Clemson, even an offense that stays in the ballpark in scoring could land the Cardinals in second place.
That may be true. But how can a Jackson-less offense be as productive? The Cardinals were third in total offense at 544.9 yards per game and just missed the top 10 in scoring at 38.1 points. It's hard to envision those numbers being topped in 2018.
One idea to consider: In an ACC Atlantic Division owned by Clemson, even an offense that stays in the ballpark in scoring could land the Cardinals in second place.
Jeremy Pruitt and Aaron Murray brouhaha
Former Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray, who’s now a TV analyst, turned heads when he said in a radio interview – and then doubled down later – that Pruitt might not have the personality to be a head coach. His criticism was prompted by clashes between Pruitt and former Georgia coach Mark Richt when Pruitt was the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator.
“I don’t think he’s the right guy to kind of be the CEO of a corporation,” Murray said. “He’s really good managing just a defense and being a defensive coordinator. He needs to prove to me that he can handle the whole ship. For right now, I don’t think he can.”
Pruitt said he respected Murray but fired back:
“I look at it like this,” Pruitt said. “Fifteen years ago I was a kindergarten teacher and today I’m the head coach at Tennessee. So you probably don’t make that ascension unless you know how to treat people.”
New faces in new places
Dan Mullen changed shoe companies (oh, and schools). But wearing a pair of custom-made Jordan IV sneakers so new they still had the tags, he displayed the confidence we’ve grown to expect. At Florida, he probably has more reason for “swag,” as he calls it – although maybe not this season.
Mullen, who jumped to Florida from Mississippi State last November, was among six new faces representing new schools for the first time at SEC media days. Ole Miss’ Matt Luke had the interim tag removed. And four others are new either to the league (Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher, Mississippi State’s Joe Moorhead and Arkansas’ Chad Morris) or to head-coaching (Tennessee’s Jeremy Pruitt.
It’s all part of the league’s relentless churn: As Alabama has won five national championships in Nick Saban’s 11 seasons, there have been 27 coaching changes.
Along with the move of the entire event to Atlanta from Hoover, Ala., the arrival of all the new coaches made for a little less familiarity. Except, of course, for all of those familiar themes (everybody had a great offseason, the new guys are changing the program’s culture, etc.) and predictable questions – like this one posed to Moorhead, who’s from Pittsburgh and has never coached in, ahem, the South.
“Have you had a ‘welcome to the South’ moment yet?”
Moorhead chuckled and then mentioned being “smacked in the face” by humidity – “and everything being wrapped in bacon.”
Quotes from around the ACC
On inviting 14 staff members from Brigham Young to accompany him to Virginia two years ago, coach Bronco Mendenhall said, “We basically did Lewis and Clark backwards and came across the country.”
On how the Florida State locker room responded to first-year coach Willie Taggart his staff, Taggart said, “I thought I was going to come here and have a bunch of turds, and we don't.”
Clemson defensive end Clelin Ferrell nailed the general tenor of all media days, not just the ACC, when he said of the assembled media corps, “A lot of the questions are repetitive. Just saying.”
And the worst – or weirdest, at least – quote of ACC media days belongs to UNC coach Larry Fedora, of course.
“A few years back I had an opportunity to ask a three-star general, I had a question for him,” Fedora said. "I said, ‘what is it that makes our country, our military superior to every other military in the world?’
“He said, ‘That’s easy. We’re the only football-playing nation in the world. Most of the troops have grown up playing the game at some point in their life at some level. The lessons that they learned from that game is what makes us who we are.'”
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