HOOVER, Ala. — SEC Media Days featured the first full day with four coaches on the stage on Tuesday. And it didn’t disappoint.
Thanks, Lane Kiffin.
Here are three winners and losers from Day 2, which included Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ole Miss players and coaches.
Winners
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin
Are you not entertained? Whether he was trying to go for laughs or not, Kiffin succeeded. In his return to SEC Media Days for the first time since he was the coach at Tennessee, Kiffin brought out plenty of laughter from those in the main ballroom. He talked about bringing his SEC ballot to media days years ago to show he wasn’t the guy who left Tim Tebow off the preseason team. (He was looking at you, Urban Meyer.) Then the Ole Miss coach was in awe, and returned to that awe in another question, when he learned that Alabama quarterback Bryce Young is closing in on $1 million dollars, thanks to NIL. Overall, Kiffin made his presence felt in his return to Hoover.
Georgia coach Kirby Smart
He won’t win the award for most humble to step on the SEC Media Days stage, but he scored quite a few points. He quoted Henry David Thoreau, he mentioned that he texts with Quavo (nice flex), and Smart offered a sensible approach to name, image and likeness. He doesn’t think it’s going to change college football substantially but athletes need guidance to wade through it all.
Star power
We spotted the rare creature that is the 2021 SEC Media Days quarterback not once but twice Tuesday. Georgia’s JT Daniels and Ole Miss’ Matt Corral spoke on the stage in an event that overall lacks star power this season with three quarterbacks overall. Auburn’s Bo Nix will make an appearance Thursday. Hope you could soak Tuesday up, quarterback fans.
Losers
Players speaking on stage
Because of COVID-19, the SEC changed up the setup this year, putting players on the main stage rather than in breakouts. With the SEC Network broadcast in the back of the same room, many times the voices talking about these players on television have been louder than the players themselves.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel
The new Tennessee coach wasn’t bad in his debut in front of the conference media, but he also wasn’t great and didn’t wow. If there are power rankings of new SEC coaches talking at 2021 SEC Media Days, Shane Beamer is No. 1 and Heupel is not. They’re the only two new coaches who have spoken so far, though, not counting Kiffin. Lucky for Heupel, those power rankings don’t matter. He just didn’t impress as much as another first-year head coach, a direct comparison from this week.
Oklahoma Sooners
Before Heupel took the stage, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey gave an introduction like he did for all coaches. But Sankey made a mistake when he said Heupel was the starting quarterback at the University of Kentucky and the 2000 Heisman Trophy runner-up. The second part was correct, but not the first part. Heupel played for Oklahoma, where he won a national championship. But apparently that didn’t happen. Sorry, Sooners. You’re apparently are down a national championship. But in all seriousness, Sankey has made plenty of introductions and spoken many facts about coaches this week. He’s allowed a mistake or two. This one just happened to be at the expense of a Big 12 school to earn the final losers spot at SEC Media Days for the second day.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Lane Kiffin, Oklahoma Sooners are SEC Media Days winners, losers Day 2