SEC Talk

Day two of the media interrogation of SEC football coaches featured Alabama’s Nick Saban, Georgia’s Mark Richt, Ole Miss’ Houston Nutt, and Florida’s Urban Meyer.

Oh, and just to get the elephant out of the room before we start, no coach has owned up to not voting Tim Tebow first team All-SEC. And Tebow, himself, said today that he doesn’t know… and that it doesn’t matter.

ALABAMA: Nick Saban made what is to me, the best and most true statement in college sports today. He was commenting on the media getting ready to pick their pre-season rankings.  “…it’s very difficult to predict what a bunch of adolescents are going to do, and we have over a hundred of ‘em on our team.” So he focuses on things he can control…. togetherness, work ethic, and responsibility.  Saban strongly believes that those things will, in the end, help his team develop into the best they can be. Greg McElroy will be starting under center this year, and Saban is happy with his development and leadership skills, but the O line is a big concern. No good having a good QB if he doesn’t have the time to get the ball off! On a lighter note, Saban has a small part in Blind Side, the Michael Oher story, which stars Sandra Bullock and Tim McGraw. He said the team has voted NOT to see the movie, since they don’t want to support any venture into the movie business!

GEORGIA: Mark Richt is entering his ninth season with the Bulldogs, the longest tenure of any current SEC coach at one school. His take on this season? Basically, this group of Dawgs better man up. Last year he felt the team relied so much on Knowshon Moreno, they expected the guy to carry the team on his shoulders. This year, no Moreno. Time to get with the program. Richt is high on his QB, Joe Cox, says he is a team leader in the eyes of his teammates, despite only starting one game in his career, and that was a couple of years ago.  Richt was evasive when asked if he would prefer that the UGA-Florida game be moved from a neutral (yeah, right) site in Jacksonville to a home and home scenario, saying he just wants to concentrate on winning the game. Richt addressed the brutal non-conference schedule the Dawgs have this year, starting with facing an Oklahoma State team predicted to be in the top 10, as the opening game in the Cowboys new stadium, saying that they may have a little bit more on their plate than they anticipated.

OLE MISS: Houston Nutt is in his second season at Mississippi with a 600 pound problem… or rather, the lack of 600 pounds with the departure of Michael Orr and Peria Jerry, both first team All-Americans. But he’s got a QB that will challenge Tebow for All-SEC honors in Jevan Snead, whom some see as the top pure QB in the conference.  Nutt also talked about the season changing win at Florida last season. Believe it or not, it had been 727 days since the Rebs had won an SEC game, and they were coming off a loss to Vandy. Yet they pulled the stunner, and the players started buying into the system that Nutt was putting in place. And don’t forget, Nutt has owned LSU the last couple of years.  It will be different this season, with Ole Miss becoming one of the hunted, not the hunter.

FLORIDA: Urban Meyer’s Gators have won two of the last three BCS titles, and have Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow back for his senior season. The depth at virtually every position is staggering. So how does he keep them all happy? By promoting competition within the ranks, along with a mentality of team first. Meyer also addressed whether Tebow will be under center more this year, with the NFL looming. His response was spot on… if it helps the team. He said bottom line, if you want Tebow to be under center, teach him and he’ll do it better than anyone. But at UF, it’s about winning the game, reaching goals as a team. That was personified by UF’s SEC title game win over Bama last year, when Florida roared back to take the game, arguably on the shoulders of Tebow. Oh, and here’s the irony. When asked where he would have played, had it not been Florida, Tebow’s reply was fast… Alabama, for (former head coach) Mike Shula.

Think about that scenario for a minute. Tebow at Bama, Shula probably still the head coach, no clue where Saban would have been.

Hmmm.