Notes: Texas brings respect to its first season in the SEC
DALLAS — On Tuesday, it was Oklahoma making its Southeastern Conference Media Days at the Omni Hotel in Downtown Dallas.
A day later, it was Texas taking the Sooners’ place on the third floor, making its rotations and previewing the 2024 season.
“As far as our transition into the Southeastern Conference, I think the key word is respect,” Texas coach Steve Sarkisian said. “We have a ton of respect for this conference. We have a ton of respect for the teams, the coaches, the players and the fans. This is the elite conference in college football, and we're fortunate enough to be part of it.
“We won't do anything without having a level of respect of who we play, where we're playing them, the types of players that they have, the coaching that they have, and I think on the flipside of that, we have to go earn their respect. We're not going to get anything in this deal. Nothing is going to be free. We're going to have to go earn the respect of our opponents, the opposing coaches, the opposing fans, and that's going to be kind of on the forefront of what we do.
“But the beauty of this conference is really the pageantry. I've been fortunate enough to have spent three years in the Southeastern Conference. The pageantry of the games, the stadiums that you get to play against, the iconic programs, that's the beauty of the Southeastern Conference. The fact that we get to be part of it, now it's finally here, is pretty exciting. It's just a great opportunity.”
Manning waiting his turn: Redshirt freshman Arch Manning will be the Longhorns’ backup quarterback again in 2024. That led to completely unfounded rumors that the grandson of Archie Manning would hit the transfer portal.
Sarkisian said the current situation was the plan all along.
“We've been fortunate to coach some pretty good quarterbacks,” Sarkisian said. “We’ve been fortunate to do it for some decades now. We've been fortunate to have some really good quarterback rooms, and I think the Manning family is pretty well aware of that.
“I think they trained Arch to try to put himself in the best position to try to play in the best conference in America and then ultimately put himself in the best position to further his career playing in the National Football League.
“With that, I think Arch's development has been important to the family, and he's reaping the benefit of those things. It hasn't been very difficult at all. I think it's been pretty simple for him.”
Ewers not hung up on Heisman: Manning will be backing up Quin Ewers this fall. Ewers has drawn serious preseason hype as a leading Heisman Trophy candidate. That is not what Ewers is focused on, Sarkisian said.
“I think Quinn is probably like the coolest guy in the room,” Sarkisian said. “He doesn't get caught up in what a Heisman -- if you asked him, would he even know? He's just not caught up in that stuff. When Quinn gets free time, he's going to go hunt or he's going to go fish. When he's here, he's going to work, and he's just working on his craft. He's being with his teammates.
“Even in game, when you think about Quinn, when he shows those moments of emotion on a great throw, it's almost like shocking to people because even when the bad moments occur, he stays so calm and so cool in the moment that with the hype, I just don't think we have to worry too much about that. He's more focused on trying to win a championship, playing the best football he can play, being the best leader, the best teammate he can be. That's probably more important to him than what award might be down the road because some people are saying he might win it. …There’s so much football to go play, I don't think he's worried about it at all.”
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Filling big shoes: Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer made his Media Days debut Wednesday, with his predecessor, legendary former Alabama coach Nick Saban, in the room working as an ESPN analyst.
Replacing Saban, of course, is a daunting assignment, but it’s not something DeBoer is really focused on.
“You know, I get it,” DeBoer said. “I totally get it. I understand there's only one Coach Saban. There will only ever be one Coach Saban. This program is special, and I guess I just take it as a great honor to be the one that gets to do everything we can to carry on the great tradition.
“So much blood, sweat and tears, whether it's the players and the alumni that have been in this program or coaches, and obviously referring to Coach Saban, so much is put into this place. We all have alma maters. We all have places that we have great pride in, and you always want that to be home. We always want to make those people proud of their alma mater and the work that's been put in to set this program up for success.
“But for me personally, it was just more about just understanding that coaching football is coaching football to some aspect, and you've got to try to simplify it down, as difficult and as complicated as you can make it. I've done this for enough years and seen what good culture looks like and maybe even what a culture that needs to improve on looks like, and it's been just an awesome blessing to be a part of this program, to continue to have that expectation on us.”
DeBoer said he’d rather have the expectations of titles than a different attitude.
“The alternative is to be at places where there aren't expectations,” DeBoer said. “At some point there's been places where maybe a little bit of that has happened throughout my career, and this is a great place to be. I'm very blessed, very honored, and certainly acknowledge what you said, but we're just going to focus on this team and being the best we can be and continue to build on the great tradition of Alabama football.”
Learning from a close call: Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe said Wednesday his team and its new coach already had something in common when DeBoer arrived in Tuscaloosa in January.
The Tide lost to Michigan in overtime in the national semifinals before the Wolverines beat DeBoer’s Washington team in the national title game.
“There are a lot of things that you can reflect on from past seasons and number one for us was last year,” Milroe said. "We were blessed and fortunate to be in the college playoffs, one game away. What burn do you need more than being that close to the championship and so for us, we're passionate about each other and also passionate about achieving short-term goals and long-term goals in this process and we can all reflect from it. We shared the same experience from Coach DeBoer with failing to achieve a national championship so now it's about refocusing and focusing on our spring 2024 football season.
“I think it's the same, being the best version of myself, being the best quarterback in the country, learning, growing as a player, seeking all information from my coaching staff, being a student of the game. I think it's all about going 1-0, and the grind doesn't stop. That cliche term, the grind and the stop. Each and every day that you have the opportunity to play the game of football, seize it. Try to do what's best for the football team in a sense. So I say, you know, for me, and my development, it's all about getting better and leaning on my brothers because it's going to be a chance where we play a game one and it's all about attacking the task at hand which is being the best version of myself, entering the building and having a rep each and every day that I have on the practice field.”
Lebby facing daunting task at MSU: Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby said Wednesday he’s ready for his debut with the Bulldogs, despite obvious challenges on tap due to roster deficiencies.
“The climate of college football, where we're at, the portal cycle that ended in December was a huge part for us having a chance to have success Year 1,” Lebby said. “We’re talking about our starting quarterback, three of the five starting O-linemen, two receivers, starting running back, and on the defensive side we'll have three starters from the portal, as well.
“Being able to get off the ground was a huge part of it. That's not who we want to be. We're going to create edge, and we're going to be able to sustain as a program because we've got great proximity to players. We're going to be a developmental program. We've got great junior colleges inside our state which is advantage us. So those are things, as we move forward, it will look a little bit different, but for year one, we've got guys that will go out there week one that have played a lot of ball, just not a lot of ball at Davis Wade.”
Lebby on Kiffin: Lebby was asked about Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin’s social media barbs. The former Ole Miss offensive coordinator said he has “a ton of respect for Lane and what he's done, the energy he's created. I'm not going to talk a ton about the social presence. I'll let him continue to tend to that game.
“But again, my time there created an experience for me that gives me the opportunity to hopefully be able to create advantage, and that's what it's all about for Mississippi State.”
Shapen motivated by disrespect: Mississippi State quarterback Blake Shapen said Wednesday he and his new teammates — Shapen transferred from Baylor — are motivated by being mostly predicted to finish near the bottom of the SEC.
“I think we all use that as fuel,” Shapen said. “We’re looked at -- there is not a lot of expectations at the end of the day for us. So I feel like that fuels us in a way that makes us want to go out there and prove a lot of people wrong, and I'm excited. We're going to use that as fuel for sure.”
Kiffins in Napier’s thoughts: Florida coach Billy Napier opened his remarks Wednesday with a tribute to legendary NFL defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin, Lane Kiffin’s father. Monte Kiffin died last Thursday at the age of 84.
“I worked with Lane for three years at the University of Alabama, and I would tell you Lane coaches because of his dad and what he observed growing up,” Napier said. “I certainly chose the profession because of my dad. I lost my dad seven years ago to ALS. Lane and I have been communicating throughout the week. I texted him earlier in the week. I said, I've been through this before, and I told him, I said, coaching is a profession where you have an opportunity to make an impact on people and leave a legacy, and his dad did just that. He made an impact because of how he treated people, the approach that he took to coaching, the way he made people feel.
“The impact isn't linear in coaching. It's exponential. The most important part here: Exponential impact. This is third generation, fourth generation impact, and that comes with the blessing and the opportunity of being in this profession that we call coaching. I was reading a quote this week, and I told Lane this last night when I talked to him. Inheritance is what you leave for someone. Legacy is what you leave in someone. Few did it better than Monte Kiffin. Our thoughts and prayers are with Lane and the Kiffin family as they celebrate his life this weekend in Tampa.”
Gators facing daunting schedule: Florida faces Miami and Texas A&M in the opening three weeks of the season. Trips to Mississippi State and Tennessee bracket a home game versus UCF. November features the annual game versus Georgia in Jacksonville, at Texas, home against LSU and Ole Miss and at Florida State.
“I think one of the things I've learned in our profession is you've got to break things up into short periods of time for your players,” Napier said. “If we can execute consistently and get consumed with the work and how we prepare, how we train -- for example, the next 10 days are extremely important, and we'll turn the page for training camp.
“Look, the great thing about our schedule, we don't have to take this on as individuals. We get to do this as a team. I believe that the thing that I've learned and observed in this league, you have to have the ability to self-discipline to prepare the same way each week, regardless of the outcome. Ignore the noise, don't believe the hype, erase the board, start over, and every person in that building has got to prepare the same way.
“So we're going to do that. We're going to focus on the work that's ahead. Then we'll look up at the end of the season and we'll see what that earns.”
Napier focused on one game at a time: Napier is under fire in Gainesville, but he said he’s confident this Florida team will perform well.
“I think a little bit of that is, look, we've got a different team,” Napier said. “I think we have 35 new players. Every team in our league, about 25 to 30 percent of their roster is new. So I think some of these teams that we play aren't the same teams that they had last year, and we certainly are not the same team that we had last year.
“College football, more than any time in our game, has become one year at a time. I think you start a process in January, you build momentum to the fall, and you do the best you can.
“I think ultimately, again, it goes back to what I mentioned earlier, as cliche as it sounds, it's literally one week at a time, learning how to have the self-discipline to prepare, the same level of focus, same detail, same urgency, and get into position to where you can execute and do your job for the team, and I've got confidence in our team because I've been observing the work.”