Live Updates From Day 2 of 2021 SEC Media Days

The latest from Tuesday's interview sessions, which feature Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Ole Miss

Author:
Christopher Walsh
Publish date:
Jul 20, 2021 1:09 AM EDT

Day 2 of the 2021 SEC Media Days as arrived, and already one of the early major talking points is regarding SEC commissioner Greg Sankey stating that six of the league's 14 football teams have reached the 80 percent vaccinated threshold.

"That number needs to grow and needs to grow rapidly," Sankey said.

This isn't just a reaction to Michael Irvin saying if you’re unvaccinated that means you don’t want to win badly enough, or that the SEC policy is in place that teams 85 percent vaccinated are not required to test regularly or wear masks inside school facilities.

This will be the rallying call for coaches to fans as well.

"Let me be clear to our fans, to our coaches, to our staff members, and to our student-athletes: COVID-19 vaccines are widely available. They're proven to be highly effective. And when people are fully vaccinated, we all have the ability to avoid serious health risks, reduce the virus' spread, and maximize out chances of returning to a normal college football experience, and a normal life.

"With six weeks to go before kickoff, now is the tim to seek full vaccination."

For the 12 states that are under 50 percent of vaccinations for people 18-and-older, eight are in the SEC footprint: Georgia, South Carolina, Arkansas, Tennessee, Missouri Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Florida, Missouri and Arkansas are all considered hot spots as well.

Check out our live Day 2 thread on the BamaCentral forums.

Georgia: Kirby Smart

• Kirby might be filabustering . He's been taking for about 10 minutes without saying much about this season yet. Finally brings up an issue: NIL. We're excited for the athletes, who have a new opportunity. We don't think it's going to change much about college football, but you're putting on even tougher time demands on them.

• “Don’t be thirsty,” was the message from rapper Quavo texted Smart to tell players when considering NIL deals. Have some patience. Later added that NIL doesn't seem to have changed recruiting yet, but urged national legislation.

• Expectations: Success comes to those who are too busy looking for it. -- Henry David Thoreau

• Team's vaccination rate is over 85 percent. First coach to say his team is one of six SEC teams over 80. Said his vaccinated players stood up and told the rest of the team why they did it.

• Where do you need to get better? Everywhere.

• Arik Gilbert is also expected to be academically eligible to play this fall.

• Gene Chizik: No surprises, calls Smart a confident coach. Knows he has a good team.

• JT Daniels on Bryce Young: “He’s a stud ... I expect a lot of success from Bryce." Young replaced Daniels at Mater Dei High School in California.

• Jordan Davis at the podium. Let's just say that it looks a lot smaller all of a sudden.

• Kirby on ESPN said transfer portal will only separate the haves and the have nots even more.

Tennessee: Josh Heupel

• The last time I saw Heupel was at a Green Bay Packers practice (he wasn't on the roster for long). He's gained a little weight since then.

• The coach isn't saying a lot in terms of substance. Wants to play fast and physical. Guys added in transfer portal will have a chance to play. He mentioned the Tennessee "brand" numerous times.

• The Alabama game is huge. You come to Tennessee to play in games like this. Heupel then shifts into one day, one game at a time talk.

• The contrast between Georgia and Tennessee was about as extreme as you can get at media days. The Volunteers are in for a long season.

BTW, just saw this:

Kentucky: Mark Stoops

• Hard to believe he's in his ninth year. Mentions all the coaches who have come and gone. That would be everyone except Nick Saban, the dean of SEC coaches.

• This year's mantra for the Wildcats: "For The Team." It's what John Schlarman said when asked why he continued to coach through the horrible side effects of his cancer treatment last year.

• Wildcats have not yet made the 85-percent vaccination threshold. "We have a ways to go, but we believe it's attainable."

On Ole Miss transfer LB Jacquez Jones: "He's a player with experience and leadership. We needed that at that position, and we're excited to have him."

• On the 10-team SEC schedule, he's not a fan. "I wonder if anyone watched last year. Quite a few teams struggled."

• Stoops gets a Bob Holt questions (legendary Arkansas reporter who always asks a lot of questions at media days). The coach says he missed him. "It's good to see you." The off-mic response was Bob saying he asks every coach a question to grow his brand.

• TE Keaton Upshaw could miss entire season after summer workouts injury.

• Stoops says one of his goals when he came to Kentucky was to take the program to national prominence "People laughed at me. We're not there yet, but we're on our way."

• Stoops said former Auburn quarterback Joey Gatewood had a good spring. Liked his accuracy throwing downfield.Hasn't won the starting job yet, though.

• On LSU transfer left tackle Dare Rosenthal: "Adding Dare greatly helps our team. Has SEC experience, played at one of our premier programs. I'm excited to have him."

• Stoops used the word "balanced" a lot when talking about the offense. He's basically saying they have to pass the ball better.

Ole Miss: Lane Kiffin

This ought to be interesting. He was when with Tennessee. Greg Sankey mentions during introduction that Kiffin is "active on Twitter." Kiffin immediately notes that Sankey robbed his son Knox's college fund by fining Kiffin last year.

• Lane has lost some weight. He said in another room 30 pounds. "I stopped eating and I'm going to start again when we play good defense."

• Kiffin has a fun interaction on his All-SEC ballot 12 years ago when someone didn't vote for Tim Tebow. He still swears it wasn't him.

• On his pick for All-SEC quarterback: "I would say our own quarterback Matt"

• On almost beating Alabama: “We were close. Played really well on on side of the ball. But that doesn’t matter now. The year before we lost 66-3 or something like that."

• Saban just finds a way, and it always begins with recruiting. When he gets the best players, it's enough of a challenge before you even get into how good he is as a coach.

• Kiffin on Twitter: "It started for recruiting. There used to be a rule, you couldn’t text a kid or his parents, so you could direct message on Twitter. It took off from there. I enjoy the fan part. It’s comical how people react. It allows me to be a normal person on there." ... Normal?

• Kiffin asked if he has some tracks saved for Alabama this year. Mentioned that they pretty much used of them during last year's game that set the record with 110 combined points. Repeats that Saban's done it better and longer than anyone.

• “It just means more,” Kiffin said of the games with Alabama.

• Kiffin told about Saban's comment today about Bryce Young already getting close to a million. Says he's blown away. Was visibly stunned. "That number just blew me away. You didn't prepare me for that. That's amazing. A million dollars and hasn't started a game yet? Wow. I don't even know what to respond to that."

• A few questions later Kiffin stops and says that he's still reeling about Young and a million dollars. "He doesn't need to play against us."

•Telling line from Kiffin: Coaches really can't be upset with players leaving to make more money elsewhere when the coaches would do that themselves.