Performances at SEC Media Day Monday Went in Razorbacks' Favor

Missouri, Texas A&M handed Sam Pittman's staff needed gift with Brian Kelly giving up least to Hogs

Author:
Kent Smith
Publish date:
Jul 18, 2023 9:44 AM EDT

In this story:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – When Arkansas fans watch SEC media days, they are looking for two things: 1) Is there any reason to believe recruits will see something that will turn them off, thus making it more likely the Razorbacks can again an edge? 2) Is there something there to give fans reason to believe that Arkansas will have an advantage on the field?

With that in mind, let's break down how Day 1 went for the coaches who took the podium.

Eli Drinkwitz

Arkansas and Missouri often find themselves competing for the handful of elite players who come out of the Show Me State. What went down Monday is reason for hope among the Razorback fan base as it pertains to the Tigers.

For whatever reason, there was an anxiety and fear in Eli Drinkwitz throughout the morning all the way through to his speech and interview with Paul Finebaum afterward. He was open about simply wanting to survive the day. Drinkwitz said he spent the previous 36 hours practicing how to get through the event without ending up as a trend on Twitter.

Often, that meant simply refusing to answer questions. Even questions that seemed tailor made for no one in the conference except Drinkwitz were avoided. The one strength he has is his nerd super power. The idea of nerd isn't what it was back in the '80s. It's fully accepted and even respected now. So, when a question about how Drinkwitz sees AI being used in college football came at him, he should have lit up. This was his time to shine. It was a moment to turn what some coaches use as a weakness against him into a strength. Had Drinkwitz let his nerd flag fly on this one, he would have caught the attention of recruits.

A solid, creative analytical answer as to how he intends to use artificial intelligence as a means to catch up and overtake guys like Nick Saban and Kirby Smart would have set him apart in a good way. Recruits who might not normally have visited would have come by to see how he intends to use it. AI is a major part of the current crop of recruits' lives. They use it and see how powerful of a tool it is. Instead, Drinkwitz coldly brushed his biggest opportunity to make waves in a positive way aside.

However, the tactic that was borderline offensive to the media members in attendance, many of whom had to spend their own money to attend the event, had to be Drinkwitz's effort to simply run the clock out on them. His opening statement was basically a reading of the entire roster complete with as many individual statistics as possible. When he finished, the Missouri coach openly said he intended to use up all of his appearance time to avoid being asked questions. It was disrespectful.

Moreover, it showed players who take part in a game that is built on aggression, always being on the attack, that Drinkwitz may not have a mentality that reflects the game. Instead of facing the challenge, it projected a run and hide philosophy that did nothing to make players believe Missouri will keep the foot on the gas with a lead. Instead, it breathed an air of hand the ball off three times and punt, hoping to cling to the lead while running out the clock. Some teams go out and win the game. Others happen to finish with more points at the end of the game. The first wins championships. The second sees 7-6 as a good season and doesn't draw elite athletes with killer instincts.

When it comes to how the Missouri program was presented during its valuable time on Monday, it was Arkansas that came away the winner. The Razorbacks get to tell any recruits they might be battling Missouri to land that Arkansas isn't a run and hide program like the Tigers were shown to be in Nashville.

Jimbo Fisher

Watching Fisher at SEC media days was unsettling. The Texas A&M coach is known for talking quickly, but there's always a strong assuredness under those words. However, on Monday, that was not the Jimbo Fisher that we got.

Instead, in his place was a disheveled mess of a man void of the brash confidence that allowed him to galvanize a cult-like Aggies fan base solidly behind him last summer by calling out Nick Saban. Something appears to have broken in Fisher over the past year. His session felt chaotic from beginning to end and at any point it seemed the pressure of the moment might be too much. At all times Fisher's demeanor gave off the vibe that he might totally snap at any second.

So many answers added to an air of indecisiveness. Fisher told everyone he is the coach, he is the man in charge. Yet, everything being projected conveyed the exact opposite. Gone was the man who could make a quick decision with a confidence that would allow no one to question it. In his place was a man who lacks conviction in his words, especially when it comes to all things Bobby Petrino. If that's the man who is going to be behind closed doors all season, it won't take long for Petrino to turn Fisher into a doormat, running roughshod over the A&M coach while taking control behind the scenes.

The whole performance from beginning to end was a direct reflection of how the Aggies looked last year. Fisher mentioned how desperately Texas A&M needs its players to do the leading this year. That might be the only thing that saves the season in College Station because Fisher looked like someone teams like Arkansas and Texas can point toward as a reason to not consider Texas A&M. Both programs, along with LSU, come away as the biggest winner from Fisher's time at media days.

Brian Kelly

Only one coach came away with a win on Monday and it was clearly Kelly. The LSU coach projected a steady demeanor with a calming confidence. At no point did he duck questions. He may have been cautious with how he answered anything that might be political in nature, but he faced all questions head on.

Perhaps the strongest point to his session was how he handled the question about his recruiting accent. The second he dipped into a south Louisiana tone in his first appearance before LSU fans last year, SEC coaches began licking their chops. Kelly was someone who clearly wasn't going to relate with local players and their families and could be shown to be an out of his culture fake.

However, on the opposite end of a surprisingly successful season, here was Kelly turning a weakness into a strength. Instead of getting flustered or refusing to answer the question, he leaned into it. Kelly joked about having one accent for northern Louisiana, one for southern Louisiana, and a special accent specifically for Lake Charles. At least everyone thought he was joking. It's hard to be sure because sarcasm is not a strong suit of the Notre Dame transplant.

Either way, Kelly showed he can handle any moment. That made it possible to actually hear his message about how in the face of adversity following a blowout loss to Tennessee, players kept their trust in him and he honored it with a powerful stretch of unexpected success.

The whole thing was a win for LSU. There's no room here for Arkansas to gain any ground like there was with Texas A&M and Missouri. As a result, Day 1 goes to LSU by a mile, with Arkansas coming in second, while the Aggies and Tigers fall a distant third and fourth. If indications from Monday have any say, the Razorbacks are due for a couple of wins they didn't have last season.