Almost time to be reminded of SEC football's reach and embrace it I PLUS: Coaches with the most to prove

Lost somewhere between the spread out chairs in the ballrooms of a stuffy, buttoned up hotel crowd full of media obligations and nearly endless talk of college football’s is a charm that makes the event worthwhile every time it comes around.

For the first time of the calendar year, there’s pressure on each of the SEC’s head guys to deliver. For the first time, there’s an onslaught of football to discuss.

Perhaps as each coach steps to the podium in Atlanta, their vision and optimism will be tested more than their team’s practical ability come late August, but it’s something. It’s football. Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer and Auburn coach Hugh Freeze will have to find a way to assure their uneasy fanbases that everything is okay. Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea will have to put his marketing hat–and suit, which is a rare sight these days–on as he tries to sway the country to consider his program’s upward trajectory after a season in which it added five wins relative to the season prior.

Time for each of their respective fanbases to cling to each of their words throughout the day and to hold them to the proverbial standards that they’ve set heading into the event. Most of what’s said will be forgotten by the first day of each team’s respective fall camp press conferences, but for now it matters. Like, a lot.

That’s why football in this league is different. That’s why this event is different. Everyone will be accounted for and heard from. Everyone will be hyper analyzed. SEC football can’t be any different.

Coaches with the most to articulate

Mark Stoops, Kentucky

Stoops’ program is regarded by some as a “sinking ship” in the fall out of a 4-8 season and highly-regarded assistant Vince Marrow, but he appears to have some level of confidence in his program and its direction heading into 2025.

Kentucky’s fanbase doesn’t appear to be easily convinced, though.

Despite entering his 13th season at the helm, Stoops still has plenty of vision and confidence to sell to skeptics that believe that his program needs a new injection of life.

Hugh Freeze, Auburn

The standard is the standard for Freeze’s program and his team’s 2-6 conference record won’t help as he tries to prove that he’s the guy that can meet it.

Freeze has a new quarterback in Oklahoma transfer Jackson Arnold, which he appears to believe can give his program the consistently serviceable quarterback play that it was missing in 2024.

It isn’t all doom and gloom for Freeze’s program, but it’s up to him to confidently articulate that.

Jeff Lebby, Mississippi State

Lebby receives the benefit of the doubt for a 2-10 season in year one of his tenure from some, but it’s time for better in Starkville.

Time for Mississippi State’s head guy to get real on a national level about the expectations around his program and where his program realistically is in its quest to meet them. Time for him to articulate a vision that his fanbase can get behind heading into year two.

It’s not the end all, be all. But that would be a start.

Kalen DeBoer, Alabama

DeBoer and Alabama were on the verge of a College Football Playoff berth in 2024, but just being on the verge isn’t good enough for his program’s hard to please fanbase.

It’s not as if DeBoer had an abysmal year one in Tuscaloosa, but his program was ultimately doomed as a result of losing two games that it should’ve won. He’s also not Nick Saban.

Perhaps DeBoer can’t prove much in Atlanta, but everything he says will be emphasized. He needs a good showing on the podium.