7-19-24 McElroy & Cubelic in the Morning Hour 3: SEC Media Days Bonus Material -SEC Media Days Bonus Material - Kirby Smart, Mark Stoops, Shane Beamer, Jaxson Dart & more
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Two hours down, one more to go here on Jock's 94.5. I'm John Saber. This is McElroy in Kublik in the morning. Remember, you can text in to the show today, 205-834-9450. I'm asking for your help because I'm trying to figure out what to call today because it

In just a little bit, you're going to hear from Kirby Smart, Mark Stoops, and Shane Beamer. I know we carry most of them out the podium, but my guys were able to sit down and have face-to-face one-on-one time with those coaches, but we didn't have time to air that during the last couple of days because so much, everything else was going on in SEC Media Days that we decided to make today a chance where you can hear everything that we were able to share

but weren't able to air for you. So that's today's show, but I don't know what to call it. Again, I'm trying to figure out what to do. That's why I'm asking you to text it in, 205-834-9450. One texter from the 214 says, Today's show should be behind the SEC scenes. I kind of dig that. That's a smart one. Another texter from 205 says, SEC Media Day is extra.

Another one from the 334 says, technically not the SEC Media Days. That works, even though the interviews were still done at SEC Media Days. No one's there right now. I believe the last, Paul had his tradition, the last media member there at SEC Media Days was a new person from the College Station newspaper, which for those of you young people, newspaper, don't know what that is. Well, that's a conversation for another day, but

Let's get back to the lecture at hand. As promised, you're going to hear from a couple of SEC coaches that you may have heard from earlier in the week, but you didn't hear my guys with them. One of them is Kirby Smart. We were able to carve out nearly six minutes with the Georgia head coach. And let's hear what the boys had to say with a two-time national champion. Media Days, Dallas, New Frontier, but you've recruited this part of the country, haven't you? So you do some recruiting trips while you're here, man?

No, I can't recruit right now, so stay out of that world. Dead period for us, thank God. We do enough recruiting in June and May and things, but there are certainly a lot of great players out here, great high school footballers you know, and we do kind of use this as a home base. Yeah, I mean, we always have the debate, better high school football in Texas or better high school football in Alabama or Georgia, and I always feel now, especially with where we've gone, Georgia might take the cake per capita, but we still are pretty good in Texas and Alabama, though.

Yeah, they're all three strong. I would argue they're all really good. Per capita, you could say that Georgia's better. Maybe only Louisiana could be better per capita. But there's great programs in both. I think the high school football coaching is the best in those three states of anywhere in the country. Yeah, it's amazing. So talking about your team, you talked earlier. Look, it's a gauntlet. The schedule's brutal.

Nobody feels sorry for us. They just signed up for it. Mark Stoops says, ain't no crying from the yacht. He said, don't be crying from the yacht over there at Georgia. So I'm not crying about it. It's going to be tough. It's going to be hard. I mean, those three places to go play probably at night, I don't know that for sure, but three times on the road, four, including Kentucky. I mean, it's just brutal to go on the road in the SEC at night and play, and those four places are strong. But I look at it, though, and it's kind of like heavy as the head where it's crowned. And now with the 12-team playoff, look, we're not –

hey, you can have a couple losses. We're still good, boys. But now with the new format, it does kind of –

those bigger challenges like Clemson and non-conference and those three road games, and you still have a chance at the end. So when you're approaching it with your team, look, I know you're worried about what's in front of you, but how do you make sure that the guys don't lose too much faith in the event that you had a bad performance? Well, I think you show them examples of that. You show them the NFL model, which is the hottest team. I mean, I don't know how many times the Wild Card team's gone on to win it all, but that's what happens is the team that's playing best at the end of the year, they could have had some

Embarrassing losses. So you have to stay the course more now than you ever did. Yeah, it's really, really amazing. And you look now at the additions in Texas and Oklahoma. You're an SEC guy through and through. You said that 25 years, what, 30 years? You've been coaching for 30 years, by the way. Well, that was kind of my playing years. Oh, you're counting that. So 94 was what I counted. So I played in 94. So I've been involved in the SEC 25 of my 30 years. They're not all coaching years. That was when Luganville –

threw it over your head, didn't he? I don't know about that. I never got burnt by Luganville. I think Muschamp picked off Luganville. Muschamp got him. Yeah. And if Luganville played against Muschamp, it means he probably didn't play against me because I wasn't playing when Muschamp was playing. Muschamp's an old man. That's what it is. Looking at your roster this year, though, look, a lot of turnover. There always is.

you have great players at all three levels defensively, but you do lose some big presences in the back end and at the second level as well. So how do you make sure that the guys are ready to kind of take charge when that opportunity presents itself to be on the field?

Well, it's how we prepare. I mean, we've been preparing these guys that are backups for two years. You know, it ain't like when those other guys were starting, those other guys were taking reps too. And they got to play on a lot of games that were maybe we had a lead in. So I feel really good about the depth we have and the positions we have at secondary. But you never know until they get out there. I mean, it's one of the positions that's most volatile right now. Nick was talking about Alabama secondary, our secondary. That way kids get in the transfer portal really quick in the secondary. So what it forces you to do is have backups that you just signed.

We do get young in a hurry. Even you guys. Look, you are afforded the luxury of being able to bring in top guys. But if you notice this across the board, I've seen teams get ravaged by injuries, and then next thing you know, all the guys that are stepping in are freshmen. So is that the result of the portal? Is that the result of just constant movement? Why do we get so young in a hurry in the event in which we have some guys that are out? A lot to do with the portal. And you've got young kids coming in, and you're literally sometimes looking in the portal for backups, but the kids that are leaving, they are backups. So, you know...

I hate to use the analogy, but you're swapping spit. You're going, okay, you take mine, I take yours, and we just trade this, and the kid thinks it's going to be grass greener and he's going to be in the same boat. If he's not good enough to play there, then he's usually not good enough to play here. And you've got to have backups. I mean, if you don't have backups, you've got no chance.

Well, you've been lucky at quarterback to have backups for quite a while. No difference this year. You bring in quality depth behind Carson, but Carson is, I think, the best example in modern-day college football of just being patient. And two years at Georgia is better than four at most other places.

How will you use his example of taking your time and making decisions and the ultimate success that's now come with it? How would you use that as an example for your program moving forward? We show them. I mean, look, this guy was rewarded more handsomely than probably anybody in the country in terms of NIL, and he did it by staying here, not by –

holding people hostage or going in the portal. He just didn't do that route. And it paid off for him because he worked hard and he persevered. But his example will go on for a long time. We'll use it with others. Lastly, Coach, I remember talking to you last year this time. I don't remember if it was...

Well...

It'll be interesting to see. I think we've got, with ETM, we've got a weapon there. We think he's a really talented back. We've got some good wideouts. Hopefully we can be more explosive offensively, and we were pretty explosive last year. But if we protect the quarterback, we'll be really good because we don't need Carson getting hit. We don't need turnovers. And we've been really good at that the last three years, better than everybody in the country at not getting up sacks between Stetson's two years and Carson's. So that's important to us. And Bobo does a good job evolving the offense, and we'll see where that takes us.

It's going to be crazy to watch a hungry Georgia team this season because you thought they were hungry and motivated last year going for that three-peat and to basically just lose one game and not be in. Georgia is definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with. You heard Kirby Smart there mention Mark Stoops and the joke about him being on the yacht. How are you complaining while you're sitting on the yacht?

Let's hear from Mark Stoops because the guys were able to sit down with him a couple of days ago at SEC Media Days. I've seen your offense because I've watched it at Boise, what it's going to look like. But for fans that might not have a true understanding of it, what will be different than maybe what we've seen the last couple of years? And what are you most excited about with what comes with it? Yeah, I think, you know, you're going to see a lot of carryover, obviously. Football players are football players. How you dress them up, how you move them, what motions you have. Right.

the actions off of that. The presentation. The presentation changes. I think, but you're going to see a lot of things that carry over, some things that are new. I think the big thing that I'm excited about is the tempo. You know, not that we're trying to go ultra fast like some of these schools in the SEC that can snap it with 30 seconds on the play clock, but, you know, the last couple years I was a bit frustrated when it was constantly getting down to, you know, one second, two seconds, three seconds left on the play clock, and

That was for a variety of reasons. Nobody's to blame, but there's just that operation I didn't like. To me, certainly there were moments when that needed to improve. There could be games when you're down a couple scores. It's maybe not two-minute offense, but you need to get the tempo going. We struggled with that, and hopefully it'll get us in a rhythm and get us more plays. I feel like we have more playmakers, and with more plays, we could distribute the ball more.

There was a little issue with consistency with some of those playmakers a year ago. We know the talent's there. We've seen it. How do you get into where you're getting that out of them on a little bit more of a regular basis? I think, you know, growth. I mean, just maturity and growth. I mean, you know, two of the playmakers that we're talking about were true sophomores going to be true juniors. I think just playing and getting more experience and growing and, uh,

being more mature. It should happen organically, and they're working exceptionally hard. I think we have the type of offense that can get it to them. One thing I've said I love about your program is you can go more spread out, you can go faster, you can be different looking on offense, you can go different personnel defensively, but your blueprint...

Your foundation has been physicality, not backing down, welcoming a fistfight. That's just kind of who you are. With all the changes in college football with your team, coaching staff, personnel, how do you maintain that foundation? You're 100% right, Cole. And you know that. You've covered me for a long time. And you watch an awful lot of football, especially in this league. But you're 100% accurate. And that's a big part of the message today. That's a big part of the message to our team. Be who we are. Yeah.

Through the growth of the program, you go back 11 years. Eventually, we found the blueprint that I was looking for, that we got to it to some extent. And we did trip away from that. There's a lot of reasons that go into that without making an excuse. But there's change. There's turmoil. We've had offensive line coaches turn over. We had a coach...

unfortunately passed from cancer and just, you know, we've gone through some obstacles there. We've had a lot of turnover at the offensive coordinator position, but it's no excuse. Ultimately, we have to be who we are. I feel very good about that. I do have Coach Wilford back. He knows back from Bama, you know, and I like his mindset. I love the way he recruits. I like the physicality that he preaches and we have to start there on both sides of the line of scrimmage. We have to be who we are and then

create some explosive plays. You've got to love Mark Stoops, and I know he may not have had the most success in terms of wins, but he's a guy that's

Well, he's the winningest coach at Kentucky, so he's doing something right. But when you hear him talk like that, it's kind of hard not to pull for the guy. So I know a lot of people out there that kind of feel, well, he should be doing more. But it's also Kentucky football. I mean, come on. I don't want to say they got some slack, but where are your expectations for him? I know he's getting paid like some other coaches, but he has brought some prominence to that program. And when you hear him talk,

Like that, especially coming from that kind of pedigree. It's hard not to root for that guy. Speaking of a coach coming from a pedigree, you're going to hear from Shane Beamer in just a little bit, as well as Jackson Dart and...

Greg McElroy, he gave us his media day's takeaways. We're going to get all of that this hour before 10 o'clock, I promise, right here on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than...

A player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the jock deck or wherever you get your podcasts. 916, welcome back in. McElroy and Kublik in the morning on jocks 94.5. I'm John Saber here with you today wrapping up this final hour of, again, we're not quite sure what I wanted to call today. That's why I reached out and asked for your help.

Text in 205-834-9450. Earlier, you heard from Kirby Smart and Mark Stoops. We're going to get to Shane Beamer in just a minute. But these are previously unreleased interviews that we were able to get after we went off the air throughout SEC Media Days. But I don't quite know what to call today. It's not a best of because it's not something that you've heard before. It's all brand new to you.

So I was asking your help, the greatest listening audience out there, to text in what do you think I should call today's show. One texter texted and says we should call it SEC Media Days Aftershock. That's not bad. I've got to deal with that. Chris from Birmingham says the title today should be Fallout from SEC Media Days. That one's a little ominous.

especially as a guy who likes the Mission Impossible franchise, calling it Fallout. It made it seem like it's a bit scary, and no, it hasn't been scary. It's been fun. I want you all to enjoy what I'm putting out today. And so speaking of which, a guy that, while maybe some fans haven't enjoyed his coaching acumen on the field,

Take me through sort of the growth of Lenore Sellers this offseason.

He's come a long way. You know, he had some good moments for us in the 23 season. He did some great things. And really, since he's come back in January, he's very, very focused and driven to take the next step as a player. I was in the facility last night at about eight o'clock on Sunday, just came through there to get some stuff off my desk. And he was in the facility last night. So extremely hard working, has grown as a leader, grown as a quarterback and excited to see him continue to progress.

I know you don't mind people sleeping on certain parts of your team, and maybe because I had you a couple times late last year, but I feel like, especially collectively, your defensive line has a chance to be one of the better groups in the league.

How did they progress through spring, and how are you trying to build your defense around them for this year? I know I really like that group. We bring back our top four guys from last season, Nick Barrett, TJ Sanders, Boogie Huntley, Tonka Hemingway, and then we've added some transfers that have come in. Monkel Goodwin from Alabama, DeAndre Jules from Pittsburgh. They're athletic. They're disruptive. You did our games last season. Part of our issue last year was we got worn down on the defense defensively.

those guys had to play about every play and that's not going to be the case this year. We can roll through guys, roll guys through, keep them fresh. And, and, uh, those are some of the things I talked to Tonka and Boogie about last year was I'm going to get you some help, you know, where you don't have to play 50 plays a game. And, uh, that's what we've done. And, uh,

That's where it all starts up front on his own defense. How much does the experience you have in the secondary allow you to sort of, I guess, add to the defense or just try to be different in different ways? Yeah, we can continue to be multiple. We've got, you know, returners back there that have done different things, whether safety's playing nickel, nickel's playing corner, safety's playing corner.

Got a multiplicity back there and being gear four in this system with Clayton White, all of our DBs returning except for Marcellus Dial. They have a better understanding of the defense and how we're trying to do things and will help us continue to progress as a defense. Rocket Sanders comes in, tailback. You've had success with high-level tailbacks, low-level tailbacks, whoever you sort of plugged in. The O-line feels like it's going to be better.

you're going to be able to lean on this run game this year, you think? Yeah, I hope so. I think the quarterback position will help that. That brings an element. Both, both the quarterbacks we just talked about are 240 pound guys that bring an element that Spencer didn't. So that'll help. And then you bring in a guy like rocket Sanders, along with some other transfers that we're excited about, uh,

and bringing everyone back on the offensive line. We started two true freshmen on the offensive line last year. We brought in a talented group of freshmen. There's no question we're better on the offensive line. That's where it starts. But then the quarterback position and the running back position is going to make us better also. You mentioned quarterbacks. Robbie Ashford, is there a specific role for him? Is it just number two? Yeah, I mean, what I told Robbie is what I told you guys or the media publicly is just –

I said Lenore is the starter coming out of the spring. It's his job to continue to hang on to that. It's Robbie's job to continue to compete to try and be the starter. And we'll see how it all shakes out. But Robbie's going to have a role. No matter what happens in game one, Robbie's a guy that we can win football games with and confident that he's going to help us in a lot of ways this year. So it appears that South Carolina and Shane Beamer, they are set in terms of the quarterback position. Yeah.

He's got some big shoes to fill with Spencer Rattler. I know he may not have lived up to the hype that he had not only coming into the program, but especially at Oklahoma. But he was very, very productive last year. And even still, Rattler was a heck of a quarterback. And so being able to replace that kind of production, that's going to be difficult for the Gamecocks of South Carolina. Well, speaking of quarterbacks, one that is getting a little bit of Heisman love and his team is –

Probably right now, most people aren't predicting them to win the SEC, but they kind of expect them to be

Fighting for a playoff spot, if not almost really kind of guaranteeing them one, and that's the Ole Miss Rebels. After one of their, if not maybe the most successful season, at least under Lane Kiffin, for them including that statement bowl game win, now they kind of set the standard. Hey, this is what we're going to do. This is the Ole Miss that we are.

And the expectations are there, so will they be able to live up to it? Let's hear what their quarterback, Jackson Dart, had to say here on McIlroy and Kublik in the morning. I think one thing that people are interested in is you've been here for a while now. You've been in the system, but continuing to add pieces. How do you continue to make sure that all that comes together and that continuity sort of comes together?

Yeah, I think I'm very lucky this year being able to have a lot of the guys come back, especially the big contributors from last year. But we're also bringing in guys like Juice Wells and Deion Smith. So being able to get as much reps as I can with them in the offseason and then...

being able to take little trips out to California and then being able to come along with me, those have been a huge help. But we understand the urgency of the season and those reps, so we try to take advantage as much as we can of those as long as the other guys on the team. So just trying to create a culture of urgency and brotherhood is the biggest thing right now. Easy to take some trips when you get the P.J. deal for NIL, right? Yeah, I guess you could say that.

Take me through this offseason specifically, because I know a couple years ago, coming out of spring, there was a few throws that Lane and the guys wanted you to sort of work on. You got there. You got what you needed out of that. What are you kind of trying to retool? What did you fundamentally, technically want to grow in as far as your personal game this offseason? Yeah, I think a lot of people forget that my first year at Ole Miss, I wasn't really named the starter until week three or four of that season. So it wasn't like I was getting all the reps.

And I think that's been the biggest thing in my growth is being able to get as much reps as I can at you know just the different concepts and and that what we have in the offense and You know I've been able to just pick the minds of coach Kiffin and coach Weiss and being able to you know understand what they want for me and how they're calling plays and what they want to attack on the defense and I just think that the more reps and You know the more meetings that I've had with them I've just been able to get more comfortable in the system and that's helped me progress a ton Coming off last year

I feel like all that we've watched is just my bad reps and bad games. So being able to have some humility and being able to see the mistakes that I made during those times and work as hard as I can to fix it for this offseason and be ready for this year and excel on the things that I struggled with before.

I'm interested just to hear your thoughts on Juice Wells. I thought he was the best receiver in the league going into last year, a little bit dinged up, but just being around him, being able to throw to him some, what are you seeing so far? He's a monster. I think that's the perfect way to describe him. Whether it's just him being in the training room, he attacks everything the exact same way, and he's super intense.

and very intentional on what he wants to excel at this year. I think a lot of people forget how good he was, and so he's ready to remind everybody this season. I couldn't be more happier to have him on my side, and he's going to be that guy that adds another element to our offense. I don't think that we have another guy like him, and I think he's going to do tremendous things this year, and he's going to put his name right back on the map where he was before. You said earlier that you guys welcome the expectation this year. As a team, what is the expectation? What is the goal?

Yeah, our goal, honestly, is to take every single day with the approach of just being 1-0. You know, we see the expectations of, you know, social media and things like that. And, you know, I think it's really easy nowadays to get, you know, too far-fetched in your head and not really focus on keeping the main thing the main thing.

The culture that we've created is trying to attack the day and be one and all on that day. So we're taking it day by day. We have a lot of new guys that are going to be contributing to this team, so we understand the urgency of getting reps with those guys and trying to build that bond so we can be ready for this year. I can't wait to see what Jackson-Dardam, this Ole Miss team, has for the rest of the league because...

They were, I don't want to say unstoppable, but they were very, very good last year. Now, bringing in someone like Juice Wells, yes, I know you're losing Quinn Sean Juckins, but if someone like Lane Kiffin has shown that, okay, what are the pieces I have, I know how to set up a scheme, set up how to do whatever to make it to where my guys are going to get the ball. And even though I know a lot of you Alabama, Auburn, whatever fans may not necessarily know,

cheer much for Lane and Ole Miss because they are a team on the other sidelines and a bit of a rival. There's nothing like seeing as soon as a ball snaps and maybe two, three steps and Lane throws up his arms because he knows it's a touchdown or

When someone's that good at what they do like that, it's just great to watch. And I root for Ole Miss. I want them to do well this year because I do think Lane is a good coach. I do think that this squad can go places. I'm pretty sure they will make the playoffs. I mean, they got the schedule, too.

But if they don't, it's going to be a bit of a bummer because it's almost the same old lane, same old Ole Miss. They can't quite do it when it really, really counts. Well, we've got about 30 minutes left to go here on McElroy and Kublik in the morning here on JOX 94.5. You're going to hear from Kelvin Banks and Malachi Stark coming up in a little bit. We're also going to wrap up today's show with Greg's

takeaways from SEC media days he was able to sit down and speak with nearly everyone that of the of the players and coaches I think he had time or had some face time with just about everyone and so you're going to get a good chunk a good solid 12 14 minutes of what Greg thought while he was in Dallas at the Omni Hotel for SEC media days we're coming up next

We're going to look at some, I don't want to call them unsung heroes because you know their names, but they're not really quarterbacks, so they're not really talked about all that much. But players that you need to know, you're going to hear them on Macro and Kublik in the morning on JOX 94.5. The capital of the sports talk nation. This is JOX 94.5 and joxfm.com.

9.32, welcome back in McElroy and Kublik in the morning on JOX 94.5. I'm John Sabre. Thank you so very much for tuning into the program today. We've got a little less than 30 minutes left. Still trying to figure out what to call today's show. Uh,

In case you can call it procrastination, I'm not quite sure because, well, in just a little bit, you're going to hear from Kelvin Banks as well as Malachi Starks. You've heard just this hour from Kirby Smart, Mark Stoops, Shane Beamer, Garrett Nussmeier, Danny Stutzman, the standout linebacker from Oklahoma, Quinn Ewers, Steve Sarkeesian, T-Bob Hebert, DJ Shockley. You've heard from all of those folks, D.J.

that Cole and Greg were able to sit down with outside of 7 to 10. That's why we're airing it and playing it today. I don't want to call it a best of because this is obviously previously unreleased material, but I wasn't quite sure what to call it, so I've been asking you to text in and let me know. Thanks for Stephen and Coleman for letting me know that today's show should be

SEC Media Days After Hours. That's a good one. I could roll with that one. 205 Texts and SEC Unreleased. That's not bad. FJF says Interviews Never Heard. That's not bad. I mean, never heard. I don't want to necessarily go negative. I don't want never in there. It sounds a bit negative. Trying to make it a little bit positive and uplifting. Dave says SEC Media Days Overtime.

I do like that, but I don't like that they changed the overtime rules in college football. I feel like there's some happy medium between what the NFL does and what college does. I like that both teams do get a shot in college, but everyone doing the two-point conversion, all right, that's just dumb.

We really shouldn't be doing that. That said, it's kind of our fault in the SEC because we have a seven overtime game. It was LSU and Ole Miss. It was a couple years or so ago. And they're like, oh, that's too long. We can't have the players doing that. But I guess we can have them play 15, 16 games this year. That's a story for another day. I don't want to necessarily get off on that tangent. I've already been scolded in the text line for going off on tangents anyway. But we're going to head back to –

SEC media days and the guys were able to sit down with a name that guys may not be too familiar with yet. I know Texas played Alabama last year, but you may not be too familiar with Kelvin Banks, but my guys were able to have a little time with them. And I want you to hear what the guy has to say about his squad and being in the SEC.

I'm just interested because all the noise the last two and a half days has been line of scrimmage, Texas-Oklahoma, coming to the league. You guys know what it's about. You've watched it. You've seen it. You've actually played against it. Is that even a second thought for you guys as you enter SEC year one?

I mean, honestly, you could say it's not, but it's definitely something you think about and just realize just because of the caliber of games they are. So even then, just thinking about the game, just taking every step, I mean, every day, day by day, just going and working hard and just making sure you prepare for those moments like that. So, yeah.

You've seen a lot of guys that are legit off the edge. You get to face a couple in practice. I think Baron Sorrell is super underrated. I'm curious how Trey Moore is fitting in, the speed he presents from UTSA. So knowing that you're playing against those guys every day,

What have you seen so far from your pass rush? Yeah, especially like you said, those guys, I definitely believe Baron is definitely underrated. And just having that option of getting a guy who's speed and getting a guy who's more of a power guy. So it's kind of helped me out in my game as well, just being able to be more versatile and blocking different types of guys. So yeah, those two guys have definitely been pushing me very hard in practice.

There was a lot of noise last year about how Quinn kind of transformed himself in the offseason. Hair came off, body changed, and his personality looked different on the field last year. Has there been another shift this offseason going into this year? Yeah, I feel like every year that we...

all are together as a team i feel like quinn he he steps it up every time like he he comes he's vocal he's he's showing guys like this is how it's supposed to be and even then if he if he messes up on something he allows himself to take criticism so so he's definitely uh upping his upping his way of playing upping his way of being a leader every year that's wild man quarterback like takes criticism it just that doesn't happen a whole lot man only one is warranted which is just seldom is uh

Looking at just kind of some of the new faces that kind of stepped up for y'all, I know offensive line returns intact and whatnot, so maybe not in your room specifically. But looking at some of the guys that have come in at wide receiver, knowing they have to fill some pretty big shoes, how have those guys adapted?

Uh, they adapted great. Cause it's kind of like a doggy dog world out there. It's kind of like who really wants it. And you can see every guy is out there wanting to get reps, wanting to play. It's not just, Oh, uh, this, this certain group of players are going to play. No, every, every receiver, uh, even the freshmen, like Ryan Wingo, uh, first solid, not a freshman, but solid. He's came in and made a big impact as well. Matt, Matt, uh,

Bond, all them guys. They're doing really good. It's just competing with each other and pushing each other to be better. You heard from Kelvin Banks right there. One of the two teams that most likely is going to be predicted to win or at least make the SEC Championship game, if not win the SEC Championship game. Another one

Georgia Malachi starts my guys were able to sit down with Malachi and this is their conversation I think probably the best safety in the country coming back here in 2024 the thing is there was a guy last year though that played safety for y'all and

His name is Javon Bullard. Remember him? Yes, sir. He could play, right? Yeah. All right. Who was better, you or him, last year? Me, without a doubt. All right. All day, right? He was a beast, though. Yeah, without a doubt. Without a doubt. But he knows I'm better. But Ty Key was pretty good, too. Oh, yeah. You can't forget Ty Key in that equation. But they know where it's at. I love it, man. So y'all are coming into this year. Everyone going to have y'all more than likely number one, number two in the country, wherever you fall.

Do you care? I mean, honestly, do you care at all? No. At the end of the day, numbers are just numbers. We want to go out there and be who we can be and do what we can do. And all the outside stuff, we're going to keep it outside. When you're with Coach Smart, and I played at Bama, I've known Kirby since 2007, almost 20 years.

Is he crazier now than then, or has he kind of lightened up a little over the years? It's a little bit of both. You know, he knows when to kick it on and he knows when to turn it down. I think that's the difference. He learned how to...

put it together. But he's intense and he's the same person every day. It cracks me up because I feel like I'll go and I'll check y'all out of practice or whatnot and like talking to y'all and then he flips the switch and he's like a politician with some folks and he flips the switch and he's recruiting. Like he just got... Dude's got a million different personalities, right? You see that? Yeah, man. He's a trifecta for sure, man. You can't miss with him. I love it, man. All right, week one, Clemson. Last one, we'll get you out of here with this. I know...

having a great opponent week one is always going to increase the level of urgency in camp, increase the level of urgency in your summer workouts. Have you noticed that with some of your teammates? Yes, I have. And I think it's about that too, but it's also more about just raising the standard. Just wanting to be better, wanting to be great. And I think that ties into it. That was the great Malachi Stark sitting down with Greg McElroy. And speaking of Greg McElroy, you'll hear from him as we wrap up the show today.

With Greg giving you his SEC Media Days takeaways right here on McElroy and Kubrick in the morning. Catch up with all things McElroy and Kubrick in the morning by subscribing to the podcast. Mythically, he's grown. He's almost like a little bit bigger than a player, right? Like the myth of Bo Jackson. Like, rate, and download the show from the Jock Tap or wherever you get your podcasts.

943. Welcome back in McElroy and Kublik in the morning here on jocks. 94, five, just a few minutes left as we wrap up the show. And what better way to wrap up today's show than to hear from half of the namesake, Greg McElroy,

He did me a favor. He stopped down before he was able to take off for media days and gave his takeaways from his time out in Dallas. It was a really rewarding week, I think, to kind of get and interact with the coaches, to get up close with some of these guys, to allow them to expound more.

upon what's going on with their teams and how they're ushering in a new era and how they're going to try to prepare their teams for potentially playing 17 games. It was actually a very good media day as it relates to the amount of access that we got with each coach. So I was really, really happy with how things went down. Let's start with the biggest takeaway I had from media days. It's Nick Saban. And...

As funny as that is, I understand that he's no longer commanding the Crimson Tide, but it's no secret that his voice will still reign supreme on many, I'm not saying all, but many college football related issues. And I think that is refreshing that he's

frankly. I sat on the set with him alongside Brian Kelly. I sat on the set with him alongside Caleb DeBoer. I interacted with him and several other coaches back in the green room. And all the coaches, for the most part, not all, but a vast majority of the coaches that I saw him with were pretty deferential in a way which clearly they valued his opinion. They really wanted to hear what he had to say about

Their team and what he identified after watching the spring game and getting some of their takes. I mean, he even went out and said, hey, my conversation with Lane in preparation for media days, it was 45 minutes of him asking me questions related to the culture and how he's going to get all these portal players to buy in. So even though he's now moved to the media side of things, he still is a massively important figure in the sport.

And I think has tremendous influence over where the sport might go in the immediate future. And he's still going up to Washington, D.C. and helping out Kalen DeBoer. And he's just staying remarkably busy. So I had a terrific time being with him all week. He was awesome. I thought he did a great job. And it was just really cool to see him in that setting again.

and seeing him interact with the coaches because frankly yeah i've seen him shake hands with kirby or something like that as they pass each other in the hall but it's two ships passing in the night to actually see him interact with the guys was cool and to see everybody kind of pay their respects throughout the week was cool as well that's one takeaway as far as the teams are concerned let's start with the crimson tide and i thought caitlin deborah showed really well um

He was a little bit tight early, I felt like, relatively speaking. Keep in mind, he's not a guy that has ever been tight, at least in my experiences around him. And that includes in the hours leading up to a national championship game. So he felt like maybe there was a few things that he was maybe a little anxious about.

But he got more comfortable as the day went along. I thought he did a great job at the podium, kind of discussing some of the things that they've tried to prioritize. I thought he was very transparent in what they're concerned about. Hey, we got young guys in the secondary. Simple as that, they're going to step up, basically. And I just thought that it was a good opportunity for him. And I know people listening to us are familiar with him more so than most of the country, right?

But I think as a way of kind of introducing himself to the world, it was great. I thought the questions that he got were predictable. And I thought for the most part, he kind of knocked it out of the park. So I thought he had a great day. Auburn. I've known Hugh Freeze for 10 years. I've known him a long time. And look, we're buddies. Like we play golf. Like I see him a lot, spend a lot of time together at the lake. And we have a really good relationship.

He seems so happy. And, you know, sometimes you can kind of tell that, all right, well, maybe this coach is kind of putting up a confident front, but, you know, there's some concerns behind the scenes about what his roster might be. I get the sense that he really likes his team. I think he's kind of – that was as happy as I've seen him in a public setting before.

He was so happy. He was so excited about the season. I think he's really looking forward to getting back under the hood of the car, the offense, and getting it where it needs to go offensively. Because last year, let's be real, the offense was unrecognizably average in some areas. And the passing game was just flat out bad. But I do think that he looks at Peyton Thorne. I think he believes in Peyton Thorne.

I think he believes in the wideouts and their ability to step up and contribute in a big way early. And I think he likes the defense. I think he likes the hire he made on the defensive side in DJ Durkin. I think he likes what he's got so far at all three levels defensively. Like, he seemed really happy. And like I've said for a while now, I mean, I think they're a top 25 football team, and I think they're going to be a really tough out.

for a lot of teams this year. It's a bit unfortunate they have to have so many difficult road trips like to Tuscaloosa and Athens and to Como, but I think they're well positioned to improve greatly. Even though the win-loss record might not be some outrageous improvement, I don't see like a 10-win season coming or even a 9-win season. I think an 8-win season is to be expected, frankly, this year with some of the reinforcements that they've brought in.

and added to the team. Looking at other teams that I feel better about today than I did on Monday. Number one, LSU Tigers. And Brian Kelly was pretty outspoken in the spring and really throughout the offseason in saying, yeah, you know, our defense, we got some problems from a number standpoint. I mean, we need more guys.

And they didn't just go out and land 10 defensive linemen in the portal in May either. It's not like they went out and really addressed those spots in a significant way. I think they tried. I just don't know if they got the guys that they were targeting. But you listen to him, and he seems to really like the depth on his team. And that was my concern, was I think they'll score, no doubt about it.

But what's their depth looking like defensively in the event in which they have a couple guys banged up like they had last year? Because they fell off a cliff last year. And I don't know if that'll be the case this year. I mean, said multiple times, the deepest roster we've had. Everyone understands the standard. All these other things culturally...

you need to be successful, they're always going to have players at LSU. But culturally, the things you need to be successful, I think he feels like they have a rock-solid foundation with what to build upon. And you look at their schedule, and they have a lot of opportunities to be in the mix. I think coming into the year, if you were to ask me on Monday morning before we visited with anybody, where should LSU be ranked, I would have told you probably somewhere around 15%

Maybe 15, 16, 17 in that vicinity, you know, mid to high teens. I'm thinking this team is within striking distance of the playoff by season's end. I just think they have that type of firepower. And look, it remains to be seen. They got to get a lot better on defense. But I think Blake Baker's style and philosophy will maybe cover up some inadequacies that

That were on the roster last year and that might still be on the roster this year. So very intrigued by what I heard from Brian Kelly throughout the week. So that's the team, one team, that I feel better about today than I did four days ago. The other one, I would say it's the Florida Gators. And if you listen to Billy Napier, and I guess I just didn't put it all together coming into media days.

But he had talked about returning 41,000 snaps and all these guys that have played a ton of football. And I just hadn't thought about it that way. But they have a lot of guys that they have been grooming over the last two years, three years, for this season to be the year that they break through. While everybody and their brother, every single person I talk to at media day is all anyone can talk about with the schedule. And I understand that. I get that. It's...

A brutal schedule. Guess what? Everyone's got a brutal schedule. It's fine. Some are a little more manageable than others, but they're all pretty dang difficult.

I look at where Florida's at and their expectation level, and then you look at the amount of production they have returning and how many young guys they forced onto the field too early the last two years in an effort to make sure they were seasoned for 2024. And I'm feeling really good about what they might be able to do. Now, a little bit like Auburn.

I'm not expecting a 10-win season here with Florida. I don't think that's likely, but I think seven's possible. I think seven might even be likely, and I'd be really surprised that they didn't beat someone really, really good that they have to play against. And I'm not capable at the moment of predicting who that big win might come against, but

It could be Georgia at a neutral site. It could be LSU who goes into the swamp. It could be Ole Miss in the second to last week of the regular season. I mean, there's a bunch of opportunities for Florida to have a massive win. And I think they'll have at least one this year. So I think Florida's in a really good spot. And then finally, the other team that I think might be better than they are, better than most people are saying, it's the Mississippi State Bulldogs. And it's not...

necessarily because they're... Let's just be real. They're not going to stop a lot of people. Their defense is going to struggle. And I'm not sure if they're really going to be in a position to address that in the immediate. I think their defense is just going to take a ton of lumps. Probably not that dissimilar to when Jeff Levy and Lane Kiffin got to Oxford at the beginning of Lane's tenure. The defense was not good, but the offense...

was a handful, and they were really fun to watch, and they were super dynamic, and they scored a ton of points, and they made life difficult on really good teams because you had to outscore them. So I think Mississippi State has a chance to be a pretty exciting team to watch. I think they're going to be really fun to watch, and I think their offense has a chance to be extremely difficult to defend. So those are kind of the three teams that I felt really, really good about

Coming out of media days. Now, like I said, all three of those teams, with the exception really of LSU, it's going to be really hard to envision a scenario where Mississippi State gets to eight wins. But I think bowl eligibility...

should be the goal this year, and I think bowl eligibility is likely. Because I think Blake Chapin's going to be excellent in that offense. So, really optimistic about what I saw from them as well. As far as teams that maybe I don't feel quite as good about, there really weren't any. I was at first kind of thinking maybe Oklahoma, but

But I liked the way Brent Venables kind of leaned into the expectations and basically said, hey, yeah, I mean, we don't know if we're ready, but we sure hope we are, and we sure are trying our tails off to get ready. I think he kind of acknowledged, instead of saying, yeah, we're ready, we're going to jump right in and do what we got to do. I mean, he was very honest in his assessment of where his team is at, and I think they've added good pieces in the portal. I think they have a couple to take over the game, guys.

But, you know, I kind of was going into it. I think part of it was where they fell on the calendar, too. They were in the afternoon, and I didn't even really get to visit with Brent and didn't really get to listen to a whole lot of his breakdown on his team. So I had to catch up after the fact, but...

I just came out of SEC Media Days feeling a lot better about a bunch of teams. I mean, I almost had South Carolina on one of those teams whose expectations have changed drastically. Not quite ready to go that far. I almost had Arkansas on there as well because I think Arkansas is going to employ a real ground-and-pound mentality. Now, will they be able to block anybody? We'll find out, but...

I don't think they're going to be worse on the offensive line. Same exact same thing for South Carolina. So it was a great, great week at media days. Absolutely loved every minute of it. Got to spend a lot of great time with Coach Saban. Got to spend a ton of great time with Cole. Got to visit with all the coaches for the most part in the league. So it was a terrific experience. And we look forward to getting back to Dallas at some point here very, very soon. I can't wait to see that this year because with...

not only Lane Kiffin in the league with Jeff Levy now in the league, that Egg Bowl is going to be fantastic. I don't know what the over-under is now, but I go ahead and take the over because that's going to be a lot of points scored in that contest. Well, that wraps up today's

I never did decide on what to call today's show. I'll stick with bonus material for now, but I do like SEC Unplugged, SEC Postgame Show. All of that was good. Thank you so very much for the interaction today, helping me try to figure out what to call today's show. Thank you so very much for listening to McElroy and Kublik in the morning. The guys will be back on Monday. We'll talk to Paul Feinbaum, the one guy who was face-to-face with every single SEC coach yesterday.

That was Paul. You'll hear from him at 7.15. Also, ACC Media Days are going on. By the way, Big Ten's got to have theirs. We'll go with someone that's got boots on the ground up there in Indianapolis. But coming up next is 3 Man Front. Thank you for listening to Mac and Cube. This is McElroy and Cube Like in the Morning.

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