Hoover, Alabama gets the national spotlight for four days when the city gets to host SEC Media Days.
Gator Country was one of the more than 1,200 media members that swarmed the city to hear from all 14 SEC coaches and player reps from each school.
As I’m sure you all read our journal entries all week as we were in attendance, but I thought I would give a wrap up of my week as well as give out some awards from the week.
I want to first of thank everyone that followed me, plus everyone that I met in Hoover from the Texas A&M guys to the crazy Arkansas guy who voted for the Razorbacks to win the SEC title, everyone that I came in contact with was great.
While the event is centered around talking to the coaches and players, for people like myself who like to talk, it’s also about networking and gathering contacts for not only football but for recruiting and this year I felt like I walked away with a few contacts for sure.
Enough about me here are some awards that I want to give out from the week:
Funniest moment: Kevin Sumlin was asked about Steve Spurrier calling him a “ good negotiator “ when Sumlin responded “don’t try and stir the pot” for some that may be dumb but for a grown man to say that just made me laugh.
Runner up for funniest moment: Les Miles was asked by Austin, Texas where he took a vacation too and he had this response “”I took a vacation, I went to Austin, took my three children with me, so we had six, two parents and four children on that campus,” Miles said. “It was miserable. I hated it.”
Best quote: Steve Spurrier was asked about the Alamo Trophy and he came up with this “I’m actually from Tennessee, and I always was taught the hero of the Alamo was Davy Crockett. Bonham, it’s a good story, and he did some good things. I always thought Crockett and those 33 Tennessee guys was the hero. Him and those Tennessee guys that came in and got killed and so forth.”
Best dressed: A lot of people will probably disagree but I’m going with Amari Cooper and his houndstooth jacket. I mean that’s school spirit right there could you imagine a Gator showing up in alligator skin? That would be awesome
Crazy fan: A fan from Australia flew over 20 hours to meet Nick Saban. Saban did stop but was 1 minute and an autograph worth 20 hours in the air? I guess so if you’re a crazy Bammer.
Stole the show: Sumlin stole the show with the stir the pot and with non-answers on Johnny Manziel. At one time he asked a reporter if this was “SEC Media Day?” While some may say he was being ignorant I think he stole the show by making us all laugh.
Player who stole the show: Vernon Hargreaves walked as a sophomore and handled himself better than some of the older guys. Hargreaves is a mature guy and looked liked he had done this for years. Florida has a great one here.
Disappointment: Bret Bielema is a good guy but I wanted the wild side of “Bert” to show up, but it didn’t. We didn’t get any funny moments out of his interview and that’s disappointing.
Handled the pressure: Will Muschamp walked in knowing he would be asked about the hot seat but he stayed calm and handled the questions like a guy who was ready to kick butt this year.
Come on man award: Someone asked Mark Richt if he wanted to the SEC championship? Come on man, what do you expect him to say? No I like losing?