HOOVER, Ala. — Tennessee rolled into SEC Media Days on the hype train they’ve been riding all offseason. The Vols will likely be picked to win the SEC East by the more than 1,000 media members assembled at the unofficial kickoff to the 2016 football season. Tennessee won its last six games in 2015, including a 45-6 undressing of Northwestern in the Outback Bowl. Tennessee returns 18 starters, including quarterback Josh Dobbs, running backs Jalen Hurd and Alvin Kamara and cornerback Cam Sutton. If there was any season Tennessee should be picked to win the East, this is it.
Georgia is also receiving a lot of offseason hype. A new head coach (Kirby Smart), the running back stable of Sony Michelle and Nick Chubb, along with the early arrival of freshman quarterback Jacob Eason has the Bulldogs thinking, why not us?
Even Vanderbilt is collecting some hype as a team that could surprise some folks. Derek Mason’s team will play a ferocious brand of defense and as the underdog every time they lace up the cleats, the Dores will be playing with a nothing to lose mentality.
Meanwhile, the reigning SEC Champions are taking notes.
“You see it. You hear it all the time, every year,” senior safety Marcus Maye said. “It is what it is. I guess they feel like we lost a lot of pieces but I feel like we’re just as talented with the guys that stepping in.”
Florida holds an 11-game winning streak over Tennessee. To put that into perspective, Josh Dobbs was nine years old when Dallas Baker’s ill-timed personal foul helped Tennessee edge out Florida in 2004. Dobbs, along with Cameron Sutton and Jaylen Reeves Maybin dodged, ducked, dipped, dived and dodged any question regarding Florida on Tuesday in Hoover.
Florida, on the other hand, has been very active on social media, poking the Vols, especially Jalen Tabor.
@dc_wilson954 they ain’t tripping they just can’t hang , something like UT in the forth lol
— Jalen Tabor (@_31Flavorz) June 6, 2016
Tabor then held his own media day Monday, where he was asked if the Gators would extend the streak to 12 games, Tabor guaranteed it.
“That’s not the temperament of our team and if that’s then, there’s no problem with that,” Tennessee linebacker Jaylen Reeves-Maybin said when told of Tabor’s comment. “That’s their temperament. That’s his temperament, that’s ‘I’mma talk,’ that’s not what we do.”
If you pull the Vol hype train over and lift the hood, you’ll see the Vols’ six game winning streak to close the season came over teams that finished with a combined 18-42 record. The conference wins posted over Kentucky, South Carolina, Missouri and Vanderbilt. Florida’s players see that and they have no problem pointing it out.
Right now, Tennessee is the belle of the ball. They’re poised for a SEC East Championship, a SEC Championship, maybe even a College Football Playoff Championship. Josh Dobbs and Jalen Hurd are Heisman contenders.
“I don’t know, I’ll have a meeting with our guys and see if they want to play those games or forfeit them,” McElwain quipped when asked about Tennessee and Georgia. “I guess we’re not very good is what that’s telling me.”
McElwain’s self-deprecating humor is well documented. His team, however, is confident and, for this senior class, there is an added weight to an already heated rivalry.
“Do you really want to be the guy that let that streak slip,” senior Jarrad Davis said Monday. “You can ask yourself that, it’s real, the pressure is real. In order for you to be able to deal with that, you have to work in the offseason you have to put in the work to put yourself in the best position possible when that times comes.”
“The Florida Gators are always going to be the Florida Gators. Once you have the gators on your schedule you have to respect them no matter what. I feel like we know who we are. We know the talent levels and capabilities. Once we step on the field we’re going to be ready to go no matter what.”