SEC Football Media Days 2017: 5 notable quotes from Day 4
Day 4 of SEC Media Days featured Ole Miss, South Carolina and Auburn. Here are the five most notable quotes from their coaches and players.
The final day of SEC Media week is upon us. So far in the first three days, we’ve had some craziness from some of the top college football programs in the country. On Day 1, LSU and head coach Ed Orgeron stole the show with his comments on RB Derrius Guice. Orgeron compared Guice’s running style to Warren Sapp’s defensive play.
Day 2 was all about Florida and head coach Jim McElwain. Although he had to answer questions about that shark photo from the offseason, the Florida head coach was more concerned about who his quarterback would be. The Gators have been plagued with poor quarterback play the past few years, but McElwain assured everyone Florida would have strong play from their signal caller.
Wednesday featured a couple of heavyweights in Alabama and Texas A&M. You know what that means — Nick Saban and Kevin Sumlin with a microphone in front of them. Saban talked about a heart-breaking championship loss against Clemson, while Sumlin was flaunting his new recruit, Micheal Clemons.
The fourth and final day from SEC Media week features Ole Miss, South Carolina and Auburn. With the recent and heavy allegations on Ole Miss, there will certainly be a lot of questions about that. South Carolina is looking to bounce back and rebuild their program, while Auburn is looking to dethrone Alabama.
Here are the five most notable quotes from Day 4 in Hoover, AL.
5. Hugh Freeze, Head Coach, Ole Miss
“I did a poor job of recapturing the confidence that we needed to finish the year like we had hoped we would and that we had in years past. So I’ve got to learn from that.”
Freeze is absolutely correct. The Ole Miss Rebels started last season with a chance to get on a roll. They were in Orlando taking on the Florida State Seminoles and got off to a hot start, up 28-13 at halftime. The rest of the game, the Rebels only scored six points, while the Seminoles rattled off 32 and an opening game victory.
Although they crushed Wofford the following week, another blown lead against Alabama at home started to define a pattern of inability to close games. Then a mid-season slump against Arkansas, LSU and Auburn officially ended the season for Ole Miss and any chance at recovering their season.
They ended 5-7 and seventh in the brutal SEC West division. In years past, the Rebels have always been in the mix at the end of the season to have a top-10 finish. With QB Chad Kelly in the fold the past few years, Ole Miss was in good shape, but last year Freeze couldn’t get them out of their own way.
This quote from Freeze in his opening remarks just pointed out blame on himself for his inability to inspire the troops. The Ole Miss head coach needs to recapture the confidence heading into another tough season with a new quarterback under center — or seven yards behind center.