Day 1 of 2017 SEC Football Media Days has wrapped up at the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama. Here are the five best quotes from those speaking on Monday.
We’re just getting started, but the 2017 SEC Football Media Days are already in full swing. Day 1 of SEC Media Days are in the books. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey and three programs — the Arkansas Razorbacks, the LSU Tigers and the Tennessee Volunteers — all met with the Southeastern college football media in Hoover, Alabama at the Wynfrey Hotel.
Commissioner Sankey went first to kick off SEC Media Days and the teams went through the media car wash in alphabetical order. Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema and Tennessee head coach Butch Jones both made their fifth appearance at SEC Media Days. After being an assistant head coach for the last decade, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron made his first appearance representing the Tigers since he replaced Les Miles mid-season last year.
All three of these head coaches are certainly characters, usually good for an amazing quote or five during the regular season. While they don’t master talking season quite like Miles or like the head ball coach himself Steve Spurrier once did, each had an interesting nugget we will attempt to dissect after Day 1 of SEC Media Days.
Here are the five best quotes from the first day of SEC Media Days on Monday, July 10. SECSports.com has a great collection of all the quotes being said during this week’s media event down in suburban Birmingham.
5. Frank Ragnow, Arkansas Razorbacks offensive lineman
On setting the tone for next season…”…they say you learn more when you lose or go through those hard times and we definitely have.” – Frank Ragnow, Arkansas Razorbacks senior offensive linemen.
Frank Ragnow’s right. Arkansas has definitely lost some frustrating games over his three-year tenure thus far in Fayetteville. The Razorbacks are the only team in the SEC West since its second expansion to include the Texas A&M Aggies to not have a 10-win season. Arkansas head coach Bret Bielema left his job with the Wisconsin Badgers to become Arkansas’ head coach in 2013.
The first two years in of the Bielema era in Fayetteville were awful, but the team did grow under its head coach. Arkansas has gone bowling in each of the last three seasons under Bielema’s watch. Getting to bowl eligibility hasn’t been the issue for Arkansas football, it has been staying focused in the second half of close games.
This is really what Ragnow is talking about in this quote. Arkansas let two games slip away late in the season that have left a bit of a sour taste in the program’s mouth. Losing to cross-divisional rival Missouri in the Battle Line Rivalry was borderline embarrassing given how bad the Tigers were last year. Arkansas had its opportunities to upset the Virginia Tech Hokies in the Belk Bowl, but did not capitalize.
Ragnow is very much a senior leader on this team. He’s their best player and possibly a first-round talent in the upcoming NFL Draft. He could have gone pro last year, but opted to come back to school to not just graduate, but to leave the Arkansas football program better than how he found it. In a weird way, Ragnow’s leadership and honest confrontation about past losses might make Arkansas a win or two better than expected. This guys’ the real deal playing center for the Hogs.