7 spiciest hot takes from SEC Media Days and what they really mean

We can now say that college football season is upon us. SEC Media Days over in Dallas have come and gone. The regular season will be here before you know it, but there is so much left to talk about from the week that was. Yes, it came as no surprise that Georgia was projected to finish first and beat out Texas. Neither was Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Missouri, Tennessee and Oklahoma all being top-half.

Of those eight teams, we can expect for at least four or five of them to make the recently expanded 12-team College Football Playoff. Outside of five teams in particular (you know who you are), there is plenty to be optimistic about heading into this season. Of course, talking season breeds into us a new way of overanalyzing this. You can overanalyze this and that, but what are they talking about anyway?

That's what I'm here for. To give you a little more insight into the most important and heavy-hitting quotes from the week that was in SEC country. Some of these interpretations are obvious, but others may need more explanation. I have found myself to be quite good at this. Quotes are the basis for half of what I write professionally. I'm not breaking news, but some of this may be groundbreaking for you.

Let's start with one of the newest head coaches joining the SEC this season at a place he knows well.

7. Texas A&M Aggies head coach Mike Elko

“When you look at the College World Series model… You see more all-SEC semifinals and more all-SEC finals. I think you’re going to see something similar.”

Mike Elko is back at Texas A&M to replace his former boss in Jimbo Fisher after a very successful stint leading the Duke Blue Devils over in the ACC. There are plenty of reasons to be bullish on the Aggies this year, from a navigable schedule, to quarterback Conner Weigman, to Elko not being Fisher. What Elko said at the podium in relation to the College World Series is absolutely fascinating.

This quote may be a preview into what College Football Playoff life could look like regarding the SEC. You could have first-round games this year where Ole Miss hosts Missouri, as well as Georgia might Texas for a third time this season in the national semifinals. That feels pretty self-explanatory coming from Elko, but there is this... Texas A&M lost the national championship to the Tennessee Volunteers.

Texas A&M not only lost to the Vols but their former head coach Jim Schlossnagle left within 24 hours to take over at arch rival Texas in Austin. I think what Elko is trying to do is two-fold. He is not only trying to rally Gig Em Nation around him after a terrible final season under Fisher, but I think he is also planting the seed of the Aggies potentially being good enough to make the playoff this season.

If I would have voted, I would have had Texas A&M ninth in my poll, but I think this is an 8-4, 9-3 team.

6. SEC commissioner Greg Sankey

“Georgia was one of the best four teams and didn’t get in. But you didn’t see us jumping up and down and complaining and hanging national championship banners.”

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey is one of one. He is the very best at what he does. Why do you think he was handpicked by his predecessor Mike Slive to take over the most important conference in college athletics? While he has made enemies along the way, he has also earned the respect of everyone he has come across. His league is flourishing under his leadership, now over a decade in.

Sankey saying that Georgia was one of the four best teams in the country, but did not have an opportunity to play in the College Football Playoff is understandable, as he is dunking on Florida State for the Seminoles' crybaby ways under Michael Alford's watch. He is absolutely right in that Georgia was one of the four best teams, but no, they didn't deserve to be in. There is also this, too.

Not only did Sankey take a shot at Florida State, a program that may not ever get an invitation into the SEC, barring an overall ACC collapse, but he may have also poked the bear that is Alabama, as well as putting Texas in its place. Two of his conference's teams made the playoff last year, but not Georgia. Sankey said this perfectly, as it gaslights Alabama a bit to be better, while also not pandering to Texas.

Sankey and Big Ten commissioner Tony Petitti are playing chess while Brett Yormark plays checkers.

5. Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers

“Going up to The Big House, it’s gonna be an awesome environment. The place is gonna be rocking, especially all the hype because it’s an early game. They’re coming off a really big win – the national championship. Yeah, The Team Up North.”

I understand the excitement about SEC newcomer Texas getting the opportunity to play the defending national champion Michigan up at their place in The Big House, but Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers needs to cut the "The Team Up North" crap. He is the starting quarterback for the Texas Longhorns. He handed the ball off twice at Ohio State for some kombucha NIL money.

While I do appreciate trolling a Big Ten school whenever you get the opportunity, this slight dig by Ewers feels misguided, and honestly, way out of place at SEC Media Days in his native Texas. It may be one of the best non-conference games of the regular season, but Texas joined the SEC, and not the Big Ten. I am not worried about Steve Sarkisian adapting to the SEC, but I am about his players.

Ewers has said other things so far this summer, like Texas being everyone's biggest game in SEC play. That might work in the old Big 12, but this is the SEC. There is more than one mega-brand in this conference. Saying things like this puts an unnecessary target on your back. For a guy who is back at Texas for a third year instead in the NFL because he cannot stay healthy for the life of him, this is rich.

Every SEC newcomer who says something dumb like this usually ends up suffering defeat that year.

4. Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Jackson Arnold

"Yeah, I've never been to the stadium before, but when I was at the Manning Passing Academy, I was talking to Carson Beck about it, and he claimed the place was cursed."

This one made me laugh. While I loved the fact that Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables felt confident enough to bring sophomore quarterback Jackson Arnold along with him to SEC Media Days, this quote does show how naive he is in some capacity. Is Jordan-Hare Stadium cursed like Georgia quarterback Carson Beck said it is? Maybe, but that is not the point from their conversation.

To me, Arnold feeling comfortable enough to say that quote publicly shows that he has a ton of respect for Beck in Athens, and vice versa. It suggests to me that Beck really likes the guy, and Arnold will be the next star quarterback in the SEC. Not Arch Manning, not Nico Iamaleava, Arnold. For him to chase Dillon Gabriel away from the program in a year where he can win the Heisman speaks volumes.

The only other quarterback who invokes this kind of feeling is Avery Johnson over at Kansas State. That kid is special. He might be the best football player from Kansas since Barry Sanders. He may look like he is still in high school, but he may just be a McCaffrey. As far as Arnold is concerned, I think we are going to be blown away by what he can do on the football field this season. Like, shockingly...

Arnold is the biggest reason why I think Oklahoma actually has a shot at making the playoff this year.

3. Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart

“I do want it to be duly noted that I got in here without a credential today.”

Another funny one! Yes, Kirby Smart made it a point to point out that his greatest mentor and biggest coaching nemesis Nick Saban had to get a credential to be at SEC Media Days as part of the media. It is all good fun, but it makes you wonder what this really means beneath the surface. To me, this is Smart taking what is his and then some, by stating he is the captain now when it comes to the SEC.

Honestly, he wouldn't be wrong. Georgia has won as many national championships in the last three years as it has lost games. Both times they made the College Football Playoff, they went on to win it. Conversely, their two losses were to Alabama in Atlanta in the SEC Championship Game. At least Smart was able to beat his mentor one time before he retired, which was in Indianapolis for the natty.

Without question, there are a lot of elite head coaches and programs in the SEC today. I am sure Smart has a ton of respect for them, as he and his Dawgs will never overlook an opponent. That being said, he knows they are the top banana and everybody else is trying to climb up from the bottom of the tree. Texas is closest, but Alabama, Ole Miss, LSU, Missouri and others aren't all that far off either.

Smart did not need a credential because everybody knows who he is and knows what he is about.

2. Arkansas Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman

“Our focus is to embrace the Hog.”

When I saw this quote, I thought of one person. My FanSided.com colleague and False Start co-host Cody Williams. The man loves him some Sam Pittman. The man, but maybe not the head coach... It is a short, simple and sweet quote from Pittman, but would be lying to you if I didn't worry about the Arkansas head coach. Yes, they are one of the five teams with little hope I was talking about earlier...

When Pittman said his Razorbacks were going to "embrace the Hog", that comes across to me as trying to block out the outside noise of if Arkansas doesn't go bowling, guess who won't be coaching anymore? Pittman briefly returned Arkansas to respectability, but he has proven to only be as good of a head coach as his coordinators allow him to be. Now he's leaning on Mr. Hog himself, Bobby Petrino.

I wouldn't say Arkansas' situation is as dire as Florida's, but Pittman is sitting on arguably the hottest seat in-conference. No, Mississippi State is not going to can Jeff Lebby after a season, nor do I think Vanderbilt is done with VU alum Clark Lea just yet. To me, I would be shocked if Pittman, Florida's Billy Napier and South Carolina's Shane Beamer are all back at their SEC schools leading them in 2025.

Arkansas needs to go bowling, but are there six winnable games on their schedule? That might be it.

1. Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin

“And you said what a joke I was, the ‘Miley Cyrus of college football coaching,’ and I should be fired. They looked at each other and later that night, I was fired.”

Never change, Lane. Never change... Well, unless you really want to, then that'd be cool. The most notable quote from SEC Media Days came from Lane Train himself. He was sitting on the set with Paul Finebaum during a live episode of his program. Kiffin then went after Finebaum by saying that he didn't take kindly to being called "the Miley Cyrus of college football coaching" in front of his children.

They were watching the program when he was doing god knows what at USC, shortly before getting tarmac-ed. He then thanked Finebaum for helping him get fired and then turning his life around. Kiffin finished his bit by saying he and Miley Cyrus are still on top, and that he has no idea what Finebaum is really even good at. It was a little tense, but then again, you never really know when it comes to Kiffin.

I wrote about this earlier, but I believe that with the recent passing of his icon coaching father Monte that Kiffin is about to seriously level up as a man. I mean, he already has, but this time, it feels different. He knows how good his team at Ole Miss is this year. The Rebels are pretty much a playoff lock. They will go at least 10-2. If they upset a Georgia or a Texas, they just might win the whole thing.

Kiffin may have never beaten Nick Saban, but that doesn't mean he will never win a national title.