Is SEC Media Days bound for Nashville?
ATLANTA — SEC Media Days will return to Hoover, Ala., next year.
After that, Commissioner Greg Sankey intends for the event to have “some portability.”
The conference’s four-day media event started with Sankey’s address Monday. This year’s media days are at the College Football Hall of Fame. It marks the first time media days have not been in the Birmingham, Ala., area since the event’s inception in 1985.
Sankey didn’t say Monday where media days might look at going after 2019, but Nashville has made a case to host the event.
“Absolutely, we’re interested,” Nashville Sports Council president and CEO Scott Ramsey told USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee last year.
During an appearance on 104.5-FM
screen behind SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey during his opening remarks.
Guarantano tossed three straight incompletions around the goal line to end the game, and the Vols lost 15-9. When Guarantano sat on the field in disappointment, South Carolina quarterback Jake Bentley broke away from the celebration to offer words of encouragement.
“A picture, as they say, is worth a thousand words,” Sankey said, referring to the photo.
It’s a tough memory for UT fans, but Bentley was given the SEC Sportsmanship Award for his postgame reaction to the opposing quarterback. And Guarantano’s reaction showed how badly he wanted to beat the Gamecocks with a last-second touchdown.
Benny Snell’s silver lining to Music City Bowl ejection
Kentucky running back Benny Snell was ejected from the Music City Bowl for contacting a referee, although instant replay looked like it was incidental contact and perhaps initiated by the official.
Snell clearly disagreed with the call, then and now. He said he hasn’t watched the video in a long time, but he now takes it as a learning experience. “Just don’t touch the referee,” he said. “Just stay away from them.”
Snell wants to be known as the best running back in the SEC. That play, which was a hot topic on TV and social media during the bowl season, raised his profile. “I guess more people know who I am now because of that,” Snell said.
Let’s look at that injury report
Imagine SEC football teams releasing an official injury report before each game. It could happen as early as 2019, Sankey said. The topic was discussed during the SEC spring meetings in Destin.
But Sankey said it would be limited compared to injury reports of professional leagues because of FERPA and HIPAA requirements and other factors.
Of course, the question is how accurate tight-lipped teams would report their players’ injuries, thinking that information could give the opponent a perceived advantage. Either way, an official injury report would add another layer of information for fans and media to discuss each week.
Glimpse at commissioner’s playlist
Sankey often mentions his love of music, and this year was no exception. He referenced “Georgia On My Mind” when welcoming media to Atlanta, opened his press conference to questions by quoting Tom Petty’s lyrics “the wait is the hardest part” and said the SEC’s Sirius XM channel 374 has supplanted the U2 Experience channel on his car radio.
WORST OF THE DAY ACC still better than SEC?
One year after Jimbo Fisher said the ACC was the “premier conference in college football,” he tried his best to clarify his comments as a new member of the SEC on Monday. His previous remark came as Florida State coach at 2017 ACC Media Days. At SEC Media Days, Fisher was asked if his opinion that the ACC is better has changed.
“No, I played in both conferences,” Fisher said. “I think the ACC’s progression to where it has become in football is because of the SEC – from being in the South and having not just to play against, but to recruit against and compete against (the SEC) daily.”
Where is the escalator?
The SEC Media Days escalator had enjoyed a celebrity of its own. In past years, it was the dividing line between fans who packed the lower lobby and working media on the second floor. And the SEC Network often opened its coverage with a live shot of the team helmets that lined the escalator.
But that was when Media Days was held in the Birmingham-Hoover area. No such escalators were spotted in Atlanta’s debut of the event, although hundreds of helmets lined the wall of the College Football Hall of Fame. In a funny twist, there was an escalator under repair at the Media Days site Monday.
Reach Adam Sparks at asparks@ tennessean.com and on Twitter @AdamSparks.