SEC Media Days 2015: Highlights, Comments and Twitter Reaction from Tuesday

The 2015 SEC media days continued on Tuesday with a discussion about rule changes for next season as well as press conferences for representatives from Mississippi State, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas A&M. As expected, Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier stole the show.

Before the "Ol' Ball Coach" had the opportunity to steal the spotlight, the conference's coordinator of football officials, Steve Shaw, took center stage. He spoke mostly about wide-ranging efforts for continuing to improve player safety.

Natalie Pierre Williams of AL.com reported the most notable change is that each SEC team will have an independent medical observer in the replay booth. The individual will watch for potential head and neck injuries and can signal down to stop play if necessary.

Other efforts the SEC is making on the safety side, according to the report, include a ban on "overbuilt" facemasks, removal of players from the field for at least one play to address equipment issues and, on a national scale, renewed efforts to eliminate "targeting" and other dangerous contact fouls.

The SEC is also adding an eighth official to the field. The new center judge is going to stand behind the quarterback to provide another perspective on the play.

Although Spurrier enjoyed his usual fun during the media session, his most important comment came when he got serious. Adam Sparks of the Tennessean noted the coach's response when asked about one of the biggest hot-button topics in sports today:

Aside from that, the presser featured plenty of the usual quick-witted humor from the 70-year-old coach.

His best verbal jab probably came at the expense of Tennessee and Arkansas, as highlighted by Mark Schlabach of ESPN:

He quickly downplayed any notion that the end of his coaching career may be near. He pointed out some of the people running for the nation's highest office in 2016 are around the same age, per Jacques Doucet of WAFB:

Spurrier also compared his continued vitality despite getting older to another successful college coach, as noted by Justin King of the Alabama Media Group:

Finally, he praised Pharoh Cooper, the team's do-it-all offensive weapon, by linking him to another athlete who's enjoyed a lot of success during the football offseason, per Gentry Estes of the Courier-Journal:

Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin knew he faced the same battle a comic does when following up a terrific act, per Seth Emerson of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Billy Liucci of TexAgs noted he also talked about a factor that's becoming increasingly important in the highly competitive SEC:

Aggies lineman Julien Obioha joked about the team's decision to send three linemen rather than the typical big names from the skill positions, which Brent Zwerneman of the Houston Chronicle highlighted:

The second session started with the Mississippi State contingent.

Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen did talk about football at times, but it was his fashion choices that garnered most of the attention. Will Brinson of CBS Sports put his shoes in the spotlight:

Mullen admitted he didn't get the apparel because he's hanging out with Kanye West on Saturday nights after the games, though, as Darren Rovell of ESPN pointed out:

Quarterback Dak Prescott, whom the media wrangled into some talk about his coach's attempt at swag, tried to turn the focus back to football, per Saturday Down South:

Tennessee coach Butch Jones started his press conference by striking back at Spurrier's earlier remark about the Vols' success, per Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports:

He also discussed the rising expectations around the program, per Anthony Dasher of Rivals:   

You could tell the day was winding down once Volunteers quarterback Joshua Dobbs started talking about something a little more complicated than how to beat zone coverage, per Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated:

Looking ahead, Wednesday's schedule is once again broken into two sections. Alabama and Kentucky will kick off the day followed later on by Missouri and Arkansas.

Of course, much like Spurrier on Tuesday, big things are always expected when Crimson Tide coach Nick Saban takes to the microphone. He'll probably have a couple of sneaky comments of his own to toss into the fire built over the last couple of days.

Media days certainly don't stack up to Saturday afternoons with a full slate of games. But at least they provide some entertainment to burn time until the season gets underway.