SEC Media Days 2016: Highlights, Comments and Twitter Reaction from Tuesday

Georgia, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Texas A&M had their SEC media days on Tuesday, and few coaches were under the microscope quite like Georgia's first-year head coach, Kirby Smart.  

Smart, who is replacing longtime Georgia head coach Mark Richt, also has deep SEC ties. 

And he certainly learned a lot during his time as defensive coordinator at Alabama under head coach Nick Saban, which was reflected in his comments during his press conference, per Jim Kleinpeter of NOLA.com:

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The biggest thing for me is recognizing the difference... between a team and a program. A team is a group of young men playing together. The program is the entirety of that, what goes into that, how do we support these student-athletes off the field, what things can we give them from a nutrition standpoint, strength and development, their wellness, psychological development, everything we can do for the team and for the entire program is the stamp that I'd like to put on it.

The trademark for us is going to be big, physical, fast football team. We're not there yet, but we're certainly moving that direction. That's the stamp I would like to put on it.

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College football pundit Paul Finebaum was impressed by the newly minted Georgia coach, according to the SEC Network:

The media also asked Smart about perhaps the most pressing pair of injuries in the SEC this summer, those suffered by running backs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel. The outlook for both remained up in the air, though things sound much better for Chubb, per Matt Baker of the Tampa Bay Times:

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"That's a tough situation," Smart said. "Who would have thought at this point in time both guys would be on the sideline rehabbing?"

Smart said Chubb has been doing all workouts with the team in the offseason, but that could change when full practices begin. The biggest thing, Smart said, is for Chubb to regain confidence in his surgically repaired left knee. Michel had surgery to repair a broken forearm, but Smart didn't sound optimistic about his recovery.

"I don't know the expectation for Sony, whether he'll be back or not," Smart said.

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Mark Schlabach of ESPN.com passed along more details on Michel:

And Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated didn't glean much optimism from Smart for either player's availability to start the season:

That would be a huge blow for Georgia. For a team with an unsettled quarterback situation and a new coach and system to adjust to, the absence of the team's top two offensive weapons is a rough way to start the season.

As for the quarterback situation—presumably an ongoing competition between Jacob Eason, Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey—Smart maintained that he hadn't decided on a starter yet.

"If I knew, I promise you I would tell you...but I don't know that," he said, per Baker.

Few decisions will be more important to Georgia in Smart's first year, and few will impact the SEC in general as much as Georgia's quarterback battle. In other words, there's little reason for Smart to rush to a hasty choice. 

Of course, quarterback seems to be a question for most of the SEC teams, as Brett McMurphy of ESPN pointed out:

Meanwhile, the media grilled head coach Dan Mullen during Mississippi State's media day for the school's decision to allow Jeffery Simmons to enroll. The talented defensive end was videotaped punching a woman multiple times while she lay on the ground. 

Simmons will be suspended for a game and will undergo counseling while he's at the school.

The reporters present pressed Mullen extensively on the decision to enroll Simmons. Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports passed along some of the exchange between reporters and the coach:

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Q: If it's your wife or your daughter [who Simmons hit], would you feel the same way about him?

Mullen: "I think he's a young man who deserves the opportunity. I have the opportunity to help mold him."

Q: If it was your family member [being assaulted], would you feel the same way?

Mullen: "I don't think it would be my family... In the video, I don't know if my family would be in that situation."

Q: Why not? Anybody can be on the ground and be assaulted.

Mullen: "Honestly, I'm very strongly against any violence... I think the video does not really define who that young man is.

"I would hate for anybody, for their life to be defined not only by 10 seconds of video ... that that is now all you get to do in life. You don't get an opportunity to get an education. You don't get an opportunity to be mentored by father figures when you don't have a father."

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Barrett Sallee of Bleacher Report didn't think Mullen handled all of those questions particularly gracefully:

Mullen did distance himself, somewhat, from the decision to bring Simmons aboard, however, per Dan Wolken of USA Today:

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I wasn't involved as much. It was a university decision, but I was just thrilled that we're having Jeffery as part of our family coming in. As I said, I take a lot of pride as a coach on developing young men to be champions, not just on the field, off the field, and every part of their life to be successful in whatever it is they do, and that's not an easy process.

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But he also acknowledged the responsibility he and the university would bear if Simmons had another incident of violence, per Staples:

Coach Butch Jones and Tennessee, meanwhile, were focused on finally breaking through to the nation's elite after the program's lackluster 21-17 mark in his first three seasons.

And Jones and Company have high expectations for 2016, as he said on Tuesday, per Drew Champlin of AL.com: 

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The expectations will never be greater than what we place on ourselves internally. You know, when we took over this football program, I think everyone understands what was in place. And so, you know, it's a tribute to them, it's a tribute to our staff. It's a tribute to our players. So I said we're going to sit back and we're going to work hard. We're going to work to be a better football program.

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Jones also had a bit of fun, however, interrupting a session between Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and a small group of media members to tease Sumlin for arriving at the media days on a bus with air conditioning, via Ben Baby of the Dallas Morning News: 

As for Sumlin, the media inevitably asked him about his former quarterback Johnny Manziel, who is out of football this season after a bevy of off-field issues in his short NFL career.

The Aggies head coach said that he's exchanged texts with his former quarterback, per Kyle Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Bottom line, he’s an Aggie," he said, per McMurphy. "He’ll always be an Aggie. At Texas A&M, we take care of each other"

He also dodged a few questions about Manziel, per Wolken, and perhaps justifiably so:

Not surprisingly, he also used the day to praise his current quarterback, Trevor Knight, per Stewart Mandel of Fox Sports:

It's hard not to draw the obvious comparison and contrast between Knight and Manziel on a day when the coach was asked about both.

The team's star defensive end, Myles Garrett, also praised Knight, per Sallee:

Garrett also set enormous goals for himself on the year, telling reporters he wanted to record 20 sacks in 2016 and be the top overall pick in next year's NFL draft, according to Alex Scarborough of ESPN.com.

"I have to live up to my expectations, which is to break all the records that I can, dominate by a wide margin," he said. "Let it be unanimous. Don't let anyone be close to how good you are, no matter what the division is—one, two or three. It doesn't matter, everyone plays football. It doesn't matter who the competition is."

His teammates weren't doubting him.

"That's his personal goal," Knight said. "I personally think he can get it. Absolutely. I saw the way that, this spring, when I was in the middle of my drop, he was already on me. It was incredible. So if he puts his mind to it, I think he can do anything he wants."

Wide receiver Ricky Seals-Jones agreed.

"Twenty sacks?" he asked. "I think Myles can do whatever he pushes his mind to. He's just a freak of nature. If Myles says he can get 20, he can get 20."

The rest of the SEC will be hoping he doesn't achieve that goal. After Garrett accumulated 12.5 sacks a year ago, however, few teams will be delusional enough to believe that he doesn't have the ability to dominate a game from his defensive end position. 

And after a Tuesday at SEC media days with a large focus on off-field concerns, former players and position battles, seeing some on-field action in two months will be nice. Big things are expected for Georgia, Mississippi State, Tennessee and Texas A&M every season these days in the competitive SEC. 

All four programs have plenty of question marks to answer before the start of the season. Some were answered on Tuesday. Most won't be, however, until the games begin in September.

You can follow Timothy Rapp on Twitter.