This week, 10 observations from SEC Media Days (and one from Houston Coach’s Night):

1. It may be impolitic to say, but I get the feeling that SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey is pissed off with the way things are in college sports today. He’s not happy with the College Football Playoff, definitely isn’t happy with the Protect College Sports Act and the other conferences in general. Some people may think the idea of the SEC breaking away is either crazy or a bluff, but if they’ve been having real conversations about it, that should shock everyone. That would disrupt college athletics as a whole, and I don’t know if that’s a negative.
2. New Kentucky coach Will Stein certainly thinks highly of himself. He went with the Curt Cignetti approach — “Google me” — in his first SEC Media Days. When asked why he thinks Kentucky can be turned around and become a consistent SEC power, his response was, “I think because of me, to be honest.” If you’re a Kentucky fan, you love that. If you’re not, then it’s something to keep in the back of your mind.
3. When Steve Spurrier retired, the SEC lost its mouthy coach who would entertain at SEC Media Days. Lane Kiffin has filled that role somewhat, but he’s bland and more irritating than amusing. Now comes Eli Drinkwitz, who has thoughts and will tell anyone about them. If he doesn’t like something, you’ll know. If he likes something, he’ll tell you. Drink looks like a modest, humble, down-home kinda guy, but he definitely lacks a filter.
4. One team that becomes more intriguing every time I look at them is Oklahoma. They were great on defense last year, but their offense stunk. They were especially bad when it came to trying to run the football, where they ranked 112th nationally. They weren’t very good at protecting the quarterback, finishing 94th in sacks allowed. But they return four starters up front, including left tackle Michael Fasusi, who I think will end up a top-15 pick in a couple of years. They lost some talent on the defensive front, but did not add a single defensive transfer. They like what they have back from a team that was first in sacks and tackles for loss. If the offensive line is improved by a good bit, the Sooners could be dangerous.
5. The Aggies will play Tennessee this season and the Vols were very good offensively in 2025, but horrible defensively. They’ve made a lot of changes with transfers on defense, but their offense remains very similar except in one spot: quarterback. Josh Huepel said yesterday that he expects the competition there to go on well into summer camp, so there’s a lot of uncertainty there. And that’s definitely not what you want going into a very important season for Huepel and the Vols.
6. One former Vol has made his way to Aggieland, and that’s corner Rickey Gibson. When Mike Elko said last night that he believes this is the best secondary he’s had at A&M in seven years, Gibson had a lot to do with that. His former teammate, running back DeSean Bishop, said, “I believe he’s going to make tons of plays over there at Texas A&M. They’re really getting a good guy.” If Gibson does make a ton of plays, then the secondary will definitely be formidable.
7. South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers was asked about one of his former lineman, now-Aggie Trovon Baugh. Sellers was not short in his praise of Baugh, saying, “He’s a dominant player. Super smart, super competitive…He will put everything and anything on the line for Marcel (Reed).” Considering how the offensive line is the biggest question A&M has going into the season, that’s kind of reassuring.
8. South Carolina coach Shane Beamer does not want to talk about last year’s epic collapse at Kyle Field, where the Gamecocks had a 30-3 halftime lead and lost 31-30. It didn’t take long to come up Tuesday. Question: “Speaking of that Texas A&M game, Shane…” Beamer: “Can we not?” The Aggies need to have their guns on going to Columbia this time around. They didn’t last time and were fed their teeth.
9. One piece of good news that came out of this morning’s discussions was the announcement of a rule change on targeting. Now, if a player is ejected for targeting in the second half, they won’t miss the first half of the next game — if it’s a first offense. A second gets you a half regardless of when it happened. A third (which I can’t think of happening so far) would get you a game suspension. They still haven’t developed levels of targeting, which should have already happened, but this is a positive step.
10. Last night, coach Elko said linebacker Daymion Sanford will return this year and figured he would return around midseason. That goes pretty well with my estimate that he’d return for the start of conference play — that’s a bit before midseason, but it’s in the neighborhood. That means we’ll see a lot of Noah Mikhail in the first month or so of the season, and I’m excited to see what he can do with a lot of snaps.

OUr Sponsor

10 Things for Tuesday is sponsored by Brent Campbell, Fighting Texas Aggie Class of 1998. Brent is a Commercial Real Estate Broker, serving all of Central Texas and specializing in sales, leasing & development. He leads a retail acquisition and sales team and was recognized by the Austin Business Journal as a Commercial Real Estate Heavy Hitter in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023, 2024 & 2025.

In the last 22 years, he has closed deals with a total transactional value of over $400 million and has leased more than 4.75 million square feet. Brent currently serves as the president of the board of directors for Habitat Homes, Inc. and Pathways Youth and Family Services. He is currently on the Downtown Round Rock Task Force.  He is a former president of the Heart of Round Rock Neighborhood Association and a former member of the Round Rock Zoning Advisory Committee, the Round Rock Business and Retention Committee, and the City of Round Rock Ethics Commission, which has led him to begin developing in Williamson and Travis County.

An Austin native, Brent lives in Round Rock where he and his wife have raised four boys. Brent works for Don Quick and Associates, Inc. in Round Rock and can be reached at brent@donquick.com.