Thoughts After SEC Media Days

SEC Media Days has been wrapped up since Thursday and today is the first day I have had a chance to sit and down and get some thoughts down about what Coach Saban had to say.

First things first. If you thought we would learn who the starting quarterback for West Virginia would be, this is new territory for you. Saban and the staff probably have a great idea who it will be but we won’t know until close to conclusion of fall practice or close to the game. Blake Sims is a veteran and it’s only fair that he is given an equal shot at having the starting job. All signs point to Jake Coker as of now but the official word is that they are going to let it play out.

Coach Saban also broke the story about the new draft grades that college players will get from NFL Draft Advisory Board. Now, they will get a first round, second round, or stay in school grade. Great news for the player and shamelessly, even good news for the fans. Like Saban said during his speech, a lot of these players come out and take the chance of getting drafted lower just to sign a second contract at a later date. “What people don’t look at is if you’re going to be a fifth‑ or six‑round draft pick, they go out early so they get to a second contract faster. There’s only a 25% chance you’re going to get a second contract. Your chances of making the team are not nearly as good as a first‑, second‑, or third‑round draft pick”, said Saban.

It’s been no secret in the past few years that Saban wants more games within the conference as well as more games against the Big 5 conferences. If you are one of the ones that screams from the swamp about the scheduling not being fair because teams are keeping their rival games, you may want to consider getting on board with this if you truly want equal schedules. The rivalry games are not going away because of what they mean to college football. They ARE college football and it is one of the reasons that I love this sport. From Saban’s speech, “ I think that we’re talking about going to this five conference sort of whatever we’re going to call it, big five or whatever it is.  I’d be all for playing all of our games against those guys. 
You know, it’s what the fans want.  I mean, we need to be more concerned about the people who support the programs and the university and come and see the games.  I mean, those are the most important.  But we never think about that.  Everybody is worried about whether they’re going to qualify to go to a bowl game, all that stuff.” It would be a much tougher schedule but if it does happen, Saban wants the College Football Playoff Committee to look at their selection process much like is done in college basketball. “If we made that rule, we’d have 10 SEC games.  But I also don’t think you should have to win six games to get in a bowl game.  This new committee we got, they’re picking six games, is that not right?  They’re picking all the games that are involved in the playoff, six bowls.
I think they should pick everybody like they do in basketball.  If you go 5‑7, you have a quality schedule, you can still get in a bowl game, rather than somebody trying to manipulate their schedule, go 6‑6 so they can get in a bowl game.”

From the comments from the players on hand, it sounds like we got a group of determined and hard working individuals for the 2014 team. Landon Collins said the same for the incoming freshman. Both Amari Cooper and Christion Jones spoke highly of the progression of Coker since arriving in Tuscaloosa. Will it all be enough to put the Tide in Dallas at the end of the season? Time will tell but there is one thing for sure. It’s not long now until toe meets leather in Atlanta to get things going. It’s about that time and I, for one, am ready. And just in case you missed it, here is Christion Jones showing off some dance moves at Media Days. Roll Tide.