The SEC Football Kickoff Media Days are taking place this week in Atlanta, from Monday to Thursday. The most prominent league in the country is looking to regain its championship mojo after going back-to-back years without winning the national title. That hasn’t happened since 2013 and 2014, when Florida State and Ohio State won, respectively.
To discuss the conference where the official slogan is “It Just Means More,” we recently caught up with Paul Finebaum.
He previewed what promises to be an interesting week in SEC country and why he thinks Texas will beat Ohio State to open the 2025 season.
Note: This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
Awful Announcing: What is the big story going into SEC Media Days?
Paul Finebaum: “These different worlds are converging in a couple of days in Atlanta. You have Beyoncé there all weekend. Then, the Home Run Derby Monday night, and on Tuesday, the MLB All-Star Game. Having said all that, I’m most interested in Tuesday afternoon. What happens when Arch Manning shows up for the first time in front of a mob of reporters? I’m not saying it will upstage Beyoncé, but I do think it’s going to be more compelling than the All-Star Game.”
What do you expect to hear from Arch Manning?
“I think he will be well-prepared and handle everything. The real question is if he goes off-script at all. Who is he, and what’s he all about? He has been talked about for years. I remember hearing about him in junior high because of his family. But I don’t think many people have heard from him. I know he did an interview with Marty Smith a couple of months ago that was very interesting. But it’s one thing to sit down with one person. It’s another thing to get questions fired at him. Probably the last time we’ve seen anything quite like this would be 2013 when Johnny Manziel showed up. He was showing up a couple of days after all kinds of controversy when he got thrown out, ironically, of the Manning camp.”
What makes you believe that Texas will win at Ohio State on Aug. 30?
“I think the reason I say that, and it’s not just the quarterbacks. Julian Sayin is a good quarterback. I got to know a lot about him during his 15 minutes at Alabama. But I think Texas is just so much deeper. And even though both programs had to replace an enormous amount of players, I think A to Z, Texas is the more complete team. I don’t even think it’s debatable that Steve Sarkisian is a better coach. I think he’s the best playcaller in the game. I’ve yet to figure out what Ryan Day is good at other than using Grecian formula in his beard.”
There are no new head coaches in the SEC. What does that tell you?
“A lot of it had to do with the House settlement and the realignment of the financial world of college football. There were some coaches who started last year clearly in hot-seat territory, but the buyouts are so excessive that it almost made them a non-starter. I don’t think there was any one coach that you said, ‘He has to go.’ There were some coaches that you could have a debate about, but the numbers are so big. I give all the credit in the world to Jimmy Sexton, who continues to be undefeated as a sports agent when it comes to negotiating against universities.”
Which SEC coach is on the hottest seat?
“Hugh Freeze has had the worst summer I can ever remember. And that came after a pretty good offseason. It looked like in February he had solidified a top-ten recruiting year, and just about everything that could go wrong this summer has. In June, Freeze posted 10 rounds to (the USGA’s GHIN database).
“Nobody forces you to type in your score. For whatever reason, Freeze felt compelled during the biggest recruiting month of the year to record (10) rounds, which meant he could have played more. He could have played every day. And by the way, he has not denied that either. It’s one thing to play golf. It’s another thing to lose every recruit you were in the finals for.”
Is there an SEC team that could be better than expected?
“LSU is probably not going to be picked in the top three, but I think they’re just a complete package. There was a segment on First Take about whether Brian Kelly is on the hot seat. I don’t think he is because he has recruited so well. He’s filled the needs of this team. He has an outstanding defensive coordinator in Blake Baker. This year, I think he’s finally got the pieces that he needs. He also has a quarterback in Garrett Nussmeier, who is in the top two or three in relation to experts picking who’s the most likely quarterback taken first in the draft. (The Tigers) have an incredibly difficult schedule though, notably Clemson in the first game.”
Which SEC team may be overrated?
“I think Georgia is. Kirby Smart was on our show. He said, ‘I wanted to thank you for alerting Gunner Stockton,’ his quarterback, ‘to how little you think of him.’ He was laughing because I had said at the time what I’ve said a few other times. I think Gunner Stockton is not elite. Neither was Stetson Bennett. He won two national championships for Georgia, but Georgia had so many great players on those national title teams. They have a lot of good players on this team, but I don’t think they have enough. I think we saw that in the waning moments of the first half against Notre Dame in the early part of the third quarter when Georgia just melted down. They looked about as clueless and as unprepared as I’ve ever seen a Georgia team. I think they’re good. I don’t think they’re great.”
Excluding Arch Manning, who’s a player you’re very curious to see?
“South Carolina’s quarterback Lanorris Sellers. He’s still maybe a little young, but I think he has the potential to be on that front row of SEC-grade quarterbacks. He’s got a lot of good players around him. People don’t pay a lot of attention to South Carolina, but they’re a program that I would pay a lot of attention to this year. They’ve beaten Clemson two straight times at Clemson. They threw away a game last year against LSU. They had a 17-point lead in the first half. They lost the game, and it very likely cost them a playoff berth. They have Alabama at home this year, which I think gives them a reasonable chance of pulling off an upset.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVQP5Kr5rSE
Speaking of Alabama, is Ryan Williams the Crimson Tide’s best player?
“Yes. I know that Jeremiah Smith gets all the attention at Ohio State, and for good reason. He’s probably the best player in college football, and maybe whenever he’s able to come out to the draft, he’ll be the first player taken. But Ryan Williams is not far behind. His problem last year was his quarterback. Jalen Milroe was very inconsistent, and it created a lot of problems. One thing that Ryan Williams has going for him: there are other good receivers on that team. I think Ryan Williams is exceptional.”
Do you have a memorable moment this year from your show?
“On June 21st, there was an event in Birmingham that might have been as meaningful to me as anything that I’ve ever experienced. A gentleman named Larry, he’s a caller from Shelby County, Alabama. We had a celebration of life. And I have to tell you, it was one of the most moving things. We had a couple of hundred people show up from all over the South. I came in from Charlotte. A Clemson fan who calls the show, named Chris, drove over from Spartanburg, South Carolina. We had people coming from Memphis, from Atlanta.
“His name is Larry Wallace, and he died in May. He was a former law enforcement officer, and it was just extraordinary. This was a guy who became a celebrity caller on the show by once admitting that I think he had had 32 Bud Lights after an Alabama loss. Everybody held up a Bud Light to toast him. Everyone had an amazing time.”