A lot of talking gets done in the offseason, even when there isn’t a whole lot of material. Preseason camp has recently opened (finally), but the bulk of the summer is made up of offseason workouts and coaches either on the recruiting trail or working the booster club circuit. July’s Media Days offered some insight into each team’s message and motto for the 2018 season. The offseason is slow, but we learned a few things during the dog days, which, thankfully, are finally over.

1. Mizzou will never get proper credit

At SEC Media Days, Missouri players were vocal about their frustrations that they’re tired of anything positive for the Tigers being seen as the fault of the other team or the product of playing weak competition.

Despite finishing the 2017 regular season on a 6-game winning streak, MU received little love as even a potential division challenger. Never mind that the Tigers are one of only three teams to win the SEC East in the past five years.

One interview on “The Paul Finebaum Show” perfectly captured the Mizzou perception problem.

As a multi-year starter in the SEC, Lock has thrown for 8,695 yards and 71 touchdowns. Last year he set the SEC single-season record with 44 TD passes. That’s a lot of “hype” to reject.

2. Lakes are Georgia QB Jake Fromm’s kryptonite

Spending summer at the lake did more to Fromm’s body than any SEC defense did all season. In June, Fromm got a fishing lure stuck in his leg. Weeks later, in early July, Fromm suffered a broken hand in a freak accident.

UGA coach Kirby Smart is still a Southern boy at heart and said he won’t keep Fromm from having fun at the lake in the offseason. It probably does worry Smart on some level that his starting quarterback seems to get in more accidents by the water than on the football field. Fromm is fine. And at least UGA has a 5-star insurance policy by the name of Justin Fields.

3. Dan Mullen sees something in his 3 QBs

Mullen inherited three scholarship quarterbacks (Jake Allen, Feleipe Franks and Kyle Trask) when he took the UF job and signed another signal-caller (Emory Jones). Allen transferred and, to the surprise of some Gators fans, no quarterbacks transferred in.

Joe Burrow was linked to Florida, but there are no indications he even visited UF before choosing LSU. Gators fans were excited, again, at another chance to add another non-McElwain signee to the quarterback depth chart when former Mississippi State commit Cord Sandberg announced he was quitting minor league baseball to give college football another try. Despite being from Florida and having a prior connection to Mullen, UF did not make Sandberg’s final three. He’s now at Auburn.

Reading between the lines, it appears Mullen pursued neither quarterback to come to Florida and contribute in 2018. He must see something in the three he has on campus now and two others committed for 2019 and 2020.

4. If the coaching doesn’t work out, Derek Mason could be official spokesperson of the SEC

With an 18-31 record over four seasons, expect some media speculation about the temperature of Mason’s seat as the head Commodore. Vanderbilt returns a veteran starting quarterback in Kyle Shurmur, but must replace all-time leading rusher Ralph Webb, making it somewhat difficult to figure out what to expect from Mason’s squad this season.

If Vanderbilt decides to make a change, Mason could potentially land a job in PR for the SEC after he reminded reporters he doesn’t need to be worry about traveling to Notre Dame.

“We play in the SEC. I don’t worry about going to South Bend,” Mason said at SEC Media Days.

Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

5. Will Muschamp is finally in the right job

Many of us who watched Muschamp’s four seasons at Florida wondered why South Carolina was hiring him in 2016. Entering Year 3 of the Muschamp era in Columbia, however, it’s starting to look like the perfect fit.

Muschamp is starting to show he’s comfortable in his own skin as the head Gamecock. He knows how to rib Clemson (even though he’s yet to beat the Tigers). He knows when to joke with a Twitter hashtag.

Muschamp has recruited well and has USC as the perceived No. 2 team in the division heading into 2018.

The hire has worked out well.

6. Mark Richt’s players have no love for Jeremy Pruitt

Who knew the airwaves and headlines at SEC Media Days were going to be dominated by a debate over Pruitt’s fitness to be a head coach?

Two sides emerged the loudest: Mark Richt loyalists and members of the Nick Saban coaching tree. Aaron Murray and David Pollack are both prominent former UGA football players (under Richt) who have media platforms as college football analysts. Each used their platform to call out Pruitt for how he treated Richt at Georgia in 2014-15. Meanwhile, Nick Saban and his assistants who are now SEC head coaches all had wonderful things to say about Pruitt. Even Will Muschamp, who hasn’t coached with Pruitt, stuck up for his Saban Coaching Tree fraternity brother.

Instead of arguing over Pruitt, SEC East fans can have more fun letting their minds wander down the rabbit hole of “what ifs” if Richt had never left Georgia.

7. Kentucky wants to talk about something other than streaks

The Wildcats are tired of talking about 31 consecutive losses to Florida. At Media Days, coach Mark Stoops didn’t even want to talk about his team’s positive 4-game winning streak over South Carolina.

Kentucky, South Carolina and Vanderbilt have become the annual team subject to “might surprise” media hype. The way for Stoops Troops to get off the topic of streaks is pretty simple: win 9 games. It’s something UK hasn’t accomplished since 1949. Playing a 12-game schedule featuring eight SEC games, makes 9 wins pretty much the minimum win total to contend for the division title. And, hey, it would probably include a win over Florida.

8. Florida’s weight room was poorly run under Jim McElwain

At SEC Media Days, senior OT Martez Ivey offered a scathing indictment of Florida’s weight program under Jim McElwain. Ivey pointed to the fact he would see recruits UF hosted sign with other teams and suddenly be bigger than the Gators players when they met again on the gridiron. Senior DL Cece Jefferson added that Florida players could “just tell” opponents were stronger.

But that has changed, as summed up by junior LB David Reese.

“Coach Savage has been the biggest difference since Day 1.”

Mullen brought strength coach Nick Savage with him from Mississippi State and Florida players are looking bigger and stronger across the board.

9. Georgia will be the division’s most talented team for the foreseeable future

Alabama had an incredible streak of seven consecutive No. 1-ranked recruiting classes from 2011-17. Georgia ended the streak by signing the No. 1 class last season.

It’s not looking like a fluke. Smart’s Dawgs are on top again in the recruiting with 17 commitments. Sixteen are blue-chip recruits (rated 4- or 5-stars).

Nick Saban has never lost to a former assistant. With the way Smart is recruiting, he’ll have the talent to change that. One thing’s for sure, no SEC East team is catching UGA any time soon on the trail. Beating the Dawgs will have to be accomplished by good old fashioned coaching ’em up.

10. Some things never change, like Gators getting in trouble with the law

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Whether the head coach is named Meyer, Muschamp, McElwain or Mullen, Florida players will find a way to get in trouble with the law. A couple weeks ago, it came to light that multiple Florida players arrived to a confrontation with area “gambler” Tay Bang displaying weapons such as Airsoft guns and a frying pan.

It appears the May incident, which resulted in no criminal charges, was handled internally and likely put to rest. Florida compliance will also have to look into reported discounts at Enterprise, Bang’s employer, for UF football players. But don’t hold your breath for any scandal to emerge beyond the embarassment that comes from such headlines.