There are all sorts of numbers that often swirl around through the SEC, but the best combination just might be 24/7/365.
You get the hint, right? In the SEC, football never stops. Every hour of every day, fan bases across all 14 schools are always dreaming and hoping and wishing for great things to happen.
There are two fan bases that are wildly excited about action on the field next year, but it’s all tempered with controversy swirling around troubles off the field. Tennessee and Ole Miss are legitimate contenders for division titles – and all that follows – but the specter of Title IX lawsuits over rape allegations and improper handling hover over the Volunteers, and serious NCAA charges are a bother for the Rebels in Oxford.
For those reasons, we have to leave them out. Here are the three schools who have had the best offseasons since the regular season ended last November.
Georgia Bulldogs
This was an offseason of transition for the Bulldogs program, and they’ve hit a home run at every turn. They got the coach they wanted so badly and kept the quarterback they wanted, too. And since then, they’ve raised the bar on bravado and are talking like a program that is ready for championships.
And not just SEC East titles. They want conference titles and more, and they’re talking like they aren’t going to stop until it happens.
The biggest thing was getting Kirby Smart in the fold to replace Mark Richt after his 15-year run in Athens. Richt won a lot of games, but not enough big ones, especially in the last three years. Smart, a former Bulldogs player, has won four national titles as Nick Saban’s defensive coordinator at Alabama and he is, without question, a perfect fit for Georgia.
So is Jacob Eason. He was the most sought-after quarterback in the country last year and was an early Georgia verbal commit. When Richt was let go, Eason chose to take a look around and re-open his recruiting. After doing so at places like Florida, he chose to stick with Georgia and everyone in Bulldog Nation couldn’t be happier. He’s shown a lot in the spring, and the Dogs are hoping they have their quarterback of the future – and quite possibly the present – for the next three years.
What might be best though is that Smart isn’t backing down from anyone. He’s already ruffling a lot of feathers, and he’s pushing hard to make the Bulldogs the team to beat in the SEC East. They recruited well in a short time frame and are chasing the best in the nation in the 2017 recruiting cycle. The Bulldogs are in good hands, and trending upward.
LSU Tigers
It looked like everything was going to blow up in Baton Rouge in November. The Tigers lost three straight games in an ugly fashion – to SEC West rivals Alabama, Arkansas and Ole Miss – and it looked like Les Miles was going to get fired and the entire program was going to get trashed.
But then Miles got a reprieve, and one big piece after another fell into place afterward. They won their season finale against Texas A&M, won their bowl, had a great recruiting year and, most importantly, got so much good news in the winter when one junior star after another eschewed the NFL Draft to come back to Baton Rouge and make a national title run.
Defensive end Lewis Neal, linebacker Kendell Beckwith and defensive back Tre’Davious White will lead what could very well be the best defense in the nation. All the pieces have been put back together quickly, and now the roar is back.
Alabama Crimson Tide
There is no program in America that does a better job of simply reloading every year than Alabama does. They lose Kirby Smart and pick up Jeremy Pruitt as defensive coordinator, never missing a beat and not even having to change much on defense.
They got good news when Tim Williams and others decided to come back, and this Bama defense will be nasty once again.
Throw in the fact that a No. 1-ranked recruiting class arrives in Tuscaloosa, and the Crimson Tide will likely be ranked preseason No. 1 once again. It has depth at every position that’s still unproven, but most of them are five-star recruits just waiting for their turn. Roll on, Tide.
Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist and author who is covering SEC football for Saturday Down South.
