SEC Media Days 2023: 3 players I’m looking forward to chatting with and 3 players I wish were in Nashville
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I’m fired up.
SEC Media Days in Nashville next week will be new, but in many ways, it feels right. A booming, Southern city getting to play host to the booming premier college football conference makes perfect sense.
On Monday, we got the list of 42 player invitees (3 per team) for the festivities. We’ve got a punter (shoutout Kai Kroger), a sophomore (shoutout Quinshon Judkins) and 40 others who’ll go through the Media Days carwash.
Here are 3 players I’m excited to chat with and 3 players that I wish were attending:
Players I’m excited to chat with in Nashville
1. Spencer Rattler, South Carolina QB
Ah, yes. The prolific, polarizing senior quarterback has been in the spotlight for really the last 5-6 years. And while Rattler has been available to the local media and he’s had some NIL-based media appearances, speaking with him at Media Days will be a new experience. Will Rattler come off humble? Will he be as conversational as teammate DK Joyner was last year? Will he be reserved and talk like someone who doesn’t want to say the wrong thing? Whatever the case, it’ll be interesting.
Last year, he was among the “disappointed he won’t be there” group. Shane Beamer actually joked last year that Rattler would be back in 2023 to represent the Gamecocks. Well, he was right.
2. Sedrick Van Pran, Georgia OL
Surprised I don’t have Brock Bowers here? I went with Van Pran because if you’ve ever interviewed the big Georgia offensive lineman before, you know he’s as good of an interviewee as there is. He actually answers questions, he thinks thoughtfully and he truly seems to have the pulse of his team. I saw that at the SEC Championship last year.
It’s remarkable that this will be the third year in a row that Georgia got a surprising return from a senior who is an ideal representative for this setting. Last year it was Nolan Smith, and in 2021, it was the Jordan Davis show in Hoover. Van Pran will carry on a conversation with anyone. Guys who seem legitimately happy to be there are the best ones to talk to. The Georgia captain will be just that.
3. Quinshon Judkins, Ole Miss RB
Give Lane Kiffin credit here. Instead of abiding by the unwritten rule that sophomores don’t attend Media Days, he gave Judkins the chance to represent Ole Miss. Good. The guy is a preseason All-American who should have no shortage of attention this year. Getting him in front of a few microphones and cameras won’t hurt him.
Judkins didn’t get those opportunities as a true freshman when he set the conference ablaze. That’s pretty common. Not so common is having a preseason All-American sophomore chosen as 1 of 3 team reps for Media Days. Clearly, Kiffin would like Judkins to be on everyone’s radar in 2023.
Players I wish were going to be in Nashville but won’t
1. Conner Weigman, Texas A&M QB
First question, Conner: Why do you spell your name incorrectly?
(Sorry, lame joke. But everyone knows that there’s only one way to spell “Connor.”)
No, in all seriousness, I think it’d be fascinating to hear from a quarterback’s perspective what Bobby Petrino’s impact on the offense has been and if Jimbo Fisher has been willing to tweak some of his philosophies on tempo and pre-snap motion. Would Weigman have answered those questions? Probably not, but it would’ve been nice to see the presumed A&M starter in Nashville.
I assume he’s not representing A&M in part because he’s a sophomore, and also because Fisher would like to continue to sell us on the notion that there’s a quarterback battle involving Max Johnson. If Weigman isn’t the Day 1 starter, it’d be a stunner. It’s less stunning that Ainias Smith will be the Aggies’ lone offensive representative.
2. Harold Perkins, LSU LB
If there’s a short list of “top defensive players returning in college football,” Perkins is on it. Shoot, he might start it. That’s how good his true freshman season was. He was everywhere. He’s most notable media interaction of the season came via Brian Kelly after his all-world performance against Arkansas when he had the flu. When Kelly made a reference to Michael Jordan and the MJ “flu game,” Perkins asked who MJ was.
Brian Kelly said Harold Perkins was sick before the game with the flu.
Told him MJ played his best game ever when he was sick.
Perkins: “Who’s MJ?” pic.twitter.com/QQ9GQxJTuA
— Cody Worsham (@CodyWorsham) November 12, 2022
On second thought, it makes a lot of sense why Kelly didn’t want to stick Perkins in front of the media. We’d probably grill him on other things that happened in the 1990s.
- Have you ever seen an episode of “Seinfeld”?
- OJ Simpson drove a __________.
- Name a Backstreet Boys song
To be fair, Perkins was born in 2004. Also to be fair, he plays linebacker like someone 10 years his senior. Pop culture knowledge from the 1990s won’t win LSU an SEC title. More flu games will.
3. Ray Davis, Kentucky RB
I get it. A transfer representing a team at Media Days is extremely rare. I wouldn’t say I expected Davis to get the nod after transferring from Vanderbilt, which will unofficially play host to the week’s festivities. Still, though. Davis, AKA LeBron, would’ve had fun with the experience.
Ray Davis, Kentucky RB/American treasure. pic.twitter.com/84W6BATsQI
— Connor O’Gara (@cjogara) March 31, 2023
Besides just being able to laugh at himself, Davis has had a unique path to get to Kentucky. He grew up in California foster care — he was separated from his 14 (!) siblings — with parents who were in and out of jail. In addition to spending time in a homeless shelter, he ultimately got legal guardians and ended up going to a boarding school in New York, where he played well enough to earn small school offers. Two years at Temple, 2 years and 1 degree from Vandy, and now, Davis is in his final year of eligibility as RB1 at Kentucky.
Oh well. I’ll have to dig into Davis’ story another time.
Connor O'Gara is the senior national columnist for Saturday Down South. He's a member of the Football Writers Association of America. After spending his entire life living in B1G country, he moved to the South in 2015.
