NASHVILLE — If Monday was the calm before the storm, I suppose the storm began on Tuesday.

On second thought, it wasn’t so much a storm as it was a drizzle. Yes, we had Kirby Smart on hand to address the masses. Was it explosive? Eh, not so much (more on that in a minute).

We also had Brock Bowers, arguably the best player in college football, address the masses. Was it earth shattering? Eh, not so much, but there was a bit more to Bowers’ presence that I found interesting.

In addition to Clark Lea and first-time head coach Zach Arnett, we had Hugh Freeze’s return to SEC Media Days after his 6-year, post-Ole Miss hiatus.

A drizzle, not a storm, yielded these takeaways from Tuesday at SEC Media Days in Nashville:

1. Kirby Smart got exactly 1 question on the off-the-field issues

There was a thought that Smart would have to address the speeding-related arrests following the tragedy that took the lives of 2 members of the Georgia football program, Devin Willock and Chandler LeCroy. Instead, he got as many questions about Georgia’s speeding-related incidents as he did … Pat Fitzgerald?

Yeah, surprising. Here was Smart’s answer to whether or not his message has gotten through about those risks:

“I’m disappointed anytime we have trafficincidents. It’s very evident when you look at it, we’ve had traffic citations and incidents throughout the history of being at the University of Georgia. We actually don’t have more now than we’ve had in the past. What concerns me most is the safety of our players, and when you drive at high speeds it’s unsafe. We don’t want that to happen. We’re going to do all we can to take that out and make sure that’s eradicated.

“But I’m also smart enough to understand and know that 18-to 20-year olds is when this happens. It’s when it happened to me as a student-athlete. That’s when speeding happens. What we want to do is take that out and make it safe and not have high speeds. As long as they don’t get a speeding ticket, it should not be a super speeder.”

To be fair, Smart addressed those issues last week in front of local media. You probably weren’t going to get some explosive responses wherein Smart said “we have a culture problem right now.” He’s right in that this isn’t the first time or the last time that Georgia had speeding issues. Those issues have, however, been magnified because of the post-parade tragedy that took place for a program trying to become the first to 3-peat since 1936 Minnesota.

Until further notice, the 2-time defending champs don’t have a culture problem. But has it been an ideal offseason? Certainly not. It was just a touch surprising that Smart’s time in the main media area consisted of 13 questions with just 1 about those offseason headlines.

2. I can’t get enough of Brock Bowers for 2 reasons

For my money, he’s 1 of the 2 best players in America, and if you tell me he’s No. 1, I won’t push back. Granted, that doesn’t mean you can get Bowers to speak on that. He didn’t even want to speak on whether he’s the best tight end in the country (he is).

But I can’t get enough of Bowers for a couple reasons. One is that besides being insanely fun to watch, the way that Smart speaks about him is atypical. Smart spoke of an instance in which the Georgia tight end room challenged Bowers to a 1-vs-all 100-yard sprints drill, wherein the deck should’ve been stacked because of the built-in rest periods for the rest of the younger tight ends.

All Bowers did, without any rest, was beat them at every turn.

Smart said that Bowers is “easily the quietest, hardest worker I’ve ever been around.” That’s the other part of this. I can’t get enough of Bowers because as Smart said, good luck getting more than 3 sentences out of him. They’ve been unsuccessful in attempting that at Georgia so far. Smart actually challenged the media to see if we could get 3 sentences out of the Mackey Award winner.

No dice.

And no, don’t confuse his uncomfortable nature around the media — Smart said he enjoyed watching him “squirm” on the plane ahead of his appearance at SEC Media Days — as a knock against Bowers’ intelligence. He’s a finance major with a 3.45 GPA … which Smart pointed out that as a finance major at Georgia with a slightly better GPA back in the 1990s, that’s the one area that he’s got him beat.

My guess? Bowers will slowly become more comfortable in that role. An even better guess? His play on the field will do the talking for the rest of his career.

3. Horns Down … a penalty??? It depends

Rejoice, SEC fans. There will be no special rules for “Horns Down.”

The SEC’s Coordinator of Football Officials, John McDaid outlined that unsportsmanlike conduct needs to fit into 1 of 3 categories. As for “Horns Down,” McDaid said the same rules will be applied to all gestures, including Florida’s “Gator chomp” and Ole Miss’ “Landshark” gestures.

“Unsportsmanlike conduct needs to fit 1 of 3 categories: Is it taunting an opponent? Is it making a travesty of the game? Is it otherwise compromising our ability to manage the game? There’s a difference between a player giving a signal directly in face of an opponent, as opposed to doing it w/teammates celebrating after a touchdown or on the sideline. To net all that out, every single occurrence is not an act of unsportsmanlike conduct.”

That’s different from the current Big 12 rules, which are meant to penalize any use of the “Horns Down.” It makes sense that the SEC would stick to that precedent. It’s entirely different to throw a “Horns Down” after sacking Arch Manning while standing over him as opposed to using that on the sidelines.

This is good news for Oklahoma. New conference, new rules about trolling your opponent.

4. Hugh Freeze did what Jimbo Fisher didn’t

I actually thought if there was a winner of the week so far, it was Freeze. He didn’t come off like he was selling a vision of his program, and he seemed much more toned down compared to the almost-evangelical vibes he’s given off in years past. A 6-year gap between SEC Media Days — with NCAA penalties and an escort scandal sandwiched in between — humbled Freeze.

It humbled him to the point where he’s even open about where he stands as an offensive mind in the sport. This answer, in response to a question about play-calling duties in Year 1 at Auburn, was totally different than the one Fisher offered up earlier in the week on Bobby Petrino.

“I think once upon a time I was probably one of the better play-callers in college football. Obviously better players make you a better play-caller. I don’t know that I was the greatest play-caller or one of the best play-callers the last few years at Liberty,” Freeze said. “I managed the game really well and gave our kids a chance to obviously win some huge games, and we were really good on defense, and I kind of played to that.

“But coming back knowing what was all-encompassing to bring Auburn back, sitting in the chair that I have to sit in, I needed help.”

That help came in the form of Philip Montgomery, who’ll run Freeze’s offense, though with some new terminology. Freeze realized that also needed to be tweaked as his coaching tree expanded.

It’s rare to see someone that self-aware about his shortcomings. Lord knows Freeze has had plenty of time to examine those. From an on-field standpoint, his willingness to step back into a CEO-role with occasional calls — sort of like what Lane Kiffin and Josh Heupel do in their respective roles — could be exactly what the doctor ordered to spark an Auburn offense that’s been stuck in neutral far too much in recent memory.

5. Zach Arnett is unique in every way

And not just because he grew up in New Mexico and has never watched an episode of “Breaking Bad.”

(I know. That’s a tough look.)

Arnett is doing something that we haven’t seen a Power 5 head coach attempt to do since, ironically enough, Pat Fitzgerald in 2006. That is, take over for an active head coach who died. It’s certainly a unique set of circumstances, even for someone like Arnett who started at Mississippi State just a few weeks after Mike Leach did in 2020.

At 36, Arnett is easily the youngest coach in the SEC. Kenny Dillingham is the only Power 5 head coach younger than him. The last time an SEC coach was as young as Arnett was when a 34-year-old Lane Kiffin spent 1 season at Tennessee. Arnett would be the first to admit that even his résumé is weird because he’s a Power 5 head coach who spent his entire professional career at 2 schools (San Diego State and Mississippi State).

For those reasons, there could be some skepticism about Arnett to the outside world. But the key thing to remember is that while the transition might’ve made it appear like an “interim” situation, Arnett is not that. He got to hire his own staff.

Instead of sticking with the Leach Air Raid — a 1-of-1 offense — he deviated and hired Appalachian State offensive coordinator Kevin Barbay. The Barbay-Will Rogers marriage could have a large say in Arnett’s early approval rating. That’s a strange thing to say about a quarterback like Rogers, who needs just 2,478 yards to break Aaron Murray’s career SEC passing mark.

That offensive transformation to a more balanced attack also meant adding tight ends to the roster. After not having a single tight end on Leach’s 3 squads, Arnett added 7 (!) to the roster this offseason.

Nothing about Arnett’s situation is normal. Even the decision on whether or not to wear a tie to honor Mike Leach — a hater of the necktie altogether — was something he discussed. Arnett rolled with the necktie and added “I’m sure I’ve disappointed him a little bit here today.”

The best way for Arnett to honor Leach? Thrive under unique circumstances.