Strange: Beware of SEC Media Days talk

Hard to believe, but it's only 10 days until the 2008 SEC football season kicks off.

Well, until the talking part kicks off anyway. A week from Tuesday a media mob descends on a hotel in Hoover, Ala., and absorbs every utterance of one commissioner, 12 coaches and two dozen players.

This is known as SEC Media Days. And while an actual kickoff is still more than a month away, by late July we're grateful for some serious football talk.

But reader beware.

As you hungrily devour the information that spews forth from Hoover, keep in mind it's not all worth taking to the bank.

At last year's SEC Media Days, we media experts correctly projected LSU as the 2007 league champion.

Hold your applause, please. That was the first time we got it right since 1995.

It was a big improvement from 2005. We picked Tennessee to win it all. Didn't see that perfect storm brewing.

Or, 2004, Auburn not only won the league but went 13-0. Of 88 voters at Media Days, only one picked the Tigers to win the SEC.

It's not just championship projections on which we are prone to stray. Of 26 players named first-team All-SEC by the Associated Press last December, 14 were overlooked on the first- or second-teams picked by the media in July.

Sometimes we're too trusting.Steve Spurrier said South Carolina was ready to compete for its first SEC title last year. Hey, if Spurrier says it, it must be right.

Here's what I wrote: Stand warned Gators, Vols and Bulldogs: The East is no longer just a three-team race.

South Carolina finished 3-5, tied for fourth. Same as it ever was.

Preseason conjecture is not confined to Hoover, of course. It's an epidemic.

Ole Miss athletic director Pete Boone was asked at a Rebel Club meeting in Memphis if 2007 was a make-or-break season for coach Ed Orgeron.

"Oh, absolutely not,'' Boone said.

Orgeron won't be attending Media Days next week.

Curiosity about Tennessee's upcoming 2007 season led to all sorts of speculation.

For example, assistant coach Trooper Taylor predicted last summer "three or four" of the incoming receivers would have an impact.

Kenny O'Neal is "a good bet,'' and Brent Vinson "is promising,'' Taylor added.

O'Neal was an awful bet. He caught two balls. Vinson was promising once he moved to cornerback and became a starter.

The closest thing to an impact was Denarius Moore's 14 catches.

Linebacker Jerod Mayo was pretty sure the Vols' defense would include a 3-4 package that had been explored in spring practice. If there was any 3-4 last fall, I don't remember it.

Britton Colquitt was going to kick field goals as well as punt, so suspect was freshman Daniel Lincoln. Wrong. Lincoln was second-team All-SEC. Colquitt did kick off but never tried a field goal.

By August the Vols were working on a special quarterback package, with receiver Lucas Taylor perceived to be the leading candidate. Taylor did throw a TD pass in '07 but Gerald Jones and the "G-Gun" turned out to be the special package.

A few summer thoughts did actually come to pass.

My colleague John Adams on July 22 tabbed Arkansas' Houston Nutt as the most likely SEC coach to hit the road after the season.

Adams: My guess is he's fed up with all the criticism and ready to bolt if he gets the opportunity.

He got it at Ole Miss, after Orgeron broke in his make-or-break season.

At Media Days, Sylvester Croom steadfastly stood his ground against critics of his 9-25 record in three years at Mississippi State.

"I know my plan is on track,'' Croom said.

Mississippi State went 8-5. Croom was SEC coach of the year.

Finally, UT's Jarod Parrish made a correct prediction, but derived no satisfaction from it. Parrish figured he had played well enough in spring to win the starting strong safety job as a senior. Coach Phillip Fulmer agreed, comparing him to 1985's senior Cinderella story, Chris White.

"I feel like somebody's got to be an All-American to take it away from me,'' Parrish said.

Somebody did. Eric Berry was a Freshman All-America.

We're headed back to Hoover next week. Prepare to be bombarded with information.

Some of it will be right.

Mike Strange may be reached at 865-342-6276 or strangem@knoxnews.com.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.
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