Inside Texas at SEC Media Days - Day 2

Inside Texas is back at the Omni in Downtown Dallas for day two of SEC Media Days ahead of the 2024 season. Georgia, Oklahoma, Missouri, and Tennessee are on tap for today’s festivities, with the Sooners and OU head coach Brent Venables likely to receive a number of “are you prepared for the SEC” questions.

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Stay tuned to Inside Texas for updates.

In case you missed it, SEC coordinator of officials John McDaid addressed Horns Down and if it will be a penalty in 2024.

Georgia HC Kirby Smart

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart says he met with Nike founder Phil Knight in the offseason. “Wish I could get some of that NIL money he’s sharing with Dan Lanning.”

Kirby Smart: “When Texas and Oklahoma came into the conference, every schedule was going to get harder.”

Kirby Smart: “Every team we play is the best that week. Please understand that. In the SEC, humility is a week away. I have a ton of respect for Sark and the job he does. I got to watch them play last year against several common opponents. I got to watch them play in the Playoff. They have a tremendous recruiting base. They do a tremendous job in recruiting. That includes NIL and everything included in that. They’re a big physical team. They’re built like a physical football team. They’re built like an SEC football team. We’re looking forward to an opportunity to come play them. What a tremendous matchup it’ll be.”

Kirby Smart on eliminating conference championships: “You know, I’m not for doing that. I still think there is value in winning an SEC championship. The unique thing about the career that I’ve had coaching, I’ve almost won as many SEC championships as national championships, and I’ve won two national championships when I didn’t win an SEC championship as a program. That is unique. I mean, it’s not supposed to happen that way.”

Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel

Heupel on returning to Oklahoma: “Yeah. First time I will have been back. It’ll be unique for myself to be on the other side of the sideline. Obviously there’s been a lot of Saturdays where I was on the home sideline. But there are so many great teammates, friends that will be there. Got great respect for the university, the program. A lot of friends that are coaching on the opposing sideline that day, former teammates that will be coaching on that opposing sideline, too. So it’ll be unique to be back there, but excited to be there.”

Josh Heupel: “This is the greatest game. To me this is the greatest game that there is. You look at the experience that young people have from 18 to 22, 23 years old, their growth as a man, and the game affords that. You learn how to set goals. You learn how to handle success. You learn how to handle failure. You learn how to lead. You learn how to get yourself ready to be the husband, the father that you want to be when football ends, and it ends for everybody some day. There’s a lot of obstacles within the landscape of college football in today’s world that we gotta navigate, but there’s a lot of really smart people that can help us navigate it the right way, and I’m excited about the future of football.”

Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables

How ready is OU for the SEC transition? Brent Venables: “I really don’t know how to answer that other than we’re excited for the challenge as competitors. As a football program, Oklahoma isn’t intimidated as a football program. We’re running towards the SEC. I think that goes without saying. We’ve looked forward for the last several years for this partnership to be part of an amazing conference, the best conference in college football. How ready are we? We’re excited for the challenge. I think you have to go through it.”

Does Brent Venables see the Red River Shootout changing now that it’s an SEC matchup?  “I don’t. It’s as deep-seated, hate-filled, emotional of a rivalry as there is in college football. I don’t see how the conference affiliation will make a big difference. What I will say is that’s one of many games where you’re going to have to find a way of grinding it out.”

Every coach that has stood on that stage so far has been asked about Texas or Oklahoma and what their impact is going to be on the league. What do you think that says about Texas and Oklahoma joining the SEC?

Venables: Well, again, I think it’s a partnership of elite with elite. And, again, two programs that in the history of college football take a back seat to nobody. The SEC doesn’t take a back seat to anybody. From our leadership to the quality of the teams — and, really, it’s every single athletic team on those campuses; it’s unmatched. And so we both have programs that have had elite-level success with all of our athletic programs, certainly football included. And I just think it fortifies what was already the strongest conference in all of college football.