For years, the SEC marketed itself by with the tagline, ‘It just means more’ — that is, the league’s football product, which has produced the majority of national champions over the past 20 years, is so extraordinarily excellent and carries such an outsized importance that no other conference in college athletics can match it.
Just how much does football mean to the league, exactly? In the SEC, media days — an event reserved for players and coaches to talk about how optimistic they are about the upcoming season and how everyone on the team is in the best shape of their life — stretches across four days.
The 2025 edition of SEC media days will take place this week, beginning on Monday, July 14 from the College Football Hall of Fame and Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park.
Watch SEC media days live with Fubo (free trial)
There, coaches and player representatives from each of the conference’s 16 teams will discuss the impending 2025 season, offering at least a glimpse at what fans can expect in what may yet again be college football’s deepest and most talented conference.
As is often the case, the SEC won’t be lacking in storylines.
USA TODAY Sports had updates and highlights from Day 1 at the SEC media days in 2025. Check them out below:
SEC media days live updates
This section will be updated throughout SEC media days.
Diego Pavia returned to Vanderbilt to win national championship
Diego Pavia is back at Vanderbilt after an exciting first season which saw the Commodores pick up an upset victory over then-No. 1 Alabama. The rest of the season was up-and-down for Vanderbilt, as it finished with an 7-6 record.
Pavia has higher aspirations for the Commodores this season.
‘Going 7-6 (last year) wasn’t good enough,’ Pavia said at SEC Media Days. ‘I came back because I want to win a national championship.’
Greg Sankey embellishes bold claims about SEC football schedule
‘True to his form, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey boasted Monday that nobody outside of his conference would trade its own conference schedule in favor of an eight-game SEC schedule.
‘Sankey’s biased, but is he wrong?
‘Well, he’s exaggerating – a bit, at least.’
Clark Lea says Vanderbilt has what it takes to play in January
Last season, Vanderbilt earned an upset win over Alabama when the Crimson Tide held the No. 1 overall ranking. At SEC Media Days, Lea believes Vanderbilt can take the next step.
‘We believe that we have what it takes to play into January,’ Lea said on July 14.
Netflix announces SEC football series
SEC football is coming to Netflix. During Day 1 of the SEC media days, the streaming platform announced the ‘SEC Football: Any Given Saturday’ sports series will premiere on August 5.
The ‘SEC Football: Any Given Saturday’ will be a seven-episode series — produced by Box To Box Films, the team behind Sprint, Full Swing, Formula 1: Drive to Survive, and Break Point — and will provide SEC (and college football) fans an inside look at the conference from the 2024 season. The docuseries won’t feature all 16 SEC teams, however, as Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Missouri, Ole Miss and Oklahoma all opted out of it, according to Yahoo Sports.
Will Nick Saban return to coaching?
The 2025 college football season will mark Year 2 of Nick Saban’s retirement from the sidelines, as he is now an analyst for ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ in his retirement.
But is the legendary Alabama coach set to make a return to coach? Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy, now a broadcaster for ESPN, and Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, who coached under Saban at Alabama, think it’s on the table.
‘I don’t think he’s done,’ Kiffin told reporters in a breakout session in Atlanta on July 14 at SEC media day. ‘… Whether it’s college or NFL, I think he’ll be back.’
Click here to read more on McElroy and Kiffin’s thoughts on Saban from USA TODAY’s Austin Curtright.
Lane Kiffin ‘excited’ Ole Miss schedule
Lane Kiffin said he is excited about Ole Miss’ schedule in 2025. The Rebels will play nine home games at Vaught Hemingway Stadium in Oxford, Mississippi.
Lane Kiffin takes podium
Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin takes the podium as the third coach to talk on the first day of the SEC Media Days. Kiffin is entering Year 6 as the Rebels’ coach.
South Carolina entering 2025 season with momentum
South Carolina football finished the 2024 season with a 9-4 record, which included six straight wins before a bowl game loss to Illinois. Gamecock coach Shane Beamer believes his team is entering the 2025 season with serious momentum.
‘There’s a lot of momentum going into this season because of what we did last season,’ Beamer said. ‘… There’s plenty of examples throughout college football of teams who get pumped up all summer long, and then they go out in Week 1 and get smacked in the face.’
Brian Kelly says LSU is ‘Death Valley’
Both LSU and Clemson claim stakes to ‘Death Valley’ as their home-field advantage. However, Kelly said Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is the home to Death Valley, not Clemson.
‘We still think we are the Death Valley,’ Kelly said. ‘They could use the name, too. We’re letting them borrow it. But I would say at the end of the day,
LSU coach Brian Kelly acknowledges season-opener struggles
LSU football coach Brian Kelly is the first coach to speak at the 2025 SEC Media Days. He acknowledges the Tigers need to get off to faster starts in the season opener. LSU is 0-3 under Kelly in the season opener. The Tigers open the season on Aug. 30 vs Clemson.
Greg Sankey says SEC will ‘continue evaluating’ eight-game conference schedule
The SEC is not yet ready to adopt a nine-game conference schedule, unlike the Big Ten. Sankey said on July 14 that the conference will ‘continue evaluating’ the eight-game conference schedule.
Greg Sankey calls SEC ‘superconference’
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey opened the first day of SEC Media Days by taking the podium. He called the SEC a ‘super conference,’ and then honored former head coach Mike Leach, journalist Bob Holt and the victims and first responders of the Texas Floods in his opening statement.
SEC media days interview schedule
Each day of SEC media days will highlight four teams from the conference, with players and the head coach from those squads speaking on a designated day.
Here’s a look at which teams will be appearing on each day of the event, with schools listed in alphabetical order, not the order in which their coach will be speaking at their press conference:
Monday, July 14
LSU
Ole Miss
South Carolina
Vanderbilt
Tuesday, July 15
Auburn
Georgia
Tennessee
Texas
Wednesday, July 16
Alabama
Florida
Mississippi State
Oklahoma
Thursday, July 17
Arkansas
Kentucky
Missouri
Texas A&M
Where are SEC media days 2025?
Location: College Football Hall of Fame and Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park (Atlanta, Georgia)
The 2025 edition of SEC media days will be held at the College Football Hall of Fame and Omni Atlanta Hotel at Centennial Park in Atlanta. It will mark the third time since 2018 the event has been held in the Georgia capital, where the league stages its annual football conference championship game.
SEC media days schedule
Here’s a look at the player representatives for each of the league’s 16 teams at 2025 SEC media days, as well as the dates they’ll be appearing:
Monday, July 14
LSU
Chris Hilton Jr., WR, Senior
Garrett Nussmeier, QB, Senior
Whit Weeks, LB, Junior
Ole Miss
TJ Dottery, LB, Junior
Cayden Lee, WR, Junior
Austin Simmons, QB, Sophomore
South Carolina
LaNorris Sellers, QB, Sophomore
DQ Smith, DB, Senior
Nick Barrett, DT, Senior
Vanderbilt
Randon Fontenette, S/OLB, Junior
Martel Hight, DB, Junior
Diego Pavia, QB, Graduate
Tuesday, July 15
Auburn
Jackson Arnold, QB, Junior
Keldric Faulk, DL, Junior
Connor Lew, OL, Junior
Georgia
CJ Allen, LB, Junior
Daylen Everette, DB, Senior
Gunner Stockton, QB, Junior
Tennessee
Arion Carter, LB, Junior
Miles Kitselman, TE, Senior
Bryson Eason, DT, Senior
Texas
Anthony Hill Jr, LB, Junior
Arch Manning, QB, Sophomore
Michael Taaffe, DB, Senior
Wednesday, July 16
Alabama
Tim Keenan III, DL, Senior
Deontae Lawson, LB, Senior
Kadyn Proctor, OL, Junior
Florida
Caleb Banks, DL, Senior
Jake Slaughter, OL, Senior
DJ Lagway, QB, Sophomore
Mississippi State
Blake Shapen, QB, Graduate
Isaac Smith, S, Junior
Brenen Thompson, WR, Senior
Oklahoma
John Mateer, QB, Junior
Robert Spears-Jennings, DB, Senior
R Mason Thomas, DL, Senior
Thursday, July 17
Arkansas
Cam Ball, DL, Senior
Taylen Green, QB, Senior
Xavian Sorey Jr., LB, Senior
Kentucky
Alex Afari Jr., LB, Senior
Jordan Lovett, DB, Senior
Josh Kattus, TE, Senior
Missouri
Daylan Carnell, S, Graduate
Connor Tollison, C, Graduate
Zion Young, DE, Senior
Texas A&M
Will Lee III, DB, Senior
Ar’maj Reed-Adams, OL, Graduate
Taurean York, LB, Junior
What channel are SEC media days on?
TV channel: SEC Network | ESPN2
Streaming: ESPN app | ESPN+ | Fubo (free trial)
All four days of SEC media days will air live on the SEC Network. ESPN2 will air one hour of the proceedings, from 8 p.m. ET until 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 15.
Streaming options include the ESPN app (requires a TV provider login) and ESPN+, which requires a subscription. Another option is Fubo, which carries the ESPN family of networks and offers a free trial to potential subscribers.