SEC Media Days Are Here: Here's a Primer for Oklahoma Fans

A four day football festival will break out in Dallas this week as the SEC welcomes Oklahoma and Texas ahead of the 2024 season.

The SEC logo is pictured on the field at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium before a celebration for OU joining the Southeastern Conference in Norman, Okla., Monday, July 1, 2024. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY

DALLAS, TX — Three years ago, SEC Media Days became ground zero for a seismic shift in college athletics. 

Despite Texas A&M’s best protests, the Southeastern Conference was expanding to admit Oklahoma and Texas. 

Fast forward three years and the Sooners and Longhorns are officially members of the SEC. 

Toe won’t meet leather for another month and a half, but the SEC newcomers are ready for their first Media Day as the new kids on the block. 

A banner with “Now 16 Strong” emblazoned on it will greet fans and media members alike upon arrival at Radio Row at the Omni Hotel in Dallas as the SEC will fly its flag for the next four days in the city formerly known as Big 12 Country. 

📍 pic.twitter.com/vLLHMuze4I

— Ryan Chapman (@_RyanChapman) July 14, 2024

Brent Venables and Steve Sarkisian no longer have to lead the double life of recruiting for the SEC while playing nice with the Big 12 publicly, but the formalities will soon be behind both OU and Texas. 

Come September, the SEC will want to greet them in the only way the conference knows how — by trying to gobble up and spit out the Sooners and the Longhorns on the field. 

For now, everyone will likely put on their best smiles throughout the four-day marathon in Dallas. 

Sooners on SI will have three reporters on hand to cover all the events from the week as Oklahoma’s first season in the SEC draws closer and closer. 

Here is a primer ahead of this week’s festivities in DFW:

This Week’s Schedule:

Monday:

Press conferences with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey (9:05 a.m.), LSU coach Brian Kelly (10 a.m.), South Carolina coach Shane Beamer (11:35 a.m.), Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin (1:50 p.m.) and Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea (3:20 p.m.).

Tuesday:

Press conferences with Georgia coach Kirby Smart (9:05 a.m.), Tennessee coach Josh Heupel (10:45 a.m.), Oklahoma coach Brent Venables (12:50 p.m.), and Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz (2:20 p.m.).

Wednesday:

Press conferences with Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer (9:05 a.m.), Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby (10:35 a.m.), Florida coach Billy Napier (12:50 p.m.), and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian (2:20 p.m.).

Thursday:

Press conferences with Arkansas coach Sam Pittman (9:35 a.m.), Texas A&M coach Mike Elko (11:05 a.m.), Auburn coach Hugh Freeze (1:05 p.m.), and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops (2:25 p.m.).

A New Era 

The moment Oklahoma, Texas and the Big 12 reached the settlement to allow the two powers to depart one year early and join the SEC in 2024, it was going to be a landmark year. 

But little did anyone know the changes around the conference would be widespread. 

Kirby Smart has Georgia warring with Alabama at the top of the sport, but at the conclusion of the 2023 season, Nick Saban retired. 

The greatest college football coach the sport has seen exited stage left, and the Crimson Tide hired Kalen DeBoer fresh off leading his Washington Huskies to the national title game. 

Recruiting hasn’t dipped in Tuscaloosa and DeBoer has won big at every stop throughout his career. Will he be able to continue Alabama’s dominance and keep the Crimson Tide in lockstep with the Bulldogs?

Then there’s Lane Kiffin and Eli Drinkwitz. 

Perhaps no programs have leveraged the possibilities of the transfer portal over the past few years than Ole Miss and Missouri. 

Both teams look to build on top 12 finishes in the CFP Rankings from 2023 with impressive transfer portal classes, but will it be enough for either to break through and play for an SEC title in Atlanta?

The introduction of the 12-team playoff opens doors for the league as well. 

Pressure on Steve Sarkisian to build on Texas’ first trip to the playoff, LSU’s Brian Kelly to get LSU back to the playoff and Brent Venables to reach his first college football playoff as a head coach will be high. 

A year ago, a bid to Atlanta would have been the bare minimum for any team to hope to play for a national title. This year, a three-loss SEC team will surely still get consideration to play football late in December. 

Familiar Faces 

Texas A&M brought back former defensive coordinator Mike Elko to take the program in a new direction, and former Oklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby was hired by Mississippi State. 

Elko has head coaching experience at Duke, but he’ll be under the microscope as hope always springs eternal in College Station. 

Lebby has rocketed through the coaching ranks, and now has his own program. But how will he handle the roster turnover that caused Mississippi State to look for a new voice to lead the program in the first place?

And while Josh Heupel and Shane Beamer are familiar with the SEC, the pair of former OU assistants will be back in the same conference with the Sooners for the first time and both will make the trek to Norman to take on Oklahoma this year. 

Kentucky won’t face off against the Sooners for another few years, but a Stoops will again be rubbing elbows with with the Sooners as Mark Stoops still searches to take the Wildcats from good to elite. 

Back to Year 3

There was plenty of change in Oklahoma’s final offseason before taking on the SEC. 

Lebby’s departure brought Venables his first major coaching change. 

The answer was to look within, as Venables promoted analyst Seth Littrell to take over the offense alongside tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley. 

Then, Ted Roof was jettisoned in favor of a Venables protégée, Zac Alley, meaning the Sooners have new coordinators on both sides of the football as well as a new starting quarterback in Jackson Arnold. 

Arnold’s Alamo Bowl performance has been studied over and over. There was plenty to like and more to learn from in the 5-star quarterback’s first start, but Oklahoma is banking on plenty of growth for the talented gunslinger before taking the field this fall. 

Spring practice broke with plenty of questions still about Bill Bedenbaugh’s offensive line, but days after the spring game the Sooners landed SMU transfer Branson Hickman, who could start at center. 

And the process of beefing up the defensive line continued over the summer. 

Not only did strength coach Jerry Schmitt get to work in adding bulk to the guys already on the roster, OU added former TCU defensive tackle Damonic Williams in one of the biggest transfer portal wins of the offseason. 

It’s impossible to answer all the questions surrounding the line of scrimmage in Norman in a ballroom in Dallas on a July Tuesday. The real judgments will be made this fall. 

But Tuesday is a start to figure out what lies ahead for Oklahoma as the unofficial road to the regular season kicks off at SEC Media Days.