Thursday concluded the SEC Media Week. With only five weeks remaining until the season opener, Vanderbilt’s Derek Mason, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops, and Auburn’s Gus Malzahn took the podium to answer the biggest questions about their teams heading into the season.
Vanderbilt
The first to take the stage at SEC Media Day Thursday, was Derek Mason from Vandy. The biggest thing for Mason this week, was showing up early to spend extra time talking about his team. He continuously brought up the depth of the Commodores this coming season. Mason spoke specifically about how excited he is to see the dynamic duo of Ke’Shawn Vaughn and Kalijah Lipscomb. Mason also brought up the battle for the starting QB position. It seems that the top two options are Deuce Wallace and Ball State transfer, Riley Neal. With that being said, don’t discount Allan Walters, Mo Hasan and Jack Bowen, who are all still in the race for the job.
Kentucky
Next up was Coach Mark Stoops from Kentucky, who is looking to build off of only the third ever 10-win season in Kentucky history. The biggest question mark this season for the Wildcats, is who will replace the void left by Josh Allen and Benny Snell. Stoops’ response to the question, “You can’t replace them.” Stoops is hoping guys such as LB Boogie Watson, RB A.J. Rose and RB Kavosiey Smoke will fill those spots to the best of their ability. The other big talking point for Stoops, was the middle of the defense. Most notably, Stoops talked about the defensive tackles, middle linebackers, and defensive leader Kash Daniel.
Auburn
The last coach to speak for the week was Gus Malzahn. Auburn is returning DT Derrick Brown who was projected by some, to be a first round pick in this past NFL Draft, a big positive for the Tigers. Replacing Jarrett Stidham was probably the biggest topic of conversation for Malzahn. The QB competition is likely between freshman Bo Nix and redshirt freshman Joey Gatewood. Malzahn went on to say “our quarterback will be able to run.” It’s worth noting, the last time Malzahn had a dual-threat starting QB was Nick Marshall in 2013-14, which coincidentally is also the last time Auburn made a trip to the national championship game.
