SEC Media Days Day 2 Notes: Georgia studied NBA's OKC Thunder as Dawgs seek to be 'uncommon,' Auburn's Byrum Brown never hesitated in following Alex Golesh to the Plains, Clark Lea's message remains the same at Vanderbilt, Kentucky's Will Stein happy to be home
TAMPA — Kirby Smart is tired of talking about everything around college football.
The Georgia coach, making the rounds Tuesday at Southeastern Conference Media Days at the Tampa Marriott, would rather talk about what leads to winning football games, not all of the ancillary topics dominating the media landscape.
"I think this time in college football, the landscape of college football, that's all the talking heads want to talk about," Smart said. "Everywhere I go, TV, media, everybody wants to talk about the landscape of college football. It's sad it's forgotten what wins games. Maybe that becomes boring, mundane, but not at our place. I've had questions about expansion, more SEC games, portal, college and federal legislation to navigate the NIL era we're in, players leaving, coaches leaving.
"That's all people want to talk about. What we focus on in Georgia is what wins football games, and that's my passion and energy. That's what we love to do. We love to grind it out, play physical football, be explosive in offense, be explosive in defense by how you create turnovers and how you create sacks.
Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
"At the end of the day, I don't enjoy talking about all these things that are the landscape of college football. I enjoy talking about what wins and what allows our team to have the best chance. The consistency and performance is probably what I'm most proud of over the last 10 to 11 years, including this season."
Smart did open up about a non-college football topic, revealing that his program studied one of the most successful NBA franchises over the past few years, the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The Thunder won the NBA title in 2024-25 and then took the San Antonio Spurs to Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals this season before losing. The Thunder's coach, Mark Daigneault, often refers to his team being "uncommon." That caught Smart's attention, so the Bulldogs studied what the Thunder were about.
"They talked about being uncommon and how you can be uncommon in today's world," Smart said. "Our guys took a week by week section of being uncommon, believing in the success of others is greater than the success of yourself in a day and age when that's not normal. That is uncommon to be more proud and have a little bit of 'mudita,' we call it, that we enjoy the success of others more than the success of ourselves, and that's what our team and program is built on.
"If you're not studying how other people are doing it and you're just fixated on your own team and your own roster, I think you're missing out. We're always trying to grow in our program. We don't want to stay the same. You need to it study how other people are doing it and maybe the ways they're doing it in creating roles for others.
"It's very unique what the Thunder was doing, especially when they won the championship in terms of leading in so many categories, but most importantly selflessness. That's what we try to emulate."
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Brown ready to prove he's SEC ready: Byrum Brown entered the transfer portal after his dominant season at South Florida, but he knew where he was going immediately.
Brown was following his coach, Alex Golesh, who led the Bulls for Auburn late last November. There was never a doubt in his mind.
"He's the same guy every day," Brown said of Golesh. "He demands the absolute very best from everyone that he comes in contact with. He cares for his players deeply, coaches deeply. He's not going to ask you to do anything that he wouldn't do himself. So just him being the same guy every day, demanding the very best, that's the man I want to follow."
Brown is now trying to take the success he and the Bulls had in Tampa and transfer it to the Plains.
"We're just trying to get better each and every day," Brown said. "So we watched the film from the previous year, see what we can improve on, see what we can do better. We've got a lot more concepts in -- get to third, fourth progression reads, get to my check-down, a lot of those.
"I'm looking forward to it. I mean, the talent we have here is phenomenal. And I can't wait to play with those guys. And, I mean, I think they'd say the same thing: We can't wait to just go out there and play football."
Auburn Tigers quarterback Byrum Brown (17) speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Brown, a 6-foot-3, 233-pounder from Raleigh, N.C., completed 226 of 341 passes last season, good for 3,158 yards, 28 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. He added 1,008 yards and 14 touchdowns rushing on 175 carries. In other words, he could have named his transfer destination. He wanted to be with Golesh.
"I mean, Coach Golesh, he's had a tremendous amount of confidence in me since I was 18," Brown said. "Handed the reins over to me and then (I) got hurt one year. And then like poured into me even more, had more confidence in me. I mean, when you go through the ups and go through the downs, having a coach that's being there by your side, it means a lot. And I definitely took that into consideration.
"And why not go play for the man that has demanded the very best of me since I got there, has helped me in ways I can't express and a tremendous offensive staff has gone as well? So there's a lot of familiarity, and can't wait to play."
Golesh raved about Brown during his Media Days debut Tuesday.
"Byrum Brown is one of the best quarterbacks in the country, and he's shown that over the years," Golesh said. "What has to happen for Byrum is he's just got to continue to be him every single day. What gives him confidence is everything that we preached from Day 1. It's your daily process. It's how you come in that building. It's how you treat people. It's how you take care of your body. It's how you show up to work. It's truly how your locker looks. How you approach getting on the field, off the field, how you communicate on the sideline, on top of how you actually work when it's time to go to work.
"Byrum just has just got to be him. The confidence that he is going to be the best version of him every single day should give confidence to everybody around him, players, coaches, support staff. And ultimately if he's the best version of him every single day we'll get to where we got to get to on the field."
Vanderbilt Commodores head coach Clark Lea speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Lea not changing message after Pavia's departure: Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea almost drew laughs when he first arrived in Nashville talking about building a national championship-caliber program.
A year after finishing 10-3, however, no one is laughing at the Commodores, even as they face life without quarterback Diego Pavia.
"Our objective remains what it's always been, to build the best football program in the country," Lea said. "While progress is encouraging, complacency is dangerous. The moment we turn to protect the ground we've covered, we stop our pursuit of what's possible at Vanderbilt. We must be willing to risk what we are for what we could become.
"Now it's Team 6's turn. Every season has its own form. Every team writes its own story. Naturally people want to compare this team to last year's team. While there are similarities, there are also important differences -- different players, different coaches, different leaders, different personalities, different strengths, different challenges. Despite these differences, this group has inherited something that previous teams did not: A Vanderbilt football program that expects to win."
Kentucky Wildcats head coach Will Stein speaks to the press during SEC Football Kickoff Media Day at the Tampa Marriott. Mandatory Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images (Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
Stein happy to be home: First-year Kentucky coach Will Stein said Monday he's happy to be back home in his native state, sure, but that's not why he left the offensive coordinator job at Oregon. He left Dante Moore, the Ducks and another playoff chase because he believes he can make the Wildcats a winner.
"As a Kentucky native, a kid growing up going to Commonwealth Stadium to watch the Cats, this is truly a dream come true to me," Stein said. "I am BBN. For 18 years of my life growing up, I was a member of Big Blue Nation. My dad played at Kentucky, my mom is a graduate. To come back to the Bluegrass State, being a fan of Kentucky football, athletics, is truly surreal.
"These first 230 days have been a complete whirlwind. We've constructed a roster with 45 new players, and 41 of these players have started at least one game in college football. I had to hire a brand-new coaching staff and recruiting personnel department while also being the offensive coordinator at Oregon through a playoff run. We built a brand-new $3 million weight room, state-of-the-art. We installed new schemes for our players. We taught them how to practice, how to meet. We put a really big emphasis on high school recruiting for this '27 class and beyond. This is what I signed up for. It's been fun navigating these waters."
Stein's final game at Oregon was a loss to Indiana in the national semifinals. As disappointing as it was, the Hoosiers provided a blueprint, Stein hopes, for what he hopes to do at Kentucky.
"I mean, there's a lot of factors in winning and losing at this level," Stein said. "I can't speak on Indiana specifically in terms of their processes or who they have backing them, how they recruit or coach. I do know facing them twice last year, they're extremely disciplined. Coach (Curt) Cignetti obviously has done a great job with the culture. They had the first overall pick playing quarterback for them. That helps. They had eight other guys drafted, maybe two other guys in the first round. You look back in the history of the winners of the national championship, they typically have the most guys drafted. Ohio State in '24, faced them. I think they had about 16 guys. Michigan the year prior, about 16. Georgia the year prior, the most. When you have great players and you add a great culture and coaching staff and scheme, typically good results happen.
"You just got to believe, man. You just got to put the ball down and play. There's really nothing else to be said. Is it going to happen overnight? I don't know. I really don't. If I had a crystal ball, everybody in this room would be really, really rich now. The best determination of what you're doing is working is putting the ball down and playing football."