Napier to the media days podium: He will be vague, but that's good

When Billy Napier takes the podium at SEC Media Days Wednesday in Atlanta, expect a deluge of questions about the health of quarterback DJ Lagway. Napier will give an optimistic answer, probably saying as little as he possibly can with the most words. In three years on the job at Florida it’s what we have come to expect. Billy is the ultimate fence-sitter. He doesn’t speak negatively about his team but he doesn’t exactly go out of his way to paint a rosy picture, either.

It irritates a lot of people, for sure, but this might be the perfect year to leave the media and the rest of the college football world hanging. Billy isn’t Steve Spurrier, who had a way of getting under the skin of Phil Fulmer or whoever was coaching at Georgia at the time. Nor is he Nick Saban, whose monotone might be as thrilling as an afternoon watching paint chips fall off a 100-year-old barn but whose attention to detail leaves no question that his team is confident it will destroy any and all takers.

Billy has always been vague, but with good reason the past three years. For the first time since he became Florida’s football coach he can put a team on the field with very few soft spots and there is real SEC depth to the roster. In the SEC everybody has 22 players who can play. Teams that have 32 good ones can go 6-6 or 7-5. Teams with 44 good ones can win anywhere from 8-10 games. It’s the teams that are loaded for bear into the three-deep that keep beating people up even when there are injuries or players who leave their game back in the locker room.

Billy has 44 good players right now. We won’t know until the season cranks up if he’s got enough talent well into the three-deep to be a contender when the calendar shifts to December and we’re talking about filling in the blanks on a College Football Playoff bracket.

Billy will answer every question politely. He’ll say a lot of words without really saying anything. He will leave everybody thinking 6-6 and he’s on the hot seat when he finishes up.

Let everyone else speculate. Billy is confident but he's not going to tip his hand one way or the other.

SEC MEDIA DAYS: THEY SAID IT

Kirby Smart, Georgia coach

“Our team is going to be comprised of 54 percent first and second-year players. Very big change for us. I thought last year was probably one of the most veteran teams I've been a part of. You guys know the COVID class has kind of aged out, so we had multiple players that were in their fifth and sixth year last year, especially across the offensive and defensive lines. We had a tremendous group that all went out kind of at the same time, aged out at the same time, and so we're going to be really young, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. But 54 percent of our players are coming into their first or second year.”

Gunner Stockton, Georgia QB

“For me, just the way I handle myself, I feel like I've shown up since I've been to college and just the way I live my life. Showing up to work every day and trying to do the right thing. Not always being perfect, we're not going to be perfect, but just treating people the right way and biggest thing just showing up to work and doing the right thing.”

Steve Sarkisian, Texas coach

“Got a new quarterback, Arch Manning, if you didn't know. He's replacing Quinn (Ewers), who had a great three years for us, but we're replacing a lot of offensive linemen. We're replacing receivers, tight ends, but that unit is really good. We're returning the leading rusher in the SEC in Tre Wisner, which some of you probably don't even know that, but I'll bring that to your attention. We get Cedric Baxter back with the addition of Jarrett Gibson, who played a ton as a true freshman for us, along with Christian Clark in that room.”

Josh Heupel, Tennessee coach

“Ultimately at the end of the day, it's never about who's not in your building but about who is in your building. For us, you can lose a quarterback at a lot of different times: December transfer portal, spring transfer portal. You can lose one week 1, first quarter of the ballgame in your opener, and now you're on to number two through injury, right? You've got to have the next-man-up mentality. At the end of the day, having guys that want to compete along with their brothers inside of that locker room, building that connection, but also having the right guys in there. At the end of the day, I'm really excited about who we have in there. The addition of Joey (Aguilar) to who's already inside of that group, highly competitive guys that are smart, that have the physical traits to be successful. Teammates have grown to have great trust in those guys through the course of this off-season during the summer, and now it's about getting to training camp and going and competing. Somebody is going to earn the opportunity to be our starting quarterback through that process.”

Hugh Freeze, Auburn

“The first thing you have to do is look at you as a coach. Why did we lose those games? Well, last year they came down, those close ones, turnovers, we were the worst in the league at turning the ball over, and we did not score enough touchdowns in the red zone, and we did not play great defense on critical downs, and our field goal unit did not make some critical field goals for various reasons. How do you improve those? You look at us first, coaches. We've done a deep dive into all of that to see do we need to change anything schematically. And the answer to some of that was yes, we probably need to do less, and then go get more pieces to add to the roster to where, when you do call that play, the chances of success go up because better players make better plays. So it's a combination, but first you have to start with us as what are we doing in those scenarios, if anything, that we need to change.

Jackson Arnold, Auburn QB

“Last year was tough, obviously not ideal whatsoever. I think perseverance was a big thing I learned last year, kind of fighting through the tough times. We did play in some big games [at Oklahoma] last year. Now I fully understand what it's like playing a long SEC schedule against some good teams, playing in those tough games where it's extremely close and you have to kind of grind it out. But I think last year taught me a lot, being able to persevere and really sticking to those tough games.

ARCH MADNESS IN ATLANTA

If Arch Manning can read a blitz and get the ball to the right receiver as well as he handled the SEC media Tuesday, then the latest of the Manning quarterback legacy in the Southeastern Conference is going to do just fine. Some preseason magazines have him ranked as the No. 1 quarterback in the nation while Andy Staples of On3 ranks him the No. 4 quarterback in the SEC. So, opinions vary.

Asked about his high rankings Tuesday, Arch replied, “I'm not really sure how they got these opinions because I've only played in, what? Two games?" Manning said. "I guess it's nice of them to say, but it doesn't mean anything. Talk is cheap, I've got to go prove it.”

That is a calm, measured response. It didn’t come across as a rehearsed answer but instead as a confident young man who understands that right now all we have are opinions. Once he gets on the field, he will either prove or disprove the hype.

He took a redshirt as a freshman at Texas and spent last year as the backup to Quinn Ewers. He started games against Louisiana-Monroe and Mississippi State when Ewers was sidelined with an injury. A start against a typical Sun Belt bottom feeder and the worst team in the SEC aren’t exactly games you hang your hat on so it’s a whole new game for Manning, who goes from Ewers’ caddy to THE man at Texas.

“Now, you kind of get to lead the whole group,” Manning said. “You spend time with the defense, the o-line. Last year, I was taking notes from Quinn, seeing how he did it and find my role. Now, I can take full gauge and take as much time as I can in the offseason with everyone. I think you've got to walk the walk first. I think, as much as it wasn't always fun sitting those two years, I think I got a lot of respect from my teammates. Now, I come at it from a place of love, not just being a turd.”

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian believes that Manning is unfazed with his new role largely because he’s the fourth in a legacy of Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

“For Arch, he grew up in this era of seeing high-level football,” Sarkisian said. He's watched Super Bowls. He's watched gold jackets getting put on. He's been to playoff games. He's been recruited at the highest level as the No. 1 player in the country. He watched Quinn navigate through the ups and downs of being a starting quarterback at the University of Texas … He's a great guy. He's a great teammate. He's got an unbelievable work ethic. And I think, if he stays true to himself, that's going to help him navigate these waters as they present themselves.”

Both Peyton and Eli handled the hype well of being Archie Manning’s sons. Arch’s first game to prove himself is against Ohio State, last year’s national champion, in Columbus.

"We're opening with the champs," Manning said. "It's going to be a fun one. I learned a lot from Quinn. He was damn good on the road. I'm going to text him, get some of his advice, and we'll fire up. Ohio State is a really good team, so it's going to be a good challenge."

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT

We are a mere 109 days away from Florida’s season-opening basketball game with Arizona in Las Vegas. The three months until game week will pass in a flash, so CBS, like Joe Lunardi and ESPN has already done, is doing some early bracketology work. A little more than a week ago, Lunardi had the Gators as his No. 1 overall seed for the 2026 NCAA Tournament, which won’t kick off until next March. CBS followed suit with its brackets on Tuesday with the Gators listed as one of four overall No. 1 seeds.

Here are the top four seeds in every region followed by all the SEC teams CBS expects to make the tournament field (SEC teams bold face):

Midwest: 1. Houston; 2. Michigan; 3. BYU; 4. UCLA

East: 1. FLORIDA; 2. UConn; 3. Louisville; 4. Texas Tech

South: 1. Purdue; 2. Kentucky; 3. Alabama; 4. Iowa State

West: 1. St. John’s; 2. Duke; 3. Tennessee; 4. Auburn

Also from the SEC: 5. Arkansas (South); 7. Missouri (West); 9. Vanderbilt (South); 9. Texas (West); 10. Ole Miss (East); 11. Texas A&M (East, play-in)

Lunardi’s brackets:

Midwest: 1. Houston; 2. UConn; 3. Kentucky; 4. Michigan State

East: 1. FLORIDA; 2. Michigan; 3. Iowa State; 4. Illinois

West: 1. Duke; 2. Tennessee; 3. Arizona; 4. UCLA

South: 1. Purdue; 2. St. John’s; 3. BYU; 4. Auburn

Also from the SEC: 5. Arkansas (Midwest); 5. Alabama (West); 7. Missouri (East); 8. Mississippi State (Midwest); 8. Vanderbilt (West); 8. Oklahoma (South); 9. Texas (East); 10. Ole Miss (West); 10. Georgia (South); 11. Texas A&M (Midwest, play-in)