Players, coaches and more from SEC Media Days on Wednesday

People, places and things from Tampa and beyond:

There was nothing in Jadan Baugh’s demeanor or tone to indicate even a hint of bitterness Wednesday afternoon as he politely answered one question after another from a host of writers and broadcasters curious to get the scoop on a young man who chose to return to Florida for year three rather than get caught up in a bidding war for his services. Shortly after Billy Napier was fired and the transfer portal opened, Baugh would have been a top five commodity. He could have named his own price and someone would have met it.

Make no mistake about it, Florida will pay Baugh well to run and catch the football in the fall, but literally dozens of schools would have been willing to write bigger checks if necessary. Running backs with Jim Brown size and power are hard to come by so there was plenty of money to be had, but Baugh chose to remain at Florida to play for Jon Sumrall, whose Christmas Day home visit sealed the deal for his return.

“People don’t know it, but he came to my grandmother’s house on Christmas Day and we sat there and just talked about everything, and that stuck out to me the most because that show is a guy who cares,” Baugh said. “It showed a guy with character that when anything’s going on, he does not care to a point where we’re just trying to get me back on the team, you know?”

So he’s back, one of the faces of the Florida program that first year head coach Jon Sumrall intends to restore to its championship glory. In the two years Baugh has been a Gator, he has accumulated 1,843 rushing yards, which sets him just outside the top 10 in UF history. If he can match last season’s 1,170 yards he can slide past Tim Tebow om Florida’s all-time rushing list.

While answering questions, Baugh was asked the difference in the Gators under Sumrall and the previous years when Billy Napier was the coach.

"We always had the pieces," Baugh said. "It was just more of the inside stuff with the team as to buying into the process, understanding the process a lot more just to keep going. And I feel like this year we have a lot of guys who want to and a lot of guys who are willing to sacrifice anything for the team."

There is more want to among the new coaching staff as well.

"Well, I can say for a fact that the coaching staff now, we have a lot more guys into certain areas as we have an OC, we have a defensive coordinator,” Baugh said. “You have the guys who stand around and help, you know? They all coach us like it's the last day. And with that, I feel like that makes us better each and every day and they push us 24/7."

JOHN SUMRALL (FLORIDA HBC) SAID ITThe challenge presented by the entire Florida athletic department: “When you look on our campus, every sport has success. Every sport at the University of Florida has high standards, every sport is in pursuit of championships it feels like year in and year out …That's not exclusive to football. We have got to get Florida football back to that standard.”

About his enthusiastic demeanor: “I'm just trying to inject an attitude we're going attack every day with enthusiasm. I may have some bad moments; I don't have bad days. I got life pretty good.”

About NIL and the portal: “I do feel fortunate to maybe have only been a head coach since 2022, and so the transfer portal and NIL and all the chaos that has ensued is all I know. It's not like I've been doing it forever and had to shift mid-stream. It's all I've known.”

When a reporter’s phone went off while he was speaking: “You would be kicked out of our team meeting, I swear. Like you're lucky I'm not going throw this podium right now. That drives me crazy. I would say who is that, but I'm not going to embarrass anybody.”

The quarterback situation: “Do we have a Heisman Trophy candidate? No, but they both have enough arm talent. They both are adequate runners. Neither one of them are elite runners. Neither one of them are slugs either. Both have good arms, both have good releases. Both can make all the throws. So there's enough there for us to win with."

Offensive linemen whose leadership has stood out: “Two transfers that have really set the standard how we work. Harrison Moore, offensive center from Georgia Tech, and TJ Shanahan, offensive guard from Penn State have both kind of elevated maybe the rhythm that that room marches to.”

VERNELL BROWN III (FLORIDA WR) SAID IT

About singing Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” at the end of the third quarter: “Yeah, of course, I sing along every time. You know, I know the song word for word. I didn't know it before I got there, but I was always mumbling it. But I mean it just means everything, just everything about The Swamp, the Florida Gator brand, Florida Gator football and the University of Florida in general means everything.”

MYLES GRAHAM (FLORIDA LB) SAID IT

About responsibility: “The coaches can do whatever Xs and Os, they can coach how hard they want, but we're out there making the plays. So it's really up to us. We have to be very focused and very honed in on what we're doing and just executing our job.”

About Coach Jon Sumrall: “He's energetic. He's the same guy every single day. He's going to push us to be the best. He really loves us. He'll yell at us, but at the end of the day, he's going to remind us that he loves us. No matter what, he's always going to be there for us."

PETE GOLDING (OLE MISS HBC) SAID IT

About tampering accusations: “Like coaches, we're under contract. You don't think other ADs are calling us during the year? Same ones that are bitching about all this stuff are the same ones calling coaches to come to other schools, so it's ever where in every profession. I am not saying I have all the answers.”

More about tampering accusations: “Would you quit your job before interviewing for another job or being offered another job? No. Nobody would. But we have a portal we can go in with a do not contact, I'm going quit my job where I'm getting paid and I'm going to go in saying I need a new job, which nobody can call me to interview. What have we created? So we've created it on top of representation for these players, right, that it's their responsibility to make sure they get paid really well and they also have opportunities. So by design it's put a lot of people in bad positions. Let's not act like recruiting in college football for the last 100 years is the most moral thing. What are we talking about here?”

TRINIDAD CHAMBLISS (OLE MISS QB) SAID IT

About the Heisman Trophy: “Individual awards are nice, but I'm nothing without my team, I'm nothing without my offensive line, I'm nothing without my defense and all the people that have poured all their time and energy into making the team the best.”

KEWAN LACEY (OLE MISS RB) SAID IT

Where his love of football comes from: “I would just say I feel like God gives everybody a purpose in life and He pushes them to live in their purpose by putting them through trials and tribulations. So I feel like God put football in my heart right now, and I'm just passionate for it. It's just something I don't have to think about doing.”

MIKE ELKO (TEXAS A&M HBC) SAID IT

About safety Marcus Ratcliffe: “He's put together one of the most thoughtful charity initiatives I've ever witnessed as a college football player. He created the Mission 312 Program; 3 for his jersey number, 12 for the 12th Man. It's a mission that helps give money to World War II veterans. So his organization donates $312 for every turnover we cause on defense at Texas A&M. They have raised over $30,000 for Army vets from World War II, so just a really, really cool kid who has done some amazing things with his platform and his opportunity to represent Texas A&M.”

SARK SPEAKS OUT

Texas coach Steve Sarkisian will take to the podium at SEC Media Days in Tampa today, but before leaving Austin he spoke to The Stampede about the lawlessness in college sports and the inability of the NCAA to enforce the rules.

“I don’t want to be worried about my fourth wide receiver getting talked to by another school’s coach in pregame warmups,” Sarkisian said. “Hey, come transfer here at the end of the season. You’re not playing there anyway.’ Those are the things, like, if you do those things, there’s got to be consequences for breaking rules. And right now, we can’t govern our own rules, and that’s the most frustrating part of where we’re at in college football society right now. We can’t enforce our own laws. We can’t enforce our own rules. There’s no consequences right now.

“We’re living in a lawless society, unfortunately, and that’s not good. That’s not good for anybody. It’s not even good for those that are breaking the rules and getting away with it because sooner or later, those rules are going to get enforced, and then what are you going to do? So I think that that’s some of the challenges that we’re going through.”