Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign and welcome back to the Ali Perspective. And guys, we are almost up. We are almost to my favorite part of the year. We are about to start football season and I am here to talk to you today about SEC football. Okay, before the season start I want to give you guys a my predictions on what I think is going to happen. And I know we have three other powerhouse conferences that I can talk about, but being from South Carolina, I feel like it is important for me to emphasize the sec. And I do watch the SEC football more than I watch other conferences. But in my next episodes I will be talking about the premier teams in those conferences as well. But with the SEC I'm going to be talking about all the teams. So they have put out the preseason poll already in where they think the teams will end on the season, right? So of course in last place they have Mississippi State.
[00:01:06] Am am I surprised that Mississippi State is last? Absolutely not.
[00:01:12] When I was doing my research on Mississippi State on Mississippi State, I didn't see anything that stuck out to me, recruitment wise, player development wise or anything to that nature that makes me say that, hey, Mississippi State might be in for a surprise season. They're not my sleeper team of the SEC this year, E Neither are Kentucky. Who's Kentucky, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, Missouri. Those are the bottom five teams of the sec.
[00:01:45] None of those teams really, I feel like have a chance to be at the very top of the SEC conference at the end of the season or even in the top five of the SEC in any conversation. Now I do think these teams could possibly have a couple upsets. I mean we saw Vanderbilt do it last year when Alabama went to Tennessee and lost to Vanderbilt. So those teams don't really shock me or stand out to me. These next two teams we're going to talk about, I do expect something out of them. I just don't know what.
[00:02:21] Auburn Auburn has transfer quarterback Jackson Arnold who is who left Oklahoma once Oklahoma decided to go on a transfer portal and get John Mateer from Washington State. Now I've been seeing some clips of Jackson Arnold at Auburn and I am not impressed. I don't know if he's just not been able to find his footing yet. And as someone who watched a lot of Oklahoma games last year, he he never seemed to get really comfortable and I couldn't figure out if that was his problem or the offensive coordinator's problem because Oklahoma has had problems with their offense before Jackson Arnold was the starting quarterback. So I I was thinking maybe it's offensive coordinator. That's why he's not developed as much as he should have or that's why he's not performing as the five star quarterback that he was ranked coming out of high school.
[00:03:16] But hearing the things that I'm hearing and reading the articles and seeing videos, it doesn't seem to me that Jackson Arnold has gotten. Gotten considerably better since he's been at Auburn. Nothing has really changed. He's still holding on the ball too long.
[00:03:30] Hugh Freeze has had good things and bad things to say about him for the most part. So I'm gonna be really interested to see how that goes. But he has some really good weapons at Auburn. So if he can't get to his weapons he. Because another thing was him with him at Oklahoma last year was his top four wide receivers were out for majority of the year with injury. So they were very low on talent when it came to the wide receiver room because so many of the wide receivers were hurt.
[00:04:02] But going into this season when Auburn, he has healthy quality wide receivers. They had a good recruiting season with picking up new wide receivers and, and talented wide receivers at that. And then he, he's, he'll have a junior and a sophomore that are already used to the offense. They just need a quarterback to get them the ball to see if they can be successful. So I'mma keep a lookout on Auburn just for the quarterback situation to see if Jackson Arnold would even remain the starter the entire season. But we shall see. Next is Oklahoma. I think Oklahoma is going to be the sleeper team of this SEC conference this year.
[00:04:42] They went out and got the best quarterback in the trans reporter which was John Matier at Washington State. And when you turn on the tape for him, I mean he can throw the ball, he can run, he has really good feet, he reads the defenses very well, He's a mature player. Now I do know that there's been some speculation when his Venmo account got hacked or, or shown or whatever and it says that he might have been doing some sports betting with his friends. So the NCAA is going to investigate that of course. But if he is able to play, I think with healthy wide receivers, I think with a underrated defense they. Oklahoma has arguably top 5, I believe top 5 D lines in college football.
[00:05:31] They have depth, they have a legit six man rotation and all six of those guys are dogs. All six of those guys can make plays. And then I mean it's a Brent Venerables defense. Okay. We know he's not. As a head coach, he's always struggled on offensive side. But as a defensive minded coach his Defenses are always good. And then he's also returning his, his. Almost all of his secondary.
[00:06:02] So I think Oklahoma would be the team to watch, especially if John Matier is able to.
[00:06:10] Whatever allegations is going on with him and sports betting and all that good stuff, whatever's going on with him, if he can beat all that and start, I think that would be the team to watch for. But it'll still be interesting with them because they have one of the toughest schedules in the country.
[00:06:24] Okay. And then above them, the SEC has Tennessee ranked well, falling ahead of Oklahoma in the preseason post Tennessee. I mean with that they had a messy quarterback situation with Nico leaving because he didn't. He thought he should get more money, nil. And now he's at ucla.
[00:06:44] I mean the guy that they have, he's been in their system for about a year. So it shouldn't be that much of a drastic drop off. But they did. But they have also lost a lot of talent to the draft and to the transfer portal as well.
[00:06:57] So I'm not expecting big things out of them. But it'll also be keeping an eye on their quarterback situation and seeing if it's going to be a dynamic drop off or it's not going to.
[00:07:07] We're not going to see that much of a drop off in the quarterback position for them. Then the next three teams are Texas A and M, Ole Miss and Florida. Okay, Texas A and M, they're always going to be competitive for the most part. But then they always just kind of let me down too. Like I'm never excited for a really long time when it comes to Texas A and M football.
[00:07:31] But I do think they do have some really good talent on both offense and defense. So there'll be a fun team to watch. And then we have Ole Miss.
[00:07:40] Of course Ole Miss is always going to have a really good offense. I mean look at their hair, coach. So we always know their offense is going to be good. But I mean they lost Jackson Dart to the, to the draft. Simmons seems that it seems like everyone has all the confidence in the world that he's going to be that guy. He's going to be able to come fill the shoes of Jackson Dart and there not be a drop off in the, in the quarterback room. I do think he is very, very talented and, and I do think he's going to be good. I don't know if he's going to be great, but I do believe that he's going to be good. And I do think they are going to win a Few games in the sec.
[00:08:18] Next is Florida. Florida also has a very scary wide receiver room. They have very good talent on the outside.
[00:08:26] Their quarterback situation, it is always up and down. It is always. And Florida is always going to drop the ball.
[00:08:34] Since I've been watching since Tim Tebow them been there and won those two nationals championships back to back. Florida is a up and down. It's up and down. It's always going to be up and down. So I don't know what to expect from them.
[00:08:46] I think that they have them rank appropriately. I think they're going to, they are better than a lot of the teams that are under them. But I do think they're going to have slip ups next.
[00:08:58] The next three teams are South Carolina. Okay. Now many people are predicting that Lenore Sellers is going to be a Heisman finalist and they believe that this team can make it to the SEC championship game.
[00:09:13] Now I do feel like they lost a lot of talent to the draft. This was one of their best draft classes that South Carolina has had in a very long time. It might even be in the history of the program.
[00:09:27] They lost especially on the defensive side of the ball. So I do think Lenores is going to have a great year, but I don't think the team is going to have as much of a good year as people think they are. I'm just not as impressed with the pieces that they have since all a bunch of their pieces have left. Okay. Lsu, LSU looks to be, they're bringing back their quarterback so they're not having a drop off from quarterback. And I thought he had a pretty solid year last year. And most of the times we see when these guys come back and they don't declare for the draft, they, that they continue to get better. And I think Gus, Gus is going to be that type of guy. They have weapons on the outside.
[00:10:11] Their defense is going to be solid. They, their defense is definitely going to be better than their defense last year. Um, and then I mean I'm going to be excited to see them. I mean them going up against Clemson, first game of the season, I'm in super excited. That is a top 10 matchup and I'm going to be glued to my TV. I'm going to be glued to My TV.
[00:10:36] And I think those boys have a lot to play for since the death of their former teammate Lacey. And I think they're going to be playing with the intentions of going out there to make them boys to make him proud.
[00:10:50] So I mean I'll, I'm excited but Then also it's LSU and you know, they could drop the ball as well.
[00:10:58] And then the top three teams in the SEC at number three is Alabama. I think Alabama we had new quarterback Ty Simpson. Ty Simpson is one of the rare college stories where the player he came in five star number four player in the 2021, in the 2021 high school class got Alabama had to play behind Bryce Young. And then Jalen Milroe, Jalen Milroe comes back for his senior season. So, so Ty has to wait behind him again. Then Saban decides to retire. Ty says he's coming back, he's not leaving, he's going to stick it out. And then Alabama goes out, they gave, they get Kellen Deborah, he decides to stay with Kellen. Then Kellen brings in Mack from Washington with him who is a year younger than Ty Simpson. And then they go out and recruit a top five dual threat quarterback in the nation.
[00:11:57] And his name is escaping me right now, but great talent as well. And Ty competed and it was announced a couple days ago that he will be the starting quarterback. And a lot of people are impressed from what they have seen from him and the few scrimmages that have been public. And then I mean of course there I think they're why I think Alabama wide receiver room is going to impress a lot of people. I, I think is going to, I think people are going to sleep on them and then their returning defense is going to be scary. Their secondary is going to be really, really nice. They played a lot of young guys last year. So these, those guys are older, they've seen some things and they're the only Division 1 school Power 4 program that coming back from the summer they had no transfers and everyone stuck to the program. Everyone bought into the program and whatever Kellen DeBoer was selling and they've just stuck with it. And I think they are going to be a really great team.
[00:13:02] But I think Georgia and takes. Well, I'll say this, they have Georgia ranked above Alabama, but I think Alabama should be ranked 2 and Georgia should be ranked 3 just because we don't know what Georgia. I haven't, I honestly don't know what Georgia offense has. I know they're going to have a great defense. I know their defense is going to be stacked, but I don't know what their offense is going to look like. I don't think their offense is going to be subpar, but I don't think it's going to be what we've kind of grown accustomed to. Georgia offense looking like especially the past five years at least. So it's going to be really, really interesting to see what Georgia brings besides a great defense because I know Kirby Smart is going to coach that defense up to to be championship caliber.
[00:13:52] But I would say I would have Alabama above Georgia. But everyone is predicting that the number one team in the SEC and the team is going to win the SEC and possibly have a chance at winning the Natty are the Texas Longhorns. Now I don't know if I'm completely buying everything that Arch Manning is selling simply because the sample size is too small, but I think their schedule, how the SEC schedule for them is going to map out they don't have one of the toughest schedules. So I do think that they are going to definitely be in the playoffs. I think they have a great O line, I think they have a solid running back room.
[00:14:40] They did lose some weapons offensively and defensively, but I think they're going to be a really good team and I think Arch Manning, he is going to do enough to where they're always going to be in that they, they're always going to be in the conversation. Okay, so I do agree with with the way they have besides me switching Alabama and Georgia. And then I do think Oklahoma is going to be better and going to shock some people from what they have. But I'm super duper excited that we are finally back in football season and college football is going to have some great matchups starting out week one and I'm super excited and I'm going to be glued to my TV from 12 o' clock all the way until the end of that 8 o' clock game that night. Okay.
[00:15:31] Please make sure you like comment and subscribe. And in the comment section you tell me who you think is going to win the sec.
[00:15:39] You tell me who you think is going to be the sleeper team and the team that is going to shock everyone in the sec.
[00:15:44] Okay, I'm Kayla Ali and this is the Ali perspective and I'll see you back here next week. Sam.
