SEC Media Days is always entertaining, but it’s not always really enlightening. This year bucked that trend, for A&M and several other teams. It wasn’t necessarily in an obvious way, but if you listened to some of the coaches closely, a few things stood out.

Of course, I’m going to start with Jimbo Fisher. Last year, he really didn’t know what he had with his team, and that was apparent. His objective was to lay the foundation for the program moving forward, to develop a physical and mental toughness. We saw that come to fruition last year with the success in the second half of the year and the improvement in the defense. This year, he’s looking to take the next step, as he repeatedly brought up the “championship mentality”. He thinks his guys have passed the basic level courses; now, it’s time to move onto the 400-level stuff.

I was struck by how confident Fisher seems in his team. Obviously, you’re going to say a lot of positive things when you’re in front of the cameras, but when it was just the A&M media, he went out of his way to talk about how he felt “very comfortable” with the defensive line, the quality of the talent at linebacker and that he thought the offensive line would be good too. Last season, we heard him couch his praise with stuff like “we’ve got a long way to go, but…” Not this time. Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it got my attention. This is just my opinion, but I think he really likes this football team. He is certainly expecting Kellen Mond to take a big step this year. If that happens, then maybe Fisher should like his football team.

A few thoughts on some of the other coaches:

Joe Moorehead lost a lot of weight and a lot of swagger compared to last year. Mississippi State’s coach said he should have done more reading and studying of the SEC before he shot off his mouth, which is kind of amazing. Didn’t he know what he was getting into? In any case, he did a good job with a good team. This team isn’t as talented or as experienced, and I think he knows that.

Kirby Smart is absolutely. Fing. Sick. of being in Nick Saban’s shadow. It’s not that he hates Saban; it’s just that he can’t do anything without the inevitable comparison. And I can certainly get why that would be annoying.

Chad Morris got hit over the head with a brick in 2018 and isn’t quite sure how to handle it. Arkansas is developing some really nice skill position players, but they have two immobile quarterbacks and an offensive line with massive questions. Add in a defense that could be worse this year and it looks like this turnaround hasn’t really caught on yet.

Saban’s inability to give Dabo Swinney and Clemson any credit for burying the Tide last year didn’t come off well. They played a better team and got beat. It happens. He’s got plenty of weapons on offense and maybe this was his way of firing up his team, but it wasn’t a good look.

Ole Miss is making a lot of major changes on both sides of the ball, especially going to the 3-4, and I don’t know if they have the personnel to run it. It could be a very difficult year for them.

South Carolina’s best bet this year may be to shoot it out with teams, and that’s amazing considering who their coach is.

Gus is going to call the plays this year at Auburn again. He’s got talent, but again, I’m not sure if it fits what he wants to do. The inability (or outright refusal) to adjust reminds me of someone.

I’ve said a few times that Jimbo is really pleased with his defensive front. The coaches have gone from hoping the line can be as good as last year to thinking it will be as good as last year’s to thinking it has the potential to be better. That belief puts a lot of pressure on several players, but there’s one in particular that I think will have the most: Tyree Johnson.

Surprised? Here’s an idea on why you shouldn’t be.

The starters appear to be Micheal Clemons, Bobby Brown, Justin Madubike and Johnson. Clemons has Max Wright and DeMarvin Leal as his backups. If Leal’s what he’s supposed to be, then the pressure on Clemons will be to keep him off the field. Madubuike is the real deal and everyone knows that. Brown has Jayden Peevy backing him up (or vice versa), and they’ll both play a lot.

But the Aggies need a speed pass rusher to really make the defense go to the next level. That’s where Johnson comes in. He showed some real flashes at the end of last year and started to take snaps away from Landis Durham, which is no mean feat. But he’s still limited in his overall experience and his backup, Jeremiah Martin, has even less. So he really needs to be the guy. He’s got a skill set different than anyone else up front and can be a real problem with his speed. If he picks up where he left off last year, the Aggies are probably going to be very stout defensively. If not, things get a lot more difficult.

2020 Miami (Fla.) DE Donell Harris

2021 Miami (Fla.) LB Terrence Lewis

Moose Muhammad

Brentwood (Tenn.) LB Junior Colson

Duncanville 2021 LB Kendrick Blackshire

Demond Demas

Troy Omeire

Josh Moten

Josh Eaton

Pius X WR/CB Seth Jones

Pearland Shadow Creek S Jaidan Scott (2022)

In the next week or two, we’ve got three 2020 recruits and a 2021 target who are going to announce their commitments. I think A&M is going to .500 with them. First up is LB Kourt Williams, who will announce Wednesday. He would really make a huge difference to A&M’s 2020 class if he were to commit. Unfortunately, I think he’s going elsewhere -- Ohio State seems to be the likely destination. Next up will probably be Devin Price, though that’s not set in stone. He’s down to A&M and Arizona, and I think he’s going to stay home. I know that some of you, understandably, don’t like the idea of taking four wideouts in this class, but I’ll be honest with you: Devin can play a little football and is seriously underrated. He carried Consol to the 7-on-7 state title a couple of weeks back and was basically unguardable.

Next up is another wideout, Shadrach Banks of North Shore. I think the curse finally ends here. Banks really likes A&M and Dameyune Craig has struck up a good rapport with him. Adding him with Eli Stowers is a strong way to start the 2021 class. Finally (probably) is Seth Jones of Pius X, who is down to A&M and Baylor. I think he’ll be going to Baylor for one reason, and one reason only -- they’ll let him play wideout. A&M wants him as a corner. He’s always been a wideout and he’d be a big part of their class, so it just seems to make more sense that he goes to Waco.

Recruiting is always unpredictable, and when you have a staff like A&M does now, it can get even more wild. I bring this up because I think there’s an increasing chance that A&M adds a pair of 5-stars to the 2020 class, and they’re guys we probably wouldn’t have thought of 6 weeks ago. The first is Miami Booker T. Washington DE Donell Harris, who will be in town this week, and the other is the oft-discussed Zach Evans.

Harris, who was one of the elite prospects in the 2021 class, re-classified last month and had A&M in his top 5. The Aggies had been recruiting him heavily regardless, and picked up the pace bigtime when he made the switch to the 2020 class. He’ll be in town this week, as mentioned above, and A&M’s staff feels like they’re making seriously headway with him. Landing Harris would not just be huge for his talent, but for who A&M will have beaten to get him -- Alabama, Georgia, LSU and Auburn.

As for Evans, we’ve been telling you A&M has gotten back into the mix for him in a big way of late and they continue to look increasingly like a realistic landing spot. The duo of Jay Graham and Craig are tough to top, and he’s had Demond Demas and the other Houston area commits in his ear constantly. The idea of having all the elite H-Town players coming to A&M and playing together might just be enough to sway him, and it looks like the family issues that had been an impediment have largely been soothed over (many kudos to Courtney, by the way, for getting that interview with Zach’s brother a couple of weeks ago that detailed the improvement). I think Georgia has slipped in this one, which is a bit of a surprise; I think A&M has at least caught and has probably passed Alabama as well. That leaves the old North Shore foe, LSU, as the primary competition. But if Evans now wants to commit somewhere before the season starts, that could really work out well if you’re A&M.

Oh, and as for Texas? They’re really pushing for 3-star Ty Jordan of Mesquite. He’s not exactly shabby (he’s actually quite good), but that’s a turn of events few saw coming six months ago.

I really don’t know why Mohamed Diallo decided to transfer. That one boggles the mind. But hopefully it was because Adarius Jones or Derek Hunter was pushing him.

If what we’re hearing about freshman LB Chris Russell is remotely true, the Aggies got themselves one heck of a steal on national signing day.

I have no idea what the Aggies will do on the offensive line. But I don’t dread it like I did last year. Not quite sure why; maybe it’s the number of viable options.

I still think Andre White will be a factor at linebacker this year, and I wouldn’t count out Aaron Hansford at all.

If Elijah Blades is a good as everyone is hoping, A&M’s secondary will be light years better this year. One good corner can be a massive difference maker, especially in college.

Think A&M isn’t serious about staying ahead of the pack? I’ve heard they’ve got the money together to rebuild the essentially brand new weight room. And after LSU showed off their new locker room today, I wouldn’t be surprised if they gut that three-year-old area and improve it too.

One of the things that struck me most about Haynes King’s commitment was how excited all the players who have met him from the 2020 class were that he was joining them. But so were Kellen Mond and Zach Calzada, and that says a lot about both of those two young men as well.

The circumstances that led to Akinola Ogunbiyi’s return to #GigEmGang20 may not have been ideal (part of it had to do with the health of his mom), but he’s been all-in since he returned. He’s become a big part of the recruiting push for this class. He was after King, he’s working on Sedrick Van Pran and he’s one of many after Zach Evans.

One area where A&M still doesn’t seem to have the angle is linebacker. That’s why I wouldn’t ignore Woody Wommack’s article on Isaiah Gaddy.

It’s really cool that Kellen Mond and Jimbo had the same play in mind for the last play of regulation against LSU.

ive favorite players to watch (football only): Johnny Manziel, Von Miller, Myles Garrett, Mike Evans, John Riggins.

Movies I haven’t seen: Pick an Oscar winner. I haven’t seen it.

With the Iranians acting up in the Strait of Hormuz, I would suggest looking up Operation Praying Mantis. They might want to do that too.

I’m in the market for a good book to read. I got into one called “The Allies”, about FDR, Churchill and Stalin -- and I left it at Love Field.

I’m not real excited about going back to Atlanta for SEC Media Days next year, but Nashville in 2021 sounds pretty cool.

I went to the Bayern Munich-Real Madrid match the other night at NRG Stadium. Good seats. Good match. Some very good play. But still not my thing. I would have rather gone to Minute Maid and watched the Astros and Rangers. Yes, I’m a jingoistic Yankee imperialist dog.

Yordan Alvarez. Mercy. (I think I’ve said that before.)

Cody and her cousin sang Old Town Road this weekend. I didn’t even knew she knew that song existed.

Does anyone else come back from a trip, no matter what kind, completely exhausted? I don’t recall it being like this before.

Got a ROKU TV this weekend. Very interesting. Much more user-friendly than I was expecting.