A 6-foot-3, 280-pound defensive lineman carrying a doll while walking through the lobby at the Wynfrey Hotel certainly got some attention Wednesday. But there was a good reason Arkansas’ McTelvin Agim brought Chucky along.
“The doll represents my little cousin who was murdered,” Agim said. “It’s unsolved. It’s basically shedding light on his name and keeping his memory alive. He was never able to come with me to games, but know he can to every one of them because I keep him with me all the time.”
Any particular reason why he chose that particular doll?
“I just like Chucky,” Agim said.
Twitter plea
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey introduced Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead on Wednesday afternoon saying, Joe, was the second-best quarterback to play at Pittsburgh Central Catholic High School.
Who did Sankey put above Moorhead? Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, of course.
“Growing up in Pittsburgh, I idolized Dan Marino,” Moorhead said. “My room was covered in posters. I wore No. 13 from the fifth grade when I started playing football in St. Bartholomew Elementary all the way up to my junior year of high school.”
Moorhead used the beginning of his opening statements as an effort to get Marino to follow him on Twitter and maybe an opportunity to have a cold one with the Miami Dolphin legend sometime in Starkville.
“So if Dan’s out there and he’s an SEC fan, if he’s listening, I sure would appreciate a follow back, @BallCoachJoeMo. If I do get that follow back, I would like to invite you to a game in Starkville. And as Pittsburgh people will know, I’ll have a cold case of Iron City on ice waiting for him. So there’s that.”
Florida connection
A recent trend for Alabama has been star wide receivers from south Florida. The trend started with Amari Cooper, then moved to Calvin Ridley and now the torch has passed to junior Jerry Jeudy.
“Being compared to those guys, great group of guys that came through Alabama and created a legacy for themselves and created a path for other young Alabama wide receivers so it’s just a great feeling being compared to those guys,” Jeudy said.
While Jeudy didn’t have a 1,000-yard season as a freshman like Ridley and Cooper, Jeudy won the Biletnikoff Award last season as a sophomore. Ridley did not win the award and Cooper didn’t win until his junior season.
You make the call
SEC Coordinator of Football Officials quizzed the media on the new targeting rules Wednesday morning.
Video of three plays from the 2018 season were shown to media members, who were put in the role of replay officials, and asked to make the call — targeting or no targeting.
The media correctly identified targeting on two plays. On the one misidentified call, 59 percent ruled not targeting and 41 percent voted yes.
“Some days, it’s not fun being the coordinator,” Shaw said after the results were posted.
Champion griller
When SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey introduced Will Muschamp at SEC Media Days, he mentioned that Muschamp “fashions himself as a bit of an expert on all things related to The Big Green Egg,” a kamado-style ceramic charcoal grill.
“I appreciate that introduction,” Muschamp said. “You’re exactly right on the Green Egg, there’s nobody better in our league, I can assure you of that.”
When asked about his go-to recipe for The Big Green Egg, Muschamp responded with “It’s anything you want, I can do it.” Afterwards, Muschamp decided to correct Sankey on one thing.
“Commissioner Sankey made a mistake, and one of the very few he’s made, he talked about (Missouri coach) Barry Odom being the best griller in Columbia,” Muschamp said. “And I’m assuming he’s talking about Columbia, Missouri, not Columbia, South Carolina.
— Compiled by Edwin Stanton, Tyler Martin and Hunter Jones
