Football was not the only focus at 2016’s SEC Media Days.
Ole Miss football has received a notice of 28 allegations by the NCAA. Major protests have happened in a number of SEC cities as a part of the Black Lives Matter movement. University of Missouri was shaken by civil rights protests that possibly contributed to the retirement of head coach Gary Pinkel. The issues of conduct and racial equality these events have presented were something that SEC schools could not avoid talking about.
A large portion of LSU coach Les Miles’ press conference Thursday was devoted to the racial divide coming to light in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Reporters even asked Miles if he planned to enforce a curfew on his players. Miles’ answer to the social and ethical issues and pressures plaguing SEC players is to focus players' thoughts on helping their community.
“What I’d like to do is have them, our guys, have a platform where they could affect change,” Miles said.
Junior running back Leonard Fournette serves as LSU’s prime example of a positive impact on the community. When record-breaking floods in South Carolina caused the Gamecock’s matchup with LSU to be moved to Baton Rouge, Fournette auctioned one of his jerseys to help recovery efforts in the Palmetto State. Fournette said in October that his experience during Hurricane Katrina inspired him to take action to help victims of the 2015 floods.
"I have the platform and the voice to help people, so I figured, why not be that difference-maker in the generation?” Fournette said Thursday.
New Missouri head coach Barry Odom echoed Miles’ sentiment regarding placing priority on solving social issues through discussion.
“There are things that happened on our campus that, as you look back and you go through it as an educator and as a coach and as a teacher, you learn a tremendous amount,” Odom said. “And the ability that I’ve been awarded now and created with the opportunities that I have on building true, trusting relationships with our team — it’s something that is so dear to me, on making sure that I provide them with an opportunity to be successful.”
SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey responded to these issues Monday by trying to turn publicity toward positive story lines.
“The body of work of this conference far outweighs those problems, yet we are attentive to those realities,” Sankey said. “We understand when the issues arise, we need to even be more attentive, be that on campus or as a collective group.”