Two prominent Alabama figures at SEC football media days in Dallas on Monday picked Texas football to make the SEC championship game.
Nick Saban, in his first year with ESPN after retiring from coaching the Crimson Tide, and former quarterback Greg McElroy, who won the 2010 BCS national championship game, both picked the Longhorns to make the SEC championship in their first year in their new conference on “SEC Now.”
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“I think Georgia and Texas,” Saban said. “But I don’t think there’s any team right now, or any coach that you would talk to, including myself for many, many years, that right now there’s not some part of their team they’re concerned about. How those problems, sort of, get resolved, whether it’s a young player that comes in and makes an impact, or an older player that develops consistency, those are the question marks that I think make it impossible to make predictions right now.
“But I think Texas, if their defense comes through and they can replace some of the interior people that they lost that were high draft picks and all that, they are really good offensively. Even though their quarterback has missed time, (Quinn) Ewers has missed time in the last couple of years, (Arch) Manning was lights out in the spring game. Like, Arch was 21 of 25 for 347 yards. So that depth at quarterback is probably really important for then, because Ewers has missed time the last couple years, a game or two, which could really affect where you end up.”
Notably, Saban didn’t pick Alabama, led by first-year coach Kalen DeBoer, to make the conference final. He instead predicted Georgia to face the Longhorns in Atlanta, adding that he still believes in his old team, as well.
“So I really like Texas. I think Georgia has got a really good team. I believe in our Alabama team, too. I believe in Jalen Milroe. I just think the question marks in the secondary, until those get resolved, it’s hard to, sort of, jump on that bandwagon.”
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McElroy — the Southlake native who helped lead Saban’s first championship vs. Texas in 2010 — also chose the Longhorns, matching them up with Alabama in a rematch of their Week 2 game from last season. There, Steve Sarkisian and Co. won 34-24 on the road.
The other “SEC Now” panelist, former Georgia and NFL tight end Benjamin Watson, picked Georgia and Ole Miss to battle in the SEC championship.
The Longhorns return Ewers, who’s entering his third season as the starter, which should help an offense that lost pass-catchers Xavier Worthy, Adonai Mitchell, Ja’Tavion Sanders and Jordan Whittington to the NFL draft.
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Texas did gain, however, three receivers in the transfer portal, including five-star transfer recruit Isaiah Bond from Alabama and four-star transfers Matthew Golden from Houston and Silas Bolden from Oregon State. The Longhorns also added four-star tight end Amari Niblack from Alabama.
While Texas lost interior defensive linemen Byron Murphy II and T’Vondre Sweat to the NFL draft, it should improve in the secondary and still boast one of the league’s better defenses in 2024.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Alabama’s Nick Saban, Greg McElroy pick Texas to make SEC championship
Austin American-Statesman
