SEC notebook: Georgia tight end Brock Bowers says Texas got 'a dog' with Adonai Mitchell

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Count Brock Bowers as a huge Adonai Mitchell fan.

Georgia's All-American tight end was sorry to see Mitchell leave for Texas, but Bowers expects big things for the former Bulldogs wide receiver, who had a strong spring game performance for the Longhorns with an electrifying one-handed catch for a touchdown.

“AD’s a dog,” Bowers said Tuesday at SEC media days. “He has unmatched athleticism. He can take one step and change directions. And he brings a work ethic that is really impressive. He just goes and goes.”

Bowers, who had 63 catches for 942 yards and seven touchdowns last season as the best tight end in college football, was sad to see this year’s Oklahoma game canceled because of the Sooners’ pending move to the SEC.

“I love playing at new places, and I was excited to go to Norman to see what it’s like there,” said Bowers, who also has never played at Texas A&M.

As a junior, he's almost certain to be a first-round NFL draft pick next spring, and so he will miss the 2024 game at Texas, right?

“We’ll see,” he said. “We’ll see.”

— Kirk Bohls

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SEC officials address 'Horns down' penalty

The SEC opened Tuesday’s media days with a presentation by John McDaid, the conference’s coordinator of football officials. After giving a quick film session and an update on rules tweaks, he addressed the “Horns down” hand gesture, which has been a bedeviling judgment call for Big 12 officials over the years.

As McDaid told Brett McMurphy of Action Network, “unsportsmanlike conduct needs to fit one of three categories: Is it taunting an opponent? Is it making a travesty of the game? Is it otherwise compromising our ability to manage the game?

“There’s a difference between a player giving a signal directly in face of an opponent, as opposed to doing it with teammates celebrating after a touchdown or on the sideline,” McDaid said. “To net all that out, every single occurrence is not an act of unsportsmanlike conduct.”

— Thomas Jones

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Brian Jones thinks it’s time for Texas

In Texas’ final year in the Big 12 before joining the SEC, it’s now or never for the Longhorns to win the league for only the fourth time and first since 2009.

“They’ve got to get it done,” said Jones, a CBS Sports sportscaster and an All-Southwest Conference linebacker at Texas in 1990. “They’ve got another bite out of the apple. Texas is close. They’ve recruited well, but they need to be more consistent.”

Jones said third-year coach Steve Sarkisian is well aware of the need to get stronger up front if the Longhorns hope to compete in the SEC.

“You got to win in the trenches,” Jones said. “Sark knows that. He’s recruited extremely well in the offensive line. Their pups need to grow into canines.”

The final year in the Big 12 could be a grueling test for Texas. Jones remembers what it was like when SWC member Arkansas bolted for the SEC.

“Everybody’s going to be after Texas,” Jones said. “Like when Arkansas left, we thought of it as an affront and thought, ‘You guys think you’re better than us, so we’re going to let you take one last butt-whipping with you.’ ”

— Kirk Bohls

Austin receiver Caleb Burton draws praise from Auburn coach

Auburn receiver Caleb Burton, one of the top wideout recruits in the Austin area’s history, has made a quick impact on head coach Hugh Freeze since transferring in from Ohio State during the offseason. The 6-foot, 165-pound speedster didn’t step on the field during his freshman season with the Buckeyes in 2022, but Freeze thinks the former Del Valle and Lake Travis star could fill an immediate need for a downfield threat.

“Caleb Burton, I think his high school tape is phenomenal,” Freeze said. “Obviously signed with one of the premier programs in the country, and now we're able to get him and have four years with him. Hopefully, he'll be ready to go and add some playmaking ability to us this year. I think wide receiver-wise, for our offense to work that we've always run, we've got to have production there. We've got to be able to win some one-on-ones.”

Ranked as the 10th-best receiver prospect in the 2022 recruiting class by 247Sports, Burton had 132 catches for 2,372 yards and 33 touchdowns in his high school career despite missing his junior season with a knee injury. His father, Charles Burton, is a former Syracuse linebacker and is the head coach at Connally High in the Pflugerville school district.

— Thomas Jones

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Vanderbilt ready for season-opening spotlight

Vanderbilt will have a big share of college football’s spotlight — at least for the first game of the season.

The Commodores’ opening game against visiting Hawaii will be one of just seven games on Aug. 26, a Saturday that kicks off the 2023 season. Better yet for both teams, the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network, which now has a national reach.

“It's so cool,” said Vanderbilt linebacker Ethan Barr, a two-time team captain who played his high school ball at Flower Mound Marcus outside of Dallas. “It's awesome that we get to be in the spotlight that Saturday. We are really looking forward to it.”

Defensive back Jaylen Mahoney agreed with his teammate, saying there’s “pride that comes out of” opening the season.

“We know that we have to make a statement,” Mahoney said.

Last season, Vanderbilt hammered Hawaii 63-10.

— Thomas Jones

First-year Mississippi State coach praises Mike Leach

Zach Arnett, Mississippi State’s first-year coach, didn’t shy away from praising his predecessor, Mike Leach, who hired Arnett as the Bulldogs’ defensive coordinator three years ago. Arnett became Mississippi State’s head coach last December after the sudden death of Leach, and he led the Bulldogs to a 19-10 win over Illinois in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

“There's obviously a lot of nuggets of wisdom that I received from Coach Leach over the last three years,” Arnett said. “Simply put, I look at it as a blessing. I got to spend three years under, in my opinion, a unanimous first-ballot Hall of Famer. I mean, his fingerprints and impact on the game of football are evident throughout, particularly offensive play in modern football.”

Arnett, 37, has broken new ground in the SEC by becoming the first Hispanic head coach in conference history. The Albuquerque, N.M., native played for New Mexico before starting his coaching career at San Diego State, where he spent nine seasons while rising up to defensive coordinator.

Mississippi State went 9-4 last season, and the Bulldogs look like an SEC sleeper with the return of talented quarterback Will Rogers and a defense led by an experienced front seven.

— Thomas Jones

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Georgia All-American Brock Bowers praises Texas' Adonai Mitchell