NASHVILLE, Tenn. — SEC Media Days wrapped up at the Grand Hyatt hotel on Thursday, ending talking season and turning attention to fall camp.

The last day featured Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin, South Carolina coach Shane Beamer and Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel.

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Here are three takeaways.

Few teams have utilized the transfer portal as much as Ole Miss.

The Rebels feature one of the top quarterback rooms in college football after adding Spencer Sanders (Oklahoma State) and Walker Howard (LSU) on top of returning starter Jaxson Dart and newcomer Austin Simmons.

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Former Texas A&M wide receiver Chris Marshall, UCF linebacker Jeremiah Jean-Baptiste and Louisville linebacker Monty Montgomery were among 17 portal additions since Ole Miss' season ended in the Texas Bowl last December.

"We have so many transfers coming in so many spots, it could be hard to single guys out. So it just is what it is nowadays," Kiffin said. "We look out there and there is times that, you know, we joke, we're like, pause the film and go, OK —we're like still learning names but we know schools.There's the receiver from that school, there's the tight end from that, there's the receiver from that, the quarterback is USC...

"You end up going like, wait, our whole skill roster was from some other school. Like we're an NFL team like we drafted them from somewhere."

Kiffin didn't have to go to the portal for his best player.

Running back Quinshon Judkins starred as a freshman, rushing for 1,567 yards and 16 touchdowns on 254 carries last season and he enters his sophomore season with high expectations.

"Quinshon is really special," Kiffin said. "Think about what he did as a freshman to come in and have that workload. I think he led the SEC in carries and yards and touchdowns as a freshman. And like any freshman, you can get a lot better in year two.You know, we were able to get Kevin Smith, coach, back from Miami, that's been with us before. I think that that's really beneficial for him to have him as someone that also was a great college player that's gone through all this type and that comes with it.

"Because that's his biggest challenge is his footwork and his pass protection, even though he's really mature and a great kid."

South Carolina had as impressive of a close to its 2022 regular season as any team in college football.

Coming off of a 38-6 loss at Florida, the Gamecocks responded the following week with a convincing win over Tennessee, then beat rival Clemson to get to eight wins.

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For third year head coach Shane Beamer, the offseason has been about sustaining that momentum as it faces a daunting slate that includes North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas A&M and Clemson.

"Those were two monumental wins for us. There's no question about it," Beamer said. "I was telling somebody earlier, proud of the fact that coming off that win in Columbia against Tennessee, to not just go on the road the next week and win but to be down 14-0 on the road to Clemson and come back and win that game, that's what I'm so proud of...To me the mental toughness and fortitude our guys showed that day was awesome. It absolutely has spring-boarded us in a lot of ways. The momentum that we took from the month of November into recruiting and into 2023 within our facility, but then outside the facility from a recruiting standpoint and just national narrative, without a doubt...

"We have got to be more consistent, starting with me, but certainly there's a lot that you can take from those two games that will help us going forward."

Quarterback Spencer Rattler was erratic at times, especially as South Carolina struggled in the first half of the season.

In his last three appearances, though, Rattler passed for 1,044 yards and 10 touchdowns. That version of Rattler will be needed consistently to give the Gamecocks any chance of competing in the SEC East.

"I feel like in the beginning to the middle of the year, we might have been doing a little too much that we didn't need to be doing," Rattler said. "Towards the end, we limited some stuff down, like I said earlier, some personnel groupings. We had a lot of personnel groupings that limited us a lot. But there's no excuses for that. We tighten down the playbook to plays that play to our strengths, to my strengths, our receivers' strengths, O-line strengths, all of that.

"Nothing really changed too much like people think. The changes definitely helped towards the end of the season."

Tennessee

For most teams, replacing the kind of production that Hendon Hooker was responsible for the last two seasons would be a monumental task.

Hooker left behind a plethora of broken program records and wins that catapulted Tennessee back among the upper echelon of the SEC but there's reason for optimism concerning the Vols' current quarterback situation.

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Joe Milton III returns for his third season in head coach Josh Heupel's season and after leading Tennessee to wins over Vanderbilt and Clemson in the Orange Bowl in two starts last season, there shouldn't be too much of a drop off for the Vols' offense.

"It is rare that you're able to keep quarterbacks inside of your quarterback room. The days of having, you know, four or five quarterbacks consistently, I think those are probably not real anymore," Heupel said. "Guys want to have the opportunity to play and compete early. I think it's rare that a young man like Joe is able to sit back and trust the people around him; that we have his best interests at heart, recognize the areas that he can and needs to grow in to become the player that he's capable of.

"And also know that if I stick this thing out and I compete hard every single day, I'm going to grow and in what we do offensively, going to be able to do the things that I wanted to inside of a college football landscape.Those are rare things and it takes a really mature guy, which Joe has proven to be."

A former four-star prospect with a 6-foot-5, 242 pound frame and a big arm that has fueled an offseason hype machine, Milton would have been an enticing transfer portal prospect.

Instead, he opted to return to Tennessee and has the opportunity to build off an 11-win season.

"I'm just ready to show off my game, period. It means a lot to me to show off to myself. I mean, nothing else matters. Once you make yourself happy, I feel like you'll be good to go."

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