Who Texas should bring to SEC Media Days

Texas football’s second-ever SEC Media Day is right around the corner, beginning in just over a week on July 14th in Atlanta, Georgia.

Every year, SEC coaches and players are put in front of the media, giving fans and the entire college football world a chance to hear from CFB’s most important figures with a month to go before the season.

For many Texas fans, this will be the first time they’ve heard from Steve Sarkisian in months, as the head coach tends to lay low in the summer as he focuses on building his class for the next season. Sarkisian already made a big splash on the Fourth of July with the commitment of John Turntine, and that likely won’t be the last commit we see before these Media Days start.

2025 SEC Media Day is set 🤘

📅 Tuesday July 15
📍 Atlanta, GA pic.twitter.com/E8nSPewaw0

— Texas Football (@TexasFootball) April 15, 2025

Every year, teams send three athletes to represent the team at the conference. For Texas in 2025, that meant Quinn Ewers, Jahdae Barron, and Kelvin Banks Jr.—two of whom were drafted in the first round of the NFL Draft, and all three of whom are now playing in the NFL. With past veteran options off the table, who should represent Texas in Atlanta this year?

QB Arch Manning

With Ewers passing the torch to Manning, it’s expected that the incumbent QB1 will be available for his first SEC Media Days. While there’s nothing stating teams have to bring their QB, the position is often held by a team leader and a media-trained figurehead. Those boxes are all checked by Manning.

Manning has experience with the media already, and it’s rare to catch him off guard with questions, given his fame and the preparation brought to him by his family and the staff at Texas. If Manning were to make it to Atlanta, he would be the talk of the town, likely the most sought-after player for quotes in the entire building.

LB Anthony Hill

Similar to Banks last year, Hill is an ascended junior star expected to be a team leader and one of the highest-drafted Longhorns in the upcoming NFL Draft. Hill, like Banks, has been starting for the previous two years as an underclassman and has already worked into a leadership role in 2024, but this is the payoff year for him.

All signs point to Hill not only being the SEC’s best linebacker but the best in the nation, and leaving him and his strong personality at home would be a tragedy. Hill is in a contract year, making him an even better candidate to make the appearance and feel what it’s like to be a true star in the spotlight.

S Michael Taaffe

Texas’ most likely picks would truly mirror what it brought out last year: QB1 (Manning and Ewers), a star rising junior (Hill and Banks), and now a fifth-year defensive back leader with Taaffe and Barron from last season. Barron didn’t enter the 2024 season as a projected first-round pick, but he was already seen as a clear leader of the team in his fifth and final year with the program.

Barron and Taaffe are very similar as vocal leaders in the room and long-term contributors, and Taaffe has been a staple for Texas media for some time now. Texas would have its best representation with him, Hill, and Manning.

But what if Texas wanted to get more fun and go for some of the non-obvious choices? This trio seems like a pretty solid and set-in-stone group, but who else could be a good representative of the team?

Fun Pick: EDGE Colin Simmons

After his social media shenanigans in his first year on campus, there’s just no way he’ll be the choice, but it certainly would be fun if he were! Simmons has a very vocal hatred toward Texas’ biggest rivals and isn’t afraid to speak his mind when asked. It wouldn’t be the smartest decision to bring one of the team’s cockiest and loudest players, especially an underclassman, but it would 100% win on the fun factor.

Intriguing Pick: RB Quintrevion Wisner

At this point, Wisner is a veteran on this Texas roster—one of just three returning starters on this offense and an upperclassman. Wisner approaches the media in a similar way to Taaffe, stressing Sarkisian’s culture and winning mentality. He’d make for some interesting interviews as a former three-star who has now been thrust into the spotlight.

Sarkisian is just 10 days out from his first official press conference, where the media will be able to ask him about topics ranging from recruiting to the House settlement. Texas brought fireworks in 2024 in its first year, and the program is now chasing its first SEC Championship in just its second year. With a lull in football news outside of recruiting, Media Days can’t come any faster.