HOOVER, Ala. -- Texas A&M senior cornerback Dashazor Everett said at SEC media days that he expects the Aggies to be improved after they finished 111th nationally in total defense and 96th in scoring defense.
Texas A&M gave up an average of 475.8 yards and 32.3 points per game last season.
"I mean, could we get much worse from last year?" Everett said, drawing laughs from reporters. "We have to get better.
"We have returning players from last year. It's not like we have all new players. That will give us some confidence."
Everett, among seven returning starters on defense, said the Aggies often lacked an understanding of how to execute the defensive calls last season.
"We're learning things as we go, and we're going to keep learning things," Everett said. "I feel already we've gotten a lot better as far as how spring went.
"I've been around the 2012 defense and I've been around last year's defense, and I'll tell you, I'm excited for this year's defense."
Good for SEC
An SEC team played for the national championship the previous eight years -- and won it seven times -- under the old Bowl Championship Series system that matched the No. 1 and No. 2 teams.
College football is switching to a four-team playoff system this season with a selection committee replacing the various polls and computer rankings used by the BCS.
"I think the playoff system will be equally kind to the SEC," LSU Coach Les Miles said. "The reason I say that is because there's just such quality competition.
"The teams week in and week out are so prepared, so capable, so talented. For them not to include one and possibly more [SEC teams] in that playoff would be -- I don't know -- shortsighted."
Bill Hancock, executive director of the playoff, said he's excited about the new system of determining a national champion with a committee chaired by Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long.
"The committee will select the four best teams -- period. No strings attached," Hancock said. "It's important to keep that in mind."
Rules report
SEC coordinator of officials Steve Shaw said targeting penalties with player ejections that are overturned and do not include a personal foul call will not incur a 15-yard penalty this season.
The new standard is a tweak to the targeting rule, which went into effect last season. The SEC had 19 targeting fouls called last season and seven disqualifications were overturned. There were 14 targeting fouls called in the first eight weeks and five called in the last seven weeks, according to SEC data.
Nationally, there were 92 targeting fouls and 32 ejections were overturned.
Shaw gave four national points of emphasis from an officiating standpoint for 2014: pace of play; targeting and dangerous contact fouls; sideline management and control; and unsportsmanlike conduct fouls.
The current season, which is not a rules-change year in the current two-year cycle, focuses on player safety initiatives, such as a "strike zone" area for hitting quarterbacks who are in a throwing posture that outlaws hits at or below the knee from unabated rushers.
Tight with Steve
Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin said he considers South Carolina Coach Steve Spurrier and his wife, Jeri, as great family friends, mentioning a golf trip he took with Spurrier and Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops to Ireland a couple of years ago.
"As a young coach growing up, it's hard to say he wasn't the standard," Sumlin said of Spurrier. "He is the standard. You look at what he's done at South Carolina -- three 11-win seasons. That's incredible in this league."
The Aggies and Gamecocks, now permanent cross-division rivals, open the season Aug. 28 in the debut game for the SEC Network.
"He's been awful quiet," Sumlin said. "That means he must think they're pretty good."
Money guys
South Carolina's Steve Spurrier said one of the responsibilities of a coach is to get know the program's biggest boosters.
"I certainly have gotten to know all of ours," Spurrier said.
Spurrier said he and wife annually host a dinner for the biggest boosters, who he compared to NFL owners because they support the team financially.
"The best part of it is, they don't tell us what to do," Spurrier said. "They're sort of like owners from a distance."
Spurrier, going into his 10th season at South Carolina, said the program has 12 or 13 donors who have given at least $1 million, compared to one when he first took the job.
"You've got to have the facilities to keep up," Spurrier said. "Within the last eight, nine years at South Carolina, our's are up there amongst the best now. That's a big reason for our success."
Looking good
Texas A&M freshman defensive lineman Myles Garrett of Arlington, Texas, was rated the No. 1 player nationally last season by several recruiting services.
"When they rank those guys No. 1, they usually don't screw that up," Aggies Coach Kevin Sumlin said. "I don't think they screwed this one up this year.
"All signs point to him being as good as advertised."
Sports on 07/17/2014