SEC Media Days: Gators Making a Show of Trashing Tennessee Football

Tennessee Football is taking hits from Jarrad Davis, Jim McElwain, and even Jalen Tabor as the Florida Gators are trashing the Volunteers at SEC Media Days.

Related Story: Top 10 Seasons the Vols Failed to Meet Expectations

The way they’re talking, you would think Florida is the lesser team and trying to start a rivalry with the Tennessee Vols.

The Gators spent all day taking shots at Tennessee football. That was the highlight, beyond how they could repeat as SEC East Champions, if they could take the next step to play for conference or national champions, or who their starting quarterback would be.

Jim McElwain appeared to start it when asked if the Georgia Bulldogs were Florida’s biggest rival. But he said right afterward that Tennessee might have something to say about that.

On the surface, an argument could be made that he was trying to throw respect to the Vols, but it came across as incredibly dismissive.

Fine.

Then came florida linebacker Jarrad Davis. When asked about the Tennessee game, he called it one of the “funnest games of the year” because they always win.

Marcus Maye, meanwhile, said “Tennessee is Tennessee and we’re Florida. What you see is what you get, and it’s been that way for a while.”

That comes across as throwing slightly more shade, hinting that Florida has owned the series recently, which is true.

But then came Jalen Tabor. Tabor has been doing the most talking of all Gators this offseason, and since he didn’t get invited to SEC Media Days, he decided to start his own press conference on Twitter.

And when asked on Periscope if the Gators would make it 12 straight over the Vols, he said “No Doubt.”

To be clear, the Vols have no right to talk trash back to the Gators. They have indeed lost 11 straight, and they have to prove they can win before they start talking back.

But it seems kind of sad that a team and fan base who claims to not be rivals with the Vols can’t resist any chance at taking shots at the Vols.

It seems even sadder that they would make that team the focal point of their SEC Media Days conversation.

But hey, to each his own. It’s not like everybody in Knoxville isn’t thinking about the Gators as well.