SEC Media Days has quickly turned into a back and forth battle between Georgia and Texas instead of being an introduction to the upcoming season. Both Georgia and Texas took part in the annual event on Tuesday, and a war of words broke out at times between the two sides.
One of the statements that stood out the most was when Texas defensive back Michael Taaffe called Kirby Smart a maniac.
"Coach (Kirby) Smart is one of the most competitive coaches I have ever been against in my life," said Taaffe via ugawire.usatoday.com. "Like, physically hearing him on the sideline when I'm playing defense. I'm like who is this maniac?"
Texas defender calls Kirby Smart a maniac out of respect
It's clear to see that Taaffe called Smart a maniac out of respect for how hard he was working during the two games they played each other last season. But to further prove that Taaffe meant no disrespect, he continued to hand out compliments to Smart as a coach.
"And it is their head coach trying to, you know, get a call or get something in and I think the team is embodied by the head coach," Taaffe continued. "And he does a great job of embodying what their team is all about and to be honest, I think they out-physicaled us in that first game, so we gotta come with a physical nature and a sense of pride and knowing that if we want to get to where we want to go in December, then we gotta beat those guys."
Everyone knows how quickly Georgia and Texas are turning into legit rivals. The Longhorns stole two five-star recruits from Georgia on Tuesday, but UGA was able to beat the Longhorns on the field twice last season.
Even though Georgia and Texas are clearly heated rivals on the field and on the recruiting trail, it's clear that there is a lot of respect between the two programs as well. It will however be interesting to see if that changes over the next few years, because all signs point towards Georgia and Texas continuing to battle it out in the SEC and on the recruiting trail for years to come.