Growing up in Columbus, Ohio Antonio Valentino didn't watch much SEC football, and other than Keiwan Ratliff, who is from the same city, couldn't name a Florida Gator.
As Valentino got older the SEC began to take over college football and with that came pride from fans of all 14 schools. Chants of "SEC! SEC! SEC!" could be heard on television when Florida, Alabama, Auburn, and LSU were winning National Championships or when an SEC school would win a bowl game.
SEC fans love their football teams and they're going to be loud in expressing that sentiment.
The rest of the country cried bias, rolled their eyes, and reached for a barf bag whenever the chant would breakout.
“I definitely did, I was like ‘What are you talking about, the Big 10, it’s like smash-mouth football," Valentino said on Wednesday. "It’s like you try and go playing Ohio State, Michigan, Iowa, and Nebraska all in a stretch."
Valentino's knowledge of the SEC was almost non-existent other than a Citrus Bowl loss to Kentucky on New Year's Day in 2019. When he entered the transfer portal and a 352 area code popped up, with his iPhone telling him Gainesville, Florida, he didn't even know there was a school there.
"I was like, what's in Gainesville? I didn't know where UF was," he said with a laugh. "I picked it up and it was Coach T (David Turner)."
The decision was made quickly. Florida's message was simple. They needed a veteran or two on the interior defensive line. The coaching staff liked his game and offered him a scholarship. It took just a few practices at Florida to really open his eyes to what life is like in the SEC.
"I really saw it when we put pads on in the spring, and it was just like, ‘Yo, these dudes is moving, like everybody’s an athlete. It’s just a superior athlete I guess that you can just find down here," he said. "No disrespect to the Big 10 or anything, it’s just one of those things where you just have to see it to understand it."
"All the SEC bias and everything they talk about in this conference is 100 percent accurate. It's 110 percent accurate and I haven't even played in an SEC game yet."
After four years at Penn State, Valentino has seen a lot. He's played in the Big House in Michigan, The Horseshoe in Columbus, and of course Beaver Stadium in Happy Valley. He's ready for a new college football cathedral this year playing home games in the Swamp but has one road game circled already.
" LSU for sure for sure. I’ve heard it’s like crazy for visiting teams, super hostile," Valentino said when asked if he was looking forward to any specific road game. "That sounds fun to me to be honest with you. It’s kind of like when you go into an opposing stadium and you know that they don’t want you here, you kind of feel like the bad guy. That’s kind of fun."
A midwestern kid and former SEC denier has quickly sipped the Kool-Aid and is all in on the conference.
