Someone asked me the other day if I will miss going to SEC media days. And the truth is that I will, but not all of it.
I will miss seeing so many friends, both in the media and the SEC. I will miss sitting around at dinner with the hacks finding out what is really going on at the 14 SEC schools. I will miss the social hours and the buzz of the main room.
I won’t miss the long days, overpriced hotel beers and fans disguised as media members.
There is this myth that SEC media days are the unofficial start of college football season. It certainly gets us fired up, but when Billy Napier gets on that University Athletic Association plane Wednesday afternoon to come home, it will still be 44 days until the opener.
Media days is still talking season, but I also refer to it as the SEC clambake because it is like a reunion of sorts for people who pay the most attention to America’s League.
I hope everyone has a blast. I’ll be watching. And for this Dooley’s Dozen, we’ll talk about the 12 storylines that I will be paying the most attention to.
Is the SEC staying put at 16?
Marc Weiszer/Athens Banner-Herald
After the USC-UCLA bolt to the Big Ten and considering what happened last year, there is going to be more talk about realignment than anything else. And you never say never. But I think the SEC is good at 16 teams (eventually) because the value of adding teams doesn’t make any sense unless it is Notre Dame (which won’t happen).
Does the media get angry Nick?
Vasha Hunt/AL.com
We love us some angry Nick Saban. I know that a lot of people are anticipating a steel cage match between Saban and Jimbo Fisher, but they take the podium 48 hours apart. Still, Saban has a lot of things he is not happy about and it makes for great theater when he gets steamed.
What does Sankey say about getting NIL under control?
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It will be much talked about and the commissioner will likely address it, but I am not sure he has any more answers than anyone else. It will be interesting to see if he wants a uniform code of conduct with NIL for the league or calls on his coaches to be more careful.
Who’s on second?
Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel
We all know that Alabama will be picked to win the West and Georgia to win the East. And that some lunkhead will vote for a team that has no chance just to be different. But who will be picked second in both divisions? My bet would be Tennessee in the East and Texas A&M in the West. We’ll see.
Can South Carolina…