Football season has arrived.
Well, sort of.
The 2022 college football schedule kicks off in Week Zero on Saturday, August 27. We’re still 43 days away from the start of college football.
However, Media Day is the unofficial kickoff and there are plenty of topics, especially among Power 5 Conferences where conference realignment and expansion seemed to be the biggest buzz.
ESPN networks will have 100-plus hours of programming covering more than a dozen conferences.
The Big 12 Conference was in the spotlight first.
From expansion talk, a new commissioner, and conference champion favorite Baylor, there were plenty of storylines heading into Big 12 Media Days.
When it comes to expansion, the Big 12 is “open for business.” In fact, the Big 12 is now the hunter and the Pac-12 could be in its sights.
The second and final day of Big 12 Media Days featured the conference’s blue-blood programs.
The SEC Media Days begins on Monday.
It’s a four-day event held at the College Football Hall of Fame and Omni Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta.
One of the topics will be about the nine-game SEC football schedule, which Alabama coach Nick Saban said consider this before switching to nine-game conference schedule.
LSU and new head coach Brian Kelly will join Ole Miss and Missouri on Monday to meet with the media.
New coaches have become the norm in the SEC.
In the last four years, there has been a new coach at 10 of 14 SEC programs, begging the question, who is in danger of being fired during the 2022 season?
Alabama, which lost to Georgia in last year’s national title game, headlines the group on Tuesday, along with Mississippi State, South Carolina, and Vanderbilt.
Florida head coach Billy Napier makes his debut at SEC Media Days on Wednesday.
Each school will bring three players. UF is bringing quarterback Anthony Richardson, offensive lineman Richard Gouraige, and linebacker Ventrell Miller.
The Gators will be joined on Day No. 3 by (gulp) defending national champion Georgia. I still grimace when I think about the ‘Dogs winning it all.
Can Georgia repeat? A few months ago Paul Finebaum explained why he gave Georgia a ‘very small’ chance to repeat in 2022.
Arkansas and Kentucky will join UF and UGA on Wednesday.
SEC Media Days will conclude on Thursday with Auburn, Tennessee, and Texas A&M.
And this coming Monday, July 18, is the first high school football media day in the Sunshine State.
A total of 16 Media Day events will take place in Florida starting with North Central at the Indigo Hotel in Gainesville.
The event begins at 8 a.m. with Suwannee (Live Oak) and will conclude with Chiefland at 4:30 p.m.
Five of the six football teams in the Tri-County area (Dixie, Levy and Gilchrist counties) will have a new coach in 2022, including the Indians.
It’s a big week of football ahead.