SEC Media Days will be held July 16-18 in Hoover, Ala., at the Wynfrey Hotel. All 14 coaches in the Southeastern Conference, along with three players from each team, a change from last year’s alotted number of three players, will meet the media over the three-day span. This event marks the unofficial kickoff of the 2013 preseason for college football.
But what are the biggest storylines around the league heading into SEC Media Days? Here, we look at the four biggest topics that will be undoubtedly run into the ground next week.
Four new head coaches
Arkansas’ Bret Bielema, Auburn’s Gus Malzahn, Kentucky’s Mark Stoops and Tennessee’s Butch Jones will be bombarded by the press more than any of the other 10 coaches – except Nick Saban. They will be asked about the status of their programs and how they plan on turning things around in 2013-14.
Of all the new head coaches, Malzahn is the only one with any SEC experience under his belt. In 2006, Malzahn was the offensive coordinator at Arkansas, and from 2009-11 he held the same position at Auburn, helping the Tigers win the 2010 BCS National Championship. Now he returns to the plains to lead Auburn out of the abyss it found itself in last season.
Alabama’s reign
The Crimson Tide has won three of the last four national championships, so it comes as no surprise that everyone wants to talk to Saban and the players he’ll bring with him from Tuscaloosa.
The four new head coaches will have big crowds around them wherever they go, but none of them will compare to the mob of people that will flock to Saban when he gets behind a microphone; he is the rock star of SEC Media Days.
He will be asked about two big matchups to begin the season in Virginia Tech and Texas A&M and just about every question that beats around the bush of accomplishing a three-peat. Saban’s iconic process answer will suffice, but everyone knows if Alabama starts the season 2-0, it will again be the favorite to win it all.
What’s next for Johnny Manziel?
He beat Alabama. He won the Heisman Trophy. He has done everything imaginable this offseason, but everyone wants more of Johnny Football. The big question for Texas A&M head coach Kevin Sumlin and Manziel will be, “How do the Aggies duplicate the monster season it produced in 2012 in the team’s second year in the SEC?”
Defenses have no doubt been tirelessly scheming how to slow down the Aggies’ high-octane offense in 2013, but Sumlin and company will keep their game plan close to the vest. Manziel will have to work harder for his yards this season and keep his head up. Every team has circled their game against Texas A&M, and there’s a giant target painted on Manziel’s chest.
Can the lower-tier teams keep it up?
Vanderbilt finished the 2012 season with nine wins, finishing the season on a seven-game winning streak. Ole Miss shocked the world by pulling in a Top 5 recruiting class. But can these bottom-of-the-barrel teams continue the upward climb in 2013?
Vanderbilt had one of its best seasons in the program’s history last year, but the Commodores lost their quarterback in Jordan Rodgers and 1,000-yard rusher Zac Stacy to the NFL Draft. Can head coach James Franklin continue to shock the SEC from Nashville, Tenn.?
Ole Miss calls the toughest division in all of college football home, and the competition in the SEC West isn’t getting any easier with two new hungry head coaches. Can players like Robert Nkemdiche, Laremy Tunsil and Laquon Treadwell volt the Rebels past the elite teams in its conference?
These questions and more will be asked at the Wynfrey Hotel next week.
