The unofficial kickoff to the football season is nearly here.
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College football’s largest one-stop preseason publicity extravaganza commences today at the Wynfrey Hyatt Hotel in suburban Birmingham, with more than 1,200 media members expected to cover SEC media days over the next four days.
Auburn coach Gus Malzahn will face plenty of questions about the upcoming season, but these are the questions we want to hear Monday when he approaches the podium at 1:55 p.m. ET. The current quarterback situation throws an SEC title berth this year into serious doubt.
Arkansas’ Bielema, who seldom backs away from giving an opinion, has a chance to replace Spurrier as the most quotable SEC coach. Incumbents Johnson and Sean White are dueling with newcomer John Franklin III, a JUCO transfer whose speed as a runner could give him an edge. Something changed that day because Malzahn’s program hasn’t been the same since.
Also, when is the cut-off date for Malzahn to name a starter?
Do you feel the pressure is on to deliver this year?
“We have a lot of history”, Malzahn said of Smart.
By day, Auburn, Florida, and Vanderbilt take the stage Monday.
It would be nice to hear Malzahn open up about his position, his future and his realistic expectations for a team possibly breaking in a new quarterback and several new receivers. This pair of experienced safeties should prevent teams from going over the top of the Tiger defense.
Another SEC media days fixture, former Georgia Coach Mark Richt, has moved on to Miami (Fla.) after 15 years in Athens, making LSU’s Les Miles the longest-tenured SEC coach. That’s quite the goal considering his defenses have ranked near the bottom half the entire FBS for most of his career. He took over for Will Muschamp who earlier took the head coaching job at SC, also after one year on the job at Auburn.
The sounds of “War Eagle” was heard in the lobby as Auburn coach Gus Malzahn and his players entered the building for SEC Media Days. “We play in the toughest league in college football, and I’ve probably said it three or four times, but you’ve got to win the close ones”.
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Earlier this year, four Auburn Tigers, including defensive stars Byron Cowart and Carlton Davis, were arrested on charges on possession of marijuana. The Tigers’ opponents combined for a 100-56 record last season, and seven teams on that schedule had nine wins or more. There’s not likely to be another Kick Six or Miracle at Jordan-Hare in their future, but after going a remarkable 6-1 in one-score games that season, Auburn regressed to 3-2 in 2014 and 3-4 past year.
