SEC Media Days, Day One: schedule, storylines, and how to watch it all

The unofficial kickoff to college football season is finally here. The college football world will descend on the Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama in just a few hours for the beginning of SEC Media Days 2017. And we’ll be right here to bring you the action.

Things get underway at 12:35 this afternoon with new father Bret Bielema and his Arkansas Razorbacks as well as league Commissioner Greg Sankey. I can’t be entirely sure what Bielema will say, which is the same boat everyone else is in. That’s why he’s kind of fun to listen to. Sankey’s spiel should be pretty predictable: The conference’s football teams are playing at a high level and returning tons of money to their respective schools through television, ticket, and marketing revenue. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

Next up, LSU’s Ed Orgeron will make his triumphant return to Hoover following a ten year absence. Orgeron last graced us with his presence at this event as the coach of a struggling Ole Miss program shrugging off NCAA compliance questions. Man, some things never change. Other than the name of the guy with plausible deniability in Oxford.

But for his part Orgeron will likely tell the heart-warming narrative of how he’s grown and matured as a coach during the circuitous journey that led him from Oxford to Baton Rouge by way of Southern California.

Noted Champion of Life ™ Butch Jones will round out the day’s coaching cattle call. He’ll certainly be asked about an offense that just replace seasoned QB Josh Dobbs among other playmakers. He’ll probably also say something that he and Vol fans regret. It’s kind of his niche.

SEC Network is going to be your go-to spot for the week’s festivities, airing a total of 30 hours of live coverage Monday through Thursday. Tomorrow will be the day you may want to call in sick for, as Kirby Smart. Nick Chubb, Sony Michel, and Roquan Smith will join the cavalcade of coaches and players trying painfully hard to say nothing that ends up on a bulletin board in October.

But somebody’s going to do it. That’s why we watch. That, and the fact that this is as close as we get to football for another three weeks until practice starts. Until later . . .

Go ‘Dawgs!!!