It’s a lovely morning here in Alabama, and football season might not be back yet.
But we are.
Forty-six days still remain until Southern kicks off against Tennessee State on Sept. 3 in Nashville, Tenn., but Tuesday morning marks the unofficial start to another year. The Southwestern Athletic Conference holds its annual media day for football, and we, of course, will be in attendance.
You can follow some of the action at twitter.com/perrynkeys.
As the old Buffalo Bills coach, Marv Levy, used to say before every kickoff: Where else would you rather be?
Basically, today’s big event goes like this: Each team is represented by a coach and two players (and for what it’s worth, they’re all very well-dressed). Each team is seated at a table of its own, and reporters have two hours to hit them all. So, in theory, if a reporter wants to speak to every coach and player in the room, he’ll have an average of four minutes per person.
Not a lot of time,
We have the obvious story lines, including Doug Williams’ return at Grambling, Heishma Northern’s head-coaching debut at Prairie View, and the Melvin Spears takeover at Alcorn.
But at Southern, there’s always something nutty. This year, the Jaguars aren’t allowed to play in the SWAC championship game, so they have to find a reason to stay motivated. The same is true for Rick Comegy and Jackson State.
As for the preseason poll, who knows? We’ll find out the results later today, but if I had to guess — and come to think of it, I suppose I did have to guess — here’s how I believe the preseason poll will look:
WESTERN DIVISION
1. Grambling
2. Prairie View
3. Texas Southern
4. Arkansas-Pine Bluff
5. Southern
EASTERN DIVISION
1. Alcorn State
2. Jackson State
3. Alabama State
4. Alabama A&M
5. Mississippi Valley State
Again, this is NOT THE OFFICIAL preseason poll. It’s just a wild stab.
Also, keep in mind what you already know: These polls aren’t worth a whole lot. In last year’s poll, Prairie View finished first in the first in the West and Alabama A&M first in the East. You may or may not recall that Prairie View actually finished third, behind TSU and Grambling, and that Alabama A&M finished fourth, behind Alabama State, Jackson State and Alcorn.
We’ll be back later today with more nuggets of wisdom. Or, at the least, more information.
—Perryn Keys
