Fall camp. Music to the ears of those who don’t believe that you have to wait until Week 1 for college football to matter again (as if it ever stopped mattering).

Here in the SDS Bold Predictions department, we love fall camp, because it’s a great excuse to go extra bold. If you thought we were crazy during the season, well, we’ve got a few wild notions for the dog days of fall camp.

Here are 10 bold predictions for SEC West fall camps.

1. Keytaon Thompson plays his last snaps in Starkville

Joe Moorhead saw in 2018 how MSU looks with a quarterback not suited to run his offense — and it wasn’t good. Tommy Stevens gets this job, but Keytaon Thompson, having patiently bided his time behind Nick Fitzgerald, won’t do the same thing again. Says here that Thompson will transfer rather than sit again … which places Moorhead in a fairly interesting spot since Stevens will be one-and-done.

2. Bo knows Auburn

Look, picking a true freshman QB to start isn’t the most rational thing in the world to do. But there’s an element of dumpster fire on the Gus Bus, and plodding along with a toned-down Joey Gatewood and a defense isn’t going to bring back the masses. More than the down results in wins and losses, Malzahn and the Tigers have to battle Alabama and the West in terms of just becoming an afterthought. Alabama is better, and if LSU starts to lap the Tigers, it won’t sit well on The Plains. Auburn will look at both QBs in the opener, but the guess here is that Bo Nix is Gus’ best chance to not only win that game but reclaim a little swagger.

3. After running-back-by-committee, Saban goes all in on Najee Harris in 2019

Sure, in this day and age, if you don’t play your young stars, they’ll transfer. But at the same time, Alabama’s had some issues in the ground game at the end of the past couple of seasons. While alternating backs in the regular season is fine, when the Playoff games roll around, having 3 feature backs is kind of like having none. Najee Harris is more balanced than many of Bama’s recent platoon backs and has a definite experience advantage. In the post-Clemson-beatdown world, a different plan might just be an advantage for Saban.

4. Nick Starkel starts

Look, Arkansas has to get better and has to get better offensively … but that’d be hard not to do. Ben Hicks has a little more experience around the Arkansas program and might be a better positional fit for Chad Morris’ offense, but Starkel’s big arm wins the job. The home-run threat will win over the coaching staff, and given the awful results the Razorbacks have gotten from platooning QBs, they’ll stick with Nick.

5. John Emery emerges as the next great LSU back

Yeah, we all saw the video.

https://twitter.com/LsuFBallTruth/status/1158814765935996928

But come on, it’s not like LSU was going to keep this guy hidden. Sure, if coaches have their druthers, they take true freshmen along slowly and give them a year or 2 of backing up and playing in blowouts. Emery has that other gear. If you didn’t know better, you’d think that video was a clip from a Bo Jackson run on Tecmo Super Bowl. Or maybe Leonard Fournette reincarnated. Either way, veterans are great. Emery could be special, which means you’ll see him sooner rather than later. Like Week 1 sooner — on his way to a 1,000-yard season this year.

6. Snooping in Oxford

Sure, Scottie Phillips is one of the league’s top returning running backs, and he’ll get the bulk of snaps this fall for the Rebels. And freshman Jerrion Ealy was the big-name recruit. But don’t sleep on freshman Jarod “Snoop” Conner, who impressed in spring practice and could be another big-play threat for the Rebs. Conner was just a 3-star and will be a supporting player this season. Want bold? Conner has the skills to push Ealy to be the man at tailback next fall. Look for 500 rushing yards and over 6 yards per carry this fall.

7. Anthony Hines emerges for A&M

The Aggies had a strong 2018 campaign but lost a ton at linebacker. One guy they didn’t lose is Hines, who had a superb freshman campaign in 2017 but missed almost the entire 2018 season due to injury. Along with fellow veteran Buddy Johnson, Hines will be a key leader for the Aggies, and given his speed and hard-hitting ability, he could be the next All-SEC backer in College Station. We’ll forecast Hines to lead the Aggies in tackles in 2019.

8. Alabama’s secret impact player

Yes, Tua Tagovailoa is Alabama’s most important player. But the one you’re not talking about is Will Reichard. For the million things Alabama did well last year, the Tide missed 9 extra points. Reichard is a true freshman kicker and there’s absolutely no reason to think that between his rock-solid spring performance and the continued struggles of Joseph Bulovas, that Reichard won’t win the job. Forget the PATs, what if Bama can actually make field goals consistently and easily? Reichard is the guy who can do it.

9. The year of Ja’Marr

LSU is hoping for big things in the passing game after many, many years of it being pretty pedestrian. Given the return of Joe Burrow and the hiring of Joe Brady, the Tigers are going to throw. Obviously, that helps standout receiver Justin Jefferson. But it also means LSU will have an opportunity to develop another standout receiver. We’ll take a shot on Ja’Marr Chase, who caught 23 balls for 313 yards and 3 scores last year. This year? How about 60 catches, 900 yards and 8 scores, and All-SEC honors?

10. A surprise for Auburn?

Auburn’s defense should be fierce, but the Tigers have some work to do at linebacker, where Auburn will have to trust some new personnel. One guy they’ll learn to love quickly is true frosh Owen Pappoe. Given the pressure on Malzahn to win early (review No. 2 above), he won’t have the luxury of taking Pappoe’s transition to the SEC slowly. Which shouldn’t be a problem, because Pappoe is already bringing about comparisons to SEC legends. He’ll be good, but he’ll be good from Day 1. All-SEC as a true freshman? How about an All-American?