My man Peter Burns hit the nail on the head.

The SEC Network anchor tweeted something that I, and I’m sure many others, have been feeling these past few weeks. At a time when we’re usually getting angry about early rankings and debating Heisman Trophy candidates, football feels like it’s on the back burner. At least on-field football things.

This is entirely true:

For what it’s worth, I’m not saying that’s a mistake. The sport is changing in a way it never has. Obviously, we’re going to talk about that. A lot. This feels like a shift into overdrive within the sport. Between NIL, realignment, the transfer portal, a possible breakup from the NCAA and the potential pay-for-play era that awaits, SEC Media Days is going to be dominated by non-football conversations.

But is it too much to ask to also discuss actual football?

Last I checked, there will be plenty of that to go around. In Atlanta, we’ll get to chat with the reigning Heisman Trophy winner. That hasn’t happened at SEC Media Days since, well, you know:

It won’t be that type of scene for Bryce Young, who has had an offseason totally opposite of Manziel’s wild 2013 summer. But I’d argue that the SEC has its best class of quarterbacks since that 2013 group, which returned the likes of Manziel, Aaron Murray, AJ McCarron, Connor Shaw and Zach Mettenberger (go figure that it was converted defensive back Nick Marshall who played for a national championship that year).

Along with Young, there will be 7 SEC quarterbacks in Atlanta:

  • Bryce Young, Alabama
  • Stetson Bennett IV, Georgia
  • Will Levis, Kentucky
  • Hendon Hooker, Tennessee
  • KJ Jefferson, Arkansas
  • Anthony Richardson, Florida
  • Mike Wright, Vanderbilt

That group doesn’t even include the likes of Spencer Rattler and Jayden Daniels, both of whom are among the more polarizing returning players in the sport. Will Rogers won’t be in Atlanta either, despite the fact that he finished No. 3 in FBS in passing yards in 2021.

Still, though. That group is loaded with stars. Four of those guys finished in the top 10 in quarterback rating last year. That doesn’t include Levis, who is getting way-too-early mock draft love after he earned PFF’s No. 11 grade among Power 5 quarterbacks in 2021.

There are 7-8 SEC fan bases that feel like they have a top-10 quarterback nationally (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, MSU, South Carolina and Tennessee). That’s depth in spades at the game’s most important position. More important is the fact that quarterback-starved programs like Kentucky, Tennessee, South Carolina and Arkansas feel like they have a guy.

It’s not just about quarterback, either. There’s star power all over the place.

We’ve got arguably the best player in college football, Will Anderson, set to address the masses. We’ve got preseason All-Americans who bypassed the NFL Draft like Jalen Catalon, Jordan Battle and Nolan Smith, all of whom will be making their first trips to SEC Media Days. We’ve got potential Round 1 guys entering their pre-draft seasons like Tank Bigsby and BJ Ojulari.

It’s not like every SEC team just took the easy way out of bringing a bunch of offensive linemen. There are legitimate household names who have intriguing football-related stories to tell.

Wait a minute. I fear that you read that and assumed I was hating on offensive linemen. I’m not. At all. More times than not, they’re fantastic quotes and know how to communicate well. And actually, nearly half (6) of the conference will be bringing at least 1 offensive lineman. For all I know, the most entertaining interviews will come from those guys.

Last year, Jordan Davis was the most entertaining man at SEC Media Days. In 2019, I’d argue Kash Daniel and A&M punter Braden Mann were those guys (Mann would’ve clinched it if he could’ve gone on record with his Jimbo Fisher imitation). In 2018, it was Benny Snell. You get what I’m saying. Magnetic personalities await in Atlanta, and they don’t need to discuss big-picture college football topics in order to be interesting.

Will Anderson said he didn’t do any NIL deals in Year 1. Last year at this time, Davis hadn’t taken part in any. Not even his beloved Swedish Fish.

To be clear, I’m not saying LSU’s 4th defensive coordinator in as many years is a more interesting topic than whether the SEC is done poaching powerhouse programs. I’m not telling you that MSU’s question marks at left tackle are going to move the needle like Lane Kiffin talking about tampering.

But dare I say, there seems to be some non-football fatigue among fans right now. Obviously, that’ll change in a few short weeks. Shoot, it might change in Atlanta.

Maybe we’ll all be reminded that 2 premier programs have new coaches or that Georgia is trying to become the first team to repeat in a decade. Perhaps the race for No. 2 in both divisions or the debate about the second- and third-team All-SEC quarterback spots will dominate headlines later in the week.

Whatever the case, SEC Media Days are the annual sign that football is just around the corner. That’ll be true once again.

After the offseason that’s been, bring it on.