HOOVER – Plenty of storylines came about from the first day of 2017 SEC Football Media Days on Monday, which included the head coaches of Arkansas, LSU and Tennessee, along with student-athlete representatives.
Neutral site games for opening week
Quality neutral site games have grown tremendously through the years, and the SEC will be sending five schools against solid competition at neutral sites for opening weekend.
The most noted will be Alabama facing Florida State in the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta Sept. 2. The stadium will become the home to last year's Super Bowl runner-up Atlanta Falcons.
Also, the Florida Gators get the Michigan Wolverines in AT&T Stadium at Arlington, Texas, LSU takes on BYU in Houston, South Carolina confronts North Carolina State at Charlotte and on Labor Day night, Tennessee plays Georgia Tech in Mercedes-Benz.
Five SEC schools will kick off the season with no home field advantage, but tickets for the Alabama-Florida State have already sold out. The SEC and ACC are tied for the most schools with five in having big-time games for week one in neutral locations across the country.
Arkansas first up at media days, first up for 2017 season
Arkansas got tabs to be the first school to address the media on Monday. The Razorbacks will also be the first to get on the gridiron when the season opens at Littlerock vs. Florida A&M on Aug. 31. The Razorbacks will report for fall workouts on July 28, the first of all schools in the conference to do so.
Commissioner points out positives from the SEC
Commissioner Greg Sankey addressed the crowd at Media Days before coaches and players began getting interviewed by expressing the quality of the conference with six national championships in various sports, conference teams playing for the national title in women's basketball (South Carolina, Mississippi State) and baseball (Florida, LSU) plus winning eight of the last 11 college football national titles.
Sankey pointed out Dec. 9 will be important to the conference for its 85th anniversary, when the SEC was born in Knoxville, Tennessee. "Time moves so quickly. We remember people who contributed to the SEC."
Trying to repeat as the best passer in the conference
It will not be easy for Arkansas quarterback Austin Allen to duplicate the numbers he had in 2016. Allen led the conference with 3,430 passing yards, 25 touchdowns, completing 61 percent of his attempts and averaging 8.6 yards per completion.
But Allen took his lumps from constant pressure as Arkansas was 7-6, 3-5 in the SEC and lost to Virginia Tech in the Belk Bowl.
Allen torched Alabama for 400 yards, but the Tide took advantage of mistakes and pulled away 49-30. "To beat a team like Alabama, you have to play flawless football," said Allen.
Allen was the only quarterback of the three schools on hand for Media Days Monday.
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