For the 38th time overall and just the second time ever in Atlanta, the showpiece event of the SEC football offseason will commence on Monday morning at the College Football Hall of Fame.

SEC Media Days will kick off with four representatives from LSU, Ole Miss, and Missouri speaking on Mon. Jul 18 and conclude with interviews from Auburn, Tennessee, and Texas A&M on Thu. July 21, with the remaining eight schools taking the podium throughout the middle two days.

South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer will speak with the media on Tuesday, along with senior offensive lineman Jovaughn Gwyn, senior wide receiver Dakereon Joyner and senior defensive tackle Zacch Pickens.

Gwyn started all 13 games of Beamer’s first season as head coach last season and has started 34 in a row overall dating back to the 2019 season. Gwyn will be an anchor of a South Carolina offensive line looking to take a step forward in 2022 after surrendering 30 sacks and only averaging 3.8 yards per carry in 2021.

Joyner was fourth on the squad in receiving yards last season with 221 despite missing two games, but the highlight of his season was when he was pressed into service at quarterback in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl. Joyner completed all nine of his pass attempts for 160 yards and a touchdown to go along with the receiving touchdown he scored against East Carolina in the regular season. While Joyner’s days at quarterback may be behind him with incoming transfer quarterback Spencer Rattler, he is going to be a crucial target in the passing game and has proven to be an integral leader on this football team.

Pickens has started 20 games over the last three seasons but has appeared in all 35 games the squad has played in that span. Pickens had four sacks last season, including a stretch where he recorded a sack in three consecutive games against Troy, Tennessee, and Vanderbilt. Pickens recorded at least one tackle in all 13 South Carolina games in 2021, including three in the bowl win over North Carolina.

Elsewhere, two head coaches will be getting their first taste of SEC Media Days when LSU’s Brian Kelly and Florida’s Billy Napier take center stage. Kelly and Napier are the only two newcomers to the league after four new head coaches joined the ranks both in 2021 and 2020, and both are coming in from very different backgrounds.

Kelly spent 12 seasons at Notre Dame, guiding the Fighting Irish to the College Football Playoff twice and the National Championship Game in 2012. Napier found his success at the Sun Belt level by going 33-5 in his last three seasons at Louisiana before heading to Gainesville.

One of the other hot-button storylines will be the rivalry between Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher. The two are not scheduled to speak on the same day, but Fisher became the first former Saban assistant to defeat him head-to-head when Texas A&M upset Alabama 41-38 last October. Saban’s original comments about the way Fisher has recruited using Name, Image, and Likeness money and Fisher’s subsequent fiery retort set the offseason ablaze and had fans all over the country circling their Oct. 8 showdown in Tuscaloosa.

Fisher and the Aggies will travel to Columbia to take on the Gamecocks on Oct. 22, a game that will feature both teams coming off their bye weeks.

But his status as the only former Saban discipline to beat him only lasted a shade over two months though, as Georgia head coach Kirby Smart pulled off a 33-18 victory over his former boss in the National Championship Game, the program’s first since 1980. Smart will speak on Wednesday in Atlanta as he outlines the season where his team will attempt to win back-to-back championships for the first time in school history. Georgia will visit South Carolina on Sep. 17 in the marquee home game of the season at Williams-Brice Stadium.

Wednesday will also be a noteworthy day in Atlanta for South Carolina fans with all four teams scheduled appearing on the 2022 schedule for the Gamecocks. Along with Smart and the Bulldogs, Arkansas (Sep. 10), Kentucky (Oct. 8) and Florida (Nov. 12) will take their respective turns on the third day.

The quickly changing landscape around college football will surely be another noteworthy item for all of the coaches after USC and UCLA sent shockwaves through the sport when they announced their departure for the Big Ten in 2024. The SEC has its own major expansion coming up when Texas and Oklahoma join the league in two years and could perhaps expand even further down the road.

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