ATLANTA — When SEC commissioner Greg Sankey hit the podium at the College Football Hall of Fame to officially launch SEC Media Days, the state of college football as a whole was at the forefront of the conversation.

Even with the current SEC football season scheduled to start in just 40 days with Vanderbilt’s week zero trip to Hawaii, issues beyond 2022 took center stage. The looming additions of Oklahoma and Texas in 2025, the inevitable changes in the scheduling model, and the evolution of recruiting in the NIL era were all pressing issues.

“The list of issues, tiebreakers one, the number of games and what that means from a scheduling standpoint, the imbalance around nine games versus the comfort with eight games,” Sankey said about trying to create a new scheduling model for the 16-team league. “What happens with non-conference schedules? We have a requirement that that ninth game right now be among an autonomy five-type (AKA power five) opponent. How do we dispose of or maintain that particular policy?”

Along with Sankey, three other schools took turns speaking with the conference and national media corps.

New LSU head coach Brian Kelly wants you to know he is eating well since leaving Notre Dame for the Bayou, even if his famous Cajun accent did not make a re-appearance on Monday.

“It’s probably the crawfish etouffee,” Kelly said about his favorite food in Louisiana. I don't know how you top that. I would say also the grilled oysters. If you haven't had grilled oysters, try that. That will get your cholesterol level up high pretty quickly. That's pretty good, too.”

On the field, Kelly is taking a unique approach to changing the culture in Baton Rouge after taking over for 2019 National Champion Ed Orgeron. Former Clemson Tiger and 2021 transferee linebacker Mike Jones Jr. has played under Orgeron, Kelly, and Dabo Swinney over the last three seasons, and noticed a difference in Kelly early in his tenure.

“The only thing I would say is the main difference is probably that we are working in a different way,” he said. “Our strength staff, Coach Flint, and the other weight room guys, do an amazing job. They’re really data-based and data-driven. We’re constantly wearing things that are going to track our speed, how much we’ve been running, and even the way we lift.

They’ve done a really great job of taking care of the guys and our bodies and making sure we are going to go into camp really healthy.”

As always when Lane Kiffin is present, Alabama was a popular discussion topic. The Ole Miss head coach and former Alabama offensive coordinator fielded nearly as many questions about his former boss as he did his own program, but he did have thoughts on another one of his old stomping grounds.

Kiffin coached USC for four seasons from 2010-2013, and as he does with everything else, he had thoughts about his former school packing up and leaving for the Big Ten in 2024.

“Not that my opinion matters on it, but I don't like that,” he said. “I think there's so much tradition. When you go to places, you've been to USC, all these different places, you see how passionate fans are about certain things, what matters, the rivalries. For those to be dismantled for money is kind of a shame.”

The only team on South Carolina’s 2022 schedule that featured on day one in Atlanta was Missouri, highlighted by third-year head coach Eli Drinkwitz. Although the Tigers will be visiting Williams-Brice Stadium on Oct. 29, the roster South Carolina will line up against will not resemble anything like what it faced in last season’s 31-28 loss to Missouri.

Drinkwitz added 19 total transfers to his squad, including at least one transfer at every single position on defense after finishing 13th in the league in total defense a year ago.

“We will be improved on defense,” Drinkwitz said. “People have been asking me what is it going to look like for us to have a successful season? Number one, we have to improve on the defensive side of the football. We are going to.”

Drinkwitz also briefly mentioned Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks while discussing the challenge of coaching in the SEC, citing Georgia as the defending national champions, Tennessee as a “program on the rise” and saying “Coach Beamer is doing an excellent job at South Carolina.”

Shane Beamer and the Gamecocks will speak with the media on Tuesday at the College Football Hall of Fame. Subscribe to GamecockScoop and join the Insider’s Forum for live updates and more discussion on Gamecocks' Athletics.