University of Tennessee Athletics
Inside The T – It Starts With Media Days
July 13, 2015 | Football
By Brian Rice
UTSports.com
It is the biggest event that is not actually an event on the college sports calendar.
This week, reporters from all over the country and some of the biggest personalities in the Southeastern Conference will congregate in a hotel that sits above a shopping mall to talk football.
It is, of course, SEC Football Media Days, where Tennessee will take its turn on Tuesday afternoon.
The event marks the unofficial end of summer for those of us in the sports world, a time to focus back on football and get set for kickoff, which is now just over 50 days way.
More than just stoking the fire on football conversation, the event allows the personalities of the student-athletes selected to appear on behalf of their schools and teammates to shine through. Each school selects three of its best players to go through an hours-long series of one-on-one interviews and group settings that help each player build his personal brand.
Joshua Dobbs is one of UT’s three representatives this year, which should come as no surprise. But Dobbs is not just there as Tennessee’s starting quarterback. Dobbs is the first UT student-athlete selected to participate in the new "Beyond The Field: Stories of the SEC" initiative. Each conference school will send at least one student-athlete with a compelling story outside of his athletic endeavors to be featured.
You know all of the nicknames that popped up last season as the Aerospace Engineering major, forgive the pun, rocketed to the top of Tennessee’s depth chart as the season went on. There was “Rocket Man,” “Astro Dobbs” and the like. But his story is deeper than just a nickname. Media Days allows Dobbs to tell that story and for the media from across the country to share it.
Curt Maggitt makes his second trip to Media Days, becoming the seventh player in UT history to make a return trip to the event. He is the first player to make return trip since current Miami Dolphin Ja'Wuan James attended in 2012 and 2013 and the first defensive player with back-to-back visits since Kevin Burnett in 2003-04.
Maggitt returns as the “old man” of the group, a player in his fifth season in the program. When he made the trip last season, he had been out of the game for a year after a knee injury in 2012. Now, he can talk about building on the monster season he had a year ago and electing to remain at Tennessee to finish what he came to Knoxville to do: Bring UT back to where it belongs on the field.
Cam Sutton makes his first appearance at the event, his being front-and-center a story in itself. Quiet and confident, UT will rely on Sutton to lead its defensive backfield, perhaps the most experienced unit on the team. Players also build their personal style at Media Days, donning the same stylish suits that you see on the Vol Walk all season long. Some conferences have players appear in jerseys or warm-up suits, but seeing the players in their stylish attire brings an aura of sophistication to the players.
Live coverage from the event brings those players into households across the country, thanks to ESPN and the SEC Network, who broadcast live from the floor.
It may mark the end of my summer, but SEC Media Days kicks off the most wonderful time of the year. Football is here, and I can’t wait.
