COLUMN: It’s the most wonderful time of the year (or at least, the summer)

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Summertime in a college sports information office can be blissful in some ways. With no games, only preparation, and often people coming and going between vacations (or in some cases, between jobs), it can be quiet most days, particularly in our office in the basement of the Murphy Center at MTSU.

And while the summer has kept me busy with plenty of stories to tell, from Michael Barnard's family connection helping him to the C-USA individual title, to Marvae Myers and Chase Cunningham recovering from devasting knee injuries, to even introducing some of our newest Blue Raiders on the hardwood, I've never been more ready for the start of fall sports here in Murfreesboro.

First, to get a sense of rhythm back after some needed time off. But second, and most importantly, because this year's Blue Raider football season has the potential to be a story for the ages, with so many new faces on both sides of the ball and returning veterans to help them in a one-year only new look Conference USA.

Of course, that's all easy for me to say, right? I'm the in-house beat writer for the school itself, after all. I have more access to these student athletes and coaches than any writer could dream of. And that certainly has something to do with it. But more than anything, getting another year to be a part of the MTSU community has gotten me excited for this upcoming season, which has so many threads to cover in the months ahead that I hope I can touch on all of them.

A new offense that's returning to the Air Raid roots that has defined so much of the Rick Stockstill era, featuring a preseason quarterback battle and lots of skill guys stepping into bigger roles than the ones they had a season ago. All behind an offensive line that's nearly completely new, and certainly one that's been recruited in a different way, with more size at every position than we've seen in Floyd Stadium in some time.

A defense that returns one of the top defensive line units in C-USA, if not the entire country, looking to continue to wreak havoc up front like they did a season ago to help force the most turnovers in the nation. All while a linebacker core, finally healthy, looks to continue their strong play. Meanwhile, a secondary with lots of young talent looks to replace a program legend.

And all of that (plus a specialist unit that returns almost everyone, including a freshman All-American returner) is just the storylines we know we'll get a chance to see play out during camp! We're not even diving into the non-conference slate, with two winnable road games and an old OVC matchup in Murfreesboro to open the season, followed by a plethora of juicy C-USA matchups, including UTSA and WKU at home and UTEP and UAB on the road.

The hype for me has been slowly ramping up for a while, as those of you who tuned into the Nashville nightly news might've noticed from the interviews at the Blue Raider Blitz in the Music City this past week.

But for most media, myself included, the official football season kicks off for us with the annual conference media days, with Conference USA's scheduled for this week. I'll be down there with our travel party, alongside Coach Stockstill, defensive end Jordan Ferguson and wide receiver Jaylin Lane, as we get underway Wednesday morning from Globe Life Field (yes, that's the Texas Rangers' stadium, and I'm as intrigued as you are to see how it'll be set up).

I hope you'll follow along with me this season as the Blue Raiders get underway. You can find me on twitter @sjdoughton, and find my work online right where you likely are reading this: GoBlueRaiders.com!

Middle Tennessee State University Athletics

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Chase Cunningham

Jordan Ferguson

Jaylin Lane

Marvae Myers

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