Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
COLUMN: College Football’s “No-Offseason” Offseason comes to a close
7/23/2023 8:29:00 PM | Football, General
The return of Conference USA Kickoff signals the unofficial start of football season
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — In college sports, in professional sports and perhaps these days even in high school and youth sports, there is no offseason. If there's anything I've learned in my summer talking with Middle Tennessee's coaches on the Coaches Check-In Podcast, it's that very fact.
Nearly every student-athlete in every program is busy working on their craft this summer. Chris Adams and Mark McEntire's golf teams are competing in amateur golf tournaments across the U.S. and in Europe. Jerry Meyers and Jeff Breeden have players competing on the diamond in collegiate summer leagues with players from other schools. Keith Vroman's track athletes are running, Ashton Rhoden's soccer players are training with their home clubs and on and on it goes.
But the team that is actually on campus the earliest, by my estimation, is Blue Raider Football, who's been at work in Weight Room Dance Studio A and on the turf of Floyd Stadium since early June preparing for the 2023 season.
And with the arrival of conference media days this week, including Conference USA Kickoff on Tuesday, July 25, that "no-offseason offseason" period of the year is finally coming to a close. And it's not hard to see folks' anticipation building for kickoffs this fall.
Internally here in Murfreesboro, the calendar turning over to August means actual practices, whether they be with shorts or full pads. Still, as any former athlete can attest, practicing something that is your sport is often way more fun than the weightlifting and conditioning work done to be successful in that pursuit. As I'm sure you'll hear this week from DJ England-Chisolm and Teldrick Ross, who are the MTSU players accompanying Rick Stockstill to Arlington, Texas this year, the Blue Raiders are ready to get back on the field.
Externally, it's easy to see folks growing more restless in anticipation, as the offseason topics have started to run dry. There are only so many times we can discuss NIL, conference realignment or TV deals before folks just wanting answers to on-the-field questions, answers that will not be revealed until, maybe, warm-ups before the first game.
That restlessness lies with me as well. I want to see the position battles that will go on throughout camp this August, seeing who steps up at wide receiver after the Blue Raiders' three leading wideouts from a season ago are gone, finding out how makes their mark in a linebacker rotation as some folks get back from spring surgeries and, most pressingly, seeing who will take the first snap behind center on September 2 in Tuscaloosa for MTSU.
Media Days aren't great places to learn answers to those questions, even if the coaches knew what they were on July 25. To spoil my coverage later this week, every Conference USA Coach will be excited to take the field in a few weeks and is pleased with the work his team has done in the spring and summer to be prepared. Those with new coaches and schemes will be delighted at the progress the team has made in learning them, while those with veteran staffs returning will be intrigued by the growth of returning lettermen.
Every team will have a transfer portal addition that's gelled, every team will have a freshman that's surprised the coaching staff, and every program will feel their set-up to find success in the new Conference USA.
That new Conference USA is what's most intriguing about CUSA Kickoff this year for me. Media Days are often, from a writer's perspective, less about the folks we're asking questions than who we're asking questions with. Meeting media members, SIDs, videographers and other athletic department staff from across the conference can pay great dividends long term during the course of the season, being a source of information each game week and helping me keep on top of things across the league. With four new programs in CUSA this year — Liberty, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State and Sam Houston — there's so many new connections to make in Globe Life Field.
To pull away from the inside baseball stadium, however, the new conference also makes the on-the-field season so intriguing. MTSU was picked third in the preseason poll released by the Conference USA office this past week, a fair assessment from the media votes involved, by my estimation. Western Kentucky as the favorite and Liberty not far behind seems fair as well.
But with so many unknowns on so many teams, particularly behind those three, I could see the predicted order of finish being completely jumbled up at the season's end, particularly given the added variable: October's midweek games affecting every program this season in slightly different ways.
Those answers will come in time. For now, it's exciting the offseason that really never was is coming to a close. And fans will once again be on college campuses before we even know it.
If you're just getting back into the swing of things yourself after the summer and want to learn more about what all our Blue Raider programs get up to during the closest thing we get to an offseason, check out the Coaches Check-In Podcast under the "Podcasts" link in the "Multimedia" tab above. It's been possibly my favorite project I've done since becoming a Blue Raider and I think will make every fan feel closer to their favorite teams after each listen.
For now, however, expect more from my pen than my voice in the weeks to come, as we all get ready for a Yellowhammer State kickoff just over a month away.
Nearly every student-athlete in every program is busy working on their craft this summer. Chris Adams and Mark McEntire's golf teams are competing in amateur golf tournaments across the U.S. and in Europe. Jerry Meyers and Jeff Breeden have players competing on the diamond in collegiate summer leagues with players from other schools. Keith Vroman's track athletes are running, Ashton Rhoden's soccer players are training with their home clubs and on and on it goes.
But the team that is actually on campus the earliest, by my estimation, is Blue Raider Football, who's been at work in Weight Room Dance Studio A and on the turf of Floyd Stadium since early June preparing for the 2023 season.
And with the arrival of conference media days this week, including Conference USA Kickoff on Tuesday, July 25, that "no-offseason offseason" period of the year is finally coming to a close. And it's not hard to see folks' anticipation building for kickoffs this fall.
Internally here in Murfreesboro, the calendar turning over to August means actual practices, whether they be with shorts or full pads. Still, as any former athlete can attest, practicing something that is your sport is often way more fun than the weightlifting and conditioning work done to be successful in that pursuit. As I'm sure you'll hear this week from DJ England-Chisolm and Teldrick Ross, who are the MTSU players accompanying Rick Stockstill to Arlington, Texas this year, the Blue Raiders are ready to get back on the field.
Externally, it's easy to see folks growing more restless in anticipation, as the offseason topics have started to run dry. There are only so many times we can discuss NIL, conference realignment or TV deals before folks just wanting answers to on-the-field questions, answers that will not be revealed until, maybe, warm-ups before the first game.
That restlessness lies with me as well. I want to see the position battles that will go on throughout camp this August, seeing who steps up at wide receiver after the Blue Raiders' three leading wideouts from a season ago are gone, finding out how makes their mark in a linebacker rotation as some folks get back from spring surgeries and, most pressingly, seeing who will take the first snap behind center on September 2 in Tuscaloosa for MTSU.
Media Days aren't great places to learn answers to those questions, even if the coaches knew what they were on July 25. To spoil my coverage later this week, every Conference USA Coach will be excited to take the field in a few weeks and is pleased with the work his team has done in the spring and summer to be prepared. Those with new coaches and schemes will be delighted at the progress the team has made in learning them, while those with veteran staffs returning will be intrigued by the growth of returning lettermen.
Every team will have a transfer portal addition that's gelled, every team will have a freshman that's surprised the coaching staff, and every program will feel their set-up to find success in the new Conference USA.
That new Conference USA is what's most intriguing about CUSA Kickoff this year for me. Media Days are often, from a writer's perspective, less about the folks we're asking questions than who we're asking questions with. Meeting media members, SIDs, videographers and other athletic department staff from across the conference can pay great dividends long term during the course of the season, being a source of information each game week and helping me keep on top of things across the league. With four new programs in CUSA this year — Liberty, Jacksonville State, New Mexico State and Sam Houston — there's so many new connections to make in Globe Life Field.
To pull away from the inside baseball stadium, however, the new conference also makes the on-the-field season so intriguing. MTSU was picked third in the preseason poll released by the Conference USA office this past week, a fair assessment from the media votes involved, by my estimation. Western Kentucky as the favorite and Liberty not far behind seems fair as well.
But with so many unknowns on so many teams, particularly behind those three, I could see the predicted order of finish being completely jumbled up at the season's end, particularly given the added variable: October's midweek games affecting every program this season in slightly different ways.
Those answers will come in time. For now, it's exciting the offseason that really never was is coming to a close. And fans will once again be on college campuses before we even know it.
If you're just getting back into the swing of things yourself after the summer and want to learn more about what all our Blue Raider programs get up to during the closest thing we get to an offseason, check out the Coaches Check-In Podcast under the "Podcasts" link in the "Multimedia" tab above. It's been possibly my favorite project I've done since becoming a Blue Raider and I think will make every fan feel closer to their favorite teams after each listen.
For now, however, expect more from my pen than my voice in the weeks to come, as we all get ready for a Yellowhammer State kickoff just over a month away.
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