JOHN BEDNAROWSKI: It's time for college football's big return

College football season is back. How do we know this? Because it’s time for SEC Media Days.

For only the second time in its history, the annual pumped-up news conferences on steroids is heading east to the College Football Hall of Fame in downtown Atlanta, leaving the Wynfrey Hotel in Birmingham, Alabama.

That means more than 1,000 sports writers will cram into the Omni Hotel and the adjacent Hall of Fame to get a few words with some of the biggest names in the sport — such as Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Alabama’s Nick Saban, Texas A&M’s Jimbo Fisher and the newcomer, Notre Dame-turned-LSU coach Brian Kelly.

The only problem is it will likely be just a few words.

While there may be some back-and-forth from Lane Kiffin and Mike Leach, neither has the gravitas or the track record to be taken seriously — at least not yet — when it comes to the premier conference in the country.

It used to be Pat Forde, Tim Brando and other national writers and broadcasters cramming into a ballroom to sit on the floor and listen to Steve Spurrier hold court. With more than 20 seasons in the conference, journalists could always count on the Ol’ Ball Coach to come up with a new phrase.

While at Florida, he used to like jabbing Florida State and Tennessee.

“You know what FSU stands for, don’t you? Free Shoes University.”

“You can’t spell Citrus (Bowl) without UT.”

“I know why Peyton (Manning) came back for his senior year. He wanted to be a three-time star of the Citrus Bowl.”

While at South Carolina, Spurrier got off a good quip at Georgia.

“I don’t know. I sort of always liked playing them that second game because you could always count on them having two or three key players suspended.”

Rarely do you get a coach willing to put himself out there like that anymore.

Earlier this year, Saban took a shot at Texas A&M and its recruiting class. He accused Fisher and the program of buying their players through of the name, image and likeness policies. Fisher shot back and Saban, almost immediately, was trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube.

Saban and Fisher most certainly will be asked about their squabble next week, but it is unlikely we will get a Spurrier-esque response from either. In fact, they have probably been told by commissioner Greg Sankey and the SEC office to keep it civil.

Honestly, that’s no fun. I would much rather Saban come out swinging because, when he gets a burr under his saddle, he’s not afraid to speak his mind. And if you are a journalist, you don’t want to be the one on the other end of the tirade.

I know from experience.

As many know, I am a proud UAB graduate. I was the sports editor of the college newspaper in 2001 — the summer after my Blazers beat LSU 13-10 in Death Valley, when Saban was the Tigers’ coach.

That fall, I went to SEC Media Days and thought I would ask a question. That was my mistake. I really had no business being there, but I did it anyway.

I wanted to ask: as UAB continued to improve, would he and LSU be willing to schedule the Blazers again in the future.

Instead, it must have come out sounding like 2+2 = fish.

For what seemed like minutes, but was probably only about 10 seconds, Saban stared at me with a look of “how dare you ask me that question.” It took everything I had not to look away. I just started back at him and tried not to look intimidated.

He finally gave me an answer.

“Well, yeah,” he said. “What do you think, we’re scared?”

I had a lot of people come up to me after the fact and say what I did was great. In the moment, I couldn’t remember what I did because my head was spinning.

Two years later, LSU won the national championship. However, I would like to point out that the Tigers never did schedule UAB again under Saban’s watch.

Scheduling will likely be a big topic next week as the SEC gets closer to welcoming Texas and Oklahoma. Conference expansion will likely be overanalyzed, too, among many other topics.

Three or four teams will take the stage each day.

LSU will be first Monday. We’ll see if Kelly has gotten over his attack of a bad Southern accent after he left Notre Dame and accepted the job in Baton Rouge in December.

One thing to look forward to is former Marietta standout linebacker BJ Ojulari coming back to represent LSU as one of the teams’ three selected players in Atlanta. It is a big honor for the players to represent their teams at SEC Media Days, as it means the coaches have the confidence in them to say the right things and have enough media savvy to handle the hundreds of microphones that will be shoved in their faces.

Alabama is up Tuesday with linebacker Will Anderson, safety Jordan Battle and Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Bryce Young.

Wednesday will be a big day as Smart takes the stage as a national championship coach. He’s bringing quarterback Stetson Bennett, linebacker Nolan Smith and offensive lineman Sedrick Van Pran. And Thursday wraps up with Jimbo Fisher and Texas A&M.

All the festivities can be seen on the SEC Network, where every word is poked, prodded and dissected.

It should be just enough to get us through until the games kickoff in September.