If you’re feeling the lovesick blues for Georgia football, today is one of the best days of the summer.

Kirby Smart, Gunner Stockton, CJ Allen and Daylen Everette are talking ball all day at SEC Media Days in Atlanta.

We’ll hear Smart’s takes on big picture topics like the new College Football Playoff model debate and the House settlement. We’ll hear his analysis of his own team and schedule.

Gunner Stockton among 3 Georgia players Kirby Smart selected for SEC Media Days

We’ll hear the nitty-gritty for the first time since spring ended. Who’s leading position battles, who’s nursing injuries and maybe even some quarterback talk with Stockton making his rounds.

And hopefully, we’ll hear enough to talk about for the next six weeks before kickoff.

To get you ready, check out our coverage below.

Trivia time

When were SEC Media Days last hosted in Atlanta?

Happy guessing. Answer at the bottom of the newsletter.

Georgia’s SEC Media Day: What to expect

If you’ve never watched the media event before, today is a good day to start.

You won’t wait long for Smart to take the stand, and after a long-winded opening statement, he’ll answer questions that have been brewing in Georgia fans’ minds for the last six months.

He’ll answer for the retention of coaches like Mike Bobo and perhaps Stacy Searels, he’ll explain what he needs to fix this season and he’ll talk about where Stockton is entering his first season as a starter.

He’ll also drop one of those infamous one-liners that display the team’s mentality in 2025. You remember lines like “We won’t be hunted at the University of Georgia,” “Better never rests,” and “Success comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.”

We’ll also see plenty of news conferences from Stockton, Allen and Everette. Players tend to answer questions about the state of their side of the ball, how younger guys have progressed and what they want out of what is usually their final season of college football.

5-star LB, elite Georgia target Tyler Atkinson commits today

I’m not sure if there’s another day this summer that Tyler Atkinson’s commitment wouldn’t be the top story on this newsletter.

The 5-star linebacker’s long-awaited pledge has been eyed by Georgia fans — among others — all season long. Until yesterday, that recruitment process had no official end date.

Atkinson plans to make his announcement on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show” today, according to On3’s Hayes Fawcett. The Grayson High School star has been one of Georgia’s highest-desired recruits since his freshman season. He’s set to choose between Georgia, Texas, Clemson and Oregon.

Tyler Atkinson decision has extra competitive heat on Georgia-Texas SEC Media Day

This on the day that Smart and Texas coach Steve Sarkisian speak publicly to the college football world. Smart will start the day, Sarkisian will finish it and in between Atkinson will make someone’s class much better.

To be clear, Oregon and Clemson are very much legitimate players in Atkinson’s recruitment, too. At times, the recruitment was thought to be between Oregon and Georgia.

Since then, some believed Clemson overtook both. Now, in the final hours, it’s thought to be a toss-up between Texas and Georgia.

It brings to mind former recruiting battles between Smart and Sarkisian like 5-star defensive lineman Justus Terry and 5-star linebacker Justin Williams. Terry, a Georgia native, was thought by many to be a Georgia lock before Texas pulled off an 11th-hour win.

The recruiting cycle before, Georgia beat out the Longhorns for Williams, a Texas product.

Smart and Sarkisian are two recruiting titans, and this is sure to be a battle with an epic finish.

Kiffin: Why Smart, Sark are nation’s top two coaches

The SEC is full of big-name coaches under Smart and Sarkisian.

Names like Brian Kelly, Kalen DeBoer, Lane Kiffin, Josh Heupel and Mike Elko are all highly respected on a national scale.

But Kiffin puts Smart and Sarkisian in a league of their own. The Ole Miss coach tabbed Georgia and Texas as the best-led programs in the country, pointing to both coaches’ creativity and innovation though college football’s changing times.

Lane Kiffin: Why Kirby Smart, Steve Sarkisian the 2 ‘premier coaches in college football’

“Those are the two premier programs and premier coaches in college football,” Kiffin said. “They do an amazing job, both having been at Alabama, and seeing how they used that (experience), and then Sark being at USC, as well, and how he’s used Pete Carroll-things and implemented them there at Texas.”

Kiffin’s Rebels beat Smart’s Bulldogs 28-10 last season in Oxford, Mississippi, while Georgia beat Ole Miss 52-17 at home the year before.

Both Texas and Ole Miss will have to visit Sanford Stadium this season. Smart is still seen by many as the top coach in college football, and a couple home wins against those teams would go a long way in keeping him there.

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Photo of the Day

Georgia head coach Kirby Smart speaks during 2023's NCAA college football SEC Media Days in Nashville, Tennessee.

Credit: TNS

Quote of the Day

More from Kiffin’s complimentary rant on Smart, Sarkisian as SEC’s elite coaches:

“They do an amazing job in those SEC meetings, you’re always listening to the coaches and their input. Both of those guys really run their programs, truly, as CEOs. They know everything that’s going on, they are very creative in their ideas and how to navigate in this world we’re in now.”

SEC Media Days: Full Tuesday schedule

Georgia will start the day, to be followed by an Auburn team that is catching backlash for a last-place recruiting class in the 2026 cycle right now.

Then comes Tennessee, which rode the roller coaster of its first CFP appearance, followed quickly by an ugly first-round loss. But all that was nearly forgotten when the Nico Iamaleava debacle occurred early in the summer.

And as mentioned above, Texas will finish the day as the SEC’s runner-up in year one. Arch Manning will be in town, along with a laundry list of questions about just how good he can be.

Here’s the full schedule for the main news conference room:

• 8:30 a.m.: John McDaid, SEC coordinator of football officials
• 10:05 a.m.: Kirby Smart, LB CJ Allen, DB Daylen Everette, QB Gunner Stockton
• 12:15 p.m.: Hugh Freeze, QB Jackson Arnold, DL Keldric Faulk, OL Connor Lew
• 1:30 p.m.: Josh Heupel, LB Arion Carter, TE Miles Kitselman, DT Bryson Eason
• 3:15 p.m.: Steve Sarkisian, LB Anthony Hill, QB Arch Manning, DB Michael Taaffe

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Trivia answer

2022