Today is Sun Belt Media Day in New Orleans! It’s all of the hype we experienced during SEC Media Days but with scrappier schools and a more chill atmosphere. Take for starters the man in charge, Sun Belt Commissioner Karl Benson. Benson isn’t your average head honcho. He loves sunglasses and fun! Karl Benson has built the conference into a a respectable and lively conference. If rooting for the Ragin’ Cajuns over his Alma Mater Boise State isn’t enough, Benson proudly proclaims over and over again on his twitter feed (@kbcommish) that the future of the Sun Belt is so bright he’s gotta wear shades. These tweets are usually accompanied with pictures of Benson wearing totally rad shades. With 5 bowl tie ins, a conference championship game, and the defending College World Series champion joining the conference all on the horizon, you can’t argue that the future of the #FunBelt is indeed happy and shiny.
Among the coaches and players building the Fun Belt hype today are Mark Hudspeth, Elijah McGuire, and Otha Peters of Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns. The Cajuns had a rough go of it last year and are not being shown much love in the preseason polls. Middle of the pack is where UL is generally being predicted to finish this year in the conference of fun. When I spoke with Hud, McGuire and Peters this morning on the SportsChat Takeover, I could tell that even though the atmosphere is more relaxed at Sun Belt Media Day, the UL contingent would be the most intense and business like.
Hudspeth’s team has a lot to prove to the rest of the conference and to themselves. The likes of Arkansas State and Appalachian State are establishing themselves as the cream of the conference. The Cajuns’ mission this year is to avoid becoming #FunBelt lap dogs. Luckily, there is a lot of competition within the Cajuns’ camp as freshmen and JUCO transfers look to fill roles to help the team improve. Most notably, the Cajuns enter fall camp with a full fledged Quarterback competition between the experienced LSU transfer Anthony Jennings and the hyper-athletic Sophomore Jordan Davis. Talking to coach Hud today, I could tell that this is a team forging an intense identity by challenging each other in an attempt to get better. The competition within camp and the pressure they put on themselves is key. After a disappointing year and with the big dogs from Boone and Jonesboro hogging all the spotlight, the Cajuns are not being shown much respect heading into this year’s Sun Belt season. It is up to Hud and his players to have a constant tendency to revert into Barbarianism and take back the respect they have lost within the #FunBelt.
Check out my interviews from earlier today with all of the Sun Belt Media Day superstars right here: