Talking Season Is Officially Here: Your July 2026 College Football Media Days Guide

The dead zone is over. Every May and June, college football fans survive on transfer portal scraps and recruiting rumors — and then July arrives, the mics go live, and every team in America is undefeated again. Media days are back, and this year’s calendar is stacked from the Power Four all the way down to Division II, where one of the biggest names in the sport is quietly making a comeback.

Here’s everything you need to know, week by week.

Week 1: The Big 12 Gets First Crack (July 7–8)

The Big 12 opens talking season at The Star in Frisco, Texas, with both days airing on ESPNU from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. CT. The headliner, as always, is Deion Sanders. Coach Prime enters year four in Boulder, and he’s been blunt about the stakes: it’s win-or-bust time for Colorado. Keep an ear out for Oklahoma State QB Drew Mestemaker and Texas Tech DL A.J. Holmes Jr., two of the conference’s top pro prospects making the podium rounds.

Week 2: Charlotte, the Mountain West, the Sun Belt — and the CIAA (July 15–17)

The ACC takes over the Hilton Charlotte Uptown July 15–17, with ACC Network rolling live coverage from 9 a.m. ET each day. All 17 programs will be there, and the QB storylines are rich: Miami’s Darian Mensah — who jumped from Duke to Coral Gables within the conference — headlines Day 1, with NC State‘s CJ Bailey close behind on the draft boards.

That same week, the G5 conversation starts humming: the Mountain West sets up at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas July 15–16 (players Wednesday, head coaches Thursday), while the Sun Belt gathers the same two days at the New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District.

And don’t sleep on July 15 in Durham: the CIAA holds its football media day at the Hilton Durham, riding real momentum. The Division II HBCU league just produced Harlon Hill Trophy winner Curtis Allen of Virginia Union — the first player from the conference ever to win D2’s top individual award — and sent two teams into the playoffs as first-round hosts for the first time in league history.

Week 3: Tampa Bay Becomes the Center of the Football Universe (July 20–24)

This is the week to circle.

SEC Media Days hit Tampa for the first time ever — the event’s Florida debut — running July 20–23 at the Tampa Marriott Water Street and JW Marriott, with live coverage on SEC Network. The coach schedule is out, and the Thursday finale is loaded: Lane Kiffin makes his first media days appearance as LSU‘s head coach (the Tigers moved off their traditional Monday slot), sharing the closing day with Texas’ Steve Sarkisian. Kirby Smart goes Tuesday; Kalen DeBoer and the Alabama circus arrive Wednesday. The student-athlete list drops closer to the event.

Conference USA goes July 20–21 at Texas Live! Arena in Arlington, Texas, and the MAC holds its one-day event July 22 at Ford Field in Detroit — press conferences on an NFL field, same building where the league crowns its champion in December.

Also on July 22: the SIAC, the other D2 HBCU powerhouse league, holds its media day at the Tubman African American Museum in Macon, Georgia. It’s a credentialed-only event, but the preseason polls and all-conference teams that come out of it will set the HBCU football conversation for the fall.

Then, just as the SEC wraps, the American Conference picks up the baton across the bay — July 23–24 at the Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, its first time in the Sunshine City. All 14 head coaches and 28 players will be on hand, with ESPN+ carrying Friday’s kickoff program. The American is coming off a season where it was the only league to beat teams from all four power conferences in non-conference play, so the chip on the shoulder will be visible from space. For one week, Tampa Bay is the loudest place in college football.

The Sleeper Story: Art Briles Is Back (July 23)

Buried in the Lone Star Conference‘s media day announcement — July 23 at McKinney ISD Stadium in Texas — is a name that will stop you mid-scroll: Art Briles is listed as the first-year head coach at Eastern New Mexico. The former Baylor coach’s return to the college sidelines is a national story no matter the division, and his open media availability in McKinney (streamed free on FloCollege) may end up drawing more cameras than some Power Four podiums. Fun footnote: the “Lone Star” Conference now stretches to Central Washington and Western Oregon, and McKinney ISD Stadium doubles as the site of the D2 national title game in December.

The Grand Finale: Big Ten in Chicago (July 28–30)

Talking season closes where it feels most at home: the Big Ten wraps things up at the Hilton Chicago, July 28–30, with Big Ten Network live all three days. The league arrives holding three straight national championships, capped by Indiana’s perfect 16-0 run last season, and the full 54-player attendee list is already out. Ohio State brings Jeremiah Smith, Julian Sayin and Jaylen McClain on Day 2; USC, Penn State and Wisconsin open Day 1; and the Hoosiers close the show on Day 3 as the sport’s reigning kings.

The Quick-Glance Calendar

Everybody’s 0-0, every position group is the best in the country, and for the next four weeks, hope is undefeated.