Crimson Red Sports

Southeastern Conference Media Days begin Tuesday in Hoover, where hundreds of media members will gather and rank the league's teams in a poll of their own. Alabama and LSU are expected to garner much of the frontrunner attention for league play, and the preseason polls suggest nothing different.

USA Today ranked Alabama No. 1 in the nation, while Lindy's (No. 3), Athlon (No. 3) and Steele (No. 5) each had the Crimson Tide in the top five.

"You always start with the SEC," USA Today's Mike Lopresti said. "You can see the personnel losses, but it's to the point now where you can't talk about a top five without starting with the SEC. For USC, with (quarterback) Barkley coming back, you can start there as well.