ANDY’S NOTES: Uniforms, SEC Media Days in dead days of summer

You know the doldrums of summer have arrived when a new uniform look dominates the news cycle around Arkansas sports for the week.

Yes, the look is a drastic improvement and there are people who have quietly hinted it might be more than a one-time thing, but the talk is uniforms.

That tends to happen following a bad season and last year was that and more.

Some like it, some don’t.

Nobody is saying how frequently we’ll see the Razorbacks in those new uniforms, but some have whispered it may be more than you think.

Don’t throw looking like Oklahoma in there because Jim McKenzie and Barry Switzer took the current look to the Sooners when they went there in 1966. It was at Arkansas first.

With any luck, they’ll throw the anthracite stuff into a big pile and create a bonfire tradition.

Along with everything having the front-facing Hog on it.

What we’ll know from SEC Media Days

While a large number of media people will congregate in Hoover, Ala., next week — primarily to interview each other for four days — fans will start seriously paying attention to the fast-approaching college football season.

Don’t expect the Hogs to get a lot of votes above the bottom in the SEC West.

My pick will continue to be Alabama in the West, Florida in the East. That’s what it has been every single year.

Nine times that’s hit dead on (10 if you count the year the Crimson Tide won the West, but couldn’t go to Atlanta due to NCAA issues). Six more times one of those two teams have been there.

Picking the lottery that well would pay off handsomely.

Preseason picks are just so much babble because nobody can predict injuries or breaks.

Or officials’ calls.

Depth is the key to winning

Winning a title in the SEC is about who has the best first 44 players … not 24.

Arkansas doesn’t happen to have a lot of proven players. They do have a lot of players with potential, but they’ve got to prove they can do it in the SEC.

The good news is three non-conference games in September the Hogs will be favored to win. The league opener against Ole Miss in the second week is a winnable game, despite being on the road.

Traditionally, that hasn’t mattered against the Rebels, which is pretty much the only league team the previous coaching staff could win against consistently.

As I’ve said before, we won’t know anything for sure about this team until October … unless it’s bad.