Just saw the Sun Belt preview and it got me thinking about toughness and how we used to build it. Back in the 1980s when we'd scrimmage Georgia Southern in fall camp, Erk Russell had those boys hitting so hard our starters would come to the sideline looking for oxygen. That is how you forge grit. You do not get it from 7-on-7 drills in shorts or from NIL check presentations. You get it from real contact against a program that wants to embarrass you.
Nowadays I watch these spring practice clips and see our guys running around in shells and I wonder when the last time we had a full-contact scrimmage that actually meant something. The 1992 team used to have live tackling periods every single day in August. Coach Goff believed you had to feel the game to understand it. We are losing that edge with all these pitch counts and load management philosophies.
The Sun Belt might be the last conference that still plays old-school football. Georgia Southern, App State, Troy those programs stil...