SEC Media Days 2012: What to Watch on Final Day of Popular Event

After two eventful days, the SEC's annual meeting with the media will come to a close on Thursday. It's become a popular event over the years because it means the start of college football season is right around the corner.

Even though plenty of people have taken their turn at the microphone already, there are still a couple big names left on the schedule. Let's take a look at what fans of the nation's best conference should be on the lookout for on the final day.

Mark Richt

Last season featured a trio of streaks for Georgia. The Bulldogs started by losing their first two games, then won 10 consecutive games before dropping the final two. Mark Richt will have to find a way to get more consistency from his team this year, especially in big games.

The Georgia head man has won 74 percent of games since taking over in 2001. He's won two SEC Championships during that time period, but the Bulldogs are still looking for their first national title since 1980.

It's always nice to have a reliable quarterback as the building block for a great season, which Georgia does in Aaron Murray. It will be interesting to see how confident Richt is in his team's chances of contending in the challenging SEC.

Nick Saban

The head coach of the defending national champions gets his chance to speak on the final day. Nick Saban always has high expectations for his teams, but elite performance has become expected after two titles in the last three years.

A coach like Saban has been through so many of these media days that he probably knows what questions will be coming and has gone over the answers in his head. That allows him to inject some flair when others just try to keep it simple.

The Crimson Tide coach might be one of the few people trying to keep fan expectations down since they tend to get out of control after a title-winning season. Regardless, he's going to steal the spotlight today as he always does.

Hugh Freeze

Hugh Freeze takes over an Ole Miss program that went 2-10 last season and faces a tough rebuilding job because the SEC in unforgiving. If a team lacks talent, it's going to show up every weekend during conference play.

The 42-year-old Mississippi native had plenty of success in his first two head coaching gigs at Lambuth and Arkansas State. That said, the SEC is a completely different animal and he faces an uphill battle over the next few years.

Fans should get a pretty good idea of where Freeze thinks the team stands heading into his first season. There are always high hopes when a new coach takes over to turn the program around, so Freeze will be under a lot of pressure starting today.