ARLINGTON — The American Athletic Conference officially began the countdown to the 2023 football season as it commenced its annual media days in Arlington on Monday.
Head coaches and select players from the conference’s 14 football programs will meet with members of the media through Tuesday as they prepare for a season that will welcome six new member schools after the departures of Cincinnati, Houston, and Central Florida to the Big 12.
All six teams joining the conference (Texas-San Antonio, Rice, UAB, North Texas, Charlotte, and Florida Atlantic) come from Conference USA, where many other AAC schools have experience.
UTSA is entering its third conference since it began playing in 2011, fresh on the heels of back-to-back double-digit-win seasons and Conference USA championships. The team holds a 30-10 record under current head coach Jeff Traylor and is bringing back 18 starters from last year’s squad, including reigning Conference USA MVP Frank Harris at quarterback.
“These are great teams week in and week out, but we’ve proven to ourselves that we could play against this caliber [of] teams,” Harris told The Dallas Express. “We played Memphis a couple of years ago and were fortunate to come out successful. At the end of the day, it’s just football, so we go … out there for each and every game, and everything will take care of itself.”
With Rice and North Texas also joining the AAC this season, four Texas schools are now playing in the conference — the most of any state.
“It just shows a lot, and it’s going to be a great test for us,” Harris said. “There’s great teams and great players all over throughout the state playing on these teams and against each other. We’re not far from each other, so I’m sure we’ll bring great crowds for home and away games. It’s pretty special and pretty fun whenever we play those teams.”
Florida Atlantic, UAB, and Charlotte are all entering the conference under new head coaches.
After Willie Taggart struggled in the place of former head coach Lane Kiffin, Florida Atlantic has picked former Houston and Texas head coach Tom Herman to lead its charge into the AAC. UAB hired former Super Bowl champion Trent Dilfer, who has never coached at the college level, and Charlotte hired Biff Poggi to replace Will Healy.
Of course, everyone will be trying to overthrow defending champion Tulane, which is returning several starters from a historic Cotton Bowl-winning season, including quarterback Michael Pratt and center Sincere Haynesworth. The Green Wave will likely enter the season as one of the favorites to win the conference again.
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Extra Points
— Former Baylor quarterbacks Gerry Bohanon and Jacob Zeno were in attendance in Arlington as the projected starting quarterbacks for South Florida and UAB, respectively.
— ESPN’s College Gameday is heading to Charlotte to open the season, the site of the matchup between North Carolina and South Carolina.
— An ex-Northwestern quarterback is suing the school, alleging a “brainwashing culture of hazing and abuse that became normalized” within its football program.
— Duke has extended head coach Mike Elko’s contract through 2029. The former Texas A&M assistant earned the Atlantic Coast Conference title of Head Coach of the Year last season with a nine-win campaign.
— Florida A&M has resumed its football activities after previously pausing them due to the release of an “unauthorized” rap video featuring some of the team’s players in the locker room.
