Day One of A&T’s fall football camp is in the books. A bevy of press, both local and national, were on hand to check out an Aggie squad that has been picked to win the Big South in A&T’s second and final season in that conference before it transitions out to become a member of the Colonial (CAA) next year.

The atmosphere on this first day was extremely focused, almost workmanlike. There was a no nonsense approach from not only from the coaches but the players as well. A new enthusiasm was quite apparent and there was no hangover from the sub par finish from a year ago. The confidence has returned . Nothing braggadocios but a feeling that the Aggies are returning to a healthy place of knowing that if they put in the hard work on the front end the rest will take care of itself.

There were some very distinct differences in how practices will be conducted over previous years with Sam Washington’s newly revamped coaching staff . The emphasis in these early drills, across the board, were all about the a couple major points that were missing in 2021 – technique and execution. The devil has always been in the details and that is what the driving factor will be leading into the season opener looming just three weeks out.

We won’t be able to ascertain anything concrete regarding projected lineups or player progress until actual contact begins later next week, but it is pretty obvious to even the casual observers that this year A&T will have a lot of talented athletes at its disposal and they will need all of them as it prepares for what is probably the toughest non-conference schedule that the program has faced in quite a while.

This will be probably the last season of stand-alone season Big South football as Campbell University announced that will leaving the conference in 2023 to join the Colonial Athletic Association along with former Big South members Hampton, Monmouth, and N.C. A&T who previously joined the CAA earlier this year.

So where does that leave the Big South which just a year ago had eight football playing members? With all the CAA defections along with Kennesaw State going to the ASUN, it leaves the BSC with just four entrants – Gardner Webb, Charleston Southern, Robert Morris and Bryant.

The BSC has joined forces with the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC), another league that was hit hard from the massive FCS conference realignment and placed in jeopardy. Both conferences will unite their football play as a joint football only conference and maintain an FCS automatic playoff qualifier spot for the joint league winner beginning in 2023.

As for the CAA, the raiding of the Big South and the NEC has greatly expanded their sports marketing footprint in all of the very rich major media markets up and down the Atlantic seaboard stretching from New England down to North Carolina. This massive expansion is the advent of the first real super conference in the FCS ala the SEC and the Big Ten on the FBS level.

Adding five new members in less than a year should pay huge dividends for the CAA in terms of TV money as their college presidents and chancellors are entertaining proposals from CBS/Flo Sports, Bally’s and ESPN. Whomever wins out in that bidding war for it’s TV rights, the CAA stands ready to rake in both a substantial monetary windfall and media exposure coup for its membership.

So much for the money piece. What will the CAA format look like with so many schools? Well, it all but guarantees that there will be divisional play next year with three North Carolina football schools all within spitting distance of each other in N.C. A&T, Elon, and Campbell.

A southern division or whatever designated name is agreed upon will almost certainly consist of the following programs: N. C. A&T, Richmond, Hampton, Elon, William and Mary, Campbell, and Towson State. The north would include Albany, Villanova, Stony Brook, Rhode Island, Monmouth, Maine, New Hampshire, and Delaware.

Since there will now be an odd number of football teams (15), an extra conference game against the northern division opponent, rotated at random each year, could fill that space to bring the conference schedule to an even eight games. Of course, that could all go away if another school is added in the coming days or months which could very well happen.

First things first. While the future of the CAA is very bright for 2023, there’s still unfinished business for both A&T and Campbell in this final full year of football for the Big South which is shaping up to be a real interesting battle for their last real championship race. Both of these teams are expected to be the class of the conference and barring any missteps along the way this year’s GHOE could have momentous implications in that regard.

Gotta love having college football back on the table.