A year ago this week, The Athletic only had a handful of college football reporters at football conference media days because A) The All-American hadn’t launched yet and B) Dan Uthman and I were still in the process of hiring its writers.

A year later, things will be … just a little bit different.

Over the next two weeks, nearly 30 reporters and editors will represent The Athletic at eight different conferences’ Media Days — including quite a few whose first bylines appear this week.

Over the past several months we’ve been working tirelessly behind the scenes to assemble a team of premier beat writers covering the nation’s major programs. They possess the same commitment to high-quality writing and relentless reporting as our original staff of myself, Nicole Auerbach, Matt Fortuna, Chantel Jennings, Jason Kersey, Max Olson and Chris Vannini; not to mention our recent Kevin Durant-level signee, Bruce Feldman. And among them are writers for each team that made last season’s College Football Playoff.

Here is an updated roster of our dedicated team writers, which include nine being announced for the first time today.

Tyson Alger (Oregon): Tyson joins us from The Oregonian, where he covered Ducks football since Marcus Mariota’s Heisman season in 2014 and was the lead basketball reporter for the Oregon men’s Final Four run in 2017.

Andy Bitter (Virginia Tech): Andy began covering the Hokies for The Roanoke Times in 2011 and quickly established himself as the year-round authority on Virginia Tech football. He previously covered Auburn’s 2010 national title season.

Christian Caple (Washington): Christian returns to the Huskies beat, which he covered for the Tacoma News Tribune from 2013-17. A UW grad, he also has covered college football in the state of Washington for the Spokesman-Review.

Scott Dochterman (Iowa): Scott has been delivering exceptional coverage of Kirk Ferentz’s Iowa program and all Hawkeyes athletics since 2006, first during his decade at the Cedar Rapids Gazette and later with Land of 10.

Seth Emerson (Georgia): Considered a veteran of The Athletic at this point (he began writing for us in April), Seth has established himself as the premier Georgia beat writer spanning 12 seasons and three different publications.

Justin Ferguson (Auburn): Justin has lived in Auburn for the majority of his life and been covering Auburn football for the past several years, first in college, then for Bleacher Report and then SEC Country. He can recite the Tigers’ two-deep (and third-string as well) on command.

Emily Giambalvo (Clemson): A native of nearby Easley, S.C., Emily will join the Clemson beat in August after spending this summer at The Washington Post. She previously wrote for The Seattle Times and covered the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Jason Kersey (Oklahoma): One of The All-American’s charter hires, Jason is returning to his roots. A native of Noble, Okla., he earned 2016 FWAA Beat Writer of the Year honors for his coverage of the Sooners for The Oklahoman.

Antonio Morales (USC): A SoCal native, Antonio is returning to familiar turf after excelling on the Ole Miss beat for the Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss. Previously, he chronicled future USC star Sam Darnold’s prep career for the Orange County Register.

Colton Pouncy (Michigan State): Colton joined The Athletic Detroit in June, just in time to cover the highest-ranked recruit to commit to Mark Dantonio’s program. He previously covered Austin Peay’s program for USA Today Network – Tennessee.

Tashan Reed (Florida State): Tashan covered Missouri athletics for the Columbia Missourian and SB Nation before spending this summer at the Memphis Commercial Appeal. He joins the FSU beat starting with ACC Media Days this week.

Will Sammon (Florida): Most recently the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger, Will is plenty familiar with new Gators head coach Dan Mullen and his staff. A New York native, he’s entering his fourth season in the SEC.

Pete Sampson (Notre Dame): Pete has become nearly as synonymous with the Irish as their gold helmets. The former editor and co-founder of Irish Illustrated, he’s been chronicling Notre Dame since the end of the Bob Davie era in 2001.

Audrey Snyder (Penn State): Audrey has been enlightening Penn State fans for most of this decade, covering the Nittany Lions for PennLive, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and DK Pittsburgh Sports prior to starting with The Athletic in June.

Cody Stavenhagen (Michigan): Cody began covering Michigan for The Athletic Detroit in June following an award-winning stint as the Tulsa World’s Oklahoma beat writer. Recently he caught up with former Wolverines star Denard Robinson.

Aaron Suttles (Alabama): Aaron has been covering the Tide since the day Nick Saban arrived in 2007. He spent more than a decade writing for the Tuscaloosa News and currently co-hosts a midday radio show on Birmingham’s JOX 94.5.

Jesse Temple (Wisconsin): Jesse wrote a meaty debut piece for The Athletic last month, gorging on Red Robin burgers with the Badgers’ starting offensive line. He’s covered the program since 2011 for ESPN.com, Fox Sports and Land of 10.

David Ubben (Tennessee): David covered the sport for outlets like ESPN.com, Fox Sports and Sports on Earth before joining The Athletic in May. He’s in the midst of reporting and writing a detailed series on new Vols coach Jeremy Pruitt.

Ari Wasserman (Ohio State): Ari is officially our dean of college beat writers — he started covering the Buckeyes for The Athletic Cleveland way back in July 2017. He’s covered Ohio State since 2009, including four years at Cleveland.com.

The Athletic’s approach to beat coverage is unique. We consider our team writers to be “beat columnists,” parlaying their sources to give you truly informed analysis of the team. Because we’re not beholden to “clicks,” they can put more time into reporting deeper profiles of players, coaches and recruits. And you get to read their stories without disruption from ads and auto-play videos.

If you don’t see your favorite team listed here, know that our work is not finished. We hope to expand the roster again in the near future. In the meantime, know that our national staff will be devoting plenty of coverage to the entire country, from California to Texas to Florida.

Kickoff can’t get here soon enough.

Edit the teams you follow on the Manage Teams page: theathletic.com/manage-teams

(Photo by Kirby Lee / USA TODAY Sports)