The process begins at Georgia.
After spending the past nine seasons with Alabama football coach Nick Saban, including most of them as his righthand man, Kirby Smart will be the boss at practice for the first time this afternoon when the Bulldogs hold their first of 15 allotted spring workouts. Saban has long been formulaic in his annual development of the Crimson Tide, which has yielded national championships in four of the last seven seasons, and it remains to be seen what Smart takes from Saban and what he does on his own.
Smart, a safety for the Bulldogs in the late 1990s, inherits a program that went 145-51 under predecessor Mark Richt but has not won a Southeastern Conference title since 2005 and failed to capitalize the past couple of seasons in a mediocre Eastern Division.
Lofty expectations are already in place, but here are five questions worth pondering with change already in the air in Athens.
1. Will a quarterback emerge?
Veterans Greyson Lambert and Brice Ramsey will compete with touted early enrollee Jacob Eason in what will be the most publicized position battle on the team, if not the entire league.
Lambert started 12 of 13 games last season and won 10 of them, and he threw just two interceptions. Ramsey was the favorite this time a year ago but was better known by November as the team's top punter.
Georgia ranked just 10th in the SEC last season in passing offense, which has only added to the anticipation for Eason, a five-star prospect who threw for 43 touchdowns and six interceptions as a Lake Stevens (Wash.) High senior.
"The pressure is going to be on everyone," Eason said last month. "We're all going to take an equal role, and once it comes together, everyone is going to have pressure and expectations."
2. Can the Bulldogs beef up?
Georgia must replace three starters - right tackle John Theus, left guard Kolton Houston and center Hunter Long - from its offensive line during last season's stretch run.
Yet the most pertinent aspect to this area may not be who steps up but how big they are getting. Smart lured away Arkansas line coach Sam Pittman, whose units the past two seasons in Fayetteville were the largest in college football and the NFL as well.
"I can definitely say that getting bigger is a goal of ours," Smart said. "We want to get bigger up front on both sides of the ball. You can ask any SEC coach, and they'll tell you that offensive tackles are the rarest find.
"You want a 6-5 or 6-6 kid, and they don't grow on trees. When you come in, that's one of the toughest positions in which to recover."
Left tackle Isaiah Wynn and right guard Brandon Kublanow are Georgia's two returning starters from the TaxSlayer Bowl, though guard Greg Pyke was a starter most of last season.
3. Will specialists step forward?
The Bulldogs must replace four-year starting kicker Marshall Morgan and four-year starting punter Collin Barber, though Barber was relegated to pooch-kick duties down the stretch last season as Ramsey emerged.
Whether the new staff continues to use Ramsey in football's third phase could be answered, and it may not be until the arrival of February signee Marshall Long this summer when the punting picture comes into focus.
As for replacing Morgan, three walk-on candidates are listed on Georgia's spring roster: Rodrigo Blankenship, Thomas Pritchard and Taylor Stumpe. Georgia's specialists are under the guidance of tight ends coach Shane Beamer, the son of former Virginia Tech head coach and longtime kicking-game guru Frank Beamer.
4. Can Godwin get some help?
Georgia was so thin at receiver last season that three true freshman - Terry Godwin, Michael Chigbu and Jayson Stanley - were on the second team for the opener against the Louisiana-Monroe. By season's end, the versatile Godwin was holding the MVP trophy at the TaxSlayer Bowl, but Chigbu and Stanley did not have much of an impact on a mostly tepid passing attack.
This spring could be key for Chigbu and Stanley, and it's now or never for senior Reggie Davis, whose biggest claim to fame to this point was a 98-yard touchdown reception against North Texas as a true freshman. The Bulldogs are getting junior college transfer Javon Wims this summer and are stacked at tight end, but improving Georgia on the perimeter is a big point of emphasis for Smart.
5. Will G-Day be packed out?
Smart has issued a challenge to Georgia fans to sell out G-Day on April 16.
Georgia has produced recent spring-game crowds around 40,000, with last year's announced audience of 46,815 setting a program standard, so doubling the attendance won't be easy. G-Day is three weeks after Easter Sunday and a week after the Masters, leaving no excuses from a conflict standpoint, but there is always a threat of less-than-desirable weather.
Badly missing the mark could be viewed as fodder for rivals, but the storylines of Eason and a new coaching regime should provide the Bulldogs their largest spring audience by a sizable margin.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.