Memphis athletic director Laird Veatch took the microphone and stepped to the center of the field to address the members of the Highland Hundred, the football program’s booster club.

“I’m going to say something I never thought I’d say in almost 30 years of being in college athletics,” he began.

“Go to hell, Ole Miss?” someone asked.

Silverfield expects more consistent play from Tigers this season

No, that wasn’t it.

“Please pay our players,” said Veatch. “Please pay our players.”

Welcome to 2022 college football season, everyone!

For the low, low price of $9.01 a month, you can enhance your enjoyment of the coming season with special access to Memphis players.

That’s true, by the way. The head of the 901 Fund made the pitch Monday before Veatch started talking. For $125 annually or $9.01 a month, you will be granted “interviews with student athletes.”

This is not like last football season. Or the season before that. Or any football season, ever.

But it’s here, baby.

“Thirty-three days!” said Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield.

Thirty-three days from Monday, the Memphis Tigers will take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs in Starkville.

So Monday evening was a happy preview of the opener, as the head coaches of both Memphis and Mississippi State addressed gatherings in the city.

Calkins: It’s Memphis football media day! So let’s talk ... Tiger hoops?

Mississippi State coach Mike Leach spoke to the Touchdown Club at the Hilton in East Memphis. Silverfield spoke to the Highland Hundred at the football program’s indoor practice facility.

Leach wore cargo shorts.

Silverfield wore long pants.

I think we can call that, “Advantage, Memphis.”

“We are fired up and ready to roll,” said Silverfield.

“Everybody is excited about football this time of year,” said Leach.

Excited but maybe a little bewildered, too.

Listen, it would be be silly to have any issue with Memphis trying to rustle up some cash for its players under the new name, image and likeness rules. The football coach at Georgia just signed a new contract for more than $100 million. It’s about time the players got their share of the loot.

But it’s understandable if fans are put off by the money lust of university leaders across the country, who are willing to sacrifice anything — tradition, loyalty, longstanding relationships — as they scramble over each other in the pursuit of richer TV contracts.

The sense of unease is even more profound at a place like Memphis, which seems ever more distant from its longtime goal of membership in one of the power conferences.

For the first time ever, the Highland Hundred event was held in the football program’s stunning new practice facility. The place gleamed. It was everything Rip Scherer or Tommy West or Larry Porter or Justin Fuente or Mike Norvell could have wanted. But now that Memphis has a gorgeous practice facility, a gorgeous practice facility isn’t enough. So it’s time to pour $150 million into the Liberty Bowl.

Tigers Football Insider: Players who are listed on national watchlists

Will that be enough?

There’s no way to know. But the goal posts keep moving.

So, yeah, it’s easy to be dispirited. Even as I headed out to cover the two events Monday evening, I found it hard to muster my usual enthusiasm for the start of a new season.

Then, as I approached the indoor practice facility, I heard the Memphis band. It wasn’t the whole band or anything close to it. It was 20 or so students who had been thrown together to entertain the Highland Hundred. They were standing in a semi-circle, outside the practice facility, practicing. But, gosh, they looked like they were having fun. And their enthusiasm was contagious.

Meanwhile, inside the practice facility, it was like a really big family reunion. Brady White was there. He’s a graduate assistant now. Anthony Miller’s mother was there, too. Because once a Tiger Mom, always a Tiger Mom.

I sat next to a man named Dexter Dunlap. He told me he had been a member of the Highland Hundred for more than 30 years.

Was Dunlap optimistic about the Memphis season?

“Oh,” he said. “I’m always optimistic.”

Which is the only way to be, of course. Especially amidst the changes.

Memphis football has always been on the outside, looking in. Memphis football fans have always had to choose optimism. If you have ever had fun at a Memphis football game — if you have ever celebrated a win, or shared the pain of a loss, or made a new friend, or deepened your relationship with an old one — it was while rooting for a football program that was not one of the chosen ones.

Calkins: It’s not just a big year for Memphis football. It may be the biggest one yet.

This year is no different, in that respect. Even if your $9.01 contribution would come in handy.

So give if you like. Give of your heart, too.

“Thirty three days!” said Silverfield.

But who’s counting?