Mike and Mike in the morning and twice a week in the afternoon.

Not Mike and Mike of ESPN fame, with Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg.

But Mike Minter talking about the Southeastern Conference and college football in general, and Mike Rucker talking about the Big 12 on ESPNU (digital channel 235).

“I had heard all that SEC talk for all these years while I played for the Panthers, but I thought it was just a regional thing,” said Minter, an All-Big 12 defensive back at Nebraska and All-Pro with Carolina.

“I spent about a month doing my homework for ESPNU and they weren’t kidding — this is a great conference,” said Minter, who retired from the NFL last summer. “I’m still a Big 12 guy at heart, but I have a lot of respect for the SEC.

“I will still call it like it is. Yes, I know I could upset the state of Alabama or Florida or Georgia or Tennessee. But it’ll be the truth.”

Minter, a key defender on Nebraska’s1994 and 1995 national championship teams, turned down offers from the NFL Network and ESPN.

“One is in California and the other is in Connecticut and ESPNU is right here in North Carolina,” Minter said.

Minter, 34, eventually talked former Husker and Panther teammate Mike Rucker into taking a flier at broadcasting, too. Rucker retired from the Panthers after last season.

“Ruck was all, ‘I don’t know,’ and ‘Nobody wants my face on TV,’ and he was all nervous. But he tried out and came through like a champ,” Minter said.

For six days starting Aug. 11,  ESPNU, including Minter and Rucker, will preview all the major conferences at 5:30 p.m. each day.  Throughout the rest of the season, the show will air on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

“I’ve always wanted to do broadcasting,” Minter said. “I’ve done the Panthers’ postgame show last year and will do it this year. I’ve been a public speaker all over the country and I’ve learned what works and what groups of people want to hear.”

Minter is not afraid to get excited or to let his feelings be known.

When he was in Baghdad with Rucker last winter just before the Super Bowl, he predicted the Giants would upset New  England. They watched the game with the U.S. soldiers and Minter won a bet for a car wash from Rucker. 

More recently, after watching  tape of a key play in last year’s Georgia-Florida game, Minter predicted that Florida coach Urban Meyer will use that tape as a big motivator for this year.

“That upset a lot of Georgia people. That’s the way I saw it,” he said.

This fall, Minter will also play host to a high school coach’s radio show on Saturday mornings in Concord, N.C.

Oh, he’s the new head football coach at First Assembly Christian School.

“They’re a private school champion but I’m taking them into the public school competition and that’s a big step up,” Minter said. 

In the meantime, he is the managing partner of Ruckus House, a learning center for preschool kids and helps run the Ruckus Foundation, which provides scholarships for high school students going into teacher education.

There’s also Minter Properties, million-dollar housing in gated communities around Charlotte and his new book “Driven by Purpose … The Power of a Dream,” which is coming out this fall. “I grew up poor in Lawton (Okla.),  got some breaks along the way but kept my dream of playing football, playing at Nebraska and playing in the NFL.

“Now it’s my turn to give back and share what I’ve learned.”

Minter said his book will be a stark contrast to “Hero of the Underground,” a book by former Husker and Carolina teammate Jason Peter (currently No. 33 on the New York Times non-fiction bestseller list).

“I haven’t read Jason’s book, but from what Coach Osborne told me, my book will be different,” Minter said.

Reach Ken Hambleton at 473-7313 or khambleton@journalstar.com.