It’s nearing football time -- Maryland begins August practices on Aug. 10 -- which means the end of vacation season for the media following the Terps. Time to say goodbye to such vacation-time guilty pleasures as watching train-wreck reality shows. Anybody see “Bridezillas” this summer?

I’m in Greensboro, N.C., covering the ACC Football Kickoff conference. All the league’s coaches are here, plus two players from each team (Chris Turner and Nolan Carroll are representing the Terps) and assorted media members and bowl game officials.

Like many players, Turner and Carroll are wrapping up summer jobs. Carroll worked at the National Institutes of Health with children with immune-system disorders. Turner was an intern for Maryland congressman Steny Hoyer, the House majority leader.

Turner spent part of his internship fielding telephone calls from Hoyer constituents. Some called to register complaints, as constituents are wont to do. Turner didn’t identify himself when answering the office phone, so complainers never knew the man on the other end of the line happens to rank seventh in Maryland career passing yards.

Turner, by the way, told me he may be interested in government and politics as a career. But he emphasized that he’d like to try for the NFL first.