Category: College

Texas head coach Tom Herman stepped to the podium for his press conference and gave the item Longhorns want to hear. “I just want to let you know that we are really excited about this season,” he said. “Our culture is firmly ingrained, our guys are in as good a shape as I’ve ever seen them. They’re hungry to compete in the Big 12, which has done a fantastic job.” He stated that 60 players have a vertical jump of more than  30 inches, 42 players can powerclean more than…

Read More

What a difference a year makes. In 2017 Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury was asked during Big 12 Media Days how the Red Raiders could improve defensively after a 2016 season where it seemed like they couldn’t stop hardly anyone. In 2018 Kingsbury walked in and was told Texas Tech led the conference in preseason all-conference selections on the defensive side during Big 12 Media Days. And Kingsbury was quick to credit defensive coordinator David Gibbs, a man who has worked with the head coach for four years. The Red…

Read More

TCU head coach Gary Patterson did something unusual, he said, when he brought sophomore quarterback Shawn Robinson with him to Big 12 Media Days. “Usually I don’t bring a young player with me,” Patterson said. “I joked the other day with somebody (that) two years ago I didn’t bring Kenny Hill, and we went 6-6, and last year I brought him, and we went 11-3.” Patterson added that he brought Robinson because of superstition, not because the sophomore is the new starter. Still, it’s hard to think it’s someone else.…

Read More

Commissioner Bob Bowlsby of the Big 12 Conference began his state of the conference address by noting his league was the only one in the country to have a representative in the College Football Playoffs, the men’s basketball Final Four, College World Series, and the women’s College World Series. He noted the Texas had every team that wears the burnt orange make the postseason and that Oklahoma had three first-round draft picks in Baker Mayfield (NFL), Kyler Murray (MLB) and Trae Young (NBA). Bowlsby welcomed new athletics directors Jeremiah Donati…

Read More

Three new head coaches, one who has served his institution continuously for the longest, one elder statesman and one on the hotseat highlighted this year’s Big 12 Media Days. As for the remaining four, they are just like the others — trying to win the conference, create competition and depth in all positions, and get ready for a competitive league. Who was the most impressive? Who was the most intense? Who was the most accessible? All 10 in his own way stood out. But we’ll start with the three new…

Read More

Months earlier Texas head coach Tom Herman called junior safety P.J. Locke’s parents to thank them for how they raised their son. Locke had been making quite the impression on the new staff in the weight room, on the field, in the classroom and everywhere else. But all those impressions evaporated because of a lost water bottle. Locke speculates his water bottle fell out of his bag while he was in the players lounge. The missing bottle was found by the wrong person — Herman — who texted the safety…

Read More

Swagger. Quarterback Kenny Hill had it when he led Texas A&M to a 52-28 win over South Carolina to open the 2014 season that a conference network. On that night Hill completed 44 of 60 passes for 511 yards and three touchdowns. But he later transferred to TCU, sat out a year, and took over as the starter for the Horned Frogs last season. Though Hill completed the second-most passes in TCU history by hitting 269 of 440 passes for 3,208 yards and 17 touchdowns and led all Big 12…

Read More

New Baylor head coach Matt Rhule knew the challenges that came with accepting the job in Waco. But he also saw tremendous opportunity that included playing in a great conference at a university that shares his personal values. Rhule spoke during the second day of Big 12 Media Days July 18. “What I did not know was just how many phenomenal people there are at Baylor University and really, in part, in the entire community,” he said. “Men and women who are committed to education, to faith, to service, to…

Read More

New Texas head coach Tom Herman gave Longhorns fans some hope July 18 when he began the second day of Big 12 Media Days. Herman was asked to compare his time at Texas when he was graduate assistant about two decades ago to where the program is today. “I think they’re very comparable,” he said. He noted that when Mack Brown took over at Texas, the program was coming off a losing season in 1997. But the Longhorns had won the Big 12 in 1996 after winning the Southwest Conference…

Read More