Ep 382: Lets Talk About It, Big 12 Buzz: Media Days Highlights, NIL Impact, and Preseason Predictions

Ever wondered how the transfer portal and NIL are reshaping the landscape of college football? Join us as we unpack the dynamic state of the Big 12 Conference with insights from Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark and examine this year's buzz from the Big 12 Football Media Days in Las Vegas. With Utah positioned as a championship favorite and Colorado's resurgence under Coach Deion Sanders, we'll explore the preseason expectations that have everyone talking. We'll also dive into the camaraderie among Big 12 coaches and how they've adapted to modern challenges, including the impact of the transfer portal and NIL. Plus, hear about Coach Mike Gundy's approach to handling Ollie Gordon's recent legal issues and what it means for the season ahead.

Get ready to meet the standout stars of the Big 12, starting with Texas Tech's Taj Brooks, who's on the brink of breaking a historic rushing record. We'll also break down TCU's strategic rebound efforts under Sonny Dykes and Baylor's significant off-season moves, including the game-changing addition of offensive mastermind Jake Spavdal. And don't miss our look at former Texas quarterback Cameron Rising's potential at Utah. As we gear up for an exciting season, we’ll share the latest from both Big 12 and SEC media days, including the thrill surrounding Texas and Oklahoma's debut year in the SEC. Tune in for an episode brimming with expert analysis and the electric energy of college football's evolving landscape!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

We are truly a national conference in 10 states, four time zones and all eyes are now on the big 12, for all the right reasons, and I think it's safe to say we are more relevant now than ever before.

Speaker 2: 0:21

Bold statements by the big 12 commissioner that Brett Urmark, I've got to give it to him. He is innovative, he's very bullish in the most positive way. You lose Texas and Oklahoma two programs, story programs and programs who win a lot of championships on the national level and two programs which have brands which really sell not only nationally but are recognized globally. Brett Yormark has done a phenomenal job in this modern era of collegiate athletics. This was the first Big 12 football media days, just wrapped up in Las Vegas, bringing the, the Big 12 brand, which is across the country now 16 programs and I want to say this Not a lot of people will agree with me Big 12, the Big 12 conference is going to survive and will flourish in what is now Power 4 conferences. Big 12 Football Media Days. Let's talk about it.

Speaker 3: 1:35

Good to see you here. I need a little more energy. If you want some energy for me, because this is horrible. If I was in church I'd get up and walk out right now.

Speaker 2: 1:44

Absolutely hilarious. Sean Cronkite is prime time in his second season as the head football coach of the Colorado Buffaloes. He is a guy that brings a lot of attention for his accomplishments, as when he was at Florida State, to what he did as prime time, the brand there, coach Prime, and what he was as a defensive back in the NFL. I am Sean Clinch, the host of Stories Inside the man Cave podcast. Let's talk about it Big 12 Football Media Days. And you know, none of this occurs, these episodes, without our sponsors, two of which will begin on your left Shoal Creek Saloon. Man, you could have some of the best Louisiana delights year-round at Shoal Creek Saloon and nothing beats that porch overlooking Shoal Creek. It's a beautiful ATX, original and Honest Plumbing and Air had a name change with a new ownership group next to last year, but same great service and Honest Plumbing and Air, where a handshake still means something. Hey, be sure to like us on all of our social media platforms. We're there on every platform imaginable.

Speaker 2: 2:54

Now the media's preseason poll of Big 12 football. Well, it was released last week. The media did pick the Utah Utes solid pick to win the championship of this newly foreign, renovated, if you will, and just a new conference without Texas and Oklahoma. The Utes a good, solid pick, kansas State and Oklahoma State below them. But Colorado Deion Sanders, stevie Lee and I talked about this on our last episode of the Pass Rush with Stevie Lee that there is some respect for Colorado being picked 11th out of 16th. You know they had quite a few freshmen and newcomers playing last year up in Boulder and you know they had a good start but had a. They were brought down to earth as they dove into that Pac-12 conference, that schedule they were in last year.

Speaker 2: 3:49

But Deion Sanders knows how to sell. He knows how to sell and he knows how to. I really know. I feel like he knows how to recruit and he is acclimating, like every coach in America is. They're adapting to the transfer portal and how to navigate the name, image and likeness and all the money that is now available to these quote student athletes and you know both the portal and the NIL. I'm all for. It doesn't matter what my opinion is. My opinion is but one thing if you look at Deion Sanders, what he has done and what he did in his first ever Big 12 media days is really connect and he has connected well and he gave a shout out to basically all the Big 12 coaches when it was his time to take the stage coaches when it was his time to take the stage.

Speaker 3: 4:48

Coach Gandhi is a darn legend. So being at the Big 12 meetings and getting a chance to meet a multitude of these head coaches that have just welcomed me with open arms, they have been phenomenal. And Joey McGuire, my son Junior, where you at Junior World of media, he played for Coach McGuire in high school and Joey has been the same consistent, great coach that he's always been. Joey, if you're out there, I love you, I appreciate you. You keep on doing what you do, accept when we come to play you. I want you to keep on doing your thing.

Speaker 2: 5:21

That was genuine. I've only met him twice and I only interviewed him once in my entire 21 years when I was back in the media. He really does care about his kids and he's a great father. From all the indications Played at Cedar, you know, when Joey McGuire was a high school coach in Cedar Hill and in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, obviously the connection was made there.

Speaker 2: 5:51

But when you look at Colorado, they're only going to get better. What is better, though? I mean the Big 12, I mean last year, the Pac-12 was surprisingly a good league. A lot of people thought it would be weak. It was not. But as far as Colorado, look for a significant leap. Four to five wins in addition to what they achieved seven or eight wins, I think, is a marked success in Boulder, and one of the coaches that he mentioned right off, he called Mike Gundy a legend, which he is. Mike Gundy, I'm a man, I'm 40, back in 07. I was there for that. I'm still shocked after a big win over Texas Tech. But Gundy was presented a question and you've heard it the nation's top, the leading rusher in the country last year. Ollie Gordon, tremendous running back. Top the leading rusher in the country last year. Ollie Gordon, tremendous running back. Texas pretty much shut him down, denied him in the Big 12 championship game last year. He was arrested on suspicion of a DUI recently and Mike Gundy brought him to Big 12 media days.

Speaker 4: 7:00

Ollie's doing fine. I've visited with him multiple times over the last week. Be quite honest with you. Yesterday we had another hour of conversation and it was really the first time that he smiled. I think that it affected him like it would most people.

Speaker 2: 7:27

We brought him here today so you guys could ask him that question. That was one of the reasons that I wanted to bring him here. So I don't find a problem in that. I feel like, as you grow up and from from a teenager to a young adult, that this is a good opportunity, especially being ollie gordon, what he has all eyes are on him across the country as either a Heisman Trophy candidate, a leader of Oklahoma State. And you know, in this situation, we I'm not going to say for everybody, but we have all made errors in judgment.

Speaker 2: 8:00

So I agree with Mike Gundy, and there were some comments that he made that were, in my opinion, were misconstrued. You bring one of your leaders to face the music, so to speak, and I thought it was a great decision by Mike Gundy to do that. We have all made decisions when we were younger and even now, as adults, we're human. We make errors in judgment In this case. Now, like for me, I am a big supporter of Uber, 100%. I think, mike Gundy, this is a great opportunity for them to take over the league, so to speak, in the absence of Oklahoma and Texas.

Speaker 2: 8:41

Mike Gundy, very consistent, great program in Stillwater, oklahoma. It resonates they're adapting to the NIL world, just like all the programs are. It's a new landscape. Now another guy that you heard Deion Sanders mention, joey McGuire, and I thought Joey McGuire is showing his personality and you see why he was such a good coach at the high school level as an assistant at Baylor, and now you see why people and kids are going to Lubbock to play for him. He is a player's coach and his personality number one is one of the main reasons. And here he is. He's talking about a question that he received from one of his old linemen that was part of the core of Red Raiders who made the appearance to represent Tech in Las.

Speaker 5: 9:38

Vegas. How are you doing? You know so, you've had some guys speak very highly about you today when it comes to your energy and you know embodying that. So how do you give that away to your players? How do you allow them to just be themselves at all times and, you know, be just like you?

Speaker 6: 9:55

Well, caleb, it's great to see you today. Thank you for that question. That's my starting right guard, caleb Rodgers, started 42 college football games. I'm glad that he decided to come back.

Speaker 6: 10:06

You know, I think the biggest thing that as coaches, you know, we put so much stress on our young men this is a tough game. It's a full-time job, it's 24-7 being a student athlete. And so if you're not consistent, if they don't see the same guy every single day whenever they walk into the building, then it puts a lot of pressure on them. What they're going to see whenever they come into the building with me is I'm fired up to see them. You know I'm always going to smile. I want the best part of their day to be when they walk into our football facility. And then I think it's hard whenever you try to put parameters, you're conformed people and not let them be who they're supposed to be, and you know, I think it kind of stunts their growth as men. I think you've got to help them become that guy, but I think you also got to let them be who they are.

Speaker 2: 10:58

I love that and that is a coach who has acclimated and learned about young people, because all of my coaching friends in every sport I pretty much had the same conversation with them. The kids haven't changed. We all talk about generations do change and that's a fact. I'm different from when my parents were my age, when I was a teenager in 20 or in the 20s, and my group of friends, their kids are. It's just different. But the one thing kids want, they want discipline. But they also want authority, figures and in this case, coaches to adapt. Adapt to them. I mean, go back to Mack Brown when he was the head coach at Texas, and a good example is when Vince Young was on that roster. Mack Brown changed as a coach when he learned to let the kids be kids and the players love Mack Brown. He was a player's coach and let players be who they are, and that could be implemented, applied to just in the professional business world. Allow people to be who they are and you get productivity that way.

Speaker 2: 12:18

Well, joey McGuire has one of the nation's top running backs. I'm a big fan of this kid, todd Brooks. He is on the brink of potentially becoming the all-time leading rusher or career, you know, at Texas Tech and he's up for so many national awards, including the Heisman Trophy and brilliant marketing strategy by Texas Tech Sports Information Department. They created a website called it's Taj Time. He's from the Austin area, manor Texas, great, running back for the Manor Mustangs, great kid, great family, and he has been a joy to watch.

Speaker 2: 13:02

I mean it's almost like one of my own, or like a little brother just enjoying watching his success, because every ounce of success that Taj Brooks has experienced he deserves, because he has put forth the time and effort, not only as the athlete but the human being, man, and he is every bit of NIL. Every bit of success and praise is because he walks the walk, talks the talk, walks the walk, and he is definitely one of those guys. If I had a son I would want him to be like. But look at this. They created a Texas Tech did this, created a poker chip, because they're in Vegas with his picture on it and he's going around handing it out to people while at Big 12 Media Days and it has a QR code on it. You scan it, you know what and you watch it and you can vote for Taj to be not only a candidate but follow along his journey as he's entering his final season. But this is Taj handing out a poker chip to one of his former quarterbacks.

Speaker 3: 14:17

How has your game changed? This last year.

Speaker 8: 14:20

How have you gotten better?

Speaker 2: 14:24

Alan Bowman, former quarterback of Texas Tech, now a quarterback. I believe it is seventh season in Stillwater for Mike Gundy and Oklahoma State. But I could go on more about Taj Brooks. I hope that he is one of the finalists on that stage for the Heisman Trophy in December. But going back to Joey Maguire, I think he is the 31 seconds of Joey Maguire talking about his running back Taj Brooks.

Speaker 6: 14:55

Taj Brooks. Somebody asked me earlier and this is going to sound funny, but he's kind of the security blanket when everything chaos is going on and a lot of things are happening in the game. We've been through some injuries at quarterback. He's the guy that's there and is steady. He's the same guy every day. He's an absolutely incredible teammate and we're 1,167 yards away from tying Hanspard's record and we're 1,168 away from breaking it and our plan is to break it.

Speaker 2: 15:27

That's amazing. And Tosh Brooks has 3,052 career rushing yards. That's great at any program for a career, but even more so impressive he's got one more season. God willing he stays injury-free. Byron Hanspard ran the rock at Tech. He was a great running back. By the way, texas Tech has had some phenomenal running backs over the years, even during the run-and and shoot years or the spread offense years with Mike Leach late great Mike Leach. Byron Hanspard has 4,219 career rushing yards at Texas Tech. Taj is sitting at 3,052. Do the math he's capable, because if I do my math right, he had over 1,500 yards last year. He's capable.

Speaker 2: 16:21

And with that offensive line I think that Tech has developed. I mean even had an impressive run. Texas put it on Tech last year in Austin. But even during that, taj broke off on one of the more impressive runs I've seen and it was all him, all him muscle, and he talked about. He is that guy that Texas Tech leans on, as Coach McGuire mentioned. Now, as far as TCU, tcu played for the national championship two seasons ago and then had a losing season. And I'm a big fan of Sonny Dykes, I really am. But for them to get back to where they were, I think they're going to do it because they've they've made some great, not only good recruiting, but they've made some key acquisitions in the transfer portal, because that's the name of this game. But when you hear Sonny Dykes talk about the Big 12, you know, over the last few years, parity top to bottom and the depth of it. I mean, we always talk about the SEC, and rightfully so, big 10, and rightfully so. But really I think the Big 12 deserves more.

Speaker 8: 17:32

What makes the Big 12 unique is parity. You know, if you look at the Big 10, you look at the SEC, you look at the ACC, the same teams have represented those leagues year in, year out, in the conference championship games. In the last three years, six different Big 12 teams have been in the championship game.

Speaker 2: 17:55

So I think, right there, that speaks to the parity of the league, you know you'd like to think that Baylor, which two seasons ago won the conference and won the Sugar Bowl 12-2, but fell off deeply I mean three years ago, so six and seven and three and nine years and last year they were absolutely awful um in many categories and it's hard to understand. But in the off season um, dave Aranda, the head coach, made some significant moves, significant moves with his staff, really went after it in the portal with transfers, and the Baylor boosters and fans have really jumped on board of NIL with the collective. And one key acquisition that I think is big for them in their offense is an alumni of Stories Inside the man Cave, that being Jake Spavdal, offensive genius, was once the head coach of Texas State and has really done some great things offensively. He is a genius and a quarterback developer and Dave Aranda spoke on that about the addition of Spav to his staff and add to confidence in offense.

Speaker 1: 19:21

And I think the ability to bring people in that fit that that can play in space, that have the ability to play slot, the ability to play on a number one receiver, either the Z or X, but be a matchup problem, could be a tight end type body. I think those are all things that we're able to address in the portal to help the offense.

Speaker 2: 19:45

And he's talking about the type of guys that they need to run Spavadol's offense effectively and it is a brilliant offense. It's very much off of the Howe, mummy and Mike Leach coaching tree. You know you and honestly I always like talking about this. When I was a senior in high school we had Ray Dowdy came in and took over the Anderson Trojans program and his offensive coordinator, larry Adair. We were kind of ahead of our time. We just didn't have enough of the talent. But it was spread out people and you run your route according to how the DBs line up and obviously on the right side you have 0, 2, 4, 6, 8. As far as squares on the field on the other side, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9. You read your coverage as a receiver in front of you and you adjust your route accordingly and the quarterback reads it as well. And as you have repetitions and that's what David Aranda's talking about as these quarterbacks the quarterback and the receivers get on the same page. Spavadal is a genius at coaching that and really giving more freedom to the players, that being the receivers running backs and those tight ends who can play the flex positions. Baylor should have a great offense this year. I mean it really should, and it's going to be interesting. It's going to be fun to watch because you do have a guy like Jake Spavadal developing these guys Longhorn fans.

Speaker 2: 21:20

You remember Cameron Rising, cam Rising? He was Tom Herman, one of those quarterbacks, many quarterbacks that he brought onto the 40 acres for Texas and namely the 2018 season. He was on that roster. He transferred to Utah. He's had some injuries, great physical quarterback, good arm and potentially could be on an NFL roster this time next year. Well, he was injured last year part of the season and he is loved in Salt Lake City for the Utes and they are a team and he's playing for a team that could not only win the Big 12, but could be, and very well could be, playing in the CFP, the expanded CFP. Well, he's learned quickly the rivalry, the big rivalry in the state of Utah, that being Utah and Brigham. I just don't really like BYU Jeez.

Speaker 1: 22:20

This is normal. This is normal.

Speaker 7: 22:23

I feel like I'm definitely the red part of Utah. That is the good side, I'd say.

Speaker 2: 22:30

I don't know why people have a problem with that.

Speaker 8: 22:33

It's okay for you to say that. That's what makes it great.

Speaker 7: 22:37

I don't like seeing the Y anywhere. I don't really care for it. It's definitely a rivalry.

Speaker 2: 22:42

Cam Rising. He stayed true to who he is and he's now. You love to see a guy leave a program and succeed. He's done that and obviously loving it and embracing the rivalry there between BYU and succeed. He's done that and obviously loving it and embracing the rivalry there between BYU and Utah. I'm going to take a quick break and give a shout out to our friends at Shoal Creek Saloon. We'll be right back.

Speaker 2: 23:05

Hi, this is Sean Clinch, the host of Stories Inside the man Cave Podcast, and this episode is brought to you by our friends at Shoal Creek Saloon, your unofficial home to UT men's and women's basketball. What I wouldn't do for a bowl of that amazing gumbo on the porch with a cold beverage at Shoal Creek Saloon and you can watch any sport. It's not just limited to UT men's and women's basketball. They've got Astros Rangers and it would be a great place to watch a football game in this college football season, including the SEC now, because that is also the home to LSU and a lot of Texas Longhorn fans. I encourage you to go to Show Creek Saloon and watch games this year. But SEC almost said Big 12.

Speaker 2: 24:09

Big 12 media day is done. Sec media day is next week in Dallas at the Omni Hotel. It all begins early next week and that will be fun. Texas and OU first year. They don't have to go far in Dallas for SEC Media Days and we'll have it all covered here as well. On Stories Inside the man Cave this is perhaps the longest edition of let's Talk About it. These are usually from anywhere from four to five minutes to maybe 15 minutes, made an exception to get all the Big 12 football media days in. And you know what, when in doubt, when college football is being discussed or are there any debates, whether it's Big 12 or SEC, it's always good to talk about it. We'll be right back.