As Wednesday comes to a close, that means that Big 12 Media Days is officially in the books. Much like day one, it was a day filled with plenty of excitement and anticipation out in Las Vegas. Between all the coaches, players, and scenery, there was a lot to take away. And while I am sad to see media days come to an end, I wanted to share my biggest storylines from day two.
Coach Prime Was Complimentary
When most people think about Colorado Head Coach Deion Sanders, they think that he is all about himself. Well, on Wednesday, he was quick to thank many people around him. Deion said that Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark was a “baller, shot caller, and a boss.” Coming from a guy like Deion, that is pretty darn cool if you ask me, and it just shows the level of respect he has for the Big 12 commissioner.
Sanders also gave a shoutout to some other Big 12 head coaches, such as Joey McGuire, Mike Gundy, and Gus Malzahn, by calling them legends. In fact, he even had a moment in his presser where he showed some appreciation to Joey McGuire, saying, “My son played for Joey in high school. Joey has been the same consistent, great coach that he’s always been. Joey, if you are out there, I love you, I appreciate you, and you just keep doing what you are doing except when we come to play you. But I love you, man, I really do. You have done a wonderful job at Texas Tech.”
The New Dave Aranda?
I am not sure why, but it felt like Baylor head coach Dave Aranda was a totally different person that what we are used to seeing. Typically, he will start answering a question with “I appreciate your question” before giving an answer. But we didn’t see that happen at all on Wednesday, and when he was asked about Baylor’s recent recruiting success, Dave said: “We are paying players.” I don’t know if it’s because his seat is on fire with back-to-back disappointing seasons or what, but I think I like this new version of Dave Aranda compared to the one we have seen the last two years.
Jalon Daniels is Ready to Go
After missing most of last season due to a back injury, Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels appears to be 100% ready to go. “I feel like right now, I’ve already ramped up to where I would be if I was playing a game tomorrow,” Daniels said.
Along with the injury riddled season, there were also plenty of rumors surrounding Jalon in regard to staying at Kansas. “I never had intentions on leaving the program,” Jalon said. “Never had any ill will towards any of my teammates. If I was able to be there for my team, I would have been there. People had questions about me not traveling to certain games; physically I couldn’t travel to certain games.”
Is the ACC in Trouble?
In an interview with John Kurtz at Big 12 Media Days, Yahoo! Sports’ Ross Dellenger said that there are “early conversations” between the Big 12 and a couple of ACC schools (Florida State and Clemson) looking to leave the league.
“There is at least early conversation between the Big 12 and those schools about the possibility,” Dellenger told Kurtz. “I don’t know that it’s anything serious yet because they do have to get out of the ACC, whether that’s through a settlement or a court ruling. So, we could be months, or even years away from something, but that does seem to be one of the possibilities, is the Big 12.”
Now, before we all lose our minds on this, Ross did lay out some other options for the ACC and did mention that this would be a last resort for Florida State and Clemson. It’s clear that the ACC is going through some turmoil with five pending lawsuits going on with those two schools, but as of now, nobody truly knows what will happen. But this did give us something to talk about until then.
Are you Ready for Some Football?
Not to steal a line from the old Monday Night Football song by Hank Williams Jr. but with media days coming to an end, that means that the start of the football season is right around the corner. The time for talking is over and now we just have to patiently wait until kickoff. 2024 Media Days turned out to be a hit and I wouldn’t be surprised to see it in Vegas once again next year.
Before I close out, I just wanted to give a quick shoutout to our own Matthew Postins and Joe Tillery. They represented Heartland College Sports out in Las Vegas this week and did an incredible job with coverage. Those two carried the website, and I couldn’t be happier to have them here covering the Big 12 Conference. I just hope they didn’t blow all of their money at the casino and were able to bring some cash back home!
