Blaine Gabbert Says He’s ‘Big 12 Guy,’ Can’t Get Behind ‘SEC Stuff’
The Missouri Tigers haven’t been members of the Big 12 Conference for more than a decade, thanks to their departure for the SEC.
Blaine Gabbert hasn’t been a quarterback for the Tigers since 2010, when the Tigers were still part of the Big 12. That season he passed for 3,186 yards and led the Tigers to an upset of No. 1 Oklahoma.
Despite flaming out as a first-round pick with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2011, he’s still in the NFL. He’s carved out a role as a backup quarterback. While he’s thrown for less than 10,000 yards, he has a Super Bowl ring procured as Tom Brady’s backup in Tampa Bay for Super Bowl LV.
He is now under contract with the Kansas City Chiefs, the team that Tampa Bay beat in that Super Bowl and the current defending world champions. Signing with the Chiefs puts him close to his native Baldwin, Mo., and of course to Columbia, where he played his college football.
During an interview with television reporter PJ Green, who works for the Fox station in Kansas City, talked with Gabbert about the old days.
Turns out, Gabbert says he hasn’t been back to Columbia since he left for the NFL.
Is there a reason? This may not be the reason, but he definitely has an allegiance. But it’s not to Mizzou. It’s to the conference.
Gabbert called himself a “Big 12 guy at heart,” something that is likely to warm the heart of his old coach, Gary Pinkel, and any Tigers fans that still long for the Big 12 days, or for that matter the Big 8 days. He also says he “can’t get behind the SEC stuff.”
Whether Gabbert sticks around in Kansas City is a matter for training camp and the preseason, but it’s a depth chart filled with Big 12 connections. The starter is Patrick Mahomes, who started at Texas Tech. Another backup candidate is Shane Buechele, who started at Texas, which is preparing to leave for the SEC after the 2023-24 athletic year.
Chris Oladokun from South Dakota State is the other quarterback on the depth chart.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
