LAS VEGAS — Big 12 Football Media Days wrapped up on Wednesday at Allegiant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Las Vegas Raiders. All 16 teams took part in the two-day conference.
Here is a collection of the most interesting things each coach talked about:
Central Florida coach Gus Malzahn on ASU coach Kenny Dillingham
“I’m a big fan of Kenny’s. He did a great job with us in 2019 (at Auburn). He was my coordinator. We had Bo Nix as a true freshman, we had some huge wins over Oregon and Alabama. He’s young, but he’s got a lot of wisdom as far as football goes and his approach, and he’s got his own way. I think nowadays in college football, the guys that are true to themselves and the way they go about it, I think they’re going to have an advantage. Arizona State is lucky to have him. I think he’s one of those guys that are really rising up in the coaching profession.”
Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy on RB Ollie Gordon II, who appeared despite a recent arrest for suspicion of driving under the influence
“I think that it affected him like it would most people. 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. I can only give you some indication on what I’ve seen over the last week. I sit back and thought about what I thought was best for Oklahoma State, Oklahoma State football and Ollie as we move forward, and we made decisions. The other thing I shared with Ollie yesterday was after he decided that he wanted to come to today’s event, this is finished today. It’s over for me. I’ve already made the decisions that I think what’s best for you and this team, and you need to make the decisions and the comments what you think is best for yourself and the team. And then after today it’s over with.”
Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham on offseason preparation
“It’s exciting because this league probably has more diversity in terms of defensive scheme than any league I’ve ever been in. This league, you see four down, you see four down simulated pressures, you see odd fronts, you see odd fives, you see four down fronts with 4-2-5 schemes and you see four down with three high safety schemes. Most leagues I’ve been in have one or two flavors of the league. This league has variety of flavors. You have to be able to practice that in your fall camp and build it into your schedule so the first time your guys haven’t seen it is the week leading up to the week of the game. It’s one of the most fun parts of this league from an offensive perspective. And then defensively, this league has turned into smash mouth, and you’ve got to practice tough to be competitive in this league. That’s something that I hope our defense embraces and takes on, is that toughness of what it takes to stop people in this league with all the running backs.”
Colorado coach Deion Sanders on the Division I recruitment process
“I’ve sat in all seats, the parent’s seat, being recruited as the kid, now being the coach. That helps me tremendously when I’m recruiting. When I’m understanding what the parent is thinking, what the kid is thinking, now what the coach desires to want to know. It’s been a tremendous asset for me to understand those facets of this new recruiting age that is impacted tremendously by NILs and collectives. So I love it. Sometimes I don’t like it, but I love it and I love that these kids are being compensated somewhat for what they bring to the table. I don’t want them to put the bag before the game because if you have the game, the bag is going to come. I want them to understand that. I just don’t want to take away from the purity of this wonderful game that we have.”
Texas Tech coach Joey McGuire on the school’s relationship with Patrick Mahomes
“I don’t think anybody in here can come up with a guy at the level that he’s playing at, the best quarterback in the world, and doing what he’s doing whenever it comes to the university and is going to continue to do that. I always tell everybody, we’re playing in Lawrence, Kansas last year and probably the large majority of the NFL on their bye week are going somewhere to take a break, and he’s on the sideline in Lawrence, Kansas, watching us play the Jayhawks. The guy just absolutely loves Texas Tech. What’s cool is being able to join Adidas and Patrick Mahomes, he gets to wear the double T every single day without any tape over any other logo. And I just really credit him for what he’s done. He’s one of the guys literally that texts me, because his number changed, texts me: Coach, what do you need? He’s one of those guys that is always there for us.”
Utah coach Kyle Whittingham on what coach Deion Sanders has brought to Colorado
“Coach Sanders has done a great job infusing excitement into that program and talent. His own sons are terrific players. … They started off very strong last year. Injuries caught up to them and didn’t end the way they wanted. But he’s definitely rejuvenated things in Boulder. We get to go to Boulder this year. It’s a tough place to play. And last time we were in Boulder there wasn’t many people in the stands, and now it’s full every week. So that will be an environment that we have not experienced there.”
BYU coach Kalani Sitake on his quarterback battle
“We knew we needed to get better at a lot of different positions. I can’t tell you that there’s a deadline other than when we know, we will know. And when the player takes it, and we have a good amount of players that can play. We have four quarterbacks that have played college football. Gerry Bohanon…
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