ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

It's always good to welcome a new recruit to the journalism field. That's why the announcement that Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel will be doing what I do -- at least on a weekly basis -- will be so interesting as he starts writing a weekly column for The Sporting News' digital edition. Chase, welcome to the club. Here's to a big season and some interesting prose, too.

And here's to some links from around the Big 12 this morning. Just don't ask me to throw a 20-yard out pattern.  

• The Lawrence Journal-World says that Mark Mangino won't be hearing those jibes about his team's schedule this season.
• Pete Fiutak of collegefootballnews.com says that Texas has developed a noticeable mean streak in the last few months.
• Former Baylor athletic director Tom Stanton received some good-natured ribbing for some of his football hires at a roast for Baylor women's basketball coach, Kim Mulkey.
• Inside Texas gurus Bill Frisbie and Ross Lucksinger break down this week's news from the Forty Acres in a podcast. It's about 38 minutes, but is well worth it for displaced Longhorn fans from across the country -- and others.
• Big 12 powers Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Nebraska were disappointed Wednesday when highly regarded Rockhurst (Mo.) senior QB Nathan Scheelhaase committed to Illinois for the 2009 season. Interestingly, Scheelhaase's father and uncle both played for Iowa.
• What a concept -- riblets and pigskin. Iowa State officials are offering a $99 Applebee's Mini-Pack. The deal provides a ticket to three ISU games and a $20 restaurant gift card at the restaurant for $99. Games include either South Dakota State or Kent State, Nebraska, and either Texas A&M or Missouri.
• Clemson coach Tommy Bowden  told The State that until he wins a championship, he'll be perceived like Texas coach Mack Brown and his father, Florida State coach Bobby Bowden, before they won titles.
• Despite wet weather, the $19.5 million renovation project at Jack Trice Stadium is on schedule and should be completed by its Aug. 1 target date. Most interesting point of the story is that the construction manager for the project is Ben Bruns, a former All-American center at Iowa State.
• The Red River Rivalry isn't like it used to be, according to SI.com's Stewart Mandel.
• Quoting "golden sources," everydayshouldbesaturday.com says that the Dallas Morning News' Texas beat writer Chip Brown is headed to a national web site.
• Clay Horning of the Norman Transcript boils down the Bob Stoops era into one tidy column.
• While not technically a story on Big 12 football, this one was too good to resist. Former Missouri basketball point guard Jason Sutherland has surfaced as a football quarterback for the Kansas Kaos in the North American Football League -- 11 seasons after his college basketball career concluded.