ESPN College Football

Had my first pepperoni roll on Tuesday. I'm impressed.

• Lee Barfknecht of the Omaha World-Herald catches up with former KU coach Turner Gill at his new home at Liberty. He admitted he was surprised he was fired after two seasons in Kansas, but it "doesn't make myself any less of a person or less of a coach."
• Dana Holgorsen's new staff is coming together in his second year at WVU, writes Mike Casazza of the Charleston Daily Mail.
• Bill Snyder warns his team: Last year is not this year. Success doesn't easily carry over, so the Wildcats better work, writes Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle.
• Definitive word on Kansas receiver/Oklahoma transfer Justin McCay could be coming this week, writes Rustin Dodd of the Kansas City Star. He also updates on how life is different in Lawrence for the Jayhawks.
• How about this photo from waaaaaayy back in the day of Texas safety Kenny Vaccaro and Heisman winner Robert Griffin III?
• WVU offensive lineman Josh Jenkins is working back from an untimely knee injury, and he sounds psyched, writes Jack Bogaczyk of the Charleston Daily Mail.
• Bill Snyder is up to his old tricks and keeping details about his team quiet, writes Grant Guggisberg of the Topeka Capital-Journal.
• Receiver David Glidden sounds like he's making an impression in Stillwater this spring, but this could be Isaiah Anderson's time to shine.
• Here's a draft profile of Oklahoma State safety Markelle Martin from ESPN Dallas.
• Kansas quarterback Dayne Crist is studying up on Charlie Weis pupil Tom Brady.
• Here's an update on K-State injured speedster Tyler Lockett, and a look at what Glenn Gronkowski will be doing in Manhattan.
• Oklahoma's spring game will look a little different this year, and will its best offensive lineman be moving positions again?
• Don Williams of the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal has more on the newest Red Raider in the fold, as well as an examination of what should be a solid O-Line for the Red Raiders.
• Jenni Carlson of The Oklahoman wants to know how you feel about Landry Jones.
• Injuries have forced lesser-known names to emerge at Iowa State this spring.
• The Oklahoman's Jason Kersey takes you inside the new non-profit foundation a could Sooners have founded.
• Beware: This will probably make you cry.

I'm on the road today, so our weekly chat isn't going down. I'm not leaving you hanging, though. Here's a mini-mailbag full of your thoughts from the last day or so.

Gregg Myer in Elgin, Texas, asked: David, why would you say Texas A&M is "demanding" a 20 million dollar share of big 12 tv revenue. Were you not paying attention when this deal was offered to Texas A&M?

David Ubben: Look, let's not get hung up on semantics here. I got a handful of e-mails about that word, but let me be clear about this: I have zero problem with Texas A&M holding the Big 12 to its word, regardless of what Texas and Oklahoma chose to do. Get hung up on the word "demand" all you want, but it's correct, regardless of how you choose to interpret it or whatever connotations you want to take from it.

Some may use another loaded word, "greedy" to describe it, but it's a school looking out for itself. The Big 12 offered. It would help A&M. A&M took it. No problems there. Every school was looking out for itself this summer. Maybe that's greedy, but A&M wasn't the only school accepting any advantage it could get this summer. There's nothing wrong with that.

Kevin K in Lawton, Okla., asked: Isn't Nebraska a little overrepresented (5 out of 25) for a team that didn't play anybody and did poorly against the South?

DU: You mean the same team that sent nine players to the NFL combine and lost three games to Big 12 teams by a three, three and seven points and won the Big 12 North? If you haven't figured it out yet, no, I don't think they're overrepresented at all. Of course, I'm the one who composed the list, too.

Tyler in New York asks: David, I'm surprised that Husker emails still don't outnumber the other schools regardless of the new conference alignment. After all, with all due respect to spouses, kids, parents, girlfriends, boyfriends, friends, the dog, the cat, in-laws, jobs, churches, school, homework, the leaky faucet, and the 1' high front lawn, Nebraska football seems to trump everything in this state. That being said, I have heard a lot about the old Big 12 north schools now having a much harder schedule since they now have to play the big dogs from the south every year. It seems to me that if in one year a team would have played Nebraska and Oklahoma and now has to play Oklahoma and Texas instead, that the difficulty hasn't increased all that much because that's pretty tough either way. But, eeking out a win against one of the old south powers still would seem to carry more national respect than beating Nebraska. Seems to me its a much better opportunity for them. Because even though I realize Nebraska is the best team of all time, it seems that there are others that disagree. ;) Thoughts?

DU: Ha, I still get a lot of e-mails from/about Nebraska, as you can see. I don't post them unless they deal with Big 12 issues, but you pose an interesting question.

Before I get to that, I'm sure everyone on this blog would agree that Nebraska is the best team of all-time. If not all time, certainly of the past decade, right?

Historically, I'd agree with you, but for the better part of the Big 12's 15-year existence, Nebraska was a shell of its former self, nowhere near the perennial national title contender it was under Tom Osborne. It got a little closer to that the past couple seasons, but in the last decade, Texas and Oklahoma have been simply dominant. Nebraska, not so much.

So, as long as Texas rebounds from their troubles last year, I do see it being a lot more difficult for North teams, who haven't had to deal with the full brunt of the Nebraska that beat up on them in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Brett in Kansas City asked: Hey David, with the NFL locking out its current players right now and its future players come April is there any chance the NCAA might grant one time waivers for underclassmen who decided to enter the draft to come back to school?

DU: I've gotten this question a few times, but no, with most of them having already signed with agents, you'd run in to all kinds of problems, and most of the players who left early in the Big 12 (we're only talking three) are likely first rounders or early second rounders. Elsewhere, I haven't heard anything to suggest this is even a possibility.

Gene Dorris in Shanghai, China, writes: Dave, It is sometimes hard to get all the news here in China about what is going on back in Oklahoma, so I follow what you write pretty closely. One of the things to me that is not clear has been the press response to Broyles (Sooner) and Blackmon (Cowboys) deciding to stay another year. The immediate press story with the Broyles announcement of another year, was to glorify the Sooners as the next national champions. Brandon and Justin's announcement a few days later was met with barely a whimper. My guess is that these teams are going to be pretty near even in 2011. So why the lack of press play. I was told once by a former OU player from the 50's that one of the reasons for OU's success (publicity wise) was the fact that the Sooners had a better sport's publicist. Every year Bud had somebody tooting his horn really loud on how great he was and he always had a candidate for the Heisman to hype. And yes, Dave, I am a Cowboy fan and a former Pistol Pete from the 60's.

DU: I really don't think it has anything to do with publicists. It has more to do with winning games. Oklahoma historically has shown it can get to the national title game, even with heaps of pressure upon the program. Oklahoma State? They're going to have to prove it. The bottom line is, teams who win games get more benefit of the doubt. Oklahoma's played for the national championship four times in the past decade, losing three. The Cowboys had a great year in 2010, but their 11-win season was the first such year with double-digit wins since 1988. They've got a lot to prove.

Oklahoma is a more complete team than Oklahoma State, who is somewhat of a dark horse to make a run at the title, primarily on defense. And I don't agree that Blackmon and Weeden coming back was met with a whimper. That was a big deal, and provides Oklahoma State with the opportunity for an encore to a historic season in 2010.

Ryan Holliday in College Station asked: David, Von Miller was announced as one of the plaintiffs in the NFL antitrust lawsuit to represent rookies. Other names on this list include Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady. What are your thoughts on this? To me, this is pretty big. To hear the NFLPA talking about a young Aggie like that have been has to be good...right

DU: I was wondering that myself. I asked around about it over the weekend, and my understanding was the league wanted to make sure an incoming rookie was named in the suit so that any decision by the courts affected the rookie class, as well as current members of the league, and any decision made by the courts would not exclude incoming players like Miller. And the league wanted marketable faces on the lawsuit like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and out of the next draft, Miller seemed like a good fit. It matters who the plaintiffs are in a lawsuit like this. Miller hasn't been in trouble for anything on or off the field, with laws or the NCAA, he speaks well for himself, and is a sure-fire early first-round pick. It makes sense.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Former Missouri quarterback Chase Patton might be the most unlikely player in the Texas vs. the Nation All-Star Game.

First, Patton barely got a chance to play while in college. And he didn't even play for a Texas school.

But it's not as if Patton isn't complaining. He's just happy to be playing with the Texas team in Saturday's game at the Sun Bowl in El Paso.

"I'm very fortunate that I'm getting my opportunity," Patton said. "I want to go out and make the most of my chance when I get it."

Patton arrived at Missouri as one of the Midwest's most heralded high school players after earning Missouri Gatorade Player of the Year honors in 2003. He was rated as one of the top five quarterbacks nationally coming to Missouri in the recruiting class of 2004.

The plan was for Patton to sit behind Brad Smith for a couple of years and then take over the starting position after Smith graduated.

But shortly after Patton's arrival, Missouri coach Gary Pinkel switched to a spread offensive attack that put a premium on movement. It also was the same offense that Chase Daniel played in high school.

Daniel thrived in the offense, beating out Patton to become one of the most decorated players in the school's football history. Patton threw only 31 passes during his college career as he backed up Daniel.

Some might be surprised that Patton never left for another playing opportunity. But the Columbia, Mo., native believes that his college experiences have given him perspective that will suit him well in whatever he does in the rest of his life.

"My faith is a big part of my life," Patton said. "I wouldn't have scripted it like it's played out, but I've learned some things about perseverance and mental toughness through what I've done. There have been a lot of valuable things that I've learned, but it's been hard sometimes to see something good come out of it."

And a funny thing happened as pro scouts looked at Daniel and compared him to Patton. It turns out the second-stringer might be better suited to play professionally because of his size and arm strength.

Scouts love Patton's size (6-foot-5, 220 pounds). But he's very raw and hasn't really shown much while playing for the Tigers, leaving his ability as something of a mystery for pro scouts who have flocked to watch workouts this week.

He's working under center for the first time in several years during his workouts for Saturday's game after operating in the shotgun in Pinkel's offense for most of his college career.

After providing some anxious initial moments, Patton is warming to the change.

"It was a little tough getting my chemistry with my receivers early in the week," Patton said. "But I'm getting comfortable just going out and playing and not thinking. I'm getting into rhythm and things are starting to come together for me."

(Read full post)

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

Former Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee sometimes speaks of his "frustrating" college career.

But he's determined to shoot for a chance at an NFL career.

McGee told KMOL, the NBC-TV affiliate in San Antonio, that he's tried to confound critics throughout his career.

"After my high school career they said I couldn't run," McGee told the station, chuckling. "After my college career they say I can't throw. I just hope after my NFL career that they don't say I can't run or throw, because I would really be bad. Hopefully, I can do one or both."

Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman has repeatedly said that he thinks that McGee has a shot at an NFL job. That's despite a career that was marked with injuries that limited him to six games as a senior.

"Especially with all my frustrations it seemed like (were there) at A&M and the disappointments on the field. But to know that God could do something special and use me in some way," McGee said. "I think that speaks to the power of God and what he's able to do. Because it seemed like it was an almost broken career at A&M."

McGee is heartened by how seen how unheralded players have emerged as NFL standouts despite not much notice during their college careers. His own college career is marked by two bowl trips and two victories over arch-rival Texas, including a 2007 game where he blistered the Longhorns for a career-best 362 passing yards and three touchdown passes en route to a 38-30 victory.

"I see a lot of those guys that have made it and stuck around the NFL for a long time," McGee told KMOL. "The Tom Bradys, Tony Romos and Matt Hasselbecks were guys that everybody counted out and no one showed up for their pro days. But here they are today, making a big career out of it.

"I know how bad I want and how hard I'm going to work for it. I'll just keep showing up and giving them my best effort. I know along the way I'll get a break eventually."

It would be unwise to bet against McGee, who is one of the most determined athletes I've ever met. We'll see how his pro chances turn out over the next few months.

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

It's good to see Stan Parrish receive another opportunity as a head coach.

The Ball State offensive coordinator was elevated Thursday to replace Brady Hoke as the Cardinals' head coach. It was as much his strong work with quarterback Nate Davis that got him his shot as anything else.

Parrish, 62, signed a four-year, $1.4 million contract to coach the Cardinals after turning down a chance to join Hoke's new staff at San Diego State. He will be on the sidelines as the Cardinals' coach Jan. 6 when they meet Tulsa in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, Ala.

The reason I find this Parrish's hiring so refreshing is that it proves that you can overcome just about anything if you are resilient enough.

Remember that Parrish was the coach before Bill Snyder arrived at Kansas State in 1988 to orchestrate "The Manhattan Miracle" in the Wildcats' dramatic turnaround. Parrish was 2-30-1 in his three-season stint at Kansas State, finishing with a 27-game winless streak with 11 of those losses by at least 30 points.

Before then, Parrish was a proven winner with successful stints at Division III Wabash and Marshall. His winning record before coming to Kansas State was 55-11-2, including a Jim Tressel-like 42-3-1 record at Wabash in his first five seasons as a head coach.

If nothing else, his resurgence proves his strong coach wiles during a 38-season coaching career that many thought had ended after his struggles at Kansas State. Or at least as a head coach.

From Kansas State, he bounced to Rutgers and then coached at Michigan for six seasons, including two seasons as an offensive coordinator. While there, he coached Tom Brady and served as a quarterbacks coach of Lloyd Carr's staff that earned a share of the national championship in 1997.

And from there, he coached two years with Tampa Bay in the NFL, serving as quarterbacks coach of Brad Johnson on the 2002 team that won the Super Bowl.

Even with those huge titles he helped his team win, I'm sure that Parish has been waiting for his chance to serve as a head coach again.

And something tells me his first win as a head coach again will be particularly sweet after the way his Kansas State tenure finished up.