LOS ANGELES – They talked about quarterbacks, expectations, recruiting and the transfer portal. Here’s one interesting thing each of Kevin Sumlin’s rival coaches had to say at Pac-12 Media Day on Wednesday:
Arizona State’s Herm Edwards, on the QB battle between redshirt junior Dillon Sterling-Cole and freshman Jayden Daniels: “That’s the marquee position in football. When you don’t have … a starter named, that’s the mystique of it all: Who’s the guy? We’ll figure it out. We’ve got time. We don’t play for a while.”
Cal’s Justin Wilcox, on having multiple incoming recruits from the state of Arizona: “They all just got there, so they’ve been in with our strength-and-conditioning group, and we’ll get a chance to go hands on with them a week from Friday. Talented group of guys. But they’re young and haven’t played college football yet, so we’ll see.”
Colorado’s Mel Tucker, on inheriting star receiver Laviska Shenault Jr.: “He’s a rare athlete. The thing I like about him the most is he’s a great young man. He’s a high-character guy. He’s very humble. He’s hard-working. He’s a lead-by-example type of guy. But from a skill-set standpoint – height, weight, speed – there’s very few guys like him.”
Oregon’s Mario Cristobal, on the Ducks being picked to win the Pac-12 North: “The expectations inside never really change. I think you always acknowledge what the noise is on the outside. But it never really factors into the process, never really factors into our preparation.”
Oregon State’s Jonathan Smith, on establishing an identity in recruiting: “The type of kid that we’re looking for that fits our place is looking to go and play some big-time football at a great school where they can have the ultimate college-town experience and really develop to go to the next level. I don’t think there’s anywhere in the country better in that setup than us.”
Stanford’s David Shaw, on returning quarterback K.J. Costello: “The ceiling for K.J. is very high. I think last year he played at a high level. In spurts he looked as good as anybody in America. Now it’s about taking that next step – not just about making more great plays but making fewer bad plays and really fine-tuning his efforts every single week to be consistently great.”
UCLA’s Chip Kelly, on whether beating USC last season set the tone for this year: “I think each week is a season, so I think how you prepare on a weekly basis helps you win on a weekly basis. You really don’t know. We went out and played Stanford after that and lost. You could argue that the momentum didn’t even follow into the next week.”
USC’s Clay Helton, on what he has learned from new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell: “How simple college football can be. That we all have grand ideas and grand schemes, but it’s not what we know as coaches, it’s what our players know. It’s more about the kids mastering their craft than you trying to out-think your opponent. It’s about them having great fundamentals and technique.”
Utah’s Kyle Whittingam, on his team being picked to win the Pac-12: “We started these discussions with our players two or three months ago because we felt like we were going to have some preseason hype. So we wanted to make sure that we got out ahead of it and talked to our players about just ignoring the noise and just staying focused.”
Washington’s Chris Petersen, on the NCAA transfer portal and the loosening of transfer restrictions: “I’m old-school. … I think how this thing is heading, where guys just transfer (like) free agency, I don’t think that’s good. I’ve seen too many guys, including myself, have to work through hard things where maybe you tap out. I’m going to go somewhere elsewhere I think is better. It’s usually not.”
Washington State’s Mike Leach, on new QB Gage Gubrud: “Dedicated, hard-working player. Smart. Student of the game. He looked good in spring. But we had a lot of guys look good in spring. It will be very competitive for that position.”
