ARLINGTON, Texas — The Big 12 Conference held its 2022 Football Media Days on Wednesday and Thursday in Arlington, Texas.
The primer for the college football season featured players and coaches from each school scheduled to play in the conference in the 2022-23 season.
New Big 12 Conference Commissioner Brett Yormark kicked off the news conferences Wednesday morning in his first significant appearancesince replacing Bob Bowlsby in June. Yormark enters the conference as it faces the impending departures of Oklahoma and Texas and new additions of other programs while the landscape of the sport looks to shift toward competing super conferences.
Big 12 Commissioner
Outgoing Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby opened up the event by congratulating recent championship winners, noticeably congratulating the conference for winning the 2022 Women's College World Series, but not congratulating OU as they prepare to head to the SEC in the near future.
Incoming Commissioner Brett Yormark didn't mention leaving schools OU or Texas by name, but says he's already involved in the next steps for the conference.
"There is no doubt the Big 12 is open for business," Yormark said. "We will leave no stone unturned to drive value for the conference."
2 News Sports Director Cayden McFarland is in Arlington with his first reaction to the commissioner's comments:
Oklahoma State Cowboys:
OSU head coach Mike Gundy took the podium Wednesday as the Cowboys look to build off the success of their Fiesta Bowl-winning 2021-22 season that also saw them down rival OU for the first time since 2014.
"Our team's in great shape now," Gundy says. "We've got seniors — mature players who understand what it takes to be successful and they're instilling that in the younger players."
Gundy is entering his 18th season at the helm in Stillwater. He'll lead the Cowboys against OU once again on Nov. 19 in what could be one of the last times the two longtime rivals meet in the regular season.
"The future is Bedlam is there’s a year or two left," he says. "I mean that’s the future of Bedlam, based on somebody else’s decision."
OU is expected to land in the SEC by 2025, but could leave earlier if approved by the Big 12.
“If I were in charge, I wouldn’t allow [Oklahoma and Texas] to be a part of anything," Gundy said when asked about the two programs' presence at conference meetings.
The following players represented OSU at Media Days:
- QB, Spencer Sanders
- WR, Brennan Presley
- DE, Brock Martin
- DE, Tyler Lacy
Sanders is returning to Stillwater for his fifth season and made the 2022 All-Big 12 Preseason team.
He won the Fiesta Bowl MVP in the team's win over Notre Dame.
2 News Sports Director Cayden McFarland talked to Presley, the former Bixby football star, who's entering his junior season at OSU.
Fifth-year senior defensive end Brock Martin led the Cowboys' wardrobe trend at AT&T Stadium on Wednesday — having all of the OSU players sport matching polos, pants and cowboy boots.
We talked to Martin one-on-one as he enters his super-senior season:
Oklahoma Sooners:
New OU head coach Brent Venables kicked Media Day off for the Sooners on Thursday. Venables is replacing Lincoln Riley who left the program in November and took several Sooners and recruits with him to USC.
Venables is coming into a program with 33 new players and a defense to revamp.
"Our problems are first-world problems," Venables said.
The Sooners will have the following representatives at Big 12 Media Days:
- DE, Ethan Downs
- CB, Woodi Washington
- QB, Dillon Gabriel
- WR, Marvin Mims
2 News Sports Director Cayden McFarland will be at AT&T Stadium in Arlington hearing from players and coaches. We'll update this story as it develops.
Stay in touch with us anytime, anywhere --
- Download our free app for Apple, Android and Kindle devices.
- Sign up for daily newsletters emailed to you
- Like us on Facebook
- Follow us on Instagram
- Follow us on Twitter
