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Football Thu Jul 22 2010
Big Ten Football is Right Around the Corner
The wait is almost over. Before you know it campuses will be springing to life, teams will be suiting up for two-a-days and Lou Holtz will be back on ESPN making absurd predictions about the season to come. College football season kicks off six weeks from today.
After a hectic offseason, the Big "Ten" will shift its focus back to football at its annual kickoff luncheon on Aug. 3 in Chicago. The day's most anticipated guest will likely be Nebraska's athletic director and former coach, Tom Osborne. The Huskers signed on to join the conference in June, but won't officially become a member until the 2011 season. Although he doesn't get any votes until next year, Osborne said he would be around to discuss the future of the conference with his fellow athletic directors.
Earlier this week, the conference released a list of all 33 players (three from each team) who will also be in Chicago to cash in on another free lunch. Seven 2009 first-team all conference players will be in attendance including last year's defensive player of the year, Greg Jones (Michigan St. - LB) and offensive player of the year, John Clay (Wisconsin - RB). Some other big names on the list include Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi, Penn State tailback Evan Royster and defensive end Ryan Kerrigan from Purdue.
Kerrigan's teammate, Keith Smith, was picked to speak on behalf of all the players. Smith and all 11 head coaches will talk to the media and fans about how excited they are about conference expansion, how hard they have been working in the past few months and how great they are going to be in the next few months. For me, the biggest question is how they plan to fix that clever logo once Nebraska bumps the school count up to 12.
