The late voice of the Eagles, Glenn Frey, sang it best — “The Heat is On!” It’s a coincidence that the singer’s last name is pronounced “Fry.” No question, the summer heat is on, but it’s no coincidence that the temperature spike corresponded with college conferences rolling out their respective media days — where most of what is produced is nothing but hot air.
This is where mighty Alabama talks about being an underdog, where Michigan and Ohio State avoid mentioning the other, where BYU explains that missions aren’t “trips” and where the Utes bemoan that the Cougars aren’t on their schedule — even though they bumped them for Florida several years ago.
Almost as a runner-up to the holidays, it’s the season to deck the halls, livestreams, radio shows, fan boards and sports pages with chatter. A time for talking the talk, something that everybody is good at, and it’s just about to give way to walking the walk. The prior is much easier than the latter, but both are very much part of the precursor to such a special time of year.
The good news is every team escaped media days still undefeated and every fan who has defended their own predictions hasn’t been proven wrong.
Players report
BYU football players report to fall camp next Monday. The equipment office is in a flurry, preparing the gear and stamping a Big 12 logo on just about everything they see. The Cougars hit the field for the first practice Aug. 1.
There will be more than a few firsts when workouts begin. BYU was busy in the post-spring practice transfer portal and a handful of new Cougars will make their Provo practice debuts, including running back Aidan Robbins (UNLV), receiver Darius Lassiter (Eastern Michigan), receiver Keelan Marion (Connecticut), running back Deion Smith (Colorado), linebacker AJ Vongphachanh (Utah State) and offensive lineman Caleb Etienne (Oklahoma State).
The high school graduates will be here too. Texas running back LJ Martin, who decommitted from Stanford to join BYU, and four-star tight end Jackson Bowers headline the new kids in town that didn’t attend spring drills.
Some mainstays will return to the field all healed up after off-season surgeries, including linebackers Ben Bywater and Max Tooley and receiver Kody Epps. Tight end Isaac Rex also expects to be on the field next week as healthy has he as been since before the Nov. 27, 2021 ankle injury at USC.
Pittsburgh/USC transfer Kedon Slovis enrolled at BYU in January and quarterbacked the Cougars through spring practice. Next week will mark the beginning of the end as he starts his final collegiate fall camp before what he hopes will be a career in the NFL. The injuries that have slowed him down are healed and he arrives as spry as his early years at USC when he was named Pac-12 Freshman of the Year (2019) and first-team All-Pac-12 (2020).
Sense of urgency
A sense of urgency should be palpable from the moment the Cougars step into the Student Athletic Building — fueled by anticipation and a little fear. The program is stepping up and most out-of-town indications suggest they won’t do very well — at least initially. Big 12 media rank them No. 11 among the 14 teams. The Athletic projects a four-win season.
Inside the locker room, however, there is a different feeling. Head coach Kalani Sitake and his staff addressed the depth issues by adding over 20 players from the portal, his injured stars are shining again and the fan base is highly motivated. BYU believes it will turn more than a few heads in their P5 debut.
Flashback to life prior to independence and just about every media day in the Mountain West and WAC included conversations about conference championships and bowl games. BYU has won 23 conference titles and played in 40 bowls, including the 1984 Holiday Bowl that earned the Cougars the national championship.
As BYU prepares for post-independence, there is no discussion of a Big 12 title and the idea of making even the lowest of the bowls to some is a pie-in-the-sky expectation. As for contending for a second national championship — that is a notion dangling off the side of the table.
Less is more
That’s all fine and good to Sitake. When BYU marches into Arkansas on Sept. 16 he wants the Razorbacks to be focused on LSU. When the Cougars play at Kansas on Sept. 23, he wants the Jayhawks thinking about Texas. When BYU rolls into Austin in late October, he wants the Longhorns to be focused on their rematch against defending champion Kansas State.
For Sitake, the less everybody thinks about BYU the better. His job is to get the Cougars ready for Sept. 2 and Sam Houston, a process that started when the New Mexico Bowl ended on a chilly day in mid-December.
Times are changing with the temperatures.
All of the hot air from the air-conditioned media days is about to be replaced by real heat. The refining fire of August — a blistering battle to get the Cougars ready for showtime in September where words give way to actions, and where expectations are supported or refuted by results.
Frey sang it best — “The Heat is On!” The time for walking the walk is here.
Dave McCann is a contributor to the Deseret News and is the studio host for “BYU Sports Nation Game Day,” “The Post Game Show,” “After Further Review,” and play-by-play announcer for BYUtv. He is also co-host of “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com.