Rob's Rankings: Five surprisingly interesting Media Day tidbits

Conference media days are ongoing. The Pac-12 kickoff event is Wednesday, but the bulk of the 2018 events are already in the books. So, this week in Rob’s Rankings, we have a look at the most and least interesting media day-based stories from the weeks past. Below are the definitive rankings of the five most intriguing things to come out of the events.

MORE: Farrell's top 10 coaches | Is Jeremy Pruitt a fit at Tennessee?

Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald is a bright guy. He graduated from the prestigious school at which he now coaches and, these days, is attempting to make things simpler for everyone. So while his idea to abolish National Signing Day isn’t exactly an original one, he gets points for being one of the first head coaches to propose it publicly, as the groundswell could gain steam from here.

Under Fitzgerald proposal, prospects would be allowed sign letters of intent at any time after their junior years in high school. Former Nebraska coach Bo Pelini proposed a similar rule years ago. The idea of a non-binding verbal commitment hamstrings coaches and players alike and allowing binding letters of intent to be signed at any time would nearly erase the imaginary currency of “commitments” all together.

Fitzgerald’s plan would ease headaches for coaching staffs, players and fans, making the process a bit more transparent and injecting some normalcy into a world where prospects often announce verbal pledges and top-5 lists simultaneously. It would also cut back on meaningless scholarship offers tossed out by college coaches with no intent to ever accept a commitment.

Save us, Pat.

Nobody actually thought the Texas-Texas A&M rivalry was dead forever. The two marquee programs in a football-obsessed state were never going to swear off playing each other for eternity. These days, however, it seems the rivalry, which died due to conference realignment in 2012, may be on the fast track toward renewal.

At Big 12 media day in Frisco, Tex., Longhorns head coach Tom Herman became the latest representative of the schools to throw his support behind getting the matchup back on the schedule. As a guest on Andy Staples’ XM radio show, Herman was asked about future marquee non-conference opponents. It didn’t take long for the second-year Texas coach to cut to the chase.

"To me, there's a very logical one an hour-and-a-half east of us,” he told Staples and co-host Rick Neuheisel.

Herman joins A&M athletic director Scott Woodward and Texas AD Chris Del Conte as people that have expressed interest in renewing the series. And while there’s probably plenty of red tape to cut through, one of the only major things holding the rivalry back now seems to be the fact that both schools' non-conference slates are full through 2026.

The Sun Belt remains the country’s most fun-conscious conference and, at least in this space, can do no wrong. These days, the same league that brings you 48-41 shootouts on Thursdays and Friday nights has given us the gift of college football’s first MVP championship belt, which can be seen here.

The MVP of this year’s Sun Belt title game will be awarded the strap and reign forever as college football’s first belt holder, an honor that in my opinion on par with winning the Heisman. Because, in the end, how many title belts do Reggie Bush, Tim Tebow and Barry Sanders have?

We don’t deserve the Sun Belt, a conference almost too perfect to exist on this planet.

College football coaches are creatures of habit. For the most part, they’re adverse to tinkering with something that obviously works. It’s why true freshman Trevor Lawrence threatening to steal Clemson’s starting quarterback job from Kelly Bryant, a player that led the Tigers to a 12-2 record and a playoff appearance a year ago, is so intriguing,

The No. 1 overall prospect in last year’s class, Lawrence will enter fall camp as the backup, but Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney used his time at ACC media day in Charlotte to say his freshman has closed the gap significantly since arriving on campus this spring.

Even if Lawrence starts the season on the bench, it seems as though Clemson fans – and possibly the Tigers’ staff – may have a quick trigger finger when it comes to wanting a change. It’s also possible that Swinney and company go to some form of a two-quarterback system. Whatever the case, it seems at least possible that Lawrence gives the Tigers the best chance to win a title in 2018. And the fact that something like that is even a possibility, it incredible when you consider the circumstances.

“You've got to go into camp, let them compete just like every other position,” Swinney said in Charlotte. “If someone separates, great. If not, if it's close, then we've got to go to the games. That's all that we've got in college football."

North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora used his time at ACC media day to field a question about CTE by declaring football “under attack” and to suggest that changing the game would somehow lead to the downfall of America.

So, you know, an extremely thought-out and measured take.

“I believe the game is under attack right now,” Fedora told a pool of reporters. “I really do… I fear that the game will get pushed so far to one extreme that you won’t recognize the game 10 years from now. That’s what I worry about. I do believe if it gets to that point, that our country goes down, too.”

Fedora, who said his opinion about the link between football and America’s survival came from a conversation with an American service member, would later faux-clarify his comments, saying that he agrees that studies have shown a link between CTE and repeated blows to the head, but says no link between the sport of football, which can cause repeated blows to the head, and the neurodegenerative disease, has been proven.

Of course, the North Carolina coach’s comments led to widespread conversation and debate, including this column from USA Today’s Dan Wolken.There’s also been no word as of now on how the NFL’s new kickoff rules have affected American society.

You’ll have to stay tuned for the downfall of our country as more rule changes take hold, but Fedora’s words have already led to former NFL quarterback Trent Dilfer coming to his defense and somehow denying climate change in the process.

For each interesting storyline born from conference media days, there are 10 uninteresting and lame ones. So, while the follow list of least intriguing headlines could have been 50 bullet points long and included television rights numbers and depth an offensive guard, we humbly present the three most eye-roll inducing headlines from this year’s events.

1. Coaches’ sneakers

We get it. Shoe companies give coaches limited edition sneakers to wear, but it feels like we’re in year No. 4 of intense shoe documentation at conference media days. People are starting to realize that instead of the shoes making these coaches appear cooler, the opposite is actually taking place. Middle aged men wearing your product actually sucks cache from the product. The reason some sneakers are cool is because 45-year old men with a twitter timeline full of generic motivational quotes don’t wear them. That’s how this works.

2. Saban blames the media

In a real head-scratcher, Nick Saban arrived at SEC media days and accused the media of creating a quarterback controversy at Alabama, as if nobody would have noticed that he benched his starter in favor of a true freshman midway through the national title game had people not written about it.

3. Pruitt’s podium recruiting pitch

As much as Tennessee fans enjoyed new head Jeremy Pruitt saying the names of specific cities that house priority Tennessee targets at SEC media days in Atlanta, there’s no way such a thing will have any impact on recruiting. First, high schoolers don’t watch conference media days. Most rabid fans don’t even bother with that. They also don’t pick schools based on a coach saying the name of their home town at lightly watched midweek events. It was a nice rah-rah moment, but using it as evidence of, well, anything is a misstep.

If Pruitt is the most successful coach in Tennessee history, it won’t be because he said “Huntington, West Virginia” at SEC media day. I promise.