KANSAS CITY - One overwhelming theme for Texas at Wednesday’s Big 12 media day was turning people loose.

Once hampered by a knee brace, senior defensive end Brian Orakpo is finally free. After struggling most of last season, Texas’ offensive revival started with the Holiday Bowl win over Arizona State and the team hopes to continue the momentum from it this season. And new defensive coordinator Will Muschamp will unleash the hounds on that side of the ball.

If last year was a season of frustration, this year is all about relieving it.

It starts with junior quarterback Colt McCoy.

“I’m really excited about this season because the coaches are going to let the players play,” McCoy said. “It’s going to be like backyard football. We’ve put a lot of work into get to this point where they trust us. Our guys have the chance to go out there and play like headbusters.”

McCoy struggled last year, throwing 18 interceptions behind an inexperienced offensive line. The line will be a strength for the team this year.

“It can’t get any worse than last year,” McCoy said. “Honestly, there’s nowhere to go but up. Personally, I think going through those struggles is going to make me a better quarterback this year.”

After Texas ranked 109th in the nation in pass defense last year, Brown brought in Muschamp from Auburn to help get pressure on the quarterback. Muschamp was also once a defensive coordinator in the NFL with the Miami Dolphins.

“With all of the spread offenses and outstanding quarterbacks in our league, we’ve got do a better job of stopping the passing game and trying to force more turnovers, and we feel [Muschamp's] the guy that will get that done,” Brown said. “After coaching in the NFL he has the ability that some college guys do not of disguising things. He coaches with so much emotion and passion. I feel our defense will really feed off that.”

Senior defensive end Brian Orakpo will be key to getting pressure on the quarterback. Orakpo suffered an injury against Arkansas State in the first game of last year that plagued him the rest of the season.

“My knee feels good now and it’s great to move around without the clanky brace slowing me down,” Orakpo said. “I’m ready.”

Brown said that in preseason Orakpo looked as good as any defensive end he’s ever had.

“We’ve had some good ones at North Carolina and at Texas, so it’s saying a lot about him,” Brown said. “No one was able to block him in preseason. We haven’t stopped the pass consistently for two years now, so his ability to rush the passer is a vital part of what we need to do to be successful.”

KANSAS CITY - Texas has a new role this season as an underdog in the Big 12 South.

Coach Mack Brown spoke on the last day of the Big 12 media days about how that could be a good thing for his team.

“This is the first time we’ve been in that role for a while and it seems to be motivating our players to work really hard,” Brown said. “These guys on our team that have been on campus the last three years are used to being a top-10 team and this year some people don’t think we’re going to be able to do that.”

The reasons for Texas’ underdog status are numerous. For starters, the team plays nine bowl teams from last year, including Missouri and Kansas, which went a combined 24-3. Their schedule also includes a very talented Texas Tech team with record-setting duo of quarterback Graham Harrell and wide receiver Michael Crabtree on the road in hostile environment.

“People have us losing a lot of games, or a lot more than we are probably used to,” said senior defensive end Brian Orakpo. “I don’t know how it feels to be an underdog. It’s great motivation for us and we’re using it as a tool to help us get better.”

Texas also has some big shoes to fill on both sides of the ball. The most publicized is running back, with leading rusher Jamaal Charles departing early for the draft. Senior Chris Ogbonnaya, sophomore Vondrell McGee and redshirt freshman Foswhitt Whitaker will all see playing time at that position.

“I’m excited because all of those guys are very good,” said junior quarterback Colt McCoy. “All of them give us something a little different and have different strengths.”

Brown said replacing Charles’ speed will be hard.

“We don’t have anyone that can run a 10.1 100-meter dash like he did,” Brown said. “But I think we can have the same type of impact at that position.”

Finding an impact wide receiver is another concern. The team lost Limas Sweed and Nate Jones as well as tight end Jermichael Finley. Seniors Quan Cosby and Jordan Shipley will be the only veterans on a relatively young corps.

“I’m confident in Jordan and Quan using their speed on the outside,” McCoy said. “I think Malcom [Williams] and Dan [Buckner] are big and strong and can line up on the inside. The coaches say Blaine Irby is starting to remind them of David Thomas at tight end.”

Frank Okam at defensive tackle is another big loss. But McCoy seems unfazed by the loss of so many proven players.

“We’re going to have a lot of young players, but they are all very talented players and I’m excited about them this season,” McCoy said. “We’ll have plenty of talent.”

Texas’ poor play last season probably plays some role in the lowered expectations this year. While the team went 10-3, they struggled against weak teams such as Arkansas State and Baylor, had to come from behind to beat Oklahoma State and Nebraska and lost to a Kansas State team that finished with a losing record.

“I think the reason we started so poorly last season was due to the inexperience we had,” Brown said. “I also didn’t think we handled leadership that well. When we started struggling, our players were pressured to do more and sometimes ended up doing too much.”

The result of losing key players, a tough schedule and last season’s struggles is Texas being picked by many experts to finish behind Oklahoma and Texas Tech in the Big 12 South.

“People have a reason to be excited about Oklahoma and Texas Tech because they are looking very good,” Brown said. “In the preseason it’s all a beauty contest though; I feel confident about where we’ll wind up come January.”

Sooners still favored in South

After winning three of the last four Big 12 championships, the Oklahoma Sooners were picked to finish first in the South division in the Big 12 media poll.

Coach Bob Stoops and senior offensive lineman Jon Cooper, defensive back Nic Harris and receiver Manuel Johnson addressed the media Wednesday.

“I think the sky is the limit for this team,” Cooper said. “We have so many good players returning and even the players that are not returning starters are very good and while they are unproven, they are certainly proven to us.”

Sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford, the nation’s leader in pass efficiency, returns to lead the offense. While the team lost Allen Patrick at running back, junior Chris Brown and sophomore DeMarco Murray should be able to shoulder the load. Murray rushed for 764 yards as a freshman, and he is recovering from an injury.

“According to him and our trainers he is on schedule and everything, is good and he feels great,” Stoops said. “He’s an explosive, exciting player. He’s just one of those athletes that everyone notices the great speed and moves he has.”

Junior defensive end Auston English is expected to wreak havoc for the defense up front, while Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes will shore up the secondary. After being sent home from the team’s bowl game due to an off-the-field-issue, All-Big 12 defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger returns for his junior season.

“He’s done everything we’ve asked of him in the offseason,” Stoops said. “He’s working to become the type of player and guy we want on this team. He’s a physical force for us inside.”

No-huddle offense for Sooners

For Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops to remain on top as long as he has. It’s taken a lot of innovation and changing with the times.

With the new NCAA rule of using a 40-second clock after the last play is over rather than using a 25-second clock once the ball is set, the Sooners are going to a no-huddle offense to try to get in more plays.

“More and more teams are doing it, and it makes it harder on defenses and helps quarterbacks establish pocket presence and get in a rhythm,” Stoops said. “It changes how you operate at the line of scrimmage though. We have to get plays in quick since in college we don’t have a transmitter to get plays in. It’s all through signals. Of course we’ll be smart with it and we’re not going to hurry up when we have a pretty big lead late in the game.”

Changing the offensive strategy won’t be an issue for the players.

“It’s been a gradual change,” said senior wide receiver Manuel Johnson. “We’ve been doing it more and more and now we’re just going to go with it outright. I’m excited about all the things we are going to be able to do with our offense this year.”

Chizik gaining experience

Former Texas defensive coordinator Gene Chizik, who won a national championship while at Texas, is confident despite coming off a 3-9 season in his first year.

That confidence comes after now having a full year under his belt as Iowa State’s head coach.

“I made a journal of that first year and am looking back to see what I did right and what I did wrong, and that’s really helped,” Chizik said. “A lot of the questions last year were hypotheticals for me because I really didn’t know what to expect. We feel like the foundation has been laid and we’re ready to go down the road. We’re ready to get the season underway.”

Chizik reunited with Mack Brown while in Kansas City and says he speaks with the coach on a regular basis.

Video games over playbooks

New coach Art Briles takes over at Baylor this season from Houston and with him comes a complete overhaul of the playbook.

Literally. Briles has gotten rid of the playbook altogether and will coach without one just like he did at Houston. Briles has a video-game system set up to show players the plays instead.

“In my experience, if you give a young guy a 300-page book and a video game, they’ll play the video game instead,” Briles said. “It’s a good learning tool for them to visualize things. It has all our base offenses and then we just make modifications to those in practices and throughout the games. We probably coach a lot different than any other school in the Big 12.”

The players don’t seemed to mind.

“I like the video system because I can pause it when I need to see things better and it helps us line up better on the field,” said senior offensive tackle Jason Smith. “When things are drawn up on paper it doesn’t necessarily translate to the field, or at least that’s been my experience. I think this way is a better tool and a lot easier.”

Who will be running Briles’ innovative offense has yet to be determined. Blake Szymanski, who is ranked 12th among Baylor’s all-time passing leaders heading into his junior year, will face off against senior Miami transfer Kirby Freeman for the job. Highly touted freshman Robert Griffin will also get a chance at the position.

KANSAS CITY - Last year was a landmark year for the Kansas Jayhawks, going 12-1 with a victory in the Orange Bowl.

But this year the Jayhawks are playing with the big boys. With Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Texas on the schedule, all picked to go one, two and three in the Big 12 South, and all top-25 teams, the Jayhawks’ schedule this year is a lot more difficult than the one they had last year, which featured the likes of Southeastern Louisiana, Baylor and Oklahoma State.

Seventh-year coach Mark Mangino spoke at the Big 12 media days on Tuesday with excitement regarding the challenge ahead this season.

“We’ve always said we want the program to compete with the best teams in our league and be able to beat them, so playing Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech will give us that chance,” Mangino said. “We’ll never get over the hump in my eyes until we beat those teams.”

Leading the way for Kansas is quarterback Todd Reesing. The 5-foot-11-inch junior threw for 3,486 yards and 33 touchdowns.

“[Reesing's] a smart young guy,” Mangino said. “He certainly had a great 2007, and we would anticipate that he’ll perform at the same high level this year.”

From Lake Travis High School in Austin, Reesing is the one who got away from everybody.

“I just wanted a chance, and nobody in Texas gave me one,” Reesing said. “In fact, no one anywhere really gave me a chance, because they thought I was too small. Coach Mangino noticed me before anybody else and convinced me to come to Kansas.”

Now Reesing and Kansas will have to deal with something they’ve never faced before: handling success.

“I think Todd has been doing a good job of managing the attention he’s received,” Mangino said. “He went from being a relative unknown to sitting next to people in class wearing T-shirts that said ‘Todd is God.’ It’s something our team will have to realize, that people will give you more credit than you deserve, and if you can’t handle it, they’ll give you more criticism than you deserve.”

The recent success at Kansas has been quite a contrast from when Mangino first arrived. The team had six-straight losing seasons and went 2-10 in his first year.

“I remember my first home game there - I showed up, and it was pretty empty,” Mangino said. “There were people jogging around the track that didn’t even know there was a game going on that day. Now you see people with Kansas football signs on their front porches, and the stadium is full early.”

The schedule won’t be the only issue for Kansas this year.

The Jayhawks will have to replace leading rusher Brandon McAnderson. McAnderson rushed for 1,125 yards and 16 touchdowns. Jake Sharp, who rushed for 821 yards in 2007, is ready to take over.

While the team loses leading receiver Marcus Henry, Dexton Fields, who had 834 yards receiving last year, and Dezmon Briscoe give the small Reesing some big targets.

In the end, the return of Reesing as well as several other players from last year’s team is why experts have picked Kansas to be in contention for a Big 12 North title, despite a grueling schedule.

“We think we’re going to have a good football team, but we’ve got a lot of work to do though,” Mangino said. “Expectations are very high in Lawrence, the state of Kansas and the entire nation. We’re extremely excited about that; we embrace those expectations.”

KANSAS CITY - Most questions for Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy on Tuesday at Big 12 media day were about his rant Sept. 22 of last year that became a YouTube hit, particularly the line of him screaming “I’m a man; I’m 40!”Gundy didn’t even watch the clip until January.

“I don’t even know how to get to YouTube; I assume you Google it. I found out I was No. 6 most viewed on YouTube, so I wonder if I can get any kickback out of that,” Gundy joked. “After watching the clip in January, the only thing I regret about it was raising my voice.”

But the story behind the scenes is quarterback Zac Robinson. The junior is ready to put the drama of the quarterback controversy the last two years with Bobby Reid behind him, as well as Gundy’s tirade.

“The media talked about it more than our team did,” Robinson said. “He just told us that he will always stick up for any one of us. After that, we just moved on. I’m ready to step forward this year and improve from last year.”

With Reid transferring to Texas Southern, this is Robinson’s time to shine.

“He’s looking forward to being the man for us,” Gundy said. “He’s been a tremendous player on and off the field. The team has really rallied around him, and he should be a good leader for us, and I’m looking forward to him this upcoming season.”

With lightning fast speed, the dual threat Robinson was the only BCS conference quarterback besides Heisman winner Tim Tebow to run for more than 800 yards and throw for more than 2,800. He set a season-record for total offense in a season (3,671) and in a game (430). He torched Duane Akina’s Texas defense last season for 430 passing yards.

“I think the fact that he was the only other person besides the Heisman Trophy winner to do that is a good way to sum up his season he had statically,” Gundy said. “[But] he’s not concerned with individual statistics. He’s concerned about us winning games.”

Reid was often criticized for not being gutsy enough, but for Robinson, it’s the opposite. Especially now that Reid isn’t there, meaning there isn’t a proven backup if he gets hurt.

“There are times when instead of running out of bounds he’ll take on a tackler to try and get more yardage,” Gundy said. “I don’t want him doing that as much because it’s dangerous.”

That’s just one of the many things Robinson is working on.

“Yeah I guess I’ll try and run out of bounds more now that we don’t have a proven backup,” Robinson said. “I’m also honing in on my footwork and working on going through my progressions and trying to find someone to throw to before I take off running.”

Robinson will have to get used to playing without his mentor, offensive coordinator Larry Fedora, who took over as head coach at Southern Mississippi. The new co-offensive coordinators are former Tennessee assistant Trooper Taylor and Oklahoma State assistant Gunter Brewer. The Cowboys won’t change anything scheme-wise.

“Coach Fedora has always been like family to me and it’s sad to see him go,” Robinson said. “But the first thing Trooper told me was that if I lead, they’ll follow. I really took that advice and ran with it. I have confidence in whoever is calling the plays.”

Toston trying to avoid fumbles

Losing leading rusher Dantrell Savage, Oklahoma State has some big shoes to fill at running back. Savage rushed for 1,272 yards in 2007.

Sophomore Kendall Hunter, junior Keith Toston and junior college transfer Beau Johnson are the candidates to replace Savage and will all see time. Hunter rushed for 696 yards last year.

Toston showed promise in 2006 as a freshman rushing for 631 yards and six touchdowns. However, last year he battled fumbles and an injury, rushing for just 190 yards.

Gundy expects the fumbles to be a thing of the past for the big, fast and strong Toston.

“Keith discovered a glitch in the way he carried the ball and looked good in the spring so I hope it’s not a problem,” Gundy said. “He was holding it too low, and that makes it easier to jar loose. I feel good about the productivity of all three of our running backs and think they can match Savage’s.”

Daniel: I’m the best in Big 12

Senior Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel, who hails from Southlake, Texas and is a pre-season Heisman and All-American favorite, wasn’t afraid to say he was the best quarterback in the Big 12.

“I don’t want to sound cocky, but I think I’m the best,” Daniel said.

The Big 12 offensive player of the year said the second best quarterback in the conference is Texas’ own Colt McCoy.

“I know him, so that’s the first reason,” Daniel said. “But he also handles himself really well in the huddle and is a good leader who takes control of the team during games. He does what they need him to.”

Colorado safety recalls Texas

If there’s one game senior Colorado safety Ryan Walters is looking forward to, it’s the Oct. 4 game at home against Texas.

Walters was a part of the 2005 team that lost 70-3 to Texas in the Big 12 championship game and led to coach Gary Barnett’s firing.

“There are not too many of us that were a part of that team, but those of [us] that were are excited about the opportunity to play them again,” Walters said. “It should be a good matchup against two really good teams. They are very quick and athletic, and it should be a great game.”

Kansas State hauls in juniors

Kansas State coach Ron Prince told reporters at media day Tuesday he is done with rebuilding.

The Wildcats signed 19 junior college players for 2008. Prince wants experienced players to go with junior quarterback Josh Freeman, and the other players Prince recruited in his original recruiting class.

“Kansas State has always had a good mix of incoming freshman and community college players and now that the players that came from community college in our initial class are gone, we didn’t want to take a step backwards, so we brought in more,” Prince said. “We’ve been through the stage where we’ve had 23- and 22-year-old players on other teams pushing around 18-, 19-year-old players on our team. We want to move to the stage where we have a veteran team with proven players that can win in the fourth quarter.