Brett Yormark, the Big 12 Commissioner, is among the most innovative college football has ever seen. Whether it is expanding the conference to the west, showcasing events all around the country (including in Washington, where the closest team is over 500 miles away), hosting events in the Bronx, or planning basketball and football games in Mexico, there is no doubt that Brett Yormark isn’t afraid to try something new.
Starting Wednesday and running through Saturday, the Big 12 will be hosting the first-ever conference-wide NFL Pro Day.
Big 12 is Embracing the Brand
The Big 12 may not be the best brand in college sports, but they are certainly making a case for being the most unified. With teams in the ACC wanting to leave, teams in the SEC being upset about certain teams joining the conference, and the Big 10 being a coast-to-coast conference with tons of different cultures and distance between schools, there seem to be issues with unity in every other P4 conference.
With the Big 12 hosting an event like a conference wide pro day, the conference is showing how unified they are as a group opposed to just a group of teams who happen to play in the same conference. The fact that every team is content with coming togehter for one event opposed to hosting a series of their own Pro Days also shows that they confidence in how the conference will run things in a professional manner.
Will the Big 12 Pro Day Be Successful?
In total, there are 137 different athletes from all 12 of the remaining schools (apparently Texas and Oklahoma are too big for the Big 12 anymore). Many of the players are competing in their only Pro Day, while a few have also competed in other events, such as Ryan Rhekow who competed at the NFL Combine last month.
The event seems to be more focused on players who are hoping to either be picked up in the later rounds of the NFL Draft, or are likely to be undrafted free agents who get signed following the NFL Draft. Every year, there are about 15 players who sign UDFA contracts with NFL teams, which makes up more than half the new players every NFL team picks up from college.
This event will likely give a spotlight on players who would have otherwise never had the eyes or attention given to them. When teams host their own pro days, oftentimes only a few scouts are sent out, and many of them are sent to scout only one or two players.
With the Big 12 hosting 137 players, every single NFL team will have multiple scouts to come watch. While they may not be attentive to every single player, if there is a player who runs a fast 40 for example, suddenly every single team will be put on notice.
Will the Event Be Successful?
The event will likely be succesful, however it will be impossible to know until after the NFL Draft, and possibly not until the NFL season starts in more than six months from now. What is sure however, is that all 137 players are going to have an opportunity to show off for all 32 teams, something that no Pro Day outside of the top schools in the country can say.
