FRISCO, Texas -- TCU Coach Gary Patterson didn't bring Shawn Robinson to Big 12 media days to declare the young quarterback a starter.
"Superstitious reasons," Patterson said Monday about having the sophomore with one career start as one of five players there for the Horned Frogs. "I kidded I didn't bring Kenny [Hill] the first year and we went 6-7, then you bring him and we went 11-3. So I didn't want to skip a year."
At least Patterson brought a quarterback. Oklahoma appeared without Kyler Murray, the first-round MLB Draft pick and expected successor to Baker Mayfield, the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who led the Sooners to the past three Big 12 titles.
"Kyler is not the quarterback yet," Sooners Coach Lincoln Riley insisted. "There is good competition going on, and Kyler is going to have to fight like crazy to win this job."
Only four of the league's 10 teams will be represented by quarterbacks during the two-day midsummer talkfest. That includes two from Kansas State today, when West Virginia senior Will Grier is also featured. Grier is the preseason Big 12 offensive player of the year and only returner from the league's top six passers last year.
The only Big 12 quarterback other than Robinson answering questions Monday was Kyle Kempt, the sixth-year Iowa State player whose first career start was a 38-31 victory at then-No. 3 Oklahoma last season.
"It's been great, eye-opening," Robinson said. "I never expected to be here at this point in time in my career."
Kempt became an unlikely starter after Jacob Park's midseason departure from the Cyclones, then threw 15 touchdowns in nine games with a 66.3 percent completion rate that was a single-season school record.
Patterson didn't bring Hill to media days two years ago, and the Frogs went 6-7 with a loss to Georgia in the Liberty Bowl. It was only their third losing record for Patterson, now going into his 18th season.
Hill was there last summer before TCU went 10-2 in the regular season, including a late victory at Texas Tech that Robinson started for an injured Hill. The Frogs lost to Oklahoma in the Big 12 championship game before beating Stanford in the Alamo Bowl.
So Robinson got the nod for media days.
"Obviously, he's the guy that played the most games. He played in six and obviously he started, which was a hard place to play," Patterson said. "He probably has the edge."
The other potential candidates are a fifth-year senior with no starts, a transfer from Penn and a freshman.
Murray, also a speedy outfielder, will play football as a junior at Oklahoma this fall after getting a $4.66 million signing bonus from the Oakland Athletics after they picked him ninth overall in the draft last month.
He appeared in seven games last season, completing 18 of 21 passes for 359 yards and 3 TDs while running for 142 yards on 14 carries.
Austin Kendall, who redshirted last season after appearing in two games behind Mayfield in 2016, is a sophomore competing with Murray for the starting job.
Sports on 07/17/2018