The trophies for the Big Ten West Division (left), Big Ten Championship (center) and the Big Ten East Division sit alongside the podium during the 2014 Big Ten Media Days July 28 in Chicago.
Credit: Tim Moody / Lantern sports editor
While reporters crowded coach Urban Meyer and senior quarterback Braxton Miller during Big Ten Media Days in Chicago, there were plenty of opportunities to interview other personalities from the conference.
Coaches and players from every team and representatives from the Big Ten and College Football Playoff Committee were available Tuesday and no topic was considered off limits.
Michigan State senior Kurtis Drummond astonished the crowd and set Twitter ablaze with his fashion-forward style. The 6 foot 1, 200 pound safety was sporting a three-piece, black with white pinstripe suit and a silver paisley tie that was reminiscent of the Broadway musical “Guys & Dolls.”
“When I found out that I was coming down to Chicago with Shilique (Calhoun) and Connor (Cook), I knew I had to do something to notice me, too,” Drummond said.
The relaxed atmosphere allowed the player’s real personalities to shine through and spawned moments of levity.
From the adjacent table, Michigan State junior defensive end Shilique Calhoun seized a break in questions to lean back and announce with a booming, “Kurtis, I love you man! You look great!”
Calhoun, who is majoring in criminal justice, informed everyone at the table that his real aspirations are to be a police officer in his hometown. Calhoun recognized that there was life outside of football and made it clear that education was his primary focus.
“When I get my degree, that’s not going to be my fallback,” Calhoun said. “My fallback is actually football.”
Another stand-out attendant in the fashion department was Maryland quarterback C.J. Brown, who accented his attire with bright-red pants.
Brown jokingly admitted that he knew everyone was going to dress to impress, so he decided to wear the Maryland red.
“It’s kind of a casual up top with a little busy on the bottom,” Brown said.
As one of the two new additions to the Big Ten, Brown was excited to be a part of the conference.
“The new opportunities that we have, the new teams we will play, the new venues and cities that we will visit, it gives Maryland, our institution, our school, and our football team great exposure to different cities as well as the Big Ten,” Brown said.
On the other end of the conference room, Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald was excited to share his outspoken thoughts on the new playoff system.
“It’s going to be awesome,” Fitzgerald said to the closely huddled group of journalists. “The regular season’s integrity has been managed. All those games are going to be critically important. And that’s what’s great about college football. Every game counts.”
Finally, the issue of facing Ohio State for a 8 p.m. game at Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa. was posed to Penn State senior running back Bill Belton.
“It’s just another game,” Belton explained. “It’s not like we’re playing football gods or something, we’re playing another team. We’re going to approach it the same way.”
Following Big Ten Media Days, Ohio State players and coaches are scheduled to start training camp on Aug. 4 before visiting Baltimore, Md. to kickoff the season at M&T Stadium against Navy.
