Mountain West Media Days Recap: Day Two

Day two of Mountain West media days took us to the West side of the conference. Coaches and players from Fresno State, Hawaii, Nevada, San Diego State, San Jose State, and UNLV were interviewed. Here are some of the highlights:

• Rolo stole the show again. He hired another person to follow him around this year, perhaps surpassing the Elvis impersonator from last year.

• Rolovich also discussed the the highly-anticipated return to the run-and-shoot offense and how it provides the Rainbow Warriors with an identity.
• WR John Ursua talks about coming back from an injury and hoping to pick up where he left off.
• Rocky Long talked about the fair-catch kickoff rule and how he may try more pooch or on-side kicks to negate the expected number of fair-catch calls. This will be interesting to watch.
• Coach Long also delivered his annual talk about Boise State not having its mystique. It sounds like he enjoys the banter between him and the Bronco fans on this topic (he says he’s gotten emails about it).

• Aztec QB Christian Chapman shares his insight on reading defenses and how he grew in that skill.
• Chapman also talks about “getting killed” by Boise State last year.
• Wolf Pack LB Malik Reed discusses his position change.
• On the other side of the ball, Ty Gangi looks absolutely thrilled to be the QB in a pass-heavy air-raid offense that often results in lots of open receivers.
• Coach Brennan summarizes the life of a college football coach with this line: “100 miles an hour. 100% of the time.”
• Spartan Bryson Bridge talks about how he loves the rivalry between them and Fresno State. Apparently no red is allowed in their building.
• UNLV Coach Tony Sanches described their upcoming new stadium as a “game changer”
• Sanchez also points to the health of his WR unit as a key factor for his team this year. Says it’s been missing the past three years.
• I’ll just leave these here:

• Coach Jeff Tedford gives an answer to how the Bulldogs can capitalize on their success (hint: continuing to win), but he gives a good answer.
• LB James Bailey talked about the rivalry with Boise State. The two teams were pretty darn even last year and neither should many signs of much drop-off this year.
• QB Marcus McMaryion weighs in on what it means to represent the Valley!
• The MWC Media Summit Panel is worth listening to. They discuss the big picture topics. Should the Group of 5 be considered in the playoff? Would an undefeated MWC team be one of the 4 teams? How can the MWC keep up in the college football arms race? Dave Southorn (Idaho Statesman), Kirk Kenney (San Diego Union Tribune), Carter Blackburn (CBS Sports), and Nicole Auerbach (The Athletic) are the panelists.
• The head coaches’ panel weighed in on the redshirt rule