The Summer of Shane is about to come to an end with the start of fall camp in several weeks, but the buzz around Texas Longhorns freshman quarterback Shane Buechele was still ever present at Big 12 Media Days in Dallas on Tuesday.

As expected, there were a number of questions about Buechele, leading to some interesting stuff from head coach Charlie Strong.

“There’s nothing he can’t do”

During the spring, Strong referred to Buechele as a baller, saying that other players already recognize that ability in him. It’s also an ability extends past the football field. Past the baseball field, even, where he spent so much time growing up.

“Last night me and Bluiett was talking about it and Bluiett, every time I walk in the game room and see him and Bluiett there they’re shooting pool and Bluiett is like, ‘There’s nothing he can’t do,’” Strong said.

Ping pong. Basketball. Golf.

While discerning where the talent begins and the work ethic ends is difficult — however much it is of both and in what percentage — the end result is that Buechele is baller at it.

The talent helps breed belief. The work ethic bleeds into the how the rest of the team approaches football.

“Just like his overall attitude, within the whole team it’s seepin’, seepin’, seepin’,” Strong said.

The job is yours for the taking, kid

Since declining to name a starting quarterback coming out of the spring, Strong has at times opted to refer to all three quarterbacks contending for the job when asked about Buechele.

On Tuesday, a reporter managed to flip the script in a revealing way.

Busted.

So, yeah, there’s a little confirmation that Buechele just has to keep from losing the job as much as he needs to win it after fall camp opens at the beginning of August.

Well, there is one dark-horse candidate…

Strong got the question about the starter at quarterback one too many times and decided to surface the name of a passer who also has some grittiness, notable pedigree, and even better height and experience than Buechele:

He’s obviously joking about the last part — #TreyHoltzforTexasQB2016.

Size matters

Listed rather generously at 6’1 and 191 pounds, Buechele is a player the coaches would have to manage in the running game, much like the former staff managed sophomore Jerrod Heard last season in certain games — the true freshman still has to add strength in the weight room.

In fact, it’s the one area where no amount of effort and natural talent can make up for the pure time needed to accomplish that goal.

“The thing he needs to do now and he’s working on it is getting bigger and stronger because he understands he’s going to take some hits,” Strong said. “We haven’t hit him. We can hit Swoopes because he’s bigger and he tries to run them over anyway. So they don’t want to hit Swoopes. But with Shane, it’s about him getting bigger and stronger.”

Without seeing any particularly revealing looks at Buechele recently, it’s hard to tell how far he’s progressed this summer. The good news is that Strong seems intent on supporting Buechele with the 18-Wheeler package, a move that makes complete sense despite the fact that the ‘Horns didn’t use it in the spring and can limit hits on the freshman while adding a third Smash Brother to the equation.

Upside matters

It’s no longer breaking news that Buechele is a gym rat and there’s certainly little surprise left in hearing that Strong found the freshman quarterback and freshman wide receiver playing pool at the Texas football facilities on Sunday before the Texas head coach headed down to San Antonio.

Neither is the description by his head coach about what he does well, but Strong does make an important point about the implications of all those things.

“When you look at him on the field he just puts the ball in the right place and he understands the offense, but he’s going to study the game and he does a really good job of setting the game and he can always get better. You can always improve.”

You can always improve.

It seems self-evidence (and it should be). The thing with Buechele is that he has the right mix of attributes to be the guy for Texas.

All signs point in that direction until they don’t.

After rewriting the Ole Miss record books and posting the third most single-season passing yards in SEC history during his first year in Oxford, Chad Kelly is getting some deserved buzz as a legitimate 2016 Heisman contender. The latest numbers from Bovada have him at 12/1, tied for the fifth-best odds in the country.

The departures of blindside protector Laremy Tunsil and top target Laquon Treadwell could certainly make things tougher for Kelly. At the same time, a loaded cast of returning skill players and another offseason for a noted tape junkie is more than enough reason to expect Kelly to improve during his senior season.

So how much does he need to improve to have a shot at the Heisman? To get a ballpark sense of what kind of numbers Kelly will need, I pulled stats on the last seven passers to win the award (QBs have won the Heisman in seven of the last nine years). This approach obviously ignores several key factors—namely team success and competition from other contenders—but the idea here is to simply provide statistical reference points.

Now let’s average all of those numbers together to create a statistical profile for the archetypal Heisman winner. We can then compare that profile to Kelly’s 2015 season to see what kind of numerical improvements he needs to make in order to theoretically be in the conversation.

*I have no way of calculating ESPN’s Total QBR stat, so I just took the mean.

So what does Kelly need to do to fit the statistical profile of a Heisman winner?

1. Cut down on the interceptions.

Jameis Winston is the only winner on that list to throw double-digit picks, and he offset that by throwing 40 touchdowns. The good news for Kelly is that, through a combination of increased familiarity with the offense and enhanced freedom to use his legs to escape jams, he cut down on those mistakes down the stretch last season: after tossing 12 picks through his first nine games, he threw just one during the last four. Cut the turnovers and Swag’s Total QBR could rise above 90.0, a statistical trait shared by five of the seven QBs on our list.

2. Become more accurate.

None of the last seven winners completed less than 66 percent of their passes, and Chad’s 65.1 is three percentage points below the average. Specifically, he needs to increase his accuracy against top secondaries: last season, Swag failed to hit the 68.1 percent threshold in all six of the games he played against teams ranked in the top 35 of pass defense F&P+. His combined completion percentage during those games was 61 percent.

3. Score a few more TDs.

Kelly was 10 touchdowns off the average total and needed about five more through the air to reach the average passing mark. The numbers do suggest he could get by with a passing touchdown mark in the low 30s, but only if gets more production on the ground: the four winners who had fewer than 37 scores through the air also piled up at least 699 rushing yards.

What are the five songs most likely to be played during Swag’s trophy ceremony if he wins the Heisman?

Glad you asked. Let’s count them down:

5. I Won – Future

4. Trophies – Drake

3. Do the Heizman – 3rd Flo

2. Type of Way – Rich Homie Quan

1. Duh

Name: Charlie Callinan

Position: Wide receiver

Number: #83

Year: Junior

Height: 6-foot-4

Weight: 239 lbs.

Hometown: Westfield, NJ

High School: St. Peter’s Prep

2013 Stats: Redshirted

2014 Stats: Callinan played in thirteen games, starting in nine. Finished the season with 13 catches for 149 yards and one touchdown pass against Virginia Tech. Not a stat that was listed, but he was a valuable run blocker on the edge, that helped to spring multiple big runs during the season.

2015 Stats: Started 10 of 12 games for the Eagles in 2015, recorded 14 catches for 192 yards and two touchdowns.

2016 Projections: Charlie is going to be a starter this year again. He has good size, and has shown a tendency to use his big frame to get to the ball. With Patrick Towles or Darius Wade throwing him the ball, this may be the first year where he has a legit throwing QB targeting him throughout the season. If he can stay healthy there is no reason his reception numbers shouldn’t increase.

How’d He Get Here: A three-star recruit out of St. Peter’s Prep in Jersey City, Callinan chose the Eagles over claimed offers from Connecticut and Rutgers. Other big names, including Michigan State, Notre Dame and Penn State showed interest in the 6-foot-4 receiver. Recruited by Bill McGovern.

Twitter Feed: You can follow Charlie on Twitter @C_Callinan.

Tweetable:

Uniform History: Harry Dowes an end in the 60’s, Bob Rush and Scott Giesleman a tight end in the 70’s and 80’s respectively, Ivan Boyd, a FL from 1990-93, Scott Dragos a tight end in the 90’s. Tim Sherwin a captain in 1983, also donned it. Superfan/walk on kicker Steve Aponavicius, the leading kicker in BC history, also wore it. Most recently wide receiver Alex Amidon wore it until 2013. If I missed anyone please let me know!

Linkage:

Know A Dude 2015: #83 WR Charlie Callinan (BC Interruption)

Know A Dude 2014: #32 WR Charlie Callinan (BC Interruption)

New Jersey WR Charles Callinan Commits To Boston College (BC Interruption)

An Interview with Charlie Callinan (mgoblog)

Highlights:

Video- Charlie Callinan’s touch down catch against Virginia Tech (ESPN)

Media days are just a couple days off, but the A.C.C. is already dropping bombs.  Multiple outlets are reporting that the A.C.C. (partnered with ESPN) intends to deliver its own network digitally in 2016. Some reports have it as early as next month.  The bigger news is that ESPN has indicated it will have an A.C.C. network in place sometime around 2019.  It makes complete sense to launch the network digitally, and than proceed to the linear version.  It will give ESPN ample time to work any kinks out, as well as ink deals with cable/satellite providers.

ESPN to reportedly launch ACC Network by 2019 https://t.co/HRMLHTyLnU

— CollegeFootballTalk (@CFTalk) July 19, 2016

What does this all mean for Virginia Tech?  First off, it will help generate awareness for the conference.  The A.C.C. is primarily known as a basketball conference, and this should help the national audience see more coverage of the other programs.  If you use the S.E.C. network as the model, expect to see talk shows, baseball, softball, and extra basketball coverage you normally wouldn’t see on the existing ESPN family of networks.  If Virginia Tech can get more eyeballs on the various programs, that’s a win.

It should help recruiting, as almost all recruits are plugged in digitally.  The network should have a big social media footprint, and more exposure for Virginia Tech is a great thing.  The Hokies have a great social media following now, and would only get bigger with a wider audience.  Expect more clarification this week from commissioner, John Swofford, at media days.

It looks like the Nebraska coaching staff is getting ready to host Joseph Lewis again, per multiple reports.

It sounds like Lewis will be bringing his coaches from Augustus Hawkins HS, who worked with Nebraska WR coach Keith Williams in a camp back in June.

Lewis himself has already visited Nebraska for the last weekend of Friday Night Lights, and came away very impressed with the trip. Look for Lewis & gang to get into Lincoln sometime late in the weekend (Sun/Mon) and be here for a couple of days.

With this trip and the OV that Lewis plans on making to Lincoln with his parents, Nebraska is flat out doing everything in their power to get Lewis to become a Husker. ‘The only possible critique of this trip is that Nebraska will be short Mike Riley, who will be visiting Chicago on Monday early for Big Ten Media Days.

As far as Jalen Hall visiting Nebraska with Lewis… while possible since they are reportedly visiting Tennessee together this week, unsure if that’s completely the case with Nebraska here.

– Expect to see another WR target in Tyjon Lindsey this weekend in Columbus at the Ohio State Friday Night Lights.

I could quite possibly be the only guy that thinks Nebraska still looks good in this situation, but I will still keep that Williams hasn’t stopped working to get Tyjon to become a Husker verbal.

– Nebraska verbal Jaevon McQuitty was down when Jamire Calvin happened to be taking in a camp at Alabama. But he wasn’t having any of that Bama crootin.

Baylor officials met with Big 12 members for two hours today. The Big 12 put out this statement after the meeting:

The Big 12 Board of Directors today was given an update by Baylor representatives on the university’s investigation of sexual assaults on its campus. In response to the Board’s request for information, Baylor interim president David Garland, regent’s chairman Ronald Murff and David Harper, academic and student affairs committee chairman met with the Board for over two hours.

“The details provided today are a necessary step in helping the entire membership gain a better understanding of the past actions and how the university plans to deal with all the issues identified in the Pepper Hamilton findings.” said Big 12 Board of Directors chairman and University of Oklahoma president David Boren. “We were assured of the university’s commitment to keep the conference appraised going forward. My Board colleagues and I sincerely appreciate the leadership of interim president Garland during this period, and support his efforts for absolute compliance. We were pleased by the commitment made by their regent’s chairman, Mr. Murff, to support appropriate institutional control going forward, and to assure full Title IX compliance.”

Though not mentioned in the statement, one of the more important pieces of information shared today was that Baylor has apparently removed compliance issues completely from the purview of the Athletic Department.  This move, which was discussed previously, is probably the right thing to do in the interests of avoiding conflicts of interest and makes complete sense.  Overall, the Conference was apparently satisfied enough by Baylor’s efforts to decide against issuing any sanctions at this time, although that is probably not surprising to anyone outside of Austin.

The media that covers the Big 12 doesn’t have much confidence in the Texas Longhorns, but ESPN analyst Tom Luginbill is all in with head coach Charlie Strong’s third team in Austin, picking the ‘Horns to finish atop the conference.

The Big 12 favorite is Oklahoma, right?

WRONG, says @TomLuginbill pic.twitter.com/mj9uV86CYW

— ESPNU (@ESPNU) July 19, 2016

“Going way off the grid,” Luginbill says, stating the obvious. “This team is really talented on defense, they’ve got weapons on the perimeter, they’re going to have talented offensive and defensive fronts, they can run the football, and they are going to be dramatically improved at quarterback, as long as Tyrone Swoopes is not the quarterback under center.

“That has to happen for Sterlin Gilbert the offensive coordinator. Texas has some premier players at some premier spots. This is going to be one of the most improved teams in college football. I love going with the dark-horse teams that nobody is talking about and I’ll give you another one here — I think they are going to beat Notre Dame in the opener.”

Oklahoma has the balance and leadership to have a great team, Luginbill believes, but he has questions about the schedule and the ability of the Sooners to live up to expectations after recent flops.

After Oklahoma, TCU, Oklahoma State, and Baylor round out Luginbill’s top five, which is in the exact same order as the media’s picks, except for Texas, which finished fifth in the media poll.

Luginbill is definitely way off the grid but, hey, it’s the offseason, so why not indulge in a little believing?