Inside Cotton Bowl Media Day: Texas or Memphis BBQ? Plus Penn State’s LB pipeline
Kedarian Jones has spent the last four years playing football for Memphis, but he hasn’t forgotten his North Texas roots.
The former Dallas Kimball standout needed less than a second when asked the most important question during the Cotton Bowl’s media day on Thursday at AT&T Stadium — Texas or Memphis barbecue?
“Texas for sure. No bias,” Jones said, smiling. “Personally, I’m a sauce guy. Memphis’ sauce is more on the spicy side. Texas is more on the sweet side, so I like sweet. That’s what I lean to the most.”
Jones added that Smokey Joe’s BBQ in south Dallas is at the top of his preferred destinations. Of course, a few of his Memphis-bred teammates disagreed.
“Memphis over everything,” said linebacker Thomas Pickens, a fan of Central BBQ in Memphis.
Other takeaways from media day ahead of Saturday’s 11 a.m. matchup:
Penn State, TCU WR love
On the surface, it’s hard to envision many Penn State and TCU connections. But Nittany Lions standout receiver KJ Hamler has much respect for the Horned Frogs’ Jalen Reagor.
Hamler and Reagor played together during their high school years in “The Opening,” an event featuring the top high school players in the country. The two have stayed in touch over their college careers.
“That’s my boy,” Hamler said of Reagor. “Congrats to him for putting out the news [of going pro]. I texted him after that. Me and him keep in touch. We’re never in competition. We talk a lot, but it’s more so neutral respect. Just like ball out this game, ball out that game. Stuff of that nature.”
Much like Reagor, Hamler is viewed as a possible 2020 NFL Draft talent. Reagor has declared, but Hamler remains undecided. At least publicly.
“I’m worried about the Cotton Bowl,” he said.
But Hamler feels it’s fair to draw comparisons between him and Reagor, as each are speedy receivers who are somewhat smaller in stature.
“You could say we have similar skill sets, but everyone is different in their own way,” Hamler said.
Praise for Cowboys’ Lee
Penn State’s Micah Parsons has received a number of All-America honors this postseason and is becoming the next great linebacker in the Nittany Lions’ pipeline. He had 95 tackles, including 11 for loss, in the regular season.
Parsons knows the history of his predecessors, too, such as Dallas Cowboys linebacker Sean Lee.
“Every Friday we watch a different linebacker [who played at Penn State],” Parsons said. “Sean Lee, especially during his prime, was terrific. His smartness of the game. He was reading quarterbacks, knowing what they were doing and things like that. Sean Lee is one of the best to ever do it.”
Parsons has similar praise for the rest of Penn State’s greats as well. He takes pride in wearing No. 11, a legacy number at the school worn by former linebackers such as LaVar Arrington and NaVorro Bowman.
“When I came in, I wanted to be like LaVar,” Parsons said. “Now hopefully as I continue to progress, kids will want to be the next Micah. The number and the legacy is going to keep passing on and it’s something to build off of when you come to a school like this.”
Getting foxy
Memphis’ defense has a few interesting nicknames for hybrid positions with FOX and STUD.
As interim defensive coordinator Kevin Clune described it, “FOX is a hybrid between outside linebacker and pass rusher, so he’ll do D-end stuff. STUD is more of a hybrid between safety and outside linebacker, so he’s in a lot more coverage but he’ll also blitz and be a part of the run game.”
This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 5:29 PM.
