Eric SorensonThe Pac-12 Conference has taken its share of body blows nationally over the past several years and more could be on the way, according to one person with close ties to the conference.
FOX College Football Analyst and former University of Washington star quarterback Brock Huard believes national recruiting will dip for the “Conference of Champions” if one thing happens as planned in the coming weeks.
“I think it will be devastating if the SEC plays,” Huard said in a recent Skype interview with Sports360AZ.com’s Brad Cesmat. “If the SEC and the ACC and the Big 12 and their partners follow along and play this season, I think it will be devastating to those teams out west.”
Update on the 2020-21 Pac-12 season below.https://t.co/G6VxDO2VM2
— Pac-12 Conference (@pac12) August 11, 2020
Huard noted the top two California prep quarterbacks from the last two recruiting classes, Bryce Young and D.J. Uiaga, signed with and are now playing for Alabama and Clemson, respectively.
“If those conferences are able to navigate this and mitigate this,” he explained. “There will be some bumps in the road. There will be more cases…but if they go through this, you know the SEC’s slogan is, ‘It Just Means More.’ It does. It does. Compared to the Pac-12, it just means more down [South] and now they’ll be able to recruit that much more to that brand and to that motto.”
One day we will gather again & when we do, we will appreciate it even more. And the beauty of sport? It brings people together in ways few other things in our current society can https://t.co/OHF5gNHYwi
— Brock Huard (@BrockHuard) August 21, 2020
He was also asked if the conference’s decision to cancel fall football caught him off-guard considering it was announced earlier this month while three other Power 5 conferences (SEC, ACC, Big 12) plan on playing in just a matter of days.
“I was not surprised at all by the Pac-12,” he said. “Just look at the way the governors in the state of Washington, Oregon and California had processed this and handled this. It’s been locked down and shut down so I was not surprised at all.”
