DALLAS — Not long ago, Texas football coach Tom Herman saw new offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich scribbling away on a whiteboard.
"What's all this," Herman said, drawing a perplexed look from Yurcich. Herman elaborated: "All these squiggly lines, and circles and squares and X's, what is this?"
Responded Yurcich: "Coach, it's football."
While Herman certainly knew what it was, the point was made. After dealing with countless Zoom calls and sessions on coronavirus and with the protests going on throughout the country, football itself had become a back burner issue for the past few months.
That changes for Herman and his fellow Big 12 coaches on Monday, when schools can begin voluntary football conditioning and workouts.