After three days, over 12 hours with 12 coaches and nearly 40 players, the 2009 Big 12 Conference football media days wrapped up last week at a hotel near DFW Airport.

One of the stories that caught Your Humble Correspondent's attention involved Texas senior quarterback Colt McCoy. YHC spent some of his younger years on a farm and witnessed the hard work that goes into tending crops and animals. (Some would say YHC has continued to witness hard work during his career but he lets those smart aleck comments roll off his sturdy back.)

McCoy described how he had spent time this summer helping his grandfather Burl McCoy. Gramps owns a farm near Brownwood, Texas and has often enlisted Colt to help with chores during the summer.

And never mind that the young McCoy is a Heisman Trophy runner up readying for his senior season with the Longhorns. When Burl McCoy calls, Colt answers.

"I'll bet we hauled 350 bales of hay for my grandad," McCoy remembered said. "You stack bales weighing 60 to 100 pounds each, depending on how green the hay is, as high as you can in a trailer, then unload them in the barn.

"I truly believe it's one of the worst labors a man can do. Ask anyone who's done it. It's worse than digging post holes for a fence, which I also did for him. You spend your time just trying to survive."

YHC agrees with Colt. Post holes can be dug with an auger and fencing can be hard work. But throwing hay bales, sweatin', gettin' bits of hay everywhere, breathing in the dust that comes from dry hay.

Haulin' hay is one of the worst labors a man can do. It makes two-a-days in August seem like eating ice cream on the back porch.

Here are some other tasty morsels left over from Big 12 media days.

What was said
Texas Tech coach Mike Leach on junior quarterback Taylor Potts, who takes over for Graham Harrell as the starter:
"He's got some John Wayne qualities. Sort of quiet, dust-and-tumbleweeds-coming-through-Abilene kind of guy. I like him a lot."

Missouri senior linebacker Sean Weatherspoon when asked if the Tigers were the most talented team in the Big 12:
"Definitely. We had six guys get drafted, those guys from other teams, I don't care if they all would have left, they probably wouldn't have had six guys drafted. And we could have had more than six. I put my teammates up against anybody, that's just how I am, if I go to war with you every day, I'm going to ride with you."

Kansas coach Mark Mangino on the next step the Jayhawks program must take:
"For us to really get where we want this program to be, we have to start winning against teams that are considered the elite teams in the league."

Kansas senior quarterback Todd Reesing, who is generously listed as being 5-11:
"I've had to fight off naysayers my whole life. Sometimes I wish it would quit. But I've shown a little bit that I can play a little football here and there."

Mangino on his new nickname for Reesing - "The Chauffeur":
"If you don't have a chauffer the car isn't going to move. He's the one that makes it roll."

Oklahoma tight end Jermaine Gresham on the Longhorn logo stickers the coaching staff hands out to players who underachieve in practice:
"It's an under-performed sticker," tight end Jermaine Gresham said. "It's a Texas sticker because they're our rival. And if you're not giving your best, you're helping Texas."

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini on the Cornhuskers' progress:
"Whether they pick us first or last, it doesn't really make a difference. ... I know one thing: Our players don't feel like Nebraska is back because our expectations are very high for what we want to be and where we're headed. I tell them all the time it's my job to keep them grounded. I think they start to feel the momentum from last year. That's a good thing. ... But they also know there's a lot of work in front of us to get where we want to be."

Texas A&M's Lucas Patterson, who has moved from the defensive to offensive line, on what it will be like in coach Mike Sherman's second season:
"Ultimately, last year we had people that had problems buying into what Coach wanted to do with this team. I think that's fixed. We all know what he wants to do and that he wants the best thing for us and this team."

Nebraska defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, the Big 12's pre-season defensive player of the year, on how he has improved during his career:
"As a freshman and a sophomore, I wasn't in tune with my fundamentals. I was just trying to use my strength. But in this day and age, with everybody being (physical) 'freaks,' everybody is as strong as you. You have to get back to fundamentals."

Oklahoma State Mike Gundy on his team's loss to Oregon in the Holiday Bowl:
"What happened to us against Oregon is they hit harder than we did and were tougher than we were in the fourth quarter. Up front they beat us on both sides of the ball. As a staff we were very disappointed in ourselves in our preparation. And our players were disappointed they outhit us in the fourth quarter."

What was written
Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com and Kirk Bohls of the Austin American-Statesman each reported on on the bubbling, boiling rivalry between Texas and Oklahoma. Here's Dodd's story and here is Bohls'.

Jason King of Rivals.com writes that Oklahoma State hopes its defense will improve under new coordinator Bill Young.

Texas Tech coach Mike Leach is a reporter's dream, writes Ivan Maisel of ESPN.com.