‘Thank you very much. We’re stopping at Buc-ee’s’: The 2024 college football season in quotes
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
Do you remember what life was like way back in the year 2023?
This time last year, Nick Saban and Alabama and Jim Harbaugh and Michigan were getting ready to face off at the Rose Bowl. Florida State was reeling from a playoff omission. Kalen DeBoer’s Washington Huskies were one of the hottest teams in the country.
A year later, Jim Harbaugh has taken his khakis to Los Angeles, Nick Saban is manning the “College GameDay” set and Kalen DeBoer has taken up residence in the pressure cooker that Saban vacated at Alabama.
Oregon won the Big Ten, Arizona State won the Big 12 and SMU took ACC champion Clemson to overtime in the title game. All are part of the new 12-team playoff while Alabama is not. It’s a whole new world out there.
Let’s look back on a historic season, told through the words of the people who lived it. We present our 2024 college football quotes of the year.
Hail to the Victors
“For me personally, I can now sit at the big person’s table in the family. They won’t keep me over there on the little table anymore. My dad, Jack Harbaugh, won a national championship and my brother won a Super Bowl. It’s good to be at the big person’s table from now on.”
— Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh, on Jan. 8 after Michigan beat Washington to win the national title.
Farewell to the Victors
“Jim did exactly what he sought to do at Michigan, build our program to consistently win Big Ten championships and compete for national championships. … He will always be a huge part of our rich history and will be remembered as an all-time great Wolverine, as both a championship player and coach.”
— Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel, after Harbaugh resigned to take the Los Angeles Chargers job.
The GOAT retires
“So I’m saying to myself, ‘Maybe this doesn’t work anymore, that the goals and aspirations are just different and that it’s all about how much money can I make as a college player?’ I’m not saying that’s bad. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying that’s never been what we were all about, and it’s not why we had success through the years.”
— Nick Saban to ESPN’s Chris Low on why he decided to retire.
And you are…?
“I’ve never worn a credential in my life. I was always, for 17 years, able to get in to SEC media day without a credential. I had to go back to the room today to get my credential to get in, so that’s one of the biggest changes I see. It’s not like it used to be.”
— Saban, laughing about being stopped by a security guard and not allowed in without proper ID this year.
“I do want it to be duly noted that I got in here without a credential today.”
— Georgia coach Kirby Smart, a former Saban assistant, in his opening remarks for Georgia at SEC media day, while Saban watched from a set in the back of the room.
All right, man
“Our focus is to embrace the hog.”
— Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, at SEC media days, on his team’s mantra for 2024, which he says means to “be tough, we need to be together, consistent, accountable and do it with pride.”
Pittman is high on the hog lighting at his lake house too:
Sam Pittman, yesterday, on his hog statue at his lake house:
“I can turn that hog 16 colors.” #embracethehog pic.twitter.com/7i3FmABjXl
– Dave Wilson (@dwil) July 19, 2024
The beginning of a bad year for FSU
“It’s very unfortunate that they, who have a good football team and a good football program, are in the position they’re in. … They can say we had our guys and they didn’t have their guys. I can listen to all that. But college football has to decide what they want.”
— Kirby Smart after Georgia beat Florida State 63-3 in the Orange Bowl in January after a devastated FSU team missed the playoff following an injury to Jordan Travis and several players opting out.
Highway to the danger zone
“It’s like you’re a fighter pilot and you’ve got this jet but there’s people that want to kill you. You get to fly it, but you don’t want to die. I feel that all the time.”
— Baylor coach Dave Aranda on calling defensive plays.
Mike Gundy’s year on the mic
“I looked it up on my phone. What would be the legal limit, like in Oklahoma, it is .08, and Ollie was .1, and it was, based on body weight, not to get into the legal side of it, and I thought, really, two or three beers, or four, I’m not justifying what Ollie did, I’m telling you what decision I made, and I thought, I’ve probably done that 1,000 times in my life. And it was just fine. I got lucky. People get lucky. Ollie made a decision he wished he could have done better. But when I talked to Ollie, I told him you got out light because you make a lot of money to play football.”
— Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, at Big 12 media days, on star running back Ollie Gordon’s DUI arrest.
“Well, I had a little run-in with my cattle over the weekend. I guess they’ve been watching us play, and I got head-butted. I’ve got a bad eye that I didn’t think would be particularly enjoyable for people when they were looking at my pretty face in a live interview. But more importantly, it’s full of blood and I get dizzy, so it’s not easy to be upright and be in a normal function. But other than that, I’m doing great.”
— Gundy, on doing a Zoom interview in October instead of his normal news conference because of a cow accident.
“In most cases, the people who are negative and voicing their opinions are the same ones that can’t pay their own bills. They’re not taking care of themselves, they’re not taking care of their own family.”
— Gundy, amid a winless Big 12 season, on criticism from fans. After blowback, Gundy posted a statement on X saying, “I apologize to those who my comments during Monday’s media call offended. My intent was not to offend any of our fans who have supported us and this program through the years.”
Missing mascots
“Disappointed that Sir Big Spur is not here. I think it’s ridiculous that this is the only place apparently in the SEC that doesn’t allow live mascots in the stadium. That’s what makes this league special is the fact that LSU can have a freakin’ tiger at their stadium tonight but we can’t bring Sir Big Spur. … Come on Vandy, do better.”
— South Carolina coach Shane Beamer, on their mascot, an Old English Black Breasted Red Fighting Gamecock.
“This dog hasn’t been on a plane yet and hasn’t been on a bus yet. He is really young and immature and crazy as hell, and this game just wasn’t a good fit for us.”
— Charles Seiler, the owner of Uga XI, the Georgia mascot, to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on why the English bulldog didn’t make the trip to Austin for a game against Texas.
“The reality is there is limited sideline space at the stadium. We can’t jeopardize the safety of Bevo or the game participants.”
— Statement from the SEC on why Texas’ Bevo XV, who weighs more than 1,700 pounds with a 58-inch horn span, wasn’t allowed at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta for the SEC championship game against Georgia.
Treat yourself
“Thank you very much. We’re stopping at Buc-ee’s.”
–Troy head coach Gerad Parker, ending his ESPN+ postgame interview after the Trojans, who started 1-7, won their first road game of the season 28-20 over Georgia Southern. Parker said he was “coached up at the fudge station” to get some peanut butter fudge.
Holgo’s back, all right
“I was bored”
— Former Houston and West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen, on why he took the Nebraska offensive coordinator job on Nov. 11.
“I remember my second year at Texas Tech in 2001, we played Iowa in the Alamo Bowl. It’s the same thing twenty-some years later. It’s the same scheme, same coach, same everything. This is crazy.”
— Holgorsen, Nov. 26, on preparing for a game against Kirk Ferentz, who has been coaching the Hawkeyes since 1999.
Win, wash, repeat
“When we lose, I don’t even get in the shower until the next morning. I just be mad and brush my teeth. I don’t deserve soap, and I don’t deserve all that. … Winners get washed. If I’m a loser, I just gotta wait a little bit.”
— Syracuse coach Fran Brown, on how he handles losses.
The hills have eyes
“Extra careful. You’ve got people in the hills. They live in the hills and they’ve got binoculars. Mountaineers, man, they’re up there. In the mountains right there. Hey, take nothing for granted.”
— Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi, on why they practiced indoors all week despite good weather before a 38-34 win in the Backyard Brawl against West Virginia this year.
Got that, pal?
“Oregon State’s not our buddy. They would’ve left us as fast as we would have left them.”
— Washington State coach Jake Dickert on the other Pac-12 school left behind, whom he now calls one of their biggest rivals.
Coach didn’t wake up feeling the cheesiest
“Uh oh, Cheez-It Bowl?!”
— Missouri coach Eli Drinkwitz upon seeing a Cheez-It Bowl representative at his news conference after the Tigers beat Auburn to become 6-1. They finished 9-3 and will face Iowa in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl.
Coaching insight
“We need to do a better job of coaching, in my opinion. … I’m not so sure that I’ve agreed with our schemes.”
— Mike Gundy, after Oklahoma State’s 42-21 loss to Arizona State. After reviewing film, he changed his tune: “After looking at it, I felt like we were OK.”
The direct approach
“We’ve been an abomination on offense this year.”
— Oklahoma coach Brent Venables after a 35-9 loss to South Carolina, followed by the dismissal of offensive coordinator Seth Littrell.
“We’re paying players.”
— Dave Aranda, to SicEm365, on how Baylor started recruiting better.
Throw it down, big man
“For a big white guy, I can really dance. I wouldn’t say against the general population, but I think for a 300-pound white guy, definitely I’m in the higher percentile for 300-pound white guys.”
— Idaho coach Jason Eck, on busting a move.
Eck on his moves: “I think I’m in the highest percentile for 300 pound white guys.” Literally how do you not love this man https://t.co/WdKTjhhjtc pic.twitter.com/0yewAAQRha
– Andrew Quinn (@andrewquinny) September 9, 2024
Dabo’s down
“When you get beat like that, that’s on the head coach. That’s on me, so, that’s just complete ownership of just an absolute crap second half.”
— Clemson coach Dabo Swinney after a 34-3 loss to Georgia in the season opener.
Dabo’s back
“All we hear is how bad we are and how terrible we are and how stupid I am. … We just keep winning.”
— Swinney, after a 34-31 walk-off win over SMU to claim the ACC championship.
Welcome to Lubbock
“I didn’t know throwing tortillas on the field was legal. … They kept throwing tortillas at me so I had to sign one.”
— Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders on Texas Tech’s tradition of fans flinging tortillas like frisbees during the Buffaloes’ 41-27 win.
“I’m sick of seeing that quarterback. I’ve had enough of him.”
— Auburn coach Hugh Freeze, joking about Vanderbilt’s Diego Pavia, who beat Freeze twice when he was at New Mexico State (once against Liberty 49-14 and then 31-10 in a huge upset against Auburn). Pavia threw for two more touchdowns in a 17-7 win over Auburn this season to go 3-0 against Freeze.
“The only place you play in the SEC that’s not hard to play in is Vanderbilt. When you play at Vanderbilt, you have more fans there than they have.”
— ESPN analyst Nick Saban, three weeks before Alabama lost to Vanderbilt in Nashville 40-35.
“Vandy, we’re f—ing turnt!”
— Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, live on ESPN after beating Alabama for the first time in 40 years, its first top-five win in program history.
A historic upset
“We didn’t need luck. That was our theme. I didn’t think we needed luck.”
— Northern Illinois coach Thomas Hammock after the Huskies beat Notre Dame 16-14, the Irish’s only loss this season.
Rise and grind
“If it was up to me, we’d play at 9 o’clock in the morning. Kegs and eggs and football. Let’s go.”
— Nebraska coach Matt Rhule on kickoff times.
B1G beginnings
“That was some pretty good Big Ten football today.”
— USC coach Lincoln Riley, after the Trojans beat LSU 27-20 to open the season in their new conference.
Thanks for the QB
“I should send Ryan Day a bottle of champagne.”
— Syracuse coach Fran Brown, after former Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord threw for 354 yards and four touchdowns in the Orange’s 38-22 season-opening win over Ohio.
Flags are flying everywhere
“It’s just a kid from Austin, Texas, who went to Oklahoma and won his last two Red River games and being rent-free in their heads for almost a decade now.”
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield, on Texas players planting a flag through his jersey at the Cotton Bowl after beating Oklahoma this season.
“Some people, they’ve got to learn how to lose. You can’t be fighting and stuff just because you lost the game. All that fighting, we had 60 minutes, we had four quarters to do all that fighting. Now, people want to talk and fight. That’s wrong. It’s just bad for the game. Classless, in my opinion. People got to be better.”
— Michigan RB Kalel Mullins, to Fox’s Jenny Taft, after the Wolverines beat Ohio State 13-10 and planted a flag on OSU’s logo with a fight breaking out afterward, including police pepper-spraying players.
“There are some prideful guys on our team who weren’t going to sit back and let that happen.”
— Ohio State coach Ryan Day on his players’ response to the flag being planted.
“We’re going to win in your house and we’re gonna plant the flag. You should’ve done something about it.”
— Michigan quarterback Davis Warren, after the incident.
Making the Heisman House a home
“After careful thought and consideration I will be humbly removing myself from the Heisman trophy ceremony until @ReggieBush gets his trophy back. Doesn’t sit right with my morals and values that he can’t be on that stage with us every year. Reggie IS the Heisman trophy.”
— Post on X from 2012 Heisman winner Johnny Manziel, on March 2.
“We are thrilled to welcome Reggie Bush back to the Heisman family in recognition of his collegiate accomplishments. We considered the enormous changes in college athletics over the last several years in deciding that now is the right time to reinstate the trophy for Reggie. We are so happy to welcome him back.”
— Michael Comerford, president of the Heisman Trophy Trust, reinstating Bush’s Heisman Trophy that he forfeited in 2010 following NCAA sanctions, on April 24.
Texas trash talk
“Nobody gave us a chance. Your own network doubted us. And then they tried to rob us with calls in this place.”
— Georgia’s Kirby Smart, to ESPN on the field after No. 5 Bulldogs’ 30-15 upset of No. 1 Texas in October in a game marred by a pass interference penalty on an interception by Texas. Longhorns fans threw trash on the field, and while the debris was being removed, officials conferred and changed the call back to an interception.
“Now we’ve set a precedent that if you throw a bunch of stuff on the field and endanger athletes that you’ve got a chance to get your call reversed. And that’s unfortunate because, to me, that’s dangerous. That’s not what we want, and that’s not criticizing officials. That’s what happened.”
— Smart, on officials reversing the call after fans threw trash on the field.
“Let’s get real about the bottle bombing the field glitch we had. Not cool. Bogey move. Yeah, that call was BS, but we’re better than that. Longhorn Nation knows how to show up, show out like no other, and still keep our class. So, going forward let’s clean that kind of BS up and leave that behind us for good. We have to shake hands on that.”
— Texas “Minister of Culture” Matthew McConaughey, on the fans’ behavior.
Colorado trash talk
“We’re about to roll your asses.”
— Colorado safety Shilo Sanders, to Nebraska players before the coin toss. Nebraska won, 28-10.
“I mean, how many times did Raiola get touched?”
— Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders after the Nebraska loss where which he was sacked six times, on his team’s struggles to run the ball and protect him, compared to Huskers QB Dylan Raiola.
A motivation moment
“I grew up a Penn State fan. I wanted to go there my whole life. They didn’t think I was good enough. But I guess we’ll see next week if I was.”
— Ohio State quarterback Will Howard, a Pennsylvania native, who would throw two touchdown passes as No. 4 Ohio State beat No. 3 Penn State 20-13 on Nov. 2.
Harbaugh on changes in college football
“We’ve seen a whole conference go into a portal … If stuff can happen this quick, like we’ve seen this year, then I’m hopeful that there’s a wrong that could be righted quickly as well. There used to be a saying: Old coaches — my dad’s used it, my brother’s used it — like, hey, we’re all robbing the same train here.”
— Harbaugh, on the swift demise of the Pac-12 and the rapid change of pace in college football, advocating for revenue sharing for players in January, saying e.veryone benefits but them.
Big trouble
“This game was absolutely stolen from us. We were excited about being in the Big 12, but tonight I am not. We won this game. Someone else stole it from us. Very disappointed. … I’m disgusted by the professionalism of the officiating crew tonight.”
— Utah athletic director Mark Harlan, after a 22-21 loss to rival BYU. Harlan, who does not normally address the media and did not take any questions, made a surprise appearance in the postgame news conference after a holding call on cornerback Zemaiah Vaughn negated Utah’s fourth-down sack of BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff at the Cougars’ 1-yard line with 1:29 left appeared to have ended the game.
“Mark’s comments irresponsibly challenged the professionalism of our officials and the integrity of the Big 12 Conference. There is a right way and a wrong way to voice concerns. Unfortunately, Mark chose the wrong way.”
— A response from Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark, who fined Harlan $40,000.
When a penalty is an advantage
“We spend an inordinate amount of time on situations and some situations don’t come up very often in college football, but this was obviously something we had worked on. You can see the result.”
— Oregon coach Dan Lanning, admitting to intentionally drawing a penalty for having 12 men on the field on defense, running time off the clock and allowing the No. 2 Ducks to escape with a 32-31 win over No. 4 Ohio State. The NCAA changed the rule as a result, allowing officials to reset the game clock to the time of the snap for the penalty.
The mouth of the South
“It means rest for a team that Greg Sankey and his staff sent on the road all year long.”
— Smart, taking a shot at Georgia’s schedule while standing on stage near SEC commissioner Greg Sankey after winning the league’s championship game and earning a bye in the College Football Playoff.
He doesn’t even go here!
“I don’t even know if Shedeur has ever taken a class on campus in his college career.”
— Colorado coach Deion Sanders on “The Bret Boone Podcast,” talking about his son and quarterback taking online classes while lamenting that players are missing out on the best part of college and building relationships with other students.
The haves vs. the have-nots
“Alabama stole our kicker. They illegally recruited our kicker and stole him from us. That’s a fact.”
— Miami Redhawks coach Chuck Martin, in a school video interview, on Lou Groza winner Graham Nicholson transferring to Alabama. Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer denied the allegations, saying, “I mean, he entered the portal and we reached out to him.”
Coach Prime’s time
“I think ever since I stepped into Florida State in ’85 it’s been like that for me. This ain’t new to me. I’m not new to this. Like we say in the hood, I’m true to this. So this is new to some of you all and you want us to change. We’re not going to change. … The cameras and the lights, I think I haven’t seen one kid here today that said he didn’t like that.”
— Deion Sanders, at Big 12 media day, on all the attention around the Colorado program.
“I don’t have bad days, man. I may have a bad moment, maybe even a bad hour, but never a bad day. I don’t. Cause I set my own thermostat.”
— Colorado coach Deion Sanders to rapper Lil Wayne.
“When you lose, you’re going to be ridiculed, you’re going to be prosecuted and persecuted and I’m good. I’ve been on the cross for a long time, and I’m still hanging.”
— Colorado coach Deion Sanders after his team’s 1-1 start.
Inspirations and celebrations in Norman
“We watched that new Gladiator movie last night, and it was right on time. My man Denzel Washington over-delivered again.”
— Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, after Oklahoma beat Alabama 24-3.
“We had to pull over because we ordered so much food they couldn’t get it all ready. We ordered everything. Whatever they put inside of a tortilla, the crunchy stuff, man, it’s freaking — I have no idea what it was. We smashed that and had some fun. It was good. It was worth the wait.”
— Venables, who said he ordered $94 worth of Taco Bell with his daughters after the Oklahoma win.
It’s a party in the SEC
“You said what a joke I was, the ‘Miley Cyrus of college football coaching,’ and I should be fired. They looked at each other and later that night, I was fired.”
— Lane Kiffin, to ESPN’s Paul Finebaum, blaming him for getting fired on the airport tarmac when he was the coach at USC.
Drop the pin
“I’m sure you guys don’t know too much about UCLA, but our football program — we’re in L.A. It’s us and USC. I’m just basically excited. That’s it.”
— UCLA coach DeShaun Foster in his opening statement at Big Ten media days. Foster later wore “We’re in LA” shirt to practice to make light of his speech.
The Drink that stirs the drink
“This will be real disappointing to Bob Stoops, but OU doesn’t always whip Missouri’s ass anymore.”
— Eli Drinkwitz after Mizzou beat Oklahoma 30-23, responding to a quote from Stoops this summer to ESPN’s Jake Trotter on moving to the SEC: “We beat the hell out of Missouri. All of a sudden now we’re supposed to be afraid of them?”
Smokin’ Cig
“We’re picked 17th out of an 18-team league, and I get it. The two times we were picked next-to-last, in 2022, we won the conference championship, and in 2017, we inherited an 8-45 team and … played for the conference championship. Now, I’m not into making predictions. That’s just a historical fact.”
— Indiana coach Curt Cignetti, at Big Ten media days, before going 11-1 and making the College Football Playoff.
Swinney’s semantics
“Honestly, every player is technically a transfer. We just signed a whole class of guys transferring from high school.”
— Clemson’s Dabo Swinney on the school’s lack of additions via the transfer portal.
Heupel’s happy return
“Should be a great crowd. It’s a passionate fan base. I’m expecting them to be extremely quiet for us, out of respect to me and our program, too.”
— Former Sooners quarterback and coach Josh Heupel, with a slight smile, on returning to Oklahoma as the coach at Tennessee. The Vols beat the Sooners 25-15.
“”It’s not one of those moments where you’re happy for [Heupel], because you’re not. But that just kind of comes with the territory.”
— Oklahoma coach Brent Venables after the Sooners’ loss to Tennessee.
Welcome back to Tobacco Road
“I was too young to remember a lot of things at Carolina, but as I grew up, you hear the same story over and over and over again. One story I always heard was, ‘Billy’s first words were, ‘Beat Duke.'”
— Bill Belichick, at his introductory news conference as North Carolina’s new football coach. His father, Steve, served as an assistant coach for the Tar Heels from 1953 to 1955 when Belichick was a toddler.
“Shoot, Bill Belichick will get it, too. We’re going five [straight] years. No matter who the coach is for UNC, we’re going to kick them. It means a lot that I could play against Bill Belichick. But if he comes to play, we’re going to kill them. We’re going to kill them.”
— NC State quarterback CJ Bailey, at a Military Bowl news conference before Belichick’s hire was even official. The Wolfpack have won four straight against North Carolina.
Don’t come to the Sip
“Well, that’s nice of Coach Freeze to compliment our management of our collective. I’m sure he’ll try to steal Walker Jones like he’s tried all of our coaches also.”
— Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin, after Hugh Freeze complimented the work The Grove Collective, led by Jones, had done in NIL for the Rebels.
We are … annoyed
“I have no problem with them celebrating, but this is kind of a JV set-up.” pic.twitter.com/FD71tfLoty
– Zachary Neel (@zacharycneel) December 8, 2024
Got him for a steal, too
“He might be the most hated man in college football, but the coaches and kids at Mumford High School love him.”
— Mumford [Michigan] High coach William McMichael, on hiring former Michigan analyst Connor Stalions, allegedly the mastermind behind Michigan’s sign-stealing operation, as his defensive coordinator.
Look at this photograph
“I need to improve my photography skills, not my barbecue skills.”
— A defiant Lincoln Riley, on his oft-criticized brisket photo from Easter 2021.
No offense
“We haven’t been where we’ve wanted to be offensively for a couple years.”
— Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, at Big Ten media days, on hiring Tim Lester to replace his son, Brian Ferentz, as offensive coordinator after the Hawkeyes ranked 132 of 133 teams, averaging 15.4 points per game in 2023. The Hawkeyes improved to 28 PPG this season.
Kiffin loves the committee
“You guys actually meet for days and come up with these rankings?? Do you actually watch the quality of players, teams, and road environments … or just try and make the ACC feel relevant?? Btw one of your teams paid us not to play again next year.”
— Lane Kiffin, on X, to the College Football Playoff committee, also taking a shot at Wake Forest, who told Ole Miss this year they’ll be buying out their return trip to Oxford next year, which Kiffin said violated an “unwritten rule” because it’ll force them to scramble and find a game to schedule.
FSU frustration
“It’s a disappointing ending to an awful season. It’s the best way I can put it.”
— Florida State coach Mike Norvell, after a 31-11 loss to rival Florida to end a 2-10 season after last year’s 13-1 finish.
The bike is parked in Boulder?
“I’ve got a kickstand down. You know what a kickstand is? … That means I’m resting. I’m good, I’m happy, I’m excited. I’m enthusiastic about where I am. … We ain’t going nowhere. We’re about to get comfortable.”
— Deion Sanders, on speculation he could leave Colorado after turning Colorado’s program around.
The perks of on-campus playoff games
“I’m gonna meet Matthew McConaughey!”
— Swinney, on Clemson facing Texas in Austin in the first round of the College Football Playoff.
Goodbye to a good boy
“He wasn’t just my best friend — he was America’s best friend.”
— ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit, after the death of his dog Ben, who had become a staple at college football games.
Sports
A famous dad, the perfect swing and elite Fortnite skills: Meet MLB’s most fascinating hitter
Warning: What you’re about to read is Jacob Wilson‘s opinion. He is a professional baseball player — a very good one — and not a medical expert, but there are some things he is convinced are true, and this is one of them.
The 23-year-old Wilson, the Athletics’ wunderkind shortstop, is wise enough to understand that the sort of success he has found on the baseball field — a .347 batting average and a near-certain invitation to the All-Star Game coming — comes from a multitude of areas. He is the son of a longtime big leaguer, so certainly genetics helped, and he works relentlessly at his craft, which goes a long way. But the special sauce that built the American League Rookie of the Year favorite, he believes, included a secret ingredient.
Fortnite.
“Kids are going to love this one. Parents are going to hate me,” Wilson said. “I am a big believer in video games. It’s fast decision-making strategy. I think that gets me ready for the game, because when you’re in the box, you have to process a lot. So there’s some days where I’ll wake up and I’ll play video games and then I’ll go to the field, and I’ll have a good day. Some days I won’t play and don’t see the ball well. I think it really helps me train kind of the decision-making that I have to make six, seven hours later at the baseball field.”
Yes, one of the best hitters in the major leagues, a contact maven who strikes out with the infrequency of Tony Gwynn, swears that he’s as good as he is at a kid’s game because of his aptitude at another kid’s game. After Wilson wakes up, he deploys to his living room and parks in a chair. On the table in front of him sit a PC and a controller. He logs in to Fortnite — the 8-year-old game still played by millions every day — hops on the Battle Bus and systematically disposes of those with the misfortune of sharing a map with him.
“If we play a game with me and him and guys we know and you kill him once, you’re like, ‘That’s a good day,'” A’s infielder Max Muncy said. “You could play 50 rounds. Just once is good.”
Muncy has known of Wilson’s Fortnite exploits since they were teammates at Thousand Oaks (California) High, where Wilson’s father, former Pittsburgh shortstop Jack Wilson, coached. Back then, Jack actually questioned whether the game was interfering with Jacob’s baseball growth — though he understood his son’s reasoning. Over his 12-year big league career, Jack earned a reputation as one of the best pingpong players in the major leagues. It was pure reaction, not unlike hitting, and he complemented his pregame work in the batting cage with the brain training found in a paddle and hollow ball.
He saw the same opportunity in video games for his son — with a caveat.
“I do believe in the hand-eye coordination that video games give — as long as you do your homework,” Jack said. “Kids, if you’re reading, do your homework.”
The Wilsons are not alone in their belief that unconventional methods off the field can lead to success on it. Studies back up the suggestion that video games can be beneficial for brain activity. And considering the recognition being lavished on Jacob Wilson — he is more than a quarter-million votes ahead of Kansas City star Bobby Witt Jr. in All-Star balloting to be the American League’s starting shortstop — the benefits can be pronounced.
Of course, dropping into Anarchy Acres does not a big league hitter make. The story of Wilson’s ascent actually starts in his backyard, where he spent countless hours figuring out how to thrive in a game that simply isn’t built for hitters like him anymore.
Heaven for the Wilson family is a regulation-sized turfed infield with a FungoMan ground ball machine, a fence covered with famous retired numbers and stadium logos, a full dugout on the third-base side — and a grill stationed in center field in case someone gets hungry. The backyard of the family’s home is a testament to form and function, and it’s where Jacob learned how to be — and how not to be — like his father.
“It was a place built for guys who just love the grind of wanting to get better every day,” Jack said.
Jack’s bat was never as adept as his glove, and to last a dozen years in the big leagues, he needed countless reps to keep his fielding at a level that, according to Baseball-Reference, produced the fifth-most defensive wins above replacement this century, behind only Andrelton Simmons, Yadier Molina, Adrian Beltre and Kevin Kiermaier.
“You know that idea about being able to write a letter to your former self on what would you tell yourself now?” Jack said. “I get to do that with Jake. And I said, ‘You know, this is the way I hit. I don’t want you to hit like this.’ Because there were so many things I wish I could have done differently. If I were to build a perfect hitter, what would I do?”
He started with Miguel Cabrera. Wilson always admired how tall he stood in the batter’s box before sinking into his legs. Then it was Mike Trout. The simplicity of his swing has always been a marvel, but in particular Wilson appreciated the speed at which he loads his hands, allowing Trout to be on time even for 100 mph fastballs. The final lesson was Albert Pujols’ bat path, which was so flat and stayed in the zone for so long that it allowed him to sting the ball from foul pole to foul pole while maintaining strikeout numbers that were well below league average.
To hone that Voltron of a swing, a teenage Wilson would grip a custom wood bat with a 1½-inch barrel — an inch less than a standard big league barrel — and face his dad, who stood 45 feet away and ripped 85 mph fastballs and sliders using a tennis ball. If he didn’t catch the ball on the meat of the barrel, it would spin sideways, forcing him to learn to maneuver his bat with special dexterity.
The skinny bat made a regulation-sized model feel twice as big. When he took regular batting practice, Jacob always started by peppering the right side of the field on his first dozen swings. Even though Jacob was bigger than his father — at 6-foot-3, he is a comparatively imposing presence — Jack didn’t want him to fall into the trap of always trying to pull the ball. While that approach works for some hitters, Cabrera, Trout and Pujols embraced and embodied an all-fields approach.
By Wilson’s junior year in high school, the work started to pay off. Wilson didn’t strike out once all season. He didn’t punch out during his COVID-shortened senior season, either, then continued that trend at Grand Canyon University in Phoenix, where his sophomore year he whiffed seven times in 275 plate appearances and his junior season had five punchouts in 217 times at the plate. Twice, he received a plaque from the NCAA for being the toughest hitter to strike out in college baseball.
The A’s took Wilson with the sixth pick in the loaded 2023 draft. Last year, he hit .433/.473/.668 with just 15 strikeouts in 226 plate appearances across three minor league levels and, just a year and 10 days after being drafted, he debuted in the big leagues.
In a world of launch angle and exit velocity, Wilson arrived in the majors wanting to be more like Luis Arráez and Nico Hoerner, contact artists nonpareil who value batting average and are allergic to strikeouts.
“I just take strikeouts so personally,” Wilson said. “It’s the one thing in this game that makes me more mad than anything. So I’ll go up there and I’ll swing at a pitch that’s maybe a couple inches off and take a base hit to right. So I think batting average definitely is a stat that should be seen and should matter for most hitters.”
Wilson’s swing is kinetic, with a wide-open stance that closes as he moves his legs and flaps his arms — a little Chicken Dance, a little Cabrera-Trout-Pujols. While he hasn’t always been this twitchy — “I’ve got to keep my muscles moving a little bit,” Wilson said — it works for him. He keeps the knob of the bat in the direction of the ball longer than most hitters, reminding himself to “stay inside the baseball,” a lesson preached ad nauseam by Jack. Aiming to strike the inside of the ball, Jacob said, keeps him from rolling over it. He lives by the old axiom “good hitters get jammed” and doesn’t shy away from flipping a duck snort between the infield and outfield.
The approach has served him well. After starting the year in the No. 9 hole, Wilson has hit first or second every game since May 7. Only Arráez has a lower strikeout rate than Wilson’s 6.8% — and Wilson has nine home runs compared with Arráez’s one. Of all the strikeout-averse hitters in the game, the one with a line most comparable to Wilson’s.347/.388/.487 is Cleveland third baseman Jose Ramirez, who is primed to play in his seventh All-Star Game this season.
“It’s not even his hits,” said Nick Kurtz, the A’s first baseman and fellow rookie. “I’ve seen multiple times where there’s a sinker up and in that was going to hit him, and he hit it to second base. Sometimes they’re a hit, sometimes they’re not. Every time, though, I’m like, ‘How the hell did he do that?’ Being able to touch it, not break your bat and go the other way with it? I’m at a loss for words.”
On April 5 at 11:13 p.m., Jack Wilson’s phone dinged. He had texted his son to congratulate him on a good team win by the A’s. Jacob didn’t want to hear it. He was mad. He had gone 1-for-4 with a two-run double, but that wasn’t good enough.
“I’m not a .250 hitter,” Jacob texted.
Jack laughed. He batted .265 in his career. It was enough to earn him more than $40 million playing. His son wants to be better — not because he’s greedy but because he’s capable of it.
“That’s a good thought process,” Jack said. “Because when I was a rookie and I got a hit, I was pumped. I always tell him, ‘Man, hitting is freaking hard.’ It’s just not going to be every day where your swing is on point and you match up. It’s just the way it is. So this has been a real learning experience. And it will be for a long time. The more he learns now, the better off he is in the future and hopefully spends a long time as an Athletic.”
The A’s are counting on their star shortstop as a linchpin of their impressive offensive core. Wilson is the fulcrum, Kurtz the powerhouse with a propensity for late-inning heroics. Designated hitter Brent Rooker and outfielder Lawrence Butler are both sluggers locked up to long-term deals. First baseman Tyler Soderstrom and catcher Shea Langeliers provide additional home run thump. Denzel Clarke is going to win multiple Gold Gloves in center field. If they can build a pitching staff to match, the team scheduled to move to Las Vegas for the 2028 season will be among the most exciting in baseball.
And it all starts with the kid who is definitely not a .250 hitter and definitely does take strikeouts personally.
“I mean, I’ve studied his swing,” Muncy said. “There’s things that he does so well that other guys don’t do that leads to that. And I think one of the things is probably just his mentality. He has always thought he could put it in play. I don’t think there’s ever been a guy where he is like, ‘I can’t put it in play.’ When you have that supplemental edge — I can put it in play no matter what — that helps.”
Every edge helps, be it bat-to-ball skills, burgeoning power or the ability to no-scope someone from 300 meters. Wilson has no plans to abandon his Fortnite reps. It’s part of his training now, and even if it doesn’t work for everyone, he sees Victory Royales leading to victories for the A’s.
“Everybody has their own approach and everybody’s here for a reason,” Wilson said. “This is the big leagues. Everybody is the best in the world at what they do.”
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