Former Bruins, Trojans and Ducks alike are now going to have a hand in shaping the future of their alma maters' conference.
The Pac-12 announced the formation of a Football Alumni Council on Monday, led by Senior Associate Commissioner for Football Operations Merton Hanks. The council, which is made up of 24 former student-athletes from the conference, has already met multiple times, convening for its initial set of meetings in November around the Pac-12 Championship Game in Las Vegas.
Running back Johnathan Franklin and tight end Marcedes Lewis are the two players set to represent UCLA. Stanford, Cal and Washington have three representatives each, while Arizona State, Utah and Washington State each only have one representative and the other six schools have two apiece.
Franklin racked up 4,920 yards and 34 touchdowns from scrimmage from 2009 to 2012 with the Bruins. Lewis played for UCLA from 2002 to 2005, accumulating 1,571 yards and 21 touchdowns in his career before getting picked in the first round of the NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Five of the 24 alumni are still active in the NFL, while 23 of them had careers in the NFL at one point or another. The only one who didn't is former Oregon coach Mike Bellotti, who actually played at UC Davis before coaching on the Ducks' sideline for nearly 20 years.
“It is such a privilege to be a part of an alumni council that understands the challenges ahead for college athletics and college football in particular,” said former Washington quarterback Brock Huard. “But more importantly, this group seeks to maximize the massive opportunities in front of the Pac-12 and its incredible institutions.”
The idea of the council is to elevate the brands and recruiting efforts of their respective schools, all with the goal of giving the Pac-12 a better chance of sending representatives to the College Football Playoff again. After Oregon and Washington appeared in two of the first three playoffs, the conference has now gone five straight years without a representative in the bracket.
Conversations at the first round of meetings were centered around marketing, promotional and PR initiatives that could help drive attention and attendance for Pac-12 schools, as well as alumni publicly capitalizing on their pasts in the conference to make it a more attractive path for current and prospective student-athletes. League-wide scheduling was also discussed, and the first round of changes agreed upon at these meetings will be implemented in the first quarter of 2022.
“The Pac-12 consistently produces high performing and marquee NFL players along with former football student-athletes who go on to incredibly successful careers both within and beyond the gridiron,” Hanks said in a statement. “We are committed to building deeper relationships with our football alumni through substantive engagement on football matters. Our Pac-12 Football Alumni Council boasts unmatched football knowledge and national fan followings, and we look forward to working with them to support Pac-12 football across both promotional and strategic levels.”
The council is slated to meet multiple times a year, basing those dates around key moments and events on the Pac-12 calendar.
The full list of players on the first rendition of the council are as follows:
Scooby Wright (Arizona)
Brandon Sanders (Arizona)
Eric Allen (Arizona State)
Justin Forsett (Cal)
Shane Vereen (Cal)
Alex Mack (Cal)
Chad Brown (Colorado)
Mike Pritchard (Colorado)
Mike Bellotti (Oregon)
Tyrell Crosby (Oregon)
Steven Jackson (Oregon State)
Brandin Cooks (Oregon State)
Toby Gerhart (Stanford)
Zach Ertz (Stanford)
Toi Cook (Stanford)
Johnathan Franklin (UCLA)
Marcedes Lewis (UCLA)
Derrick Deese (USC)
Tim McDonald (USC)
Steve Smith (Utah)
Lincoln Kennedy (Washington)
Brock Huard (Washington)
Dana Hall (Washington)
Jack Thompson (Washington State).
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