Media days are the unofficial beginning of the football season, and Northwestern has officially punted on unofficially beginning what will be one of the most awkward college football seasons in program history.
The Wildcats announced Tuesday that players Bryce Gallagher, Rod Heard II and Bryce Kirtz will not attend Big Ten media days as previously scheduled. The reason is obvious.
"(G)iven the recent events involving the Northwestern football program, we did not want our participation to be dominated by the hazing issue and steal the focus away from football and the upcoming season."
A statement from our student-athlete representatives regarding Big Ten Media Day: pic.twitter.com/er6vCO3iRH
— Northwestern Football (@NUFBFamily) July 25, 2023
Interim head coach David Braun will still attend. However, the primary reason Braun is the interim head coach is because he's only been with the program since January, and his answers will all be some variety of "I can't comment on what allegedly happened before I was here."
Speaking at ACC media days on Tuesday, former Northwestern AD Jim Phillips (now the ACC commissioner) no-commented his way through his podium time by citing pending litigation.
There's plenty of litigation, and it will likely pend all the way through the season and well beyond it.
At some point, Northwestern players will get before a microphone, and at that point the media will inevitably ask who allegedly knew what, and when. But that day will not be Wednesday.