Big 12 Media Days: Monster Energy Partnership, Conference Growth, and East Texans at Arizona State

On this episode of East Texas Sports Now, we recap Big 12 Media Days from The Star in Frisco, where Big 12 Commissioner Brett Yormark addressed the media and outlined the conference’s continued growth, success, and future vision.

Yormark highlighted the Big 12’s international expansion, including TCU opening the season in Dublin and Arizona State and Kansas playing the first college football game at Wembley Stadium in London. He also pointed to the conference’s success across football, basketball, Olympic sports, NCAA postseason appearances, NFL Draft selections, and record-setting championship attendance.

One of the biggest announcements from Media Days was the Big 12’s expanded partnership with Monster Energy, which will become the entitlement partner for Big 12 football and Big 12 men’s and women’s basketball regular seasons. The regular-season branding will now include Monster Energy Big 12 Football and Monster Energy Big 12 Basketball, with co-branded logos appearing across jerseys, fields, courts, digital platforms, and social media channels.

The episode also features Arizona State football, which brought several East Texas athletes to Frisco, including CJ Fite of Tatum and Lyric Rawls and Montana Warren of Marshall. Fite talks about stepping into a bigger leadership role, staying loyal to Arizona State in the transfer portal era, and what it means to have more East Texas players joining him in Tempe.

Rawls discusses his journey from Oklahoma State to Kansas and now Arizona State, how multiple stops in the Big 12 have helped him learn different defensive systems, and why joining former East Texas teammates gives him a sense of familiarity and confidence. Warren also reflects on reuniting with Rawls, growing as a defensive back, and how Arizona State can return to Big 12 championship contention by focusing on the daily work instead of outside expectations.

Together, the East Texas group at Arizona State represents the region on one of college football’s biggest stages while helping the Sun Devils chase another strong season in the Big 12.

East Texas Sports Now, hosted by Kyle Owens, delivers fast-paced coverage of East Texas high school sports. Featuring game recaps, weekly matchups, player spotlights, and coach interviews across football, basketball, baseball, softball, and more. Stay locked in for scores, rankings, highlights, playoffs, and recruiting buzz with expert analysis and local sports talk for fans across the region.