ARLINGTON, Texas — As Collin Johnson waded through a crowd of reporters on Tuesday afternoon to find his seat for Big 12 media day interviews, the Texas receiver glanced sympathetically over to his quarterback. Sam Ehlinger was surrounded on all sides by media, microphones and cameras. At least 50 media members mobbed around him at the start, four times as many folks as Baylor coach Matt Rhule drew nearby. Nobody commanded an audience in two days here quite like the Longhorns’ QB.



“It’s not easy being Sam,” Johnson said.



The most common thing Ehlinger heard in the 90 minutes he patiently answered questions inside AT&T Stadium was the topic he wanted to discuss least: What does he think of his detractors?



There was Terry Bradshaw strangely trashing Ehlinger to his Louisiana Tech brethren this summer by declaring, “He ain’t that good.” There was Baker Mayfield, in a recent radio appearance, stirring the pot by...