Nevada has eye on linemen, cornerback
The Nevada football team is looking at a pair of linemen out of Las Vegas and a junior college defensive back who had originally given a verbal commitment to Oregon State, according to published reports.
One of the linemen, Cheyenne High's Jeremiah Tofaeono, is a 6-foot-3, 300-pound two-way lineman who was in Reno this weekend and was waiting to hear Saturday night if the Wolf Pack was going to offer him.
"They said they were going to offer me when I come up," Tofaeono said Saturday. "I'm still waiting to hear."
Tofaeono plays offensive guard and defensive tackle, areas of immediate need for the Wolf Pack. It is rare, though, for a high school lineman to come in and not redshirt.
Tofaeono has a trip lined up to Utah State next week and is also in talks with Utah and Washington to set up trips.
"He's one of those big, physical kids who can play either the offensive or defensive side of the ball," fifth-year Cheyenne coach Charles Anthony said. "He's really strong. He's not lacking in any area. ... He would be a great asset to any team. He's a great football player, a great student and a great person."
Tofaeono said he has no preference on which side of the ball he plays.
"I'm not sure where (Nevada coaches) want to put me," he said. "I'll do whatever I need to to help the team. I really don't care as long as I get to play."
Tofaeono said the trip to Reno changed his perception of the town.
"I really didn't think it would be like this," he said. "I like it up here so far."
The other lineman is Las Vegas High's Alanzi Langstaff, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Langstaff is a 6-4, 270-pound defensive tackle who lost 50 pounds from his junior to senior season.
Rivals.com is reporting that Langstaff also is being looked at by Arizona State and UNLV.
Attempts to reach Langstaff and his coach, Chris Faircloth, have been unsuccessful.
Recruiting Web sites are also reporting that the Pack has gotten a verbal commitment from Cory Smith, a 6-1, 175-pound cornerback from College of the Sequoias in Visalia, Calif. Smith, originally from Ocala, Fla., would have two years of eligibility.
A message left with Curtis Allen, Smith's coach at the College of the Sequoias, was not immediately returned.
Division I coaches are prohibited by NCAA rules from commenting on recruitable athletes. The national signing period begins Feb. 4. Verbal commitments are not binding.
Copyright (c)2008 Reno Gazette-Journal
Chip Kelly flexes his muscles at Oregon; and does any rational person still think the BCS works?
Offensive coordinator Chip Kelly, Oregon's designated successor to Mike Bellotti as football coach, didn't waste time putting his imprint on the football program.
Bellotti told reporters he was giving defensive line coach Michael Gray and receivers coach Robin Pflugrad to "explore other options."
In other words, Kelly doesn't want them.
Gray played at Oregon. Pflugrad grew up in Eugene, played at Portland State and was a highly-regarded assistant at Arizona State and Washington State before returning home to take the Oregon job.
As beat writer John Hunt suggested in a story appearing in today's Oregonian, it appears that Kelly will assume the reins sooner rather than later -- although Bellotti wouldn't say that for sure.
Meanwhile, in New Orleans, Utah pounded favored Alabama 31-17 in the Sugar Bowl, once again highlighting the flaws of the Bowl Championship Series.
Alabama would have been playing in the national title game had the Crimson Tide beaten Florida for the Southeastern Conference championship. Utah plays in the Mountain West Conference. The MWC champ, because it mostly is located in the thinly-populated Rocky Mountain region, would never, ever, ever get a shot at the national title game.
I don't know about you, but I thought the unbeaten Utes looked pretty darn good. It's past time for college football to come up with a more equitable postseason.
I hope the Associated Press voters -- they're not bound to ratify the BCS championship coronation -- puts USC and Utah ahead of whichever team wins Thursday night's game between one-loss teams Florida and Oklahoma.
The more the BCS is exposed as the flim-flam job that it is, the sooner we might get something else.
Onto the links:
Here is the R-G's story on Kelly's decision to jettison Gray and Pflugrad.
OSU coach Mike Riley's focus turns to 2009, and he likes what he sees.
Beavers add two football players; Riley tries to hang onto his staff.
Riley stays perfect in the postseason.
Nick Daschel of BusterSports: Chalk up the Pac-10 postseason success to a tough preseason and a slate of soft bowl opponents.
Jon Wilner of the San Jose Mercury-News: The Pac-10's 5-0 record in bowl games isn't very impressive.
Pete Carroll won't change his style to impress the poll voters and the computers. And, why should he be expected to? Sheez, the BCS is a miserable system.
Carroll counsels Mark Sanchez against a quick, emotional decision about the NFL.
What to expect from the Trojans in 2009.
Trojans regret stubbing their toes in Corvallis.
Offense might have to carry USC in 2009.
A capsule look at USC's season and prospects for 2009.
What is next for USC?
Bob Condotta looks at some of the possible candidates for the UW defensive coordinator's job in his blog.
Arizona tackle opts for the NFL.
(c)2009 Oregon Live LLC
ACC, Big East still looking for BCS respect
Ascan of the final Bowl Championship Series standings is revealing for the ACC and Big East. Among the top 11 teams, there are three from the Big 12, two each from the SEC, Big Ten and Mountain West, and one apiece from the WAC and Pac-10.
No Big East or ACC team can be found until Cincinnati at No. 12 and Georgia Tech at No. 14. Virginia Tech, the ACC champion despite four losses, can't be spotted until No. 19.
When Rutgers and North Carolina State meet Monday at Legion Field, they will represent conferences better known for basketball and trying to crack the nation's consciousness in football.
It is true the ACC has an NCAA-record 10 bowl teams this season and is considered the nation's No. 1 conference in computer rankings by USA Today's Jeff Sagarin. And yes, the Big East is No. 4 in the Sagarin rankings, ahead of the Big Ten and Pac-10.
But the ACC and Big East can't shake the fact they are the only two major conferences that have never placed an at-large team into the BCS during its 11-year history.
At least the Big East is 6-4 in BCS bowl games. The ACC, which raided Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College from the Big East in 2003, is 1-9 in BCS bowl games and has dropped eight straight since Florida State won the 1999 national championship.
With Miami, Virginia Tech and Florida State in the conference, N.C. State Athletics Director Lee Fowler said he and other ACC officials thought the league would have a second BCS team at least once every three years.
"I think those teams' talent level is coming back and they're getting some quarterbacks," Fowler said. "It's a young league. I think top to bottom the league has the best head coaches it's ever had, and in the past couple years we've had one of those down curves because we were reloading."
A major reason the ACC expanded was to create a conference championship game. This month's ACC championship game in Tampa drew 27,360 fans in actual attendance, well below the 53,927 tickets that were sold and distributed.
Fowler said fans had difficulty attending because no one knew who the participating teams would be until a week before the game. The game will be in Tampa one more year before moving to Charlotte for 2010 and 2011.
When it expanded, the ACC envisioned Florida State and Miami meeting for the conference title fairly regularly. That has yet to happen in the four-year history of the game, giving ways to matchups such as Wake Forest-Georgia Tech.
"It's been different than what we imagined, and while we were doing that, the Big 12 and SEC were playing for national championship berths," Fowler said. "We've got to get it up to that level and that's when fans will be there."
What's odd is the ACC has talent. In the last three years, the ACC led all conferences in NFL first-round draft picks and overall draft picks.
This year, the ACC had 20 former players selected for the NFL Pro Bowl, the most for any conference. The SEC was next at 13.
The Big East was considered a fragile conference ready to become extinct after losing three prominent football programs to the ACC. Instead, the Big East fought back with its own aggressive expansion and in some ways outdid the ACC.
"I believed we would be fine, but it didn't do any good at that time to talk about it because everybody was bashing the Big East Conference," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "All you could do was play and win games. Fortunately, we did that and reestablished ourselves as a viable BCS league."
West Virginia became the hierarchy of the conference, beating Georgia and Oklahoma in BCS bowls. It remains to be seen if the Mountaineers can remain a national program since Rich Rodriguez departed for Michigan.
The additions of Cincinnati, Louisville and South Florida from Conference USA helped stabilize the Big East. Connecticut and Rutgers have invested more money into football in recent years. Pittsburgh, although wildly inconsistent, has won at least eight games in four of the past seven seasons.
Schiano said getting a second BCS berth for the Big East would be a milestone, but adds the conference is unique since it has only eight members.
"That's a little different than these 12-team leagues," he said. "That would surely be a feat to have two BCS spots. That's one quarter of your league."
Since the ACC and Big East settled on its current school alignments in 2005, the leagues have split 32 games played between them. The Big East is 14-9 against the ACC in the past three years.
The conferences play three times in this postseason - West Virginia vs. North Carolina at the Meineke Car Care Bowl, Rutgers vs. N.C. State at the Papajohns.com Bowl, and Cincinnati vs. Virginia Tech at the Orange Bowl.
Both conferences started the year as national punching bags after some bad nonconference losses. The ACC ended 6-4 vs. the SEC, which was supposed to be represented in the Papajohns.com Bowl. The Big East was 1-1 against the SEC.
"Obviously, in September the ACC was much maligned for not being good ... but we didn't duck anybody out of conference and played a tough schedule," N.C. State coach Tom O'Brien said." Now the proof in the pudding is we've got 10 (bowl) games and we've got to win more than we lose to help what may be perceived as the image of the ACC."
(c)2008 The Birmingham News
UW Notes - A few more names in the assistant coaching hunt
As we enter Christmas week news has slowed down to a trickle coming out of the football offices in Montlake. We have entered the recruiting dead period and head coach Steve Sarkisian is in LA preparing the Trojans for one last Rose Bowl under his watch.
One good piece of news is that Kennedy Pola will be coming to Washington after January 2nd as a RB coach and recruiting coordinator. Pola who is currently with the Jacksonville Jaguars is a great hire. He once was at UW a few weeks when Neuheisel took over but his ex wife didn't like the rain. The hiring of Pola is considered significant because he is a great recruiter who will have an impact over in Hawaii. No official word yet on Pola but the word on the street is pretty strong he is headed our direction.
Expect Washington to be a force in coming years over on the islands because Pola, Sarkisian, and Nansen all have significant recruiting ties and experience over there. Polynesian kids have always done well in Seattle because of the strong community in the Seattle area and at UW.
Scott Loefler who is a former QB coach at Michigan has still not been confirmed as the new UW QB coach. Expect the latter two announcements to be made at the end of the NFL regular season.
Oregon WR coach Rob Plufgrad could be on Washington's short list for WR coaches. Word out of Eugene is that OC Chip Kelly is beginning to reshape the coaching staff in preparation for the day he takes over as head coach. Plufgrad is possibly one coach who won't be staying despite the fact his son is a member of the team.
Dennis Slutak was officially named head of football operations at the University of Washington. Slutak comes with Sarkisian from USC and has prior experience as an assistant coach. Sarkisian has done a nice job filling his administrative and strength positions with qualified people.
Ron English was hired as head coach at Eastern Michigan this weekend which cancels any speculation that the former Michigan assistant was headed for Seattle. Who will be the DC at UW? We seem to be running out of names to speculate on at this point. Current USC DC Nick Holt seems to still be a possibility but why would he make a lateral move to UW?
The Husky basketball team will play Lehigh on Tuesday but the game is in serious doubt because of the weather. The Mountain Hawks may not be able to get a flight in or out of Seattle if the weather keeps acting up. Power forward Jon Brockman has recovered from his injured ankle suffered in practice and will be available for full time duty if Lehigh does make it in to town.
The Huskies women dropped a 65-63 game to Northern Colorado in the final of the round-robin format tournament last night in Cancun. Mexico to finish 1-2 for the tournament. The loss was obviously pretty disappointing after an upset win over Florida State on the heels of an historic bad game against U-Conn the previous night.
The Huskies built up a 12 point lead in the second half and seemed in control until the started playing lousy defense and turning the ball over against the 4-5 Bears. It seems like Tia Jackson is in danger of losing control of her team for a second straight year.
Two Washington Soccer players earned invitations to the Major League Soccer player combine Jan. 9-13 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. George John and Raphael Cox are among 65 college seniors from 45 Division I schools selected to participate.
John, a midfielder from Shoreline, and Cox, a midfielder from Tacoma, finished their collegiate careers this past fall and were first-team All-Pac-10 selections.
(c) 2008 Copyright Examiner.com
Charting WVU history
FAIRMONT -- Mickey Furfari has seen it all during 62 consecutive years of covering West Virginia University football.
From the winless season in 1960 to the Mountaineers' Fiesta Bowl game with Notre Dame for the national championship following the 1988 season, Furfari has been on hand.
Furfari, who visited here Saturday during the Feast of the Seven Fishes Festival to sign his book "Mickey's Mountaineer Memories," finds some disappointments in WVU's 2008 campaign, which will end with the Dec. 27 Meineke Car Care Bowl game with North Carolina in Charlotte.
No, it's not the 8-4 record.
It's not even the failure to "fill the most urgent need that this team still has -- a fullback who with some semblance can maybe act like an Owen Schmitt and get those third downs that hurt with WVU not getting them."
The biggest disappointment, as Furfari sees it, was the negative reaction in some quarters following the team's 1-2 start in coach Bill Stewart's first season replacing Rich Rodriguez.
"The thing that really bothered me were those who openly said that they wanted to fire Bill Stewart and his staff after three games," Furfari said. "You don't do that. You don't do that. You've got to give him a chance.
"I think, overall, they did a pretty good job."
Stewart, Furfari noted, is only the third WVU coach to guide his team to a bowl bid in his initial year. The others were Marshall "Little Sleepy" Glenn in 1937 and Dudley S. DeGroot in 1948.
"Now, there are a lot more bowl bids than there used to be," Furfari added. "I can remember when there were just six, including the Sun, and they were all on New Year's Day."
Furfari deeply appreciates the fan base that helps WVU, in its small market, compete nationally.
"The university still has respect and has a following of people," he said. "I think it's great. I think those who are disgruntled were misled by gross expectations for this team."
Furfari credits Rodriguez for doing a "heck of a job" at his college alma mater before his controversial departure for Michigan last December. WVU's Sugar Bowl win over Georgia following the 2005 season elevated both the Mountaineers and Big East to incredible heights.
"I still give him credit, but remember he was 3-8 the first year," Furfari said, looking back to the 2001 season. "People say, 'Oh, he had a bare cupboard.' That isn't so, if you go back and you compare. Take the quarterback aside. Patrick White is one in a million and is on a level by himself in my book. ... I thought what Rich got from (Don) Nehlen and what Stewart got from Rich were very comparable."
Three of WVU's four losses this season, Furfari noted, were by a total of 10 points - two of them in overtime.
"You're going win some of those, and you're going to lose some of those," he said. "Maybe next year they'll win those."
It's no secret the offensive philosophy changed with the new coaching staff.
"My only regret is it's unfortunate that Patrick White had to switch to a somewhat different offense," Furfari said. "It was probably a personal concession over which he had no control.
"I can't help but feel in as much as they toward the last half of the season drifted back more toward what they did last year, it indicates that he might have had an even more successful season, and maybe the team, too, had they not had a different philosophy and different play-calling to suit the adjustment the transition had to make.
"I feel certain next year it will probably go a lot smoother."
(c) 2008, The Times West Virginian
Huskies' curtain call
D.J. Hernandez came to UConn as the heir to Dan Orlovsky's thrown: A Connecticut boy who would grow up to lead State U. to new heights as the football team's starting quarterback.
The Bristol Central graduate got the first part right. He helped elevate the UConn football program briefly into the top 25 and perhaps permanently into the national spotlight.
He just did some of that work as a wide receiver.
After spending his first two seasons under center -- appearing in 14 games and starting eight -- Hernandez will finish his career as a wideout.
Hernandez and 18 of his teammates will be honored prior to today's regular season finale against No. 23 Pittsburgh at Rentschler Field.
"Things don't always go the way you want," Hernandez said of his position switch. "You kind of have to do what's best for the team."
Hernandez did, yielding to Tyler Lorenzen when the junior college quarterback arrived in Storrs two years ago. Now he's one of Lorenzen's top targets, helping the Huskies move the ball as a pass-catcher instead of thrower.
"I'm thankful for everything that happened and, you know, I'm glad it happened the way it did," Hernandez said.
UConn coach Randy Edsall agrees with Hernandez in that his career has turned out "pretty darn good."
"He is a tremendous young man, a hard worker, a good athlete who because of his passion and work ethic has made himself into being a pretty decent player at this level," Edsall said.
"He understood what his role was going to be on this team," the coach continued. "And whatever role we've asked him to perform, he's performed at the highest level."
After catching 30 passes for 404 yards in his first season as a wide receiver, Hernandez' numbers are down slightly this season. He enters today's game with 16 catches for 246 yards.
But Hernandez has a history of big games against Pittsburgh, and could finish with a flourish today.
"If I can have a day like I had at quarterback as a wide receiver, that would be great," Hernandez said.
As sophomore quarterback Hernandez, led the Huskies to a thrilling 46-45 double-overtime win over the Panthers. He threw for 164 yards, ran for 130 more and scored the game-winning two-point conversion.
When he got into the end zone on the game's final play, Hernandez threw the ball out of Rentschler Field in jubilation.
"It was a great moment back then. I don't really think about it much now," Hernandez said. "Every now and then the guys will bring it up, tease me about it."
There are some bowl implications that go along with today's game.
Pittsburgh (8-3, 4-2) can sew up a Sun Bowl berth with a victory and although UConn (7-4, 3-3) appears to be a lock for the International Bowl, a victory over the Panthers might change that.
More than those factors, however, the game is about finishing strong for the Huskies. For the team it's about finishing a regular season with an eighth win, and for the seniors it's about finishing their careers with a flourish.
"What they've been part of and what they've accomplished here is truly amazing," Edsall said of his senior class, which will have been to two or in some cases three bowl games and earned a share of the 2007 league title. "We'll be forever grateful and indebted to them for what they've done."
Hernandez has already earned his undergraduate degree and is currently working on a masters in education. He plans on becoming a high school counselor and hopefully a football coach.
He never became the next Dan Orlovsky but few are disappointed in that fact when they look back at Hernandez' time in Storrs.
"He's been a great ambassador for our program and what it stands for," Edsall said.
Copyright (c) 2008 Hearst Communications Inc
Liggins' penalty? 27 W.Va. minutes
A Jeopardy-style quiz concerning UK's mixed-bag sports weekend.
And remember to phrase your response in the form of a question, right, Alex?
Let's begin:
Answer: 1984
Question: What is the visionary literary work in which George Orwell predicts that big brother (Tennessee) would dominate little brother (Kentucky) for 24 years?
A: 27
Q: What is the number of minutes Gillispie punished DeAndre Liggins with on Saturday after the freshman told the UK coach on Friday that he would prefer not to play?
A: Zero
Q: What is the number of minutes Darius Miller played in the first half Friday night/Saturday morning against Kansas State one game after Coach Billy Gillispie called the freshman a future "superstar"?
A: 193
Q: What are the total number of yards produced by the Kentucky offense, and the total number of UK fans left in the stands by the end of Saturday night's 28-10 loss in Knoxville?
A: 107 out of 119
Q: What is the national ranking of the UK offense, coordinated by head coach-in-waiting Joker Phillips, at the end of the regular season?
A: Tubbyball
Q: What is the phrase previously used to describe a 54-43 victory by a Kentucky basketball team?
A: Billyball
Q: What is the phrase currently used to describe a 54-43 victory by a Kentucky basketball team?
A: Reach the NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight and beat Kentucky.
Q: What are two things current West Virginia coach Bob "Huggy Bear" Huggins just can't seem to do?
A: You're the boss of me
Q: What the SEC must admit about the ACC after Georgia lost to Georgia Tech 45-42, South Carolina lost to Clemson 31-14 and Vanderbilt lost to Wake Forest 23-10 on Saturday?
A: "Running on Empty"
Q: If Tennessee used The Who song Baba O'Riley/Teenage Wasteland as the background music for its season highlight video Saturday, what Jackson Browne tune might best be used on a UK football highlight video?
A: Infinity and beyond
Q: What is the contract extension now ex-Tennessee coach Phil Fulmer would have received were his only job requirement be that of beating Kentucky on a yearly basis?
A: A fistful of Dramamine
Q: What is the medicinal product UK fans in Las Vegas used on Saturday morning after watching their basketball team commit 31 turnovers on Friday night?
A: What am I doing here?
Q: What did the Chick-fil-A Bowl representative mutter to himself after watching the Kentucky offense the duration of Saturday night's game in Knoxville?
A: Red as a beet.
Q: What is the phrase that best describes the color of Rich Brooks' face after the Kentucky football coach was asked if the season, which included a last-place finish in the SEC East, should really and truly be deemed a success?
Q: "Country roads, take me home."
A: What is the John Denver lyric that best describes Patrick Patterson's feeling after the UK center beat his home-state West Virginia "mountain momma" to win the Las Vegas Invitational.
Q: David Blaine
A: Name the Las Vegas performer whose escape artistry best mimics Kentucky's second-half rally against West Virginia on the strip Saturday night.
A: Bowl worthy
Q: What is a relative term?
Copyright (c) Lexington Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com. All rights reserved.
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