Purdue has announced the signing of 23 players Wednesday to go along with two early enrollees in a class of 25 players. Defensive end Greg Latta and tight end Carlos Cavajal are already on board. Here are the signees: Danny Anthrop, Athlete Austin Appleby, QB Anthony Brown, S Cameron Cermin, OL Jonathan Curry, TE Andy Garcia, LB Aloyis Gray, QB Paul Griggs, K Jimmy Herman, LB Kingsley Ike, DE Jason King, OL BJ Knauf, WR Bilal Marshall, QB Thomas Meadows, K Ryan Morris, TE JJ Prince, OL Jordan Roos, OL Jordan Shine, S Devin Smith, OL Joey Warburg, OL Ryan Watson, DE Jordan Woods, WR Purdue’s class hails from 13 different states: six from Florida; four from both Indiana and Texas; two from Michigan; and one each from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio and Virginia.
Go here to see the original:
Purdue announces class of 23
Filed under Football by on Feb 1st, 2012. Comment. 
SOUTH BEND, Ind. — What’s one implication of playing Wake Forest inside 31,500-seat BB&T Field, almost 50,000 seats fewer than Notre Dame Stadium? How about exposure. No, Notre Dame doesn’t lack for drama or attention, but maybe the Carolinas do. And the Irish have made it a point of making their presence felt in that area. Just take a look at these numbers: Seven current Notre Dame players hail from North Carolina or South Carolina. Three more, Mark Harrell and Romeo Okwara (both North Carolina) and Chris Brown (South Carolina), have committed to play for the Irish next season. Eight ESPNU 150 players hail from either North Carolina or South Carolina, which, together, puts the area sixth behind Florida, Texas, California, Georgia and Alabama. “It’s started to grow in terms of its significance in the recruiting grand scheme of things — even when I was at Cincinnati we started to get in there because the high school football was growing and that population growth in that area, as you know, made that the reason for it,” Brian Kelly said Sunday. “So it’s been on our radar. We’ve just really worked hard at it, and we’ve obviously got some players from that area that have allowed us to continue to build those relationships.” “Yeah, North Carolina, South Carolina has been an area now that we’ve had a number of coaches on our staff, it’s not just one coach, that are in there recruiting it hard. So getting down and playing Wake Forest, you know, obviously we’re gonna be able to have a number of kids come up — they won’t be our guests obviously, but they’re certainly gonna check us out.” Irish cornerback Robert Blanton, from Matthews, N.C., said he will have a dozen family members in attendance. “It’s about an hour and 15 minutes [northeast] of Charlotte, and it takes about 45 minutes if you drive fast,” Blanton said of his hometown, laughing. Linebacker Prince Shembo, from Charlotte, will get to see his father, Maurice, in the stands for just the second time since the elder Shembo suffered a brain aneurysm Sept. 16. On Tuesday, Kelly again cited population growth for the number of recruitable football players in the Carolinas, a place he said he recruited wide receivers and defensive backs from while at Central Michigan from 2004-06. In addition to Blanton, Kelly’s other starting cornerback Saturday, Gary Gray, hails from the area, having played high school ball at Richland Northeast in Columbia, S.C. “Just have always felt that that’s been — when I was at Central and Cincinnati — kind of an under-the-radar state or states,” Kelly said. “It’s not that anymore. So I’ve always felt the importance of it because it was a big growth area demographically. And then I think Notre Dame has always been in that area, and we’ve just kind of carried that on from my beliefs that it’s a very good football state.”
Visit link:
Irish make presence felt in Carolinas
Filed under Football by on Nov 4th, 2011. Comment.
Here are 10 things to watch this weekend: 1. Can Arkansas protect quarterback Tyler Wilson ? The No. 7 Hogs have struggled to protect Wilson for much of the season, allowing 15 sacks in eight games. They’ll have to keep No. 9 South Carolina’s menacing defensive linemen away from him in Saturday’s game at Razorback Stadium. The Hogs didn’t look inspired in their past two victories (29-24 at Ole Miss and 31-28 at Vanderbilt) and fell behind by double-digits in both contests. The Razorbacks can’t afford another slow start against South Carolina, which ranks No.
Read the original here:
What to watch in college football
Filed under Football by on Nov 3rd, 2011. Comment.
UCLA’s visit to Arizona on Oct. 20 was a complete disaster for the Bruins. The 48-12 blowout defeat to a team that had lost 10 consecutive games to FBS teams and had just fired its coach had no redeeming value for the program and its embattled coach, Rick Neuheisel. ESPN’s typically measured Rece Davis, who was doing play-by-play, opined: “Somebody in a gold helmet has to show some pride.” He was right. The Bruins looked like they were tanking it. That they didn’t care. And that almost certainly would earn Neuheisel a boot out of Westwood. But there’s often a disconnect between easy fan and media judgments and the reality of a locker room. UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince called the loss at Arizona “devastating,” but he firmly rejected the notion of the Bruins mailing it in because they no longer cared about Neuheisel’s fate. “We definitely like Coach Neuheisel and want him to stay. There’s no question about that,” Prince said. “There was nothing like us going into the Arizona game and saying, ‘Hey, let’s tank this so Neuheisel doesn’t keep his job.’ That’s absurd. I know that fans probably think that. The Arizona game? Sometimes things just happen. Fans will make up conspiracy theories, but at the end of day we want to win games and we don’t want any changes here. We like the coaches we have.” That, of course, could just be good-soldier speak. After all, Prince isn’t the sort to trash talk his coach, or even provide a non-answer that allows folks to read between the lines. It strains credulity to believe that Bruins are in lockstep in support of their coach and his staff, which features two new coordinators this season. But then a 31-14 win at California happened, the first time this season the Bruins played well in all three phases. Further, the Bruins’ season could be transformed — and Neuheisel resurrected — if they beat No. 19 Arizona State on Saturday. Not only would a victory improve their record to 5-4 overall — just one win away from bowl eligibility — it would give the Bruins control of the Pac-12’s South Division. UCLA and Arizona State would be tied atop the division at 4-2 in conference play (USC isn’t eligible due to NCAA sanctions), but the Bruins would own the tiebreaker due to head-to-head victory.Rick Neuheisel badly needs a win when the Bruins take on No. 19 Arizona State Saturday. Which would mean that the Bruins actually control their Rose Bowl destiny. They are a six-game winning streak away from being the Rose Bowl champs. Ridiculous? Perhaps. But Neuheisel could tell you about a team that started 0-3-1 in 1984 and won the Rose Bowl. So this isn’t the most ridiculous scenario ever. One of them. But not the most. Things already are pretty odd. Who thought after Prince started 3-of-7 with three interceptions against Texas and got benched that we’d ever hear him receiving justified praise again as the Bruins’ quarterback? Prince has thrown just one more interception since his ill-fated afternoon against the Longhorns. He was the difference-maker against Cal, rushing for a career-high 163 yards on 19 carries, just as he was while leading a comeback victory over Washington State after Richard Brehaut was lost for the season with a broken leg. His career, which includes 20 starts, has been star-crossed, riddled with injuries and inconsistency. And yet here is. Again. “No. 1, he hasn’t given up on himself,” Neuheisel siad. ”He believes he’s got what it takes, and we do, too. No. 2, he’s healthy. It’s not been that way for most of his career. And I was really pleased that he ran as physically as he ran the other night
The rest is here:
Prince, Neuheisel fight on (in a good way)
Filed under Football by on Nov 2nd, 2011. Comment.
Issues to consider heading into the eighth week of games. Price vs. Luck : Think back to your college football brain in August. Now look that bolded intro. Who would’ve thunk it, right? Well, turns out that Andrew Luck is a heck of a quarterback, but at present not only is Washington’s Keith Price nipping at his heels in terms of passing efficiency, but he’s also got more touchdown passes than the leading Heisman Trophy contender — 21 vs. 18. Luck is almost certain to play well at home against a fair-to-middling Huskies defense. To lead the upset for Washington, Price will need to match — if not exceed — Luck’s numbers. Barkley to Woods : USC QB Matt Barkley and WR Robert Woods are the best pass-catch combination in the Pac-12, and one of the two or three best in the nation. They’ve combined for six TDs and 130.5 yards per game. But they were not in sync last week against California. It’s likely the Trojans will struggle to run against a tough Notre Dame front seven. So the way USC wins in South Bend is Barkley to Woods, Barkley to Woods. Who starts at QB, RB for Oregon ? Not much to this one: Do Darron Thomas (knee) and LaMichael James (elbow) start for the Ducks at Colorado? Or do their backups: Bryan Bennett and Kenjon Barner ? This pretty much is the only expected intrigue in Boulder on Saturday. Hays or Maynard ? While there’s no single reason Utah and California are both 0-3 in Pac-12 play, the biggest is inconsistent play at QB. Utes QB Jon Hays replaced injured starter Jordan Wynn for the second half against Washington and has mostly improved in two starts. Cal’s Zach Maynard started the season well but has struggled since the conference slate began, bottoming out last Thursday with three interceptions against USC. With two good defenses at AT&T Park, it’s unlikely either offense will be able to run the ball 40 times and win. The team that is more efficient passing the ball likely ends up smiling. Wildcats set free ? There’s a feeling that Arizona’s players were playing tight — more worried more about mistakes than focused on making plays — in recent weeks as the losses piled up and coach Mike Stoops got more frenzied on the sidelines. We’ll get a better feel for that Thursday night. The Wildcats have started slowly all season. If they get off to a quick, enthusiastic start against UCLA, you’d have to think a lot of players have loosened up since Stoops was fired. That shouldn’t be over-construed as an indictment of Stoops, by the way. After all that losing and a coach firing, sometimes it becomes easier to play when you have nothing to lose. Tuel time : Washington State QB Jeff Tuel didn’t pick a great team for his first start since a fractured clavicle forced him to miss the Cougars’ first five games: Stanford. While Tuel had his moments, he looked a little out of sorts against an A-list defense. But after getting his game legs back, Oregon State’s defense offers a much softer landing. Tuel is the Cougars unquestioned leader. This is a must-win game for the Cougs’ bowl hopes and for coach Paul Wulff — and in such games, unquestioned leaders step up, lead and make plays that turn must-wins into victories. Hogs on the Farm : While the rise of Stanford football is not unreasonably connected to Luck, more than a few folks will tell you a culture shift was more important. A program that was seen as soft, one populated by smart young men with aspirations other than pro football — because they wanted to make more money than the NFL could pay them — transformed into an edgy, physical and, yes, maybe slightly dirty unit that played until the very echo of the whistle. Washington coach Steve Sarkisian has been talking about the Huskies playing physical football since he was hired to take over a team that went soft under Tyrone Willingham. The Huskies have taken some big steps forward — see the dominant victory over Nebraska in the 2010 Holiday Bowl. But they aren’t there yet on either line. Or are they? We’ll see Saturday in the trenches. Prince wears the crown : Kevin Prince is (again) UCLA’s quarterback. While this has many Bruins fans slapping their foreheads, Prince was a capable passer in 2009 and ran the pistol offense well in 2010. He’s just never been consistent and, most important, never stayed healthy. Well, Richard Brehaut is out for the year, so the QB job is (again) Prince’s
Go here to read the rest:
What to watch in the Pac-12: Week 8
Filed under Football by on Oct 20th, 2011. Comment.
If you don’t like where you are in the power rankings, play better. See last week’s power rankings here . 1. Stanford : Stanford dominated; Andrew Luck was brilliant (skip). Stanford dominated; Andrew Luck was brilliant (skip). Stanford dominated; Andrew Luck was brilliant (skip). 2. Oregon : Is it just me or did few notice that Oregon pitched a second-half shutout against California? Sure, the defense gave up some yards — 465 — but holding the Bears to one touchdown and no second-half points is pretty tough. And that D will need to step up with running back LaMichael James out. 3. Arizona State : The Sun Devils were impressive at Utah — who knew this roguish bunch could be the crafty, opportunistic team? — but they can make a national statement at Oregon on Saturday. There’s no hard-and-fast rule, by the way, that says the Pac-12 championship game must be played in the home stadium of the North team. 4. Washington : The Huskies are not good enough to overlook Colorado on Saturday while anticipating their Oct. 22 visit to Stanford. But that visit to The Farm could become a big moment in the Huskies return to national relevance
Read this article:
Pac-12 power rankings: Week 7
Filed under Football by on Oct 10th, 2011. Comment.
Kevin Prince came into the game in the Rose Bowl where the nightmare of three first-quarter interceptions against the Texas Longhorns hung thick in the night sky. After a couple of rushes, Prince connected with Nelson Rosario for 41 yards to set up… Source: LAist
More here:
LAst Night’s Action: Prince Averts Disaster for UCLA
Filed under Football, News by on Oct 9th, 2011. Comment.
Is quarterback Richard Brehaut good enough to save UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel’s job? While it would be an exaggeration to say Neuheisel has gone all-in with Brehaut, it appears that Brehaut has put some distance between himself and Kevin Prince since Prince threw three first-quarter interceptions against Texas. “He is our starting quarterback at this time,” Neuheisel said. “There is no question about that.” Not a ringing endorsement? Well, how about this. “He’s been terrific,” Neuheisel said. But Neuheisel, who has long been known to be hard on quarterbacks, and particularly hard on Brehaut, then added, “I still think he can continue to develop his understanding of how defenses play and how to get us to the right plays.” Still, Brehaut has given the Bruins — and Neuheisel — a chance. They are 2-2 after winning at Oregon State and a bowl game is not an unreasonable expectation. Of course, Saturday’s visit to No. 6 Stanford looks like a place where newfound momentum might peter out. The Cardinal beat the Bruins 35-0 last year in the Rose Bowl and are coming off a bye week. “They were more physical than us a year ago and we’re going to have to answer the bell this week to have a chance,” Neuheisel said. The Cardinal defense, in particular, has been stout and physical against the run. Stanford ranks No. 1 in the nation against the run — 36 yards per game — though this will be its first contest without stalwart inside linebacker Shayne Skov. That suggests that Brehaut and the Bruins won’t be able to rely primarily on their pistol running game. Brehaut will have to throw, and he’s been solid if unspectacular doing that thus far. He’s completing 55.7 percent of his passes with four TDs and, most importantly, no interceptions. He ranks 38th in the nation in passing efficiency. Neuheisel said he’s seen growth, particularly on the mental side of things. Brehaut previously was known for interrupting several good plays with an inexplicable gaffe. In fact, Brehaut often was unable to tell Neuheisel why he did something when he screwed up, which was not a good way to endear himself to his coach, who also oversees the QBs. “His poise is at his best right now,” Neuheisel said. “He kind of understands what we’re trying to do. He’s doing a nice job of keeping the ball away from opponent defenses.” Still, Brehaut probably won’t have much luck throwing 50 times. The Bruins need some running threat, and they’ve been solid running the ball this year, with 214 yards rushing per game, which ranks second in the Pac-12. That’s a critical strength-on-strength matchup. And for the pistol to work best, Brehaut has to be a threat to keep the ball.
Go here to see the original:
Brehaut emerges for UCLA, Neuheisel
Filed under Football by on Sep 28th, 2011. Comment.
WTH?! (What the Heck?) moments are attempts to find the memorable and the off-beat perspective on Longhorns sports. Here are some interesting moments from the Texas’ game against the Bruins. 1st Quarter (15:00) WTH Bruin Fans?! I have never seen so many empty seats at the Rose Bowl (54,583 in attendance). The Rose Bowl is a beautiful venue, but it was an eye sore with the overhead shots of the stadium where there were plenty of seats to be had. 1st Quarter (12:35) WTH Prince?! UCLA QB Kevin Prince was in a royal mood by supplying the greatest of all gifts which were three interceptions all in the first quarter. The prince became a pauper and sat the bench for the rest of the game. 2nd Quarter (11:36) WTH Malcolm?! We have to call out the freshmen’s first touchdown run of his career as a Longhorn. Malcolm Brown had a spectacular day finishing with 110 yards while running for his first touchdown with only one shoe on. Wonder what he will do to top that feet on his next TD run? 2nd Quarter (:58) WTH Flag Football?! It is amazing to see how Marquise Goodwin has set the tone for this team with his speed and blocking
Continued here:
WTH Moments – Texas at UCLA
Filed under Football, Lets Talk Texas by on Sep 22nd, 2011. Comment.
Technically, Coach Rick Neuheisel didn’t “name” the wrong starting quarterback. Kevin Prince completed just 3 of 7 in the first quarter. Three of those incompletions were interceptions. Texas turned those UCLA turnovers into touchdowns, building a 28-10 Source: Freedom Blogging
Go here to see the original:
Game day: Texas 28, UCLA 10 (first half)
Filed under News by on Sep 17th, 2011. Comment.
