Notre Dame head Coach Brian Kelly made it quite clear at Media Day who his leader on defense will be this season.
“There are guys that people gravitate towards. There are guys that set a standard for the way they play. And right now it’s (Manti) Te’o on defense and (Michael) Floyd on offense,” Kelly said at the season opening presser.
Te’o, an inside linebacker, is one of those all-worldly college football recruits that earn the highest ratings possible from every recruiting service imaginable. His recruiting process was highly publicized, and his final two choices were the Irish and USC. Given the current direction of the two programs, it’s pretty obvious he made the right choice.
Te’o discussed his status as the face of the 2010 ND defense despite being just a sophomore.
By Paul M. Banks
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Sports Bank #2 officer David K. and I go way back. Like myself, he’s from Palos Township and the idea of this site was tossed around in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago many years before it’s founding in 2008. Dave, myself, and our closest bunch of friends refer to our hometown not as Palos Park, Palos Heights, or “the burbs,” but “the SICA” instead.
Named after the now defunct high school sports conference SICA (South Inter Conference Association), we felt our home needed a nickname. This area stretches from Summit to Kankakee, Bolingbrook to Chicago Heights. Obviously, SICA country is more than a geographic area, it’s a state of mind like “Margaritaville.”
Now that high school football season has started, we constructed the short list of SICA-bred jocks. Our home region is so rich in talent, we probably left off a few big names but we both agree on the all-time #1.
By Paul M. Banks and David K.
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We’ve all made fun of the most shopworn of sports cliches, sayings such as “at the end of the day,” “defense wins championships,” “we’re taking it one game at a time,” and “we try not get too high after wins, or too low after the losses.”
We all know these phrases make us dumber each time that we hear them. We delete or cut them the instant they are uttered (at least journalists that are trying to at least be half-way competent at their jobs do) because we know they bring “nothing to the table.’ (Had to ironically finish that sentence with a cliche!)
Now let’s move on to the new crop of football bromides that have sprouted up. You haven’t heard these phrases as much as the previously mentioned group. But trust me, you will get nauseous from hearing these football expressions by December.
By Paul M. Banks
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USC’s 2004 Grantland Rice Trophy, awarded to the Trojans by the Football Writers Association of America for their national title, will be revoked and the team barred from consideration for the award following this season. The FWAA trophy doesn’t have the same juice in the college football world as the BCS national title (or its predecessor the AP national title) but this is still big news because there has never been a revocation of a major national collegiate football championship prior to this year.
Citing the June 10, 2010, NCAA Infractions Report, Tim Griffin, 2010 FWAA President, stated as follows in his letter notifying USC of the FWAA’s decisions: “Had these facts been known, USC would not have been selected for the award … in light of standards applicable to FWAA poll participants, award candidates and award recipients.”
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Quarterback is the most high profile position in all of team sports. At Notre Dame, the most high profile program in college football, it takes on an even greater prestige and responsibility.
Think of all the highly publicized quarterbacks in ND history: Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen, Joe Theismann, Steve Beuerlein. There’s even a subgroup of stars who wore the same number (#3)- Joe Montana, Rick Mirer, Ron Powlus.
But now that Clausen has left school early and joined the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, the position belongs to junior Dayne Crist, who like Clausen, was a five-star recruit out of California.
By Paul M. Banks
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The New England Patriots’ all-time leader in receptions, 15 year NFL veteran (all with New England) Troy Brown is a classy guy, and a tireless worker. Today, Brown is as an NFL analyst on Comcast SportsNet and resides in Huntington, W.Va. He was inducted into the Marshall University Hall of Fame in 2002.
Considered the single-most dangerous scoring threat in all of Division I-AA during his two seasons in Huntington, Brown led the Thundering Herd to back-to-back trips to the Division I-AA National Championship game, garnering the NCAA title in 1992. He had 139 receptions for 2,746 yards and 24 touchdowns in his career en route to earning First Team All-America honors his senior year.
Brown won three Super Bowls with the Patriots. A 2001 Pro Bowl selection, he served as the Pats’ team captain for five seasons. I recently had an exclusive with Brown on the day of his induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.
For part one of this interview, where Brown and I discuss the current Patriots receiving corps go here.
By Paul M. Banks
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Quarterback is the most high profile position in all of team sports. At Notre Dame, the most high profile program in college football, it takes on an even greater prestige and responsibility.
Think of all the highly publicized quarterbacks in ND history: Brady Quinn, Jimmy Clausen, Joe Theismann, Steve Beuerlein. There’s even a subgroup of stars who all wore the same number (#3)- Joe Montana, Rick Mirer, Ron Powlus.
But now that Clausen has left school early and joined the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, the position belongs to junior Dayne Crist, who like Clausen, was a five-star recruit out of California.
By Paul M. Banks
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In the storied history of Notre Dame football, with its 11 national championships, 102 winning seasons, and 466 NFL Draft picks, there are two classes of coaches. The first, and elite class includes national championship coaches (Knute Rockne, Leahy, Ara Parseghian, Dan Devine and Lou Holtz) that have gates named after them at Notre Dame Stadium. There are also statues erected of these men in Notre Dame, IN.
The second class is simply, everyone else who’s coached in South Bend. And since Holtz left in 1996, the Fighting Irish have had exactly that in Bob Davie, Tyrone Willingham and Charlie Weiss. Enter Brian Kelly, who brings the most impressive resume since Lou Holtz to ND.
His era begins now.
When college football season begins Sept. 4th, he’ll take the first step towards joining whichever class he’ll eventually fit be categorized.
By Paul M. Banks
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Announced just today is the Watch List for the inaugural Paul Hornung Award that will be given annually to the most versatile player in major college football.
The award is named for Notre Dame and Green Bay Packers legend Paul Hornung, the 1956 Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 pick in the 1957 NFL draft.
He played every backfield position during his career with the Irish. He also punted, kicked, returned kicks and played defensive back and was a multi-threat offensive back and prolific kicker in the pros. In the NFL, Hornung won four championships as an all-pro halfback, leading the NFL in scoring for three consecutive years: 1959-60-61. He also set the single season scoring record in 1960 with 176 points.
Football deity and legendary Packers Coach Vince Lombardi called Hornung, “The most versatile man ever to play the game.”
By Paul M. Banks
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Iowa‘s Adrian Clayborn is more than just a top #5-#15 NFL Draft prospect. He’s an interesting interview, and a candid young man with stand-up character. He was the highlight of Big Ten Media Day 2; partially because he was so candid about the transitional process from college to professional football.
“The coaches sit down, and we have a talk with a guy from a program called Pathway to the Pros, they talk to us about agents, and the key thing is- don’t accept anything. You can talk to them on the phone, you can talk to them face to face. Just don’t accept anything and if you do that, you’re golden,” Clayborn told us at Media Day.
By Paul M. Banks
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In order to motivate his stud D Lineman Cameron Heyward, Ohio State Head Coach Jim Tressel gave him a list of all the defensive linemen that were leaving for the NFL.
“He broke it down that if you want to be great you have to aim high, just don’t be satisfied with being good enough, and I told coach Tressel, I want to be the best out there. I’m setting my goals high and expecting more,” Heyward told me at Big Ten Media Day.
Amongst Big Ten star players Heyward is very overlooked. People talk about his teammate, QB Terrelle Pryor first, last year’s offensive conference player of the year, Wisconsin‘s John Clay second. On defense, the conversation usually turns to Iowa‘s Adrian Clayborn, and perhaps Michigan State’s Greg Jones.
But Heyward could have been picked somewhere in the #15-#25 range in the NFL Draft had he come out last spring. His stock is rising for 2011; even though people don’t often talk about him. He’s the “sneaky hot” player in the Big Ten. I guess you could call him the Pam Beesly/Jenna Fischer of college football.
By Paul M. Banks
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Big Ten member Ohio State and Big 12 defector Colorado are working on solidifing an agreement to play each other in the 2011 college football season.
OSU athletic director Gene Smith commented on the rumor of the two schools setting up a game.
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Today began the NCAA investigation into alleged infractions by the Michigan Wolverines program. School officials from the traditional Big Ten power appear content with how the proceedings went Saturday. Or at least publicly they’re very content. Michigan Athletic Director Dave Brandon said moments after the Seattle Westin meeting concluded that he was not at liberty to discuss what happened during the hearing.
But he did release this statement.
We feel that the committee gave us a full and fair hearing today. Our statements today were similar to those we provided the NCAA earlier this summer: We own the mistakes we have made, we fixed some process and communication problems that caused them, and we’re keeping a close eye on this so it doesn’t happen again.
I’m proud of the extra effort everyone has been putting into compliance these past several months. Rich and his staff – in coordination with the compliance group – have been working together to keep us on the right track.
We will await the committee’s decision and we will not speculate about the outcome
By Paul M. Banks
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Ohio State senior defensive lineman Cameron Heyward has received many honors. This summer, he’s been named to the 2010 Playboy Preseason All-America College Football Team, as well as the Ted Hendricks (best defensive end in the nation), Lombardi (best lineman) and Lott (best defensive player) Trophy watch lists.
He’s a guy that easily could have come out of school and received a nice NFL paycheck, but for the sake of his game and his development, stayed in school. Heyward was huge for Ohio State’s Top 5-ranked defense in 2009. He led all defensive linemen with 46 tackles and had his best game of the year with 9.0 tackles and 2.0 sacks in the win at Penn State. On the season he led the Buckeyes with 6.5 sacks and had 10 TFL, earning himself a 2009 Second Team All-Big Ten selection.
Heyward shares a fundamental trait with his Coach Jim Tressel: a famous father with a collection of accomplishments that he aims to (not just equal) but surpass one day.
“Tressel said, my Dad had a road named after him, but I want a highway. It shows that he’s aiming high and we’re all aiming high and expecting more out of each other,” Heyward told me at Big Ten Media Day.
By Paul M. Banks
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[More …]
We’re talking about University of Central Florida college football? Why? Well it’s not everyday that a FCS program let’s a Playboy Playmate into their locker room for a photo shoot. And you know a FBS program would NEVER do such a thing.
But Miss July 2010 Shanna McLaughlin is a UCF grad, and her recent photo shoot for something called Axis Magazine inside the UCF (what is the name of their mascot again? anybody?) locker room has given us the first thing to talk about relating to UCF football since Daunte Culpepper, and that was a long time ago.
That’s why I think the UCF A.D. Joe Hornstein is FULL OF IT here
“An employee without proper authorization allowed access to our football locker room. By the time the video of the shoot was brought to our attention, it had already made its rounds via the internet,” Hornstein’s statement said.
“Let me make this clear, UCF does not condone the photos and the video. We have spoken to the employee in question and we will speak to our entire staff to make sure that this does not happen again. To any fans who were offended by this, we sincerely apologize.”
By Paul M. Banks
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As I went through my Big Ten Media Day audio and transcript of legendary Penn State Head Coach Joe Paterno, I thought “wow, some of my media brethren are ghouls. There’s a lot in here about death and illness.”
And this is very important because the 83-year-old Paterno is THE “get” of Big Ten Media Days. He’s like a college football version of Yoda, Jackie Mason and Rodney Dangerfield combined.
He summed up the day’s theme best at the dais:
“what did Mark Twain say, the rumor of my death has been over-exaggerated or something, I forget. I used to know a little bit more about those. I really ?? I didn’t lose any time. I had, as I said, the problem I had was not having control of some things, and I had to be careful that I didn’t get myself in a position where I would embarrass myself.”
JoePa was so detailed about his “ailments,” because the media fixated on it.
By Paul M. Banks
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The USA Today/Coaches poll, the lesser of the college football polls was released this morning. Alabama leads the way at #1, and four Big Ten squads (Ohio State is #2) are ranked among the top 25. The Big Ten leads all conferences with four teams ranked in the top 15 and the conference joins the Big 12 and SEC in featuring multiple teams in the top 10. The SEC has six teams in the top 25, the Big 12 has three, and the ACC four. Florida, Texas and Boise St. round out the top 5.
Rose Bowl winning Ohio State enters the 2010 season ranked second overall after finishing with an 11-2 record and securing its fifth straight Big Ten Championship last season. Ohio State knocked off Oregon (ranked 11th in the 2010 preseason poll) in last year’s Rose Bowl Game and was voted as the preseason favorite to win the 2010 Big Ten title. The Buckeyes aim to match the record of six straight conference crowns, first accomplished by Ohio State from 1972-77.
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Texas today announced four future football games to be played against Notre Dame. The series will kickoff with Texas traveling to South Bend on Sept. 5, 2015. Notre Dame is slated to head to Austin on Sept. 3, 2016, and again on Aug. 31, 2019. The Longhorns return to South Bend on Sept. 12, 2020. The match-up features two of the biggest money-making programs in all of college football.
And another scheduling announcement relates to ND today:
The Irish men’s basketball team will face Southeastern Conference foe Georgia in its opening game at the 2010 Old Spice Classic in a contest that will be televised on Thursday, Nov. 25 by ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m. (ET). The first-round pairings and tournament bracket were unveiled on Thursday (Aug. 5) on ESPNEWS. Notre Dame will be making its first-ever appearance in the annual Thanksgiving weekend college basketball event that first began in 2006.
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Ohio State seniors Chimdi Chekwa and Jermale Hines were named to the 2010 Jim Thorpe Award preseason watch list. It lists the 35 of the nation’s best defensive backs.
Chekwa, a senior corner, recorded 43 tackles, one interception and seven pass break-ups last season and has three INT’s and 20 break-ups in his career. He’ll serve as veteran of the defensive backfield this season with 39 career games under his belt.
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Star running backs and Penn State University go together like black guys and fat white girls.
Over the years, “Linebacker U” has coincidentally produced some of the nation’s finest tailbacks in all of college football. Quite a few have been huge busts at the NFL level: Ki-Jana Carter, D.J. Dozier, Blair Thomas, Curtis Enis. Other have enjoyed tremendous success: Franco Harris, Curt Warner, Larry Johnson.
And Happy Valley‘s current starting tailback, Evan Royster, is very high on the lists of NFL scouts. After pondering the idea of casting his net into the NFL waters last year, the 6-1, 213 pound back from Fairfax, Virginia returned to University Park to continue his assault on the Penn State rushing record book. Some of those records are held by Warner himself, so I asked him his thoughts on Royster, and the Big Ten power program in general.
By Paul M. Banks
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