I think I have read that the Irish will kick off things Aug 2nd with a Press Conference ...Irish version of Media Day and then start camp Aug 3rd. We will be going to Culver Military Academy again for the 1st week, Kelly feels like it helps with team build to get away from Campus. Pro Camps will be opening soon as well, Texans go to the Greenbriar July 26.
It can't get here fast enough. Tired of hotter than hell weather already... and it's not even August.
Was listening to XM's ESPNU and they were talking about MSU coach Joe Moorehead. Apparently everybody is impressed with this guy, they said Mullen left him with a good squad and that he has a chance to have a really good first season. He was able to hold together what recruiting class Mullen had when he left for UF for the most part the finished with 23 kids at #27 and he's at #12 right now with 17 kids. So he's looking good in terms of recruting for MSU. He certainly changed James Franklin's fortunes when he was brought in as the OCoord from Fordham. A lot of PSU fans were not impressed with what Franklin was doing with the program, but once Moorehead got there they exploded as a deadly offensive team. It'll be interesting to see what the MSU offense looks like, they have Nick Fitzgerald who is a very good dual threat QB. Also lots of talk about the Alabama QB situation. They commented that Alabama was going to have a great season no matter who played QB, that Mac Jones could play QB and they'd still win a ton of games with their defense and running game. I wonder who Alabama fans want to win the spot. I'm guessing they want Tua so that they can see some passing game.
Also interesting thought on the new 4 games that are allowed to played and still call it a red shirt year. I was thinking that only applied to freshmen, but somebody said it has to apply to all the players. So that means that if a guy gets injured in August camp and rehabs his was back to playing time by Nov that he could play late in the season as long as it's not 5 games and still call it a red shirt year. Previously those guys even if ready to play might have been held out so as to not waste a year of eligibility on a few late season games. Also guys who are injured in the 1st four games can call it a red shirt year as well, previously they would have had to apply for a Medical waiver.
Terry, this Alabama fan wants a qb that can hand the ball off on running plays, make the best decision on read options and execute the passing game when called. Hurts hasn't done 2 of those thing in the last 2 seasons. If he can do them this year then so be it. If if he can't, bring on Tagovolua.
Big 10 Media Days this week. I find it ironic that it wasn't that long ago that the Big10 was considered very weak. The year Ohio State won the Nat'l Title after an early season loss to Va.Tech at home, most said they could not recover from it because the Big 10 schedule was so weak that there weren't any games that would allow them to build a resume even if they won out. Of course they did win out and in a spectacular fashion that got them into the playoffs. Now the Big 10 East is considered the strongest conference in football, not the SEC West. Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and Michigan State all expected to be very strong programs. Nothing stays the same.
I would think that if Tua is your guy, you will be passing the ball more than you would with Hurts, unless his passing game has improved. He wasn't a great thrower in HS, was a very gifted and athletic player back there, but not a great passer. But he said the reason he went to Alabama was that Kiffin told him he could develop him into a NFL quality passer. :shock: In kicking around the new rules, if Tua is the guy and plays most of the snaps this season, Hurts if he only gets into 4 games could essentially use this year as a red shirt season and then transfer to somewhere else and have 2 years remaining to play and develop. Of course in most cases guys who after 2 years and 20+ starts aren't very good at the passing game they aren't likely to discover it at another place. There are guys who struggled as 1st year starters and then made a leap their second year, but Hurts was a 2 year starter. He certainly is a powerful runner though as a QB.
Yep, Hurts hasn't been able to pick up the second and third receivers if the primary is covered and he then pulls down the ball and runs. And looking off db's is just not in his repertoire. Tagavolua did all of those things in the second half of the NCG. We lost to Auburn because of no offense and we almost lost to Georgia for the same reason. Now this all history so we shall see.
Saban is quoted on ESPN site as telling the QB's just work to earn the job!! He's too smart though to try the proven to fail (in most cases) 2 QB system, right! 8) http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24183984/alabama-crimson-tide-coach-nick-saban-warns-jalen-hurts-tua-tagovailoa-not-call-attention
Terry, I don't think the 2 qb thing can work, but I don't get paid $10M a year to coach football either. I think Tagavolua starts but who knows.
Dead Period for recruiting ends soon and Fall Camps start for most schools next week. There hasn't been much movement in the top 10 for recruiting. Beginning of July.. 1. Alabama 2. Texas A&M 3. Michigan 4. LSU 5. OU 6. ND 7. Oregon 8. Ohio State 9. Clemson 10. FSU As we approach the end of July, mostly some shuffling of the top 10. 1. Alabama 2. A&M 3. OU 4. Oregon 5. Georgia 6. LSU 7. Ohio State 8. Notre Dame 9. Michigan 10. Clemson 11. Texas 17. Tenn 19. Miami 22. Purdue 24. Neb 34. Fla 98. Wash State Overall I'm sure Purdue fans are pretty happy at the possibility of a top 25 recruiting class, Scott Frost also could end up with a top 25 class and Jeremy Pruitt also looking at a top 25 class for Tenn. Irish may have a hard time staying in the top 10, most are predicting only 3 more kids will be added to our class and class size is an important factor in the ranking. Now if all 3 of those kids are 5 stars...then maybe, but that is highly unlikely. https://247sports.com/Season/2019-Football/CompositeTeamRankings/
Uh oh...Dave! Gainesville cops are at it again with Gator football players. http://www.gatorsports.com/2018/07/mullen-issues-statement-on-report-involving-police-six-uf-football-players/
Top 20 Nat'l Champions of the BCS/CFP Era. #1: 2005 Texas Longhorns! #2: 2008 Gators #3: 2001 Miami #4: 2013 FSU #5: 2004 USC #6: 2011 Bama #7 : 2012 Bama #8: 20015 Bama #9: 2009 Bama #10 : 1999 FSU. http://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/24198508/college-football-national-champions-20-years-ranked
Things blowing up in Columbus for Urban over what he knew or didn't know about Zach Smith. Brett Murphy has a rather extensive facebook page about what he claims are texts that prove that Meyer knew about the abuse of Zach's wife and ignored it. Not sure where this goes, there is no underlying NCAA issue here, like there was with Jim Tressel and nobody has reported that he had a meeting with the AD like Tressel did and lied about the Tattoo situation. But intoday's world CEO's are being fired for things that happened 10 or more years ago. Use the wrong word and you can be fired, whether this is a case where a wildly popular and successful coach can be brought down by what he did or didn't know about a domestic abuse case, I don't know. Seems unlikely but then in the #metoo world maybe not. At the very least it's going to be a very uncomfortable few weeks or months for Urban. https://www.facebook.com/TheBrettMcMurphy/posts/2042037522486968
Terry, I will admit to being very disappointed in this development. His ties to Earl Bruce does not excuse Meyer's actions. Some things always seem to haunt poor decisions down the road.
This sounds bad, especially in the Me Too environment we live in. I will wait to hear the whole story before joining the pitchfork crowd.
Being placed on paid administrative leave is definitely not a good sign in my opinion. Urban has put the university in a very precarious situation. They simply will have to try and control the damage as much as possible. I think he is gone, a very sad situation for Ohio State football fans. There will be no winners on this one except competing universities like Penn State and Michigan. Ryan Day (QB's) has been appointed acting interim coach.
I guess my question is this: If the abuse was reported to police in 2015... what was the outcome of the investigation? If nothing was found (as the accused's continued freedom implies), why is Urban being put through the ringer?? Whatever he was TOLD... the guy wasn't charged so does he fire him anyway??
Speaking of Penn State gaining an advantage, let's not loose sight of the now undeniable truth.... JOEPA KNEW. F*** those guys. As for Urban, if this goes back to his days at Florida, well.. he kinda made his own boat. It's not about 'me too' or anything like that, it's about whether or not he took action on very actionable information... if he knew about it. But Joe knew, don't ever forget that.