Wednesday, June 24, 2009

JSU Offensive Depth Chart 2009

UNOFFICIAL FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES ONLY

As we head into the Summer, we thought an interesting topic of discussion would be to prepare a projected depth chart for the 2009 Season. Please note- this is not based on anything JSU has provided, its just our thoughts after watching several scrimmages this Spring, looking at the returning roster and incoming recruits. In fact, we are sure that if you asked the Staff to provide a depth chart they would say that spots will be earned in summer practice.
There are some positions where JSU rotates players so freely it is hard to say what position a player exactly plays. In this instance, we just put them into one group. Our editorial comments are provided to the side. We probably have guys at the wrong position, etc. Please comment and correct us.

QUARTERBACK
#11 Ryan Perrilloux, Sr. (great last year, should be a superstar this year)
#17 Brooks Robinson, R.Fr. (seemed to outplay Ivory in the scrimmages)
#11 Marques Ivory, So. (a 3* high school player, run-pass threat)
General Observation: BCS schools would love to have these 3 quarterbacks

RUNNING BACK
#22 Brandon George, So. (clearly the go to guy in the Spring, not spectacular but solid);
#32 Tremayne Coger, Jr. (Crowe says fastest guy on the field, eligibility is a question)
#28 Jamal Young , Jr. (Big play potential, may be more situational)
#42 Drec Lindley (did not seem to get much work this Spring)
## Richard Freelon, Fr. (Not on campus yet, but a high profile recruit)
Others to watch: Nick Johnson, Chris Finley, Donald Prince (if healthy enough)
General Observation: Coger's eligibility and health are huge. A good stable of running backs, but JSU may be more pass oriented this year.

FULLBACK
#28 Calvin Middleton, So. (a 3* Recruit that has the coaches eye)
#46 Alphonso Freeney, Jr. (an underrated workhorse 169 yds last year)
# Jahron Brown, Fr. (#6 rated FB in America, health is an issue)
Others to watch: Cole Doolittle, Juan Finley
General Observations: Middleton is a hybrid. He must block well to start at fullback. Once again, a position with BCS type athletes.

WIDE RECEIVER
# Greg Smith, Sr. (granted a transfer, but no JSU receiver matches his production)
#5 James Wilkerson, Sr. (32 catches in 8 starts last year)
#6 Jeff Cameron, Sr. (progresses every year, highly regarded by teammates)
#7 John Houston Whiddon, Sr. (very good player with career receptions against Penn St. and Georiga Tech);
#23 James Shaw, So. (a converted defensive back)
# 16 Kevyn Cameron, R.Fr. (good size, but probably a year away)
#21 Le Ray Williamson, So.
General Observations: Given the APR, it sure would be nice to redshirt either Wilkerson or Cameron if they are eligible for a redshirt. Smith is going to be great. One has to think he will be fired up to play against Georgia Tech. Another big time transfer would make this good unit great.

TIGHT END
#10 Eric Johns, Sr. (excellent receiver- all OVC potential)
#84 Deonte Carter, Jr. (prototypical size)
#81 Justin Howard, R.Fr. (coaches love his athleticism)
#44 Corey Freeman, Jr.
General Observations: The depth here is so good that Eric Russell was moved to linebacker.

LEFT TACKLE
#77 Curt Porter, Jr. (prototypical size, all OVC potential)
#xx Ricky Clemons, Fr. (massive, one of the most highly recruited players for JSU)

RIGHT TACKLE
#72 Tylor Chambers, So. (excellent freshman campaign)
#69 Tori Mobley, R.Fr. (coaches need him to step up)
# Colt Kennedy (another large incoming freshman)

GUARD
#65 Matt Jones, So. (its scary how good Jones could be before he’s done)
#75 Tyler Ogletree, Jr. (battled injury last year. Gave me a high 5 before a game so I like him)
#78 Devon Hayes, So. (massive player with great potential)
#72 Justin Kay, Jr. (played right tackle and guard this spring)
#71 Taylor Chambers, So
# Mark Bounds

CENTER
#64 Reggie Wade (Sr.) (A great player and a great kid).
#50 Josh Carroll (Sr.) (All Effort team)

General Comments: Depth is better but still could be an issue. JSU cannot afford injuries to Porter, Chambers, Jones or Wade. If Kennedy or Clemons can play some as true freshman that would be a tremendous boost. Some of the positions here are just guesses on our part.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Tuesday Morning Breakfast Links

First, there is a great topic on gojaxstate.com. This link will take you right to the topic -- Name your top 5 favorite gamecocks. Thanks goes to Brother's for the topic.

SouthernPigskin.com Columnist Josh Buchanan releases his early top 30 prospect list for the 2010 NFL Draft. He has Ryan Perrilloux at #29. Click here for the list.

The Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) just added Georgia State. I believe that brings them to 14 teams. Could they expand more? Possibly. Here is an article that explains. Ga State could be the beginning of a southern division.

Speaking of Georgia State, they have added another Alabama team to their schedule. Click here for the article.

The NCAA defends its recent decision on vacating Florida State's wins. Here is an update.
Amid this controversy, FSU's president, a big supporter of their athletic teams, has resigned.

And finally, here is a compilation of football recruits for the OVC for this year.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

TUESDAY MORNING BREAKFAST LINKS (on Wednesday)

College Sports Revenue
Auburn and Alabama make the top 10 in football revenue in the country for 2007-2008.
HERE is an article on the football revenue.
For all sports revenue, the top 10 are:
University of Texas: $120.3 million
Ohio State University: $118 million
University of Florida: $106 million
University of Michigan: $99 million
University of Wisconsin: $93.5 million
Pennsylvania State University: $91.6 million
Auburn University: $89.3 million
University of Alabama: $88.9 million
University of Tennessee: $88.7 million
Oklahoma State University: $88.6 million

You really want to know what's amazing? Go back and look at the top 10 in sports revenue for 2005-2006. Look at the growth in just 2 years.
Ohio State -- 104.7
Texas -- 97.8
Virginia -- 92.7
Michigan -- 85.5
Florida -- 82.4
Georgia -- 79.2
Wisconsin -- 78.9
Notre Dame -- 78.2
Texas A&M -- 70.9
Penn State -- 70.5

Will there ever be a college FBS playoff?
I don’t think so. See THIS article. If the BCS championship game is the best option, seems like the NFL would ditch the playoff system and go to a championship game of the 2 highest ranking teams.

University of Alabama begins to deal with vacated wins...HERE
Ironic that they played FSU a couple years ago. No matter who won, (FSU did), the win was vacated.

An article HERE about scheduling nonconference games. There has been a lot of talk about this lately, but it really helps schools like JSU. “Eighteen percent of the nonconference games played by BCS conference schools were against teams from the Football Championship Subdivision, formerly known as Division I-AA. The SEC rate was 19 percent.”

GA STATE to join the Colonial Athletic Association
I thought they would make a great rival for JSU, given the geography. There are many factors when joining a conference. I don’t think geography was on the radar in this decision. CAA Football currently includes Delaware, Hofstra, James Madison, Northeastern, Towson and William and Mary, along with New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Richmond, Rhode Island and Villanova. Old Dominion begins its football program this fall and then joins CAA Football in 2011, and Georgia State will be the league’s 14th team in 2012.

The NCAA
HERE is a link to an article that I felt I had to include, especially because this blog had a recent comment about the hypocrisy of the NCAA. "The NCAA is a master at selective morality." This writer, although regarding a different situation, feels the same way.

If you haven’t seen them already, JSU Fan has posted some recent pics on his website of the stadium expansion construction. See them HERE.

Friday, June 12, 2009

What I’m thinking

I am disappointed in the NCAA. The NCAA had every chance to show that they would give the same breaks to a small school that they do a large school. They didn’t. The NCAA had the chance to apply logic instead of sticking to “policy”. They didn’t. The NCAA could have abided by the same gag order placed on JSU. They didn’t. The NCAA could have recognized that JSU actually penalized its own football team by having a strict disciplinary policy. Instead, they added more.

The NCAA knew they would get some publicity by showing that they can punish schools that do the wrong thing. Only problem is, JSU did the right thing. Don’t get me wrong. I’m really disappointed. I believe that this football team this year could be special. The NCAA will not let this happen. They take a tough stand against smaller schools with lesser budgets. Look at other incidents: FSU – major misconduct, but no penalty to the present team. Memphis – faking an SAT score to get a star basketball player in school. No problem. Oh yeah, they will “vacate” the wins. Big deal. What does that mean? Same with our neighbors over at the University of Alabama. Text book scandal. Vacate a few wins. If there is not a winner, then there can’t be a losing team. But the NCAA doesn’t want to address that. Let’s just “vacate” the wins. No forfeit. No punishment to anyone involved. But, dismiss players for drugs or disciplinary problems, and get ready to be punished. Not the players that were dismissed; let’s punish the good students that are still there.

But watch. The NCAA will end up going back and fixing this rule at some point. The one size fits all cookie cutter approach will be changed. But alas, too late for JSU. We will be the sacrificial lamb.

Okay, got all of that off my chest.

I'm disappointed as heck, but we are going to be behind this team. We will have previews and player profiles on the horizon. We had put it on hold for a while because of the APR. We are also going to continue to spotlight our other great sports teams, but it may be a little slow as there isn't much to report in the summer time. Thanks.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

NCAA wrong to uphold JSU ban

HERE is a link to an article in the Birmingham News.

As the article states:
"JSU's biggest problem with its spring 2008 score was retention of athletes, as 13 players were asked to leave the football team for violations of team rules. Coach Jack Crowe's crackdown on those who wouldn't follow his rules now means that many of those who did can't play for a national championship.

Nobody is arguing that athletes should get a free pass in the classroom, but the APR model is flawed. You can't handcuff athletes to their desks if they decide they don't fit in, can't do the school work, don't like being third-string, or get drafted by a pro league.

The argument that coaches shouldn't recruit players who are bad apples or turn out to be poor students doesn't hold water, either. Parents don't know everything their kids are doing out of their sight, so how can a coach?"

How do you feel about it? Post comments here, or you can email the paper at sports@bhamnews.com (please put Sound Off in subject line)

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

TUESDAY MORNING BREAKFAST LINKS

Just a few for today...

HERE’s an article in the Anniston Star about the upcoming basketball season schedule for JSU.

After their most successful basketball season in history, UT Martin has changed basketball coaches. Click HERE for the article.

Tennessee State is getting a transfer from the Univ. of Florida. – Linebacker JOHN JONES

Also, on the Tennessee State message board, I saw that their wide receiver, Stillman, that had transferred in from Louisville is no longer on the team. HERE is the link.

FCS Football Trivia -
What was the only 1-AA (FCS)school to win 100 games in the 1990s?
A) Dayton
B) Montana
C) Georgia Southern
D) Youngstown State

Since 2000, what FCS school has the most wins (and how many)?
Use the same 4 choices as above...

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

TUESDAY MORNING BREAKFAST LINKS

Was it just me, or did anyone else notice that the ESPN announcer Sunday during the Florida – Alabama game mentioned that Alabama’s pitcher, Kelsi Dunne pitched no-hitters against “Jackson State” in the super regional? I wish I had a nickel for every time that happened. Speaking of softball, HERE is a link to the slideshow from the Cleburne News.
What went on at the annual OVC Spring Meeting? Mostly putting in place some cost-cutting measures, like eliminating in-person media days for football and basketball. Annual coaching group meetings will now be held via teleconference. HERE is a link with a review.

Institutional Sportsmanship Award –
If you’re interested, Eastern Kentucky won the OVC Institutional Sportsmanship Award. HERE is your link.
“the award goes to the Conference institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical conduct as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.”

Football –
HERE is a side-by-side comparison of a few preseason football polls. A little entertaining, but I wouldn’t put too much stock on it yet. I’m sure several rosters will change by the time school starts back in the fall.

Another football article HERE.
An inside look at “money” games for FCS schools. Like so many of you, I’d like to see Auburn or Alabama schedule JSU in the near future. They are both paying UT-Chattanooga soon.

Basketball
HERE is a review/preview for men’s basketball.
It’s a little old, but still good information. We hope to talk to some of the basketball staff this summer to get a better insight to next season. We’ll post it as soon as it happens.

APR
From the NCAA website, here are some other Schools' APR scores. I'm not smart enough to understand why JSU is being penalized and these schools are not: East Carolina (basketball 879); FAU (golf 884); Idaho St. (bball 897; football 876); Indiana (bball 866); Iowa State (bball 877); Kansas State (bball 900); Kennesaw State (bball 846); La. Tech (bball 865); Mcneese State (baseball 889; bball 889); New Mexico State (bball 848) Nichols St. (baseball 886; bball 875, football 880); Portland St. (bball 867); Purdue (bball 906); Southern Utah (baseball 889; bball 880); San Jose t. (football 888); Se La. (baseball 890; bball 866); Southern (baseball 875; bball 842; football 895); Temple (football 891); UAB (football 875, bball 863); UC Santa Barbara (bball 872); Central Arkansas (bball 882); Cincinatti (bball 902); Idaho (bball 899); La. Lafayette (bball 886); UL Monroe (bball 848); New Orleans (bball 868; baseball 874); UT Pan Am (baseball 836); South Car. (bball 909); So. Cal. (bball 906); USF (bball 878; football 909); Toledo (football 908); Weber State (football 881; bball 897); West. Illinois (bball 887). So many are getting exemptions...