Sunday, May 29, 2011

Pre-Season Rankings

Courtesy of JSU02:

Lindy's:

1. App St
2. EWU
3. Ga Sou
4. Delaware
5. Montana St
6. W&M
7. UNI
8. UNH
9. Wofford
10. Villanova
11. Jacksonville St
12. Lehigh
13. Montana
14. NDSU
15. SFA
16. SEMO
17. SC St
18. Bethune-Cookman
19. JMU
20. Penn
21. McNeese St
22. Richmond
23. Colgate
24. Grambling St
25. Liberty

MVP: DeAndre Presley, App St, QB
OFF POY: Bo Levi Mitchell, EWU, QB
DEF POY: Ameet Pall, Wofford, DE
Newcomer: Tray Robinson, RB, Montana St

Sporting News
1. EWU
2. W&M
3. App St
4. UNI
5. Montana St
6. Ga Sou
7. Delaware
8. Montana
9. UCA
10. Wofford
11. UNH
12. SIU
13. McNeese St
14. Murray St
15. WIU
16. Southern Utah
17. Richmond
18. SFA
19. JSU
20. Liberty
21. UTC
22. Lehigh
23. Bethune-Cookman
24. Penn
25. UC Davis

TOP PLAYERS
OFF: DeAndre Presley
DEF: Ameet Pall
Newcomer: Jewell Hampton, RB, SIU

Friday, May 27, 2011

Casey On the Mound

"Rooster" Antley, a freshman from Holtville, only gave up 4 hits in 6 innings as the Gamecocks defeated SEMO in the OVC tourney yesterday. Here is an article that the New York Times- wait- the Wetumpka Herald, did on Antley earlier this year. Tonight's tournament game against Peay is a game of epic magnitude.



Antley proving strong selection for Gamecocks - The Wetumpka Herald: Sports: "Casey Antley pitched one solid year without pain as a Holtville
Bulldog."

Thursday, May 26, 2011

The Moose is Loose

Unconfirmed reports are out that JSU is naming Warren "Moose" Koegel as the new Athletic Director. Koegel is the former captain of the Penn State football team and played in the NFL for several years. Koegel has done remarkable things at Coastal Carolina including spearheading extensive facility upgrades for numerous sports. When you meet Koegel, you like him. We believe he is the man to sell the Gamecock Nation vision internally and externally. We've also heard him called "The Big Human".

Is The Sunbelt Coming Back to JSU?

Tony Barnhart at CBSsports.com has written a fascinating article about changes that may be ahead in big time college football. The premise of the article is that the SEC, Big 10, etc., may be headed for a super-league and the lower rung of what was formerly known as 1-A (i.e., the Sun Belt and MAC) may be headed towards a play-off. Barnhart even speculates that you could see a division where the OVC and Sun Belt would be competing for the same football championship.

Of particular interest in the article are comments from Appalachian State's AD about their approach to this situation. Here is an excerpt:

REPRINTED FROM CBSSPORTS.COM:

"Cobb is the athletic director at Appalachian State University, one of the very best programs in Division I-AA (due to public confusion over the labels, we don't use the official NCAA designations FBS and FCS). The Mountaineers of Jerry Moore won three straight national championships from 2005-2007 and have led the nation in Division I-AA attendance (at 28,000-plus) three times in the last four years.

In case you are wondering, in 2010 a total of 32 of the 120 Division I-A teams averaged less in home attendance than Appalachian State. In fact, 23 Division I-A schools averaged less than 20,000 in attendance last season.

"When we look at the WAC, the MAC, the Sun Belt and the others we compare very favorably to what they are doing," Cobb said. "So we decided that if things change dramatically we need to be prepared."

Last September the school announced the formation of a committee that would conduct a feasibility study to determine if they should go Division I-A. Originally that committee was going to give a recommendation in May. That announcement has been postponed. Appalachian State wants to wait for several reasons, and one of those is to see what is going to happen in the upper level of Division I-A football.

"What the Big Ten said last week got everybody's attention," said Cobb, a former football player at N.C. State. "What it really showed is that the gap in college football is not between Division I-A and I-AA. It's between the BCS schools and everybody else Division I-A."

Cobb said there are a number of schools like Appalachian State who have had very good success at the I-AA level and who wonder where they need to be if there is a major upheaval in the college football landscape. For example: What if the BCS schools split from the rest of Division I-A? What happens to rest of the division?

"I like to look at the math. And when you look at the math, we are a lot closer to East Carolina [a member of Division I-A Conference USA] than East Carolina is to the ACC," said Cobb.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

The Pride of Pisgah Is Coming to JSU

Holley leads Pisgah to seventh title - sandmountainreporter.com: High Schools: "MONTGOMERY — Senior catcher Shelby Holley closed out her career
with her 35th home run of the season in her final at bat as Pisgah
(43-13-1) c…"

Football not a priority for OVC anymore

The Sun Belt is starting to sound better.


Football not a priority for OVC anymore

Gamecocks confident they have talent to retake title

Gamecocks confident they have talent to retake title: "Jacksonville State wanted the No. 2 seed in this week’s Ohio Valley Conference baseball tournament. It didn’t get it.
The Gamecocks had to settle for the No. 3 seed. It probably doesn’t matter."

Gamecocks all clear on APR front

Gamecocks all clear on APR front: "For the first time since the inception of the NCAA’s academic progress rate program, Jacksonville State’s athletics department has no teams under any penalties."

Sunday, May 22, 2011

JSU sweeps Morehead, gets No. 3 seed after SEMO win

Coach Case has the team peaking at the right time. Good article from the Star.


JSU sweeps Morehead, gets No. 3 seed after SEMO win: "JACKSONVILLE — The home team did everything within its power to get a much-desired bye in the first round of next week’s OVC Tournament. It just didn’t get the help it needed."

Monday, May 16, 2011

Perrilloux's Back

The NFL lockout might provide a slight boost to the Gamecocks' graduation rate. Star quarterback Ryan Perrilloux is back on campus and may be on track to graduate in August. According to the last reports we saw, when the NFL labor situation is resolved, Perrilloux will be headed to the New York football Giants.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

Today's Links

A few links for today's reading assignments...

Link to Article on AD candidate Mark Richard

Link to ai.com has a brief blurb about the 2 candidates with ties to Auburn

OVC Softball Tournament Bracket

Anniston Star link to an article on the softball team as they head into the tournament

Friday, May 6, 2011

JSU Softball Signee Sets National Home Run Record

Click Here for the article from The Daily Sentinel on Shelby Holley.

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Welcome to Atlanta, Where the Players Play

The OVC Champion, Jacksonville State Womens Tennis Team, will travel to Atlanta for first round NCAA action. Coach Steve Bailey's team will face off against 14th seeded, Georgia Tech. Click here for a nice write-up from the Anniston Star.

Monday, May 2, 2011

Bart Starr Coming to JSU

On August 19th, the Board of Visitors for the Jacksonville State University College of Commerce and Business Administration will host a dinner and speaker event entitled “Striving Toward Excellence: An Evening With Bart Starr.” The event will be held at the club level of JSU Stadium.

Bart Starr was a 17th round draft choice for the Green Bay Packers in 1956 from the University of Alabama. His career as quarterback lasted for 15 years, where he held several NFL passing records. In 1977 he was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame. Today, he runs Healthcare Realty Management in Birmingham, Ala. and is co-founder of the Rawhide Boys Ranch which assists boys in trouble. On August 19th, he will grace JSU with his presence.

Roughly 325 seats will be available for the event. Space is limited, and tickets will be on sale for the Jacksonville and surrounding communities until they are gone. A catered dinner will be served at 6:30 p.m. followed by Bart Starr’s speech. To wrap up the night, an auction of collectibles, memorabilia, and other various items will be held. One item already in house is pictured below - a Jack Daniel's whiskey barrel with the JSU logo on the top.


Several different ticket and seating packages are available, each with unique benefits and opportunities. Proceeds will go to the JSU College of Commerce and Business Administration to benefit students.

For more information on the Bart Starr dinner event, please contact Brenda Holt at 256-782-5605 or email her at blholt@jsu.edu.