Louisville News

BIG EAST FOOTBALL DEPTH CHART NEWS

Orange receive important boost in backfield

By Raphielle Johnson

With Averin Collier’s status still up in the air for academic reasons (it does not look good in terms of him playing this season), Doug Marrone was looking at going into a season with just one experienced running back at his disposal (Antwon Bailey). But Syracuse received quite the depth chart boost on Monday with the clearance of 1,000-yard rusher Delone Carter. Carter, kicked out of school in April for punching another student (February 27^th snowball incident), was cleared by the school’s judicial review board on Monday to re-enroll. While not in Syracuse for practice and the team’s media day at the Carrier Dome, Collier is expected back sometime this week.

There’s no overstating the importance of this news; behind Bailey there was a surplus of inexperienced backs, and the addition of Carter will allow Coach Marrone and running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley some time in developing those youngsters. Also, junior college transfer Lou Alexander (offensive tackle) looks to be on his way towards being cleared to join the team, and his presence will provide the offensive line with more depth and added competition. Lastly, in their quest for a downfield playmaker at wide receiver the Orange will look to Dorian Graham. Graham, who missed all of last season due to a shoulder injury, moves from cornerback to wide receiver and possesses some freakish athletic measurements.

Wide receiver talk segues into the injury woes that have hit USF at the position in their first full week of practice. Senior wideout Colby Erskin, who’d been granted a sixth year of eligibility for medical reasons (three prior ACL tears), tore the ACL in his left knee on Saturday, ending his season before it even began. Add this to the departure of Carlton Mitchell (NFL), four players deciding not to return and projected starters Sterling Griffin and A.J. Love both missing the first month of the season (at least) due to their own injuries. This is not a good start for Skip Holtz and company, who will likely lean heavily on Lindsey Lamar to make things happen from that position.

In other wide receiver news, Cincinnati learned that they will not have the services of junior college transfer Kenbrell Thompkins per NCAA transfer rules. Thompkins, who signed an LOI to play for Lane Kiffin at Tennessee, was not released from the letter by the new coaching staff and as a result will have to sit out the season. However, Thompkins will have two years of eligibility beginning with the 2011 season. Cincinnati will be fine at wide receiver without him, and he should at the very least help out the secondary as they get their reps in against the offensive scout team. Tight end Travis Kelce will not play this season due to a violation of team rules.

Connecticut kicked things off on Monday, and the big move for Randy Edsall’s team actually came in the form of a coaching move. Coach Edsall will handle the safeties this season, allowing first-year secondary coach Darnell Perkins to work solely with the cornerbacks. The Huskies have to replace Robert McClain at free safety and the overall youth is such that it could help them to hear a more familiar voice for the time being. UConn ranked 88^th in pass defense in 2009, and that area could be the difference between contending for the Big East title and simply going to another bowl game.

As for Rutgers, the absence of backup quarterback Steve Shimko (shoulder injury) could open the door for true freshman Chas Dodd to earn the #2 nod in his stead. Tom Luicci of the Newark Star-Ledger writes that the coaches have been impressed with Dodd’s demeanor and ability. But regardless of who wins the backup job the hopes of the Scarlet Knights will rest on the health of Tom Savage; they cannot afford for him to go down due to injury. Pittsburgh is looking for a big season from redshirt junior linebacker Tristan Roberts, who moved ahead of Greg Williams at WILL linebacker due to his play in the spring. Roberts getting the job done will provide even more depth to a unit that’s expected by many to be the best in the conference this season.

Louisville DE Malcolm Tatum is hoping to hold onto his starting job for the entire season, as he lost that spot after just two games in 2009. C.L. Brown of the Louisville Courier-Journal also wrote on Monday that linebacker Deon Rogers, who switched from Georgia to Louisville once the Cardinals hired Charlie Strong, was cleared to join the team. Scout.com ranked Rogers 53^rd in the nation among linebackers and gave him a three-star rating.

West Virginia, which met the deadline to respond to the NCAA’s Notice of Allegations, will be looking for significant production from spur Terrence Garvin given the many responsibilities for his position within their 3-3-5 scheme. Given the overall strength of the Mountaineer defense, Garvin (one of two new starters on defense) should have plenty of opportunities to make things happen. At the very least he’ll have experienced voices on the field letting him know where he needs to be.

2010 ULTIMATE BIG EAST FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

A week-by-week look at the biggest games in 2010 within the Big East

By Raphielle Johnson

With camps getting underway (USF and Louisville kick things off on Thursday), now seems to be as good a time as any to take a look at the Big East football schedule for the upcoming season. Twelve games: seven conference and five non-conference, with the goal of those non-conference matchups to spread the wealth a bit. No teams will be seen twice on this portion of the slate, and seven of the eight Big East members will be on the schedule at some point. Feel free to add in your own thoughts below.

Week 1: Connecticut at Michigan (September 4th)

Michigan debuts their newly-renovated stadium amidst the cloud of NCAA inquiry in regards to practice time and other issues, not to mention two straight losing seasons under Rich Rodriguez. The Huskies, who won their last four games to close out 2009, never beat Rodriguez when he was the head coach at West Virginia (which received a letter from the NCAA today in regards to Rodriguez’s tenure in Morgantown) but this is likely their best chance. If the Huskies can shore up their secondary and tackling in space issues look out; it shouldn’t be a surprise if Zach Frazer, Jordan Todman and company leave Ann Arbor 1-0.

Best game: Pittsburgh at Utah (September 2nd)

Danger game: Cincinnati at Fresno State (September 4th)
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BIG EAST FOOTBALL PRESEASON POLL & AWARDS WATCHLIST

Pitt receives all but two first-place votes in pre-season media poll

By Raphielle Johnson

Tuesday morning marked the official release of the Big East preseason media poll, with Pittsburgh being the pick to win the conference. Dave Wannstedt’s Panthers, who lost their final two conference games a season ago to miss out on a BCS bid, picked up the first place vote on 22 of 24 ballots to separate themselves from two-time defending champ Cincinnati and West Virginia by 48 points. The Bearcats and Mountaineers both finished with 142 points, although Bill Stewart’s squad picked up one of the other two first place votes. Connecticut, who won their last four games to end 2009, picked up the other first place vote and finished fourth in the poll. Rutgers, who has won their last four bowl games, finished fifth by twenty points over USF and Syracuse finished one point ahead of Louisville for seventh.

1) Pittsburgh -190 points (22 first-place votes)
2) Cincinnati – 142 points
(tie) West Virginia – 142 points (one first-place vote)
4) Connecticut – 131 points (one first-place vote)
5) Rutgers – 99 points
6) South Florida – 79 points
7) Syracuse – 41 points
8] Louisville – 40 points

Can’t say that this is much of a surprise; on paper well before Tuesday’s release the Big East looked to be a league of three “tiers”: the top four with Pittsburgh leading the way, followed by a pair of teams in Rutgers and USF who have the ability to be positive surprises and the rebuilding projects at Syracuse and Louisville bringing up the rear. Personal pick for surprise team is USF; the Bulls have a lot more talent at the disposal of new head coach Skip Holtz and his staff than meets the eye. The biggest question in regards to personnel has to be Syracuse. What happens if they don’t have the services of either Delone Carter (led the team in rushing last season) or Averin Collier (slated to be the starter once Carter was dismissed from school)? You’d have to drop them behind Louisville, who has RB Victor Anderson back for his junior campaign (look for him to rebound from last season should he remain relatively healthy).

My picks:

Pittsburgh
West Virginia
Cincinnati
Connecticut
USF
Rutgers
Louisville
Syracuse

Preseason Award Watch Lists

July marks the time of the year when the individual awards release their initial watch lists for the upcoming season, and a number of Big East players found themselves honored. Below are the players from member schools who are on these lists.

Nagurski Award: DE Greg Romeus (Pittsburgh), S Robert Sands (West Virginia), LB J.K. Schaeffer (Cincinnati), LB J.T. Thomas (West Virginia), LB Lawrence Wilson (Connecticut)

O’Brien Award: QB Zach Collaros (Cincinnati), Tom Savage (Rutgers)

Outland Trophy: G Art Forst (Rutgers), G Zach Hurd (Connecticut), T Jason Pinkston (Rutgers)

Thorpe Award: S Dom DeCicco (Pittsburgh), CB Brandon Hogan (West Virginia), CB Johnny Patrick (Louisville), S Robert Sands (West Virginia)

More awards watch lists will be released next week.

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BIG EAST FOOTBALL SUMMER SCHOOL: LOUISVILLE

New coach Charlie Strong renews hope in Derby City for Cards’ football program

by RAPHIELLE JOHNSON

The climb to the top of a conference can be an arduous one filled with watershed moments that a fan base can look back on with pride once the mission is accomplished. But all it takes to tumble back down the hill could be one moment of misfortune, and the end result is the loss of that lofty position to go along with fan apathy. Such was life for the Louisville Cardinals during the Steve Kragthorpe era, a short time span that began its fall with a missed fair catch call at Connecticut in 2007. While it may have been tough to require Kragthorpe to take over for the departed Bobby Petrino and build a dynasty, not going to a single bowl game in those three years made the need for change apparent.  

Enter Charlie Strong, who waited (many would say too long) for his opportunity while helping construct a defense at Florida that won a pair of national titles during his watch. Twice during his tenure in Gainesville Strong was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award, annually given to the nation’s best assistant coach. In addition to his attacking defense that was among the nation’s best in forcing turnovers during his seven years as defensive coordinator, Coach Strong is hailed as one of the best recruiters in the country by many and this has bore fruit for the Cardinals during the spring. Athletic director Tom Jurich may have hit a home run with this hire.  

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PHIL STEELE’S PRESEASON ALL-BIG EAST TEAMS

Phil Steele Releases All-Big East Teams

Daniels, Lewis lead the way for Big East talent in 2010

By Raphielle Johnson

CLEVELAND, OH – May 19, 2010 – Phil Steele sent his Phil Steele’s 2010 College Football Preview to the press. Enclosed is Phil’s preseason All-Big East Team as well as his All-American Team as it will appear in the Magazine, hitting newsstands June 8th.

Phil Steele’s College Football Preview is the nation’s most informative preseason football magazine and has always provided a preseason All-American team as well as preseason All-Conference teams. For more information or to obtain a copy of each of the All-Conference teams, please visit PhilSteele.com

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BIG EAST FOOTBALL APPROACHING CROSSROADS?

Expansion possibilities threaten league’s viability

By Raphielle Johnson

The company line following the BCS meetings in Phoenix last month was that the Big Ten Conference would wait until December to issue invites to possible expansion targets, staying on course instead of accelerating the process as rumored. That may have been thrown for a loop if the report put out by 810 WHB in Kansas City on Monday has any truth to it. According to the Kansas City-based ESPN affiliate the Big Ten will invite four institutions to join the league: Missouri, Nebraska, Notre Dame and Rutgers. Is there truth to the report or is it merely speculation from “sources” that could be wrong? That’s the question and the report was followed by denials from those intimately involved with the process.

All four schools issued denials on Monday and with an issue such as this it’s difficult to find the truth in the midst of so many rumors. But well before this day the Big East had a simple decision to make. Is the league proactive, making a move with the idea of beating the Big Ten to the punch and gaining a little leverage for itself? Or does the Big East go the reactive route, acting only after it knows what the Big Ten’s course of action will be? You can’t blame Big East loyalists who’ve had flashbacks to the ACC’s calling of three schools back in 2003-04 when it comes to the latter course of action.

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BIG EAST FOOTBALL COACHING CHANGES

Leavitt firing garners national headlines

By Raphielle Johnson

On the surface three coaching changes within a conference wouldn’t be a huge deal. But when taking into consideration that only eight schools play football in the Big East this qualifies as an off-season of significant turnover. The most surprising move came on Friday with South Florida firing head coach Jim Leavitt, the lone coach in the program’s 13-year history. In a college football season that’s seen coaches fired at both Kansas and Texas Tech for their conduct towards players, Leavitt was let go over an incident with walk-on wide receiver Joel Miller at the half of their November 21st game against Louisville.

According to many testimonies Leavitt grabbed Miller by the throat and struck him in the face twice, allegations that the coach denied. Miller’s father went to the papers to change his story after it was originally reported by AOL Fanhouse writer Brett McMurphy on December 14th, saying then that Coach Leavitt had not struck his son. But in the investigation done by the school they came to the conclusion that Leavitt had indeed struck Miller after interviewing student-athletes and those who are not student-athletes. In the letter of termination sent to Leavitt by the school the school said the following in regards to its findings:

It was also reported that in the days following the incident Miller and Leavitt had a conversation in which the coach advised him to choose his words wisely because he (Leavitt) “was the most powerful man in the room”. Leavitt, who led the Bulls to an 8-5 record and a win over Northern Illinois in the International Bowl, leaves USF with an overall record of 95-47 and 17-18 in Big East play. Carl Franks, who was the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator the last six years, was named acting head coach while the school looks for a permanent solution. Franks was head coach at Duke from 1998-2003, where he had a record of 7-45 before being fired.

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BIG EAST FOOTBALL 2009 SEASON AWARDS

Big East Honors Announced with Panthers and Bearcats splitting major awards

By Raphielle Johnson

The Big East Conference announced its 2009 football awards on Wednesday afternoon and there were few surprises with the results. Brian Kelly, who in some circles is rumored to be headed to Notre Dame, was named the Big East Coach of the Year for the third consecutive season. Kelly’s Cincinnati Bearcats finished the regular season 12-0 and will once again represent the league in the Bowl Championship Series, playing Florida in the Allstate Sugar Bowl. The Bearcats also saw Mardy Gilyard win the Big East Special Teams Player of the Year, the second consecutive award for the senior and third straight for the UC program (Kevin Huber in 2007).

As for the offensive and defensive honors those went to Pittsburgh, with freshman Dion Lewis winning both Offensive Player and Rookie of the Year. Lewis led the Big East in rushing and ranked in the top five nationally in rushing yards per game. Defensively Greg Romeus and Mick Williams shared the Big East Defensive Player of the Year award and as a team Pitt had ten players named to the league’s First Team All-Big East squad. Lastly the conference made late Connecticut cornerback Jasper Howard the honorary captain. Howard was tragically lost in the early morning hours of October 18th after playing one of the best games of his career in a win over Louisville.

“As a family, we wanted to respectfully remember Jasper Howard and honor his memory,” said Big East commissioner John Marinatto in the conference’s release. “In naming him the Honorary Captain of the 2009 All-BIG EAST Team, we have memorialized his name in BIG EAST Conference history.”

2009 Big East Football Awards

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BIG EAST MONDAY MORNING QB: LOOKING BACK AT WEEK #13

by MICHAEL PINA

Thanksgiving is officially behind us and Bowl Season is rapidly approaching. The Big East still has a national title contender that seems to dominate its opponents no matter who’s at quarterback and thanks to Notre Dame’s loss at Stanford on Saturday, the Gator Bowl will officially include a Big East team.

The Big East now has six bowl eligible teams (sorry Syracuse and Louisville) and has shaped itself into an extremely underrated, competitive football conference. Given that a few schools were forced to start young, unproven quarterbacks like Tom Savage, B.J. Daniels and Zach Collaros, the conference faired surprisingly well and should only progress over the next few years.

More heralded seasons by youngsters like Dion Lewis only reinforce the notion that the Big East isn’t standing pat, but rising up quicker than ever before.

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BIG EAST WEEKEND PREVIEW: WEEK #13

Annual “Backyard Brawl” between Pitt & WVU takes center stage

By Raphielle Johnson

One of the fiercest rivalries in the game will be played on Friday night (7PM on ESPN2) in Morgantown and it would be a conservative statement to say that these two schools don’t like each other. The Panthers (9-1, 5-0) return to Morgantown for the first time since their upset of the Mountaineers in 2007, a result that knocked West Virginia (7-3, 3-2) out of a possible national title berth and could be seen as a program-changing result for both.

West Virginia did go on to win the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl with a dominant performance over Oklahoma, but that result changed the atmosphere surrounding Dave Wannstedt’s program. The Panthers won nine games last season and have followed that up with one of their best seasons as a Big East football member. Bill Stull, inconsistent throughout his career in the Steel City, has played the best football of his career due to improved decision-making and the presence of offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr.

The Pittsburgh native calling the plays has done a masterful job of using the run (backs Dion Lewis and Ray Graham) and the pass (Jonathan Baldwin, Dorin Dickerson and Nate Byham) all season long and if not for a defensive letdown in the second half at NC State the Panthers are undefeated. The match of wits between Cignetti Jr. and West Virginia defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel will likely determine the outcome in Morgantown. As for the West Virginia offense, their explosive playmaking ability has sometimes been short-circuited by their propensity to turn the ball over.

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