sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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- Aug 15, 2011
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Welcome to Forgiveness Day!
Has someone wronged you over the past year? Did they do something so bad that it almost seemed unforgivable? Have you done something that you think you can't be forgiven for? Today is for forgiving others who have wronged you, and for being forgiven. The day is about true forgiveness—it's about an inward opening of the heart, not just an outward display. If everyone would pause and celebrate Forgiveness Day, the world would be a better place.
SU News
Jakhari Williams, 4-star QB and former GT pledge, announces ACC commitment - Saturday Road (saturdayroad.com; Stone)
Jakhari Williams is (still) heading to the ACC!
The lass of 2024 dual threat QB out of Macon, Georgia announced Sunday that he has committed to Syracuse to continue his football career. He picked the Orange over offers from Virginia Tech, Boston College, Coastal Carolina, Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh and NC State, among others. He was committed to Georgia Tech until last month.
Williams represents Syracuse’s highest-rated commit of the cycle, as well as the orange’s first blue chip prospect pledge. He joins Brendan Zurbrugg as QBs committed to Syracuse in the 2024 cycle.
Williams is considered to be the No. 330 overall prospect in the 2024 cycle, as well as the No. 16 QB and No. 41 player from the state of Georgia.
Below is his highlight tape, via Hudl:
Syracuse lands one of top QBs left in 2024 college football recruiting class (saturdayblitz.com; Peterson)
The 2024 college football recruiting class is short on uncommitted blue-chip quarterbacks and Syracuse football just landed one ranked in the top 20.
Syracuse football isn’t exactly known as a program that gets a lot of college football recruiting wins, but the Orange certainly got one on Sunday.
That’s because Syracuse football landed the commitment of one of the top-ranked quarterbacks left uncommitted in the 2024 class as Jakhari Williams announced his commitment to the Orange.
Williams is the top-ranked recruit for the Orange in the 2024 college football recruiting class. Syracuse is 39th overall in the 2024 team rankings via 247 Sports and Williams was the first blue-chip commitment of the class.
What the commitment means for Syracuse football
The 16th-ranked passer in the 2024 college football recruiting class also had offers from Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, NC State, and others. But the main competition was from other ACC schools and at one time, Tech felt like it was the leader.
But the Orange were able to turn things around and landed Williams despite Florida State showing some interest. Williams was at the Florida State camp recently. But now, he’s pledged to Syracuse football, which is a big win on the recruiting trail.
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Syracuse football adds first 4-star, second quarterback to 2024 class (PS; Leiker)
Syracuse football has earned its first commitment from a class of 2024 four-star.
Jakhari Williams, a dual-threat quarterback from Warner Robbins, Georgia, announced his commitment Sunday afternoon. He’s the 13th member of SU’s 2024 class.
Williams (6-foot-1.5, 188 pounds) plays at First Presbyterian Day School. Per the 247 Sports Composite, he’s the No. 16 quarterback and No. 330 player overall in the country. He’s the No. 41 player in Georgia.
In his Top 5 released June 10, Williams included Syracuse, Boston College, Florida Atlantic University, Western Kentucky and James Madison. He was also offered by N.C. State, Pittsburgh, Virginia and a handful of others.
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Syracuse Football: ‘Cuse scores huge commitment from 4-star, top-15 QB (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse football on Sunday picked up a verbal commitment from one of the top quarterbacks around the country in the 2024 class.
Four-star Jakhari Williams, a talented dual-threat quarterback in the rising-senior cycle, said via Twitter that he has pledged to the Orange. The 6-foot-3, 190-pound Williams attends First Presbyterian Day School, a prep school located in Macon, Ga.
Last November, Williams verbally committed to fellow Atlantic Coast Conference squad Georgia Tech. This past May, he de-committed from the Yellow Jackets and reopened his recruitment.
Earlier this month, media reports and social media posts said that Williams had a top five of Boston College, the ‘Cuse, Florida Atlantic, Western Kentucky and James Madison.
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Syracuse football: LB Jayden Brown commits to the Orange (TNIAAM; Wall)
You used to know it was summer in Central New York when they were rockin’ in Weedsport, but these days it’s when Syracuse Orange commitments roll in.
Dino Babers and staff landed their 12th verbal commitment for the 2024 class when New Jersey linebacker Jayden Brown committed.
Thank you To All The Coaches That Recruited Me And Took A Chance On Me I Really Appreciate It… But I Will Be Furthering My Athletic And Academic Career At Syracuse University #GoOrange @DBP_Football @CoAcHKeLZZz3 @CoachBabersCuse @CoachLongUNM @CoachNunz @DeonMaddoxSU1 pic.twitter.com/M2SCXgjFDn
— 3️ Jayden Brown
(@jay_brownnn) June 23, 2023
The Don Bosco prep (alma mater of former Cuse QB Tommy DeVito) product chose the Orange over Boston College, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Duke. He’s a 6’3” 215 lb three-star linebacker who is ranked as top 30 player in New Jersey.
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https://www.si.com/college/syracuse/recruiting/willy-love-recaps-syracuse-7v7-camp (SI; McAllister)
Syracuse football held its seven on seven camp on Saturday. One of the top individual players who participated was four star Camden (NJ) Eastside defensive back Willy Love. Love was strong all day, catching touchdown passes and locking down opposing receivers.
After the camp was over, Love spoke with new safeties coach Darrell Perkins.
"He talked about how he recruits his DBs and why Syracuse has really been quiet ever since the coaching changes," Love said. "It's because he doesn't recruit DBs to play in the secondary unless they have met before or have a bond."
The 6-2, 200 pound defensive back says he hopes this is the start of a strong relationship between the two.
"I'm glad I got to meet coach Perkins and get a vibe from him," Love said. "He was impressed by my ability to play corner, outside linebacker and cover the way I do and change directions. My interest in Cuse is always high but during the process I se it as it's who is interested in you as well. I hope Syracuse and coach Perkins become major contenders in this process.
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Willie Goodacre Junior Highlights - video Dailymotion (dailymotion.com)
Willie Goodacre junior season highlights
Messiah Hampton Freshman Highlights - video Dailymotion (dailymotion.com)
Rochester frosh WR Messiah Hampton highlights
Syracuse football misses out on 4-star wide receiver, top-450 prospect (itlh; Adler)
Four-star Jason Robinson Jr. from California, who officially visited the Hill earlier this month and has spoken highly of the Syracuse football program, is staying on the west coast for college.
The 5-foot-11, 160-pound Robinson, who is a top-60 wide receiver and a top-450 national prospect in the 2024 recruiting cycle, said on Twitter that he has verbally committed to Washington out of the Pac-12 Conference.
Robinson, a standout at Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, Calif., made an official visit to the Huskies from June 22 to June 24, he said on social media. It’s certainly understandable that he has chosen Washington, given that he hails from California.
The Huskies, a season ago, went 11-2 overall, beat Texas in a bowl game and finished the 2022 campaign ranked No. 8 nationwide in both the Associated Press and the Coaches top-25 polls.
Syracuse football was in the hunt for 2024 four-star wide receiver Jason Robinson Jr.
In recent weeks, the Orange has picked up numerous verbal commitments out of the rising-senior cycle, including from 2024 four-star wide receiver/tight end Jamie Tremble out of the Wesleyan School in Peachtree Corners, Ga.
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Top Christian Brothers Academy football player announces new plans, not going to SU (cnycentral.com; Wight)
Syair Torrence, a top prospect out of Christian Brothers Academy, has announced that he will be taking his talents outside of Central New York for college after initially committing to Syracuse University.
On Sunday, the wide receiver and defensive back made the change of plans public, tweeting that he is heading to Michigan State. He pulled out of SU in early May to explore other options, and has settled on joining the Spartans.
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ACC News
Predicting Cade Klubnik's stats for 2023 (theclemsoninsider.com; Burnett)
The catalyst for Clemson’s success in 2023 will be quarterback play. Cade Klubnik comes in after earning the starter role at the end of the 2022 season. While his talent is undoubted, it has to translate into numbers on the field.
Our sample size is small, but it also came against the best team in the ACC Coastal. During the ACC Championship game, Klubnik completed 20-of-24 passes for 279 yards and a touchdown, managing the game with ease. A game later, he had two interceptions against Tennessee in the Orange Bowl, but Clemson was outmatched as a whole. With a rushing touchdown in each game, we also have to discuss what he does on the ground.
The offense will evolve with Garrett Riley at the helm, but it may be misleading to think it’ll be a more challenging offense to operate for Klubnik. The staff is aware that they have a young quarterback and he won’t be asked to do more than necessary. Rely on running back Will Shipley and strike when necessary.
With games against all of the toughest teams in the ACC, it’s reasonable to expect growing pains during the season, but the numbers could fall somewhere around here.
- 63% completion
- 3,200 passing yards
- 30 total touchdowns (expect Shipley to score a ton)
- 12 interceptions
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2022 ACC Point Differentials (RX; HM)
2022 ACC Point Differentials
I've read before (I think it might have been Phil Steele) that when a team has a winning record but a negative point differential, they tend to decline the following year, whereas a positive differential and a losing record tends to bode well for the next season. With that in mind, let's see what the 2022 records and net points per game (PPG) tells us about the 2023 season...
| Scoring | Net | ACC | ||
| Difference | PPG | W | L | Win% |
| Clemson | 12.3 | 8 | 0 | 100% |
| N Carolina | -13.8 | 6 | 2 | 75% |
| Florida St | 13.8 | 5 | 3 | 63% |
| Duke | 10.7 | 5 | 3 | 63% |
| Pitt | 2.6 | 5 | 3 | 63% |
| NC State | 16.9 | 4 | 4 | 50% |
| Louisville | 16.9 | 4 | 4 | 50% |
| Syracuse | 8.2 | 4 | 4 | 50% |
| Ga Tech | -10.6 | 4 | 4 | 50% |
| Miami | -3.2 | 3 | 5 | 38% |
| Wake | -9.0 | 3 | 5 | 38% |
| BC | -13.1 | 2 | 6 | 25% |
| Virginia | 3.7 | 1 | 6 | 14% |
| Va Tech | -0.4 | 1 | 6 | 14% |
OBSERVATIONS:
The first thing we notice is UNC, which went 6-2 in conference but was out-scored by nearly two touchdowns per game. The 2022 Tar Heels look like they were perpetrating a fraud and will be exposed this season, especially now that the divisionless schedule effectively swaps out Virginia Tech for Clemson.On the other end of the spectrum, the Virginia Cavaliers went 1-6 despite out-scoring their opponents by 3.7 points per game. They should have won more games in 2022, and history says they likely will win more than one ACC game in 2023.
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Links, News and Rumors 2023 June 23rd (RX; HM)
Links, News and Rumors 2023 June 23rd
Prognostication
From CBS Sports: 10 college football teams poised to bounce back, return to bowl game in 2023 seasonHere are the two ACC teams mentioned...
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Why Doesn't 2018 Clemson Get More Respect? (RX; HM)
Why Doesn't 2018 Clemson Get More Respect?
The 2018 Clemson Tigers were one of the most dominant national champions in the history of college football. They were the first team in the modern era to go 15-0. They won those games by an average of 31 points per game. The beat 13 power five teams on the way to the title. Yet I still see top 10 all-time lists that leave them out. Why? Is there any real reason to doubt that team?
| 2018 | Clemson Football Schedule | PF | PA | MoV |
| Sep. 1 | Furman Paladins | 48 | 7 | 41 |
| Sep. 8 | at Texas A&M Aggies | 28 | 26 | 2 |
| Sep. 15 | Georgia Southern Eagles | 38 | 7 | 31 |
| Sep. 22 | at Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets | 49 | 21 | 28 |
| Sep. 29 | Syracuse Orange | 27 | 23 | 4 |
| September Summary: | 190 | 84 | 21.2 | |
| Oct. 6 | at Wake Forest Demon Deacons | 63 | 3 | 60 |
| Oct. 20 | #16 NC State Wolfpack | 41 | 7 | 34 |
| Oct. 27 | at Florida State Seminoles | 59 | 10 | 49 |
| Nov. 3 | Louisville Cardinals | 77 | 16 | 61 |
| Nov. 10 | at #17 Boston College Eagles | 27 | 7 | 20 |
| Nov. 17 | Duke Blue Devils | 35 | 6 | 29 |
| Nov. 24 | South Carolina Gamecocks | 56 | 35 | 21 |
| Dec. 1 | vs Pitt Panthers | 42 | 10 | 32 |
| Dec. 29 | vs #3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish | 30 | 3 | 27 |
| Jan. 7 | vs #1 Alabama Crimson Tide | 44 | 16 | 28 |
| Games after September: | 474 | 113 | 36.1 | |
| Whole Season Summary: | 664 | 197 | 31.1 |
Most vacated wins all-time (2023) (RX; HM)
Most vacated wins all-time (2023)
Which team has had to disavow the most football wins because of cheating? Are there any ACC teams near the top of that list? Here's a tweet I found...
Not all that surprising that the top 3 are all SEC teams, although I didn't expect to see Notre Dame tied with Alabama for third-most vacated!
North Carolina is not far behind in 5th place (What, Tar Heels cheating?). After USC in 6th is Florida State, tied with Ohio State for 7th; I guess it's true what they say: if you ain't cheatin', you ain't tryin!
Another ACC school, Syracuse, has sole possession of 9th place, and Georgia Tech sneaks in at 13th with one vacated win...
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https://www.si.com/college/fsu/foot...10-defensive-rankings-lsu-verse-opener-fuller (SI; Mire)
There is a lot of hype surrounding the Florida State Seminoles heading into the 2023 season. The 'Noles are expected to field a high-powered offense, led by starting quarterback Jordan Travis, complemented by a talented group of running backs and an accomplished wide receiver corps consisting of both seasoned returners and top transfers from the previous season.
On the other side of the ball, the defense is expected to be dominant, and ESPN, who recently released their top 10 defenses heading into next season, has the Seminoles taking the No. 7 spot.
The defense will be fielding playmakers up and down the board. Upfront, players like All-American team sack leader Jared Verse, All-ACC selection Fabien Lovett Sr., 2022 ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year Patrick Payton and Joshua Farmer combined for 22 of the team's 44 sacks last season per Pro Football Focus. They are joined by transfers Braden Fiske and Gilber Edmond, who were ranked No. 2 overall at their position in the NCAA Transfer Portal, with Darrell Jackson Jr. coming in at No. 7.
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Jennings ranked in top 10 for returning wide receivers by Pro Football Focus - Virginia Tech Athletics (hokiesports.com)
Virginia Tech's Ali Jennings has been ranked as one of the highest-graded returning Power Five wide receivers by Pro Football Focus (PFF).
Jennings transferred to Tech after two standout seasons with Old Dominion and enters 2023 with the 10th-best grade (81.8) handed out by PFF. He is the second Tech student-athlete to be ranked in PFF's top 10 for Power Five returnees, with sophomore Mansoor Delane being the eighth-highest-graded cornerback.
Following two years at West Virginia (2019-20), Jennings' production catapulted at ODU amassing 116 receptions, 2,025 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns.
Last season, he was named to the All-Sun Belt First Team after leading the conference with nine touchdowns. Jennings was a consistent producer in 2022 averaging 106.6 yards per game, the third highest in the country, and having a stretch of seven-straight games with a touchdown.
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Virginia Tech football: A big recruiting weekend is in the books and could bring more good news for the Hokies (gobblercountry.com; Manning)
If you follow Virginia Tech football close enough, you knew June would be a big month. Three out of four weekends, the Hokies hosted official visitors for the 2024 recruiting class, and two weeks ago, those visits ended with four commitments, including a pair of out-of-state pledges.
Overall, the Hokies entered the final weekend of June with five commitments this month and saved their biggest weekend for the last weekend of the month.
Tech hosted several players on their official visits, including multiple committed players like quarterback Davi Belfort. It was a strategic move by head coach Brent Pry and his staff. Use the official visits of some of his top recruits to be on campus when some of your top targets visit and have them help recruit.
Did it work?
Well, as of now, the Hokies didn’t end the weekend with a public commitment. That doesn’t mean Virginia Tech had no commitments this weekend [wink.]
The Hokies hosted several top targets, such as wide receivers Keylen Adams and Mekhai White, defensive linemen Eric Mensah, Gerard Johnson and Makai Byerson. There were others, too.
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There's Only One Way To Preserve The Michigan Ohio State Football Rivalry As We Know It
Michigan and Ohio State fans won't like it, but it's necessary to salvage the meaning and tradition of "The Game."
The Big Ten, as is the case for much of high-level college sports, is undergoing an era of massive change.
This coming season will be the last for the league's 14-team format. The conference has annexed Los Angeles, making Hollywood part of Big Ten Country, with UCLA and USC set to join in 2024. That's also when the league will abolish its divisional format for football and instead begin sending the teams with the two best records to the Big Ten championship game every season.
And that change could prove to be the most impactful one, even amid this time of previously unthinkable conference realignment, unprecedented player movement, and virtually unregulated player compensation. Why's that? Because it could effectively ruin the rivalry that has been the Big Ten's most valuable commodity for 50 years, one of the sport's greatest traditions, and one of the best rivalries in all of sports.
The Michigan-Ohio State football game has served as the traditional regular-season finale all but four years since 1935. The Big Ten championship has been decided between the two teams in "The Game" 25 times, and the result of the Wolverines' and Buckeyes' annual rivalry game has had a hand in determining the Big Ten title on 37 occasions.
The last two seasons, Michigan-Ohio State has been the de facto Big Ten title game and a veritable College Football Playoff play-in game.
All of those details paint a pretty clear picture. This rivalry, which already defines two of the biggest brands and most historic programs, is one of the most singularly important games in all of sports.
But that significance — sanctity, some would say — is going to be irreparably tarnished by the Big Ten's new format.
If the league had operated without divisions over the last two seasons, the Michigan-Ohio State game at the end of the regular season would have been rendered completely meaningless. In both cases, the two teams would have rematched the following weekend in Indianapolis to determine the Big Ten championship.
Imagine the deflated, ambivalent feel The Game would have taken on in those scenarios. Or don't, because you won't have to imagine it for long. It's likely to be reality very soon.
An unintended consequence of a division-less Big Ten is a Michigan-Ohio State regular-season finale played at the Horseshoe or the Big House between two teams that have already clinched Big Ten title game appearances and, because of that, rest their best players, essentially forfeiting the game, in anticipation of the real showdown a week later in Indianapolis. The thought of the Wolverines or Buckeyes giving anything less than absolutely everything they have to etch their place in the long history of this rivalry was unthinkable forever, but now it's an eventuality.
But there is a way to avoid this absolute travesty, a solution that would prevent this blasphemy against college football from ever occurring. The problem is, though, that the pompous megalomaniacs in Ann Arbor and Columbus would never accept the change necessary to preserve the integrity of their precious rivalry.
The Michigan-Ohio State game has to be moved up by at least a month.
If you're someone who has normalized the outright worship of a khaki-wearing man with an undiagnosed personality disorder, or you're someone who thinks it's not only reasonable but in fact fashionable to wear nuts around your neck, your brain probably won't allow you to read the prior sentence. But if you really think about it, it's the only way to save The Game.
Many of college football's great rivalry games are played before the end of the regular season. Florida-Georgia, Notre Dame-USC, Texas-Oklahoma — they're all played plum in the middle of the college football calendar. Michigan-Ohio State could do the
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Other
Bill Powell, seen here last May at ESF's Lafayette Road Experiment Station, surrounded by hundreds of Darling-58 seedlings he hopes will soon be planted in the wild once federal regulators approve it for public distribution. Steve Featherstone | sfeatherstone@syracuse.com
A CNY scientist’s work could change the world. But he might not live long enough to see it happen (PS; Featherstone)
We’ve all had eureka moments, those flashes of insight that, for most of us anyway, add up to little more than remembering where we left our car keys.
But William Powell isn’t like most people. His eureka moment might change the world.
Up until last year, Powell was a biology professor at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, where he and his colleague, Charles Maynard, founded the American Chestnut Research and Restoration Project in 1989.
Their goal: bring the iconic American chestnut tree back from the brink of extinction.
In 1997, Powell realized he could splice an enzyme producing gene from another plant into chestnut DNA to protect it from a deadly fungal blight that had wiped out some four billion American chestnut trees decades earlier.
“That was my eureka moment,” Powell explained in a recent interview at ESF’s Lafayette Road Experiment Station. “Let’s get this enzyme, put it in chestnut.”
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NY’s fix for Onondaga Lake Parkway truck-bridge crashes will change daily trips for thousands (PS; Moriarty)
A reduction in lanes and other changes to traffic patterns on Onondaga Lake Parkway are sure to slow the daily commutes of thousands of drivers and likely worsen rush-hour backups in the village of Liverpool.
The changes announced Friday are part of New York state’s plans to end what has become a routine nuisance: About once a month, a truck driver ignores dozens of warnings and crashes into the low 152-year-old railroad bridge over the parkway.
That handful of drivers, who officials say are likely following a smart phone map rather than watching the dozens of warnings on the road, are reshaping how tens of thousands of Central New Yorkers get to work, school and Onondaga County’s most popular park.
Some of the changes will be implemented immediately, while others will take effect over the next four months. All of them are designed to get truck drivers to obey a ban on commercial vehicles on the parkway and slow down those who continue to flout the ban.
For the first time, the state is doing more than adding signs and sensors, though those are part of the plan.
The number of lanes on the parkway will be reduced from two to one in each direction. A ramp connecting Interstate 81 to the parkway will remain closed for the foreseeable future.
The Department of Transportation is putting traffic lights on the parkway on both sides of the bridge. They will turn red when sensors detect over-height vehicles approaching.
“The trucks would essentially have to run a red light to strike the bridge,” New York Department of Transportation Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez said in Syracuse on Friday.
The changes will make the parkway safer, Dominguez said. The reduction in lanes will “calm traffic” and give trucks that illegally enter the parkway more time to heed warnings about the low bridge, she said.
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