sutomcat
2024 Iggy Award (ACC Tournament Record)
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Welcome to National Lost Penny Day!
The first US penny was minted in 1787 and was made of pure copper and was designed by Benjamin Franklin. On February 12th, 1909, marking the 100th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, the first Lincoln penny was issued. It was the first regular issue US coin to honor an actual person. On Lost Penny Day, gather all those pennies you have been collecting and cash them in.
SU News
Syracuse Extends a Flurry of Offers to Class of 2017 Players (TNIAAM; Pregler)
Dino Babers has said the next recruiting class, Class of 2017, will blend with 2016 to create his first real class that will impact Syracuse Orange football. Babers and staff have extended offers to more players for 2017 and one for 2018.
Here are the names and highlights in the order that they're listed:
Ayinde Eley, a three/four star LB out of Maryland, tweets he has been offered.
Delone Scaife, an OT out of Miami with another offer from Southern Mississippi, has been offered.
Mike Epstein, a 3 star RB from FL class of 2017, has been offered.
Finally: Mike McAllister of Scout is reporting that four-star QB Kassam Hill is transferring high schools from Maryland to Washington DC. He's also had Syracuse on his radar and will now visit campus later this month. Why is the transfer significant for Syracuse? One of Hill's new coaches is former Syracuse standout running back Antwon Bailey (Lavar Lobdell and Bruce Williams are also on staff).
Jack Coan
How is Orange Recruiting Differing So Far for 2017? (TNIAAM; Cassillo)
Syracuse Orange football's 2016 class was just finalized last week. So it's time to shift focus to 2017 and what should be an important class for Dino Babers's tenure as head coach.
Obviously with just two months to work with when securing the 2016 class, Babers and his staff had to work quickly and efficiently to secure a full bring a full group in the door. They succeeded, but the regions and athletes they targeted may not have been indicative of the final strategy at SU. And they definitely represent a big departure from what Scott Shafer & co. were recruiting for.
Without digging into each and every individual player for 2017 (over 100 offers have gone out already, after all), we examine some key trends developing based on who the team's pursuing.
Quarterbacks will be pass-first (and maybe second too)
Obviously current incumbent starter Eric Dungey is a dual-threat, but he may be the last of those Syracuse pursues heavily under Babers. Of the eight QBs with offers right now (according to 247 Sports), six are pro-style passers standing at 6-foot-2 or taller. Running quarterbacks can still have a place in this new Syracuse offense, of course. And they very well may, especially if SU finds early success with Dungey running. But this offense is evolving to rely heavily on a passing QB. Based on current offers (including one out here in California), no distance is too far to find the right one, either.
Running backs are bigger again
While Shafer's recruiting seemed to move toward smaller, speedier options at running back, Babers has already signaled a shift in philosophy that could potentially even signal the return of Doug Marrone's tank package. Jo-El Shaw's a big, bruising back already for 2016, and he could be joined by a similar runner in 2017 -- probably from Florida too, based on the early targets. That doesn't mean backs like Jordan Fredericks and Moe Neal are gone, either. But the team's lack of size in the backfield has been part of its recent red zone struggles and this staff is addressing that need.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...pset-people-think-he-puked-in-the-super-bowl/
Donovan McNabb is Upset People Think He Puked in the Super Bowl nbcsports.com; Smith)
Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb did not throw up in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XXXIX. No one at the game saw him throw up. No one watching the game at home saw him throw up. It didn’t happen.
But there’s a persistent myth that McNabb puked in the Super Bowl, and when he was asked about it on Reddit, he took umbrage.
“No, I didn’t puke. It’s unfortunate that we still talk about this 11 years after playing in the Super Bowl. But, no. That did not happen and hopefully we can stop talking about it. Once again, go watch the game tape,” McNabb wrote.
So where did the myth come from? It seems to be a combination of the fact that McNabb did throw up on the field in a regular season game once, and the fact that teammates discussed how exhausted McNabb was while trying to lead the Eagles down the field late in that Super Bowl loss to the Patriots. Over time, those two separate incidents have morphed into one.
It’s fair to criticize McNabb for the end of that Super Bowl, as his old teammate Terrell Owens did: Owens has pointed out that McNabb looked tired late in the game and struggled to move in the two-minute offense, and Owens is right about that. But we should put to rest the old myth about McNabb. He didn’t puke.
Ball State's New Defense is Going to 'Go After People' (news-sentinel.com; Davis)
Technically, the Ball State football defensive unit could get worse, despite the opinions that run rampant throughout the Cardinal fan base.
Last season, that unit ranked 12th in the Mid-American Conference in total defense, but there are 13 MAC programs, so there is that. So how concerned is new Cardinal defensive coordinator about last season’s performance?
Not much.
“This is what I’ll tell you about the current Ball State players and my take on how we’re going to move forward,” Daoust explained, “we’re going to do just that. We’re going to move forward.”
Since being hired by new Cardinal coach Mike Neu, Daoust hasn’t had much time to study last season’s games, as he and the rest of the Cardinal coaches put together a 23-man recruiting class. He sat down and watched “about two quarters” with Ball State defensive backs coach Daryl Dixon and got familiar with who was coming back, but that was the extent of his evaluations.
“Stats, win-loss records, where we were,” Daoust said, “be it good or bad, has no bearing on who we’re going to be in the future. Those stats and those records, those are a representation of the past.”
The “past” may not be relevant to Daoust in some regards, but it should be a positive in the minds of the Cardinal fans. Because Daoust has a “past” that lends one to believe that he can have success in Muncie...
Other
New White Sox Announcer Living the Dream (chicagonow.com; Moran)
Born 10 weeks premature, with a mild case of cerebral palsy, new White Sox broadcaster and Homewood native Jason Benetti never let it stop him from achieving his dreams.
The lifelong White Sox fan will do play-by-play in the broadcast booth, alongside Steve Stone, whom Benetti called “an oracle of knowledge,” for 78 of the 81 White Sox home games, replacing Ken "Hawk" Harrelson, who opted for a lighter schedule this year.
How did he get here?“I had fantastic parents, who always encouraged me to do whatever I wanted to do,” said Benetti, now 32. “And my grandmother.”What the only child of Rob and Sue Benetti, of Homewood, “wanted to do” was sports broadcasting, and play-by-play specifically.His training ground was Homewood-Flossmoor high school’s broadcast program. WHFH, at 1,500 watts, is the most powerful high school station in the country.Under the tutelage of Bob Comstock, the English teacher who ran the broadcasting program, Benetti was one of a long line of H- broadcast graduates who successfully transitioned to a successful sports career, including MLB.com’s Scott Merkin, his brother, ESPN Radio’s Randy Merkin, CSN Chicago’s Chuck Garfien, and ABC-TV weekend anchor/reporter Ben Bradley.“Bob gave me the best advice … to major in something other than broadcasting. “Benetti recalled. “He encouraged us to have broad interests, outside of journalism or broadcasting. So I majored in psychology. Then, I went to law school.”Benetti continued his education at another top broadcasting school, Syracuse University, which has graduated the likes of Bob Costas, and locally, WBBM-AM’s Dave Koerner.
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