sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to American Eagle Day!
The bald eagle is the national symbol and emblem of the United States, as well as the country's national bird. It also is on the obverse side of the Great Seal of the United States. Today we celebrate the bald eagle, on the anniversary of the day in 1782 when the seal bearing its image became official. Besides being celebrated for being on the Great Seal and for being the country's symbol and national bird, the eagle is celebrated today for its recovery after almost becoming extinct, for the values and ideals it has come to represent, and for its importance to American folklore and society.
In 1776, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson were tasked with creating a seal for the newly formed country. Their design was not accepted by Congress, and a few other committees were formed over the next few years where various people worked on designing the seal. Finally, after six years, a design was approved and became official on June 20, 1782.
SU News
Sharpsville's rising-senior Hubbard narrows his list of suitors to 4 (wkbn.com; Pellegrini)
Sharpsville’s lineman Ja’Quay Hubbard narrowed his list of potential schools down to four today on Twitter. The schools he’s considering are Pittsburgh, Syracuse, Mississippi State and Virginia. The rising senior is one of the most coveted offensive lineman in the state of Pennsylvania.
It Really Doesn't Matter Jimmy Garoppolo Sometimes Stinks in Practice
(thebiglead.com; McKenna)
The Golden State’s golden boy, Jimmy Garoppolo hasn’t looked like the unbeatable quarterback he was during the 2017 season. In fact, he had a really bad minicamp.
The San Francisco 49ers quarterback struggled mightily during the team’s two-day mandatory practice period. On Wednesday, the final day of practice, he missed 11 of his final 16 passes. Surprisingly, that proved to be progress from the day earlier. On Tuesday, he couldn’t get the snap count right. He caused the offense to draw four consecutive false-start penalties to begin the practice.
An ugly to start minicamp. An ugly finish.
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Here’s what Garoppolo said about it, via pressdemocrat.com:
“It’s all on the quarterback. I mean, I’m the one doing the cadence. I have to make sure that me and all of the other quarterbacks are saying it the same way and sounding similar to one another.”
There’s good reason to brush these struggles off, largely because that’s what Garoppolo did with the New England Patriots. Garoppolo had some truly rough practice sessions during his stint with the Patriots. His struggles came and went in the offseason leading up to Tom Brady’s Deflategate suspension in 2016. Garoppolo then won in Week 1, his first career start. In Week 2, he lit up the Dolphins before suffering an shoulder injury.
In 2017, Garoppolo threw five interceptions during the first two practices of Patriots training camp. He then struggled during the team’s scrimmage in camp when he completed 14 of 36 passes (38 percent). Despite poor play in practice, he was good in preseason action while completing 44 of 63 for 463 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Here’s what Garoppolo said about his struggles when with the Patriots in 2017:
“It’s not on purpose. I don’t know. I try to go out there and practice well every day with the guys. I mean, you’re trying different things in practice sometimes. You’re working with different guys. But, I don’t know. I don’t think there’s really a rhyme or reason to it. It’s football at the end of the day.”
Ultimately, the football world needs a dose of Allen Iverson. We’re talking about practice — not a game. Because in games, Garoppolo is undefeated. He’s 9-0. In his starts last season, he averaged 308.4 yards per game while throwing for seven touchdowns and five interceptions. He did that after taking over a 1-10 team.
It’s not so different from the turnaround he pulled off in Eastern Illinois, though that one took much longer. He started during his freshman year, but the team went 4-18 in those first two seasons. Then Dino Babers joined as head coach, and took Baylor’s high-octane offense, which turned around Garoppolo’s career.
Much like what’s probably happening in San Francisco, Garoppolo began to be a better practice player as he matured and grew to understand his new offense. Garoppolo’s offensive coordinator at Eastern Illinois, Sterlin Gilbert, told The Big Lead that the quarterback was consistent in his college tenure. He couldn’t recall any major tough patches for Garoppolo.
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Pitt Football gains 11 recruits - The Pitt News (pittnews.com; Li)
Entering June with zero commitments from the 2019 recruiting class, Pitt’s football team found itself stuck with a late start to its recruiting trail. But despite the slow start, the pace suddenly changed as the the count rocketed to 11 commits in just one weekend, with nine of those players verbally committing on Father’s Day — and one commit late Tuesday night.
The incoming recruits started with Florida linebacker Leslie Smith’s commitment June 10.
Smith’s commitment to the program stood alone for about a week, until Travis Koontz kicked off a surge of verbal commitments to the Pitt coaching staff June 16.
Following Koontz on Father’s Day were Brandon Hill, Brandon Mack, Bryce Nelms, Deandre Jules, Davis Beville, Vincent Davis, Calijah Kancey, Brandon George and Khadry Jackson — and Bam Brima joined the 2019 class late last night after it seemed like the week’s flurry was over.
With the addition of these 11 three-star prospects, Pitt now sits at No. 8 in 247Sports’ ACC Football Recruiting Composite Team rankings with a score of 193.19.
Leslie Smith
The 6-foot linebacker from Miami Northwestern High School accepted Pitt’s offer over 17 others from schools such as Colorado State, Dartmouth and Temple. In his junior season, Smith had 90 total tackles, with 52 solo tackles and 10.5 sacks. With the addition of Smith, the team has amassed 12 linebackers for the upcoming season.
Travis Koontz
A native of Youngstown, Ohio, Koontz spent last season playing at Los Angeles Pierce College before transfering to Ventura College. Last season, the 6-foot-5 tight end caught 11 passes for 106 yards, and he won first-team all-conference honors. Koontz will have two seasons of eligibility to play at Pitt.
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Virginia picks up three football commitments (godanriver.com; Blum)
The Virginia football program started the week by landing three commitments for its 2019 recruiting class on Monday and Tuesday.
Mill Creek (Georgia) offensive tackle Jonathan Leech announced via Twitter on Monday night that he was committing to the Cavaliers.
“I have made a big decision today to further my education and football career at the University of Virginia,” Leech wrote.
Leech chose Virginia over offers from Syracuse and Maryland, among others.
There is some familiarity with Leech choosing to play at UVa. Tyler Fannin, a redshirt freshman offensive lineman for the Cavaliers, also played at Mill Creek. Leech was offered by UVa in late May, according to 247sports.
Following Leech’s commitment, Chayce Chalmers, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound safety from Stonewall Jackson High School in Northern Virginia, committed to the Cavaliers on Tuesday, according to multiple reports.
Chalmers, a three-star recruit and the 31st ranked player in Virginia, according to 247Sports, had offers from UConn, Army, Rutgers and Towson. Chalmers tweeted late Monday night that he’d received an offer from Virginia.
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ACC 2018 NCAA Football Season Outlook | Home | The Dual Threat Sports Podcast (dualthreatsports.com)
The ACC finished 2017 with 10 teams having a winning record and becoming bowl eligible. The ACC then went 4-6 in those bowl games. They look to turn that around in 2018.
ACC Atlantic
Clemson 11-1. Coming off a difficult end to their 2017 season, Clemson enters 2018 hungry for their fourth straight ACC title. They do this with added depth all throughout the team, with a top 10 recruiting class. In fact, Clemson was able to bring in the top recruit from 5 different states. 2018 also looks to be a big year for RB Travis Etienne. Even though he has competition around him, with the transfer of C.J. Fuller, he looks to step into an expanded role. Clemson will be right back in the ACC and National Championship hunt again in 2018.
NC State 10-2. NC State is coming off a season that was very good but had the potential to be better, as 3 of their wins came by 7 points or less. The biggest challenge will be replacing Bradley Chubb, and also 8 defensive starters from 2017. They have the depth to do it, the players just have to form the chemistry. A loss on the offensive side is RB Nyheim Hines, who went to the NFL. Besides him, the offensive side stays almost completely in tact. This includes QB Ryan Finley, who decided to return instead of go to the NFL. If all goes right, NC State can give Clemson a run for their money in the ACC Atlantic.
Florida State 8-4. Florida State looks to improve on a season that could have been better if it weren’t for an injury to QB Deondre Francois. He looks to return to health this year and battle with James Blackman for the starting job. The Seminoles welcome new head coach Willie Taggart to the team and he is already settling in. The addition of Taggart will play right into the hands of RB Cam Akers, who will benefit from Taggart’s ground attack. The Seminoles will have to replace some talent on the defensive end, including Derwin James, to get it back where it was in 2017.
Wake Forest 8-4. The Deamon Deacons are poised to continue being a force in the ACC Atlantic in 2018. They lose QB John Wolford but backup Kendall Hinton will be able to slide into the starter role. This will be made easier since Wake Forest returns the entire starting offensive line from 2017, and also have quality talent surrounding him at WR and RB. They do lose WR Tabari Hines and TE Cam Serigne but have the depth to replace them. All of this, together with the work coach Dave Clawson has done to turn the team around, makes it look good for Wake Forest to make 2018 their third winning season in a row.
Boston College 6-6. Boston College looks to have another winning season under coach Steve Addazio. Their hardest challenge though, may just be their schedule. They also have big question marks at the QB position as Anthony Brown returns from an ACL tear, Darius Wade transferred to Delaware, and E.J. Perry is only a sophomore. They did not lose too many other contributors as they return a good amount of starters from 2017. RB A.J. Dillon looks to make 2018 a statement year for himself as well.
Louisville 6-6. There are far more questions than answers floating around Louisville going into 2018. Losing Lamar Jackson, one of the most dynamic quarterbacks in college football, is definitely going to sting for the Cardinals. Add this to losing all but 2 starters on defense and bringing in new defensive coordinator Brian VanGorder and things are looking shaky for the Cardinals. Jawon Pass takes over the reigns at QB and will have very good receivers to throw to. Look for increased productivity from the backs in 2018 with the departure of Lamar Jackson.
Syracuse 5-7 . In his third year, coach Dino Babers looks to see things start paying off for the Orange in their hunt for a bowl game. Offensively, they return 8 starters, including QB Eric Dungey. The Orange lose 5 starters on a defense that was already a bit on their heels. A weaker schedule will benefit the Orange, but the question is, what can they do with it?
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From top to bottom, how college football's conferences stack up (startribune.com; Johnson)
College football is just around the corner -- we’re less than 11 weeks away from the Gophers’ season opener against New Mexico State on Aug. 30. So, with that in mind, I’ll be examining some story lines, players and trends to watch over the next few weeks. Here’s today’s installment:
Rating the conferences
1. Southeastern: Following Clemson’s 35-31 victory over Alabama in the College Football Playoff championship game to cap the 2016 season, the luster was off the SEC just a bit. The SEC was 6-6 that bowl season, while the ACC went 8-3 and had many wondering if it had overtaken the Deep South behemoth. That, however, changed in 2017, when Alabama edged Georgia 26-23 in overtime to win the national title. The SEC became the first conference with three teams in the playoff, and a third, Auburn, essentially lost a national quarterfinal matchup to Georgia in the SEC title game. The Crimson Tide didn’t even win the SEC West yet hung its second CFP championship banner and advanced to the playoff in each of its four years. The SEC finished a ho-hum 4-5 in bowl games, but its high-end quality gives it an edge in the conference race.
2. Big Ten: The conference nearly went undefeated in bowl play last year, with only Michigan’s loss to South Carolina in the Outback Bowl – a game the Wolverines led by 16 points -- dropping the Big Ten to 7-1. Ohio State (over USC in the Cotton Bowl), Penn State (over Washington in the Fiesta Bowl) and Wisconsin (over Miami in the Orange Bowl) all posted impressive victories in New Year’s Six bowls. But what kept the Big Ten from overtaking the SEC was the absence of a team in the College Football Playoff. The stunning 55-24 blowout Ohio State absorbed at Iowa on Nov. 4 ended up denying the Big Ten a playoff team. This fall, an expected four-team race in the Big Ten East among Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and Penn State shows off the league’s depth, while Wisconsin returns the talent to repeat in the West and contend for a playoff berth.
3. Atlantic Coast: The ACC had a strong bowl season in 2017, going 8-3, and Clemson again should be in the hunt for a fourth consecutive playoff berth. Miami started 10-0 last year in Mark Richt’s second year as coach, but the Hurricanes lost their final three games to Pitt, Clemson and Wisconsin. One of the ACC’s powers, Florida State, stumbled to a 7-6 record in 2017, and coach Jimbo Fisher high-tailed it to Texas A&M for a 10-year, $75 million contract. If Willie Taggart can engineer a quick turnaround with the Seminoles and if Virginia Tech can continue its upward climb under Justin Fuente, the ACC will have a strong top four teams and solid league depth.
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Other
Killing of beloved Oneida Lake mute swan family outrages residents (PS; Figura)
A number of Oneida Lake residents are upset and outraged following the killing of a beloved wild mute swan family Monday by two U.S. Department of Agriculture wildlife staff members.
The two adult birds were shot with an undisclosed type of firearm from a boat, in the lower South Bay area of the lake, according to witnesses. Their four babies (cygnets) were captured alive with a net and killed shortly afterward, according to a USDA-APHIS spokesperson.
Tracy Collins, who lives about five houses down from where the incident took place, watched the whole scenario unfold late Monday morning through binoculars.
"It was horrible. I was screaming at them," she said.
At first, the men in the boat circled the female adult and her four babies to agitate them and to get the attention of the adult male, who was nearby in a creek, she said. When the male bird came out to the boat and "started getting up on his wings," it was shot and pulled aboard. Afterward, the female was shot and pulled aboard.
As for the babies, "they were captured in a net," she said. When they were pulled out of the water they were "definitely dead. They were drowned," she said.
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"What are these 'white birds' doing on my lake? Did they escape from the zoo or something? How am I supposed to enjoy the outdoors from my kayak with all this ...nature around?"
