sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
- Joined
- Aug 15, 2011
- Messages
- 25,205
- Like
- 108,624
Welcome to Save the Elephant Day!
They might be wildlife icons, but, sadly, elephants are in crisis. Save The Elephant Day is a chance to show our love and support for these much-loved giants and raise awareness of the threats to their future in both Africa and Asia, ranging from ivory poachers and traffickers to loss of habitat.
The ideal way to mark the day is to donate to a charity helping elephants or organise an event in aid of these beautiful but threatened beasts. You could also watch a wildlife film about elephants or sign a petition to raise awareness.
SU News
D.O. Sportscast: a look at Syracuse's spring football season (DO; podcast; Staff)
Syracuse wrapped up its spring football season this past weekend. Our beat writers talk about what they’ve taken away from the past few weeks of practice and Saturday’s scrimmage. The beat writers talk about players to watch and compare Syracuse’s upcoming season to a movie sequel.
Second Maryland-based Running Back of 2020 Class Commits to SU – Orange Fizz – Free Syracuse Recruiting News (orangefizz.net; Raucci)
Just a day after SU’s spring game and just five hours after the commitment of fellow Maryland native Sean Tucker, three-star running back Marlowe Wax made his collegiate decision known to the college football world on Sunday:
Marlowe Wax Jr!
@MarloweWax
Thank You God.
(No interviews please)@CoachBabersCuse @BrianDohn247 @DemetricDWarren @CoachRenoFerri @RivalsFriedman
...
Local QB products Jarrett Guarantano, Tommy DeVito and Brandon Wimbush set to star (northjersey.com; Rowe)
These three quarterbacks have common bonds that extend beyond their developmental roots in North Jersey parochial football circles.
Jarrett Guarantano is the incumbent starter at Tennessee, Tommy DeVito is the designated starter at Syracuse, and Brandon Wimbush is awaiting his call at Central Florida.
And all three enhanced their status in spring games last Saturday.
After throwing an interception on his first series, Guarantano, the redshirt junior from Lodi, completed 19 of 37 passes for 198 yards and four touchdowns.
Guarantano led the White team to a 28-10 victory. The White roster included the Vols’ first team offense and second team defense. The Orange roster highlighted the first team defense and second team offense.
Guarantano, the former Bergen Catholic star, is working with his fourth offensive coordinator and fourth quarterbacks coach in as many seasons. He’s made 18 career starts and none of his back-ups have started a college game.
Chris Weinke, a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback at Florida State in his playing days, is Guarantano’s new position coach. He’s been working on improving the QB’s foot work and improving his release.
He’s not trying to change Guarantano’s delivery. “This guy is a natural passer,” said Weinke.
DeVito, the redshirt sophomore from Cedar Grove, takes over at Syracuse after four-year starter Eric Dungey moved on.
In a game in which no score was kept, DeVito, who prepped at Don Bosco, shook off an early interception to finish 13-of-16 for 178 yards and two touchdowns.
DeVito is no stranger to Syracuse football. He led the Orange to two victories in their 10-win season 2018, engineering a comeback over North Carolina and filling in for an injured Dungey against Florida State.
...
Orange Watch: Another banner year for Syracuse’s ACC mates in football and basketball - The Juice Online (the juice; Bierman)
Item: As we wrote around this time in 2017, the ACC was looking to cap off the double-double college sports calendar sweep with Clemson and North Carolina football-basketball national championships. Following Clemson’s second football title in three seasons in convincing fashion against Alabama on Jan. 7 and Virginia’s thrilling overtime win over Texas Tech for the NCAA basketball title Monday night, the ACC has completed the sweep for a conference record-tying third time, marking the 13th occasion a league has captured both championships in the same school year. It also means that Syracuse resides in the toughest conference in which to compete for national championships in those two sports.
How far away is Syracuse from winning a second national championship in football and basketball?
Closer in basketball than football, as evidenced by SU’s out-of-nowhere Final Four appearances in 2013 and 2016 as both Big East and ACC members. But football is gaining some ground in the last three seasons in what is otherwise an apples-to-Oranges comparison.
The margin for error is virtually zero defeats over 13 football games (with the added league championship game) before the College Football Playoff semifinals to compete in the CFP title game, which includes the grind of eight league games plus Notre Dame every few seasons. It makes the annual path to the football trophy most onerous.
ACC football has won move national football titles than any other conference since 2013 (three of the last six), and, of course, Clemson is not going anywhere as long as Dabo Swinney is running the program, even as Syracuse is the one team that has given the Tigers fits the last two years, including its only regular season defeat in 2017.
...
Clemson offensive lineman forced to retire from football due to injury (newsobserver.com; Connolly)
for gbo...DeHond is from Rochester, NY
Noah DeHond’s time as a player for the Clemson football team has come to a disappointing end.
DeHond announced Monday night that he is retiring from football due to a neck injury. He had a redshirt season in 2017, before sitting out all of 2018 with an injury.
The injury did not heal as he hoped, and DeHond said that it is no longer safe for him to continue playing football.
“I had neck surgery this past fall to decompress a nerve in my neck. It was a simple but necessary surgery,” DeHond said in a statement on Twitter. “The relief we were hoping would come out of the surgery hasn’t happened... It’s no longer safe for me to play football.”
ACC Football Rx: Links, news and rumors - 4/16/19 (RX; HM)
UF/FSU/Miami coaching changes & struggles have opened up FL recruiting.
A new "Big 3" Bama/Clemson/UGA is outperforming them in FL 2017-2019:
UF/FSU/Miami
• 26% of Top 10 FL prospects signed
• 35% of Top 20
Bama/Clem/UGA
• 43% of Top 10 FL prospects signed
• 32% of Top 20
...
ACC Football Rx: Another Blue Bloods List - 4/16/19 (RX; HM)
CFB Blue Bloods
Kyle Umlang
@kyleumlang
I've seen a lot of debate on the topic of #CFB "Blue Bloods". The most interesting was @PickSixPreviews' poll where 115K votes determined the 8 #BlueBlood programs. When compared to the data...they got it RIGHT!
...
ACC Football Rx: Should FSU give Willie Taggart 3 years? (RX; HM)
Many Seminole fans are restless - and I can understand why. For one thing, 2018 was the first time in the lives of current FSU players that the Noles weren't bowl-eligible.
However, the situation at Florida State was not an easy one to fix, and the man they hired - Willie Taggart - is known for actual rebuilds, not patch-up jobs. Rebuilds take time. Look at his record at previous coaching stops:
Head FB Coach Willie Taggart
Western Kentucky
Previous year, coach: 0-8 David Elson
year# Year W-L notable wins
1 2010 2-10
2 2011 7-5
3 2012 7-5 at Kentucky 32-31 OT
South Florida
Previous year, coach: 3-9 Skip Holtz
year# Year W-L notable wins
1 2013 2-10
2 2014 4-8
3 2015 8-5 #21 Temple, 44-23
4 2016 10-2 #22 Navy, 52-45
S. Carolina 46-39 OT
Oregon
Previous year, coach: 4-8 Mark Helfrich
year# Year W-L notable wins
1 2017 7-5
Florida State
Previous year, coach: 7-6 Jimbo Fisher
year# Year W-L notable wins
1 2018 5-7 #22 Boston College
At each stop, Taggart has started out with a fixer-upper (maybe not as bad in the case of Oregon) and his record has gotten progressively better with each season. He has also managed to get some ranked wins along the way, but especially by the third years at WKU and USF (although it's worth noting that he already has one ranked win at FSU).
So what should we expect in year two under Taggart? I don't expect a 5-game improvement like he saw at Western Kentucky, but a 2-game improvement (like year #2 at USF) is very do-able. In my "way too early preview" of the FSU schedule I picked the Noles to finish 6-6 in 2019, but I could certainly see them winning 7 games, possibly even 8 or 9 if they can gut out some tough wins.
If Coach Taggart does indeed go 6-6 in 2019, his seat will be on fire; 7-5 probably buys him that 3rd year, pending further progress. On the other hand, if the Seminoles go 8-4 or 9-3 - or better - then all will probably be forgiven for the 2018 debacle.
...
Other
A garbage plate for Mets’ Tim Tebow? He’ll take a pass (PS; Kramer)
The Syracuse Mets had a little extra free time in Rochester on Monday night as their scheduled game against the Red Wings was postponed by frosty weather.
However outfielder Tim Tebow decided to pass those extra hours, it’s a safe assumption he didn’t indulge in some of the city’s trademark cuisine.
Tebow is a famously healthy eater who follows a low-carb ketogenic diet. He said he hasn’t even indulged in something as seemingly innocuous as a soft drink since he was 15, which was 16 years ago.
So when asked what it would take him to at least sample a taste of Rochester’s classic garbage plate, he titled his head and looked as baffled as if a pitcher had tossed him a knuckleball on a 3-2 count with the bases loaded.
Tebow said he had no idea what that delicacy entailed. While options vary greatly, the traditional garbage plate is a mish-mash of cheeseburger, hamburger, Italian sausages, steak, chicken, white or red hots, served on top of any combination of home fries, french fries, baked beans, and/or macaroni salad.
...
