sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to Juneteenth!
Although Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, it was not until after the war was over that slaves became free in Texas, possibly because the Proclamation could not be enforced there, or because news of the Proclamation had not been spread there. The war ended in April of 1865, but word did not reach Texas until the following month, and it was not until June that the Confederate Army in the area surrendered. On June 19th, Union General Gordon Granger read “General Order No. 3” in Galveston, which said all slaves were free. The next year freed slaves began celebrating not only the proclamation, but the freeing of all slaves in general, and gave the day the name Juneteenth. Over time the celebrations spread to other parts of the country. During the Great Migrations after World War I and World War II, when large amounts of African Americans moved north, they brought Juneteenth traditions with them. Although this helped spread the holiday, in some cases it made it harder for people to celebrate, as it was harder to take time off from work during the week at urban factory jobs than farm jobs. Juneteenth celebrations also were given a boost after the 1968 Poor People’s March, when returning attendees brought the tradition back to their communities. By the 1980’s and 1990’s, Juneteenth celebrations were prevalent all around the country, and almost all states now recognize the day in some way. Although, as of 2017, it has not been recognized as a federal holiday.
SU News
Syracuse Football: 3-star QB Justin Lamson has Orange among top teams (itlh; Adler)
Syracuse football has an excellent shot at landing Justin Lamson, a 2021 dual-threat quarterback.
Justin Lamson, a three-star quarterback in the 2021 recruiting cycle who received a scholarship offer from Syracuse football on Wednesday night, says that the Orange is “definitely” among his top contenders, according to a report.
The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Lamson, a rising senior at Oak Ridge High School in El Dorado Hills, Calif., is slotted as three stars by 247Sports. That recruiting service also places him as the No. 18 dual-threat quarterback in the 2021 class, as well as the No. 51 prospect in California, a state that is known for producing high-quality football players.
Lamson announced his offer from the ‘Cuse via Twitter. Per his bio on the 247Sports Web site, Lamson holds additional offers from fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member Louisville, Idaho, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Dartmouth, Valparaiso, New Mexico State, San Jose State, Montana State, Southern Utah, Northern Arizona and Sacramento State.
CuseNation.com’s Mike McAllister writes in an article that Syracuse is one of Lamson’s “top suitors,” and that he could make a decision on his collegiate destination “in the next one to three weeks.”
Lamson said of the offer from the Orange, “My family and I were super excited because it was an offer we were waiting for. Just the academics and the level they play at is huge. I also really like the staff.”
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Syracuse football’s offensive line still has questions - The Juice Online (the juice; Stechschulte)
In his first four years at Syracuse, Dino Babers has shown some things fans can simply expect from his offense.
The quarterbacks will zip the ball around a lot, as last season’s 34 attempts per game is the lowest mark of the last four seasons. As a function of that passing frequency, a wide receiver will put up an explosive stat line by the end of the season, as Jamal Custis’ 906 yards and six touchdowns in 2018 are the lowest marks in those statistics for a leading receiver in Babers’ tenure at SU.
The 2019 season, however, was marked with something also familiar to Orange football fans. The offensive line was all too frequently punctured by opposing pass rushers and foes tallied 50 quarterback sacks. It is not something unique to last season, as Syracuse has given up 157 sacks in four seasons, an average of 3.2 sacks per contest.
Last season’s group was marked a combination of injuries, inexperience, a graduate transfer leaving the team midseason, and players being forced into spots where they were not comfortable. The team went through camp struggling to identify its best five players on the line and the chosen ones had a difficult time developing continuity. Orange quarterbacks ate a lot of turf as a result, but the offense as a whole had issues as a result of the difficulties the line went through.
The good news is four of the five players who started at the end of the season return to the squad. Redshirt senior Airon Servais has started all 37 games in the last three seasons and is expected to anchor the line at left tackle. Redshirt sophomore center Carlos Vettorello and redshirt junior right guard Dakota Davis each started all 12 games in 2019, with the former sliding in from left tackle to center for the last three games and Davis holding down the right guard spot throughout the campaign. Matthew Bergeron started the final five games at right tackle as a freshman. So, there is promise for continuity and melding the individual parts into a cohesive unit.
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Sweet Tweets - 6/18/20 (RX; HM)
Sweet Tweets - 6/18/20
ACC Football Kick Off will be held virtually, July
I assume we'll get revenue numbers around that time, too.
__________
The old Belk Bowl has a new sponsor:
This bowl will still pit an ACC team against an SEC team. I'm thinking if they're available it should always be Duke in the Mayo Bowl... but would it count as a home game for the Blue Devils?
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Not picking on Texas, because many states are having record numbers of Coronavirus hospitalizations this week:
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Rx: Better Divisions - East/South (RX; HM)
(sutomcat) Personally, I do not think Syracuse should not be paired with Louisville under any circumstances. Syracuse has nothing in common with UL. Stop trying to pair us with your old girl friend.
IMHO, there are no good division setups. The whole idea of static divisions is archaic and needs to be moved on from. Let's get pods in place. By tomorrow. Please.
Rx: Better Divisions - East/South
Suppose the ACC realigned divisions based purely on TV match-ups with no consideration for what the academic types thought - what would it look like? Here's an East/South alignment I came up with a few years ago [see "Selling Better Divisions"], shown in this map:
If you prefer seeing this in a table, here are those same teams, with each division listed more or less from North to South:
| South | East |
| Louisville | Boston College |
| Wake Forest | Syracuse |
| Duke | Pitt |
| Clemson | Virginia Tech |
| Georgia Tech | Virginia |
| Florida State | N Carolina |
| Miami | NC State |
Appealing games we would get annually in this setup (that we don't get every year in the existing setup), with the biggest games highlighted in color:
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Record 5,609 Student-Athletes Named to ACC Honor Roll (theacc.com)
The Atlantic Coast Conference announced the 2019-20 Honor Roll on Thursday, recognizing a record 5,609 student-athletes for classroom excellence during the most recent academic year.
The ACC Honor Roll is comprised of student-athletes who participated in a varsity-level sport and registered a grade point average of 3.0 or better for the full academic year. The 5,609 recognized this year shattered the previous league mark of 4,769 set in 2018-19.
Duke led all schools with a record 572 student-athletes recognized, and Notre Dame placed 541 on the list. Virginia saw 496 student-athletes achieve Honor Roll status, followed by North Carolina with 468 and Boston College with 455.
Boston College's Isabelle Kennedy (cross country/track & field) and NC State’s Ky-Lee Perry (swimming & diving) made the ACC Honor Roll for the sixth time. Thirteen schools had at least one student-athlete who earned honor roll status for the fifth time:
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Wes Bryant Talks All Things ACC Football (wfnz.radio.com; radio; Mac Attack)
ACC Digital Network's Wes Bryant joined the Mac Attack to discuss some ACC Football and which teams he likes the best.
NCAA Football: Ranking The Top 10 QB's In College Football For 2020 (nflanalysis.com; Teets)
College football is much more unpredictable than its professional counterpart, but superstar quarterbacks often determine whether a team sinks or swims in the enormous pool of collegiate programs. The following ten quarterbacks stand alone as college football’s best signal-callers.
Before we begin, it’s important to note that these rankings aren’t based on pro potential. The rankings are solely based on how quarterbacks perform and compete at the college level.
In the process of trimming down this article to ten quarterbacks, I had to remove several players with high upside in 2020. While the following quarterback didn’t crack the top ten, they’re worthy of honorable mentions.
SMU’s Shane Buechele left it all on the field last year. Buechele played for the Texas Longhorns in 2016 but eventually lost his starting job to Sam Ehlinger. Buechele transferred to SMU and threw for 3,929 yards, 34 touchdowns, and ten interceptions last season.
Texas A&M’s Kellen Mond and Arizona State’s Jayden Daniels remain in limbo. Neither were very accurate last season, but Mond remains an intriguing player. As a true freshman at ASU, Daniels threw for 2,943 yards, 17 touchdowns, and two interceptions.
North Dakota State’s Trey Lance deserves mentioning. Lance is the third-ranked quarterback prospect in most way-to-early 2021 NFL mock drafts. Last season, he completed 66.9% of his pass attempts for 2,786 yards, 28 touchdowns, and zero interceptions as the Bison went undefeated and won the FCS Championship.
Lance doesn’t appear in these rankings because he’ll never face off against the other quarterbacks on this list, and he faces a lesser level of competition in the FCS. However, he’s a great football player and a future elite NFL prospect.
Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler receives the final honorable mention spot. He didn’t start last season, but Rattler does take the reins of an offense that produced back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners and first overall picks in the NFL Draft. Keep an eye on him as the season progresses.
Without further delay, let’s take a look at how the top 10 quarterback’s rank entering the 2020 season.
10. Brock Purdy, Iowa State
Purdy entered the collegiate football landscape in 2018 when Iowa State faced off against Oklahoma State in their fifth game of the season. In his first real action, Purdy completed 78.3% of his pass attempts for 318 yards, four touchdowns, and one interception.
The 20-year-old quarterback finished his freshman season with 2,250 yards, 16 touchdowns, seven interceptions, and high hopes for his sophomore campaign.
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Other
Destiny USA is closed but announces grand openings for 5 new additions (PS; Breidenbach)
Destiny USA remains closed, but the mall’s owners have announced five new stores and entertainment venues are gearing up to open for the first time.
Three are stores. Two are the kinds of entertainment draws that are likely to be among the last to open amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Regal first opened its 4DX immersive cinema experience in March, but more upgrades are planned throughout the year. It features seats that move with the action and treats viewers to special effects. Viewers experience wind, fog, rain, lightning, snow, bubbles, vibrations and scents.
Next up, Regal is expected to add food and drink options, including a Lavazza coffee shop and a B. fresh smoothie bar. A new ScreenX theater will feature a panoramic screen that wraps around the sides of the auditorium.
Get Air, the indoor trampoline park, is expected to open on the mall’s third level, across from Margaritaville.
The park will have trampolines, rock walls, basketball and dodge ball courts and foam pits.
Get Air’s Cicero location shut down in March with thousands of other non-essential businesses.
Three new stores are on the list:
- Trollbeads, a bead-on-bracelet seller, on the first floor.
- UNTUCKit, a company that sells shirts designed to be worn untucked, will be on the first floor.
- The Uniform Outlet, which sells medical scrubs, will be on the second floor.
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