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thecollegefootballguy · 5 years ago

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The Top 25 Teams of the Decade: #2 Ohio State

Hello everybody, we’re almost done celebrating the arrival of the 2020′s by looking at the 25 best programs of the previous decade.

We’ve made it to the top five! If you’ve been reading this whole time thank you. Here’s the 2nd best team of the 2010′s

THE Ohio State University Buckeyes

Record: 117-18 (.867) Division Titles: 8 Conference Titles: 5 Bowl Seasons: 9 Major Bowls: 8 Playoff/BCS Berths: 3 National Championships: 1 Final Top 25 Finishes: 9 Final Top 10 Finishes: 8 Final Top 5 Finishes: 7 Best Season: 2014

This might not be a popular move to put Ohio State ahead of Clemson. The Tigers did win two national championships and the Buckeyes only one. I totally understand if you personally disagree, I think they’re neck and neck here. OSU was simply better than Clemson for a longer period of time, the Tigers did all of their best work in the past five seasons, whereas Ohio State began hot and more or less stayed that way aside from a slight blip in 2011.

The Buckeyes were one of the best teams of the 2010′s because they were one of the best teams in the 2000′s. Jim Tressel had rebuilt OSU into a wrecking machine that utterly dominated the Big Ten. After winning the national championship for the 2002 season, Ohio State won or tied for the Big Ten title for five straight years leading into 2010.

Nobody knew it at the time, but 2010 would end up being Jim Tressel’s last season in Columbus, and it went pretty much like the rest of his tenure. The Buckeyes began the year ranked 2nd in the nation with clear BCS aspirations. OSU swept the floor with their scrub MAC and C-USA opponents in September and beat #12 Miami 36-34 to add a bit of prestige to their hot start. Ohio State kept on rolling when Big Ten play began, beating Illinois and Indiana without much fuss. In mid-October, the Buckeyes climbed into first place after defending champs Alabama lost to South Carolina. OSU’s first date as the #1 team was at Camp Randall against #18 Wisconsin for College Gameday. The Badgers shut down the Ohio State offense, felling the Buckeyes 31-18. The loss was enough to snuff out OSU’s national title hopes, even though they rebounded with strength. Ohio State blew their way through Purdue, Minnesota, and Penn State before nearly falling to #21 Iowa at Kinnick. The Buckeyes handled Michigan 37-7, securing a share of third place with Wisconsin and Michigan State. The Badgers earned the Rose Bowl bid, so #6 OSU was selected to face #8 Arkansas in the Sugar Bowl. Ohio State rushed out to a 28-7 lead and coasted through the second half to a 31-26 victory. 12-1 with a final #5 ranking was another successful season in the books. The Buckeyes didn’t win the title yet again, but they were well placed to try again next year.

Well it didn’t quite end up going that way. Stud QB Terrelle Pryor was busted along with four other teammates for selling memorabilia and suspended for the first five games. Tressel said he would sit out with them but under mounting pressure submitted his resignation. Pryor then decided to enter the draft instead of playing a truncated season under media scrutiny. In a very short amount of time, OSU lost their best player and the architect of the program. Co-DC Luke Fickell was given a field promotion as the interim head coach. The situation could have been salvaged, Ohio State was still the most talented team in the Big Ten, but things unraveled rather quickly. After beating Akron and Toledo (uncomfortably close), the Buckeyes fell to Miami on the return date and dropped from the rankings for the first time in six years. OSU rallied to beat hapless Colorado the next week, but then took two on the chin from Michigan State and Nebraska in back to back weeks. A 3-3 Ohio State was unthinkable just a month before, bet there they wore. The Buckeyes were lucky to not completely collapse, they rallied to beat ranked Illinois and Wisconsin squads and then put away a crap Indiana team to gain bowl eligibility. However the season would end with a thud, as Ohio State dropped another three straight to Purdue, Penn State, and Michigan. In a bitterly ironic matchup, the 6-6 Buckeyes faced off against 6-6 Florida in a meeting of suddenly collapsed programs. OSU and UF spent the past six years as two of the best teams in the country, even meeting up for the 2007 BCS National Championship Game. The Gators won 24-17, handing Ohio State their first losing record since 1988. For some reason, Luke Fickell wasn’t retained as the permanent head coach. Instead, the Buckeyes landed the big one.

Urban Meyer was the big free agent coach in 2012. He had taken Utah and Florida to new heights before “retiring” for “health reasons” at the end of the 2010 season. It was rumored that he was waiting on the Ohio State job, and well, that’s what happened. Meyer took over the Buckeyes and immediately raised the program out of the funk they’d found themselves in, though sanctions would prevent them from competing in the postseason. OSU began the year ranked 18th in the country. QB Braxton Miller won the starting job and led Ohio State through a relatively weak non-conference schedule which included wins over Cal and a pretty solid UCF squad. The Buckeyes had climbed up to 14th in the AP poll before the Big Ten schedule, and their first matchup was against defending Legends Division champs #20 Michigan State. OSU squeaked past with a 17-16 victory in East Lansing. The next week was a date with #25 Nebraska, who would end up being the Legends Champs in 2012. Once again, Ohio State prevailed 63-38. Suddenly the Buckeyes saw daylight. A wide open stretch in the schedule more or less handed several consecutive wins to OSU. Hapless Indiana and a mediocre Purdue squad were put away (with some effort), and Ohio State then beat Penn State, who were undergoing an even more severe rebuild after the Joe Paterno scandal. The Buckeyes took care of business against Illinois, the worst team in the conference, before facing off against Wisconsin, the only team left in the division with a pulse. OSU gutted out an overtime victory over the Badgers, and suddenly left #20 Michigan as the only thing keeping Ohio State from going undefeated. The #4 Buckeyes outscored their archrivals 26-21 to secure their perfect 12-0 record. In any other year it would have been enough to get them in the conversation to win the national championship, but not in 2012. OSU is the last undefeated program from a Power conference not to win a national championship. Let me be clear, the computers tell us this team would have been stomped by Alabama, Oregon, Kansas State, and perhaps even the Notre Dame team that did get stomped by Bama. But they should have had a shot anyway.

It’s hard to improve on perfection, but Ohio State did their level best. Braxton Miller was back, as was RB Carlos Hyde, and a good proportion of NFL talent. The Buckeyes started the year ranked 2nd in the country, which is pretty fair considering their 12-0 record the year before. OSU once again ran over their non-conference opponents before facing off against two ranked Big Ten foes. Ohio State faced off against #22 Wisconsin, who ended up being their biggest conference in the Leaders Division, and won 31-24. The next week, the Buckeyes faced off against undefeated #16 Northwestern on College Gameday. OSU won 40-30 but the Wildcats turned into a pumpkin after the loss, going 5-7 at the end of the year. Ohio State beat Iowa, then smacked PSU, Purdue, Illinois, and Indiana before once again setting up a date with destiny against Michigan. The Wolverines didn’t look like too tough of an opponent, with their Brady Hoke collapse well under way, but the Buckeyes could only manage a too close for comfort 42-41 victory over UM. No matter, OSU was once again undefeated in the regular season, extending their winning streak to 24 consecutive games. #2 Ohio State was well on their way to a spot in the final BCS Title Game, but they had to make their way past 11-1 #10 Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship. The Buckeyes fell behind 17-0 before rallying back to take a 24-17 lead, but they the Spartans came to life again and stuffed OSU several times en route to a 34-24 victory. OSU was handed their first loss under Urban Meyer, and were relegated to the Orange Bowl against #8 Clemson. The Tigers won the contest 40-35, dropping Ohio State to 12-2 and a final #12 ranking in the AP poll. It was about as disappointing as a season can go when you go undefeated through the regular season.

Despite the stumble at the end of the 2013 season, the Buckeyes were expected to compete for a national championship. They began the year ranked 5th in the AP poll, just outside of the top 4 that would get them into the newly expanded Playoff. Braxton Miller was back, but he was out for the season due to an injury in camp. Miller was replaced by capable backup J.T. Barrett, who had help in the backfield from RBs Ezekiel Elliot and Curtis Samuel. OSU began the year with a 34-17 win over Navy in Baltimore, which wasn’t a huge victory but it got the job done. The win actually dropped Ohio State to 8th in the polls, which is a bit funny, but the Buckeyes should have been able to coast through the rest of their nonconference schedule before going deep through a soft early Big Ten slate. Well, it didn’t actually happen that way. OSU went down to Blacksburg and were upset 21-35. If it had been a close loss, it would have been a severe blow to Ohio State’s championship hopes, but the two touchdown difference signaled to everybody that the Buckeyes were going to need a year off before competing again. OSU tumbled down to 22nd in the rankings and they stayed in the 20s for the rest of September as they mopped up their final two easy out of conference games. Ohio State made short work of their rather weak opponents through October with the exception of Penn State, who took the Buckeyes to double overtime before falling 31-24. Events were building up to a dramatic meeting with #7 Michigan State in the second week of November. The Spartans were the first team to beat Meyer’s OSU and were now the Buckeyes’ only real competition in the new East Division. In front of College Gameday, #13 Ohio State won 49-37 in East Lansing, wresting firm control of the division into their hands. After a touchdown victory over Minnesota, OSU coasted to easy wins over Indiana and Michigan to finish the season 11-1 and a surprising 5th place in the Playoff rankings despite the early stumble against the Hokies. It was a good attempt, but Ohio State was virtually assured to be left out of the Playoff in a crowded field. The Big Ten Championship featured the Buckeyes and #13 Wisconsin, easily the toughest competition from the West. It was supposed to be a tough slog under any circumstances, but J.T. Barrett was injured in The Game and the remainder of his season was finished. Barrett was replaced by redshirt sophomore Cardale Jones, who would be making his first career start. In a monstrous showcase of power, OSU obliterated the Badgers 59-0, making an emphatic case that they should be in the Playoff over the several other contestants. It worked. In an extremely controversial move, Ohio State was ranked the #4 team by the Committee, vaulting over former #3 TCU who seemed like a surefire bid. The Buckeyes weren’t supposed to be there, and as the lowest seed they were put up against #1 Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, a surefire death sentence. OSU shocked everybody by roaring back from a 21-6 deficit to stun the Tide 42-35. At times it looked like Ohio State was even bullying the stout Bama line as Elliot muscled his way through the gaps. The Buckeyes would face #2 Oregon in the National Championship Game, who had just humiliated defending champs Florida State in the Rose Bowl. The Ducks were the polar opposite of the Crimson Tide, and would be a different kind of puzzle to solve. But they were solved. OSU ended up running away with a 42-20 win to secure their first national title since the 2002 season.

Ohio State had a rather unique problem in 2015. Established QB Braxton Miller had a medical redshirt and was eligible to return to the field after losing his entire 2014 season. J.T. Barrett, who had gone 11-1 the previous year as the regular season starter before getting injured against Michigan, was also coming back. As was Cardale Jones, who had guided the Buckeyes through the Big Ten Championship, Sugar Bowl, and National Championship Games. And buried fifth or sixth in the depth chart was some freshman nobody named Joe Burrow. Also, all-world RB Ezekiel Elliot was back. An embarrassment of riches in the backfield that you almost never see. Blue blood problems right? Miller took the tough choice to switch positions to H-back to turn a three-way race into two. It was a shockingly selfless move for a star Quarterback, and may have cost him in the NFL when he left after the season. Jones beat out Barrett in fall camp, and would lead OSU’s campaign as the defending champs. This time there was no September tomfoolery, as #1 Ohio State went undefeated through their non-conference slate. Though Northern Illinois only lost 20-13, which wasn’t the best display. The Buckeyes continued to take care of business through their first three Big Ten games, but with two NFL draft picks waiting in the wings, there was a very short leash. Cardale Jones was benched in favor of Barrett, who started for the rest of the season. Barrett won his first three games against mediocre Rutgers, Minnesota, and Illinois. The final two games were OSU’s only ranked matchups in the regular season, against stalwart Michigan State and a newly resurgent Michigan. Ohio State was a consistent 3rd in the Playoff rankings behind Clemson and whoever was leading the SEC, and were first matched up against #9 Michigan State. The Buckeyes were likely a better team, but they were shut down all the same, falling 14-17 at home to ruin their chances at the repeat. The Game featured #8 OSU against the #10 Wolverines, but Ohio State stomped UM 42-13 to once again finish the regular season 11-1. This time, it wasn’t good enough to land a spot in the Playoff. The #7 Buckeyes were given an at-large bid against #8 Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl, where they beat up the Irish 44-28. OSU was likely one of the four best teams in the country, and should have been in the Playoff if it was based on pure team quality. Oh well, they should have beaten Michigan State.

Braxton Miller, Cardale Jones, Ezekiel Elliot, and Joey Bosa were all gone, but a new boatload of talent was on its way, still led by J.T. Barrett behind center. As the 2016 season started, Ohio State was once again the Big Ten favorite, ranked 6th in the AP poll. The Buckeyes made short work of their non-con schedule, including an humiliating 45-24 win over fellow preseason Playoff favorite #14 Oklahoma in Norman. OSU bashed Rutgers and Indiana before their first big conference test against #8 Wisconsin in Camp Randall. The Badgers took Ohio State to overtime, only falling by a touchdown. Hopes were high that the Buckeyes could ride comfortably into the Playoff, or at least to Michigan without any fuss. However, unranked Penn State upset OSU 24-21 the very next week on a last second missed field goal return reminiscent of the Kick Six. It was a tough loss, but not fatal to Ohio State’s Playoff hopes, as the Buckeyes only fell from 2nd to 6th place. OSU looked shaky with a close win over Northwestern, but completely obliterated an overrated #10 Nebraska squad 62-3. After doing the same thing to Maryland, Ohio State once again had to clear Michigan State and Michigan in back to back weeks to end the regular season. Both games came down to the wire. The Buckeyes squeaked past the Spartans 17-16 in East Lansing, setting up a date with destiny with the Wolverines. #2 OSU vs #3 UM with a berth in the Playoff on the line. Michigan held the advantage for most of the game, but Ohio State hung tough and forced overtime and double overtime. With a bit of helps perhaps, the Buckeyes ended up winning 30-27 to once again secure an 11-1 record. Once again, their sole loss decided the East tiebreaker, preventing Ohio State from playing in the Big Ten Championship game in favor of 10-2 Penn State, who had gone undefeated since beating the Buckeyes. Either way, OSU was going to the Playoff as the #3 seed, becoming the first team to crack the top four that didn’t win their conference championship game. Ohio State faced off against #2 Clemson and it wasn’t pretty. The Buckeyes were completely shut out 31-0 in the Fiesta Bowl and finished 6th in both major polls.

OSU began they 2017 season ranked 2nd in the country and hopes were high that they could get back to the championship game. But Ohio State ended up hitting a speed bump pretty early. After toying around with Indiana for a bit in a 49-21 win, the Buckeyes hosted #5 Oklahoma on the return trip of their home and home. This time, OSU fell 31-16 in a resounding loss that once again jeopardized their Playoff hopes. Ohio State fell to 8th in the AP the next week, before bottoming out at 11th after being leapfrogged by other undefeated teams. For the rest of September through mid-October, the Buckeyes pounded a bunch of scrubs in and out of conference play until meeting up with #2 Penn State on October 28th to decide the East for the second year in a row. This time it was #6 OSU who drove the stake into the Nittany Lions’ hearts, pulling out a 39-38 win in Ohio Stadium. Ohio State vaulted up to 3rd in the AP poll, but remained 6th in the Playoff rankings. Perhaps the Playoff Committee saw a bit of weakness displayed by the Buckeyes, and they were proven correct. The very next week, the Buckeyes became the highest profile victim of the Iowa Hawkeyes, who had a knack for kneecapping high profile opponents in Iowa City. OSU was pantsed 24-55 by the Hawkeyes, completely falling out the Playoff race with their second loss. Maybe the loss straightened their heads at least, because now #13 Ohio State obliterated #12 Michigan State 48-3 the next week. The Buckeyes breezed past Illinois and put away Michigan 31-20 to finish the 10-2, their worst mark in the regular season since the 2011 fiasco. At least this time OSU were the outright East division champions. #8 Ohio State faced off against undefeated #4 Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Buckeyes out-gritted the Badgers once again, winning 27-21. 11-2 OSU had a decent claim to be the 4 seed in the Playoff, but that (deservedly) went to 11-1 Alabama instead. Instead, #5 Ohio State would face off against #8 USC in the Cotton Bowl in something of a Rose Bowl East situation as the Granddaddy was hosting Oklahoma and Georgia that year. The Buckeyes easily handled the Trojans 24-7 to finish the year 5th in the nation, the best among the non-Playoff squads.

2018 was weird. Ohio State was once again picked to win the Big Ten and contend for the Playoff, but they started out entirely on the wrong foot. Urban Meyer was suspended for the first three games for his knowledge and mishandling of former subordinate Zach Smith’s domestic abuse. J.T. Barret was gone, and former backup Dwayne Haskins took over. 2nd year OC Ryan Day was tasked with guiding the Buckeyes in the interim. That wasn’t an issue, as OSU stomped hapless Oregon State and Rutgers before an easy 40-24 win over #15 TCU in Arlington. Meyer returned just in time to crush Tulane, but the big game lay just beyond. #4 Ohio State traveled to Happy Valley to face #9 PSU. In another hard fought game, Ohio State prevailed 27-26 to once again open up the path to the Playoff. Once again, only the Spartans and Wolverines were likely to provide any threat for the rest of the season. The Buckeyes breezed past Indiana and Minnesota before completely losing the plot against Purdue. The Boilermakers dealt #2 OSU their most humiliating loss in the entire decade, running all over the Ohio State 49-20. The team look like it had just quit by the fourth quarter, against Purdue, who had spent much of the 2010′s as a bottom feeder. The first Playoff ranking the next week slotted the Buckeyes 10th with only a month to go, this one ultimate loss was the only one they’d need to get locked out of the top four. It didn’t help that OSU looked shaken up for the next several weeks, nearly losing to both bad Nebraska and Maryland squads. Of course, Ohio State returned to form in time to crush #4 Michigan 62-39, once again killing their archrival’s hopes at the Playoff. The #6 Buckeyes faced off against #21 Northwestern in the Big Ten Championship Game. The Wildcats weren’t a particularly good team and didn’t pose much of a threat in a 45-24 defeat. OSU had managed to claw their way back to 6th in the rankings, but it wasn’t enough to crack the Playoff. Instead, they were matched up against #9 Washington in the Rose Bowl. Surprisingly, despite all of their success in the decade, this was Ohio State’s first time in the Rose Bowl since January 1st, 2010. The Buckeyes stonewalled the Huskies for three quarters before letting their foot off the gas, allowing UW to somewhat save face in a 28-23 loss. 13-1 OSU finished 3rd in the rankings, and had played like a contender almost all season besides that upset to the Boilermakers and it ruined everything.

In a shocking turn of events, Urban Meyer announced his resignation following the Rose Bowl victory. OC Ryan Day, who had spent the first three games of the 2018 season as the interim head coach, was now given the gig full time. Meyer had left the cupboard fully stocked and Day took full advantage. Record setting QB Dwayne Haskins had left for the NFL, and now J.K. Dobbins was taking over. The Buckeyes started the year 5th in the AP poll, and completely justified the rating by burning through every opponent they played in the month of September. OSU ran through the mix of non-conference and Big Ten foes by a combined 262-43. Ohio State’s first ranked opponent was #25 Michigan State, but the Spartans couldn’t match up with the Buckeyes’ physicality, losing 34-10. After demolishing Northwestern 52-3 in Evanston, OSU faced off against #13 Wisconsin. The Badgers were looking like a Playoff caliber team before suffering an upset to Illinois the week prior, and Ohio State completely stomped on their rebound hopes with a 38-7 housing. This Buckeye team was different than the those of the later Meyer years, which had a weakness or an Achilles Heel some opponent could take advantage of. 2019 OSU seemingly had no weaknesses. The last two games of the season were against #8 Penn State and #13 Michigan, which would end up deciding the East division. It wasn’t really a contest. Ohio State easily beat the Nittany Lions 28-17, their closest game in the regular season. Of course they ended the year with a 56-27 humiliation of UM in Ann Arbor. The Buckeyes had actually climbed to 1st place in the Playoff rankings over LSU with the back to back wins. The OSU war machine would meet Wisconsin for a rematch in the Big Ten Championship Game. It went about as well as the first one, with the Badgers playing close for a quarter before Ohio State pulled away 34-21. The Buckeyes ended up as the 2 seed in the Playoff, and would host Clemson in the Fiesta Bowl. It was a titanic struggle between two championship caliber squads, but the Tigers ended up with the 29-23 victory. 13-1 OSU finished 3rd in the nation behind Clemson and the peaking LSU squad that mauled them in the championship game. They must be one of the better third place teams in recent history.

Ohio State is probably set up for the foreseeable future. Ryan Day has been given the keys to the Ferrari and hasn’t crashed it after one year, in fact, they seem even better than before. As long as the war machine keeps running we can keep penciling in the Buckeyes as the Big Ten champs.

OSU did very well against their rivals in the 2010′s. I don’t think most people consider Illinois a rival anymore, which is fine because Ohio State hasn’t treated the rivalry as such. The Buckeyes are 7-0 against the Illini. Penn State might also be a rival, and recently a more serious one with the Nittany Lions returning to form as a national power. Still, OSU has gotten the better of the Penn State 8-2. Everyone knows just how much Ohio State has dominated Michigan in the past decade, going 9-1 against the Wolverines with the only loss being the Buckeyes’ embarrassing 2011 campaign. Two of OSU’s wins over Michigan ripped out their hearts and kept UM from a Playoff. It has been a pretty good decade for Ohio State despite the sole national title.

#college football #Ohio State Buckeyes

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tjchrch · 6 years ago

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TJ 2.0 | Timeline

1966: TJ is born in Fort Worth, Texas. His mother was forced to give him up. His father never acknowledged his birth. He spent a few of his early months with a family who jumped to adopt him, until realising his heritage, all they left him with was two first names - Trey given to him by his birth mother, Jackson by his first and only family. He spent the rest of his childhood in foster placements and group homes.

1982: The starting quarterback for his high school team, TJ first begins to get spotted outside of his hometown. Scouts from local Texas colleges start appearing at his games, not before long there’s national D1 scouts filling up the crowds. By the time he graduates, he has his pick of colleges.

1984: TJ decides to stick to him hometown, choose to go to Texas A&M for college. The first string quarterback picks up an injury and TJ never lets him win his place back. He leads out the XXX for 3 years before graduating early and entering the 1992 NFL Draft.

1988: Originally expected to be one of the first picks, TJ ends up not being selected until the second round on account of information about his troubled childhood coming to light. The press catches wind of some juvenile charges for shoplifting and burglary, TJ began to believe he wasn’t going to be picked at all. The Dallas Cowboys take a chance on a hometown hero (and they desperately needed a new QB).

1992: In his fourth season, TJ leads the Cowboys all the way to the Superbowl where he picks up the only ring of his career.

2001: Already known for his volunteering and charitable donations, TJ formalises his work with after-school programs and the foster system into his own foundation - the TJ Church Foundation.

2005: TJ meets his future wife at an event in DC, they’re married within a year.

2006: After 18 seasons leading the Cowboys, TJ retires from being a professional footballer.

2007: TJ gets divorced.

2008: After being involved in Texas Republican politics (almost entirely through donations), his political reputation becomes suddenly nationwide after being asked to speak at the Republican National Convention. It wasn’t a prime spot, but his message a new, modern party spread quickly across YouTube and cable news. In the 15 minutes of excitement he was even suggested as a potential VP for Romney.

2009: The after-school program run by the TJ Church foundation has spread through every public school in Texas. In the same year, he meets Lucia Mendez, and his time is far more spent in DC than it is Dallas.

2010: The first chatter about getting TJ to run for office began in the halls of Westminster and the backrooms of the Texas legislature. Although they were hoping he would target the House or the Senate, TJ’s focus was still very much on Texas. Instead he began to explore a late entry in the Texas Gubernatorial race.

2011: Despite joining late, TJ narrowly wins the Texas governor race, bringing together a coalition of voters never seen before in a Texas race. He moves back permanently to the state, breaking up with Lucia in the process.

2015: After 5 mostly successful years as Governor, TJ decides not to run again, choosing instead to return to DC and beg for Lucia back. He didn’t know what to expect, to find that she was pregnant would have been his last guess. Despite that, he.’s determined to be with her again. He adopts Matteo at birth, proposing to Lucia soon after.

Early 2018: After 3 years focused again on his foundation - expanding their after-school program nationwide and starting adoption awareness campaigns - TJ realises that he is frustrated by the pace of change and feels compelled to return to politics. With a strong incumbent in the Senate, and the House seeming like a step down, a crazy idea to aim for the 2020 Presidential race starts to form. After looking for counsel from many senior members of the party, his mind is made up. On telling Lucia, after promising years ago to never put his political career ahead of their relationship again, she breaks up with him.

Late 2018: TJ officially announces his campaign with a speech at the Cowboys stadium, it’s completely packed. The first directive from his campaign manager, he can’t win another election without a partner. He immediately starts to look for a girlfriend, finding the perfect candidate in Delilah Connelly-Calhoun.

#bio #tj2 #spoiler alert: i made him a governor

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thesportssoundoff · 5 years ago

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“The XFL is a thing. Should you care about it?”

Joey

February 2nd, 2020

Another winter, another money mark attempt to figure out winter football.

The NFL has wrapped up another successful season and now it's Vince McMahon's turn to try once more with a brand new football league. In 2019, the son of his friend Dick Ebersole tried with the AAF which fell apart before the season finale could even take place. Vince McMahon seems more prepared than Charlie Ebersole and his backers, especially when you consider that the XFL apparently has long term financial backing place to absorb what figures to be some money losing seasons. The XFL's rule set which features things like a revamped overtime, a double forward pass concept, a continuously running game clock and a variety of different special teams related rules designed to entice an improved pace of play. Is the XFL going to revolutionize the NFL? Probably not. Will it provide some concepts that inevitably get stolen? I'm going with a pretty solid "oh yeah absolutely." It's live sports and chances are if you're reading this you know that the SportsSoundoff is all about live sports and activities that are able to cosplay as sports (axe throwing and chainsaw-ing come to mind).

If you're looking for more football to take in then the XFL figures to give you that and with readily-ish available-ish games across FS1/2, Fox, ABC and ESPN/2 platforms. Long story short, games will be out there for ya if you want to spell some time between the NBA's second half kicking off and the start of baseball and college basketball's tournament run. With a neat and tidy eight teams across a variety of markets, I'd like to go team by team and detail why you should try your hardest to give each team the benefit of your time. Some teams figure to be easy and some teams figure to be impossible BUT I've got free time and I gotta do something, right?

The Dallas Desperados The most intriguing coaching staff in the entire league

Let's start from the obvious; if Bob Stoops truly wanted to, he could be coaching in the NCAA right now. This is a guy who left Oklahoma as an insanely successful well liked legacy coach who won a national title and 10 conference championships. Bob Stoops took Oklahoma football to a level not seen since the Barry Switzer run and is clearly one of the greatest coaching minds of his era. Health and perhaps a general all around malaise for football led to Stoops stepping down but when you look around the number of college teams divided by the number of quality of minds currently available for head coaching jobs, there's zero doubt Stoops could've been the guy at any school he wanted to over the past two years. Hell, I would NOT be surprised if Stoops would've been on the radar of NFL teams if he did an Urban Meyer-esque TV gig as opposed to just falling off the face of the Earth and living life in the shadows. Instead he re-emerges in the XFL as the GM and head coach of the Dallas Desperados. Stoops admittedly took this gig because of its proximity to his recruiting trails of the past and just general all around comfort with the area. Stoops was the prized announcement of the XFL, the first coach they revealed and put in the biggest football media market of the entire XFL league. Long story short? Bob Stoops was a rare coup for the XFL and he's being advertised and promoted as such. So much so in fact that when Stoops stopped appearing in XFL promotional material for a short spell, there were rumors that the XFL was going to lose the only drawing card it had with Stoops maybe making a move all the way up to the NFL for the Cowboys head coaching gig. The fact the XFL has Stoops gives it something the AAF never had; a familiar well liked face who isn't tired or old hat; the two knocks that basically hurt the AAF when Steve Spurrier was limping around on the sidelines for the Orlando Apollos.

The intrigue goes beyond JUST Bob Stoops as the Bob Stoops coaching staff is genuinely pretty ridiculous. If you love the Lincoln Riley and Mike Leach style offenses then you know of the name of Hal Mumme. Mumme is the father of most of the modern air raid offenses you see today, the likes of which that get mediocre-y college coaches like Kliff Kingsbury head coaching gigs in the NFL. Mumme is a bit of a college coaching legend with concepts that have bled into the highest levels of football. Stoops will be the offensive coordinator for Stoops' offense and with a few years away from the coaching circuit, I'm intrigued to see if Mumme has anything new left to offer. Defensively, Chris Woods and Jim Jeffcoat have long ties to Bob Stoops or Hal Mumme. The offense has a mastermind, the defense has a glut of former defensive coordinators and there's a damn good chance that Bob Stoops could turn a solid run in the XFL into a head coaching job elsewhere. Just keep an eye on the Desperados coaching staff as a potential breeding ground for coaches into the next level.

DC Defenders Name defensive talent = ???

It seems like the XFL is going to make it a lot harder for defenses to really play a meaningful part in the games with rules clearly designed to go for more of a high paced scoring first and foremost brand of play. That said, the DC Defenders do have some defensive talent to keep an eye on. They've got a name defensive line with guys like former Giants starter Jay Bromley, USC's Kenny Bigelow, Washington Huskie Elijah Qualls and a linebacking core with Arizona undersized legend Scooby Wright, former Atlanta Falcons player Jonathan Massaquoi and former Bills player and early retiree from football AJ Tarpley. In the secondary is where things really have "could play in the NFL potential" with former draft picks Jalen Myrick and Bradley Sylve and former starters Shamarko Thomas and Matt Elam at the safety spots. Most of the attention will be on former National Championship winner Cardale Jones at the QB spot with name weapons like Malachai Dupree and Rashad Ross but in truth, I'm curious to see if their defensive talents can find their way back into the NFL.

Houston Roughnecks Actual NFL name talent

Soooo yeah, let's take a second to talk about the Houston Roughnecks. There's a WEALTH of NFL level talent on here, if not in actual talent but in name value. We can start at the QB spot where the Roughnecks at the very least boast an interesting "What if?" scenario. Going into the 2016 NFL Draft, a lot of teams needed QBs and the draft boasted some really interesting ones. The top two were pretty much locked in (Carson Wentz and Jared Goff depending upon your preference) and Paxton Lynch seemed like a solid lock as the #3 QB. After that? Free for all! The likes of Cardale Jones, Dak Prescott, Jeff Driskel, Connor Cook, Nat Sudfield and Christian Hackenberg were all fighting for spots to try and eek themselves into that next tier. There was a belief of sorts that Cook was the leader in that clubhouse but concerns about his personality and how teammates viewed him at Michigan State dogged him all the way down to the 4th round. The Cowboys were going to take Cook (who they had as a late 2nd round pick on their draft board) but he got snagged up as the Raiders as a developmental QB behind Derek Carr. The Cowboys, not exactly heartbroken but not exactly thrilled, moved to taking Charles Tapper out of Oklahoma and then with their comp pick (thanks Eagles! Thanks DeMarco Murray!) picked Dak Prescott at the behest of their coaching staff, bucking scouts who had him behind Jeff Driskel. Dak Prescott will likely earn anywhere from 30 to 40 million next year and Cook is trying to carve out his path in the XFL after failed stints in Oakland, Cincinnati and Detroit. It's a fun "What If?" scenario to toss around while Cook can perhaps reset his career in the XFL.

Beyond Connor Cook? Houston boasts a kicker in Sergio Castillo who as an all star in 2019 and boasts an NFL quality leg potentially. Kickers come and go in the NFL and if Castillo is good then he probably has a chance to pop up somewhere. RB De'Angelo Henderson was a 7th round pick who has bounced around the NFL and figures to probably get similar looks as a 3rd round COP back somewhere if he's good in the league. Cam Phillips and Kahlil Lewis are former NFL camp bodies while Sammie Coates played in the NFL for the Pittsburgh Steelers. SS Marqueston Huff played in the NFL for a variety of teams and has a pedigree as a former 4th round pick. DL Kony Ealy, Gabe Wright and Walter Palmore could probably fill out the back end of an NFL defensive line rotation right now. There's some actual NFL talent lurking in these waters, even if most of it is probably training camp filler variety. Those guys still have merit!

LA Wildcats The Josh Johnson Situation

So let's chit chat a spell about this. Josh Johnson is one of those guys that seems to pop up once a year on an NFL roster. He's been in the league since the dying days of the Gruden Era in Tampa Bay, a former fifth round pick who carved out a career as a somewhat competent-ish back up. He bounced around, played in the United Football League (consider THAT one) and seemed set to flame out. When the Redskins brought Josh Johnson in in 2018 after injuries to Alex Smith and Colt McCoy, Johnson stepped into the starting role and actually played pretty well! Not well enough to get brought back but well enough to earn another shot in the NFL as a back up for the Detroit Lions. Johnson was let go and continued his playing days by adding onto the XFL. I think Josh Johnson is the only dude to play in all three short term gimmick leagues (the UFL, AAF and XFL) but that's not where our story ends. Injuries to Jeff Driskel and Matt Stafford opened the door to play the NFL again when the Lions came calling. Surprisingly the XFL refused to follow the AAF's lead and kept Johnson to his XFL deal, forcing him to pass on a Lions opportunity. Josh Johnson basically has to be the best QB in the league to justify the XFL's decision to force him to stay in the league. Otherwise they'll probably be looked at unfavorably by future players for robbing a guy of an NFL opportunity. Also keep an eye on Nelson Spruce to be a big third down guy who racks up 1st downs.

New York Guardians ???

So I've looked over the roster a bunch, taken a gander at the coaching staff and honestly? I mean I don't have anything. This team on paper is pretty boring with no real flashy star name value and a head coach and offensive coordinator in Kevin Gilbride who had his best years some fifteen years ago if not longer. I suppose there may be some interest in seeing former AAF names like Jamar Summers and Luis Perez do stuff? This team is boring but boring teams can win games and boring games can win championships. Just don't expect the Guardians on paper to be something you'll feel compelled to go out of your way to see. In a way the Guardians match up pretty well with Vince McMahon's current WWE product; a severe lack of storylines and star power that compel and force you to go out of your way to tune in on a weekly basis.

St. Louis Battlehawks Football is BACK in St. Louis!

The Rams left St. Louis for LA in 2016 and to be entirely honest, I'm not sure if it worked out any well for the NFL. Surely the Rams bring in more money and notoriety in theory but it sure feels like the Rams have not exactly caught on with the locals in LA who are clearly baseball fans during the summer/fall and basketball fans every other time else. The Rams boast a tremendous team and watching a city like Kansas City enjoying its first Super Bowl win (in the great state of Missouri or Kansas or Kansourri) has me wondering how much more fun the NFL would be if the Greatest Show On Turf stayed in St. Louis as opposed to venturing out west and had kept up the tradition of having two teams playing in a rather "small" market. The fans of St. Louis will get to show how much they support football when the Battlehawks take flight (Ugh) in a few days. The Battlehawks have an intriguing roster with plenty of Mizzou names on it like WRs L'Damian Washington and former TE turned WR Markus Lucas. They also have swagmaster Marquette King trying to rebuild his NFL case after his falling out in Oakland. To add to the madness, the Battlehawks boast the most QBs on any of the 52 man rosters in the XFL and are led by Ole Miss QB legend Jordan Ta'amu who is coming off a failed stint in the NFL. I still really like Ta'amu and think he's got developmental upside for what it's worth but that's neither here nor there.

Seattle Dragons Holy shit Jim Zorn is still around?

The Redskins have a rather....interesting history in the modern era. Outside of a few brief periods of success from the likes of Joe Gibbs and Mike Shanahan, the Redskins head coaching history is rather no bueno. Among those bodies lost to the annals of history you have Jim Zorn. Zorn was a bit of a QB whisperer for the likes of Mike Holmgren and Dennis Erickson before surprising folks by making a massive leap from QB coach to head coach for the Washington Redskins in a stunning move. Zorn's move went...about as well as you'd expect. Jim Zorn became the latest victim of Redskins incompetence and then sort of just disappeared. He coached QBs for a bit after getting fired and then became the NFL equivalent of a ghost. Well Jim Zorn's back and back in Seattle where he led Matt Hasselbeck to some insane-o Seahawks records. The Dragons roster overall isn't exactly must see as it's mostly AAF leftovers with the occasional 2019 UDFA but at the very least seeing if Jim Zorn can wash off the Redskins stench some 10+ years later might be a bit of fun.

Tampa Bay Vipers A Florida all star team

The Vipers have the world's most name recognizable pseudo all star squad in the entire XFL. With former Bears head coach Marc Trestman at the helm, the Vipers boast a wide array of talents from various schools in the state of Florida. Miami Hurricanes WR Stacy Coley, Florida OL Martez Ivey and TE DeAndre Goolsby, South Florida QB legend Quinton Flowers will be trying his hand at RB as well as FSU RB Jacques Patrick and DB DeMarcus McFadden. That doesn't even begin to cover the number of Central Florida, South Florida and FAU players on this team as well. Also Aaron Murray is here and it seems like people are still going to try and make him into a thing after being a 4th round pick back in 2015.

#XFL #football #teams #sports

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cheapjerseys2011-blog · 6 years ago

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redskinsredemption · 7 years ago

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Ranking the Redskins Top 5 Pickups

Another year of NFL football is upon us, and while we’ve had a few stagnant years as the Kirk Cousins era proved to be good, but not good enough, in comes Alex Smith, Derrius Guice and others to give the new look ‘Skins squad a real shot at winning the stacked NFC East. Let’s take a quick a look at the major offseason acquisitions.

1) QB Alex Smith

Alex Smith had the talent of the 1st pick in the NFL draft. Throughout the course of his career teams have decided he wasn’t good enough to keep. He battled TD for TD with Drew Brees in a thrilling 2011 NFC Championship game, and was shipped out two seasons later. Last year he threw for his first-ever 4,000-yard season and was a fluky last second playoff loss away from meeting the Patriots in the Divisional round, a team he dismantled on national television earlier in the year. And yet, off he went again.

What he brings to Washington is a strong arm, nimble feet, and all the intangibles a coach can ask for. He commands the huddle, moves the chains, keeps the ball, and routinely sets his team up to put points on the board. He has a great snap count, and uses it when he needs it most, often to convert before an important third down, or to get a 3rd-and-long into a manageable distance.

If you remember week 3 of last season, we put together a great game, but gave him too much time in the end. I always felt as if we had a good chance with Kirk leading a game-winning drive, but with Alex Smith I see a good chance of us having the ball and the lead late. Although Kirk could have a huge year himself, I think we needed to end his chapter here in DC, and have found the man to do it right.

2.) RB Derrius Guice

Finally... a complete three down back. Rob Kelley was a bull, but not as nimble in the passing game. Chris Thompson is a burner, but can get much in the trenches, and now Guice, a proven star at LSU, comes in to connect the dots, and gives the Skins a chance to open up the playbook on first and second down. He showcases strength in the trenches, a Marshawn-like stiff arm at the second level, and break away speed to take it to the house. Alex Smith is vital to keeping us in the hunt, but Guice is the player who has the potential to put us over the top. If the fans take to him like the players have, he could very soon be a fan favorite in Washington.

3.) Da’Ron Payne

I haven’t seen many defensive players, with the exception of maybe Jadaveon Clowney and JJ Watt, enter the league as the most physically dominant guy on the team. To put it in perspective, he bench pressed 460 pounds in high school, and has been turning baby fat to muscle ever since. Fast forward to the combine a few months ago, when he ran a 4.9 40 at 312 pounds. Consider that he caught a touchdown pass, and scored multiple defensive touchdowns on both interceptions and fumbles, and you begin to realize that he’s not your average lineman. More impressive than any of this is that he dominated the national championship game against a daunting Georgia front. Linking up with Alabama teammate Jonathon Allen, these two will assert themselves early, and barring any bad injuries, Payne strikes me as a surefire Pro Bowler, perhaps before anyone else on this list.

4.) Paul Richardson

Like Alex Smith, I think his generic name, (think inverted Freakonomics) may have people thinking “who is he?” but let’s be clear, he’s and up-and-coming receiver in the league and a great addition to the receiving core.

He’s drawn comparisons to Desean Jackson, and although I think it exaggerates his speed a bit, it underestimates his great hands, his ability to run a more diverse route tree, and his ability to win balls in the air. My hope is that Gruden will use his speed in the same way, to sprint to the second level and make a move, while clearing room for Jordan Reed and Crowder underneath.

Alex Smith has quietly become one of the games best deep passers, (think Tyreke Hill) and will be able to consistently find Richardson for chunk gains. I’d still like to see the team add an all out burner, (the Aldrick Robinson role) but Richardson should come in and have a big impact right away.

5.) Pernell McPhee

He’s gotten lost in the shuffle of new players, perhaps because he is not likely to start, but he is the most proven acquisition of them all, having put in successful stints with the Ravens and the Bears. He can play traditional linebacker or put a hand in the dirt, and is able to play almost anywhere in the front seven. This not only protects the team from last year’s injury woes, but also gives them the ability to bulk up around the goal line and bring more exotic blitzes on the edge. The signing takes a page out of Tom Coughlin’s playbook, and you could see the Skins shuffle D-Line and edge rushers like the Jags. If the motto this year is to be the biggest baddest defense, McPhee is certainly a step in the right direction.

#HTTR #httr4life #httrnation #washington redskins #Washington Team #dc sports #alex smith #derrius guice #da'ron payne #paul richardson #pernell mcphee #2018 nfl draft #2018 nfl season #2018 nfl preseason

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lboogie1906 · 9 months ago

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Roman Oben (October 9, 1972) is a former football player. He played college football at the University of Louisville before being drafted by the New York Giants in 1996. He spent 12 years as an offensive tackle in the NFL playing for the Cleveland Browns, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the San Diego Chargers. He was a starting offensive lineman on the Buccaneer’s Super Bowl XXXVII Championship team.

At the age of four, he moved with his mother from Cameroon to the US and settled in DC. He attended Gonzaga College High School and spent one year at Fork Union Military Academy where he set a FUMA discus record at 185 ft 10 in that stood for 21 years.

After retiring from football in 2008, he worked in broadcast media as a football analyst and held executive positions in sales and business development. He is now a Vice President of the Football Operations department at the National Football League.

A two-sport college athlete, he played college football at the University of Louisville and was a four-year letterman in football and a three-year letterman in track and field. In football, he was an All-National Independent first-team selection as a junior. In track and field, as a freshman in 1991, he placed at the Metro Conference Championship in the shot put.

While at the University of Louisville, he became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity and was Vice President of the Alpha Pi chapter.

His son RJ Oben is a defensive end for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence #alphaphialpha

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auburnfamilynews · 5 years ago

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Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

The two deep appears to be taking shape on the backend of Auburn’s defense.

Auburn lost four starters off last year’s strong secondary unit including a first round draft pick. However, despite those losses, Auburn entered fall camp feeling pretty good about the backend of its defense. Roger McCreary, Jamien Sherwood and Smoke Monday were technically not starters for the Tigers last fall but played enough significant snaps that they are far from newbies. All three are expected to step into starting roles joining the lone returning starter in Christian Tutt. With those four solidified as starters, Auburn really only had two questions to answer this fall in regards to its secondary but those are two very important questions nonetheless.

Who will start opposite McCreary at corner?

Does Auburn have quality depth behind those four?

The answer to the first one is still fuzzy but based off Kevin Steele’s comments yesterday, the answer to question number two will be a resounding yes.

It was believed that the 2nd corner spot was a two man battle between JUCO signee Marco Domio and sophomore Nehemiah Pritchett. Per Steele, both are locked in a battle for the starting role but it’s far from a two person contest.

“As far as the corner position we’ve kind of got a fun battle going on. I know it sounds like a lot, but it’s factual. With (Nehemiah) Pritchett, (Marco) Domio, Devan Barrett, Matthew Hill and Jaylin Simpson, those guys are battling. If you asked me today I couldn’t tell you who would be the starter of that group. That’s how competitive it is. With that we’ve actually gone from having a situation of ‘who’s going to be the starter’ and can we find some backups to having a good competition with five guys not counting Roger (McCreary). The guys are playing at a high level. They’ve all worked with the ones. It has been kind of fun to watch because they’ve all embraced the challenge, like you should.

I was pretty surprised when I saw this quote from Steele. Like most everyone else, I thought this would be a 2 man competition with Domio possibly having a leg up. Instead, Steele believes he has five legitimate options at that 2nd starting spot. That’s a huge boost to Auburn’s secondary especially in this new world of high powered offensive attacks and the always looming fear of positive covid tests. Depth is more important than ever and it appears the Tigers have plenty of it at corner.

It’s not just as corner though that Steele seems happy with his depth. At the “Star” aka Nickel, Auburn decided to move senior Jordyn Peters to safety due to the impressive play of redshirt freshman Zion Puckett and true freshman Ladarius Tennison.

Auburn DC Kevin Steele says senior Jordyn Peters has moved to safety thanks to the emergence of freshman Ladarius Tennison at Star.

— Justin Ferguson (@JFergusonAU) September 10, 2020

I was a big fan of both of these kids coming out of high school. Puckett redshirted last fall but the former top 150 player looks poised to see more meaningful action this fall. As for Tennison, well it’s no surprise at all he’s fighting for playing time. Two or three inches taller and he would have been a top 100 player in last year’s class. If you ever wondered what it would be like to watch Shaun Shivers tackle someone you will get a chance this fall.

Peters will likely backup Smoke at free safety while true freshman Chris Thompson Jr appears poised to see snaps behind Jamien Sherwood. Thompson’s tape reminded me a lot of Sherwood coming out of high school and the junior agreed with that take earlier this week.

“He is a freshman, but he is doing really well,” Sherwood said. “He is big, he is physical, he is fast. He is smart as well.

“When I had first got here I was fast so he kind of reminds me of myself,” Sherwood said. “As he just keeps growing and molding into the system, keeps getting everything down like the meetings, practices, repetition stuff, he will be great when his time comes.”

That gives the Tigers 14 players they have some sort of confidence in to play on Saturdays. I will be surprised if all 14 see regular action but the fact that Auburn has that much depth heading into this very unique season is huge. It also means the Tigers can begin getting the next wave ready as they did with McCreary, Sherwood, Monday and Tutt. Chances are good that at least two of those starters will be in the NFL next season so having the next man up ready to go will be huge for the Tigers chances in 2021 and beyond.

War Eagle!

from College and Magnolia - All Posts https://www.collegeandmagnolia.com/2020/9/11/21432338/auburn-football-secondary-depth-zion-puckett-jordyn-peters-ladarius-tennison-chris-thompson

#IFTTT #Blogger #auburn #auburn fast #wareagle #AuburnFamilyNews #war eagle #sec #football news #aubu

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lboogie1906 · 1 year ago

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Ray Douglas McDonald (May 7, 1944 - May 4, 1993) was a running back who played for the Washington Redskins for two seasons (1967-68). He was one of the first gay athletes in the NFL

He was born in McKinney, Texas to Andrew Wilson McDonald and Bessie Mae Walker McDonald. He came from a family of seven siblings which included four brothers and two sisters.

The family moved to Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1950 where he attended Alamogordo High School during his freshman year. He played for the school football team. The family relocated to Caldwell, Idaho where he attended Caldwell High School and played on the school football, basketball, and track teams. At 6’2 and 220 pounds he was a high school All-American before graduating Caldwell.

He attended the University of Idaho where he played fullback for the Idaho Vandals football team. Known as “Thunder Ray,” he led the nation in rushing in 1966 with 1,329 yards. During his three years with the Vandals, he became a two-time all-American athlete (1965-66) and rushed for 2,916 yards and 39 touchdowns. He played on the Vandals track and field team where he participated in the hurdles and discus throws before graduating from the University of Idaho with a BA in Physical Education.

In 1967 he was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the NFL Draft. He signed a three-year guaranteed contract for $100,000. He became controversial when he was arrested by DC police for having sex with another man in public.

With injuries playing a role in shortening his career as well, he was out of the NFL by 1969. He returned to school and received a BA in Music Education at the University of the District of Columbia. He received an MA from Harvard University in Education. He taught music at the Patricia Roberts Harris Educational Center and served as the longtime Minister of Music at the Christ Holy Tabernacle. #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

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nightmare-afton-cosplay · 5 years ago

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Redskins Coach Ron Rivera Selling His Charlotte Home for $1.3M

Alika Jenner/Getty Images; realtor.com

While occupied with the NFL Draft, Ron Rivera, former head coach of the Carolina Panthers, is also strategizing a sale of his home in Charlotte, NC. The brick beauty can be yours for $1,335,000.

Known as “Riverboat Ron,” Rivera was let go by the Panthers in 2019, and has set sail for Washington, DC, for a new post with the Redskins.

Rivera picked up the property in 2011 for $1 million, the year he joined the Panthers. The spacious 5,442-square-foot build offers five bedrooms and five bathrooms, and is in “one of the best lots in the gated community of Heydon Hall,” according to the listing details.

For Panthers fans, the home contains a few special touches.

Inside, you’re greeted by an entry with curved stairs, leading on to the living area and a formal dining room.

The kitchen includes high-end JennAir double ovens and cooktop, a built-in fridge, and a beverage fridge. It also has an island with a built-in nook for the dog bowl—possibly a custom addition.

The Riveras are dog lovers and recently held a fundraiser for the Humane Society of Charlotte, where they adopted their adorable pups.

Sharing these pix of #Tahoe as a 3 month old pup and #Sierra after @CoachRiv2 and I adopted her from @humanecharlotte at 13 months old. @Redskins #NationalPuppyDay pic.twitter.com/5KYy2RTsMf

— Ron Rivera (@RiverboatRonHC) March 23, 2020

Ron Rivera’s home in Charlotte, NC

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Entry and formal dining room

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Breakfast nook and family room

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Kitchen

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Custom wine cellar with Panthers logo

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Screening room

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Covered deck

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Autographed TV cover on terrace

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The master suite on the main level includes a bath with heated tile floors. A custom wine cellar and study with French doors includes a Panthers logo on a stained-glass window.

Upstairs is a media room, a separate office with built-in desk and cabinets, and additional storage.

Outside, the covered terrace offers another surprise for the next owner: an outdoor TV with an autographed cover from Rivera.

“I asked him to autograph it when movers were finishing up,” says the listing agent, Bryan Criminger with Allen Tate Realtors-Charlotte-SouthPark. “He added ‘2013 and 2015 NFL Coach of the Year.’ The TV and cover are included in the sale for the buyer.”

Criminger notes that many of the home’s winning features are outside.

“The outdoor living space with the saltwater pool, outdoor kitchen with grill, pizza oven, warming drawer, beverage fridge, and custom fire pit are standout features of the home,” he says.

In addition, the nearly half-acre property comes with a separate apartment with a kitchen, over the two-car garage.

And, because the sellers have since vacated the well-kept home, it’s move-in ready.

Coach Rivera recently dialed up another real estate play. He purchased a $2.3 million Pebble Beach vacation home in February. Located on a country club, the 1920s, fully renovated three-bedroom retreat is near the golf course and the beach.

River, 58, played nine seasons for the Chicago Bears, where he won a Super Bowl ring with the 1985 team. After retiring as a player, he began his coaching career in 1997.

He coached in Carolina from 2011 to 2019, and racked up the most wins for the team of any of its coaches, including a Super Bowl appearance in the 2015 season. Despite his success, he was fired midway through the 2019 season.

The post Redskins Coach Ron Rivera Selling His Charlotte Home for $1.3M appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com®.

from https://www.realtor.com/news/celebrity-real-estate/ron-rivera-selling-charlotte-home/

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rickhorrow · 6 years ago

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15+5+5 TO WATCH 2419

15 TO WATCH/5 SPORTS TECH/POWER OF SPORTS 5: RICK HORROW’S TOP SPORTS/BIZ/TECH/PHILANTHROPY ISSUES FOR THE WEEK OF FEBRUARY 4: with Jacob Aere

As the Patriots met a milestone by winning their sixth NFL title, the NFL opened the doors to NFL100 at Super Bowl LIII on Sunday in a move to commemorate its centennial season. The league’s year-long initiative is designed to “bring generations of football fans, players, communities, and all 32 clubs together for a unique line-up of programming and activities,” according to SportsBusiness Journal. Fittingly, the campaign opened during Super Bowl LIII with "The 100-Year Game," a commercial that aired shortly before halftime and offered tribute to the iconic moments, players, and images from the NFL, both past and present. The NFL’s centennial celebration will formally kick off during the NFL Draft and will build up leading up to the first game of the 100th season at NFL Kickoff 2019. The NFL100 celebration will sustain throughout the season and will culminate at Super Bowl LIV on February 2, 2020, in Miami. Football fans can only hope that the game on the field at Hard Rock Stadium in a year’s time is better than the snooze fest served up in Atlanta. The lowest-scoring Super Bowl ever will no doubt produce “low for the Super Bowl” ratings come Monday.

The NFL kicked off a year's worth of celebrations for its 100th season with an epic Super Bowl ad. The NFL itself "always has an ad" in the Super Bowl, AdWeek notes, and this year sees "history and humor play crucial roles in the ad." The 100th anniversary commercial "poses the question: What would happen if a football game broke out in the middle of a banquet celebrating 100 seasons of the NFL?" The spot featured a "who's who of NFL greats," and rising stars, including Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Franco Harris, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Baker Mayfield, and Patrick Mahomes. All told, the ad showcased more than 50 current and former NFL players, including 19 Hall of Famers and a total of 53 Super Bowl rings. The theme of the ad is to "begin celebrations" for the 100th season, but "subtler but equally essential messages" are also woven into the spot. The ad is an "effort to appeal more directly to women and to a younger demographic." The Hollywood Reporter noted the NFL100 celebration will be "promoted during offseason events" such as the NFL Combine, NFL Draft, and HOF induction ceremony, and this delightful ad should do well all year, as it’s impossible to identify all the greats in one viewing.

Next up, South Florida. Super Bowl bids can cost a host city as much as $70 million, yet the “competition to host one [remains] significant.” In fact, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported that the city of Atlanta volunteered to provide “enhancements” including $2 million for game expenses and $375,000 for a media party on top of the NFL’s lengthy list of demands. Atlanta’s bid, valued at $46 million, provided for local law enforcement, hotel rooms, promotion, insurance, and décor. Costs associated with the use of Mercedes Benz Stadium, team practice sites, venues for ancillary events. and 10,000 parking spots were also covered by the city. Atlanta’s bid will be covered by a mix of public and private money. Two local businesses donated $20 million, $16 million will come from the city’s designated hotel-motel tax fund (designed to draw marquee events), and the remaining $10 million comes in the way of a sales tax exemption on tickets. The Atlanta host committee has estimated that this year’s game would bring $185 million to the region, a far more realistic (and obtainable) figure than the $450 million Minneapolis claims to have generated in 2018. South Florida, Tampa Bay, Los Angeles, Arizona, and New Orleans will host the next five Super Bowls; expect Las Vegas to get a game over the next decade as well.

The NFL avoiding a work stoppage in 2021 could "depend on whether players can secure more guaranteed money" in the next CBA, according to the Associated Press. The current CBA expires in a little more than two years, and some players are "already expecting a lockout that could be even worse than the one that lasted 132 days" in 2011. The push for more guaranteed money across the life of contracts has "slowly picked up steam" over the past few years. The AP noted another feature of the current CBA, the minimum salary benefit, puts veteran players on "equal footing with younger players in regard to the salary cap." However, average experience over the last 14 years has been on a "fairly steady decline," meaning the clause "only served to widen the gap between high-profile players with leverage and those without it." NFLPA President Eric Winston said that the "best way to ensure more guaranteed money for players is to get them to free agency sooner." Most current NFL rookies are not eligible for a new contract until they have played four years –approximately the length of an average NFL career.

An IEG research report stated that total sponsorship spending on the NFL and its 32 teams grew 5.1% to $1.39 billion in the 2018-2019 season, driven by a spate of new league-wide sponsorships including Intuit, McDonald's, Pizza Hut, and Sleep Number. Also contributing to this sum was a major spike in the casino/gaming category including the NFL’s recently-announced deal with Caesar's Entertainment. From a category perspective, beer companies were the biggest NFL investors, spending 4.3 times more than any other category. The most invested brands were Ticketmaster, inking sponsorships with 100% of NFL properties and Budweiser/Bud Light at 88% of the league. Gatorade, Microsoft, and Bose also had deals with over 70% of the league. Last week, VISA renewed its deal with the NFL to serve as the league's official payment services technology partner through 2025. VISA has been an NFL partner for more than 24 years. Moving forward, VISA will collaborate with the league to make all NFL events cashless, including the Super Bowl.

RISE – the Ross Initiative in Sports for Equality – held a number of events in Atlanta last week, including youth events and an exhibit at the NFL Experience called “Champions of Change.” RISE board member Paul Tagliabue and new CEO Diahann Billings-Burford told assembled media on Thursday their efforts are part of a mission to be more proactive. “Our focus is how to keep RISE on our mission of educating the sports community and empowering sports leaders to address racism to make our country better,” Billings-Burford said. RISE worked with the Rams and Dolphins this season on community-based efforts around racism, and both Tagliabue and Billings-Burford noted the success of “RISE With the Rams,” a 10-week program focused around two vastly different high schools in Southern California. RISE executives view their work as complementary and additive to that of the NFL Players Coalition, which also held signature events in Atlanta over Super Bowl week.

Digital financial services brand Gainbridge, part of Group1001, has signed on as presenting sponsor of the Indianapolis 500, replacing PennGrade Motor Oil. Financial terms were not disclosed for the four-year deal, but a source said the pact is worth more than the PennGrade partnership, which was $1-1.5 million annually over three years. Assets include signage and hospitality, and Gainbridge will purchase a season-long media buy with NBC Sports. The Gainbridge brand was launched last week by parent company Group1001, an Indianapolis-based insurance and financial services company that comprises four brands. Group1001 also sponsors the Indy Women in Tech LPGA event at IMS and serves as a primary sponsor for Andretti Autosport and driver Zach Veach, a Group1001 brand ambassador. The company is also in its third year of a presenting sponsorship for the monthly “Power of Sports” program, carried by Fox Sports regional networks nationwide and spotlighting Washington, DC in its latest episode debuting this week.

The Daytona 500 is almost here, and NASCAR is getting in gear. NASCAR Racing Experience has entered into a multi-year partnership to serve as the title sponsor for the NASCAR Xfinity Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway (DIS). The 120-lap, 300-mile race will now be known as the NASCAR Racing Experience 300. The partnership will deliver additional ride opportunities for guests during Daytona Speedweeks Presented by AdventHealth. Gander RV, the Official RV and Outdoor Company of NASCAR, signed on to serve as the new title sponsor for the 150-mile qualifying races for the Daytona 500 at DIS, part of Daytona Speedweeks. The races will now be known as the Gander RV Duel at Daytona and take place on February 14. As part of a larger agreement with DIS, Gander RV, along with sister companies Camping World and Good Sam, will host consumer RV shows over multiple years at the DIS facilities, as well as an RV Rally in 2020. NASCAR has also announced that singer/songwriter Jake Owen will perform the Daytona 500 Pre-Race Show prior to the 61st running of “The Great American Race” February 17 on Fox.

Ahead of the 2019 racing season, NASCAR has introduced a policy that "prohibits team owners, drivers, crew members, and officials from gambling on events." According to Auto Week, NASCAR has listed penalties for betting that could include "indefinite suspension or termination and/or a fine of $150,000-$200,000." In October, Dover International Speedway became the first NASCAR track to "introduce an at-track betting service." The new policy "prohibits the equivalent to insider trading, prohibiting team owners, drivers, crew members, and series officials from disclosing confidential information for the purposes of enabling or facilitating gambling as it pertains to NASCAR events." The policy does allow NASCAR personnel to "take part in fantasy games relating to any events in which NASCAR is involved as so long as they do not accept prizes with a value in excess of $250." Like professional tennis and golf, motor sports’ individual performance format makes races more susceptible to fixing than team stick and ball sports. It’s right and appropriate that NASCAR is taking this proactive step.

Major League Baseball, Nike, and Fanatics locked in a new 10-year global partnership that designates Nike as baseball’s official uniform and footwear supplier starting next season. The agreement will provide players with uniforms developed by Nike’s team and will provide fans with the “widest assortment of MLB fan gear ever,” manufactured and distributed by Fanatics. The deal kicks launches in 2020, when Nike will be the exclusive provider of all MLB on-field uniforms, along with base layers, game-day outerwear, and training apparel for all 30 MLB clubs. Fanatics has been granted broad consumer product licensing rights to manage the manufacturing and distribution of the Nike MLB Authentic Collection, as well as Nike and Fanatics fan gear, sold through the retail community, including MLBShop.com, MLB clubs, and brick and mortar sporting goods and apparel stores. The timing is perfect for this announcement, as unbelievably, pitchers and catchers report for Spring Training next week.

The Tampa Bay Rays have become the first major North American sports team to go cashless at their home stadium. According to the MLB franchise’s official release, the changes will result in “faster moving lines and increased fan satisfaction.” The initiative will apply to purchase of tickets, food and drink, and merchandise as well as other products available at the venues. The new system will make its debut on February 9, when the ballpark hosts its annual Fan Fest. Payments will be permitted through major credit cards, official club gift cards, Apple Pay, and Samsung Pay, as well as Rays Cards, which are provided to season-ticket holders. Fans without any form of cashless payment will be able to swap cash for gift cards. The Rays aren’t alone. Rakuten announced in early January that baseball team Tohoku Rakuten and J League soccer club Vissel Kobe – both owned by the Japanese ecommerce giant – would see their stadiums become the world’s first fully cashless sporting venues.

The Oakland A's have unveiled plans to build a gondola that would ease access to their proposed new ballpark. The A’s announced plans for a new 34,000-seater waterfront ballpark back in November, slated to open in 2023. Including the cable transport system would cost $123 million, according to team president Dave Kaval. The structure would be privately financed and would require approval from various state and local agencies. Each gondola cabin would have space for around 30 to 35 passengers. The system would connect the waterfront stadium to downtown Oakland, with each ride lasting approximately three minutes. The gondola would operate daily, with Kaval touting the system as a potential tourist attraction for the North California city. “In San Francisco, people go to ride the cable car; in Oakland, people could come to ride the gondola,” he said. “It could become that popular, from a tourist perspective.” The A’s are the latest MLB franchise to consider building a gondola to enhance their ballpark fan experience. The Dodgers and the Nationals are looking into their own gondola operations.

FIFA announces its member men's clubs spent a record $7.03 billion in 2018. FIFA has released its FIFA released its Global Transfer Market Report. The 2018 edition is the first to feature two versions: one covering men's football and the other covering women's. Key statistics from the report, according to the London Times, include spending reached a new high of $7.03 billion, 10.3% more than in 2017; a new record was set with 16,533 international transfers, 5.6% more than in 2017, involving 14,186 players of 175 different nationalities. Only 31 clubs spent more than $50 million each, but together they accounted for more than half of the $7.03 billion spent globally. Tellingly, UEFA clubs accounted for 78.2% of the entire spending, proving this region continues to flourish.

Tottenham Hotspur could make their long-awaited move to their new stadium in time to face Premier League rivals Crystal Palace on March 16. According to The Daily Mail, the London club is to continue playing at Wembley throughout February. Domestic games against Watford, Newcastle United, and Leicester City, as well as the Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund, will all take place at Wembley, with a potential FA Cup fifth-round home tie also to be played there. Tottenham faces Arsenal on March 2, but the potential both for mayhem and a curtain-raising defeat means club officials are reportedly reluctant to sanction the traditionally rowdy North London derby as the stadium’s first game. Therefore, the Premier League clash with Palace two weeks later has emerged as the most likely candidate for the official opening of a venue that was initially scheduled to open in September 2018. Issues with the venue’s critical safety systems have led to several delays and created a backlog in scheduling necessary test events to pass inspections.

In a final nod to college football, Alex Grinch is officially the highest-paid assistant in University of Oklahoma history. The Sooners’ new defensive coordinator received a three-year deal paying him $1.4 million annually, making Grinch the first OU assistant to ever make more than $1 million per year. The salary means OU finally is paying assistants the kind of big money that has become commonplace in other parts of the country — especially the SEC. Twenty-one FBS assistants were paid at least $1 million last season, USA Today’s assistant coach salary database shows, with 10 of those making at least the $1.4 million Oklahoma will pay Grinch. Oklahoma fans grew frustrated the last few seasons, when assistant salaries didn’t seem to keep up with the Sooners’ blue-blood contemporaries. The Board of Regents also approved Head Coach Lincoln Riley’s contract extension and raise, which makes him the highest-paid coach in the Big 12. He will make an average of $6.5 million over the life of the contract, which runs through 2023. Kudos to the OU Board of Regents and Athletic Director Joe Castiglione for the bold moves, sure to delight OU fans as well as disrupt the CFP pecking order over the next few college football seasons.

Top Five Tech

In the digital age, what else could you purchase with the $5 to $5.3 million price point of running a single commercial in this year’s Super Bowl? According to Digiday, tech giant Amazon, which has been trying to grow its sports presence as of late, could offer between 6.3 to 1.3 million paid clicks on sponsored Amazon ads or 2.5 million paid clicks on Amazon search ads. For the social media behemoths, Instagram or Facebook could get you roughly 1.7 billion impressions with that kind of money, Snapchat would garner 2.5 billion impressions, and LinkedIn could offer 625 million impressions. Most notably, one would total roughly 500 million impressions on connected TV, making it roughly five times more worth your money than the traditional broadcast. Although everyone looks forward to Super Bowl Ads, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see the best commercials change their platform like many other sports that have fully transitioned to OTT services.

The sixth annual Super Bowl survey found a number of upward trends in gambling, esports, and a global push emerging around the big game. According to Business Wire, 67% of millennials are more likely to bet on the Super Bowl over any other sporting event while 58% say betting on a game affects how long they will watch. Additionally, with esports on the rise and expected to reach a $1.5 billion valuation by 2020, half of all millennials would consider watching an esports event associated with the Super Bowl. Due to changes in how the game is consumed, companies are changing how they roll out their advertisements, with Facebook (58%) and YouTube (51%) used as the primary sources for sneak peaks. Another big talking point is that overall, 50% of fans say that they would support a Super Bowl played internationally while that number rises to 71% among millennials. What this comes down to is a LOT of screens for the millennial crowd – they want to have access across multiple platforms which favors marketing for the NFL, that is, if the league can keep up with the demand.

Facebook and UEFA joined forces to deliver Champions League coverage with astounding results. According to SportsPro, more than 8.8 million people in Latin American countries have engaged with Facebook’s UEFA Champions League since the group stage coverage, as part of a partnership formed in August, 2018 between the European soccer body and the social media giant. That content from the recent Champions League has generated 1.3 million comments, as well as 10 million reactions with 71% of the demographic consuming the streamed games under the age of 35. The deal, which spans 2018-2021, sees 32 live games per year shown on the official UEFA Champions League Facebook page, with that coverage supported by Wednesday highlights and magazine programs shared each week on the platform. Although the agreement debuted with live coverage on the platform of the UEFA Super Cup, this partnership, running through 2021, is beneficial for Facebook to expand its sports broadcasting (look at MLB) and UEFA to grow its fan base with already staggering numbers in Latin America.

Zwift brings together indoor cycling and video games for a breakthrough between traditional athletics and esports. Zwift is a self-described “home training app connecting cyclists around the world” and features carbon fiber road bikes bolted into stationary trainers while digitally connected to a video game screen in front of the cyclists’ eyes. According to the Los Angeles Times, the company recently hosted a 52 person, 40 km race that featured 44 certified professional racers from around the world who were connected through a web stream. Like a standard bike race, the racers’ avatars pedaled off the start line and formed a classic peloton formation. With hundreds of thousands of cyclists already signed up for a monthly subscription of $14.99, the Long Beach company is now looking to expand deeper into esports to grow a fan base in a sport that has previously struggled to attract outsiders. With professional cyclists, a regulatory body, and a growing ecosystem of players, Zwift seems to be leading the path to bring together traditional sports with its digital counterpart.

Blue Wire has led the push for local podcasts to form a national network platform in the U.S. The startup is making its nationwide mark by hosting its multi-city sports podcast format in nine markets and 18 podcasts to date. According to Awful Announcing, Blue Wire is aiming to be “The Athletic” of podcasts, except free and with a pop culture twist. They have added established and upcoming broadcasters, former professional athletes, and beat writers to their platform. And since its launch in September, 2018, Blue Wire has increased downloads 25% month after month and recently cracked the top 100 podcast charts on iTunes with two different shows: “The Rebuild with Jordan Zirm” and “Coffee House Stunt with Ted Nguyen.” The podcast company differentiates themselves in the audio landscape with quality over quantity, and an avid social media presence – the company's 50 million combined Twitter impressions a month are nothing to be overlooked. In the near future is a multi-year major video game deal, along with expansion into three more cities next month. Tailoring a national sports podcasting network to each city gives credibility and a sense of community not unlike popular Barstool Sports podcasts.

Power of Sports Five

Jay-Z, Meek Mill, Robert Kraft, and others launch The Reform Alliance at John Jay College. According to Rolling Stone and Van Jones, the organization is dedicated to change illogical laws that rule the lives of the estimated 4.5 million Americans currently on parole or probation. The goal is to reduce the number of people affected by parole and probation law by 1 million over the next five years. Meek Mill and Fanatics founder Michael Rubin announced the formation of the organization in late January with other wealthy business and sports team owners, including Jay-Z, Kraft, Clara Wu Tsai, Daniel Loeb, and Michael Novogratz, who collectively have pledged $50 million to the effort. At the announcement, the Reform Alliance founders talked economics of the incarceration system, an argument that might appeal to fiscal conservatives hoping to reduce government spending. The Reform Alliance comes on the heels of Jay-Z reportedly disagreeing with rapper Travis Scott’s participation in the Super Bowl, yet the super group of individuals spearheading the Alliance includes Kraft, owner of the Super Bowl winning New England Patriots. Kraft’s participation in The Reform Alliance may be a bridge for the NFL to take on more active social reform policies.

The NFL's Players Coalition announced the six groups that will receive funding this year. The NFL’s Players Coalition is a group made up of current and former NFL players that looks to address issues that impact communities of color. The Coalition, which is funded through $90 million from the NFL, awarded six grants totaling $2 million to criminal justice and educational reform groups at a Super Bowl press conference last week. Board members who presented included the Eagles’ Malcolm Jenkins, the Panthers’ Torrey Smith, and former NFLer Anquan Boldin. According to the New York Daily News, the beneficiaries for their 2018-2019 grant program include: Year Up, Communities in Schools, Advancement Project, The National Juvenile Defender Center, The Center for Policing Equity, and The Justice Collaborative Engagement Project, which have a diverse set of goals addressing everything from youth education, civil rights, and job progression to equality in race and justice system reform. Last May, the Players Coalition donated $90 million to combat social inequality. The diverse set of charities that will receive funding this year displays that the Coalition is thinking about ongoing race issues in the NFL, as well as education and political reform.

For Super Bowl LIII, the Dude and Carrie Bradshaw returned in an ad to raise money for a water charity. The Dude from the legendary Coen Brothers film “The Big Lebowski” and Carrie Bradshaw of “Sex and the City” fame teamed up in a Stella Artois commercial that features a fine dining restaurant. However, the beer company isn’t just promoting itself with the commercial; the advertisement is part of a collaboration between Stella and Water.org, an organization co-founded by Matt Damon that helps millions of people around the world get access to safe water and sanitation through microloans. According to CBC Radio, the campaign is called Pour It Forward and will fund a six month supply of clean water to someone in the developing world for every six-pack of Stella sold, while a 12-pack provides a year of clean water and single bottles purchased at bars and restaurants provide a month of clean access. The Super Bowl is the perfect stage for Water.org to promote their social cause platform that will make Stella into more than a beer company.

The NFL's Salute to Service Award goes to Atlanta Falcons guard Ben Garland. According to The Union Recorder, Garland was recognized by the league and USAA for his exceptional efforts to support members of the military community. USAA will contribute $25,000 in Garland's honor to the official aid societies representing all five military branches, and the NFL will match that amount for Garland's military charity of choice. In 2018, Garland traveled on two USO tours and he stays involved with helping veterans make adjustments after their service while raising awareness of PTSD. Last year, Garland participated in the Armed Forces Mission's Georgia LOSS Walk alongside veterans, service members, and their families in honor of "Turning the Tide on Veteran Suicide." As a current member of the Colorado Air National Guard, he stays connected to support his fellow active duty service members and donates football tickets each week to his comrades. Furthermore, he often is found speaking at the Air Force Academy, Georgia Tech ROTC, and with local young officers. In the midst of Super Bowl buzz, a service member philanthropy story hit home for the Atlanta Falcons, while the big game was played in their house.

After Tommy “Mr.Falcon” Nobis’ passing, a scan on his brain revealed that he had the most severe form of CTE. After his passing in 2017, Nobis’ brain was studied by a Boston-based group that specifically deals with head trauma surrounding football players. When the report came back in late 2018, the findings were that Nobis had Stage 4 CTE. According to Sporting News, Nobis displayed the classic and in certain cases, extreme signs of head trauma with erratic moods, paranoia, and angry outbursts among symptoms he dealt with after his football career came to a close. A first round pick for the Falcons in the 1966 draft, Nobis played in Atlanta for 11 seasons and was known for his aggressiveness on the field, despite never reaching a playoff game with the team. Although it is difficult for the family and his daughter to talk about, Nobis’ struggles with CTE have contributed to a growing societal understanding around the field of head trauma. His stories were shared online during lead up to the Super Bowl in the town that he called home for more than a decade.

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themeatlife · 6 years ago

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Jalen Hurts to Oklahoma and the 2019 Oklahoma Offseason

Hurts So Good

On the night of December 29, 2018, the Oklahoma Football offseason began fresh off a loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide in the College Football Playoff Semifinal. A little over two weeks later, one of those Tide players will now be playing for OU in the 2019 season. One Jalen Hurts, Alabama grad and now the presumptive starting QB for the Sooners.

Hurts made the announcement in a thank you letter to Alabama in the Players Tribune on Wednesday. For this, Sooner fans rejoiced on social media and Bama fans poured out their sincere thank yous. It was actually kind of cool to see Tide Nation wish him and Oklahoma good luck next season. Alabama Football even released this video on Twitter after the announcement.

On paper, this is a win for both Jalen Hurts and Oklahoma. Hurts is available to play immediately. The Oklahoma starting QB spot is fresh for the taking, with Kyler Murray declaring for the NFL draft and Austin Kendall now transferring to West Virginia. Hurts brings experience to the position and is a perfect transition from the Baker/Kyler era as Oklahoma prepares their possible quarterbacks of the future in RS Freshman Tanner Mordacai and incoming Freshman Spencer Rattler.

There have been some that have been critical of the move though. Much of the criticism has been Hurts is limited as a passer. That his skill set might not translate well into Lincoln Riley’s system. Here is a good look at how Hurts compares and may be used by Riley.

My take on this? I think Riley has the track record so far to turn transfer QBs into Heisman contenders. With Hurts, it is a different situation. Both Baker and Kyler had years in the system to grow into, particularly with Kyler being able to sit and develop before taking over. Jalen will not have that same luxury. He will have Spring ball and Fall camp to get into things. But Hurts is 25-2 as a starter. While he did play for Alabama, you still have to make plays to get that many wins and have that kind of record. I think Jalen will do well for Oklahoma, but I don’t expect the same epic production that Baker and Kyler had.

You’re a Sooner, Mr. Grinch

Perhaps the even bigger offseason move made by Riley and the Sooners is naming new defensive staff, particularly new DC Alex Grinch. Grinch comes from Ohio State where he co-coordinated the defense with Greg Schiano, and Washington State before for three years under legend Mike Leach. Grinch’s specialty is the secondary, particularly safety, and his philosophy is for the defense to supplement the offense. His entire goal as a defense is to get the ball back to the offense, something that the Sooner defense until late in the season struggled at doing.

While the defense at Ohio State struggled at times, I would focus more on the work he did at Washington State when he was the lone defensive coordinator. The numbers speak for themselves. According to CBSSports, prior to Grinch’s arrival at Washington State, the Cougars gave up 38.6 points per game. That number went down to 26.4 in his second season there and 25.8 his final year. While that’s not groundbreaking or certainly not elite, it is music to a Sooner fan’s ear. And given the roots of the offensive system Lincoln runs is what Mike runs, similar defensive results at Oklahoma under Grinch would produce a team that would further the Sooners as a national contender.

Oklahoma also hires Brian Odom as Inside Linebackers Coach and Roy Manning as Cornerbacks Coach, both former staff members on Grinch’s defense at Washington State. They look to replace now retired LB Coach Tim Kish and now Texas Tech Safeties Coach Kerry Cooks. All this looks very promising, but we will have to see the results on the field. It would certainly be welcome to look at the defense as complimentary to the epic offense rather than holding them back. And any sort of improvement means less on the shoulders of the offense and Jalen Hurts, assuming he becomes the starting QB.

With Hurts transferring in, the new blood on the defensive staff, and the much hyped top 5 #NewWave19 recruiting class, things are pointing up for the Sooners. Spring ball is closer than we think and the Red-White Game on April 13 will hold much intrigue now to see all the new moving parts for the Sooners.

Boomer Sooner

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racingtoaredlight · 8 years ago

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Degenerate’s guide to college football TV watch ‘em ups: 2017 Senior Bowl edition

This game is the best because the game itself has little to no impact on the draft.

All of the good and bad impressions are made during the week at practices and meetings and one-on-one drills. I’m just gonna pick out some players to watch and if you can stay awake through a whole college all-star game then god bless you.

NORTH ROSTER

RTARLsman contender Haason Reddick has been a favorite of draft twitter and I kind of feel like that was a given. He’s small for a DE but as the football world moves more towards the EDGE designation I think most DCs worth their paycheck can find a use for him and justify a high draft pick. I want to compare him to Dwight Freeney but my guess is that Reddick will line up in the back 7 more than as a down lineman.

Nate Peterman, Pitt’s not great seeming QB, has impressed with his arm talent (!!!) and maybe he’ll be one of those rarities that’s better in the league than he was in college. But I feel like John Skelton is a pretty good comp for him - guy who should hold a clipboard but might make it into a game or 10 on a team that hasn’t noticed the outsized importance of having a good QB in the NFL.

Shouts out to Datom Cat since Cooper Kupp is apparently showed very well in practices and should get drafted no later than the third round. Kupp was about as big a star as a 1-AA receiver can be in the current environment and he’s got decent physical tools for a WR. We’ll see how he does at the combine/pro days but he’s a fantastic route runner with great hands so he’ll have a role in an NFL offense even if he can’t run past pro defenders.

I haven’t seen any hype this week for Zay Jones, Trent Taylor, Jourdan Lewis, or Desmond King but I’m interested to see them on a field against future pros.

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SOUTH ROSTER

I’m no scout but this looks like the way more stacked team to me. By the time we know if that’s true or not there’s a zero percent chance anybody remembers this game or this post. Possibly the best player in the Senior Bowl was on the South roster but he got hurt and isn’t listed anymore but he’s also an OL and, let’s be honest, you weren’t gonna know what the fuck you were looking for in him anyway. Good luck, Forrest Lamp, your name is awesome.

O.J. Howard is going to end up in a rare battle for the draft’s top tight end. Usually there’s one guy who is way ahead of the rest in draft hype but Howard and David Njoku are pretty close in terms of size and physical skill which is to say that they’re both a bit freakish and they’ve both got pretty good tape to go along with that. I’ve got no idea what the deciding factor will be.

Eddie Vanderdoes missed most of 2015 with an injury and came back in 2016 looking like he had consumed Eddie Vanderdoes from 2014. I mean he looks fat as hell and he didn’t always look like that. I think that probably helps him though? He didn’t seem to lose any explosion from what I could tell and it’s not the worst thing in the world for an interior lineman to be fucking huge. Between him and Takkarist McKinley it seems almost like JMJ had to try to lose games in 2016 and that’s exactly what he did. I know the offense sucked but how does a defensive minded coach fuck up that badly with approximately 40% of the defensive talent in the Pac 12 on his roster? Any way, you won’t miss Vanderdoes when he’s on the field.

Two Hurricanes defensive backs have gotten a lot of praise from online scouts and it’s possible they both end up as second or first day picks now. Corn Elder is a decently well known quantity among CFB fans for being the guy who scored the TD that shouldn’t have counted but also shouldn’t have been necessary against Duke in 2015 and for being named Corn. Most Hurricanes fans can tell you he’s a playmaker who also has the “onfield coach” thing going for him, a la Ed Reed (no I’m not saying he’s as good as Ed Reed. Nobody is as good as Ed Reed.) Rayshawn Jenkins is a thumper with good cover skills. That’s pretty much what you want from a safety. He’s also got pretty good size for the position and will, as Miami players often do, post eye popping numbers at the combine.

Donnell Pumphrey is so small it’s comical and I keep convincing myself it won’t matter. Warrick Dunn made it. Darren Sproles made it. Can’t Donnell, who has the FBS record fro career yards make it, too? I can’t divorce analysis from rooting interest so I’m not the one to ask. I say he stars in the NFL.

The South also has Matt Dayes and Jamaal Williams at running back. My impression of both of these guys is that they can hack it as primary rushers in the NFL. Maybe not right away but someday. I can’t remember the knock on Williams - injury prone? slow? fumbly? Dayes always seemed underappreciated at NC State but NC State has that effect.

Ben Boulware could be a good special teams player and might end up in jail for sexual assault because some cop sucked at football. I want to see him get humiliated.

Travin Dural is a pretty talented kid who maybe had a lot of drops but he will never again play with a QB as bad as what he played with at LSU and he will never again play in an offense as stupid as LSU’s. Unless Jeff Fisher gets another job.

Taywan Taylor had an insanely good senior season in an offense that dealt in volume. I don’t know what to make of him as an NFL prospect because, as I’ve stated before, WKU actually bored the hell out of me.

The other defensive linemen on the South squad are legit talents (Daeshon Hall, Carlos Watkins, Tanzel Smart) or freakishly sized 1-AA players (Tanoh Kpassagnon, Keionta Davis) that I know nothing about. On paper they look like an NFL unit. Hall got overshadowed at A&M by Myles Garrett but he could end up going in the first round as well.

Can you feel the excitement?

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