Tennesse vs Akron

This week's travel took me to Tennessee.  What a great college football atmosphere!  We had a great dinner on Friday night with Jason Yellin and his sports information staff.  True to the advertisement, Calhoun's did have awesome ribs, and the honey mustard cheese dip for the soft pretzels was awesome as well!

This picture of an empty Neyland Stadium paints the picture of the frequent moments of silence I encountered on the sidelines...that is, until Tennessee pulled away in the 4th quarter.  While there were roaring moments of Rocky Top blaring from the sideline speakers and fans getting their cheer on, there were also moments of silence from the Tennessee faithful.   The silence was caused by the effective short passing game by the  Zips, and the multiple times Tennessee had to settle for a field goal in the red zone rather than a touchdown.

 

The guy pictured above, Dalton Williams, was the offensive leader for the Zips and has an interesting story.  Terry Bowden recruited Williams as a 5th year senior to play at North Alabama, but after Terry got the job at Akron, Dalton called Coach Bowden to say he wanted to come with him. Coach said, "Son I can't promise you anything, but you can come compete." Bowden thought he would never hear from Williams again since the two had never met face to face, but sure enough, Williams called coach and said that he was  coming to Akron to compete for the job.  With Dalton's maturity as a 5th year senior, Coach Bowden thought that he could help push the other Qb's to determine the clear starter.  Just the opposite happened.  Dalton Williams worked his tail off, and Coach Bowden simply said, "Persistence won, and this young man really understands what I'm trying to do here at Akron."
Even though Williams threw 3 interceptions against Tennessee, he clearly understands what Terry Bowden is trying to do, evident in the way Williams was able to move the ball down the field. Williams ended up connecting on 27-49 passes for 229 yards.

 

Before the game, Coach Terry Bowden told me his message to his team was not to worry about the crowd, and if they make mistakes to let it go early on!  Right off the top, his Zips made a statement, and by the time I interviewed proud Papa Bobby Bowden in the 2nd quarter the score was tied 13 a piece.

Bobby Bowden gave his son's team a pre-game speech with a simple message.... "All you can do is the best you can do, and much like David and Goliath, it can happen."
Bowden and his wife, Ann, were in attendance, and Bobby told me, "This is a real treat getting to sit in the stands with the common folk. I don't like sitting in the box, I like to hear the band and be with the people!" 
Besides traveling with his wife, Bobby chuckled when he told me that golf  has really become a fun past time for him. Who knew I'd have something in common with legendary Coach, we both dress 80, but in the end, shoot a 100 on the  golf course:(

When Coach Dooley spoke with me at the half, he dittoed the frustrations with  the lack of offense in the red zone, and like most coaches when they are frustrated stress "execution!' 

 

 Once Tennessee found their offensive rhythm in the 4th quarter, the rhythm of Akron's offense changed, along with the crowd's energy.  Tyler Bray threw 401 yards and 4 touch downs.
I saw a side of Bray on the side line Saturday that was contradictory to what I've read about him.  Through the battle, he was attentive and positive with his offensive each time they waited to go back on the field.  He made eye contact with his o-line and spoke to his receivers and running backs individually.  He even cracked a smile or clapped his hands from time to time.  Perhaps Tyler Bray is just misunderstood with his grizzly beard and his California roots. Perhaps the fans and the media will see a different leadership role from Tyler Bray as the Volunteers head into SEC play, or maybe I just captured a lone incident of the quarterback.

 What I can tell you from our meeting with him is that he is serious about his development as a player and a leader.   He respects the authority of  Coach Dooley, who earlier in the week gave a speech to Tyler about this being his year to really develop as a quarterback.  Dooley compared Bray's development to that of a QB who peaks in his 6th year in the NFL, also noting that Tyler's 3rd year here at Tennessee is the time for the California native.

 

Derrick Brodus was calm and cool on the Tennessee sideline. The kicker was flawless against Akron, connecting on all of his PAT's and field goals. Brodus received national attention last year when Coach Dooley had to phone Brodus on fraternity row 50 minutes before kickoff because his back up kicker pulled his groin in pre-game and the starter was already out with an injury.  Derrick Brodus gets to take his kicking game on road to Georgia this coming weekend.

After a career high performance rushing 151 yards, Rajon Neal took a minute to speak with us.  After Bray's 3-yard touchdown pass to Neal with 6:47 left in the third quarter broke a 23-23 tie and put the Volunteers ahead for good.

In the end, David didn't defeat the Giant, but they sure did hang around. The final score was 47-26 Tennessee.  If Terry Bowden's half time speech had held true, "If Tennessee makes more mistakes than we do, if we don't give up the big play, and if we continue to get productivity out of our quarterback, we really have a chance," then the final score could have been much closer.

I hit the road covering UVA vs LA Tech this weekend. The ACC on ESPN3.  Have a great week everyone!!

Georgia vs FAU

Saturday evening was my first time at Sanford Stadium, and it was a treat to experience another SEC venue!  My post game questions were geared towards the offensive explosion UGA had in setting a school record with 713 yards of total offense, led by Aaron Murray who also had a career high 342 yards of total offense (despite sitting out the final 20 minutes of the game). Georgia won 56-20 at Sanford Stadium in Athens, GA

When I asked Aaron about his offensive line, he said, "Those guys deserve a frozen treat, and he will be treating his guys to some Ben and Jerry's Ice cream!"  True to his word, yesterday I saw a picture on instagram of a bunch of grown men eating some ice cream with Aaron Murray!  I just want to know, who had the Superman flavored ice cream?

One of my favorite parts of game preparation is our coaches and player meetings.  Friday, we had the treat of sitting down with both Aaron Murray and Jarvis Jones.  In spite of a dominant defensive performance against Missouri, the coaching staff decided to let the Jones sit out and rest his nagging groin injury on Saturday against FAU.   For a guy who had the greatest game of his career against Missouri with 9 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and his 1st career interception, he told us in that meeting that he HATED football when he was growing up.  Basketball was actually his first love, but during his freshman year of high school the Athletic director and football coach said, "Son, if you want to play basketball you are going to also play football."  So Jarvis reluctantly went to football practice, but would sneak off to the gym to play basketball.  Jones had to have a coach assigned to him to make sure he didn't sneak away!  Fast forward a year later when his coach moved him from Tight End to Defense where he could hit his opponents, and the rest is history!

When it was Aaron's turn to talk, he told us about graduating early and starting his Masters/PhD in Industrial Organizational Psychology.  So what does all of that mean? Well, according to the UGA Department of Psychology website, the graduate program in industrial-organizational psychology “exists to develop, research and apply psychological principles to raise the quality of life for working individuals.”
So essentially, Aaron wants to become an HR director of a big time company!  You guys should have seen the passion in his eyes and the excitement on his face as he told us about his career aspirations.  Aaron loves gathering information and conducting surveys, so he decided to make his own survey to give to all of his teammates to find out what he needs to improve on.  The survey came back and it was unanimous...Aaron Murray is a nice guy, but his teammates said he needed to be more forceful and demanding with them!  Aaron said he loves corrective criticism and that feedback has helped him step up his leadership on and off the field!

This is Abry Jones #93 Defensive End, and he is super proud to be sporting the slogan that members of the football team came up with.  "Our Team Our Time No Regrets."
Abry also told us confidently that the new Mixed Martial Arts training that the football team has implemented, thanks to Mark Richt hiring Justin Lovett, is working for him.  Abry says that it has helped him greatly in using his hands and building stamina on the football field.
Jarvis Jones pulled no punches when saying that with out a doubt he is the best on the team at the MMA practices.  Well, he did say that John Jenkins gives him a run for his money, but he's still the best!

 

So the highlight of my evening was interviewing this stud, Russ aka UGA IX.  We formed quite the bond and have been tweeting each other ever since our special moment!  UGA IX was so excited to take over as the official mascot of the Georgia Bull Dogs and remarked that there was never a doubt in his mind that he would get the nod!  He asked me if I had any advice for him, to which I answered, "UGA, if anyone asks you something you don't know, just don't answer them...And don't get a complex about the brown spots, because it's much better to be looked over than overlooked."

I love sharing my stories from the sidelines each week and look forward to this weekend in Knoxville, TN!  Have a great week everybody!!

Kentucky Wildcats

Phew, it has been a long time since we last engaged!  I could not be more excited about this football season, and getting the opportunity to cover SEC teams.   Of course I'm excited about sharing my blog each week with pictures and stories from the sidelines :)

My weekend started with a 5:30 am flight from Charleston to Kentucky, followed by our Coaches meetings at the Joe Craft Center on the UK campus. 

It's always nice getting the one on one time with the Coaches, and since I covered Rick Minter when he was with Lou Holtz at USC, it was nice to reconnect with the Defensive Coordinator. 

The discussions were centered on simplifying the UK defense and giving the Wildcats their best chance to win. Coach Phillips said " If you can't get lined up then you never have a chance to be physical."

Head Coach Joker Phillips had a lot to say about his starting quarter back Maxwell Smith.  When I asked Coach when he knew Smith way the "Guy" he said it started last year when  Maxwell just began to carry himself like he was "The Guy"! 
When I asked Maxwell about this he said: "After the Mississippi State game I approached the job as though it was mine! I thought why let the job get away from you!"  The young man had over 400 yards passing and 4 touchdown on the night!

Defensive Coordinator Rick Minter stressed COMMUNICATION between his defense.  Minter wanted to minimize problems from the previous week, and he told us that he takes full blame for a poor defensive effort in week one.  Coach Minter said he is ready for his kids to have fun again and play with Enthusiasm.  From the sidelines, I can report that there was a lot of communication between personal and their position coaches to make sure they knew what was coming next.  As for the fun, it was clear they were starting to have fun again, by the smiles and high fives between the coaches and the players!

A Couple elements outside of football popped up.  Anthony Davis, Team USA Olympic Gold Medalist, former Wildcat, andthe  number one draft pick to the New Orleans Hornets made an appearance and stepped on the field receiving a loud roar from the crowd.  USA, USA, USA!!

And John Calipari made some time to talk with me about replenishing his basketball team for 2012 and how crazy his upcoming recruiting schedule is....NOT to mention, his Wildcats open up play on the road against Maryland and Duke!! In Coach Cal fashion, he's always a cool dude and in command, saying "we play who we play, but we better win by 20 or Kentucky fans get up set with me!"

As for feature stories, most material was in game action and injury updates, but Kent State did have one interesting story from their sidelines; Pat McShane Offensive Line man...

Pat was recruited to play at Indiana University, but after a series of Death's among family members and close friends at school, McShane had to step away from the football field.  Just as he was headed back for his sophomore year at IU he only got a few hours down the road, when he turned the car around and headed back home.

He knew he needed to work and go to school, so when he chose Kent State it was simply out of convenience, as football was the farthest thing from Pat's mind.

However, life has a funny way of working out and when Pat was visiting with some buddies from IU he found out that Brian George who was one of his coaches at IU was now at Kent State.

So Pat realized his heart and mind was ready for football again, and got up the nerve to phone George.  The meeting was set up between Coach Hazell and Coach George. You could only imagine what Coach Hazell thought when a 300 pound lineman standing 6'4" tall stepped in his office.  It was a NO BRAINIER!  Pat McShane is back to living his dream of playing college football!

In the  3rd quarter the Wildcats seperated them selves from the Golden Flashes and went on to win 47-14.

Up next FAU @ Georgia. 7:30 Kickoff on CSS