Southeast Sports

Bobby Johnson has turned the corner at Vandy

2006-10-15T08:06:00.000-07:00

Seems funny to say considering we are only 3-4 at this point in the season. But that win over Georgia was more than just a win. More than just a win over a ranked team. More than just a win over a ranked team on the road. This was a turning point for this team.

In previous years, Vandy may hang tough with a good team. May even pull an upset. But the very next week theyd get blown out by a mediocre conference team. Those days are over.

After finishing 5-6 last year with a once in a lifetime player like Jay Cutler, lots of people thought this would be a return to normalcy. A return to struggling to keep up with the bottom dwellars in the conference. But so far this year, we've played every conference game close. The only blowout loss was a 20 point defeat at Michigan(who currently is undefeated and likely the 2nd best team in the nation). The three conferences losses have been by a combined 12 points. And quite frankly, Vandy had a legitimate shot to win all of those games. But it remained the same ole vandy because they couldnt finish the deal. But that changed on saturday. We finally got over the hump and beat a good team on the road.

Last year when Steve Spurrier returned to the SEC to coach South Carolina, he commented one of the big differences in the conference is the talent level at Vandy has gone up. We have SEC caliber player littered across the team. I still think Bobby Johnson is a little too conservative for his own good at times, but he sure can recruit at this school. Chris Nickson, Cassen Jackson-Garrison, Earl Bennett, Sean Walker, Ryan Hamilton, Jon Goff, etc, etc... All of these players could make SEC rosters.

The talent keeps going up. The attitude is changing. The next step is finally get that bowl monkey off our back. who knows, maybe itll by decemeber.

should NFL schedule be changed?

2006-07-30T13:01:00.000-07:00

A question was asked on the AskVic column at jaguars.com recently about the NFL scheduling. currently the way the NFL schedules the season, each team plays the other three in their division twice. home and away. they will play all the times from one AFC and NFC division which is on a rotating basis. the final two games are played against teams that finished in the same spot in other divisions in the conference. for example this year the Jags are playing their AFC south counterparts twice, the AFC North, NFC North, and the Pittsburgh and Kansas City(both of whom finished 2nd in their divisions last year just like the Jags did).

So with this scenario the only teams each franchise is guaranteed a game against are the one's in their own division. The two main benefits is that teams in each division should play schedules that are relatively equal and each team will play all the other franchises in the NFL in a four year span.

Regarding both of those points, I personally could care less about playing all the teams in the league. I have no interest in seeing the Seahawks, Cardinals, Niners, jets, giants, etc.... maybe playing them once in awhile would be cool but i dont need to see these teams every four years. and im sure a good number of the fans of those teams could care less about seeing the Jags or texans.

While I agree that its nice in theory for all the teams in a division to play relatively the same strength of schedule, I think over time that works out. If the Jags luck out and play a relatively easy schedule while the Colts a difficult one, it would be no surprise that the following year the roles would be reveresed. Even with similar schedules, teams luck out by catching opponents when they are cold or banged up.

Id be much more interested in seeing teams play against regional opponents or against teams in which they usually play good games... pseudo-rivalries.

Looking at the Jags for example, Id love to see them play the Steelers and Panthers every year. They were forming a nice rivalry when they both played in the AFC central and even now when they do play, the games are usually very contested and very exciting. The panthers is an obvious choice. Both teams came into the league the same year. Theyve battled to reach certain milestones first. And theyve debated over who has had the most success. This seems like a natural rivalry which would generate tons of interest. Id also like to see the three Florida teams play each other every year. Almost like a Florida Cup. Battle for instate supremacy. Another idea would be to play games against former players or more interesting former coaches. While the Jags do get to play Coughlin and the Giants in his second season there, it could have just as easily been his fourth season when the interested would have almost been gone.

Now these games dont even have to last forever. Of late the Patriots and the Colts have formed a great little rivalry based on all the postseason games and the regular season games with postseason implications. Once this little rivalry is no longer interesting because the teams quit being good, or if Peyton and Brady leave or retire, etc... then they can quit playing each other. Now it just so happens that they have played each other the last three regular seasons but there are no guarantees with this current schedule format.

While this idea admittedly has a college feel to it, especially the Florida Cup idea, I think it would generate a lot of interest in each regular season. While the Jags have lucked out this year with an interesting schedule, the 2005 season was a total bore. I want the schedules to be interesting. Id like to see the Jags play their division opponents, the steelers, panthers, bucs, and dolphins every year.

College basketball playoff

2006-06-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

This is my idea for a new college basketball playoff system.

There has been a lot of talk recently about whether the NCAA should expand their national tournament to 128 teams instead of keeping it at 65. And I agree with some of the arguments on both sides.

Someone in support of the 128 team tournament would argue that for almost all small and mid major conference teams, the regular season is absolutely worthless. Since their only real hope of getting into the national tournament is by winning their conference tourney, then their regular season is basically a warmup for that one chance. Also, the regular season for the best teams in the major conferences are also "essentially" worthless because all they are fighting for are seeds in the tourney. Its not like they are fighting to keep their season alive. So, since you have all these teams whose regular seasons are essentially worthless and the tourney is already somewhat watered down with so many average teams, then you may as well just make the tournament even larger and add a whole nother round of excitement.

Now someone in support of keeping the 65 team tournament would say the product is already watered down enough and is already exciting enough, so why bother changing it? Its already one of the most exciting sporting events of the year and youd be stupid to change it.

And I agree somewhat with both arguments. If youve read my piece on the college football playoff, youd know I dont like the idea of meaningless regular seasons. But on the otherhand, I do love March Madness and wouldnt want to change it. And while listening to both arguments recently, I came up with an idea that would include the best of both worlds. Now its not totally refined and may need some tweaking but I think the general idea is a good one.

As of right now, there are 31 conferences in college basketball. I think each conference should be guaranteed two spots in the national tourney. The first spot should go to the regular season conference champion. And the second spot should go to the conference tournament champion. That would give you a total of 62 entries which would leave 2 spots for atlarge teams.

Now I could be swayed into saying that for some of the minor conferences, the regular season champion and the conference champion would play for just one spot in the tourney. And I could be swayed into saying that some of the minor conferences should be grouped together as to not give as many spots to bad teams. And I could be swayed into saying that maybe the Big East should be rewarded with an extra bid or the divisions should be thought of separately because their conference has so many teams. There would need to be some tweaking. But hear me out...

Back in the day, the only way to make the national tourney was to win your conference tourney. Now, with all the atlarge bids, the major conference tournaments are essentially worthless because the teams that win are probably good enough to have qualified for the national tournament already. Back in the 70's, I guarantee you there were a lot of people who could tell you which schools won the previous 5 ACC tournaments. Now, there isnt a sole on the planet who could. It just doesnt matter. With my plan, these conference tournaments would once again be unbelievable, do or die games with seasons riding on the line.

Now with this plan, the regular season also becomes more important. Late in the college basketball season, we know who the top teams are and which of them are making the tournament. So the only games of real importance are the teams battling for 500 in the major conferences hoping to secure a bid. Again, like in football, i really dont care about Indiana with an 8-6 conference record playing Purdue with a 7-7 conference record battling for one of the bubble spots. I just dont care. I want to see 13-2 Duke playing 14-1 North Carolina with the winner earning a spot in the tournament. Now you could argue that the games for Indiana and Purdue now become meaningless but in my mind, they still have to keep playing well because they still have a shot of winning their conference tourney. And they still want to get a better seed for their conference tourney.

Also lets say the same school wins the regular season and conference tournament championship. You could have the two second place teams play for the second atlarge bid. Again, youd have another do or die, season on the line game which would make it even more exciting.

Now you could argue that this system makes the early nonconference games meaningless. Ive got two responses about that. First, after a bit of tweaking there would probably be more than two atlarge bids and for those schools, the strength and win-loss record against the nonconference schools would come in to play. Also, in the current system, if you think about it, the nonconference schedule really isnt that important anyways. How many bubble teams each year get left out because of a weak schedule? Not very many... three, four, five? Plus, most schools have four or five games against good teams and the rest are cupcakes. So the record against nonconference opponents are usually pretty close for teams of similar talent.

Now you could argue that if you awarded each conference two spots, youd have more lousy teams in the final tournament. But the beauty of the ncaa tournament is all the upsets on the first weekend, and then watching the cream rise to the top from the sweet sixteen on. Well in college basketball, you have 7 major conferences(ACC, Big East, Big10, Big12, C-USA, Pac10, and SEC). Then you have a group of conferences that almost yearly produce a couple of really good teams(Mountain West, A10, MAC, and Missouri Valley). So thats 11 conferences each most likely producing 22 really good teams. Couple that with at least two atlarge bids, there will be plenty of great teams to fill out the sweet 16 with possibly an upset or two along the way.

So basically in my system you would have a series of tournaments throughout the year. The conference regular season would be a round robin tournament with the winner getting an automatic bid. The conference tournaments would produce an automatic bid. Possibly, if you want to tweak some of the smaller conferences and if the major conferences that have the same school win the regular season and conference tournament titles, then you would have what is essentially a play in game getting an automatic bid. And then youd have the 64 team tournament itself. I think the excitement at the end of the year would be just the same but then youd have more excitement throughout the regular season as well.

Magic select JJ Redick in the first round

2006-06-28T19:42:00.000-07:00

Not a big fan of this pick. I know Redick is known as a great shooter, but I feel like his potential is limited to college. He really doesnt have the size to be a two guard in the NBA and he certaintly doesnt have the athleticism. I have a hard time believing he could be a fulltime starter. He appears to me like a guy who is more likely to be a situational shooter who comes off the bench. Also, even though he was known as a great shooter in college, his 3 point FG% really wasnt all world. As everyone points out, when Duke played LSU in the ncaa tourney last year, Redick was guarded by players with NBA level athleticism and they totally shut him down. Is that a foreshadower of his pro success or lackthereof?

I was really hoping they would take Ronnie Brewer from Arkansas. He has the size(6'7 with a 7 foot wingspan). He has the athleticism(40+ inch vert). He is a great defender. He hustles on both sides of the floor. He is a good ball handler. He is a good passer. His father played in the NBA which rubbed off.. he has a high basketball IQ. His only true weakness is shooting. But thats something that can be taught with practice. A lot of those other qualities Brewer has cant be taught. I think he would have been a better fit on this team.

I really like what the Magic have done this past year. Jameer Nelson, Carlos Arroyo, Darko Milic, Dwight Howard, Hedo Turkoglu. Fun team to watch. Magic really could use a good shooter but again Redick seems more like a situational, 6th man kind of guy. I think Brewer would have been a better fit.

first of two 2nd round pick is coming up in a few minutes. ill just wait to post this...

and the pick is... James Augustine out of Illinois. if they were going after a forward surprised they didnt take Alexander Johnson out of Florida St. i thought he was a higher ranked prospect. anyways Augustine has some decent reviews. from scouts inc and espn "Augustine might not be drafted very high, but he could be one of those guys who will stick on a roster and have a solid pro career. He is a skilled big man without all the flash. He might be a poor-man's version of Jeff Foster, with a better jump shot. He will be a solid and productive hard worker. Expect him to be selected early in the second round."

one guy still available that ive seen a bunch and like is guillermo diaz out of miami. big time athlete with out of the gym hops. would probably be a guy who comes off the bench as a sparkplug. which is fine for a 2nd round pick in basketball. most of these guys dont make the team.

i think the magic just traded up. looks like the second of two 2nd rounders is... Lior Eliyahu from Israel. Never heard of him. sounds like a guy who will be left in europe for awhile. er... left in israel or wherever he plays.

well time for bed.

Early recruiting news

2006-06-24T13:37:00.000-07:00

The Gators already have 6 verbal commits from the same high school.... Lakeland Dreadnaughts. Lakeland is the defending "mythical" national champions finishing first in the USA today high school poll. They are also the two time defending 5A champs in the state. And they havent lost a game in a few years.

Here are some videos courtesy of sunshine preps.

Steve Wilks
Chris Rainey
Ahmad Black
Paul Wilson
LaShawn Pouncey
James Pouncey

Here is a better compilation of Chris Rainey. Link is flaky. doesnt always work. He is the best prospect of the 6 theyve got verbals from. one of the top 3 backs in the state.

And arguably the best player on the team has yet to make a decision but the gators are prolly in the lead...

John Brown

I feel like i should make another plug for SunshinePreps.net. so yea, all you coaches out there got a player who you think should be recruited. go to sunshinepreps.net! or call up Derek Williams!

Worst part of the year for sports is now

2006-06-24T13:25:00.000-07:00

I used to dislike February the most because football was over and it was 6 months until it began again. But at least youve got conference basketball season coming to a close. plus youve got college baseball starting. and youve got all the build up to the nfl draft starting.

But now my feelings have changed. once this weekend comes to a close, college baseball will be over. although i must admit im not too interested in the finals this year. i could care less about oregon st.

now all we've got are the dog days of summer for baseball. must admit i havent watched a mlb game from start to finish this year. well except for the jacksonville suns games ive gone to. but thats minor league.

the only good thing is we are thiiiis close to football starting once again. jaguars training camp kicks off on july 29th! nearly one month to go. first preseason game is usually the hall of fame game in canton, oh. this year its aug 6th. first jags preseason game is aug 12th. first college games i believe are on august 31st.

almost there....

USA loses to Ghana 2-1.... out of the world cup

2006-06-24T13:07:00.000-07:00

finished dead last in the group with 1 point. pretty ugly world cup for america.

the only real bright side is the majority of our best players are some of the youngest on the team.

not really sad to see Pope go. good player whose best days are behind him. not really sad to see reyna go. we need better people in the middle.

someone needs to kick donovan and beasley in the ass before the next cup.

id like to see dempsey sent over to england. thought he looked like the best player on the team but he plays in mls so he can only get so much better unless he goes abroad.

gooch had a rough first game but i thought he was pretty good the rest of the time. he is still really young. hopefully he'll be going to a better european league.

too bad corey gibbs got hurt before the world cup started. i dont know what team he is on now. i thought i read he was without a team leading up to the world cup. hopefully some team in a good euro league will pick him up. i always thought he could be good.

i dont think ill be too sad to see arena go. not like i know a whole lot about soccer strategy. but i do know that in a lot of sports certain coaches are good at taking terrible organizations or teams and turning them into solid programs. yet those same coaches arent good enough to take them to the top. but youve also got some coaches who are the exact opposite. they cant build from the ground up but they know how to make good teams great. maybe im off base but arena doesnt seem like the type to take us to the next level in international soccer. i think he won some college titles with the Hoos and i think he won some MLS titles with DC but the world cup is a different animal. maybe im wrong but i think maybe we need some new blood.

also, i wish we played more games against the best countries. we should play in that south american tourney that mexico plays in. we should play more european teams on european soil. we need to quit playing as many friendlies with canada and guam.

thats my little rant. guess we'll be back in 4 years. cant imagine we wont be able to qualify out of north america.

USA needs win over Ghana / Czech loss to Italy

2006-06-20T20:22:00.000-07:00

welll the USA is two games in to the world cup. looked like shit against the czechs. thought they possessed the ball longer than i thought they would but they couldnt create a decent scoring opportunity to save their lives. got blown out. looked pretty good against italy early on. they really needed to score but could never finish. were lucky to come out with a tie thanks to a pathetic own goal by the italians. plus the refs had a couple close calls that forced us to play 9 vs 10 for the whole 2nd half. still not sure why Arena didnt use his last sub. and why wasnt Beasley running around like a madman after coming in. he was the only guy with fresh legs. shoulda come in like a chicken with its head cut off.

not to kinda rip off what jeff prosser said on the local radio but how in the world could we get that blown out by the czechs? i know their best athletes play soccer and ours dont. blah blah blah. they are smaller than pennsylvania for crying out loud. we're america. we just got our ass kicked by pennsylvania jr!

how bout those italains? they totally play the role of superstars. long wavy hair. act like they get shot after somebody breathes on them. what pussies.

well anyways one more game to go. already got the morning off of work. we need to beat ghana which will be tough. and then we need the prissy italians to beat the czechs.

World Cup 2006 is approaching

2006-05-12T11:22:00.000-07:00

If you need a reason to get pumped up, here are all the goals the USA scored from the 2002 tourney... picture quality isnt great...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwqBiJoREEk

Jimmy Smith retires

2006-05-12T11:18:00.000-07:00

Sad day for jaguar fans. unexpected news for sure.

Smith will go down as one of the top 2 or 3 jaguars in history. In a group with Brunell and Boselli. One of the best receivers in his time. Not sure if he has amassed enough stats to warrant an invitation to the Hall of Fame, but he is borderline.

Ill always remember that diving TD catch against the Broncos in the 96 playoffs. in case ive never mentioned this before, i was there, 14th row 50 yard line! haha

My Jags Draft for 2006

2006-05-04T19:52:00.000-07:00

Here is my draft class for 2006. I thought I did pretty well on the first day. Getting value at all three picks while addressing needs... at least what I perceive as needs. Second day was difficult. part of which was due to the fact that the Jag's front office bungled a couple trades leaving themselves only one pick outside the 7th round.

1)D'Qwell Jackson - LB - Maryland. Florida boy. Was the ACC defensive player of the year. Led the entire ACC in tackles as a junior and senior. led maryland in tackles the last three years. played inside and outside at maryland. smart player who is very competitive. biggest knock is that he doesnt have great timed speed. some might say this is a reach. but he went only 5 or 6 picks later to the Browns. think he is a solid player that would come in from day 1 and start.

2)Eric Winston - OT - Miami. Would have been a top 10 pick if not for a bad knee injury a couple years ago. came back last year and struggled some early on. was playing better by the end of the year. they say his injury can take up to two years to recover from. at worst should be a solid RT in the NFL. if he can fully recover from than knee injury and play like he did prior to that, he could be a real steal. first round potential in a second round pick. Ended up going to Houston in the beginning of the 3rd round.

3)Max Jean-Gilles - OG - Georgia. another florida boy. Early in the draft process was considered a fringe first rounder. ended up dropping to the beginning of the 4th round taken by Philly. i have no idea why he fell so far. there was concern about his weight and that he wasnt as dominating as he could be. but was named first team all american. i think he could have come in right away and started at LG for the Jags. while it may seem odd to use two first day picks on offensive lineman, i thought that was one of the biggest weaknesses for the Jags last year. plus I think I got very good value with both of them.

Now this is one of the problems picking where the Jags do. They traded away their 4th rounder to move up just a handful of spots in the 3rd. Obviously if i were running this draft, i would not have done so. Jean-Gilles would have still be there if we stayed there in the 3rd. And in the 4th round I would have grabbed DeMario Minter, also from Georgia. and then I probably wouldnt have used my 5th round pick on...

4)Dee Webb - CB - Florida. obviously a bad value here since the Jags actually drafted him in the 7th round. this was a difficult pick for me since some of the guys I was targeting had gone off earlier in the round... DeMario Minter, Marcus Maxey, and most notably, Jeff King. King was a player I really wanted and fully expected to be there in the 5th round only to see Carolina get him a few picks earlier. So thrown for a little bit of a loop, I didnt know who to pick. Was a strange year in the sense that there werent many second day players that I really liked. And half of them just got drafted earlier in this round. I debated between taking Webb, Marcus Hudson of NC St and Jeremy Mincey of Florida. I went with Webb thinking this was good value(thought he would have gone near the 4th round somewhere) plus the Jags could use some depth at the position. He reminds me of the Fred Gibson pick last year where throughout the college football season I told myself I would never draft this guy. Gibson because he didnt love football and Webb because I saw him repeatedly beaten deep. But just like Gibson, I thought this was good value and since I wasnt sure who to take, I grabbed Webb. Even if he turns into a good player, it was still bad value. I wonder if Hudson or Mincey will turn out to be better players. He had potential. Was highly touted coming out of high school(ed white in jax). but he struggled to live up to that at florida. came out early when he probably shouldnt have. we'll see how this turns out. one of my least favorite picks of all time.

5)David Anderson - WR - Colorado St. first of two 7th round picks. Jags traded their 6th for two 7ths. when i was out in colorado, saw quite a few rams games and was always impressed by this guy. plays fast. quick in and out of breaks. knows how to get open. has great hands. will catch balls over the middle. doesnt have great 40 time but neither did Jerry Rice. I think 40 times are overrated and that Anderson will be able to get open in the NFL. Biggest weakness is his size. 5'10 and 200 pounds or so. Basically the same size and plays the same way as Wayne Chrebet. I think he could be a similar player if given the chance. drafted by Houston who is in need of receivers. hopefully he'll make the roster.

6)Gerald Riggs - RB - Tennessee. 2nd of two 7th rounders. highly touted coming out of high school. didnt live up to potential at tennessee. had some injuries and had hard time cracking starting lineup with deep crop of backs. best year was 2004. ran for over 1000 yards and nearly 6 yards a carry while mostly coming off the bench. supposedly has first day talent but but never lived up to it. wasnt drafted. signed by the dolphins as undrafted free agent. may actually have a shot of making roster with ricky williams out for the year.

So there are my picks for the year. Dont like it as much as I liked last years. Difficult because I dont know when or where the Jags will make a trade and it usually throws me for a loop. Other than Webb, I think I got pretty good value with my picks. I fully believe the first three will become at worst solid starters in the league. The 2nd day picks could become solid contributors given the opportunity.

Jags 2006 draft is complete

2006-05-01T19:24:00.000-07:00

Here is my opinion on the Jags 6 picks. I think its an alright draft. Dont love it. I wrote something on the first three but Ill address them again after giving it more thought.

1)Marcedes Lewis - im not a huge fan of this pick. I do think he could turn into a great player. Im just not sure about that. He does look like he has great hands, can make difficult catches, and has the height to be a mismatch. But he doesnt look very fast. From the highlights I saw, he doesnt appear to get a lot of separation. i wonder how thatll translate to the NFL. he doesnt look like the kind of TE that will bowl people over in the open field. from the clips ive seen, he doesnt break many tackles. He looks like a WR. he is tall and lanky. doesnt have a lot of bulk on him. I wonder if he will have a difficult time blocking DEs and LBs. My biggest worry though is this past year against USC, CAL, and Northwestern in the their bowl(three of the four toughest games), he was completely shut out. a total nonfactor. combined for 4 catches and 36 yards in those three games. What did those teams do to shut him down? was told they put corners against him. cant imagine a guy with that height would be totally shut down by college level corners. if so, thats not a good sign. maybe they put bigger defenders on him. maybe faster. maybe they double and triple teamed him in which case NFL teams wont be able to afford that luxury. Basically i think he has too much risk for a first rounder. Heath Miller went in a similar spot in last years draft but I dont think Lewis is quite the prospect Miller was. I think Lewis could turn into a very good TE but I think there are a lot of questions that need to be answered first. Jaguars were willing to answer them. We shall see...

2)Maurice Drew - very productive player as a RB and especially as a return man. very fast and quick. but he is barely over 5'6. so the question is, can a 5'6 RB ever be a fulltime starter in the NFL? and if not, is it worth it to spend a 2nd round pick on a change of pace/3rd down back/return man? Unless he turns into one of the elite return men, i think the answer is no. But again, we'll have to see. I dont think this is a case like Pearman who was just too slow. Drew is extremely fast. And he is solidly built. the guy is over 200 pounds at 5'6. he is pretty thick. with that weight, there is a possibility he could be a fulltime starter. I think it would need to be on a team like the Colts, Eagles, or Broncos though. Not sure he could run it between the tackles, 20 times a game, 16 games a year for a team like the Jags. And even more critical, can a guy 5'6 stand in and block pass rushers on a consistent basis? Im not sure he can. Im excited about him as a return man though. I think the minute he walks into camp he will be the starting punt returner and possibly the kick returner as well. I was reading in the Dallas Morning News where he averaged nearly 25 yards per kickoff and punt return in his career! Not just any given year but for a career. Thats pretty amazing. I think this guy will be a very good punt and kick returner for the Jags. I think he will also win the 3rd down role and should be at worst a solid player there. But the question remains, can he be an every down back? And if not, should you use a 2nd round pick on a speciality player?

3)Clint Ingram - I wasnt fond of this pick. Not because of the player but because of the circumstances. The Jags moved up 12 spots in the 3rd round to make this pick but gave up a 4th to do so. Earlier in the 3rd round, a team moved up 5 spots and only gave up a 7th. Then as I found out on the jags message board to a reply of this very post, a team moved up 16 spots into the bottom of the 3rd round and only gave up a 6th. Clearly the Jaguars gave up more than they should have to select a need. They felt Ingram was the last LB capable of starting right away and they paid for it. For the most part, I am completely against trading up, and Im especially against it when we give up more than we need to. Now on to Ingram. I dont think size is an issue. I dont think speed is an issue. Looking at his highlights, he looks athletic. Attacked the back on screen plays. Looks like he read the QBs eye's well. Had 5 sacks as well as 5 INTs as a senior. But the thing that surprised me, was for a guy that appeared to be instinctive on tape and around the ball, he only finished the year with 60 tackles. his best total in his career. reading all the reports on him(which were quite varied), the common theme was that he isnt very instinctive and is a better athlete than football player. which I guess could explain why he was capable of making big plays but was very inconsistent in doing so. Hopefully with Jack Del Rio, theyll be able to coach em up. I think he should be graded a little more harshly because he is essentially a 3rd and 4th rounder. I didnt see anything that had him rated higher than a mid-3rd. most had him lower. I dont think they needed to trade up for him. looks like he is a good enough athlete to start. not sure he is a good enough football player.

4)Brent Hawkins - DE/LB from Illinois St. hasnt played a lot of football. started off at purdue. left to go play basketball. decided to return to football. put up huge sack totals albeit against very bad competition. wasnt invited to the combine but put up impressive numbers at his pro day. total boom or bust player. doesnt have the size to be a DE(the Robert Mathis' are few and far between). the Jags said they wanted to move him to LB. seems odd considering his forte is being a pass rusher. the jags havent had much luck with small school guys in the past. lots of upside. but could just as easily be way in over his head.

5)James Wyche - underachiever. good value in the 7th though. similar to the Bobby McCray pick although I dont think Wyche is quite the athlete. Wyche put up some solid numbers. but inconsistent. i think he might have a hard time making the roster. Hayward, Spicer, and McCray are locks. Wyche will have to battle for the last DE spot. assuming another DE spot even becomes available. Meier is a DT/DE. And Brent Hawkins will start off his career as strictly a combo LB/DE pass rusher.

6)Dee Webb - another underachiever who is a good value in the 7th. just like Wyche, maybe the light will click on and he will live up to his potential. think he is a better athlete comparatively at his position than Wyche is though. got burned a lot at florida although he started playing better by the end of his last year. might have more of a chance to make the roster than Wyche though depending on how many CBs are kept. Williams and Mathis are the starters. Cousin, Starks, Richardson, and Webb could battle for 2 and maybe even three spots.

Overall I think its an alright draft. Could have been better. Difficult because they had so few picks but thats their own fault. I think there is significant questions with each pick. Not many sure things in my opinion. I wouldnt be surprised if only 4 of them made the team. and wouldnt be surprised if only two of them made any real contributions this year. this could just as easily be a good draft as it could be a complete bust.

Jay Cutler goes to the Broncos

2006-04-29T20:52:00.001-07:00

Quite possibly the best player Ill ever see play for Vanderbilt was taken with the 12th overall pick today by the Broncos.

Its bittersweet since I despise Denver so much. But on the otherhand I cant think of a more perfect place for Cutler to go. Shanahan has done a great job turning Jake Plummer from an inconsistent turnover machine into a pro bowler. Cutler's biggest weakness in my opinion is that he takes chances, has iffy mechanics, and is kind of a gunslinger(just like Plummer in Arizona). Looking at what Shanny has done for Plummer, I think he'll easily be able to help Cutler. The Broncos could start me at RB and Id gain 1000 yards. So Cutler will finally have the benefit of a strong running game and oline. Denver runs a lot of bootlegs to take advantage of Plummer's ability to take off and throw on the run. Two things Cutler does well. And instead of going to some crap team like the Texans or Titans, Cutler will play for a team that will not throw him into the fire and will surround him with good players. He wont have nearly as much pressure and wont have to listen to any criticism if things dont get off to a good start.

Its gonna be pretty painful to root for the Broncos though. Ugh. Im really not looking forward to it. But a lot of Cutler's skeptics kept saying how he never won anything at Vandy. Well guess what other QB never made it to a bowl game while playing football at an academic school? John Elway. And where does Cutler end up? Playing for the Broncos? Coincidence? I dont think so. Just another sign that Cutler will turn into one of the top 5 QBs that ever lived! haha...

1st day of the draft is complete

2006-04-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

I have to admit Im not a huge fan of the Jaguars first day picks. On the jaguars message board, i voted it as a 'C' grade. Here are my opinions on each pick.

1)Marcedes Lewis - Pros: Tall, has good hands, can make difficult catches, has the body to put on more weight, while blocking may be one of his biggest weaknesses, that can be taught. Cons: isnt a great blocker, isnt very quick, is slow off the snap, didnt get much separation in college, not sure he will ever be good enough to warrant a first round pick.

I dont really think he adds anything different to our passing attack. Going into next year, he will be just another big, slow receiver. He doesnt have the body to be a TE. He is very lanky and looks like a receiver. It may take a couple years before he has the size and strength to be an every downs TE. He isnt very explosive. He isnt going to get many YAC yards. He looks like a catch and go down kind of player. We already have three receivers like that. What our passing attack is missing is the quick receiver who can make things happen in the open field. Lewis doesnt really add anything we dont already have. But my biggest concern with him is his production in big games. UCLA didnt have to play Oregon last year so their big two conference games were USC and CAL. Against USC Lewis only had 3 catches for 30 yards. Against CAL he only had 1 catch for 6 yards. And in their bowl game against Northwestern he didnt have any catches except for a two point conversion! That doesnt instill me with much confidence. Heath Miller and Todd Heap were drafted late in the first round the past few years and I think both had higher grades than Lewis. Im worried he wont be worth the first round pick we spent on him. Reminds me too much of Reggie Williams. Good stats in the PAC10, big frame, 40 times were alright, but not very quick.

2) Maurice Drew - Pros: very fast, quick, great return man, can catch out of the backfield, tough, low center of gravity, hard to tackle. Cons: 5'6.

If he were 4 inches taller, he'd be a top 10 pick. But as it is, he is only 5'6. Can a guy that is 5'6 be a fulltime starter at RB in the NFL? If not, is it worth it to use a 2nd round pick on a guy that can never be a starter? He might be able to start for a team like the Colts or Eagles, but with the philosophy our offense supposedly has, he wont be a starter for us. too small. a guy like him physically can not run the ball up the middle 25 times a game, 16 games a week. just wont happen. be that as it is, was it smart to use a 2nd round pick on a guy who is going to be a 3rd down back and return man? Im not sure it is. I think every guy you draft in the first round should have the potential to be a starter. I quite frankly I dont think thats the case with Drew. I will admit I am excited at the idea of him as a return man. According to what I read in the Dallas Morning News, he averaged close to 25 yards a kickoff return and punt return for his career in college. Thats pretty amazing. And Im fully expecting him to win both jobs for the Jaguars next year. I think Chad Owens has no chance of making this team. And I think Alvin Pearman has to be worried. Drew does everything he does, but a little better. But again, is a good return man worth a 2nd round pick? eh...

3)Clint Ingram - I have to admit I dont know a whole lot about him and there are a lot of different opinions about him. sportingnews mag ive got says he is a 7th rounder. pro football weekly has him as 3rd-4th rounder. It looks like he has pretty good size. has good but not great speed. wasnt very productive until his senior year where he had 60 tackles, 5 sacks, and 5 picks. the generall consensus I get on him though is that he lacks instincts and is a better athlete than football player. he is an all or nothing player. from the front office's remarks about him, they say he'll come in vying for the starting job right away.

Im a little disappointed in the player because it sounds like we reached a little but the thing Im most unhappy about is the fact we traded up in the 3rd and gave up our 4th rounder to get him! An earlier trade had been made in the day where a team moved up 5 spots in the 3rd round and only gave up a 7th. We move up 12 spots later in the 3rd round and give up a 4th. The market for moving up in the 3rd had clearly been set and we gave up more than we should have. At most we should have given up our 5th. But most likely, with such varied opinions on Ingram, we could have stayed put and still got him.

So overall I think we got three players that will compete for positions of need. But I dont think we necessarily got great value with each pick. Although I dont think they addressed the biggest need which was offensive line.

Now on to my picks. The trading up really threw me but i might have ended up with the same the three picks.

1)D'Qwell Jackson - LB - Maryland. ACC defensive player of the year. Very productive. can play inside or weakside. good tackler. hard worker. very competitive. from the Tampa area. only negative is he is undersized and doesnt have elite 40 time. looking back at recent drafts, size has proven not to be a big deal and Jackson may not have done well in the 40 time but did in the short area quickness drills. (might have taken deangelo williams had carolina not grabbed him the pick before)
2)Eric Winston - OT - Miami. Did not go into the draft expecting to take him. But he fell to our 2nd round pick. Would have been a top 10 pick last year had he not blown out his knee. came back and struggled early. but was playing better late in the year. injury usually takes players two years to come back from. probably a right tackle if he never fully heals. but if he does come back 100%, he could be the steal of the draft and a very good left tackle. (might have taken richard marshall had carolina not grabbed him the pick before)
3)Max Jean-Gilles - OG - Georgia. This pick kind of threw me for a loop. did not expect us to trade up. even if we hadnt, im not sure who else i would have taken. Early in the draft process, this guy was considered a late first. No idea why he is dropping but I think he could come in and start for a team that emphasizes the run. I probably would have taken him with the 92nd pick had we stayed put but I would have felt better about taking a second lineman on day 1 if we had our fourth rounder(had no idea until a half hour later thats what we traded away... slow getting news of trade on internet)

I think I got really good value because all three of these guys had late 1st round value at some point in this draft process. I personally felt going into the offseason the biggest need was offensive line and when Ayodele left, linebacker. I think Jean-Gilles could threaten Manuwai for the LG spot. And depending on how Mo Williams comes back from injury, Winston could threaten him. And at worst, we'd have much better depth.

Looking towards the second day, Im bummed we wont be picking again until the late 5th. My draft could use a TE. I like Jeff King from Virginia Tech. While WR isnt a big need, I really like David Anderson from Colorado St. He'd probably be a 6th rounder. Demario Minter of Georgia has dropped farther than I thought he would. Early on he was considered a 2nd round pick. If we had a 4th rounder, I think he'd be good value there. But as it is...

Magic beat Sonics. Arroyo/Darko played well

2006-02-25T13:22:00.000-08:00

I really like what the Magic have been doing. After dumping Francis and his salary for basically half a season of Penny Hardaway's contract and Trevor Ariza, the Magic will have loads of cap room going into next season and have rid themselves of the ballhog known as Stevie Franchise.

last night was their first game with the new look roster and i think they looked pretty good. granted, it was against an undermanned and lousy sonics team but they still looked good.

I was impressed they got arroyo in the first place and last night he was even more impressive. arroyo, just like he did against the USA when playing for puerto rico, was great at driving the lane and dishing to the open man. he also proved he could knock down open shots when given the opportunity. magic got a real steal in him.

Darko also came in and played meaningful minutes. while he definitely looked lost at times at where to be you could see he has a lot of potential. was very good at finishing around the basket and was quick getting the ball off. showed a nice outside shot. showed a lot of energy. gotta remember he is still only 20 years old. if given the opportunity to play a lot like dwight howard was, i think he could really develop just as well.

with nelson, arroyo, howard, darko and a load of cap space, i think the magic really have a lot to look forward to. they are in a much better place than they were a few weeks ago.

Magic trade for Darko

2006-02-16T15:10:00.000-08:00

I have to admit I kinda like it. Maybe Im a total idiot but Ive never thought of Darko as a bust because Ive never seen him play. Now is he not playing because he sucks or because the Pistons are too good for him to see the floor? While both could be true I tend to think moreso the latter. Given the chance to play, especially with a good frontcourt partner like Howard, I think Darko has a pretty good chance to succeed.

Besides I dont think they gave up all that much when you consider the Magic's history. Darko and Arroyo for Cato and a 1st round pick. Cato is a stiff who is expensive. He barely saw the court on a lousy magic team that has little depth. And while you may hate to give up a first rounder, lets look at the last few magic first round selections. Fran Vazquez, Dwight Howard, Reece Gaines, Ryan Humphrey, Steven Hunter, Jeryl Sasser, Courtney Alexander, Keyon Dooling, Mike Miller. Miller and Howard are the only two players that should be starting in the NBA.

In return they get Darko who could be just as ineffective as Cato or a pretty good player. And Arroyo who I think makes a pretty good PG. started the whole 03-04 season for the Jazz who played much better than anyone thought that year. didnt see much action for the Pistons though because again they are a great team with good depth. Arroyo, who played for Puerto Rico in the last Olympics, lit up the USA in what turned out to be a stunning loss for America.

Maybe Im crazy but I think this could end up being a good trade for the Magic.

Signing day was about a week ago. Good class for Florida and Vandy.

2006-02-09T15:02:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to the Gator Recruiting Map. Rated by some as the best class in America. Here is a link to the overall Gators class. And here are some video highlights courtesy of Sunshine Preps for some of these recruits.

Tim Tebow
Jarred Fayson
Bryan Thomas
AJ Jones
Riley Cooper
Jacques Rickerson
Corey Hobbs
Chevon Walker
Trent Pupello
Terron Sanders
Wondy Pierre-Louis
Jim Barrie
Brandon James

As for Vandy, this was one of Bobby Johnson's better class. Still near the bottom of the SEC but good for Vandy nonetheless. Here is a link. Surprise recruit was Greg Billinger who turned down Georgia at the last second.

The only video I have is of Myron Lewis. Looks like he has pretty good ball skills.

Even if the Steelers lose Ben Roethlisberger is still a champion

2006-01-31T15:21:00.000-08:00

http://deadspin.com/sports/nfl/its-good-to-be-big-ben-151809.php

Its great to be a champion haha.

and in cased you missed Matt Leinart's night on the town

My draft picks rookie seasons

2006-01-12T17:39:00.000-08:00

Every year I watch the NFL Draft and pick players as if I were the Jags GM. Now that the season is over, I can look back and see how my picks did. As it turns out, this is most likely my best draft class ever. 7 of my 8 selections made NFL rosters which is almost unheard of while the 8th member made a practice squad. And 5 of my 8 selections actually started in some games for their respective teams!

After my debacle for the 2004 draft where I read too many experts and worried about where players should be selected, I went with my gut and took whomever I thought was a good player. In the 2004 draft, I really wanted one of the Miami LBs, Vilma or Williams, but since the Jags were selecting 9th and I kept reading that was too high for Vilma or Williams, I went with Kenechi Udeze because he was "supposed" to go around the 9th pick. As it turned out Udeze ended up being drafted below Vilma and Williams and has been quite the disappointing pick so far. So this past year I took Channing Crowder in the 2nd round when he was "supposed" to go a round later. Looking back no one will remember where he went, just that he ended up being a good player.

Anyways, on to my draft picks.

1st round pick Mark Clayton, who made some starts for the Ravens, ended up leading all rookies in receptions and finished 2nd in yards. He finished with 44 receptions, 471 yards, 2 TDs, as well as a rushing TD. 2nd round pick Channing Crowder, who made some starts for the Dolphins, finished 2nd on the team in tackles and led rookies in fumbles recovered. 3rd round pick Ciatrick Fason, who was mostly used as a short yardage back for the Vikings, led the team with 4 rushing TDs. He finished the season with 32 carries for 62 yards. 4th round pick Fred Gibson was the only member of my draft class not to make an NFL roster. Was drafted by the Steelers but was let go and later made it on the Dolphins practice squad. 5th round pick Gerald Sensabaugh, who made some starts for the Jaguars, was a special teams standout and came on at the end of the year replacing Donovin Darius at SS. He finished with 18 tackles and one pass knocked down. His stats really dont do his play justice. Of course it helps I watched all the Jags game and saw the impact he made, especially on special teams. 6th round pick Jovan Haye made it on the Panthers 53 man roster by was inactive most weeks. Did not record a tackle on the year. 6th round pick Rob Petitti I believe started all 16 games at RT for the Cowboys replacing an injured starter. 7th round pick Adam Bergen made some starts for the Cardinals and finished the year with 28 receptions, 270 yards, and 1 TD.

Overall, was a pretty good draft by me.

What should the Jags do with David Garrard?

2006-01-12T17:21:00.000-08:00

According to the NFL radio network on Sirius, three teams are interested in trading for Garrard. Cardinals, Dolphins, and Ravens. Should the Jags trade him? Is this the highest his stock has ever been? Is Quinn Gray good enough to be elevated from #3 on the depth chart to Byron's backup? Can the Jags get a 2nd rounder for him?

I believe the answer to all of those questions is yes.

The Jags should trade him. Keeping him will just fuel this controversy over who should start. According to local Times Union writer Mike Freeman, the debate has has even reached into the Jaguars lockeroom. Not only that, Garrard probably deserves the chance to start. He is good enough. And has patiently waited his turn. Given the opportunity I think he could make a solid starter in this league.

Yes, this is the highest his stock has ever been. Granted it was against weak competition, but Garrard went 5-1 playing in place of Leftwich at the end of the year. He completed close to 60% of passes, threw 4 TDs with only 1 pick. He is relatively young, has a cheap contract, and has the dual threat that people seem to live in a QB. His stock will never be higher as a Jaguar than it is right now.

I believe Quinn Gray is good enough to be the backup. If you listened to the last Jaguars game on TV, the announcer Gus Johnson might have gotten carried away when he called Gray the best QB on the roster. But nonetheless, it gives you an idea of how good Gray really is. Throws a nice ball and has a big arm.

A first round pick is asking too much but a second rounder is possible. Id be surprised if they could get that but its definitely possible. Teams value draft picks as if they were first born it seems like so a bottom half of the 2nd round pick is much more likely than one in the top half. But given how valuable Garrard has been, the Jags shouldnt ask for anything less than a 2nd.

Id trade him!

Jaguars season comes to an end

2006-01-12T16:39:00.000-08:00

Well the Jaguars finished the season 12-4 making the playoffs for the first time since 1999. Playoffs were shortlived however losing to New England in the first round. Overall a pretty good year to be a Jags fan.

Lets break the season down into positives and negatives. and ill finish it off with the best moments of the year.

Positives:
-Winning 12 games
-Making the playoffs
-The offense and Byron Leftwich, for the first time since Del Rio became the coach, really started to click before Byron went down with injury.
-Paul Spicer returning from a leg injury with a vengeance along with the great production from Rob Meier.
-The emergence of three good, with the potential to be even better, receivers in Ernest Wilford, Matt Jones, and Reggie Williams.
-Getting Khalif Barnes in the 2nd round and then seeing him play well as he replaced an injured Pearson and worthless Ephraim Salaam at LT(ill admit i was hammering the idea of Barnes during last years draft. i didnt want us taking him with the 1st pick!).
-Developing some solid depth at RB with Greg Jones, Alvin Pearman, and at times LaBrandon Toefield.
-Bringing in Reggie Hayward. Provided good pressure and signed a contract that wont hurt the Jags in the future.
-John Henderson and Mike Peterson playing like Pro Bowlers on defense.
-Getting great play from 2nd day draft pick Gerald Sensabaugh.

Negatives:
-Laying an egg in the playoffs
-John Henderson and Mike Peterson not making the Pro Bowl
-Dropped passes by the receivers
-Lousy play from the tight end position
-Finishing in the bottom third of the league in FG percentage
-Down year for Maurice Williams at RT although we learned recently he played the season with a previously unknown injury.
-According to footballoutsiders, the Jags finished dead last in the league running to the right side of the line.

Best moments of the year:
-Putting an absolute beatdown on the Titans in the last home game of the year.
-Rashean's interception to beat the Steelers.
-The entire Ravens game(Both Matt and Greg Jones going over 100 yards receiving and rushing respectively).
-David Garrards run on 3rd down to ice the game against the Browns.
-Bobby McCray knocking the ball out of Carson Palmer's hand to finish off the Bengals.
-Leftwich's audible on third down in overtime to throw it long to Jimmy who scored the winning TD.
-The flyover against the Colts.

Florida wins CaliFlorida Bowl 20-0

2006-01-02T15:33:00.000-08:00

In the allstar game matching the best high school seniors from Florida vs the best high school seniors from California, Florida wins again to take a 5-2 series lead even though 6 of the games have been played in Cali. California used to do this with Texas but Cali dominated them so thoroughly that the game was cancelled.

Numerous Gator commits were there. Tim Tebow, Jacques Rickerson, Jim Barrie, Dustin Doe, Jarred Fayson, etc... Marcus Gilbert of St Thomas Aquinas committed to UF at the game.

Didnt get a chance to see it but heard it was a rain soaked mud pit.

Expected Wins after week 17

2006-01-02T15:17:00.000-08:00

Here it is. The final rankings for expected wins. 11 of the past 16 years, the team that finished first won the super bowl, and in 4 of the remaining 5 years, the team that finished second won it all. So who finished first this season? pretty easy guess....

1)Ind - 12.7
2)Sea - 12.3
3)Den - 11.7
4)Car - 11.6
5)Pit - 11.6

7)Jax - 10.7

Well the Jags finished up well ranked 7th in the league. It was pretty obvious early on though that they just dont have the offensive fire power to be a serious threat for the Super Bowl.

So if you want to believe in history, place your bets on Indy or Seattle. No real shocker this season however since these two teams are clearly the best two in each conference.

Jags make it back into the playoffs

2005-12-27T14:56:00.000-08:00

After beating the Texans, the Jags have finally made it back to the playoffs. Its been 6 seasons but theyve finally made it. theyve clinched the 5 seed.

they will play either the patriots or the bengals in the first round. if the bengals lose next week and the pats win, then we play the cincy. otherwise its the pats. looks like the pats are finally starting to play well and if we play the bengals that means they would have lost their last two games heading into the playoffs. i know id rather play the team thats backing their way in.

but on the otherhand it would be fun to shut up all the critics who think the jags will be a gimme win, go into foxboro, and beat up on the pats!

Expected Wins after week 16

2005-12-27T14:45:00.000-08:00

With only one week to go the Seahawks have closed the gap on the Colts after beating them fairly easily this past weekend. granted, the colts are playing for nothing and rested some important starters. also, tony dungy's kid killed himself a few days before so obviously the coach was absent and the player's minds were probably not in the game. i wondered how situations like this would affect these rankings. teams resting starters when they have nothing to play for affecting their expected wins. regardless, the colts still maintain their edge but not by much.

1)Ind - 12.8
2)Sea - 12.7
3)Pit - 11.5
4)Chi - 11.5
5)Den - 11.5

10)Jax - 10.1

Well it doesnt look like anyone will catch the colts or seahawks. and remember, only once in the last 16 years has a team that didnt finish in the top 2 of expected wins win the super bowl.

Expected Wins after week 15

2005-12-20T19:23:00.000-08:00

Well Indy finally lost a game. And Seattle has closed the gap some in expected wins but Indy built such a huge lead itll be hard to catch.

1)Ind - 13.4
2)Sea - 12.6
3)SD - 11.6
4)Chi - 11.6
5)Car - 11.4

10)Jax - 9.7

Even with a lackluster one point win over the awful Niners, the Jags move up in the standings two spots thanks to a couple other teams falling.

With two weeks left, Indy still maintains their lead for the #1 spot. Seattle is inching their way towards the Colts but probably wont catch them. There is a small group battling for the 3rd spot but most likely no one will catch the Seahawks for second. And just remember, of the last 16 super bowl winners, 11 finished the season first in expected wins, and 5 finished the season second. Odds are your super bowl winner will be Indy or Seattle. No real surprise this season since these two teams also happen to have the most actual wins.

Gators recruiting map

2005-12-20T13:52:00.000-08:00

Im adding this link to the column over on the right. Its gives a mapquest like view of all the Gator commits. Not sure how often this guy updates it but its pretty cool.

Gators Recruiting Map

Top WR in country commits to Gators

2005-12-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

Percy Harvin of Virginia Beach, VA is the Gators newest commit along with his teammate(the 2nd best WR according to ESPN.com) Damon McDaniel. Urban Meyer has been on an unbelievable recruiting run since getting Tebow. And they are still in the hunt for CJ Spiller, one of the best RBs in the country, from nearby Lake Butler as well as OL Sam Young from Ft Lauderdale.

Matt Leinart gets drunk, gropes some girl, and gets slapped

2005-12-14T14:10:00.000-08:00

Nice!

Matt Leinart's post Heisman night

Come on dude. if these girls think you are just another guy you arent necessarily gonna get laid. if the girl hasnt heard of Matt Leinart then time to move on to the next one who has.

Its great to be a Florida Gator...

2005-12-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

... thats what Tim Tebow, one of, if not the best QB recruit in the country said this afternoon at a press conference broadcasted by ESPN. He is the newest recruit to make a verbal agreement to the Gators. The decision came down to UF and Bama.

He attends nearby(to me) Nease High School in northern St Johns County. Last weekend Tebow led the Panthers to their first ever state title beating Seffner Armwood(east of tampa) in the 4A championship game. He won the Mr Football of the Year award in the state of Florida. Also he set all time florida high school records in passing yards and touchdowns as well as a few other categories.

He is the perfect fit for Meyers spread option. In his junior year he threw for over 4,000 yards and 46 TDs as well as running for over 1200 yards and 24 TDs!!!

courtesy of SUNSHINE PREPS here is a video of Tebow.

Tim Tebow

Can throw accurately moving in either direction and has a really strong arm. Not to mention he is pretty athletic for someone with his size.

Expected Wins after week 14

2005-12-13T15:57:00.000-08:00

Jags took a fall after their loss to the Colts who stay continue to stay well in front.

1)Ind - 13.8
2)Sea - 12.8
3)SD - 11.6
4)NYG - 11.2
5)Chi - 11.1

12)Jax - 9.7

Well the Colts actually dropped a tenth of a point after only winning by 8 points. The game wasnt nearly as close but the Jags made a late rally to make it interesting.

Colts continue to stay well in front although Seattle is starting to make a late push. Having clinched homefield, the Colts will be the odds on favorite to cruise to the Super Bowl barring an injury to Peyton or Edge.

Josh Portis transfers from Florida

2005-12-10T12:04:00.000-08:00

True freshman QB Josh Portis has decided to transfer. The reason is pretty funny... and sad.

Mom's an annoying bitch

"Changing schools, particularly with his mother as a prominent player in the choice, is nothing new for Portis. When he chooses a new school, it will be his fifth since April 2003, when he left Redondo Union High for California football power Long Beach Poly.

Les Congelliere, athletic director at Redondo, said he remembered the circumstances behind Portis' departure well. After starting and starring on the junior varsity as a sophomore in 2002, Portis figured to compete with two senior quarterbacks for the No. 1 quarterback spot for the 2003 season.

"His mom thought he should be given a free walk," Congelliere said. "That's not going to happen.

"I liked the woman a lot, but she had a skewed view that her kid was never being praised enough.""

Honestly, what was his mother thinking? This isnt high school football. This isnt even Utah. This is a major college program. True freshman QBs dont replace a two year starter who happened to lead the conference in passing yards, total offense, and TDs the past season. Every time Portis came him, he was either fumbling the ball or throwing awkward passes. He wasnt ready to play.

So now, if he had stuck it out at Florida, he would have waited for Leak to finish his senior season and would go into the 2007 year as the starter(although if Leak had ever gone down with injury, Portis would then be starting). Now, if he transfers to a division I school, the earliest he could see the field is 2007. So I dont really understand the logic in this move. Sounds to me like he needs to move on and quit letting Mama Portis keep changing his diapers.

What does it mean to Florida? Well it probably wont allow them to move Cornelius Ingram to another position like they were planning. And it makes the recruitment of Tim Tebow more important(who btw is currently lighting up Seffner Armwood in the 4A state title game at this very moment).

Seeding for World Cup announced

2005-12-07T16:23:00.000-08:00

The 8 groups will be announced on friday. 2:30 ET. not sure if its on tv; ill be at work so frankly i dont care.

Here is the offical "pots." USA may get really screwed here!

BBC article

POT ONE
Germany (hosts) Brazil (holders) Argentina England France Italy Mexico Spain

POT TWO
Australia Angola Ghana Ivory Coast Togo Tunisia Ecuador Paraguay

POT THREE
Croatia Czech Republic Netherlands Poland Portugal Sweden Switzerland Ukraine

POT FOUR
Iran Japan Saudi Arabia South Korea Costa Rica Trinidad & Tobago US
Special pot: Serbia & Montenegro

Watch us end up getting stuck with Brazil, Netherlands, and like Ghana or somebody.

Vandy bball off to a hot start

2005-12-06T14:51:00.000-08:00

Vandy bball is 5-0 including wins at Georgetown and home against Oregon. Got to admit Im pretty excited about their team this year. With PGs Moore and Gordon, SF Foster and Byars, plus a solid inside game, this team could do really well in the SEC and should make the NCAA tourney.

G-SF Shan Foster, who was one of their more highly recruited players, has stepped up his game as a soph and is averaging nearly 17 points a game. But the guy with the potential to be their best player is junior Derrick Byars. Transfer from Virginia who is originally from Memphis. Has the size of a SF but has the athletic ability to be a guard. He was the talk of practice before the season started. Looked like he was feeling his game out the first few contests but really broke through against Oregon. Has a great touch on his shot and the athletic ability to drive the lane.

Their next best player is senior guard Mario Moore. While he is a streaky shooter, the offense flows well with him in the game and the team feeds off his enthusiasm. He is a good three point shooter who can drop 25 on any given game.

Guards Alex Gordon and Dan Cage are good bench players who both can shoot three. Forward Demarre Carroll coming off the bench provides a lot of athletic ability and rebounding. Good players that can produce when Moore, Foster, and Byars need a breather.

The only real weakness the team has is their inside game. Skuchas, Terrell, Nwankwo, and Metcalfe are all solid players who do different things well. Terrell has the most potential but now a senior has never lived up to it. Very athletic, good shot blocker, solid rebounder, and can score when he chooses to. Just has never put the whole package together. Skuchas, a junior, still looks clumsy but is turning into a solid starter. Good rebounder and defense, but still isnt much of a scoring threat. Nwankwo and Metcalfe are still raw. Nwankwo is more of a shot blocker while Metcalfe is more of a scorer.

Overall, Vandy has a real solid team this year. And the SEC has a whole doesnt seem to be as strong. Although Kentucky is still one of the top 10-20 teams in the country and Florida looks to have one of their best teams since they made it to the title game. The way things are playing out, this could be a very successful season for the Dores. Anything less than a tourney bid would be a disappointment.

Expected Wins after week 13

2005-12-06T14:30:00.000-08:00

Nobody is catching Indy unless they collapse.

1) Ind - 13.9
2)Sea - 12.2
3)Chi - 11.9
4)SD - 11.9
5)Car - 11.5

9)Jax - 10.2

Denver falls out after losing to Kansas City and Seattle jumps to 2nd with their beatdown of Philly. Jacksonville jumps up to #9. Not because they won handily against the Browns(quite the opposite), but more because some other teams fell. They still wont catch Indy.

Unless, they somehow pull off the big upset of Indy this weekend. Even then they might not but putting down a beatdown on the Colts would be a good start.

Expected Wins after week 12

2005-11-29T15:06:00.000-08:00

Not much of a change. Indy is still way in front.

1) Ind - 13.6
2)Chi - 11.7
3)Den - 11.5
4)SD - 11.4
5)NYG - 11.3

12)Jax - 10.1

Only 5 weeks left. Cant see Indy falling from the top spot unless Peyton gets hit by a bus or falls off a cliff or something.

Jax probably didnt have a prayer of moving into the top 2 before Leftwich's injury. Now making the playoffs will be a struggle.

Expected Wins this season

2005-11-22T17:53:00.000-08:00

These are the top 5 teams in Expected Wins as well as where the Jags rank.

As of Nov 22nd, end of week 11 in the NFL...

1) IND - 13.4
2)CHI - 11.8
3)DEN - 11.7
4)NYG - 11.7
4)SD - 11.5

11)JAX - 10

While these numbers can be pretty skewed early in the year, it is starting to take shape as we approach the end of the regular season. Indy is still way ahead and will most likely remain that way. Time is running out on the Jags to make it to number 1. Their offense is just too inconsistent.

What is Expected Wins and why is it important?

Expected Wins and why they are important

2005-11-22T17:08:00.000-08:00

What is an Expected Win? Its the number of wins a team should have based on the total number of points scored and points allowed. Why is it important? Over the last 16 seasons, the team that finished the regular season 1st in Expected Wins won the Super Bowl 11 times! Of those five seasons where the number 1 team didnt win, in 4 of those the team that finished 2nd ended up Super Bowl champs.

For those who read Bill James, Rob Neyer, Billy Beane or any of the other baseball statheads, youll already know what Expected Wins is and why its used. For those who dont, as I mentioned before, it tells you how many wins a team should have based on the amount of points scored and allowed. It can show a couple things including strength of a team as well as project future success or failure based on how "lucky" or "unlucky" that team is. It just so happens that when you use the formula(or a modified version of it) in the NFL, it can give a pretty good estimation of who will win the Super Bowl.

There has been a lot of talk recently in Jacksonville regarding the importance of scoring points due to them having gone 50 something games without scoring 30 points. Some argued that a win is a win, there are no style points in the NFL, all you need to do is get a lead and then sit on it, and that scoring points really isnt all that important. And while thats true to a degree, Expected Wins shows that if want to win a Super Bowl, a win isnt a win, style points do count, and you cant always rely on being able to sit on a lead.

So what is the formula to determine Expected Wins? PS = points scored. PA = points allowed.

EW = PS^2.37 / (PS^2.37 + PA^2.37)

That actually produces a percentage. Multiply that by 16 and that gives you Expected Wins.

To finish with the best Expected Win value, you need to get that number as high as possible. Now you can test it out yourself but there are two ways to do so. 1)The better the defense, the better your chances. 2)Unless you have a lights out defense on par with the 85 Bears and 00 Ravens, you better outscore your opponents by a lot of points throughout the season. (And even the 00 Ravens offense more than doubled the number of points their defense allowed.)

The reality is, while defense may win championships, few teams can produce a defense on par with the best of all time. In that case, it puts a premium on being able to score points.

A lot of people here in Jax would be satisified with a team that runs the ball, controls the clock, gets a lead, and sits on it. While that may work well and get a team into the playoffs consistently, you wont win many Super Bowls that way. If team A finishes with 13 wins but only outscored their opponents by 75 points on the year and team B finished with 11 wins but outscored their opponents by 175 points, odds are if they played, team B would win the majority of them. Its not that team B is necessarily better than their record but most likely team A is significantly worse. They were probably "luckier" throughout the regular season and were not as strong as their record indicated.

I think looking at stats too much can be counterproductive, I dont see it in this case. It is a pretty simple formula that produces surprisingly accurate results.

Vandy #1 recruiting class in baseball

2005-11-21T18:11:00.000-08:00

While this is old news Im still on a Vandy high...

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/college/051011vandy.html

Vanderbilt did something a lot of college coaches thought near impossible. That the Commodores signed a talented recruiting class wasn’t the shocker—though it might have been a few years ago—but getting every member of a group that included at least four players with second- to fourth-round draft grades to attend class left a strong impression.

“It’s the first time I can remember as a recruiter or a head coach that we kept everyone,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said. “There were some guys that could have gone either way (signing professional contracts or enrolling in college). We did a lot of work (recruiting) and had confidence, but this is still unusual.”

Recruiting coordinator Erik Bakich joked that getting the players’ initial commitments turned out to be the easy part compared with the work required to keep the players. That entailed frequent contact with the players, from phone calls to e-mails to text messages to in-house visits, ensuring they knew how much the Vanderbilt staff cared about their progress.
As a result, Vanderbilt’s 12-player class rates as the nation’s best.

Scouts accurately gauged Pedro Alvarez’ tough signability, though it appeared the third baseman from Horace Mann High in New York City might sign before the end of the summer. He raised his profile at a handful of major summer wood bat tournaments and the Red Sox, who drafted him in the 14th round, made significant offers. Alvarez ultimately turned down a final offer from Boston on the night before he attended his first class.

New Commodore classmates Brett Jacobson, a righthander from Carefree, Ariz.; Josh Zeid, a righthander from New Haven, Conn.; and Diallo Fon, an outfielder from Suison City, Calif., all earned similar draft grades and held similarly firm on their commitments.

“It’s a special group because they all held their ground (in regard to professional careers and signing bonus demands),” Bakich said. “Education was very important to every one of them.”
Corbin deflects any praise for Vanderbilt’s recruiting success to Bakich, though neither professes knowledge of any secret tricks aside from hard work, persistence and an honest, positive approach with recruits. Corbin, nicknamed “Turbo” for his boundless energy and hard work while at Clemson, has worked to mold Bakich, 27, in his relentless image. The pupil has proven apt thus far, though he tosses credit back to Corbin as “one of the most proactive coaches in recruiting I’ve ever seen” and notes pitching coach Derek Johnson’s role as well.

It’s not a stretch for a school to sign a collection of players this talented, but rarely does the program end up taking hat sizes for each of them the following spring. Consider national champion Texas, which signed four players with similar draft stock to those in the Vanderbilt group. Despite losing shortstop Johnny Whittleman and righthander Josh Wilson as second-round signees of the Rangers and Cardinals, the Longhorns consider it a recruiting coup that outfielders Jordan Danks and Kyle Russell ended up matriculating in Austin.

Sure, the cases aren’t exactly analogous as Texas tends to sign plenty of the top-rated in-state players each year and allows the draft to whittle down the class while Vanderbilt does more picking and choosing on the national level. That’s evidenced by the Commodores’ class offering as much geographic diversity as it does talent.

Vanderbilt’s recruiting philosophy best mirrors the one so successfully used by Stanford over the years, and one that has helped Rice and Tulane emerge as powers more recently. These private schools sell the value of their top-rated academic programs, mining the theory that talented players who are considering college instead of professional baseball want the best education available.

That does limit the crop of recruitable players—as this class of universities hold more rigorous admissions standards—but Bakich describes that as an advantage. He’s able to winnow his list of targets early by nixing those with substandard grades and then spend more time on those that meet that criterion.

While Vanderbilt’s academic reputation is well established, it hadn’t earned the same acclaim on the diamond when Corbin arrived in the summer of 2002 after a successful stint as Clemson’s recruiting coordinator. The Commodores hadn’t even made the Southeastern Conference tournament in a decade. Corbin and Bakich couldn’t sell success until they earned it, so recruits heard about Vanderbilt’s education, its status as the only private school in one of the nation’s top baseball conferences and the city of Nashville.

It wasn’t easy at first, as the parents of at least one national recruit told Bakich in frank terms that Vanderbilt couldn’t be further from their son’s consideration. “A lot of these kids had no idea where Vanderbilt was or what conference they were in,” Bakich said. “That’s indicative of a school most know as not an athletic powerhouse.”

That gave the staff an added incentive to work harder in recruiting and on the field. And things are changing. Making the SEC tournament in 2003 and reaching super-regionals in 2004 gave Vanderbilt on-field credibility and led to more improvements to the school’s baseball facilities.
“Early on, I did compare us to a Stanford or a Rice,” Bakich said. “The only difference was tradition. That’s what we’re building. We backed that up in ’04. To get to a super-regional in our second year was a pretty big step. High school kids and coaches could see there’s another academic school emerging on the radar.”

There’s no better example than this class.

Vandy beats UT!!!

2005-11-20T12:09:00.000-08:00

After 22 straight losses to UT, Vandy finally does it. And not only that, it knocks UT out of any bowl contention and guaranteed that they will finish with a worse record than Vandy. Jay Cutler who will go down as one Vandys best ever players threw for over 300 yards and 3 TDs.

SUCK IT VOLS!

Gators take down the Dawgs... and i was there

2005-10-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

pretty awesome game. great atmosphere. and damn, there are some hot uga girls. lots of blonde hair and blue eyes haha.

glad to see Meyer swallow his pride a little and make some adjustments on the offense. a lot less option and more protection for Leak. he is a good enough of an athlete but for whatever reason he just cant run in the open field. and he just isnt comfortable in this offense. it got to the point where the gators offensive coordinator was giving Leak the option of two plays and Leak got to choose the one he was most comfortable with.

jermey mincey and jarvis moss both had huge days at defensive end. didnt give tereshinski much time to throw and were in on some huge plays. on uga's last drive, on 3rd down, moss broke through a double team to take down the QB and on the very next play to seal the deal, mincey nailed tereshinski who heaved it in desperation.

Now the Gators arent looking too bad in the SEC title chase. while they need a little help, their schedule isnt too difficult. Theyve got Vandy(Go DORES) and south carolina. poor vandy will have a tough time in the swamp. south carolina may be a tough game. spurrier and the cocks outcoached fat phil in rocky top last night and SC is starting to play better. im sure SOS will have some tricks up his sleeve for the gators. you know he wants that game bad. even if the gators win both those games, they will need a little help. but uga's road is a bit tougher. theyve got kentucky(which should be a win) and Auburn. while the Auburn game is at home, the war eagle have been playing pretty well of late and could easily upset the dawgs. and if yall remember, the war eagle took the dawgs out behind the woodshed last year(i was there!).

Jags blow a winnable game

2005-10-30T13:02:00.000-08:00

Just like last year, Jags start off with a respectable record against a difficult schedule, only lose inexplicably when the going gets easy. ive said it before and ill say it again, it doesnt matter who this team plays, the game is gonna be close. best team or the worst team or hell even Bolles, this game is gonna be up for grabs in the 4th quarter.

I dont care if Steven Jackson is the second coming of Bo Jackson. There is no way you let any RB get that many yards when a team's starting QB and top starting WRs are out with injuries. Yet time and time again, the Rams went three wide, the Jags(for whatever reason) fearing the pass when with 6 and sometimes only 5 guys in the box and let Steven Jackson run all over them. Rams backup receivers may be quick but they arent all that special and Jamie Martin has been a backup his whole career for a reason. No reason whatsoever to be that afraid of their passing attack.

In a good note, I think we found out how much better our receiving core looks when Ernest Wilford gets more playing time and Reggie Williams gets less. Reggie went out early with an injury and Ernest got a lot more playing time. Let me say that Wilford is a flat out playmaker. He makes difficult catches, he can run after the catch, and the guy scores TDs! He is twice the player Reggie is even though he has been in the league one less day.(Wilford was drafted in the 4th round the same year Reggie was drafted in the 1st). Matt Jones had a pretty good day today if not for that last drive. He made all the routine and somewhat difficult grabs today but needs to learn to do a better job of getting both hands on the ball. he gives up too easily on some plays if its a difficult grab or if he is getting held and will only stick one arm out there. gotta get two hands on the ball no matter what.

anyways as a group i thought the receivers looked better today than they have all year. The trio of Smith-Wilford-Jones looked pretty good if you ask me. Jimmy didnt even get thrown too much but Wilford made a ton of plays and Jones caught a TD. Quite frankly, Im starting to think that Reggie Williams needs to be demoted.

Also, maybe I only caught the bad plays, but whats up with Brad Meester? Especially on plays that required him to get out and block, he was awful. i know physical tools arent his best quality but he looked slow and couldnt block anybody out in space.

up next for the Jags is Houston who for whatever reason has had their number of late. houston won their first game of the year today. thankfully they wont be due for a win come next weeks showdown.

College football needs a playoff

2005-10-22T09:38:00.000-07:00

I used to be one of those people that didnt want a playoff. While not always happy with the bowl system and really unhappy with the BCS, there hasnt been any playoff system suggested that didnt ruin what makes college football so great. What needs to happen is we need to find a comprise. Try to combine the best elements of both. So what are those?

What are the Pro's/Con's of the bowl system?

Pro's: Regular season is like a round robin tournament. To have any chance to win the national championship, you have to go into a season thinking you need to win all your games. This isnt like all other sports where you can clinch early, and then coast down the stretch. The best teams have to win all their games late in the season to have any chance. No other sport has that. (note - the stupid BCS has even ruined that on rare occasion. Nebraska in 2001 for example.)

Con's: Obvious. If three undefeated teams, one will get screwed. Auburn 2004.

What are the Pro's/Con's of a playoff system?

Pro's: National champion decided on the field and not in the polls.

Con's: If the playoff is too big, it makes the regular season and conference champions meaningless. In college football, on average, the best teams have 3 or 4 games against top 25 teams; games that they could lose. If you get a playoff system that allows too many teams, like a 16 team playoff, these best teams could lose half of their big games and still be eligible. For example, lets say USC and UCLA are undefeated come their late season matchup. In our current system, this is a huge game not just because its a rivalry but because their national title hopes rest on this game. You lose, you are out! But with a big playoff, this game becomes meaningless. Doesnt matter if you win or lose. Both teams would make the playoff. Same with Michigan-Ohio St. Florida-Florida St. Big12 Championship game. SEC championship game. etc... These matchups dont always have national title hopes every year. But when they do, they become unbelievable games. With a big playoff, that all changes. With a big playoff, the only games that become really important late in the year are the games with teams trying to become eligible. I dont want to see 7-3 Purdue play 7-3 Michigan St trying to make it into a playoff. I dont want to see 8-3 Missouri hoping to get in by needing 5-5 Oklahoma St to beat 7-3 Colorado who beat Mizzou earlier in the year. Who cares?!? I want to see undefeated USC and undefeated Oklahoma and undefeated Miami have to win their games down the stretch and then I want to see them play each other in a playoff!

So this is the playoff system I think college football should use. Its pretty simply. There needs to be a four team playoff with the four best conference winners. or an independant if deemed worthy. Thats it.

How do you determine who those four teams are? Use a selection committee like the college basketball does for their 64 team tourney. Even if you used a ranking system like the BCS, I dont think it would matter as much because the decision between 4 and 5 wouldnt generate the same negativity as 2 and 3 does. Not very often is the 5th best conference winner considered on par with the #1 team in the country. Only if there were 5 undefeated major conference winners would there cause as much uproar as we've seen so far in the BCS. And thats something that I dont think as ever happened. Not since many of the independants started joining conferences.

Having only four teams in the playoff keeps the importance of the regular season. The best teams still need to win their games late in the season. Those examples I used earlier would still have national title hopes. USC-UCLA. Michigan-Ohio St. etc.. If you had 6 or 8 conference winners then the nonconference games become meaningless. With just four, you are still rewarded for playing and beating tougher nonconference opponents. If you were fighting for the fourth and final spot in the playoff, your nonconference opponents and results would weigh in the decision.

Im sure there are some questions about the midmajor schools and independants like Notre Dame. I think the midmajors would have a much better chance than they would in the bowl system. A team like Utah in 2004 that went undefeated and blew out everybody would have had a great opportunity to make a four team playoff. Along with undefeated USC, Oklahoma, and Auburn, there was no more deserving team of that fourth spot than Utah. There were no other undefeated teams in the country. And no one that dominated their opponents like they did. Same for the independants. If they were deemed worthy, they would get an opportunity. Their record and strength of schedule would be weighed just like the other conference winners.

While obviously this wouldnt make everyone happy, there isnt any system that would. But I think this is the best combination of both. This system retains what currently makes college football so great but adds a playoff at the end to settle the national champion on the field and not in the polls.

Lakeland Dreadnaughts number 1 in the country

2005-10-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/preps/football/poll/2005-super25.htm

After winning the 5A championship last year against St Thomas Aquinas of Ft Lauderdale(who is also currently in the top 25), the Lakeland Dreadnaughts have played perfect football this year to claim the number 1 spot in the country.

I find it surprising there are only two florida teams ranked in the top 25 in the country. And how can a school like Hoover be number 13? I dont care if theyve dominated Alabama football the last five years or so. Did these voters see the game on ESPN between Hoover and Nease high school? Nease, from nearby St Augustine, which is only a "pretty good " 4A team(were 3A last year) in the state of Florida hung tough with Hoover into the 4th quarter. The game also happened to be played in Hoover, Alabama.

Hoover would get smoked by at least 10 teams from this state. Either they arent 13th or there should be a lot more florida schools.

Also, how in the world can any high school from the state of Washington be top 10 in the country? arent they too busy smoking pot and drinking coffee?

Vandy misses out on big time recruit

2005-10-18T18:45:00.000-07:00

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051016/SPORTS07/51016002

Local Nashville product who actually seriously considered Vandy. He is the type of player that gets hurt by the new NBA that says a player must be 19 years old. So instead of jumping straight to the pro's, he will end up starting his career in college. Likely that he will only stay a year or two before he enters the NBA draft.

Believe it or not, there was a good chance he might have ended up in Vandy. Close to home. believe his mom wanted him close. vandy is only one great player away from being a serious contender. he could have been that player. could have been a legend in his home town. if he is only going to college for a year or two, much easier to stay at home for that year before making the jump.

Ron Mercer, David Harrison, Brandan Wright...

Jags have played brutal schedule so far

2005-10-16T17:33:00.000-07:00

As of 8:30pm on the 16th, the combined records of the jags six opponents is 23-10. if you subtract the results against the jags, these teams are 21-6 against everyone else! id venture a guess that no other team has had to play as difficult a schedule this early in the year.

seahawks are playing the texans tonight and the colts play the rams tomorrow so those records will change. wouldnt be shocked if those records jump to 23-6 against teams not named the jags.

super bowl here we come!

Rashean Mathis is the man... Jags 4-2

2005-10-16T14:20:00.000-07:00

Great game for Rashean Mathis. yea he had the INT returned for a TD to win the game. But he also knocked away a would be TD late in the game, blocked a punt, and didnt give up on the steelers kick return to start overtime. if not for Mathis running the returner down, it would have been the ball game.

Notre Dame get screwed?

2005-10-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

I think the refs made the right call about stopping the clock there at the end of the game. the ball did go out of bounds and it should have been USC ball. however it looked to me that when the ball got knocked out of leinart's hands, it went flying back a couple yards. USC was given the ball at the one inch line but looked to me like they should have gotten it closer to the 3 yard line. would USC still have scored? maybe but was a definite advantage

Man plans to kidnap Jaguars cheerleader

2005-10-13T19:14:00.000-07:00

http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/101305/met_roar.shtml

"According to police, the target was a Jaguars cheerleader and three of the men were planning to break into her apartment."They were very well-known by Neptune Beach and the other Beaches communities as thugs," Sembach told First Coast News.Police told First Coast News one of the men has since confessed to the plot: to kidnap her, tie her up, rape her, then murder her. Then they'd sell her car to criminals in Miami."

confessed to the plot? while you're at it, tell them you plan to assassinate the president, assist the next terrorist bombing, and put poison in an elementary school cafeteria!

idiots...

Fighting Sioux are no more

2005-10-03T19:26:00.000-07:00

While I personally could care less about North Dakota, their mascot, or anything else with the state, one of my buddies went there. If I were him, Id be PISSED! while fighting sioux isnt exactly an awesome mascot or anything, the world is getting too PC for its own good. so while some tribes found it be on an honor, a couple others didnt, so theyve got to ruin it for everybody.

i personally could care less about florida state university. but i was glad they kept the seminoles. and i guarantee you, if it wasnt for the university mascot, most people in this country wouldnt have a fucking clue what a seminole is and probably would never have heard of it except for a small little blurb in a 6th grade history book.

now granted the fighting sioux is a little different. the college mascot isnt as widely known as the florida state seminole and of all the indian tribes, the sioux name is more recognizable than most. but if you ask me, this is just one more step in the burying of the past of this country. not that i care much about the history of the indians, but its kinda sad that the way this country is going, my grandkids probably wont ever learn what an indian is. although maybe no memory at all is better than some phony caricature. whatever...

Vandy, gators, and jags all suck this weekend

2005-10-03T19:09:00.000-07:00

havent posted in awhile. been busy working. went to a wedding this past weekend. etc...

anyways it was probably a good weekend for me to be away from the television.

jaguars play, according to those who saw it, one of the worst games in their history. i dont understand what happened to this offensive line. by the end of Del Rio's first season, they were one of the better and most unappreciated lines in the whole league. he brought a toughness to the line that we never saw under coughlin. slowly but surely that has gone away. and now this year the offensive line, the exact same as two years ago minus LT Pearson who plays sparely coming back from injury, is awful. they dont open any holes in the running game. leftwich has very little time and is getting hit more often than ricky williams' bong. this is easily the toughest part of their schedule, but if that offensive line doesnt shape up, theyll be too far behind to make a run for the wildcard when the schedule softens up.

gators get blown out by bama. im bummed but not surprised. bama's defense is good. the 49 points the gators O put on kentucky in the first half shows what the offense can do but its still inconsistent. chris leak looks awful trying to run the option. i know deshawn wynn out ran the miami defense on one play two years ago, but he is just too slow finding the hole. they need to play manson. thats what they get when they dont have any RBs from the state of florida. all their current ones are too SLOW. even though its a tough loss, the season isnt over. they probably werent going to go undefeated so national championship was out of the question. and losing to an SEC west team doesnt hurt them. theyve already beat UT so theyve got the one game cushion on them. and if they beat georgia, theyll have the one game cushion on them. so SEC title game is still in their hands if they win their remaining SEC games. LSU and UGA are the tough ones remaining.

vandy might have blown their bowl chances by losing to MTSU. didnt watch it so im not sure what happened. probably for the best i didnt watch. i dont know why theyve had trouble beating that school. granted MTSU usually gets a few recruits each year that would have gone to SEC schools but were too stupid and couldnt get past admissions so they end up in murfreesboro. but they shouldnt have so many of these recruits that they outplay vandy. still, a bowl game is still in reach but it will tough. they are 4-1 with six games to go so they need to win two. four of those games are LSU, UT, UGA, and UF. talk about murderers row. those are all losses. but they also have Kentucky and South Carolina. Kentucky is especially bad this year and Vandy has a decent chance of winning. The cocks havent looked too sharp in Spurriers first year. they dont have a consistently accurate QB and not many playmakers at WR. i think theyll be dangerous in a year or two when Spurrier can bring in some of his own players. but this year they arent very good and Vandy can beat them if they play well. so those are the two games theyll have to win.

Vandy and Gators win

2005-09-05T16:35:00.000-07:00

Pretty good way to start of the first weekend of college football!

Unfortunately I was unable to watch the Vandy game. Headed down to Sneakers at the beach after calling and asking if they had ESPNU(was told they did), only to find out when I get there that they arent showing it. what made it even worse was I asked the president of the local Vandy alumni to tell all the other vandy grads that I was watching the game at Sneakers. whoops! hope nobody showed up.

anyways, all sec QB Cutler had a huge game. 276 yards passing. 89 yards rushing. Led the offense on a game winning touchdown drive with under 2 minutes to go.

the new starter at RB Jeff Jennings averaged more than 5 yards a carry, but only ran it 8 times.

first time theyve won the season opener in the bobby johnson era. first time in 8 years.

and even more amazing, it looked like Wake was going to drive down for the winning score leaving vandy to suffer another heart breaking collapse of a defeat. but this time the defense rose to the occasion and said Hell No!

i cant remember the last time Vandy played so aggressively on offense and defense. i think we were all hoping the coaches would see how effective the offense was last year against tennessee throwing the ball all over the field.

the only real negative was the defense allowing 254 yards to some nobody RB micah andrews. just wait until they play tennessee.

anyways great win!

the urban meyer era kicked off with a win over wyoming. probably wasnt the triumphant blowout that many hoped for. but was a win nonetheless.

the offense definitely was sluggish at time. and its yet to be proved that Leak is comfortable carrying the ball.

more importantly though the defense seemed to play with more aggression and looked a lot better. looks as though all that time trying to instill some toughness has worn off.

next week they get a cupcake in la tech. and then the first big game for meyer. tennesssee.

Mexicans: "They suck"

2005-09-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Landon Donovan is now my second favorite player on the men's national soccer team behind my boy Eddie Johnson of Bunnell, FL!

http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=reu-worldmexicolavolpedc&prov=reuters&type=lgns

'Donovan said the Mexicans were jealous of the U.S., always out to humiliate them and he wanted to make them feel miserable.

After Saturday's match, Donovan was in no more conciliatory mood.

"They suck," he said. "I'm so happy. After we got that first goal they were never in the game. Hopefully that will shut them up for the next three or four years." '

hahaha...

btw, the mens national team has officially qualified for the 2006 World Cup. While its nice that theyve officially made it, was there ever any doubt?

Only one of my draft picks didnt make a 53 man roster...

2005-09-05T16:22:00.000-07:00

So far so good with my 2005 draft pick. All of my draft picks made 53 man rosters except for one, Fred Gibson. I remember early in his career there was talk of him being a lock as a first day draft pick and maybe even a first rounder.

Look how far he has fallen. Steelers take him in the 4th round only to cut him a couple days ago. Have not heard why they made the decision but it came as a big surprise to me. The one steelers preseason game I watched Gibson looked pretty good. Caught everything thrown his way. And with the departure of Plaxico, I thought they would be in need of a big receiver.

The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is maybe Gibson's heart wasnt in it. I remember when he was a frosh or soph at Georgia reading an interview of his where he said he only played football because he was good at it but his love was basketball. Also, I remember watching report about how NFL teams take different approaches at the combine. Teams like the Giants ask players all sorts of reason/logic questions to determine intelligence while the Steelers didnt ask many at all. And the one thing they tried to learn of all players they interviewed was how much they loved football. Maybe that had something to do with the decision to cut him.

Anyways, enough about Gibson. Here are my other draft picks and the teams whose roster they made.

Mark Clayton - Baltimore
Channing Crowder - Miami
Ciatrick Fason - Minnesota
Gerald Sensabaugh - Jacksonville
Jovan Haye - Carolina
Rob Petitti - Dallas
Adam Bergen - Arizona

How often do you see 6th and 7th rounders make the final cuts for NFL teams? And all three of mine did!

Matt Jones still hasnt signed

2005-08-01T19:01:00.000-07:00

Well 2 hours until monday has officially past. Matt Jones still hasnt signed. I know quite a few first rounders havent as well but youd think when you got a guy making a position switch they would put a little more emphasis on getting him signed in time.

I dont want state this as if its a fact but I get the feeling Paul Vance, the jags GM, is the one to blame for this. Jones' agent Dave Butz, works for Sportstars, an agency known for signing players early. Quote from Len Pasquarelli... "Don't bet against one of the Sportstars clients becoming the initial first-round choice to reach a contract accord. Led by superb number cruncher Brian Mackler, the firm has developed a reputation for being proactive in negotiations and annually seems to be out front in striking deals." Vance on the other hand is known for playing a little hardball when it comes to handing out contracts; understandably so considering he had to clean up the Jags salary cap mess.

The problem is Vance sometimes plays a little too much hardball. We've seen this before. Byron Leftwich was a 19 day hold out because Vance didnt want to give extra incentives that usually go to rookie QBs. In the end, Vance pretty much caved and Leftwich's agent got most of what he wanted for his client.

In this case with Matt Jones, I cant imagine its his agent causing the holdout. Again, Sportstars is known for getting players to camp on time. They dont reacte to the market. They set the market. Im sure there are a lot of little things to iron but the basic numbers for each draft pick are pretty well set. Its based on the contracts similar picks the previous year received and contracts from surrounding picks in the same year. The sides cant be arguing over millions of dollars here. They are arguing over nit picky little details that would not ruin the cap.

I appreciate Vance trying to be careful but I dont care if he needs to be a little "lenient"(lenient for him at least) once a year when signing the Jags first round pick. Get these players into camp and quit worrying about something stupid like a $200k roster bonus three years from now! The contracts are basically set! Get the deal done!

SEC preseason out... Cutler 1st team QB!

2005-07-21T17:52:00.000-07:00

All SEC Selections

1st team Vandy players

Jay Cutler - QB
Moses Osemwegie - LB

1st team Florida players

Mike Degory - C
Andre Caldwell - WR

There is a lot of uproar from Gator fans about Leak being sent to 2nd team while a QB from lowly Vandy takes the top spot. Not just cuz I went to Vandy, but Id personally take Cutler as well. Yea Chris Leak has better stats. But he has a better offensive line. better receivers. better running game. and he doesnt play on a slow tempo, ball control, eat up the clock offense that Vandy attempts to run. If Chris Leak played at Vandy, his stats would be awful.

Also, Cutler is physically superior to Leak. Bigger. Stronger arm. Better runner. Tougher. Cutler almost left school early last year to go to the NFL. The Chris Leak we've seen so far wouldnt sniff a pro roster. He isnt very big... listed just at 6 feet tall. And has very little velocity on his throws. Cutler on the otherhand, this may be shocking to say, is pretty close physically to an ideal NFL QB. 6'4, 225. strong arm. good athlete that can escape the pocket and run. Cutler at this point is a much better pro prospect. He is probably the best pro prospect at the position in the whole conference.

There was one Gator that did get screwed however. Brandon Siler. No way should be 3rd team. First of all he is the best LB on the team even though Earl Everett somehow earned a 2nd team spot. Secondly Brandon Siler might be the best LB in the conference. I really dont understand how the coaches think there are 8 better LBs in the SEC. I woulda guess because he is only going to be a sophmore but they have Ko Simpson, 2nd year player from SC, on the 1st team. Ill put money on the fact that he will be first team SEC at the end of the year!

What state produces the best football players?

2005-07-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

thats an argument that has raged for a long time which will probably never produce an answer. its widely known that people from texas think that they have far and away the best football players. people from california and florida would argue otherwise. youd have a hard time convincing people from ohio and pennsylvania that the so called birthplace of football would no longer play it the best. the only way to ever know for sure is for each state to form there own teams and then play. that will never happen so we are left to guess. but instead of guessing, lets look at a few facts...

first, here is a list, thanks to nflhs.com, listing the number of players in the 2004 season of the NFL that come from each state. The top 10(with the number of NFLers per state) is listed here.

1)California - 200
2)Texas - 174
3)Florida - 173
4)Georgia - 86
5)Louisiana - 84
6)Ohio - 73
7)Pennsylvania - 60
8)South Carolina - 53
9)Virginia - 51
10)Mississippi - 48

Now obviously this doesnt prove everything because California has far and away more people than any other state so its no surprise theyve produced more players than any other state. So a better way is to see how many players come from each state based per population of that state. Here is the list of NFL players per state divided by the population of that state(per million's). 2004 population figures are provided by census.gov. so here are the top 10 players per population(ppp)...

1)Louisiana - 18.7
2)Mississippi - 16.6
3)South Carolina - 12.2
4)Florida - 9.9
5)Georgia - 9.8
6)Alabama - 9.3
7)Hawaii - 8.7
8)Iowa - 8.5
9)Nebraska - 8.2
10)Texas - 7.7

now i quickly ran through the numbers but im fairly sure they are accurate. to no surprise of my own, the top of the ppp list is dominated by SEC states(was there ever a doubt?). Hawaii scored so well due in part to low population but also the american samoan influence. Iowa really surprised me. 25 players from a state with only 2.95 million people. fairly impressive for a state with a low percentage of black people which make up a strong percentage of the NFL. Nebraska doesnt surprise me as much since the state is Cornhusker crazy and id guess kids grow up to be either farmers or football players. maybe the same is true for Iowa but i never would have guessed the crazed passion for football that their neighbors have.

the only thing may prove to be a sticking point is Washington DC. Its not officially a state so the 10 players who call the capital home are not being counted. Some would argue that DC should count as a state itself which would put it #2 overall on the ppp list. But that seems rather unfair considering if the city of Miami or Houston or San Diego was not affiliated with any state, their ppp would probably exceed District Columbia. They only fair thing to do is to lump it with either Virginia or Maryland. And even if you do include the DC players and population to either state, neither would crack to the top 10 for the ppp list so i dont think there is really anything left to debate.

Anyways back to which state wins the argument. Well Louisiana, Florida, and Georgia were the only states in the top 5 for both categories. I think Georgia can be eliminated because they have less overall and less ppp than Florida so they can not be the best which now leaves us with two. While my homerism wants me to pull for Florida, its hard to deny the fact that Louisiana produces twice as many NFL players per person. Although for a state with the population that Florida has(not to forget all the retiree's that have flooded the state and call it home), to have the 4th best ppp is pretty impressive in itself. so in my mind the only states that have legitimate claim are Florida and Louisiana. but ill have to settle that debate for another time...

Titans acquire Travis Henry

2005-07-17T17:10:00.000-07:00

Saving the Jags a third round pick for a guy who might not even play all that much depending on fred taylors health, the titans traded for travis henry. not entirely sure why the titans would make this move. theyve already got a solid RB in chris brown. granted, he isnt anything special but he is a solid player who has only been in the NFL for two years. last year was his first as a starter and he gained over a 1000 yards in only 11 games for a lousy team averaging almost 5 yards a carry. the only problem with him is he may be injury prone missing time his first two years. but even still, why spend a first day draft pick on a guy and give a multiyear contract to henry if you are the titans? are you already convinced that brown isnt going to be the guy? youve been decimated by the salary cap so you have little depth and think that giving away first day draft picks is the answer? and its not like they are going to be any good next year so its not like they are beefing up for a run at the super bowl. i cant imagine them doing it just to prevent the jags from getting henry. its not necessarily a bad move for the titans but one that doesnt really serve a pupose. whatever.

Jags trading for Travis Henry?

2005-07-09T17:14:00.000-07:00

Rumors fly about Henry...

and earlier this afternoon on ESPN radio John Clayton was also talking about this.

Couple things I dont get about this. Travis Henry only has one year left on his contract. So you mean to tell me the Jags are going to spend a first day draft pick on a one year player who may or may not play based on Taylor's health? If so, they better win the Super Bowl or else they are just wasting what could be a 2nd round draft pick. In that case, they would be better off letting Toefield, Jones, and Pearman get the remaining carries to learn how to play in the NFL. baptism by fire.

But maybe they wont do that. maybe they dont want to have Travis Henry for one year. Lets assume they agree to a long term contract for Travis Henry before trading away a first day draft pick. So then what does that mean for Fred Taylor? does that mean he is good as gone? Taylor cant be so hurt that he will miss the whole season or else the jags would have made a move for a RB long before now. So when Taylor does come back healthy, do they send Henry to the bench where he will sit and pout due to not starting like he is doing in buffalo? Or do they get rid of Taylor, who is the better RB, because they gave away a first day pick and a long term contract for a guy who complains when he isnt the starter?

and thats not the only concern with a guy like travis henry. on the field, he has a history of fumbling the football and obviously he isnt a team player. and off the field he is a fucking moron who doesnt have his head on straight. unless you want to argue that its quite normal for players in the NFL to sleep with 15 year olds. and on top of it, the guy is quite arguably the dumbest player in the NFL. most athletes get pushed along in school but no matter how stupid they are, the vast majority of them graduate high school with their classmates. Henry however was too stupid even for that and required a special "participatory diploma" in order to make it out of high school( no surprise he then got accepted by the university of tennessee). and then as a perfect example of his brilliance, he blew most of his money and had to sheepishly ask the Bills to restructure his contract so he could actually have money to pay the bills.

didnt wayne weaver say something about high character guys once?

21 days till football begins!

2005-07-09T17:11:00.000-07:00

Jags first practice is saturday, july 30th, 10:15 AM. 21 days away!

Wyatt Sexton to miss 05 season

2005-07-09T13:30:00.000-07:00

wow. God can get lyme disease. learn something everyday.

Urban Meyer > Ron Zook in every way possible

2005-07-07T16:32:00.000-07:00

After three miserable years of Ron Zook, the only good thing we were left with a pretty talented team. Sure the team was full of underachievers and never got the best coaching, but at least they were talented. they had potential. Cant deny the fact that Zook was an above average recruiter.

But so far, in a little over 6 months, Meyer has been everything Zook wishes he could be when it comes to recruiting. First he landed a pretty good haul in 2005 with not much more than a month to work. While Zook was known for being a great recruiter, like Bobby Bowden he sometimes focused too much on stars instead of replenishing depth. as a result the secondary and LBs are super thin. But with only a month to recruit Meyer landed a 5 star CB from Daytona and Juco safety from melbourne along with a 4 star safety from Miami. And LB being the most desperate need he got 4 star players from Jacksonville, Pensacola, and Columbus Ga.

And so far this year he is already landing a pretty solid class. top 10 players in the country at their position from north carolina and texas. as well as two 4 stars from the state of FL. Zook never got this many highly rated players this early.

obviously Meyer is still riding his coattails from his perfect season at utah and one mediocre season at florida could change how effective he is in recruiting. but so far meyer has been willing to put just as much if not more into recruiting than Zook which happened to be his only redeeming quality. and since meyer has been the complete opposite of everything zook, i cant imagine him not being more successful on the field either.

Ive got my Jaguar season tickets

2005-07-07T16:23:00.000-07:00

Section 433!

Vandy's newest recruit is 5'5

2005-06-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

Gaston Miller - RB - Riverdale HS in Murphreesboro, TN.

Listed at 5-5, 150 pounds. And we all know how generous those listings can be. Vandy told him he would be their "offensive specialist." Return man/3rd down back. I guess at that size he'll be hard to find... er...

im just hoping no one takes his head off...

Gators get two more recruits

2005-06-20T17:31:00.000-07:00

Dustin Doe - LB - Hamilton County High School in Jasper Fl.

Corey Hobbs - OL/DL - Oviedo High School.

Good story on Hobbs by SunshinePreps w/ video...

http://sunshinepreps.net/content/view/35/2/

So far so good for Urban Meyer. Helluva job recruiting so far. Ron Zook who?

Matt Walsh deciding to stay in NBA draft

2005-06-20T16:53:00.000-07:00

Matt Walsh, who would be a senior this year, is bypassing that to remain in the NBA draft. Now I can only come to three conclusions.

1) He is getting some bad advice

2) He really doesnt like college

3) He thinks another year would drop his stock and this is the best chance to get drafted

I dont see how he will fit in the NBA. He cant consistently beat people off the dribble in college. He cant defend two guards in college and he doesnt have the size to stop small forwards in the NBA. The only chance I think he will have is to provide some energy off the bench and shoot an occasional three. But he isnt a very consistent shooter. If I were an NBA team, I certaintly wouldnt use a draft pick on a bench player who is a streaky shooter.

Which leads me to believe that scouts have told him that he is a fringe 1st rounder and that another year in college would only give the NBA another year to dissect his game. So he should take what he can get now before his stock has a chance to drop... ala Brett Nelson.

Scout.com's 2005 South Hot List

2005-06-08T17:51:00.000-07:00

http://recruiting.scout.com/3/2006_fb_south_100.html
Couple of local players rated really high...

5) Jamar Hornsby - WR - Sandalwood(Jax, Fl)
7) Tim Tebow - QB - Nease(Ponte Vedra, Fl)

Right now the Gators have a pretty good shot for both of them. Believe Hornsby has the gators as his favorite. And both of Tebow's parents are gators. Only problem they may have is that they got a commitment from another highly rated QB and Tebow may not want the competition.

Vandy currently has a commit in the top 100. Adam Smotherman from Smyrna, TN.

Leftwich is in the top 10 in jersey sales

2005-06-08T17:33:00.000-07:00

Leftwich is #7 in jersey sales in the NFL. Only behind Moss, Vick, Brady, McNabb, Roethlisberger, and Tomlinson.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2079693

I have to admit I find this pretty shocking. Jacksonville is a small market and a lot of folks in town dont even like Leftwich. So it cant be the rabid hometown support for Byron that is pushing him into the top 10. Could it be that he is a black QB? Probably not since thats not quite the story that it was 10 years ago. Maybe he is still living off his legend in Marshall where his Olineman carried him down the field? Doubt it since many NFL fans dont give a crap about what happens in college. And even if they did I cant imagine Byron growing a legion of fans because of that. I really dont have the slightest clue as to why he is so popular around the country.

Vandy not invited to NCAA baseball tourney

2005-05-31T17:17:00.000-07:00

What seemed like a lock early in the year has turned into a major disappointment.

They got what they deserved. All they needed to do was win one game against Florida the last weekend of the year. That would have got them in the SEC tourney and most likely a spot in the NCAA tourney. But no they got swept at home. Two series prior to that they lost two of three to Georgia, the second worst team in the conference. Earlier in the year they were swept by Arkansas who earned the 8th and final spot in the NCAA tourney.

So it could be argued that Vandy should have made it. Same conference record and better overall record than Auburn who made it to the NCAA tourney. Ranked in the top 25 in the RPI. Ranked top 25 in all the major polls for a good part of the year. But that wasnt enough. If they didnt have the worst offense in the SEC then Id be talking about their upcoming regional they are battling to win instead of another Vanderbilt athletic disappointment.

Jevan Snead, QB, commits to UF

2005-05-23T19:08:00.000-07:00

Gators get their second commitment for the 2006 class. Jevan Snead, QB, Stephenville, Texas. One of the best QB prospects in Texas and could be top 10 nationally. Here are some highlights courtesy of gatorcountry...

http://easylink.playstream.com/gatorinsider/progressive/snead.wvx

Good arm. Looks surprisingly fast in the open field. Offense he ran at school looks kind of similar to Meyer's offense.

Makes you wonder what this means about Tim Tebow. Best QB prospect, and arguably best overall prospect, in the country. Plays at Nease High School in northern St Johns county... only an hour and a half or so from gainesville. Diehard gator fan whose parents are gators. Is a perfect fit for Meyers offense. Seems like a natural fit. But with Snead's commitment, puts Tebows future in doubt. Meyer has been saying since the beginning that he plans on signing two QBs in this class. So this shouldnt be a surprise. But maybe Tebow doesnt want to fight for the starting QB position. Interesting to see how this plays out. Would hate to see Tebow go to FSU because of this.

Vandy gets swept by Gators... misses out on SEC tourney

2005-05-23T18:31:00.000-07:00

Disappointing finish to the regular season for Vanderbilt. Even after getting swept by the Gators, they still finished in a tie for 8th with Arkansas and Auburn. Since all three had not played each other, the team with the best record against the highest seeded SEC team earned the 8th and final spot. unfortunately for vandy, the gators, who just swept them, were the highest seeded team. arkansas, having won two games off the gators, won the tiebreaker.

vandy doesnt make the sec tourney but their postseason hopes may not be over. they still have a shot at an ncaa tourney birth. good chance that the sec will get 9 or maybe even 10 teams. and vandy has a pretty good rpi ratings. so there is a chance they will sneak into the ncaa's. with their lack of hitting i cant imagine them making the super regionals like they did last year.

Vandy splits doubleheader w/ Kentucky

2005-05-15T18:58:00.000-07:00

Vandy tried hard to lose both games but was able to come back and win the 2nd game.

In game one Vandy had a 4-1 lead going into the bottom of the 6th. Keep in mind SEC rules say sunday doubleheaders are both 7 innings only. Buschmann lost his control and a key error by freshman De la Osa led to a 4 run inning for kentucky. vandy tied it back up in the top of the 7th but couldnt get an out in the bottom half before kentucky could win it.

In game two Vandy had a two run lead going into the bottom of the 7th. Del la Osa commits another error allowing the first batter to reach base. three batters later its now a one run game the bases are loaded and there are still no outs. somehow vandy allows only one more run so the game goes into extra innings. vandy then explodes for 4 runs in the 9th and shuts down kentucky to get a much needed win.

elsewhere in conference today, the hogs beat bama, state beats florida, and georgia beats south carolina.

so the updated standings w/ one week to go...

Florida 17-10
UThug 16-10
LSU 16-11
Bama 15-12
Ole Miss 15-12
Vandy 13-14
South Carolina 13-14
Arkansas 13-14
---------
Miss St 12-14
Auburn 12-15
Georgia 11-15
Kentucky 7-19

If the season ended today, vandy, SC, and Arkansas would get the 6-8 spots while Miss St would have just missed out playing one less game(which they wont make up).

Next weekend is the final weekend of the year for the SEC. Vandy draws the toughest competition in Florida. South Carolina gets the easiest with Kentucky. Arkansas gets Ole Miss. State gets LSU. and Auburn gets Bama.

Vandy really needs to get two of three next weekend to feel good about qualifying for the SEC tourney. they also really need Mullins to snap out of this funk and revert back to the pitcher we saw earlier in the year who dominated everyone he saw. his last three outings havent been good at all. he hasnt had the same control he did earlier in the year.

good news however is that even if they dont qualify for the SEC tourney, there is a good chance they will make the NCAA tourney. SEC could get 9 teams and maybe even 10. coupled with the fact that Vandy has a top 20 RPI and they should be off to one of the regionals regardless of sec tourney birth.

Vandy-Kentucky double header today

2005-05-15T08:12:00.000-07:00

Saturdays game was postponed due to weather. so today they will play two 7 inning games. thats the SEC policy for doubleheaders on sunday. its a stupid rule if you ask me. and it helps those with thin pitching staffs... like kentuckys. but those are the rules and nothing can be done about it today. if vandy can sweep the cats today that would put them in great position going into the final conference weekend. as of saturdays final scores, these are the current records in the SEC.

Florida 17-9
Tennessee 16-9
Alabama 15-11
LSU 15-11
Ole Miss 14-12
South Carolina 13-13
Vanderbilt 12-13
Auburn 12-14
Arkansas 12-14
Miss St 11-14
Georgia 10-15
Kentucky 6-18

Vandy is currently alone in 7th. and is only half a game ahead of auburn and arkansas who are tied for the 8th and final spot. a sweep today could possibly get vandy in a tie for 5th in conference and at worst would have them tied for 6th. a split would at best get them a tie for 6th and at worst get them tied for 7th. getting swept today would be a major blow but thats not likely to happen against a very weak Kentucky team.

Next weekend Vandy gets Florida at home. Auburn gets Bama at home. And Arkansas gets Ole Miss at home. Vandy easily has the toughest weekend ahead and thats why getting at least a split today is imperative.

Vandy takes first game against Kentucky

2005-05-13T21:11:00.000-07:00

Vandy wins the opening game of the series 8-0. Jensen Lewis throws a complete game 2 hitter with 13 Ks. and vandy's offense decides to show up. at just the right time. with the rest of the SEC games done for tonight, these are the updated standings.

Tennessee 16-8
Florida 16-9
Alabama 14-11
LSU 14-11
South Carolina 13-12
Ole Miss 13-12
Vandy 12-13
Auburn 12-13
Arkansas 12-13
Miss St 11-13
Georgia 9-15
Kentucky 6-18

Vandy, Auburn, Arkansas are all tied for the 7th spot.

Vandy baseball heads into the weekend fighting for tourney spot

2005-05-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Its friday. first day of a very important weekend series with Kentucky. Vandy is currently 11-13 in the SEC. which has them tied for 8th place in the conference with Auburn and Arkansas. only the top 8 teams make it to the conference tournament in birmingham. so obviously vandy needs to put on a good showing this weekend in lexington to secure their trip to alabama.

thankfully for vandy, the wildcats are by far the worst team in the SEC. Auburn draws the second worst team in georgia. and arkansas lets alabama who is one of the better teams in conference. miss st, who at 11-12 which is only half a game better than those three teams, is in gainesville against the gators who are also arguably one of the better teams in conference.

based on matchups, you have to like vandy and auburn's chances of making it to birmingham but with the choke job the dores had against georgia last weekend, their chances are never as good as they may seem.

when i wrote this i thought it was the last weekend. but there is one more. Vandy gets Florida at home after this kentucky series. so they need to get as many wins this weekend as possible cuz the UF series will be tough.

Marlins need to redo Cabrera's contract now

2005-05-04T18:06:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of last season Miguel Cabrera was 20 years old. One month into this season, he is arguably one of the top 10 hitters in the national league. He finished last season with 33 HRs, 113 RBIs, a .366 OBP, and a .512 SLG. Those are some pretty unbelievable numbers for a guy his age. So far this year he hasnt missed a step. And the most amazing thing of all is that he is only getting paid 370K this year. Hell, A-Rod probably makes that much per at bat.

Now for anyone who has watched the A's rise to success, you'd know that one of the keys to that success is spotting their talent early and signing those players to reasonable contracts. They did it with Mulder. They did it with Zito. And they just did it with Rich Harden and Bobby Crosby. Extend their contracts early on and in effect you buy out their arbitration years. Harden signed a 4 year deal for 9 million dollars. what a steal!! I believe he would have been eligible for arbitration in a couple years where he could easily break the bank. But by signing Harden as early as they did, the A's have signed him to a reasonable contract that runs out a couple years AFTER Harden would have gone to arbitration. So basically they will had him for 5 full seasons(counting 2004) at way below market value. And I believe they have an option for a 6th year which gives them leverage in re-signing him at that point if he is still worth it.

Now the Marlins need to do the exact same thing with Cabrera. At this current pace, Cabrera will command one of the higher contracts in the league when he hits the market. And considering the tight squeeze the marlins are in when it comes to money, they wouldnt be able to re-sign him. They should extend his contract the way the A's have done with their young players. Sign Cabrera to a 4 or 5 year deal with a club option for an additional year. Keep this kid at a reasonable price while you can because when he gets to the free agent market, see ya later!

My Jags Draft for 2005

2005-04-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

so like every year I pretend im the GM of the Jaguars and make a selection for each of the Jaguars pick. Overall I thought I did an OK job. This was a tougher year for me. A lot of the players I liked got picked right before I wanted them... like Kerry Rhodes, S, Louisville. A lot of the players I was targeting before the draft began just did not have a legitimate shot to fall where I would have liked... like David Baas, C/G, Michigan. Too many good players available to take him in the first round but I knew there was no way he was gonna be around for the Jags 2nd round pick. While Baas wasnt a need, I think he can start as a rookie and anchor the Oline for the next 10 years. Just wasnt meant to be. Now on to who I pick....

First round pick was Mark Clayton, WR, Oklahoma. A lot of talk around town about whether the Jags should have taken Clayton instead of Matt Jones with the first pick. I personally wasnt even considering Jones with the first pick and Clayton was the obvious choice for me. May not have great size but has good speed, quickness, great hands, tough going over the middle, and one of the best open field runners the draft has produced at the WR position in awhile. While some say his size is a problem, he is taller and bigger than Deion Branch who was MVP of the Super Bowl so i dont buy it. Very productive player whose only negative in my opinion was he didnt always create tons of separation on short to intermediate routes in college and Im wondering how that will affect him in the NFL where the corners are much faster. Other than that, I think Clayton should be a great player. I just wonder how productive he will be playing for the Ravens. Its quite likely that he wont put up great numbers in that offense because few WRs do.

Second round pick was Channing Crowder, LB, Florida. Yea I know, thats probably a reach. I really struggled over this pick. Justin Miller of Clemson was still available. So was Khalif Barnes of Washington. Dan Cody of Oklahoma. Good players who all had first round grades. But for some reason I couldnt pass on Crowder. I know he has character issues(fights outside of Gainesville nightclubs). and I believe he had knee surgery in the offseason which scared teams away. But when healthy, he was the most dominant player on the Gators defense. They didnt lose as much this year when he didnt play because of Brandon Siler but when Crowder was a freshman, the quality of the defense was like night and day when he was in and out of the lineup. He has great intensity. runs sideline to sideline. closes on the ball carrier quickly. has pretty much everything you look for in a linebacker. biggest problem on the field is his lack of experience and youth. With a former linebacker like Del Rio as your coach, I bet Crowder would have been a really good player for the Jaguars. Interested to see how he does for the Dolphins.

Third round pick was Ciatrick Fason, RB, Florida. Some may think Im a florida homer. And I guess I am a little but when in doubt draft a kid from a florida school. theres a reason why UF, FSU, and Miami are in the top 5 or 6 of colleges with most players in the NFL. Anyways, I really liked Fason and I know the Jags did too. They probably would have taken him in the 4th round but the Vikings got him before the Jags could. Fason may not have elite speed but he was able to run away from college players. Takes long strides so he doesnt look as fast as he is. And he may not have Barry Sanders like elusiveness but he is good at making one or two cuts and then exploding out of it. Good receiver out of the backfield. Didnt play much early in his career but was very productive as a junior when Ron Zook finally decided to play him. Would have easily replaced Toefield as the third down back and could have potentially replaced Fred Taylor as the starter in a few years.

Fourth round pick was Fred Gibson, WR, Georgia. I thought he was a first day pick that fell. He has all the physical tools but just didnt have his head in the game at all times. and has durability issues. While he scared away a lot of teams with those negatives, he was still a good, productive player in college. And even if he doesnt live up to his potential in the NFL, he could easily be a good player at that level as well. And if he does live up to his potential, he could be one of the best WRs from this draft. I think the steelers got a steal getting in the 4th round.

Fifth round pick was Gerald Sensabaugh, S, North Carolina. Just so happened that the Jaguars picked him as well. I already talked about him in my recap of who the Jaguars drafted. But again, great athlete, good size, very productive at a lower level of football and continued that when he went to North Carolina.

First of two sixth round picks was Jovan Haye, DE, Vanderbilt. How often do I get to pick a guy from Vanderbilt?!? has only been playing football for four or five years now. started playing as a junior or senior in high school(in Miami no less) which is why he flew under the radar and ended up at Vandy in the first place. Had a breakout season as a sophomore. i believe he led the SEC in sacks. he put on a bit of weight entering his junior season which ended up being a bad decision and coupled with the fact that he faced constant double teams, his production really fell. he has pretty good size and good measurables for a DE. may not ever be a starter but should provide good depth on a rotating defensive line.

Second of two sixth round picks was Rob Petitti, OT, Pittsburgh. his claim to fame to was shutting down Dwight Freeney early in his career. good size and really long arms. may not have the athleticism to play left tackle but should be good depth and could push for a starting spot at RT. Jaguars are really thin at tackle and while this position probably should have been addressed earlier, the players I liked were all chosen before I had the chance to select them.

Seventh round and final pick was Adam Bergen, TE, Lehigh. Obviously Ive never seen him play and I dont think many have either. Honestly, who watches Lehigh football? Of course I watched every second of the 18 hours of draft coverage so I shouldnt talk. But anyways, from what Ive read of Bergen he has really good hands and is aggressive going after the ball. He doesnt have great strength but NFL workouts and steroids can fix that. Thought he sounded like a good project as a 7th rounder. Jags have depth at TE but not much quality. Brady is a good blocker but couldnt catch a cold. Wrighster has potential as a receiver but hasnt put it together. Yoder(another vandy boy!) is a backup at best. Think Bergen was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Cardinals. Wonder if he will ever make an NFL roster.

So that concludes my 2005 list. As usual, a couple guys from Florida schools and the vast majority from schools in the southeast. cant really go wrong with that philosophy. afterall, its where the best college football is played...

2005 Draft for the Jaguars

2005-04-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

Ill give a recap of the Jacksonville Jaguars 2005 draft and how I feel about each pick. Ill post my picks for the draft in a day or two after and then update My Jags Draft page.

First pick of the draft was... Matt Jones, WR, Arkansas. This pick is raising a lot of eyebrows around town. Isnt this a risky pick? Why use a first rounder on a guy converting from QB to WR? Did we draft him too high? etc... etc... I have to say that I really like Matt Jones. Always been a fan of his. Obviously he has unreal physical tools. 6'6, 240, runs a 4.37 40, 40 inch vertical. was arguably the best player in the SEC the last couple seasons. would have played WR at Arkansas but they needed him to have the ball in his hands every snap to be competitive. played and practiced as WR at the senior bowl. showed good hands. There are a lot of thinks to like. But I have to say Im one of the people who think we drafted him too high. maybe im too cautious but I dont think i would use the 21st overall pick on a project. Cuz face it, thats what he is. he was a playmaker in college but will he be so in the nfl, especially now when he wont have the ball in his hands every snap? will he be able to successfully make the transition? yea he has great straight ahead speed but does he have the necessary quickness to be a great receiver? Again, Ive always been a fan but im not sure i would have made this pick(after all i had us drafting mark clayton). after the selection i found out the eagles were trying to trade up numerous times in order to get Jones. If I had known how much interest he was drawing from teams directly behind us that could have changed my opinion about not taking him with the 21st pick but i still doubt that. I like my first round picks to be more of a sure thing... well at least more of a sure thing in my mind.

Second pick in the draft was Khalif Barnes, OT, Washington. Now there were a lot of mock drafts that had the Jags taking Barnes in the first round. So in that sense it was a real bargain to land him in the second round. the thing is, i dont really care for Barnes. from what ive read and seen, he doesnt play up to his measurables. He has great size, speed, and athleticism, but it doesnt translate on the field. Knowing the jags were thinking of going tackle, i watched the senior bowl specifically looking at tackles. i had heard that Barnes really shined during practice all week so i was expecting good things from him. but he played lousy. george gause outta south carolina ran him over. demarcuse ware kept running around him. he shouldnt have been starting that game let alone starting in the NFL. while mike pearson may not be ready at the start of the season due to injury, i dont think Barnes will be ready either. He isnt good enough. doesnt use his strength. and plays will a passive attitude. in my opinion the jags coaches will really need to teach him to play more aggressively if he wants to live up to his potential. im just really glad we didnt waste a first round pick on the guy... and not just because he fell to the second round.

The third pick of the draft was Scott Starks, CB, Wisconsin. I have to admit that I dont know a whole lot about Scott Starks. Very short. good speed. while ive read he is a playmaker, he didnt intercept many balls in college. when giving his post draft interview, Del Rio said the jaguars were looking for a corner and Starks was the best one available. sounds to me like they reached for a need and just chose the fastest corner still on the board. Personally I dont see how someone that short can become a good starting corner. looks like he will end up being a special teamer who comes in on nickel situations. dont agree with using a third round pick on a guy who has little chance to become a good starter.

The fourth pick was Alvin Pearman, RB, Virginia. jack of all trades. runs well. very good catching the ball out of the backfield. solid return man. would have gone higher if not for being slow. usually this front office trys to draft speed guys so this pick was a bit surprising. looks like another special teamer who may push labrandon toefield for the role of third down back due to his pass catching ability. again because of limitations, his lack of speed, here is another guy who has little chance of ever becoming a quality starter. thought there quality players available in the 3rd and 4th round who had potential of becoming starters and the jags didnt take any of those players with either pick. Seems like they again reached for a need. i wonder if they were hoping Ciatrick Fason, who was taken a few spots ahead, would fall to them.

The fifth pick was Gerald Sensabaugh, S, North Carolina. This was my favorite pick for the Jags. And not just because I picked the same player in the 5th round in my jags draft. good size. great athlete. productive player. flew under the radar because he played at east tennessee state his first three years. when the Bucs quit football, he transferred to North Carolina for his senior season where he led the team in tackles. put up big numbers at the lower level and continued that in the ACC with carolina. wowed scouts at the combine with a 46 inch vertical!(yes 46 inch vertical!!) I bet by the beginning of the 2006 season, he is starting in the secondary.

The sixth pick was Chad Owens, WR, Hawaii. was also a kick returner which is where i think he will make an impact with the jags if he ever does. very short. average speed at best. very quick and elusive as a returner but again doesnt have great speed and will have troubling running away from the great athletes in the NFL. jags havent had many big plays from the return game for awhile. With his lack of speed Im not sure he will ever change that.

The seventh pick was Pat Thomas, LB, North Carolina St. he was a guy I initially liked when i looked over all the stats at the end of the college football season. he was a very productive player over the last three seasons. but I was under the impression he wasnt an impressive athlete. after the jags drafted him i looked at his pro day workout numbers and was surprised. Ran the 40 in 4.61 seconds. and had a short shuttle of 4.36. was not invited to the combine so not sure if those numbers can be comparable to the other draftee's. if those numbers are legit and are combined with his production, he could turn into a steal. will have to earn a spot on the team by being a special teamer but could develop into a starter in a few years.

The eight pick was Chris Roberson, CB, Eastern Michigan. Never heard of him before he was drafted. Read he was a WR turned CB for his senior season. Good size and speed. a complete project. long shot to make the team and will have to be a special teams standout to do so.

Overall I didnt think was the best draft. Of the 8 picks, I think only three of them have legitimate chances of becoming good starters in the league. I really like Matt Jones but I think 21 was a little early for him. Im satisifed with that pick however and think he will develop into at worst a solid pro. I am not a fan of Khalif Barnes and wonder if he has the attitude to become a good left tackle but has the potential to become a good one. Thought the 3rd and 4th round picks were reaches for need positions. Both picks have little potential to become starters because of size and speed limitations respectively. Sensabaugh was my favorite pick. Great value pick who I think will be a starter by 2006. Owens and Thomas are solid picks in the back of the draft who will hopefully provide meaningful special team minutes. Roberson is a project that has little chance of making the team.

Good draft from a need perspective although the probably needed to select one or two more big men. Below average draft in how many players have a reasonable chance of becoming quality starters.

NFL Draft is fast approaching for the jacksonville jaguars

2005-04-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

Once again im getting ready for the draft as if i were the gm for the jaguars. ive narrowed down a list of the players im hoping will fall to the 21st pick. barring any changes in the next few days, this is who im going to target for the jaguars.

number one choice is mark clayton. yea i know we drafted a WR in the first round last year. and yea i know it could be argued that cb and ot are bigger needs. and it could be argued that clayton isnt big enough and doesnt create enough separation. but instead of looking at the negatives first lets look at the positive. he was one of the most productive receivers in college. he has great hands. will catch the ball over the middle in traffic. great running with the ball after the catch. was the best player at the senior bowl dominating the competition. one of the negatives you hear is that he doesnt have elite size or elite speed. but he is bigger than and just as fast as deion branch who happened to be the mvp of that little game called the super bowl. a lot of people are comparing clayton to steve smith even though clayton is bigger. the only thing that concerns me is if you watch highlights, he sometimes has trouble getting separation on some shorter routes. but even still im pretty convinced clayton is going to be one of the better receivers from this draft and will turn into a good pro. and if the comparisons to steve smith are correct(especially the steve smith from 2003), clayton will turn into a pro bowler.

ok my number two choice. David Pollack. yea the guy doesnt have the prototypical size and doesnt have really long arms. but you cant deny his productivity in college. multiple all american. set the SEC sack record. big play ability. nonstop hustle. and for all the talk about his lack of natural athletic ability, he squats 700 pounds. and he ran a short shuttle time of 3.90. short shuttle is a test to measure one's short area quickness as opposed to 40 times which measures straightaway speed. to put his short shuttle time in perspective, the fastest shuttle time at the combine was produced by a defensive back at 3.75 seconds. no DE besides Pollack even sniffed 4 seconds. a 3.90 for a DE is unbelievable. shouldnt really be a surprise i imagine because there had to be a reason why a 6'2 270 pound DE with short arms set the alltime sack record in the SEC. i have a hard time believing a guy who is that strong, is that quick, with that much hustle, and was that productive in college wont be a good player in the NFL.

the third choice is carlos rogers. there is a good chance that he wont fall that far but he is here cuz there is a possibility he will. jags are in desperate need for a corner opposite mathis. rogers has the size and speed to be a really good player. biggest negative ive read is that he isnt a great tackler. but mathis wasnt either coming out of college. he would fill the biggest hole on the defense.

the fourth choice is thomas davis. again, good chance he wont fall to 21 but he is also here cuz there is a possibility. safety/lb tweener but would probably be a better fit at LB for the jags. good speed for a LB. only average speed for a safety. plays like a linebacker. good at stopping the run. can cover tight ends and rbs. isnt very good covering receivers. doesnt have great ball skills. but i think he'd be a good fit on this defense. and with brian vangorder now as our LB coach(he was DC for georgia), im sure he knows all of Davis' strengths and weaknesses better than anyone.

the fifth choice is jamaal brown. played rt for the sooners. won a lot of accolades. quick feet. athletic. doesnt have great size but nfl workouts and steroids can take care of that. with Pearson coming back from injury and ephraim salaam not being the answer, the jags have a potential hole at LT. brown has the athleticism to move to the leftside but there would be a learning curve since he played rt in college. or they could possibly move mo williams to leftside with brown taking the rightside.

granted, that list could change if a guy like Derrick Johnson or one of the top three RBs fall to 21 but im under the assumption the chances of that are next to nothing. if all five of those players are gone, then ill have to decide between in my opinion what are a second tier of players or guys that im not expecting to be there. Good chance Justin Miller will be there but i dont think he is as good as rogers. Erasmus James battled injury problems but when healthy looked dominant as a senior. he may not make it to 21.

the other possibility is to draft someone a little earlier than i may like. last year i really wanted sean taylor, roy williams, or deangelo hall. all three were gone when the jags pick arrived. my next tier of players was one of the miami linebackers. thinking i wouldnt get top value with the 9th pick if i used it on vilma or williams, i decided to go another direction. as it turns out Vilma wasnt drafted much farther down from 9 and was defensive rookie of the year. DJ williams who was close to 10 picks lower, was one of the best rookies. the guy i picked, udeze, slipped because of injury concerns and was less value than the two miami linebackers. so if the guys i really want are not there, i should not take a player im not interested in because i think its the best value. should take the player i want. a guy like channing crowder perhaps who is projected as a very late first round pick.

draft is less than a week away and there are a lot of things that can happen between now and then. i know i cant wait!

Marcus Stroud gets 5 year extension

2005-04-14T18:18:00.000-07:00

Jacksonville jaguars and marcus stroud agree to a five year extension. courtesy of len pasquerelli at espn...

"There is an initial signing bonus of $6.5 million and then, five days after the contract is officially executed, Stroud will receive a $3.2 million roster bonus. A second roster bonus, worth $2.5 million, is due on March 1, 2006. Stroud, just 26, already pocketed a roster bonus of $300,000 last month that was part of his original contract.

The contract's base salaries are $540,000 (2005), $545,000 (2006), $1.415 million (2007), $5 million (2008), $5.5 million (2009) and $6 million (2010). The base salaries for 2005 and 2006 are guaranteed and Stroud can earn $100,000 in offseason workout bonuses in each of the first three years of the extension."

Once again, the new and improved jaguars front office comes up with a cap friendly deal. unless i misunderstood it, looks like it is basically a three year deal. and come 2008, they will either redo his contract or they can cut him and save 3 million on the cap. And by 2008, Stroud will be 29 years old and will have played 7 years in the league. jaguars should have an idea if stroud is beginning to slow down and if his skills are declining or if he still has some gas in the tank and worth extending his contract.

its good they were able to redo his contract now instead of waiting. next year stroud would have become a free agent and the jags most likely would have franchised him. after seeing the mess with darius, seems like its best to avoid having to franchise any player. probably wouldnt have been as big a deal with stroud because obviously we were willing to pay him like the best DT in the league. but again, better to extend his contract on his terms rather than creating any ill will by franchising.

reassuring to know that we've got one of if not the best defensive tackle in the league guaranteed to be a jaguar for the next three years. now its john henderson's turn next year...

Why does anyone want the Jaguars to take Khalif Barnes?

2005-04-14T17:50:00.000-07:00

Its the time of year where everyone has a mock draft and everyone has an opinion on who the jags take. understandable. cuz im one of them. but why in the world do so many people want the jags to take khalif barnes? sometimes i wonder if people see that the guy is rated as one of the top three tackles, mike pearson is coming off knee surgery and may not be ready, and then think you know what lets draft khalif barnes with our first pick.

all i hear is that mike pearson may not be ready to start the season. ephraim salaam sucks. what are we going to do with byron leftwich's blindside? we dont have a tackle. etc... and i agree thats all true. there is a very real possibility that mike pearson's fast rehab wont be fast enough and he wont be ready to start the season. but has anyone stopped to think if khalif barnes is ready to start at left tackle? the only reason the guy has creeped his way into a first round possibility is potential. where was he rated when the college football season ended? it sure as hell wasnt the first round! he wasnt a dominating tackle in college. but scouts measured his height, his weight, his 40 time, reps, and then all of a sudden, wow, what an impressive physical specimen. with numbers like that, gee how can he not turn into a dominating left tackle!?! and next thing you know he goes shooting up the draft boards.

for those who want to take Barnes in the first round, go watch the Senior Bowl. not the practices the week before. but the actual game. he sucked. he couldnt stop demarcus ware even if he had a third hand to grab ware's jersey with. all the athleticism in the world wont help you if you arent physical.

khalif barnes may turn into a great player one day. he needs to get stronger. and needs good coaching to turn that athleticism into skills a left tackle needs. but he isnt close to being ready to start in the NFL. so if any jaguars fans out there want to draft someone to start at left tackle because mike pearson may not be ready, khalif barnes isnt your man.

Orange and Blue Game

2005-04-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Went to the Orange and Blue game down in Gainesville today. here are some post game stats courtesy of gatorcountry. http://florida.scout.com/2/368285.html

Chris Leak looked good. Threw some nice TD passes to Dallas Baker and Chad Jackson. Only times he seemed hesitant were running the option. But I wondered how good that could be today since the offensive lines were split up and theyve only been practicing it for a month or so. Leak only threw 6 incompletions and only one pass i thought should have been picked off. A DB by the name of Fetheroff, number 11, came in for a few plays after Kyle Jackson limped off. Misread a poorly thrown ball that I think Chad Jackson ended up catching.

Josh Portis seemed hesitant early but really came on strong late. Was a better passer than I thought he would be and was a good runner creating in the open field. when flushed he took his eyes off down the field but thats to be expected for a true freshman.

didnt really see much from the running game other than a couple delays to markus manson. shitfy runner with good speed. deshawn wynn didnt play today. i heard he was injured and couldnt go. based on what ive read about practice, it sounds like he has a good chance to be the starter when the season starts.

tough to get an idea about the defense. thought i heard urban meyer say there wouldnt be any blitzing although i sure saw some. but it definitely seems like the game is more geared towards the offense and it showed. individually, Siler made a few nice tackles. Latsko had four or five plays in a row where he was in on every tackle. steven harris was able to get in on a couple tackles and deflect a pass. kyle jackson made a really nice play on a reverse on 4th down.

pretty fun day. nice to see glimpses of what meyer's offense can do with better talent. big crowd. 58,500 people were in attendance today. probably bigger than any home game Meyer has ever coached. not bad for a spring scrimmage.

Chevon Walker commits to the Gators

2005-04-09T15:41:00.000-07:00

yes its early. okay very early. but chevon walker of riverdale is the first commitment for urban meyer in 2006.

courtesy of sunshinepreps.net.
For all you Gator fans...

looks pretty quick on the video eh? well apparently he won the 100 and 200 meter dashes at the Lee County Athletic Conference championship. He ran a 10.85 100 meter. Also, he beat Noel Devine from North Fort Myers.

North Carolina and Michigan St round out Final Four

2005-03-27T17:10:00.000-08:00

i though michigan st played a pretty strong game. carolina was inconsistent but made it through thanks to their offense.

gotta give credit to the spartans but kentucky really played lousy late in the first overtime and then in second one. had the ball for the final shot in the first overtime and couldnt get a shot off. took too much time before they got in the offense and werent aware of the clock. then beginning in the second overtime the offense bogged down. again held on to the ball too long. never got into their offense and kept throwing up off balanced shots to beat the shot clock. had to rely on too many inexperienced players.

carolina will have to sure up their defense to beat michigan st. while the offense continues to look good no way they should be giving up 80+ points to wisconsin. time and again they would leave their man to double down or help on the drive giving wisconsin's shooters wide open threes. wisconsin isnt athletic enough to beat you off the dribble and create shots every time down. yet carolina seemed to think so and left their good spot up shooters wide open. carolina should have blown them out but played poorly on defense and let them keep it close. if michigan st is going to shoot lights out against carolina like they did against kentucky in the 2nd half, the tar heels will lose unless they play tougher defense.

USA loses world cup qualifier to Mexico 2-1

2005-03-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

This was the 2nd of 10 world cup qualifying games for the USA. Won the first at Trinidad & Tobago. Lost today in Mexico City.

looked awful in the first half. no real scoring chances. and two stupid mistakes led to goals. Onyewu, some guy i had heard of but had never seen play before, left his man in the box while watching the ball and it lead to a header in the net after it had been headed back in the box after the inital cross. Keller for some unknown reason was in the back of the net on the ground. He dove to the side and backwards on the first cross and i guess expected to save the ball while jumping backwards into his own net. anyways on the second goal, some mexican named naelson was left all by himself on the left side of the box and shot it off the post and in. for some reason mastroeni was 30 yards down the field and when he saw naelson all alone, he didnt even run after him... just jogged towards him. no clue what he was thinking.

so things looked bleak for estados unidos going into the second half. mexico sat back and the US was able to put some pressure for about 20 minutes. got a goal from eddie lewis. and missed on a few other occasions. but during the last 10-15 minutes of the match, they must have worn out from the altitude because there was little urgency. mexico pretty much controlled the ball till to the end.

So now all teams in the final CONCACAF qualifying round have played twice. 8 more games to go. USA is tied for third with Costa Rica with 3 points. Guatemala has 4 and Mexico 6. USA plays Guatemala wednesday night at Legion Field in Birmingham. Guatemala is surprisingly in second place but their two games have come against the other two lousy teams in the group... panama and trinidad & tobago.

Jags asking for 1st round pick in exchange for Garrard

2005-03-26T20:04:00.000-08:00

Len Pasquarelli recently wrote an article about david garrard of the jacksonville jaguars. backup QB. during the offseason, a few teams called up interested in a potential deal trying to acquire garrard. guess how much the jags wanted? well i guess i already said in the title. a 1st rounder! are they f-in mad? who in the world would give up a first rounder for him?

last year he started two games when leftwich got hurt and played well against the lions but was awful against the titans. he certaintly didnt play worthy of a first round pick. coupled with the fact that he is already 27 and has only started 3 games in his whole career in the NFL and it adds up to the jaguars asking for way too much.

personally id feel pretty comfortable with the Jags current third stringer, Quinny Gray, as our backup. He has definitely improved over the last couple years during practice. Even though he is playing against stiffs during preseason games, he put up gaudy statistics. He has a strong arm. throws the ball fairly accurately. and is a big guy who is hard to bring down. I personally dont think we lose anything replacing garrard with gray as the backup. So.... i see no reason not to trade garrard for a reasonable price. again, no way we get a first rounder for the guy but i do think a first day draft pick is possible. and id much rather get something for him this year instead of letting him walk next season with little compensation in return.

first darius and now garrard. jaguars are seriously overestimating the value of their own players. asking way too much for these guys.

Illinois and Louisville advance to the final four

2005-03-26T19:16:00.000-08:00

i cant remember the last time i saw two bigger choke jobs in back to back games like that. West Virginia had a 20 point lead in the first half against Louisville as well as a 10 point lead with a little more than 5 minutes to go. Louisville storms back and wins in overtime. If we all thought that was bad, the Arizona-Illinois game was worse. Arizona had a 15 point lead with 4 minutes to go! And they had an 8 point lead with only one minute to go! but then they turn it over twice in a row and Illinois ties the game 7 seconds later!!! and to top it off, Arizona was down one in overtime with 10 seconds left and the best shot they could come up with out of the timeout is an off balance, fall away three with a hand in your face taken as the clock was running out so no chance of a rebound put back. quite possibly the worst basketball ive ever seen.

Noel Devine... RB prospect from Ft Myers

2005-03-25T20:41:00.000-08:00

for anyone who follows recruiting, youve probably heard of him. his highlight videos have been on the internet for some time.

he will be a junior next year and is a RB for North Ft Myers. same school that Deion Sanders and Jevon Kearse went to. competition there isnt the greatest as youll see in the videos... not the best tackling. but cant deny his speed and strength. first video is set to goofy 90s dance music but has some good clips. second video really shows how fast he is.

http://filebox.vt.edu:8080/c/chgraha1/DevineESPN.wmv

http://sunshinepreps.net/clips/Noel%20Devine.wmv

Vanderbilt loses to Memphis

2005-03-25T20:06:00.000-08:00

Vandys short lived run in the NIT comes to an end with a loss to Memphis. Outside of that first NIT game against Indiana, Vanderbilt was an awful road team. They played better than I thought they would but Memphis was just too good. all in all was pretty much what i and most vandy fans expected. tough to replace Frejie's scoring and Lakey's ball handling. had our troubles against the press this year and had absolutely no inside game. biggest weaknesses all year.

anyways it was the last games for Corey Smith, Jason Holwerda, and David Przyzsomething. Nothing against David but he wont be a huge loss. he was basically a 7'2 shooting guard. couldnt rebound or score inside. Jason Holwerda never learned how to shoot from the field or the free throw line. But he was a great defender, good passer, great finishing around the basket and had serious hops for a white guy. he could dunk on anybody. Corey Smith will be the toughest to replace. probably the toughest guy on the team. and one of the best all around players.

next year looks bright though. Moore and Terrell are seniors. They get one year out of transfer Derrick Byers who was a good player from the Memphis area who played two seasons at UVA. The really good freshman will be a year older and hopefully a year better. Shan Foster was arguably our best player at the end of the year. Gordon showed flashes of being a great scorer. DeMarre Carroll gives us that inside toughness and rebounding ability. And the incoming freshman class should be good. George Drake is a big time scorer. And redshirt freshman Nwankwo was an early signee of Arizona but backed out to join Vandy. Inside man who has looked good in practice. Should be a good year next year. Anything less than a tourney bid will be a disappointment.

Vandys amazing win over Witchita St

2005-03-22T19:16:00.000-08:00

Vandy is up 3 with 7 seconds left. Wichita St inbounds the ball and crosses half court where Vandy decides to foul with 3 seconds left. Fouling Wichita St forces them to intentionally miss the last free throw and pray for a rebound put back 2 or 3 depending on whether they make the first free throw.

Shockers ends up making the first free throw. They intentionally miss the second, the balls gets tipped, picked up by a witchita st player who banks in a 2 with 0.7 seconds left to tie the game.

Vandy diagrams a play. Holwerda runs left, then right, the man guarding him gets picked, with a clear view Holwerda hucks the ball down the court. Corey Smith who faked a pick for Moore slips behind the defense. Catches a perfectly thrown ball by Holwerda under the basket, lays it up a split second before the clock goes off, bounces off the glass and in. Vandy wins! and advances to the quaterfinals to play Memphis for the right to go to Madison Square Garden for the NIT final four.

Arguably one of the best endings to a basketball game Ive ever seen. Lost in the spectacular finish was Mario Moore's 31 points including 9 three's. Vandy held a double digit lead in the second half only to then score 2 points in a 7 minute span in which Wichita St got a 4 point lead. Moore then drained 4 straight threes for the commodores to give them the lead. He also hit two big free throws to give them the 3 point lead with 7 seconds left.

Game started off ugly for both teams. Vandy used the same athletic starting lineup they did against Indiana but the results were different. Was almost as if Vandy was using this game as practice to work on their inside game. When they were unsuccessful they started launching threes like they had been doing all year long. Moore caught fire in the last half of the first half to give them a big lead at halftime. But when they went cold from the outside in the second half, Wichita St was able to go on a big run to capture the lead even if it was shortlived. Lack of a dependable inside game almost cost Vandy once again but thankfully Moore bailed them out with threes and Holwerda/Smith did with the hail mary play.

Again, Vandy moves on to play Memphis for the right to go to Madison Square Garden. Memphis blitzed VaTech and this is after making a run in the CUSA tourney only to lose due to missed free throws in the championship game. This game is in Memphis, they are hot, and vandy isnt very good on the road. nice to get more national tv coverage, but if they arent careful, it could get ugly. vandy will need to play at their best to win.

Gators exit tourney early once again. Roberson and Walsh missing again.

2005-03-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

For the fifth consecutive year, the Gators exit the tourney without getting to the sweet 16. Ever since the magical run to the finals where they lost to Michigan St, the Gators havent been able to win 2 games. This time it seemed Nova just wanted the game more. Hustled to every loose ball, more aggressive defensively, crashed the offensive boards while the gators didnt seem to often, and never let Walsh or Roberson get comfortable.

Speaking of those two, I couldnt help but notice another lackluster performance from their two stars. I decided to look at their stats from all of their ncaa tournament games over the last three years. I added these numbers quickly so there could be a slight error but if so it would be very slight. In 5 games Walsh is a combined 15-46 from the floor scoring a grand total of 54 points. So per game thats 3-9.2 from the field with 10.8 points a game. Roberson, overall, is a combined 16-51 scoring 54 points. So per game he is 3.2-10.2 also averaging 10.8 points a game.

Not what the gators expect from their leaders. And once again, another disappointing tournament showing.

Cincinnati has a player named Jihad Mohammed

2005-03-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

Forget Robert, i think ill start having people call me "Holy War"...

Gators practice has begun

2005-03-19T16:58:00.000-08:00

Not sure how long these articles will be free. Gatorcountry says through the weekend...

http://florida.scout.com/2/361016.html
http://florida.scout.com/2/361304.html
http://florida.scout.com/2/361447.html
http://florida.scout.com/2/361299.html
http://florida.scout.com/2/361432.html

How can any Gator fan not be super excited about Urban Meyer?

Vandy advances in NIT beating Indiana

2005-03-16T19:14:00.000-08:00

Vandy beats Indiana 67-60 in Bloomington. Led from start to finish. Doesnt happen often at Indiana. First time all year Holwerda didnt start. Went with a starting lineup of Moore, Smith, Foster, Carroll, and Terrell. Pretty good decision if you ask me. All five are athletic and three guys who can shoot the three. Holwerda and Gordon were the main subs. Skuchas came in a little and bumbled around as usual. Pryz barely played and the team looked pretty good because of it. a 7-2 guy who only shoots the three and doesnt get many rebounds isnt all that useful. the one guy who didnt get much action that surprised me was Cage. I cant even remember him coming into the game once. He is okay defensively but lethal from three. But since Vandy had the lead the entire game, i guess they didnt really need him to come in and jack up a bunch of threes.

Other than a little sloppiness at the end, that was one of the best games ive seen them play. Didnt need to rely on the three. played good defense. only negative which just happens to be a common thing with this offense is the lack of free throws. hopefully next year we'll see lineups more consistent with this one. emphasis on athleticism than anything else.

Darius staying a Jaguar?

2005-03-16T16:55:00.000-08:00

so the final story coming out of minnesota was that they offered one of their first round picks, #7 overall i believe, for Darius and multiple draft picks of the Jaguars. Jags turned this down not wanting to give up the extra picks. Apparently the Jags tried hard to get the Vikings other first rounder, 18th pick, in exchange for probably just Darius but Minnesota didnt want to give up that pick.

While Im glad the jags didnt give up draft picks in a trade involving Darius, I still cant believe they havent gotten anything for him yet. I keep hearing that the jags are asking for a lot but how much do they really expect to get in return? And Ive heard that the problem isnt agreeing to a trade for Darius, its that the team receiving him cant sign him since he is asking for a lot. But I dont think that can be true based on the fact that the Vikings made an offer which the Jaguars turned down. so while some teams may have problems agreeing to a contract with Darius, thats obviously not the only sticking point. obviously the Jaguars must think they can get more for Darius than they really can.

if i were the jags, id take the best deal they can find at this point. They wont be able to re-sign Darius long term because he wants way too much money. So after next year he is going to walk with no compensation. And he will count 5 million dollars against the cap this year. Even if they can only get a third rounder in return(personally i bet they can do a little better), theyd save that 5 million dollars which can go to another free agent or towards Stroud whose contract they plan on restructing. Plus that first day draft pick would be a young player who would be on the team for at least three years. And to top it off, theyd get rid of Darius who would probably complain about how cheap the front office is to the rest of the players. More good in getting rid of him than just keeping him for the season.

Ryan Mullins busted for DUI

2005-03-16T16:45:00.000-08:00

Vandys star pitcher who is suspended indefinitely and missed last weekends series against Baylor was pulled over while drinking and driving. he told the cops he was playing drinking games with some buddies and only had a few. but his blood alcohol level was .19 and he was unable to raise his foot a few inches before losing his balance.

way to let down your teammates and your school buddy. i know every college kid goes out partying with friends and has some drinks, but dont go driving home afterwards. and what the hell was he doing getting hammered during baseball season anyways?

Florida gets a 4 seed... Vandy NIT

2005-03-13T19:23:00.000-08:00

so the good news is florida gets a #4 seed. the bad news is that they are in by far the most difficult bracket. The top 6 seeds in that bracket including florida are North Carolina, UConn, Kansas, Villanova, and Wisconsin. also they got charlotte, minnesota, as well as new mexico who won the mountain west tourney and has won 9 in a row.

florida is on a roll but if they get by Ohio, theyll get either Nova or New Mexico. Both teams are hot. then most likely Carolina. and then Uconn or kansas most likely... maybe wisconsin. florida will be extremely lucky to get to the final four let alone win the whole thing.

the only other team from florida to make the tourney is UCF who cruised through the atlantic sun. unfortunately for them, they get UConn in the first round so they are screwed. for a low seed like UCF to have a shot they have to shoot the 3 well but they dont. so no chance in hell do they have of winning.

Vandy didnt have a prayer of making the tourney after that pathetic loss to Auburn. They make the NIT and somehow draw a road game at Indiana. 3rd best in the SEC East, 500 conference record, and 18 wins and yet they start the NIT on the road? go figure. but it will be on ESPN2 march 16th. NIT Bracket

Vandy swept by Baylor

2005-03-13T16:57:00.000-08:00

Well Vandy baseball moves to its highest rank ever. gets to #8 in baseball america. then their top player, Ryan Mullins, one of the best lefthanded pitchers in college, gets suspended for violating team rules. sounds worse than just grades. hopefully it isnt too much longer cuz if this weekend proved anything, missing him throws our rotation out of whack.

Game 1, Jensen Lewis starts a day early. Pitched alright. game goes in to extra innings tied 3-3. baylor blows it open.

Bullpen starts game 2 and gets rocked.

game 3 the scheduled starter, matt buschman goes against baylor's ace. tied 1-1 going into the ninth. baylor scores three to win. buschman only gives up one earned run but gets the loss.

after mullins, lewis, and buschman our pitching falls off. couple that with the offense not showing up and its disaster.

Gators win SEC Tourney

2005-03-13T13:36:00.000-08:00

For the first time ever, the gators win the SEC basketball tournament. according to cbs, they had only played in the title game four other times in 70 years of SEC play. losing each of those four times. is that right? they had only been to 4 other sec tourney title games? figured the Donovan led gators would have been to quite a few of them.

anyways gator fans everywhere should give Matt Walsh a big thanks. kentucky went on a huge run in the second half, the crowd was going nuts, and the gators looked dead tired. then walsh rains a few threes which starts a 21-2 run and then game over for the wildcats.

gators have choked like dogs in the ncaa tourney the last four years but this year theyve got tons of momentum. win the sec tourney. beat kentucky twice in just over a week. should get a good seed. which could makes this year's soon to be choke job that much worse. we'll see...

My Jags Draft

2005-03-13T07:23:00.000-08:00

Okay so Ive always thought it would be pretty cool to be running a draft for an NFL team... preferably the jaguars. so every year, i watch the draft from beginning to end and pick for the jags as if i were the GM. not exactly sure which year i started but not like it matters cuz ive lost my early drafts. i had it all on a website that is now gone and ive also lost the papers i had it all written down on. but i still have the last few years thankfully and this post will be dedicated to those... and future drafts.

now like many of these know it all nfl draft geeks out there, i like to think im not half bad at this. even though im at a disadvantage by not paying scouts to work for me and not having hours of game tape on each player, i usually do a pretty good job. during the college season, i try to watch the seniors who will be entering the draft(and those thinking of leaving early) and do my best to see many of them play at least once to get a feel for their ability. now with the combine, senior bowl practices, and all star bowl games all being televised, its getting easier to learn about all the players. couple that with reading numerous scouting magazines and websites(which is basically my version of having scouts), and i usually get a fair understanding of each player.

now one of the reasons I started doing this was because i thought Tom Coughlin, the first Jaguars coach, wasnt a very good drafter and i thought i could do better. coughling almost always picked based on need. as one could guess, that didnt hurt him too often early in drafts because the quality of each draft is high in the first couple rounds. so reaching for a player doesnt hurt because that player is usually rated high anyways. but the later the draft went, the worse his drafting became. and i thought i could do better. unfortunately ive lost most of my drafts where he was still coach/gm/lord of all thing jaguars that showed I may have been a little better. now that he is gone and replaced with James Harris and Jack Del Rio, the jaguars drafting has become better. better than me so far.

Each team, front office, GM has their own philosophy on the best method of drafting. Some draft for needs. others draft strictly on best available player. most probably a combination. I follow two rules when I draft. the first is if you are going to draft for need, you should do it in the first round or two. generally the quality of players are pretty even so if you reach for a need, you arent reaching very far and you are still drafting a high quality player. the farther the draft moves along, the more sense drafting best available player becomes. Its not a surprise to see a player with a potential late first/early second round grade slip to the third and fourth rounds because of whatever reason whether it be an injury scare or a disappointing workout. Thats when I would gladly pass on a guy who i think is a fourth rounder but fills a need in order to take the player with the late first/early second round grade. Good players fall to the second day of the draft and they shouldnt be overlooked because of a need. Besides, you cannot expect a second day pick to adequately fill a need so you may as well take the best player still available. now the second rule i follow is that when in doubt, take the player from the southeast and more specifically florida. there is a reason why the UF, FSU, and Miami are in the top 5 or 6 of colleges with most NFL players. if im torn between two players and one kid grew up playing high school ball in south florida and then played college in the SEC or ACC and the other kid played high school ball in the state of washington and played in the Pac10, im gonna pick the first kid cuz the football is just flat out better down here. maybe thats a stupid philosophy but the numbers speak for themselves.

so anyways this is who the jags would have picked if i were GM for the last few years...

2006

#	My Jags Draft	#	Actual Jags Draft
28	D'Qwell Jackson - LB - Maryland	28	Marcedes Lewis - TE - UCLA
60	Eric Winston - OT - Miami	60	Maurice Drew - RB - UCLA
80	Max Jean-Gilles - OG - Georgia	80	Clint Ingram - LB - Oklahoma
160	Dee Webb - CB - Florida	160	Brent Hawkins - DE - Illinois St
213	David Anderson - WR - Colorado St	213	James Wyche - DE - Syracuse
237	Gerald Riggs - RB - Tennessee	237	Dee Webb - CB - Florida

I really like my first three picks(all first day picks). I think each will become at worst solid starters in the league. Was disappointed the Jags didnt use any picks on the offensive line. I thought that position was one of if not the weakest spot on the team at the end of last year. They didnt address it in free agency other than some prayers on a couple first round busts. We'll see how that turns out. Didnt agree with their decision to give up a 4th round pick in order to move up a handful of spots in the 3rd. thought they gave up too much. Dee Webb in the 5th is one of my least favorite picks of all time. Even if he does well it was a bad value.

2005

#	My Jags Draft	#	Actual Jags Draft
21	Mark Clayton - WR - Oklahoma	21	Matt Jones - ATH - Arkansas
52	Channing Crowder - LB - Florida	52	Khalif Barnes - OT - Washington
87	Ciatrick Fason - RB - Florida	87	Scott Starks - CB - Wisconsin
127	Fred Gibson - WR - Georgia	127	Alvin Pearman - RB - Virginia
157	Gerald Sensabaugh - S - North Carolina	157	Gerald Sensabaugh - S - North Carolina
185	Jovan Haye - DE - Vanderbilt	185	Chad Owens - WR - Hawaii
194	Rob Petitti - OT - Pittsburgh	194	Pat Thomas - LB - NCST
237	Adam Bergen - TE - Lehigh	237	Chris Roberson - CB - Eastern Michigan

Jags shocked a lot of people by taking Matt Jones with the 21st pick. Many including myself thought Mark Clayton was a safer pick. Funny how it worked out though. A lot of prognosticators thought the Jaguars would take Barnes in the first and ended up taking him in the second. If the first two picks had been reversed, Barnes in the first and Jones in the second, a lot of the experts would have given the Jaguars draft a much higher grade. But as it turned out, Matt Jones was too risky for many and the jags were given a low grade as a result. Im disappointed in their draft because I dont think many could potentially become starters while I think my first five picks all have the talent to do so. One of the crazy twists that keeps appearing is that I once again picked the same player the Jags did in the same round. I had only done it before with first day picks where I think its more likely to happen but this was a first having done it on the second day. I think we both got a steal with Sensabaugh.

2004

#	My Jags Draft	#	Actual Jags Draft
9	Kenechi Udeze - DE - USC	9	Reggie Williams - WR - Washington
39	Sean Jones - S - Georgia	39	Daryl Smith - LB - Georgia Tech
55	Darnell Dockett - DT - FSU	55	Greg Jones - RB - Florida St
86	Jerricho Cotchery - WR - NCST	86	Jorge Cordova - LB - Nevada
118	PK Sam - WR - FSU	118	Anthony Maddox - DT - Delta St
120	Etric Pruitt - S - Southern Mississippi	120	Ernest Wilford - WR - Virginia Tech
137	Jeb Terry - OG - North Carolina	137	Josh Scobee - K - Louisiana Tech
150	Scott Wells - C - Tennessee	150	Chris Thompson - CB - Nicholls St
159	DeMarco McNeil - DT - Auburn	159	Sean Bubin - OT - Illinois
249	Jason Geathers - RB - Miami	249	Bobby McCray - DE - Florida

These guys have completed one season and so far its not looking very good. and talk about what could have been... This is the exact reason why you should trust your gut. Rushing the passer was the Jags biggest need the entire year before this draft. And while I didnt really care for Udeze all that much, everyone kept praising him and I knew he would fill a huge void for the Jaguars and he looked pretty good every time i watched him. But what I really wanted to do was draft one of the linebackers from Miami, Vilma or Williams, even though LB wasnt an immediate need. And go figure, Vilma wins defensive rookie of the year and Williams was third in voting. The other thing Ive been kicking myself about was Jason Geathers. while I always thought he was a super athletic guy that was a good player that could never find a spot on the hurricanes roster(stuck behind the likes of portis and mcgahee at RB as well as andre johnson, roscoe parrish, and ryan moore at receiver), no one in the NFL thought the same as I did so Im not sure Ill ever find out if he could have found a role in the NFL. Last I heard, Coughlin picked him up and he is currently with the Giants on the practice squad. Anyways, I was debating between him and McCray with that last pick but didnt go with McCray because I thought he was a headcase. But thankfully the Jags werent thinking the same thing and went with McCray who was a great find in the 7th round. Overall though this was a down draft for both parties. of course its only been one year which is too early to judge a class, but the first rounders were disappointments. And Sean Jones was hurt in training camp and never played. If he can come back from injury and play well, coupled with Dockett who was a good player for the Cardinals, this draft could rebound for me.

2003

#	My Jags Draft	#	Actual Jags Draft
7	Terrell Suggs - DE - Arizona St	7	Byron Leftwich - QB - Marshall
39	Taylor Jacobs - WR - Florida	39	Rashean Mathis - DB - Bethune-Cookman
72	Vince Manuwai - OG - Hawaii	72	Vince Manuwai - OG - Hawaii
104	Onterrio Smith - RB - Tennessee	104	George Wrighster - TE - Oregon
132	Tully Banta-Cain - DE - California	132	LaBrandon Toefield - RB - LSU
176	Mike Nattiel - LB - Florida	176	Brandon Green - DE - Rice
179	Jeremy Bridges - OT - Southern Mississippi	179	David Young - S - Georgia Southern
193	Curry Burns - S - Louisville	193	Marques Ogden - OT - Howard
218	Cecil Sapp - RB - Colorado St	218	Malaefou MacKenzie - RB - USC

This was one of my better drafts. Suggs was the defensive rookie of the year although I have to wonder if the Jags would have used him the way the Ravens did. It just so happened that this was the new Front Office's first draft and it was pretty darn good. Probably better than mine. Kinda odd that I picked the same player as the Jags did in Manuwai. The only picks that havent worked out so far are Jacobs in the 2nd and Banta-Cain in the 4th. Jacobs was hurt his rookie year and is now stuck in a run oriented offense with Gibbs in Washington. He could yet break out... but I know you're not supposed to draft Gator receivers. I just assumed with him doing well in a non-Spurrier offense(Zook/Zaunbrecher offense) that maybe the rule would change with him. Banta-Cain wasnt disappointing in that he hasnt played(he has played a little for the Patriots), its that I could have picked him much later. Bad value. Otherwise, I thought my draft was succesful. One of the recurring problems with Coughlin is that many of his draft picks not only didnt start, but couldnt make an NFL team. While this draft may not have provided many starters(other than suggs, manuwai, and occasionally smith), i believe all these players were on 53 man rosters providing quality depth. One thing Coughlin's draft never did.

2002

#	My Jags Draft	#	Actual Jags Draft
9	John Henderson - DT - Tennessee	9	John Henderson - DT - Tennessee
40	Mike Pearson - OT - Florida	40	Mike Pearson - OT - Florida
89	Terrence Metcalf - OT - Mississippi	89	Akin Ayodele - LB - Purdue
108	Keyou Craver - CB - Nebraska	108	David Garrard - QB - East Carolina
118	Aaron Kampman - DE - Iowa	118	Chris Luzar - TE - Virginia
180	Eric Heitmann - OG - Stanford	180	Clenton Ballard - DT - SW Texas St
222	Daryl Jones - WR - Miami	222	Kendall Newson - WR - MTSU
247	Justin Ena - LB - BYU	247	Steve Smith - DB - Oregon
248	Ken Kocher - DT - UCLA	248	Hayden Epstein - K - Michigan

This was Coughlins last draft as a Jaguar and I must admit that it was one a good one... especially compared to the three previous years which were pretty bad. Kinda funny how it worked out again though. Me picking the same player as the Jags although this time it was twice. first two picks. I swear I usually pick right away before I see who the jags pick so their decision doesnt influence mine. Anyway, Coughlins third and fourth round picks were much better than mine. Ayodele has been a good starter for the Jags and Garrard has been one of the better backup QBs in the league. This was one of Coughlins stronger drafts overall. I did better later in the draft however. Kampmann has become a quality starter for the packers and Heitmann has as well for the niners. In 2004, Ena was starting some games at MLB for the Titans due to injury. Jones returned kicks for the Giants early in his career but I believe is currently a free agent. As I mentioned before, a lot of Coughlin's second day draft picks never made teams let alone actually played. three years after this draft I had a fourth, sixth, and seventh round pick actually starting games. Coughlins were out of the NFL. Was an unfortunate trend of his that thankfully came to an end. But again, giving credit where credits due, this was a solid draft for Coughlin.

Unfortunately thats as far back as my records go. moved twice in a 6 month span and lost my papers somewhere. still mad that i lost it all. what is a shame is that i started this for my love of the nfl draft and also to see if i could outdo tom coughlin as a drafter. and whats really a shame is that the only draft of mine during the coughlin era that wasnt lost, coughlin looked to get the better of me. but i do remember the three years prior, i returned the favor and got the better of him. although if you go back on look at the jaguars drafts from 99-01, youd see besting those wasnt a very difficult task.

Moving on, some day soon Ill create a chart with a breakdown of how many players from each of our drafts are still in the NFL, starting, pro bowlers, etc... to get an accurate estimate of how i match up against the professionals. Now that my earliest draft that wasnt lost is three years ago, i should start to get a good idea of who won each draft.