Penn State athletics director Tim Curley, who is currently on leave while fighting charges of perjury and failing to report a crime as part of …
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Ex-Iowa RB Coker played during probe (AP)
January 11th, 2012 by adminStar Iowa running back Marcus Coker played the final five games of the regular season while police were investigating an allegation that he sexually assaulted a woman, authorities acknowledged Wednesday. Weeks after authorities decided not to pursue the case, the 19-year-old sophomore was suspended. And this week, he abruptly left the program.
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Damaris Johnson would rather go pro than reform his Tulsa image
January 11th, 2012 by admin
Add Tulsa’s Damaris Johnson to the growing list of players that would rather seek other options than face the repercussions of a suspension.
Johnson, the NCAA leader in career all-purpose yardage, has decided to leave school and look for opportunity in the NFL. Johnson withdrew from school in December and didn’t enroll for the spring semester. It is believed he his back in his home state of Louisiana.
“It looks like he made the decision to try to throw his lot in with the NFL and see what happens,” Tulsa coach Bill Blankenship told the Tulsa World. “It was my hope that he would want to stick around and work his way back onto the field and make things better for himself.”
Johnson was suspended from Tulsa back in August after pleading guilty to felony embezzling with his girlfriend, Chamon Jones. The two received a one-year deferred sentence for embezzling $ 2,610.67 worth of merchandise between Aug. 20 and 25 from a Macy’s department store where Jones worked.
But Tulsa hadn’t given up on its star player. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Blankenship said there was a plan in place to get Johnson back on the field in 2012 and get him back on track for future endeavors, but apparently Johnson didn’t want to wait that long.
“I just want to make it clear we didn’t close the door on that. We gave him a game plan,” Blankenship said. “It was a very workable plan. He did go to class for a lot of the first semester. Apparently he didn’t finish up well.”
It’s unclear what the NFL will think of the 5-foot-8, 170-pound Johnson. He finishes his collegiate career with 2,746 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns. He also averaged 25.5 yards per kickoff return and ran two back for scores. While Johnson was one of the more dynamic returner-receivers during his three seasons with the Golden Hurricane, his decision making might give some teams pause. There’s no doubt Johnson has the talent to play in the league and his diminutive size might not be a problem since other players, such as New Orleans’ Darren Sproles, have been able to carve out a niche despite being vertically challenged.
Johnson is the third notable player in the past week to leave his current school to pursue other opportunities after suspension. Auburn running back Michael Dyer, who was suspended for the Tigers’ bowl game, left school and enrolled at Arkansas State. Iowa running back Marcus Coker, who was suspended for the Insight Bowl, left the program, though it is unknown what his future holds because he is the subject of a sexual assault investigation.
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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham
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Alabama’s Nick Saban not content to kick back
January 11th, 2012 by adminAfter second national championship in three seasons, Tide coach says he’s still “mean a competitor.”
Bobby Hebert defends confronting LSU’s Les Miles
January 11th, 2012 by adminBobby Hebert seemed to relish a day in the spotlight after lecturing LSU coach Les Miles in a post-game news conference.
Baylor QB Griffin III to enter NFL draft (AP)
January 11th, 2012 by admin
Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III has decided to enter the NFL draft. The exciting dual-threat quarterback is bypassing his senior season at Baylor and is projected to be one of the top picks in April. The news came Tuesday, exactly a month after Griffin became the first Baylor player to win college football’s highest individual honor.
Heisman winner Robert Griffin to enter draft
January 11th, 2012 by adminThe Associated Press reports a formal announcement could come as early as Wednesday.
Orange Bowl continues to taunt Darwin Cook over its bruised mascot
January 11th, 2012 by admin
It looks like Obie the Orange Bowl mascot was not OK after being tackled by West Virginia safety Darwin Cook after Cook’s 99-yard fumble recovery during the Orange Bowl.
The Orange Bowl Twitter feed posted a photo Tuesday of poor Obie being released from the hospital with several bandages, crutches and a missing tooth (which, I personally think is a nice touch). Obie, who is conveniently standing in front of an ambulance, is also holding a sign that reads, “Not Cool @D_Cook25,” which is a reference to Cook’s Twitter handle.
Apparently a video is soon to follow. Oh yeah, we’ll have that, too, in an effort to help the Orange Bowl to milk this for all it can.
The injuries seemed to manifest a little late since the game was last Thursday, but I hope Cook has retained good legal representation in case Obie has an ambulance chaser of her own. Oh, that’s right, if you didn’t hear, Obie is actually a female, a little bit of information Cook didn’t find out until after the game. And Cook was profusely apologetic for taking the poor, unsuspecting Orange out. Unfortunately, apologies don’t heal bruised fruit.
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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham
Marcus Coker is the latest RB to choose transferring over punishment
January 11th, 2012 by admin
Marcus Coker is looking for a new school.
Iowa announced Tuesday that Coker, the team’s leading rusher, has asked for and has been granted his release from the Hawkeyes.
Coker was suspended for the Insight Bowl for disciplinary reasons and the school said it had something to do with the UI Student-Athlete Code of Conduct. However, the university expected Coker to be back for the spring.
“Yes, the invitation is there for him to come back,” Iowa athletic director Gary Barta said Dec. 31. “We’ll let this play out and see what happens.”
A violation of the UI Student-Athlete Code of Conduct requires an appeals process to allow Coker to enroll in spring semester classes, but Coker withdrew his application.
Coker rushed for 1,384 yards and 15 touchdowns this season and was named second-team All-Big Ten. Ironically, he earned his starting spot prior to last year’s Insight Bowl when starter Adam Robinson was suspended for “failing to comply with team expectations and policies.”
In the past couple seasons, Iowa has had bad luck with its running back corps.
In 2010, the Hawkeyes entered the season with Brandon Wegher, Robinson and Jewel Hampton all vying for playing time. Wegher left the team during summer workouts citing personal reasons and was released before Christmas. Hampton had knee problems and also transferred prior to the holiday. Robinson was ultimately kicked off the team for marijuana possession, which opened the door for Coker to rush for 219 yards in a win over Missouri in the Insight Bowl.
This year, backup Mika’il McCall suffered a broken ankle in the season opener and then was suspended for the game against Nebraska. McCall also left the program.
That leaves the Hawkeyes with several inexperienced options at tailback for 2012. Jordan Canzeri led the team with 22 carries for 58 yards in the 31-14 loss to Oklahoma in the bowl game. Jason White also had four carries for 20 yards. Overall, Iowa rushed 37 times for just 76 yards and no scores in Coker’s Insight Bowl absence.
Coker is the second major running back to transfer following a suspension. Auburn’s Michael Dyer also was suspended for the Tigers bowl game and opted to transfer to Arkansas State to follow former offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn, who is now the Red Wolves head coach.
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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham
Nick Saban credits the movie ‘Red Tails’ for Alabama’s win
January 10th, 2012 by admin
After Alabama defeated LSU 21-0 to win the BCS National Championship, coach Nick Saban didn’t wax on about tactics and schemes. Instead, he credited his team’s moviegoing experience from the prior night.
As a way to relax, the Crimson Tide went to see Red Tails, a movie about the Tuskeegee Airmen, America’s first all black aerial combat unit, during World War II. Saban said the film actually inspired his team and he used it as motivation prior to the national championship game.
“We went to see the movie Red Tails last night, which I would recommend to anybody, but those guys’s motto was the last plane, the last bullet, the last man, the last minute, we fight.
And we always stay with the mission. And I think that kind of described the spirit of that group extremely well, but it also describes the spirit of the group of players that we have on our team t
his year and takes a tremendous amount of resiliency to come back.
It was tougher losing a game, and I think that demonstrates the character of the people in that locker room to come back from that game and finish the season like they did.”
Well, producer George Lucas was so excited about the plug from the three-time national champion that he released a statement saying so.
“The cast and crew of ‘Red Tails’ are together in New York for Tuesday’s world premiere so you can imagine the excitement when we heard Coach Saban reference ‘Red Tails’ at the forefront of his postgame comments after winning the national championship. Everyone associated with the film was so honored that Coach Saban elected to have his entire team screen the film on the eve of their championship game. And then to have ‘Red Tails’ and its inspirational message of overcoming adversity, never giving up, self-sacrifice and ultimate teamwork so deeply touch the Alabama team is personally very gratifying. I want to congratulate the Crimson Tide on their tremendous victory…the Tide truly rolled on Monday night.”
Who knows, perhaps this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between Saban and Lucas and the beginning of a feature-length film about Saban’s life. Alabama’s already had The Bear, chronicling the life of Paul “Bear” Bryant, maybe Saban’s movie is The Scowl?
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Graham Watson is on Facebook and Twitter: Follow her @Yahoo_Graham