Post-Superbowl Links

Monday, February 2, 2009

Posted by DCS

With the conclusion of last night's Superbowl resulting in the Steelers' second Vince Lombardi Trophy in three years, there will be a few more coaches and personnel that have ties to the Big East Conference, who will be wearing some serious hardware on their fingers. Congrats to all who represented the conference well last night, and especially to Larry Fitzgerald on a game well played despite the loss.

With two days to go until national signing day, here's what's going on:

• Houston Texans rookie running back Steve Slaton (formerly of West Virginia) was seemingly snubbed by coaches and fans when he wasn't selected to the AFC Pro Bowl squad (Scout.com)
• Rutgers nabs an under-the-radar linebacker recruit from Hackensack -- Junior Solice (Tom Luicci / The Newark Star Ledger)
• Syracuse steals a second Ocean Lakes HS (Virginia Beach) from Louisville in DE Brandon Sharpe (Donnie Webb / Syracuse Post-Standard)
• Excellent piece from Scarlet Scuttlebutt's Keith Sargeant on Rutgers QB recruit Tom Savage
• Matt Grothe, George Selvie, and many others will be on hand to sign autographs for fans at USF's national signing day party
• Greg Auman of the USF Sports Bulletin gives us his thoughts on what Bull fans should expect in the waning days of the signing period

Finally, are you interested in knowing who from the Big East will be participating in the NFL's Scouting Combine? Here's the full list of who's been invited, and below is a listing of the 25 players from the Big East Conference (congrats to Cincy on garnering six invites - the most in the conference this year):

Connor Barwin (Cincinnati - DE)

Will Beatty (Connecticut - OT)

Kenny Britt (Rutgers - WR)

Cody Brown (Connecticut - DE)

Donald Brown (Connecticut - RB)

Darius Butler (Connecticut - DB)

Trevor Canfield (Cincinnati - OG)

Hunter Cantwell (Louisville - QB)

C.J. Davis (Pitt - OG)

Tony Fiammetta (Syracuse - FB)

Adrian Grady (Louisville - DT)

Courtney Greene (Rutgers - DB)

Kevin Huber (Cincinnati - P)

Greg Isander (West Virginia - OG)

Mortty Ivy (West Virginia - LB)

Taurus Johnson (USF - WR)

LeSean McCoy (Pitt - RB)

Tyrone McKenzie (USF - LB)

Scott McKillop (Pitt - LB)

Mike Mickens (Cincinnati - DB)

DeAngelo Smith (Cincinnati - DB)

Brandon Underwood (Cincinnati - DB)

Tiquan Underwood (Rutgers - WR)

Pat White (West Virginia - QB)

Eric Wood (Louisville - C)

Pre-Superbowl Links

Sunday, February 1, 2009

Posted by DCS

As you all sit there on your couches, perusing various other t.v. channells, ordering food, waiting patiently for the big game to start, you may also be cruising the net looking for info on any range of subjects. I'll meet you halfway with these links:

• Pitt alum Russ Grimm (coaching in today's Superbowl for the Cardinals) is snubbed from HOF consideration yet again (Scout.com)
• USF alum Anthony Henry donates $100k to the Bulls football program
• Current Scarlet Knight Desmond Stapleton will be watching brother and former Scarlet Knight Darnell in this evening's Superbowl (Scarlet Scuttlebutt)
• Surprise Surprise, Pat White wins yet another award (The Charleston Gazette)
• Greg Auman of the USF Sports Bulletin speculates that the Bulls may see JUCO tackle Jamar Bass back in the recruiting picture

Larry Fitzgerald and Pitt: A Matter of Fate

Friday, January 30, 2009

Posted by DCS

I'm sure avid fans of Pitt football already know about this, but I think this story posted by Michael David Smith on Fanhouse.com about Larry Fitzgerald, is very eye-opening. The gist? Growing up in Minnesota, Fitzgerald was a huge Penn State fan and admits,

"...I always liked LaVar Arrington and Brandon Short and I always wanted to be a Penn State linebacker."

Fair enough; Penn State was/is a great program, especially if you want to play linebacker. Something got in the way of Larry making it all the way to State College, PA though. That something, was the weather:

"On our way driving to visit Penn State it was raining really hard and the visibility wasn't good enough so we spent the night in Pittsburgh. My high school coach told me that Tony Dorsett and Dan Marino and Mike Ditka went there and that there were a lot of great players who went there. So we went over to their facility and the coaches didn't know we were coming. I met the coaches and we gave them my tape and that was how the relationship started."

Wow, to think that the Fitzgeralds weren't even planning a stop in Pittsburgh, and that the Pitt coaching staff knew practically nothing about Larry, really speaks volumes about how circumstantial this chance meeting actually was. Of course, you know the rest of the story, so I won't bore you with the details, but it's truly fascinating how these things end up sometimes. I know Pitt and the Big East for that matter, is proud to have Larry representing them in the NFL (and Superbowl!). Best of luck to him and all Big East alums on Sunday.

Tons Going on In Tampa

Thursday, January 29, 2009

Posted by DCS

It goes without saying that the Superbowl is pretty much making Tampa, FL the center of the sports universe right now. That's good because it means the USF Bulls also get more attention and publicity than they would normally be accustomed to. For example, their practice fields (which the Pittsburgh Steelers are using) got a nice little makeover by the "God of Sod," George Toma. Also, the Gramatica brothers (two of which kicked for USF) were used in a segment for the Conan O'Brien show on kicking field goals. And if that weren't enough, USF is doing a pretty good job of making their own publicity without the help of the Superbowl:

• Backup quarterback Grant Gregory will transfer to a D-1aa program
• Five star (scout) / four star (rivals) JUCO DE commits to the Bulls - Rivals.com profile

In other news:

• Doug Marrone was an offensive lineman and coached offensive line. Now he's putting those skills to good use (Donnie Webb / Syracuse Post-Standard)
• Nolan MacMillan is headed to Iowa much to the disdain of hopeful Syracuse fans...
• ...but Auburn picks up another running back recruit. Does this mean that it makes Auburn a less appealing destination for four star (rivals) RB David Oku? Oku is also considering Syracuse
• Brian Bennett gives his top five Big East recruiting moments of the last five years
• B-Squared gets some heated questioning over his "Big East vs. Mountain West" post
• The Hartford Courant's Desmond Conner reports that Florida receiver Mike Lang is in fact slated to go to UCONN

NBC Has No Pull

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Posted by DCS

I came across an interesting nugget from Greg Auman of the USF Sports Bulletin today, about how USF signal caller Matt Grothe nearly played quarterback for the NBC broadcast crew for the Superbowl. Essentially, NBC wanted Grothe to throw passes to Cris Collinsworth (Grothe would be off camera) during a broadcast segment. Sounds pretty worthless to me, but I guess it could have been fun for Matt. USF signed off on the idea, but alas, with security being what it is at the "new sombrero," Grothe wasn't able to get a credential from NBC. So you're telling me that the network responsible for broadcasting the Superbowl this year can't get one measly college student on the field for a gimmicky stunt? I think I hear a PA getting fired.

I've got more:

• Brian Bennett aka "Captain Obvious" points out that Cincinnati is going to reap the recruiting benefits of an Orange Bowl appearance
• Odds and ends from Donnie Webb of the Syracuse Post-Standard
• Keith Sargeant of Scarlet Scuttlebutt notes that the Rutgers AD search is humming along

And in case anyone out there wants to question the quality of officiating in the Big East, please know that the conference's Coordinator of Football Officials, Terry McAuly is refereeing a little game called the Superbowl.