It is sounding more and more like Marvin Austin will be suspended for his entire senior year due to reported infractions with agents and other middlemen. While Austin is still currently on the team some leaks have indicated the next time Austin will be on a football field will be at the NFL combine and he might not be the only UNC football player in trouble. Other players recently interviewed by the NCAA were Deunta Williams, Bruce Carter, Quan Sturdivant, Kendric Burney and Greg Little who were grilled about the possibility of their interaction with agents and the NCAA has also requested phone records. With a lot of rumors swirling that money has also been exchanged this investigation could be a huge blow to a program that is on the rise and to a team that is one of the frontrunners for an ACC Championship this year.
Both Carolinas Being Investigated
Weslye Saunders is the latest player the NCAA has been investigating for possible relations with a sports agent. The NCAA visited the South Carolina tight end last week and it is believed the investigation is linked with the NCAA’s probe of UNC football players and their alleged dealings with agents. The number one rated tight end for the 2011 NFL Draft is from Durham, North Carolina and is friends with Marvin Austin and other UNC players. Saunders, Steve Spurrier and USC media relations director are all being tight lipped so it seems we will have to wait for the investigation to end before we found out if either football program will receive infractions.
USC Already Paying the Price
It hasn’t even been a month yet and the USC football program is already feeling the effects of the NCAA sanctions levied on them. The best offensive lineman in all of high school football last year Seantrel Henderson has pulled out of his commitment to the Trojans. Henderson starred for Cretin-Derham Hall in Minnesota and was named 2009 USA Today’s offensive player of the year. The 6’8 337 pound behemoth was seen in Coral Gables over the weekend and will more than likely be a Hurricane before the week ends.
Lane, if you don’t already know this it is going to be a long two years for you in LA. Enjoy!
My Favorite NFL Coach Died Today
My favorite NFL coach Don Coryell died today. All I can say is that he was an innovator and made the game we see in the fall a better game in so many ways. This man was an offensive genius and players who played for him were Hall of Famers. This is his bio from Wikipedia and understand nobody did what he did and accomplished what he did. Nobody!
In 1978, when Don Coryell began coaching the San Diego Chargers, the Chargers had a win-loss record of 1-4 for that season. The team broke their losing streak with eight additional wins and three losses that season after Coryell became head coach.
Coryell was the first coach ever to win more than 100 games at both the collegiate and professional level. He won two consecutive division titles (1974, 1975) with the Cardinals and three straight division titles (1979, 1980, 1981) with the Chargers, reaching the playoffs four consecutive times with the latter team. With Dan Fouts as quarterback, San Diego’s “Air Coryell” was among the greatest passing offenses in NFL history. The Chargers led the league in passing yards an NFL record 6 consecutive years from 1978-1983 and again in 1985. They also led the league in total yards in offense 1980-1983 and 1985. Fouts, Charlie Joiner, and Kellen Winslow would all be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame from those Charger teams, as well as Dan Dierdorf from the Cardinals.
Naysayers said he never had practiced or used a successful Defense…However, in 1979 the Chargers allowed the fewest points (246) in the AFC. In 1980 their defense led the NFL with 60 sacks spearheaded by a frontline of All-Pros in Fred Dean, Gary “Big Hands” Johnson and Louie Kelcher. The group was locally nicknamed the Bruise Brothers, coined from a popular act at the time, The Blues Brothers. However, in 1981, Dean, like Jefferson, was traded away due to a contract dispute with ownership. Dean contends he was making the same amount of money as his brother-in-law who was a truck driver. The Chargers’ defense would never be the same afterwards. Meanwhile, Dean would go on in the same year to win UPI NFC Defensive Player of the Year (while playing in only 11 games) and help lead the San Francisco 49ers to a Super Bowl that year and again in 1984. Dean was inducted to the NFL Hall of Fame in 2008.
Credit to Wikipedia
Chris Simms Stone Cold Busted
Chris Simms was busted earlier this morning in New York after smelling of pot while driving through a NYPD checkpoint. Simms was with his wife Danielle who ultimately took their 2009 Mercedes Benz home after Simms was arrested. In the whole scheme of things this won’t be a big legal issue for Chris, but it could hurt his chance of making the Titans team for the upcoming season. Simms signed a contract with the Titans earlier this year and previously played…err, road the bench…for Tennessee in 2008. Simms has also played for the Broncos and Buccaneers, but hasn’t been effective since he ruptured his spleen back in 2005 with Tampa Bay. I guess we will found out soon enough if his career went up in smoke.
Bruce Carter Super Sized
UNC Tar Heels outside linebacker Bruce Carter is rated the number-one player in his position by many scouting sites heading into his senior season. Carter is a complete specimen considering he can bench 440 pounds, has a 40 ½ vertical and can run a 4.39 40 at 6’3 240 pounds. “Bruuuuuce” can be seen regularly running the Keenan Stadium steps with 60-pound bags of cement on him so he must have an incredible diet. Well, that is what one would think, but Bruce recently divulged what is included in is daily diet regimen. “I eat a lot of McDonald’s and fast foods, but I do work out real hard … Almost every day. I usually get three double cheeseburgers, medium fries, large tea and a six-piece McNuggets. I don’t think eating healthy as far as eating salads and that stuff really works for me.”
I personally don’t know how long the Super Size Me diet will work for Bruce, but I’m pretty sure no one is complaining in Chapel Hill right now. Carter, DT Marvin Austin, DE Robert Quinn, ILB Quan Sturdivant, FS Deunta Williams and CB Kendrick Burney are by far the best defense in the ACC and quite possibly the best in the NCAA.
Kardashians = Rings
Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson recently made an interesting point from his Twitter account on the Kardashian clan. Lawson tweeted, “I heard if u hit a kardashian i win a championship.. Kim k holla me!!! I need ya for 17 min.” Lawson might be on to something because Khloe and Kim Kardashian both hit the jackpot this year with Lamar Odom winning a NBA title and Reggie Bush winning the Super Bowl. Kim and Reggie are no longer together, but she has since moved on to Cowboys wide receiver Miles Austin so is Dallas the next Super Bowl champion? Lawson went on to tweet, “I’ll take one for the team lol,” “If miles Austin miles or wateva his name is win a chip next yr … Then thing is amazing.”
Since Kim and Khloe are preoccupied right now Ty you could always take up with the other sister Kourtney!
USC Penalties – Update
The NCAA has not been fooled and thus they have really come down hard on the USC Athletic Department.
The findings of the NCAA investigation found issues with not only Reggie Bush, but basketball player OJ Mayo and an unnamed women’s tennis player.
• A postseason ban in football following this season and next.
• A loss of 30 total football scholarships over the 2011, 2012 and 2013 seasons.
• A vacation of all football victories starting in December 2004 and running through the 2005 season. This includes the National Championship win over Oklahoma on January 4th, 2005.
• An acceptance of USC’s self-imposed penalties on its basketball program, which included a forfeiture of all wins in 2007-2008 and a one-year postseason ban.
• All statistics vacated for Bush, Mayo and an unnamed women’s tennis athlete in the games which the NCAA deemed them ineligible due to rules violations.
• All titles won during ineligible games must be vacated and trophies and banners must be removed.
• Bush and Mayo must be disassociated from USC athletics.
• A forfeiture of wins in the women’s tennis program from May 2006 to May 2009, for long-distance telephone violations committed by an athlete.
• A reduction of recruiting days for the men’s basketball program in 2010-2011.
• Four years of probation
USC Finally Gets Their Penalty
These days living in and around Los Angeles doesn’t suck. The Dodgers and Angels are in first place in their respective divisions, the Lakers are up 2-1 in the NBA Finals, and the USC Trojans just got a near death penalty on their football program. The penalty includes a 2-year ban on bowl games, 30 lost scholarships, and their 2004 undefeated season will be forfeited along with their wins from 2005. As a UCLA Bruin loyalist nothing could be sweeter than to see the grim reaper show up on the Trojans doorstep. Oh, this has nothing to do with OJ Mayo and the basketball program so I will await those disciplines too.
We all knew the hammer from the NCAA was going to fall it was just a question of when. Reggie Bush’s constant denial of his family receiving in upwards of $300k in gifts from naive agents that ultimately sued him was a huge red flag. To make it worse Reggie ended up on the first day of the trial giving the agents back their $300k and not saying a word which really smelled fishy. It was about time this out of control program was dinged for improprieties that were happening. Why it took so long is an anomaly since we are now in the fourth year of the investigation.
I do have sympathy for this year’s freshman class because they now have to go out on the field everyday knowing they will not see any fruits of their hard work for the next two years. Sure USC will be able to be seen on TV against the Irish, Bruins and others, but even if they go 12-0 they can’t win a NCAA Championship. Look for UCLA, and potentially new PAC 10 members Texas and Oklahoma to split the 30 recruits that would have gone to USC and gain a competitive advantage over the Trojans going into the proposed realigned conference.
Yes indeed, this is a beautiful day.
Ben and Natalie Hit the Links
First off did anyone know that Ben Roethlisberger used to date LPGA hottie Natalie Gulbis? I sure as hell didn’t and it actually kind of pisses me off that Big Ben used to be with the #1 SU.com Sports Babe. Well, yesterday Ben and Natalie played a friendly round of golf at the Laurel Valley Golf Club in Pennsylvania which had to be a little like heaven on Earth to walk eighteen holes with such a knockout. I think this is a good time to drop a few ribs about the new shaft on Ben’s 8-iron, what actually happened on the turn, Natalie getting wet on 14, time to grip and rip it, make sure to pull back slow, and make sure to shout “get in the hole.”
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