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Longhorn greats considered for All-Decade team
By Dan Hurwitz
September 10, 2009
The past 10 years of Texas football have been unlike any in history.
Mack Brown has lifted the program back to its elite status and by the looks of it, the Longhorns will remain among the best for a long time.
Defensive Backs:
Dozens of defensive backs have come and gone through Austin during the past ten years. Some have won Thorpe awards, national championships and even Super Bowls.
Here are the nominees for the best Longhorn defensive back since the new millennium.
Aaron Ross
During his first two years in Austin, Ross, like many, was stuck behind more experienced players in the depth charts. He finally got his chance to start in 2005 when he intercepted three touchdowns and deflected nine passes, earning him a Big 12 honorable mention on the Longhorns’ way to a BCS National Championship. In 2006, Ross’ performance added a handful of trophies to his mantle; being selected as an All-American, Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year and the Thorpe Award, which is awarded to the best defensive back in the country. Ross’ career statistics at Texas include 10 interceptions, 33 pass deflections and two fumble recoveries, one of which he returned for a touchdown.
Michael Griffin
Griffin was Texas’ iron man, playing in every game since his freshman year and starting the final 26. The safety had eight career interceptions, his biggest coming from his remarkable leaping pick in the 2005 National Championship. He also did his part on special teams, setting a Texas record with eight blocked punts. Griffin was named an All-American and first team All-Big 12 in 2006. He has 364 career tackles, which is eighth most among all Longhorn defenders.
Nathan Vasher
Vasher was a star punt returner on the 40 Acres, but also performed remarkably at cornerback. Vasher left his mark on the Texas record books after graduating in 2003. He had a record 17 interceptions in his career and tied a Longhorn season high of seven interceptions in 2001. Vasher also has the most pass break-ups in Longhorn history with 64 and was named second team All-Big 12 twice and first team in 2003.
Quentin Jammer
The numbers do not show what he did at Texas, but in every game he was all over the field, saving touchdowns and deflecting passes. Jammer was one of the biggest hitters that Texas football has seen. But if you do need a number, he had 57 pass break-ups in his career, second most in Texas history. The only thing that may hurt his chances of making the All-Decade team is that half of his stay at Texas was during the ‘90s.
Cedric Griffin
A starter for the National Championship winning team, Griffin was a hard hitting cornerback who let his opponents know what they were going to get if they came into his territory. Griffin covered the field like no other. He played in every game while at UT and started every game since the beginning of his sophomore year. He only had three career interceptions and one sack but racked up 271 career tackles and forced five fumbles.
Michael Huff
The four-year safety was the first Longhorn to win the Thorpe Award. A former All-American, Huff holds the Longhorn record with four interception returns for a touchdown. Huff played every play as if it was his last. He had seven career interceptions and was one of the fastest and hardest hitting Longhorns to ever suit up. Huff played in every game during his four years and started all except one. He had 12 tackles and a fumble recovery in the 2005 National Championship, earning him the Defensive Most Valuable Player Award.
Rod Babers
Babers was an impact player at Texas for his entire career. Named on the first team All-Big 12 and third team All-American, he had only five career interceptions but returned three of them for touchdowns — good enough for second most in Longhorn history. It is a shame his stint in the NFL did not last, because then his subpar radio career would have never taken off.
Other candidates include: Terrell Brown, Phillip Geiggar, Brandon Foster, Ahmad Brooks and Marcus Griffin.
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Whitaker rapidly increasing chances at playing DI football
By Jay Neal
September 10, 2009
TYLER — Former Jacksonville High School standout, Joe Whitaker, has always had a dream of playing NCAA Division I football.
Whitaker, a 6-foot, 235-pound linebacker, is currently a sophomore on the Tyler Junior College football squad and is fastly emerging as not only a stellar defensive performer for the Apaches, but a legitimate Division I prospect.
The numbers — a team-high 13 tackles in TJC’s season opening victory over Independence (Kan.) Community College — while indicative of a fabulous effort by the 2007 JHS graduate, don’t reveal Whitaker’s complete commitment towards one day realizing his dream, however.
Guys like Whitaker — two-way players — are a rarity at the JUCO level, which is all right with Whitaker if it increases his chances at playing at the highest collegiate level. Whitaker plays linebacker as well as fullback, two very demanding positions, for TJC.
“I don’t mind playing (both ways) because I have prepared myself well for this,”
Whitaker said in a telephone interview following the team’s practice on Wednesday afternoon. “I trained hard over the summer and dropped 15-20 pounds to be in the best physical shape that I could possibly be in.”
Whitaker started both at linebacker and at fullback in TJC’s first game this season, but said his workload would be scaled back slightly in the team’s second game which was scheduled to take place last night against arch-rival Kilgore College. He indicated that he would start at linebacker and play some at fullback, but would not start.
“I will do anything it takes to help my team win, because the more we win the more coaches will come out and look at us and the more teams that see us the better my chances of playing D-1 ball are,” Whitaker said.
Whitaker went on to say that the early recruiting feedback he has received indicates some schools are considering him as a linebacker prospect, while others are more stimulated at the idea of him playing fullback. Either way, is fine by Whitaker.
“Some schools are looking at me as a linebacker and some a fullback,” he said. “It makes me no difference where I play as long as it is with a D-I school.”
Another goal of Whitaker’s is to be able to graduate TJC in December of this year; he needs just over 20 hours to be able to do just that.
Whitaker likes the abilities of his Apache defensive unit, although acknowledging the unit is loaded with youth.
“Our entire secondary is made up of freshmen, but we have a transfer, Shaheed Davis, from Stephen F. Austin at cornerback,” Whitaker said. “Our linebacking corp is pretty decent; I really trust those guys a lot, and we have a lot of depth on our defensive line, so we should be pretty good on defense.”
It would be understandable for Whitaker to proclaim his recent 13-tackle game the highlight of his college career thus far. But the game he holds the greatest fondness for occurred last season, in TJC’s second meeting with Kilgore.
“In our second game against Kilgore last year I blocked for a running back that gained 265 yards in that game; that is my top game, but the Independence (13 tackles) game is right behind it,” Whitaker said.
Tireless worker, team player, over achiever, unselfish...all traits necessary for an athlete to be able to play at the highest collegiate level and all characteristics that define Whitaker.
Whitaker is the son of Paul and Michelle Whitaker of Jacksonville.
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NCAA funds 60 grants for student-athlete development
Septemer 9, 2009
The NCAA has created a grant designed to fund student-athlete development programming on member campuses in all three divisions.
The Student-Athlete Development Grant is a $1,250 award given to 60 institutions to fund new and existing student-athlete development programming. Examples of appropriate programming include: ethical decision-making/problem-solving, peer mentoring, career preparation and development, leadership development, diversity/inclusion, and student-athlete mentoring programs. Other relevant topics will be considered upon submission of an application.
Funds can be used to cover costs associated with implementing a new program (peer mentoring) or staging a one-time program (speakers fees, career workshops). The funds may not be used to pay for travel, food or lodging. Each division will receive 20 grants (10 in the fall and 10 in the spring).
A team of NCAA staff members will evaluate applications based on creativity and targeted outcomes and collaboration with other campus departments, among other criteria.
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For more information, contact Eileen Patton at the national office: 317/917-6311 or
e-mail: epatton@ncaa.org.
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Edinboro drops out of NCAA D-II Top 25 poll
September 9, 2009
The Edinboro football team dropped out of the American Football Coaches' Association NCAA Division II Top 25 Tuesday after losing to Shippensburg 24-14 Saturday. The Fighting Scots are 1-1.
Other teams that dropped out were West Texas A&M, California (Pa.), Glenville State (W.Va.) and Carson-Newman (Tenn.).
Grand Valley State (2-0) remained No. 1 with its recent 26-10 win over Indianapolis, and Minnesota-Duluth (1-1) fell seven spots to No. 9 after its 13-10 loss to No. 6 Central Washington. Edinboro will host C.W. Post at 1 p.m. on Saturday.
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No. 15 Georgia Tech blows big lead, recovers to clip Clemson
By Sports Network
September 10, 2009
Atlanta, GA — Scott Blair hit the eventual game-winning, 36-yard field goal with just under a minute left, and also threw a touchdown pass to help the 15th-ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets avoid an upset and squeak
past the Clemson Tigers, 30-27, in an ACC clash.
Josh Nesbitt threw for 83 yards and two interceptions but also ran for 91 yards for the Yellow Jackets (2-0, 1-0 ACC), who won despite allowing Clemson to rattle off 27 straight points and take the lead. Anthony Allen exploded for 127 yards on five carries, including an 82-yard TD dash, and also had a 24-yard catch. Demaryius Thomas tallied 93 yards and a score on three grabs, while Jerrard Tarrant had an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown in the triumph.
Kyle Parker threw for 261 yards, three TDs and two picks on 15-of-31 efficiency for the Tigers (1-1, 0-1), who faltered after a 37-14 victory over Middle Tennessee in the season opener. C.J. Spiller had 87 yards on 20 touches and added 69 yards and a TD on four catches in defeat. Jacoby Ford notched 109 yards and a touchdown on five grabs. Dwayne Allen also had a TD reception in the setback.
Trailing by 17, Clemson took its first possession of the second half 57 yards in seven plays, capped by a nine-yard TD reception by Allen to make it 24-14 with 9:49 left in the third.
The Tigers stopped the Yellow Jackets on each of their next three possessions and capitalized each time to assume the lead. Parker hit Ford for a 77-yard TD for the first strike, then Richard Jackson hit a 21-yard field goal to tie it up and then added a 53-yarder to give Clemson a 27-24 edge with 11:33 left in the game.
Blair added a 34-yard field goal on Georgia Tech's next touch to tie it up.
The Tigers were then forced to punt and the Yellow Jackets took advantage. Starting at its own 35, Georgia Tech drove down to the Clemson 34, thanks in large part to a 39-yard pass to Nesbitt. Four plays later, it was 4th-and-1 but Blair hit a 36-yard field goal to give the home team a 30-27 edge with 57 ticks left to play.
Clemson was stopped on four straight plays to seal the deal.
Allen broke an 82-yard score down the right sideline off the option to give the Yellow Jackets a 7-0 lead with 9:27 left in the opening stanza.
Following a quick Clemson series, Tarrant ran the ensuing punt back 85 yards to the end zone to give Georgia Tech a 14-0 advantage with 6:55 left in the first.
On 3rd-and-13 from the Clemson 34-yard-line, Nesbitt went to the end zone and appeared to be picked off. However, the review showed that the defensive back didn't get a foot down and GT kept the ball. The following play, the Yellow Jackets lined up for a field goal, but on the snap Blair hit a wide open Thomas for a TD that ballooned the difference to 21-0 with 2:38 left.
Blair nailed a 24-yard field goal early in the second to make it a 24-point game. However, the Tigers answered with a 63-yard touchdown pass from Parker to Spiller on their ensuing touch to close it to 24-7.
Game Notes
Last week Tarrant had a 68-yard punt return for a TD...GT outgained Clemson 301-125 on the ground but was outgained 261-117 through the air...The Jackets and Tigers have a long history against one another, with Georgia Tech holding a 48-24-2 lead in a series that dates back to 1898. Last season, Tech marched into South Carolina and clipped Clemson by a 21-17 score.
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