THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY APRIL 26 2007
THURSDAY APRIL 26.2007
FOOTBALL
9B
NCAA FOOTBALL COMMENTARY
Jay LaPrete/ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ohio State Scarlet's J.D. Larson catches a pass as Gray's Malcolm Jenkins defends during Ohio State's annual spring football game Saturday in Columbus, Ohio.
Ohio State has high hopes for 2007
BY JOSH LEHMAN THE LANTERN
COLUMBUS, Ohio — You make me sick. Maybe not you specifically, but the general "you" make me gag like Chad Henne in a critical drive. All I'm hearing in the wake of a somewhat sloppy Spring Game is that Ohio State football will have, by our standards at least, an awful year. Predictions I hear rarely stray above 8-4 and hover around 7-5 on this year's record.
Have you forgotten which university we're talking about here, or have the Florida Gators given this campus a permanent inferiority complex? Sure, Troy Smith, Ted Ginn and Anthony Gonzalez are gone, but it's not like this team doesn't have talent. OSU means that we don't rebuild, we reload.
Obviously, Todd Boeckman isn't going to be winning the Heisman Trophy any time soon, but I saw a few things I liked on Saturday. The man has a good touch on his deep ball, and you know he won't turn it over much. Sounds like another
quarterback I know. That guy wore No. 16 a few years back.
On top of that, the Buckeyes won't need Boeckman to be like his predecessor. The personnel just isn't there to run the four and five wide receiver sets anymore. No, the days of 35-point first halves are gone my friends. Instead, Chris Wells will be pounding the ball left and right. After that, expect "Beanie" to hit the hole again in a way that would make Woody Hayes proud.
Not to say that there won't be any big plays for this team. Brian Robiskie and Ray Small are certainly capable wide receivers, though not in the Ginn/Gonzo class. Moreover, thanks to the wonder of a little thing I like to call "recruiting," a young man by the name of Brandon Saine is on his way to Columbus.
In case you haven't heard of Mr. Saine, next time you're looking for a way to put off your homework, try a YouTube search for him. A word to the wise though: have a change of pants ready. You'll need them. Three words: Reggie. Bush. Reincarnate.
More than anything though, the
reason I'm confident about this season is the defense. They may be young, but they're fast. Playmakers like Vernon Gholston, James Laurinaitis and Malcolm Jenkins give this unit big play potential at every level. Linebacker, Larry Grant looks poised for an impressive senior season, and incoming freshman Eugene Clifford (another YouTube distraction worth checking out) is exactly the type of safety this team needed in Arizona.
Make no mistake about it, there's really only one worrisome spot on the 2007 Bucks. The offensive line needs to show that they're the unit that gave Troy Smith all kinds of time in 2006, not the Swiss cheese/ wet paper bag combination that broke down against the Gators four months ago. This is huge. Boeckman does not have the mobility to make the plays when protection breaks down. Fortunately, he's not the type of guy to throw the ball up for grabs; he'll take the sack and Tressel-ball will live again.
doesn't scare me. John Cooper thinks Michigan's a bunch of chokers. Penn State and Wisconsin have as many question marks and holes to fill as we do, so I don't see any reason to think a third straight Big Ten Championship is out of reach. Have a little faith. We're Buckeyes, remember? A lucky bounce here or there, and we could be talking national title in New Orleans. More likely though, this team will win 10 or 11 games and go to the Rose Bowl or Fiesta Bowl.
Maybe I'm overly optimistic, but any team coached by Lloyd Carr
BY STEPHEN WHYNO
THE DIAMONDBACK
Terrapin tight end makes an impact Next season's top players emerge
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — He's far from a household name, but tight end Jason Goode has made the No. 15 jersey popular on the Terrapin football practice fields this spring.
At Saturday's scrimmage, Jordan Steffy dropped back and sailed a pass in Goode's direction. Gaining separation from his defender, Goode made an over-the-shoulder catch and dashed up the sideline all the way to the end zone.
That's the kind of impact Goode, who will be a senior next season, has had on the Turps this spring as part of a deep tight end position. He has given Steffy and the other quarterbacks a big target with soft hands while many receivers are struggling to hold on to the ball.
Coach Ralph Friedgen said
Coach the
Goode is a
great athlete
given his 6-
foot-3-inch,
23.8-pound
frame.
"Jason has been a special guy. He has special skills," Friedgen said. "He's a bigger guy that runs pretty well, has
of the top pass-catchers last season. Goode has exemplified the drastic improvement at tight end this past month. Goode has illustrated better route-running, runblocking and catching skills, even beyond what he showed during the season.
The tight end trio of Goode, Joey Haynos and Dan Gronkowski has been extremely versatile as a group and has allowed the Terps' offense to do more things.
Goode had a foundation to build on though, thanks to the Terps' game plan against Georgia Tech. Leading up to the game, Goode practiced lining up at wide receiver and was split out to that position several times against the Yellow jackets.
"My blocking's come a long way. I try to improve in every aspect to the best of my abilities."
good hands. He's developing into a better blocker. He gives us some flexibility; he can play out wide or he can play inside"
Sam Hollenbach went to Goode early and often, throwing toward him four times on the first drive of the game. Goode made a clutch fourth-down catch on that drive.
"We can definitely all do everything," Haynos said. "Maybe some of us are better at some things, like Jason's a better route-runner than us, but what we lack in one thing we make up in other ways."
NCAA FOOTBALL
While Haynos emerged as one
JASON GOODE Maryland tight end
It was a new stage and new spot, even for a player who had seen plenty of game action at tight end in 2005.
"I was a little anxious," Goode said. "It was a little different for me. [I was] a
little nervous, thinking what I was gonna do. But once I got a few reps in the game, I was very loose, got a couple catches under my belt and I felt real in tune."
In tune is exactly what Goode and the other tight ends have been this spring. Frieden said the wide receivers have made progress, but acknowledged they have dropped the ball several times. The Terps have also dealt with depleted depth on the offensive line. In both cases, the tight ends filled in with catching and blocking duties thanks to the depth at the position.
NCAA FOOTBALL
Rutgers' Rice proves predictions wrong
BY DANE TRUXELL DAILY TARGUM
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. Rutgers running back Ray Rice is not large in stature by any means, measuring in at just 5"9" and 200 pounds.
Last season though, Rice proved all doubters — in him and in Rutgers — wrong by shouldering the vast majority of the offensive workload on his short frame and acting as the team's personal battering ram on the way to its first ever bowl win, earning him The Daily Targum's Male Athlete of the Year.
"Our success in our season came due to hard work," Rice said. "I couldn't have done what I did without my teammates, without my fellow teammate Brian Leonard and my offensive line."
The sophomore halfback scored 20 of the Scarlet Knights' 38 total.
As a sophomore, Rice had a season to remember, rushing for 1,794 yards, ranking him second in the nation behind only Garrett Wolfe, and an average of 5.4 yards-percarry.
Rice's season rushing total shattered the previous school record of 1,353 yards set in 1973 by former tailback LL lennines.
touchdowns on the season, and much of his success comes from his ability to wait for, and see, running lanes open up in the offensive line.
"I'm a patient runner. I like to let my O-Line work for me, and I'll do my thing afterward," Rice said. "I've been playing running back all my life, so I think it's one of those things that I'm gifted with and I just kept going with it. ... I never try to do too much, that's just the kind of football player I am."
Rice also had an uncanny ability to get better as games got into the fourth quarter. No game exemplified this more than the Louisville game when he rushed for 75 yards in the final 15 minutes of the game.
"Just mental toughness, when the game gets tough, I never get down on myself," Rice said. "The coaches believe in me, and I trust in myself. It was just one of those games where I was able to come through. Everybody dug deep, and I was able to help my team win."
Rice's trip to Rutgers was an unusual one, as he had originally
"That was the window of opportunity that we had and were able to talk to Ray again," Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said, "because he had committed to them in the late spring. So, it was a done deal until they made that change. So, really we were blessed with the opportunity, and then we like to think that we did things the right way."
committed to Syracuse, but when former head coach Paul Pasqualoni was fired in 2005, Rice decided to attend Rutgers, likely changing the fortunes for both programs.
"The whole family feeling [in the program is why I came]," Rice said. "I live an hour from Rutgers, so it made it easier. But, knowing the type of guy [Sichiano] was, and feeling him out, it made me more comfortable about making my decision."
Rice, and the rest of the Scarlet Knights are now preparing for the 2007 season, trying to once again improve their position.
Rice, a New Rochelle, N.Y., native, said Schiano's presence in the program was a big reason why he came.
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