Georgia Southern Announces 2009 Football Schedule
Eagles open the season at home, one of five games at Paulson Stadium
A season-opening game at Paulson Stadium and the program’s first-ever game against Atlantic Coast Conference member University of North Carolina highlights Georgia Southern University’s 2009 Football schedule. Director of Athletics Sam Baker announced the schedule Friday (Feb. 6).
Only Two RBs Return for EIU Next Season
Transfer, freshmen could key backfield.
The Eastern football team has had 19 1,000-yard rushers since 1963. Seven of those running backs put up multiple years of more than 1,000 yards rushing.
It’s been established that the Panthers need a running game in order for their offense to succeed.
They could get some more options with National Signing Day today as dozens of high school seniors will sign National Letter of Intents to play football at Eastern next season.
But it’s not always an easy process.
Opinion: Hens' Offensive failure Shouldn't Fall on Ginn
NEWARK – Symbolically, Brian Ginn became the fall guy for the University of Delaware football team’s miserable season, where it set new standards for offensive ineptitude.
Ginn, 31, was in his first season as offensive coordinator last fall, and by any measure, it did not go well.
But Ginn should not be seen as the fall guy, even though he was the one demoted to passing game coordinator and wide receivers coach Monday with the hiring of Jim Hofher as the new offensive coordinator.
Friends Pulling for NFL's Panthers' (And Wofford Football Alum) Richardson
Fayetteville High School classmates of Jerry Richardson are hoping for a quick recovery now that the Carolina Panthers owner has undergone a heart transplant.
Richardson, 72, had been awaiting a transplant since December, and a donor heart was implanted Sunday night during a five-hour surgery at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. Panthers officials said Richardson, a former NFL player for the Baltimore Colts, was resting comfortably in CMC’s cardiovascular recovery unit.
The Charlotte Observer reported that Dr. Mark Stiegel, once of the surgeons involved in the operation, said “the donor heart was working well.” The team said that normal recovery for heart transplant recipients is three to six months.
Vic Shealy Joins Richmond Staff As Defensive Coordinator
Shealy boasts more than two decades of college coaching experience as is the son of former Spider head coach Dal Shealy.
University of Richmond head coach Mike London has put the final piece of his football staff in place by hiring Vic Shealy as the defensive coordinator. Shealy – a 1984 Richmond alum – possesses 23 years of coaching experience, most recently as the assistant head coach at UNLV. He is the son of former Richmond head coach Dal Shealy.
UAlbany Athletics on Probation
The University at Albany athletic program has been placed on probation for “major violations in the school’s football and baseball programs,” according to a NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions report that was released last Tuesday.
UAlbany compliance officials found that head baseball coach Jon Mueller and several assistant football coaches had been sending text messages to recruits, an action that was outlawed by the NCAA in August 2007.
The football staff sent 331 messages to 220 recruits during the fall 2007 semester using a software program for recruiting that allowed them to send one message to several recipients, while Mueller sent 56 messages to five recruits using his cell phone last summer. According to UAlbany, Mueller “misunderstood the limited exceptions to the ban” on text messaging.
Richmond DE Lawrence Sidbury Drills for Skills
Lawrence Sidbury attracted attention at two postseason events just by being measured.
The former University of Richmond defensive end has 35-inch arms and 10½-inch hands, some of the longest/biggest among all NFL prospects, and highly valuable tools for block-shedding and a tackling.
Sidbury took part in the East-West Shrine Game on Jan. 17 and the Senior Bowl on Jan. 24.
“He had a chance to rush against these tackles that are rated highly,” said UR coach Mike London. “And he goes out and he competes, and he does well against them. I’m hearing from a bunch of scouts that his stock is rising.”
Coastal Ramps Up Schedule for Coming Years
Coastal Carolina will meet two Southern Conference powerhouses and the defending national champion over the course of the next three seasons.
Georgia Southern returns to Coastal’s football schedule for a two-game series that begins in 2010, when the Chanticleers also travel to defending Football Championship Subdivision champion Richmond, Coastal coach David Bennett said. Coastal and Furman begin a two-game series in 2011.
Murray ‘Lands’ Biggest Pilot
Fulton County head football coach James Bridges sees a lot of himself in Jacob Goodman.
For starters, Goodman starred as an offensive lineman within the Pilots’ program just as his coach did.
And on Wednesday, Goodman became the first NCAA football signee from the Hickman school since Bridges nearly a decade ago, inking scholarship papers for a full-ride at Murray State University on National Signing Day.
EKU's Landholm joins Hope’s Staff at Purdue
RICHMOND — Danny Hope has added another former Eastern Kentucky University assistant to his coaching staff.
Last week, the first-year Purdue coach announced the hiring of Donn Landholm as the team’s defensive coordinator. Landholm had spent the past 12 seasons at EKU, serving as linebackers coach (1997-2004), defensive coordinator (2004-07) and recruiting coordinator (2008).
Hofher Given Full Rein with Delaware Offense
New offensive coordinator trusted to fix woeful Hens.
NEWARK – The Blue Hens will still not huddle.
Beyond that, their offensive future is an open playbook.
In introducing his new offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Monday, University of Delaware football coach K.C. Keeler pledged to not be limited by the spread offense schemes of UD’s recent past, as successful as some have been.
Jim Hofher, 51, who spent 13 years as a head coach and coached quarterbacks at five Division I-A schools, will have the authority and artistic license to, along with his staff, design what fits the Blue Hens best.
Illinois State's Williams to Coach a Trio of Positions in 2009
Illinois State head football coach Brock Spack announced Wednesday that Jim Williams, who had been serving as the Redbird football team’s director of football operations and recruiting coordinator, will also coach ISU’s special teams, tight ends and H-backs during the 2009 season. Williams will also continue to serve as the Redbird football team’s recruiting coordinator and director of football operations.
Maine's Jovan Belcher Gets Lots of Yardage out of Challenge
Maine standout shines as linebacker.
Jovan Belcher played his last game in a University of Maine uniform back on Nov. 21.
Ever since, he has been training for the opportunity to earn a spot on a National Football League roster.
Saturday afternoon, the Football Championship Subdivision consensus All-American was back on the field with his best chance yet to showcase his skills in front of NFL scouts and a national TV audience.
Special Qualities are Morey's Draw
TAMPA - Even with one Super Bowl ring and a Pro Bowl berth on his résumé, Arizona Cardinals wide receiver/special teams ace Sean Morey still had a chip on his shoulder when he took the field for the opening kickoff of Super Bowl XLIII last night at Raymond James Stadium.
“I don’t think you ever really lose it. There’s always a chip on your shoulder,” said the Marshfield native and former Marshfield High star, who began his NFL career with the Patriots in 1999, but didn’t stick in the league until 2003, with stops in NFL Europe, furniture delivery, dock building, and a fishing boat in between.
ODU Has Special Selling Points
The Monarchs turn the heads of local recruits with powerful arguments since everything is new.
Bobby Wilder is seven months away from seeing his words become reality.
Wilder, whose Old Dominion football team begins its first season of I-AA play Sept. 5, has a unique pitch to present to high school players considering ODU, which last fielded a football team in 1940. He used it in signing 79 members of a redshirt class last season, and the recruits ODU inks in 2009 won’t have to imagine the scenario he describes through a year of practicing and scrimmaging like those players did.
