Texas State is recruited out west

Texas State has stayed within the State of Texas for most in fact nearly all of its 2013 recruits, but now the Bobcats of Texas State is eyed a recruit out west and landed their 13th commitment in Brandon Jones.  

Juco Cornerback Brandon Jones of Santa Rosa, Calif/ Santa Rosa Junior College made the decision to commit to Texas State during a official visit last weekend.

"The coaching staff really made me feel at home," Jones said. "It felt like a big family and I already feel like I'm a part of it after just a couple of days there. They are new to FBS, but I feel like we can win a lot of games and go to a bowl game."

All I can say is that is what counts on the feel that type of mentality from players.

Is MTSU & FAU leaving the Sun Belt in 2013?

Well by now we all know that Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic is on their way out to Conference USA from the Sun Belt, and it’s not a surprise that they would like to leave as soon as possible. Will they be leaving early? Yes they will! 

With all the negotiations that is taking place, each party and the Sun Belt Conference is trying to settle the exit fee to leave early, and it want be free to exit if they decides to leave early. It will cost MTSU and FAU $1 million dollars to exit early and the SBC wants that payment if they so choose. MTSU and FAU also believe that they can leave the Sun Belt Conference for a lower fee than the required $1 million.

It is known that bout schools want out of the conference early than 2014, According to the SBC Commissioner Karl Benson, both school will leave on July 1, 2013. Now that they are departing in 2013, the SBC is left with 8 members, and now each of those members must seek another non-conference game. 

Why not go ahead and bring in New Mexico State that is waiting on the sidelines to be added to a conference and add Georgia Southern to get back to ten playing members. Also why not just go ahead and add four and get to twelve members for football. 

Let's get this done Commissioner Karl Benson, AD's and Sun Belt Conference. We are ready to move forward! 

Joe Miday hired at Western Kentucky

Coach Joe Miday

Joe Miday has been hired at WKU after six seasons on the strength and conditioning staff at Marshall University, including the last two seasons as the head strength and conditioning coach with the Thundering Herd football team. Miday will oversee the entire WKU football strength and conditioning program.

I am really excited to add Joe to our staff and can't wait to see the impact he will have on our football program," WKU head coach Bobby Petrino said. "Joe did an outstanding job as the head strength and conditioning coach at Marshall and I feel like he will be a great fit for us here at WKU."

Arkansas State hires Brad Bedell to the Offensive Line

Coach Brad Bedell 

Bryan Harsin the new head football coach at Arkansas State has announced the hiring of former All American and NFL player Brad Bedell as the new offensive line coach. Bedell has spent the last season at New Mexico State where is was over the offensive line.

Prior to New Mexico State, Bedell served as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator at UC Davis in 2011. During his one season at UC Davis, Bedell coached two First Team All-Great West? Conference selections in offensive linemen Sean Davies and Ray Wilburn.

"Coach Bedell brings six years of experience as a player in the NFL?with him, and he was recognized as one of the top offensive linemen in the nation as a college player," said Harsin. "He has been able to apply what he learned from those experiences to what he is doing on the field and in recruiting as a coach, so he will be a valuable part of this staff and we are excited to have him here at Arkansas State."

Coach Thomas Brown headed to Georgia State

Coach Thomas Brown

Trent Miles the new head coach at Georgia State has officially hired Thomas Brown from Tennessee-Chattanooga. Thomas Brown was at UTC for only one season and now he is headed to Georgia State to take on position in an FBS program.

Brown is no stranger to the Atlanta area, he is a native of the Atlanta suburb of Tucker and was Georgia assistant strength and conditioning coach, when he was hired at UTC last February.

Not sure just yet on what position he will be holding at the Panthers.

Tennessee Chattanooga will visit Georgia State this fall in the Georgia Dome on September 7, 2013. 

Louisiana Ragin Cajuns adds 7 to their football roster

The spring semester is in full swing and 

UL-Lafayette football roster is getting some additions.

With Wednesday serving as the start of spring semester classes on campus, Louisiana head football coach Mark Hudspeth announced the addition of seven players to the Ragin’ Cajuns roster for the 2013 season.

Joining the Ragin' Cajuns are Dominick Bilich (Metarie, La./Archbishop Rummel), Stephen Brauchle (Perkinston, Miss./Mississippi Gulf Coast CC), Nick Byrne (Rogers, Ark./Har-Ber HS), Daniel Cadona (Darwin, NT, Australia/Toowoomba), Johnny Kight (Louisville, Miss./Nanih Waiya HS/East Central CC).

Hudspeth also announced that Ricky Johnson (Lafayette, La./Carencro/Tulsa) and Evan Tatford (Lafayette, La./St. Thomas More/Tulane) have transferred into the program.  Johnson will be able to play in 2013 and have one season of eligibility while Tatford, will sit out the 2013 campaign and have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

“This is a pretty good group we have joining us now,” Hudspeth said. “There is a lot of talent in the group and it comes at spots where we have positions to fill.  By being with us for spring drills, they will get a good jump towards next year by being able to learn our system and get ready for fall camp.

“We've addressed a couple of important positions,” Hudspeth added. “With Brett Baer graduated (who had the dual role of both kicker and punter), we've gone out and found both a kicker and punter who can come in and compete with the two scholarships kickers that are returning.

“We lost both of our starting offensive tackles to graduation, so Johnny Kight will immediately help us with our depth at the position and should challenge our returning linemen.

“Even though we have both of our tight ends coming back, they will both be seniors. Nick Byrne and Evan Tatford will have time to adjust to our offense.”

Bilich, a 6-3, 285-pound offensive lineman, earned first team all-state honors and was rated the top center in Louisana as a senior in 2011.  The Rummel High product originally signed with the Cajuns last February, but delayed enrolling until this semester.  He will be a freshman this fall.

Brauchle, a 6-1, 205-pound kicker, earned honorable mention NJCAA All-America honors this past year at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC after making seven-of-nine field goal attempts and 50-of-54 extra points.  He helped the team to a 10-2 record, a second place finish in the state and No. 6 ranking nationally.

Brauchle will be a sophomore this year with three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Byrne, a 6-3, 215-pound freshman tight end, earned all-state honors as a senior after catching 43 passes for 715 yards and 11 touchdowns.  Ranked as the No. 7 player in Arkansas by some scouting services, he totaled 72 catches for 1,182 yards and 17 touchdowns over his final two seasons at Har-Ber High School.

Cadona, a 6-4, 203-pound junior, is the leading candidate to take over the punting chores from first team All-SBC punter Brett Baer.  Although the former Australian Rules Football and Rugby standout has never punted in an official football game, he caught the attention of college coaches when he averaged almost 50 yards per punt at a kicking camp in Las Vegas.

Kight, a 6-6, 270-pound offensive lineman, started at right tackle this past year at East Central Mississippi CC.  Accoring to scout.com, Kight, who will be a junior, had offers from Memphis, South Alabama and UAB before choosing Louisiana.

Johnson, a 6-2, 217-pound, senior wide receiver, played 35 games during three seasons at Tulsa, making 44 catches for 659 yards (15.0 avg.) and seven touchdowns.

The Carencro alum caught 22 passes for 351 yards (16.0 avg.) and a touchdown in 2010 and came back in 2011 to make 14 grabs for 197 yards (14.1 avg.) and four touchdowns.  He enrolled at UL for the fall 2012 semester and will be eligible to play this fall.

Tatford, a 6-5, 247-pound junior tight end, was a two-year regular for Tulane, playing 24 games.  He caught seven passes for 58 yards, including six receptions for 20 yards this past season.

A member of the National Honor Society in high school, he was named to the Conference USA Commissioner's Honor Roll in 2011 for having a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or better.

Louisiana tied the school record for wins in 2012, posting its second consecutive 9-4 season, and defeated East Carolina, 43-34, in the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl.  The Ragin’ Cajuns are scheduled to begin spring practice on March 11.

South Alabama Running Back Coach headed to North Texas

Another coach leaves South Alabama 

As a New Defensive Coordinator is hired and comes in, and the staff is taking shape, Tommy Perry is heading away from South Alabama to take a job at soon to be former Sun Belt Conference member North Texas.

An announcement on Tommy Perry is expected sometime Monday, Perry held the position of Running Backs & Special Teams Coach.  Now that Perry is leaving for North Texas, there are two more vacancies that must be filled on South Alabama football coaching staff.

There is a lot of talent out there to choose from, now that South Alabama is in the FBS and is a full member, who will they hire and will it be someone with FBS experience? 

Kevin Sherrer headed to South Alabama as Defensive Coordinator

Kevin Sherrer the current director of player development at Alabama is expected to be named the new Defensive Coordinator at South Alabama on Friday according to multiple of sources.

South Alabama defensive coordinator position came open when Bill Clark who spent five years with the program was hired as Jacksonville State head coach. Kevin Sherrer is expected to replace Bill Clark. Sherrer is in his third season as the director of player development at Alabama.

Sherrer a former tight end for the Crimson Tide (1993-95), Sherrer lettered at the school in 1995. After graduation from Alabama he spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Tuscaloosa County High School, which won a state championship in 1997.

Sherrer has some experience on defense, but not enough as a coach or coordinator in my view. In 1998, he returned to Alabama as a graduate assistant coach on defense, serving a three-year stint in that role. Sherrer earned his Master’s degree in higher education at Alabama in 2000.

He spent four seasons as a defensive assistant coach at Spain Park High School (2001-04), followed by five seasons at Hoover High School, three of those as defensive coordinator. Hoover won two state championships during his time there.

It will be very interesting to hear what coach Joey Jones will have to say on why he hired Kevin Sherrer as defensive coordinator. I would also like to know who all applied for the position and who was the final six candidates. There is no transparency in this process, this whole process is be closed to the public and fans.

In my view going into Division 1 FBS play, I would think more experience would have been required. It looks like Joey Jones continues to put to together a high school program or maybe a prep college program. It will be interesting to see how all this play out and the outcome of South Alabama defense, especially going up against some big name offense coming this fall. 

South Alabama football adds Six “JUCO” transfer to their rooster for 2013

JUCO's signs with South Alabama 

Six junior-college transfers is headed to the University of South Alabama football program in the spring after signing National Letters-of-Intent with the school on Wednesday, head coach Joey Jones announced.

1.       Cristobal Dinham from Independence (Kan.) C.C.,

2.       Steffon and Steven Fuller from East Central (Miss.) C.C., both are twins.

3.      Navarro (Texas) J.C.'s Montell Garner, Jay Jones -- who attended Northeast Mississippi C.C. in the fall  

4.      Desmond LaVelle of Northwest Mississippi C.C.

Each JUCO will enroll in school in January and be eligible to participate in spring drills, and earn a spot on the South Alabama Jaguars rooster for playing time as a starter. Each of these JUCO comes with playing experience but must learn Division 1 play.

"I think we have upgraded our team for sure,” said Coach Joey Jones.

South Alabama is now a full fledge NCAA Division 1 member, and they can now compete for the Sun Belt Championship and Post Season Bowl Games. 

Sun Belt Conference waiting to decide on expansion

Happy New Years Everyone!

With Conference realignment heating up and possibly could hit the Sun Belt Conference once again before it’s all over, SBC officials and AD’s is quite on the matter and no decisions is expected to be made anytime soon.

Athletic directors from throughout the conference gathered in South Florida on Tuesday, holding their annual January winter meetings of the Sun Belt Conference. But there was no action on realignment.

Associate Commissioner John McElwain stated that SBC Commissioner Karl Benson did an update on where the national landscape is right now, and said it was very productive. How productive for the SBC is the question?

But it seemed to be a little talk on the subject of conference expansion, but AD’s and conference officials are undecided on which way they would like to go, whether it’s 10 teams or 12 teams. If the conference decides to go to 12 teams then that would set the Sun Belt Conference up for a conference football championship game.

With all the talk of expansion and deciding on which way to go, another question remains on many minds on whom will the SBC add as new members.

There is much happening right now in college football realignment that has the SBC sitting still, watching and waiting to see what happens next. There is a big domino effect that is happening in the Big East Conference that may trigger down to the Sun Belt Conference again. Boise State who committed to the Big East last fall, has now decided to back out and stay with the Mountain West Conference. With Boise State backing out, their partner whom joins with them is considering the same in San Diego State. If San Diego State decides to remain in the Mountain West Conference, then the Mountain West may consider adding one of the following, UTEP, Houston or Tulsa. If that happens then C-USA may come back to the Sun Belt Conference once again.

If everything remains the same in the Sun Belt Conference they will seek to add two or four more teams to get back to a 10 team league or move to a 12 team league to stage a conference title game.

In considering additions to the Sun Belt Conference, there are several teams out there in the FCS that would be considered and there are two that on the high radar or invites in Georgia Southern and Appalachian State. Idaho and New Mexico State is now out of the conversations either, if the conference decides to move to a 12 team league. Sam Houston State, Liberty, Lamar and Jacksonville State are all being mention as possible additions.

Conferene expansion is on hold but its coming, it’s just a matter of time. WHEN?