Bowl watch continues with Potato Bowl … The daily parade of bowl games continues later today with the Potato Bowl – well the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl to be exact – with Idaho (8-4) essentially hosting Colorado State (7-5) on Boise State’s blue field with kickoff set for 7 PM ET on ESPN. Unfortunately, there aren’t a whole… Read More »
Injury conundrum for Badgers’ LT Ramcyzk … Wisconsin junior LT Ryan Ramczyk has walked back a report earlier this week that he would definitely be undergoing hip surgery soon after the Badgers’ complete their season against Western Michigan in the Cotton Bowl. Ramcyzk, a potential late first or early second round prospect for the upcoming draft, has a… Read More »
Ducks’ RB Freeman to return for senior year … In something of a surprise, Oregon junior RB Royce Freeman will reportedly return to school for his senior season next fall. Freeman had been considered to be one of the top 4-5 runners likely to be available in the 2017 draft, but he’s coming off an injury-plagued year in… Read More »
Bonus bowl coverage … The bowl parade continues later this evening when the Poinsetta Bowl kicks off at 9 PM ET on ESPN in San Diego in a game between former Mountain West rivals BYU and Wyoming. And while neither team is exactly loaded with 2017 draft prospects, this game does feature two of the more interesting backs… Read More »
Giants 4th rounder deflated for ‘walkie-talkie gate’! … The Giants 4th round pick at the 2017 draft could drop up to 12 spots in the fourth round for a violation of the NFL’s game operations policy. To wit, head coach Ben McAdoo used a walkie-talkie to communicate with QB Eli Manning for 5 plays during the Giants’ 10-7… Read More »
Baylor RB Linwood 3rd RB to skip bowl … Baylor RB Shock Linwood has become the 3rd RB to decide to skip his team’s bowl to avoid injury and begin preparations for the 2017 draft. Linwood, a senior with over 4,000 career rushing yards, joins LSU’s Len Fournette and Stanford’s Christian McCaffrey in opting not to play in… Read More »
LSU LB Beckwith has torn ACL … LSU MLB Kendell Beckwith, one of the top prospects at the position for the 2017 draft, suffered a torn ACL in the Tigers game with Florida in November. Needless to say, Beckwith will not play in the Citrus Bowl on New Year’s Eve; he will also miss the Senior Bowl at… Read More »
Bonus bowl coverage … The bowl cavalcade continues later this evening when Memphis (8-4) plays Western Kentucky (10-3) in the Boca Raton Bowl with KO set for 7 PM ET on ESPN. While no one is likely ever to confuse it with a football factory, Western Kentucky, the two-time CUSA champions, is something of an emerging mid-major power.… Read More »
Bonus bowl coverage … Speaking of glorified bowl exhibitions, the bowl season continues this afternoon with Central Michigan (6-6) playing Tulsa (9-3) in the Miami Beach Bowl (2:30 PM ET; ESPN) in a game that struggles to even merit the term glorified. That said, there are a couple of players worth watching in this game including one of… Read More »
Stanford’s McCaffrey to skip bowl … In a move that could become a regular feature of the college football non-playoff post-season, Stanford junior RB Christian McCaffrey has decided not to play when the Cardinal meets North Carolina in the Sun Bowl on December 30th. McCaffrey, in fact, is the second top RB prospect to decide to skip the… Read More »
No changes to top pick 6 … With all six of the teams holding the first half dozen selections in the 2017 draft selection order heading into the week having lost this week, there won’t be any changes at the top of opening round for another week. That means Cleveland will have the first pick for yet another… Read More »
Nice 2017 draft overview from vet beat reporter… For those that haven’t seen it yet, Bob McGinn of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, arguably the best NFL beat writer out there when it comes to draft analysis, has a really nice overview of where we stand with the 2017 draft to help ease everyone into today’s games.
NDSU 5-year run ends in FCS semis … What is the old saying? All good things must come to an end! That’s the case this morning in North Dakota State where the Bisons’ remarkable 5-year FCS national championship run, including a 22-game playoff winning streak, ended in a 27-17 loss to James Madison last evening. JMU will now… Read More »
College football notes … LSU head coach Ed Orgeron got an early Christmas present with the announcement that DT Christian LaCouture will return to the Tigers for the 2017 season. The 6-5, 305-pound LaCouture missed the 2016 season with a torn ACL he suffered in the preseason, but was still expected to enter the upcoming draft after he… Read More »
LSU RB Fournette to sit bowl … LSU has announced that junior RB Leonard Fournette will not play in the Citrus Bowl against Louisville on New Year’s eve. Fournette, a top 5-10 prospect for the 2017 draft, will instead focus on getting healthy for the pre-draft testing. Fournette hurt his ankle in pre-season training and ultimately played in… Read More »
GBN going to Mobile … You know that the draft is comin’ on down the line when you get your press credentials from the Senior Bowl which is now barely over a month away as we speak. Both Grumpy Lindsay and Pigskin Paul Guillemette have had their credentials for the Senior Bowl approved and plan to be Mobile… Read More »
Bowl season to kick off this weekend … If it feels like the college football season just ended and its way too early for bowl games IT IS. However, that ain’t stoppin’ the powers that run the college game and the 40-plus game bowl schedule that will culminate in the CFP national championship game on January 9th gets… Read More »
RB Chubb one of four Dawgs returning to school … There were a lot of smiles around the Georgia program today as four juniors including RBs Nick Chubb and Sony Michel and OLBs Lorenzo Carter and Davin Bellamy all announced that they would be returning to school for the 2017 draft. The most surprising decision was Chubb who… Read More »
4th star game gets first players … While we have focused mostly on this year’s major post-season college all-star games including the Senior Bowl, the East-West Shrine game and the NFLPA Classic, there is at least one more all-star game, the Tropical Bowl, which is scheduled for January 15th in Daytona Beach. And the Tropical Bowl announced signing… Read More »
Wrist surgery for Red Raider QB Mahomes … According to an ESPN report via RedRaidersports.com, Texas Tech junior QB Patrick Mahomes, the nation’s leading passer in 2016, recently underwent surgery to repair a wrist injury. What isn’t known at this time, is whether the injury will affect Mahomes’ decision whether to enter the 2017 draft and, if so,… Read More »
Vols QB; star RB, Gator OLB, sleeper QB hilite latest round of Senior Bowl additions … The Senior Bowl has announced the names of 13 more players that have accepted invites to this year’s game. Included in the latest round of invitations include Tennessee QB Josh Dobbs and star San Diego State scatback Donnel Pumphrey, the nation’s second… Read More »
More star game additions, notes … The East-West Shrine all-star game has announced the addition to the 31 new accepted invites including Wisconsin RB Dare Ogunbowale; WRs Billy Brown of Shepherd, Northwestern’s Austin Carr, Trey Griffey of Arizona, and Florida State’s Kermit Whitfield; TEs Mike Roberts of Toledo and Laval’s Anthony Auclair; OTs Erik Magnuson of Michigan, Oregon… Read More »
Cards LB wounded in campus shooting … Louisville junior OLB James Hearns, an edge rusher who is reportedly considering entering the 2017 draft, was one of three people wounded in a shooting incident that occurred at a party celebrating QB Lamar Jackson’s Heisman Trophy win on Saturday. The 6-3, 255-pound Hearns, who led the Cardinals with 8 sacks… Read More »
Irish QB Kiper enters draft … Notre Dame redshirt sophomore QB DeShone Kizer has formally announced that he will be entering the 2017 where he figures to be one of the top 2-3 QBs off the board this coming April. There are reports, for example, that Cleveland, which likely will end up with one the top 2 picks… Read More »
Auburn all smiles after double dipper weekend … Auburn may have closed the gap on those other guys across the state with news that former Baylor QB Jarrett Stidham was transferring into the program, while star redshirt sophomore RB Kamryn Pettway has announced that he will return for his junior campaign next fall. Stidham, who will technically be… Read More »
