Third & Shorts

News, Reviews, Numbers and Trivia
© More from this issue

          
College Football Transactions:

Head Coaches: UNLV Head Coach John Robinson announced his retirement at the end of the 2004 season. Robinson, former mentor of both USC and the Los Angeles Rams, led the Rebels for six seasons... Becker announced David Dunn as head coach... The program is to begin varsity competition in 2005.

Football Assistants: Newberry chose Mac Bryan as offensive line coach... Mansfield named Scott Milanovich as an assistant coach... Santes Beatty was appointed as wide receivers coach at Guilford. Beatty was director of African American affairs and multi-cultural services at the school from 1998 to 2004... Trinity (Connecticut) tabbed Jonathan Dupont as an assistant coach... Kevin Bosworth, Roger Crawford, Brock McCullough, Kalvin Oliver and Fred Penciera were added as assistants at Shenandoah.

Wisconsin-River Falls hired Jamie Herrick as defensive line coach and athletics strength and conditioning coach. Herrick was an assistant track and field coach at St. Mary’s (Minnesota) during the 2003-04 school year... Brett Diersen and Ryan Williams were added as assistants at Wisconsin-Stout... Brian McArdle was added as a graduate assistant at Delaware. He spent the 2003 season as an assistant offensive line coach at Delaware Valley. (Courtesy: NCAA News) Please send all coaching transactions – high school, college, or professional – to AFM’s Managing Editor Rex Lardner: rlardner@lcclark.com

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2005 All-American Bowl

Next year’s US Army All-American Bowl will include a week-long listing of activities before 80 of the nation’s best players compete on NBC (Saturday, January 15th). Among the activities for coaches will be an all-day clinic in San Antonio on Friday, January 14th.

Finalists were also announced for both the ‘Walter Payton Trophy’ and the ‘High School Player of the Year’ awards. Both will be given at the US Army Awards Dinner the same evening.

The Payton trophy honors the nation’s fastest, strongest and most dedicated high school football player. The trophy is awarded to the high school student-athlete that represents Payton’s athleticism, hard work, and ideals. The finalists include:

Michael Ray Garvin, Cornerback, Don Bosco Prep, Ramsey, NJ
Jonathan Stewart, Running Back, Timberline HS, Lacy,WA
Ryan Reynolds, Linebacker, Bishop Gorman HS, Las Vegas, NV
Derrick Williams, Athlete, Eleanor Roosevelt HS, Greenbelt, MD
Dan Doering, Offensive lineman, Barrington HS, Barrington, IL

The Player of the Year Award honors the nation’s best prep football player in the country. The finalists include:

Jake Christensen, QB, Lockport, IL
Greg Paulus, QB, Manlius, NY
Ryan Perrilloux, QB, Reserve, LA
Mark Sanchez, QB, Mission Viejo, CA
Derrick Williams, Athlete, Upper Marlboro, MD

Appropriately, as one of the featured events of the week, both competing teams will see the movie Friday Night Lights.

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College Football Graduation Rates Soar

In figures just released by the NCAA, graduation rates for major college football players increased for the fourth straight year. In statistics for athletes who entered college in 1997, there was a three percentage point increase in the rate at which Division I-A football student athletes earned their degree. Football’s graduation rate of 57% for the 1997 class is the highest in the sport since the NCAA began tracking graduation rates starting with the 1984 class.

The 1997 class was the second to matriculate under Prop 16, which established a sliding-scale index that combined high-school grade-point averages and standardized-test scores to determine initial eligibility. The 1996 class reflected the effects of Prop 16 and the 1997 student-athlete cohort matched that initial group’s graduation rate.

The 1997 cohort is tracked based on federally mandated methodology but does not take into account transfer student-athletes who leave in good academic standing. The academically eligible athlete who transfers and then graduates counts against the institution he or she transferred from and does not count toward the institution the person transferred to.

Next year, the NCAA will provide an alternative measure. The new rate, called the Graduation Success Rate, will take transfers into account and is designed to provide a more accurate and real-time assessment of graduation success for athletic programs.

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1. What quarterback holds the record for most NFL yards passing in a single game?

2. What college player holds the record for most wins as a Division I-A starting quarterback?

3. Where will the Super Bowl be played in 2005?

4. Who broke Ty Detmer’s record earlier this year for most career passing yards in Division-I?



1. Norm Van Brocklin (Los Angeles Rams) 554 ; 2. David Greene (Georgia) 40 ; 3. Jacksonville (February 6th); 4. Timmy Chang (Hawaii)

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