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NFL Draft 2010 – Round 1 #22- Denver from (New England)- WR Demaryius Thomas

Dez Bryant, a Wide Receiver some had going in the top 10 picks, is passed over for another player at his position.

NFL.com writes- Pick Analysis: The Broncos opt for Demaryius Thomas over Dez Bryant as their future No.1 receiver. Though Bryant entered the draft as the more accomplished player, Thomas’ big-play potential and solid character profile apparently led to Josh McDaniels’ decision to favor the former Yellow Jacket. In making the decision to choose potential over production, McDaniels continues to place himself in the cross hairs with his controversial decisions.

Overview

Thomas has rare measurables for the wide receiver position and will be a very attractive gamble for some team after the first round. He shows excellent vertical speed, especially for someone his size, and can be intimidating to a cornerback when isolated on the perimeter. He has the size of a tight end with the speed, agility and ball skills of a wide receiver. He needs a lot of work on his route running skills as he tends to round off his breaks and will telegraph his routes with too much upper body movement. He can make acrobatic type catches but will drop some very catchable passes due to lapses in concentration. He is not a very physical blocker on the edge in spite of his massive size advantage. In a recent workout, Thomas broke his foot and will be unable to participate in combine drills.

 

NFL Draft 2010 – Round 1 #16- Tennessee LB- Derrick Morgan

I was hoping Miami would draft this guy.

NFL.com writes- Morgan has been an extremely productive starter for the Yellow Jackets over the past two seasons. He has a good combination of size and athleticism for a 4-3 defensive end. He doesn’t appear to have the overall athleticism to project him as an outside backer in a 3-4 scheme. Morgan has improved his overall hand use and counter moves as a pass rusher with good quickness to close to the quarterback. He needs to improve his pad level and power at the point as a run defender but gives consistent effort in this phase of the game. Morgan is an excellent football player that should test out well for his dimensions and likely be highly touted in the 2010 draft.

 

2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament 2nd round- March 21st

This post will remain at the top of the blog for the rest of today. To see newer posts, scroll down.

As results come in today, I will update this post. I’ll also include any related tournament news here.

Syracuse beats Gonzaga 87-65
West Virginia beats Missouri 68-59
Ohio State beats Georgia Tech 75-66
Cornell beats Wisconsin 87-69
Michigan State beats Maryland 85-83
Duke beats Cal 68-53
Xavier beats Pitt 71-68
Purdue beats Texas A&M 63-61

 

2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament- March 19th

This post will remain at the top of the blog for the rest of today. To see newer posts, scroll down.

As results come in today, I will update this post. I’ll also include any related tournament news here.

West Virginia beats Morgan St. 77-50
Cornell beats Temple 78-65
Xavier beats Minnesota 65-54
Purdue beats Siena 72-64
Pittsburgh beats Oakland 89-66
Wisconsin beats Wofford 53-49
Texas A&M beats Utah St. 69-53
Gonzaga beats Florida St. 67-60
Duke beats Arkansas-Pine Bluff 73-44
Michigan St. beats New Mexico St. 67-64
Syracuse beats Vermont 79-56
Maryland beats Houston 89-77

 

2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball predictions

Here are my selections-

2010 predictions1

2010 predictions2

So you heard it here first. Duke and Ohio State in the finals.

Note- Starting tomorrow I will have a sticky post at the top of the blog featuring that day’s results. Feel free to make your own predictions in the comment.

 

2010 NCAA Women’s Tournament Bracket

Here it is-

2010 Women's bracket

Like with the Men’s tournament, I’ll take a shot at making some guesses predictions in the women’s also.

 

2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament Bracket

Well here it is-

2010 bracket

I don’t have to say. Later in the week, I’ll take a shot at predicting the outcome.

 

No return- Georgia Tech beats North Carolina 62-58

Just two more days before the brackets come out. From Media General-

Start fast, stumble to the finish. The preceding sentence perfectly summed up both North Carolina’s basketball season and its 62-58 first-round ACC tournament loss to Georgia Tech on Thursday evening.NC-GA Tech

The Tar Heels led by 10 at halftime. (The Tar Heels started the season 8-2 and were ranked as high as No. 6 in the Associated Press poll.) Carolina couldn’t handle that success, and hit an early-second half swoon, allowing Georgia Tech to score the first seven points after halftime. (Just past the midway point of the season, Carolina lost eight of 10 games, sending the Heels’ season into a spiral.)

See the trend here?

Down the stretch Thursday, just as it has been all season, Carolina was plagued with ball handling issues and poor shooting, and the Yellow Jackets took advantage. They outscored the Heels 38-24 after halftime. In the last 5:13, Carolina missed all eight of its field-goal attempts and turned it over twice, and Georgia Tech pulled away for a win that likely seals an NCAA tournament berth for the Yellow Jackets (20-11).

“It’s extremely disappointing, to say the least,” UNC coach Roy Williams said.

Disappointing don’t do justice to North Carolina’s 2009-10 basketball season. Only a year ago they were National Champions, now they are hoping the NIT throws them a scrap bone tournament invitation. Should a team that finished 16-16 be playing in the post season?

 

2010 NFL Draft to include record tying 53 non-seniors

The 2008 NFL Draft also saw the same amount of under classmen. In 2009 the total was 46. From AP-

The expected heavy influx of non-seniors applying for this year’s NFL draft did not happen despite looming labor unrest in the league.

Although a record-tying 53 players declared for early entry, that number released Tuesday by the NFL was short of most projections.

“I think that the colleges have really done a good job of telling these young men how it is to their advantage to stay in school,” said NFL draft consultant Gil Brandt, who helped build the Dallas Cowboys in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. “I thought there would be more and I was surprised.”

Six All-Americans did apply for the draft: defensive backs Eric Berry of Tennessee and Joe Haden of Florida; defensive end Derrick Morgan of Georgia Tech; tight end Aaron Hernandez of Florida; linebacker Rolando McClain of Alabama; and wide receiver Golden Tate of Notre Dame.

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, also declared for April’s draft, along with Mississippi quarterback Jevan Snead; Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen; Southern California running back Joe McKnight; Cal running back Jahvid Best; Florida defensive end Carlos Dunlap; and Penn State linebacker Navorro Bowman.

Fresno State tailback Ryan Mathews, the nation’s leading rusher, applied. So did tackles Bryan Bulaga of Iowa and Anthony Davis of Rutgers, who are projected to go high in the draft.

I remember when Herschel Walker came out of school(U of Georgia) early and all the controversy it caused. A Herschel Walker today wouldn’t risk a potential big payday in the NFL either.

What I don’t get is how some experts expected the total of non-seniors to be around 100 or a 100% increase from last year. Maybe I’ll find an article that list the college players who stuck it out. A free college education should be valued. One day your sports playing days will end and what will you do for money then? Look at Bernie Kosar who left the University of Miami early for the NFL. Right now he is bankruptcy court.

The entire list of college underclassman declaring for this year’s NFL draft is below the fold.

 

Buffalo Bills hire Chan Gailey as head coach

He becomes the third man to lead the team since last September. From ESPN-

The Buffalo Bills have hired former Dallas Cowboys and Georgia Tech coach Chan Gailey as their new coach.

The team announced the hiring at a news conference at its facility in Orchard Park, N.Y., Tuesday afternoon.

The Bills were said to be impressed with how Gailey has brought teams to the playoffs with quarterbacks such as Mike Tomczak, Kordell Stewart and Jay Fiedler. In fact, Bill Cowher — whom the Bills had been courting to replace the fired Dick Jauron — highly recommended Gailey to the Bills.

Cowher planned to make Gailey his assistant head coach/offensive coordinator if he came back. Gailey has coached in four Super Bowls and has had his teams go to the playoffs in 11 of his 15 NFL seasons.

The 58-year-old Gailey fits the profile set by newly hired general manager Buddy Nix, who preferred hiring someone with head-coaching experience. Gailey has run college and pro teams, including a two-year stint as coach of the World League of American Football Birmingham Fire in 1991-92. He also coached Troy State (1983-84) and Samford (1993).

Gailey was coach of the Cowboys in 1998-99, following Barry Switzer, reaching the playoffs in both seasons but failing to win a playoff game. He was dismissed after the 1999 season, and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has acknowledged his mistake in firing Gailey.

He went 44-33 at Georgia Tech from 2002 through 2007 and led the Yellow Jackets to a bowl game in all six seasons at the helm. But he went 0-6 against rival Georgia and he was fired after finishing 7-5 in his final season.

Gailey has extensive pro and college head coaching experience, and was offensive coordinator of both Kansas City and Miami in the NFL during the last ten years. Will he be successful in Buffalo? I won’t hazard a guess, but just say that the Bills are in need of a great deal of rebuilding.

 
 


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