Tennessee running back Arian Foster to return for senior season
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Tennessee's leading rusher, Arian Foster, will return to the Vols for his senior season instead of entering the NFL draft.
"This was a tough decision for me and my family and everyone who was involved with it," Foster said at a news conference Tuesday. "I feel like one more year of polishing myself, I will be ready for the next level."
Foster led the Vols with 1,193 yards and 12 touchdowns in 2007. He averaged 4.9 yards per carry and 85.2 rushing yards per game. He also caught 39 passes for 340 yards.
He was rated a second-round prospect by the NFL draft advisory board. Foster believes he could be a first-round pick after another year in college.
Foster needs 685 yards to pass Travis Henry (1997-2000) as the school's career rushing leader. Henry has 3,078 yards.
Last week, junior linebacker Jerod Mayo declared his intention to forgo his final season and enter the NFL draft. Three other players -- offensive linemen Anthony Parker and Ramon Foster and punter Britton Colquitt -- also said they are coming back for their senior years.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Michigan's Rich Rodriguez hires all but defensive coordinator
ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- Michigan coach Rich Rodriguez filled out most of his coaching staff Tuesday, bringing many of the assistants who helped him build West Virginia into a Big East power.
Rodriguez will be joined by six former Mountaineer coaches and five members of their support staff, choosing to keep only one of Lloyd Carr's assistants: Fred Jackson as running backs coach.
But he has not hired or identified who will be his defensive coordinator, the only opening left on his first staff with the Wolverines.
"I've got a lot of qualified guys already on the staff to be our defensive coordinator and I've got a guy or two to talk to this week," Rodriguez said before watching Michigan's basketball team play Indiana at Crisler Arena.
"My goal is to have the staff completely filled by this weekend before we go on the road recruiting, so that the players know who their position coaches will be."
Rodriguez on Tuesday announced he has hired: Calvin Magee, associate head coach/offensive coordinator; Tony Dews, wide receivers; Greg Frey, offensive line; Tony Gibson, secondary; Jay Hopson, defensive assistant; Rod Smith, quarterbacks; Bruce Tall, defensive assistant; Alex Herron, offensive graduate assistant; Jahmile Addae, defensive graduate assistant; and Eric Smith, offensive quality control.
Magee, Dews, Frey, Gibson, Smith and Tall coached with Rodriguez at West Virginia. Hopson is a former Southern Mississippi defensive coordinator.
"It's a great staff because most of the guys worked really well together, and the other coaches are really good," Magee said. "We had great staff meetings the last two days and we're fired up to get out on the road to recruit the best players in the country to come to Michigan."
Carr retired, ending his 13-season career as Michigan's head coach, on Jan. 1 at the Capital One Bowl. The Wolverines (9-4) ended the season beating Florida 41-35 to win their first bowl game since 2003, and went from being unranked to No. 18 in the final Associated Press poll.
Ron English is the only former Carr assistant who has landed a job. He was hired by Louisville to be its defensive coordinator, filling the same role he had at Michigan.
Tennessee might add two former Michigan assistants: offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and quarterbacks coach Scott Loeffler.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved
Interim coach Darnell spent month trying to gain trust of Aggies
SAN ANTONIO -- Gary Darnell's first priority when he was named Texas A&M's interim coach was convincing the Aggies he could handle it.
Darnell, A&M's defensive coordinator the past two seasons, was named the interim coach on Nov. 24, the day after Dennis Franchione resigned. He'll lead the Aggies (7-5) against Penn State (8-4) in Saturday's Alamo Bowl, before Mike Sherman takes over the program permanently.
The much-traveled Darnell has coached at 11 colleges across 37 seasons. He was the head coach at Western Michigan before coming to A&M and he was even briefly an interim head coach at Florida.
Still, he felt like he had to earn the Aggies' trust before guiding them through a month of bowl preparations.
"I needed, early on, to let them know, 'Hey, guys, this is not a real hard thing for me to do," he said. "I've been here. I've done it both ways. I've been a head coach a long time in a lot of different places and I've just seen it."
Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press
Rhode Island hires Rizzi as football coach
SOUTH KINGSTOWN, R.I. (AP) -- Rutgers associate coach Darren Rizzi has been hired as coach at Rhode Island.
Rizzi, a former tight end at Rhode Island, replaces Tim Stowers, who was fired last month after one winning season in eight years. Rizzi, 37, agreed to a five-year deal with a base pay of $160,000.
This opportunity is a dream come true and I'm excited to be back at my alma mater," Rizzi said Tuesday. "Ever since I graduated from URI and joined the coaching profession, this was always an opportunity I cherished. I look forward to getting started right away and to help build URI into a championship program."
Rizzi spent six seasons at Rutgers, and coached linebackers and special teams this season. Rutgers (7-5) is preparing for its third straight bowl game.
"He has done a great job here at Rutgers and I know that he will do a great job as the head football coach at the University of Rhode Island," Rutgers coach Greg Schiano said. "We will miss him but are very happy for him and his family."
At Rhode Island, Rizzi ranks fourth on list for career receptions and yards.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Four-star safety returns from Champaign
Four-star safety Okechuckwu Okoroha took his second official visit over the weekend. The 6-foot-0, 183-pounder headed to the Midwest to check out Illinois.
"It was a great visit, real fun," he said. "I had a great time and the coaches there were down to earth. I like Coach Locksley and Coach Zook."
Okoroha visited Champaign Friday through Sunday.
"I got to watch a practice while I was there, that was a lot of fun," he said. "I actually got to see it in person and see how the secondary plays. It was interesting watching the position coach's work. I looked at it and they are losing three senior safeties, their two starters and the nickel spot. That's nice to see.
"The rest of the time, I met with the other recruits and went out with my host, Travon Bellamy.
"I actually played with him my sophomore year," he stated. "We were just hanging out and went to the banquet on Saturday night. He gave me the inside scoop, the pros and cons. He told me how it really was. I also got to see him and the coaches crack jokes."
Of course, the No. 7 prospect in Maryland met with the coaching staff as well.
"It was good to be around them," he said. "They let me know what's really going on and are great people to be around. They'll make you laugh but also make you work at the same time."
Despite the good visit, Okoroha still claims no leader.
"I have no leaders and am just trying to go through the process," he said. "I took two visits to Virginia and Illinois. I'll compare both schools to my next visit, Boston College this weekend.
"I am planning to take two other visits in January. I'm trying to take it slow right now and leave them open."
Copyright 2007 Rivals.com. All Rights Reserved.
Pinkel, Mangino among 8 finalists for Eddie Robinson coach of the year award
DALLAS (AP) -- Missouri's Gary Pinkel and Kansas' Mark Mangino were among the eight finalists for the Eddie Robinson coach of the year award.
The other finalists picked were Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer, Air Force's Troy Calhoun, Arizona State's Dennis Erickson, Hawaii's June Jones, Ohio State's Jim Tressel and Illinois' Ron Zook.
Pinkel and Mangino led two of the season's most surprising teams.
In Pinkel's seventh season, Missouri (11-2) won the Big 12 North and was a victory away from playing in the national title game when the Tigers lost to Oklahoma in the conference championship.
The Jayhawks (11-1) set a school record for victories in Mangino's sixth season as coach and received their first Bowl Championship Series bid. They'll play Beamer's Virginia Tech team in the Orange Bowl.
The Eddie Robinson Award, named after the longtime Grambling State coach, is voted on by the Football Writers Association of America and will be presented Jan. 4.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Running back Slaton looks to finish strong for No. 2 W.Va.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) -- A season that began with Heisman Trophy expectations for Steve Slaton could still end up with the West Virginia running back playing for a national title.
That would be just fine with him.
"As long as you're winning, that's the only thing that really matters," Slaton said, repeating his season-long mantra. "A lot of guys that are here aren't big-star guys."
Slaton hasn't consistently been the feature back like he was last season, when he set a school-record with 1,744 yards rushing and earned All-American honors. Instead, he's split carries with quarterback Pat White, fullback Owen Schmitt and a pair of freshmen.
But after yielding personal success to that of the team, the 100th Backyard Brawl against Pittsburgh on Saturday gives Slaton a chance to finish strong.
He still surpassed 1,000 yards rushing last week and is one of the big reasons why the second-ranked Mountaineers (10-1, 5-1 Big East) are one win away from a trip to New Orleans for the BCS national championship game.
"It's easy to get fired up for this," said Slaton, who has averaged 200 yards on the ground and scored seven times against Pittsburgh (4-7, 2-4) in two blowout wins. "It's a rivalry game and I know what it means to the coaches and fans.
"A lot of our fans are going to be here and a lot of their fans are going to want to get in. There are going to be some fans just around the stadium. It will be pretty loud."
Several times there have been tremendous expectations at West Virginia, only to be followed by bitter disappointments.
The Mountaineers went 11-0 during the 1988 regular season and rose to No. 3 before losing to top-ranked Notre Dame in the Fiesta Bowl. Their last trip to New Orleans came after an unbeaten 1993 regular season, when they were embarrassed by Florida in the Sugar Bowl.
The Mountaineers had solid running games in those years, too.
West Virginia is averaging 310 yards per game on the ground this season, even without a significant contribution lately from Slaton. He started with four straight 100-yard efforts but has only two in his past seven starts.
Despite being healthy, Slaton has 44 fewer carries at the same point in the season and isn't even in the top 40 in the country in yards rushing. He has nine career games of more than 150 yards but none this season.
He'll have just the third-highest rushing total in the Backyard Bawl, behind Pitt freshman LeSean McCoy with 1,180 yards and White's 1,144 yards.
None of that fazes coach Rich Rodriguez, who believes Slaton is becoming a more complete player.
He's the team's second-leading receiver with 24 catches for 339 yards, and when he isn't carrying the ball he's a great decoy for White, who like Slaton a year ago has emerged as a Heisman candidate with a penchant for pummeling Pittsburgh on the ground.
Last week against Connecticut, Slaton delivered several crushing blocks that helped spring freshman Noel Devine for 118 yards.
"That just goes to show the unselfishness of a Steve Slaton," Rodriguez said. "His blocks were huge."
Even though defenses are jamming the trenches and challenging West Virginia's reshuffled offensive line, Slaton has still managed 5.2 yards per carry and 95 yards per game. His 17 touchdowns rushing matches his total from 2005 and surpasses last season by one.
He can add to his school-record 50 career touchdowns rushing against a Pittsburgh defense that has surrendered an average of 444 yards rushing and six TDs to the Mountaineers in the past two seasons.
Seemingly the perfect tonic for Slaton, even if he is more concerned about punching a ticket to New Orleans than the numbers.
"It's a dangerous game," Slaton said. "But that's every week. Every team we've played so far has played us to win."
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
|
