D1 College Football News

October 30 , 2006

Source: The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame, Inc.

Tennessee Great Chip Kell to be Honored This Weekend
Two-time All-America selection and 2006 College Football Hall of Fame inductee Chip Kell will be honored this weekend as Tennessee takes on LSU (CBS, 3:30 p.m. EDT).

Anchoring a dominant offensive line for three seasons, Kell helped guide the Vols to a 28-5-1 record and three bowl game appearances. In 1970, he bolstered a line that helped UT rush for the most single-season yards since 1951 and pass for the most yards in school history.

2006 Draddy Finalists Announced
The National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame (NFF) announced the 17 members of the 2006 National Scholar-Athlete Class, who will vie as the finalists for the Draddy Trophy, presented by HealthSouth.

The winners include: Brad Cook, St. Ambrose (Iowa); Brian Daniels, Colorado; Rhema Fuller, Connecticut; Jay Henry, West Virginia; Michael Klobucher, Ferris State (Mich.); Chris Leak, Florida; Brian Leonard, Rutgers; Aaron Lewis, Carnegie Mellon (Pa.); Ed McCarthy, Yale; Ryan Meredith, Pittsburg State (Ka.); Luke Palko, Saint Francis (Pa.); Carl Pendleton, Oklahoma; Paul Posluszny, Penn State; Kristian Smith, Alabama A&M; P.J. Theisen, St. Thomas (Minn.); Joe Thomas, Wisconsin; and John Wendling, Wyoming.

Each will receive an $18,000 post-graduate scholarship, and one of the 17 will be announced as the recipient of the 2006 Draddy Trophy, which recognizes an individual as the absolute best scholar- athlete in the nation. The award comes with a stunning 24-inch, 25-pound bronze trophy and increases the winner’s scholarship to a total of $25,000. The 17 National Scholar-Athlete Award recipients will be honored at the 49th NFF Awards Dinner on December 5 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City.

Ed McCarthy and his father, John (Yale, 1967), become the first father-son combo to become NFF National Scholar-Athletes.

Two-Minute Drill
Utah celebrated its second annual Student- Athletes Reunion Week against UNLV as over 200 athletics’ alumni attended... Eastern Washington celebrated its 80th annual Homecoming encounter last week against Northern Arizona... Missouri State’s Halloween Homecoming last Saturday offered pony rides and games for kids at BearFest Village prior to the game. Children 12 and under who dressed in a costume were admitted to the game free. Kids were also invited to march with the MSU Pride Marching Band on the field at halftime, receiving a treat bag afterward... Pittsburg State RB Germaine Race has rushed for 100 yards in 33 games - one away from matching the Division II career standard of 34. He also is in eighth place on the NCAA Division II career rushing list (6,256 yds.)... The 2006 "Big Orange Tailgate Tour" continued its five-city regular-season tour in Columbia, S.C., last week and has included previous game highlights, tailgate-style feasts at local restaurants and fellowship prior to Tennessee road outings... Honorary coach for UCLA in last week’s game with Washington State was RB James McAlister, who starred for the 1972 and ’73 Bruins... RBs Richmond Flowers and Haskell Stanback were honored as Legends of Tennessee as UT hosted Alabama. Flowers is a Montgomery, Ala., native and son of late Alabama Lt. Gov. Richmond Flowers, Sr... Oklahoma paid tribute to former Sooner running back and 2005 NFF Outstanding Contribution to Amateur Football winner, the late Prentice Gautt, during their victory over Colorado on Oct. 14. Number “38” decals were placed on OU’s helmets and the game programs featured his picture. Finally, crimson lines were painted on the field at the 38 yard line in his honor... Rice WR Jarett Dillard owns the longest current streak in the country for consecutive games with a touchdown passes. He is now at 10 games... Division II Newberry College is 9-0 for the first time in school history... University of San Diego has won 16 in a row and 24 of its last 25 games... Thirty-eight teams are officially bowl eligible. Another 23 teams are one win away from bowl eligibility... The annual Bayou Classic between Southern- Grambling will return to the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina forced the game to Houston... Texas has won 17 straight games in opposing teams stadiums... Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema became the school's winningest first-year coach. His eight wins surpass Phil King (1896) and William Juneau (1912), who both won 7 games... Temple broke their 20-game losing streak with a home win over Bowling Green... Tulsa has won six consecutive games for the first time since 1991... The preliminary list of nominees for the Pro Football Hall of Fame includes ten members of the College Football Hall of Fame... With Cal Poly's victory over San Diego State, seven teams from I-AA have beaten I-A opponents this season. The Mustangs joined Montana State, New Hampshire, North Dakota State, Portland State, Richmond, and Southern Illinois... TCU won its 13th straight Saturday game last weekend... Rutgers has won eight consecutive games for the first time since 1979. Brian Leonard is now the school’s all-time reception leader with 192 and has had 41 straight games with at least one reception... Oregon State was named the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl National Team of the Week after downing then- No. 3 USC 33-31.

For the first time ever, the College Football Hall of Fame is hosting an advance movie screening of the upcoming major motion picture “We Are Marshall,” from Warner Bros. Pictures, on Nov. 14, 2006. NFF board member Jack Lengyel, hired as Marshall’s head football coach after the plane crash, will attend the screening at the College Football Hall of Fame and participate in a question and answer session at the conclusion of the movie. Also attending will be the film’s director and producer, Basil Iwanyk. Lengyel is portrayed by Matthew McConaughey in the film, which is scheduled for nationwide release on Dec. 22, 2006. Following the screening and interview session, the Hall of Fame will unveil a six-month “We Are Marshall” exhibit.

Four-time Sun Belt Coach of the Year Darrell Dickey of North Texas was back in the coaching box last Saturday at Troy after suffering a mild heart attack on Oct. 12... After falling ill while taping a TV show, former Michigan football coach Bo Schembechler had a device that helps regulate his heartbeat implanted in his chest last Monday. He has had two heart bypass operations... Southern Illinois coach Jerry Kill sat out last weekend’s game against Missouri State, observing the game from the press box. He suffered from a seizure last Monday.

UNC has hired consultant and NFF board member Chuck Neinas to help the Tar Heels search for a new coach. Neinas has formally consulted on more than 30 football coach hires, including Mark Richt at Georgia and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma... LaTaiya Barnes was hired by the SWAC as the assistant director for media relations... Former Big 12 intern Kelly Wright joins the Plano (Texas) Convention & Visitors Bureau as its new director of services... Southeastern Louisiana assistant coach and defensive coordinator Michael Lucas will serve as interim head coach for the Lions... Oklahoma State hired Kevin Klintworth as its new SID... North Carolina A&T named Reed Wainwright its new strength and conditioning coordinator... Valparaiso named Adam Klos assistant athletics director for event management.

Missouri athletics raised over $2,596 during October to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation... Delaware and Towson students ran a special 58-mile football relay in conjunction with the schools’ football game last Saturday with the inaugural “Pigskin Pass” program to raise funds for Special Olympics... Stephen F. Austin sponsors a “Take A Kid to the Game” promotion against Sam Houston State on Nov. 4 with children 14-and-under admitted free... This is the 40-year anniversary of the famed “Howard’s Rock,” which Clemson student-athletes rub for good fortune when they enter the playing field. It memorializes late Clemson head coach and NFF Hall of Fame member Frank Howard... The Gateway Football Conference has invited South Dakota State and North Dakota State to submit institutional information as candidates for future expansion. The two schools could begin play in the conference as early as 2008... Artwork by Alabama sport artist Rick Rush will be featured at the United States Sports Academy, home of the American Sport Art Museum and Archives (ASAMA) on Nov. 9. Rush has been practicing sports art since 1975... Arkansas continues its series with UL Monroe (playing for the first academic year as the Warhawks) in even- numbered years at Little Rock’s War Memorial Stadium through 2012... The College of St. Scholastica will begin fielding a football program in 2008, competing in Division III... NFF board member and prospective Seattle SuperSonics/WNBA Storm owner Clay Bennett added four new members to his ownership group... Former East Carolina coach Steve Logan hosts a daily sports talk show on Raleigh-based 620 AM... Former Ohio State running back and Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George was appointed by Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen as the spokesperson for GetFitTN, a statewide program to promote fitness and healthy lifestyles.

The Maxwell Award and George Munger National Coach of the Year have denoted semifinalists for 2006. The announcement of the winner of the Maxwell Award occurs during the Home Depot College Football Awards Show in Orlando on Dec. 7. Three finalists will be in attendance for the ESPN telecast... Central Michigan DE Daniel Bazuin and OT Joe Staley have been invited to a pair of postseason all-star games. Bazuin has been selected for the 2007 Hula Bowl while Staley has been invited to the 2007 Senior Bowl. Both players already earned invitations to the 2007 East-West Shrine Game... Washington State head coach Bill Doba is the latest nominee for the FedEx Orange Bowl-FWAA Courage Award to be announced at the end of the 2006 season... Former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue has been named the recipient of the 2007 Theodore Roosevelt Award from the NCAA... The Football Writers Association of America will announce its 25-man All-America Team on Saturday, Dec. 10. The FWAA All-American Team is the second longest continually published team in college football and will be unveiled during an ABC program sponsored by Cingular for the third straight season... Former collegiate and professional football stars Steve Bartkowski, Guy McIntyre and Jessie Tuggle headline the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2007. It also includes the winningest high school football coach in state history, Larry Campbell... Draddy finalist Chris Leak of Florida and semifinalist Georgia’s Quentin Moses were honored as the Red Lobster Scholar-Athletes of the Game during their teams’ match-up on CBS last Saturday.

The NCAA and the National Academic Advising Association announced a partnership to further student-athlete development and academic success for NCAA and related groups... XOS Technologies announced the addition of Gardner-Webb and University of North Dakota to it more than 150 Network partners... Michigan State and turf specialist GeneralSports Venue are collaborating on a three-year project to determine how well athletes perform on various playing surfaces... Alltel Wireless has been named the “Official Wireless Company of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association.”

West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin is pushing to make the Coal Bowl between Marshall and WVU a permanent part of the schools’ football schedules. The schools played each other on Sept. 2 as the first in a seven-game series... Florida Citrus Sports renewed the title sponsorship of the Capital One Bowl and also extended the conference tie-ins through 2010... The AT&T Cotton Bowl and the V Foundation for Cancer Research have teamed up for National College Football Day on Nov. 4. This is the third annual celebration to commemorate the birth of college football, which occurred on Nov. 6, 1869, as Rutgers defeated Princeton 6-4.

University of New Hampshire hopes to renovate the 65-year old Cowell Stadium, seeking funding for a $20 million scaled-down plan. Public funding is unlikely because of UNH’s expensive tuition, garnering the smallest state support of any public university in the country... Louisville released a plan to increase Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium by 21,000 seats, giving the stadium a total of 63,600 seats. The $65 million project would also include 45 new luxury suites and 2,400 club seats... Southern Arkansas and Arkansas Tech have relied on community generosity to utilize high school stadiums in their areas while their facilities are being renovated.

The NFF announced that Demetrice Parks, a gifted senior linebacker and running back at Long Beach Polytechnic High School in Long Beach, Calif., has been selected as the October Student- Athlete of the Month for Play It Smart... According to the annual participation survey of the National Federation of State High School Associations, 11- player football gained the most participants among boys’ sports in 2005-06.

Former USC linebacker Marlin McKeever passed away last Friday at the age of 66. McKeever, a two-time All-American for the Trojans, was the brother of Hall of Fame guard, Mike McKeever.