Senin, 15 Januari 2018

Clemson's two starting DEs put off NFL, return to Tigers


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Yeah, this is a rather significant development.

Austin Bryant and Clelin Ferrell (pictured) were Clemson’s starting defensive ends in yet another run to the College Football Playoffs.  It was thought that at least one, and possibly (probably?) both, would be leaving Death Valley early and making themselves available for the April NFL draft.

Instead, Dabo Swinney confirmed Saturday evening that both linemen will be returning to the Tigers for another season.

Both players started all 14 games this season for the Tigers. Ferrell, a redshirt sophomore, started all 15 games in the run to the 2016 national championship as well.

In 2017, Ferrell led the Tigers in tackles for loss with 17 and in sacks with 8½.  Bryant, a true junior, was second in both of those categories with 14½ and 7½.

Ferrell was viewed as a potential Top-10 pick in the upcoming draft and a near-lock for the first round if he came out.  Bryant was looked upon as a fringe first-round selection but one, at bare minimum, who was comfortably slotted somewhere in the second round.

When things were going bad for Alabama on Monday night, a certain section of the Crimson contingent voiced their preference for offensive coordinator Brian Daboll to leave.

That contingent has now seen their money go where their mouth is.

The Buffalo Bills announced Sunday the hiring of Daboll as their offensive coordinator.

Daboll leaves Tuscaloosa after one season, leaving behind a national championship and a tantalizing half of football by rising sophomore quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Daboll’s departure means the Crimson Tide will employ four play-callers over a 17-game span, as Lane Kiffin called plays for Alabama’s Peach Bowl win over Washington in the 2016 semifinals, Steve Sarkisian ran the offense for the title game loss to Clemson, Daboll took over for the 2017 season and now a new play-caller will be in place for 2018 and beyond.

His departure means Nick Saban will have to replace both coordinators after Jeremy Pruitt took the head coaching job at Tennessee.

Alabama finished Daboll’s lone season ranked 13th nationally in yards per play and 15th in scoring. With Tagovaila’s ascendence in the second half of Monday night’s win over Georgia, it will be interesting to see if Saban leans in the direction of his skillset — the wide open, RPO-based scheme in which Kiffin was taking the offense before leaving for Florida Atlantic — or stays with a traditional, pro-style coordinator in the vein of Daboll.

Woody Barrett signed with Auburn in 2016 but never saw the field for the Tigers. However, his dream of playing FBS quarterback was not dead.

A 3-star prospect from Winter Garden, Fla., Barrett spent the 2017 season at Mississippi’s Copiah-Lincoln Community College, but on Sunday announced his return to FBS.

Barrett has committed to Kent State, according to a post on his Twitter account.

Barrett will play for head coach Sean Lewis and offensive coordinator Andrew Sowder, a pair who worked together previously at Bowling Green and are students of the Art Briles playbook.

According to Auburn Undercover, Barrett threw for 1,294 yards and rushed for 485 yards with 14 total touchdowns for Copiah-Lincoln this season, but also turned the ball over seven times in nine games.

Rising senior George Ballas led Kent State with 1,133 yards with four touchdowns against 12 interceptions this season. As a team, the Golden Flashes completed 48.7 yards per attempt for 6.3 yards per attempt with eight touchdowns against 15 interceptions, good for 125th nationally in passing efficiency en route to a 2-10 season.

Earlier today it became known that Navy head coach Ken Niumatalolo would not be the new head coach at Arizona. Here’s how that post ended:

With Niumatalolo out of the picture, expect Arizona to move on to its next candidate quickly, perhaps as early as today.

Well, it’s still today, and it appears Arizona has its man. According to a tweet from Gil Brandt, the Wildcats will hire Kevin Sumlin as their next head coach.

Sumlin, of course, went 51-26 as the head coach at Texas A&M from 2012 through this past season. He was 35-17 in the four seasons before that at Houston.

And considering his track record with his former quarterbacks — highlighted by Johnny Manziel — Sumlin should have no problem winning the approval of franchise quarterback Khalil Tate.

The NCAA-approved 10th assistant became official on Tuesday, and so far the highest-profile hire — by far — has been Ohio State’s plucking of Washington State defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. In just three seasons on staff, the 37-year-old Grinch took a defense that was 99th nationally in total defense the year prior to his arrival and transformed them to the 16th-best unit in college football this season.

Grinch’s loss is one that Mike Leach does not believe can be filled by just one replacement.

Wazzu has already hired ex-Minnesota head coach Tracy Claeys to serve as defensive coordinator, but now the Cougars are moving on another up-and-comer to also join the staff.

According to UStateAggies and the Seattle Times, Utah State co-defensive coordinator Kendrick Shaver will join the staff in an as-yet-undefined role.

Officially, Shaver will fill the role left by outside linebackers coach Roy Manning, who left Pullman to become Chip Kelly‘s special teams coordinator in Westwood, but the guess here is Shaver oversees the secondary in a co-defensive coordinator role.

Shaver spent six seasons on staff at Utah State, where he was selected by his peers as a co-recipient of the FootballScoop Defensive Backs Coach of the Year award in 2012. Under Shaver’s guidance, Utah State recorded three seasons in which it ranked among the top 25 nationally in pass efficiency defense, including this season.

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from Sports - Google News http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/01/13/clemsons-two-starting-des-put-off-nfl-return-to-tigers/
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