While most remember Boise State and TCU as the premier BCS-busters of the past decade, it was the Alex Smith and Urban Meyer-led Utah Utes that crashed the big kids’ parties before it became cool. In addition, the Beehive State can lay claim to being the original home of “Quarterback U.”
In the world of football, if you have an offense that can consistently gain first downs, that’s a good thing. But when you have a player that can virtually gain a first down every time he touches the ball, you have yourself a dangerous weapon.
While today’s Runnin’ Rebels of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas aren’t quite the hardwood powerhouse they were in the mid 1980s and early 1990s, it appears they can still recruit. They snagged one of the winningest preps players in Nevada history, who looks to lead UNLV into a new era of success.
Herschel Walker. Rodney Hampton. Todd Gurley. Garrison Hearst. Anyone who’s a Dawgs fan knows these names and knows them well. After all, the land “Between the Hedges” is seemingly home to a never-ending stockpile of running back talent. This season should be no different, as Nick Chubb (pictured) looks to cement his name in UGA lore.
While the Bluegrass State is the home state of Muhammad Ali, basketball remains king around these parts thanks to the hardwood successes of the Kentucky Wildcats and Louisville Cardinals. Unsurprisingly, when it came to determining the top returning athletes to watch, both schools had their share of hoopsters near the top of our rankings.
Boise State is famous for the blue turf, but thanks to James Webb, the Broncos’ basketball program is surging and not that far behind their football counterparts.
For all the wonderful opportunities offered female athletes by Title IX, it is a shame there wasn’t some way to keep wrestling programs going around the country. The ancient sport usually became a casualty in the need to balance men’s and women’s scholarships and athletic programs. Luckily for Iowa, that’s not a problem they have to grapple with.
After future Congressman Jim Ryun became the first high school student to break the four-minute mile, only six have been able to match the feat—until the last couple of months when two did it in a few days. The most recent runner to do it, Michigan high school student Grant Fisher, has run his way into the top-25 list of Michigan student-athletes to watch.
It has been 50 years since the Minnesota Golden Gophers could call themselves the best football team in the Big Ten. But 2015 represents perhaps the best chance to change that—with a few breaks falling their way, of course.
Happy Valley had plenty to smile about in 2014-15, as the Nittany Lions of Penn State University made off with numerous big wins.
If you want to replace a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback in the lineup, showing up a few days late for fall camp isn’t the way you want to start. But in the case of Eastern Washington transfer Vernon Adams, he at least has a good reason. He squares away his undergraduate studies before turning his full attention to Eugene, Oregon.
As good as Rakeem Cato played in leading the Thundering Herd up and down the field last season, perhaps the most impressive aspect of the most dominant Marshall offense since the days of Randy Moss was the performance of a bowling-ball-of-a-tight-end-turned-running-back that entered his junior season with only five collegiate carries to his name. Such was the story of Devon Johnson.
