Mike Tirico Announces The Passing Of John Saunders
By: Kyle Koster| August 25, 2016 11:57 am ETFollow @KyleKoster
Stan Verrett will host ABCs Saturday college football studio coverage this year, the company announced Thursday morning. John Saunders, who passed away on Aug. 10, had held the role since 1992.
John Saunders was a mentor and friend who helped me navigate my career at ESPN and was always ready with a kind word and timely advice, said Verrett. His easy manner and comfortable style welcomed college football fans every week for years on ESPN and ABC. He was a fantastic host.
Theres a tremendous legacy there, and I am both humbled and excited to have the opportunity to add to it.
Verrett does the 1 a.m. SportsCenter from Los Angeles. The college football show will continue airing from Bristol, with Mack Brown and Mark May flanking Verrett.
LSU Player Gets Ejected For Flagrant Hit | College Football | September 3, 2016
BATON ROUGE, Louisiana -- One night last week, after even more rain fell here and forced LSU"s football team into its indoor practice facility, Tigers coach Les Miles sat in his office, nibbling on a burrito bowl while pondering a reporter"s question.
Has a college football coach ever survived an attempted coup and come back even stronger?
As hard as Miles tried, he couldn"t immediately remember an example. There were a few times in recent college football history when a group of boosters or an athletics director tried to overthrow a popular coach, but they"ve been few and far between. And two of the more-high profile instances in recent history had mixed results.
In November 2003, two days before Auburn played Alabama in the Iron Bowl, then-Auburn athletics director David Housel, university president William Walker and two trustees secretly interviewed Louisville coach Bobby Petrino about replacing Tigers coach Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville survived to guide his team to a perfect 13-0 record the next season and spent five more seasons coaching the Tigers.
Recently, after Texas was up and down under former coach Mack Brown from 2010 to 2012, two influential UT boosters contacted Nick Saban"s agent, Jimmy Sexton, to inquire about the possibility of Saban coaching the Longhorns. Brown made it clear he didn"t want to retire and returned, but lasted only one more season. He was forced out after the Longhorns finished 8-5.
Now, as Miles begins his 12th season at LSU with Saturday"s opener against Wisconsin at Lambeau Field (3:30 ET, ABC), he finds himself in similar uncertainty.
It has been more than nine months since Miles survived a not-so-secret coup attempt that nearly cost him his job. With the Tigers mired in a three-game losing streak heading into their 2015 regular-season finale against Texas A&M, there were widespread media reports that a group of disgruntled and influential boosters were prepared to pay $15 million to fire him.
Only after the Tigers defeated the Aggies 19-7 at Tiger Stadium on Nov. 28 did someone in power at LSU finally end the speculation and say Miles was going to remain their coach. LSU president F. King Alexander informed Miles of the decision in the locker room immediately after the game, and then athletics director Joe Alleva broke the news during a postgame news conference.
"I think there are a lot of reasons for our play through that three-game stretch," Miles said. "I felt like I was in good shape."
The reports of his demise were so fast and furious during a two-week stretch before the Texas A&M game that he and his players weren"t sure what was true. Miles, who has guided the Tigers to a 112-32 record, two SEC titles and the 2007 national championship, insists he didn"t spend much time figuring out who was conspiring to oust him.
"Absolutely not," Miles said. "I didn"t try to spend any time trying to figure it out. It wouldn"t have done me any good anyhow. I want to enjoy the people I work with, and that"s really the key piece. Did I hear rumors and innuendo? Sure, you betcha. But it doesn"t do you any good."
Miles couldn"t have known at the time that it was only the beginning of what would become an offseason of survival in Baton Rouge. When No. 5 LSU kicks off against the Badgers on Saturday, the Tigers and their fans will finally have reason to cheer. Perhaps no place in the country needs a joyful distraction more.
And the past couple of months showed LSU never needed its popular coach more.
"I signed every kid that"s back there," Miles said. "I hired every coach. I"m at a place where the stadium fills up, and they believe the Tigers are fixing to kick somebody"s behind, and I"m right there with them. The community and the state have provided great opportunities for my family and this is home. I have never -- not for a second -- thought any differently."
For the past two months, Baton Rouge has been at the center of the country"s racial tension. On July 5, Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was shot and killed while being held on the ground by two white police officers. Sterling"s death sparked massive protests in Baton Rouge and other cities around the country.
On July 17, Gavin Long, a 29-year-old black man from Kansas City, ambushed police officers responding to a 911 call on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge, not far from Miles" home. Three officers were shot and killed and three others were seriously injured. Miles knew one of the slain officers, Montrell Jackson, a six-year veteran of the Baton Rouge Police Department.
"We could hear the sirens from our home," Miles said.
In the wake of the tragedies, Miles spoke out against violence. He talked to his players about the incidents and encouraged high school coaches across the state to do the same. Miles visited the families of slain and injured police officers, and urged his players to take a more active role in the community to help heal festering wounds.
During Baton Rouge"s greatest time of need, the coach that at least a few LSU boosters no longer wanted took the lead in trying to unite his city.
"I didn"t learn anything new about him because he"s good at that stuff," Alleva said. "He"s really good in the community and he"s really good at stepping up when there are problems and distress. He did it before with Hurricane Katrina. I think he"s been very helpful in helping soothe things over and making things better in Baton Rouge."
Tragically, even more heartache was yet to come. Earlier this month, the skies opened and more than 20 inches of rain fell on Baton Rouge and other parts of the state. According to meteorologists, the no-named storm dumped three times as much rain on Louisiana as Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Thirteen people were killed and more than 145,000 homes were damaged or destroyed in the historic flooding.
East Baton Rouge Parish suffered devastating damage. The parents of a handful of LSU players were affected by flooding, and tight ends coach Steve Ensminger and his family lost their home. Longtime LSU radio announcer Jim Hawthorne and his wife had to be rescued from their house, and LSU athletics department personnel participated in other rescues. The Tigers also opened the Carl Maddox Field House, a track and field venue, as a shelter for displaced residents.
Miles won"t allow himself to think about what might have happened if he had been coaching somewhere else. After 11 seasons at LSU, he knows the area as well as anyone and is part of its fabric. His four children attended high school in Baton Rouge. His oldest daughter, Kathryn, whom he still calls "Smacker," is a swimmer at the University of Texas. His oldest son, Manny, is a backup quarterback at North Carolina, and his youngest son, Ben, a senior fullback at Catholic High, has committed to play at Nebraska next season. His youngest daughter, Macy, is a star softball player.
"This place is home," Miles said. "My children were raised here. When they say they want to come home and see their friends, they"ll come to Baton Rouge."
If a few LSU boosters had their way, though, Miles wouldn"t be coaching the Tigers this season. A common worry among LSU fans: The Tigers are going to waste star tailback Leonard Fournette, much like the men"s basketball team wasted forward Ben Simmons last season. Simmons was only the fourth No. 1 pick in the NBA draft who didn"t play in the NCAA tournament. LSU fans can"t imagine having Fournette for three seasons -- he"s expected to enter the NFL draft as a junior after this season -- without winning an SEC championship.
"One player does not make a team," Alleva said. "There have been a lot of examples where there"s a great player that has never won a championship. How many championships did Kareem Abdul-Jabbar win in the NBA until he hooked up with Magic Johnson?"
Last season proved that Fournette can"t do it alone. The New Orleans native ran for nearly 2,000 yards in 12 games in 2015 and was considered a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy. But as LSU"s passing game floundered, defenses eventually found a way to slow him down. After leading the Tigers to a 7-0 record and No. 2 ranking in the College Football Playoff rankings, he averaged only 1.6 yards on 19 carries in a 30-16 loss at Alabama on Nov. 7. Then the Tigers lost their next two games, 31-14 to Arkansas and 38-17 to Ole Miss. It was the first time since 1966 that LSU lost three straight games by 10 points or more.
Alleva, who was lured to LSU from Duke in 2008, insists that he never came close to firing Miles, despite the Tigers" late-season collapse.
"My philosophy has always been to evaluate a program at the end of the season," Alleva said. "I said I would do that and nobody wanted to listen to me. I guess I could have said after we lost three games, "He"s our coach and he"s staying." But my deal has always been I"ll tell you what"s going to happen after the last game. I waited until the last game and said, "He"s our coach and he"s staying.""
But others close to the LSU program aren"t so sure Miles wasn"t on the chopping block. Alexander told reporters in December that he made the decision to keep Miles during a meeting with Alleva and members of the LSU Board of Supervisors at halftime of the Texas A&M game. Alexander said he didn"t believe paying Miles a $15 million buyout -- as well as another $5 million to pay off his assistant coaches -- was a prudent move at a time when the university"s overall operating budget was being drastically reduced by the state legislature.
Alleva admitted to reporters that he made inquiries about coaching candidates in case Miles was fired, but never directly contacted a potential successor. LSU"s decision to keep Miles was made on the same day Jimbo Fisher announced he was staying at Florida State. Fisher, a former LSU assistant, was considered the No. 1 candidate to replace Miles if a change was made.
At least one former LSU assistant believed the university was working to oust Miles more than two years ago. Former Tigers defensive coordinator John Chavis, now at Texas A&M, told Miles that LSU officials were treating him like former Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer, who was fired after the 2008 season. Under a new provision added to LSU assistants" contracts, their deals won"t be fully honored if Miles is fired or resigns.
"This kind of reminds me of Phillip Fulmer," Chavis told Miles in 2014, according to a deposition filed in LSU"s ongoing civil lawsuit against Chavis. LSU is trying to make Chavis pay a $400,000 buyout for leaving for Texas A&M.
LSU"s players aren"t sure what would have happened if they hadn"t beaten the Aggies to finish the regular season.
"Everybody in that locker room knew what we were playing for against Texas A&M and we wanted to go out there and do it for him," guard William Clapp said. "We really didn"t know what the parameters were, but we knew we wanted to win to save his job or win to send him out right. We were going to win for him."
After beating the Aggies, the Tigers defeated Texas Tech 56-27 in the Advocare V100 Texas Bowl to finish 9-3 (their Sept. 5 opener against FCS foe McNeese State was canceled because of lightning, which probably cost Miles an eighth 10-win season).
Nine months later, it"s still unclear what the Tigers have to do this season for Miles to keep his job. His teams have averaged 10 wins per season and they"ve won nearly twice as many games against ranked opponents as they"ve lost (42-23 since 2005).
"He wins 10 or 11 games every year," center Ethan Pocic said. "I know it"s a cutthroat business, but he"s won a lot of ballgames."
Alleva, who says his relationship with Miles is better than ever before, is taking the same approach as last year: He"ll evaluate his coach after the regular season. With 18 starters coming back, the Tigers are expected to challenge Alabama in the SEC West and compete for one of the four spots in the College Football Playoff.
"Let"s evaluate things: The guy wins about 80 percent of his games, he"s a great recruiter, he"s really good in the community, and the players really like playing for him," Alleva said. "The only knock on him from some places is the kind of offense he runs."
After last season"s late collapse, Miles made several changes to his coaching staff. He hired former Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Aranda to replace Kevin Steele, who left for Auburn. He also hired former Auburn co-offensive coordinator Dameyune Craig to coach receivers and former Louisiana Tech assistant Jabbar Juluke to coach running backs.
Miles retained offensive coordinator Cam Cameron, who was heavily criticized after LSU ranked 12th in the SEC in passing (180.4 yards per game) in 2015. The Tigers are banking on junior Brandon Harris being much better in his second season as a starter; he completed 53.7 percent of his passes for 2,165 yards with 13 touchdowns and six interceptions last season.
"It"s not just about the quarterback," Alleva said. "It"s about play selection and having confidence in your quarterback. Two years ago, when we had Zach Mettenberger, we threw the ball all over the place. It"s not the fact that Les won"t throw the ball, but you have to try to put your kids in positions where they can succeed and not ask too much of them."
The other knock on Miles: He can"t beat Alabama. The Tigers have dropped five consecutive games to the Crimson Tide, who are coached by Saban, who spent five seasons at LSU and guided the Tigers to the 2003 national title. The Tigers are 5-7 against Alabama under Miles, and haven"t won a game in the series since a 9-6 overtime victory in 2011. Alabama won the rematch that season, 21-0 in the BCS National Championship.
Miles" predicament is similar to the one former LSU coach Charlie McClendon faced in the 1960s and 1970s. McClendon had a 137-59-7 record as LSU"s coach from 1962 to 1979, and was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1986. But his teams had a 2-14 record against Alabama, which was coached by Paul "Bear" Bryant.
"Charlie Mac got run out of town here because he couldn"t beat Bear Bryant," Alleva said. "Well, nobody beat Bear Bryant. I"m not saying no one beats Nick Saban, but right now he really has things going well."
Miles won"t have to worry about Alabama until Nov. 5, when the Crimson Tide come to Tiger Stadium. The first two months of the season will dictate how big that game will be.
"I think Les has changed," Alleva said. "I think we all have, to be honest. I think last November was a good wake-up call for everybody, not just him and me. I think it made everybody better. I think our players have a little chip on their shoulders, and I think everyone is really looking forward to this season."
She said shed get tipped off by his aunt or uncle. Sometimes it would be a cousin, a neighbor or even his old high school coach and each time shed get into her car and go out and find her son.
When shed spot him walking, she said shed pull up alongside him, roll down the window and give him the same command.
Id say Get in this car now! Angela Dennis said with a smile. Id tell him, You are going back there Period!
They say it takes a village to raise a child, but in this case it took one to thwart a kid, as well.
Ohio State offense leads charge over Bowling Green
As Ohio State coach Urban Meyer revealed Saturday, Buckeyes safety Malik Hooker tried to quit the team seven or eight times his first year in Columbus.
Hooker had been a star athlete since he was a young kid growing up in New Castle, Pa. His mom remembered him once scoring nine touchdowns in a seventh-grade game. He was even better in basketball and by the time he was a senior in high school, hed won all-state honors in both sports and drew Division I offers to play each in college.
He came to Ohio State as a safety and immediately found himself buried on the depth chart. The Bucks had several veterans, including future NFL players Vonn Bell and Tyvis Powell. So Hooker redshirted in 2014.
Last year he played sparingly in 13 games and finished with 10 tackles total on the season.
I had started to doubt myself a lot, he said. I started to think this wasnt the place for me because I just didnt fit in.
He sought refuge in the one place he felt comfortable.
He came home every weekend and didnt want to go back, Angela said. He would go off on long walks and not come back when he was supposed to. Wed have to go out and find him so we could take him back.
Malik remembers those times too: I was like, Man, Im not going back. Id try to sneak out and my uncle would come find me. Id try to go to my cousins house and my aunt would end up calling my mom or my sister. I tried so many things.
He said underneath he was disappointed in himself, too: Im not known as a quitting type of dude.
Thats what his high school basketball coach Ralph Blundo reminded him of and, back in Columbus, defensive coaches Chris Ash and Luke Fickell did all they could to get him to believe in himself and the program.
But all say the person most involved in keeping Malik a Buckeye was his mom.
Her exact words were, I dont know what youre gonna do, but youre not coming back here, he said. She told me Youre gonna stick it out and it will end up working out.
Mom was right.
Saturday it did.
While there were lots of stars in the Buckeyes season-opening 77-10 romp over Bowling Green at Ohio Stadium especially quarterback J.T. Barrett, who threw for the OSU-record six touchdowns and ran for another score and H-back Curtis Samuel, who had a combined 261 yards and three TDs there was no performance more heartwarming than that of Malik Hooker.
The redshirt sophomore intercepted two Bowling Green passes, including one with a highlight reel, one-handed tip and grab while he was falling.
After the game I went over to him in the locker room and said, You better make sure you give your mother a call, Fickell said. He said, Shes here, and I said, Then, you better go find her now.
Unwavering support from Mom
Angela Dennis said she had her first child at age 17. Malik was the second and after that she had three more.
I raised all five pretty much on my own, she said. I had a rough home life growing up, Both of my parents were addicts. Growing up I was a kid who didnt know what to do. I had no adult supervision.
But I promised myself I wouldnt let my kids be like me when I was their age. I didnt have a lot of options, but I was going to do everything I could to make sure they did.
With Malik, I wanted him to reach heights I didnt get a chance to. I knew he had a great opportunity and thats why I was going to make sure he didnt ruin it.
She did that in a variety of ways Malik said:
There were times I needed her to tell me to quit being a crybaby and she did that. And there were other times she comforted me. She supported me every way she could.
After Saturdays game Fickell talked about what Angela had done:
Ive got my own kids and Im sure there are times when (we) might be a little easier on them sometimes when times are tough.
No one likes to see their child suffer and thats how it was with him. I had warned his mom this might happen, but fir her to trust us and she did. She stayed string and helped Malik through it and now its paying off.
Mom holds court
Meyer was so moved by the story of Malik and his mom that he coaxed the Buckeyes sports information folks to invite Angela into the media room after the game.
And so for a while, at opposite ends of the room and in a postgame first for the Bucks, a mother and her son were holding court.
Im not worried about what shes saying, Malik grinned. Probably 95 percent of the stuff shes saying is true.
Angela not only talked about her boys rediscovered backbone, but about those skills she knew never had left him. She said over the years shed seen him make spectacular plays like he did Saturday maybe 1,000 times.
Malik said Saturday he drew on fundamentals and technique to get himself in position to make the picks and when he saw the ball in the air he felt an electricity come through his body.
It was, Yeah, this is this the play, he said. I knew it was my moment.
Its really a blessing what happened today. Not many people get to make their first start and make the plays I did out there. But I know I had a lot of help in this. A lot of people helped get me here.
And no one more so than his mom, who told him time and again:
Associated Press Greg Ward helped lead Houston to a 33-23 upset of No. 3 Oklahoma.
It was not supposed to be an easy opening game for the Oklahoma Sooners as they went into Houston to play the 15th-rated Cougars, but there was no way Baker Mayfield and his teammates were supposed to come away with a loss.
The third-ranked Sooners were expected to be legitimate national championship challengers to Alabama and Clemson, and their class was supposed to make a difference in this game.
However, Oklahoma ran into a fired-up Houston team, and the result was a 33-23 victory for the Cougars. Houston quarterback Greg Ward Jr. threw for 321 yards and two touchdowns, but the key play in the game came when Brandon Wilson returned a missed Oklahoma field goal for a touchdown midway through the second quarter.
With the Cougars leading 19-17, Oklahoma place-kicker Austin Seibert launched a 54-yard three-point attempt. The kick came down just short of the goalposts; Wilson caught it, ran toward the sidelines and then raced the rest of the way into the end zone.
It was officially a 100-yard return, but it was closer to 109 yards in reality.
In addition to that opening week upset, here are the scores, key stats and top stars for the Top 25 teams as of 8 p.m. ET on Saturday.
Top 25 Scores and Stats Michigan (7) 63-3 Hawaii RB Chris Evans, Michigan, 112 yards rushing, two TDs. Ohio State (6) 77-10 Bowling Green QB J.T. Barrett, Ohio State, 349 passing yards, six passing TDs, one rushing TD. Houston (15) 33-23 Oklahoma (3) Houston: 35:06-24:54 time of possession advantage. Washington (14) 48-13 Rutgers Washington: 10.0 yards per pass. Rutgers: 4.2 yards per pass. Iowa (17) 45-21 Miami (Ohio) Iowa: Three takeaway. Miami (Ohio): No takeaways. Oklahoma State (21) 61-7 Southeast Louisiana Oklahoma State: 392-194 edge in total yards. Wisconsin 16-14 LSU (5) Wisconsin: 134 rushing yards. LSU: 126 rushing yards. Texas A&M 31-24 (OT) UCLA (16) Trevor Knight, Texas A&M, 239 passing yards, one passing TD ; two rushing TDs.
ESPN.com
Stars of the Week
QB J.T. Barrett, Ohio State
The Ohio State Buckeyes have not eased into the start of the 2016 season. Instead, they came out of the gates like Usain Bolt and exploded past overmatched Bowling Green 77-10.
The Buckeyes gained a school-record 776 yards in the victory.
Barrett was one of the primary architects of the blowout, as he completed 21 of 31 passes for 349 yards with six touchdown passes. Healso ran for 30 yards and one touchdown, and his seven total touchdowns set an Ohio State record.
The season just kicked off, but Barrettannounced himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the nation with that performance.
It actually started with a bit of a hiccup, as he threw a first-quarter interception that was returned for a touchdown. However, Barrett was virtually unstoppable after that. He threw a pair of TD passes to Curtis Samuel and Dontre Wilson, and he also threw scoring passes to K.J. Hill and Noah Brown.
WR-KR John Ross, Washington
It"s all about making big plays, and Ross showed he is fully capable of making a slew of them, as the Washington Huskies rolled over the visiting Rutgers Scarlet Knights by a 48-13 score in the season opener.
Ross set the tone early in this game with a pair of TD receptions in the first quarter, as the Rutgers defense simply could not contain him. Ross caught a 38-yard TD pass from Washington quarterback Jake Browning with 3:42 remaining in the quarter and added a 50-yard scoring reception in the final minute.
Ross was not done, though. After Rutgers got on the board with a 38-yard field goal in the second quarter, he returned the ensuing kickoff 92 yards for a score.
Ross showed his explosiveness throughout the first half and could be a formidable weapon for the Huskies throughout the season.
Wisconsin defense
The Badgers were unranked when they came to Green Bay"s famed Lambeau Field to play for the first time in their history. Fifth-ranked LSU swaggered into the Green Bay Packers" home stadium with one of the best running backs in the country in Leonard Fournette.
The Badgers defense set the tone in the first half, as the Tigers were scoreless in the first 30 minutes. Their only offensive points came on a late third-quarter TD pass from Brandon Harris to Travin Dural.
After Wisconsin took a late 16-14 lead on the third field goal of the game by Rafael Gaglianone, the defense stood tall, as safety D"Cota Dixon intercepted Harris" pass and allowed the Badgers to run out the clock.
Fournette gained 138 yards on 23 carries, but the Badgers outgained the Tigers 134-126 on the ground.
The Wisconsin defense held LSU to 257 total yards.
QB Trevor Knight, Texas A&M
Texas A&M held a 24-9 lead over UCLA late in the fourth quarter, but the Bruins scored two late touchdowns to tie the game and send it into overtime.
Aggies quarterback Trevor Knight refused to let the Bruins steal a victory in College Station, though, as he scored on a one-yard run in overtime. That touchdown turned out to be the winner because the Bruins could not score on their possession.
Knight threw for 239 yards and a touchdown, and he also ran for two touchdowns in the 31-24 overtime victory.
Sam Bradford A Minnesota Viking? Eagles" Trading QB After Two Seasons
PHILADELPHIA -- Sam Bradford knows he"s a lame duck quarterback. He knows he"s almost certainly going to be traded or released after this season so the Philadelphia Eagles can replace him with Carson Wentz.
But that"s something he"ll worry about in January, not now. Now, he"s excited for the start of the season. Excited to be completely healthy and not worrying about a left knee that twice has had the ACL torn.
"I"m excited," Bradford said. "As I"ve said all preseason, I think we"ve had a really good camp and I think we"ve gotten better each week. You can see the progress when you turn on the tap."
Most people aren"t expecting much from the Eagles this season. They are coming off a 7-9 season. They have changed coaches. Bradford, as mentioned, is a lame duck QB. They have a dangerous lack of depth at several positions. Their starting right tackle (Lane Johnson) is expected to be suspended 10 games for his second PED violation.
Once he gained confidence in his knee last year, Bradford played very well. His 97.4 passer rating over the last nine weeks of the season was the eighth-best mark in the league. He set single-season franchise records for completions (346) and completion percentage (65 percent) despite a league-high 50 drops by his receivers.
"This year, (the knee) is a non-issue," Bradford said. "I feel 100 percent. It"s something I don"t think about. Going through the entire year last year and not having any issues with it gave me a lot of confidence in it."
He picked up new coach Doug Pederson"s West Coast hybrid offense quickly this spring and summer. Completed 32 of 40 passes in the preseason, and four of those eight incompletions were drops.
"I think we"re going to be balanced this year," said Bradford, who ran an offense last year that ran the ball just 40 percent of the time.
"I think we"re going to have a good mix of the run and the pass. I think we"re going to be more efficient, hopefully, on third down and in the red zone than we were earlier last year. I think if we can be good in those areas, I think we"ll be a really good offense."
Bradford has the full support of the locker room, even though most of the people in it know he"s probably going to be gone after this season.
"I think the relationships that I"ve built in this locker room, the trust that I have in those guys, the trust they have in me, I think nothing"s really changed (from last year), to be honest."
The Eagles just need Bradford to stay healthy. They brought in ex-Kansas City Chief Chase Daniel to back him up. But Daniel has thrown just 77 passes in six NFL seasons.
While he knows Pederson"s offense, he hasn"t operated it very well in the preseason. And Wentz is a long way from being ready. The Eagles had hoped to get him a lot of work in the preseason. But he broke two ribs and missed three of the four preseason games.
--Linebacker Mychal Kendricks was the only projected Eagles starter who played in the final preseason game against the Jets. Doug Pederson said it was because they wanted him to "knock off the rust" after missing more than two weeks with hamstring tightness. But it"s clear that defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz wasn"t happy with how long it took the oft-injured Kendricks to get back on the field and might"ve been sending him a message. Kendricks didn"t hide his anger over having to play in the final preseason game.
--Cornerback Eric Rowe, who was the team"s second-round pick last year and started five games, is on the roster bubble. It could come down to whether the Eagles keep five or six corners.
--Kicker Caleb Sturgis outperformed Cody Parkey in training camp and the preseason and is expected to win the kicking job.
--Running back Wendell Smallwood, the team"s fifth-round pick, is expected to be the team"s fourth running back even though he carried the ball just two times in the preseason. He was sidelined with a quad injury much of camp, then suffered a concussion in the third preseason game on his only carry.
We"re gonna spoil the heck out of Morgan. So buyerbeware! If you haven"t seen the movie yet, bookmark this page and come back later to check out the video above. Or better yet, watch the spoiler-free video!
Okay, now thatthat"s out of the way. Let"s get down to business.
Grae Drake dugMorgansomething fierce. Our own Miri Jedeikin, not so much.The two discuss the highs and lows of Luke Scott"s directorial debut.
In honor of Anya Taylor-Joy, we give you Black Phillip.
