US Army All-American Bowl 2010: Reacting to the Recruits' Announcements

The US Army All-American Bowl game was today on NBC, and though the score, as usual, was inconsequential, the commitments made at the game will send shock waves through the college football community.

Quite simply, if the Gators can hold on to the class they have now, they will have pulled one of the greatest recruiting coups in all of history.

Pennsylvania defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd's "surprise" announcement was for the school in Gainesville, as was five-star defensive end Ronald Powell's.

And in an announcement everyone (and no one) could see coming, four-star "ATH" (athlete)—and temporary defector to the Florida State Seminoles—Matt Elam recommitted to Florida as well.

With the commitment last week of four-star end (and game MVP) Dominique Easley, the Gators now field one of the most talented defensive lines in all of college football.

Remarkably, this all comes just a month removed from the retirement/rehiring of their head coach and the loss of their defensive coordinator, Charlie Strong, and one of their chief recruiters, Billy Gonzales, to other programs.

Powell's decision comes as no surprise—he was choosing between Florida and USC, and the Gators led way before Pete Carroll decided to head to the NFL.

But his performance in the game cemented him as a standout player among the nation's elite. He made two of the most exciting plays in the game for the White team, catching a pass off play-action that showed his scary versatility and returning a blocked extra point that showcased his speed.

He doesn't have the size to be a weak-side end in college football (yet), but he and Easley will be unblockable pass-rushers exploding upfield on passing downs as early as next year.

Anchoring the middle of the refurbished Gators line will be UF's newest steal, Floyd. The four-star defensive tackle was headed to Ohio State a week ago but announced he would "surprise" us with his announcement. Floyd made the rest of the game's huge plays, destroying the White's double-teams on the offensive line and getting in the backfield on a multitude of plays.

Does this all project to Florida's immediate success next year? Of course not. But in just two or three years, Powell, Easley, and Floyd will man one of the most dominant and fearsome lines in college football.

Add to that the commitments of five-star safeties Demar Dorsey and Johnathon Dowling, plus cornerback Jsohua Shaw, and the Gators' defense will have them back in the national championship, Tim Tebow or no Tim Tebow.

Here's a look at the other eight commitments:

As expected, four-star ATH Marquis Flowers remained in-state, picking the hometown Arizona Wildcats over the other suitors in the Pac-10. He's projected at safety for the rebuilding Wildcats, who lost their defensive coordinator, Mark Stoops, to Florida State.

Amidst turmoil over the defection of Carroll, top corner Demetrius Wright chose the Trojans over Tennessee. He also considered Arizona and Washington. However, the 2010 class didn't go unscathed: the Trojans reportedly lost the commitments of five-star ATH Dillon Baxter and four-star ATH D.J. Morgan, per various Twitter accounts.

Four-star corner Dior Mathis chose the Oregon Ducks over the Michigan Wolverines. I can tell you from following Michigan recruiting closely that Michigan's coaches cooled on Mathis' recruitment as the year went on. I think they felt burned by the poor play of undersized corner Boubacar Cissoko and didn't want to take a chance on Mathis, who is also small for his position. All the same, best of luck to the Ducks with Mathis.

Four-star linebacker C.J. Mosley chose Alabama over Auburn. The situation was tipping the Tide's way for a little while, but Auburn fans never lose a recruit to Alabama and feel good about it. Just repeat: Cameron Newton, Michael Dyer, Cameron Newton...

Tennessee picked up Brandon Willis, a four-star defensive end who decommitted from the Vols earlier in the week but rejoined them in the AAA ceremony. A push, by all counts.

Four-star corner Victor Hampton chose to stay home and play for the Gamecocks next year, keeping Spurrier's defensive machine rolling. If only that was his intention...

And, in news that elated me as a Michigan man but depressed me as a Big Ten fan, four-star ATH/S Latwan Anderson chose West Virginia over presumed suitor Ohio State. The Big Televen is now 0-for-15 on big-name recruit announcements this season. Let's just hope it can keep Seantrel Henderson in conference; the big fella is taking his fifth official visit to Miami over Iowa or Michigan.

taken from: bleacherreport.com

Tuberville's Tech hiring provides splash

Tommy Tuberville will be the most highly regarded football coach ever hired by Texas Tech.

It won't make his job any easier. Tuberville still will have to follow the most legendary figure in the history of the school's football program.

But Texas Tech athletic director Gerald Myers and the others who arranged for Tuberville to return with the Red Raiders have made a significant splash as they try to replace Mike Leach.

There is a need to change the culture of the Tech program after Leach's dismissal last week. Tuberville may be the person to do it.

With Tuberville, who cut his teeth as a defensive coordinator, look for the Red Raiders to put more emphasis on the running game and on defense. His hiring will represent a 180-degree shift from the offense-first strategy favored by Leach, who came to the school after serving as an offensive coordinator at Kentucky and Oklahoma.

Tuberville's last stint as a defensive coordinator came at nearby Texas A&M, where he help call the defenses on an Aggie team that went 10-0-1 in 1994. That gives him at least a cursory knowledge of Tech's recruiting area, along with potential opening the Red Raiders into the Southeastern Conference area as well.

He's a proven commodity after earning national Coach of the Year honors after leading Auburn to a 13-0 record in 2004. And his media-friendly ways will be a big advantage as he replaces Leach.

James Willis, the associate head coach and outside linebackers coach at Alabama, has been mentioned to be his choice for defensive coordinator.

If Willis is brought on, his first immediate challenge will be to earn the trust of Tech players who were united under defensive coordinator Ruffin McNeill, the other finalist for the job. McNeill was the best recruiter on the staff and involved in getting together Tech's current recruiting class that is the best in the school's Big 12 history. It appears that McNeill won't be retained if Willis is coming. That will be a ticklish problem for Tuberville to circumvent with his new team.

But the biggest question with Tuberville will be how he can narrow the traditional gap that has existed between the Red Raiders and the dominant programs in the Big 12 South Division at Texas and Oklahoma.

Leach made the biggest inroads as the Red Raiders have split with the two programs in the last two seasons. Tech employed the victory over the Longhorns in 2008 to earn a three-way tie for the South Division title -- a first in Tech's Big 12 history.

But he never took the Red Raiders any higher than the Cotton Bowl in the Big 12's bowl arrangement. An trip to the Bowl Championship Series clearly is the next step and will be Tuberville's goal.

Tuberville, 55, might be the ideal person to challenge the Longhorns and Sooners, considering his track record at Auburn. While there, he beat Alabama seven of 10 times, including a streak of six straight seasons and has consistent success against the Southeastern Conference's top schools. He claimed nine of 15 games at Auburn against Top 10 teams from 2004. He'll consistently face the same challenges against the Big 12's elite schools.

He's been successful before.

But Tech will provide some unique challenges that will make this the toughest job that Tuberville has ever faced.

taken from: espn.go.com

Sharrif Floyd Picks The Florida Gators At The Amry All-American Bowl

Sharrif Floyd has finally picked where he's going. Today he announced that he has chosen to go to the Florida Gators after much speculation he was going to go to Ohio State.

Floyd Told NBC he wasn't sure for awhile but it came down to where he felt he'd feel most comfortable for the next four years of his life. He told NBC his decision while the 2010 Army All-American Bowl.

Floyd is 310 pounds at 6-foot-3, in other words as Mick from "Rocky" used to say, "he's a Dinosaur!" He's one huge defensive tackle out of Philadelphia George Washington High. Floyd is right now ranked No. 1 defensive tackle in America on Rivals.com.

Floyd told NBC that wanted to thank Coach Cohen and his family for the support and the drive to get him where he is today. We hope it works out well for him.

taken from: postchronicle.com

Google Gravity for Chrome is one boring experiment

Google Gravity is an experiment for Google Chrome developed by Hi-ReS! which loads Google’s frontpage then makes all it’s elements fall to the bottom of the browser. Unfortunately, this Google Gravityexperiment seems to only work as it should in Google Chrome so don’t try any other browser, as you won’t get the expected results.

The thing is the Google Gravity experiment doesn’t offer anything useful and doesn’t also prove anything, especially because it’s only working on Chrome and it can only make Google’s frontpage fall.

taken from: softsailor.com

Cole Marcoux football – An unheard player’s rise to fame!

Cole Marcoux was just another unheard off player until few days back when he got into a TV series which put him under limelight and gave him a chance to attend Dartmouth to play at the U.S. Army all American Bowl .

He was just another quarterback prospect from the Upper West Side of Manhattan who attended a football training camp in Chester, Pa., to get a bit of summer workout.

One fine day a reality TV show made seven quarterbacks dressed in red who had already been cast inFox Sports Net reality series called “The Ride,” stand on one side of the field and the unpopular rest, including Marcoux, wore blue on the field’s other end. The point was to make the red team players play and earn points from a panel of jury to play at the in the U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Saturday in San Antonio.

Strangely Marcoux’s strong throw caught the panel’s attention insipte of him being in the blue team. The very next moment “Would you like to be in a reality series?” said Rich McGuinness, the president of All-American Games. And an ecstaticMarcoux said yes and made his way from Ivy League recruit from the Bronx’s elite Fieldston School to Dartmouth where he is expected to enroll.

As the winner of “The Ride,”  Marcoux will have the time of his life at the U.S. Army All-American Bowl as he will be playing with all the top notch players in the game.

Marcoux you lucky boy!

taken from: entertainmentandshowbiz.com

Seahawks Fire Mora After One Season

The Seattle Seahawks jumped onto a slowly spinning coaching carousel Friday, firing Jim Mora after just one injury-riddled season. But the Seahawks’ next move might be an even bigger surprise. ESPN reported that the Seahawks were pursuing University of Southern California Coach Pete Carroll.

The Seahawks had asked for permission to talk with Minnesota’s defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier, who will interview Saturday, according to The Minneapolis Star-Tribune. That puts the Seahawks in compliance with the Rooney Rule, which requires teams to interview at least one minority candidate.

Mora was the third coach fired this season, after Buffalo’s Dick Jauron and Washington’s Jim Zorn, who was replaced by Mike Shanahan. Mora had been named Mike Holmgren’s successor even before Holmgren stepped aside after the 2008 season.

The Seahawks finished 5-11, a one-game improvement over 2008 despite several injuries. But the team closed with four straight losses by a combined score of 123-37. Mora had three years and $11 million remaining on his contract.

taken from: nytimes.com

Katie Piper Pictures After Acid Attack

Katie Piper was a 24-year old TV presenter when she was attacked with acid. She was left fighting for her life and suffering from terribly disfiguring burns to her face, arms and chest. Following pioneering surgery using artificial skin to re-build her face, she made a TV documentary about her story.

The 26-year-old former model and aspiring television presenter was burned beyond recognition when a man threw acid in her face on a London street in March 2008.

Almost two years on, Katie Piper had dozens of operations – 32 on her throat alone. She still lives on a mostly liquid diet of protein shakes. But she is determined to be more than just the woman in a Perspex mask.

Here are some of pictures after acid attack: