LSUDad

Eric Carmen died last month.

Getting close to Spring Game!

https://abcnews.go.com/US/oj-simpson-former-football-star-acquitted-murder-dies/story?id=16354000

During Kelly’s beginning decade at ND, he only had three individuals with 1,000 yards rushing seasons. Kelly knows what he wants to run, he took one of his former QB’s and groomed him into a OC, Tommy Rees. Gave him a job as the QB coach, after three years, made him his OC. After three years, that OC got hired at Gumps by the little short guy. After Kelly made Rees his OC, they went on to go 10-2, finish ranked #5 in the country. The following season Kelly and Rees had the Irish finish at 11-1. The other side of the ball, in 2018, Kelly took his LB coach and made him the Defensive Coordinator. Clark Lee, this was his first coordinating job. Lee is now the Head Coach at Vandy.

I was in the hospital one time, with an oxygen mask over my face. The nurse came in, I asked a question. She lifts up the covers of my bed, then lifts my hospital gown. Tells me no sir. I asked again a little more forcefull, once again. She lifts the sheet, and my gown. No sir, your testicles are not black. Finely I removed the oxygen mask and said, “Are my test results back?”

Final AP Top 25 Women's Poll: 1. South Carolina (35) 38-0 2. Iowa 34-5 3. UConn 33-6 4. NC State 31-7 5. Southern Cal 29-6 6. LSU 31-6 7. Texas 33-5 8. Oregon St. 27-8 9. Stanford 30-6 10. UCLA 27-7 11. Notre Dame 28-7 12. Indiana 26-6 13. Baylor 26-8 14. Gonzaga 32-4 15. Colorado 24-10 16. Ohio St. 26-6 17. Duke 22-12 18. Virginia Tech 25-8 19. Kansas St 26-8 20. Syracuse 24-8 21. Oklahoma 23-10 22. Utah 23-11 23. Creighton 26-6 24. West Virginia 25-8 25. Iowa St. 21-12

Yes. What we do excel in is the OL, I could run behind it and get yardage. This guy in the Fall: One of the nation’s top running backs for the Class of 2024 … Rated with 4-stars from all of the major recruiting services … Listed as the nation’s No. 8 running back and No. 19 overall in the state of Texas in the On3 composite … Helped Duncanville High School to back-to-back Texas 6A Division I state titles in 2022 and 2023 … Named offensive MVP of 6A state title game after rushing for 243 yards and 3 TDs on 22 carries in the 49-33 win … Rushed for 200 yards and all 3 TDs in the first half of the championship game … Also named offensive MVP of 2022 state championship game, topping the 100-yard mark and rushing for 3 TDs … As a junior in 2022, rushed for 1,960 yards and 36 TDs … Excels on the track as well, advancing to the state championships in the 100-meters and 4×100 relay … Consistently clocked at 10.5 in the 100 with a best time of 10.28 … Mom ran track at Oklahoma. We return the best all around back from last season, Josh Williams. You also return Kaleb Jackson, one that the staff is very high on. We just saw a glimpse of his capabilities last season. The only other to make a real contribution last season was Logan Diggs, an he was taken from the portal. Frank Wilson and RB’s are something I never really give much thought into. Much like Kelly with TE’s, QB’s and OL, I never really worry about them with Kelly as the HC, a little of the same with the WR position. With Kelly, he's an equal opportunity Coach, what the player does with his opportunity, is his choice.

Ranking the top 10 coaches in college football for 2024 ESPN Apr 5, 2024, 07:00 AM When we asked our college football reporters to rank the sport's top 10 coaches, we figured there wouldn't be much debate about who is No. 1 -- and there wasn't. Georgia's Kirby Smart, whose Bulldogs are 42-2 over the past three seasons, was the unanimous pick among our 10 voters. But after that, there was very little consensus. The only other coach to appear on all 10 ballots was new Alabama head man Kalen DeBoer, but his rankings ranged from second to 10th. Two coaches appeared on nine ballots: Utah's Kyle Whittingham, whose rankings ranged from three second-place votes to two ninth places, and Florida State's Mike Norvell, whose votes included two second places and two 10ths. Then there's Clemson's Dabo Swinney, who received four second-place votes and was left off four ballots altogether. With points assigned based on our reporters' votes (10 points for first place, nine for second place and down to one point for 10th place), here are the complete rankings. 1. Kirby Smart, Georgia 2023 record: 13-1 (.929) Career record: 94-16 (.855) Points: 100 (all 10 first-place votes) With Nick Saban retired, Smart is unquestionably the preeminent coach in college football. He took his alma mater, Georgia, to back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022 and played for a third national title in 2017. The Bulldogs won an SEC-record 29 straight games before losing to Alabama last season in the SEC championship game. In eight seasons at Georgia, Smart has built a juggernaut in terms of evaluating, recruiting and developing great players. He has produced 55 NFL draft picks, including 15 first-rounders, and could have as many as 10 more players selected in the upcoming draft. Smart is unbeaten against all active coaches over the past five seasons -- his only losses in that span are to Saban (3), Dan Mullen at Florida, Ed Orgeron at LSU and Will Muschamp at South Carolina. His consistency sets him apart. The Bulldogs finished 8-5 in his first season (2016), but since then, Georgia is the only team in the country to finish in the top 7 in the final AP poll every year. Smart's Bulldogs have played for and/or won an SEC title or national title in six of those seven seasons. -- Chris Low 2. Kalen DeBoer, Alabama 2023 record: 14-1 (.933) Career record: 37-9 (.804) Points: 62 After starting his career as an assistant at tiny Sioux Falls, his alma mater, DeBoer guided the NAIA Cougars to a 67-3 record with three national titles over a five-year stretch. From there, DeBoer embarked on a climb up the assistant-coaching ranks, during which each school he arrived at experienced near-unprecedented success, before being named the head coach at Fresno State. His modest two-year run there (12-6) led to the gig at Washington, where he transformed a team that won four games in 2021 to one that went 25-3 over the next two seasons, earning an appearance in the national title game this past season. All DeBoer does is win. And now he takes over for the legendary Nick Saban, who set an unrealistic bar for what can be accomplished. -- Kyle Bonagura 3. Kyle Whittingham, Utah 2023 record: 8-5 (.615) Career record: 162-79 (.672) Points: 56 Utah is the only home Whittingham has known since arriving at the school as the defensive line coach in 1994. He was elevated to defensive coordinator the next year and to head coach upon the departure of Urban Meyer just before the end of the 2004 season. Since then, Whittingham has been a hallmark of consistency, finishing with just two losing seasons in 19 years (right after Utah made the jump from the Mountain West to the Pac-12). He guided the Utes to an undefeated season in 2008, two Pac-12 titles and eight top-25 finishes in the AP poll, including six in the past 10 years. All at a school without the resources of the other coaches' programs on this list. -- Bonagura 4. Dabo Swinney, Clemson 2023 record: 9-4 (.692) Career record: 170-43 (.798) Points: 50 Swinney brought longtime underachiever Clemson back to the national stage and became the first coach who truly challenged Nick Saban's stranglehold on the sport. He guided Clemson to national titles in 2016 and 2018 -- the program's first since 1981 -- while beating Saban's Alabama squad both times. His teams made four CFP national championship game appearances in five seasons. Clemson won the ACC every year from 2015 to 2020 and never finished lower than No. 3 in the final AP poll. A little-known wide receivers coach who became Clemson's interim head coach midway through the 2008 season, Swinney is 170-43 as the Tigers' head coach with eight league titles and 10 division titles. He won the Bryant Award as national coach of the year in 2015, 2016 and 2018. Under Swinney, Clemson has had stretches when it was the nation's premier program at positions such as wide receiver, defensive line and quarterback. Although the transfer portal/NIL era has brought more challenges, Swinney has won nine or more games in all but one full season as Clemson's coach. -- Adam Rittenberg 5. Mike Norvell, Florida State 2023 record: 13-1 (.929) Career record: 69-33 (.676) Points: 49 How best to quantify Norvell's greatness as a coach? Perhaps it's his use of the transfer portal. While so many other coaches around the country have moaned and complained about the portal in recent years, Norvell has found the perfect formula for using it, landing standouts such as Trey Benson, Jermaine Johnson, Keon Colemanand Jared Verse, among a host of others. Or perhaps it's the way he motivates his players, building a strong internal culture despite the extensive use of the portal. But if you need one number to truly appreciate Norvell's impact, here it is: 23. Twenty-three wins in the past two years at Florida State, a program that had won just 26 games total in the previous five seasons. The turnaround -- in terms of wins, talent and culture -- is genuinely remarkable. -- David Hale 6. Dan Lanning, Oregon AP Photo/Rick Bowmer 2023 record: 12-2 (.857) Career record: 22-5 (.815) Points: 37 While only two seasons of work might make Lanning's lofty ranking seem a bit premature, it's hard to argue with what he has done in his first two seasons as a head coach. After helping Smart win a national championship in 2021 as Georgia's defensive coordinator, Lanning has guided the Ducks to a 22-5 record. Like Ryan Day at Ohio State, Lanning couldn't get past what proved to be an insurmountable roadblock in the Pac-12: the Washington Huskies. Each of Oregon's three losses to Washington the past two seasons were by three points, and the last one, a 34-31 defeat in the final Pac-12 championship game, was the most painful because it might have kept the Ducks out of the CFP. Lanning has proven to be a great recruiter, helping Oregon land the No. 4 class in the FBS in 2024. The Ducks landed the top class in the Pac-12 in 2023. Lanning and his staff have also been adept at working the transfer portal, adding former Auburn quarterback Bo Nix, the starter the past two seasons, then Oklahoma passer Dillon Gabriel this year. There have been some questionable in-game decisions from Lanning, but one would expect he'll get better with experience. Time will tell if Lanning follows in Smart's footsteps as a former defensive coordinator who became one of the sport's premier head coaches, but he's well on his way to doing it. -- Schlabach 7. Steve Sarkisian, Texas 2023 record: 12-2 (.857) Career record: 71-49 (.592) Points: 35 It was only a matter of time until Sarkisian put all the pieces together. After all, the guy has studied under three of the greatest coaches in modern college football history in LaVell Edwards, Pete Carroll and Nick Saban. Be it throwing for nearly 7,500 yards in two seasons with Edwards at BYU, serving as quarterbacks coach for Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Mark Sanchez under Carroll at USC, turning Jake Locker into a first-round pick (and then coaxing a pair of brilliant seasons out of Keith Price) while flipping Washington from 0-12 to 9-4, or averaging 47.2 and 48.5 points per game, respectively, in two seasons of calling plays for Saban at Alabama, Sarkisian has been heavily influential in offensive brilliance for most of the past 30 years. His breakthrough as a head coach came in 2023. After going just 13-12 in his first two years leading a perpetually underachieving Texas program, Sark's Longhorns won 12 games, took their first Big 12 title in 14 seasons and made their first College Football Playoff appearance. Now they head to the SEC with legitimate top-5 bona fides and a coach capable of not only leading them back among the country's elite but keeping them there. -- Bill Connelly 8. Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss 2023 record: 11-2 (.846) Career record: 96-49 (.662) Points: 29 At 48, Kiffin is already in his fifth head-coaching stop. He was hired as the Oakland Raiders' coach in 2007, when he was only 31, and although there were some growing pains along the way, he has developed into one of the more creative and interesting coaches in college football. Entering his fifth season at Ole Miss, Kiffin has accomplished things in Oxford that hadn't been done before. The Rebels have won 10 regular-season games in two of the past three seasons; prior to Kiffin's arrival, they had never won 10 regular-season games. Kiffin is renowned as one of the top offensive minds in the game, and his offenses are both balanced and unpredictable. Ole Miss and Alabama are the only two teams in the SEC to average 33 or more points each of the past four seasons. Kiffin is quick to troll anybody and everybody on social media and is polarizing among rival fan bases. He's still a bit of a lightning rod, but said his time working under Saban helped him become a more efficient manager of an entire program. Kiffin has also worked the evolving nature of college football to his advantage and scored big in the transfer portal. -- Low 9. Lance Leipold, Kansas 2023 record: 9-4 (.692) Career record: 54-54 (.500) Points: 28 In the six seasons before Lance Leipold arrived at Kansas, the Jayhawks went 9-60. In 2023, they went 9-4. You can almost rest your case right there. Hired after spring practice had already concluded in 2021, Leipold inherited a team that had gone 0-9 in 2020 and won two, then six, then nine games. While it's unfair to compare anyone to Bill Snyder, he has done one hell of a Snyder impression over his first three seasons in Lawrence, and with his track record, there's reason to believe he could keep it up. This is, after all, a guy with six national titles on his résumé. Once a Division III dynasty builder at Wisconsin-Whitewater, Leipold has since taken his masterful culture building to Buffalo and KU, and damned if it's not working wherever he goes. He'll face a new challenge in 2024, coaching without ace offensive coordinator and right-hand man Andy Kotelnicki for the first time since 2012. (Kotelnicki moved on to the Penn State OC job.) But if anyone in college football gets the benefit of the doubt, it's Leipold. Kansas won nine games last year! Kansas! It boggles the mind. -- Connelly 10. Ryan Day, Ohio State 2023 record: 11-2 (.846) Career record: 56-8 (.875) Points: 27 Day's teams are 39-3 in Big Ten play the past five-plus seasons, 56-8 overall and played in a New Year's Six bowl game or the CFP in each of his full seasons. The Buckeyes won back-to-back Big Ten titles in his first two seasons (2019 and 2020) and are 18-8 against AP top-25 opponents under Day. Unfortunately, those Big Ten losses came against that "Team Up North," Michigan, in each of the past three seasons, leaving some Ohio State fans to wonder if Day should be on the hot seat. Whether he can reverse the Buckeyes' losing streak to the Wolverines, especially now that former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is in the NFL, will go a long way in determining his future. Day's offenses have been ranked in the top three in the FBS in scoring three times and in total offense four times. Yet the Buckeyes are only 2-4 in bowl games and haven't won a Big Ten title since 2020. Turning over the offensive playcalling to former UCLA head coach Chip Kelly might be the recipe to getting OSU back on top in the expanded Big Ten. -- Schlabach Also receiving votes: Brian Kelly, LSU (23); Lincoln Riley, USC (20); Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (7); Luke Fickell, Wisconsin (7); Eliah Drinkwitz, Missouri (6); Mack Brown, North Carolina (3); Mike Gundy, Oklahoma State (3); Jonathan Smith, Michigan State (3); Deion Sanders, Colorado (2); Curt Cignetti, Indiana (1); Chris Klieman, Kansas State (1); Jon Sumrall, Tulane (1)

Best of luck to her. Thanks for everything. Very deserving!!!

BREAKING: LSU’s Hailey Van Lith has entered the transfer portal. She averaged 11.6 ppg and 3.6 apg at LSU this year after transferring in from Louisville. In her junior year at Louisville, she averaged 19.7 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 3.2 apg. (Via goodmansport / X)

Hailey Van Lith doesn't declare for WNBA draft as deadline passes Will Rosenblatt April 4, 2024 10:36 am CT Who are Candace Parker's bracket buster team's for the Women's NCAA Tournament? The deadline to declare for the WNBA draft came and went on Wednesday, and LSU’s Hailey Van Lith is yet to announce her plans. Angel Reese declared and the assumption was Van Lith would too. Both were honored at LSU’s senior day last month, but official decisions were up in the air. With Reese off to the WNBA, Van Lith’s next step is still unclear. It’s possible she silently declared, but if she didn’t, that could mean a return to LSU is in the fold. Van Lith passing on the draft doesn’t guarantee a return to LSU. The senior guard could opt to hit the transfer portal again and explore her options elsewhere. Van Lith’s numbers at LSU were below the standard she set at Louisville, but with Reese gone, Van Lith has the chance to take center stage on next year’s team. Van Lith, along with Flau'Jae Johnson and Mikaylah Williams could form one of the nation’s most dynamic backcourts

Some NFL teams have Jayden as the #1 QB on their board. One longtime NFL scout I know, he would take Jayden as the first NFL pick. He also like both of our WR’s.

Kelly has always made use of TE’s on offense, when he has a good one, or more. We finally have a group of TE’s to get the advantage on defenses. Many NFL teams use 12 personnel. One RB, 2 TE’s and 2 WR’s. Minnesota Vikings use 12 personnel over 8% of the time. Remember they have Tiger Justin Jefferson as their #1 WR. 6 TE’s taken in the first 63 picks of last years NFL draft. Kellys TE from ND went in the second round, the 35th pick. With the usage of 2 TE’s, it helps the QB in more of a ball control offense. As for TE’s, a cover LB, could be too slow, a CB, too small, making a Safety having to come down in the box, spread out wide, etc. It creates mismatches. Will we use 13 personnel this season? The extra TE’s help with the run game and play action. “Using more double tight end formations (12 personnel) isn’t a new idea in the NFL. It’s been tried with mixed success over the last dozen years or so as a counter to the rising trend of using more 11 (3WR) personnel since the Patriots first started using it back in 2011 with Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. The general idea behind it is that as modern defensive personnel have gotten smaller, using formations with larger bodies will create mismatches the offense can exploit to its advantage. The use of 12 personnel can also put opposing defenses off balance, as it can be used effectively in both the run and pass. In that sense, it pairs well with play-action in the pass game as the formation invites the idea of a run play with an extra blocker at the offense’s disposal. Those advantages made 12 personnel the most efficient passing formation in the NFL 2022 season, despite it not being used all that often.”

More information!

OC Joe Sloan, talks Tiger offense!

LSU settles sexual misconduct lawsuit involving former athletes Associated Press Apr 2, 2024, 01:30 AM ET Share BATON ROUGE, La. -- LSU and 10 former students who sued the school over alleged mishandling of sexual assault and domestic violence complaints against football players and others at Louisiana's flagship state university have settled the case. "The Court has been advised that the parties in this matter have settled all of their claims and have agreed to amicably resolve this dispute," US District Judge Wendy Vitter wrote in a March 28 order dismissing the case. Settlement terms have not been disclosed. Four of the the plaintiffs in the 2021 civil case accused former star running back Derrius Guice of sexual misconduct. Another plaintiff, former LSU women's tennis player Jade Lewis, said LSU failed to properly respond to reports that she was being beaten by former Tigers receiver Drake Davis while the two were in a relationship. The lawsuit centered on federal Title IX laws which ban gender-based discrimination, harassment or violence. The allegations from female students dating back about a decade caught up with former university leaders after they'd left the school. Former LSU football coach Les Miles and ex-university President F. King Alexander were run out of subsequent jobs elsewhere. Miles, who won a national title while coaching at LSU from 2005 to 2016, lost his job at Kansas in 2021. Oregon State fired Alexander as its president. He had the same job at LSU when allegations that Miles made improper sexual advances toward female students working in the football office were kept private by the university and its law firm in 2013 -- despite a recommendation by then-athletic director Joe Alleva that Miles be fired. LSU hired the Husch Blackwell law firm to review the university's handling of sexual misconduct complaints and its report was widely circulated in 2021. The firm's 148-page findings addressed problems campus-wide, also looking, for example, at complaints against fraternity members. But the higher-profile complaints involved football players including Guice, who in 2020 was cut by his NFL club in Washington following a domestic violence arrest. Husch Blackwell concluded that LSU had come up short in committing resources to Title IX compliance and instead tended to offer more resistance than help to those who reported sexual misconduct or abuse. Allegations of sexual misconduct or physical abuse were reportedly filed against nine players who competed under Ed Orgeron, who succeeded Miles as coach during the 2016 season. Orgeron coached LSU to an unbeaten record and national championship in the 2019 season. Some of the accused players were punished and ultimately left LSU, but others, including Guice, left the school in good standing and were selected in the NFL draft. The Husch Blackwell review aimed criticism more at LSU administrators, noting that coaches generally lack the expertise to handle sexual misconduct complaints and should refer them to Title IX compliance officials. The most severe punishment handed down to current LSU employees were suspensions of about a month to deputy athletic director Verge Ausberry and senior associate athletic director Miriam Segar. They were found to have mishandled multiple sexual misconduct complaints.

Talk about a recovery!

UCLA Coach: UCLA Coach Apologizes For Sharing Controversial Article On LSU MATT HLADIK UPDATED: 7 HOURS AGO ALBANY, NEW YORK - MARCH 30: Head coach Cori Close of the UCLA Bruins reacts in a game against the LSU Tigers during the first half in the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament at MVP Arena on March 30, 2024 in Albany, New York. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) Sarah Stier/Getty Images UCLA head women's basketball coach Cori Close has apologized, claiming she didn't read the Los Angeles Times' controversial article on today's LSU-UCLA game before sharing it on social media. The column in question, written by Ben Bolch, has been widely criticized for referring to LSU's women's team as, among other things, "villains" and "dirty debutantes." "I reposted that article only after reading the headline, not the contents of the column," Close admitted in a statement Saturday night, hours after her second-seeded Bruins lost to the third-seeded Tigers in the Sweet 16. "In an effort to increase coverage for our game, I shared it and went back to try to stay focused on my task at hand." Bolch was called out for his piece, which some accused of being "problematic" or racist and many, including LSU head coach Kim Mulkey, deemed sexist. "You can criticize coaches all you want," Mulkey said. "That's our business. You can come at us and say you're the worst coach in America. I hate you, I hate everything about you. We expect that. It comes with the territory. "But the one thing I'm not going to let you do, I'm not going to let you attack young people, and there were some things in this commentary that you should be offended by as women. It was so sexist. It was good versus evil in that game today. Evil? Called us dirty debutantes? Are you kidding me? "I'm not going to let you talk about 18- to 21-year-old kids in that tone." Close targeted a portion of her apology to Mulkey and her players directly. "I would never want to promote anything that tears down a group of people in our great game," Close said. "I apologize to Kim Mulkey and the entire LSU women's basketball program."

Josh Smith: Smith (hand) is starting at shortstop and batting second in Wednesday's Cactus League game against the Reds. Analysis: The 26-year-old exited Tuesday's contest after being hit by a pitch on the hand, but his return to the lineup a day later indicates it isn't a significant issue. Smith is expected to serve as a utility infielder in 2024, but he could see more action early on since Nathaniel Lowe (oblique) is likely to open on the injured list and Corey Seager's (groin) status is also up in the air.

Alex Lange: Lange tossed a scoreless inning with two strikeouts in a Thursday Grapefruit League contest against the Blue Jays, lowering his spring ERA to 12.00. Analysis: Lange has pitched in three Grapefruit League games and this was his first time not allowing a run. It's not a great start to spring training for the righty, though he figures to have a fairly firm hold on Detroit's closer role heading into the regular season. Lange recorded 26 saves last year and had 79 strikeouts across 66 innings, though he struggled with command at times, walking a whopping 45 batters.

Nola: The Philadelphia Phillies crossed off a major need on their to-do list this offseason. Philadelphia announced it agreed to a seven-year contract with right-hander Aaron Nola on Sunday that will keep him under team control through the 2030 season. The deal is worth $172 million, sources told Jeff Passan of ESPN.

Bregman went 1-for-2 with two walks, an RBI and a stolen base Friday against the Yankees. Analysis: The Astros couldn't muster much offense in a 7-1 loss, but Bregman had a productive game. He swiped his first bag of the season on a double steal with Kyle Tucker in the third inning and also tallied his first RBI of the campaign two frames earlier. Bregman attempted only four stolen bases in 2023, so his aggressiveness on the basepaths early in the new campaign is significant.

FYI: Jake Fraley started in right field and went 2-for-4 with a double, a stolen base and two runs scored in Thursday's 8-2 win over Washington on Opening Day. Analysis: As usual, Fraley got the start with a right-hander throwing for the Nationals. The left-handed hitting outfielder had just 41 plate appearances against lefties in 2023. Fraley can be useful in a less-than full-time role, as evidenced last year, when stole 21 bases in 111 games.

FYI: Toronto Blue Jays ace Kevin Gausman will make his season debut on Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays, manager John Schneider announced Saturday, according to Rob Longley of the Toronto Sun. Gausman had a late start to his spring buildup after dealing with a shoulder issue. The 33-year-old threw a successful bullpen session on Friday. Gausman looked sharp in his one spring start, striking out seven batters over three innings. With Gausman set to get the ball on Sunday, Schneider also announced that right-hander Bowden Francis will start Monday's series opener against the Houston Astros. Francis earned the No. 5 spot in the rotation after a shoulder injury to Alek Manoah. The 27-year-old posted a 2-1 record with a 3.38 ERA and 15 strikeouts over five spring appearances (four starts).