Miami 14, Ball State 13

Muncie, IN – Shane Montgomery put it all on the backs of his offensive line. His confidence was rewarded.

Miami’s (1-0, 1-0 MAC) Brandon Murphy capped a run-heavy possession with a 6-yard touchdown jaunt with just 21 seconds to play, leading the Redhawks to a 14-13 victory over interdivision MAC rival Ball State (0-1, 0-1 MAC).

After a 56-yard Eugene Harris punt return gave Miami possession at the Ball State 23 with just under two minutes to play, Montgomery called three consecutive runs.

“We just decided we were going to put it on our offensive line, put it on their backs,” Montgomery said. “We wanted to put the game in their hands.”

With under two minutes to go and plenty of timeouts remaining, Montgomery opted to use as much clock as possible in an effort to keep Ball State’s Nate Davis-led offense off the field. The strategy worked, with three carries by RB Brandon Murphy taking the ball from the 23 to the 6. Murphy finished 19 carries, 123 yards and both Miami touchdowns.

After Murphy was stopped for no gain on 1^st and goal, a quick Mike Kokal pass fell incomplete. Miami called timeout, and Montgomery opted to trust the line once again. Murphy’s 6-yard gallop left only enough time for two Ball State heaves.

The win spoiled the grand opening of Ball State’s newly renovated Scheumann Stadium. A 13.7 million dollar renovation, completed this offseason, included installation of a gorgeous new field turf, a slick four-story media center, 184 Club Seats, and a hillside for family seating in North End Zone.

The expansion was designed both to entice recruits and provide fans with a “wow” inducing experience. While the success of the first objective remains to be seen, the Cardinals seemed to achieve the second. An announced crowd of 15,488 showed enthusiasm throughout the game, and included a student attendance record of 7,885.

With 75 degree weather, the supportive home crowd and the beautiful renovations, everything came together perfectly for the Cardinals. Except the final score.

“There’s a lot of season left, a lot of season left,” a visibly dazed Ball State coach Brady Hoke said afterward. “We can still accomplish a lot of what we want this year, but this obviously isn’t how we wanted to start things off.”

The Ball State media interview room is peppered with motivational signs, including several large signs reading simply “One Yard”. The importance of that single yard loomed large Thursday.

After Cardinal DB B.J. Hill picked off a Mike Kokal pass in the end zone, Ball State had 1^st and 10 at the 20 with a little over 4 minutes remaining. Two MiQuale Lewis rushes later, the Cardinals faced 3^rd and a short yard from the 29. This time it was the Redhawk defensive line that came up big, stuffed Lewis for no gain, and forcing a Ball State punt. All-MAC punter Chris Miller’s 50-yard boot was returned 56 yards by Harris, setting the stage for Murphy’s late game heroics.

Cardinal QB Nate Davis was frustrated at his line’s inability to get the crucial yard.

“It all starts with the guys up front,” Davis said. “When we needed that one yard tonight, we didn’t get it done.”

Later, Davis backed off a bit, saying that the contest was a team loss, but his frustration was evident. After struggling to connect on several deep balls early in the night, Davis finally hit on a 24-yard touchdown strike to Dante Love with 10:42 to play. The score featured a spectacular shoestring catch by Love, and put the Cardinals up 12-7.

The five point lead forced Hoke to decide between a PAT, and a 6-point lead, and going for two.

“There was just a lot of time left,” Hoke said. “If you don’t get it there, two field goals beat you. I didn’t think 13 points was going to win.”

Hoke also faced a tough ‘kick-or-go’ decision just before half. With the Cardinal offense struggling to build momentum, Hoke opted to send his offense on the field facing 4^th and 3 at the Redhawk 6.

“Just trying to build some momentum there,” said Hoke. “It’s one of those things where you look back at half time and say ‘man, we should have kicked’. But you never know.”

Nate Davis’ pass fell incomplete, and Ball State went to half time trailing 7-3.

The Miami victory avenged last year’s 20-17 loss at Yager Stadium in Oxford.

What Happens to Hoop Dreams Deferred?

(This article originally appeared on www.macreportonline.com.)

The neighborhood folks in Southfield, Michigan, might have thought they were watching the next Kevin Garnett. On the hardball courts of Lathrup High, they cheered him on; through the senior year where he averaged 24 points, 14 boards and 5 assists a night, through a three-year starting career, as the local papers named him first team all-Metro, first team all-Area, first team all-everything. They watched him dominate at three positions, creating matchup problems all over the court, and might have squinted and said: there goes the next KG.

The folks of Southfield were wrong. And Jason Jones was one of them.

“I always thought I was going to be a basketball player,” said Jones. “It just didn’t work out that way.” As a star Defensive End for the Eastern Michigan Eagles, the prep roundball star who modeled his game after Garnett now creates matchup problems of a different kind.

Jones combines speed and athleticism to create a package that has proven very difficult for MAC offensive lines to contain. After spending a portion of last season leading the entire nation in tackles for loss, Jones finished the year with 18.5 TFL, good for fifth nationally, but not, surprisingly, a spot on the first team all-MAC squad. And Jones leaves no doubt that the squad’s voting members gave him a little bulletin board material for the 2007 campaign.

“Of course that’s going to motivate you,” said Jones. “Of course it is.”

Jason Jones comes from an athletic family, where competition and motivation were common currencies. Jason’s brother, Brian, played basketball at Detroit Mercy and another brother, Michael, played football for Alabama State. Unlike some, who shy from the long shadows cast by their gloried predecessors, Jones saw his future lit by his brothers’ example.

“I knew from the first time that I watched them play that I was going to grow up and play basketball or football, too,” said Jones. “They were my role models. I always wanted to do what they did, and excel in one of these sports when I grew up.”

Jones is excelling for the Eagles in a big way. But the road hasn’t been the one he thought was laid out before him. In addition to spending most of his youth anticipating a basketball career, when Jones finally found himself on the gridiron in Ypsilanti, he was a tight end who, in his own words, “didn’t really understand the game of football yet.”

After a 2004 season that saw him snag 4 balls as a true freshman, Jones was moved to defense by an Eagles coaching staff that saw a brighter future for the talented athlete on the other side of the ball. The switch paid immediate dividends, as Jones logged 47 tackles while starting all 11 times. While Jones says he doesn’t recall a specific game or moment where he finally felt at home chasing down quarterbacks, instead of blocking for them, he does recall that midway through that sophomore season, he “just started really picking up the game of football, and picturing things before they happened.”

It was during that 2005 season that saw Jones first display his proficiency for making stops in the backfield. Jones posted 12 TFL that year, along with 6.5 sacks, both good for second on the team. Jones followed those numbers by posting the aforementioned 18.5 TFL in 2006.

“In my head, I just want to make every play,” said Jones. “I want to get off the ball, I want to make every play, all over the field. “

This season, Jones says he’ll be focused not just on staying home and maintaining his gap responsibilities, but on continuing to develop his footwork, which he considers his most glaring weakness right now.

The EMU record for TFL in one season is 26, and Jones says that even if he improves the footwork, that number may be out of reach.

“I don’t really think about numbers like that, I really don’t,” Jones asserts. “But I’m not going to lie, when you say it out loud, that’s a really big number. Especially with our offense improving and keeping us off the field so much…I don’t want to say never, but that’s a really big number.”

Of course, the numbers Jones cares about most are the same as Eastern fans – improving on last season’s lonely 1 in the win column. Last year’s EMU squad dropped several close finishes, including multiple games in which they led for three quarters, only to see their opponents walk away victorious. The 2006 Eagles dropped 4 contests by a touchdown or less, including defeats at the hands of instate rivals Western and Central Michigan by a combined 10 points. Those losses still smart, but according to Jones, the team is moving forward with the help of its shared experience.

“With ten starters coming back, its just reassured us all offseason that we have the players we need to make plays and get better,” Jones says. He also names several players who have stepped up their games significantly since last December, including defensive backs Jacob Wyatt and Chris May, and who will improve the Eagles’ chances of finishing more battles come MAC season.

“Our main focus this entire offseason has been on finishing and focusing in the fourth quarter, both defense and offense,” Jones insisted. “Last year we made too many bad plays, dumb penalties in the fourth quarter, things that just happened because we weren’t thinking right.” He then adds emphatically, “We must focus on finishing games.”

Just after finishing the troubling 2006 campaign, EMU Head Coach Jeff Genyk formed the Leadership Council, a core of players whom he wanted to take a greater leadership role, both in motivating teammates, and in establishing team policy and doling out discipline. Jones serves on the Council, and takes his role determining how to discipline team mates seriously, even when the infraction is a mere missed practice or film session. According to Jones, he and the council haven’t been afraid to hand out discipline, and Genyk has respected the majority of their decisions regarding internal team matters.

On game days, however, Jones says he stops telling others what to do, and prefers to lead by example.

“I’m definitely a keep to myself kind of guy in the locker room,” said Jones. “Just put on the headphones, and put on a bit of Lil John, or 36 Mafia to get me hyped, and that’s what I need to do to focus. I’m not going to get in guy’s faces before we’re even out there on the field.”

Like James Starks at Buffalo, and assuredly countless others across the conference, Jones harbors dreams of a MAC title, and says this season will be a disappointment if the Eagles aren’t playing in a bowl game somewhere over the holidays. While he acknowledges EMU has a long road ahead (“its going to be hard going from 1-11 to Detroit”), Jones prefers to reflect on the past philosophically.

“Last year prepared us for this year,” he said. “There’s no way we would have learned all the things we needed to do to succeed without last season.”

While it may sound crazy, Jones has certainly been part of dramatic reversals before; tight end to defensive end, future dream basketball prospect to quarterback nightmare. Can he complete the turnaround hat trick by leading the Eagles to a bowl game?

Time will tell, but one thing Jones is certain he still can do is play a mean game of one-on-one.

“I’d still be good. You never lose the game.”

Just don’t ask him to join your pickup game until January. He’s busy.

OK, So I'm Not Exactly Unemployed Anymore

Good news, Brian Golden fans! OK, now that both of you are listening...

...I'm not exactly unemployed anymore. I've been able to land steady enough freelance sportswriting work that, coupled with my ongoing quality control position with Catharsis Productions, I'm doing right fine for myself.

In the last couple weeks, I've been to MAC Media Day, Big Ten Media Day, and starting this fall, I'm going to be writing a book on MAC Football. Very exciting stuff. The season starts August 30th in Muncie, Indiana, and I'll be there.

Here's where you'll find all my sports writing, from the following outstanding sites. If you're a fan of any of the teams I'm covering, I'd encourage you to frequent these sites and subscribe where necessary.

www.macreportonline.com
iowastate.rivals.com
illinois.rivals.com
www.beaverblitz.com
www.cougzone.com
www.orangeandbluenews.com
tulsa.rivals.com

Coming soon, I'll post some travel diaries for my tour through the Mid-American Conference this fall. August 30th - Miami at Ball State. It all starts in Muncie.


Thanks Dad, for being the first person that made me think writing was cool.

Bull on Parade

(This article originally appeared on www.macreportonline.com. If you're a MAC fan, check out the site: it's the best there is.)

For as long as the Niagara River has flowed north from Buffalo to Lake Ontario, the people of Niagara Falls have grown accustomed to seeing things a while after their neighbors to the south. This year, the folks from the Falls return the favor, providing the Buffalo Bulls with sophomore running back, and Niagara Falls native, James Starks, who has the Bulls offense poised to break out in 2007.

Starks, a 2005 graduate of Niagara Falls HS, was a two-sport standout as a Wolverine, playing alongside current Bull basketball player Greg Gamble on the hardwood, and quarterbacking the football squad on the gridiron. But like so many athletes who begin their careers under center, Starks changed positions after arriving in Buffalo in order to see the field more quickly.

“Last year was basically my first year ever playing running back,” Starks said. “I didn’t really know what the coach wanted me to do and what the team needed me to do.”

To an outsider, the transition may have looked smooth. In Starks’ first collegiate game, he came off the bench to score the game-winning touchdown in a 9-3 win against Temple in the 2006 season opener. Following a Jesse Imes interception, Starks took a handoff and scampered 18 yards on the first possession of overtime to give the Bulls a season-opening victory.

The late-game heroics marked the beginning of a roller-coaster freshman campaign that included several highs, but too many lows for Starks’ liking. Outputs of 162 and 86 yards led the Bulls to wins over Kent State and Temple, and 113, 77 and 69 yard days kept Buffalo competitive against Miami, Akron and Northern Illinois. But the year also included virtual no-shows against Ohio (11 carries, 12 yards), Boston College (9 carries, 1 yard), and Central Michigan (4 carries, 16 yards).

The ups and downs were an understandable part of the learning curve for a freshman still acclimating himself to a new position and new level of play. Starks expects that the year of on-the-job training will pay big dividends come fall.

“I think it’ll be big,” said Starks, referring to his first MAC go-round last autumn. “This year, I do know what the coach wants me to do, and I just have to put my faith in the line and go out and be productive every time I’m out there.”

In addition to a better understanding of the running back position, Starks has spent the summer working to add pounds to last season’s already potent 6-foot-2, 208 pound frame. According to Starks, he’s added 4 or 5 pounds and sits at 212 heading in to fall camp. In what the sophomore described as a “big, big improvement,” his bench press numbers have risen dramatically, from 275 pounds to 315, an increase that Starks hopes will leave a few more defenders taking note of his presence on the field.

“I can receive a lot more blows than I did last year,” he said. “A lot of the contact I took last year, I backed up from it, but this will help me absorb it, run through it, and dish some of it out.”

According to Starks, the increased physicality meshes well with the philosophy of new Bulls running backs coach Lee Chambers. Chambers, a linebackers coach on the 2006 squad, is a defensive-minded teacher with a strength and conditioning background. That mentality hasn’t been lost on Starks, and the second-team all-MAC performer expects it to show on the field.

“He doesn’t let us slack off at all,” Starks said. “He makes sure we work hard. He makes us laugh, too, but I’d basically say he’s a more strict guy than what we’re used to. He knows what he wants, and if you don’t do it the right way, you get punished.”

Chambers is just one part of a fairly young coaching staff assembled by second year Bulls coach Turner Gill. Like any program that has a history of struggling on the field, Buffalo is considered in some circles a coaching graveyard, and many wondered why Gill, a storied-athlete and promising assistant with Nebraska and, later, the Green Bay Packers would take the Bulls job. But Gill arrived in Buffalo optimistic, telling everyone that would listen that the Bulls “will be reckoned with as a formidable opponent…and we know it’s going to happen sooner rather than later.”

That kind of optimism was part of what impressed James Starks the first time he met his coach-to-be.

“Coming in here, he knew exactly what he wanted to do, and immediately gave me someone to look up to, and someone to motivate me,” Starks said of the coach whose first college victory came courtesy of Starks’ 18-yard scamper against Temple. There was also the small matter of Gill being able to teach Starks a thing or two hands-on.

“He can still really play football,” Starks said. “He can throw.”

While Starks probably won’t ever play Gill’s position, quarterback, collegiately, the two do share the common goal of turning around a Buffalo program with a dismal recent history. A recent ESPN.com article named the Bulls the worst program of the last decade, and it would be hard to completely disagree. Since joining Division I-A in 1998, Buffalo has posted a .132 winning percentage, been favored just once, and in that same stretch, hasn’t won more than three games in a season.

Last year marked a promising beginning to the Gill era at Buffalo, however, and despite the Bulls’ partly 2-10 record, Buffalo was probably a bit better than that mark indicated. The 2006 Bulls scored almost twice as many points per game as Buffalo’s 2005 edition, and actually led the MAC East in points scored during MAC contests. The improvement Gill has brought to the Bulls in just a year has made a believer out of Starks.

“I definitely think it (a turnaround) is very realistic for the program,” Starks said. “There have been a lot of teams that have been bad and then turned it around.”

2007 brings an imposing schedule for Buffalo; the Bulls have a slate that begins with three road games at Rutgers, Temple and Penn State. The first three visitors to come to Buffalo are Baylor, Ohio and Toledo. All will be stiff challenges for this Bulls squad. But, according to Starks, the schedule isn’t the focus of his preseason efforts.

“We have the talent now, and everyone’s turned in to a family now,” said Starks. We’re not settling for losses anymore. We’re working harder than a lot of teams, and it’s realistic that we can go to a bowl game.”

Starks is also well aware that this season’s success will depend a great deal on his consistency both running and catching. Three times 2006, Starks was over 80 yards on the ground; two of those outings led to wins (Kent State and Temple), and a third kept Buffalo very close to Miami in a back breaking defeat. Look for Starks to be a viable receiving option from Bull quarterback Drew Willy as well. When Willy went down with an injury at the end of last year, Starks’ solid receiving numbers dropped off. The junior signal caller has a knack for locating Starks, and the checkdown option will be a key to Buffalo’s continued success on offense.

If his rushing numbers improve from last season’s totals (704 yards, 6 TDs), Starks should have no problem landing first team all-MAC honors this season, and muscling his way firmly into the league’s upper echelon of backs. But while Starks comes across as quite a bit more humble than his two boyhood idols, Deion Sanders and Michael Vick, he already considers himself part of that group.

“I don’t want to sound cocky or anything, but I don’t really look up to anybody,” Starks said. “There are some great RBs in the conference, but I don’t really compare myself to anybody, I think I can play with any of them.”

No matter what classification James Starks earns among MAC running backs, he says his Buffalo career will be a disappointment if the Bulls don’t win a MAC title behind his leadership. If Starks leads Buffalo to Detroit and a conference championship this year, it would easily be the feel-good shocker of the college football season. But if, against all odds, the Bulls do win a MAC crown, the local boy who grew up a Buffalo Bulls fan will be a hero, and the noise coming from UB Stadium might out thunder the sound of the water crashing over the Falls at Niagara.

Big Ten Media Day: Ron Zook Interview

(This interview originally appeared in www.orangeandbluenews.com.)

What are we going to see in Juice Williams when he takes the field this fall?

You’re going to see improvement, you’re going to see a guy ready to take the next step.

What kind of improvement is the defense going to bring this year?

Anytime you’re in your second or third year, you expect to get better, you gotta be more consistent. We talk a lot about taking the next step, how its just the natural progression of where you’re supposed to be as you develop.

How do you recruit to Illinois?

There’s no reason we shouldn’t be just as great as everyone else. We’ve got great academics, a great conference, and all that stuff, but mostly, your players are your best ambassadors. We’re selling the same thing everyone else is selling: happiness. We’re all selling things you can’t see. You can’t see education, you can’t see a degree, you can’t see happiness.

You mentioned yesterday that you were concerned about the text message ban because it would be very easy for someone to impersonate a coach in a text message. Is that a serious concern for you?

Well I don’t know if it seriously concerns me, but its something the people making decisions should think about, its part of the issue they have to deal with. People saying whatever the want. If you take away texting, it’s not going to be a huge change, people are still going to find a way to do whatever they need to do to contact recruits.

How has the internet changed recruiting? For better or worse?

I think that because of the net, because of all the exposure, it’s so much faster, it’s a bit scarier for parents, and probably for athletes too, there’s so much more information out there, it’s harder to figure out who they can believe, and what’s right and wrong, and who says which guys is the best.

How do you evaluate talent?

We always start off looking at three things. First, can this person help us reach our goal. Second, is this person going to graduate from the University of Illinois. Third, what is the character of this person, and that’s probably the most important, and then we go from there.

Is the NFL’s new conduct policy and the crackdown on “bad behavior” going to change the way college coaches recruit and the type of individuals they go after?

Most of the people that I’ve been recruiting and the people that I know recruit, everyone’s trying to recruit good individuals already, but with some of these other issues coming up more and more it’s all going to be come more PR conscious.

How important are facilities in helping you recruit kids?

They’re somewhat important, and to some it might be more important. Here we are at Illinois getting ready to be the best in the country until someone else builds something better and bigger. But the #1 thing is people, if you’re not happy, the facilities don’t matter. One thing I always tell kids is ‘forget about that stadium out there.’ If that all goes away, would you still want to be here?

Big Ten Media Day: J Leman Interview

(This interview originally appeared in www.orangeandbluenews.com.)

How was the transition for you from Coach Turner to Coach Zook?

You always want to stay with the coach that recruited you, Coach Turner was a great guy, but he’s landed on his feet well with the Bears. It was hard at first, but we’ve really taken to Coach Zook.

What’s the goal for this season?

We want to finish in the upper echelon of the Big Ten. Those spots aren’t reserved for Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin. We’ve got just as much a right to it as anyone else, we want to go get it.

What’s the toughest roadtrip in the conference?

Happy Valley. You fly up going over those mountains, and you’re just thinking ‘where is this little town in the middle of the mountains.’ It’s a tough place to play.

Who’s the toughest player you’ve ever gone up against in the Big Ten?

From Wisconsin, Joe Thomas. No doubt about it.

What player or school talks more than their share of trash?

Michigan State likes to talk it a little bit.

How do you know Coach Zook is mad at you?

When he comes over and steps on your foot and starts shouting at you, gets right up in your face and shouts at you. Actually, take out that part about stepping on people’s foot, he’s not abusive or anything. Just gets right on top of you to make sure you’re listening.

What kind of impact has Lou Hernandez had on you guys?

A huge huge impact. We’ve got about 40 guys that can power clean 300 pounds now, which is a huge improvement. He just pushes guys beyond what they think they can do.

How much time do you get to yourself in the offseason?

Not much. You get a week after Christmas, and find a little time here and there, but other than that – not much.

What’s your scene away from the football field?

I like to relax and do some fishing. I go to this little lake called St. Joe’s lake where I can do a little fishing.

Big Ten Media Day: Martin O'Donnell Interview

(This interview originally appeared in www.orangeandbluenews.com.)

Is there more pressure this year with the incoming recruiting class and all the national attention because of that?

There’s just as much pressure this season or any other season, and there’s pressure on every single team at the division one level, there are always expectations. What’s different is the excitement level – that’s different. The excitement in the fans, and community. Just the fact that we’ve sold more season tickets than we have here in awhile is exciting. No one wants to pay in an empty stadium.

Who’s the toughest single competitor you expect to up against this year?

We’re trying to look at Missouri right now. I don’t pick on individual players, every defense in this league wants to go out and hit you in the mouth. We’re not really thinking about anything other than Missouri right now. I don’t even pay attention to names anyway, mostly just numbers.

What’s your favorite road trip in the conference?

Happy Valley, Ohio State, every stadium really, there’s just something about this conference.

What’s the toughest place to play?

Wisconsin, Iowa, Ohio State. Penn State has to be in there too.

What player or team talks more than their share of trash?

I don’t really know how much stuff of that goes on, I’ve never experienced anything too bad.

How do you know when Coach Zook is mad at you?

When it looks like his head is about to explode. He’s just full of energy all the time, so when his jaw gets clenched, and he gets really red, you just start to worry.

How’s the chemistry been between this heralded recruiting class and you older guys?

The chemistry’s been good. Guys like Regis Benn have come in eager to learn and all those guys know that the older guys hold the key, the know the schemes, that type of thing. They know what’s going on.

What are the goals for this year? What has to happen for you to say: this was a successful year?

We’re all going to be really disappointed if we’re not playing in a bowl game. We just have to go. Its not really written down, its just time to get going. Just gotta go. We’ve had great recruiting classes, not we want people to talk about us during the season, and not just in the offseason. And the coaches, every single one of them wants to win as bad as we do.

Big Ten Media Day: Chris Norvell Interview

(This interview originally appeared in www.orangeandbluenews.com.)

Where’s your favorite place to play in the conference?

Wisconsin and Ohio State definitely, they’re really hostile, I like playing there a lot.

Who’s the toughest player or scheme you’ve gone up against?

Purdue, definitely. They like to throw the ball so much.

How do you know Coach Zook is mad at you?

Well, he runs up right in your ear and starts yelling at you. It’s pretty easy to tell.

What do you do to relax off the field?

A lot of guys on the time like to play X-box, so we’ll play Halo 2 against each other from our separate rooms.

How much free time do you get in the offseason?

There’s school and class for two-plus hours, you also have to lift, run, then the big guys lift at 3, so during the day there’s no free time. Then you gotta eat lunch, then do position work after that. So, there’s not a lot of free time.

What kind of impact as Lou Hernandez had at Illinois?

Lou is a great coach. Right when he came in we started getting better and stronger. We’ve got 35 or 36 guys that can power clean 310, that’s a pretty good number.

How does he do it?

Basically what he does is working hand in hand with the players, pushing us.

Are you impressed with the new guys coming in, the highly touted recruiting class?

We’ve got some youngsters coming in that are very mature for their age. Jacques Brent is showing a lot of strength and he’s already really mature.They all want to live up to all the hype, that’s all we care about.

How do you think Coach Zook continues to deliver this talent to Illinois?

He just sells the university – University of Illinois is a great place, and he sells it.

What’s the key to improvement this year?

We need to be more consistent, and cut down on the mental breakdowns. That’s it.

Big Ten Media Day: Player Roundtable

(This article originally published August 1 on www.orangeandbluenews.com)

Down the hall from the Grand Ballroom, in the Columbus Room, media met with Big Ten coaches and players today for one-on-one interviews. I met with several of the Big Ten’s premiere athletes to get their thoughts on some of the faces and places that make the Big Ten special. Here’s our panel:

Mike Klinkenborg, LB, Iowa

Marcus Thigpen, RB, Indiana

Luke Swan, WR, Wisconsin

Vernon Ghoulston, DE, Ohio State

Mike Sherels, ILB, Minnesota

Anthony Morelli, QB, Penn State

Tyrell Sutton, RB, Northwestern

What’s your favorite place to play in the Big Ten?

Klinkenborg – Wisconsin. The fans up there are great, they’re pretty wild.

Thigpen – Wisconsin.

Swan – All the road trips have been about the same. I shouldn’t say this, but you really try to go focus on the game, and there’s not a lot of focus on the outside stuff. I try to make everything the same, the hotel the same, the trip the same in every way.

Ghoulston – Ohio Stadium! Other than that…Illinois, probably. The field, how it was at night, I really liked it there.

Sherels – Penn State. Its just unrivaled, the fans are crazy, they’re passionate, it’s the best.

Morelli – That’s hard to say, in a conference like this, you have so many exciting stadiums. Ohio State was pretty exciting, really good atmosphere there, and they beat us up a little bit.

What’s the toughest road trip in the Big Ten?

Klinkenborg – I haven’t been to Penn State yet, I’d probably say Ohio State, maybe Wisconsin.

Thigpen – Wisconsin.

Swan – Penn State. The fans there are so vocal and really in to the game.

Ghoulston – The 2005 Penn State game was really tough. This year we play them there again, and the fans are going to be crazy, rowdy, everything.

Sherels – Penn State, that’s the loudest place I’ve ever been in my entire life. They have less people, but they’re always shouting, and the stadium is built so they’re right on top of you.

Morelli – Has to be Ohio State.

Sutton – Any road game is always going to be tough. They’re all loud and hard. When we played at Nevada last year it was so loud, even louder than Arizona State, and that place was really loud. Ohio State has 120 thousand fans all screaming at you. They’re all tough.

Who talks the most trash in the Big Ten?

Klinkenborg – I don’t think there’s a lot of trash talking in the conference, for the most part, there’s some pretty good sportsmanship here. But my team mate Mitch King has talked his share of trash.

Thigpen – When you get hit, that’s when it happens, when you’re a receiver and you are at the bottom of the pile, you get talked to. Ohio State and Michigan do it the most.

Swan – It gets the worst when you have two guys who both want to talk to each other, then it never stops. I just try to be silent out there, be the silent assassin.

Ghoulston – There’s not much trash talking. With how competitive we are, we’re always huffing and puffing after every play.

Sherels – I’m just going to say the state of Michigan, and you can figure out which school I’m talking about.

Morelli – It was probably Wisconsin for me.

Sutton – Illinois. Well, anyone because they all trash talk out there. From J Leman to AJ Hawk, there’s a lot of trash that gets thrown around out there.

Who’s the toughest player or scheme you’ve ever matched up against?

Klinkenborg – Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio State TE). That guy’s pretty quick.

Swan – Jack Ikeqwuonu. I match up against him every day in practice. He’s made me a lot better.

Ghoulston - Probably Penn State’s Levi Brown and Michigan’s Jake Long. Trying to get around those guys is like trying to get around a wall.

Sherels – Dorien Bryant from Purdue. Two years against them they went in to 5-wide almost the entire game, and I was the overweight middle linebacker out there trying to cover him, and he made me look foolish. The summer afterward I worked really hard at my footwork and getting better so he couldn’t make me look foolish again. We played them last year and I did a lot better.

Morelli – Michigan. Their defensive line was unreal, and I got knocked out of the game. So that was pretty tough.

Sutton – Wisconsin gave me a concussion last year. So whoever hit me, but I don’t remember who it was.

How do you know when your head coach is mad at you?

Klinkenborg – When we’re doing two-a-days in December.

Thigpen – When he gives you a look. Its just that look, man. You know it.

Swan – Its pretty obvious, Coach Bielema lets you know you made a mistake, but that’s what the coaches are there for. They’re getting us ready every day to play in front of 85 to 100 thousand people.

Ghoulston – When he stops talking to you.

Sherels – Its ‘the glare’. He’ll just give you this death stare.

Morelli – They’re either going to yell at you or stop talking to you. But Coach Paterno is always telling us that we should worry when they stop yelling us, because that means they don’t think we can get any better than we are.

Sutton – When he stops talking to you. He just stops talking.

What do you do to relax when you’re not playing or practicing?

Klinkenborg – I just like to hang out, go to the movies, maybe play a board game. Devan Moylan likes to play risk, but I don’t play him that much, because he beats me, and I don’t like to lose at anything.

Thigpen – Me and my best friend, Nick Polk, he’s a safety, we like to go bowling. We bowl a lot. I probably average about 200. I’m pretty good.

Swan – I’m a pretty chill guy, I like to golf a lot. I had a job last summer at a golf course, so I try to golf over at University Ridge as much as possible. I’m about a 6 or 7 handicap.

Ghoulston – Just being able to sit down, relax, and eat. I love to eat. I can put on SportsCenter and watch that 3 or 4 times a day.

Sherels – I’m a bit of a nerd. I like to read a lot. I just finished the last Harry Potter book. The last two in the series are definitely the best. (Me: Which Hogwarts House would you belong to?) Oh, I gotta say Gryffindor. Gotta Gryffindor.

Morelli – I’m a big hunting and fishing type of guy. I actually just caught a 40 lb., 3 foot, 8 inch catfish back home in Pittsburgh, in the Allegheny. That was cool.

Sutton – Sleep. I like to sleep. Ask anybody, I can sleep anywhere.