Big East: Byron Stingily
The Big East official teams are voted on by the league's eight head coaches, who know a heck of a lot more about football than me. But that doesn't mean they always make the right choices. Let's take a look at each position and go over some of the reasoning behind the picks, starting with what seems to me like the most egregious error.
Quarterback
The league coaches chose Cincinnati's Zach Collaros as the unanimous pick, which is just shocking to me. Don't get me wrong, Collaros is a fantastic player who can put up crazy numbers. But I don't see how Collaros was chosen over West Virginia's Geno Smith. Smith led the Big East in passing efficiency and had a 23-6 touchdown to interception ratio. He had one bad game against Syracuse and was terrific just about every other game. Collaros threw 26 touchdowns but with a whopping 14 interceptions. His completion percentage was 58.7 compared to Smith's to 65.8.
In conference play, Collaros had 14 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. Smith had 11 touchdowns and four interceptions in league play, not to mention that the Mountaineers were co-champions while Cincinnati finished 4-8.
The coaches, frankly, blew this one.
Running back
Jordan Todman and Bilal Powell were the easy calls here. What's amazing is that neither Noel Devine nor Dion Lewis made the first or second team. No one saw that coming before the year.
Wide receiver and tight end
Armon Binns and Jon Baldwin were the obvious calls at receiver. Louisville's Cameron Graham was the most productive tight end in the league.
Offensive line
Here's where the coaches' expertise should come into play. It's really hard just watching from TV or even from a press box to tell who's playing well on the interior of an offensive line, especially if you don't know what the blocking assignments are supposed to be. I made sure to get some input from coaches on this one and was pleased to see my choices of Sampson Genus at center and Zach Hurd and Mark Wetterer at guard were echoed by the coaches. We also agreed on Jason Pinkston at tackle, though the coaches had UConn's Mike Ryan at the other tackle, while I had Louisville's Byron Stingily. Both are fine choices, since Louisville and UConn had the best offensive lines in the league.
Defensive line
Very little question here with Jabaal Sheard, Terrell McClain and Chris Neild up front. The second defensive end spot was a tricky one for me. The coaches chose Kendall Reyes, who had an excellent year. I picked West Virginia's Julian Miller, who was a beast in conference play and part of the Mountaineers' unbelievable defense. When in doubt at one of these defensive positions, I went with a West Virgina player. I also strongly considered Chandler Jones, Brandon Lindsey and Jesse Joseph for that spot.
Linebacker
Linebacker is one of the deepest positions in the Big East this year. Lawrence Wilson was a definite, and the coaches and I agreed on J.T. Thomas. They chose Doug Hogue while I went with his Syracuse teammate, Derrell Smith. Can't argue too much either way and I would have put all four of them on there if there were enough spots.
Defensive back
Here's another place where I sharply disagree with the coaches' pick. They had West Virginia's Keith Tandy and not Brandon Hogan. I'm not sure even Tandy would agree with that. Tandy had the better interception and tackle numbers, but as he told me in a late-season interview, most of that was because teams wouldn't throw Hogan's way. The coaches I talked to all said Hogan was easily the best cornerback in the Big East. I had him and Johnny Patrick, who was also an official pick, though I heard some support for and strongly considered South Florida's Mistral Raymond.
At safety, Robert Sands was a no-brainer. The other safety spot was my most difficult choice on the entire list. Safety was not a strong position for the Big East this year. The coaches picked Dom DeCicco, who had a solid year. But I felt like he played some his best while working at linebacker for Pitt this year. I went instead with West Virginia's Sidney Glover, a rock-solid senior who fit my "when in doubt pick a Mountaineer" strategy. I liked Rutgers' Joe Lefeged earlier in the year but thought he faded along with his whole team. One coach who played Rutgers late in the season said they picked on Lefeged in the passing game.
So there you have it. How do you feel about the all-conference picks? Do you think, like I do, that Smith and Hogan were the biggest snubs?
I compiled the following list after watching each team the entire season and through consultation this week with some coaches throughout the league. Later on today, I'll offer up some thoughts on the selections, explaining my picks and the toughest omissions.
Here is the team:
Offense
QB: Geno Smith, West Virginia
RB: Jordan Todman, Connecticut
RB: Bilal Powell, Louisville
WR: Armon Binns, Cincinnati
WR: Jon Baldwin, Pittsburgh
TE: Cameron Graham, Louisville
OT: Jason Pinkston, Pittsburgh
OG: Zach Hurd, Connecticut
C: Sampson Genus, South Florida
OG: Mark Wetterer, Louisville
OT: Byron Stingily, Louisville
Defense
DE: Jabaal Sheard, Pittsburgh
DT: Chris Neild, West Virginia
DT: Terrell McClain, South Florida
DE: Julian Miller, West Virginia
LB: Lawrence Wilson, Connecticut
LB: Derrell Smith, Syracuse
LB: J.T. Thomas, West Virginia
CB: Brandon Hogan, West Virginia
CB: Johnny Patrick, Louisville
S: Robert Sands, West Virginia
S: Sidney Glover, West Virginia
Specialists
K: Dave Teggart, Connecticut
P: Dan Hutchins, Pittsburgh
KR: Lindsey Lamar, South Florida
PR: Doug Beaumont, Louisville
Louisville aims to stop missing against Southern Miss
Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett
Steve Kragthorpe very nearly broke out the old Herm Edwards quote this week when talking about the struggles of his Louisville football team.
"You play this game to win," Kragthorpe said.
Except that hasn't been the case for the Cardinals (1-3, 0-1 Big East), who last beat an FBS opponent on Oct. 25, 2008. That's a string of eight straight defeats, five of them by double digits.
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| Andy Lyons/Getty Images | |
| Victor Anderson is expected to get more touches Saturday against Southern Mississippi. |
While Kragthorpe and his players continue to say that they're just a few plays away or that they've beaten themselves with mistakes, a losing streak like that comes down to more than just a couple of bad breaks. So expect to see some changes this Saturday when Louisville plays host to Southern Mississippi.
For starters, Kragthorpe is promising to get Victor Anderson more touches. Makes perfect sense, since Anderson -- the Big East's newcomer of the year last season after rushing for more than 1,000 yards as a redshirt freshman -- is the team's best player. Yet after carrying 19 times for 110 yards at Kentucky, Anderson got only 10 carries for 22 yards at Utah and ran it just 12 times for 51 yards last week against Pitt.
Anderson was dealing with a groin injury and some other bumps and bruises last week, Kragthorpe said. But he should be healthier now, and he needs to be a major part of the game plan.
Of course, Anderson can only do so much when the offensive line is not opening holes.
When asked to name which players were performing well up front, Kragthorpe could only point to center Mario Benavides and right guard Mark Wetterer. Junior Jeff Adams, who started at right tackle last year, could supplant left tackle Byron Stingily this week. Adams was slated to start there in the preseason, but he had a bout with the flu that caused him to lose almost 20 pounds in fall camp. Massive junior college transfer Joe Evinger (6-foot-6, 330 pounds) arrived late in fall camp but is now sufficiently up to speed to where he could start seeing some significant time as well, Kragthorpe said.
Another problem area for the Cardinals has been the secondary, which was burned by long touchdown passes against Pitt. Safety Terrence Simien's kidney injury forced some shuffling around, and Chaz Thompson moved over from safety to start at cornerback for the first time in his career last week. Kragthorpe said he would look at some other options back there, including pulling the redshirt off true freshman Shenard Holton.
Louisville is the most penalized team in the Big East and seems to find the absolute wrong time in each drive to draw a flag. Kragthorpe said he planned to tape his offensive linemen's wrists this week to prevent them from getting their hands outside a defender's body. And others who committed penalties last week had to run as punishment.
It remains to be seen whether any of these changes are more than cosmetic against a Southern Miss team that has some issues of its own. The Golden Eagles lost starting quarterback Austin Davis to a season-ending injury last week in a loss to UAB. Junior Martevious Young will start in his place. They will get back running back Damion Fletcher and receiver DeAndre Brown from injuries this week.
The Cardinals left old rival Southern Miss and Conference USA behind when they moved to the Big East; losing to the Golden Eagles at home would be yet another black mark for a program that's gathered too many of them lately. With two Big East away games up next and road trips still left to West Virginia and South Florida, Louisville can't afford any more slip-ups.
"A win would sure lighten the mood up," Benavides said. "Nobody likes losing."
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- I stopped by Louisville practice today to get my first summer glimpse of the Cardinals. They were in full pads for the morning session and have another workout scheduled for this evening, marking their first two-a-day of camp.
Here are some quick impressions based on what I saw:
• Let's start with the most pressing issue: quarterbacks. Justin Burke got the snaps with the first team as coach Steve Kragthorpe continues to rotate him and Adam Froman at No. 1. I thought Burke played a little better in the spring, but I've been hearing that Froman has maybe inched ahead so far in camp.
Well, it wasn't a great morning for either quarterback, as there weren't a whole lot of completed passes. Neither one has a great arm, which can be overcome by accuracy and timing. Still, the deep ball just wasn't there today. Receivers had to wait or even come back on those long throws, and wind was not a factor. Third-stringer Zack Stoudt, who has the best arm of the three, didn't get many reps today.
• The biggest depth-chart development is on the offensive line. Junior Byron Stingily is now the starting left tackle, while Greg Tomczyk has shifted over to right tackle. Jeff Adams has been bumped down to second string. The 6-foot-5, 293-pound Stingily was a junior college transfer last year who redshirted for the 2008 season.
Kragthorpe said Stingily has really improved in his understanding of the game and position and has quick feet. But he said that "we're still moving guys around" on the offensive line. The Cardinals had hoped to work huge (6-6, 330) juco import Joe Evinger into the mix on the line, but he's yet to practice because of some academic administrative issues.
• Receiver Scott Long did not wear pads or participate in any contact work. Louisville is trying to bring him along slowly after his offseason knee injury. Long, who was wearing an ice pack on his right knee toward the end of practice, was supposed to practice tonight. The Cardinals are a far, far better team when he is healthy.
• Fellow receiver Josh Chichester also was held out of contact work. First-string fullback Joe Tronzo was in a walking boot.
• The first-string defense had William Savoy and Greg Scruggs at defensive ends, L.D. Scott and L.T. Walker at the tackle spots, Jon Dempsey, Antwon Canady and Brandon Heath at linebacker, Karldell Dunning and Johnny Patrick at corner and Daniel Covington and Chaz Thompson at safety. The defense as a whole looked better than it did at times in the spring, but again the offense struggled.
• Speaking of struggling, the Cardinals' goal-line drill did not go well. The first play was a botched quarterback-center exchange. Then there were a couple of offside penalties. Froman threw a pass to Troy Pascley that was about 5 yards out of the end zone, prompting Kragthorpe to yell, "We're not in Canada!"
• It's hard not to notice newcomer Tim High, a 6-foot-2, 310-pound mountain of a defensive tackle. The junior college transfer played with the second team and looked like he could use some conditioning work.
• Mike Fennerty and Cameron Graham were running with the first team at tight end, a position Kragthorpe would like to use. Graham had a tough day catching the ball.
• Kamran Joyer, the former South Florida signee who was released from his scholarship over grade concerns, saw some time on the third team offense. The one time I noticed him, he got yelled at for missing an assignment. That will happen with true freshmen.
I'll have more from Louisville practice a little later on.
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Andrea Adelson
Adelson joined ESPN.com in 2010 after spending time as a college football columnist at The Orlando Sentinel. She has covered college football since her days as a University of Florida student, and lives in Orlando, Fla.
