Big East: Jim McKenzie
Williams, McKenzie are academic All-Americans
McKenzie is the lone league player to earn first-team honors. A biochemistry major with a 3.89 GPA, McKenzie has started 34 straight games at Syracuse. A two-time member of the Big East all-academic team, McKenzie completed an internship at Upstate Hospital last summer.
Check out my story on McKenzie's exploits from this summer.
Williams earned second-team recognition. The fifth-year senior has a 3.86 GPA in finance and marketing.
Congratulations to both guys for their accomplishments on and off the field.
Roster changes abound for Syracuse
It's been a tumultuous week at Syracuse already, to say the least.
Head coach Doug Marrone announced today that junior defensive end Jared Kimmel will undergo season-ending left knee surgery. Kimmel has played in all eight games for the Orange, recording 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks.
Syracuse will also be without running back Antwon Bailey, defensive end Torrey Ball and offensive lineman Andrew Tiller on Saturday at Pitt, as all three have been suspended for a violation of team rules. Bailey might be the biggest loss of the three, as he has been used in Wildcat packages and as a change of pace to Delone Carter.
There is some good news for the Orange, however. Starting center Jim McKenzie is expected to return this week after missing the last three games with an injury. He had been replaced by Ryan Bartholomew. McKenzie in an all-league caliber center when healthy.
McKenzie's return means Bartholomew can slide back to guard and allow the Ornage to replace Tiller in the lineup.
Terrible first quarter for Syracuse
Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett
Syracuse wants to prove it's not the same old team that just rolls over against West Virginia. So far, so bad.
The Orange trail 14-0 after one quarter thanks largely to their own mistakes. The Mountaineers' first score came after a turnover. Then, after West Virginia was going for a 40-yard field goal, Syracuse got flagged for offside on fourth-and-1. The Mountaineers took advantage by going in for the touchdown.
The Orange are playing without starting center Jim McKenzie, who has an injured right hand. Another offensive lineman went down in the first quarter. Three true freshmen started on defense, and recently converted wide receiver Da'Mon Merkerson started at corner.
Long way to go, but that had to be a demoralizing opening quarter for the home team.
Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett
- Cincinnati has taken its offensive tempo to a new level this year, Bill Koch writes in the Cincinnati Enquirer.
- West Virginia cornerbacks Brandon Hogan and Keith Tandy have come a long way from their low point against East Carolina last year, Dave Hickman writes in the Charleston Gazette.
- Syracuse center Jim McKenzie is bouncing back from his bad snap to start the Minnesota game, Donnie Webb says in the Syracuse Post-Standard.
- Pitt's offensive line knows it needs to improve off of its solid Week 1 performance, Paul Zeise writes in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
- UConn is sticking with its grass-roots running game, Dave Solomon says in the New Haven Register.
- Tom Savage is in the driver's seat now for Rutgers, Tom Luicci writes in The Star-Ledger.
Looking back at the '06 Big East recruiting classes
My colleague Ted Miller out in the wild, wild west of the Pac-10 had a really fun post earlier this week. He looked back on that conference's 2006 recruiting class. Players who signed that year should be seniors or redshirt juniors now, so it's a perfect time to judge the class on actual results, not promise.
And so, I figure that's a good idea to steal and apply to the Big East. Pittsburgh had the 16th-best recruiting class in the nation that season, according to our Scouts Inc. experts, while Louisville ranked 21st. No other Big East team cracked the top 25.
Let's take a look back and see how things have turned out, shall we?
Cincinnati
Class: 22
Expected major contributors in 2009: 7 -- LB John Goebel, LB Robby Armstrong, CB Marcus Barnett, TE Ben Guidugli, DL Ricardo Matthews, RB Jacob Ramsey, S Aaron Webster
Misses: DT Oren Wilson
Verdict: Mark Dantonio's final full class contained some players who have already contributed, like Ramsey, Guidugli, Barnett and Webster, and some who should assume bigger roles this year, like Armstrong and Matthews. But overall, this lacked the quality of the deep '05 bunch that formed the core of last year's Orange Bowl squad. Receiver Jamar Howard, who was part of the '06 class but didn't qualify in 2006, is back this year after a stint in junior college.
Connecticut
Class: 24
Expected major contributors in 2009: 11 -- WR Brad Kanuch, S Robert Vaughn, K Desi Cullen, OL Zach Hurd, LB Scott Lutrus, CB Robert McClain, LB Lawrence Wilson, DE Lindsey Witten, OL Mathieu Olivier, DT Alex Polito, DE Mike Cox
Misses: CB Jamie Nixon
Verdict: As usual, Randy Edsall's '06 class didn't draw much attention nationally. But he found a whole bunch of players who exceeded their star rankings and became key pieces for the Huskies. Lutrus is one of the best linebackers in the Big East, while Vaughn is a top safety and Witten has NFL potential. UConn could use a breakthrough from the oft-injured Kanuch.
Louisville
Class: 30
Expected major contributors in 2009: 7 -- DE Rodney Gnat, DT L.T. Walker, LB Brandon Heath, WR Josh Chichester, CB Johnny Patrick, WR Troy Pascley, OT Jeff Adams
Misses: DT Aundre Henderson, DT Kareem Crowell, QB Emmanuel Francis
Verdict: Bobby Petrino's final class at Louisville looked great on paper but was hit hard by attrition and misevaluations, which is part of the reason why the Cardinals have been so thin the past two years. Some problems were unforeseen; promising defensive end Peanut Whitehead had his career ended after just a season by a back injury. Henderson decided he didn't like football and quit. Running back Anthony Allen transferred. Several others were dismissed for disciplinary reasons or never panned out.
Pittsburgh
Class: 27
Expected major contributors in 2009: 9 -- TE Nate Byham, OT Jason Pinkston, CB Aaron Berry, OL John Malecki, CB Jovani Chappel, OL Joe Thomas, S Elijah Fields, DE Greg Romeus, CB Ricky Gary
Misses: QB Kevan Smith, CB Aaron Smith, DT Scott Corson
Verdict: Overall, this was a deep, solid class that will form the backbone of this year's team. Add in the fact that star left tackle Jeff Otah was part of this group as a junior college transfer, and it becomes all the more impressive. Byham, Pinkston, Berry and Romeus are All-Big East-caliber players with pro futures. Pitt hasn't seemed able to figure out what to do yet with once highly-rated prospect Dorin Dickerson. Running back Kevin Collier could contribute this year.
Rutgers
Class: 27
Expected major contributors in 2009: 9 -- RB Kordell Young, WR Tim Brown, LB Antonio Lowery, DT Blair Bines, LB Ryan D'Imperio, DB Zaire Kitchen, TE Shamar Graves, FB Jack Corcoran, DT Charlie Noonan
Misses: TE Jeff Minemeyer, LB Sorie Bayoh
Verdict: The best player from this class, Kenny Britt, was a first-round NFL draft pick in April. Combine that with a high number of contributors, and Greg Schiano had a pretty good batting average with this class.
South Florida
Class: 30
Expected major contributors in 2009: 11 -- WR Carlton Mitchell, OL Zach Hermann, S Nate Allen, DB Jerrell Young, OL Jeremiah Warren, LB Sabbath Joseph, DL Aaron Harris, DL Craig Marshall, K Delbert Alvarado, WR Ed Alcin, OL Kevin McCaskill
Misses: DT Leslie Stirrups, WR Jason Sherman, DE Joseph Jackson
Verdict: Surprisingly, some of the Bulls' highest-rated recruits in the 2006 class are the ones who didn't pan out, while the lesser-regarded names have gained regular playing time. The best player so far of this group is Allen, who should have an NFL future. This is a good class that just needs a little more star power.
Syracuse
Class: 22
Expected major contributors in 2009: 9 -- TE Andrew Robinson, RB Delone Carter, OL Jim McKenzie, OL Ryan Bartholomew, OL Tucker Baumbach, OL Jonathan Meldrum, DE Jared Kimmel, LB Derrell Smith, WR Mike Williams
Misses: WR Andrey Baskin, S Derek Hrinya
Verdict: Several players from the '06 batch will start this year, including nearly all of Syracuse's offensive line. But this class, like most of Greg Robinson's efforts, is short on all-conference caliber players. Baskin was the Orange's biggest recruit, but he failed to qualify and never made it to campus. Robinson was the starting quarterback two years ago before switching to tight end this spring.
West Virginia
Class: 16
Expected major contributors in 2009: 6 -- DT Chris Neild, WR Wes Lyons, LB Anthony Leonard, C Eric Jobe, S Franchot "Boogie" Allen, LB J.T. Thomas
Misses: S John Maddox, CB Robert Williams, OL Eric Rodemoyer, CB Greg Davis
Verdict: The Mountaineers had a small class in '06, and they could have handed out half the scholarships and gotten the same results. Only eight 2006 signees are on the current roster. Several from that class are expected to take a step up this year, including Neild, Lyons and Allen. Still, only getting six major contributors from any class is a hard pill to swallow.
Syracuse's McKenzie is the brains of the operation
Centers are usually regarded as among the smartest people on a football team. Still, it's just football, not brain surgery.
If anyone would know the difference, it's Syracuse center Jim McKenzie. He has a 3.9 GPA in biochemistry and hopes to become a doctor someday. Possibly even a brain surgeon.
"We'll see if these hands will be able to hold up after a couple of years in the trenches," he joked.
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| Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images | |
| Center Jim McKenzie has started the last 22 games for the Orange. |
The term "student-athlete" can cause snickers when it comes to big-time college football. But McKenzie makes you want to believe in the concept.
His father, Steve, is a doctor in Philadelphia, while his mother, Linda, works as a nurse. So it was natural that Jim would want to follow them into the medical profession.
That's why McKenzie -- who's a redshirt junior on the football team and a senior in the classroom -- has eschewed the typical jock classes in favor of subjects like organic chemistry, and advanced physics. One of his recent favorite courses examined the biology of cancer, including brain tumors.
"I could definitely see myself working in that type of oncology situation because it's so interesting," he said. "And the way treatments are going, I think we're heading toward a very bright future."
Dr. Thomas Fondy taught that class on the biology of cancer this spring. There were 120 students who took the course, and he said McKenzie finished No. 12 in the class.
"He got an A, and I don't give out that many A's," Fondy said. "He was there every class. He's an outstanding student."
Rutgers' Blaszczyk, Syracuse's McKenzie on Rimington Watch list
Posted by ESPN.com's Brian Bennett
Rutgers senior Ryan Blaszczyk and Syracuse junior Jim McKenzie are two of 44 players named to the spring watch list for the Rimington Trophy, which is given annually to the nation's top center.
Blaszczyk, who enters his third season as Rutgers' starting center this fall, has been recognized by the Rimington Trophy committee for the second straight year. The fifth-year season has started 26 consecutive games over the last two seasons.
McKenzie started 10 games as a freshman and all 12 last season. He's not a guy you hear much about, though, and I was kind of surprised that he was chosen over Cincinnati's Jason Kelce and West Virginia's Eric Jobe.
The full list can be found here.
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.
