2011 RAY GUY AWARD WATCH LIST

The Augusta Sports Council annually honors the nation's top punter in college football with the Ray Guy Award. The list is expected to grow throughout the coming months, and the winner will be named at the ESPN College Football Awards show, which will be held this year on December 8th.  Ray Guy kicked 3 70+ yard punts during his collegiate career. Ray's collegiate career went out in style as his final punt in college was a meager 93 yarder. A true pioneer at the position, Ray Guy, was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004. He was the first punter to reach this achievement. The ASC recently announced the 2011 watch list:


---2011 Ray Guy Award Watch List---

• Bryan Anger, California
• Drew Butler, Georgia
• Kyle Martens, Rice
• Quinn Sharp, Oklahoma State
• Dawson Zimmerman, Clemson

Congratulations to last year's winner of the Ray Guy Award, Chas Henry, University of Florida.

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2011 BRONKO NAGURSKI TROPHY WATCH LIST

Awarded annually, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy honors the nation's best defensive player. The selection is made by the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) and the Charlotte Touchdown Club. Five finalists will be announced on November 17th by the Charlotte Touchdown Club.

The winner of the Bronko Nagurski Trophy will be awarded at the annual banquet held this year on December 12th at the Westin Hotel in Charlotte, NC. This year's watch list was recently announced.

 ---2011 Bronko Nagurski Trophy Watch List---

Tackles (16)

• Jared Crick, Nebraska
• Marcus Forston, Miami
• Logan Harrell, Fresno State
• Jaye Howard, Florida
• Malik Jackson, Tennessee
• Mike Martin, Michigan
• Dontari Poe, Memphis
• Tydreke Powell, North Carolina
• Kheeston Randall, Texas
• Kendall Reyes, Connecticut
• Kawann Short, Purdue
• Akeem Spence, Illinois
• Alameda Ta’amu, Washington
• Billy Winn, Boise State
• Derek Wolfe, Cincinnati
• Jerel Worthy, Michigan State

Ends (16)

• Jake Bequette, Arkansas
• Vince Browne, Northwestern
• Quinton Coples, North Carolina
• Fletcher Cox, Mississippi State
• Vinny Curry, Marshall
• Bruce Irvin, West Virginia
• Brandon Jenkins, Florida State
• Brandon Lindsey, Pittsburgh
• Brad Madison, Missouri
• Jonathan Massaquoi, Troy
• Roosevelt Nix, Kent State
• Donte Paige-Moss, North Carolina
• Adrian Robinson, Temple
• Devin Taylor, South Carolina
• Taylor Thompson, SMU
• Nathan Williams, Ohio State

Linebackers (31)

• Nigel Bradham, Florida State
• Tanner Brock, TCU
• Arthur Brown, Kansas State
• Zach Brown, North Carolina
• Vontaze Burfict, Arizona State
• Miles Burris, San Diego State
• Tank Carder, TCU
• Lavonte David, Nebraska
• Jerry Franklin, Arkansas
• Zaviar Gooden, Missouri
• Dont’a Hightower, Alabama
• James-Michael Johnson, Nevada
• Mychal Kendricks, California
• Jake Knott, Iowa State
• Luke Kuechly, Boston College
• Travis Lewis, Oklahoma
• Chris Marve, Vanderbilt
• Michael Mauti, Penn State
• Keenan Robinson, Texas
• J.K. Schaffer, Cincinnati
• Mychal Sisson, Colorado State
• Shayne Skov, Stanford
• Sean Spence, Miami
• Kenny Tate, Maryland
• Bruce Taylor, Virginia Tech
• Manti Te’o, Notre Dame
• Danny Trevathan, Kentucky
• Courtney Upshaw, Alabama
• Bobby Wagner, Utah State
• Brian Wagner, Akron
• Korey Williams, Southern Miss

Cornerbacks (14)

• Brandon Boykin, Georgia
• Morris Claiborne, LSU
• Alfonzo Dennard, Nebraska
• Stephon Gilmore, South Carolina
• Cliff Harris, Oregon
• Casey Hayward, Vanderbilt
• Jayron Hosley, Virginia Tech
• Coryell Judie, Texas A&M
• Dre Kirkpatrick, Alabama
• Chase Minnifield, Virginia
• Shaun Prater, Iowa
• Xavier Rhodes, Florida State
• Josh Robinson, UCF
• Keith Tandy, West Virginia

Safeties (10)

• Ray-Ray Armstrong, Miami
• Mark Barron, Alabama
• Tony Dye, UCLA
• Delano Howell, Stanford
• Robert Lester, Alabama
• Markelle Martin, Oklahoma State
• T.J. McDonald, USC
• Charles Mitchell, Mississippi State
• Harrison Smith, Notre Dame
• Prentiss Waggner, Tennessee

 
Congratulations to last year's winner of the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, Da'Quan Bowers, Clemson.
 
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2011 OUTLAND TROPHY WATCH LIST

The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) recently announced the watch list for this year's best college football interior lineman.

The Outland Trophy is presented to the nation's premier interior lineman. The annual award is presented at The Outland Trophy Presentation Banquet, sponsored by the Greater Omaha Sports Committee, on January 12th, 2012 in Omaha, Nebraska.



---2011 Outland Trophy Presentation Watch List---

Offensive Tackles (24)
• Levy Adcock, Oklahoma State
• Jeff Allen, Illinois
• Don Barclay, West Virginia
• Kelvin Beachum, SMU
• Tony Bergstrom, Utah
• James Brown, Troy
• Blake DeChristopher, Virginia Tech
• Andrew Datko, Florida State
• Cordy Glenn, Georgia
• Dan Hoch, Missouri
• Matt Kalil, USC
• Jonathan Martin, Stanford
• Zack Martin, Notre Dame
• Al Netter, Northwestern
• Lucas Nix, Pittsburgh
• Xavier Nixon, Florida
• Trevor Olson, Northern Illinois
• Kelechi Osemele, Iowa State
• Nate Potter, Boise State
• Riley Reiff, Iowa
• Matt Reynolds, BYU
• Mitchell Schwartz, California
• Bradley Sowell, Ole Miss
• Rokevious Watkins, South Carolina

Guards (14)

• Chris Barker, Nevada
• David DeCastro, Stanford
• Lonnie Edwards, Texas Tech
• Joel Foreman, Michigan State
• Braden Hansen, BYU
• Chris Jacobson, Pittsburgh
• Barrett Jones, Alabama
• Ryan Miller, Colorado
• Ken Plue, Purdue
• Lane Taylor, Oklahoma State
• Omoregie Uzzi, Georgia Tech
• Larry Warford, Kentucky
• Brandon Washington, Miami
• Kevin Zeitler, Wisconsin

Centers (11)
• Mike Brewster, Ohio State
• Dalton Freeman, Clemson
• Garth Gerhart, Arizona State
• Ben Habern, Oklahoma
• Khaled Holmes, USC
• T.J. Johnson, South Carolina
• Ben Jones, Georgia
• David Molk, Michigan
• Moe Petrus, Connecticut
• Chris Thompson, Houston
• William Vlachos, Alabama


Defensive Tackles (16)
• Jared Crick, Nebraska
• Marcus Forston, Miami
• Logan Harrell, Fresno State
• Jaye Howard, Florida
• Malik Jackson, Tennessee
• Mike Martin, Michigan
• Dontari Poe, Memphis
• Tydreke Powell, North Carolina
• Kheeston Randall, Texas
• Kendall Reyes, Connecticut
• Kawann Short, Purdue
• Akeem Spence, Illinois
• Alameda Ta’amu, Washington
• Billy Winn, Boise State
• Derek Wolfe, Cincinnati
• Jerel Worthy, Michigan State


Last year's recipient of The Outland Trophy was Gabe Carimi, Wisconsin.




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SOUTH CAROLINA: CAN GARCIA STAY ON TARGET THIS FALL

Congratulations to the South Carolina baseball team as they bring home a second straight College World Series trophy in historic fashion!

South Carolina is fresh off back to back championships, and they are the only team that will ever be able to say they won the last championship at Rosenblatt and the first championship in TD Ameritrade Park.



As fall rapidly approaches, the talk and the expectations will soon center solely on the football team. The hopes for a return trip and a better outing in Atlanta and a possible run at the National Championship rest on one man's shoulders, a 23 year old named Stephen Garcia.



Like a lot of college kids, Stephen Garcia, has had his share of trouble. Earlier this year he ran into another incident involving alcohol, and Coach Spurrier and the Athletic Director laid down the law. Basically one more incident and Garcia is gone.



Conner Shaw is not ready for Atlanta. If Carolina is going to make a run and find themselves playing big boy football on the first Saturday in December, then it is going to be with Garcia at the helm. Garcia could do a big service to his team and school by sitting down with the baseball team and picking up some of the eye of the tiger tips to focus in on the season ahead.

(Photo courtesy http://gamecocksonline.cstv.com/)

With big potential out there for this year's Gamecock football team, it is no wonder some are a bit worried and concerned. Carolina is the unquestionable frontrunner in the SEC East. If Garcia plays his cards right they might be ordering rings later this year, and possibly erecting a statue. Let's not get ahead of ourselves, but you get the picture. If he finds himself in another bonehead situation, the wheels could come off very quickly in Columbia.

A lot is riding on this year for USC, and with a stacked offensive team including Alshon Jeffrey (SEC's #1 receiver and the nation's #4 receiver), Marcus Lattimore (SEC's #3 rusher and the nation's 28th ranked rusher), a solid offensive line and strong defense boosted by the addition of Jadaveon Clowney.



Garcia does not hold the top QB stats you would like to see. As far as QB Ratings go, Garcia is #5 in the SEC and #22 Nationally. He finished last season with 3059 passing yards, 20 TDs and 14 interceptions. The interceptions have to come down this year if USC wants to make a run at it. Lattimore will have to hold up for the long haul and have a repeat stellar performance. That is not small order as the number of returning freshman usually do not have incredible numbers on the ground in their sophomore season.



Garcia will need to put down the bottle and determine what is most important: drinking or grabbing the chance of a lifetime. He is currently in the SEC staring down his last year with a loaded team and an SEC East division that is still trying to find itself with Florida still cleaning house and switching gears post-Urban Meyer, UGA trying to determine if Mark Richt is the answer, and Kentucky and Vanderbilt still being years away but showing signs of improvement.



So which Stephen Garcia will we see this fall?



Will Carolina fans get, the Garcai who played the game of his life at home against Alabama back on October 9th where he went 17 for 20 with 201 yards, 3 TDs and 1 pick (which was not really his fault in my opinion)?



Or will we get the Stephen Garcia that lost 20-41 on the road against Arkansas back on November 6th where he went 14 for 29 with 161 yards, 1 TD and 2 picks?



We have about two months to see. Carolina opens up at home against East Carolina (September 3rd). Garcia then leads the Gamecocks back into hostile territory as they travel to Athens to play Georgia (September 10th).
 

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