Eric LeGrand a guest of Belichick’s son at Super Bowl

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You’d be hard-pressed to find a more uplifting story in the sports world over the past couple of years than that of Eric LeGrand.

Paralyzed from the neck down during an October of 2010 Rutgers game, the former Scarlet Knights defensive lineman’s recovery from the devastating injury — as seen on his must-follow Twitter feed and on RU football broadcasts this past season — has served as an inspiration to anyone who’s caught even a glimpse of what the young man has gone through the past year and a half.

On Sunday, LeGrand’s inspiring journey led him to Indianapolis, site of the 2012 Super Bowl.  LeGrand is in Lucas Oil Stadium as a guest of Stephen Belichick, son of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and an RU football player this past season.

“I talked to Steve right after (the Patriots) won the (AFC Divisional) playoff game against the Broncos and he told me anything I need or want, just let him know,” LeGrand, a Denver fan, told the Asbury Park Press. “So after they won the (AFC) Championship Game, we talked and he was able to get me two tickets. I thanked him so much. It was so cool of him and his dad to do that.”

Stephen Belichick, who played four years of lacrosse at Rutgers before joining the football team last year, said it was his honor to be able to do something like this for LeGrand.

“It just worked out where my dad was able to get some tickets for him,” Belichick said. “He was so appreciative. It’s great that he’s coming, and anything that me and my dad can do to help him with, we’re obviously more than happy to.”

Bravo to the Belichick’s for their classy gesture.

And keep fighting the good fight Eric.  You have a helluva lot of people rooting for you.

AP

When Tulsa takes to the field to begin Bill Blankenship‘s second season as the Golden Hurricanes’ head coach, they’ll do so without the services of one of their top returning players on the defensive side of the ball.

And, as it turns out, two more after that for good measure.

Thanks to a violation of, of course, unspecified team rules, Tulsa announced Tuesday that linebacker Shawn Jackson (pictured, right) has been suspended for the first three games of the 2012 season.  Because of the suspension, the junior will be unavailable for non-conference games versus Iowa State (road) and Nicholls State (home) and the Conference USA opener against Tulane in Tulsa.

“There are consequences to our decisions and sometimes bad decisions have harsh penalties,” said Blankenship in a statement. “I expect that Shawn will learn from this situation and become better for it.

“We need for Shawn Jackson to be a leader on and off the field, and I firmly believe that he has the character, determination and work ethic to be just that for this football team.”

Jackson started all 13 games in 2011, finishing second on the team in tackles.  he was also second in tackles for loss (11) and sacks (4.5).

Overall the past two years, Jackson has started 23 of the 26 games in which he has played.

Let the Cam Newton jokes commence in earnest.

Early this morning we touched on Tennessee tight end Cameron Clear landing a felony theft charge Tuesday evening.  While the specifics of what led to the charge weren’t available at the time, they are now.

According to the Knoxville News Sentinel, Clear’s felony charge stemmed from the theft of a laptop computer.  Specifically, a MacBook Pro owned by a member of UT’s baseball team.

The Mac was stolen from pitcher Jeffrey Zajac‘s dorm room on May 19 and… well… here’s how the paper describes campus police ultimately catching up with the bumbling thief:

UT police detected Tuesday someone was using the laptop to log into the university’s wireless network and caught Clear sitting at the keyboard, according to the warrant.

“Upon my arrival, I saw Mr. Clear sitting with a silver MacBook in his lap,” UT police Cpl. Ben Doty wrote. “Once he saw the officers, he closed the laptop.”

The laptop’s serial number matched the stolen MacBook, Doty wrote.

Clear remains in jail Wednesday morning in lieu of a $2,500 bond.  Other than “we’re in the process of gathering the facts,” the school has yet to comment on Clear’s situation or his status with the program.

UPDATED 11:51 p.m. ET: Clear has been suspended indefinitely from the football program, a UT official has confirmed.

AP

Buried at a position deep in talent, Ronnie Vinson has decided to ply his football wares somewhere other than LSU.

The cornerback’s prep coach confirmed to the New Orleans Times-Picayune that his former player has already begun the process of transferring from the Tigers to Southeastern Louisiana.

“The paperwork is in the formalized process, but he’s been in the process the past couple of weeks,” New Orleans Isidore Newman School coach Nelson Stewart told the paper. “I think for him, it’s the best fit. He doesn’t have to wait, and they have a scheme that he’s comfortable with.”

As Southeastern Louisiana is a Div. 1-AA (FCS) football program, Vinson (pictured, No. 28) will be eligible to play immediately.

In LSU’s run to an SEC championship and a spot in the BcS title game last season, Vinson played in seven of the Tigers’ 14 games.  He was a four-star recruit in LSU’s 2010 class, and Rivals.com rated him as the No. 4 player at any position in the state of Louisiana.

When it was confirmed that Brock Haman would be transferring from Arkansas late last month, it was widely thought that the former Scottsdale high schooler would end up in the WWE with that name back in his home state at either Arizona or Arizona State.

For the latter, that’s turned out to be very much the case.

In a press release, ASU announced Tuesday morning that Haman has signed with the Sun devils and will be a member of the football program this fall.  It’s expected the linebacker will have to sit out the 2012 season to satisfy NCAA transfer rules, although that wasn’t clarified in the school’s release.

Haman, a three-star prospect coming out of Scottsdale Saguaro High School in 2011, suffered a foot injury prior to the start of the 2011 season, which cost him all of his true freshman season.

Incidentally, and as noted in the release, Haman becomes the seventh former Saguaro High football player currently on ASU’s roster.  And, I’m quite certain you’ll sleep a bit better having that tidbit at your disposal…

Heading into his third and what could very well be his final season in Knoxville given the temperature of the seat on which he sits, the very last thing Derek Dooley needs is an off-field issue heading into the summer.

So, of course, Dooley’s gotten exactly what he didn’t need.

According to multiple media outlets, including GoVols247.com and the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tennessee tight end Cameron Clear was arrested Tuesday evening and charged with theft of more than $1,000 but less than $10,000.  The charge is a felony.

The 19-year-old was being held in the Knox County Detention Facility in lieu of a $2,500 bond as of late Tuesday night.  No details of what led to the arrest have been made available.

“We are aware of an incident involving Cameron and are in the process of gathering the facts,” a school spokesperson told the News-Sentinel.

As a true freshman in 2011, Clear started two of the 12 games in which he played.  The 6-6, 283-pounder had just one reception for four yards.  he was listed as the No. 2 TE on the Vols’ post-spring depth chart.

Coming out of Memphis as a four-star member of UT’s 2011 recruiting class, Clear was the No. 2 player at any position in the state of Tennessee and the No. 18 offensive tackle in the country according to Rivals.com.

(Photo credit: Tennessee athletics)

AP

Some links from around college football on a Tuesday… 

– The ACC and Big East should have lobbied for an eight-team playoff. Now, they’re on the outside looking in writes Dan Wetzel of Yahoo! Sports. 

– Chip Fontanazza of West Virginia MetroNews put together a touching tribute to former West Virginia coach Bill Stewart. 

– Virginia and Virginia Tech? They don’t see any danger for the ACC.

– Coachingsearch.com has a good interview with Miami coach Al Golden.

– And Bruce Feldman has a nice feature on Michigan State’s William Gholston.

– Florida State’s Champs Sports Bowl rings are…. wow.

– Looks like former Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa‘s playing days are over. 

AP

Last month, Iowa State wide receiver Albert Gary pleaded guilty to a charge of first-degree theft stemming from an incident last summer where Gary was accused of robbing a man with a BB gun. As a result of the plea, it was possible Gary could avoid jail time.

That’s turned out to be the case, as Gary was sentenced to three years probation today for his involvement in the incident. The probation was part of the plea deal. Gary’s attorney, Matt Boles, said Gary will also have to go to a halfway house in Ames for roughly six months.

Gary was initially charged with first-degree robbery, a felony that carries a maximum of 25 years in jail.

Gary caught 23 passes for 287 yards and two touchdowns last season, and was included in ISU’s spring depth chart.

AP

A week ago, it became official that Clemson running back Mike Bellamy was academically ineligible for the 2012 season. Head coach Dabo Swinney said in a statement that Bellamy, a former five-star recruit, would be taking the JUCO route until his grades got back on track.

Swinney said yesterday to the Greenville News that Bellamy would enroll in a Junior College in Mississippi in hopes of restarting his career.

“I sleep well knowing we did everything we could,” Swinney said. “Did we do everything we could? Was there something more I could have done? These are the questions I always ask myself, and that’s why I’m sleeping well — we did our part.”

Bellamy was second on the team in rushing yards (343) and rushing touchdowns (three) at the time of his first suspension last season.

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At least for a day, you can forget the Rob Bolden transfer rumors… again.

Just as it appeared his future with Penn State was up in air for the [/counts...] third time in the past year and a half, Bolden’s high school coach told Travis Johnson of the Centre Times Daily that his former quarterback has “no plans to seek a transfer” from Penn State.

Bolden has been an on-again, off-again starter for the Nittany Lions since 2010 and looked beyond shaky during Penn State’s spring game last month. New coach Bill O’Brien said he expects to name a starter at QB at the end of this month, although it would absolutely be a shock if it was Bolden’s name that was announced.

Instead, the job is likely going to Matt McGloin, who has been taking turns with Bolden as PSU’s starting QB.

In January, 2011, Bolden announced that he would be transferring from Penn State, but after being denied a release from his scholarship by then-head coach Joe Paterno, he decided to stay only to change his mind again… and then again in July.

Big East officials spent a good portion of today’s meetings working through divisional possibilities, and on that front, little ground seemed to have been gained. Where the winner of each of those divisions will play, however, appears to have been settled.

Kyle Veazey of the Memphis Commercial Appeal reports that Big East ADs say they want a campus site to host the conference championship game beginning in 2013.

Former commissioner John Marinatto had previously thrown around the idea of holding the game in New York City, but with the current Big East being so scattered throughout the country, campus sites just make more sense.  Besides, it doesn’t matter if the game is in New York or St. Louis, Central Florida vs. Boise State isn’t going to sell out any neutral stadium.

Unless you’re the SEC, Big Ten or the Big 12 in its properly-numbered days, a neutral site is going to be difficult to successfully pull off. The Pac-12 has gone with an on-campus game and so far it’s worked well, holding its first conference championship in Eugene last December when Oregon defeated UCLA. It’s an incentive for the higher-ranked team and it helps the local economy.

The Big East has plenty more to discuss in the future, but officials got one thing right today.

AP

When Ben noted over the weekend that one unnamed member of the Big 12 was pushing hard against expanding the conference, it didn’t exactly take a rocket surgeon to deduce just who that unnamed member might be.

Thanks to DeLoss Dodds, we now have further evidence that Texas simply doesn’t want to mess with expansion.

In a conversation with Dennis Dodd of CBSSports.com, the Big 12 commissioner UT athletic director confirmed that, yes, he really doesn’t feel the need to add members to the Big 12′s current roll.

“I don’t think it needs to expand,” Dodds told the website. “It certainly can expand because there will be people that will want to be a part of it. That’s another good thing. …

“We could expand to some number. You name the number — 12, 14, 16. We could expand but the question is ‘do we need to expand?’ In my mind 10 is perfect because you play everybody in football and there is a double-round-robin in basketball.”

One of the “negatives” when it comes to a 10-school conference is that it can’t hold a league championship game and thus loses out on revenue most other leagues receive.  According to Dodds, and with a four-team playoff system looming not too far off on the horizon, the size of his school’s conference and the lack of a title game will actually serve as an advantage for the Big 12.

“When we get into whatever system we get in for a championship, I think those coaches that play in a conference championship are going to say ‘What in the world are we doing?’” Dodds asked rhetorically.

Of course, Dodds is referring to a high-ranked team from Conference X losing in a league title game to a lower-ranked opponent, thus potentially costing that conference a spot in what will be a very limited playoff field.

Dodds’ comments on expansion come a couple of weeks after a high-ranking Florida State official very publicly stated that the school should listen to overtures from the Big 12.  The AD attempted to tap the brakes on such speculation in the days after those comments from FSU’s board chairman, saying that the Seminoles are a long ways away in both distance and prospects of joining the conference.

Dodds also allowed that the Big 12 has held conversations with Notre Dame the past two years about housing the Irish’s Olympic sports — “They could put some football here,” Dodds added for ominous effect — as well as stating that he would be fine with a four-team playoff that consisted of the four highest-ranked teams or the four highest-ranked conference champions.

Interestingly, the Big Ten, Pac-12, ACC and, today, the Big East have all come out in favor of the conference champs model, leaving the SEC as the lone member of “The Big Six” publicly in favor of taking the four highest-ranked teams regardless of their standing as conference — or divisional — champs.  That 4-1 tally is, of course, pending an official, non-Texas stance on the part of the Big 12.

In the end, that — not the threat of expansion — might be the biggest piece news to emerge the past week or two, not only for the impact it would have on how a playoff field is filled, but for what it could do to a certain football program’s very staunch, pro-independent stance on conference affiliation.

AP

There’s something in the Corvallis water that is inexplicably causing Oregon State’s secondary to get involved with the wrong side law.

Exhibit C: All-conference cornerback Jordan Poyer.

According to Corvallis Police, Poyer was detained by the staff of a local bar/restaurant Saturday morning in connection to a bar fight and arrested on a charge of second-degree criminal trespass. Other details of the incident, including Poyer’s role, are unknown. However, police did find out that Poyer was escorted from the same bar after a Feb. 5 incident.

Oregon State has not yet released a statement regarding the incident and Poyer’s status with the team is also unclear.

Fellow OSU CB Malcolm Marable has been in trouble with the law twice this offseason as well, having first been suspended for speeding in February before being arrested earlier this month on charges of violent conduct against a nightclub security guard.

Additionally, DB Sean Martin was suspended after being arrested for drunk driving and fleeing police, while another member of the secondary, Mishawn Cummings, was previously suspended indefinitely for undisclosed reasons.

That’s one heck of an offseason for the Beavers.

AP

Exactly 100 days from today, the 2012 college football season will officially kick off.

Two days later, and as expected, one of the marquee non-conference match-ups of the new year will take place under the lights and in front of a national television audience.

In a pair of releases, Michigan and Alabama announced Tuesday afternoon that their highly-anticipated season opener will kickoff in prime-time at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Tex.  The game is slated to begin at 8 ET Sept. 1 and will be broadcast on ABC.

In the Tide’s release, it’s noted that they will be the considered the home team for the neutral site game and that the game officials will come from the Big 12.

Given the fact that the Wolverines are expected to be a preseason top-ten team and the Tide is coming off its second BcS title in three years, it was all but a certainty that the game would be played in prime-time.  The UM-UA opener wasn’t one of the prime-time kickoffs the Big Ten announced late last month, although that now appears to be nothing more than the networks, conferences and schools ironing out some final details.

The early-September game will be the fourth meeting in the histories of the two storied programs.  The Wolverines lead the all-time “series” 2-1, with all three of the previous games taking place in the postseason.

The first meeting was in the 1988 Hall of Fame Bowl and the last one in the 2000 Orange Bowl — a 35-34 overtime win for the Tom Brady-led Wolverines.  The Tide’s lone win came during the 1997 Outback Bowl.

Additionally, UM and Ohio State also announced that the 109th edition of The Game will kickoff at noon ET on Nov. 24 at Ohio Stadium.  As noted in OSU’s release, the 2012 game will mark 95th consecutive year the two schools have played.

AP

When you’ve been employed at a state institution for more than six decades, these are exactly the kind of numbers that accrue.

The family of the late Joe Paterno announced Tuesday that the former head coach’s wife Sue will be paid a total of $13.4 million in pension earned by her husband during his nearly 62 years at Penn State.  The family wrote in the statement, by way of the Associated Press, that the eight-figure sum was reached by utilizing “the standard formula for anyone in the State Employees’ Retirement System.”

Paterno’s wife will receive a payment of $10.1 million by the end of this month, with the remainder of the money coming to the widow over the next two years.

In late April, the Paterno estate received a payment of $5.5 million that ended PSU’s contractual relationship with the coach.

The family’s spokesperson said Sue Paterno will donate a total of $1.5 million to “Penn State-related or State College-area charities.”  The Paternos were well-known for their philanthropy throughout their time in State College, including a donation of over $4 million for what would eventually be called the Paterno Library.

After his firing late last year and before his death in January, Paterno also donated $100,000 to the university.

Of the 60-plus years spent with the Nittany Lions, Paterno was head coach for 46 years (1966-2011) and an assistant for the previous 16 years (1950-1965).

Paterno was fired the night of Nov. 9, 2011, in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child-sex abuse scandal and, a little over a week after his dismissal, was diagnosed with lung cancer.  The coaching icon lost his battle with the disease on Jan. 22 of this year at the age of 85.

AP

One of the greatest quarterbacks in Stanford history may be off to the NFL, but his name will continue to live on in an official capacity in the football program.

The Cardinal announced in a release Tuesday that its offensive coordinator position has been endowed by a very generous gift from an anonymous donor in honor of Andrew Luck.  Thus, current coordinator Pep Hamilton‘s official title will be the “Andrew Luck Director of Offense” going forward.

No, seriously.  It will be.  And it will.  be.  awesome.

“It is a tremendous honor to hold this position and to be associated with an outstanding young man like Andrew Luck, who means so much to Stanford football and the Stanford community,” Hamilton said in a statement.  “I will do everything in my power to proudly continue the tradition of creative and exciting offensive football at Stanford.

The amount of the gift was not revealed.

The endowment continues a long tradition at the school, from the head football coach – Bradford M. Freeman Director of Football David Shaw — to the athletic director — Jaquish & Kenninger Director of Athletics Bob Bowlsby, prior to his being named the Big 12′s commissioner  — to coaches in other sports as well.

Suffice to say, Luck is honored and humbled by the endowment in his name.

“It is a huge tribute,” said Luck of his named Directorship.  “To have anything endowed in my name is a complete honor.  I feel very fortunate to have come to Stanford, and I have always enjoyed representing the University.  The offensive coordinators I’ve had here helped me not only in football, but also to grow so much as a person.  To be a part of that leadership and position is a very proud legacy for me.

In 38 career starts, Luck helped the Cardinal to a 31-7 record, a three-year run that came on the heels of seven straight losing seasons.  Luck, the No. 1 overall pick in the April NFL draft, holds school records for, among other categories, touchdown passes (82) and total offense (10, 387 yards).

He was the Heisman runner-up and Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Year each of the past two seasons.