Ex-VaTech DB Donaldven Manning transfers to Marshall

Leave a comment
By John TaylorSep 3, 2013, 4:04 PM EDT

Three weeks after leaving Virginia Tech, Donaldven Manning has found his landing spot.

The defensive back, Marshall announced Tuesday afternoon, has transferred into the Herd football program.  Manning will have three years of eligibility remaining after sitting out the 2013 season.

“We’re extremely excited for Donaldven to join our program,” said Herd head coach Doc Holliday in a statement. “He will be a tremendous asset to our secondary and I know that Coach (Chuck) Heater is excited to start working with him.”

Last season as a true freshman, Manning played in eight games for the Hokies.  Manning was a four-star member of Tech’s 2012 recruiting class, rated by Rivals.com as the No. 11 corner in the country.

Dwayne Wallace, Cal’s starting right guard, no longer with team

Getty Images
Leave a comment
By John TaylorJun 23, 2017, 12:21 PM EDT

Just a little over a month before the start of summer camp, Cal’s offensive line has taken what some might consider a rather significant hit.

In a very short and terse press release, the football program announced that “Dwayne Wallace is no longer associated with the school’s football program.”  No reason was given for what could be best described as an eyebrow-raising departure.

The first two years of the 6-5, 330-pound Wallace’s collegiate playing career were spent at the junior college level in Riverside, California.  He transferred to Cal in January of 2016.

In his first and what turned out to be only season with the Golden Bears, Wallace started nine of the 12 games in which he played.  Exiting spring practice, Wallace was firmly entrenched as Cal’s starting right guard.

With Wallace’s departure, Cal’s offensive line will now have four new starters for the 2017 season.

Ole Miss, Texas Tech to open 2018 season in Houston

Getty Images
Leave a comment
By John TaylorJun 23, 2017, 11:54 AM EDT

As opening weekend of the 2017 season grows larger and larger on the horizon, there’s some news for the same weekend the following year that’s been confirmed.

As expected, both Ole Miss and Texas Tech announced Friday morning that the two football teams will open the 2018 season at Houston’s NRG Stadium, home of the NFL’s Texans.  The game that will be a part of the annual Advocare Texas Kickoff series does not yet have a specific date or time for its kickoff.

The two programs have met in football five times previously, the first coming in 1986 and the last in the 2009 Cotton Bowl.  The Rebels hold a slight 3-2 edge in the miniseries.

“We are excited to be part of this great event and play a tradition-rich opponent like Texas Tech,” said Ole Miss athletic director Ross Bjork in a statement. “In our scheduling process, we seek out marquee matchups at premier venues, and this is a tremendous opportunity to showcase our program on a grand stage. Houston and the state of Texas have become quite the hot bed for Rebel Nation, and we know our fans will continue our stellar reputation of supporting our team and filling up NRG Stadium.”

“We’re excited to return to Houston and take part in the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff,” Bjork’s Tech counterpart, Kirby Hocutt, said. “The support of Red Raider Nation helped set a new Texas Bowl attendance record in our last trip to Houston, so we look forward to NRG Stadium being filled with scarlet and black once again to kick off the 2018 season.”

This year’s Advocare Texas Kickoff will feature LSU squaring off against BYU in Houston.

Scholarship offer for a 9-year-old? Nevada says sure, why not

Getty Images
Leave a comment
By John TaylorJun 23, 2017, 11:11 AM EDT

OK, this might be getting a little bit ridiculous. Check that — this is getting ridiculous.

Earlier this year, Lane Kiffin, long the king of way-too-early offers, further buttressed that reputation earlier this month when, just weeks after offering the seventh-grade son of Tee Martin, the Florida Atlantic head coach offered a scholarship to a quarterback who had just completed the sixth grade.  Earlier this month, Hawaii one-upped Kiffin by offering an 11-year-old who just completed the fifth grade.

At the time, we wrote, “Surely there’s not an offer to a kid still in elementary school in the offing.”

Nevada football: Hold my beer…

Welp.

Assuming young Mr. Finney just completed the fourth grade — fourth grade!!! — that would make him a member of the Class of 2026.  And you all thought that scheduling way-into-the-future home-and-home series was getting out of hand.

If nothing else, it has people talking about Nevada’s program at a time when not many are talking about college football in general and Wolf Pack football specifically.  Besides, what possible harm could come from entitling pre-teens with scholarship offers, right?

(Tip O’ the Cap: SBNation.com)

Edgar Poe’s starting WR brother leaving Army football team

Army athletics
Leave a comment
By John TaylorJun 23, 2017, 10:10 AM EDT

Guess you can say he’ll play for the service academy, nevermore.

According to Sal Interdonato of HudsonValley.com, Christian Poe is no longer on the Army football team.  No reason was given for the unexpected and abrupt departure.

Exiting the spring, Poe was one of the Black Knights’ two starting wide receivers.

Last season as a sophomore, Poe started two of the games in which he played.  His 10 receptions for 133 yards were both second on the Black Knights.

Army’s leading receiver in 2016?  Edgar Poe, Christian’s brother, who as a senior had 16 receptions for 336 yards as well as three of the Black Knights’ seven touchdown receptions on the season.  The Poe brothers also accounted for nearly half of the decidedly run-heavy football team’s 54 receptions.