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2019 recruit with offers from Iowa State, Syracuse dies from injuries sustained in April dirt-bike crash

By John TaylorMay 2, 2018, 10:30 AM EDT
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Sadly, tragedy has struck the 2019 football recruiting class.

According to the Palm Beach Post, Marc’Allan Derac died early Tuesday from unspecified injuries sustained in a dirt-bike accident in which he wasn’t wearing a helmet. The accident happened April 22 in Palm Beach County.

Derac was just 17 years old and was months away from entering his senior season in high school.

From the Post‘s report on the details of the accident that ultimately claimed Derac’s life:

The accident occurred at 8:13 p.m. that Sunday night at Cresthaven Boulevard and Shady Pine Way in Greenacres, according to the PBSO report. The report said Derac, riding a motorcycle without headlights, struck a turning SUV. Derac, who was not wearing a helmet, was ejected from the motorcycle. Police arrived on the scene two minutes after the accident, and Derac was transported to St. Mary’s Hospital by Trauma Hawk.

The accident report notes that Derac was not licensed to drive a motorcycle.

Hailing from Delray Beach, Fla., Derac was a three-star 2019 safety who held Power Five offers from Iowa State and Syracuse. USF and Western Michigan had also offered the defensive back a scholarship.

Our thoughts, prayers and condolences go out to those impacted by Derac’s much-too-early passing.

Boise State blasts Colorado State, keeps pace in MWC Mountain

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By John TaylorOct 20, 2018, 6:36 AM EDT
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At 2-1 in Mountain West play, Boise State entered Friday night’s game looking to keep pace with league and divisional unbeaten Utah State. After 60 minutes, it was the Broncos who maintain conference title hopes while the Rams could very well have seen theirs dashed.

On the strength of Brett Rypien‘s right arm, the Broncos jumped out to a 35-7 halftime lead and never looking back, crushing the Rams 56-28 in Boise.  Three of Rypien’s touchdown passes came in a first half that included a wild punt return that featured a fumble recovered by Boise and ended with Kekaula Kaniho being credited with a 74-yard touchdown as time ran out in the second quarter.

Rypien would finish the night with 304 yards passing and as many incompletions (four) as touchdown passes (four) on his 26 attempts.  The Rams actually led the Broncos in total yards 489-472, but committed three turnovers (one lost fumble, two interceptions) that led to 14 Boise points

Pending the result of Utah State (2-0 in MWC play) vs. Wyoming this afternoon, Boise State (3-1), with the only league loss to the West Division’s San Diego State) will exit Week 8 either a half-game ahead or behind USU in the divisional standings. Depending on how the next several weeks play out, the Nov. 24th meeting between the Broncos and Aggies on the blue turf could determine the Mountain Division’s representative in the conference championship game the following week.

Louisville not looking for new naming rights sponsor for Cardinal Stadium until the spring

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By Bryan FischerOct 19, 2018, 7:39 PM EDT
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It’s been nearly three months since Louisville took Papa John’s name off Cardinal Stadium and it sounds like the status quo will be that way for a while more.

Speaking to the Louisville Courier Journal on Thursday, Cardinals AD Vince Tyra sounded as though finding a new sponsor for the stadium naming rights is far from his (or anybody else at the school’s) mind at the moment.

“There’s no deadline for us on that,” Tyra said. “I think we wanted to, as we’ve said before, let’s get through the season, let’s kind of move our way into the spring and distance ourselves from it.”

Those comments probably are not to surprising considering the team is 2-5 at the moment and dealing with plenty of issues under Bobby Petrino but it’s notable in the grand scheme of things considering how visible Papa John’s was at the school previously and how much founder John Schnatter donated to the program.

It will be interesting to see just how much Louisville can get for their naming rights when they do go through a bid process given the school’s location, recent performance and the fact that these deals are few and far between at the Power Five level nowadays. Just recently, Colorado State secured a $37.7 million deal for their new on-campus venue while USC cashed the richest deal in college football for a whopping $70 million.

The Cardinals figure to be somewhere in between those two numbers but any little bit could help if the school wants to consider cutting ties to their head coach any time soon.

Duke backups 3D-printed brace to help QB Daniel Jones return from fractured clavicle

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By Bryan FischerOct 19, 2018, 6:35 PM EDT
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File this under stories that can only happen at a few schools across the country — that are very on-brand for the academic reputation of the place too.

A story published in The Chronicle this week detailed the efforts that Duke utilized to get quarterback Daniel Jones back from a fractured clavicle in a remarkable three weeks. One unconventional part of the recovery? A 3D-printed brace that was designed in conjunction with backup center Clark Bulleit and reserve linebacker Kevin Gehsmann.

In order to implement any of their ideas, Bulleit and Gehsmann needed approval from the team’s medical personnel. The training staff did more than just simply give the okay, opting to fully collaborate on the process.

“The training staff helped us to identify pressure points, and took Daniel through his range of motion, telling us where the brace could or could not go,” Bulleit said. “We would determine how to change the shape of the brace to cover the collarbone and retain its integrity while not hitting the pressure points.”

Jones wound up missing just two games with the Blue Devils and has played well with the brace underneath his pads in recent weeks, completing over 63% of his passes with four touchdowns as Duke has cracked the Top 25 with a 5-1 overall record.

While it’s still crazy that the signal-caller was even able to bounce back from a fracture so quickly, the extra bit of help he had (in the most unconventional way possible) from his teammates certainly made things a lot easier on Jones and the Blue Devils overall.

Baylor, Oregon schedule home-and-home series for 2027 and 2028

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By Bryan FischerOct 19, 2018, 5:27 PM EDT
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If you like neon colors on college football uniforms, boy have we got a future series for you.

In an announcement made on Friday, Oregon and Baylor confirmed the two schools have agreed to a home-and-home series on the gridiron in their first-ever meeting between the two programs. The Bears and Ducks will play at McLane Stadium in Waco on Sept. 11, 2027; while the return game will take place at  Autzen Stadium in Eugene on Sept. 9, 2028.

The move certainly beefs up the non-conference slate for both sides after years of rather lackluster scheduling for various reasons. Baylor recently scheduled a series with Auburn for 2025/2026 and Oregon was similarly busy over the summer adding an SEC opponent with a future date with Georgia in 2022.

This series between the Ducks and Bears is the first on either team’s schedule for the 2027/2028 seasons so each has a few more slots to fill nearly a decade ago.