Bleacher Report - Articles by Tyler Jones

Two Recruits Petrino Must Sign for 2010

Tyler Jones — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 08:54:03 -0400

For Bobby Petrino to have success with the Arkansas Razorbacks, as well as the support of their fans, he'll need to sign two big recruits in 2010.

No doubt college football fans know that Bobby Petrino has a tough road ahead this year. After the exit of Felix Jones and Darren McFadden, the Hogs are left with, respectfully, not as much talent at running back and a young defense depleted by offseason suspensions.

But 2008 isn't the year that most Hog fans believe Petrino will be making his mark in the SEC.

With some young talent at wide receiver and transfer Ryan Mallet waiting for next year, the Hogs have some things to look forward to, but it can't stop there. Arkansas has traditionally found its niche with instate recruiting whether it was Houston Nutt or Lou Holtz, but that will change with Petrino as he has the ability to bring in out-of-state talent.

What can't happen is the Hogs losing out on some great instate talent as they did with quarterback Cody Burns and offensive lineman Lee Zeimba going to Auburn.

If Petrino wants to be successful, he'll sign the two biggest recruits coming out of a talent-rich pool that Arkansas high school football has to offer in 2010.

The first is running back Michael Dyer from Little Rock Christian. Many are already predicting him as a top five running back for the 2010 class, and some have already gone out on a limb calling him "the next Darren McFadden."

With Dyer's size at 5'10" and 205 pounds, that's probably a stretch but the small back has talent none-the-less. He is said to have field vision as good as Felix Jones and plenty of agility. Dyer, who runs a 4.4 in the 40-yard dash, rushed for 2710 yards and 17 touchdowns his sophomore year at Christian, with a miraculous game of 173 yards and five touchdowns against Siloam Springs. Remember, he was a sophomore.

Also banking from a wonderful sophomore season is Pine Bluff dual-threat quarterback Claude Johnson. Johnson is also predicted as a top five guy in the dual-threat category. Like Dyer, the 6-foot, 195 pound Johnson also runs a 4.4 in the 40 and has already been rumored to be a top prospect for Oklahoma.

Johnson also finished among the top three at the Top Gun quarterback challenge in Fayetteville, a competition designed by former Arkansas offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn to give major high school quarterbacks a chance to display their skills for a number of universities.

Both have commented that Arkansas is at the top of their list with a few other schools. As mentioned, Oklahoma is looking at Johnson and Dyer has said it's probably between Arkansas and Alabama. Both have also been reported that their interest in Arkansas was higher after they hired Petrino.

As Petrino will find his talent all over, he has to land these two guys in Razorback red. It would be another hard loss, especially if both guys go to an SEC team like Burns and Zeimba, which certainly seems like a possibility with Dyer.

NBA: The New Soccer?

Tyler Jones — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 08:40:42 -0400

As the NBA and the game of basketball have become increasingly global, the new trend of players following the money has begun, just as it has been the case in the sport of soccer for some time now.

As of today, Carlos Arroyo, formerly of the Detroit Pistons and Orlando Magic, is joining a growing list of players that are leaving the NBA to take higher paid contracts in the Euro league and around the world. As Arroyo is going to Israel, Delonte West will be playing for Moscow, and Josh Childress for Greece.

Younger players in high school are also being rumored to search the possibilities of these contracts as an alternative to playing college ball. Maybe that rule barring players right out of high school wasn't such a good move (not to mention that it denies kids an education that have real intentions of finishing school, but that's beside the point).

Right now, the exiting players are not superstars, but still valued players in the NBA. Arroyo, West, and Childress could be desired depth for any NBA team.

And how long will it be before the growing markets in Europe have the funds to acquire big names? In a recent interview with CBS sports, Dwayne Wade laughed at the possibility, but did say jokingly, "$30 million untaxed? I'd have to think about it."

As the game is growing, players leaving might be great for the sport, but not the NBA. If David Stern wants the league to continue as the premier basketball league in the world, he's got to find a way to keep the talent there.

For now, that's what he's doing. For now.

Are John Pelphrey Recruits the Start of a New Beginning for Arkansas?

Tyler Jones — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 05:51:51 -0400

John Pelphrey has hit the nail on the head with this year's recruiting class.

After his first season at Arkansas, Pelphrey took a team of Stan Heath's players to the NCAA tournament and a first round win over Indiana before losing to eventual Final Four competitors North Carolina.

As Pelphrey enters his second season, he will be depending on a few key returning players like Michael Washington and Patrick Beverly, but he will also be depending on incoming talent in Arkansas' best recruiting class in years.

On four major recruiting web sites, the lowest rank Pelphrey's class receives is 24th by Scout.com, and it is ranked as high as sixth by CSTV.com, a CBSsportsline site.

The head of the class features two outstanding guards in Courtney Fortson, out of Patterson School in North Carolina, and Rotnei Clarke from Verdigris High School in Oklahoma. Fortson is rated as the sixth-best point guard of the class by ESPN.com and ninth by Rivals.com, who rates the class at 16th. ESPN ranks the class at 11th.

Clarke became Oklahoma's career all-time leading scorer in his last season at Verdigris, scoring 37 points in his final game to lead the team to a 3A state championship. Clarke chose Arkansas over Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Kentucky, and Gonzaga, among other schools.

Fortson helped lead Patterson School to a 33-1 record and has been highly regarded by Pelphrey, who saw him play against some other big national recruits. Here is what Pelphrey had to say in an interview with Hogs Illustrated.

"Courtney Fortson has just been a tremendous winner...I had a chance to see him play against Brandon Jennings and somebody else (on staff) saw him against Tyreke Evans—two of the top point guards in the country...Courtney competed very well in terms of a individual basis on points and assists, but more importantly his team won both games. That is exciting as a coach."

Fortson turned down Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Minnesota, Kentucky, Iowa, Clemson, and Florida State to join the Hogs.

Rivals also has recruit Jason Henry rated as the 13th-best small forward in the country.

Another ESPN-noted recruit is 6'6" shooting guard Montrell McDonald out of Fort Worth County College in Kansas.

CSTV is also big on 6'7" signee Daniel Payne, who should help add to the three and/or four spots of the recruiting class.

With a young but talented group, Pelphrey is expected to have a rebuilding year, which it certainly could be.

But if recruiting continues the way it has been going, look for Pelphrey to have the Razorbacks back in the national spotlight in the next few years.

Note: The class recently dropped in a few polls (26th in rivals, 13th in CSTV) with the recent decommit of a key recruit, although not Fortson or Clarke.

NCAA: The Most Unoriginal Team Nicknames

Tyler Jones — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:48:09 -0400

With all the different mascots and team nicknames I've come across in my years of watching college sports, I've recently become weary of a few. It's those team names you hear in schools of all sizes and grades around the country.

It's the ones you hear in matchups like "The battle of the (fill your plural mascot nickname here)”

What I'm talking about is unoriginal team nicknames in college sports, and there are plenty of them. Trust me.

And as recent mascot and team nickname rantings have motivated me, I will discuss my list for the 15 most unoriginal team nicknames in college sports, from least to most unoriginal (16 with an honorable mention).

Before I start this list, a few things should be noted. First of all, if your team has anything to do with a cat, it's probably on the list. Cat nicknames are by far the most unoriginal and someone needs to build some imagination when coming up with them.

Bears aren't much better either.

With that said, get ready. My little brother's field hockey team wants its nickname back.

Honorable Mention: Broncos—Mustangs could also fit into this category of horses. Both are horrible and sound like some high school football team in Texas...or Denver.

15. Knights—This is not too team specific, but we've all seen the task of adding something to this in a feeble attempt to make it original (The Scarlet Knights, The Golden Knights, etc.).

14. Falcons—Okay. We're not getting too bad yet, but this one still doesn't work. Bird names is another category that is simply uncreative. We'll go with Falcons here and mention another bird later.

13. Panthers—Here come the cats. For the Panthers' sake, at least they are the lowest cat ranked on the list. I can't say the same for the others.

12. Cardinals—The other bird. I guess Stanford doesn't fit here, but there are plenty in sports, and at least one that I can think of in college sports (sorry, Louisville).

11. Cowboys—We all know cowboys roamed the western United States through our developing history. If another sports team nickname reminds me of it again, I think I'll hurl.

10. Spartans—This is...an unoriginal nickname. This is one I've seen more in high school sports than a lot of these others. Sparty may look kind of cool, but the nickname is effortless.

9. Eagles—Another one where combos are used to try something exciting sounding. Also, it's another one you see all over the map.

8. Cougars—Cats again. Nothing else needs to be said except we're certainly not done with these animals.

7. Bruins—This one I hate. I can't count the times I played a team named "Bruins" in sports I played growing up. A little better than "Bears," but not much.

6. Indians—Just like Cowboys. Don't get this one twisted though. Names like “Seminoles" and "Illini" don't fall into this category. Those are original in their relevance of location and other things. Here, we mean simply "Indians."

The only problem with this listing is that the NCAA is getting rid of this one for me, but for different reasons.

5. Trojans—Yes USC. Your nickname is one of the worst. No creativity. Plus, there's plenty of you in college sports, including the university I graduated from (hint: it's not Troy). The Trojans are everywhere.

4. Bears—Everywhere as well, in college and all over sports. Well, I guess it's an animal that we can all identify (which is what makes it so unoriginal).

3. Wild Cats—Countless teams are named Wild Cats. Just how easy does that sound? Wild Cats. I mean, they're freaking all over the place. Someone, please just give this one up. And the worst part; we're not done with the cats yet.

2. Bulldogs—I have no clue how many teams in the college and high school level I've heard of named Bulldogs. It has to be over a million though. Why do they constantly pick the bulldog?

You think maybe the "Pitbulls" or something like that would be more intimidating, but I digress. This is about originality and "Bulldogs" simply has none whatsoever.

1.Tigers—Save the worst cat for last. That would be you LSU, Missouri, Auburn , Memphis, and the countless other Tigers I've encountered through my viewing of college sports. By far the worst nickname ever.

And throwing "fighting" on the front of it doesn't help. At least there's War Ea...oh wait. That doesn't work either.