SB Nation - Daniel Covington

Schnilk Chuggenberger's Utah links

Mike Rutherford — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:08:49 -0000

It's the greatest photoshop of all-time, really.

--Spread check: Utah by 14.

--SBN's fine Utah blog, Block U, previews Saturday's matchup and ultimately picks the Utes to win, 42-28.

Utah wins if...The offense doesn't struggle nearly as much as they did Saturday against Oregon. Cain looked mortal, Matt Asiata looked injured and the receivers lost. I think this offense has far better potential than what we saw over the weekend and expect to see it on full display this weekend.

Louisville wins if...They stop Utah's offense, create a few turnovers and pick apart what has turned out to be a very questionable defense from the Utes. This is not a lost cause like many Cardinal fans expected before the season and a good effort just might be enough to upset the Utes at home. Especially if they play as poorly as they did in Eugene.

What will happen...Terrance Cain bounces back, Asiata looks far better running the ball and the Utes' offense moves it down field rather impressively. I don't expect near the same high-scoring contest we got two years ago, but I do think Utah's offense finally puts up a good amount of points on the board. Utes win 42-28.

--Utah put up 44 points and beat Louisville two years ago without the services of injured tailback Matt Asiata. Not great news since he's pretty good and will apparently be utilized more on Saturday.

--Experienced seniors Richard Raglin and Daniel Covington will fill in for the injured Terence Simien at safety.

--Steve Kragthorpe responds to questions about altitude as only Steve Kragthorpe can: with almost cuss words.

"We're not freaking going to play on Mount Everest here," he said. "We're going to 4,200 feet. It's not that big of a deal."

That he knows the elevation of Salt Lake City speaks to a familiarity level with the opponents and area that few of his coaching peers possess.

Then again, playing at Utah isn't just another nonconference game for the Cardinals' coach. It's a homecoming.

--Block U sees the Louisville game as a potential fork-in-the-road for Utah's 2009 season.

--Brett McMurphy was the lone media personality outside of Louisville to pick the Cards last week, so naturally he's taking Utah to win and cover the spread tomorrow night.

--U of L defensive cooridnator Brent Guy is making his first return to the state where he was a head coach for the past four years.

--KSL Sports in Utah serves up a pretty detailed breakdown of the game.

Rivalry Week Wednesday links

Mike Rutherford — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:34:16 -0000

--We're now a mere 72 hours away from the big game, and....still nothing. No trash talk, no car flags, no hideous logo-embroidered dress shirts at work. Louisville fans still think they're about to get smacked and Kentucky fans are still too nervous to gloat.

I really think all this stems from the fact that Cardinal fans have gotten so used to success that a healthy dose of failure has made them overly pessimistic. On the other hand, the members of Big Blue Nation are so used to looking forward to football season solely because of tailgating that they're overly cautious even after enjoying a healthy dose of success.

These ingredients, combined with a few more, have resulted in the big bowl of silence that has been this week.

--And then there's A Sea of Blue's Ken Howlett, who throws caution to the wind and offers up four reasons why Kentucky rolls on Saturday.

4. 27 - 2 -- The score of last season's Governor's Cup contest might seem irrelevant, and it probably is, but I can't help but come back to this -- Last year, U of L played Kentucky at home, with a new starting quarterback in Hunter Cantwell; this year, U of L plays Kentucky on the road, with once again, a new starting quarterback. Last year, U of L played Kentucky at home, against a defense superior to the Cardinal offense; this year, U of L plays Kentucky on the road, against a defense seemingly superior to the Cardinal offense. Last year, U of L played Kentucky at home, while the 'Cats broke-in a new quarterback; this year, U of L plays Kentucky on the road, while the 'Cats sport a significantly improved, and more experienced quarterback. Last year, U of L lost to Kentucky, at home, 27-2; this year U of L ...

--Even if U of L fans aren't fired up, Steve Kragthorpe is. Don't believe me? Check out this tweet from last night.

Great attention to detail in our special teams units today in practice. Goettsche kicked the ball well. Great hang time and distance.

The Battle for the Governor's Cup always brings out his inner Ali.

--Speaking of special teams, Kragthorpe will name his starting kicker - Chris Philpott or Ryan Payne - on Thursday.

--Mark Maloney writes about Lexington natives Pete Nochta and Daniel Covington coming home to play inside Commonwealth Stadium, and both men represent the U of L program very well.

Covington, U of L's second-leading tackler last season (66), has no complaints this year, even though junior-college transfer Terrence Simien has taken his starting job.

"It's not been tough to take," said Covington, who had two tackles in the opener. "It's whatever's best for the team."

Nochta also gets himself back in my good graces by admitting how little he cares for the Kentucky football program.

What if he had to choose between beating UK or winning a Big East title?

"I really don't like them so I'm going to have to say Kentucky," said Nochta, whose dad, John, played for UK and is principal at Henry Clay High School. "Then we'll see what happens down the road, try to knock them both out."

--Not representing his program well: UK linebacker Ridge Wilson, who has officially been suspended for the Louisville game after being charged with fourth-degree assault.

--There a few legitimate reasons for Kentucky to be afraid of Louisville, one of them being Trent Guy's ability to bust the big one on kick returns.

Fear of kick returns: Brooks' voice rose a couple of octaves during his Monday press luncheon when asked about kick coverage. He wasn't auditioning for American Idol.

Tim Masthay is gone. So touchbacks are gone. Against Miami, on average, UK's seven kickoffs reached the RedHawks' 9-yard line. Luckily, Miami didn't possess a dangerous return man.

Louisville does have a dangerous return man. Two years ago at Commonwealth, Trent Guy returned a kickoff 100 yards for a score. He's still around. And chances are, he'll get some chances to repeat that feat Saturday.

The C-J's Brett Dawson also tackles the topic.

It doesn't have to come via a kick return, but there is zero chance (zero chance!) that Louisville wins this game without at least one giant, non-offensive play. Could it be a 70-yard behind-the-back pass from Goettsche to Rock Keys? Of course it could.

--ESPN's Pat Forde gives the game a line in the latest installment of his Forde Yard Dash.

And this week's rivalry game, Louisville-Kentucky (16), is still better off as a season opener (which it is when played at Louisville) than as an anonymous third-week game (which it is when played at Kentucky).

--Wednesday is apparently D-Line focus day on game week, as C.L. Brown and Chip Cosby take a look at the unit for the Cards and the Cats, respectively.

--The more I hear from him, the more I like Justin Burke.

It's a compliment he takes with a grain of salt. He'd like to think he's athletic too, but he doesn't think being hailed for his intelligence works against him.

"I like to be seen as the unathletic nerd," Burke said. "That's my thing, because then when you step on the field you can get an edge on people. I mean, I don't wear Poindexter glasses or anything. I'm still a competitive football player out there - let's not get that mistaken."

...

It's a challenge Burke has been thinking about since arriving on campus more than a year ago. Though he remained neutral about the rivalry growing up, he's a full-fledged Cardinal now. And the city where he grew up is a decidedly different place now that he's wearing red and not Kentucky blue.

"Right now, it's like a foreign city to me," he said. "There's the Burke complex and then there's the rest of the city. I don't feel like I can go out very comfortably anymore around there."

I can't help but say it. If, IF, we beat these guys, how fantastic would it be?

Pants-shedding fantastic.

BKAC: Safeties

CardsFan922 — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:20:52 -0000

Until I heard about Rock Buckles, the new Cardinal I was most excited about based on nickname alone was footballa' Richard "Champ" Lee. So where better to take the next installment of Better Know a Cardinal than the fellas responsible for the deep ball, the safeties.

Richard "Champ" Lee #31

One of the few recruits to migrate north from Florida, Champ Lee is a 6'0", 190 LB safety from Lake Gibson HS in Lakeland. He is both a 2-star and 3-star prospect, according to Scout, and has committed to us twice. I think that makes him the second most interesting man in the world. At any rate, besides the name and the combined 5-star status, Lee is someone who bears watching. He runs a 4.5 40-yard dash and picked us over WVU and some lesser institutions. And, of course, he is Bilal Powell's cousin, which is worth some awesome points.

He's rated the 100th best Safety prospect in the country according to Scout. He was on the Florida Sports Writers Association All State (3rd Team) for division 5A, which in Florida is a pretty big deal. We are pretty thin in the secondary: we have Richard Raglin returning from injury, Daniel Covington....being Daniel Covington, two JUCOs who barely played last year despite an outstanding season NCAA 2009 campaign last August (Justin Mathews and Josh Wiley), and Chaz Thompson, who I was hearing good things about in 2006. Apparently he's been converted to safety. Anyway, don't be surprised to see #31 playing some on kick-off coverage and being the first guy to replace an injured starter midway through the season.

via media.scout.com

Shenard Holton #14

One of the first commits of the 2009 class was Shenard Holton, a 6'1'', 195 lb safety out of Bowling Green's Warren East. A 2-star prospect according to Scout, with a 4.5 40 and an offer from Ball State, Holton generated a bit of a buzz on ITV when he committed. A 4-year starter who, according to Demling, was contacted by Auburn and Nebraska, Holton stuck with the Cards despite being one of the "elite" players in the state. He played both LB and RB in high school but as early as Feb. 2008 was projecting as a safety in college.

This video is AWESOME. Trust me. Big hits, nice runs, choppy playback that may induce vertigo, and the music, my god the music. Bravo, duffjr.

Shenard Holton 2007 Football Highlight (via duffjr)

Anyway, Holton shows off some nice moves and there were a couple monster hits, although I admit I did not watch it all the way through. One the music stops it is not quite the same. But at like 7:55 it looks like he just takes the ball away from the RB and runs it back for a TD. That's pretty badass.

via profile.ak.fbcdn.net Sucks to be that guy.

Upon his commitment, Demling quoted his coach as saying, "U of L is getting a hard-hitting, charismatic young man who possesses intangible instincts for the game of football. He is highly aggressive, physical and plays the game with a nasty streak." I like the sound of that. The bigger schools backed off, apparently, and he only took visits to the Belkap campus and Miami...no, not that one....the other one....but overall seems like a good pick up, and, more importantly, an in-state recruit who will be wearing red.

Either Holton or Lee should red shirt, because it wouldn't make sense to burn both their red shirt years. But that doesn't mean it won't happen.

Isaac Geffrad #3

The most controversial recruit in the BKAC series, Isaac "Don't Call Me Jacob OR Geffard and no, Google, I did not mean Isaac Geffard" Geffrad, is a 6'2", 190 pound (or 6'3" 186 pound) 2-star out of Oakland Park, Florida. His twin brother, who is listed as the same size, is slated to be a linebacker, so I guess it will be easier to tell them apart after 3 years of carbo-loading.

A four-year starter and captain his senior year, he was voted 1st team all county by the Sun-Sentinel and 2nd team all county by the Miami Herald. Every Florida honor like that would seem to be worth another half star, if Scout gave those sorts of things out. Rivals rates him a three star, which may be a combination of the honors and the shirt:

via vmedia.rivals.com

Geffrad chose the Cards over Minnesota, Iowa State (Chizek is a recruiter and defensive guru, remember) and both Florida Atlantic and Florida International (Howard knows talent), so he is a bright spot in the class. Miami showed interest.

Isaac is very fast and competed in track in Florida, running a 10.7 100 yard dash. Again, not sure why he is slated as a Safety while his brother projects as linebacker but don't be surprised to see both of them on the outside in 2-3 years.

Hakeem Smith #8

Finally, an "unheralded" "sleeper" 2-star out of Riverdale, GA, Hakeem Smith is a 6'1", 180 pounder who the coaches believe can be an impact player, according to Scout. Primarily a blocking WR on a run-oriented team (which shows dedication and an apparent proclivity for hitting people), Smith's strengths (per Scouts) include "Coverage Awareness", "Jamming Ability" and "Toughness", but he needs to work on his "Closing Speed", "Recovering Ability", and "Size", so it seems like maybe he would be better as a CB? No word on his hips.

While Scout doesn't list any competitors for his services, Rivals says there was some interest from/in Vandy and UVa, and since both schools enjoy rankings higher in the US News poll than the ESPN poll, I would imagine there's only a small chance he won't qualify. Apparently we were his first offer and he committed right then and there, so he knows how to make a decision and stick with it. That has to translate to the field somehow. His coach says he's a big hitter and a natural talent who will get better as he gets bigger.

ESPN.com evaluated him mainly as a WR and says that Hakeem "is a very solid skilled athlete tht should be a major contributor at the next level", once the coaches figure out a position for him. It looks like Safety is where they will start.

All in all, these guys seem like they have potential to be long-term contributors. Hopefully they aren't rushed into the rotation, although because we just have 5 returning safeties, we are often in 5-DB sets and injuries are unavoidable, I imagine we will see at least 1 of them if both Holton and Champ Lee sooner rather than later.

Louisville 38, Kansas State 29

Mike Rutherford — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:28:13 -0000

We'll move quickly since this game is already five days old and Larry Taylor Depreciation Week appears to be in full swing.

This is as excited as I've been about Louisville football since the first offensive drive/play of last year's Murray State game. If the last two weeks have proven anything it's that the effort level is going to be there week in and week out, and that there is a decided dedication to improving the execution. After the Kentucky debacle, this is all any of us could have hoped for.

It would still take something resembling a miracle for this team to have a legit crack at the BCS once mid-November rolls around, but honestly, what team in the Big East terrifies you right now? What team in the Big East do you know beyond the shadow of a doubt would have beaten the Cardinals last Wednesday?

If Connecticut is toppled on Friday then we're all allowed to at least entertain crazy thoughts for a couple of weeks, and that's something to get excited about.

I'm not driving it, but I'm officially on the Vic Anderson bandwagon.

All spring and summer we heard about Vic's speed, but what's been amazing to me is how many times we've seen him lower the boom on potential tacklers in the first three games. It's safe to say that the kid can leg press more than I can.

Another fine, fine game from Hunter Cantwell, but now he has to prove he can do it against a 4-3 defense stacked with talented linebackers. Hunter's been able to sit back and pick apart 3-4 sets for the past two weeks, but Lutrus, Wilson and company aren't going to allow him that luxury Friday night. Robert Vaughn and Darius Butler are also two of the better defensive backs the Cards will see from here on out. Overall, this will be a fantastic test of just how far this offense has come since Kentucky.

Doug Beaumont: when this is all over, let's go somewhere warm and sandy together.

Josh Chichester is still very much a work in progress, which means we're going to have to take the good with the bad for the foreseeable future. The great news is that the good has far outshone the bad to this point.

Even though I think the time for the Tim Dougherty placekicking era to commence is upon us, it's pretty obvious that Chris Philpott is still in possession of a stronger leg and I'd like to see him remain the man on kickoffs.

I love deferring after winning the coin toss, and I hope it becomes a trend. Delayed gratification is the shit.

One of the most positive things I saw on Wednesday was Latarrius Thomas and Bobby Buchanan kneeling next to Richard Raglin when he went down with the wrist injury in the second half. It was just one of those little things that last season was so devoid of.

Speaking of Buchanan, I love the way he's stepped up and embraced the leadership role in his senior season. Even though he's had his fair share of bad moments over the course of his college career, and even though he and Thomas were again the main culprits on Kansas State's four biggest offensive plays, it's impossible not to root extra hard for someone who cares about his team and his program as much as No. 34 does.

Major props need to be hurled in the direction of Greg Tomczyk and Josh Byrom, who made it possible for thousands of fans to have no idea that George Bussey and Mark Wetterer were out with injuries.

Whatever wasn't clicking with Woodny Turenne a year ago certainly seems to have been rectified. Good things happen when you're talented and in the place you're supposed to be.

Let's go ahead and up the amount of practice time devoted to special teams by about eight hours this week.

I think it's safe to say that Bilal Powell is still at his best when he's forced to improvise, a fact which is a bit more discouraging than it was when he was a true freshman. Still, I remain bullish on his potential and think he needs to see at least ten touches a game for this team to have the best chance to reach its ceiling.

The crowd was tremendous for the first three quarters of the game, but it was sort of depressing to see so many empty seats as the Cards closed things out. On the other hand, you can't schedule a Wednesday night game and then be upset when people with families and 8-5 jobs choose not to stay at the stadium until 11:45. It's just the way it is.

Even though it came at the expense of my favorite team, it did bring me at least a little bit of pleasure to watch someone three inches shorter and 25 pounds lighter than myself tear it up in a major college football game.

Black jerseys > red jerseys

Zack Stoudt jersey > Art Carmody jersey

Art Carmody > any other football player to ever put on pads

Raise your hand if you wish the fake dive, pitch to Vic had been put in the playbook a month ago.

Being friends with Brock Bolen and Joe Tronzo is basically a free pass to look at or talk to anyone however you want on Saturday nights.

The inconsistent Mo Mitchell of yesteryear appears to have graduated a year early. Mitchell has been playing inspired football since the first snap of the Kentucky game, and has become the force off the edge that the defense lacked in '07.

No one on the team talks more than L.D. Scott. Focusing on him for a couple of plays every game is hilarious.

It was great to see Daniel Covington flying around the field and bringing the lumber on multiple plays, especially since it appears the secondary is going to be without Richard Raglin for at least a couple of games.

Dan - of having his U of L hat thrown on the ground by a girl outside a bar in Charlotte fame - called the Kansas State fake punt and was justified moments after his dad and I ripped the prediction for a solid 15 seconds. For the record, it was an awful call and we should had the up man who took the snap behind the line.

I'm going to go ahead and give the Card Chronicle seal of approval to the Jeff Brohm moving back upstairs decision.

I really, really want to win on Friday just so the seeds of insanely irrational objectivity can be planted.

Larry Taylor sucks.