Sunday, January 30, 2011

Brookwood HS QB Ben McLane Commits to GSU

State Champion Ben McLane Headed to Georgia State

According to the AJC’s Michael Carvell, Brookwood HS QB Ben McLane of the AAAAA State Champion Brookwood Broncos has verbally commited to Georgia State today and will sign his LOI on Wednesday.

“Coach Curry said we have a great thing going on here on Georgia State, and we want you to be a part of it,” McLane said. “I was sold after my official visit. I told Coach Curry that I’m on board, and that’s an honor to be part of building this new football program into one with rich tradition.”


The 6’1, 215lbs signal caller was targeted late in the recruiting process and it was no secret that Coach Curry desired a QB in this cycle. McLane was a 3 year starter for the Broncos in a very run first scheme. He is an above average athlete, very accurate and can throw the deep ball well.

“I wanted to be part of a startup program that is fairly new,” McLane said. “Georgia State has a great coaching staff, and it’s just a great opportunity. My gut instinct told me that it is the right place for me.”

He looks to likely take a Redshirt in the Fall and compete for a back up role in 2012. He is the 5th HS prospect to commit in this cycle.  He looks like he could gain 8-10lb of quality muscle.

2010 Stats: 144 /237 (61%) , 2342 yards and 15 TDs

2009 Stats: Completed 58% of his passes for 1790 yards and 16 TDs

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Panthers Lose 7th Straight, Bow to Northeastern by 5 points

It seems to be a pattern, fall down big in the 1st half, scrap, claw, fight and make it close in the 2nd half and lose.  We can't seem to put two halves together and I'm not sure what to make of this season.

Next: Home vs. UNC-Wilmington at 7:00pm

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Panthers Lose 6th Straight, Fall Late to ODU

Well, that was a brutal stretch as I predicted.  I didn't however see us not winning a single game.  The emotional state of the team seems okay and the players do not seem to have quit.  They led in both halves and according to Coach Barnes, they executed the game plan. 

You just can't score 48 points and win in the CAA.  This conference is too good.  The schedule lightens up considerably and it's possible to see a 3 game winning streak at Northeastern, home vs. UNC-Wilmington and on the road at Towson.

Hopefully Devonta White is back in uniform and not in sweats for Saturday's game vs. the Huskies.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Georgia State Baseball's Micowski Pre-Season Player of the Year

Photo Courtesy of: CAA

The CAA coaches give another nod to the Georgia State baseball team. According to CAASports.com, CAA head coaches voted senior outfielder Mark Micowski as the 2011 CAA Preseason Player of the Year.

"Micowski earned first-team All-CAA honors in 2010 after batting .390 with five home runs and 40 RBI in his first year with the Panthers. He led the CAA with 69 runs scored, was tied for second in hits (91) and ranked fourth in stolen bases (17)."

Senior outfielder Ryan Fleming and junior 3rd baseman Brandon Williams were also picked for the preseason All-CAA baseball team.

Congratulations Mark, Ryan and Brandon!

Whitewater DE McLain Head is Commit #9

According to the AJC's Chip Towers, Whitewater HS McLain Head has verbally commited to the Georgia State Panthers and will sign his LOI next Wednesday on National Signing Day.  McLain is a 6'4, 245lbs DE who is a high motor guy that played both TE and DE for the Wildcats.

Head will be able to provide depth and could project at 255-260lbs with a college level strength & conditioning program and proper nutrition.

2010 Stats: 38 tackles  (23 solo), 2 Sacks, 2 TFL, 1 fumble recovery

Senior Highlights

GMC OLB Qwontez Mallory is Commit #8

3rd GMC Bulldog Ready to Sign with the Panthers!

Qwontez "Que" Mallory has commited to the Georgia State Panthers.  The 6'1, 220lbs OLB is the 3rd former Georgia Military College product that will sign his LOI and arrive in June after completing his JUCO coursework.  Mallory was a standout DE/FB for Doughtery HS in Albany, GA and will provide immediate depth at the OLB position.

GMC Safety Demazio Skelton is Commit #7

Another GMC football player Atlanta bound!

Got word today that former Myrtle Beach HS and Georgia Military Safety Demazio Skelton will enroll at Georgia State in May 2011 after completing his course requirements at GMC.  He would be another tremendous addition in our defensive backfield.  Like his teammate at GMC D'Mario Gunn, he is a tremendous hitter and is incredible at reading the play.

Rivals.com Profile

Highlights Film #1

Highlight Film #2

Monday, January 24, 2011

Panthers Losing Streak Hits 5, Score Only 33 Points

Absolutely embarrassing.  Drexel was/is a better team but to score the least amount in program history is really, really bad.

13 Points at Half and 33 in total.  The stats are flat out ugly.  Eric Buckner had 8 points and Dante Curry had 6.

Division 1 basketball teams do not do this.  The fan base could not be more down right now on this team and I cannot say anymore.

AJC Link

Philly Daily News Link

Next: Home vs. Old Dominion on Wednesday night at 7pm.

Georgia State Baseball is Right Around the Corner

With the 2011 season opener less than a month away, it's time to show some love to our Georgia State Baseball team. Here are a couple points to recap the last few month happenings:

- Back in September, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper reported their baseball recruiting class rankings and Georgia State landed in the "Other Top Recruiting Classes" ranks. Old Dominion and James Madison were the only other CAA teams mentioned in the rankings.

- In a recent CAA Coaches Poll reported by CAASports.com, Georgia State was picked to finish 2nd in the CAA behind 1st place vote winner James Madison. Defending CAA Champion VCU was picked to finish 3rd. Georgia State and James Madison both received four first place votes. Out of these top three schools, Georgia State returns the most starters with seven while James Madison and VCU are both returning five starters.

Our Panthers baseball team enters the 2011 season seeking the CAA tournament for a 3rd year in a row. The Panthers won the CAA Championship in 2009 and suffered a first round defeat by later champs VCU.

To close this article, here's a quick thought on Georgia State baseball recruiting and our stadium situation. There is no doubt the recent on-field success has tremendously boosted our recruiting abilities and I would be willing to bet starting a football program has proven to be a benefit for baseball recruiting. Anytime a university can increase the prominence of their athletics as a whole, all sports will realize the benefits. What better way to do so than to start football in a football crazed region. I believe one of the last major hurdles our baseball program faces is the fact that our stadium is not on or near campus. It's no secret that recruits consider the facilities when choosing a school. I have faith that the GSU administration has plans to relocate the baseball complex closer to campus if not on campus. With the amount of baseball talent located in the state of Georgia (look at your top two MLB rookies from the 2010 season for proof...Heyward and Posey) and the growing appeal in attending the university, GSU has the ability to become a perennial baseball power. My opinion is the final piece of the puzzle is a more desirable baseball complex.

Our football team plays in the Georgia Dome, I hear Turner Field is empty for a large part of the GSU baseball season. OK, that was a joke.

Officially Growing: Bruce Beaumont Added to Team

I'm pleased to announce that our space is growing again.  With the added responsibilities, I'm excited to have Bruce Beaumont join the blog and he'll be covering things to continue to make this the place for all of your Panther Sports News.

A little about Bruce:
Bruce Beaumont is a Georgia State University class of 2006 graduate. He earned a Bachelor's degree in Accounting and currently holds the position of Manager of Accounting with a small video technology engineering firm located where he resides in Gwinnett County with his wife and dog. Bruce is an avid sports fan with one of the most extreme loyalties to the Atlanta Braves you'll ever find. It goes without saying he is already a hardcore GSU football fanatic and season ticket holder. In addition, he enjoys watching the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta Thrashers and frequently attends Gwinnett Gladiators (ECHL) hockey games.

Fun fact, Bruce was one of two people who submitted "Gladiators" for the team name in a "name the team" contest after the ECHL announced Gwinnett County would be receiving a hockey organization. He received season tickets for any seats of his choice for being the co-winner.  He is also the owner and main contributor of a political and personal finance blog.


Welcome Bruce!

Sunday, January 23, 2011

GSU Football Will Make Trip to West Alabama


"The final two regular season games on the calendar are a Nov. 5 meeting at Delta State before concluding the schedule on Nov. 12 at home against Georgia State."

As the 2010 football season led us to birds as regular opponents, the 2011 season appears to be shaping up as a battle against relative big cats. According to the University of West Alabama (UWA) Atheltics website, Georgia State will make the trip to Livingston, Alabama for a November 12th game against the UWA Tigers at Tiger Stadium.

UWA is a NCAA D-II football program who is coming off a 7-4 season. In their 2009 season a 7-4 record was enough to land them with a Gulf South Conference playoff bid where they were eliminated in the 2nd round. Interesting note about the 2010 season, Georgia State and UWA faced two common opponents in Shorter and Lambuth. GSU and UWA both beat Shorter and lost to Lambuth in a close game.

If you are one to use common games as predictors or measuring sticks, our common 2011 opponent is South Alabama. UWA will travel to Mobile in their season opener and according to South Alabama Athletics, South Alabama will travel to Atlanta to face the Panthers on Oct. 22nd.

Many fans may be questioning GSU traveling to a D-II school to play a game, as this is rare. My opinion is UWA was scheduled to be a home game for GSU and due to a late change in plans GSU had to reschedule this game to be an away game to allow for a new school to come into the Dome. This is one of the only scenarios that make sense to me, so time will tell.

Ben's SB Nation Post on UWA Release

Walton HS RB Kyle Vorster is Commit #6

From South Africa to the Georgia Dome

Walton HS running back Kyle Vorster visited the Georgia State campus this weekend and attended the Panthers’ 1st ever football banquet. From several reports, he and his parents were impressed enough to give the coaching staff a verbal. The 5’11, 210lb power RB has not garnered major college interest to this point but has proved he can tote the rock at the AAAAA level.


Vorster finished the 2010 season with 250 rushes, 1407 yards and 19 TDs. Normally stats like those that would have college coaches knocking on the door.
He’s an upright runner but has good power and burst through the line. The Panthers do not have a major need for this recruiting cycle but this recruit would certainly fit into the “best player available” category.

Rivals.com Profile
Senior Highlight Video

Saturday, January 22, 2011

Panthers Claw Back, Lose at Buzzer 64-62

And the losing streak is at 4.  Being down 14 points to a Delaware team that you likely should have beaten is difficult enough.  Jihad Ali coughing up the ball in the closing seconds giving the Blue Hens the opportunity to beat you hurts even worse.  The 4th year Junior is having a brutal season and this is not what you expect out of your team captain late in a conference game.

From Coach Barnes: "We really started to defend better,” said Barnes on his team trailing by 14. “I thought we started to limit them to one shot in the second half and because of that, we had a chance to get some baskets."

Next: The task doesn't get easier as the Panthers head to Philly to face a Drexel team that it has beaten once in 5 career matchups.  The silver lining to this black cloud is that starting Point Guard Devonta White traveled with the team and will likely be a game time decision.  His loss has been felt in every way as our turnover margin has increased and our assists are way down since his ankle injury.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Panthers Losing Streak Hits 3

Really tough night in Richmond.  VCU is playing like the best team in the CAA right now.  This one got ugly quick.

A few items to note:

-Our men's team left last Wednesday, to travel to Harrisonburg, VA after not being able to leave on Tuesday afternoon. Visiting teams do not get priority when it comes to gym time. Unless Coach Barnes and someone in the athletic department could find a HS gym to utilize (BTW, they are playing game right now too), the team likely did not do more than a walk through for the last 7 days.

-As I continue to say and people are getting more frustrated, we had 7 new players to our team and 6 of them are new to Division 1 basketball. Add Jamar Taylor to that and you now have 7 out of 12 players who have never played Division 1 basketball.

-As has been mentioned, this 6 game stretch post Towson was/is brutal. VCU has an RPI of 73. George Mason has an RPI of 64. James Madison is now at 66. These are the best teams in the best mid-major league in America.

-We are still without our starting PG. Injuries happen but we are more than competitive in each of these games and may have gotten 1 win on this 3 game trip with White in the lineup. We'll never know.

-Eric Buckner seems to have hit a wall. CAA Conference play is extremely physically challenging and he seems to have faded. I kept my mouth shut for a while about this fear because he was performing at such a high level. In the JUCO ranks, you'll likely have 3-4 days between games. That isn't the case in our league. He has put tremendous work in the weight room since arriving (he showed up at about 195lbs and now is 210 or so). When you are worn down, you don't play at a consistent level. I really hope getting back home and getting some semblance of normalcy will spark the team this weekend.

GSU Football Heading to FBS Houston

Via GSU Sports Communications:

The Georgia State football team will face its second Football Bowl Subdivision opponent next fall as the Panthers play at Houston, Director of Athletics Cheryl L. Levick and Head Football Coach Bill Curry announced.

The GSU-Houston contest is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 at Robertson Stadium, which seats 32,000. Kickoff time is to be determined.

“We are very pleased to announce a game with a quality FBS program like Houston,” said Levick. “Attractive intersectional matchups like this raise the profile of Georgia State football and help us build our program.”

“This game presents another tremendous opportunity for our football team to test itself against a strong Houston program on their home field,” said Curry. “Houston has an impressive coach in Kevin Sumlin and an outstanding quarterback in Case Keenum, who was injured this season but has been granted a sixth year of eligibility.”

Ken Sugiura of the AJC reports that the payout is expected to be $300,000 from the Conference USA school.  Quite a bit lower than what Alabama paid but the Tide also have much deeper pockets and a stadium nearly 3 times as big as the Cougars.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Updated: Cerritos CC Fatu Ulale is Commit #5

Talofa Fatu!
Photo Courtesy of Cerritos CC SID

According to Rivals.com, Cerritos Community College Defensive End Fatu Ulale is the 5th commitment to the Panthers' 2011 signing class. The 6’2, 275lbs Ulale will sign with the Panthers on NSD and will participate in summer workouts according to the AJC's Chip Towers. Ulale is a California native and prepped at Bellflower HS. He will have 3 years to play 2 seasons.

“I just fell in love with the coaching staff, basically,” Ulale said of choosing to come all the way across the U.S. to play football. “I had a connection with some of the other players there, too, and I feel like I may be able to come in and have an impact.”

Ulale had major interest from Washington after HS but academics forced him to go the JUCO route. He is the 3rd Panther with Samoan heritage joining LBs Jake and Louie Muasau.

Fatu has made incredible strides since arriving at Cerritos CC as he entered the Norwalk, CA campus at 245lbs. He will enroll in June at 275lbs with a tremendous increase in functional strength while maintaing his speed. With even more emphasis on S&C and proper nutrition, Ulale could project at 285-290lbs by the time he’s a Sr.

2009 Stats: 17 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 QB Hurry

2010 Stats: 38 tackles, 0.5 sacks, 6 TFL, 4 QB Hurries

2009 (Freshman) Highlights

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Panthers Now 0-2 on VA trip

As I mentioned after the Towson win, this was going to be a brutal 6 game stretch.  The team played well in the first half and for stretches in the 2nd half.  George Mason is a better team and proved why they are still undefeated at home.

Cam Long was the Panther nemesis all afternoon and finished the game with 18 points on 8-12 shooting.  He's a very good player and he's earned the All-CAA preseason hype.

The Panthers did again shoot very well from the FT line and have bumped their season average above 57%.  Foul trouble was again an issue as the Panthers committed 24 personal fouls and turned the ball over 20 times.  This doesn't work on the road.

Eric Buckner was challenged in the post game by Coach Barnes for a complete lack of effort.  Buckner finished with 0 points, 3 rebounds in 20 minutes and only attempted 2 shots.  This is unacceptable for your best player.  I hope that Coach Barnes' public challenge will be met with a huge upswing in effort by the 6'10 Junior.

Inside NoVa Link

Next: The Panthers will stay in Virginia and take on VCU on Wednesday night.

Friday, January 14, 2011

Rockdale HS Jerry Mathis Verbals to Samford

Via his FB page.  He took an OV there this weekend.  Had a feeling that it may fit him there.  You win some, you lose some.

GSU Offers Rockdale County Safety Neville Hewitt

From Bulldog to Panther?

According to today's Rockdale Citizen, Rockdale County HS Safety Neville Hewitt is now holding an offer from Georgia State. The 6'2, 195lbs Rover also has FBS offers from Memphis and Western Kentucky.

The Panthers will graduate both starting FS Brandon Jones and back up Michael Hall in 2011. This is a critical need for this recruiting cycle. GSU already has a commitment from Roswell HS ATH Nick Henderson who could play Safety or Slot WR in 2011.

The coaching staff has been a frequent visitor at the Conyers campus as they were also pursuing 6'4, 270lbs Jerry Mathis.  Mathis verballed this afternoon to Samford where he took an official visit this past weekend.

Hewitt's Rivals.com Profile

Senior Highlights

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Panthers Fall 79-67 to James Madison

Disappointed in the loss but James Madison is a better team. I'll take the home and home split with this team. The Dukes are roaring right now and are playing like one of the top teams in the CAA.

Some positives:
-FT shooting - Panthers were 12-15 from the charity stripe (80%). That's progress folks.
-Keeping Denzel Bowles below his season scoring average.  The dude is a monster.  Eric Buckner doesn't have the weight, James Vincent doesn't have the quicks.  Bowles still went for a double-double but the guy will have many better days on teams better than us.
-Playing JMU even through the 2nd 20 minutes.  JMU outscored us 47-44 in the 2nd half.  We can build on that.

I've said all year, I believe this team will continue to get better. VCU just lost Rozzell for 2-3 weeks with a broken hand. I hope we can get a win over there on Saturday.

If you don't think recruiting rankings matter...

Well, you're wrong.  Thanks to my man Bud at TN for dropping knowledge:

Five Star Recruits More Likely to be All Americans

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Game with James Madison Moved to Thursday

Panthers could not fly out with the Snowpocalypse engulfing the city of Atlanta.

New tip time for Thursday night is 8:30pm EST. 

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Georgia State Tops Towson 73-65

This was a mature win.  It may sound strange but coming home and playing a team than you better than you should win, right?  It hasn't been that easy lately for the Panthers.

James 'Boom' Fields played an excellent all-around game off the bench.  6 points, 9 assists, 2 steals and only 2 turnovers.  Excellent work by the Junior out of Savannah.

Coach Rod Barnes went with a feeling to start James "Oak" Vincent and it paid instant dividends.  11 points (on 5-5 shooting) and 7 rebounds in 22 minutes.  He is proving that he can be a serviceable back up for Eric Buckner who was saddled with foul trouble all night.

Dante Curry did not shoot well and forced multiple 3 point attempts after hitting his first 2.  He finished with 12 points on 4-15 from the field.  The way he has been shooting the last few games, I can't fault Coach Barnes giving him the green light.

Examiner.com Link

Next Game: Panthers head to James Madison on Wednesday to face the Dukes.  Tip time is 7pm.

Friday, January 7, 2011

GSU Offers Rockdale County SG Bernard Thompson

According to Rivals.com's Daniel McDonald, we are the latest to offer the 6'3, 180lbs shooting guard out of Conyers.  He is currently averaging  18.2 points and 5.7 rebounds per game.  He averaged 13.5 ppg as a Junior for the Bulldogs of RHS.

ESPN Scouts, Inc. ranks him as the 84th best SG in the country and Mike LaPlante had this to say earlier this week:

"It seems that every year after the holiday tournaments there are a handful of players that emerge with an increased profile and major recruiting buzz. Count Rockdale County (GA) High School's Bernard Thompson, who has gone from a relative unknown to one of the most talked about names on the recruiting circuit, as one of them.

I got the chance to watch Thompson compete in three different tournaments during the later part of December and I came away impressed with his basketball IQ and upside. He is a long, rangy guard that can shoot it from 3 and is deceptively athletic. He attacked the lane in transition at the Chick-fil-a Classic and finished with a left-handed jam that caught everyone off guard and had the college coaches in attendance buzzing.

Thompson's stock continues to rise each time he takes the floor and, as the always adventurous late-signing period approaches, many high-major programs are making the effort to take a look at the 6-foot-3 shooting guard that had mostly Division II schools recruiting him in the fall."

ESPN Scouts, Inc. Profile

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Western Michigan WR Trey Smith enrolls at JSU

Trey Smith of Perry HS has enrolled at Jacksonville State.  He was likely not offered a scholarship at Georgia State for the spring semester and wanted to go somewhere where he could get a scholly for spring and summer.

This is not bad news for us.  We return all of our WR corps for 2011 and will only lose Sidney Haynes to graduation after the season.

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Panthers Fall 59-56 on GW 3 at UNC-W

Man, this one hurt.  We seemed to do more wrong than right and still had a great chance to win.  Panthers fall to 7-6 overall and 2-1 in CAA play.

Missing starting PG Devonta White, who has been receiving a tremendous amount of treatment on his ankle and is trying to return as soon as possible, was evident.  The Panthers managed only 9 assists vs. the Seahawks and made too many mistakes down the stretch to put UNCW away.

On the last play: Trevor DeLoach has hit a total of 22 career 3 pointers in his 2 year UNCW career.  This was his only made basket and he made it count.  As Coach Barnes said in the postgame, he would have likely preferred DeLoach take that shot than Tomko, Grant or Milson.  Credit him with a clutch shot.

Highlights:
-Dante Curry.  Plain and simple he carried the Panthers tonight. 27 points on 9-13 shooting and hitting seven 3 point baskets for the second time in 3 games.  Great game by Dante and a credit to our guys for finding him.
-Eric Buckner.  He struggled mightily but finished with a still impressive 8 points, 12 rebounds and 2 blocks on the night.  He is stating his claim as one of the best centers in GSU history after only 13 games.  Yes, he is that good.

Key Factors in the Loss:
-Panthers were 6-18 from the FT line.  We are currently last in the CAA in this category and approaches new depths.  This stat alone has cost us at least 2 games in the Win column this season.
-James Fields shooting misery continues.  He was 0-3 from the field and is now 1-13 from the field in CAA play scoring a total of 4 points in 3 games.  This is not acceptable a starting guard in Division 1 basketball.  I really hope 'Boom' can get it going this weekend vs. Towson.

Next game: Panthers Return Back to the Sports Arena on Saturday for a 6pm tilt vs. Towson.

2011 Schedule - What We Do Know

Deep breaths people.  Our team will get back together this weekend and class starts Monday (with at least one confirmed new player at Georgia State).

What We Do Know

From what's available online (not inside information, you can do a web search and find out these dates out):

9.10.11 - Old Dominion - 3rd Year Program. Impressive Record vs. FCS opponents (15-5 in 2 years).

10.15.11 - @ SC State - FCS Playoff team in 2010 and returns 5 starters on Offense and 6 starters on Defense in 2011.

10.22.11 - South Alabama - Have never lost to an FCS opponent (4-0). Should travel well to Atlanta. Would love to have this as an afternoon game.

10.29.11 - @ University Texas San Antonio - First year program coached by former Miami (FL) HC Larry Coker.
 
*Only one CAA team, Delaware, even has a tentative schedule listed on their website right now.  We are not behind.  We are line with our peers in the CAA.

Monday, January 3, 2011

Win Streak Reaches 3, Panthers Top VCU 76-66

What an incredible 3 game stretch.  The Panthers drop VCU at home to reach 2-0 in CAA play and 7-5 overall.  Great job by Coach Barnes and staff to keep the team focused after the Tourney win in Chattanooga. 

Eric Buckner seems to be Nate Williams 2K11.  He was absolutely dominant tonight.  Josh Micheaux played very well and scored 14 points on 5-8 shooting.  Brandon McGee was a force with 9 points, 5 boards off the bench.  Marques Johnson seems to be enjoying conference play and will see his playing time increase.

Bench scoring was critical: GSU - 39, VCU - 13.

All wasn't rosey though, Freshman PG Devonta White left the game the ankle injury and will not travel with the team to Wilmington tomorrow for Wednesday's game.

Next Game: Wednesday at UNC-Wilmington at 7pm.

AJC Link

WTVR Link

Curry and White Grab CAA Weekly Honors

Congrats to Dante & Devonta!

GSU Sports Link

Florida Kicker Benvenuto Verbals to Georgia State!

Dome Bound!
Photo Courtesy of the Dayton Beach News Journal

According to the Daytona Beach News Journal, Matanzas HS (Palm Beach, FL) Kicker Christian Benvenuto has verbally committed to the Panthers.  Rivals.com lists him as their #14 kicker in the country.  We were his only confirmed offer with Auburn, Florida and Georgia Southern showing interest.  The 6'2, 190lbs Benvenuto is now the 6th commitment of this recruiting cycle and 3rd HS prospect to verbal.


Christian at UF's Friday Night Lights

The most amazing thing? He can kick with both feet! "

When I punt with my left foot, I'll roll out and hit the middle of the ball, and it takes off, whichever way it wants to," the 17-year-old said. "If I kick with my right foot, I can hit it longer. When I punt with my left foot, it probably goes 20 yards in the air. Once it hits, it takes off and goes."

Another blast unleashed by Benvenuto

2010 Stats: 5/8 on FGs and 25/26 on Extra Points.

For comparison sake, we signed Patrick Baker out of Vero Beach in 2009 and ESPN Scouts, Inc. rated him the #66 Kicker in Country.  Baker was booted before Fall practice for violation of team rules.

Benvenuto's Rivals.com Profile

YouTube Highlights #1

YouTube Highlights #2

Daytona Beach News Journal Interview

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year Panther Nation!

Looking forward to Great Things in 2011.  I hope you are as well.