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Sports Briefs: Young Jackets open practice for '09 season
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Published: August 4, 2009
Paul Johnson could almost count his seniors on one hand when Georgia Tech opened practice yesterday.
Johnson, Georgia Tech's second-year coach, says he is encouraged by his team's improved depth and experience, but he knows he still has a young team. All he has to do is look for seniors.
Georgia Tech had six scholarship seniors for the first preseason practice.
"We don't have very many," Johnson said yesterday. "It's a small class. ... I think our seniors are trying to take a strong leadership role and there's not a lot of them who will play."
Only three seniors -- outside linebacker Sedric Griffin, offensive guard Cord Howard and center Dan Voss -- are listed as starters. Voss is bracketed with junior Sean Bedford at first-team center.
Griffin, the team's only fourth-year senior, said "I'm the only true senior."
Howard, Voss, cornerback Martin Frierson, defensive tackle Jason Hill and offensive tackle Brad Sellers are fifth-year seniors.
More football
■ Urban Meyer, who has coached Florida to two national championships in the last three years, now has his second raise in three years. He signed a six-year contract yesterday for $4 million a year, up from the $3.25 million he made last season.
The new deal makes Meyer the highest-paid coach in the Southeastern Conference, but it has been reported that Alabama's Nick Saban, scheduled to make $3.9 million this season, is negotiating an extension. And LSU's Les Miles has a clause in his contract that guarantees him $1,000 more than any other SEC coach if he leads the Tigers to a national championship.
The new deal also makes Meyer co-chairman of a university scholarship program. The Florida Opportunity Scholars Program was created by school president Bernie Machen to provide financial assistance to first-generation, financially disadvantaged students working toward bachelor's degrees. Meyer has committed $1 million to the program over the duration of his contract.
■ The Western Athletic Conference is reprimanding Coach Greg McMackin of Hawaii for the derogatory comment he used while describing Notre Dame's chant before last year's Hawaii Bowl.
The university already has suspended McMackin for 30 days without pay, and he has offered to take an additional 7 percent pay cut from his $1.1 million salary.
The coach has apologized for using a gay slur during a media briefing last month at the WAC football preview in Salt Lake City. The WAC said yesterday that it reprimanded McMakin for violating its sportsmanship code.
Basketball
■ The Minnesota Timberwolves have signed restricted free agent Ryan Hollins, a 7-0 center, to an offer sheet, giving the Dallas Mavericks seven days to match the offer. Terms were not released.
The Charlotte Bobcats drafted Hollins out of UCLA in 2006, and he played two-plus seasons with the Bobcats before he was traded to Dallas in January. He has career averages of 2.7 points and 1.8 rebounds.
Soccer
■ Andy Lubahn, a midfielder from Erie, Pa., has joined Wake Forest's recruiting class in men's soccer, Coach Jay Vidovich announced yesterday. He is the program's eight recruit for the coming season.
Lubahn has extensive experience with U.S. youth-national teams and has trained with the U-14, U-15, U-18 and U-20 teams. He also has with Cercle Brugge of the Belgium Jupiler League and was captain of the Columbus Crew's U-17 Team.
■ Russian soccer fans heading to Wales for next month's World Cup qualifier are urged to take precautions to ward off swine flu: Drink Welsh whiskey. "Welsh whisky is on offer to Russian supporters as a disinfectant," said Alexander Shprygin, head of the national team's fan club. "This will relieve any symptoms."
Russia's top doctor advised the country's citizens to avoid traveling to Britain, but "nothing will stop the Russian fans," Shprygin said.
Miscellaneous
■ Dylan Ferris, an East Forsyth High School graduate and rising sophomore at Stanford, finished fifth in the 800 meters last weekend in the the Pan Am Junior track-and-field championships in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
Ferris ran the final in 1 minute, 49.84 seconds. Raidel Acea Morales of Cuba won the race in 1:48.09.
■ Kathleen Baker of STAR Aquatics won gold medals in two individual races and two relays last week at the Southern Zones National Swim meet in Orlando, Fla. Baker, a rising seventh-grader at Forsyth Country Day School, won the 50 and 100 backstroke and swam on the winning 200 medley and 200 free relay teams. She also helped the North Carolina team set a Southern Zones record in the 200 free relay and had top-four finishes in four other races.
■ The Giordana Crossroads Classic will start tonight in Mocksville, the first of five stops for a series of bicycle races. The first of five races tonight, in the Category 4-5 division, is scheduled to start at 6:15, and the last race, for the Pro/Cat 1-2 division, is scheduled at 8:45.
The Crossroads Classic also will stop in Concord (Wednesday), Salisbury (Thursday), Statesville (Friday) and Harrisburg (Saturday), with the Concord, Salisbury and Statesville stops following the same time schedule as Mocksville. In Harrisburg on Saturday, the first race is set for 8 a.m. and the last race is set for 2:30.
■ Steve Asmussen, the trainer of star horse Rachel Alexandra, says it will be two weeks before a decision is made on her next start. The filly was back at Saratoga Race Course yesterday, a day after beating the boys a second time in the Haskell Invitational at New Jersey's Monmouth Park.
Asmussen said "we'll see how she acts on the track. With Rachel, she is the topic of conversation all the time." Races under consideration include the Travers on Aug. 29, the Personal Ensign on Aug. 30 and the Woodward on Sept. 5. All are at Saratoga.
■ Tiger Woods gave the Buick Open a 167 percent ratings boost over last year, when he was recovering from knee surgery and did not play. CBS Sports said yesterday that its overnight rating was 4.0 with a 9 share, up from a 1.5 rating and a 3 share in 2008.
It was the highest final-round rating for the Buick Open since it received a 4.3 with a 10 share in 2006, when Woods also won.
■ A Kentucky man has pleaded not guilty to murder, drunken driving and other charges after police say he hit and killed a cyclist participating in a triathlon Saturday.
A spokesman for the Jefferson County (Ky.) Attorney says that Kenneth Yates, 25, entered the plea yesterday. adding that Yates asked for a public defender at his hearing and that a judge set bond at $250,000. Police say that Yates hit 47-year-old John Carr, who was cycling in Louisville as part of a triathlon at a state park, and then Yates continued to drive before he was stopped by an off-duty officer at a nearby intersection.
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