Ryan Bass

In the box!

2009-09-05T19:09:00.001-04:00

Up in the press box for the UCF Football game vs. Samford. Stay tuned for constant updates.

Rooney signs 21 to 2010 class

2009-08-24T09:13:00.003-04:00

After leading his team to a number of program firsts last season, head baseball coach Terry Rooney gave the UCF Baseball team another program mark today: arguably their best recruiting class in school history.

Rooney, who will be entering his second season as head coach of the Knights in 2009, announced the signing of 21 athletes to UCF in his first official recruiting class since accepting the head coaching job before last season.

He considers this crop of recruits as one of the best in the country.

“We are extremely excited about this recruiting class,” said Rooney, who led the Knights to a 22-35 record last season and a program-best nine wins in Conference USA.

“This has been a year long process since we accepted this job this past June.” Rooney said. “This recruiting class, without any question, is one of the top recruiting classes in the country and, in my opinion, I think will go down as the recruiting class that helped turn this program around and bring UCF baseball back to the upper echelon of college baseball.”

Of the 21 players signed, Rooney welcomed in 10 junior college transfers to Orlando.
He noted that it was essential to get some players with college experience to replace the loss of some of the seniors from last season, even when the number of JUCO players that signed is a little high.

“I wouldn’t anticipate in a normal recruiting year to have signed that many junior college players,” Rooney said. “From our standpoint, it was a necessity. When you bring a junior college player in, it’s your hope that they are going to make an immediate impact to some degree.”

“We signed 10 of them and in an average year we might sign two to four of them.” Rooney said. “We signed 10 of them so every single one of those junior college kids brings an outstanding tool to the table from a baseball standpoint.”

One area the Knights struggled in last season was with their pitching staff, but with six of the 10 junior college players being pitchers joining the team, the Knights should look a lot stronger in the rotation. Two of those players, Alex Besaw and Owen Dew, were both drafted in the Major League Baseball Player Draft and decided to sign with UCF over taking a shot in the professional ranks.

Besaw, who was drafted in the 32nd round of the MLB draft by the Tampa Bay Rays, brings a solid resume to the Knights’ pitching staff. He played at Oregon State in the Pac-10 conference before transferring to Skagit Valley Community College as a sophomore, where he went 5-1 with 51 strikeouts in 50.2 innings pitched.

Dew was a part of the Seminole Community College baseball team before being selected in the 33rd round of the MLB Draft by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. He was named to the All-Mid Florida Conference First Team in 2009 after garnering eight wins, four complete games and 81 strikeouts in 14 starts.

“There are some [pitchers] in [the recruiting class] that certainly have had some successful careers,” Rooney said. “I mean, the two drafted pitchers – Owen Dew and Alex Besaw – had a chance to sign and play professional this year and they decided not to. Both [of those guys] are junior college kids and they are both big, right-handed, power arm type pitchers that are 88-92 mph righties. We have some guys that have a chance to be the Friday and Saturday night guys and those are two guys that have been drafted and played at two successful junior colleges.”

Rooney also mentioned some position players that signed with the Knights that will have an opportunity to contribute early, most notably Ronnie Richardson and Darnell Sweeney.
Richardson, the Knights’ top recruit in the class, was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 11th round of the MLB Draft but chose to sign with UCF out of high school.

The centerfielder was listed in Baseball America’s Top 200 Prospects after finishing with a .361 average in his senior season, 31 stolen bases and only striking out three times in 2009. He also contributed on the mound, having an ERA of 2.00 or better in four seasons.
Sweeney also figures to be in the mix to start right away for the Knights. The shortstop was drafted in the 41st round of the MLB Draft by the Florida Marlins after hitting .421 with 24 RBI during his senior season.

“One of the things I think is that everyone out there is going to have to earn their job, but obviously we are excited about the two drafted players, one was Ronnie Richardson and the other was Darnell Sweeney,” Rooney said. “Those guys will have opportunities to play up the middle for us at shortstop [Sweeney] and centerfield [Richardson].”

In addition to the new faces, the Knights did welcome back Shane Brown, who choose to come back to UCF after passing up a pro contract within the New York Yankees Organization. He will be just one of the familiar faces for a totally different looking team for the Knights in 2009.

The Moose is loose: Q&A with Steven Robinson

2009-08-13T16:05:00.004-04:00

I caught up with offensive lineman Steven Robinson, otherwise known by his nickname “Moose”, and asked him about his improvements after redshirting last season, being listed at the top of the depth chart and how having a veteran like Cliff McCray behind him helps his game.

How offensive line and himself feels through these first couple days of practice?

“I am not even going to lie, I feel great. We all came out with a positive attitude. It’s a bit of a transition from last year to now because last year we were a little [lax], we weren’t executing assignments and everything and we weren’t really motivated by practice and everything. Now we have coach [Brent] Key and we have coach [Charlie] Taaffe, so things have changed. I feel like the chemistry is 100 times better.”

Is there a chip on the shoulder of the offensive lineman after last season?

“I can tell you, we have something to prove. I feel like we owe it to the team to step it up this year. Last year, there was a lot on the offense and we didn’t step our game up and the defense was dominating so we feel like we owe it to team, and for ourselves more than anybody, to go out there and have a much better year this year. We are trying to go undefeated. That’s the goal, a championship.”

What do you feel are your improvements in your game from last season?

“The No. 1 thing is my mental toughness has skyrocketed. Being a young freshman last year, it’s kind of hard, but now I have a feel for everything. I am ready to come out, play and compete and go out there and make a name for myself and represent the school, of course. I feel like I have gotten better and a lot stronger, because I was always an upper body kind of guy but I didn’t develop that strength in my legs until now so it’s a lot easier out there on the field for me.”

Does it feel good going into camp knowing you have the starting job?

“Yes, and not only that, but I have a vet behind me in Cliff [McCray]. He came back this year and he is a senior and a really good offensive lineman so I think they did it on purpose to try to keep me going. It’s working because I don’t want to lose my spot, but it feels great. I feel like I have a better sense of the game on this level.”

What has Cliff helped you with now that he has come back?

“Cliff, he keeps me going hard every play. If you have somebody behind you that really is not up to your level, you’re not going to practice as hard because you know the position is yours. I kind of felt that’s what happened to me in spring. I was starting in spring and I kind of got a little lax, but now Cliff is here so we are working each other hard.”

First practice is in the books!

2009-08-06T18:34:00.002-04:00

The UCF Football team began it's first pre-season practice today in front of media and fans alike. The practice, which lasted just over two hours, included 7-on-7 skeleton drills and numerous individual positional drills. Here are some of the notes I garnered from today:

It was QB Brett Hodges first offical practice in a Knight uniform today. The Wake Forest transfer looked good in individual drills, showing promise with a strong arm and accurate throws. I interviewed him after practice and he said he is getting comfortable learning the offense and the playbook and has had a lot of help from Rob Calabrese and Joe Weatherford. To me, he looked impressive today, but it's Calabrese's job to lose.

Calabrese looked very calm and compoised in the huddle, something he struggled with last season. He made a lot of accurate throws and didn't miss any of his recievers, something he did often last season. From high fives to his teammates to clapping it up in the huddle, Calabrese looked a lot more comfortable and more like a leader to his teammates, something needed from a No. 1 starter.

There was one position change to note, as Wes Tunuufi Sauvao switched from offensive line back to defensive line, which is where he played last season. O'Leary talked about the change after practice, stating he needed to bulk up the defensive line and Wes was able to provide depth.

Brynn Harvey had some pretty smooth cuts and showed good speed in the open field in practice. The question was who was going to be his backup with Latavious Murray transfereing to Syracuse. It looks to be like Ronnie Weaver will assume that role, with him getting a majority of the snaps with the second team offense.

All the guys battling injury last season looked 100 percent in thier respective drills. I spoke to A.J. Guyton after practice and he said that him, along with the other guys who suffered injuries from the recieveing corps last season, were feeling good after practice.

There was some trickery in the Knights' offense in the scrimmage, with a play that resulted in a long touchdown from Calabrese to Kamar Aiken. The question is whether the Knights will continue to use those kinds of plays during the regular season.

That's pretty much the gist of what I got today. Media Day is tomorrow, so I should get some solid info from there. Full pads will begin on Monday.

Two days till UCF Football pre-season camp

2009-08-04T11:41:00.002-04:00

UCF Football begins it's pre-season football camp on Thursday afternoon to begin preparing for the upcoming season. As the new Sports Editor of the CFF, I will have your coverage of every practice and media day coming up. Stay tuned to the blog for updates...

TSR returns Tuesday! UCFTV on the horizon?

2009-06-24T21:34:00.005-04:00

Hey all,

I'm happy to inform you all that The Sports Report will resume this Tuesday, June 30, during it's normal time of 4-6 p.m. The website (www.knightcast.org) is back up and running, which means the stream works to start broadcasting. I am working on fixing my website (www.thesportsreportonline.com) so please stay tuned for that.

The guests that I will be contacting Tuesday to join me will be former UCF guard Jermaine Taylor and Detroit Lions' running back Kevin Smith. ESPN and SportsCenter anchor Dari Nowkhah is good to go for the show as well.

In other news with TSR, there could be some incredible new opportunities with the show heading into the Fall. Knightcast is currently in discussions with UCFTV for a time slot to broadcast my show LIVE. That means not only could you hear the show online on WKNT, but you could also watch us live in studio on UCFTV, which broadcasts on Bright House Networks Digital Cable, as we bring you the best that Knightcast has to offer. I'll keep you posted about this as discussions comtinue to move forward, but that would be a HUGE step for the radio program.

Thanks for being patient, guys and I can't wait to get back on air!

CFF Feature: Volleyball coach focused on program growth

2009-06-18T18:28:00.002-04:00

Here is my feature story from today's edition of the Central Florida Future:

Todd Dagenais doesn’t know too much about running a country.

The UCF Volleyball head coach is more of a builder. He knows how to lay the foundation, place the bricks and mold them together.

He’s aided in building programs before as an assistant coach at both USC and Michigan State, but he’s finally the man in charge at UCF.

“What we are is we are like a fledgling country,” said Dagenais, who spent eight seasons as an assistant at both USC and Michigan State before coming to UCF last season. “We just adopted our constitution. We have our government. Now it’s time to start standing on our own, and I really think that’s the next step.”

That next step would have been an afterthought had Dagenais not led the 2008 UCF Volleyball team to one of its best seasons in half a decade in his first year as head coach.

He finished the season having led the Knights to a 15-17 record, the largest win total since 2003, and tied for the most wins in program history in Conference USA play with six.

The Knights jumped from No. 244 to No. 113 in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball RPI rankings from the start of the season to the end.

“On paper, it was a losing record, and we weren’t in the top 100,” Dagenais said. “There were so many things that were unfulfilling, but literally hours after going through those emotions, you go wait, we started at 244 and ended at 113.”

It was a historic jump for Dagenais’ squad. One of the best in NCAA Volleyball history.

“People say hey, your movement is one of the top 25 movements of all time in NCAA volleyball,” Dagenais said. “Wow, that’s a pretty big deal. Somebody else says, well the movement is one of the top five all time for a first year coaching staff.”

In building anything, there is going to be successes and setbacks. Dagenais’ task is no different, but he does regret one thing: overlooking the present for the future.

“I never prepared the team to have success.” Dagenais said of his team’s early accomplishments last season. “You know, you prepare the team to have a foundation for success, and we did that. Then all of the sudden we find ourselves 5-1 in conference and playing UAB in first place. I didn’t prepare them for that moment, and maybe my fault is that I didn’t think that we were going to need to.

“I was more concerned with making sure we had a good foundation for three years, that when we had success in the first year, I didn’t teach them a good job of how to handle that success.”

But with any successful country you need to assemble the right pieces together to keep it running smoothly. For Dagenais, that’s recruiting the right athletes for his system.
This offseason, Dagenais nabbed four players who could take this program to the next level.

He announced the signing of Angelica Crump, Victoria McCutcheon and Nichole Riedel and also welcomed transfer Brittany Wallace.

There’s one common connection between those four players — they are all big, athletic and exactly what Dagenais needs to have his team compete in one of the top conferences in the nation.

“For us to compete in Conference USA, especially against the top teams, who are loaded with very high caliber foreign players, we had to get bigger, stronger and more athletic … so we have got some really nice athletes coming in,” Dagenais said.

To build this program into a powerhouse, Dagenais knows that preparation is not just for the upcoming year. He is already recruiting for years down the road.

“We are recruiting the 2010s, 2011s and 2012s,” he said. “Actually, our 2010 class is almost done. We are recruiting the 2011 and 2012 classes right now, and that’s three to four years down the road.

“It takes three years to recruit a class, and people don’t understand that.”

A country needs its followers, and that’s where Dagenais’ community outreach comes into play.

He wants to mold this community into a volleyball hotbed. He envisions Orlando as a place that breeds a strong foundation and love for college-level volleyball.

“For us right now, to take the program to the next echelon, we are trying to do things with booster clubs, things in the community and public appearances,” Dagenais said. “Just anything we can do to help the community get invested in collegiate volleyball in this area.”
Dagenais wants his team to be a face of the community.

Orlando will host the FIVB Women’s Volleyball World Championship qualifiers in the UCF Arena from July 6-8, something the head coach raves and tweets about, because it brings the national attention to his domain.

“We have been doing a great job of trying to build that foundation,” Dagenais said. “That takes years. That takes some schools six to eight years to get to where they want to be, and I think we can probably do it in three.”

Inspiration isn’t far from Dagenais. All he has to do is look at UCF Women’s Basketball head coach Joi Williams and how she led a young program to a conference championship in two years. He knows three years is a tangible timeframe.

“Is three years realistic? I think it is,” Dagenais said. “I honestly believe that in the third year, we will be prepared to jump on the national scene.

“Now, will we succeed (on the national scene) in the third year? I don’t know, but it’s going to be the first year where we could. I think what you will see in that third year is a team that is just about ready to break through.”

Dagenais is slowly learning how to run his new country. Now he just has to focus on continuing to build and making sure the pieces that have already been set remain in place.

“What I think we have done is we have kind of laid the bricks,” Dagenais said. “Now we have to put the mortar between those bricks to make sure they don’t fall apart.”

UCF's Austin Hudson selected by Seattle Mariners in 2009 MLB Draft

2009-06-10T17:40:00.002-04:00

Here is the press release from UCF Athletics about UCF pitcher Austin Hudson being selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 2009 MLB Draft:

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) – UCF junior pitcher Austin Hudson (Orlando, Fla.) was selected by the Seattle Mariners in the 27^th round of the 2009 Major League Baseball First-Year Players Draft on Wednesday. Hudson was the second pick of the 27^th round and the 803^rd pick overall.

Hudson becomes the 68^th UCF player taken in the MLB Draft in the program’s history and the second picked by the Mariners. Chad Sheffer was taken by Seattle in the 14^th round in 1995.

In 58 career appearances with the Knights, Hudson had a 4-4 record with a 7.12 earned run average and two saves. The right-handed pitcher has made eight starts in the past three seasons.
An Orlando native who attended Boone High School, Hudson was selected in the 37^th round of the 2006 MLB Draft by the Washington Nationals.

As the three-day event wraps up on Thursday with rounds 31 through 50, several more Knights hope to hear their names called as nearly 1,500 players will be drafted when the 50 rounds are complete.

TSROnline.com undergoing construction

2009-06-10T16:03:00.001-04:00

The website is undergoing some changes, including getting a new host and possible redesign so please be patient as we are working on it! Thesportsreportonline.com will resume in the next couple of weeks. Thanks, guys.

TSR on hold till June!

2009-05-23T15:33:00.002-04:00

I regret to inform you all that TSR has been put on hold till Summer B. The station and studio are going through some changes so I won't be able to re-start the show until June. Stay tuned to the blog for updates and posts about the Magic, Playoffs and everything sports!

Rooney, Knights head to tournament

2009-05-19T10:48:00.003-04:00

Just interviewed UCF Baseball head coach Terry Rooney for a Conference USA baseball preview story in Thursday's CFF. I'll type up the quotes later, but we discussed the Knights' improvement down the stretch, how the pitching staff has looked, the team's confidence level and the keys to winning the tournament.

Joe Burnett post-draft interview

2009-04-29T09:53:00.002-04:00

Burnett gave his first post-NFL Draft interview to my radio program on Tuesday. He talked about his excitement to go to Pittsburgh, what the draft process was like and what his encounter will be like with Kevin Smith in a game on Oct. 11.

Joe Burnett Interview

FINALS WEEK!

2009-04-29T09:52:00.001-04:00

Sorry for the layoff from posting. Things are starting to heat up with my schedule and it's finals week so I apologize. I'll be posting tons over the summer!

Baseball drops series despite Friday win

2009-04-12T14:56:00.003-04:00

Here is a preiview of my UCF Baseball story for Monday's CFF:

Coming into the Tulane series this weekend, the UCF Baseball team was quietly starting to make progress on the season. The Knights had won four of their last six games dating back to Apr. 1 and were looking to build on that with a series against Tulane.

Despite capturing a series-opening 4-2 win on Friday night, the Knights couldn’t muster enough strength to capture the series, falling 20-5 and 5-4 on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.

Even though they were 15-run ruled on Saturday night, head coach Terry Rooney was really impressed with the way his guys fought back in the Sunday game.

“Listen, we lost by 15 runs [Saturday],” he said. “So to come back and be in the game says something about these kids. You take away the loss, and there are no moral victories, but these kids continue to press on.”

Kyle Sweat showed Tulane early that there wouldn’t be a repeat of Saturday night’s hit parade. He set the first three batters, Josh Prince, Scott Powell and Sam Honeck, who went 6-for-15 with 7 RBIs in Saturday’s game, down in order to start the contest. That set the tone for the rest of his start, where he allowed just one run on five hits in 7.0 innings of work.

“That was one of the more courageous outings I have seen in my coaching career,” Rooney said of Sweat. “It was awesome. It was awesome not just because of the performance, statistically he was great, but because of what [we were] coming off of last night.”

Sweat left the game holding a 2-1 lead in the seventh, but D.J. Hicks and Justin Weiss couldn’t close the door on the win, allowing two runs a piece to cross the plate and keeping the Knights from possibly taking the series.

UCF Baseball vs. Tulane baseball notes

2009-04-11T19:10:00.002-04:00

The UCF Baseball team fell 20-5 to Tulane on Saturday at Jay Bergman field. Here are some of the game notes:

The Knights (12-23 overall, 3-8 in C-USA) allowed seven home runs in the contest, the most this season.
Tulane scored at least one run in each inning of the game and registered 23 hits.
Jaager Good started the game for UCF and pitched just one inning, allowing three runs on three hits while walking two batters. Good dropped to 0-4 on the season.
Beau Taylor went 2-for-4 in the game and homered in the game for UCF. His average is now up to .321 on the season.
Colin Arnold extending his hitting streak to 18 games with an infield single in the third inning.
Kiko Vazquez also homered in the ball game for the Knights. It was a shot over the left field wall that followed Taylor's blast in the sixth inning.
For Tulane, two hitters had multi-homer games. Schaffer hit two over the fences while Bruno smacked out three. Honeck and Allain also recorded home runs for the Green Wave.
Tulane hit .522 as a team for the ball game

Those were some quick notes from today's ball game. Check back later for a preview of Monday's game story.

Jordan's high school coach's interview on TSR!

2009-04-08T03:34:00.004-04:00

I got the opportunity to interview Tyrone Slaughter, the head coach of Marcus Jordan at Whitney Young High School in Chicago, Ill., on Tuesday's radio show. He was an awesome guest and spoke about Jordan's decision to come to UCF, what his impact will be on the program and where he could be at the end of his career in black and gold. Check out the interview at the link below at the home website of TSR.

Tyrone Slaughter Interview

BREAKING NEWS: Marcus Jordan commits to UCF

2009-04-06T18:31:00.005-04:00

UPDATED AT 8:18 P.M.: It took just one official visit for Marcus Jordan, son of NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan, to decide where he will be spending the next four years playing college basketball.

After visiting UCF last weekend, Jordan gave his verbal commit to the university on Monday afternoon, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Barring any change, Jordan will seal his commitment to UCF when he signs his letter of intent on national signing day, which is April 15.

“He felt that it was a good fit for him,” said Tyrone Slaughter, Jordan’s High School Coach at Whitney Young in Chicago, in a phone interview. “He said that he had a couple of criteria by which he was using to choose the school he was going to go to. He said that when he got on campus it felt good to him and he said it was a place where he believed that he could play and be impactful.

“He believes that this is an opportunity to help the team win, so he felt good about that.”

The 6-foot-2, 180 pound Jordan is ranked as a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and is ranked in the top 150 recruits by both Rivals.com and ESPN.

Jordan has received interest from UCF for over a year, according to Slaughter. In addition to UCF, Jordan had received offers from Iowa, Miami, Stanford and Butler. According to Rivals.com, he was also receiving interest from schools like Oklahoma, Michigan State, Davidson and Florida, although none of them offered him a scholarship.

He was unable to be reached for an interview.

A big factor in his decision was the opportunity to reunite with his high school teammate A.J. Rompza, who played with Jordan two seasons ago and was his host for his recruiting trip last weekend.

“The other overriding factor here is that he had a former teammate who he had considered a close friend on the team in A.J. Rompza,” Slaughter said to the Orlando Sentinel. “He felt very good about it and enjoyed his whole experience there.”

Jordan began to receive serious interest from Division I programs after leading his high school team to the Class 4A State Championship last month with a 69-66 win over Waukegan. He had a game-high 19 points and five rebounds in the game. During the regular season, Jordan averaged 16.8 points and 8.5 rebounds per game.

The commitment by Jordan was set up by his visit on the weekend of Mar. 28, where he met coaches, toured the campus and facilities and enjoyed Orlando nightlife.

“He enjoyed the visit and thought it was very good,” Slaughter said. “He enjoyed being there and he thought the campus was nice. He was pleasantly pleased with the visit.”

Jordan was able to talk to the coaching staff during his visit and is excited to play under head coach Kirk Speraw, who will be entering his 17^th season with the program. He is expected to get a chance to start right away for UCF.

“He seemed to have a good, fond affection for the coaches in the time that he got the opportunity to know them,” Slaughter said. “Marcus has a very keen sense of people, so I trust his judgment. I’m sure he had an opportunity to speak about coach with A.J. [Rompza], who I’m sure had positive things to say.”

Jordan’s impact has already been felt for the program. His decision has led friend and AAU teammate Nik Garcia to also verbally commit to play for UCF. Both Garcia and Jordan played together on the Rising Stars and both visited UCF together last week.

Garcia, the Evanston High standout, is ranked as a three-star prospect on Rivals.com and is listed as the 141 best player in the 2009 class. He received offers from Alabama and Providence, but chose UCF over both to play alongside Jordan.

Slaughter knows that Jordan can be successful at UCF. He is healthy after having surgery on his ankle before his senior year and his coach knows his impact at UCF will be immediate.

“I think his impact is going to be phenomenal given the fact that he is going to be healthy for the first time in the last couple of years,” he said. “He will be in the best physical condition that he has ever been in, I believe. He has tremendous basketball IQ, he plays the game the right way and before anything else his number one objective is to win.”

UCF Spring Football Update

2009-04-04T17:51:00.006-04:00

Today was the second 90-minute scrimmage of the spring for the UCF Football team. Here are some of the notes from today:

It was a large crowd of media, fans, recruits and former players, including defensive back Sha'reef Rashad who was in attendance.

UCF's WR corp was depleted today with five guys out with injuries. Rocky Ross also saw limited work today.

WR Jamar Newsome (9) looked impressive on a couple of plays today. He has a lot of speed and should be featured more in the Charlie Taaffe offense this season.

QB Rob Calabrese looked good commanding the huddle despite his incosistent play today, although the entire offense looked lax.

The defense was fired up today and looked a lot better this scrimmage than they did last Saturday. Guys were filling holes and only gave up a couple of big plays to the running backs.

Two things we didn't see a lot for UCF's offense last season, screen plays and the long ball, were both featured today. There were a couple of missed attempts by Calabrese down field, but the screen passes worked well today.

RS Freshman WR Marquee Williams looked really good on a couple of plays today. He had a couple of long catches, including one where he had a pretty little juke move to gain about five more yards.

O'Leary had a funny play where the Knights tried to convert on a 4th and one, the call was that it was a turnover on downs and O'Leary pretty much told the refs no and it was a first down. The whole crowd laughed and joked that they wish it was that way during the season. O'Leary later confirmed that the head ref behind him actually called it a first down and he was just reassuring that.

Newsome and Latavius Murray had two touchdowns for the offense. Murray also helped the Knights get a FG with a nice 50-yard scamper.

The offense was really inconsistent on the day, but the defense really looked good. It's good for the offensive line to play against such a good defensive line because it will prepare them well for the top defenses in conference.

That's all I have for today. I'll be at practice this week and will also have a story in Monday's CFF about this scrimmage and Mike Greco's transition to safety. I will also be covering next week's Spring tailgate.

UCF Baseball/Spring Football updates!

2009-04-03T12:14:00.005-04:00

Just wrapped up my interviews with Greco, Coach Huxtable and George O'Leary at spring practice today. I'll be putting together a story on Greco and his progression from quarterback to safety. I got to practice a little late today, so I didn't get the see a lot of drills, but tomorrow is a scrimmage starting at 1:00 so I will be there for that and will be posting my thoughts.

As for baseball, they kick off a series tonight in Memphis, Tenn. when they take on the Tigers for a three-game series through Sunday. Today's game started at 11:00 A.M. so I will have an update for you after its done.

JT to show off dunks tonight on ESPN

2009-04-02T12:23:00.003-04:00

The nation will get to see just what UCF fans have been accustom to the last four years. Jermaine Taylor will compete in the Vegas.com Slam Dunk Championship tonight at Ford Field, home of the Final Four, and will show off some of the fantastic finishes he provided at UCF. The dunk contest will be broadcast live on ESPN at 9 p.m.

"I’ve been in six or seven dunk contests before, and I’ve always finished in the top two," Taylor said to the Orlando Sentinel. "I think I have a good chance of winning."

Here is the video that UCF sent into the dunk contest to help Taylor get the chance to compete:

JT Dunk Video

Greco story on the horizon

2009-04-02T12:18:00.004-04:00

I'll be heading out to Spring Football Practice tomorrow to give you another update on my thoughts on the team. I'll also be conducting interviews with Michael Greco, O'Leary and Coach Huxtable for a story on Greco's performance at safety. The story should be in Monday's edition of the CFF.

Jermaine Taylor recieves AP All-American Honorable Mention

2009-03-30T17:39:00.002-04:00

Here is the press release from UCFAA regarding Taylor gaining All-American recognition:

ORLANDO, Fla. (UCFAthletics.com) - Senior guard Jermaine Taylor (Tavares, Fla.) of the UCF men's basketball team received Associated Press All-America Honorable Mention honors Monday. The 2008-09 Conference USA Player of the Year, Taylor ranked third nationally in scoring at 26.2 points per game.

During the campaign, he established several UCF and Conference USA records. Taylor led the Knights in scoring in 29 of the team's 31 contests and recorded nine 30-point performances and one 40-point showing. In C-USA action, he averaged a league-record 29.1 points. His 466 points in conference play was also good for a C-USA record.

An All-C-USA First Team selection, Taylor was also named to the National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 11 First Team and the United States Basketball Writers Association All-District IV Team.

Taylor was one of two C-USA players who garnered AP All-America Honorable Mention recognition, joining Tyreke Evans of Memphis. Taylor is the first UCF player since the school joined the Division I ranks in 1984 to receive AP All-America honors.

The All-America teams were selected by the same 71-member national media panel that votes on the weekly AP Top 25.

Taylor concluded his career with 1,979 points, good for first on the UCF D-I register and fourth on the C-USA scoring list.

On Thursday, Taylor is slated to compete at the Vegas.com Slam Dunk Championship in Auburn Hills, Mich. Starting April 8, he will participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament in Virginia.

MJ's son checking out UCF

2009-03-29T17:21:00.005-04:00

MJ could be coming to play basketball at UCF. No, not Michael Jordan, but his son, Marcus. He spent time around UCF this weekend on a recruiting trip and was being courted around by current members of the UCF Basketball team.

Marcus, a senior, is coming off a week where he guided his team to the Class 4A State Championship with a 69-66 victory over Waukegan. He currently has a scholarship offer from UCF, which is one of five schools, including Miami, that has offered him.

Both Marcus and current UCF Basketball player A.J. Rompza played together at Whitney Young High School in Illinois. I'll look out for more updates on this and try to see where he might be leaning.

Kyle Israel feature to appear in tomorrow's CFF

2009-03-29T17:14:00.003-04:00

Here is a little preview of my story about Kyle Israel and his transition from UCF to Germany to play football. The full edition of the article will be released online tonight and will appear in print in tomorrow's Central Florida Future:

Kyle Israel has always been a local boy.

The 23-year-old grew up in the city of Orlando. He made a name for himself as a quarterback at University High School and was recruited by schools such as Florida State and Mississippi State to play football, but decided to stay local. He accepted a scholarship to play football at UCF, which is 2.2 miles down the road from where he calls home.

So it will all be pretty foreign to him on Wednesday when he boards a plane to Germany to start another chapter of his football life. It’s all a little overwhelming for a man who has never moved outside of his own zip code.

“I am nervous because I am from Orlando, have played college football in Orlando and I have spent a year after college football in Orlando,” Israel said. “This is the first time that I have ever really moved away and for me not to be moving away in America, but overseas, is something that is a little nerve-racking."

Israel, the Knights’ 2007 Conference USA Champion quarterback, signed a seasonal contract early last week to play football for the Dresden Monarchs of the German Football League. It’s a contract that will last from Apr. 1 to the end of September, and will pay him around $900.00 dollars a week in American money, The season will begin on April 18, where he will start his first game at quarterback since the Liberty Bowl against Mississippi State back on December 29, 2007. The expectations are high for a guy who hasn’t led a football team in over a year.

“These guys train year round and I am jumping on their team and being expected to be in the top condition as well as kind of lead these guys to some type of championship, because that is what they expect, especially from a quarterback,” Israel said. “I am going in as a starter so there is really no room for error for me.”

Check out tomorrow's edition of the CFF for the full version of the story.

JU sweeps UCF with big innings

2009-03-26T12:08:00.003-04:00

Photo courtesy of UCFSports.com

Here is a little preview for my UCF Baseball story against JU that comes out in Friday's edition of the Central Florida Future:

Giving up the big inning has been a huge problem for the UCF Baseball team so far this season. UCF has given up four or more runs in an inning 14 times this season, with two of those coming against Jacksonville on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Knights (7-17 overall, 0-3 in Conference USA) gave up seven runs in the first inning on Tuesday at Jay Bergman Field en route to a 14-9 loss. Wednesday’s game at Jacksonville wasn’t any better, with the Knights giving up seven runs in the eighth inning to let JU (14-8) sweep the two-game series with a 9-5 win.

“You can’t go out there and give up big innings early and expect to constantly battle back and put yourself in position to win,” head coach Terry Rooney said after Tuesday’s game. “I thought the guys battled all day and we scratched and clawed and we did some good things offensively, but the bottom line is we need to get off to a good start.”

In the final game of the series, the Knights held a 5-2 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth inning when D.J. Hicks replaced Jaager Good on the mound. It all fell apart from there. Hicks walked the first batter he faced and saw the lead cut to 5-4 off Alex Swenson’s bat, when he drove a 0-1 pitch over the left field fence for a home run.

Hicks allowed two more runners to get on but found himself in a favorable situation with two outs and Jamal Hawkins up to bat. Hawkins had been 1-for-4 before that at bat, but he smoked a double to left, plating two runs and erasing the Knight lead for good. It’s that big inning that led to another UCF loss, their seventh straight.

Former Knight Israel to play football in Germany

2009-03-25T20:20:00.000-04:00

Kyle Israel, the former Conference USA Champion quarterback for UCF in 2007, has signed a deal to play football with the Dresden Monarchs in Germany. Details of the contract aren't released, but he will be leaving this Tuesday to join the team and begin workouts before the season starts on April18. Be on the lookout for a story in Monday's edition of the Central Florida Future about Israel and his chance to play football overseas.

TSR Spring Football Update: 3-25-09

2009-03-25T13:06:00.000-04:00

Photo courtesy of UCFSports.com

Just left spring practice and had a couple of news and notes to hit on. Unfortunately, I focused on snagging Michael Greco, who made the move from QB to safety in the off-season, for some quotes after practice and he wasn't able to speak with me so I will have that story for Friday and it will go in Monday's issue of the CFF. Other than that, here are some of my observations of today's practice:

Players had pads on today so they are starting to get more physical, especially the defense, as we get deeper into spring.
The offensive line looked impressive today, especially the first team. Steven "Moose" Robinson is making strides and it's good to see Theo Goins adjusting well to the offensive line.
Brynn Harvey, who is listed as the top running back on the spring depth chart, was making really good cuts behind the offensive line in drills today. He seems a lot less tentative this season than he was heading into last year. I guess that year of experience is making a difference.
James Poe was also really impressive to me with the second unit. He seems to be climbing up the depth chart, now playing with the second team offense ahead of Latavius Murray and Ronnie Weaver. He is really big and strong and creates holes for himself with his power.
Greco looked spotty at the safety position today. He failed to remember one formation, but was making good reads on passes and nice breaks on recievers. He is currently working with the second unit on defense.
Blake Clingan was back in practice today, but without pads. He returned after being suspended from the first four workouts today and yesterdays practice after skipping class.
Rocky Ross and Rob Calabrese look to be developing a good chemistry so far early in spring. Calabrese hit Ross in stride on a couple of nice passes. Jamar Newsome is also seeing a lot of time on the field at receiver, but that might be because of the injury to Khymest Williams. I'll keep an eye on that.
Highly touted freshman Josh Robinson practiced with the first team defense for the second consecutive day.
Harvey, Poe, Brandon Davis, Latavius Murray and Ronnie Weaver were among the backs competing in blocking drills against UCF linebackers. Of them all, Harvey looked the sharpest with head coach George O'Leary even congradulating him for his good work.
During the scrimmage, the option was the first play run and Calabrese looked like he handled it very well. It seems like the offense is adjusting well to Taaffe's style, but that's just my first impression.
Derrick Hallman had a couple of hard hits on defense in the scrimmage, including one that made the entire defense shout.
Terrell Troup looked really active on the defense line in the scrimmage, especially one of the final plays of practice when he exploded through the line, stripped the ball from Harvey and recovered the fumble.

It was my first day out there at spring. I aplogize for the late updates, but school is getting to me. I'll have more updates to follow as I go out there. Be on the lookout for the Greco story and his transition on Friday/Monday!

UCF Baseball Notes

2009-03-24T22:08:00.001-04:00

The UCF Knights fell to Jacksonville 14-9 at Jay Bergman Field on Tuesday night. Here are a couple of the notes and things I noticed:

Shane Brown finished the game 4-for-6 with three RBIs and hit his third homer of the year. He extended his career-high hitting streak to 15 games. He continues to be the hottest hitter (besides Brandon Romans) on this team and is starting the get more comfortable in the No. 3 hole as the season progresses. I wouldn't be surprised if his power swing starts to return in the next couple of games.
Jake Huxtable is turning into quite a nice surprise for the baseball team. He hit his second career home run and drove in two runs in the ballgame. He also started at third base with Brown manning right field. He looked impressive at third and continues to earn himself more playing time.
Brennan Dobbins started the game for UCF and didn't last through the first inning, giving up seven runs in 1/3 innings pitched. His ERA blew up to 17.76 this year through now seven appearances.
Kiko Vazquez finally got back into his hitting groove, finishing the day 3-for-5 at the plate with two RBIs. His average continues to fluctuate during the season with it now being up to .272.
The Knights seem to be one "big" inning away from getting on the winning track. UCF allowed seven runs to cross the plate in the opening frame and that's what made the difference in the game. In the Florida and ECU series, the same was the case.
In the post-game press conference, Rooney alluded to the fact that this team will not get better unless the starting pitching improves. He also mentioned that he is fixing the areas of weakness in recruiting and assured Brandon Helwig and I that he is getting the players of high talent right now in recruiting.
The Knights continued to struggle in the field, committing three errors on the night and also making fundamental mistakes during the game. There were also a lot of errors that could have ended the inning, but the following pitch ended up over the fence or kept the inning alive.

Check back later tonight for a full recap of the game as well as the post-game audio. As always, you can read my stories every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the Central Florida Future.

Spring Football Update

2009-03-24T21:32:00.000-04:00

I'll be going to Spring Football Practice tomorrow. I'll have updates and interviews to follow.