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“Aztecs Football–New Era-Next Head Coach”

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It’s Brady’s Hokey team now.

The ‘Rocky Long era completed a superb run when the longtime coach elected not to take an offer to remain on the Aztecs staff, and instead foot the Defensive Coordinators job at New Mexico.

Brady Hoke comments:

..Always exciting at end of recruiting class…
..Signed 6-on Wednesday to go with 12-early.

..Jaylen Amsted….Rushed for 1100…averaged 7.8YPC..big and tough runner
..Aaron Green…6’4-257-blocking tight end
..Sebastian Hernandez…Huge OT from Cerritos College

..We also signed 2-linebackers from out of state.

..18-total in the class…8-on offense…10-on defense
..Our needs suggested heavy in offensive line
..We needed young DBs…signed 6-of them

..Guys fit our profile….athletes…integrity…love for the game
..Thin year locally…only 2-signed…not as ;many Division 1-guys in the market
..Recruiting is life blood of the program…we have great relationship locally with schools
..Will agree we have a lot of local kids already here.

..Coaching change not make an impact …12-early signings stayed with us.
..We did not need immediate fixes so not many junior colleges.

..Will hold scholarship or two because of grad transfers.
..Jack Sears-good question to ask him-why he left
..New staff…alot of ‘getting to know each other right now’…6-weeks conditioning

..Coaches already meeting to talk about the terminology of learning 3-3-5 defense
..Learn what we will do in terms of coding-play calls-on offense

..The delivery of the product may be different, but our culture will be difference.
..Leadersnip will remain the same…meeting with each upper class

..New coordinators….Jeff Hecklinski-Kurt Mannix..great teachers..great track record…I hired them because they are good.

…Evaluate 2019 season…if team doesn’t score they can’t beat you.
..If you can’t score-tough time winning.
..Great combo of being physical-ground and pound offense…we will run 2-back and 1-back sets
..Jeff has thrown the ball well everywhere he has been.
..There will be a lot of little things we will look at …all the little things in spring camp important teaching
..Yes fans like seeing passing yards and all that…but what they like is ‘winning’
..We blitzed a lot because we had great playmakers
..We have 4-young QBs-they will all complete for the job…there is a blank slate to learn.

..There is a lot that will happen at different schools with transfer QBs..why we kept grants open
..We have 21 coming up in senior class..there will..there will be full allotment scholarships next year .

..We tried like hell to get Rocky Long to stay…but love him, except the 4-hours we will play New Mexico.
..It was lifestyle-family-football choice for him

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“Aztecs Basketball–Greatest Year Ever”

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I said 4-weeks ago, I thought San Diego State could roll thru an unbeaten season.

Coach Brian Dutcher did not want to touch that question, but here we are with an Aztecs team (23-0), still ranked 4th in the nation, with only 6-games left in the campaign, and a definite chance they could go higher than the 4th place they have in the AP-poll.

Name the game, they will play it.  Transition, they are averaging 75 a game, shooting 47% from the floor and a staggering 38% from the three point line..
Defensively they are giving up 57 per nite.

Want to grind and bang, no problem.  Holding the other guy to 37% shooting.  Out rebounding them (36-32).  Holding them to an anemic (37%) shooting from the floor….just 27% from the arc.

Oh by the way, SDSU has forced 333-turnvoers and blocked 121-shots, which means the other team has had (554) possessions they did not score on.

Amazing, just amazing.  On to Air Force next on Saturday.

Man, they are playing some kind of basketball on Montezuma Mesa.

Coach Brian Dutcher’s comments:

..Great win over Utah State…Kawhi Leonard jersey…atmosphere …perfect time
..Bye week…rest legs…get some practice young players
..Look who Air Force has beaten at home…Utah State-Boise
..Air Force-never know what you get…altitude…smart…play hard…senioirs…shoot threes
..Air Force seniors have won a lot of games
..Their athletes have such a regimented day…what they do on-off court
..Kids committed to academics-basketballs…great respect what they do with careers
..Air Force uses great equalizer…their 3-point shots…they shoot a lot of them
..They run Princeton offense…they get a lot of threes
..Look at seedings-where you might play…I don’t look at that stuff
..We want to hang a banner-win the Mountain West…then move to the NCAA tourney
..I want my players wired like me.
..I want to stay in the West..play close to home to get to Staples Center
..I question where our heads are at when we practice
..We have taken a lot of time off this week…3-days limited practice…get them off legs
..Utah State made 9-3’s on us…anyone can do that to
..Experience on defense has helped us a lot
..Nathan Mensah doing individual drills…shooting…hope to have him back for Mountain West Tourney or the NCAAs.

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Matt Mitchell Comments.
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..Saturday…be living in entire moment…was fun to be in the experience
..My freshman year I had 31…hit 7-3s in that game…been a long time
..Of course we think about rankings-seedings…trying not to get ahead of things
..Very hard to stay in the moment..not look forward
..Woujld be a big deal to be a number 1-seed..we still have something to prove
..NCAAs….staying on West Coast-location would be good
..Playing on East Coast would be fun too
..Good to be down 10-vs Utah State…down against Iowa…good to have adversity
..We learn we are not invincible
..Our young players have tough transition from high school…not going to average 28 per game
..You learn to play hard both sides of the ball
..Environment on campus is exciting…living the moment

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“Baseball–At the Deadline–Things Changed”

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The Dodgers have Mookie Betts and David Price, and they still have virtually all their top young prospects in Los Angeles.

The Padres retained all their bright light young pitching, but they are stuck with underachiever Wil Myers, and lots of question marks in a lineup that was supposed to be ready to challenge for a playoff spot.

The Dodgers have positioned themselves to go back to the World Series.  The Padres forever remain a 2nd class citizen in the National League West.

Added to all this, is what happened on the final day of the bidding, as Boston told the Dodgers and Padres, make your best and last bid.

Dodgers ownership rammed thru a pretty good deal.  I am told the Padres ownership said they were not eating 30M of the bad contract that AJ Preller gave Wil Myers years ago.

Everybody was playing ‘chicken’ at the end.

Boston defrocked their roster, letting go of Mookie Betts and his MVP talent and agreeing to eat 45M of the Price contract to get him off the books.  Goodbye pennant hopes this year, at least if you look at the Red Sox starting rotation.

Yes Alex Verdugo will hit homers at Fenway Park, and maybe they have a closer for the future in Brudsar Gratesol, who came at the end of the deal.

The Dodgers swapped out Kenta Maeda, who went to the Twins for Gratesol, who was shipped to Boston.  They replace Maeda with Price, at half of the 96M-that was left on the deal.

To make sure they stay below the luxury tax, the Dodgers shipped Joc Pederson, his home runs, his strikeouts, his 9M contract to the Angels for a 2nd baseman for the future in Luis Rengifo.

The Dodges add a full-time star in Betts, a frontline starter in Price, and wake up in the morning with all their bluechip players still in LA, most notably Gavin Lux and Dustin May, and they are below the luxury tax still.  Now the challenge,  re-sign Betts, but this is LA, where there is big tradition and lots of money.  Betts joins names like Bellinger-Turner-Seager-Pollock in the middle of a pretty good batting order.  And that rotation looks special again, Price-Kershaw-Beuhler-Urias and more.

As the sun comes up on San Diego, it is apparent ownership has tightened the screws on GM-AJ Preller.  Ownership is no longer willing to let him burn thru dollars and dollars, to make up for the bad mistakes he has made in the past.  No, we’re not paying 30M to get rid of Wil Myers.  The bad flashbacks of Justin Upton, Melvin Upton, James Shields, Phil Hughes, Ian Kinsler, Matt Kemp and others are now stapled to Preller’s resume.

it is evident to me, Padres ownership has told Preller, you promised to win if we gave you tons of money to sign these young prospects, so it’s time for those kids you threw money at, to win.  And if they don’t you will be held accountable.

So the Dodgers win at the trade table.  The Padres lose out again, after trying to make all these off season deals, Boston, Cleveland etc.

LA looks like it will win.  The Padres have to prove they can win.  Preller better home they win, or he might lose his job.

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“NFL Notebook–Stories Everywhere”

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SUPER BOWL…The teams flew home on Monday, the Chiefs to a city-wide parade with the Lombardi Trophy-Lamar Hunt Trophy on Wednesday, a time to reflect back on the Hunt family, the owners of the Chiefs dating back to the AFL-Days.  The amazing comebacks, three of them in a row in the postseason, wiping out 10-point deficits and a 24-point deficit in the playoff wins.

MAHOMES THE MAN…The Chiefs young star did nothing for 39-minutes, in fact, was sacked four times, and threw two interceptions.  And then just like that, a 44-yard pass play to Tyreek Hill, a 38-yarder to Sammy Watkins, and just like that, 3-TD drives, and an emotional come-from-behind win in the process.  Mahomes finished (286Y-2TD-2Int) day.  He was sacked 4-times, hit 8-times, and pressured 14-other times out of the pocket, and yet there he was with 5-minutes left triggering a comeback for the ages.

HAUNTED…Kyle Shanahan won’t have an easy off season, with this second Super Bowl collapse, coming on the heels of his first Super Bowl calamity while in New England.  On Sunday, the Chiefs scored 3-TDs on offense in a 5-minute span…running up (190Y) offense on just 19-snaps on the final 3-scoring drives.  The Niners, in their final 3-possessions, ran 15-plays for just 64-yards in the loss.

SHANAHAN NIGHTMARE…  Add in what happened to Shanahan in the 4th quarter of the Atlanta loss to New England in the Super Bowl, and it is not a pretty thought to carry into the off season.  In the final 7-posessions of those two Super Bowls,  Shanahan’s teams ran 20-plays in 7-series, threw an interception, fumbled, stopped on 4th downs and had 4-punts.  His teams were outscored (46-0) in the final quarter of those two Super Bowl losses as they had leads, lost leads, lost the games.

QB QUANDRY….Just like that, things will fall into place with free agency about to begin.  Sources say the Chargers want to franchise tag QB-Philip Rivers (27M).  New England is offering Tom Brady (2Y-60M) to return.  The Saints have asked Drew Brees to play another year and be the bridge to QB of the future Taysom Hill.  Eli Manning has retired and may be headed to a front office job.  The top 4-QBs about to come off the free agent board.

TIER TWO QBS…..But watch for movement quickly.  Tampa Bay may not want to keep big yardage-big turnover QB-Jameis Winston.  The Saints have told Teddy Bridgewater they cannot afford to keep him.  Marcus Mariota is likely out of Tennessee with the Titans spending money to keep Ryan Tannehill.

KID QBS…Here comes the NFL combines and now the great debate, where does LSU’s-Joe Burrow go?  Is Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama the second best QB coming off hip surgery?  Is Justin Herbert-Oregon a quality QB or a Joey Harrington-product of the system guy coming out of the Ducks program?  Later in that opening round, Jake Fromm-Georgia and Jacob Eason-Washington and Jordan Love-Utah State, will likely be taken, but none of them seem equal to the gang at the top of the board.

PECKING ORDER….The NFL draft board shows 3-teams desperately needing QBs for the future.  Cincinnati (1)….Miami (5)…Chargers (6) could sweep the top QB-talent off the board within the first hour of the NFL draft.

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“Super Bowl–Super Finish”

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I told you what would happen, and it did.

I projected the Chiefs would beat the 49ers (30-20) on KUSI-TV on Sunday morning.  The Chiefs won (31-20) on Sunday night.

I said you could get excited if the Niners shutdown Chiefs QB-Patrick Mahomes for 3-possessions in a row, but what would happen the other 4-times he had the ball?  San Francisco shut him down for 39-minutes-kept him out of the end zone 3-times, then watched Mahomes lead Kansas City on 3-scoring drives in the final 5-minuts of the game.

I know what I know about the NFL.

San Francisco did everything they had to do, for 39-minutes in the game, then died in the fourth quarter.

Mahomes hit big plays when he had to, a 44-yard pass to Tyreek Hill leading to a TD, then a 38-yard pass to Sammy Watkins, leading to another TD pass in the final quarter to get the lead.  Then his running back Damien Williams bolted 38-yards for the game clinching score with 1-minute left to end it.

You may slow Mahomes down during the game, but history shows as long as he has possessions, he can lead his team to scores.  It’s the third straight come from behind win for the Chiefs quarterback in this years playoffs.

This Super Bowl Sunday night win was even more impressive than the KC rally, coming from a (24-0) deficit, in beating the Houston Texans in a home playoff game.  This was just as gritty a win as the AFC-title win, roaring back to eliminate the Tennessee Titans.  They did this against the NFL bully-boys on defense wearing the helmet with ‘SF’ on the side decal.

San Francisco battered the KC-QB.  2-sacks, 8-hits, an astounding 14-pressures chasing him out of the pocket, and yet Mahomes persevered.  The Chiefs wound up with 19-plays of 9-yards or more in the win, an impressive number considering this was the most impressive defense in the NFL.

The San Francisco pass rush was enormous, led by Nick Boss and DeForest Buckner.  The defense knocked the Chiefs out of their offensive rhythm in the game.  San Fran had carved out a (20-10) lead with just 5-minutes left.

Credit the Chiefs blitz happy defense for making critical plays when they needed it.  On the final 3-San Francisco possessions with the game on the line, Chris Jones-Frank Clark and the KC front, had a huge 4th down quarterback sack to take over on downs….picked off a pass…and forced San Francisco into a 3-and-out.  They got tougher and tougher as the game went on.

In what was supposed to be a game of spectacular fireworks on offense, it turned out to be a street fight-slugfest on defense.

The first Super Bowl win in 50-years for Kansas City, dating back to the old days of Hank Stram and the old AFL.

For San Francisco, a bitter loss, just five minutes away from victory when the Kansas City earthquake fell in on them.

Great game, great finish.  Great win-KC.  Great loss for San Francisco.

For me, as I projected it to be, a Chiefs win.

Super game-super finish–super prediction too.

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