Men's Lacrosse Pre-Season

It's just about time to start talking LAX. Men's Lacrosse had an unreal run to the Final 4 last season. It was great to see the program really break out and wind up having their best season in history. This year's squad has been picked #2 in the pre-season CAA rankings and 13th nationally. Here's a link to an article over that the official site with a whole lot more info. to get you excited about the upcoming season: UD Lacrosse.

VCU @ George Mason

Had a chance to watch a great game between the two best teams in the CAA last night on ESPN2. This was a rare treat for a New Yorker to enjoy a great CAA tilt. It might be tough for us to get two teams in the tourney this year but I think both of these teams are deserving of a bid. I also think both could easily knock off a team or two if given the opportunity to dance. But, and you knew there was a but with this being a Blue Hens site, there are several teams in this league that are capable of running the table in March in Richmond, and I'm happy to say that the Hens are definitely one of those teams. All it takes is getting hot at the right time.

Here's a recap of the game from CAA.com: VCU @ Mason Recap

One more quick note about this game. I was feeling some serious conference pride at seeing and hearing and feeling the atmosphere at the Patriot Center. The crowd was absolutely rocking. And I hope a bunch of people flipped back and forth between ESPN and ESPN2 during this game. ESPN had Ohio St. @ Penn St., and the atmosphere was tomblike at Penn St. Now I know Penn St. is not exactly known for hoops, but it's still a nationally televised Big Ten game. It felt great that the CAA atmosphere just blew away the Big Ten atmosphere.

Fighting Irish to Fightin' Blue Hen

From delawareonline: "Leo Ferrine, a cornerback who played in 28 football games for Notre Dame with two starts the last three years, expects to use his final season of eligibility at the University of Delaware, his father said Sunday."

Never hurts to have big time program talent providing some depth, even if he only started a couple of games.

Here's the full article: delawareonline.com

More Flacco

OK. This is, I hope, the last Senior Bowl related post I write. Now that the game is over (which apparently no one associated with the NFL cares about), and all the practices and evaluations are completed, I figured it would be a good idea to mention at least one wrap-up. Here is Todd McShay's (ESPN/Scoutc Inc.) Top 5 Offensive Players. This is ESPN Insider content. So I've cut and pasted his list below. For the full article, here is the link: Senior Bowl Wrap-Up. Needless to say, Joe Flacco had a great all around week. He's now being projected as a Second Round pick. I'm not holding my breath on that. I do believe he is deserving of a selection that high, but I also think NFL execs. get a little nervous when they're on the clock and they tend to gravitate towards the larger more well known programs. I hope I'm wrong, because a Second Round pick would be fantastic exposure for UD Football. We'll see on April 26th.

Top five offensive players

1. Chris Williams, OT, Vanderbilt

Biggest pro: Agility.

Biggest con: Explosive power.

Draft projection: First round.

2. Sam Baker, OT, Southern California

Biggest pro: Agility.

Biggest con: Bulk/strength.

Draft projection: First round.

3. Lavelle Hawkins, WR, California

Biggest pro: Precision route-runner.

Biggest con: Bulk/strength.

Draft projection: Late-first or early-second round.

4. Chad Henne, QB, Michigan

Biggest pro: Efficiency as a pocket passer.

Biggest con: Inability to make plays outside the pocket.

Draft projection: Second round.

5. Joe Flacco, QB, Delaware

Biggest pro: Prototypical size/arm.

Biggest con: Adjustment from small-school, shotgun-heavy offense.

Draft projection: Second round.

Men's Hoops Gets Bit by Panthers

See, this can't happen. Not when you're making statements in a very tough league. After a very rough road trip, that was salvaged by a last second win at James Madison, you can't come home and get beat by a bottom dwelling Georgia State squad. I know, I know. We were picked to finish down at the bottom of the league. We've almost doubled last years wins total already. But those things aren't relevant anymore. We're right in the middle of this thing. We have a chance to make some real noise in the CAA, and making noise in the CAA is heard on a national level. The bottom line is this. We need to beat who we're supposed to beat. And we're supposed to beat Georgia State. We'll keep fightin'. I think Monte will have the boys ready for Northeastern.

Here's the ESPN recap: Link

ESPN: Flacco Scouting Report

Clearly I'm really enjoying all the coverage that Joe Flacco is getting. Here is a screenshot of Joe gracing the homepage of ESPN's college football section.

They do a nice job with their scouting reports, grading the players on several different categories. Here is the link to Joe's breakdown: Flacco Scouting Report . I believe you have to be an ESPN Insider to view this content.

SI.com: Flacco's Stock Rising

According to SI.com, now that the Senior Bowl practices have concluded, Joe Flacco's stock is seriously on the rise.

Here is the link: SI.com

Here is the blurb about Flacco:

Joe Flacco, QB, Delaware

Scouts were almost unanimous in their praise of Flacco this week, most claiming he was the only first-round quarterback in attendance. He displayed all the physical skills necessary to lead a team at the next level and flashed brilliance on a number of occasions. Flacco's biggest problem all week were fumbled snaps, something that happened quite often and was the result of the shotgun offense he played in the past two years. NFL insiders feel if Flacco played for a big time program the past two seasons he would be a top 15 selection.

Link to Senior Bowl site (which could use a redesign): SeniorBowl.com

Flacco at Senior Bowl Practice

NFL Network has some cool footage online of Joe Flacco practicing. Announcers Mike Mayock, Paul Burmeister and Charles Davis were pretty impressed with Joe. When you're using terms like "live ball" and "throwing down hill" to describe a QB then you are certainly giving him some high grades.

Here's the link: NFL Network Videos

Here's a link to a Rivals interview with Joe: Rivals.com

This is a good spot to post that 2007 highlight video that's on YouTube:

Joe Flacco 2007 Highlight Reel

Blue Hens Men's Hoops on ESPN Weekly Watch

What better way to get things rollin' on Blue Hen Country than to highlight Monte' Ross' upstart hoops team getting some nice pub. on ESPN.com's Weekly watch for two straight weeks. Granted, the first week was the good kind of pub. This week, not so good. But hey, the way things have gone on the hardwood the last few years, I'm just happy to be in the conversation. In case you missed it, the Blue Hens were the Weekly Watch's "Team of the Week" last week after huge home wins over George Mason and ODU. This week the mention brings us down to earth a bit, after being whipped by VCU and a tough OT loss at Northeastern. But again, I'll take the national press for this program any way I can get it. This week's Weekly Watch we're mentioned in the "Erratic Week" list. Can't really argue with that. Since then though, we ended the tough road trip with a last second win at James Madison which has us at 6-2 in the conference. One game behind VCU and right in the thick of things. Keep it up Monte.