April 9, 2008

2008 C-USA Spring Football Prospectus

IRVING, Texas - Conference USA's 2008 football season begins on Thursday, August 28 when UTEP visits Buffalo in one of the first college football game of the year. While that is more than four months away, it's not too early to start preparing for the upcoming season. The C-USA Spring Football Prospectus contains quick facts, notes, statistics, rosters and depth charts on all 12 teams to help you prepare for the upcoming season.

SPRING FOOTBALL NOTES
EAST CAROLINA
The Pirates are coming off an 8-5 season in which they posted a school-best 6-2 record in C-USA play and capped the season with a thrilling 41-38 win over No. 22 Boise State in the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl. ECU closed the year by scoring 30 or more points in six of itslast seven C-USA games.

East Carolina will once again face one of the most challenging schedules in the nation. The Pirates will "host" ACC Champion Virginia Tech in Charlotte to open the season and then welcome Big East Champion West Virginia to Greenville the following week. ECU will visit rival N.C. State on Sept. 20 and travel to Virginia, which is coming off a New Year's Day bowl appearance, on Oct. 11.

East Carolina used two quarterbacks throughout the 2007 season. Patrick Pinkney played in all 13 games, making five starts. He completed 61 percent of his passes (121-of-200) for 1,358 yards and 11 touchdowns, while also rushing for 306 yards. Rob Kass made seven starts and played in 10 contests, passing for 1,164 yards and nine TDs.

Strong safety Van Eskridge was a second team All-Conference USA selection after leading the team with 104 tackles (55 solo). He also had 6.5 tackles for loss, an interception and a fumble return for a touchdown.

Defensive lineman Zack Slate had a team-high 11.5 tackles for loss last season, notching at least 1.5 TFL's in five games. He registered 49 total stops and forced two fumbles.

Wide receiver Jamar Bryant led the team in receptions (48), receiving yards (708) and tied for the lead in TD receptions (6). His 48 catches ranked as the eighth-highest single season total in school history.

HOUSTON
New head coach Kevin Sumlin became the first African-American to lead a Division I-FBS program in the state of Texas when he was hired in December 2008. Former North Texas head coach Matt Simon was hired in 1993 when the UNT program was a Division I-FCS member.

For the fourth time in the last five years, Houston played in a postseason bowl game. The Cougars squared off with former conference rival TCU in the second annual Texas Bowl at Reliant Stadium in Houston, falling to the Horned Frogs, 20-13. The Cougars' 8-5 record marked the first time since 1989-90 that UH has posted back-to-back winning seasons.

Senior DE Phillip Hunt is a member of the Lombardi Award preseason watch list. Hunt was a one-man wrecking crew on the Cougar defense, as his 10.5 sacks were tops in Conference USA and his 18 tackles for loss ranked second. Hunt was a first-team All-Conference selection and finished with 49 total tackles and a nation's best 10 pass breakups for a defensive lineman.

Quarterback Case Keenum was chosen as the league's Freshman of the Year by both the media and coaches. Despite splitting playing time with Blake Joseph for much of the season, Keenum completed 69 percent of his passes for 2,259 yards and 14 touchdowns. He threw for a career high 335 yards in the Texas Bowl.

The Cougars return their entire secondary in 2008. Cornerbacks Brandon Brinkley and Quinte Williams join safeties Kenneth Fontenette and Ernest Miller should be among UH's leading defensive performers this season.

MARSHALL
The Herd returns several experienced receivers, led by seniors Emmanuel Spann and Darius Passmore who combined for 1,102 receiving yards and seven touchdowns last season.

The tight end position has been a strong position for Marshall for the past two seasons and looks to be as potent as ever in 2008 with the return of the All-Conference USA and Mackey Award candidate Cody Slate. He led the Herd with 818 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 2007.

Marshall returns a solid mix of veterans and young talent from a year ago, headlined by a standout pair of sophomores, left guard Josh Evans and left tackle Brandon Campbell who started for the Herd as a redshirt freshmen in 2007. Senior Brian Leggett has started every game in the past two seaons and will look to fill in at center for the departed Doug Legursky.

Marshall returns its three primary producers at running back, including 2007 Conference USA All-Freshman team member Darius Marshall.

Senior FS C.J. Spillman led the Herd for the second consecutive season in tackles with 131 and headlines a veteran corps of defensive backs that includes John Saunders and Ashton Hall who accounted for 68 and 66 tackles last season, respectivey.

The defensive line should get a huge boost with the return of 2006 C-USA Defensive Player of the Year Albert McClellan and DL Montel Glasco who were sidelined a year ago with injuries.

MEMPHIS
There will be some steady competition at quarterback this spring as sophomore Matt Malouf, junior transfer Arkelon Hall, redshirt freshman Dallas Walker and junior Brett Toney all work towards garnering the top spot vacated by Martin Hankins who led the Tigers offensively the last two seasons.

Two Tigers return at tight end, led by senior Brett Russell, who has continued to improve throughout his career. He played all 13 games last season while totaling 22 receptions for 157 yards and two touchdowns. He has also been instrumental in the development of Deven Onarheim who played nine games as a redshirt freshman last year.

The Tigers will again be very deep on defense. The D-line is led by honors candidate Clinton McDonald who was selected by his teammates as a captain last year. He is the only junior to ever be named s captain since Tommy West took over the program in 2001.

WRs Carlos Singleton (6-8), Steven Joachim (6-4), Duke Calhoun (6-4), Steven Black (6-3), Maurice Jones (6-4) lead a tall group of targets at wideout for Memphis. Calhoun led the Tigers with 62 receptions and 890 yards last season.

Duke Calhoun also caught a pass in each of the 12 games he played in `07 and will enter 2008 on a 24-game receiving streak, which ranks third all-time at Memphis.

Kicker Matt Reagan and punter Brett Sutherland both return for the U of M in 2008. Reagan, who was named a C-USA All-Freshman honoree in 2006, finished last year as the leading scorer for his team with 80 points. Sutherland averaged 40.7 yards on 52 total punts.

RICE
The 2007 Owls virtually re-wrote the school's offensive record book, breaking nearly 40 school records. As a team, the Owls smashed their season and single-game records for passing attempts, completions, passing yards, touchdown passes and first downs, as well as the season mark for total offense. Heading into 2008, Rice will return players who were responsible for 371 of their school-record 377 points scored last season. Departed senior WR Joel Armstrong is the only Owl to score in 2007 who is not returning for 2008.

Senior QB Chase Clement broke a total of 18 school records last season. Clement finished the year with 3,377 yards passing and 6,741 career total offensive yards. He threw 29 touchdowns passes and ran for eight more scores. Clement became the first player in NCAA history to record consecutive games with over 300 yards passing and 100 yards rushing, accomplishing the feat against both UTEP and SMU.

Senior WR Jarett Dillard topped 1,000 yards for the second straight season, finishing with 1,057 on 79 receptions. Dillard led the league in touchdown catches for the second straight season, grabbing 14. He now has 40 career TD catches, making him just the eighth player in NCAA history to reach that mark. He needs just 10 TDs in 2008 to tie the NCAA career mark. Dillard is also the active career leader in catches, yardage and TDs heading into 2008.

Versatile James Casey earned second team Freshman All-American honors as a tight end for The Sporting News. Casey was second on the Owls this past season with 46 catches for 585 yards and four touchdowns. He tied for the team lead with three, 100-yard receiving games on the year, including back-to-back efforts to close out the season. Casey saw action at seven positions in a win at Southern Miss, rushing for 39 yards and a touchdown, catching two passes for 16 yards, throwing an interception on offense, and picking up a special teams tackle and two others for losses while at defensive end.

SMU
Director of Athletics Steve Orsini announced June Jones as the head football coach at SMU on January 7. Jones arrives on the Hilltop after nine years at Hawai`i, where he resurrected a downtrodden Warrior football program to make it one of the most exciting and competitive squads in the country. Jones led his Hawai`i teams to 76 wins -- the most by any Hawai`i coach -- two Western Athletic Conference Championships and six bowl-game appearances. He developed six All-Americans. Jones catapulted the Warrior program into the national rankings in his nine seasons, with Hawai`i ranking in the top 40 in seven of his nine years, including a top-10 ranking and a Suger Bowl appearance in 2007.

With new head coach June Jones on staff, SMU is now one of only six schools nationwide to have former National Coaches of the Year at the helms of both its football and men's basketball programs (Matt Doherty).

Taking over a team that went 1-11 last season, June Jones will attempt to turn around another program. In 1998, Hawai`i suffered its first-ever winless season. The following year, the first under Jones, the Warriors went 9-4, marking the biggest turnaround in NCAA history.

With 18 career receiving TDs, junior wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders enters the season with a good shot at breaking SMU's all-time record of 25 (Emanuel Tolbert, 1976-79).

Senior punter/kicker Thomas Morstead enters the season having hit 77 consecutive PATs and boasting an SMU-record 44.3-yard career punting average. Morstead led C-USA with a 44.6 yards per punt average and was named first team All-Conference USA at punter.

SOUTHERN MISS
Larry Fedora became the 18th coach in the history of Southern Miss as the school plays its 92nd year of football in 2008. Fedora comes to Southern Miss after spending the last three seasons as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State. The Cowboys were in the top 10 in rushing yards per game and in the top 20 in total offense per game in each of the last two seasons. During Fedora's three-year tenure at OSU, the Cowboys raised their rushing, passing and total offensive yards each year that he was there. In 2006, the Cowboys were one of just two teams - the other being Boise State - to average more than 200 yards both rushing and passing.

The Golden Eagles made their 18th appearance in a bowl game when they played in the Papajohns.com Bowl in Birmingham, Ala., last December. Southern Miss has appeared in a post-season bowl game for six consecutive seasons and 10 out of the last 11. The Golden Eagles finished 7-6 for the team's 14th straight winning season.

Junior RB Damion Fletcher carried 29 times for 155 yards in the Papajohns.com Bowl to finish the season with a single-season best 1,586 yards and 15 rushing scores. He has recorded a total of 16, 100-yard rushing games in his first two seasons at USM, along with seven multi-touchdown games on the ground and 26 career scores. Fletcher already ranks fourth on the school's all-time rushing list with 2,974 yards and needs just 622 yards to become the leader.

Junior linebacker Gerald McRath is a preseason candidate for the Lombardi Award. McRath, the reigning Conference USA Defensive Player of the Year, led the Golden Eagles with 139 tackles last season to go along with 12 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, three passes broken up and one forced fumble. For his career, he has tallied 249 career stops, including 23 TFLs and 6.5 sacks. Last season, he tallied seven games in which he recorded 10 or more tackles including a career-best 21 at home against UCF.

TULANE
Junior WR Jeremy Williams returns in 2008 after playing in all 12 games for the Green Wave in 2007. He earned four starts. Williams led the team with 46 catches, 773 receiving yards and five TDs.

Senior LG Michael Parenton, a three-year letterman, has started 34 of 35 games during his career. He was named to the Lombardi Trophy watch list as one of the nation's top interior lineman during his junior campaign. Parenton has started 18 straight games and missed the only start of his career due to food poisoning prior to the UTEP game in 2006.

Senior DE Reggie Scott has played in 21 career games, including 12 starts in 2007. He received honorable mention All C-USA honors as a junior. Last season, he recorded 27 tackles (18 solo, 9 assists) along with four sacks, nine tackles for loss, two pass break-ups and three forced fumbles.

Junior DE Adam Kwentua is a two-year letterman and returning starter who has played in 24 career games with 10 starts. He played in all 12 games in 2007 and started 10. Kwentua tied for second on the team with four sacks while posting 20 tackles (16 solo, four assists) and five tackles for loss.

Junior QB Anthony Scelfo looks to return at the helm of the Green Wave. In 2007, Scelfo passed for 1,396 yards and six TDs.

Senior S David Skehan also returns to the Green Wave in 2008 after finishing 2007 with 66 tackles (39 solo, 27 assist). He led the team with four interceptions and was second on the squad with 10 pass break-ups.

TULSA
Tulsa returns nine offensive starters that led the nation in total offense with an average of 543.9 yards per game.

Tulsa became the first school in NCAA history to have one 5,000-yard passer, three 1,000-yard receivers and one 1,000-yard rusher. All three receivers (Trae Johnson, Brennan Marion, Charles Clay) and the rusher (Tarrion Adams) return this season for Tulsa. The trio of receivers -- all returning for 2008 -- with 1,000+ yards marked only the third time in NCAA history that a team had three 1,000+ receivers in the same season.

Sophomores Trae Johnson and Charles Clay became the first freshmen in school history to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards last season.

Tulsa has made a bowl appearance in four of the last five years, and last year's appearance in the GMAC Bowl made it three consecutive bowl game appearances.

Courtney Tennial received a sixth-year of eligibility after suffering a foot injury in the preseason. In 2006, he had 16 touchdowns (14 rushing, 2 receiving), which is the second-most touchdowns for a single-season in school history.

Tulsa posted 10 wins last year for just the sixth time in school history.

Tulsa returns WR Brennan Marion, the C-USA Newcomer of the Year, who broke a 30-year NCAA record for highest average gain per reception in 2007. He averaged 31.9 yards per catch last year.

UAB
Head coach Neil Callaway looked to rebuild UAB with a large number of new faces in his first season. The Blazers finished last season with 14 true freshmen that saw action, including 12 that were on the field beginning with the season opener.

Senior S Will Dunbar was a first team All-Conference USA selection after leading the league in tackles per game (12.2), registering 122 stops, the third-highest total in school history.

Senior PK Swayze Waters was a first team All-C-USA selection after finishing the season 22-of-28 on field goal attempts, setting a new UAB single-season record for field goals. Waters was a 2007 Lou Groza Award semifinalist. He also served as the Blazers punter, ranking fourth in C-USA with a 41.4 yards average of 69 kicks.

Sophomore WR Frantrell Forrest finished the year with UAB two freshman records, catching 49 passes for 563 yards. His reception total represents the fifth-highest single-season number in UAB history.

Senior Joe Webb saw action at quarterback and wide receiver throughout the 2007 season. He completed 56 percent of his passes for 679 yards and five touchdowns, while catching 30 passes for 459 yards and three TDs. UAB's young offensive line allowed just 16 sacks all season, the second-lowest total in the league.

UCF
It is likely that only the first name of the Knights' starting running back will change in 2008 as Phillip Smith looks to take over the reigns as the team's top rushing threat. As as reserve in 2007, Smith, the only Texan on the squad, averaged 4.7 ypc and scored four TDs.

Senior Pat Brown is the key cog on the offensive line as he enters his fourth year as a starter along the front line. Brown has more starts at left tackle than any player at his position in the country. The Illinois native has started 38 consecutive games protecting his quarterback's blind side.

Rocky Ross is the only other returning senior starter on offense after leading the Knights in receptions (50) and receiving yards (658) as a junior. Ross went over the 100-catch plateau for his career in 2007 and has been a steady contributor for all three of his seasons at UCF.

Nine starters return to a defensive unit that picked off a school-record 24 passes in 2007. Seniors-to-be Joe Burnett and Johnell Neal were the first teammates in school history to pick off at least six passes in the same season. Burnett ranks second on the UCF career charts with 12 picks, which is tied for second among active returning players in the NCAA FBS.

Sophomore Bruce Miller, a 2007 All-Freshman performer, returns in 2008 after ranking fourth in C-USA with seven sacks. In all, 12 players return on defense for the Knights that registered at least one sack as those dozen players combined for 25.5 of the team's sacks in 2007.

UTEP
UTEP ranked in the Top 40 nationally in eight categories last season including turnovers gained (tied for 12th/29), interceptions (tied for 13th/18), punt returns (15th/13.6 avg.), turnover margin (tied for 17th/0.75), passing (25th/275.2 ypg) scoring offense (28th/33.6 ppg), passing efficiency (35th/134.95) and total offense (37th/422.8 ypg). The Miners set a school record with 5,074 yards of total offense and tied the school standard for 40-point games with five.

After operating with a 4-3 defensive alignment for the last four seasons, UTEP will have a 3-3-5 scheme for the 2008 campaign, similar to that utilized by New Mexico. New Mexico defensive coordinator Osia Lewis served in the same capacity for the Lobos over the previous five season. Defensive improvement will be paramount for the Miners this seasons after they ranked 117th nationally in total defense a year ago.

The Miners have five new assistant coaches, including three on defense. Other additions to the Miner staff besides Osia Lewis include associate head coach/co-offense coordinator/offensive line coach Bob Connelly, defensive line coach DeChon Burns, wide receivers coach Guy Holliday, and cornerbacks coach Allen Johnson.

Senior K Jose Martinez was one-of-three finalists for the Lou Groza Award, given to the nation's top place kicker.

Junior WR Jeff Moturi was 47th in the FBS in receiving yards per game in 2007 (74.3) and tied the school record by making a touchdown reception in 10 consecutive games.

Sophomore QB Trevor Vittatoe had the second-most passing yards among NCAA FBS freshmen trailing only Oklahoma's Sam Bradford (3,121). Vittatoe was 32nd in passing efficiency (135.87) and 43rd in total offense (247.4).