The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
COLLEGE FOOTBALL: AROUND THE FBS
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Cornelius Johnson, Michigan: The sophomore from Greenwich caught four passes for 87 yards including TD receptions of 46 and 9 yards in a 48-42 overtime win over Rutgers. He is second on the team with 221 receiving yards in five games. It’s been an interesting season so far for Johnson, who has three games with at least four receptions but did not have a catch in two others. Teammate Andrew Stueber, a senior from Darien, started at right tackle. The Wolverines fnished with season-high totals of 349 passing yards and 495 yards of total offense.
SCC REPRESENTING
Witnessing a matchup between former Southern Connecticut Conference stars Will Levis and Nico Ragaini in Middletown or West Haven or even in their hometowns of Madison and East Haven would hardly be a surprising turn of events. However, it was Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa. where the two high school rivals met again.
Ragaini, twice named the New Haven Register Male Athlete of the Year while he was a multiple-sport star at Notre Dame-WH, helped Iowa to the 41-21 win over Levis’ Penn State team as he matched his season high with four receptions. Levis started at quarterback for Penn State and finished with 106 passing yards and another 34 on the ground.
COLLINS IN SELECT COMPANY
The list of players in the top 15 in passing efficiency includes some big names including Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence, Alabama’s Mac Jones, North Carolina’s Sam Howell and Oklahoma’s Spencer Rattler. Former New Canaan High star Mike Collins, who set the Connecticut high school record with 54 touchdown passes in 2015, is in there as well. Collins is 14th in FBS with a rating of 176.01 after throwing for 327 yards in Rice’s loss to North Texas. Collins has thrown 78 consecutive passes without an interception and has completed 66 percent of his passes and had a passing rating of 203.4 since the start of the fourth quarter against Middle Tennessee State. It’s been quite the start to his career at Rice after transferring from TCU after beginning his collegiate career at Penn.
PINNOCK WITH THE PICK
Windsor’s Jason Pinnock recorded his second interception of the season in Pittsburgh’s 47-14 win over Virginia Tech. Pinnock also recorded his 50th career tackle in the game in addition to pulling down his fifth career interception. ... Darien’s Mitchell Pryor ran for a season high 44 yards in Vanderbilt’s 38-17 loss to Florida. He leads all Vanderbilt running backs with an average of 4.8 yards per carry. ... Former UConn linebacker Darrian Beavers had a game to remember with a career high 12 tackles, four tackles for loss and 1 1⁄ quarterback sacks in
2 Cincinnati’s 36-33 win over UCF. He had his first sack since UConn’s 49-19 loss to Tulsa on Nov. 3, 2018. He has 48 tackles in eight games, more than he had in 24 games at UConn.