Michigan moves spring football to Italy
Belichick and Brady, they are the constants. Robert Kraft sits there in his owner’s suite at Gillette Stadium and watches year after year as his Patriots push their way to the AFC championship and onto the Super Bowl.
There is a mind-numbing brilliance to it all. And on Sunday night, after the Steelers had been humbled, 36-17, and the Patriots had advanced to their seventh Super Bowl with Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, the first and probably most legitimate response was, “Of course they did.”
Yet as that postseason brilliance goes from years to decades, there also can be no denying how successfully and skillfully Belichick and his organization have been able to sift through rosters and lists of free agents and unheralded college players to continually discover and acquire diamonds to accessorize their dynasty.
The last time the Patriots won the Super Bowl it was Malcolm Butler. Last weekend in the divisional playoff victory over Houston, it was Dion Lewis becoming the first player in an NFL postseason game to score touchdowns rushing, receiving and returning kickoffs. On Sunday night, it was Chris Hogan. It was a night like he’d never had before. It was a postseason night no Patriots receiver, at least in terms of yardage, ever had before. Yes, Hogan’s the hero. “It has been long journey,” he said. “I’m beyond ecstatic.”
It’s uncanny, really. Whether it’s Xs and Os virtuosity or Ravens coach John Harbaugh complaining about “substitution trickery,” or the Colts calling out Brady for underinflated footballs, it’s always something with the Patriots in the postseason.
So how’s this one for a knee-slapper?
The ol’ flea flicker to the lacrosse player who was born in Connecticut and turned down a football scholarship offer from UConn trick?
Hey, why not? Belichick played football and lacrosse at Wesleyan.
Hogan would finish with a Patriots’ postseason record 180 yards on nine catches. He caught two touchdown passes for the first time in his career, regular season or playoff game. Think about this for a second. Hogan caught 12 passes during his entire college career of one year at Monmouth.
That’s because he played lacrosse at Penn State.
According to an ESPN story in 2013, Hogan, out of Ramapo High in New Jersey, turned down football scholarship offers from Temple, Akron, Rutgers and from UConn and Randy Edsall. He had bigger lacrosse offers from Syracuse, Maryland, Virginia and Penn State, so he decided to go to Happy Valley. Not to play football.
Hogan scored 11 goals as a freshman. He scored 29 as a junior. He scored 15 as a senior, but that was because he was switched to defensive midfield. It is that sophomore year of 2008, however, that would change his athletic history and on Sunday night put an indelible mark on the Patriots’ rich history.
“Chris has been incredible,” said Brady, who set a Patriots postseason game record with 384 passing yards. “He made big plays for us all season, and he made big plays in the most important game of the year for us.”
Hogan suffered a high ankle sprain that sophomore year at Penn State. He graduated at Penn State, but still had a year of athletic eligibility remaining and decided to use it on football. Not with the Nittany Lions. That was too big of a gulp. He picked off three passes as a defensive back for Monmouth. He also had 147 yards in receptions — or 33 yards fewer than he had Sunday night — among those 12 catches. He wasn’t drafted. On Sunday night, Hogan struck a mighty blow for all the undrafted and for all the Patriots players who poked their heads from the unheralded to become playoff heroes.
“This has been a long journey, but I’ve worked really hard to get here,” Hogan said. “This is a night I’ll remember for the rest of my career, probably the rest of my life. Someone told me this is a game you’ll look back on 30 years from now and remember exactly what happened.
“I’m so happy for everyone in the locker room, coaches, who have worked so hard to get here.
Hogan was signed and released by the 49ers in 2011. He was signed, put on the practice squad and released by the Giants later that year. He signed a contract with Miami early in 2012 and got some national publicity with the nickname some Dolphins pinned on him on the HBO “Hard Knocks” program. They called him 7-Eleven, because he always seemed to find a way to get open. He couldn’t find a way to stick with a team, however, until after he signed with the Bills. He had 10 catches in 2013, 41 in his breakout season in 2014 and 36 more in 2015.
In March, the Patriots signed Hogan as a restricted free agent to a reported three-year, $12 million deal. Without much cap space, the Bills declined to match the offer.
The Patriots chased some bigger free agent names like Marvin Jones and Mohamed Sanu, but they signed elsewhere. Patriots fans started to freak a bit. Enter Hogan. He had a career best 114 receiving yards against the Browns in October. He caught a career-long 79-yard touchdown pass against the Ravens. He finished with 38 catches, 680 yards and four touchdowns.
His 17.89 yards per catch ranked behind only DeSean Jackson of the Redskins.
Make no mistake. Hogan is a terrific athlete, both in terms of raw speed and athleticism and hand-to-eye coordination. Golf, PingPong, Wiffle ball, punting, drop-kicking. He pumped out 225 pounds, 28 times at Pro Day, he threw a pass this year with the Patriots. Still, this night was different.
“I’m so grateful the Patriots gave me a chance,” Hogan said.
Just days after an NCAA vote to ban team trips that combine spring break and spring football, Michigan announced Monday that the Wolverines’ next getaway is its most exotic yet: Italy.
The Wolverines will hold three spring practices at the training facility of Italian league soccer club Roma in Rome. Coach
is taking his team in April, too, instead of during spring break.
“I am excited that our student-athletes will be able to take advantage of this amazing educational opportunity, be exposed to another culture and be ambassadors for the United States and the University of Michigan during our visit to Rome,” Harbaugh said in a statement.
Michigan held part of its spring practice last year at IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, during the university’s spring break. The road show drew the ire of the Southeastern Conference and the Atlantic Coast Conference, and Power Five conferences last week voted to ban off-campus trips for practice during any vacation period outside a sport’s season.
The new NCAA rules go into effect in August.
Howard, Tebow’s high school coach, dies
Southern Oregon football coach who coached in high school before leading the Raiders to the NAIA national championship, has died at 64.
The university said in a news release that Howard died at home Thursday night after a day of recruiting.
Howard coached high school football in Florida from 2003 to 2010, leading Nease High to a state championship in 2005. His quarterback was Tebow, who later won the Heisman Trophy at Florida.
Tebow said in a tweet Friday that Howard was a mentor and father figure who changed his life.
Howard returned to his home state in 2011 to coach a struggling Southern Oregon football team. The Raiders turned things around, winning the 2014 NAIA title and falling one victory short of a repeat in 2015.
Ohio State’s Barrett says coaching changes were needed
Quarterback said coaching changes were needed at Ohio State and getting new offensive coordinators played into his decision to return for his final year of eligibility.
During the Ohio State basketball game on Sunday, Barrett accepted the Chicago Tribune Silver Football award as the Big Ten’s best player.
He said bringing in new offensive coaches was a positive move because “sometimes we get set in our ways.”
After passing-game struggles culminated in a 31-0 rout by Clemson in the College Football Playoff, coach Urban Meyer ushered out and
replacing them with former Indiana coach
and NFL assistant
“Something new,” Barrett said. “Change is also a good thing. Change is not always bad. I think it was needed.”
FROM WIRE REPORTS