I’d like to imagine that late last Thursday morning, while lounging next to the pool in right center at Chase Field, Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers received the following phone call from an angry late middle-aged man from Golden Valley:
A squadron of high school football programs, plus a number of individual players, visited the University of Nevada this past weekend for 48 hours of drills, competition and gridiron fun at both Mackay Stadium and Nevada’s practice facility. Silver and Blue Sports caught the action, with the Nevada football coaching staff, including head coach Chris Ault, instructing the prospects.
Like a lot of other special team prospects, Kansas native Chase Tenpenny did not start his career as a punter. He played tight end and defensive end, among other positions, at the prep level. Even after high school, Tenpenny, who stands a solid 6-foot-4, 250-pounds, was recruited by programs as a D-Lineman. But that all changed at Fort Scott Community College this past season, with Tenpenny earning All-American status in 2010 for the Greyhounds.
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A daughter sat with her mother paying vigil at the bedside of her dying father. When his long struggle finally ended and he quietly slipped away, her mother got up with tears in her eyes, smoothed down her dress, took a deep breath and said, “I’m going to go make him some matzo ball soup.” Bewildered, the daughter looked at her mother, and said, “Mom, he’s gone, soup isn’t going to bring him back.” To which her mother replied, “it couldn’t hurt.”
Hometown fans at Qualcomm Stadium are, by now, used to the boisterous rants of the visiting fans who frequently outnumber them. They say that the Raiders are guaranteed nine home games every year: eight in Oakland, one in San Diego. While Charger fans are numb to the antics of Darth Raider and that bald guy with the safety pin in his head, I don’t think Aztec fans were prepared to handle the heat that flamed from a gangly, four-eyed thirteen-year-old version of myself in the fall of 1995. Especially when I sprang to my feet in response to a pass interference call against Nevada cornerback Juan “30-Yard Gains Are A” Givens early in the second half.
Citrus Hill high school running back Davien Payne has caught the eye of a lot of programs on the West Coast, plus another school in the Big 10. That list includes the nation’s top rushing team the past three seasons, the University of Nevada, which has piled up over 12,000 rushing yards since the beginning of the 2008 season. How much has Payne, one of the top running back prospects in the Golden State, heard from the Wolf Pack? Silver and Blue Sports checked in on SoCal rushing sensation to get the latest on his recruitment.
One of our favorite prospects in the Inland Empire’s 2012 recruiting class is standout lineman Samson Kafovalu. When you talk about moving defenders off the line, plus power, size and a great frame to build on, you are talking about the versatile 6-foot-4, 255-pound Arlington star. In fact, Kafovalu is so versatile that he now holds offers to play on the O-Line or the D-Line from two schools who finished among the top dozen in the country in 2010.
If you’ve followed Nevada football for any length of time, especially here at Silver and Blue Sports, you’ll know we don’t put much stock into star rankings for prospects by national recruiting services like ESPN, Rivals and Scout. It’s not the Nevada way, and under Hall of Fame Wolf Pack head coach Chris Ault, it’ll never be something that the Silver and Blue care that much about.
Jesuit high school in Sacramento (Calif.) has sent a handful of talented players to Nevada in the past two decades, including potential All-WAC senior cornerback Isaiah Frey. One of the Marauders top prospects in the Class of 2012 is Akachi Okugo, a point guard with plenty of athleticism and skills. Silver and Blue Sports put together a video production of Okugo’s junior season, and caught up with the 6-foot-1 standout to get the latest on his recruitment.
Every June it plays out the same. My friends and I lay strewn about the pool, empty cans of Raley’s Super Pale Ale in hand and other extremities, waking only through sheer biological habit. Sunlight floods unwelcomely through my eyelids, an unflagged encroachment into my dreamscape. Then, I remember…it’s magazine day. Football magazine day. The ensuing John Deere ride/penguin chase to the mailbox is little more than a joyful blur of nausea, hallucination, and unbridled anticipation.
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