FOOTBALL - The Salt Lake Tribune

Utah Football: Quinton Pedroza dismissed for violating team rules

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:56:30 MDT

Utah Football: Quinton Pedroza dismissed for violating team rules

By Tony Jones The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 18, 2013 11:56PM MDT

Two months remain until Utah makes its football season debut against Utah State. But the Utes are already thinner at wide receiver. Receiver Quinton Pedroza was dismissed from Utah for a violation of team rules, university officials told The Salt Lake Tribune. The 6-foot-2 California native had been poised to have a big junior season in Dennis Erickson’s new pass-oriented offense. Instead, this could turn out to be a big loss. Pedroza played sparingly in his first two years in the program, mos...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

NFL notes: St. Louis CVC pays $2M to Rams for legal fees

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:56:29 MDT

NFL notes: St. Louis CVC pays $2M to Rams for legal fees

The Associated Press

Updated Jun 18, 2013 11:56PM MDT

St. Louis • The St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission said Tuesday it has paid $2 million to the St. Louis Rams to cover the team’s legal fees for the dispute over upgrades to the Edward Jones Dome that resulted in arbitration. CVC spokeswoman Donna Andrews said payment was made May 20. Rams spokesman Artis Twyman confirmed the team was paid. The CVC operates the dome that the Rams have played in since 1995, the year they moved to St. Louis from Anaheim, Calif. The dome was built with tax...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Utah State football: Keeton, Fackrell named to CFPA watch list

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 23:56:30 MDT

Utah State football: Keeton, Fackrell named to CFPA watch list

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 18, 2013 11:56PM MDT

Utah State quarterback Chuckie Keeton and linebacker Kyler Fackrell are part of the 2013 College Football Performance Awards Watch Lists. Keeton is one of five Mountain West Conference quarterbacks named to the Quarterbacks Watch List of 30, while Fackrell is one of 41 players named to the Linebackers Watch List. Overall, Keeton is the only quarterback from the state of Utah recognized, while Fackrell is one of two in-state linebackers to make the Watch List along with Utah’s Brian Blechen...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

All-Star prep football: Logan QB Luke Falk makes time for one last game

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 20:44:20 MDT

All-Star prep football: Logan QB Luke Falk makes time for one last game

By Aaron Falk The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 15, 2013 08:44PM MDT

Sandy • He was supposed to be gone by now, cruising along the highway into Idaho, up into the panhandle then just west across the border, to his new life. Football camp at Washington State University begins Wednesday, and Luke Falk had planned to leave Logan for Pullman, Wash., on Saturday. His friends, however, wanted one more game with their quarterback. “There was a lot of peer pressure,” Falk said. So instead of unloading boxes and settling into his new dorm room, Falk put on his gold and cr...

Copyright 2013 The Salt Lake Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Football Writers honor Colts coach Pagano

Mon, 17 Jun 2013 09:10:02 MDT

Football Writers honor Colts coach Pagano

The Associated Press

Updated Jun 17, 2013 09:10AM MDT

Indianapolis • Indianapolis coach Chuck Pagano has won the George Halas Award from the Professional Football Writers Association for overcoming adversity. Early in his first season as Colts coach, Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia and took a leave of absence. The team began winning under offensive coordinator Bruce Arians while Pagano underwent treatment for 12 weeks. Pagano worked from his hospital bed on game plans and analyzing practices even as he was recovering from the disease. After ...

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Concussions: A football question that still doesn’t have enough answers

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 16:18:55 MDT

Concussions: A football question that still doesn’t have enough answers

By Lya Wodraska The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 16, 2013 04:18PM MDT

Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham remembers playing in a USFL game when he got hit so hard in the head he didn’t know where he was. With blurry eyes and a foggy mind, Whittingham relied on his instinct, which told him to get back to the huddle as fast as possible, so he got up and jogged to the group of players he saw. That is when his teammates knew something was wrong. “I staggered over to the offensive huddle,” the former linebacker said, chuckling at the memory. “My guys had to come and g...

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Kragthorpe: Is Austin Collie crazy? It’s his life, his choices

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:32:18 MDT

Kragthorpe: Is Austin Collie crazy? It’s his life, his choices

By Kurt Kragthorpe Tribune Columnist

Updated Jun 16, 2013 12:32AM MDT

Austin Collie’s father is acknowledging his bias, using the word as a disclaimer. “I’m the dad,” Scott Collie says, before endorsing his son as a proven NFL receiver, who’s looking for a job. And then he continues, “I think a team’s crazy if they don’t bring Austin in.” Interesting choice of words, right? There are those who believe that description fits former BYU star Austin Collie. He’s so determined to keep playing football that he’s willing to sign a waiver, making himself responsible for ...

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Draper football camp popularity explodes

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:59:35 MDT

Draper football camp popularity explodes

By Jon Clifford Special to The Tribune

Updated Jun 14, 2013 01:59PM MDT

Football always has been a sport for every season — training camps in the spring and summer, critical games in the autumn air, playoffs on snow-covered turf. Now it truly is a year-round event. With the emergence of indoor leagues for the winter and spring and the growing popularity of 7-on-7 passing camps, those passionate about the pigskin can get their fix just about any day of the year. “It used to be football didn’t start until camp,” said Mark Battaglia, an assistant coach at Jordan High a...

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Tribune sports rant: Hey, college coaches, it’s icky to recruit seventh-graders

Sun, 16 Jun 2013 00:23:48 MDT

Tribune sports rant: Hey, college coaches, it’s icky to recruit seventh-graders

Updated Jun 16, 2013 12:23AM MDT

According to ESPN.com, QB Lindell Stone of Southlake, Texas, WR Nathan Tilford of Upland, Calif., ILB Dylan Moses of Baton Rouge, La., and CB Jairus Brents of New Albany, Ind., have all received recent scholarship offers to play college football for programs in so-called BCS conferences. Sounds good … until it’s noted that the first three are eighth-graders and the latter is a seventh-grader. Then it sounds kinda icky. It’s true that college football recruiting has devolved into an ever-escalati...

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AFL: Blaze owner Kim Brown does things her way

Sat, 15 Jun 2013 00:37:47 MDT

AFL: Blaze owner Kim Brown does things her way

By Christopher Kamrani The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 15, 2013 12:37AM MDT

The reaction was a telltale sign of things to come, of a future Kim Brown would eventually reach and the principle that she wouldn’t be pushed around. It was sixth grade and girls at her junior high school in Houston organized a powder puff football game. Brown was one of the many out there calling plays, organizing routes and warming up her arm when an oversized offensive lineman on the junior high’s football team came over, snatched the football and set off. Kim Brown’s childhood was pure foot...

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Utah State football eager for new Strength and Conditioning Center

Fri, 14 Jun 2013 15:43:03 MDT

Utah State football eager for new Strength and Conditioning Center

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 14, 2013 03:43PM MDT

About a week out from the opening of Utah State's new multi-million dollar weight room, Dave Scholz is getting antsy. The Aggies first-year strength and conditioning coach is doing fine at the moment with what he has. The football team is working hard as football season inches closer. But the new facility offers a new realm of possibility. "It's exciting to think what that space is going to allow us to do, and the technology that will be there," Scholz said. "It's going to allow us to teach more...

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BYU basketball will open season at home against Weber State

Thu, 13 Jun 2013 20:11:03 MDT

BYU basketball will open season at home against Weber State

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 13, 2013 08:11PM MDT

BYU is probably a month away from announcing its 2013-14 men's basketball schedule, but today we learned the Cougars' opener will be against instate rival Weber State. The Wildcats released their nonconference schedule, which includes a Nov. 9 game against BYU in Provo. That's the same day BYU's football team will be in Madison, Wis., to take on Gary Andersen's Badgers. Kickoff time and television plans for the BYU-Wisconsin football game have not be announced, but it will presumably be played a...

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Pierce: James Bates returns to Utah to call Blaze game

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:01:24 MDT

Pierce: James Bates returns to Utah to call Blaze game

By Scott D. Pierce The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 12, 2013 12:01AM MDT

Depending on whether you bleed red or blue, James Bates’ voice either sounds sweet or grates on your nerves. His most famous call of a local football game came in 2006: “Final play of the game barring a penalty. All the time in the world for Beck. Can anybody get open for him? Finds his guy! Touchdown! Johnny Harline comes all the way across the field!” Bates always sounds excited, but he sounded especially excited as BYU QB John Beck threw a game-winning TD pass as time expired. And it was a ...

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Utah football: Summer vacation means work for football players

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 09:08:30 MDT

Utah football: Summer vacation means work for football players

By Lya Wodraska The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 12, 2013 09:08AM MDT

Utah football coach Kyle Whittingham is fond of calling Utah’s offseason conditioning program one of the most crucial times for player development, as his athletes pack on muscle and work on individual skills. The idea is to get bigger, faster and stronger so preseason camp is focused more on football than getting into shape. But here is the catch: No matter how important football coaches such as Whittingham believe summer workouts are, they are still considered voluntary and coaches still can’t...

Utah, BYU, USU meet standards with APR scores

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 00:01:23 MDT

Utah, BYU, USU meet standards with APR scores

By martin renzhofer The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 12, 2013 12:01AM MDT

Utah’s three Football Bowl Subdivision schools remain academically solid following the NCAA’s multi-year Academic Performance Report for NCAA Division I schools. The latest APR figures, released Tuesday, provide a measure of each team’s academic performance and accounts for eligibility, retention and graduation of all student-athletes on scholarship. The latest APR performances include scores from 2008-09 to 2011-12. The NCAA minimum requirement is 925. Schools must score 930 or better to be el...

Utah State football, other sports improve in classroom in latest NCAA APR numbers

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:24:31 MDT

Utah State football, other sports improve in classroom in latest NCAA APR numbers

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 12, 2013 07:24PM MDT

Utah State football has been improving on the field for the last four seasons, but the Aggies aren't lagging off of classroom duties, either. The NCAA released the 2011-12 figures for Academic Progress Rate - a measure of how institutions educate and graduate their athletes - and Utah State led in-state football programs and the Western Athletic Conference with a 967 average, thanks to a 988 score for the season. As the Aggies move to the Mountain West, they still trail Boise State (993) and Air...

Weber State to hold HopeKids football camp

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 19:21:59 MDT

Weber State to hold HopeKids football camp

The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 12, 2013 07:21PM MDT

Weber State’s football team and staff will hold a football camp for the HopeKids Foundation between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday at Stewart Stadium. HopeKids is a national organization which provides ongoing events and activities and support community for families who have a child with cancer or some other life-threatening medical condition. The children will experience football drills and football basics. “We are really looking forward to this camp with HopeKids,” WSU coach Jody Sears said. “Thi...

Utah athletics: After 2 years in Pac-12, Utes struggle to deliver

Mon, 10 Jun 2013 09:05:03 MDT

Utah athletics: After 2 years in Pac-12, Utes struggle to deliver

By Lya Wodraska The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 10, 2013 09:05AM MDT

Utah athletic director Chris Hill has his own version of that adage from “Field of Dreams.” Build it and they will win — and soon. With facility upgrades either in the works or planned for virtually every sport the school sponsors, totaling about $64.2 million in financial commitments, Utah’s transition to the Pac-12 is moving to its next phase — from getting spendy to getting competitive. Two years into the Pac-12, the Utes are still languishing behind the majority of their foes in conference r...

Kragthorpe: Time for Utes to do more than wear Pac-12 patch

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 23:51:32 MDT

Kragthorpe: Time for Utes to do more than wear Pac-12 patch

By Kurt Kragthorpe The Salt Lake Tribune

Updated Jun 8, 2013 11:51PM MDT

On that June afternoon in 2010 when Rose Bowl organizers delivered flowers to the University of Utah’s president at Rice-Eccles Stadium, welcoming the Utes into the Pac-12 Conference, this became the inevitable question: When will the novelty wear off? That’s worth asking now. So is this: Am I the only one who overestimated Utah’s ability to win a bunch of Pac-12 football games, right from the start? In two seasons, the Utes have gone 7-11 in conference play, including 3-7 against Pac-12 South ...

UVU swamplands

Sat, 08 Jun 2013 01:01:04 MDT

UVU swamplands

Updated Jun 8, 2013 01:01AM MDT

The story “UVU enters WAC era with pride and a few predicaments”(Tribune, June 3) reports that Utah Valley University athletic director Michael Jacobsen, “on the verge of retirement, can look out over what was once swampland and enjoy the fruits of his labor, an effort that has extended Utah Valley University’s athletic program.” Those weren’t just worthless “swamplands.” They were valuable wetlands, now forever gone. If they had been saved, they could have been an invaluable teaching and resear...