Bishop Media Sports Network
Brunswick High Pirates Coach’s Show w Garrett Grady October 19
Camden County Wildcats Coach’s Show w Jeff Herron October 18
MCA Buccaneers Coach’s Show w Bradley Warren October 16
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch October 14
Frederica Academy Knights Coach’s Show w Brandon Derrick October 12
Little Chubby and Malaki
By: Joe Delaney
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Kinda sounds like a TV or Movie Duo, doesn’t it? Fighting criminals or being superheroes. Well not yet anyway!
But with 6 games in the bag and the season almost half over, the Georgia Bulldogs have come into focus as a definite threat to repeat as National Champs.
Sure, they looked half asleep in the Kent State game and who can blame them.
Then came a trip to Columbia MO. and a wakeup call that said you better be ready every week in the SEC.
But back home in the friendly confines of Sanford Stadium, the Dawgs woke up and hammered the dog crap outta the Auburn Tigers 42-10.
So, as we move forward in the season there are 2 freshmen dawgs that have really stood out. One for the entire year and one who is going to be very difficult to keep off the field moving forward.
Malaki Starks has been a rising star since the first day he walked off the practice field in Athens. Kirby knew it, Muschamp knew it and anybody close to the program knew it. He is that good.
His amazing interception against the Oregon Ducks and Bo Nix in the opener only let everyone else know how good this guy was. Eight tackles in his first game against the Ducks didn’t hurt either.
Now 6 games into the season the 6’1” 205lb DB from Jefferson, Ga has 25 tackles and 2 interceptions. The second interception, he returned 42 yards against South Carolina.
The 19-year-old freshman was the ESPN #12 ranked overall player in the class of 2022 and looks every bit the part. A rare combination of length, size and speed coupled with superior athleticism put him on the field early.
Look for this guy to be a leader for the Dawgs D for the foreseeable future. He and Kelee Ringo have first round NFL written all over them.
Branson Robinson has taken a little longer to get on the field for the dawgs. Kenny Mcintosh, Kendall Milton and Daijun Edwards have all been ahead of Branson. All three of those guys are also All SEC caliber backs. There is only one ball, so his carries have been limited. At least until the Auburn game.
He led the Dawgs in rushing against the Tigers and did it in VERY impressive fashion. He ran for 98 yards on 12 carries and a touchdown. That’s an 8.2 yard average. And it earned him SEC Freshman of the Week honors.
But more importantly was HOW he did it. The 5’10” 220lb brick with 4.4 speed showed great vision, speed and above all power. He really is Nick 2.0. Wanna know how hard he runs? Ask J.D. Rhym from Auburn. I think his teeth are probably still chattering from his effort to tackle Branson in the fourth quarter.
Branson broke that and 4 or 5 other tackles in the fourth quarter alone. His style mimics that of Nick Chubb and he is just as strong. Robinson bench presses 415lbs, Squats 630lbs and dead lifts 715lbs. He’s coming Dawg fans. It’s just a matter of time.
So, mark my words, Little Chubby might be the best Georgia running back RIGHT NOW.
And GEEZ……… I never even got to Oscar Delp, Bear Alexander, etc etc.
The future is bright in Athens…….GO DAWGS!
MCA Buccaneers Coach’s Show w Bradley Warren October 10
Back To Earth
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
I’ve gone on record multiple times saying Norvell is a not very good coach.
He is a poor evaluator of talent with an average offensive mind. I think his energy and intensity are admirable and contagious, however he appears to be a poor recruiter when compared to his successful predecessors.
Having said all that, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say these next six games will determine Norvell’s future at FSU.
After losing two games in a row, the Seminoles are 4-2 and can still finish with a much-improved season. Saying that, there’s very little margin for error moving forward.
If the Seminoles fall to No. 4 Clemson this Saturday (they’re only a 4 to 4.5-point underdog), they must win at least three of those five for this season for their season to feel like a step in the right direction for the program.
Anything better than 3 wins will promote eight or more wins for the season, and that would give them a ton of momentum heading into recruiting season.
Anything worse will feel like treading water at best, and that’s not a good place to be for 3 years.
To finish strong, FSU must get back to playing the way they did in weeks one through four. Other than Louisiana, sure fire wins are looking slim on the schedule.
Florida and Miami are arch rivals with plenty of talent, so you know those will be hard-fought games.
Looking closely in the ACC, Syracuse is one of 2022’s biggest surprises with a 5-0 record.
We will learn plenty about the Orange in the next two weeks, as they face N.C. State and Clemson back-to-back.
Georgia Tech is now showing major improvement since firing head coach Geoff Collins; the Jackets have won their last two games to improve to 3-3 and 2-1 in the ACC. With this in mind, will FSU take the backseat in CFB and become a basketball school once and for all?
Getting back on track, after blowing a 14-point lead in the second half at N.C. State, the Seminoles return home for No. 4 Clemson this Saturday.
Can the Seminoles turn things around after back-to-back losses? Can Travis and the offense get back on track and get moving? Last week, Norvell again took full responsibility for the loss by the way.
Football coaches who accept full responsibility for losses are usually stand-up guys. Coaches who accept full responsibility for losses again and again and again are known as former coaches.
The 4-0 start was great. Realistically, it won’t be remembered if their performance this second half of this season looks like these last two weeks. They’ll be remembered as a dumpster fire.
Clemson and FSU had one of the top rivalries in the ACC for years, but it seems one-sided recently.
The Clemson Tigers have won six in a row between the two programs, including a 30-20 home win last season.
Clemson is trending up, showing improvement each week. FSU is trending… in the opposite direction.
Clemson 34 FSU 23
Pitiful Panthers
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Carolina Panthers fired head coach Matt Rhule Monday morning. Carolina is off to a 1 – 4 start and lost to San Francisco 37 – 15 on Sunday.
Rhule is in his third season as the head coach in Charlotte. His overall record is 11 -27.
Under Rhule, the Panthers went 1-27 when allowing 17 or more points, including 25 losses in a row. Every other team has multiple such wins in that span.
This is less than six full months after owner David Tepper said it could take five, maybe six years to rebuild an organization capable of sustaining excellence and contending for championships.
Tepper in late April said: “I believe in Matt. He has my full support.”
“I’m a fan,” Tepper added that day. “I don’t like to lose. But it takes time and it takes a foundation, and it takes time to create the foundation to win. I do believe Coach Rhule and [general manager] Scott [Fitterer] have done a great job of creating that foundation.”
Rhule was a hot coaching candidate when he was hired for the job in January 2020. He rebuilt Baylor and Temple. He had his best seasons in his third year at both of those schools, winning at least ten games.
He had a seven-year, $62 million contract. Rhule is still owed more than $40 million.
He inherited Cam Newton, who was released in March 2020 as he rehabbed from foot surgery and an ailing shoulder that made him a shell of the player who won the NFL MVP Award in 2015.
The Panthers brought in Teddy Bridgewater, who was released one season after getting a three-year, $63 million deal. They then traded with the New York Jets for the 2018 third overall pick Sam Darnold, who had gone 13-25 as the starter in New York.
Carolina brought back Newton midway through the 2021 season, when Darnold suffered a shoulder injury, only to watch him go 0 – 5.
“That’s the most important position on the field,” Tepper said after the team moved on from Newton. “Unless you have that guy for sure that gets you to the playoffs and Super Bowls, you have to keep reevaluating that because that’s the only thing that matters is Super Bowls.”
“And until you have that guy, you’re evaluating, evaluating, evaluating every year.”
Rhule believed the roster was good enough to be competitive this season if they had solid quarterback play.
Carolina was one of the finalists to trade with the Houston Texans for Deshaun Watson this past offseason. Once he chose Cleveland it made Baker Mayfield expendable. The Panthers traded for Baker in July.
The Baker Mayfield experiment has been a disaster so far. Mayfield hasn’t regained the form he had in 2020, when he led the Browns to an 11 – 5 record and playoff win, as he is putting up career lows in almost every statistical category.
Mayfield’s 16.5 QBR is the lowest among passers with at least three games in the NFL this season while he has completed a league-worst 54.9% of his passes and has committed five turnovers (four interceptions and a lost fumble).
Defensive pass game coordinator Steve Wilks was named the interim coach. Wilks, 53, was previously a head coach in the NFL with Arizona in 2018. He posted a 3 – 13 record and was fired following his first season.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch October 7
