Martini also earned a Super Bowl ring. He may have also played baseball for the Ags.

https://www.raiders.com/history/all-time-roster/bios-m/rich-martini

I love athletes who can kind of do it all, they play one thing professionally, but grew up a 3 or 4 sport athlete. You get so much benefit not just with your skills and coordination, but also just your general competitiveness.

I actually played on the baseball team with him - to be more precise, he played and I sat :-). He just looked like a normal guy - not one you would think of as an NFL player. He was quite fast though.

He was quite fast though. — NCagalum

*checks who Rich Martini was drafted by and sees it was the Raiders*

Well, I think you provided us the reason he was drafted. I'm sure it wasn't the first time Al took a flier on someone because of speed and it certainly wasn't the last.

Don't forget Vincent Jackson @ Northern Colorado. The guy just put up 200 receiving yards on everyone in college. And played on their BB team if I remember correctly.

I guess Rolf B wasn't fast enough. :razz:

One of the all time greats along with Jerry Rice; Walter Payton, Jackson State
There were also a few Super Bowl QBs:
Ron Jaworski (Youngstown State)
Phil Simms (Morehead State)
Doug Williams (Grambling)
Jimmy Garoppolo (Eastern Washington)
Joe Flacco (Delaware)
Also, from Div. II, Ken Anderson, Augustana

Some current NFL stars include:
Kyle Juszczyk (Harvard)
Ryan Fitzpatrick (Harvard)
Darius Leonard (South Carolina State)
Andre Roberts (Citadel)
Chase Edmonds (Fordham)

I think a lot of players are overlooked by FBS schools for a variety of reasons and show how good they are once they get a chance. NFL scouts know where to find them.

Jimmy G. went to Eastern Illinois, not Washington. I had to look that up, mostly because as a 49er fan, I couldn't bring myself to root for him if he went to EWU. For some reason I can respect NDSU. But I draw the line at EWU! ;-)

True story.

Yes, Eastern Illinois, where Tony Romo went, and is Saints HC Sean Payton's alma mater as well. Interesting story on a EIU/UC Davis connection, former Aggie Left Guard Jeff Hoover was coaching offensive line out there in the late 2000s. Tragically, he was killed in a car accident returning home from a 1st Round Playoff game in Carbondale, IL. That following spring one of his linemen, Otis Hudson, was drafted in the 5th Round by Cincinnati.

For JMU we will schedule a buy game once they move to FBS which sounds official now.

What if he had attended Sac?

I was 95% kidding. I actually don't care all that much, and am old enough to wish all these kids the best in whatever they do after college. But let's be serious here; Sac State isn't really putting a lot of kids in the NFL ;-)

JMU is officially jumping?

Two conferences battling for them.

Football Scoop: The latest round of FBS realignment could hinge on a school that's not even in FBS

https://footballscoop.com/news/latest-round-realignment-conference-usa-sun-belt-james-madison

This is probably why I prefer UC Davis to move to FBS as quickly as possible, because in the long run, sufficiently enough teams will move from FCS to FBS that the FCS will be increasingly less desirable.

$$$$
$$$$$
$$$$$
$$$$$

Chancellor May already chopped away at our core 7 principles, gutted the teacher-coach philosophy and physical education.

MTBAggie, thanks for the correction. As a long-time 49er fan I knew that Garoppolo went to Eastern Illinois, so I must have had the Golden Eagles in my head. At least, I've learned how to spell his name. Still can't spell Juszczyk without looking it up and forget about Antenetekompo.

But out west, everything is relatively stable. It would take the PAC 12 getting raided and then they backfill to get MWC schools and then MWC picks up WAC or BS teams.

i agree; once the Big 12 filled the OU/Texas loss with the AAC (and BYU) schools, the MWC looks to be stable. I can’t see them adding to their existing 12 teams.

Hawk mentioned red zone defense as a more telling stat than total defense, today in the weekly presser.
A comparison:
2018: 59% of touchdowns score in red zone
2021: 48%

other stats--

FG allowed:
2018: 68%
2021: 50%

Punting:
2018: 40.7, 37.5 net
2021: 45.1, 41.8 net

3rd down defense:
2018: 36.9
2021: 33.0

yards per pass, allowed:
2018: 7.4
2021: 6.6

PPG allowed:
2018: 27.4
2021: 16.0

Scoring margin:
2018: 12.3
2021 15.1

Hawks comment about red zone defense prompted me to look at the BigSky conference stats.
I have no idea what they indexed this on. It looks like Sac State has the best Red Zone defense, yielding only four touchdowns in 11 attempts. We’ve yielded 7 touchdowns in 15 attempts.

Red Zone Defense
Index Team G ATT % TDS R/P FG-AT FUM INT Downs
1 Southern Utah 5 24-29 82.8 18 11/7 6-7 1 0 1
2 Northern Colorado 5 24-27 88.9 14 10/4 10-12 0 0 1
3 Idaho 4 18-22 81.8 16 6/10 2-5 0 0 0
4 Northern Arizona 4 16-19 84.2 14 8/6 2-3 1 1 0
5 Eastern Washington5 14-18 77.8 13 11/2 1-2 0 1 1
6 Portland State 4 12-17 70.6 8 4/4 4-4 2 1 1
7 Idaho State 5 15-17 88.2 9 5/4 6-6 0 2 0
8 Montana 4 11-16 68.8 9 5/4 2-4 1 1 0
9 UC Davis 5 11-15 73.3 7 4/3 4-7 0 0 1
10 Cal Poly 4 13-14 92.9 10 4/6 3-4 0 0 0
11 Sacramento State 4 6-11 54.5 4 3/1 2-3 0 2 2
12 Weber State 4 10-11 90.9 8 7/1 2-2 1 0 0
13 Montana State. 5 8-11 72.7. 5 3/2 3-3 0 2 1

stats reflect conference games only

I know. I chose that to give apples to apples comparison.
Shows that we are indeed good as far as red zone defense, in the top half at least, we’re not the best.

Turnovers also key. And look at the huge play / hike to the TE / FB, key. I think LL, CC, Hutton breaking loose another leg.

We haven’t had a turnover except on downs in the red zone defense in conference games. I guess we used our allotment in the preseason.
Hawkins said that O’Keefe called that run from punt formation play. Has permission to anytime the defense/situation is right for it.

I believe now we also need to find some RB depth. LL the heir apparent.

Still searching for a pass rush, playmakers and WRs.

We'll miss Bryce Rogers, Erron Duncan, Smalley, Hansen and Scharetg on defense. Vaughn, Harrell, Thomas and Lamson of offense.

Does Whelan have another year?

Smalley still has eligibility if he wants to use it.