Star Arizona QB sent out a very powerful tweet that resonated with the whole University creating the opportunity for Kevin Sumlin. Khalil Tate’s tweet, “I didn’t come to Arizona to run the triple option,” had a major impact on the University’s coaching vacancy decision. At the time, the Wildcats were rumored to be strongly considering Navy Head Coach for the vacancy. Ken Niumatalolo was the front-runner who ran a triple option at Navy. Much to the dismay of Heisman hopeful Tate. Once Tate’s tweet went viral the Athletic Director Dave Heeke quickly looked for other coaching options. Eventually leading to the hiring of Kevin Sumlin, who Tate signed off on. Unfortunately, a lot of the nation doesn’t get to watch Khalil Tate play because the PAC 12 network isn’t aired on Direct TV. Khalil Tate has jumped up to the top of every college football conversation this offseason.
Tate’s a rare mix of speed and strength with a strong throwing arm. To play QB at the next level, which he wants to do, he’ll need to focus more on his accuracy. Right now, NFL scouts list him as a wide receiver at the next level. This is a huge year for Tate to prove to NFL organizations that he can control a huddle and make all the throws on the field. Tate spent some time at Peyton Mannings QB camp this offseason to work out some mechanics in his delivery.
To start the 2017 season, former coach Rich Rodriguez started the season with Brandon Dawkins and Khalil Tate starting as the backup. Tate didn’t even start till week 6 against the UCLA Bruins. Imagine what Tate’s final season numbers would have looked like if he started games against NAU, UTEP, Houston, and Utah. Probably wouldn’t have had enough to beat out Baker Mayfield for the Heisman because of the conference and amount of wins. If we’re looking at eye-popping numbers, however, Tate would have run away with it. Khalil Tate’s statement game came against the University of Colorado. He ran the ball 14 times for 327 yards rushing and 4 TD’s. He also tossed it 13/14 for 154 yards and 1 TD. Tate rushed for 840 yards in October. Most insane thing ever, most ever rushing yards in a month in D1 history. So how does Rich Rod feel after this performance from Tate? After starting the season with Tate as the backup. Maybe this is why Rich Rod is currently on the job market.
The hype that is surrounding Tate is very real. Earning him a Sports Illustrated cover, something UofA hasn’t had since Desert Swarm, with Teddy Bruschi in the early 90’s. Kevin Sumlin is no stranger to the spotlight. If things get dicey for the star Tate, Sumlin should be able to jump in to take the focus off of Tate. Something a head coach should do for his star player. I mean, Sumlin coached Johnny Manziel, can’t get much more challenging than that. Tate has a chance to do something no player from Arizona has ever done, a Rose Bowl and Heisman. Both are doable goals. Kevin Sumlin is an offensive innovator and he has the best athlete in College football. We’re about to see an extra spark on Saturday’s in Tucson during the 2018 football season.
Penny Hardaway was one of the most likeable players in the NBA, and there is no reason to think that is going to change during his next chapter as a college head coach for the Memphis Tigers, also his alma mater. 
His relationship with top recruits in the country is very special. Penny took his talents even further by coaching an AAU team called Team Penny, which 
Football season is finally upon us. For the Chargers and Cardinals it starts this Saturday in Glendale Stadium. The stadium is going to be electric, not because of the game, because football season is finally back. Now the hard part, getting through these games with no injuries to either team. Coaches have to be smart in the play calling, substitutions, and how much playing time they give the first team. With that being said, Philip Rivers and Sam Bradford don’t need to see any game action. Rivers because he’s got a consecutive games streak of over 200 straight games. Sam Bradford on the other hand is the exact opposite of Rivers. Loaded with talent, just can’t stay healthy. We’re going to look at the key players to focus on in week 1 of the preseason. The Cardinals also signed former Chargers Head Coach, Mike McCoy, who should be looking forward to this game, preseason or not.
Josh Rosen has impressed so far in camp, earning the respect of the huddle and the veterans on the team. The lineman and veterans on offense are very impressed with how he controls the huddle. As the QB, that is one of the most important aspects of your game. You need the other 10 to know you got this. He’s got the confidence to handle it so far in practice. Once the whistle blows on Saturday, we’ll get our first chance to see how the young signal caller handles the lights and speed of NFL defenses, even though he’ll be playing against mostly backups.
Second round pick Christian Kirk is coming home, what better feeling can a rookie have then being drafted by your home town team? Kirk was a standout at Saguaro High School then went on to be a standout at Texas A&M. In three years at A&M, Kirk had 2,856 yards, 26 Touchdowns, and mixed in 10 scrimmage touchdowns too as a returner. 
The former 1st round pick Robert Nkemdiche is a physical freak, but has been far from ‘freaky’ on the field in his first two seasons. 
One of the biggest blows to any team is losing a starting center. The loss of A.Q Shipley is very significant, but rookie Mason Cole has been given a vote of confidence from coaches and teammates. He will be given the task of going up against run stuffer and former Super Bowl champ, Brandon Mebane. Although it is highly likely that Mebane plays many snaps in the preseason. Gus Bradley’s defenses have a lot of pre-snap movements and different blitz schemes. The Chargers get to the QB with the top pass rushing duo in the NFL a year ago — Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram. Cole will see plenty of snaps Saturday and will gain a lot of valuable information going up against a Gus Bradley defense.
Finally, the last person I want to talk about is former Charger, Tre Boston. Boston led the Chargers top pass defense in interceptions a year ago. He is a top 10 safety in the NFL, a ball hawk, not afraid of contact, and secures interceptions. Once free agency started, Tre Boston laughed at the Cardinals offer. Unfortunately, the offseason wasn’t very friendly to safeties. The market for safeties wasn’t very great having a few great safeties looking for work towards the beginning of camp. The Cardinals hit an absolute home run with the Boston signing.
Let’s take a look at Super Bowl favorites in the AFC, the LA Chargers. Ok, maybe that is a stretch. Chargers fans remember finishing last season 9-3 and missing out on the playoffs in the final week of the season. It left a very bitter taste in the mouth of Chargers fans. Still saddens me to say LA and not San Diego. Philip Rivers will probably only get one series tops. The backup QB battle is actually pretty exciting in LA. Cardale Jones and Geno Smith are battling it out to be River’s backup. The competition between Jones/Smith, the growth from year one to two for Mike Williams, 1st round pick Derwin James, and the Tight End Virgil Green are the players we’re going to focus on for the Chargers. Last year, special teams kept the Chargers from getting into the Playoffs without a reliable kicker. Caleb Sturgis and former first round pick Aguayo look to battle it out for the job in Preseason.
The most sure thing for the Chargers is that number 17 is the starter Week 1. After that, it’s a two-man competition between former top 10 pick Geno Smith and former National Champion at Ohio State, Cardale Jones. Right now Jones has the edge over Smith in knowing the play book. Jones was with Lynn in Buffalo and was here last year learning the plays. Geno Smith has more experience in the NFL though. This is a competition that is going to be won in the preseason. No real front-runner right now, Anthony Lynn has them both listed as number 2 on the depth chart.
As mentioned earlier, the Chargers took a risk last year on Younghoe Koo. Long story short, it didn’t work. The Chargers started out last season 0-4. Started off having a field goal blocked Week 1 on MNF against the rival Broncos to tie the game with 5 seconds left. Week 2, Chargers Dolphins, the Cutler-led Dolphins I might add, Koo missed a 44 yard field goal to win the game. Finally, Week 4 against the Super Bowl Champion Eagles, the Chargers lost by two points to the Eagles. In 2018, the Chargers bring in two new kickers. Former Eagles kicker Caleb Sturgis and former first round pick Roberto Aguayo. Maybe a change of scene is just what Aguayo needs, he was a former All-American. Sturgis is in his 6th season in the NFL, so he brings a lot of experience to the table, something the Chargers need late in the season.
In 2017, the Chargers had very high hopes for the WR out of Clemson, coming of a National Championship performance in which he dominated the ‘nasty’ Alabama defense. He is big, strong, and fast. The issue in 2017 was that Williams started camp battling injury and attempted to play catch-up for most of the first half of the season. In 2018, he enters camp in great shape with no injuries to report. Together, Keenan Allen and Mike Williams look to be a very scary duo, toss in Tyrell Williams and Travis Benjamin, and Rivers has options all over the place. Williams looked unsure of himself at times last year, and that is mainly due to falling behind early in camp. With a full season under his belt and now that he has seen NFL action, look for Mike Williams to establish himself early in the Preseason.
Moving on to the Gem of 2018 for the Chargers. Safety from Florida State, Derwin James. A top 10 pick that fell down the board to the Chargers at 17. Mind blowing. The comparison I see with James is the late Sean Taylor, RIP. Taylor was an absolute beast. He looked like a DE playing safety. Derwin James has similar size, 6’2, 212 lbs, with the quickness to stay with receivers and the power to play with tight ends. He has a very unique skill set that will make him a starter from day 1 in Southern California. Saturday will be his first test against the receiving corps of Fitz and Kirk.
So here you have it, no quarterback controversy in the Desert in 2018. Fans want to see the young UCLA standout but the former Heisman is better suited to lead this team. Especially with a rookie head coach like Steve Wilkes, a veteran like Bradford can really elevate his confidence as well as feed the ball to the future Hall of Famer, number 11. Mike McCoy is poised to reestablish himself as an elite offensive coordinator after an unsuccessful tenure in San Diego. He’s capable of calling a great game based off the quarterbacks strengths. How else do you think he can get a playoff win out of Tim Tebow against the Steelers? McCoy plans to use a quicker drop back with Bradford to avoid hits and so far in camp he’s on point. Now, if only the dude can stay healthy and confident. Then we’ll see the next Kurt Warner in AZ and Rosen’s time will have to wait. If Bradford does go down, then we’ll have to see what the young QB can do on the fly. Although the Rams are the team to beat, the Cardinals should out perform their projection of 5.5 wins in ’18.
Beginning with the 6 seed or the second wildcard team. If the season were to end today. 
The number 4 seed, or the 1st wildcard team, are the Milwaukee Brewers. They actually have more wins than the 1st place Cubs but are in second place by 1 game because they have more losses. They’re 64-49 right now and have made a few moves to go all in trading away some pieces and are neck and neck with Chicago. It’s safe to say both of those teams are sitting in the best position right now. The Brewers had 5 representatives in the All-Star game. 
Moving out to the Wild, Wild West. The Arizona Diamondbacks hold the slightest of advantages over rival Dodgers. As of right now, the D’Backs and Dodgers have the same record but the D’Backs are 8-4 against the Dodgers this year. The biggest flaw in the D’Backs post season blue print is the bullpen. They were a very aggressive team with a very depleted farm system. The D’Backs had limited top 100 prospects to package in trades but they made it work. Bringing relief pitcher Brad Ziegler back, who has more appearances than any reliever in D’Backs history. Also adding Matt Andriese from the Rays, he’s a relief pitcher that can log multiple innings out of the pen giving the D’Backs a long relief option. D’Backs also brought in Jake Diekman, the hard throwing lefty from the Rangers. Offensively, the D’Backs added two HUGE pieces in John Jay, with world series experience and recently added the switch hitter Eduardo Escobar to play 3rd. The pickup of Escobar turned out to be bigger than expected when Jake Lamb elected to have shoulder surgery shutting down his season. Terry Lovullo is prime to make another run at the post season. This time hopefully they won’t be playing in the stressful wildcard game.
Moving out east to the NL East. The Philadelphia Phillies are sitting in first place at 61-48. So the D’Backs, the Dodgers, and the Phillies all have 61 wins. The Phillies haven’t been relevant since Cliff Lee was throwing scoreless innings in his sleep. Ryan Howard and Chase Utley are long gone now. Now they have Jake Arrieta who helped break the Cubs World Series slump. If they make the playoffs having Jake Arrieta is a serious advantage with his experience and toughness. Another huge off-season move was bringing in Carlos Santana from the Indians. Santana also has a lot of post season experience contributing to the Indians World Series Run in 2016. Santana has 16 dingers and 63 RBI’s. Moving to free agency picking up Asdrubal Cabrera from the Mets was a move that helps offensively and defensively. A Web Gem machine and adding 18 homeruns in 2018, Cabrera looks to help Philidalphia secure a playoff spot in the crowded National League.
Finally, the Chicago Cubs. The team we all used to cheer for because we felt so bad that they have gone so long without a World Series. Well, a lot has happened since that and am now looking for them to get dethroned in the division. None the less, the Cubs can put up runs in a hurry, play very good defense and have good enough pitching to make a deep post season run. The Cubs still have the core nucleus that won a World Series two years ago. Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, Javier Baez, and Wilson Contreras. Of course, they also have John Lester, who’s no stranger to big time games and the spotlight. Lester is 9-7 in the post season with a 2.55 ERA. Id be happy to have a pitcher like that on my squad to take the bump game 1 of a playoff series.
Ok, so now we’ve seen the teams that are in as of now. We still have 2 months to go, but it should be safe to say that this playoff race will come down to the final week of the season. Starting in the NL East, the Atlanta Braves are only .5 games behind the Phillies. Sitting at 3rd place in the NL Central is the Pittsburgh Pirates who are 57-53 and 4 games back in the wildcard, 6 games behind the division leader Cubs. Oh lets not forget the Cardinals who are right behind the Pirates. Last time the Cardinals won the World Series they were 9 games out of the playoffs in early September. Having the Cardinals lingering around is not good for any body. The Giants, currently in the middle of a 4 game set with the D’Backs and 5 games out of 1st place. The team that is the scariest team is the Rockies who are 2 games out of 1st place in the NL West and have probably the best offensive lineup in the National League. 
White and Bush were better known as thunder and lightning. Bush was lighting because he was so shifty and he was a nightmare in the open field. Lendale White was a ‘savage’ just blowing up tacklers and embracing contact. White was known as Thunder because of his bruising style of running. That bruising style of run caused Lendale a series of hurt post football, saying he had about 20-30 concussions during his college and NFL career. They were constantly challenging one another to outdo the other. White had an insane 52 TD runs in 3 years at USC, and he was the second best RB, according to ‘experts.’ While Bush had 4,470 total Yards and 38 TD’s. Combining for 7,960 total yards and 95 TD’s in a 3 year-span. That is insane to think about. Not any coach would be able to handle two stars like that in the same backfield, Pete Carroll embraced the challenge. Managing their play was a major challenge for Carroll, but he used them to perfection. Leinart threw for just under 11,000 yards with 99 TD’s and 25 INT in 3 years as well.
