A scholarship was awarded Friday

8/23/2008

During my first semester of college, I was awarded a $500 scholarship, but with one condition I had to earn at least a 3.0 gpa. Naturally, I loaded up on the easiest courses imaginable, bowling being one of them. But I worked diligently for those fourth months, knowing that if I achieved my goals I could upgrade to buying mid-range beer for the second semester.

I pulled out a 3.5, was named to a list in honor of some guy named Dean, went on a shopping spree and never had the incentive to excel again. No regrets though.

I imagine Jason Rice won t start slacking now that he s been awarded a scholarship.

As practice ended Friday evening, coach Brandon told Rice to stand up in front of his teammates and announced that the walk-on was being put on scholarship. It was cool to see Rice grinning from ear to ear as his teammates patted him on the back.

Here s the tale of the tape on Rice. He s a redshirt sophomore from Dublin, Ohio and is currently on the two-deep at linebacker. Last year Rice was named the offensive scout team player of the year as a running back. Rice was at safety to start camp this year, so he s obviously versatile. He was injured prior to fall camp of his freshman year, so instead of burning a year, he did not become a member of the team until that spring. Good story.

In other walk-on news, running back Steven Dunlap has been getting some reps with the second team offense (but seemingly none have come at the expense of back-up Chris Bullock). Who knows if Dunlap will even travel to Pitt, but he has looked pretty good. At 5-8, 168 pounds, Dunlap is in the mold of a Willie Geter or Eric Ransom --- a slasher/burner type. When you get him the ball out there in space he can make some guys miss, Brandon said.

The team was given an unscheduled day off Thursday. Corey Partridge relaxed at the cinema watching Tropic Thunder. He didn t love it, but don t let him fool you it s pretty good. Corey preferred the Will Ferrell movie Step Brothers, which I hated.

ESPN.com s Graham Watson (a female, believe it or not) wrote a story on the MAC s quarterbacks. Tyler Sheehan plays prominently in the piece. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/preview08/news/story?id=3546042

BG graduate assistant Stan Watson has created a team blog, according to coach Brandon. I will share the link with you as soon as I get it.

Brandon said there is still a competition for the starting left tackle position that is currently being occupied by Brady Minturn. That said Minturn has outplayed Aaron Kent during every practice I ve attended.