The website, footballscoop.com, has posted a video featuring a look at the Michigan State coaching staff during National Letter of Intent Day. Erie fans and Cathedral Prep followers, in particular, might find this intriguing.

The end of the video features MSU head coach Mark Dantonio talking via conference call with Cathedral Prep’s Damion Terry and Delton Williams, who signed with the Spartans. Williams shared an extra message of thanks with Dantonio. It’s an interesting inside look at the day.

Today’s Erie Times-News featured a story on Erie County’s four major-college football recruits.

Michigan State Mark Dantonio talked about Cathedral Prep seniors Damion Terry and Delton Williams, both of whom will be Spartans in the fall. When talking about McDowell senior James Conner, Pitt coach Paul Chryst simply said, “There is a football player.”

Read more about what the coaches had to say about Erie’s major-college recruits.

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McDowell running back/outside linebacker James Conner signs his National Letter of Intent with Pitt Wednesday at McDowell's library. MATT MEAD/Erie Times-News

Today is National Letter of Intent Day, and many area football players and other athletes are set to sign with Division I and Division II schools or commit to program at other levels.

The Erie Times-News took a look at the area football players expected to sign today. Read a short bio on each player. Here’s the list:

Football
Damion Terry, Cathedral Prep – Michigan State
Delton Williams, Cathedral Prep – Michigan State
John Chereson, Cathedral Prep – Notre Dame (walk-on)
Erik Swanson, Cathedral Prep – Pennsylvania
Jake Plonski, Cathedral Prep – Mercyhurst
Nick Dubowski, Cathedral Prep – Indiana (Pa.)
Brendan Klemensic, Cathedral Prep – Gannon
James Conner, McDowell – Pittsburgh
Sean Gallagher, McDowell – Edinboro
Riley Dunbar, McDowell – Mercyhurst
DeShawn Coleman, Hickory – West Virginia
Dionte Pope, Hickory – Edinboro
Artrel Foster, Meadville – Temple
Quinn Thompson, General McLane – Connecticut
Aidan Graham, General McLane – Clarion
Nathan O’Brien, Eisenhower – Lock Haven
Aaron Lundmark, Eisenhower – Grove City
Logan Rickert, Reynolds – IUP

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Following are the athletes from other sports who plan to sign today. Read a short bio on each athlete.

Baseball
Eli Flynn, Cathedral Prep – Concord College (W.Va.)
Scott Hess, Cathedral Prep – Indiana (Pa.)

Cross country
Ethan Louis, Cathedral Prep – Dayton
Austin Pondel, Corry – Penn State
Hunter Johnston, Saegertown – Dayton

Soccer
Cory Kuzilla, Harbor Creek – California (Pa.)
Olivia Augustyniak, Mercyhurst Prep – Duquesne
Sarah Kaiser, Mercyhurst Prep – Cleveland State

Track and field
Jaynee Corbett, Corry – Youngstown State

Volleyball
Maria Peluso, Fort LeBoeuf – Shippensburg

Wrestling
Evan Daley, Fort LeBoeuf – Clarion

Water polo
Michael Squeglia, Cathedral Prep – Gannon

Note: Coaches are encouraged to notify the Times-News if an athlete plans to commit to a college.

Here are three college football games worth watching in Week 12.

Game of the week: No. 14 Stanford Cardinal (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) at No. 1 Oregon Ducks (10-0, 7-0 Pac-12), Saturday, 8 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: The Ducks are No. 1 in both national polls and second in the BCS standings, but all that will mean nothing if they fall to Stanford.

They won’t, though. The Cardinal aren’t going into Eugene with a redshirt freshman quarterback and beating the Ducks in their final regular-season home game.

Don’t get me wrong. Kevin Hogan is good. Real good.

He was clutch in last week’s win against Oregon State in his first collegiate start. In addition, Stanford is first in the nation in rushing defense.

The Cardinal are allowing 58.60 yards on the ground. So they’re up to the challenge of stopping Heisman candidate Kenjon Barner, who is second in points with 120 (20 TDs) and fourth in rushing (136 ypg.).

Barner had what looked like a right hand or wrist injury against Cal. He’ll likely play Saturday, but if it keeps him from being the difference maker he is, the Ducks could be in the trouble.

The problem for Stanford is it will have the same problem every other team has had against the Ducks. You fall behind early and can’t go score for score with them.

Say Stanford trails 14-0 or 17-3 or 21-10 by the midway point in the second quarter. It will be down 42-20 going into the fourth.

No one can go score for score with the Ducks. No one.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s us recap Week 5, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State at No. 20 Michigan State

Final score: Buckeyes 17, Spartans 16

Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.

Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.

He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.

Post-game commentary: Michigan State intercepted Miller once, forced two more turnovers, but didn’t corral the Ohio State quarterback when it mattered.

Miller rushed for a game-high 136 yards, threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to give Ohio State a 17-13 lead late in third, but more importantly, picked up a big first down to help the Buckeyes close out the game.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three games worth watching in Week 5.

Game of the week: No. 14 Ohio State Buckeyes (4-0) at No. 20 Michigan State Spartans (3-1), Saturday, 3:30 p.m., WJET (ABC)

Pregame rant: First road of the season won’t be an easy one for the Buckeyes in their Big Ten opener. How well sophomore quarterback Braxton Miller handles this will determine if Ohio State remains unbeaten.

Miller has seven rushing TDs, seven passing TDs, but more importantly, he’s completing 61.2 percent of his passes. Last season, he only completed 54.1 percent of his passes.

He may find it much tougher to execute against the Spartans, who have only given up two passing touchdowns. Ranked sixth in the nation in total defense, Michigan State is giving up just 3.94 yards a play.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let us recap Week 4, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 10 Clemson at No. 4 Florida State

Final score: Seminoles 49, Tigers 37

Pregame rant: So much talent on both teams here, but if the Seminoles are a national title contender, they’ll handle the Tigers.

Allowing just 103.33 yard a game and a total of three points, Florida State is first in the nation in total defense and scoring defense, but two of its three wins are against FCS schools Murray State and Savannah State.

Clemson will test that defense with its array of playmakers lead by junior quarterback Tajh Boyd, who is 63-of-86 for 747 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

Post-game commentary: The Tigers just couldn’t keep up with the ‘Noles, who scored 28 straight points after falling behind 31-21 in the third quarter.

EJ Manuel had a sensational game, going 27-of-35 for 380 yards and three touchdowns. Too bad Clemson and FSU are in the same division in the ACC. Like to see a rematch of those two.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are three games worth watching in Week 4.

Game of the week: No. 10 Clemson Tigers (3-0,0-0 ACC) at No. 4 Florida State Seminoles (3-0, 1-0 ACC), Saturday, 8 p.m. WJET (ABC).

Pregame rant: So much talent on both teams here, but if the Seminoles are a national title contender, they’ll handle the Tigers.

Allowing just 103.33 yard a game and a total of three points, Florida State is first in the nation in total defense and scoring defense, but two of its three wins are against FCS schools Murray State and Savannah State.

Clemson will test that defense with its array of playmakers lead by junior quarterback Tajh Boyd, who is 63-of-86 for 747 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.

Read the rest of this entry »

Let us recap Week 2, shall we?

Game of the week: No. 7 Georgia at Missouri

Final score: Bulldogs 41, Tigers 20

Pregame rant: Sheldon Richardson set it off by describing Georgia as playing “old-man football” following the Bulldogs’ 45-23 win against Buffalo.

“I watched that game. I turned it off, too,” said Richardson in a story by the Columbia Tribune. “It’s like watching Big Ten football. It’s old-man football.”

That’s big words, big fella.

Post-game commentary: The ‘Dawgs welcomed the Tigers into the SEC with a harsh dose of “grown-man football” as Georgia quarterback Aaron Murray called it. Georgia forced three turnovers and scored the game’s last 24 points to prevail.

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