Memphis Tigers News Archives

August 2005

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08/31/05		U of M Students, Faculty and Staff Commit to Help in Relief Effort -- Student-Athletes to assist in collecting monetary donations at Memphis-Ole Miss game on Labor Day (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, TENN. - There are several efforts currently being made by the University of Memphis to assist with the effects of Hurricane Katrina. A blood drive will be held on Sept. 1 and 2, and Tiger student-athletes will collect money for the Red Cross at the Memphis-Ole Miss football matchup on Labor Day. For those of you who wish to give blood, you may visit any Lifeblood or Red Cross center. The closest donation site is actually on the U of M campus. Lifeblood operates a center on the second floor of the Rawlins University Services Building, just above the bookstore. They will be open Thursday and Friday, September 1 and 2, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monetary gifts are best for the Red Cross. Cash is acceptable, and checks should be made out to the American Red Cross. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) suggests that monetary donations be given directly to the Red Cross rather than gifts of food, clothing, or other such supplies. On Thursday and Friday, September 1 and 2, there will be Red Cross collection sites set up around the campus. Sites include the circulation desk at the McWherter Library, the information desk at the FedEx Institute of Technology, the "Ask Tom" desk in Wilder Tower, and the office of the Vice President for Student Affairs in Room 235 of the Administration Building. Online donation can be made directly to the Red Cross on their Web site: https://www.redcross.org/donate/donation-form.asp Also, during the Labor Day football game against Ole Miss, University student athletes, dressed in their uniforms, will be collecting monetary donations.

08/31/05		University of Memphis Appreciation Night Now Includes Redbirds Doubleheader -- Tiger fans can prepare for Monday's football game with a pep rally between the first and second games of the doubleheader (GoTigersGo.com)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The University of Memphis Appreciation Night being sponsored tonight by the Memphis Redbirds is now a doubleheader. The University of Memphis will have a pep rally between the first and second games of the doubleheader from the field, led by the U of M Spirit Squad and pep band. U of M pre-game festivities on the plaza will include Tom II. Fans wearing Tiger blue shirts will receive field box tickets for $5.00 a piece. They can be purchased at the gates or by phone at (901) 721-6000 and giving code UM05 to receive the discount. The Redbirds' first game against the Nashville Sounds will begin at 6:05 p.m.

08/31/05		Tiger coaches hope to increase Doss's involvement in the offense this season (Commercial Appeal)
		By Phil Stukenborg Contact August 31, 2005 Joe Doss is soft-spoken to a fault. Ask him a question, and he returns a thoughtful response, although it's often barely audible in the quietest of settings. As a University of Memphis freshman running back a year ago, Doss performed in somewhat of a similar manner. He was a solid contributor when called upon, but served mostly as a backup to All-America tailback DeAngelo Williams. When the Tigers open the season on Labor Day against Ole Miss at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, Doss is expected to be more involved. A year ago, the former Melrose High standout averaged 5.5 touches per game. He rushed for 183 yards on 54 carries and caught 13 passes for 139 yards. This year the Tiger coaching staff is looking to Doss to significantly impact a Tiger offense that lost its share of playmakers, from record-setting quarterback Danny Wimprine to receivers Tavares Gideon, Darron White and Chris Kelley. Tiger coach Tommy West said the key to the offense's success could be how well the running backs behind Williams and Doss perform. ''Is one of them going to be a capable backup for DeAngelo to where we can afford to have Joe Doss on the field?'' West said. ''For Joe Doss to get only 10 or 12 plays a game would be a tragedy for us. He needs to be getting 35 to 40 plays a game for us. He's that kind of player. He can change a game.'' Doss got a considerable amount of work in the spring while the Tigers withheld Williams from scrimmages. Williams fractured his right fibula in the GMAC Bowl in December, and the coaching staff kept the two-time Conference USA Offensive Player of the Year out of scrimmages as a precautionary measure. The move gave Doss a taste of the increased workload he could receive. ''The spring helped me out a lot as far as getting me ready for the fall,'' Doss said. ''I got a lot of reps, and I got to feel what it feels like to be in DeAngelo's shoes. You get tired sometimes, but you have to keep going.'' Doss said he spent the offseason getting stronger and heavier to prepare for the added responsibilities. The Tiger offense would benefit greatly from having both Williams and Doss on the field at the same time. ''My offseason was more getting mentally ready for the game and gradually gaining weight so I could take more shots (to the body),'' he said. ''Last year coming out of high school I was about a buck-77 (177 pounds), and my body was going all over the place (when getting hit by defenders). I tried to get my weight up to take those hits.'' Doss weighs 193 pounds -- down slightly from the spring -- and said it's a comfortable playing weight. West hopes it makes Doss more productive, whether as a running back or a slot receiver. ''We like Joe in that slot position because he can run and catch and he runs reverses well,'' West said. ''We kind of had a little package and different ways to get him the ball a year ago. ''Joe is getting used to his role and playing that slot and moving around. He's a running back, but we're doing what we have to do to get him in the game to make plays. I'm not interested in Joe Doss being on the sidelines all the time. I want him in the game. He's a good player.'' Running backs coach Jeep Hunter said Doss is ideal for the slot receiver position because ''he has great hands.'' ''He runs reverses and sweeps well, too,'' Hunter said. ''He just gives the offense another weapon.'' Doss appreciates the vote of confidence. He'd like to help the offense approach the 460.3 yards per game it did a year ago. ''After the spring, coach was telling me he trusts me with the ball in my hands,'' Doss said. ''He said I'm someone he can depend upon. I did some good things coming into (preseason) camp. I got my mind ready for it. I'm going to keep working hard.'' -- Phil Stukenborg: 529-2543 --------------------------------------------------------- Tickets Available for $45 at the UofM box office, by calling 678-2331 or at gotigersgo.com. Tiger season tickets are also available for as little as $75.

08/31/05		Tiger Football Notes (Hurricane Katrina, Pratcher, LB field) (Commercial Appeal)
		By Marlon W. Morgan and Phil Stukenborg Contact August 31, 2005 Among those that evacuated New Orleans and drove to Memphis as Hurricane Katrina approached earlier this week was the family of Tiger reserve linebacker Mike Snyder. Snyder's grandmother, Althea Taormina, his mother, Gina, and his brother, Matt, were among six family members who made the trip. The group attended the UofM's practice Tuesday at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Taormina, 77, said it's been a difficult ordeal. 'I just wish that when we go back we'll find what we've been working for all of our lives,'' she said. Snyder is one of several Tiger players from the New Orleans area. Tight end John Doucette and defensive tackle LaVale Washington also are from New Orleans. Doucette hadn't been able to reach his family Tuesday. Tiger quarterback Patrick Byrne's family lives 90 miles northwest of another hard-hit area, Mobile, but said his hometown of Brewton, Ala., was spared. ''They are fine,'' Byrne said. ''They got the outer bands of the hurricane. It was nothing like Ivan (a year ago). That looked like someone had dropped a bomb.'' Pratcher injured Tiger receiver Mario Pratcher, who had missed several days in preseason camp with a strained arch, suffered a leg injury in Tuesday's practice at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. His condition was not immediately known. Pratcher, who had 15 catches for 185 yards last season, was injured midway through the workout while landing after making a pass reception. He had to be helped off the field and taken to the hospital. Pratcher was the co-MVP of the spring game. Fringe benefit The installation of an artificial surface at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium during the offseason proved beneficial to the Tigers Tuesday. Heavy rains caused by Hurricane Katrina made the practice fields at the Murphy Athletic Complex unplayable. Instead of retreating to the complex's indoor turf room, the Tigers conducted the workout on the Liberty Bowl's FieldTurf. ''It's great because our fields were in bad shape,'' Tiger coach Tommy West said. ''So getting a chance to come down here and work on the game field is good. If it had been last year, we would have been in the turf room in split sessions (offense and defense). This helps give us a chance to get prepared for this football game.'' Permanent captains Seniors Michael Bozeman and Tre Stallings were rewarded for their outstanding leadership during preseason camp by being named permanent team captains by Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron. Bozeman, a nose tackle, has dominated play on the defensive line while Stallings has helped lead a relatively inexperienced offensive line. ''I wanted to name two linemen because we have to be strong and physical on the offensive and defensive lines,'' Orgeron said. Bozeman said while it wasn't something he was seeking, it's an honor nevertheless. ''I've just been working every day,'' Bozeman said. ''I don't talk much. I just show leadership by playing.'' Getting their kicks While the quarterbacking duties will remain in question until game day, Orgeron has made a decision on the kicking duties. Junior Will Moseley will handle kickoffs, punts and long field goals. Redshirt freshman Matt Hinkle will kick the short field goals. A little motivation While Orgeron views the defensive line as a strength, he is still pushing senior starter McKinley Boykin and sophomore backup Brandon Jenkins, of East High School, to be more consistent. To push Boykin, Orgeron has placed sophomore Jeremy Garrett as his backup. Garrett has responded with solid play. ''McKinley Boykin is coming along,'' Orgeron said. ''He has not progressed at the speed at which I hoped he would. I believe that his knee injury is not 100 percent so we put Jeremy Garrett behind him, who had an excellent camp and he'll be in the rotation there.'' Jenkins has been getting more work at the tackle positions after being moved from defensive end. But his playing time has diminished recently. ''Brandon Jenkins has dropped off a little bit,'' Orgeron said. 'We're still going to play Brandon. He has to have a good week of practice. We're trying to find out if Brandon is more suitable for us to play inside or outside.'' ----------------------------------------------------- C-USA this week Thursday's games Oregon at Houston, 6 p.m.; ESPN2 William & Mary at Marshall, 6 p.m. UCF at S. Carolina, 6:30 p.m.; ESPN Minnesota at Tulsa, 9 p.m.; ESPN2 Saturday's games UAB at Tenn., 11:30 a.m.; WLMT (30) Duke at East Carolina, noon; CSTV Baylor at SMU, 7 p.m. UTEP at New Mexico St., 9:30 p.m. Sunday's game Tulane at Southern Miss, ppd. Monday's game Ole Miss at Memphis, 3:30 p.m.; ESPN

08/31/05		Lady Tigers crush TTU in season opener (Daily Helmsman)
		by Matthew Laurie Staff Reporter August 31, 2005 Loretta McNamee and Lisa Wourms, goalkeepers for the Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles, may not want to see the color blue for a long time. When they saw it last Sunday it usually meant the scoreboard was going to change for the worse. The University of Memphis women’s soccer team blitzed TTU for almost the entire 90 minutes of the match that ended with the Tigers’ win, 7-0 in its season opener. “It was great to see us score that many goals,” said head coach Brooks Monaghan. “You don’t know what to expect that early (from the team).” The scoring started a little over eight minutes into the match with a 40-yard free kick. Five goals and 80 minutes later, the last goal was scored unassisted by fellow Japanese player Asuka Kubota. Kubota was the star of the match tallying two goals and two assists. She is a sophomore for Memphis and a transfer from Martin Methodist College. Mikami also had two goals and an assist to Nicky McLeod. Mikami, a junior, missed the first eight games of her 1st season at Memphis fresh off a transfer from Division II Christian Brothers University, where she led the nation in goals, goals per game and points per game. Monaghan’s team is already benefiting from his team’s youth. His 2005 recruiting class was ranked 27th in the nation, according to soccerbuzz.com. Freshman Kylie Hayes scored an early goal to make it 2-0, and freshmen Kate Murphy and Sarah MacGregor each had an assist. “We’ve got a really young team,” said Monaghan, who has depth to go along with the youth. Last year the Lady Tigers beat the Golden Eagles only 2-0 and Monaghan said a big different between this year and last is the amount of depth. “This year’s squad is much deeper,” he said. “(It’s) quite better.” On a team with only two seniors, redshirt junior MeLeod will help Monaghan prepare the youth for this season and the future, and she is doing it by example. McLeod had a goal and an assist in the win and her first game since she tore her ACL in the spring of 2004. “They’re stepping in like they were returnees,” said McLeod of the freshmen. “They’ve shown a lot of maturity and confidence.” However, the win wasn’t perfect no matter what the scoreboard said. Monaghan said the defense of the Lady Tigers still has work to do if they want to get to the next level. And, since the defense is what gets the offense started it means that much more. The improvements may need to come quickly if Memphis wants to continue this type of success. “It’s going to get tougher,” Monaghan said. The next game for the Lady Tigers is Friday in Birmingham, Ala. at the Samford Bulldog Soccer Classic against the host school. The next home game is one week from today against UT-Martin at 7 p.m. at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. Injury report: Caroline Allen, GK — day-to-day (back), Elaine Sedgewick, MF/D - MCL tear.

08/30/05		Men's Tennis Adds Two Signees for 2005-06 -- Tigers joined by Michael Jetter from Germany and Oskar Saarne from Estonia (GoTigersGo.com)
		Tiger men's tennis coach Paul Goebel added two more recruits for his first signing class which he announced Tuesday. Joining the Tigers for the upcoming season will be Michael Jetter from Germany and Oskar Saarne from Estonia. Jetter comes to Memphis from Neuenbuerg, Germany. There, he attended Gymnasium Neuenbuer. He has participated in three Futures tournaments in Thailand, advancing to the singles quarters at the F3 Futures tournament in 2004. The son of Gundi and Karl-Eugen, Jetter is the first German player to sign with the Tiger program. He will be a junior for the Tigers in 2005-06. Saarne comes to Memphis via a pipeline of sorts. Saarne was known to former Tiger Marten Tamla, who completed his eligibility last year and is completing his degree at Memphis this coming season. Saarne is another player who brings a lot of international competition to the college game, after competing in tournaments in Sweden, Denmark and Norway. As a junior tennis player, Saarne owned 18 singles victories in ITF tournaments and 20 doubles victories. He won fell in the finals of the Siaulai Mayors Cup in March of 2003 in Lithuania and advanced to the quarters of the Estonian Junior Open, also in 2003. In doubles, he won the doubles title at the Estonian Junior Open and two months later, fell in the Dorint Berlin Junior Open. Saarne, the son of Madis Saarne and Eda Mallmann, started playing tennis at age six and was coached in Tallinn, Estonia, also the hometown of Tamla, by Alti Vahkal. Saarne attended Audentes High School in Tallinn and was coached by Harri Neppi. The duo joins freshman Matthew Brewer for the 2005-06 season. Brewer capped a solid junior career last month, ending the season ranked No. 23 in the nation in the USTA and No. 3 in the Southern USTA rankings. The Tigers will open the 2005-06 season at the Middle Tennessee Fall Classic, Sept. 16-18th.

08/30/05		After last season, Tigers becoming familiar with playing on national TV (Commercial Appeal)
		By Phil Stukenborg Contact August 30, 2005 Maybe it was the letter Tommy West received from the high school football coach in South Dakota. Or the speech he heard by former NFL coach Steve Spurrier at last year's GMAC Bowl luncheon. It could have been ESPN college football analyst Bob Davie's familiarity with the program when he made a scheduled stop at preseason practice two weeks ago. When the University of Memphis opens its football season on Labor Day against Ole Miss at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, the Tigers will find themselves in familiar territory ... not because they'll be playing at home, but because they'll be playing before a national television audience. The UofM, coming off back-to-back bowl seasons, will be making an appearance on ESPN or ESPN2 for the fifth time in six games. Memphis ended the regular season by playing nationally televised Conference USA home games against Louisville and Southern Miss and a road game at South Florida. Its bowl game, against Bowling Green in Mobile, Ala., also was carried by ESPN. Only a late-season C-USA game at East Carolina escaped the national spotlight. The exposure is unprecedented for a program that had made only four national appearances the previous three seasons and one appearance on ESPN in the 1990s (a 1993 game at ninth-ranked Miami). "We've been on television as much as anyone in the country the past few games," said Tiger quarterback Patrick Byrne. "That's remarkable. For any program. "When I signed here I can only remember seeing one or two Memphis games on TV." Despite neither team being ranked, the game has national appeal. It will be the first game as head coach for Ole Miss's Ed Orgeron, the former USC defensive line coach. And it will be the first game for Tiger All-America running back DeAngelo Williams since he declared he'd return for his senior season. Tiger coach West has resurrected a program that hadn't been to a bowl game since 1971 -- and hadn't had a winning season since 1994 -- and directed it to 17 wins in two seasons. National television exposure has followed. West said he received a letter from a high school coach in South Dakota who had become familiar with program through the televised games. Spurrier spoke about his familiarity with the UofM football program when he said, jokingly, in his speech that it seemed the Tigers were playing on ESPN every Thursday night. And Davie had significant knowledge about the program, background culled not only from his preparation -- he'll be the analyst for the Labor Day game -- but from the UofM's TV appearances. "You can't put a price on it," West said. "It's been unreal. "I got a letter from a high school coach in South Dakota," West said. "I called him up and said, `How in the heck did you know about us?' He said 'I watched you a lot on TV last year.' " West spent five seasons as Clemson's coach in the 1990s and led those Tigers to three straight bowl games (1995,'96 and '97). But he said the national TV run the UofM is on is unprecedented. "I don't think it's ever happened to me anywhere I've ever been, not that many times," he said. "Back-to back, national audiences, almost unopposed. "We had a Friday night game (Southern Miss), a Thursday night (Louisville), an early morning Saturday (USF) and this one's 3:30 in the afternoon unopposed." Center Blake Butler's father, Keith, played for the Tigers in the 1970s -- a successful era for the program, but one without television exposure. His father rejoined the program in the 1990s as an assistant, but television exposure was minimal as the program struggled. Blake said it's a different time than his father experienced. "It's exciting," Butler said. "There were years where there might be one game on regional television and now we're getting three, four, five games on national TV. It's bringing exposure to this university that it's never had before. "(A coach) could go into a (recruit's) house in California and they've probably seen us play. It helps getting the program's name out. It does so much. And it's helped that we've played well on national TV." Williams, who has performed well in televised games, said the team's explosive offense has attracted the cameras, too. The Tigers averaged 35.8 points and 460.3 yards last year. Williams averaged nearly 200 yards in the TV games. "I mean it's fun, people want to see those high-scoring, high-octane offenses going head-to-head," Williams said. "No one wants to see a 6-3 ballgame." While Butler said the benefits to the program are enormous (ESPN and ESPN2 have nearly 90 million subscribers each), there are drawbacks. "Friends and family back home get to watch the games," Butler said. "And they'll call me and tell me when I've done something wrong." -- Phil Stukenborg: 529-2543

08/30/05		Tiger Football Notes (Injuries; Fan Fest; Redbirds) (Commercial Appeal)
		By Phil Stukenborg and Marlon W. Morgan Contact August 30, 2005 Tigers lose two defenders to injury When the Tigers open the season on Labor Day against Ole Miss, they'll be without some of their defensive depth. Backup right tackle Van Houston underwent minor knee surgery last week and will be out at least three weeks. Reserve safety Javar Pollard broke his collarbone last week and is out at least four weeks. Houston (6-6, 280) played in 12 games for the Tigers last year after transferring from Itawamba (Miss.) Community College. He finished with eight tackles, including a tackle for lost yardage. Putting in overtime Some members of the Tiger football team, who appeared at the program's FanFest Saturday at the Murphy Athletic Complex, stayed well beyond the 5 p.m. finish. Among those who remained was Tiger All-America running back DeAngelo Williams. Williams didn't leave until around 7:30 p.m., after every autograph and photo request had been met. "I thought I'd seen a lot in 26 years of coaching," said Tiger coach Tommy West. "But I'd never seen anything like that." Appreciation night The Memphis Redbirds will host a UofM Appreciation Night on Wednesday. Fans wearing blue Tiger T-shirts will be allowed to purchase a field box seat for $5. The Redbirds play the Nashville Sounds in a Pacific Coast League game at 7:05 p.m. Tom II, the U of M's bengal Tiger mascot, the spirit squads and the marching band are scheduled to appear. Sending prayers With Hurricane Katrina making her way into Louisiana on Monday morning, Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron sent out his prayers to the families not only in Louisiana, but Mississippi and Alabama as well. The Rebels have 16 players on their roster from Louisiana, including four from New Orleans. Orgeron is from Larose, La., in the southern part of the state. His parents, who still reside there, along with his brother and his family, all made their way to Oxford on Saturday morning to escape Katrina's path, packing the Orgeron household with 12 members. ''They're currently at my house right now and the gumbo is cooking,'' Orgeron said. ''We were worried about all the wooden houses down there getting knocked down.'' Running backs coach Frank Wilson, from New Orleans, also had his family seek shelter with him. Orgeron made sure the players made contact with their families over the weekend. They attempted to do so again Monday night. ''I got in touch with my mom for the first time around midnight (Sunday) because something was wrong with the cell phone towers,'' said freshman linebacker Robert Russell, of New Orleans. ''I started trying like three days ago to call her and finally got through.'' Russell learned that most of his relatives went to Texas to stay with other relatives. But his grandmother, who works in a hospital, remained in New Orleans to help out. ''She's the one I'm really worried about right now,'' Russell said. Back in the fold After meeting with running back Alan Abrams on Monday, Orgeron said the sophomore was allowed to rejoin the team. Abrams was suspended Friday after walking out of Thursday's practice. Orgeron said there are guidelines that Abrams must abide by to remain with the team. Abrams, who rushed for 275 yards last year as a freshman, is eligible to play in Monday's season opener against Memphis. He is behind Jamal Pittman and Brandon Jacobs, while competing with Mico McSwain for the playing time. Help on the way The Rebels' banged-up offensive line should get some help this week. Orgeron said he expects redshirt freshman David Traxler to return at some point this week. Junior Andrew Wicker should be back Friday. Sophomore Darryl Harris, who practiced in a helmet and shoulder pads Monday, is listed as questionable, but Orgeron said he isn't counting on him to be ready for the Memphis game.

08/30/05		Tiger Basketball Notes (Hunt; Recruit Visits) (Commercial Appeal)
		By Gary Parrish Contact August 30, 2005 Assault charge shadows Hunt General Sessions Criminal Court Judge Joyce Broffitt ruled in a preliminary hearing Monday that there is probable cause to move forward with the case against Jeremy Hunt, meaning the University of Memphis basketball player will likely enter his senior season with a domestic assault charge pending. "He's a young man, and this is trying on his mind," said Hunt's attorney, Leslie Ballin. "But he denies these allegations." Hunt was arrested last January following an incident with his ex-girlfriend, Tamika Rogers, and charged with misdemeanor assault. Ever since, any on-the-court success has been overshadowed by these in-the-court proceedings that still seem far from complete. It's probable a grand jury will get Hunt's case before the end of the year, and an indictment could follow, perhaps during basketball season. It's doubtful such a development would have an impact on Hunt's availability, considering the UofM has already punished the Craigmont High graduate with a two-game suspension, and indicated it will now take an innocent-until-proven-guilty approach. Hunt averaged 9.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per game last season. He is expected to compete for the starting shooting guard spot with freshmen Chris Douglas-Roberts and Antonio Anderson. Visits scheduled Midnight Madness was already going to be a big deal, what with the ESPN cameras and a possible preseason Top 10 ranking. But now, the importance of putting on a good show has been increased, as at least three elite-level prospects will visit the UofM that Oct. 14 weekend. Stanley Robinson, a 6-9 forward from Birmingham, Derrick Jasper, a 6-5 guard from Paso Robles, Calif., and Trevon Willis, a 6-3 guard from Fresno, Calif., are expected to be at FedExForum for the festivities. Rivals.com ranks them as the 14th, 35th and 136th-best senior prospects in the nation, respectively. In addition to Memphis, Robinson is also considering Connecticut, Florida, Georgia Tech and Alabama. Jasper is also looking at Kentucky, Connecticut, Washington and Illinois. Willis is still considering a host of schools, but he has reportedly been offered by USC, Miami and Fresno State. In another recruiting development, Quincy Pondexter, a 6-7 wing from Fresno, Calif., has scheduled an official visit to Memphis for Sept. 16-18. ScoutHoops.com ranks him as the 27th-best senior prospect in the nation, and he indicated to that recruiting web site that Memphis is one of three finalists for his services, along with Washington and Connecticut. "John Calipari is an ex-NBA coach, and in a way, he's really turned that program around," Pondexter told ScoutHoops.com. "They're at the top right now, and I think that's going to be one of the top teams soon." The Tigers already have two commitments for the Class of 2006. They are Hashim Bailey, a 6-10 center from Wayne, N.J., and Pierre Niles, a 6-8 power forward from Memphis who told The Commercial Appeal on Sunday that he will withdraw from Ridgeway High and spend the next year at Lake Suzy Florida Prep. -- Gary Parrish: 529-2365

08/30/05		'Pushed' Tigers get set for Ole Miss (Daily Helmsman)
		by Daniel Ford Sports Reporter August 30, 2005 Less than a week before its first game and, like most teams in the nation, there are plenty of questions surrounding the Tiger football team. Coach Tommy West attempted to address all these questions and then some at a preseason luncheon Monday afternoon. And what ever answers he couldn’t provide will no doubt be answered Sept. 5 when The University of Memphis hosts rival Ole Miss at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium and on ESPN. “I felt like we’re coming out of a productive solid camp,” West said. “This is a team. I probably pushed more than any other team I’ve had here. They’re not a great focus team. They’re a great effort team, but we’re not a great focus team. A lot of that has to do with being a young team with some inexperience in positions, and they needed to be pushed.” The Tigers came out of preseason camp relatively intact. The only injury casualties were corner back Javar Pollard (broken collarbone), defensive lineman Van Houston (knee surgery) and offensive lineman Jared McGowan (hand surgery). Another major question mark surrounds the offensive line, the unit partially responsible for the success of the Tigers’ best answer — Heisman candidate DeAngelo Williams. With four new starters, the unit was wrapped with uncertainty throughout spring workouts and into the preseason camp. One of the new men up front is Andrew Handy, who was a regular starter before red-shirting last season with a broken leg. “But I feel really confident about our number-one offensive line,” West said. “We’re going to get a great test because I think (Ole Miss is) really strong at defensive line, and I think their two inside guys (Michael Bozeman and McKinley Boykin) are as good as any we’ll face this season.” Defensively, Memphis will be looking for redemption. Nearly last in the country in pass defense a year ago, the Tigers had trouble pressuring opposing quarterbacks and in defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn’s approach, if you can’t hurry the passer, then it leaves the corner backs on islands of man-to-man coverage. “What I hope I see is a little bit of defensive temperance and a little different personality,” West said. “We start three senior defensive lineman (Marcus West, LaVale Washington and Rubio Phillips). We’ve got to play good on the defensive side (because) we’ve got to help our offense out to start with.” Last year against Ole Miss, the Tiger defense frustrated the Rebels’ scrambling quarterback Micheal Spurlock with interceptions and broken passes that had Spurlock benched by the second half. But All-Conference safety Wesley Smith said he doesn’t necessarily expect a repeat performance. “I believe (he’ll be better),” Smith said. “I don’t think the old system (under former Ole Miss coach David Cutcliffe) fit him. This system (under first-year coach Ed Orgeron) fits him better, because they’re not asking him to throw over the middle as much.” But the biggest question isn’t the defense or the offensive line or the secondary. It’s unproven quarterback Patrick Byrne. Following in the shoes of record-setting passer Danny Wimprine isn’t an easy feat, but West assured that Byrne, a red-shirt junior, has the confidence of the entire staff and has distanced himself in preseason camps from freshmen Will Hudgens and Billy Barefield. “He’s our starting quarterback,” West said. “If he throws a pick, I’m not going to jerk him out of the game. He’s going to make mistakes. I know that. He just better not make too many of them.”

08/29/05		Lifeblood Gets Memphis vs. Ole Miss Rivalry Started Early -- Fans of both teams can compete to see who donates the most blood to the Mid-South blood bank (GoTigersGo.com)
		In preparation for next Monday's football season opener between Memphis and Ole Miss, Lifeblood is sponsoring an off-the-field competition for all fans, the U of M - Ole Miss Lifeblood Challenge. Fans donating blood at any of the 12 Lifeblood Donor Centers throughout the city of Memphis, including the on-campus donation center located adjacent to the University Bookstore, can tell the Lifeblood staff members which team they are donating for, Memphis or Ole Miss, and their donation will get credited to their favorite team. The winner of the blood drive will be announced during the football game on Monday. Lifeblood is one of about a hundred community blood centers in the nation that collect blood from location volunteer donors. As a full-service blood center, Lifeblood performs all aspects of blood processing, including recruiting donors, drawing blood from donors, testing it for infectious diseases, processing it into therapeutic components and testing its compatibility for specific patients. The eight-largest medical center in the U.S., Lifeblood is the community blood center of the Mid-South, and as of Sunday, had just 53 percent of the blood supply needed in the region. There is a special need for Type O and B donors. Questions about donating? Click here to go to Lifeblood's website: www.lifeblood.org.

08/29/05		Memphis Redbirds to Host U of M Appreciation Night -- Fans wearing Tiger blue shirts will receive box seat admission for $5.00 (GoTigersGo.com)
		The Memphis Redbirds will host a University of Memphis Appreciation Night, Wed., Aug. 31st in AutoZone Park. Tiger fans wearing a blue Tiger t-shirt will receive a Field Box Seat for only $5.00. The Redbirds will host the Nashville Sounds beginning at 7:05 p.m. The gates will open at 6 p.m. and Tom II, the Memphis Spirit Squads and the marching band will all be in attendance in downtown Memphis before the gates open. To purchase tickets prior to this game, please call (901) 721-6000 and give the code UM05 to receive your discount. Tickets will also be available for purchase at the gate.

08/29/05		C-USA Shuffle -- Conference USA adds six new teams, four to Tigers’ 2005 schedule (Daily Helmsman)
		by Justin Kissell Sports Reporter August 29, 2005 The entire landscape of college football is changing quickly as teams jump to new conferences, and Conference USA is getting in on the action this season. The University of Memphis will have six new foes in the newly rebuilt C-USA, two of which played in bowl games last season (Marshall and UTEP). Marshall, Rice, Southern Methodist University, Tulsa, The University of Central Florida and The University of Texas at El Paso join the conference as football schools. Memphis adds four of those to this season’s schedule. U of M junior running back Joseph Doss looks at the situation as practically a do-over. “It’s my second year here and with more new teams, it’s kind of like starting my freshman year again,” he said. Players pointed to the loss of Louisville to the Big East as the biggest change, but feel new rivalries will develop over time. “When you lose a top 10 team like Louisville, it’s big, but I like it better now with 12 teams and a chance to compete for a conference championship each year,” said Will Hudgens, a redshirt freshman quarterback. Sophomore defensive back Jake Kasser said Southern Miss is the biggest in-conference rival right now, but feels a team like Tulsa could develop into a rival. But the Tigers still have local rival Ole Miss on the schedule first, and that’s a move that came long before C-USA even existed. A team-by-team look: Marshall Thundering Herd Location: Huntington, W. Va. Head coach: Mark Snyder 2004 record: 6-6, including loss in Fort Worth Bowl Potential offensive star: Sophomore RB Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for 462 yards last season. Potential defensive stars: Senior DBs Curtis Keyes and Chris Royal had 108 tackles and six interceptions last season, respectively. Tiger all-time record against: None Notes: Marshall has produced NFL stars Randy Moss, Chad Pennington and Byron Leftwich, as well as three-time Super Bowl winner Troy Brown of the New England Patriots. Rice Owls Location: Houston, Texas Head coach: Ken Hatfield 2004 record: 3-8 Potential offensive star: Sophomore QB Joel Armstrong rushed for 608 yards and five touchdowns last season and threw for 341 yards and two TDs. Potential defensive star: Senior defensive lineman John Syptak had 69 tackles in 2004. Tiger all-time record against: None Notes: The Heisman Trophy is named after former Rice coach John Heisman. SMU Mustangs Location: Dallas, Texas Head coach: Phil Bennett 2004 record: 3-8 Potential offensive stars: Senior QBs Jerad Romo and Tony Eckert combined for 2,005 passing yards and 327 rushing yards last season. Potential defensive star: Senior Alvin Nnabuife had 80 tackles and one interception in 2004. Tiger all-time record against: 1-0 Notes: The Doak Walker Award was named for the first junior to win the Heisman in 1948 at SMU. Running backs nationwide compete for the trophy today. Tulsa Golden Hurricane Location: Tulsa, Okla. Head coach: Steve Kragthorpe 2004 record: 4-8 Potential offensive stars: Senior RB Uril Parrish and Junior RB Brandon Diles rushed for a combined 1,661 yards and 15 TDs last year. Potential defensive star: Junior linebacker Nick Bunting had 88 tackles in 2004. Tiger all-time record against: 14-6 Notes: Veteran QB Gus Frerotte of the Miami Dolphins attended Tulsa. UCF Golden Knights Location: Orlando, Fla. Head coach: George O’Leary 2004 record: 0-11 Potential offensive star: Junior QB Steven Moffett threw for 1,721 yards and nine TDs last season. Potential defensive star: Senior CB Travonti Johnson had 50 tackles in 2004. Tiger all-time record against: 1-0 Notes: Minnesota Vikings star QB Daunte Culpepper threw for 11,412 yards and 89 TDs in four seasons at UCF. UTEP Miners Location: El Paso, Texas Head coach: Mike Price 2004 record: 8-4, including loss in EV1.net Houston Bowl Potential offensive star: Junior QB Jordan Palmer threw for 2,818 yards and 26 TDs in 2004. Potential defensive star: Senior LB Thomas Howard had 62 tackles last season. Tiger all-time record against: None Notes: NFL Hall of Fame receiver Don Maynard attended UTEP when it was called Texas Western. Maynard set numerous NFL records before he was enshrined at Canton in 1987.

08/29/05		Defense, secondary look to rebound after poor 2004 campaign (Daily Helmsman)
		by Daniel Ford Sports Reporter August 29, 2005 Last year was embarrassing. It’s a year that Memphis cornerback Dustin Lopez and the rest of the Tiger defense would probably like to forget. “But we’re not,” Lopez said. “Last year was embarrassing for everybody here, and we want to prove that that’s not who we are, that we can play.” One thing is for sure, the Tiger secondary can only be better this time around. As a unit Memphis ranked 114th in the nation in pass defense, giving up a whopping 276 yards a contest. What was most troubling to coaches and players was that the very poor numbers weren’t from lack of talent. “The problem last year was everybody was trying to do everybody else’s job instead of doing their job first,” said senior linebacker Carlton Baker. “This year it seems like everybody knows to just worry about themselves and about what they have to do, and it’s going to make us a much better defense than we were last year.” That would also ease the burden on the offense. “We’ve got to be a help to our offense this year,” said Lopez, who had four interceptions in six starts last year. “They’ve got DeAngelo (Williams) but he’s not going to be able to do it by himself. We’ve got to make stops and give our offense more chances.” Another factor working for the Tiger defense will be experience. They return almost everyone, and linebacker Tim Goodwell said that itself can make all the difference. “This is really our second year together,” Goodwell said. “So many of us were new last year and now we’re going into our second year together. Now we understand each other more, we know what’s going to happen and what’s not going to happen. We know what we have to do to be better.” Goodwell also echoed what seems to be this year’s defensive motto: “worry about yourself first.” “That’s one of our major issues that we talk about,” Goodwell said. “If everybody gets their job done then, as a unit, we’re going to take care of things. That’s the main thing (defensive coordinator Joe Lee) Dunn has been telling us is do your job and let the person next to you do their job and everything will click.” As for Dunn, don’t expect, just because of last year’s disappointments, to see any changes in his famous, if not infamous, blitz-heavy strategy. “It’s just Coach Dunn,” Goodwell said. “He’s not going to change the way he coaches. He’s going to run a defense his way until he can’t run it anymore, and that’s not going to happen.”

08/29/05		Gridiron Guide (Daily Helmsman)
		by Tim Miller Sports Reporter August 29, 2005 Everyone knows who will be lined up in the Tiger backfield come Sept. 5 when The University of Memphis faces off against long-time foe Ole Miss, but until last Wednesday Tiger fans didn’t know who Heisman candidate DeAngelo Williams would line up behind? Head coach Tommy West named Patrick Byrne the starter for the Sept. 5 season opener against Ole Miss. Throughout spring practice and into summer scrimmages, it was a three-man competition for the starting quarterback position. Patrick Byrne brings leadership and composure. Will Hudgens can rocket the ball downfield. Billy Barefield can create plays with his feet. But, it will be Byrne stepping into the shoes left vacant by graduating senior Danny Wimprine. And those shoes are big. Wimprine shattered school records during his four years as quarterback, including being the first player in U of M history to rack up more than 7,000 career-passing yards. He also led the Tigers to their first back-to-back bowl trips. Byrne, Wimprine’s former roommate, has been the No. 1 man on the depth chart since the spring, getting the nod over Hudgens and Barefield. Byrne, a redshirt junior, was co-MVP of the 2005 Blue-Gray Game, completing 12 of 17 passes for 192 yards and two touchdowns. Although he has never started a game at quarterback for the Tigers, he has spent three years as a backup and knows the system well. “He knows what we like and what we expect,” said head coach Tommy West. “He’s a smart guy.” Don’t look for Byrne to put up Wimprine-like numbers, but look for him to provide consistency and stability as a leader on the team. “There will be plays he’ll have to make for us, but don’t make mistakes,” West said. “Don’t beat us at quarterback.” If Byrne can’t get the job done, West still hasn’t made a decision on who the No. 2 man will be. Will Hudgens, a redshirt freshman listed at 6’4”, is the biggest of the three competing for the job and may have a lead over Barefield for backup duties. Hudgens started all four years at local Ridgeway High School and threw for 1,100 yards and 14 touchdowns as a senior. As a pocket passer, Hudgens can make the long throw. “Will’s a big, strong-arm guy,” West said. Hudgens’ ability to launch the deep ball will keep opposing defenses honest and prevent them from stacking the defensive line against the run. Freshman Barefield can keep a defense honest, too. He just does it differently than Hudgens. According to West, “Billy is a smaller guy with great feet.” At 5’10”, Barefield is not likely to stand in the pocket. He’ll be the first to admit that. “I’m more of a run-around Michael-Vick-type,” Barefield said. As a junior at Cornerstone Christian High in San Antonio, he racked up 5,052 yards of total offense, the ninth highest total ever in prep football ,according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Senior Maurice Avery who has seen limited time at quarterback may also sneak in a few snaps if Byrne is sidelined. Although Byrne, Hudgens and Barefield offer different qualities on the field, they all want the same thing. “We’re all competitive inside, but we want to succeed,” Hudgens said. “We try to help out each other as much as we can.” The wide receivers will also be helping out the quarterbacks as well. The Tigers must have veteran receivers step up and make big plays and Maurice Avery and Mario Pratcher will play key roles in the air attack. “They’re (Byrne, Hudgens, and Barefield) coming along quickly,” Avery said. “But wherever they throw the ball we need to make plays to make them look good.” And they will throw the ball. Don’t look for the Tigers to change their philosophy and rely on DeAngelo Williams running the ball just because they have a new quarterback. “We can’t do that,” West said. “We can’t limit what we do, or we’re falling into a trap. I think we need to be even more wide open then we’ve been. We have to be able to throw the ball. That’s what we do. We’re a throwing team.”

08/29/05		Massive turnover on line and in receiving corps will test Tigers (Daily Helmsman)
		by Matthew Laurie Staff Reporter August 29, 2005 Of the 11 players who saw the majority of the action for The University of Memphis last season, only three will step foot on the brand new FieldTurf Sept. 5 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. The squad has lost four of five offensive line starters from last year, four of its five top receiving yardage leaders and a quarterback who holds five single game passing records, four single season passing records and five of seven career passing records. The biggest piece of the new offensive puzzle is Patrick Byrne, who was appointed to the position just last week in time for the season opener against Ole Miss. Byrne has yet to attempt a pass for the Tigers in his career. However, with the news in January that running back DeAngelo Williams would return for his senior season, the offense can still plant fear in opposing defenses. The men paving the way for Williams and his race for the Heisman trophy will be very different from last year. Blake Butler is the lone returning starter and will move from guard to center. Senior Andrew Handy, a three-year starter, will return to his guard position one year after injuring his leg. The development of the offensive line will help both Williams and Byrne. Although summer scrimmages riddled with mental errors and poor execution aren’t to head coach Tommy West’s liking, Handy said the line will be ready for the Rebels. “We try to do it to perfection and try to make as few mistakes as possible,” he said. “We’re getting better. Everybody is doing their jobs. (There have been) no problems. “We’re real close now. These past couple weeks everything has just been clicking.” Offensive Coordinator Randy Fichtner’s spread offense will still be in full effect this fall and it should help Byrne. The system allowed the Tigers to average 6.1 yards per play and 30.2 points per game in 2004, which contributed to a second straight bowl appearance and an 8-4 record. The unpredictability of the offense played a large role in the success the Tigers had in moving the ball. Although the team has a running back with NFL talent, the team will still be deceptive with the ball. “You never know where the ball is going,” said Williams. “It could go to the receiver, quarterback (or) running back. It’s just wide open right now. “It’s very important (to be unpredictable) because when you’re predictable it’s easier to contain the offense and pickup on your plays.” The squad will also rely on Maurice Avery and Mario Pratcher to pick up slack left by the departure of Tavares Gideon and Darron White. Pratcher missed the Aug. 20 scrimmage with a foot problem, which progressively got worse to the point he had to wear a protective boot. At last Tuesday’s post-scrimmage practice, Pratcher took a few passes at half speed. Joseph Doss, backup running back, will see a lot of action this year and play along side Williams in the backfield. Doss has put on muscle to match his quickness, but does not see himself as a change of pace back. “DeAngelo is back there and he’s quick, too. I’m another weapon,” he said.

08/29/05		FROM MY SEAT -- Adding up the known quantities and variables for the '05 Tiger football season (Memphis Flyer)
		BY FRANK MURTAUGH AUGUST 29, 2005 FORECAST...FOOTBALL! Labor Day will take on new meaning for the University of Memphis football squad when it takes the field at the Liberty Bowl next week for the 2005 opener against Ole Miss. Herewith, a look at the season ahead. OFFENSE Known quantities: running back DeAngelo Williams, receivers Maurice Avery and Ryan Scott, tight end John Doucette, center Blake Butler Variables: three rookie offensive linemen, rookie quarterback As goes Heisman hopeful Williams, so goes the U of M offense in 2005. With junior Patrick Byrne taking over the quarterback duties from Danny Wimprine, coach Tommy West’s approach will be run first, pass when necessary. Which makes the development of this year’s offensive line so critical. The return of Andrew Handy at one guard position (he sat out 2004 with an ankle injury) will help ease the transition from guard to center for Butler. The three rookies -- tackles Willie Henderson and Abraham Holloway and guard Andy Smith -- each weigh more than 300 pounds. Will their feet be quick enough to open the kind of holes Williams attacks? This could well be the biggest question for the season ahead, particularly for any Heisman aspirations among Tiger faithful. If the line develops and Williams stays healthy, life is going to be much easier for Byrne, who has a rather deep receiving corps to target. Senior tight end John Doucette converted three of his 11 receptions last season into touchdowns, not bad for a guy who pushes 270 pounds. It’s unlikely the Tigers will average 35.8 points as they did a season ago. Wimprine’s talent and experience at the most important position on the field are too much to replace in one season. But with an All-America tailback as the engine, this machine should eat up ground, even with a few new parts. DEFENSE Known quantities: end Marcus West, three starting linebackers, safety Wesley Smith Variables: freshman nose guard, heightened expectations I’m of a mind that the nose guard in a 3-4 defensive scheme is the most underrated player on the field. He won’t pick up sacks, won’t even accumulate many tackles, but he’s the first domino in a snap-sequence that determines if an opponent has the opportunity for a big play. If he can occupy a pair of linemen and prevent an interior gap, the nose guard allows the linebackers behind him to chase down ball carriers instead of fend off blockers themselves. That said, defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn appears to be trusting the position to a redshirt freshman, Ryan Williams. A 278-pound product of Christian Brothers High School, Williams replaces Albert Means and will be sandwiched between seniors West and Rubio Phillips. As Rickey Ricardo would put it, the Tigers’ veteran linebackers have some ‘splaining to do. Carlton Baker, Tim Goodwell, and Quinton McCrary return from a unit that gave up 31.2 points per game in 2004. This figure is going to have be shaved for Memphis to compete for the C-USA title. Veteran defensive backs Wesley Smith and O.C. Collins will be invaluable as the unit’s watchdogs. SPECIAL TEAMS Known quantity: place-kicker Stephen Gostkowski Variable: punter Michael Gibson Gostkowski -- the school’s career scoring leader with 268 points -- may get some All-America votes if Williams doesn’t score so many touchdowns that his field-goal skills become a moot strength. As for Gibson (originally an Auburn signee), the junior-college transfer averaged 44.6 yards per punt at Itawamba Community College. He’ll be an improvement on Wimprine’s fourth-down rugby kicks. OUTLOOK The Tigers have essentially five gimmes on their schedule: Chattanooga, Tulsa,UCF, Houston, and East Carolina. If they can win two of three games against UAB, Southern Miss, and Marshall, they’ll likely play in the first C-USA championship game December 3rd. And if they can at least split their two games with SEC opponents -- Ole Miss and Tennessee (November 12th) -- they’ll be on their way to a third consecutive bowl game. FORECAST: 8-3

08/29/05		Top prep star chooses Tigers -- Ridgeway's Niles will transfer to Fla. Prep (Commercial Appeal)
		By Gary Parrish Contact August 29, 2005 Pierre Niles was raised on the University of Memphis, and, as a child, dreamed of playing for the Tigers in front of friends, family and thousands of fans. Now, he will. Niles told The Commercial Appeal on Sunday that he plans to sign a national letter of intent with his hometown school in November. Consequently, John Calipari and staff have their second commitment for the Class of 2006, which follows a 2005 class ranked in the Top 5 in the nation by multiple recruiting services. "I grew up watching Memphis, and have always wanted to play there," said Niles, ranked as the 94th-best senior in the nation by Rivals.com. "This is a dream." Niles's commitment is a Memphis victory on many levels. For starters, it gives the Tigers one of the premier big players in the country. But, more importantly perhaps, it gives the UofM its first commitment from this local class, considered by many to be the best group of area players since Tony Harris, Robert O'Kelley and Cory Bradford dominated the Memphis prep scene. Of that group, none became Tigers, instead opting to join Tennessee, Wake Forest and Illinois, respectively. But Niles ensured Memphis will not completely miss this time, and indicated he'll start working on other area prospects immediately, namely Mitchell High's Thaddeus Young and Bolivar Central High's Willie Kemp. "With Willie, it's down to Memphis and Tennessee, I think," Niles said. "But I'm going to talk to him." When Niles does talk to Kemp, it'll have to be via a long distance provider. Because in addition to disclosing his college choice Sunday, Niles said he is going to withdraw from Ridgeway High and transfer to Florida Prep, where he can rid himself of distractions and focus on academics and training. "I love Ridgeway," said Niles, who added he will leave for prep school this morning. "My family and I have discussed it, and we feel this is the best thing to help prepare me to be a college student and athlete. I have to do what's best for me." Commitments from Niles and Hashim Bailey mean the Tigers have filled two of what will be at least five available scholarships, seven if NBA prospects like sophomore Darius Washington and freshman Shawne Williams turn pro early. Other UofM possibilities in this class are six prospects in Rivals.com's Top 100: Stanley Robinson (No. 14), Derrick Jasper (No. 35), Quincy Pondexter (No. 50), Hamaday N'diaye (No. 55), Lawrence Westbrook (No. 75), and Jonathan Mandeldove (No. 92). Junior college standout Sonny Weems, originally from West Memphis, is another possibility. Rivals.com ranks him as the third-best junior college player in the nation. -- Gary Parrish: 529-2365

08/29/05		A vehicle for fun -- Fans turning out-of-commission bus into Tiger tailgating machine (Commercial Appeal)
		By Zack McMillin Contact August 29, 2005 In this, the preseason of the University of Memphis Tiger football team's utter and complete contentedness, there is ample evidence that the program has arrived. There is the Heisman hopeful at running back, DeAngelo Williams, and the likely prospect that he will finish his career holding at least one all-time NCAA yardage record. There is the coach, Tommy West, and his $800,000 contract, meant to ward off (or at least forestall) potential suitors. And then there is the big blue school bus. The blue school bus belonging to Ethan Edwards and Greg Donahue, two determined -- or slightly nutty (take your pick) -- U of M students. The blue school bus that once ferried children to school somewhere in Michigan but is now being retrofitted by some clever -- or, if you like, slightly nutty -- U of M students into a tailgating monster. The blue school bus that sits underneath a big shade tree, not far from the banks of the Loosahatchie River in northeast Shelby County, overlooking a field recently bulldozed to accommodate a planned housing development. It looks like a jurassic creature of some sort, basking in the shade, awaiting its mission. Marking their calendar "We'll get this done by Sept. 5," Greg Donahue is saying one hot afternoon, between sessions devoted to finishing the paint job. This is how they refer to the UofM season-opener against Ole Miss game -- as, simply, Sept. 5. That in itself is an indication of the program's new direction, that their fans see a game not as simply a three-hour experience in the stands but something to which they will devote an entire day. This is nothing new for fans at so many other Mid-South schools, of course. At Ole Miss, wealthy boosters pay graduate students to arrive in the wee hours at the famed Grove to set up what becomes a tent city. Tennessee has that fan with the orange hearse and others who have put gobs of money into buses of another kind, built for country music stars. Even some U of M diehards, despite the losing, have long established their gameday traditions. But coming off consecutive bowl trips, featuring one of the nation's most exciting players and harboring hopes of a conference championship, the program has now come to this -- students willing to sacrifice an entire summer for their school's football program. "We've been wanting to do this since high school," says Edwards. "We figured," said Greg, "we like to tailgate, so why not make it a tailgate bus?" Edwards, 22, and Donahue, 21, are not unlike many University of Memphis students. Taking 12-15 hours per semester, the path to a diploma is following a five-year course. They work not quite fulltime, not quite part-time for FedEx, out at The Hub. They went to high school together, at St. Benedict. But they are undeniably the only two U of M students who, when seen at parties this summer, would attract this question: "So, how's the bus going?" It was Ethan who found the bus, a 1991 Bluebird, from a company called Midwest Transit Equipment in Kankakee, Ill. When he drove up at the beginning of the summer, Edwards was greeted by acres and acres of buses of all types, most of them old yellow school buses. He paid $2,000 for it, drove it back to Memphis ("Kind of like driving a de-icer at the hub," Edwards said) and brought it out to the house where Brandon Etheridge and Grant Straughan, two other friends, live near the Loosahatchie. Then came the hard part, but, fortunately for them, they have friends -- including ace carpentry by Nick Denilsback -- willing to help make the absurd vision a reality. "Some people just really started getting behind us,'' Edwards says. They unbolted row after row of seats, put down flooring provided by Tim Hogan's, framed up cabinets to hold the coolers and kegs, built couches out of the cheapest wood they could find. From the foam they out of the bus's old bench seats, they fashioned cushions. They painted it what is best described as Rustoleum blue. "We weren't handy at all," says Donahue. "It's been a lot of trial and error, but we haven't made a trip to the emergency room." Maybe the most difficult task was the most important -- eliminating the top on the back third of the bus. They used a heavy-duty reciprocating saw, a host of friends and, well, luck, cutting it loose and dumping it near the pile of scrap that has grown since the bus's arrival. "I'm not sure how we did that," Donahue says, "without cutting someone's head off." Road warriors They have plans to take the still-unchristened bus on at least one road trip -- to Knoxville in November for the Tennessee game. For that, Edwards and Donahue have no real clue how to follow proper visiting team protocol. At this point, they aren't altogether sure exactly where they will park for home games, and, having spent so much on rertrofitting they know it wouldn't take much to put them out of commission, entirely. So they aren't sure how the trip will work out. "C'mon," Donahue says, "it's a giant blue Memphis school bus going to UT." Adds Edwards: "I'm sure they'll hassle us a little bit." Maybe, but perhaps Vols fans will know just what to make of that big blue bus. It will look like a long-suffering football program finally has enjoyed enough success to create some irrational exuberance among the fan base. It will look like the Tiger football program has finally arrived. -- Zack McMillin: 529-2564

08/28/05		Lady Tigers Put on Offensive Display, Top Tennessee Tech 7-0 in Season Opener -- Kubota and Mikami each score two goals; seven different players record assists (GoTigersGo.com)
		Memphis, Tenn. - Asuka Kubota scored two goals and recorded two assists while fellow Japan native Shoko Mikami also scored two goals and had one assist to lead the Memphis women's soccer team to a season-opening 7-0 win over Tennessee Tech at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon. Seven different players recorded assists in the game. The seven-goal differential is the largest margin of victory for Memphis since the 1999 season and the seven goals scored are also the most scored since a 9-0 win over Rhodes that opened the 1999 season. Freshman Kylie Hayes also scored a goal and had an assist while redshirt junior Nicky McLeod, who made her first appearance since the 2003 season, also had a goal and an assist. Memphis began it offensive explosion just 8:05 into the game when Mikami, a junior who led the nation in scoring two years ago while playing at Division II Christian Brothers University, scored on a free kick from about 40 yards out the skidded off the hands of Tech goalkeeper Loretta McNamee. Just over two minutes later at 10:17, Hayes, a prolific goal scorer in her prep career in Ohio, scored her first collegiate goal off assists from McLeod and fellow freshman Kate Murphy. The play began when Murphy served a ball from the left side of the field across the field to McLeod on the right flank. McLeod then put a pass into the box for Hayes, who touched it once and beat McNamee from a few yards out. The Tigers added one more goal before halftime at the 37:39 mark when Kubota sent in a cross from the right flank to sophomore Caroline Barrett, who gathered the ball just inside the left post and beat McNamee to the lower right of the goal for a 3-0 Tiger lead. Less than five minutes into the second half, Mikami struck again, when she took a pass from Hayes from the right side and beat new keeper Lisa Wourms. Memphis goalkeeper Isabel Briones was also credited with an assist on the play, as she had punted the ball to Hayes beyond midfield. The goal by Mikami surpassed her goal total from all of last season. At the 67:20 mark, Kubota passed the ball from the left side to Mikami atop the box, who shoveled it over to McLeod on the right side, where she dribbled into the box and beat Wourms to the bottom left for her first goal of the year. Kubota, an NAIA All-American last year, then scored her two goals at the 70:29 and 88:45 marks, respectively. She was assisted on the first goal by freshman Sarah MacGregor, who had just entered the game prior to a corner kick that began the play that the goal was scored on. Her final goal came on a breakaway in which she beat the keeper one-on-one. "This was certainly a nice way to start the season and we are pleased with the result," said Memphis coach Brooks Monaghan. "We still have some things we need to work on and we will in time. But is certainly nice to begin the season with a win." This is the second straight year that the Tigers have opened the season with a win and is also the second straight in which it was in a shutout, as the Tigers shut out Alabama A&M 4-0 in last year's opener. Ironically, it is not the largest margin of victory ever on opening day, as the aforementioned game against Rhodes on September 1, 1999 was the largest margin of victory, both on an opening day and tied for the largest margin overall. Briones made four saves to record the shutout in goal for the Tigers. Memphis played 22 of the 26 active players on the roster. The Tigers outshot the Golden Eagles 21-7, though no Tiger individual had more than four shots. Memphis also had 12 shots on goal to TTU's four. Memphis will return to action next Friday when the Tigers take on Samford in the opening game of the Samford Bulldog Soccer Classic in Birmingham, Ala. at 7:00 p.m. The next home game for the Tigers is next Wednesday, September 7 against UT-Martin at 7:00 p.m.

08/28/05		Glad he stayed -- Avery has blossomed into Tigers' top wide receiver (Commercial Appeal)
		By Phil Stukenborg Contact August 28, 2005 Maurice Avery was gone. No, not toward the end zone after making an over-the-shoulder reception in full stride, but in his car, headed toward his home in Atlanta with his belongings stuffed in the trunk. It was after his freshman season at the University of Memphis and Avery, a heralded high school quarterback, was being asked by the Tiger coaching staff to make the move to receiver. Avery resisted. He contemplated making a move of his own. Rather than change positions, Avery would change programs. He told teammate DeAngelo Williams, also a freshman at the time, he was transferring to a Division 1-AA school where he could not only play immediately, but at the position he desired. "I was already in Atlanta," Avery said. "I was telling (Williams) I was fixing to transfer and leave. I told him I wasn't going to play receiver." Williams remembers the conviction with which Avery spoke. "Oh, he was going to leave," Williams said. "He was definitely about to go. He called me and said 'I'm fixing to get out of here, man.' " Williams listened intently and then began his sales pitch, in essence re-recruiting Avery. He spent several hours on the phone with Avery. "(Williams) told me, 'You're better than that, you're too good to be going down a division,' " Avery said. "And then he called all of the (UofM) coaches and told 'em I was going to leave. So all of them then started calling me." It was a veteran move by the freshman running back. Williams was able to persuade Avery to make the best of the position change. "I threw everything at him but the kitchen sink," Williams said. "He was back with us the next day." And he was back contributing the following season. As a sophomore, Avery, despite missing two late-season games with a knee sprain, led the team in receiving. He caught 49 passes for 742 yards and eight touchdowns and was named second-team All-Conference USA. He also set a school record with 13 receptions in a game against UAB. Minus Avery's contributions, the Tigers likely would not have snapped a 32-year postseason drought and earned an invitation to the New Orleans Bowl. "My sophomore year, both of us (Avery and Williams) had our breakout year," Avery said. "Before the season, we had talked about who was going to score the most touchdowns. I think he got me by one." As the Tigers enter the season, Avery is the team's leading returning receiver. And he's the only one back who had at least 18 receptions a year ago. The veteran among the receivers, Avery understands his role. He's spent the preseason camp leading by spectacular example, from reaching behind to make one-handed grabs to shielding defensive backs in traffic for leaping receptions. "We were watching (NFL highlights on ESPN) the other night when Larry Fitzgerald (of the Arizona Cardinals) caught a ball behind his back," said Williams, who rooms with Avery. "Mo and I just looked at each other. Then Mo turned to me and said 'I can do that.' And he did it in our scrimmage (Tuesday). He walked to the sideline after he made the catch and told me: 'See, I told you I could do that.'" Tiger coach Tommy West isn't looking for Avery to make one acrobatic catch after the other. He's looking for the consistent game-to-game performances that characterize an all-conference player and leader. Since preseason camp began three weeks ago, Avery has given West a sampling of those traits. "Mo is having the best camp he has ever had," West said. "His weight is under control (210 pounds) and he looks the quickest and fastest I've seen him look. "He is working like a horse. He is working like a leader. He is a team guy trying to help the younger guys lead by example." Receivers coach Clay Helton said the first-year receivers -- Carlton Robinzine, Antonio McCoy and Earnest Williams -- will benefit from Avery's presence. So will offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner. "When you have a lot of young wideouts it gives Randy a level of sanity knowing you have an old guy out there who knows the position," Helton said. "He's a guy who's played four years in the system and a guy who's made a lot of plays for you." West remembers a not-too-distant time when Avery wouldn't have been considered such a role model. But as Avery enters his senior season -- and prepares for a possible professional career -- his approach has improved. "It's no secret," West said. "I've always liked Mo, but I haven't always been a fan of his work habits. But I think he has learned how to be a leader. Right now he is as good as anybody out there. He comes to work every day. He's really been good for us." He's also been extremely versatile. In a scrimmage last week at the Liberty Bowl, West inserted Avery at quarterback and said a package is being developed for him. Avery could possibly play a backup quarterback role while freshmen Will Hudgens and Billy Barefield continue to develop. West also has considered using Avery as a punt returner for the first time in his career. "He's got good hands and he's strong," West said. "When I was (an assistant) at Tennessee we had a guy like him, Dale Carter, returning punts. He was one of those strong guys that the first guy couldn't tackle. He didn't necessarily make the first guy miss, he just couldn't be tackled by him." But Avery's value will be as quarterback Patrick Byrne's go-to receiver, a complete player with all-league potential who has made the most of his decision to stay. "He has really taken to coaching," Helton said. "I'm really proud of him. He's a great example of what we're looking for at wide receiver." -- Phil Stukenborg: 529-2543

08/28/05		Evaluating: Memphis (Commercial Appeal)
		By Phil Stukenborg Contact August 27, 2005 The past: For the first time in the program's history, it enters a season having appeared in back-to-back bowl games. After snapping a 32-year postseason drought in 2003 and earning a New Orleans Bowl bid, the Tigers played in the GMAC Bowl last year. They've also won 17 games during that stretch. It represents the most victories during a two-year period since the 1962 Tigers won eight games and the 1963 squad won nine. Tiger coach Tommy West, the former Clemson coach entering his fifth season, is 25-23. With seven wins this season he'd become the fourth-winningest coach in the program's history. The present: Having Heisman Trophy candidate and two-time Conference USA offensive player of the year DeAngelo Williams in the backfield gives the Tigers an opportunity to overcome some significant losses. Record-setting quarterback Danny Wimprine, a four-year starter, has been replaced by junior Patrick Byrne, a former high school quarterback who has handled kickoffs the past two seasons. Four of the team's top five receivers have departed and four starting offensive linemen completed their eligibility. The defense returns its starting linebackers -- Carlton Baker, Quinton McCrary and Tim Goodwell -- and all-conference performers Wesley Smith at free safety and Marcus West at defensive end. The future: As long as Williams is making a serious run at a third conference offensive player of the year award, the Tigers will find themselves in the postseason once again. For Williams to be productive, Byrne must be efficient, distributing the ball to the team's playmakers, such as Williams and receiver Maurice Avery. Defensively, the pass defense must avoid a repeat of last year's 114th-place finish among 117 NCAA Division 1-A teams. Last Man catching Senior Maurice Avery is the only returning Tiger wide receiver who caught at least 18 passes last season: Receiver No Yds TD Tavares Gideon 54 665 11 Maurice Avery 36 422 1 Darron White 26 359 1 Tavarious Davis 19 196 1 Chris Kelley 18 304 2

08/28/05		Calkins: It's all fun and games for Tiger followers (Commercial Appeal)
		By Geoff Calkins Contact August 28, 2005 On the morning of his 70th birthday, George Kellett rose at 6 a.m. and went out to fetch the newspaper. He flipped to the sports section, naturally. "The University of Memphis will host it's annual Football Fan Fest today," a story said. Well, that did it. Kellett and his wife, Martha, had planned to go visit their son at his place on the Tennessee River. Sorry, kid. It's a big year for the Tigers. The Kelletts piled in their truck. They drove from Arlington to Memphis, stopped at a grocery store and bought themselves some spinach dip. "We sat in the truck, ate and had a big time," Kellett said. "I won't lie to you, I also drank a Corona beer." Here's to Memphis football, and all that. Seventy years isn't too long to wait for this much fun. "This is awesome," said Kellett. "It's great," said Martha, his wife. "It's fun to look out and see all the people," said Memphis coach Tommy West. And it was, too. Fun to see so many show up at South Campus Saturday to celebrate the team, the time and each other. "This is something Memphis fans have been waiting for all of our lives," said Henry Groves, the Tiger mascot in 1975. "A community behind our football team and getting out here and enjoying it." That's the point of the enterprise, isn't it? Even more than wins and losses? There have been Memphis teams as good or better than this one. But there's never been a better time to be a Memphis football fan. There's never been a Heisman Trophy candidate before. There's never been this kind of party. Fans showed up two or three hours before the Fan Fest began. Some actually tailgated. "Getting the kinks worked out," said Will Hampton. At that very moment, the trailer hauling Tom II to the event started billowing smoke. "We fried a generator," said Scott Forman, one of the tiger's handlers. "But we have another one." Note the importance of depth, sports fans. Over at the autograph tent, Millie Pullen stood and waited. The players were not due to show up until 3 p.m. Pullen started the line at 1:30 p.m. "If they can practice in the heat, if they can get beat up and still play, we can stand in line," she said. And so they stood in line, a line that curved back and forth and back and forth and back and forth and . . .. "It's amazing what winning can do," said John Flowers, the director of football operations. "It's solid people from one end of the field to the other." Nobody knew exactly how many. For one thing, how do you keep track of all those No. 20s? Some kids started up an impromptu touch football game at the far end of the field. At one point, there were -- here's an idea, Coach Fichtner! -- six DeAngelo Williamses running through the secondary. The real DeAngelo had an autograph line as long as three football fields. "I'm getting a little jealous about that," West said. "But if he'll come back next year, I'd be willing to put up with it." He can't, of course. Which is another reason to savor the moment. Nothing stays the same in college football. Nothing is guaranteed or promised. So you enjoy the celebrations, the highs, the days like Saturday, when everything seems right and perfect. The rains cleared. The fans stayed cool. The tiger roared, oh, there's a story. A scrum of kids gathered around Tom II's trailer. They tried, in vain, to get the big cat to roar. "Here, let me try," said Jeff Sheffield, one of the Shelby County Sheriffs assigned to help transport the tiger. Sheffield leaned in. ROAR! The kids scattered merrily. "Wow, what's your secret?" someone asked. Sheffield beamed. "He doesn't like me." To reach Geoff Calkins, call him at 529-2364 or send an e-mail.

08/28/05		Higgins: Williams facing uphill battle in Heisman chase (Commercial Appeal)
		By Ron Higgins Contact August 28, 2005 Memphis senior running back DeAngelo Williams's engines are revved. If you take ESPN.com's preseason Heisman Trophy poll and used it on a NASCAR grid (since DeAngelo has that nifty race car model promoting his race to the Heisman), he'd be starting the Heisman race this week on the outside of the third row. In the poll, Williams starts the season in sixth place in the voting, which wouldn't earn him a trip to New York for the Heisman ceremony. Ahead of Williams (in order) are quarterback Matt Leinart of Southern Cal (the '04 Heisman winner), running back Reggie Bush of Southern Cal, running back Adrian Peterson of Oklahoma, quarterback Vince Young of Texas and flanker Ted Ginn of Ohio State. Because of two things working against Williams -- a lack of national TV appearances and playing in a non-BCS league -- if he ends up in the top five in voting and gets a trip to the Heisman ceremony, it should be considered a victory. Southern Cal, Oklahoma and Texas are scheduled to play seven, six and five games respectively on national networks (with more games to be scheduled). Memphis has just two games on national TV (Ole Miss, ESPN, and UAB, ESPN2). That's tough to overcome. But the burden of the UofM offense will be on Williams. He rolled the dice by not turning pro, knowing he'd be working with a new quarterback and some new offensive line members. But this is a guy who has never played it safe, who has never backed down from a challenge. If he stays healthy, he's the kind of back that could carry an offense. If he does that, if he has something close to a 2,000-yard rushing season with a bundle of touchdowns, and the Tigers have at least a seven-win season, he may just very well beat the factors working against him. Here's hoping that Williams runs far and fast every week. --------------------------------------------- While it seems puzzling that the Memphis-Ole Miss season opener Sept. 5 isn't close to a sellout, common sense tells you that if you can watch the game in the comfort of your cool living room, why do want to go to a sweat festival that kicks off in mid-afternoon? Early prediction: The team that has fewer players fall over with cramps is the winner. The one drawback of the new artificial turf in Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium, just like the type Ole Miss uses in Vaught-Hemingway, is that it absolutely cooks the players. They practically have to pour water on their feet on hot days. ... Speaking of the Tigers, practice observers say that the best quarterback in camp is transfer Martin Hankins, who has to sit out this season after transferring from Division 1-AA Southeastern Louisiana. Somebody might want to tell USA Today that Hankins is a Tiger. In the paper's Friday college football special section, they had Hankins still at SLU and listed as one of the players to watch in Division 1-AA.

08/28/05		Pigskin futures -- Tiger Football Inc. hopes winning nudges bottom line into black (Commercial Appeal)
		By David Williams Contact August 28, 2005 It's not like any of this surprises those who run the business that is Tiger Football Inc. at the University of Memphis. The 20,000 or so season tickets they've sold. The near-sellout of sky boxes. The projected $4 million in total ticket income. The possibility of breaking even -- perhaps even eking out a profit -- at a sport whose bottom line has been written in red ink for as long as they can remember. Winning -- with consistency, with flair -- puts butts in seats. They've always suspected it and now they know. "You can have all the other plans and ideas," said Bill Lofton, associate athletic director for finance and management, "but if you don't win, it doesn't matter." Lofton was the university's manager of financial planning before moving to the athletic department in 1994, so he's had his eye on Tiger football finances for more than two decades. He can't remember a break-even season. But this one -- behind the stream of two straight bowl trips, a bona fide Heisman Trophy candidate in DeAngelo Williams and a season-opening, Sept. 5 date with best-enemy Ole Miss -- could change that. That would mean total football revenues rising to about $6 million. "We used to have about two-thirds more expenditures than income in football," said athletic director R.C. Johnson. Johnson's first football season at Memphis was 1996, the year the Tigers upset the University of Tennessee. He remembers how that stirred Tiger fans, the faithful and the strayed. He remembers thinking, "Boy, if we could get it going in football. ... " In 2003, Tommy West's third season as coach, it happened -- the school's first nine-win season since 1963, its first bowl trip since 1971. In 2004, it happened again -- eight more victories and back-to-back bowl games for the first time in school history. Along the way, U of M graduate Doug McKelvey, 46, pretty much became a regular at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. This season, he's sprung for season tickets. "That sounds bad," he said of the bandwagon mentality, "but you don't want to go see a team that's not competitive with everybody else." Jason Ward, 35, is another new season-ticket holder after enjoying himself with friends at a couple of games last season. "Now that the Tiger football program's coming around," he said by way of explanation, "you know. ... " Season ticket sales are at about 20,000, the highest total since 1992, when sales were driven by the guest list -- home games with Mississippi State, Arkansas and Tennessee. Thirty-five skyboxes have been leased for the season, at prices of $15,000 and $20,000. "I've been here nine years. I've never seen the hype, the excitement," Johnson said. "A lot of it obviously is DeAngelo. But what Tommy's done for us has just been huge." But at Tiger Football Inc., much work remains. There is sustaining what West and company started on the field, and overcoming challenges that remain off the field. Take the stadium, for example. Or rather, take a chunk out of the stadium. At 62,380 seats, it's too spacious unless Tennessee or Ole Miss is in town -- too spacious to create a great demand for season tickets. "People today still know," Johnson said, "that Saturday morning, they can wake up and decide if they want to go or not, unless probably (the opponent is) Ole Miss or the Vols." Stadium capacity may be reduced in the coming years when wheelchair spaces and ramps are added to conform with the Americans With Disabilities Act. But that's still in the planning stages and it's not known how many seats could be lost. As for what they can control, the Tigers will attempt to create demand and sway fans the old-fashioned way -- by winning. And that other old-fashioned way -- bargain pricing. You can buy a Fun Zone (end zone) season ticket for $75. (Season tickets are $160 for prime seats and $210 for box seats.) "We did (the Fun Zone) to get people into the stadium, and then hopefully they'd want to get a little better seat (in future seasons)," Johnson said. To boost single-game sales, he said Kroger-sponsored discounts will again be offered. "Yes, I'd love to have a 60,000-seat stadium, all full-priced tickets," Johnson said. "I don't think that's probably going to happen for a long, long time." So Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium won't be mistaken for Tennessee's Neyland Stadium, with its 105,000-plus regulars. And Tiger Football Inc. may still look like a mom-and-pop operation in the shadow of Big Orange Industries, where football revenue topped $46 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2004, according to U.S. Department of Education numbers. But for a long-struggling program that plays in an oversized stadium and doesn't belong to a dominant conference, the case could be made that business at Tiger Football Inc. is like a well-struck football on a fall afternoon: Booming. -- David Williams: 529-2310

08/27/05		Williams finds success off the beaten path (ESPN)
		MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The secret to DeAngelo Williams' gift -- and it is a gift, really -- is his ability to see what's in front of him and pick the right crease, even if no one else sees it. That might seem obvious, given that the senior tailback at the University of Memphis ran for 1,948 yards and 22 TDs last season, if that gift was limited to when Williams is in uniform. But it's Williams' ability to pick the right hole off the field that has made him a preseason All-American and the first Heisman Trophy candidate in school history. Twice in his life, Williams has been faced with making the popular choice or doing what he believed was best for him. Both times, he has peered down the road lined with the cheering public, given a head fake, and gone in the other direction. DeAngelo Williams rushed for 1,948 yards and 22 TDs in 2004. In three seasons at Memphis, Williams has rushed for 4,062 yards and 37 touchdowns. He averages 6.2 yards per carry. He is listed at 5-foot-10, 217 pounds, and the height might be generous. He introduced himself as "DeAngelo," but it's more a gesture of friendliness than of one-named ego. Williams is so friendly that every few weeks he has to change his cell phone number. He gives it out and pretty soon, it doesn't stop ringing. On a summer afternoon in Memphis, so hot and humid that thinking about exercise would make you sweat, Williams stood in the office of his head coach, Tommy West. "Coach, I didn't know you weren't always gray," says Williams, his voice a little too innocent. "There's a picture back there where your hair is brown." West took the insult with a shake of his head. He enjoys playing the role of aggrieved straight man for his tailback. Their relationship is somewhere between coach-player and father-son. "I've never had so good a player with his personality," said West, 51. "He's a pleasant guy who never has a bad day. He's a good student. He likes school, which is really unusual. There's nothing that takes away from him being a great player. I've been lucky, really fortunate with him. The players are always going to follow the good players, I think more so than the coach. This guy is charismatic and he's the hardest worker on the field. He gets after it in practice." The first time West saw Williams practice, at Wynne (Ark.) High in 2001, Williams ignored him. That's when West knew Williams was special. "He really didn't care that I was there," West said. "He was more concerned about his workout. He really wasn't bothered by coaches who were there to watch it. Most of them like the attention of a coach watching them. They'll stop working out and come over and talk." How unusual is that? "One in a 100," West replied. "The rest of the kids like the attention." That's what West saw in Williams four years ago. It's just as interesting what Williams saw in West, who took over as head coach at Memphis for the 2001 season. After the 2001 season, in which the Tigers went 4-7, West had been a head coach for seven years. He had a record of 39-42 (.481). As a senior, Williams led the Wynne Yellowjackets to the 4A title. He rushed for 194 yards in the state championship game and scored four touchdowns (two rushing, one receiving, one returning). He was the offensive player of the year, and if he had signed with Arkansas, he could have been elected governor. "I came in. Coach West sat me down," Williams said. "He said, 'I can't predict if you'll play for us, or start for us. I can't even tell you if you'll start or play here at all. I can tell you that you have enough talent to at the Division I level. We're interested in you. You can play for us.' "I'm thinking, 'We just won the state championship. All those other coaches at Arkansas, Ole Miss, Iowa, guys in big conferences, tell me that I have a chance to do this, and you tell me you don't know if I can play for you for four years?' "I took that as a slap in the face," Williams said. "I also took it as a challenge. He told me what I wanted to hear but what I didn't want to hear." His principal wanted him to sign with Arkansas. His head coach wanted him to sign with Arkansas. Shoot, everybody in Wynne, a town of 8,615 about 290 miles east of Fayetteville, wanted Williams to go to Arkansas. On the day before signing day, Williams committed to become a Razorback. "Everybody was excited," Williams said, "but me. "On signing day, my mom brought me the national letter of intent to Arkansas. I should feel like I'm making the right decision. You get that many people telling you that. I had been dreaming about it. I signed 'No' where I was supposed to sign my name and put an exclamation point. "I didn't know she was going to fax it back to them. I thought, 'Oh Lord, what has she done now?'" West thought about that time, and looked at Williams. "How long did you let me hang? A month? 26 days?" "It was 26 days, 23 or 26," Williams replied. "I was young. Too much pressure on a young kid." Williams visited the schools again, and waited until it felt right. "The University of Memphis didn't have the flashy profile or the national exposure," he said. "It's a great university. I love the offense. I love the atmosphere, the big city. They have everything I want. The only knock against them is they are not a great team. My [Wynne High] head coach came in and told me I was making the biggest mistake of my life. I was going to a graveyard and I could never help them win. "When I go home now, he tells me, 'You made a good decision. Good luck in all your endeavors.' You know how it is." Last January came the second time Williams found his crease. The deadline for underclassmen to declare for the NFL draft has become nearly as important on the college football calendar as signing day. News is made, careers are changed, teams grow suddenly stronger or weaker. The NFL let Williams know he would probably be drafted around the end of the first round or the beginning of the second. How do you put off the realization of a lifelong dream? How do you tell millions of dollars to wait a year? All your life, you've wanted to grow up. There's the door to adulthood. Walk through it. "It's a private decision gone public," Williams said. "People told me, 'You should get paid for injuries, get paid for your time on the field.' Who cares about a million dollars? I didn't see it then. I won't see it now." Williams figured out you can't put a price on friendship, on an offensive line that serves as his posse on and off the field, on the only chance you'll ever have to be a college senior. "I'm really close to the team," Williams said. "This team is really, really close. We horseplay and wrestle all the time. We feed off of each other. Going to another team, or an organization, if I leave, everything changes now." He snapped his fingers. "If I stay, everything stays the same." West understood all the forces tugging at Williams. He tried to serve as a conduit. Even when Williams tried to engage West's emotions, the coach resisted. "My thing was that he be totally educated to all sides, and not just to the Memphis side, the agent side, or the NFL side," West said. "I knew if he had all the facts, he would do what was right for him and he would make an educated, rational decision. "He told me, 'Coach, I'm coming back.' "After the bowl, he told me, 'Coach, I'm going.' "He tried to meet with me for two days after that. I didn't meet with him. 'No, I am busy.' One of them was Christmas Eve! 'Coach, we need to talk.' "Man, it is Christmas Eve! We are not going to talk. "It was important to him that I put my blessing on it. Hey, I'm OK either way. If you want to go play, I'll back you 100 percent. If you want to come back, we'd love to have you. I don't want you, if that isn't what you want to do." Williams received an unlikely assist. After last season, he went to Los Angeles as a finalist for the John Wooden Cup, an award that honors teamwork, character and citizenship. While out there, Williams met USC quarterback Matt Leinart. "I just bumped into him," Williams said. "I asked him, 'Are you going to go or are you going to stay?' He said, 'Are you going to go or are you going to stay?' "I thought, 'You're the No. 1 draft pick and you're having a hard time on whether you're going to go or stay?' It hit me. He's going through the same thing I'm going through." Said West, "[Williams] just wants to have fun. It stresses him when he has to get serious. That's not him. But he can do it. He did it with signing day. Right, wrong or indifferent, he can do what he needs to do." West might be wrong. Williams wants to have fun but anyone who can handle those kinds of situations with maturity is, beneath the smiles and laughter, dead serious. "You'd be amazed how much attention $1 million will get you," Williams said. "I've lived by this quote: If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything. I'm going to stand up for what I need to do, not what everybody else wants me to do." As Williams prepares for his senior season, he waits for another crease to open, the one that leads to New York and the Heisman Trophy. The odds of a player from Conference USA winning the Heisman are slight. On the field, Williams has done everything he can do. Off the field, Memphis media relations director Jennifer Rodrigues developed the ingenious idea of promoting Williams with a NASCAR-like scale car, done up in Memphis colors and the No. 20. The rest begins on Labor Day at the Liberty Bowl against regional rival Ole Miss. "If you've never had anything, and you get something, it changes you," Williams said. "If you've never had anything, and you never want anything, then you never let it get to you. All the hype is nothing if I don't do anything on my end." Ivan Maisel is a senior writer at ESPN.com. He can be reached at ivan.maisel@espn3.com.

08/27/05		Tiger Volleyball Splits Matches with North Texas and Arkansas -- Memphis finishes as Arkansas Invitational runners-up (GoTigersGo.com)
		FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - North Texas (0-2) 30 30 23 16 Memphis (2-0) 26 32 30 30 Memphis (2-1) 24 23 24 Arkansas (3-0) 30 30 30 The Memphis volleyball squad battled to a 3-1 win over North Texas in the early match, but was swept by a strong Arkansas squad in the championship contest, to finish the weekend as runners-up of the 2005 Arkansas Invitational tournament. Sophomore middle hitter Shelby Burton and junior libero Christen Clayton were each named to the Arkansas Invitational All-Tournament team. Memphis advanced to the title meeting with Arkansas by way of a tough four-set win over UNT. Despite dropping the opening set, Memphis was able to regroup and claim the next three. Four Tigers reached double figures in the kills category, led by Ashley Liford's 16. Junior Melissa Nance finished with 15 kills and Burton posted 12 kills with a .500 attack clip. Senior outside hitter Nancy Nellans posted her second consecutive double-double, downing 12 kills and adding 13 digs. Defensively for Memphis, Clayton had a match-high 19 digs. The Tigers won the battle in the kills department 70-50 and hit .287 for the match, including posting a .387 percentage in the fourth and final game. The Lady Razorback defense proved to be a tougher task to overcome in the title match. Arkansas held Memphis to a dismal .074 hitting percentage. The Arkansas attack was powered by 13 total blocks. Nance was the leading attacker for the Tiger offense that recorded just 34 kills in the. The junior slammed eight kills for Memphis. Nellans paced the squad with 14 digs, while Clayton chipped in 10. Memphis will hit the floor next, when they take on Arkansas-Pine Bluff in the O'Charley's Tiger Invitational on Friday, Sept. 2. Match time is slated for 2 p.m.

08/27/05		Experienced lineman flashing old form -- U of M senior Handy taking coach's words, loudly spoken ones, to heart (Commercial Appeal)
		By Phil Stukenborg Contact August 27, 2005 Rick Mallory, the University of Memphis's offensive line coach, admits he had waited, sometimes not too patiently, for the moment. It came during a Tiger football scrimmage earlier this week at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. Left guard Andrew Handy, expected to be the leader of a revamped offensive line, began to show flashes -- in a sweltering morning workout -- of the player he was two years ago before an injury sidelined him for the 2004 season. The blazing sun only shed more light on Handy's progress. "He started to play like his old self," Mallory said. "And when I say that about players, I mean they're seeing things (develop) almost before they happen. I saw that (Tuesday) in the scrimmage." It was a welcome development for a Tiger offense that will be relatively young and inexperienced when the season opens Sept. 5 at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium against Ole Miss. The Tigers, coming off back-to-back bowl seasons, lost Danny Wimprine, a record-setting four-year starter at quarterback, four offensive linemen and four of their top five receivers. Against the Rebels, Memphis will start Patrick Byrne, who has yet to take a snap, and three linemen -- Andy Smith, Willie Henderson and Abraham Holloway -- who have yet to make a start. Handy's experience should smooth the transition. While he is one of four new starters on the line, to include him among the newcomers is somewhat deceiving. He started nine games as a sophomore and 10 as a junior. The only games he missed those two seasons were because of injury. He missed three games with an ankle sprain in 2002 and three in 2003 after breaking his leg in a late-season victory at Louisville. Mallory's impatience had more to do with his background knowledge of Handy's ability. Mallory remembers the level at which Handy performed in the past. And even though Handy had missed a season with the injury, Mallory pushed the senior from Miami to play to his potential. "I know I'm pushing and pushing and pushing him and sometimes he gets frustrated," Mallory said. "I get frustrated. But it's great when things start clicking. It was fun to watch." Handy doesn't necessarily like being the target of Mallory's outbursts, but he understands they're motivational tirades. "He's yelling at me, but he's not yelling at me because he hates me," Handy said. "He's really yelling at me, or everybody, because he sees the potential we have and he's trying to push us to the limit to see if we're going to make it or break it." While he's being tabbed the leader of the unit, Handy says he's not the loud, boisterous sort. "I feel like I do my job and I try to do it as perfect as I can," he said. "I'm not a big talker, I'm not a rally guy. I lead by example. I go out there and block forever and hopefully try to coach up the guy behind me and tell him that's what he needs to do. But I don't go out and (single people out)." Tiger coach Tommy West knows Handy is not a particularly "vocal guy," but he's got to be a leader. "Coming out of this (preseason) camp, he has tried to be a leader," West said. "He's had his ups and downs, but he's playing pretty solid right now." Perhaps the most difficult part of his absence during the past two years has been his omission from bowl participation. The broken leg late in the 2003 season kept him out of the New Orleans Bowl and redshirting last year cost him an opportunity to participate in the GMAC Bowl. If Handy exhibits the skill and leadership qualities he possesses, he realizes he's got the opportunity to finish his career with a postseason game. "I'm excited about this year," Handy said. "I think our line is stronger across the board. We're still getting mentally prepared, as far as recognition of coverages, but I think we're right where we need to be." Extra points The U of M ticket office will be open the weekend before Labor Day. School officials said the ticket office, located in the school's Athletic Office Building off Southern, will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sept. 3 and from 2 to 4 p.m. on Sept. 4. On game day, tickets will be sold (cash only) at the Liberty Bowl only beginning at 10 a.m. . . . West said Friday that true freshmen Clinton McDonald and Greg Jackson will get a chance to play this season. West said McDonald, a defensive lineman from Jacksonville, Ark., "is very mature and has done a nice job. Physically and mentally he is very mature for a freshman." Jackson, a linebacker from Marietta, Ga., "has also shown a lot of maturity, is really fast and has been good on special teams throughout this camp." . . . About 20-25 Platinum-level Tiger Scholarship Fund members attended Friday's morning workout and also had a Q&A session with coordinators Randy Fichtner and Joe Lee Dunn. "They got to watch how we practice and I think that's important," West said. "It helps people see these guys are paying a price to play for their football team." U of M Fan Fest The University of Memphis will host its annual KFC Football Fan Fest today on the UofM South Campus. The event begins at 3 p.m. and will offer fans opportunities for games, autographs and pictures with their favorite Tiger players until 5 p.m. Fans are asked to limit autographed items to one per person. For more information, call 678-4142.

08/26/05		Nancy Nellans Posts 1,000th Dig in 3-2 Tiger Volleyball Win -- Memphis notches third-straight season-opening victory (GoTigersGo.com)
		FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Belmont (1-1) 30 21 26 30 8 Memphis (1-0) 24 30 30 20 15 The University of Memphis volleyball squad got its season underway with a hard-fought five-set win over Belmont in the Arkansas Invitational Friday evening at Barnhill Arena. Nancy Nellans downed 16 kills, but more notably had 16 digs to become the 17th Tiger to reach the 1,000-kills, 1,000 digs milestone. Memphis will now face North Texas on Saturday at 2 p.m., followed by a match with the homestanding Lady Razorbacks at 7 p.m. Memphis clinched the match with a strong fifth set in which they hit .700 behind three kills from Nellans. Belmont jumped out to a 6-3 lead, forcing the Tigers to take a timeout. From then on it was all Memphis, as a pair of service aces from Melissa Nance tied the final frame at 6-6 and gave the Tigers the momentum. The U of M then outscored the Bruins 9-2 in the remained of the match for the win. Belmont extended the match to the maximum with a 30-20 over the Tigers in the fourth. BU's defense was the key in the game as they rejected seven Tiger attempts en route to holding Memphis to a match-low -.053 attack percentage. The Tigers, who hit just .181 for the match, got off to a slow start in the first set, falling behind 8-4 early. The Tigers battled back to tie the frame on four occasions, but Belmont went on a 10-4 run to finish the game. Ashley Liford hammered five kills in the opening game, but the Bruins countered with four blocks. A more relaxed Memphis club came out in the second frame. Shelby Burton fueled a strong defensive effort with four block assists. Memphis posted five total blocks and held Belmont to a .024 attack percentage. The U of M led early, but BU made a 7-3 push to knot the contest at 13-13. A trio of kills by Nellans paced an 11-3 Memphis run that gave the Tigers a 27-19 cushion. Nellans put down five kills on six attempts after just one kill in the first game. Memphis raced out to a 6-1 advantage in the third frame and never lost control of the set. However, the Bruins battled to keep it close with a 13-4 run that cut a 20-12 Tiger lead to a 25-25 tie. Setter Hristina Slancheva came big in the final five points of the game, downing a kill to break the tie. She then served up an ace to seal the victory and put Memphis up 2-1. Slancheva finished the contest with five kills and 47 assists. Sophomore outside hitter Ashley Liford was the only other Tiger to reach double figures in kills with 11. Shelby Burton and Colette Ramirez slammed seven kills each. The duo also had a solid night defensively with seven and six blocks, respectively. Junior libero Christen Clayton added 18 digs for Memphis.

08/26/05		O'Brien, Metcalf and McCarty Score Big in 6-0 Shutout of Lambuth -- Metcalf scores hat trick in first 30 minutes (GoTigersGo.com)
		For Immediate Release Contact: Brandon Kolditz wkolditz@memphis.edu, (901) 678-2444 MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Led by seniors Dayton O'Brien and Andy Metcalf, the No. 27 University of Memphis men's soccer team scored four goals in the first 32 minutes to put Lambuth University away 6-0 in an exhibition at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex on Friday night. Metcalf (Jackson, Tenn.) scored the first two goals, knocking in his first from the right side in the 2nd minute on an assist from O'Brien (Memphis, Tenn.). Seven minutes later on a cross from O'Brien, Metcalf scored his second goal to give the Tigers an early 2-0 lead. O'Brien, who was named to the 25-player Hermann Trophy Watch List given to college soccer's best player of the year, scored the Tigers' third goal in the 30th minute on an unassisted blast from about 25-yards out in the center of the field. Two minutes later, Metcalf completed his hat trick on a one-on-one with Lambuth goalie Brenton Saylor from a ball dished by Memphis freshman Robert Sausaman (Gainesville, Fla.). The goal put Memphis up 4-0 at the end of the first half. Both sides remained quite to begin the first 25 minutes of the second half until Memphis sophomore Marcus McCarty (Fort Worth, Texas) scored in the 77th minute. McCarty earned his first goal of the spring from the left side on an assist from freshman Kyle Minter (Rockwall, Texas). Less than two minutes later, McCarty scored again from the left side on a ball served up by freshman Thomas Hyland (Dublin, Ireland). Sophomore goalkeeper Tyler Strom (Thornton, Colo.) earned a complete-game shutout. Strom had three saves, helping the Tigers earn its third-straight shutout in exhibition play. Memphis has yet to allow a goal in 2005. The Tiger defense allowed nine shots in the game with three on goal while the offense had 23 shots with 13 on goal. The Tigers open up the season at home on Saturday, Sept. 3 against Centenary at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex at 7:30 p.m. The game is the second of a doubleheader in the seventh-annual Memphis Diadora Tournament. Oral Roberts takes on Belmont at 5 p.m. in the first game of the tournament.

08/26/05		Lady Tigers Top Alumni 3-0 in Annual Alumni Match -- Hayes tallies two more preseason goals (GoTigersGo.com)
		Memphis, Tenn. - In their final tuneup before the regular season begins on Sunday, the women's soccer team defeated a team of women's soccer alumni 3-0 in a scrimmage on Friday afternoon at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex. Freshman Kylie Hayes scored two more goals, bringing her preseason exhibition total to four. The game was played with just two 30 minutes halves instead of the regular 45. Hayes scored her first goal about midway through the first half, intercepting a goal kick and putting it home in the lower left corner of the goal. It remained 1-0 at halftime. About midway through the second half, Hayes added her second tally of the scrimmage when she was fed a ball by Asuka Kubota from the left side and she chipped a shot over the oncoming goalkeeper, who was attempting to intercept the pass. Finally, with just under two minutes remaining in the second half, freshman Lauren Everhart scored her second goal of the preseason when her shot from about 15 yards out hit the crossbar on the right side of the goal and bounced down and into the net on the left side for the final margin of victory. The Tigers will now open the regular season on Sunday against Tennessee Tech at 1:00 p.m. at the Mike Rose Soccer Complex.

08/26/05		Taking in a Tiger Home or Road Football Game? Do Not Forget the Alumni Association's Pre-Game Activities -- Barn Bashes scheduled for home weekends and True Blue Tailgates scheduled for some road games (GoTigersGo.com)
		The University of Memphis Alumni Association has pre-game activities scheduled for a number of home and road football games for the 2005 season. For home games, starting with the UT-Chattanooga game on Sept. 17th, the Alumni Association will host a Barn Bash in the silver barn on the west side of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium. There, you can get your fill of live music, BBQ, and true blue fun and fellowship. Barn bashes will be held in that barn for the Oct. 22nd East Carolina game, the Nov. 1st UAB game and the Nov. 26th Marshall game. The Barn Bash will be a 'tent bash' for the Oct. 1st UTEP game as the Mid-South fair will occupy the fairgrounds that weekend. For Tiger road games, True Blue Tiger Tailgates have been scheduled for the Oct. 8th UCF game, the Oct. 15th Houston game and the Nov. 12th Tennessee game. For more information on any of these events, please contact the Alumni Office at (901) 678-ALUM or by email at alumnievents@memphis.edu.

08/26/05		Memphis Alumni Association Sponsoring Tiger Trek for UT Football Game -- Departs U of M Friday, Nov. 11th and returns Sunday, Nov. 13th (GoTigersGo.com)
		The University of Memphis Alumni Association is sponsoring another Tiger Trek for the 2005 football season. Tiger fans are welcome to join the Tiger Trek to UT-Knoxville for the Memphis/Tennessee football game on Nov. 12th. The cost for a single occupancy slot for the trip is $465 for Alumni Association members and $500 for non-members. That cost includes 2 nights room and tax at the Hilton Knoxville, 1 ticket for the football game, 1 roundtrip seat on the bus and snacks and soft drinks. The double occupancy cost for members is $635 for Alumni Association Association members and $670 for non-members. That includes all the amenities of the Single occupancy trip, but with two tickets for the game. The Tiger Trek will leave the Alumni Center at 8 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 11th and will stop in Nashville at noon for lunch. The bus should arrive in Knoxville around 6 p.m. On game day, the Alumni Association is trying to put together a Memphis Pep Rally and True Blue Tiger Tailgate before the game. On the Sunday after the game, the bus will department the Knoxville Hilton at 9 a.m. and will again stop for lunch in Nashville at 12:30 p.m. The Tiger Trek will return to the Alumni Center around 5 p.m.

08/26/05		Women's Soccer Opens Season Sunday vs. Tennessee Tech -- Golden Eagles are first of three in-state opponents this year (GoTigersGo.com)
		Game #1 Tennessee Tech (0-0-0) at Memphis (0-0-0) Sunday, August 28 • 1:00 p.m. Mike Rose Soccer Complex (3,000) • Memphis, Tenn. This Weekend Memphis opens the 2005 season by playing host to Tennessee Tech for the second straight year. The Tigers and Golden Eagles kick off at 1:00 p.m. The Lady Tigers will be the second Memphis athletic team to open the season this year, after the Volleyball team opens with matches on Friday and Saturday. Looking Ahead The Lady Tigers will travel to Birmingham, Ala. for a tournament being hosted by Samford next weekend. On Friday, September 2, the Tigers take on the host Bulldogs at 7:00 p.m., followed by a game against Evansville on Sunday, September 4 at 11:30 a.m. The matchup against Evansville will also be the second straight year that the Tigers have faced the Purple Aces and it will also be Memphis' first regular season neutral field game since the 2002 campaign. Series vs. Tennessee Tech Memphis is 1-1-0 all-time against the Golden Eagles, with each team having won on its home field. Tennessee Tech won the first contest in the series in 2001 in Cookeville by a 1-0 score on October 10. Last season, the Tigers evened the series with a 2-0 win at Mike Rose on September 10. Last Year vs. Tennessee Tech Memphis improved its record to 5-1 with the 2-0 win over the Golden Eagles. Caroline Barrett scored the game-winning goal just 6:32 into the game off an assist from Robyn Smart. Carla Scanniello made it 2-0 just over 21 minutes in. The Tigers outshot TTU 18-9 and held an advantage in shots on goal 9-2. Natalie Haerens recorded the shutout in goal with two saves. Scouting Tennessee Tech This will be the second game of the year for the Golden Eagles, who are on a two-game weekend roadtrip to open their season that took them to Ole Miss on Friday night. Last year, TTU had a 7-6-4 record last year, but just a 2-3-3 record in the Ohio Valley Conference, which placed them in seventh place. In the preseason poll, Tech was picked fifth in the 10-team OVC. The Golden Eagles return their top five point scorers from last year, including leading scorer Jill Burns (11g, 2a, 24p). They also add freshman Hannah Bromley, who is a member of the New Zealand National Team. TTU tied with Western Kentucky 3-3 in its only exhibition contest. The Coaches Brooks Monaghan (Memphis, 1994) is in his sixth year as head coach at Memphis, where he holds a 39-52-5 career record. Prior to his tenure as head coach, he was the assistant coach in charge of goalkeepers for five years, serving since the program's inception in 1995. Just the second head coach in program history, Monaghan became the program's all-time winningest coach last year with his 35th career win. Carrie Proost (James Madison, 1995) is in her second season as head coach at Tennessee Tech. She led the Golden Eagles to a 7-6-4 record in her first season as a head coach. She was an assistant coach at Virginia Commonwealth and James Madison prior to coming to TTU. For Starters Memphis is 4-6-0 all-time in season openers. The Tigers won their season opener last season, which also came on the final Sunday in August, at Alabama A&M by a 4-0 score. Home Openers Memphis holds a 6-3-1 record all-time in home openers. Memphis has lost its last two home openers, including last year to Middle Tennessee, but prior to that, was undefeated in home openers from 1996-2002, which included winning five straight wins from 1996-2000. In-State Battle Today's game against Tennessee Tech will be the 27th game in program history against an in-state opponent. Memphis holds a 17-9 all-time record against other schools from Tennessee. Today's game will the first of three this year against teams from Tennessee. Memphis vs. The OVC Tennessee Tech will be just the first of four opponents that Memphis will face from the Ohio Valley Conference this year, the most of any league in non-conference play. Last year, the Tigers played two OVC opponents, Tennessee Tech and UT-Martin, who they will also play this year, and went 2-0. In its history, Memphis is 8-4-1 all-time against members of the OVC. Where's the Offense One of the things the Tigers will be looking to find this year is some offense to replace exactly 75 percent of the scoring from last year. Memphis recorded 84 points last year (28g, 28a) but lost five of its top six point scorers from last year. The 10 returnees that played last year combined for exactly 25 percent of the points recorded by the Tigers last year (21 of 84). Melton's Return to Bolster Defense Memphis set a school record for team goals against average last year at 1.19. However, the Tigers lost three defenders to graduation and a goalkeeper that started 15 of 19 games last year. One very valuable addition to the defense, however, is senior Courtnee Melton, who missed the last eight games last year with a knee injury. Below is a comparison that shows how important Melton was the Tiger defense. With Melton Games GA GAA Sho. Rec. 11 7 0.63 6 8-3-0 Without Melton Games GA GAA Sho. Rec. 8 16 1.96 1 3-5-0 Get Back There Last year, then-junior Robyn Smart was moved from forward and midfield, where she had played her first two seasons, to defense. She responded by helping contribute to the school record 1.19 GAA and also managed to record six points on a goal and four assists. This year, two more player