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Two Sport Star Shines In Title Game Win Over Montana

Chattanooga, TN– Former Oakland Raider Howie Long may be Villanova’s most famous football player, but it would be hard to argue against Matt Szczur as Villanova’s most important football player.  Szczur scored two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats to a 23-21 win over Montana in Friday’s FCS Division I National Championship game.

Szczur totaled 227 yards from scrimmage to carry the third-seeded Wildcats (14-1) past the top-seeded and formerly unbeaten Grizzlies (14-1).  The junior receiver ran for a career best 159 yards on 14 carries (most from the Wildcat

Matt Szczur scored 15 TDs in 2009

formation) and had four catches for 68 yards.  He scored Villanova’s first touchdown of the night on a 5-yard run with 3:34 to go before halftime and scored their last TD to give his team a 23-14 lead with 11:04 remaining in the game.

“To be honest, I didn’t think I was going to break as much as I did,” Szczur said after the game.  ” The offensive line came out, and I hada great second half. They gave me an opportunity to make the big plays as well as Coach [Andy] Talley and Coach [Sam] Venuto giving me the opportunity to run the ball.”

FCS Title Game Box Score (PDF)

Szczur was one of the most versatile players in the country all season.  While the 5’10 junior is listed as a wide receiver, he has packed several sections of the Villanova stat book:

Rushing:  108 carries for 813 yards and a team-high 10 TDs

Receiving:  51 catches for 610 yards and 4 touchdowns

Passing: 4-for-4 for 22 yards and 2 TDs

Kick Returns:  30 for 816 yards (27.2) and an 87-yard touchdown

He was named the 2009 Colonial Athletic Association’s Offensive and Special Teams Player of the Year, but his versatility reaches beyond the football field.  Szczur is also a member of the baseball team, and it’s only fitting that he’s

Szczur is MLB draft eligible in 2010

listed as both a catcher and outfielder on Joe Godri’s Wildcat roster.

Szczur led VU with a .346 average last spring after missing his freshman baseball season due to injury.  He’ll take a short break and then begin training for the Feb. 19 baseball season-opener at Norfolk State.  The Erma, N.J. native still has a season of football eligibility remaining, but he was caught off guard Friday night when asked about his plans for the future.

“That’s a hard question to answer. You put me in a bind right now,”  Szczur said.  ” We’re going to see how my baseball
season turns out. After baseball season, I’ll probably end up entering the draft, but I love these guys.
[Chris] Whitney, Terry [Thomas], all these guys are my best friends. We started as freshman, and we
wanted to do something. We accomplished it, so I don’t want to leave those guys. It’s a hard decision to
make, but it’s a good decision to make.”

He was drafted in the 38th round of the MLB draft by the L.A. Dodgers out of high school.  If he goes in the June draft it is still possible that Szczur could play in the minor leagues next summer and then return to the gridirion with the Villanova football team next fall.   That’s something current Chicago Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija did in 2006 when he was playing both baseball and football at Notre Dame.

Now if Szczur could only pass his hair style along to Howie Long.

Note:  Szczur and others have been included in the exclusive Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Reports throughout the fall.  We’ll have a new installment coming soon!

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Irish Two Sport Star Is The First ND Player To Receive The Honor

2009 Biletnikoff Award Winner Golden Tate

history. He finished with 93 receptions for 1,496 yards and 15 receiving touchdowns in 2009. Tate added two rushing touchdowns, one punt return for a score and totaled 1,915 all-purpose yards, second most in Irish single-season history.

Tate equaled or surpassed eight school records this year, including most catches and receiving yards in a season, tied for most touchdown catches in a season, most receiving yards in a career, most 100-yard receiving games in a season and career, most receiving yards per game in a season and tied for most consecutive games with a touchdown reception.

Tate ranks in the top eight nationally in nine different statistical categories and no wide receiver had more games with at least 100 receiving yards this year than Tate’s nine. He also scored at least one touchdown in each of the final 11 contests for Notre Dame.

The American Football Coaches Association has already named Tate, who shared Irish season MVP honors with junior QB Jimmy Clausen, a first-team All-American.

Tate, who recently declared his intention to enter the 2010 NFL draft, departs as the most prolific receiver in Notre Dame history. He recorded 2,707 receiving yards on 157 receptions with 26 touchdowns. Tate ranks second in career touchdown receptions and is tied for third in career receptions.

Tate is the first Irish player to be named Walter Camp First Team All-American since defensive back Shane Walton received the honor following the 2002 season. He is also the first Notre Dame offensive player to earn first-team honors from Walter Camp since offensive tackle Mike Rosenthal in 1998. In fact, Tate is the first Irish wideout to accomplish the feat since Raghib Ismail in 1990.

Tate is the first Notre Dame receiver to take home the Biletnikoff Award. Former All-American Jeff Samardzija was a two-time finalist (2005, 2006), while Derrick Mayes was a two-time semifinalist (1994, 1995).

Tate has also played for Dave Schrage’s Fighting Irish baseball team for the last two seasons.  Collegebaseball360.com has followed Tate and other two sport athletes in the Two Sport Reports throughout the fall.

(Release)

A Look At Some Of The Stats Tate Has Put Up On The Gridirion & Diamond At Notre Dame

Golden Tate declared for the NFL draft on Monday (AP Photo)

college baseball one last go round.  After all, Tate was actually recruited by the Irish baseball team before ND football recruiting coordinator Rob Ianello got him on campus for a visit.

Tate also had the model of Jeff Samardzija, another former Irish two sport guy, to look at.  Samardzija was the guest speaker at the Notre Dame baseball Opening Night Dinner before last season and he prophetically told Tate “You might break my records, but you’ll never look this good.”

Like Tate, Samardzija didn’t burst on the national stage until after a monster junior season on the football field.  MLB scouts then flocked to Irish baseball games all spring in 2006, and Samardzija capitalized when he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the first round, played minor league baseball that summer, and then caught more passes from Brady Quinn that fall.

Samardzija has something Tate doesn’t though (besides his trademark shaggy hair):  a 6’5 frame with an upper 90s fastball.  Tate is just 5’11, albeit with blazing speed, but he was still considered a work in progress on the baseball field.

With that said, Tate did play two seasons of college baseball, and he rewrote the Irish receiving record book in just three seasons.

Here’s a By The Numbers look at Tate’s two sport career at Notre Dame:

1,496…receving yards by Tate this season-a new Notre Dame school record

1,211…total receiving yards in his first two seasons combined…

15…touchdown catches in 2009 for Charlie Weis and the football team

16…career stolen bases with the Irish baseball team

93…football receptions in 2009-also a new school record

92…total bases on the diamond in 2009

(ND Photo)

8…straight games with a touchdown catch in 2009-a school record tied with Samardzija

8…doubles for the baseball team in 2009

2…games of 200-plus receiving yards this season-including a school record 244 vs. Washington

222…career at-bats as a baseball player

.329…batting average in 2009

63…career starts for baseball head coach Dave Schrage

64…combined receptions as a freshman and sophomore in 2007 & 2008

9…games this season with 100-plus receiving yards – another single-season school record

7…sacrifice bunts in 2009 – the second-most by an Irish player

1,915…all-purpose yards during the 2009 football season

1…Irish player with more all-purpose yards in a season – Tim Brown with 1,937 in 1986

1…career home run by Tate – a late inning longball that helped his team win a crucial late April series at Louisville

22…career base on balls drawn by Tate

23…his jersey number with the football team

32…Tate’s baseball number

21…RBIs in 2009

11…straight games with either a receiving, rushing or punt return TD in 2009

.813…OPS (on-base plus slugging %) in 2009

0…other college baseball players who are a 2009 Biletnikoff Award finalist

(Tate is one of more than 35 players who have been featured in the exclusive Collegebaseball360.com Two Sport Reports.)

Two Top Two-Sport Stars Go Head-to-Head Saturday

Toby Gerhart

Gerhart is a 6’1, 235 lb. senior who has rolled through Pac 10 defenders like a bowling ball through Weebles this season to the tune of 1,531 yards (2nd in the nation) and 23 nation-leading touchdowns.  He is one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, which is given to the nation’s top college running back each season.

At 5’11 and 195 pounds Tate is the lightning to Gerhart’s thunder.  His blazing speed has helped him reel-in 83 receptions for 1,295 yards (both ND school records) with 12 touchdown grabs.  Tate has also rushed for two touchdowns, and returned a punt 87 yards for another score.  His efforts rank him fourth nationally in receiving yards and have made him one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award, which is bestowed annually upon the nation’s top college receiver.

Gerhart has now exhausted his football eligibility, but he has one season of eligibility left if he decides to play for Mark Marquess and the Cardinal baseball team next spring.  (That could be tough with the NFL draft in April.)  Gerhart has made 105 baseball starts in his first three seasons while helping Stanford to the 2008 College World Series.

Tate has a few more options remaining.  As a junior on the Irish football team he could still return for a last bit of

Golden Tate

gridiron refining next fall.  He also has two years of baseball eligibility left, so he could potentially patrol the outfield for Dave Schrage for two more seasons.  He could also go the route of another former Irish two-sport star, Jeff Samardzija, who is now a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.  Samardzija played minor league baseball after his junior baeball season, and then returned for his senior football campaign to break more records & catch more passes thrown by current Cleveland Brown QB Brady Quinn.  (Tate has already broken Shark’s single-season yardage record and needs just 88 yards to break his career mark of 2,593.)

But here’s the best part:  We get to see both Gerhart and Tate in action on the same field while we’re gorging on leftovers this weekend when Notre Dame visits Stanford this Saturday night in the regular season finale for both teams.

*CLICK HERE to read the Collegebasell360.com Two Sport Reports which have featured Gerhart, Tate & other two sport athletes throughout the fall.)

Following is what Weis had to say about each of them on Tuesday:

On Toby Gerhart

Q.  Their running game, what do you need to do to slow that down?  What do they do that makes them so successful?

WEIS:  Well, I mean, I could talk about their offensive line, I could talk about their tight ends and I could talk about their scheme and their mentality, but

That No. 7 (Gerhart), the guy with the ball in his hands, you know, he’s special.  He’s a hard north‑south runner.  Not that he can’t bounce it outside, but you have to gang‑tackle him, and we’ve had a few problems with tackling now, and I think that if you don’t gang‑tackle him, he gets a lot of hidden yardage because you don’t get 139 yards a game by just being running in open field all the time and just by scheme.  I mean, this kid is a heck of a runner.  I have a lot of respect for him.

Q.  Where does Gerhart rank in terms of the skill position players you guys have faced this year?

WEIS:  Well, I think that, for example, if you’re going into the draft, let’s take him ‑‑ with this guy, you’re going into the draft, he’ll be one of the first guys taken, because one of those guys who wants a guy, a dependable, every‑down runner they can just hand the ball to 25, 30 times a game, there aren’t very many of them that are that type of size that are that type of durable that have proven track records.  He obviously has a proven track record.  So he’s right up there with the best of them.

There’s guys that we play that are faster than him, but I don’t know if there’s any more grounded than this guy.

Q.  I know you get this kind of question a lot.  Who does he remind you of?  Is there anyone?

WEIS:  Size alone puts him in a different category than a lot of running backs.  Yeah, there’s a bunch of guys that come to mind, but I’d have to think about that a little bit more.  I really haven’t thought about the parallel.

On Golden Tate

Q.  I don’t know how familiar you are with the strength and conditioning numbers of your players, and I don’t know if Golden Tate is pound for pound one of your strongest players.  Is it that?  Is that what makes it so difficult to bring him down, or is it just desire and will that keeps him on his feet sometimes?

WEIS:  Well, he is a rocked‑up unit to start out with.  I agree.  I think it’s a combination of both those elements.  I think you hit it twice.  I don’t think it has to be one or the other.  I think it’s a combination of both those things.  He’s a strong, physical rocked‑up unit, and he has a great center of gravity when he’s playing.  He’s well‑grounded when he gets hit a lot of times.  How many times have we seen people bounce off of him?  But I think that and a strong will, it’s a good combination.

Q.  And I know that he and you both said he’s learned the game a lot more, and that’s helped him become a better player.  But what pushed him down that road do you think?  What got him ‑‑ because this guy has improved so much.

WEIS:  Yeah, well, first of all, he’s a great competitor any time he’s on the field.  That’s why in baseball season he doesn’t want to talk about football, and in football season he doesn’t want to talk about baseball, because he’s such a fierce competitor.  I think he’s got ‑‑ he’s probably improved more than any player on the team, and there’s still some things that he can even get better.  There’s some things that when he goes over a few more of the more refined coaching points, he can even get better than where he is.  Maybe not necessarily numbers‑wise, okay, but he can get better from where he is now.

Q.  Whether it’s this year or next year, and I know that he’s going to make that decision at the appropriate time, but he’s going to play in the NFL, and there are some people that you talk to, it just seems like the only thing that they’re worried about is the height.  Can you address that, what you think ‑‑

WEIS:  They won’t be worrying about the height.  You know what’s going to happen is they’re going to watch the tape, because anyone who watching the tape, they’re not worrying about the height.  I think that more importantly, they want to let him go to the combine and see what number he runs, because when all of a sudden it’s a 4‑4 flat or something along those lines, that height will be thrown right out the window, because unlike a lot of other receivers, the volume ‑‑ just think about the number of plays that you’ve seen him make this year.

The bottom line is he has evidence.  You have visual evidence when you watch him.  You don’t want to bet on the come with him.  He’s already got a body of evidence on tape.  You just go pick a game out, and you’re going to have at least nine or ten plays where you say, this kid is something special.

Q.  Is there anybody at the next level that you see a parallel to?

WEIS:  Unlike Gerhart, who I don’t have, so I’d have to think about it, he reminds me of Steve Smith’s clone.  I know Steve Smith well.  I’m a big fan of Steve Smith.  A little trash‑talker just like Golden.  But their personalities are alike, they’re fiery guys, they make big plays.  They’re tough.  They don’t back down from anyone.  I would imagine ‑‑ I don’t know exactly Steve’s size, but I would imagine it’s probably pretty close, and he’s done pretty well, last time I checked.  He reminds me a lot of Steve.

Q.  Following up on that, you say size is not a limitation for him.  Route‑running, which two years ago was really non‑existent for him, is that the area where he has improved the most?

WEIS:  He has improved the most, and he has work to do yet.  The two things, because he’s capable of running even better routes, which he has improved exponentially on that subject right there.  But he’s capable of running even better routes, and with his strength and quickness getting off the line of scrimmage versus a jam, when he starts using even more proper technique and better technique at that right there when people come up and they want to try to take him away, it’s going to be scary when he really gets that down the way ‑‑ with the same improvement that he has in route running.

Q.  Assuming that he came out right now, how would the NFL judge him?  Would they say, okay, he’s weak on the route running but he’s so physically skilled that we’ll take him early and develop him?

WEIS:  I think it would really come down to two things, and he already has one of them in the bank already.  I forget who I answered it with, but he already has the volume of evidence in the bank.

I mean, when you start studying a player in college, you’re looking for him to make plays.  Well, he doesn’t take long to find this guy.  He’s a highlight reel.  You’ve got a highlight reel.  Just imagine, do you want to make his highlight real for the year?  How would you like to be his age when it came to that?  There would be plenty of evidence; you could put play after play on there, and they’re all from this year.  You don’t have to go to any other year.

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Junior Two Sport Star Is One Of Three Finalists

Tate On The Gridiron

Tate set the Notre Dame record for most receptions and receiving yards in a season, breaking Jeff Samardzija’s previous marks set in 2005 and 2006, respectively. Tate enters Saturday’s regular-season finale with 83 receptions for 1,295 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns. He has added touchdowns via punt return (one) and rushing (two) for 15 total touchdowns this season.

Tate has a .318 career batting average with 16 stolen bases and 51 runs scored in his first two seasons as an outfielder on the Irish baseball team.  54 of his 63 career starts came in 2009 when he batted .329.  His football feats have been featured this fall in Collegebaseball360.com’s Two Sport Reports.

The 5-11, 195-pounder from Hendersonville, Tenn., has registered five multi-touchdown games in 2009 and no player in the Football Bowl Subdivision has more 100-yard receiving games than Tate’s eight this year. His eight games with at least 100 yards receiving is tied for most in a season in school history and his 14 career games with at least 100 receiving yards is the most in Irish history.

Tate has 2,506 yards receiving at Notre Dame and needs 78 yards to break Samardzija’s career receiving yards record.

Tate On The Diamond

Tate’s 23 career touchdown receptions ranks second all-time at Notre Dame and his 147 career receptions ranks fourth on Notre Dame’s career list.  Samardzija is another former Fighting Irish baseball/football standout.  He is now a pitcher for the Chicago Cubs.

Among FBS receivers, Tate ranks second in total touchdowns, scoring and scoring per game. He is tied for third in touchdown receptions, ranks fourth in receiving yards and receiving yards per game. Tate stands eighth in total receptions, ninth in receptions per game and all-purpose yards and is 10th in yards per catch.

The Biletnikoff Award recipient will be named at the Home Depot/ESPNU College Football Awards Show on Dec. 10, 2009 and will be honored at a dinner in Tallahassee, Fla., on Feb. 13, 2010.

(Release & Staff Report)

Four Things I’m Thinking About Right Now

1.  College football’s Doak Walker and Biletnikoff Awards could both go to guys who also play college baseball.  If you have followed our Two Sport Reports so far this season you know that Stanford’s Toby Gerhart and Notre Dame’s Golden Tate are among college baseball players who have excelled on the gridiron this fall.

Gerhart’s 1,395 rushing yards are currently the third most in the nation, while Tate is fourth in the land with  1,172 receiving yards.  Tate has scored a total of 14 touchdowns (11 receiving, 2 rushing & 1 punt return), while Gerhart has rumbled across the goal line 19 times.  Tate needs just 78 more receiving yards to break current Chicago Cubs pitcher Jeff Samardzija’s Notre Dame single season receiving school record.

Gerhart batted .288 with 7 home runs and 36 RBIs for the Cardinal in 2009.  Tate hit .329 with 13 stolen bases and scored 45 runs at the top of the Irish line-up last season.

Both were also just named Walter Camp Player of the Year semifinalists.  The duo goes head to head when Notre Dame visits Stanford on Nov. 28th in the regular season finale for both teams.

2.  I talked a little about schedules last week, and I mentioned how Virginia’s first two weeks of 2010 will be challenging with three games each vs. East Carolina and Rhode Island.  Well how about Rhode Island’s 2010 slate?  Rhody opens the season with three games in Starkville, MS vs. Mississippi State and then heads to Charlottesville, VA for those three games against the Cavaliers the following weekend.

There’s a double edged sword for a northern team scheduling two such trips.  The Pros:  You’ll get guarantees for making the trips (needed revenue for teams that don’t get DI college football windfall), you’ll bump your strength of schedule and RPIs, you give your players exposure to great college baseball environments, and you have the chance to compete against and beat good competition.  The Con:  You need to win at least two games in a three-game series to get credit when it comes down to NCAA Tournament selection time.

I’ve talked to an NCAA selection committee member about this before.  Winning just one of three games is essentially the same as losing all three games when it comes to selection.  Teams from the north are better off scheduling just two games against an ACC or SEC team and hope for a split, but most teams from the south have no interest in that.

Jim Foster’s URI team won 37 games in 2009.  They played single games against the likes of Miami, Oklahoma State, Ohio State and Boston College (all tourney teams), but they missed the NCAA Tournament.  They still have a handful of “TBA” games in Winter Haven, FL to be added to the 2010 slate.  We’ll see how things shake out…

3.  I talked last week about guys flying below the radar in high school and then blossoming in college. There’s no better example than Middle Tennessee State’s Bryce Brentz.  The 2009 Team USA outfielder who grew up in Knoxville is wearing blue instead of orange in college, and he’s wearing it well.  As a sophomore last season Brentz led the nation with his .465 average, 28 home runs and .930 slugging percentage.  Not bad for a guy who says he never thought much about playing for Tennessee because he was a “late bloomer”.   MTSU has also won 71 games with a 2009 NCAA Regional appearance in Brentz’s first two years in Murfreesboro.

4.  There’s been a lot of recent talk about revamping instant replay in Major League Baseball.  Most of the talk, centered around umpiring mistakes that were made during the playoffs.   People like Bob Costas are in favor of expanding replay during the playoffs, but not necessarily during the regular season.  The reasoning is there are more cameras in use and the games mean more, so why not take advantage of the extra technology and make sure you get the calls right.  Would you want that rationale applied to the College World Series?  Those games are arguably the most important games of the college season, and they’re all televised by ESPN.  Who’s to say they are really the most important games though?  One could argue though that game three of a Super Regional is just as important as any game in Omaha, because you have to win there just to get to the promised land.  While all Super Regional games are now televised there are not as many cameras in use there, and the angles are different, because the college stadiums are smaller than Rosenblatt Stadium.

Getting the calls right is the most important thing, but sometimes hairs are split by technology.  Case in point:  the Chicago Bulls vs. Denver Nuggets game last week.  A last second shot initially looked like the Bulls won the game.  However after ten minutes of replay review the shot was waved off and the Nuggets won.  If it takes ten minutes to make the decision shouldn’t the initial ruling just stand?

College football has instant replay, but that system is far from perfect.  Who hasn’t watched a college football game and scratched their heads at calls made on the field that are overturned even when video replays don’t indisputably support the decision to overturn them.  Too often judgment in the replay booth replaces judgments made on the field, and that’s not how replay is supposed to be used.

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