The 2008-09 mens basketball schedule is still not quite complete, but it’s getting there. Coach Bill Herrion said Wednesday afternoon that his team will play out-of-conference home games against Brown, Harvard, Hofstra and Santa Clara. The Wildcats will also play a home game against a non-Division 1 opponent, perhaps Suffolk, which played in Durham last season. Road games will be against Rhode Island, Penn State, Colgate, Dartmouth, Long Island University and Marist. . . . Herrion said there is a 50-50 chance a third “money game,” to join URI and Penn State, will be played at Fordham. . . . The Santa Clara game came about because the Broncos were coming East to play Harvard and were looking for another game out here. UNH will return the trip in the 2009-2010 season and likely package it with another game in the West, or on the way there, Herrion said. . . . The Broncos were 15-16 last year and lost in the semifinals of the Western Coast Conference tournament to Gonzaga, 52-48.
Former UNH defensive back and return specialist Corey Graham, in his second year with the Chicago Bears, has been looking good early in camp, according to a story on the team’s website. “We’ve been impressed with [Graham],” said coach Lovie Smith. “He has good size and good speed, and he knows what to do with the ball once he gets it. We like what he’s done. He seems to show up around the ball each day.” . . . Graham, 6-3 and 193 pounds, played mostly on special teams as a rookie last year last and was second on the Bears with 20 tackles and also scored a touchdown on a blocked punt return. . . . He got a chance to work with the No. 1 defense the first few days of camp when Charles Tillman was a late arrival. . . . “Corey’s a guy who is going to work hard each and every day,” said defensive backs coach Steve Wilks. “He’s going to do the things that you ask him to do. You see his zest and zeal to try to learn each and every technique that we’re talking about, so I’m excited right now about the things that I see out of Corey.”
Hall of Fame defenseman Ray Bourque on his son Ryan, a forward, who has made a verbal commitment to accept a UNH hockey scholarship and is due on campus in the fall of 2009: “He just goes after it. He hustles. He’s got great speed and great energy. He’s got a lot of skill and he’s fun to watch.” . . . Ryan’s game is similar in some ways to that of his brother, Chris, who played one season at Boston University before turning pro, Dad said. . . . Ryan, listed as a 5-7 and 160-pound forward, played with the National Team Development Program last year, starting the season with the Under-17s and finishing it with the Under-18s. He had 15 goals and 12 assists in 41 games with the 17s and 4 goals and 12 assists in 27 games with the 18s. . . . Ray was at the Concord Country Club on Tuesday for Rick Middleton’s 16th annual golf tournament to benefit the Manchester Police Athletic League.
The UNH football team pulled down the No. 2 ranking in the Northern Division in the Colonial Athletic Association’s 2008 pre-season poll released this morning. Massachusetts was ranked No. 1 in the North and was picked as the league’s overall pre-season champ. The Minutemen received 17 first-place votes in the poll of coaches and selected media. UNH was picked first on one ballot. Hofstra, Maine, Northeastern and Rhode Island followed UNH in the poll. . . . Richmond picked up 11 first-place votes and edged out James Madison for the top spot in the South. Delaware had one first-place vote and was third and Villanova, William & Mary and Towson rounded out the division. . . . Two Wildcats _ junior tight end Scott Sicko and senior punter Tom Bishop _ were named to the pre-season all-conference team. Sicko caught 51 passes for 619 yards and six touchdowns last season. Bishop was second in the league with a 40.4-yard average on his punts. . . . UMass senior Liam Coen was named the pre-season offensive player of the year and Maine senior defensive lineman Jovan Belcher pulled down those honors for defense.
Jason Krog, an American Hockey League standout and winner of the 1999 Hobey Baker Memorial Award while at UNH, signed a contract with the Vancouver Canucks the other day. And then things got interesting. . . . Krog is one of six players suspended by the International Ice Hockey Federation and his contract is reportedly being investigated. . . . Krog apparently had a contract to play next season in a new league in Russia and the IIHF says that by signing with the Canucks he violated an agreement between leagues to honor the other’s contracts. The Winnipeg Sun, though, reports that Krog had an out clause in the deal in Russia that allowed him to leave for an NHL deal worth a certain amount of money. The paper quotes an official from the Manitoba Moose saying the deal with the Canucks is valid. The newspaper reports the deal is for close to $700,000. The Moose enter the picture as the farm team for the Canucks. If Krog does not make the Canucks, he would end up with the Moose in Winnipeg and they helped put up the money for his contract. . . . Krog, 32, was the Most Valuable Player in both the AHL regular season and playoffs last season and led the Chicago Wolves to the Calder Cup title.
Sophomore R.J. Toman, UNH’s top quarterback heading into fall camp, is listed No. 1 on The Sports Network’s ranking of new starters at the position. Toman backed up Ricky Santos last year. “The sophomore has a good arm and a lot of offensive talent around him, but will need to show he can stretch the field,” The Sports Network wrote. . . . The website also put out a Top 20 of Football Championship Subdivision quarterbacks and five signal callers from the Colonial Athletic Association made the list. . . . UNH is scheduled to play against four of the QBs this fall. James Madison junior Rodney Landers is listed at No. 6 and the Wildcats and Dukes do not meet this season. UNH is due to play No. 9 Jake Phillips and William & Mary, No. 10 Liam Coen and Massachusetts, No. 11 Antwon Young and Villanova and No. 13 Sean Schafer and Towson. . . . . Young is a junior and the others are seniors. . . . Armanti Edwards, a junior from Appalachian State, is No. 1 in the Top 20. No surprise there. The Mountaineers have won the last three national titles and Edwards has quarterbacked the last two.
This by way of Mike Bruckner and Gerry Miles, a couple of long-time observers of all things UNH: The top eight collegiate offensive coordinators according to a CBS Sportsline Poll that asked, “Who’s the better offensive coordinator?” 6% answered BC’s Steve Logan; 33% UCLA’s Norm Chow; 6% FSU’s Jimbo Fisher; 11% LSU’s Gary Crowton; 8% Oregon’s Chip Kelly; 5% Tulsa’s Gus Malzahn; 12% Florida’s Dan Mullen; 18% USC’s Steve Sarkisian. The moral of the story: New Hampshire products play prominent roles across the country in moving the football. Kelly played at Manchester Central and UNH and was the long-time OC for the Wildcats before going way West and having great success at Oregon last season. Mullen led Trinity High School to a state championship in 1988. Crowton was the offensive coordinator at UNH from 1988-1990. The rest of the story? Mullen won a national title with Florida in 2006 and Crowton got one with LSU last year. Are Kelly and the Ducks next?
One month to go to Report Day. Members of the University of New Hampshire football team report for fall camp on Aug. 10. The season begins four weeks later at Army on Sept. 6. . . . The Wildcats play three of their first four games on the road. After Army, they are at Rhode Island on Sept. 13, play at home against Albany on Sept. 20 and are at Dartmouth on Sept. 27. . . . UNH is off on Oct. 4 and then plays three of its next four at home, starting with William & Mary on Oct. 11. . . Another sign that the countdown to opening day is on: In two weeks, on July 23, UNH’s Colonial Athletic Association will hold its annual Media Day in Baltimore where the pre-season poll and pre-season all conference teams will be released.
A couple of the more prominent knees in the UNH football program heading into next month and fall camp belong to strong safety Hugo Souza and 6-6 offensive lineman Josh Droesch. Last season ended early for both players with anterior cruciate ligament injuries. Both had surgery and are recovering well, taking part in optional workouts in Durham, and should be ready to go when the Wildcats report to camp on Aug. 10, said coach Sean McDonnell. . . . Both players are key returning starters. . . . “Hugo has been cleared to go and he’s running and doing all the conditioning drills and running side to side without a brace,” McDonnell said. “Josh has been doing everything, but he has a little tendinitis. We have to make sure their legs feel good and they’re running, but that they don’t overdo it.” Souza, who was hurt in the playoff game against Northern Iowa, is only a sophomore. Droesch is a senior. “Hugo had a great redshirt freshman year,” McDonnell said. “And if Josh gets back to where he was playing, he’s a possible All-Conference performer.” . . . Souza was fourth on the team with 93 tackles and tied for first with seven tackles for a loss.
Three former New Hampshire high school football standouts reported to West Point this week for Reception Day at Army. Wide receiver Sean Boyle of Plymouth, quarterback Tanner Boucher of Keene and tight end Brad Kelly of Exeter all are on the Army football team and should be on the sidelines when the Black Knights take on UNH at Michie Stadium on Sept. 6. . . . Boyle, listed at 6-foot and 180 pounds, graduated from Plymouth in 2007 and spent last year at the United States Military Academy Prep School. He is the cousin of UNH captain Mike Boyle, who is also a wide receiver. . . . Boucher, 6-4 and 220, and Kelly, 6-4 and 210, graduated this spring. . . . Army opens its season on Friday, Aug. 29 with a home game against Temple. . . . Army had a 3-9 record last season.
