John F. Silver

Are you going to throw the javelin in college?

The soon to be UConn freshman tight end by way of Coventry High School — about a 10 minute drive from campus — happens to be one of the top high school javelin throwers in the country.

Myers recently threw the javelin 200-4 inches at the Penn Relays and showed that wasn’t a fluke on Saturday at the Randy Smith Journal Inquirer Invitational  throwing 197-4 at Manchester (Conn.) High School.

How good is Myers’ 200-foot throw?

It would have scored points in the Big East Conference track and field championships as the second place throw with Rutgers’  Thomas Carr throwing 215-4. His 197-4 throw on Saturday in Manchester would have placed him third in the championship.

This is a high school senior at 6-foot-4 240 plus pounds who is an elite talent in the javelin throw.

So, is Myers going to throw at UConn?

That’s a question that perhaps the Big East men’s track coach Greg Roy wants to know too as he basks in the glow of the men’s track team’s 2013 Big East Championship.

“It’s been a common question for me,” Myers said Saturday. “In freshman year, I want to focus on studies, learn the playbook and try to get time on the field. In sophomore and junior years, maybe find may way over to track and field if they want to work with the schedule.”

Myers is a throwback type of athlete that doesn’t exist in this era of specialization and year round play. He was an All-State football player at Coventry and also All-State on the basketball floor where he routinely hauled down 20 rebounds a game. He’s also a baseball player and is of course one of the great field athletes in Connecticut. He has thrown 50-feet in the shotput and his javelin has caught the eye of coaches in track schools all over the country.

Myers is far from a brute however. For Coventry, in dual-meets, Myers is also the top sprinter on the team and has run 11.03 in the 100-meters. It isn’t world class speed, but considering his size and weight, it’s an imposing athlete at such a rate of speed. His track coach in high school thinks if he worked on it he could be an elite decathlete.

It’s that kind of athleticism that caught the eye of UConn coaches. Myers plays at small school Coventry in the Pequot Division.  The school had never produced an FBS football player and the program is a little over a decade old. The numbers he put up at Coventry and the competition wouldn’t generate a second thought for coaches if they just looked at newspaper clippings.

Luckily for Myers, he went up to UConn camp a stone throws from his UConn home and impressed with his athleticism. He met UConn QB recruit Richard Lagow, caught a touchdown from him during camp, and now both will be roommates come this season. Myers will report to UConn three days after his graduation in June.

The competition in football and basketball he played at Coventry can be questioned. The raw numbers that he puts up in track can’t be disputed.

Is can being great at the javelin help football?

“To train for javelin is about footwork , speed and strength,” Myers said. “As you train in weight room for that, it’s training for a tight end. Tight ends need footwork, strength and speed. It’s helping me I think.”

Myers is committed to football first. That’s what he wants to do and that’s the sport he comes to love. Still, he is going to continue to throw that javelin in the next couple of weeks.

He was invited to the Chicagoland Throw Series on June 8th in Chicago where he will throw with some of the best javelin athletes in the country. The top throwers in the javelin will be funded by USA Track and there are likely some future Olympians who will compete in the throw series. Myers’ throw at the Penn Relays got him invited and he will do his work with the javelin until his football career starts a couple of days after graduation.

What Myers hopes to do is see the field right away for the Huskies, with UConn’s top twi tight ends in Ryan Griffin and John Dealhunt needing to be replaced. Myers is already big at 6-4, 240 pounds and the staff wants him to get to maintain his speed as he puts on weight naturally.

The Huskies will have two tight end sets with Sean McQuillan that leading tight end coming out of spring camp. If Myers shows he can block and run the route, with his athleticism for special teams, he could see as many as 40 snaps a game.

That’s if he develops quickly.

“There are three tight ends coming in and are very good,” Myers said. “I am just going to work my hardest to try and get playing time as soon as possible.

“(Coaching staff) told me, the biggest thing is they want to keep up my speed. They want my speed and quickness. They said when I get up there they will put size on me as I get older.”

And what’s going to be the key to him getting on the field?

“Blocking, that’s what I need to work on, my footwork and technique,” Myers said.

Myers comes from an athletic family. His mother Peg played women’s basketball at UConn and works in the women’s basketball office while his father Norm played football at UConn. His sister Kelly played college basketball at St. Francis (N.Y.).

Myers will join the family on the collegiate field this year.

It wouldn’t be summer if Bria Hartley didn’t have a USA Basketball team to play for.

“It’s an honor to be able to play for your country and anytime that I have the opportunity to do it I’m going to,” Hartley said Sunday. “I get excited to have a chance to go out and win a gold medal.”

The University of Connecticut women’s basketball tram’s junior guard will have the chance to add to her gold medal collection this summer as she was named to the United States World University Games team after trials in Colorado Springs this weekend. She’ll be joined on the 12-player squad by UConn teammate Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis.

The World University Games will be held July 8-15 in Kazan, Russia.

Rounding out the squad are Ariel Massengale (Tennessee), Cassie Harberts (Southern California), Reshanda Gray (California), Aaryn Ellenberg (Oklahoma), Crystal Bradford (Central Michigan), Shoni Schimmel (Louisville), Theresa Plaisance (LSU), Odyssey Sims (Baylor), Tricia Liston (Duke), and Jordan Hooper (Nebraska).

Hartley will be representing USA Basketball for the fourth straight summer, having won gold with the U-18 team at the FIBA Americas tournament in 2010, the U-19 world championships in 2011, and the FIBA 3×3 world championships a year ago.

“I wouldn’t say I played my best this weekend but I played pretty well,” Hartley said. “I had some good sessions and some OK sessions.”

Coming off her All-America sophomore year at UConn, Hartley struggled much of the 2012-13 campaign with a left ankle injury suffered in the 3×3 world championships last August.

But she saved her best for the last as the North Babylon, N.Y., native was named to the all-Final Four team as the Huskies captured their eighth national championship.

She took two weeks off after returning from New Orleans to start preparing for the trials.

“It’s a long season and you do need to take a break,” Hartley said. “After a couple of weeks we started our postseason workouts. We started playing pickup games and I got into the gym to get some shots up and made sure I stayed in shape.”

Mosqueda-Lewis won gold as a member of the 2009 U-16 FIBA Americas tournament team, the 2010 U-17 world championship team, and the 2011 U-19 world championship team.

“I was a little nervous because I definitely did not shoot very well during this whole tryout, and that’s kind of my job,” Mosqueda-Lewis said. “I tried to do a lot of other stuff like rebounding, hustling hard on defense. Luckily it worked.”

The World University Games team is coached by Oklahoma’s Sherri Coale.

“I think they will be a really interesting bunch to coach,” Coale said. “They can do a lot of different things. There were a lot of shooters at the trials in general, and a lot of shooters on the team. A lot of versatility, post guys who can step out and score, and then we also have guys who can break you down off the dribble. Good pieces. Really good pieces, and really good parts.”

Moriah Jefferson had a simple philosophy as she made the journey to Colorado Springs to try and earn a spot on the United States U-19 world championships team.

“I wanted to go out and do the little things,” Jefferson said Sunday. “I’m going to be the one that dives on a loose ball or plays good defense or gets a shooter the ball at the right time or is a leader, things like that. I wanted to do the things that no one else wants to do.”

When Kelly Faris attended USA trials, she used that philosophy. It worked well for her and it worked for Jefferson this weekend.

“That’s where I learned it from and Kelly’s a great person to learn from,” Jefferson said after she and fellow University of Connecticut freshmen Breanna Stewart and Morgan Tuck were among the 12 players selected by USA Basketball to play in the FIBA U-19 world championships July 18-28 in Lithuania.

Team USA will seek a fifth straight gold medal.

“It means a lot to me to go out there and represent our country,” Jefferson said. “To be able to do with my (UConn) teammates makes it that much more special. They played great this weekend. They were always hustling. We had a pretty good weekend.”

Rounding out the team are Candice Agee (Penn State), Nia Coffey (Northwestern), Bashaara Graves (Tennessee), Linnae Harper (Kentucky), Alexis Jones (Duke), Kelsey Plum (Washington), and three players that will be in high school in the fall — A’ja Wilson, Gabby Green, and Brianna Turner.

After being cut three times previously, Jefferson made her first USA team a year ago when she was named to the U-18 team that won gold at the FIBA Americas tournament. That effort earned the U.S. its spot in the U-19 world championships.

The Glenn Heights, Texas, native said she considered passing on the trials to stay on the Storrs campus and work on her game. She figures to be a candidate for the starting point guard spot as the Huskies try to defend their national championship.

“I thought that staying at school would be best for me,” Jefferson said. “But then I started to think I would be playing with great players and against some of the best players in the world. To have that kind of game experience would be big for me. And I knew I would still have the opportunity to work on my game. I made the best decision.”

Stewart will be playing for her sixth USA Basketball team since 2009. She was a member of the gold-medal winning 2009 U-16 FIBA Americas tournament team, the 2010 U-17 world championship team, the 2011 U-19 world championship team, and the 2012 FIBA Americas team. She also was the first high school player in 36 years to represent the U.S. at the 2011 Pan-American Games.

She was a member of the U-19 all-tournament team two years ago.

“USA Basketball on the court, obviously you’re going to go out and you’re going to play your heart out,” Stewart said. “You’re going to leave everything on the court because this is 12 people who are considered at the top of high school and college basketball for their age group. Teams are coming after us, and they want to beat us. We have to know that every team’s going to play us the best they can, and we need to just keep our composure.

“Off the court, you really have to represent the United States and show people in other countries who we are, create our own image of ourselves. We need to try to change their minds about the United States in a positive way.”

Tuck won gold with the 2010 U-17 world championship team, the 2011 U-19 world championship team, and the 2012 FIBA Americas team.

“When I was on the team the last time I just tried to fit in and tried to make my mark,” Tuck said. “Now I need to take more of a leadership role and try to make sure that the younger players who haven’t been here before understand the international game and they feel comfortable with it.”

The U-19 team is coached by Miami (Fla.) head coach Katie Meier.

It was a high five for the University of Connecticut women’s basketball program in Colorado Springs Sunday morning.

UConn junior Bria Hartley and sophomore Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis were named to the United States World University Games squad, while freshmen Breanna Stewart, Morgan Tuck, and Moriah Jefferson were named to the USA U-19 world championships team.

The World University Games will be held July 8-15 in Kazan, Russia. The FIBA U-19 world championships will be held July 18-28 in Lithuania.

Hartley will be representing USA Basketball for the fourth straight summer, having won gold with the U-18 team at the FIBA Americas tournament in 2010, the U-19 world championships in 2011, and the FIBA 3×3 world championships a year ago.

Mosqueda-Lewis won gold as a member of the 2009 U-16 FIBA Americas tournament team, the 2010 U-17 world championship team, and the 2011 U-19 world championship team.

Stewart was a member of the gold-medal winning 2009 U-16 FIBA Americas tournament team, the 2010 U-17 world championship team, the 2011 U-19 world championship team, and the 2012 FIBA Americas team. She also was the first high school player in 36 years to represent the U.S. at the 2011 Pan-American Games.

Tuck won gold with the 2010 U-17 world championship team, the 2011 U-19 world championship team, and the 2012 FIBA Americas team. Jefferson’s only other USA team was last year’s FIBA Americas squad.

John F. Silver

USA Today image

Moore played multiple positions and styles at UConn including lining up in the slot, and also acting as a defensive end rushing the passer. He can play anywhere on the football field, something the Raiders are learning now.

“His ability to understand multiple positions has been good,”  Raiders coach Dennis Allen told CSN California. “He’s a guy that, like I said after we drafted him, he loves football. He wants to work. He wants to get better. And he’s a guy that I just think is going to continue to get better as he gets comfortable with the scheme.”

Moore took the number 55 with the Raiders, at suggestion of his mother, and has displayed the energetic attributes that led ESPN’s Mel Kiper to cite him as his favorite player taken in the NFL Draft.

Moore said he was the best linebacker in the NFL Draft when he was drafted in the third round and he appears to be on mission to prove it.

Full story here: http://www.csncalifornia.com/blog/paul-gutierrez/sio-moore-trying-bring-good-energy-raiders

Blidi Wreh-Wilson stretches during Titans mini-camp/ Associated Press

John F. Silver

Wreh-Wilson has caught the eye of Titans  coaches and the third round draft pick has performed as advertised.

“One thing that really pops out at you quickest is how mature and intelligent he is,” Titans secondary coach Steve Brown told The Tennessean of Wreh-Wilson. “Coming from Connecticut and being with Coach (Paul) Pasqualoni, he’s naturally used to more of a pro-style defense, but he’s still very, very sharp and very intense.

“He’s just absorbing everything. Does he have everything down 100 percent? No, but it’s close, even at this embryo stage that he’s in.”

Wreh-Wilson is a smart, evidenced by his dual degree in economics and agricultural resources, and is the son of a college professor. He has length and athleticism for a corner and is going to push for a starting job in the Titans secondary.

Wreh-Wilson of course was a three and a half year starter for the Huskies and a captain of the team.

The Huskies had five players drafted in the NFL Draft in April in Wreh-Wilson, Dwayne Gratz (Jaguars), Sio Moore (Raiders), Trevardo Williams (Texans) and Ryan Griffin (Texans).

Full story here:

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20130517/SPORTS01/305170032/2072/SPORTS

Breanna Stewart was among the youngest players to take part in the 2011 U-19 world championships team trials.

Stewart is back at the United States Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this weekend for another round of U-19 trials as USA Basketball prepares to select the roster that will travel to Lithuania July 18-28 for the 2013 FIBA U-19 world championships in search of the Americans’ fifth straight gold medal.

The 6-foot-4 forward from the University of Connecticut and North Syracuse, N.Y. returns as one of the older players at the trials and certainly the most experienced in international play. If she is indeed named to the 12-player USA club Sunday — and it would be as big of an upset as Louisville beating Baylor if she’s not — it will be the fifth straight summer and sixth time overall she’s competed for USA Basketball.

“I think this is a little different,” Stewart said. “I’m one of the older ones and I’m trying to be more of a leader and showing them how things go for people who haven’t been here before.”

Stewart, who actually doesn’t turn 19 until a month after the championships on Aug. 27, made her USA Basketball debut in 2009 by winning gold at the FIBA Americas U-16 championship. A year later, she won more gold at the FIBA U-17 world championships.

But her breakout year on the international scene came in 2011. At the FIBA U-19 world championships in Puerto Montt, Chile, Stewart was named to the all-tournament team as she averaged team-highs of 11.2 points and 7.3 rebounds along with 1.7 blocked shots. Team USA, with one of the youngest rosters in the event, took home the gold medal. That fall, she became the first high school player since Nancy Lieberman in 1975 to represent the United States in the Pan-American Games and averaged a double-double (15.3 points, 11.3 rebounds).

She was named USA Basketball’s Female Athlete of the Year.

In 2012 she was the MVP of the FIBA Americas U-18 championship as Team USA won gold and qualified for this summer’s U-19 tourney.

Two years ago, Bria Hartley and Stefanie Dolson — now her teammates at UConn — were the only 19-year-olds on the club. Stewart hopes to follow their example.

“It’s kind of the same situation,” Stewart said. “They were the older ones on the U-19 team two years ago and me … Just kind of obviously stepping up with some of the other people who were on the team before. I’m just really trying to help lead here at the trials.”

Of course, Stewart and UConn teammates Morgan Tuck and Moriah Jefferson are the only players at the trials with something else — a national championship. Stewart was the Most Outstanding Player at the Bridgeport Regional and at the Final Four in New Orleans as the Huskies captured their record tying eighth NCAA title.

It’s been almost six weeks since. She did take a break before getting ready for the trials.

She was asked what’s the most unusual or bizarre thing that’s happened since she became the first UConn freshman to win Final Four MOP honors.

“The most bizarre thing … I’m not sure,” Stewart said. “When we came back to the hotel in New Orleans after we won, it was pretty crazy, just seeing how the fans reacted and how they were just as excited as we were. All the fans were really excited.”

But those were just UConn fans. Team USA fans can get excited about the thought of Stewart representing our country again this summer.

Everyone around the University of Connecticut women’s basketball team must love a parade — or Parade Magazine.

Saniya Chong, the lone member of the national champion’s recruiting class, has been named the Parade All-American Team’s Girls Basketball Player of the Year. It’s the 37th year of the award.

The other finalists were Vanderbilt signee Rebekah Dahlman, North Carolina signee Diamond DeShields, Duke signee Kianna Holland, and Michigan State signee Tori Jankoska.

Chong, a 5-foot-9 guard from Ossining, N.Y., averaged 34.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 9.1 assists, and 4.8 steals as a senior to lead Ossining High to its first Class AA state championship. She finished her career with 2,988 points and played in the WBCA All-America Game last month in New Orleans.

Dolson honored
First it was Breanna Stewart. This week it was Stefanie Dolson. Can Bria Hartley be far behind?

Dolson, the Huskies’ junior All-America center from Port Jervis, N.Y., was recognized by the New York State Senate on Tuesday. Here is the legislative resolution from the state:

“LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION congratulating UConn Women’s Basketball Player Stefanie Dolson for an outstanding 2012-2013 season WHEREAS, It is the sense of this Legislative Body to recognize those outstanding individuals in the State of New York who consistently strive for athletic and academic excellence through rigorous training and mental and physical discipline; and WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to congratulate Stefanie Dolson for an outstanding 2012-2013 season;

and WHEREAS, Although battling injuries throughout the season, Port Jervis, New York, native Stefanie Dolson was instrumental in helping the UConn Women’s Basketball Team win the 2013 NCAA Championship; and WHEREAS, The special victory over the Louisville Cardinals secured the University of Connecticut’s eighth NCAA Title; and WHEREAS, A junior and a proud graduate of Minisink Valley High School, Stefanie Dolson has acquired numerous collegiate awards and accomplishments throughout the 2012-2013 season, including: WBCA/State Farm All-America Team; USBWA All-America Team; Associated Press All-America Third Team; All-BIG EAST First Team; BIG EAST All-Tournament Team; Naismith Award Preseason Watch list: and the Wooden Award Preseason Top-30;

and WHEREAS, With her throughout have been her parents, Stephen and Krystal, and her brother, Jake, all of whom feel privileged to be a part of her life and rejoice in her achievements; and WHEREAS, Stefanie Dolson continues to make her team, family and the Hudson Valley community proud by demonstrating outstanding athleticism, exemplary leadership, and a strong drive to win; now, therefore, be it RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to congratulate UConn Women’s Basketball Player Stefanie Dolson for an outstanding 2012-2013 season; and be it further RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be transmitted to Stefanie Dolson.”

John F. Silver

The league has to solidify where to hold its postseason basketball tournaments among many other things. The logo design of the conference is expected to be released in several weeks.

One of the big issues that hasn’t got much attention is the American’s bowl lineup.

This year the league will remain status quo with the BCS bid with the Fiesta Bowl the likely final place for the champion (bowl has the last pick). The Russell Athletic Bowl, Belk Bowl as well as Pinstripe Bowl are still in the American’s coffers this year.

But how about next year?

The damaged league that will lose Rutgers and Louisville next year and bring in Eastern Carolina and Tulane has to rebuild the lineup.

The college football playoff also puts a kink into it and the league won’t have automatic access to an Access Bowl (formerly BCS bowls).  That means a highly rated champion of the American will headed to the Fiesta, Cotton or Chick Fil A bowls most years.

Most years, the teams in the American would have gotten this bowl game. UConn’s 2010 Fiesta Bowl run and an 8-4 team would not get into that game since the Huskies were unranked.

After the major game, where does the conference go?

The Belk Bowl — in Charlotte — looks to be headed elsewhere as the conference that UConn is remains southern based.

The league hopes to keep the Pinstripe Bowl and the Russell Athletic in Orlando, but those appear to be uphill battles according to reports.

Here’s an interview with American commish (don’t call it AAC) Mike Aresco on 810AM in Orlando about the lineup and other American matters.

The league seems destined to keep the Beef O Brady’s Bowl (St. Pete) and with Memphis in the league is in good shape with the Liberty Bowl.

The bowl system is in major flux. With the 4-team playoff it is unknown how the bowls will be received in that context.  The American needs more bowls, with eventually 12 members in the league, and it needs places for its second best team to land, especially if the league champion is shut out of the major bowls because it it isn’t the highly rated champion.

It’s a new era in college football with the playoff.

Will the bowl games thrive?

Or, will the playoff eventually swallow the bowls whole and put an end to the game?

Check out an inside look at the build up to the UConn Football Spring Game.

The UConn football team takes the field for the annual Blue White Game.