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Heading into the 2011 college football season, Ohio State was already expected to be without coach Jim Tressel -- in addition to five players including quarterback Terrelle Pryor -- for the first five games of the season.

Not only will Tressel miss those five games, but he will miss all of the team's subsequent games as well. This morning, Tressel submitted his letter of resignation to Ohio State AD Gene Smith.

Therefore, Luke Fickell, who was a former Ohio State defensive lineman, will remain the team's interim head coach throughout the entire 2011 season.

"... Recruitment for a new head coach - which is expected to include external and internal candidates - will not commence until the conclusion of the 2011-2012 season," OSU President E. Gordon Gee wrote to the school's trustees, per the Columbus Dispatch.

ESPN's Bruce Feldman identifies seven possible replacements for Tressel (and Fickell) in 2012: ESPN analyst Urban Meyer, Nebraska coach Bo Pelini, TCU coach Gary Patterson, ESPN analyst Jon Gruden, Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio, Florida State defensive coordinator Mark Stoops and Missouri coach Gary Pinkel.

In his ten seasons at Ohio State, Tressel compiled a 106-22 record, won a national championship (2002) and seven Big Ten titles while beating archrival Michigan nine of ten times. Tressel has led the Buckeyes to a BCS Bowl game for six consecutive seasons, which is three times the next longest active streak of two by Oregon and TCU.

While Tressel ranks third all-time in wins at Ohio State behind Woody Hayes (205) and John Cooper (111), he won a larger percentage of his games (.828) than Hayes (.761).

SI's George Dohrmann has a story coming out soon and he tweets, "... Timing of Tress [decision] will make sense after you read it" so stay tuned ...

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 04:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward is going to have surgery on Tuesday to repair ligament damage in his left thumb, per Scott Brown of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

"I'll be in the operating room with my mirror-ball trophy in my hand," Ward said on CNN Tuesday (via WTAE-TV).

Ward, who won the Dancing with the Stars competition last night, had 59 receptions for 755 yards and five touchdowns in 2010.

Tied with Randy Moss for eighth all-time, Ward has 954 career receptions.

While Ward has no chance to catch all-time leader Jerry Rice, he is only 148 receptions behind Marvin Harrison, who ranks second all-time (1,102).

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In a way, it's been downhill for Bears running back Matt Forte since his rookie season (2008) when he rushed for a career-high 1,238 yards.

Then again, Forte set career highs last year in both yards per carry (4.5) and receiving yards (547).

To get ready for the 2011 season, if there one, Forte is following in the off-season workout footsteps of Chicago's (and one of the NFL's) greatest running back(s) of all-time, Walter Payton.

Forte, the Bears' second-round pick in 2008, is running hills near his home.

“I noticed a difference immediately,” Forte said, per ESPN the Magazine (via Pro Football Talk). “I had a better burst and outran defenders.”

Over the three-year period he's been in the league, Forte's numbers stack up favorably compared to his peers.

During that span, Forte ranks fourth in yards from scrimmage (4,317). Only Chris Johnson (5,389), Adrian Peterson (5,239) and Steven Jackson (4,444) have more. In addition, Forte has 171 receptions, which ranks second to Ray Rice's 174, since 2008.

Based on average draft positions from Mock Draft Central, Forte is the 14th running back and 20th player off the board in fantasy football drafts this off-season.

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 08:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Earlier this month, Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt said that the Titans were unlikely to try to re-sign receiver Randy Moss.

Per Manish Mehta of the NY Daily News, the Jets are a possible landing spot for Moss.

While the Jets will attempt to re-sign receivers Santonio Holmes and Braylon Edwards, it's possible that they won't be able to re-sign both of them.

If they don't, Moss could provide the Jets with a vertical threat at a relatively affordable price.

Moss, who played for the Patriots, Vikings and Titans last year, finished with only 28 receptions for 393 yards and five touchdowns. And in his past 24 games counting a playoff loss in 2009, Moss has surpassed 75 receiving yards only once -- Week 5 last year against the Jets.

If motivated, Moss should easily improve upon his 2011 numbers. On the other hand, a repeat of last year's performance wouldn't be a huge surprise either.

After all, ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss wrote a blog post last August in which he described "a motivated Moss" as being "a player positioning himself for perhaps one final payday, whether it's in New England or elsewhere. That has come to life on the field in camp with several highlight-reel plays."

Based on average draft positions from Mock Draft Central, Moss is 42nd receiver and 99th player off the board in fantasy football mock drafts and is going ahead of Edwards (49/135).

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

One thing is certain.

Both Bengals owner Mike Brown and quarterback Carson Palmer, the top overall pick in the 2003 NFL Draft, are stubborn.

Due to the stubbornness of both men, they are likely to come to an agreement, of sorts, that will lead to Palmer's retirement.

Earlier this off-season, Palmer threatened to retire if he's not traded out of Cincinnati. Instead of trading Palmer and potentially receiving a second-round pick in return, the Bengals refuse to trade Palmer.

Instead, the Bengals will let Palmer retire.

"We don't plan to trade Carson," Brown said Monday at the NFL Spring Meeting, per NFL Network's Albert Breer. "He's important to us. He's a very fine player, and we do want him to come back. If he chooses not to, he'd retire. And we would go with Andy Dalton, the younger player we drafted, who's a good prospect.

"Ideally, we'd have both of them. That'd be the best way to go forward. If we don't have Carson, we'll go with Andy."

Dalton, the team's second-round pick (35th overall), threw for 10,314 yards, 71 touchdowns and 30 interceptions as a four-year starter at TCU. More impressively, Dalton led the Horned Frogs to a combined 36-3 record over the past three seasons.

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 08:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm not sure which was a bigger surprise: (1) that receiver Randy Moss would play for three different teams in 2010 or (2) that he'd finish with only 28 receptions for 393 yards last year.

After all, Moss had 83 receptions for 1,264 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2009.

In any event, it's not all that surprising that the third (and final) of his 2010 teams is unlikely to try to re-sign him in 2011.

Per John Glennon of The Tennessean, Titans general manager Mike Reinfeldt said in a conference call yesterday, “I honestly don’t think we’ll try to re-sign him. We’ve got some young guys we like and I think at this point in his career he will probably go elsewhere.”

Moss, who turned 34 years old in February, is tied for eight all-time in receptions (954) and ranks fifth all-time in both receiving yards (14,858) and touchdowns scored (153).

But not only did he set career lows in receptions and yards in 2010, his second half (six catches for 80 yards) was much worse than his first half (22 receptions for 313 yards and five touchdowns).

Of course, his first choice would likely be to return to New England, who traded him to Minnesota for a third-round pick (which turned out to be Arkansas quarterback Ryan Mallett).

The question is would the Patriots want him back?

I suppose if there is a team that can get the most out of Moss, it'd be New England, especially considering they've already done it before.

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 01:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It's not common for wide receivers to make a huge impact in their rookie season.

As an example, Tampa's Mike Williams was the only rookie receiver to finish with more than 600 receiving yards last year. And Saints receiver Marques Colston was the last receiver to go over 1,000 yards in his rookie season (2006).

Nonetheless, Washington receiver Leonard Hankerson, the team's third-round pick (79th overall), could get lots of playing time, especially if the Redskins don't bring back Santana Moss.

“He has very big hands, the biggest hands in the draft,” [coach Mike] Shanahan said, via Gary Fitzgerald of Redskins.com. “He’s a big kid and he’s a bit stronger than you normally see at the collegiate level.”

Hankerson, 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, set single-season school records at Miami (FL) in receptions (72), receiving yards (1,156) and receiving touchdowns (13) last year.

As Fitzgerald notes, Redskins receivers had only four touchdowns last year and all were caught by Moss, who is due to become a free agent.

The likely recipient of his fair share of redzone targets, Hankerson could turn out to be a worthwhile late-round sleeper in fantasy football in 2011.

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 11:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Although various injuries caused Giants receiver Hakeem Nicks to miss three games last year, Nicks says he feels "healthy" and has added some weight in the off-season.

“I’ve put on a little bit more muscle weight. I’ve just been training,” Nicks said today, per Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger. “A month after the season I got right back into it. I’ve been training ever since.”

“I feel healthy,” said Nicks. “I feel like I could go right now if we needed to.”

Despite missing three games, Nicks led the team in receptions (79), receiving yards (1,052) and receiving touchdowns (11) in 2010.

Nicks, the team's first-round pick in 2009, had 47 receptions for 790 yards and six touchdowns in his rookie season.

Based on average draft position from Mock Draft Central, Nicks is the fourth receiver and 18th player off the board in fantasy football mock drafts.

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

With their second-round pick (58th overall), the Baltimore Ravens selected Maryland wide receiver Torrey Smith, who was the fifth wide receiver off the board.

Although the Ravens already have Anquan Boldin and Derrick Mason on their roster, Smith provides the team with a vertical threat that those other receivers don't and general manager Ozzie Newsome says that Smith for compete for a starting spot right away.

At the NFL Scouting Combine, Smith ran the forty-yard dash in 4.37 seconds (unofficial time) or 4.41 (official time).

"He's coming in to compete and be a starting wide receiver for us," Newsome said during a conference call with season ticket holders, per Aaron Wilson of the National Football Post. "The vertical speed he brings to us will be a big asset. [Quarterbabck] Joe [Flacco] is a very good deep thrower. Torrey also has the ability to be a returner. We can utilize him there, but he's competing to be a starting wide receiver."

In addition to Smith, the Ravens drafted Indiana receiver Tandon Doss in the fourth round (123rd pick overall).

"They complement each other," Newsome said. "Torrey has very good speed, clocked under 4.4 at the combine. He has a vertical presence. Tandon has an inside presence. He's a very smart kid. He's very good on the hashes like Anquan Boldin.

"He has the ability to make the catch. They bring two strengths to the table that we need on the offense and will allow them to get on the field very early."

As Wilson points out, the Ravens, as a team, had only seven receptions of 40-plus yards in 2010. Four receivers had that many or more: Pittsburgh's Mike Wallace (ten), Denver's Brandon Lloyd (nine), Philadelphia's DeSean Jackson (eight) and Washington's Anthony Armstrong (seven).

Posted by Kevin Hanson at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)