Local college football report, December 29

The Rocky

Published December 29, 2007 at 12:45 a.m.

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Photo by Khampha Bouaphanh / Fort Worth Star-Telegram

Air Force players work out at Texas Christian. On Friday, the Falcons spent the last half-hour of drills in TCU's indoor facility.

CU

Major influence

Cody Hawkins hasn't had much recent contact with Major Applewhite, but the University of Colorado's starting quarterback still considers Applewhite a role model and friend.

He also considers Alabama's offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach one of the sharpest minds operating in college football, and it's not difficult to see why.

Hawkins, who met Applewhite in Austin, Texas, while accompanying then-Boise State coach Dan Hawkins on a spring trip to the Texas campus, says Applewhite's coaching career "has just kind of hit warp speed. . . . The way he played the game when he was at Texas, you could tell he was a field general - he knew what was going on.

"Look at what he did with Rice's offense and how good Rice had been in the past. Regardless of what system they were running, they were garbage. He really turned them around."

Since quarterbacking the Longhorns to four consecutive bowl games (1999-2001) and serving for two years as a Texas graduate assistant, Applewhite, 28, has been the QB coach at Syracuse, the offensive coordinator/QB coach at Rice and now is in his first season at Alabama.

In his lone season at Rice (2006), the Owls scored the most points (350) and gained the third-most yards (4,486) in school history. Also, for the first time, Rice had a 1,000-yard rusher, passer and receiver.

Get out more, son

In Cody Hawkins' estimation, Applewhite and CU's Mark Helfrich are two of the college game's brainiest offensive coordinators. Told of Cody's opinion, Helfrich laughed and said, "Cody's only met me and Major. . . . That's a limited study."

The Scott watch

Here's one way of assessing progress in the Buffaloes' recruitment of Darrell Scott: It appears the top national running back prospect is CU's to lose.

Not only has Scott been telephoning or text messaging other CU recruits and chatting up the merits of being in the same signing class, he has told some current Buffs he "can't wait to get over here and play with us."

That comes from freshman receiver Kendrick Celestine, who is close to fellow freshman receiver Josh Smith - Scott's uncle.

Said Celestine: "Josh talks about him 2 4/7. Darrell calls the house, (and) I talk to Darrell. We can't wait for him to get up over here so we can ball. And he says he can't wait to get over here and play with us. I think we can win a national championship in three years."

Scott, of St. Bonaventure High School in Ventura, Calif., will participate on the West squad in the U.S. Army All-Star Game in San Antonio (Jan. 5) with two other CU recruits - offensive lineman Bryce Givens (Mullen High School) and linebacker Lynn Katoa (Salt Lake City).

Get your mind right

Will the residue of Alabama's up-and-down regular season trickle into the postseason? Crimson Tide players, who haven't won since Oct. 20 (41-17 against Tennessee), say it won't.

"Our bowl practices have been good," junior tight end Nick Walker said. "Usually, we'd be off and on - we'd have three good days and a bad day. It was going like that. But every bowl practice has been good - tough and with a lot of energy."

Referring to Alabama's four-game losing streak to close the season, senior receiver Matt Caddell said, "We didn't really finish games like we wanted to. It kind of just led to a snowball effect, and it got a little bit contagious or whatever. We just have to go out and finish strong (Sunday)."

Numbers game

55 bowl appearances by Alabama is an NCAA record, as is the Crimson Tide's 30 postseason victories.

He said it

"When you win two games (as he did in 2006), nobody wants you protected."

Dan Hawkins, on why two state troopers aren't flanking him as he enters and exits stadiums.

Air Force

Go inside and play

Air Force started practice at 8:30 a.m. Friday, but after about an hour, coach Troy Calhoun moved the players into the Texas Christian indoor practice facility in Fort Worth, Texas, for the final 30 minutes of drills.

"I wanted to make sure the footing was extremely firm," Calhoun said. "I just thought we had to do it for the overall quickness of practice. It had rained a little bit, and part of it was just the morning moisture."

Calhoun, whose team hasn't played since Nov. 17, is pleased with the progress of practices.

"We're better ballhandlingwise than we were two days ago," he said. "And you just don't have busts assignmentwise. We have guys that are doing what we ask them to do on both sides. No question, we've been a little crisper."

Living like kings

Quarterback Shaun Carney appreciates what it has been like for the team since arriving in Fort Worth three days ago.

"It's great not to go to school for four hours before you come out to practice," Carney said. "It's been awesome. We've been able to come out and practice hard and go back to the hotel and play PlayStation, hang out, take a nap, play some pool and then go to bed and do it all over again."

So who has been the king of the PlayStation competition?

"I can't really lie about it," Carney said. "I'm undefeated."

Always a cadet

Chad Hennings, a 1987 All-American and Outland Trophy winner who was the guest speaker Friday at the Kickoff Luncheon, didn't hesitate when asked which meant more to him, graduating from the Air Force Academy or winning three Super Bowl rings with the Dallas Cowboys.

"The Academy experience is head and shoulders above, far and away," he said.

Etc.

* Air Force has sold 11,800 tickets for the Armed Services Bowl, and game executive director Tom Starr reported that 450 more tickets need to be sold to have the bowl's first sellout in 44,008-seat Amon G. Carter Stadium.

* Calhoun told a story at the luncheon about when the team was traveling to Fort Collins to play Colorado State and stopped for dinner in Denver. "The lady that greeted us looked at our team and said, 'Coach, how many booster seats would you need?' " Calhoun said.

"We aren't very big."

He said it

"We are looking forward to this game. We have a lot of respect for the Air Force Academy. We're going to have to reach our full potential to be successful."

Jeff Tedford, California coach

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