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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2018
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Gary Henley | Sports Reporter
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Oregon’s Dye named second-team All-America
By RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
AP Photo/John Locher
Oregon linebacker Troy Dye runs
for a touchdown against Boise
State during the Las Vegas Bowl.
Heisman Trophy runner-up Bryce
Love of Stanford and Outland Trophy
winner Ed Oliver of Houston high-
light The Associated Press preseason
All-America team.
Chosen by AP poll voters, the team
announced Tuesday also features West
Virginia quarterback Will Grier and his
teammate, receiver David Sills V.
Love, along with Clemson defen-
sive end Clelin Ferrell, Wisconsin line-
backer T.J. Edwards and Utah kicker
Matt Gay, were the only players who
made first team All-American after last
season and first team to start this sea-
son. Love ran for 2,118 yards and 8.05
per carry last season and was second to
Baker Mayfield in the Heisman Trophy
voting.
Clemson and Wisconsin led the way
with three players on the first team. Ala-
bama and Wisconsin each had a total
of five players on the first and second
teams combined.
Washington’s Myles Gaskin and
Taylor Rapp made the first team, while
the Huskies’ Byron Murphy was named
to the second team.
Oregon junior linebacker Troy Dye
was named to the second team.
FIRST TEAM
Offense
Quarterback — Will Grier, senior, West Virgin-
ia.
Running backs — Bryce Love, senior, Stan-
ford; Jonathan Taylor, sophomore, Wisconsin.
Tackles — Jonah Williams, junior, Alabama;
Mitch Hyatt, senior, Clemson.
Guards — Beau Benzschawel, senior, Wis-
consin; Nate Herbig, junior, Stanford.
Center — Ross Pierschbacher, senior, Ala-
bama.
Tight end — Noah Fant, junior, Iowa.
Receivers — A.J. Brown, junior, Mississippi;
David Sills V, senior, West Virginia.
All-purpose player — Myles Gaskin, senior,
Washington.
Kicker — Matt Gay, senior, Utah.
Defense
Ends — Nick Bosa, junior, Ohio State; Clelin
Ferrell, junior, Clemson.
Tackles — Ed Oliver, junior, Houston; Chris-
tian Wilkins, Senior, Clemson.
Linebackers — Devin White, junior, LSU;
Devin Bush, junior, Michigan; T.J. Edwards,
senior, Wisconsin.
Cornerbacks — Greedy Williams, sophomore,
LSU; Deandre Baker, senior, Georgia.
Safeties — Jaquan Johnson, senior, Miami;
Taylor Rapp, junior, Washington.
Punter — Mitch Wishnowsky, senior, Utah.
SECOND TEAM
Offense
Quarterback — Trace McSorley, senior, Penn
State.
Running backs — A.J. Dillon, sopho-
more, Boston College; Damien Harris,
junior, Alabama.
Tackles — David Edwards, junior, Wisconsin;
Greg Little, junior, Mississippi.
Guards — Alex Bars, senior, Notre Dame; Mi-
chael Dieter, senior, Wisconsin.
Center — Sam Mustipher, senior, Notre Dame.
Tight end — Kaden Smith, junior, Stanford.
Receivers — N’Keal Harry, junior, Arizona
State; Anthony Johnson, senior, Buffalo.
All-purpose player — Deebo Samuel. senior,
South Carolina.
Kicker — Rodrigo Blankenship, junior, Geor-
gia.
Defense
Ends — Rashan Gary, junior, Michigan; Rae-
kwon Davis, junior, Alabama.
Tackles — Dexter Lawrence, junior, Clemson;
Jeffrey Simmons, junior, Mississippi State.
Linebackers — Cameron Smith, senior,
Southern California; Troy Dye, junior, Ore-
gon; Mack Wilson, sophomore, Alabama.
Cornerbacks — Byron Murphy, sophomore,
Washington; Julian Love, junior, Notre Dame.
Safeties — Lukas Dennis, senior, Boston Col-
lege; Andrew Wingard, senior, Wyoming.
Punter — Jake Bailey, senior, Stanford.
SPORTS
IN BRIEF
Cano homers
late, lifts M’s in
win over Astros
SEATTLE — Robinson Cano
is searching for any way to help
the Seattle Mariners stay in the
playoff race and try to make up for
the 80 games he was gone while
being suspended.
On Monday night, it was hit-
ting a game-winning home run
— his first long ball in more than
three months.
“It was a good swing but to be
in that situation to hit a homer to
get the team ahead and win the
game, it’s pretty special,” Cano
said.
Cano hit a three-run shot in the
bottom of the eighth inning to lift
Seattle to a key 7-4 win over the
Houston Astros, the Mariners fifth
straight win over their division
rival. Even before he stepped to
the plate in the eighth, Cano was
on his way to a big night with a
pair of doubles — his first two
extra-base hits since coming back
from his suspension for violating
baseball’s joint drug policy
Seahawks release
longest-tenured
player, punter Ryan
RENTON, Wash. — The Seat-
tle Seahawks have put an end to
the kicking competitions in train-
ing camp, releasing kicker Jason
Myers and punter Jon Ryan, who
had been the longest-tenured
member of the team.
Ryan posted a lengthy goodbye
to the Seahawks and their fans on
social media Monday morning. “I
never wanted this day to come, but
knew it would someday,” Ryan
wrote.
The Seahawks announced later
that Myers had been released,
leaving Sebastian Janikowski as
the only kicker on Seattle’s ros-
ter. Myers had signed with Seat-
tle in the offseason after being cut
by Jacksonville early in the 2017
season.
IndyCar driver
Wickens has
rods, screws
placed into spine
ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Indy-
Car driver Robert Wickens had tita-
nium rods and screws placed in his
spine to stabilize a fracture associ-
ated with a spinal cord injury suf-
fered in a crash at Pocono Raceway.
IndyCar says in a statement
Tuesday the severity of the spinal
cord injury was unknown.
Wickens is expected to undergo
more surgeries to treat fractures
in his lower extremities and right
forearm. He remains in stable
condition.
His car sailed into the fence at
Pocono when he and Ryan Hunt-
er-Reay made slight contact on
Sunday. Hunter-Reay’s car spun
and Wickens’ car launched over
it and into the fence. A large hole
was torn into the fence. The race
was delayed 2 hours to repair the
damage.
— Associated Press
From left to right, Oregon Legends Dave Gasser, Jack Dunn, Jim Joyce, Teri Mariani, Dale Scott, Rick Wise, Sue Seaver, Art Larrance,
Joe Etzel, Mike Clopton, Jerry Gatto, Ad Rutschman and Dick McClain.
Gasser now an ‘Oregon Legend’
By GARY HENLEY
The Daily Astorian
F
ormer Astoria baseball coach Dave Gasser
was honored recently, along with 12 oth-
ers, by the Friends of Baseball organiza-
tion, as part of their first group of “Oregon Leg-
end” inductees.
“It was a pretty neat deal,” Gasser said. “It’s
an organization that was created in 2006, to pro-
mote baseball at the youth level and grassroots
level, and they want to acknowledge people in
the state who have made contributions at all
levels, baseball and softball, from players and
coaches to umpires.”
And his years at Astoria late in his coach-
ing career had everything to do with his being
inducted, Gasser said.
“Had I not coached at Astoria, I wouldn’t
have been included. Every significant milestone
I reached in my career was the result of having
come back to coach Astoria, so I’m thankful to
the community for the support.”
Gasser played on two-time PIL and state
champion baseball teams at Madison, and the
1969 national champion American Legion base-
ball team. He coached Madison to eight con-
secutive PIL championships and the 1981 state
championship, and coached Astoria to two state
McFADDEN NAMED
GULLS’ COACH
In other high school baseball coaching
news, Seaside named Dan McFadden as
the next varsity coach, replacing Joel Dier-
ickx, who stepped down last spring.
McFadden recently led Seaside’s junior
state team to a third-place finish in the
summer state tournament.
titles in 2006 and 2009. He holds the record for
most high school coaching wins in Oregon his-
tory, with five state champions at three different
schools, 18 league champions and 12 semifinal
appearances.
Other inductees in Oregon baseball and
softball:
• Mike Clopton (longtime coach at Wilson
High).
• Jack Dunn (39-year coaching veteran,
retired in 1994 after 20 consecutive winning sea-
sons at Portland State).
• Joe Etzel (University of Portland coach).
• Jerry Gatto (longtime coach at Cleveland
High and Lewis & Clark College).
• Jim Joyce (Oregon resident and former
Major League umpire, 2000-2016).
• Art Larrance (Linfield baseball).
• Teri Mariani (former softball coach at Port-
land State).
• Dick McClain (coached at Madison High
for five years; only coach in Oregon to win
American Legion World Championship; won
five of six Oregon Community College titles at
Linn-Benton).
• Ad Rutschman (baseball coach at Linfield
for 13 years).
• Dale Scott (longtime MLB umpire,
2000-2017).
• Sue Seaver (softball umpire).
• Rick Wise (Madison High alumni, led his
Portland team to the Little League World Series
in 1958, then went on to pitch in the majors for 18
years with Philadelphia, St. Louis and Boston).
“They had a neat affair for the induction,”
Gasser said, as the Friends of Baseball organi-
zation staged a “Ten Grands on the Diamond”
event Aug. 11 at Ron Tonkin Field in Hillsboro,
where the inductees were introduced.
“It was nice that it included Dick McClain,
who was my mentor at Madison, and coached
my American Legion team that won a national
championship (1969, the only Oregon team to
ever win an American Legion title).
“And Rick Wise played at Madison, so three
of the 12 inductees had ties to Madison.”
No. 1 Alabama tops preseason Top 25; Clemson, Georgia next
By RALPH D. RUSSO
Associated Press
Alabama will begin its quest for a
second consecutive national champi-
onship with a rare three-peat.
The Crimson Tide is just the sec-
ond team to be ranked No. 1 in the
preseason Associated Press Top 25
poll for three straight seasons. Ala-
bama received 42 out of 61 first-place
votes.
No. 2 Clemson received 18 first-
place votes. Georgia is No. 3 and Wis-
consin is fourth. The Badgers received
one first-place vote. Ohio State was
ranked No. 5.
The preseason AP poll started in
1950 and since then only Oklahoma
from 1985-87 had started No. 1 in
three straight years until now.
Ring up another milestone for
coach Nick Saban’s Tide dynasty. Ala-
bama has won five national champi-
AP Photo/David Goldman
Alabama wide receiver DeVonta
Smith celebrates his touchdown
during overtime in the champion-
ship game against Georgia.
onships since 2009 and now has been
No. 1 to start the season five times
under Saban. Last season was the first
time Saban’s team started and finished
the season No. 1.
The Tide enter this season with
a question at quarterback, but there
appears to be two good answers from
which Saban has to choose: Tua
Tagovailoa won the College Football
Playoff championship game for Ala-
bama with a second-half comeback
and overtime touchdown pass. Jalen
Hurts has led the Tide to the national
title game in each of his two seasons
as a starter.
Whoever is quarterback, Ala-
bama’s offense should be potent with
running back Damien Harris working
behind a powerful line anchored by
tackle Jonah Williams.
The Tide’s always tough defense
will have all new starters in the sec-
ondary, but defensive end Raekwon
Davis and linebackers Mack Wilson
and Dylan Moses are primed to be
Alabama’s next All-Americans.
The machine never stops in Tusca-
loosa. One again, everybody is chas-
ing Alabama.
NO. 1 AT BEING NO. 1
The AP poll began in 1936 and Ala-
bama is approaching the top of a very
storied list:
Ohio State — 105 weeks at No. 1
Alabama — 104
Oklahoma — 101
Notre Dame — 98
Southern California — 91
Florida State — 72
Nebraska — 70
PRESEASON FAVORITES
This is Alabama’s seventh time
overall being a preseason No. 1, match-
ing USC for fourth most.
Oklahoma — 10 preseason No. 1
rankings
Ohio State — 8
Alabama — 7
USC — 7
Florida State 6
Nebraska — 6