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SPORTS
East Oregonian
Saturday, July 29, 2017
College Football
Wyoming QB’s passion for football has put him in spotlight
Josh
Allen
led the
Moun-
tain
West in
touch-
down
passes
(28)
and
passing
yards
per
com-
pletion
(15.33)
in his
first full
year as
a D-I
starter.
By W.G. RAMIREZ
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Josh Allen
needed one thing before going to
sleep when he was a kid growing
up in tiny Firebaugh, California.
And that meant his father had one
responsibility when tucking his
son into bed each night.
“I would literally cry if my
football was not in my bed, and
my dad would go and find it for
me,” the Wyoming quarterback
said Wednesday during Mountain
West football media day. “I’ve
always loved football, it’s been my
favorite sport.”
That’s why the former three-
sport star at Firebaugh High
School had no trouble abandoning
his 92 mph fastball — and offers to
play baseball at the next level — to
chase his dreams on the football
field. Now the rising junior has
been thrust into the national spot-
light and is sitting atop many mock
NFL drafts. The conference’s
preseason offensive player of the
year, who accounted for 3,726
yards of total offense in 2016, has
even been the subject of Heisman
chatter.
AP File
Photo
“Some people will say they
love football, I don’t think Josh
could live without football,”
Wyoming coach Craig Bohl said.
“He’s certainly got a passion for
it. The fact he was a three-sport
athlete when he was younger has
served him well. While that may
have been a detraction because he
didn’t have any of the recruiting
stars behind his name ... there’s no
doubt he’s got a passion for this
game.”
Allen’s drive this year stems
partly from last year’s loss in
the conference championship.
The Cowboys hosted San Diego
State and lost 27-24 when the
Aztecs stopped Wyoming on a
fourth-and-20 in the game’s final
minute.
“I’ve been doing everything
by any means possible to go out
there and finish what we started;
mentally I’m right there,” said
Allen, whose 28 passing TDs last
season rank third among the single-
season leaders in school history.
“Going back to last year I feel
like a majority of my interceptions
were based on decision-making.
That goes back to putting yourself
in a situation of why you threw
here, or why you shouldn’t have
thrown here, or why you should’ve
thrown the ball away.”
Allen doesn’t consider himself
one of the nation’s elite quarter-
backs but rather an equal member
of a team he feels is poised to make
a run at the Mountain Division
title and to earn a trip back to the
Mountain West championship
game. He also sees an even loftier
goal in the Cowboys’ grasp.
“I keep preaching to the team
our goal is the Fiesta Bowl,” he
said. “If you reach back to last year
we were (picked to finish) dead
last. This preseason stuff ... I don’t
care. We, as a team, know that all
this stuff means nothing. You can
write it down on paper, it doesn’t
mean anything. Last year we won
the Mountain Division, and this
year we’re going to come out and
win as many games as possible.”
Taking all that in stride, it’s his
humility and poise that demon-
strates a maturity well beyond his
21 years.
“It’s been crazy, it’s been a
whirlwind, it’s been fun, a lot of
media attention, it brings a lot of
notoriety to the program and I
think I’ve handled it pretty well,”
Allen said. “I really don’t pay
attention to much of the articles,
or whatever anybody tweets, or
texts or tags me in. I can thank my
coaches, teammates, family, and
friends for keeping me so well-
grounded. I truly believe without
all of them, maybe I wouldn’t be in
the position I am today.
“I’m focused completely and
dedicated to the University of
Wyoming, I love the teammates
there, they’re some of the best
friends I’ll ever have in my life,
and I’m cherishing every moment
that I have up there. If I wanted to
be an NFL guy I would have left
last year.”
Oregon
quarterback
Justin Her-
bert speaks
at the Pac-
12 NCAA
college
football
media day,
Thursday in
the Holly-
wood sec-
tion of Los
Angeles.
MARINERS: Zunino hits 16th home run
Continued from 1B
second pitch of the inning just
over the wall in right for his 21st
homer. It was the first home run
allowed to a lefty this season by
Rzepczynski.
The Mets kept the rally going,
helped when Wilmer Flores beat
out a potential inning-ending
double play. Walker and Grand-
erson followed with consecutive
RBI singles off David Phelps
(2-5) to cap the three-run burst.
Jay Bruce hit his 27th home
run in the first inning, a two-run
shot on an 0-2 pitch, as the
Mets built a 4-0 lead. New
York rebounded to win for just
the third time this season when
trailing after seven innings.
Jerry Blevins (5-0) worked
1 1/3 innings for the win. Paul
Sewald squeezed through the
eighth despite allowing the first
two batters to reach thanks to a
strikeout of Mike Zunino and
a groundout from Jean Segura
with runners at second and
third. Addison Reed pitched the
ninth for his 19th save.
Conforto had plenty of
attention on his return to the
Pacific Northwest. He’d played
one time in a high school show-
AP Photo/Mark J.
Terrill
OREGON:
Continued from 1B
AP Photo/Ted S. Warren
New York’s Michael Conforto watches his solo home run during
the eighth inning of the team’s game against Seattle on Friday.
case at Safeco Field and joked
during pregame that the stadium
seemed a lot larger as a teenager.
Zunino’s 16th home run and
Kyle Seager’s two-run single
were part of a four-run fifth
inning that put Seattle ahead
5-4.
UP NEXT
Mets: Jacob deGrom (12-3)
looks to become the second
pitcher in the National League
with 13 victories. DeGrom has
pitched at least eight innings in
five of his past eight starts.
Mariners: Yovani Gallardo
(4-7) makes his second start
since rejoining the rotation.
Gallardo went five innings and
allowed three runs last time out
against the Yankees in his first
start since June 17.
TRADE: Ramirez previously played in
Seattle from 2012-14
Continued from 1B
mostly working in the seventh
and eighth innings out of Seattle’s
bullpen. He was a closer in the
past with the Marlins.
It was the second move
for a reliever in as many days
by Tampa Bay. On Thursday,
the Rays acquired left-handed
reliever Dan Jennings from the
Chicago White Sox. Tampa
Bay also nabbed first baseman
Lucas Duda from the New York
Mets on Thursday and has made
a flurry of moves to bolster its
roster ahead of next Monday’s
non-waiver trade deadline.
The Rays also added right-
hander Sergio Romo in the
past week to try to solidify the
bullpen.
Ramirez is making a return to
the team he broke into the majors
with. Ramirez has appeared in 26
games, with eight starts, for the
Rays this year and was 4-3 with
a 4.80 ERA. He was with the
Mariners from 2012-14 before
being dealt to Tampa Bay before
the 2015 season.
Ramirez was primarily a
starter in his first season with the
Rays, but has mixed starting and
relieving each of the past two
seasons.
“Erasmo brings us a good
combination of experience,
versatility and control as we look
to both be better in 2017, and in
future seasons,” Seattle general
manager Jerry Dipoto said in a
statement. “We’ve added depth
to our pitching staff in a variety
of ways and maintained flexi-
bility as we move forward with
a player that is under club control
for 2017, 2018 and 2019.”
“We’re going to try and go even
faster this year,” Herbert said. “The
emphasis is on going fast. We’ve got
so many guys to make plays, and my
job is to distribute the ball.”
After fixing two programs already
in his head coaching career, Taggart
is taking on his biggest challenge
yet with the Ducks. Oregon’s 4-8
finish last season led to coach Mark
Helfrich’s firing just two years after
he won the Rose Bowl and reached
the College Football Playoff’s cham-
pionship game.
But Helfrich’s former players hint
at fraying aspects of last season’s
team, some of them visible only in
retrospect. When a program has as
much momentum and importance
as Oregon, it’s seemingly tougher to
see why things aren’t working while
it’s happening — and the differences
under the new coaching staff are
already clear.
“We’re just coming together as
a team and bonding,” linebacker
Troy Dye said. “You have to respect
your brothers, love your brothers,
and then it’s easy to play the game.
Last year, I feel like the team didn’t
know each other as well. Everybody
had their own little groups. Now it’s
a real team-bonding situation. It’s a
real family group.”
Taggart is the Ducks’ first outside
hire as head coach since Rich Brooks
in 1977, and he realizes the high
expectations inherent in the firing
that led to his arrival. After several
months of implementing his plan
heading into fall camp, the former
Western Kentucky and South Florida
coach still speaks passionately
about his intention to instill his own
athletic culture in Eugene, no matter
how long it takes.
“It wasn’t necessarily broke or
anything,” Taggart said about the
Ducks’ off-the-field culture. “I don’t
know what it was like before. It was
just important that we get it the way
that we want it, and knowing that
that was going to take some time.
We’re still in the process of changing
that, but it’s been great.”
Until last season, Oregon’s
approach appeared to work tremen-
dously well. The Ducks had a spec-
tacular six-season run under coaches
Chip Kelly and Helfrich from 2009-
14, but even the relatively minor slip
of the past two years led to a major
change.
Taggart made his intentions clear
earlier this month when he dismissed
talented receiver Darren Carrington
following his arrest. Carrington
transferred to Utah, depriving the
Ducks of an offensive playmaker.
Although last season’s slip was
a surprise, not many people will
be surprised if Taggart needs a few
years to get the Ducks back on top.
Oregon was picked to finish fourth
in the Pac-12 North division in the
preseason media poll.
Taggart knows he could have
years of work to do, but he’ll do it
day by day.
“Coach has already brought a lot
of energy we didn’t have before,”
Herbert said. “He’s so pumped up,
even about practice. It’s a contagious
thing.”
HALL OF FAME: Ex-Commissioner Bud Selig, Braves exec John Schuerholz also in
Continued from 1B
in major league history and
includes 70 or more steals in
each season from 1981-86,
a streak that stands alone in
baseball history. Take a closer
look at his accomplishments
on the basepaths, and they
are quite remarkable — his
84.7 percent success rate tops
the list among players with at
least 400 steal attempts.
Raines credits his fortune
to the increasing popularity
of sabermetrics, advanced
statistics that give greater
insight into a player’s worth.
“I think they kind of
looked at the numbers on the
baseball cards,” said Raines,
who overcame a recre-
ational drug addiction that
hampered his production
early in his career. “There’s
more to the game than just
those numbers. Guys can be
just as important to a team
and an organization in a lot
of different ways.”
Rodriguez, who holds
the major league records
for games caught (2,427)
and putouts by a catcher
(12,376), hit 311 homers and
batted .296 in his career. No
surprise that he’s only the
second catcher elected on the
first ballot, following in the
footsteps of his childhood
idol, former Cincinnati Reds
star Johnny Bench.
In 21 seasons spent mostly
with the Texas Rangers,
Rodriguez was a 14-time
All-Star, won a record 13
Gold Gloves and took home
seven Silver Slugger awards.
“I think I just prepared
myself,” said the 45-year-old
Rodriguez,
affectionately
known as “Pudge.” ‘’I’m
talking about blocking thou-
sands of balls, making thou-
sands of throws to second
base, trying to throw the ball
to the right side of the base.
“You can have ability, but
if you don’t have discipline,
if you don’t work on things
you have to do, it’s going to
be hard for you to do it in
your career.”
The 48-year-old Bagwell,
who played his entire
15-year career with the
Houston Astros, was elected
in his seventh year on the
ballot. He’s the only first
baseman in history with 400
career home runs and 200
stolen bases.
“This is all overwhelming
to me,” Bagwell said. “Parts
of me wonder, ‘Why am I in
here?’”
AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File
In this Dec. 5, 2016, file photo, former commission-
er Bud Selig, left, and Atlanta Braves president John
Schuerholz pose with their Hall of Fame jerseys on,
during MLB winter meetings, in Oxon Hill, Md.
Bagwell ended his career
with 449 home runs, was
1991 NL Rookie of the Year
and in the strike-shortened
1994 season hit .368 with 39
homers and 116 RBIs in just
110 games to unanimously
capture MVP honors.
Just as impressive: From
1996-2001, Bagwell had at
least 30 home runs, 100 runs
scored and 100 RBIs per
season, only the sixth player
in major league history to
reach those marks in at least
six straight years.
Schuerholz, who played
second base at Towson
University and became a
junior high school teacher in
the Baltimore suburbs in the
mid-1960s, always wanted
to be a major leaguer and
couldn’t get baseball off his
mind. So he sent a letter to
Jerry Hoffberger, owner of
the hometown Orioles.
The team gave him a spot
in its minor league system.
In 1969, Schuerholz joined
the expansion Kansas City
Royals and became general
manager 12 years later. After
the Royals won the 1985
World Series, he moved on
to even greater success with
the Braves. With Schuerholz
calling the front-office shots,
Atlanta won a remarkable 14
straight division champion-
ships.
In 26 years as a GM,
Schuerholz’s teams won 16
division titles, six pennants
and two World Series. He
was the first general manager
in history to win a World
Series in each league.
“I feel awed,” said
Schuerholz, whose only
regret is that the Braves
turned those division titles
into only one World Series
championship (1995). “I feel
as thankful and appreciative
of all the people who have
helped me in my career and
in my life to get to this point
where a group decided that
this guy qualifies for the Hall
of Fame, this guy ought to be
in the Hall of Fame.”
Selig never realized
his childhood dream of
replacing Joe DiMaggio in
center field for the New York
Yankees — he couldn’t hit
a curve ball — but he left a
large imprint during more
than 22 years as the leader
of the game. He was instru-
mental in the approval of
interleague play, the expan-
sion of the playoffs, splitting
each league into three
divisions with wild cards,
instituting video review and
revenue-sharing in an era
that saw the construction of
20 new ballparks.
Fans haven’t forgotten
that his tenure also
included the Steroids Era
and the cancellation of the
1994 World Series amid a
players’ strike.
Still, Selig left base-
ball in excellent shape
economically — without
labor strife and with a strict
drug-testing policy that has
helped clean up the game.
“In the end, I know
what I set out to do and we
pretty much accomplished
it,” said Selig, who led the
group that purchased the
Seattle Pilots in bankruptcy
court in 1970 and moved
the team to Milwaukee.
“Yeah, there are things
that happened that I think
we reacted well to and got
done what you had to get
done.
“When I think of where
we were in 1992 when I
started and where we were
when I left and where we
are today, it’s remarkable.”