Arizona
Three members of the Arizona Wildcats women’s golf team got off to an early start with the spring season less than a month away. Senior Isabelle Boineau, a second-team All-American as a junior in 2011, placed sixth at the 57th Harder Hall Women’s Invitational over the weekend. She finished with a four-day total of 297 (+9) in the championship division. Later this week, fellow teammates Margarita Ramos and Andrea Vilarasau will begin tournament play as well. Ramos will look to defend her title at the Mexican Amateur Championship, while Vilarasau is set to compete in the Spanish International Ladies Strokeplay Championship. @@http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/w-golf/spec-rel/010912aaa.html@@
Arizona State
Newly hired Arizona State head football coach Todd Graham announced the addition of Joe Lorig to the Sun Devils’ coaching staff on Tuesday morning. Lorig, a Western Oregon University alumnus, spent the past four seasons as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Central Washington University, where he was named the 2010 American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division II Assistant Coach of the Year. @@http://www.thesundevils.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/011012aaa.html@@
Cal
Three former California football players are still competing for their respective NFL teams this postseason. Brian De La Puente (New Orleans Saints), Cameron Jordan (New Orleans Saints) and Mike Mohamed (Denver Broncos) are each listed on active rosters for teams that won playoff games to advance to the Division round this coming weekend. De La Puente started along the offensive line, while Jordan, a defensive lineman, contributed one tackle off the bench. Mohamed did not play in Denver’s 29-23 overtime victory against the Pittsburgh Steelers. @@http://www.calbears.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/011012aaa.html@@
Colorado
Colorado senior guard Carlon Brown was chosen as the Pac-12 men’s basketball Player of the Week for Jan. 2-8, Commissioner Larry Scott announced on Monday. The 6-foot-5 guard, who spent three years at Utah before transferring to Colorado for his final season, helped the Buffalos to a pair of wins over the Washington schools to remain the only unbeaten team in the Pac-12. Brown scored 18 points in the win over Washington and came back with a game-high 28 points (18 in the second half) and a season-high seven rebounds against the Cougars two days later. @@http://pac-12.org/SCHOOLS/Colorado/Tabid/958/Article/139905/Colorados-Brown-Named-Player-of-the-Week.aspx@@ @@http://www.cubuffs.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3891&SPID=257&DB_LANG=C&DB_OEM_ID=600&ATCLID=204970033&Q_SEASON=2011@@
Oregon
Freshman sensation De’Anthony Thomas was named to the Football Writers Association of America Freshman All-America Team, the FWAA announced Monday evening. The true freshman from Los Angeles led all freshmen with 18 touchdowns and ranked first in scoring among nonkickers with 110 points. Most impressively, he was the only player in the country to record 500 or more yards rushing, receiving and as a kick returner. Thomas joins a short list of Oregon players to earn the same honor as freshmen, which includes Haloti Ngata (2002), Max Unger (‘05), John Boyett (‘09) and LaMichael James (‘09). @@http://www.goducks.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=500&ATCLID=205358397@@
Oregon State
Redshirt freshman quarterback Sean Mannion joined Thomas on the 11th-annual FWAA Freshman All-America Team for his efforts this fall. Mannion started in 10 of the 12 games he appeared in during 2011, throwing for 3,328 yards, which is the fourth-best single season total in Oregon State history. That mark was also good enough for eighth on the Beavers’ all-time passing yards list. The Pleasanton, Calif., native finished the season with 11 straight games of 200 or more passing yards, an accomplishment matched only by Derek Anderson (13 times in 2003) in the last decade at OSU. @@http://www.osubeavers.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/010912aaa.html@@
Stanford
Stanford women’s basketball player Nnemkadi Ogwumike was selected at the Pac-12 Player of the Week on Monday, marking the third time the senior forward has earned the weekly honor this season and seventh of her illustrious career. In Saturday’s win over Oregon State, Ogwumike’s 33-point, 16-rebound performance landed her in both the 2,000-point and 1,000-rebound thresholds, making her just the fourth player in Stanford history to reach that milestone. In Thursday’s win over Oregon, she went 15-of-21 from the field for 32 points and 15 rebounds in the decisive victory. @@http://www.gostanford.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/010912aaa.html@@
UCLA
UCLA football coach Jim Mora announced the hiring of two more assistant football coaches on Monday. Eric Yarber will take over as the Bruins’ wide receivers coach, a position he recently held with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while Sal Alosi will step in as the program’s coordinator of strength and conditioning. In other coaching shifts, Mora announced that Angus McClure will no longer be in charge of special teams and will instead take over the defensive line responsibilities. Former defensive line coach Inoke Breckterfield will be able to remain on staff in a football operations role. @@http://www.uclabruins.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/010912aaa.html@@
Utah
The University of Utah ski team will be hitting the slopes in the state of Colorado for the second straight week. Utah’s Nordic skiers will compete for the first time this season at the Howelsen Hill Ski Resort in Steamboat Springs, while Utah’s Alpine skiers will race in Breckenridge and Winter Park. This week marks the first Nordic appearance by the Utes since the Colorado Invite in 2009. @@http://utahutes.cstv.com/sports/c-ski/spec-rel/010912aaa.html@@
USC
The USC football program got another bit of good news this week. DeVante Wilson, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound defensive lineman from Corona (Calif.) High, enrolled as a freshman at USC for the 2012 spring semester, head coach Lane Kiffin announced on Monday. Wilson signed with USC last February with intentions of enrolling in the fall of 2011, but torn ligaments in his knee forced Wilson to sit out a semester for rehabilitation. In his senior season at Corona, Wilson registered 59 tackles and 9.5 sacks en route to becoming a 2010 Prep Star All-American. @@http://www.usctrojans.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/010912aaa.html@@
Washington
After a standout true freshman season at tight end for the Washington Huskies, Austin Seferian-Jenkins announced he would walk on to the Huskies basketball team earlier this week. The 6-foot-6, 258-pounder was named a freshman All-American by numerous publications this fall, and head basketball coach Lorenzo Romar expects the freshman to provide another physical presence inside, comparable to the boost Tony Gonzalez gave the Cal Bears basketball team years ago. Seferian-Jenkins becomes the first dual-sport athlete at Washington since Nate Robinson played football and basketball in 2002 and 2003. @@http://www.gohuskies.com/sports/m-baskbl/spec-rel/010912aaf.html@@
Washington State
The Washington State football team inked three more players to the 2012 signing class earlier this week. Coach Mike Leach announced that placekicker Michael Bowlin signed a National Letter of Intent, while running back Teondray Caldwell and offensive lineman Denzell Dotson have each signed Financial Aid Agreements to play for the Cougars. Bowlin (6-4, 210) spent the past two seasons kicking for Saddleback College in Mission Viejo, Calif. Caldwell (5-10, 185) was an all-city prep running back from Los Angeles who capped his senior season with 1,085 yards rushing and 19 touchdowns despite playing in just eight games due to injury. Dotson (6-3, 305) was a first-team all-state offensive lineman for his Cactus High School team in Peoria, Ariz. @@http://www.wsucougars.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/010912aai.html@@