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7/27/2019 New Era, New Rivals
1/2
ROGER GARFIELDStaff Columnist
By ADAM [email protected]
Running back ReggieArnold may be ArkansasStates most valuable offensiveand defensive player Saturdayversus MTSU.
The Sun Belts leading rush-er is ASUs most dependableoffensive weapon, but his ball-control will be needed to keepMTSUs explosive offense onthe sideline.
Thats our job for this gameand my job; control the clockand keep their offense off thefield so they
cant score andtheyll getcold, Arnoldsaid. I know(MTSUs) of-fense is explo-sive, so thebetter we runthe ball, thefewer chances theyre going toget for big plays.
Arnolds objective is well-founded.
MTSU touts the Sun Beltstop passing offense, but ASU hasaveraged a loftier 511 total yardsper game. That means MTSUsdefensive concerns may begreater than the Red Wolves.
This is the best offense
weve faced, MTSU defensivecoordinator Manny Diaz said.Theres no question. And thatsthe funny thing about playingso-called big name schools (likeMaryland and Kentucky) thisyear when in reality this is thebest offensive football teamweve played against.
They have the best quarter-back weve played against. Idont think there is any discus-sion on that. (Arnold) is one ofthe best running backs wevefaced. Because of their experi-ence at those positions, theyjust know what theyre doing.
By ROGER [email protected]
The high school football landscape inRutherford County is changing.
And so are the rivalries that make thegames between these in-county teams sointensely competitive.
For years, there was Oakland versusRiverdale. And based on the physicalityof the teams Week 0 showdown which Oakland won, 17-6 the Battleof the Boro has not lost any of its luster.
There was also Smyrna and La
Vergne, the two northern county towns
who battled to a 15-13 Bulldogs victory
a year ago. They face each other Oct. 17
this fall.
Since the arrival this decade of Black-
man (2000) and Siegel (2003), however,
there are more dates on the calendar forplayers and coaches to circle. Two of
these newer rivalries take center stage
tonight when Blackman visits Smyrna
and Siegel plays host to Riverdale.
Part of the reason the budding
Blackman-Smyrna rivalry has beenhotly contested in recent years has to
do with the coincidental coaching
pipeline between the two schools.
SportsEXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR:Greg Pogue | [email protected]
NASCAR This Week | C6Scoreboard | C7
Friday, Sept. 19, 2008
C1
Football found its way intothe halls of Riverdale Highthis week. Literally.
Junior quarterback CodyWest and some of his team-mates carried footballs fromclass to class to help combatthe fumble woes that haveplagued them through the firstfour weeks of the season.
Theres some people thatllcome up and pound you just kids in the halls, Westsaid, laughing.
Its in Wests nature tolaugh, to smile wide.
It is a defining characteristic
of his magnetic, easy-goingpersonality. It is also the rea-son he should be able to shrugoff his early-season strugglesin the Riverdale backfield.
Three of the Warriors sev-en turnovers last Friday at Lin-coln County were Wests. Hehas admittedly not played tohis potential. But he also has-nt let the miscues get himdown.
The first half, I just playedterrible, West said. I tried tojust keep my head up. I toldmyself Im not going to have abad game, and I think I kind ofpulled that off.
Statistics show he bouncedback to have a good second
half 71 yards rushing, atouchdown and no turnovers but it was one play midwaythrough the fourth quarter thatillustrated Wests resiliencymore than any other.
Trailing by 13, the Warriorscalled for a trick play that re-sulted in an interception. AsLincoln County tried to returnthe interception at midfield,West sprinted toward the Fal-con defender from some 20yards away.
By the time he got there,the Falcon had fumbled. Andwhen refs finally peeled all theplayers off the scrum for theball, it was West laying at the
bottom of the pile, footballclutched firmly.It was a play not typical of
a quarterback. But West is farfrom typical.
A wise juniorHe looks at football with a
mature perspective, one hestrying his best to maintain.
Football is fun and itllhelp get you places in life, butits a learning thing, Westsaid. It makes you stronger,and Ive learned so much al-ready this season.
He also realizes what itmeans to play his position andat his school, for better orworse.
Its an unbelievableamount of pressure to put onone of those Warrior jerseys,West said. Theres so muchhigh expectations, and somany people just come out tosee us and expect so much. Itsa big motivation in a positiveway, but it can also be a nega-tive because of the pressure.
He has the rest of the sea-son to show how he handles it.But if his positive outlook andhis second half at LincolnCounty are any indication,West should be looking up with that football clutchedfirmly.
Its just not all about thesport, West said. Its about
having fun and learning fromit. Im getting better at that.
C
omin
g T
om
orr
ow
: Full coverage of tonightsarea prep football games The DNJ previews Satur-days MTSU-Arkansas Statematchup
U.S. Ryder Cup captain
Paul Azinger has done all
he can to put together a
team that will end Europes
three straight victories in
the Ryder Cup. Now its upto the players and their
putters.
S
e
e p
a
ge C2AZIN
GER
For the big picture,check out the
Scoreboard
pa
g
e C7
AL B
at
ti
n
g Le
a
d
er
sPedroia,Boston .326
Ordonez,Detroit .326
Mauer, Minnesota .324
Kinsler, Texas .319
SCOREBOARD
NHLI C
2Preds face questions at
forward as camp begins
U
T I C
3Vols must control running
game vs. Florida
Hi
g
h S
c
ho
ol
s I C
5Riverdales volleyball team
takes on visiting Oakland
Inside
Page editor: J. Patrick Keenan
ASU hasbest attackMTSU hasfaced yetRed Wolves rushing
game 6th in nation
MTSU HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALLWEEK 4
ARNOLD
New era, new rivalsRiverdale, Siegel and Smyrna, Blackman games
have developed into gridiron grudge matches
DNJ file photos
On page C4
Capsule previews of tonights games as well asstandings and stats
Coming SaturdayThe DNJ covers Week One of the high schoolfootball season with its Preps Extra specialsection
N MTSU at Arkansas StateSaturday, 6 p.m. at Jonesboro, Ark.
NWGNS (1450-AM), WNFN (106.7-FM)
MTSUMTSU
I Log on to BlueRaiders.com tosee Rick Stockstills Tuesday pressconference and other MTSU storiesand photos.
Its all about winning now for veteran Bulluck
By JIM WYATT
Gannett Tennessee
NASHVILLE When
Keith Bulluck entered the NFL
back in 2000, he was a little
selfish.Although he was a first-
round pick on a winning team,he wasnt playing much. Priori-
ty No. 1 was to change that,
though it re-
quired pa-tience. He did-nt become astarter until histhird season.
Then hismission wasto be mistake-free. Veterans
around him Eddie George,Steve McNair, Jevon Kearse
and Samari Rolle becamehis role models. He wanted tobe a Pro Bowler just like them.He took pride in becoming aone-man tackling machine.
But in what seemed likethe blink of an eye, the gangwas broken up thanks to asalary cap shakeup. Andwhile Bulluck had great ac-complishments in the years
t h a tseemed topass so
qu i ck l y ,s o m e -thing wasmissing.
Now inhis ninthNFL sea-son, theT i t a n slinebacker has a much differentperspective on whats most im-
portant to him, and it has farless to do with individual ac-complishments than team
goals. He came to that realiza-tion several seasons ago, but aseach year goes by its becomeclearer.
At this point in my career itis all about winning and help-ing the young guys get towhere I am and get them to seethe big picture, Bulluck said.
TITANS
BULLUCK
NTennesseevs. Houston
Sunday, Noonat LP Field in Nashville
N Ch. 5 (WTVF)N 103.3-FM (WKDF)
TITTITAN SAN S
Roger Garfield is prep editor of TheDaily News Journal. E-mail him [email protected].
Warrior Westhas a good
hold of things
See MTSU, page C3
See RIVALRIES, page C4
Individual accolades secondary for LB
See BULLUCK, page C7
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7/27/2019 New Era, New Rivals
2/2
ASUs most potent poison comeson the ground, where it ranks sixthnationally at nearly 300 rushingyards per game. The attack is three-tiered, at least. Arnold, a 5-foot-9,220-pound junior tailback, leads theconference at 117 rushing yards pergame. When he sat out most ofASUs 83-10 win over FCS-memberTexas Southern, backup freshmanDerek Lawson raced to 209 yards.
Corey Leonard is also among theleagues best running quarterbacks.The ASU trio makes up half of theSun Belts top six rushers in terms ofaverage yards per game.
Theyre so good, I dont know ifyoure going to stop the run com-pletely, Diaz said. But we have tomake them earn every yard and cer-tainly no big chunks, no big plays.And the added challenge this weekis that their quarterback can scram-ble, and weve had trouble with thatin the past.
ASU padded its rushing totalswith a 441-yard outburst against in-ferior Texas Southern, but its num-bers are still legitimate. The RedWolves rushed for 255 yards in anupset of Texas A&M and 191 yardsin a loss to Southern Miss.
Theyve run the ball against
good teams, and so this is a huge
challenge for our defense, MTSU
coach Rick Stockstill said. I think
this is the best running attack our de-
fense has faced this year.
Added Diaz: They walked Texas
A&M up and down the field. They
actually shouldve scored over 30
points because they left a bunch of
points on the field in the red zone.
MTSU knows of Arnold as a
bruiser, but he has added speed and
some wiggle to his repertoire. Thats
not the best news for the BlueRaiders.
Yeah, the past couple of years
Ive been a physical runner, a bruis-
er, Arnold said. But I worked hard
in the offseason to become more of a
home run threat, and Ive had a few
big plays. Im not settling for just
getting to the secondary anymore. I
want to take it all the way.
Adam Sparks, 615-278-5174
Continued from page C1
Blackman coach Bobby Wellsspent most of his coaching careeras an assistant at Smyrna, whilefirst-year Smyrna coach MattWilliams was the defensive coor-dinator at Blackman the previousthree seasons.
Said Wells: Its not real com-fortable for either one of us, be-cause somebodys going to comeout on the short end (tonight).
Said Williams: Theres a lot ofcoaches and players over there Istill care a great deal about. ... Itsgonna be a little awkward, but afterkickoff, itll probably go away.
More connectionsThe players have a familiarity
with one another, as well, althoughtheres no room for awkwardnesswhen theyre trying to lay a hit on aformer teammate or family mem-ber.
Smyrna senior lineman TylerEady will face both tonight. He hasa cousin, as well as a handful of for-mer youth league teammates, thatplay for Blackman. In fact, Eadysdad, Mike, and the father of Black-man junior DeShawn Smith, O.J.,used to coach young Tyler and De-Shawn when they played in theSmyrna youth league together.
DeShawns dad and my dadhave been best friends since they
were kids, Eady said.There are other similar relation-ships between the Blackman andSmyrna schools because of theproximity of their community bor-ders. While Eady tries to approacheach opponent the same, he says theconnections add a little extra moti-vation.
I think its somebody we alwayswant to beat because theyre in ourregion, and especially cause coachWilliams comes from there, Eadysaid. So we definitely want to beatthem bad.
Sign of the timesIn Murfreesboro, Siegel senior
Chuck McCord and his fellow Starswill try and make history tonight by
beating Riverdale for the first timein his schools six-year existence.
I want to be a part of the firstclass to ever beat Riverdale, saidMcCord, a tight end/defensive end.
I want to be a part of that, and myother senior brothers feel the sameway.
McCord says his biggest rival isOakland, because so many of hisformer teammates at Central Mid-
dle like Precious Valentine, SamBass and Chanz Boyd currentlystar for the Patriots.
McCord also acknowledgesRiverdale as an emerging rival ofSiegels, although with the growing
parity in Region 4-5A, he says vir-
tually all games must be treated likerivalry games.
(Riverdale) is a real importantgame because it would be a big winin the region, McCord said. And
thats every game this year. Its agood year theres a lot of teamscompeting out there, and the timing
makes it really even. You donthave just one team thats going torun over everybody.
Riverdale junior quarterbackCody West feels the same way.
Things are changing, West
said, and everythings evened outmore. I dont think that the past re-
ally should matter.While games like the Battle of
the Boro arent disappearing by
any means, the most heated rival-ries of the future are still unknown.And in this era of change, it may be
awhile before theyre entirely clear.I think it kind of varies from
year to year, Siegel coach David
Watson said. The main thing is,you can tell a big difference whenits an in-county game. The intensi-
ty of the (Week 0) Smyrna gamewas far more than Glencliff, Cen-tennial and even Wilson Central.
... Theres always the Oakland-Siegel rivalry, but I think some-times it gets a little overbuilt. (The
players) get up just as much to playBlackman and Riverdale and Smyr-na as they get up to play Oakland.
Roger Garfield, 615-278-5168
Continued from page C1
That to me is more about what it isall about. I still want to get this de-
fense an MVP, but it is more aboutgetting a ring, and bringing all theguys with me. All I want to do is wingames and do everything I can tomake that happen.
Bulluck, 31, has certainly done hispart over the years, leading the Titansin tackles five of the past six seasons.Hes currently third on the fran-chises all-time tackle list, has 16 ca-reer interceptions, and just last weekscored his sixth career touchdown,albeit on special teams.
More than anything else, Bulluckhas been reliable. Sunday hell starthis 100th consecutive game, thelongest active streak of any Titan andthe fourth longest among NFL line-backers.
Bulluck takes great pride in the
streak because it means hes beenthere for his teammates.Keith is one of the most depend-
able players on this football team,defensive end Kyle Vanden Boschsaid. You can always count on No.53 being out there on Sundays. If theTitans are playing, hes going to beon that field making plays to help uswin.
Counting his blessingsSince taking over as the full-time
starter in 2002, Bulluck has startedevery game 99 in the regular sea-son, five in the playoffs.
While other linebackers selectedin the first round of the 2000 NFLDraft Brian Urlacher (Bears) andJulian Peterson (Seahawks) are
still enjoying NFL success, playersincluding LaVar Arrington and RobMorris are out of the league.
As for the secret to his ability toremain injury-free, Bulluck said: Ipray before every game to getthrough safe.
But he has to work at it, too. Bul-luck increased his offseason training,although he still has the same rou-tine. He spends time in California,Florida and Arizona working outwith the same trainers and other NFLathletes, in addition to the time hespends in the Titans offseason pro-gram.
He has to be blessed, too, cor-nerback Cortland Finnegan said.Not a lot of guys can say theyveplayed that long and the way Kei-
th plays without getting hurt.Titans defensive coordinator JimSchwartz called Bulluck a consum-mate pro who is more motivatednow than ever.
He sort of hit us when we were
going to the playoffs every year ...
and it was almost like he took it for
granted, Schwartz said. Thenwhen we started losing and went
through some tough years I think it
made him appreciate the good times
more and made him realize it wasnt
the way it was always going to be.
Team player
The good times are definitely
back for the Titans defense.
After being at or near the bottom
of the league in defense in 2004 and
2006, the Titans finished fifth last
season and are second after two
games this season.
The Titans have quality players at
every defensive position, which was-
nt always the case when Bulluck
had unheard-of tackle totals like 180,
171, 171, 150 and 161. Those totals
might make his 109 last year look
like hes slacking off, but thats hard-
ly the case.
I am sure it was difficult on Kei-
th for a stretch because he saw all
those guys he played with and had all
the success with all go out the door,
and he was sort of like the last of the
Mohicans, Schwartz said. But
slowly weve been able to surround
him with better players and not only
does he have confidence in himself,
he has confidence that those guys can
get their job done.
There was a part of Bulluck who
enjoyed making so many tackles. His
numbers are down through two
games hes sixth on the team with 11
tackles but hes OK with that. The
days of worrying about that kind of
stuff are gone.
I just know and understand foot-
ball. When you have two All Pros in
front, including a defensive tackle
who is unblockable, how are you
supposed to make 14 or 15 tackles a
game?Bulluck said. I am not mak-
ing as many tackles, but we are win-
ning more games. If it was three or
four years ago, yeah it might have
bothered me. But at this point in mycareer I dont care, and I still find a
way to make my plays and contribute
on this team.
Continued from page C1