MLB 2011; How they finished

Three DuvALUMNI played a part in the most amazing night in regular season baseball history: Brett Myers (Englewood) starting the final game of the season for the Astros against the Cardinals , who were one of four teams with a shot at the playoffs on the final night. Sadly for Myers, he was shelled and the Cards moved on to the NLDS. Also not faring so well, Kenny grad Jonathan Papelbon took his first loss and only his third blown save of the season as the Orioles won in the bottom of the ninth against the uber-slumping Boston Red Sox. Chipper Jones watched his Atlanta Braves disastrously slump in September, finally being passed by the Cardinals on the final night. The Bolles grad went 0 for 5 in the 13-inning loss to the Phils, giving the Cardinals the playoff slot. As for the year in review here's how our DuvALUMNI fared in 2011:

Billy Butler (Wolfson) - DH Kansas City; Butler finished the year with 19 HR and a career-high 95 rbi with a .291 average.

Chipper Jones (Bolles) - 3B Atlanta; aside from the aforementioned collapse of the Braves, Chipper had a decent season with 18 HR 70 rbi and a .275 average. He turns 40 next April but said after their season-ending loss on Wednesday that he will return for the 2012 season. Was a 2011 All-Star.

Howie Kendrick (West Nassau) - 2B LA Angels; An all-star year for Kendrick, who had career highs in both homer runs (18) and rbi (63) to go with his .285 average.

Daniel Murphy (Englewood) - NY Mets - Murphy finished second on the Mets with a .320 average (trailing only NL batting champ Jose Reyes). Murphy had a season-ending injury August 7.

Brett Myers (Englewood) P - Houston; His last game notwithstanding, Myers finished strong for a rather weak Astros squad, winning 4 of his last 5 games. His season totals were a 7-14 record with a 4.46 ERA.

Jonathan Papelbon (Kenny) P - Boston; Outstanding year that will be long-forgotten due to the historic collapse of the Red Sox. Paps was 4-1 (ouch that one) with a 2.94 ERA and 31 out of 34 in the Save department.

Darren O'Day  (Kenny) P - Texas; The only DuvALUMNI alive in the playoffs, O'Day tore a labrum in his left hip that required surgery which limited his time on the mound for the Rangers. He only had 5 appearances since the All-Star break. He finished with 16 innings pitched with a 0-1 record.

Adam Wainwright (Glynn Cty) - P - St. Louis; Wainwright missed the entire season with elbow surgery From MLB.com: Wainwright tossed the equivalent of two innings in the bullpen. "This was my third throwing session off the mound [to a crouched catcher]," he said. "The first two times we did one set of 30. This one we're kind of progressing, now we're doing two sets of 20. So the up-down, but you're also adding some throws in there." Wainwright said he only threw fastballs on Thursday, but one of the next steps in his rehabilitation process will be to throw changeups.

NFL Week 3

Once again, many NFL DuvALUMNI were not activated or didn't play, due to injury or otherwise. They include: Champ Bailey, Tim Tebow, Marcus Thomas, Rusty Smith, Jason Spitz, & Stephen Nicholas.

For those who played:
Daniel Thomas (HIlliard) rushed for 95 yards and caught 27 yards worth with a touchdown in Miami's loss to Cleveland. Nolan Carroll (Clay) was in on 5 tackles for the Dolphins.

Cliff Avril (Clay) had two tackles, 1 sack and a forced fumble in Detroit's overtime win over Minnesota. Letroy Guion (Bradford Cty) played for the Vikings but registered no stats.

CJ Spiller (Union Cty) had only one carry for 3 yards for Buffalo's upset of New England...Brian Dawkins (Raines) had 2 tackles and 1 assist for Denver in their loss to Tennessee. Jamie Harper (Trinity) played for the Titans but did not carry the ball.

Rashean Mathis (Englewood) had 4 tackles 1 assist and pass defense in the Jags' water-logged loss to the Panthers. Leon Washington (Jackson) saw multi-duty for Seattle carrying for 29 yards, and returning punts and kickoffs.

Jabar Gaffney (Raines) plays Monday night for the Skins.

Thomas cracks the century mark for Miami: NFL Regular Season Week Two

Daniel Thomas

Former Hilliard star  Daniel Thomas ran for 107 yards for the Miami Dolphins Sunday in a loss to Houston. Thomas did not play last week due to a hamstring injury, but became the first Dolphin to run for over 100 yards since the 2009 season. More here on this story.

Jabar Gaffney (Raines) started and caught 5 passes for 63 yards as the Redskins stay undefeated. C.J. Spiller (Union Cty) saw more action for Buffalo in their win; rushing for 63 yards, while also catching a pass and returned a couple of punts. Leon Washington (Jackson) continued his multi-dimensional role for Seattle, with one rush and 2 kickoff returns (19.5 avg). Jason Spitz (Bolles) saw action for the Jaguars on the offensive line. Tim Tebow (Nease) played for Denver...at wide receiver!  Tebow filled in this week in practice when the Broncos' receiver corps was thinned out by injury. He was not in on many plays and  was not thrown to during the game.

On the defensive side of the NFL DuvALUMNI ball, Cliff Avril (Clay High) started and recovered a fumble and had a pass deflection in Detroit's blow-out victory...Nolan Carroll (Clay) had two tackles on defense and one assist on special teams for Miami...Letroy Guion (Bradford Cty) started and had a QB hurry for the Vikings...Brian Dawkins (Raines) had three tackles and 1 assist with 1 pass defended for the Broncos. Rashean Mathis (Englewood) registered 7 tackles with 1 interception and a pass defended for the Jaguars in their blow-out loss to the Jets...Stephen Nicholas (Lee) had 3 tackles with a forced fumble and fumble recovery in the Falcons' Sunday night win over the Eagles. Nicholas also provided the final tackle of the game, stopping the dangerous DeSean Jackson on a punt return.

Many of the NFL's DuvALUMNI were inactive for this week's games: A pair of Broncos - Champ Bailey(Charlton Cty) and Marcus Thomas (Mandarin); and a pair of Titans - Jamie Harper (Trinity), and Rusty Smith (Paxon/Sandalwood) did not see action.

College Honor Roll week 2

Arkansas St. QB Ryan Aplin (Fleming Island) was a near-perfect 19 of 21 passing for 274 yards and 3 touchdowns...Illinois RB Troy Pollard (Jackson) ran for 101 yards and a touchdown in the Illini victory Saturday... Lance Byrd (Stanton) ran for 153 yards on 20 carries for FCS school Presbyterian... Deja Alexander (First Coast) caught 6 passes for 93 yards for Western Carolina... Riley Haynes (Nease) was in on 10 tackles for Wake Forest in their victory over NC State... Charles James (Mandarin) picked off E.J. Manuel and set up Charleston Southern's touchdown in their loss to Florida State.

NFL DuvALUMNI

Regular Season Week 1

Many DuvALUMNI were inactive for this week's games:

Rusty Smith (Sandalwood) came home but was not activated for the Titans in town. Denver's Marcus Thomas (Mandarin) and the Dolphins' Daniel Thomas -no relation (Hilliard) were inactive for their games. And despite the chants of the Broncos fans last night, Tim Tebow (Nease) did not see action. For those who did:

Cliff Avril (Clay - Detroit) started for the Lions registering 1 tackle and 1 assist. Another Clay High product, Nolan Carroll, had 3 tackles for the Dolphins but spent most of his evening chasing Tom Brady's receivers. Champ Bailey (Charlton Cty) and Brian Dawkins (Raines) started in the defensive backfield for the Broncos. Dawkins had 7 tackles, 2assists and 1 tfl; Bailey had 5 tackles and 1 tfl. Jamie Harper (Trinity) came home to play for the Titans against the Jags. He had 3 carries for 10 yards and one reception for 21 yards. He went up against Rashean Mathis (Englewood) for the Jags who had 3 tackles. Jason Spitz (Bolles) also played on the line on special teams for the Jags. Jabar Gaffney (Raines) and CJ Spiller (Union Cty) are the only two DuvALUMNI to score a TD. Gaffney caught three passes for 54 yards for the Redskins,  including the TD and Spiller (Buffalo) had 5 carries 16 yards with the TD run. Letroy Guion (Bradford Cty) started for Minnesota in their loss to San Diego. The defensive tackle had 1 tackle and 3 assists. Lee High alumn Stephen Nicholas had 3 tackles, 1 tfl and 1 qb hit for the Falcons in their loss to the Bears. Leon Washington (Jackson) focused on returns Sunday for the Seahawks, averaging 9 yards/ punt return and 26 yards / kickoff return

DUvALUMNI who diidn't make an NFL Roster

A handful of DuvALUMNI who were in training camp with NFL teams did not make the final cuts for their squads. Lake City's Vince Anderson was released by Tampa Bay, Tony Carter (Mandarin) was cut by the Vikings; Brandon Hicks (Forrest) was cut by the Bills and Bear Woods (Baker County) was cut by the Falcons. Shaun Chapas (Bolles) was placed on the practice squad by the Dallas Cowboys. That leaves sixteen DuvALUMNI on NFL rosters.

Best of DuvALUMNI College Football Week One

There are 200+ plus current college football players in FBS and FCS division schools. Each week we highlight the best of the best. All DuvALUMNI College Football Line-up

Offense
QB - Ryan Aplin - Arkansas St. (Fleming Island) 20-32 passing for 290 yards
RB - Jawan Jamison - Rutgers (Bolles) 17 carries for 54 yards
RB - Andrew Buie - West Virginia (Trinity) 30 yards rushing, 11 yards receiving
WR- A.J. Jenkins - Illinois (Terry Parker) 11 rec. 148 yards and 1 touchdown
WR- Chris Summers - Liberty (Ribault) 5 rec. 88 yards and 1 touchdown
WR- Deja Alexander - Western Carolina (First Coast) 6 rec. 64 yds.
OL - James Nicholson - Charleston So. (Nease)
OL - Sam McRoy - FAU (Raines)
OL- Ryan Basford - Navy (Bishop Kenny)
OL- D'Angelo McCray - Memphis (Jackson)
OL- Corey Mason - Bethune-Cookman (Mandarin)

Defense
DL - Louis Nix - Notre Dame (Raines) 2t - 5a - .5tfl
DL - Jack Taylor - Wingate (Keystone Heights) 3t - 4a - 1.5tfl
DL - Mike Mayoral - JU (St. Augustine) 2t -3a - .5tfl
DL - Timmy Jernigan - Florida State (Lake City) 1 a - 1 QB pressure
LB - Gary Tinsley - Minnesota (First Coast) 4t - 3a - 1tfl - 2 BrUp
LB - Sam Barrington - South Florida (Terry Parker) 2t 7a
LB - Scott Betros - Wake Forest (Bolles) 2t 7a 1.5tfl
DB - Lacy McDougald - JU (Fletcher) 5t 1a 1tfl 1BrUp
DB - Xavier Brewer - Clemson (Bartram Trail) 5t 2a 1BrUp
DB - Rashard Hall - Clemson (St. Augustine) 5t 3a 1 rec. fum.
DB - David Wright - Navy (Englewood) 4 tackles
   K - Caleb Sturgis - Florida (St. Augustine) 11 pts 2FG (51 yd long) 5xp
   P - Brandon Holdren - FAMU (First Coast) 37.9 avg. 3 in20

Players of the week: Offense; A.J. Jenkins; 148 yards receiving for Illinois
                          Defense; Gary Tinsley; led Minnesota to a near-upset of Southern Cal..