[url=http://breakz.us][img]http://breakz.us/bilder/banner2.jpg[/img][/url]
#1

ngers Arsenal meet at Old Trafford on Saturday for the standout game in the 12th round of matches, there could be some major nam

in Gilde 11.05.2019 03:43
von jj009 • 2.159 Beiträge

If theres such a thing as a virtuoso on the football field, Vanderbilts Zach Cunningham is your guy. He plays the game so naturally, so instinctively and so consistently.The 6-4, 230-pound redshirt junior linebacker misses tackles the way Eric Clapton misses notes on his guitar.It doesnt happen.Fittingly, Cunningham plays a little guitar himself, going back to his youth at Birminghams New Life Evangelistic Worship Center. He taught himself to play and has since taken a few guitar classes at Vanderbilt. He prefers what he calls jazz type stuff but can play a little bit of everything.As humble as he is talented, Cunningham doesnt hesitate when asked whether hes a better football player or guitar player.Football, for sure, he says.Its doubtful anybody whos tried to block him this season would disagree, regardless of whether theyve heard him play the guitar. Thats because Cunningham has been unblockable. He wrecked just about everything Georgia attempted to do last week with a career-high 19 tackles in Vanderbilts 17-16 win over the Bulldogs, the Commodores first win at Sanford Stadium in a decade.His fourth-down stop of Isaiah McKenzie for no gain to preserve the win is the kind of play Cunningham has been making since he was a gangly 175-pound linebacker at Pinson Valley High School just outside of Birmingham, Alabama.Ive been seeing him do that forever, said Pinson Valley coach Matt Glover. I once saw him take the quarterback, then the fullback with one arm and still get out to the pitch man to make the play. The funny thing is that when he first came to me, he was a running back and we had to talk him into playing linebacker. He didnt like it at first, but looks like he made the right decision.There might be bigger names on the defensive side in college football, and there might be flashier players who get more headlines. But good luck in finding a more complete (or productive) defender than Cunningham, who ranks fourth nationally with 81 total tackles and second nationally with 13 tackles for loss. Against SEC competition, hes been even better with 55 total tackles and nine tackles for loss in four league games.Go back and watch that last play against Georgia, and you dont even see Zach in the picture, Vanderbilt coach Derek Mason marveled. All of a sudden, you see a blur and a snatch. You look up and youre like, Where did he come from? You dont coach that.Hes the best linebacker nobodys talking about.In truth, theyre talking about him, just not as much as they probably should be. One NFL scout told ESPN.com Cunningham had shown the versatility to play in a 3-4 or 4-3 scheme at the next level and was moving up draft boards weekly because of his ability to make plays sideline to sideline. The pro scouts also love Cunninghams length, and even though hes already put on 50 pounds since his high school days, he has the frame to put on 10 or 20 more.Cunningham redshirted his first year at Vanderbilt in 2013, but it didnt take him long to make an impression on Mason. During their first season together in 2014, Vanderbilt was playing Georgia, and Cunningham on three occasions tackled Todd Gurley in one-on-one situations.It was Zach and Gurley one-on-one. It wasnt Zach and somebody else and Gurley, just Zach, and he made the play all three times, Mason recalled. Guys in the NFL dont tackle Gurley in that situation, and it made me realize how special this young man can be. He sees things before they happen and has so many dimensions to him as a player, but what separates him is his ability to close and finish.Cunningham, whos majoring in economics, credits Mason and his inside linebackers coach, Chris Marve, for helping him to become a better tactician and better student of the game.I watch film differently than I used to and have a lot more knowledge of the game and what offenses are trying to do, said Cunningham, who was a first-team All-SEC performer last season. Theyve helped bring more knowledge to me, and thats helped me play even faster and pick up quicker on what teams are trying to do.Marve, who was also an All-SEC linebacker at Vanderbilt, said its always easier to coach someone whos as passionate about the game as Cunningham.Hes in love with the game of football, and you see that every day in the way he prepares, Marve said. Hes always putting in extra time, but he also does a lot of things naturally that you dont see in a lot of players. You hear guys say they want to be great. Zach practices that way and approaches every game that way.Vanderbilt has had a ton of success with players from the state of Alabama. Earl Bennett, Zac Stacy, Jordan Matthews and Reshard Langford all come to mind. Cunningham also managed to get out of the state and signed as part of James Franklins last class at Vanderbilt before Franklin left for Penn State.Glover said hes never seen a player blow up in recruiting circles the way Cunningham did his senior year. He was still 17 when he graduated high school, and it wasnt until the eighth game of his senior season that he received his first SEC offer. The offers came flooding in after that, and Cunningham had Miami, Oregon, South Carolina and Tennessee all hot on his trail, along with Vanderbilt.Alabama and Nick Saban were interested, but the Crimson Tide wanted Cunningham to grayshirt -- waiting a semester to enroll -- and take that time to bulk up and get stronger. Auburn offered initially, but in the transition from Gene Chizik to Gus Malzahn, Glover said the Tigers informed him late that they were pulling the scholarship offer because they only had one left at linebacker and were saving it for Reuben Foster.The frenzy in the final hour didnt faze Cunningham, who wasnt a big name entering his senior season because he didnt spend the summer going to all of the camps and combines. Besides, he and his family had already set their sights on Vanderbilt and the world-class education the Commodores could offer.I just felt like I would develop more fully as a player and a person at Vanderbilt, Cunningham said. I fell in love with everything about Vanderbilt. It was more than just football.He concedes that being an economics major at Vanderbilt keeps him up late at nights studying but added, I kind of knew what I was getting myself into. Id talked to some guys who had majored in economics here before me and knew what was coming my way, but I wanted the challenge.What he doesnt want is engaging in any debate about where he ranks in the SEC or nationally with other linebackers. Hell leave that for everybody else.I dont really focus on stuff like that, Cunningham said. Im more focused on going out there and doing my best to help my team win.But, then, thats vintage Cunningham, the same guy who as a senior in high school got up to speak at the Mr. Football awards banquet in Montgomery, Alabama, and one of the first people he thanked was his home economics teacher for letting him borrow an iron to iron his shirt.Ive coached a lot of good ones, Mason said, but Zach is one of those guys who makes a lot of things right.And thats whether hes blowing up a play on fourth down or blowing it out on his guitar. Lebron Shoes Canada Online . -- Matt Ryan needed one of the best games of his career to lead the Falcons and their depleted offence out of their three-game losing streak last week. Lebron Shoes Sales . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. http://www.lebronshoesoutletcanada.com/ . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. We just have to get better," Carroll said. Wholesale Lebron James Shoes . William Carrier opened the scoring for Cape Breton (6-4-2), but Andrew Ryan tied the game and Brent Andrews put the Mooseheads (8-6-0) in front for good with a short-handed goal at 13:49 of the second period. Cheap Lebron Shoes Canada . -- Anaheim Ducks captain and leading scorer Ryan Getzlaf has been scratched from Sunday nights game against the Vancouver Canucks because of an upper-body injury. MANCHESTER, England -- The final round of international fixtures in 2016 did no favors for managers of some of the English Premier Leagues title hopefuls.Jose Mourinho and Arsene Wenger, in particular, will vouch for that ahead of the renewal of their often-heated coaching rivalry.When Mourinhos Manchester United and Wengers Arsenal meet at Old Trafford on Saturday for the standout game in the 12th round of matches, there could be some major names missing because of injuries sustained on international duty.United captain Wayne Rooney has caused a furor by being photographed, looking bleary-eyed, alongside some guests at a wedding party taking place at the England team hotel on Saturday. But by then, hed picked up a knee injury during Englands 3-0 win over Scotland the night before, causing him to miss Tuesdays match against Spain, and Rooney is now doubtful for the Arsenal game.It was the last thing Mourinho would have wanted, considering he is already without suspended striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and center backs Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling, as well as having serious doubts over the fitness of midfielder Marouane Fellaini and full backs Luke Shaw and Antonio Valencia.Wenger, meanwhile, will ask Alexis Sanchez for an honest assessment of his fitness after Arsenals star forward sustained a hamstring injury while away with Chile. Sanchez missed a draw against Colombia but returned for the 3-1 win over Uruguay on Tuesday, although his right leg was heavily strapped for the match.Sanchez isnt due to return to Arsenals training base until Friday and the match against United is a lunchtime kickoff on Saturday.What I will consider is the risk of injury because he played while recovering from a hamstring injury, Wenger said on Thursday. Ill consider the way he feels as well. On that front you depend on the honesty of the player, how they feel and how they recover.Wenger will be careful about overloading Sanchez, who has scored eight goals for Arsenal this season from his new position as converted striker. This time last year, Sanchez picked up a hamstring injury following a grueling run of back-to-back games for club and country and ended up missing the next two months, which provved to be a huge blow to Arsenals title hopes.ddddddddddddArsenal plays Paris Saint-Germain in a big Champions League game on Wednesday, too.Liverpool and Chelsea, the Premier Leagues top two, could also be counting the cost of the recent international games after injuries to key players.Adam Lallana, one of Liverpools quartet of sprightly forwards that has been in devastating form this season, hobbled off during Englands game against Spain and is a doubt for the leaders trip to Southampton.As for second-place Chelsea, Diego Costa was ruled out of both of Spains games during the break because of groin injury and Eden Hazard limped off during Belgiums 8-1 win over Estonia with an apparent calf injury. It isnt yet clear if either Costa or Hazard -- the scorers of 15 league goals between them -- will be fit for the Chelseas match at Middlesbrough.Heres what else to look out for this weekend:---CRYSTAL PALACE-MANCHESTER CITYPalace has conceded 10 goals in its last three games and hasnt kept a clean sheet in the league all season. In terms of points per game (0.73) in 2016, Alan Pardews side is the worst-performing team across Englands four leagues this calendar year.Probably, then, the last team it would want to see arriving at Selhurst Park on Saturday is Pep Guardiolas free-scoring Man City side. Star striker Sergio Aguero will be raring to go for City, having failed to start for Argentina in either of their World Cup qualifying games over the international break.---WATFORD-LEICESTERLeicester can clinch qualification to the knockout round of the Champions League on Tuesday, but its players would be wise not to look that far ahead this weekend.The Premier League champions head to Watford just two points above the relegation zone, having lost at home to West Bromwich Albion in the last game before the international break.Leicester will be boosted by leading striker Jamie Vardy ending his run of 14 games without a goal for club or country by scoring for England against Spain. Vardy scored 24 league goals last season, but has only two so far this season. ' ' '

nach oben springen


Besucher
0 Mitglieder und 5 Gäste sind Online

Wir begrüßen unser neuestes Mitglied: maradiliko
Forum Statistiken
Das Forum hat 5874 Themen und 5901 Beiträge.