Indiana quarterback Tre Roberson to transfer

After taking part in a two quarterback system last season with Nate Sudfeld, Tre Roberson has announced that he'll be transferring from the Indiana football program. Roberson's departure along with Cam Coffman's means that Sudfeld will be the Hoosiers' clear cut starter this season.

Roberson, who was Indiana's Mr. Football in 2010 was the program's first true freshman starter in 2011. A broken leg wiped out most of his sophomore season. He came back in 2013 to share the job (four starts) with Sudfeld. Head coach Kevin Wilson planned to employ the same two quarterback system that he used last year, which might've contributed to Roberson's departure.

“I want to thank the coaching staff, my teammates and Indiana University for all of their support over the last three years,” Roberson said. “My time in Bloomington will always hold a special place in my heart. I wish everyone at IU all the best as I move on to the next chapter in my life.”

For his career, Roberson threw for 2,433 yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.  He added 10 touchdowns running the ball.

This comes as a surprise to many in the IU community as none saw this coming. I don't think pundits around college football or Wilson saw this coming, although he sounds content on move on with Sudfeld as his starter.

“We appreciate and thank Tre for his contributions to our football program both on and off the field,” Indiana coach Kevin Wilson said. “He is an outstanding player and a great young man. We wish him well as he moves forward with his career.”

Roberson is a dual threat talent who will be a sought after transfer. With his ability to make plays through the air and on the ground, look for plenty of high major schools to try to woo Roberson to their campus.  

 

Jury convicts Jason Mitchell in Sean Taylor murder case

A man identified by prosecutors as the greedy organizer of a bungled 2007 Miami-area burglary that ended with the fatal shooting of Washington Redskins star Sean Taylor was convicted Tuesday of murder and burglary, and immediately sentenced to life in prison without parole.

A 12-person jury deliberated nearly four hours before finding Jason Mitchell, 25, guilty of first-degree felony murder and armed burglary. Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Dennis Murphy swiftly imposed the mandatory life sentence for murder, plus 40 more years for the burglary conviction.

Although trial testimony showed Mitchell did not fire the fatal shot, prosecutors say he is equally responsible for the slaying under the law.

Assistant State Attorney Reid Rubin said Mitchell hatched the plot that eventually involved five Fort Myers-area men after spending time at Taylor's home near Miami, where he saw the player giving friends and relatives thousands of dollars in cash. Rubin said Mitchell initially tried and failed to burglarize the home alone in mid-November 2007, returning with the group on Thanksgiving weekend to finish the job.

"It doesn't matter whether they planned to kill him (Taylor) or intended to kill him, he died as a result of that burglary and they are all responsible for it," Rubin told the 12-person jury in closing arguments. "At the center of it all was Jason Mitchell."

Mitchell did not testify in his own defense but he did confess to police in a sworn, videotaped statement. The man blamed for shooting Taylor, Eric Rivera Jr., was convicted last year of second-degree murder and sentenced to 57 years behind bars. Mitchell's lawyer, Robert Barrar, said Mitchell should be held responsible only for burglary, not for Rivera's actions.

"Sure Jason Mitchell was there. But Eric Rivera did it on his own, on a whim," Barrar said. "Jason Mitchell was not a part of any plan to kill anybody."

Mitchell showed no emotion when the verdict was read.

Taylor, 24, was shot in the upper thigh after confronting the group of burglars with a machete outside his bedroom door. The bullet severed Taylor's femoral artery, causing him to quickly bleed to death. In the bedroom when the shooting happened were Taylor's girlfriend and their infant daughter.

Police say the burglars thought Taylor would be out of town at a Redskins game, but he was home nursing a knee injury.

Aside from the confession, investigators found shoe prints at Taylor's house that matched Mitchell's sneakers and had cellphone evidence showing that Mitchell phoned another member of the group in the vicinity of the slaying that night.

Three other men were charged in the case and two are awaiting trial. Venjah Hunte, 25, previously pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and burglary charges in a deal that calls for a 29-year prison sentence.
Taylor was a Pro Bowl safety who had starred at the University of Miami. A first-round Redskins draft pick in 2004, Taylor signed an $18 million contract with the team and was becoming one of the NFL's top defensive players when he was slain.

"He had everything to live for," Rubin said. "Sean Taylor was on top of the world."

Just because Mitchell wasn't the trigger man doesn't mean he isn't equally responsible for the crime. It's good to see that justice has been served in this particular case.

Falcons' LB Sean Weatherspoon ruptures achilles; will miss 2014 season

The Atlanta Falcons defense was a weakness last season and were hoping to improve on last season's performance. The unit took a major hit today. Falcons linebacker Sean Weatherspoon has ruptured his Achilles tendon and will miss the 2014 season.

Weatherspoon suffered the injury on Tuesday while running under the supervision of the team's medical staff. Weatherspoon had been held out of the organized team activities as he was continuing his recovery from a foot injury that limited him to only seven games in 2013.

The loss of Weatherspoon, the team's first-round pick from Missouri in 2010, is a blow to the Falcons, whose 2013 season was marked by a string of injuries. Weatherspoon has eight sacks and two interceptions in his first four seasons.

Coach Mike Smith said in a statement released by the team on Tuesday night that Weatherspoon will have surgery and is expected to make a full recovery.

“During Sean’s run today with our medical staff, he suffered an injury,” head coach Mike Smith said. “We sent Sean to the doctor for some additional testing and evaluation and unfortunately the results showed that he ruptured his Achilles tendon. Sean had been working extremely hard to get back on the field, but regrettably he will miss the entire 2014 season. He will have a procedure done in the near future and we expect him to make a full recovery.”

This will be a big loss unless someone steps up in his place. It's a major opportunity for someone to come in and make a name for himself.

Glam Girl of the week: Nisey Kamai

The Just Sports & Just Us Glam Girl of the week is Nisey Kamai.

The Detroit Lions keep neglecting their defense

As the NFL offseason progresses I've noticed one thing. Even though the Detroit Lions have changed coaches (again), the organizational philosophy remains the same. The team keeps trying to acquire offensive talent instead of trying to build on both sides of the ball. The pick of tight end Eric Ebron  and signing of wide receiver Golden Tate kind of proves my point. Jim Caldwell was hired as the new coach to help quarterback Matthew Stafford reach his potential and stop throwing so many game killing interceptions. They hired Joe Lombardi away from New Orleans to try and make him into a Drew Brees clone.

While it's true that having a high powered offense will excite the fans, it's defense that will carry a team to the next level. Although the Lions went defense heavy on the last two days of the draft the players picked aren't difference makers and will leave the Lions trying to finagle the salary cap and look for veteran help over the summer. And some of the available help has seen better days. The Lions had needs and a tight end or receiver wasn't necessarily one of them. The only player that has me excited is Kyle Van Noy.

Just to illustrate my point, remember when Wayne Fontes went through multiple quarterbacks with the hope that one of them would lead the Lions to a Super Bowl. Fontes said it about Andre Ware, Rodney Peete, and Scott Mitchell. Over the years the team has always tried to draft weapons to surround their quarterback on offense. Matt Millen drafted heavily at the receiver position. If you go back to the 80s they tried to get players to complement Billy Sims.

Either the front office knows something the fans don't or they're just trying to be the smartest guys in the room. Ebron better turn out to be the truth because if he isn't and the rest of the players in the 2014 draft class are projects and hardly see the field, GM Martin Mayhew needs to be fired. If the team was serious about contending this season and beyond they would've drafted defense in at least three of the first four rounds of the draft and got some much needed help on that side of the ball.  

Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo to be represented by Jay-Z's Roc Nation Sports

Roc Nation Sports has made yet another splash by agreeing to represent Cuban outfielder Rusney Castillo.

Castillo, 26, is free to sign with a major league team. He has acquired permanent Haitian residency papers, an unblocking license from the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and been declared a free agent by Major League Baseball. Castillo has been training in the northern region of the Dominican Republic, though he had to take time off recently due to a finger injury.

Teams are preparing for Castillo to have a showcase soon, either in the United States or the Dominican Republic, though the dates and locations of the showcase are still unknown. Other clients of Roc Nation Sports, a joint venture with CAA, include Mariners second baseman Robinson Cano and Yankees lefthander C.C. Sabathia.

Scouts don’t expect Castillo to be an immediate impact player along the lines of Yoenis Cespedes or Jose Abreu, but several scouts who have seen Castillo before he left and since he has been in the Dominican Republic have been impressed, though there’s a split on whether he profiles as an everyday player or a fourth outfielder.

At 5-foot-9, 185 pounds, Castillo has good strength for his relatively short stature and is an athletic player whose best tool is his plus-plus speed. He was one of the better base stealers in Cuba, going 22-for-29 in steals in 2011-12 to rank third in the league in stolen bases, one year after leading the league with 29 bags in 35 attempts.

Castillo can sting the ball from the right side of the plate, projecting as a line-drive bat who hits a lot of doubles and triples rather than home runs. He’s an aggressive hitter with good bat speed, though his swing can get long at times and he will expand his strike zone.

Castillo mostly played center field and right field in Cuba. He does have a small amount of history in the infield, but he has been working out for teams as a center fielder and is expected to sign as an outfielder.

In his final season in Cuba playing for Ciego De Avila in 2012-13, Castillo hit just .250/.352/.342 in 43 games. It was an uncharacteristically poor season for Castillo, who in 2011-12 hit .332/.395/.545 in 420 plate appearances with 16 home runs, 32 walks, 42 strikeouts and a league-leading 28 doubles.

Castillo’s international tournament exposure had been limited since November 2012, when he travelled to Taiwan and Japan for an exhibition series with the team Cuba would end up sending to the World Baseball Classic last year in March. Castillo was left off the WBC roster, however, and before Castillo left Cuba, he had been suspended for trying to defect from Cuba.

His best showing at an international tournament came in October 2011 at the World Cup in Panama. Castillo made the all-tournament team by leading the World Cup in batting average and slugging with a .512/.524/.854 slash line in 10 games, going 21-for-41 with two home runs, two triples and four doubles.

While it is still far too early to predict where Castillo will sign, the Baltimore Orioles and the Los Angeles Dodgers are among the clubs that have reportedly scouted him recently.

I don't think Castillo has the star power of other Roc Nation clients but this is just a start for the agency getting into 'international waters'.  

Magglio Ordonez's son taken by Tigers in MLB draft

The Detroit Tigers picked a familiar name in the MLB draft Saturday. The team reached back to it's recent past and took the son of playoff hero Magglio Ordonez in the 38th round of the draft, who also goes by the same name.

For those that remember, the elder Ordonez hit the game winning home run to send the Tigers to the 2006 World Series.  His son is a senior at American Heritage High School in Plantation, Florida  and was drafted with other sons with major league ties. Sons of Bobby Bonilla, Cal Ripken Jr., Mariano Rivera, Lenny Dykstra, Paul Byrd, Charlie Leibrandt and Benito Santiago.

The younger Ordonez will have the chance to climb the ladder and make it to the majors on his own merit.