Racer thrower

Murray State has landed a transfer quarterback from Marshall, Zach Barnard, who apparently was a hotshot in high school just down the road at Owensboro Catholic. Barnard redshirted for the Thundering Herd in 2005. With the Racers, he'll join a pair of senior signal callers, Ryne Salyer amd Ken Topps, who split time in 2005.

From the Murray press release:

He finished his career at Owensboro Catholic being named the Kentucky 2A Player of the Year after leading the Aces to the 2004 state championship game. He threw for a Kentucky high school single season record 4,654 yards in 04 which ranks as the 10^th best season in the nation. Barnard completed 283 of 430 passes including 52 touchdowns in 2004 and was a finalist for Kentucky Mr. Football, he also threw a touchdown pass in every game he started in high school, a string of 29 straight.

Here's the kicker ...

The folks at Jax State are hoping they've finally solved their kicking woes. After Junior Brett Rushing suffered through a tough 2005 season (hit 5 of 10 FG attempts and 75 percent of PATs), he was moved to holder for the Gamecocks' spring game, while JUCO signee Ryan Gale took over kicking duties with sophomore Zach Walden. Gale also was supposedly punting in place of Walden for the spring game.

Word on the GoJaxState.com forum is that Gale is no longer on the team. This item from the Rome (Ga.) News-Tribune has to be welcome news for the Gamecock faithful, then:

... Coosa head coach Chad Perry knew right away when he took over the Eagles’ program last year that he had something special in senior kicker Jorge Galvis.
After a strong prep career in both football and soccer, Galvis signed this week to play football at Jacksonville State University next year.
...
Galvis had a strong senior year for the 7-3 Eagles, converting all 26 of his PAT attempts and also connecting on six field goals. His 44 points were third on the team, and he also had 44 kickoffs for over 2,300 yards, with 15 of those kicks for touchbacks.

Sorry for the total lack of posts lately. Things should pick up as we approach the start of the season.

Pick of the litter

Cortland Finnegan is the OVC's only pick in the 2006 NFL Draft. The Tennessee Titans picked up Finnegan, a defensive back from Samford, in the seventh and final round, the 215th pick overall, according to GoTitans.com.

Finnegan was a monster for the Bulldogs both on special teams and in the backfield. In 2005, he had 15.1 yards on punt returns with a touchdown (first in the OVC), and 25.1 yards on kickoff returns (2nd in conference). He was fourth in the conference in tackles, with 8.9 per game.

A three-time All-American and three-time first-team All-OVC pick, Finnegan is the first Bulldog drafted by an NFL team since 1969, when Gary Fleming went to the Baltimore Colts in the seventh round, according to SamfordSports.com