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Show 8 Thursday, September 11,2008 SPORTS www.dailyutahchronicle.com Football Utes fill vacancies in defensive line Christopher Kamrani ASST. SPORTS EDITOR The cards have been reshuffled for the Utes' defensive line. After defensive tackles Kenape Eliapo and Lei Talamaivo sustained indefinite injuries in the first two weeks of the season, the question heading into this week against Utah State was: Who's going to play on the line? Well, you can mark down ends Paul Kruger and Koa Misi as definites. Head coach Kyle Whittingham mentioned earlier in the week that there was a possibility that the cards could be shuffled and players could change positions to fill the holes on defense. Playing sidekick to senior Greg Newman will be a the trio of Aaron Tonga, Derrick Shelby and true freshman Sealver Siliaga. "It's looking like we just have a rotation," Whittingham said. "We're going to leave the (defensive) ends as is." To accommodate the changes to the defensive line, Shelby, who is a natural defensive end, has been moved inside. David Kruger, Paul's younger brother, will be moved from backup defensive tackle and moved to the end position. From there, it's unclear whether he will remain in his redshirt year or help fill the void of Utah's early-season injuries. While the Utes are currently pencil-thin at defensive end, the focus strictly moves toward Utah State this Saturday. Despite constant talks of how the Oregon offense put up an astounding 688 yards on the Aggies, the Utes remain steadfast on utilizing their strengths as they gear up for their trip to Logan. "It's just a game," running back Darrell Mack said. "You just gotta go out there and win. You can't underestimate no team. We're gonna be ready, so it's just as important as any other game." The highlight of the fourth quarter last week against UNLV was an amazing toss to Jereme Brooks for a 32-yard touchdown, and it didn't come from Brian Johnson. Everyone knows of the Matt Asiata rollout and toss, but it began to conjure up thoughts that perhaps Johnson had sustained an injury. There were two passes thrown in the fourth against the Rebels—Asiata's and Johnson's 13-yard toss to Colt Sampson. Those rumors can be laid to bed as Johnson looked as sharp as possible Wednesday in practice. While Johnson remains healthy, the Aggies will be the second team facing the Utes this season with a duality at quarterback. Senior Sean Setzer and sophomore change-up quarterback Diondre Borel will play Saturday at Romney Stadium, but head coach Brent Guy has declined to name his starter until game time. Coming off a one-game absence due to a hamstring injury, starting THIEN SOKflhe toilf Utah (hronkte After a few early season injuries, Utah has had to shuffle some players to fill holes in the defensive line. free safety Robert Johnson is amped and ready to hit the field, but couldn't help but look back at the UNLV game with some despair. Last year, Johnson was coming off a National Defensive Player of the Week performance against UCLA, but was hurt during the road loss to UNLV. "It was all-the-way frustrating," Johnson said in reference to sitting out last week. "I almost dressed up the second half. We got the win and that's what matters, that's my revenge." Johnson was adamant in relaying See FOOTBALL Page 10 Football Crosscountry DiGrazia leads cross country Living in a fantasy world: Football makes work fun T James Boehly STAFF WRITER For years, the U cross country team has traveled south to participate in rival BYU's Autumn Classic. This year, head coach Kyle Kepler decided to forgo the trip to Provo in hopes of keeping his team fresh. "I planned these early season meets to try to mix and match and find out what our best lineup was", Kepler said. "After Utah State, I felt like we needed some more training time." After a week of rest, the team feels more prepared as it heads to Fort Collins, Colo., for the Colorado State Classic. Kepler and the Utes are hopeful they can get the same kind of performance they got out of Chelsea DiGrazia that they witnessed in Logan. At the Utah State Open two weeks ago, the main headline for the U was runner DiGrazia, who finished first in the 5;kilometer run. For DiGrazia, this was the first time in her entire collegiate career that she's taken gold in an event. "It was pretty exciting because I've never won a cross country meet," said DiGrazia. "It was a great feeling." DiGrazia, a senior from Elko, Nev., didn't run cross country competitively in high, school but instead played soccer and used track to help her condition. Her time of 17 minutes 57.2 seconds was the first time she has broken 18 minutes at that distance, but she admits it probably wasn't quite a 5K. "It was shorter, more like three miles," DiGrazia said. Either way, her first-place finish was instrumental in the Utes' third-place overall finish in the team's opening meet of the year. "For someone who never ran high school cross country, this is a pretty amazing feat," Kepler said. . •< \ '. COURTESY UTAH ATHLETICS Chelsea DiGraziafinishedfirstat the Utah State open this year, a career first. Utah hopes to finish strong as they head to Fort Collins, CO. DiGrazia joined the U's cross country and track team as a walkon after being impressed with the team's physical fitness program. By the end of her freshman year, DiGrazia had established herself as one of the best runners on the team. After a redshirt season in 2004, DiGrazia was one of the top Ute runners in every cross country meet she ran during 2005. In 2006, however, a joint injury forced DiGrazia to miss much of the season. Before that, DiGrazia fractured her hip during her freshman year, making her first-place finish that much more rewarding. "I've had a lot of injuries," DiGrazia said. "Whenever you come back from injuries and win a race it's a good feeling." It wasn't until last year that her career picked up again. DiGrazia had a breakout season with the track and field team as she qualified for the NCAA Regionals in the 1500-meter run. Combine that with her first-place finish at the Utah State Open and the pressure will be on DiGrazia to emerge as one of the leaders and pace setters for the team in every race. "Now it's kind of like pressure for me to go into the races to lead the team," DiGrazia said. "There's kind of that expectation." That pressure will start as DiGrazia tries to use the momentum of the Colorado State Classic this weekend. "It's going to be hard because Colorado State has tough girls on their team," DiGrazia said. "It's See DIGRAZIA Page 10 he worst thing in the entire world has happened. No, I'm not talking about John McCain choosing a hockey mom and causing old white people to dance badly. I'm not talking about the hurricane alphabet ripping one by one through the southern coasts either. I'm talking about Tom Brady. He's out for the entire season. My fantasy football first-round pick is a bust. A friend picked up Matt Cassel—New England's new starter—just to be spiteful. The unproven backup now taunts me from the bench along with all the other unused quarterbacks. The only way to save my season is to get lucky, do research and cost my company thousands of dollars doing it. It's the American way. Yes, I hope my boss doesn't read this, but the majority of my fantasy football time is spent between projects at the office. Fll be nerding out jock-style during my 15-minute breaks, I'll be leaving my desk to discuss trade options with the guy in accounting and I might even read stat sheets while sitting on the office John. I'm a desperate man. Study after study will tell you that China has gained on the United States purely through the birth of fantasy football. A recent study by Challenger, Gray and Christmas, a Chicago-based firm, estimates losses of as much as $7.4 billion during football season. This is based on the Fans of all ages enjoy playing fantasy football with friends and co-workers but this weeks season ending injury of Tom Brady is disappointing to many. NICK PAPPAS average worker and fantasy owner spending 10 minutes a day managing his or her team. First off, their numbers are wrong. I spend far more than 10 minutes managing my team. Second, the study is based on the assumption that if these workers weren't looking for a prospect wide receiver they'd be running around the office creating dollar bills with their minds. Let's be honest, technological advancements have made the average worker more efficient, not lazy. Take any average corporate drone, tell him to complete a project by the end of the day, and he'll finish in two hours and spend six playing Peggie, filling out Sudokus, or, heaven forbid, perusing the free agent market on ESPN.com. I wonder how much smokers cost the company each time they go out in the cold to die slowly? Where are those reports? How about the old fellow whose entire diet consists of fiber products? He seems to be spending a lot of time awayfromhis desk. Companies everywhere are cracking down on fantasy sports. While my office already blocks MySpace, Facebook and anything with streaming video, I wait anxiously for the day I go to Yahoo Sports and see the dreaded blue screen. Thankfully, it will never happen. The managers love Fantasy Football, too. Everyone does. And that's the difference between China and America. A happy worker is a productive worker. The day you take away all the joy from your office to feed the monster of productivity is the day we lose our souls. It's the equivalent of taking the names of citizens and turning them into numbers. We are not numbers, and should not be treated as such. Now, would anyone like to trade a quarterback for Chad Ocho Cinco? n.pappas@chronicle.utah.edu |
