Nichol a good fit for Spartans

[oupride]

May 21, 2008

Dantonio on Nichol: 'It's a Good Fit'

Jim Comparoni
www.SpartanMag.com

EAST LANSING - Michigan State coach Mark Dantonio held a media briefing at 11 a.m. at the Clara Bell Smith Center, today.

He held the meeting in order to make a statement about quarterback Keith Nichol's transfer to Michigan State from Oklahoma and answer questions.

Nichol will enroll this summer at Michigan State, sit out a year as a transfer, and have sophomore eligibility in the fall of 2009.

Dantonio was asked about redshirt freshman quarterback Nick Foles' plans to transfer from Michigan State. Foles' father has went on record as saying that his son will transfer from Michigan State.

Dantonio would take no questions on the Foles situation. But Dantonio isn't conceding anything, in terms of a final decision from Foles. Dantonio spoke in terms of having four scholarship quarterbacks for August, and continued to compliment Foles as a player.

He said he looks forward to seeing Foles face-to-face in the near future. He said no meeting has been scheduled.

Foles is in Texas with his family, having finished spring semester earlier this month. Foles plans to come back to East Lansing next week to collect his belongings. A meeting is expected to take place at that time.

"I would expect he will be back," Dantonio said.

Be back?

"Be back for summer school or to talk," Dantonio said.

Sources close to the Foles family say there are no plans to reconsider and he is definitely planning to transfer.

As for Nichol, Dantonio said he wanted to get to know Nichol more as a person before making a decision as to whether to officially pursue him as a transfer and offer a scholarship. They met on Saturday and had a long talk during his visit.

"I wanted to sit down and see where he was as a person," Dantonio said. "I thought that was crucial to this decision.

"I found him to be a very sincere young man. He is a humble young man. He was concerned how the other quarterbacks (on the team) felt (about him transferring), and concerned about his teammates."

Dantonio continued: "I felt very good about him as a person. And I had talked with his high school coach a number of times in the past and he felt strongly about Keith.

"It's a good fit. We are excited about it, but it is just one step."

Dantonio said he felt it was his job to make the decision to add a talented player like Nichol to the fold for future competition at the quarterback position.

"We feel four is the magic number. You need to have four quarterbacks on scholarship.

"Kirk Cousins does some things exceptionally well, as does Nick Foles," Dantonio said.

Dantonio acknowledged that having three quarterbacks in the same class did present some challenges.

Dantonio said he spoke with Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops about Nichol. Dantonio describes Stoops, a fellow Ohio native, as a long-time friend.

"They didn't want him to leave," Dantonio said of Stoops and Oklahoma. "They didn't want to lose him. They still regarded him as the quarterback of the future."

Dantonio said he asked Stoops about Nichol's competitiveness and his toughness. Everything checked out positively.

As for Nichol's playing ability, Dantonio said he had seen recruiting film in the past. Nichol attended camp at Cincinnati prior to his junior year in high school. The Bearcats offered a scholarship before John L. Smith and Michigan State did.

Dantonio said current running backs coach Dan Enos was relied upon for evaluation and background information on Nichol. Enos was quarterbacks coach at Michigan State when Nichol was originally recruited by the Spartans, and when Nichol committed to MSU in the summer of 2005. Enos worked with Nichol extensively at a number of summer camps.

"He has a live arm, explosive," Dantonio said of Nichol. "He has great ability to run and improvise. He's a proven winner, like all of the quarterbacks who are here."

I wish him the best.

[OU_Sooners75]

Good luck Keith Nichol. Make the best of it young man.

[soonerfan28]

I hope he wins the job in 09' and they win the Big 10.

[oupride]

Here's the next article...


May 21, 2008

Jim Comparoni
SpartanMag.com Publisher

EAST LANSING - The following is a transcript from Mark Dantonio's Wednesday press briefing regarding Keith Nichol's transfer to Michigan State:

Opening statement:
"First of all, I just wanted to welcome everybody here. One of the main reasons here is to announce that Keith Nichol has decided to transfer back to Michigan State. We are very, very excited for Keith and for his family, and for the entire MSU family.

"Bob Stoops has been a lifelong friend with me, since probably going back to the '80s. He had the opportunity to go to Oklahoma, which is a great place. He has decided to make that decision to transfer back to Michigan State and we welcome him.

"He is a young man that, and you know as much as I do, and probably more, in terms of what he has been able to do here in the state of Michigan, passing for over 6,500 yards in his career with I think 76 touchdowns, and running for 3,100-plus yards and 50-plus touchdowns. Probably most important for me is going 33-3 as a quarterback at Lowell and winning championships, etc.

"I think he was the player of the year two times, and a tremendous competitor. I think quarterback is about leadership on the field. It takes presence. He will have an opportunity to compete for a position in the spring of '09.

"Right now we are going in to '08 and really I think the quarterback position, as much as anything on the scout team, is as valuable as anything. Our situation is we have four quarterbacks. Connor Dixon transferring out. We felt like we needed to be able to have four on scholarship. I have always tried to maintain that four was the magic number because I wanted our players to have an opportunity to compete for a position and not overload that position or stack it.

"I know it presents a little bit of an issue in that the players are all at the same age level there, but I feel very, very confident that they are all good people. They are all young men that aspired to play in that stadium across the road, and you need to compete for that position. You can't back in to any position at this level of competition.

"I guess we need to talk about some other things as we go through this. I think the transition area, as a freshman in college, that transition is very, very difficult as an 18-year-old person. Whether you are playing football at the major college level or Division III football or just going to school there, I think it is very, very difficult. And there are a lot of changes that take place with a young person as they are 17 and 18 years of age. Decisions have to be made and time spent and lessons are learned throughout the process. But I do think it is a part of growing up for all of us in that time period in our life and it's tough. So it's no different when you come to Michigan State from a long ways away, or come here from 50 miles away, or go the opposite direction, there are going to be difficult times ahead of you and it is a part of growing up.

"So we are thrilled to have him back, thrilled to have our quarterbacks on campus here in a very competitive situation.

"Where we're at right now as a program, we are involved in summer camps, summer training and summer school. Our Bottom Line conditioning program starts June 2. So all our players are here currently taking summer school, with the exception of a couple of young men who will be coming here at the end of this month.

"Arthur Ray's situation: I met with him last week. He is doing very well. He will have surgery either the 29th of May or June 12th. I hope that everybody keeps him and their family in their prayers. We will continue to try and raise funds to help in that area. But he is doing well and he has a big surgery coming up quite soon.

"They are basically rebuilding the bone in that area, so he is sort of starting over from that standpoint. He will be able to come back to classes in August and we are looking forward to that. And his attitude continues to be tremendous and he will work through this. But it may be another year before he is able to play football. That's his goal and that's his vision and we share that with him."

Did you anticipate that this surgery would be happening, originally?
"No. We anticipated that he would be moving along. He came back to school here but developed a bone infection and that needed to be dealt with. So they had to go back in and remove things and basically sort of start over. He is cancer-free, which is the good thing, but they have to start over in his rehabilitation of that lower part of his leg."

"With that, I will try to answer some questions as we go through this.

"The last thing: I would be remiss if I didn't say that recruiting is ongoing. It occurs throughout the entire year. We are always going to try to bring players in, championship-type players, to create a foundation for this program to take the needed steps to take it back to national prominence. We have some commitments thus far, outstanding players. We will have outstanding players on campus this summer in our camps and just coming for visits. So it is an ongoing process. We will address the areas of concern and move the process forward as we try to get better in everything that we do."

Nick Foles' dad said this morning that they have asked for a transfer, is he going to be moving on …
"We will make that decision when we come face-to-face. But this is not about another person right now. This is about bringing someone in here additionally and we will deal with that issue separately."

When Keith first contacted you that you were leaving Oklahoma, can you take us through your thoughts and that process?
"I had not had a chance to meet him prior to, although I did meet him at the University of Cincinnati when he was coming out of his sophomore year.

"It all happened very, very quickly. Ironically, he made the decision to leave the same day that Connor Dixon decided to leave here. No communication at that point in time. But obviously they expressed interest in coming to Michigan State. He came here this past weekend. Prior to that, I wanted to be able to sit down with him and see who he was as a person. That was critical to this decision. And I felt he was a very sincere person, a very good person, a young man that is trying to move his life forward. And at that point in time we started looking into the decision as to whether we would afford him this opportunity.

"He came for an official visit this past weekend. I informed our other quarterbacks of the decision on Thursday prior to it, and he came on the visit on Saturday. He spent about six hours here and went home. And he made the decision yesterday to come.

"So that's pretty much the time line. I've tried to be above-board with everybody that we've dealt with, and be honest and forthcoming. But these decisions involve a lot of people, and I understand that, and I had very candid talks with everybody involved.

"In the end, you have four quarterbacks on scholarship. I looked at the situation with Connor leaving that we would have two guys going into the spring of '09 competing for a position. And I didn't think that that was enough, just to have two guys on scholarship in the spring, with the prospect of one guy possibly getting hurt along the way or something of that nature. So I thought it was the best thing for the program and we made the decision to do that."

How do you see Nichol fitting into your system?
"First of all, we always take the approach offensively that we want to feature players, and think about players rather than plays. So what we do offensively really depends on who we have to do it with. Certainly, he brings some different aspects to the table. That doesn't mean we are going to change our offense. Brian Hoyer is our quarterback right now, and Kirk Cousins does some things exceptionally well, as does Nick Foles, and as we move it through the process we will make decisions.

"I think that quarterbacks need to have escapability. They need to be able to take a bad play and make it a good play, regardless of whether they do that with their strength, their height, their wherewithal, with their feet, with their decision making; however they do it, they need to be able to take a bad play when we get a breakdown and make it a good one. That is how we will always evaluate quarterback play.

"We will fit the offense to the player as we move forward in the program, just like we are doing right now."

Can you talk about some of the strengths you've seen on film of Nichol?
"I looked at film way back in the recruiting process. Obviously he has a great ability to run and improvise. They obviously used him on certain quarterback-oriented runs. He has a strong arm. He has good escapability. He is a proven winner, like all of our quarterbacks who have come here. I want to make sure everybody understands that. Like Brian Hoyer, who played for St. Ignatius, an outstanding program. Like Nick Foles, who played for an outstanding program and a proven winner. Like Kirk Cousins, a proven winner. And that's the important thing that we have to understand here, that the competition, that's just the way it is. There is going to be competition in everything we do. And that's healthy for the program."

Did you talk at length with him about what went on at Oklahoma?
"I talked to Coach Stoops. Just like everything: You're a freshman, you come in and you have high hopes and it's more difficult than you probably imagined. I think he did a nice job there. They didn't want to lose him.

"I asked Bobby a couple of things in terms of competition: does he compete? What about his toughness? And those things were resounding in that area. He has a live arm, an extremely strong arm, and some other great things were said. I'm sure they felt like he was the quarterback of the future."

Film is not readily available, but you had a guy on staff in Dan Enos that watched him in camp and watched him for 18 or 24 months. Did you lean on that at all?

"Yeah, we did. I talked to Coach Enos about it, because he was in camp. He had great things to say about him, as he did in the recruitment of Kirk Cousins when he had him in camp. So as I said earlier, it's a competitive situation, as it should be. I think it's a good situation. When you're sitting here, looking at our program, I think it is a positive thing for our program. We are very, very excited about it and I just want to reiterate that we are excited about every single player that we bring here.

"When I sit across the table and talk to them, I have to ask myself, are they the type of people we want in the program as a person? Are they the type of people that are capable of winning a championship here? If the answer is yes then we have an obligation to the program to recruit that individual."

On the promises that are made in recruiting:
"There are no promises made when you come here. Players have an opportunity to get on the field and prove what they can do. My goal for every single player here is very simple: It's for them to graduate, it's to play in bowl games, January 1 and BCS bowl games, and to impact this community. It's never to throw for 3,000 yards, it's never to run for 1,000 or catch for 1,000. those things will happen because we are successful.

"So basically what Keith and I talked about was his happiness as a person and all of the things that come into Michigan State University and the things that we had to offer, not just as a football program, but as a university family. And I think the prospects of being a little bit closer to home and the fact that he grew up a Michigan State fan obviously helped immensely. And that's where it sits."

He verbally committed to MSU before you came here. And then after you got the job, he decided to change his mind and he never met with you after you came on board. Did you have to put any of that aside in your own mind that a couple of years ago this kid didn't want to talk to us, and now he does?
"No, because Mark Dantonio had met him on the football field at a camp for five minutes one time. There is no obligation for anybody to come here. There is no obligation to someone who has committed to a past staff. I just felt like everybody needs to do what they need to do. I said all along that when I recruit someone, it's a long-term recruitment and if they come here I want to have a relationship for the rest of their lives with that individual, I don't care if he plays a snap or plays 10,000 snaps, we want a relationship, long-term. And the second part of that is if we recruit a person, we do it with a tremendous amount of respect to him, for him and his family, and I think we did that. We allowed him to make a decision. We didn't pressure. We didn't keep banging on him. We did it with self-respect for us as people and also as respect for him and his family.

"So there has never been any type of bad feelings or anything of that nature. Everybody has an opportunity and a right to make their own decisions and they shouldn't be held captive by anybody."

Did he say that he felt bad about that or anything?
"No, we didn't even talk about that."

When you met with him on Saturday was there one thing that he said that maybe jumped out at you that this kid is not only committed to us but he is the championship-type kid that we are looking for?
"I think that he is a humble young man. He has a good head on his shoulders. He was concerned about how the other quarterbacks felt. He was concerned about how his teammates would feel. You can tell that touched his heart. I felt very good about him as a person. I talked to his high school coach a number of times prior to that. So I had a feel for him as a person come walking in the door.

"He was just being him and I was just being myself. And it's a good fit. It affords him an opportunity to come here and have an opportunity to sort of blend in. It will be a little bit of a healing time for him. He will be able to watch his brother play his senior year at Lowell, which I think will be an exciting thing for the entire family. I just think there were a lot of positives.

"So we are excited about it, but understanding that this is just the first step. He has a lot of steps to climb, just like our other young quarterbacks. They are freshmen. I don't think you ever judge a freshman by what they have done academically, athletically and sometimes socially, because they are young and sometimes people make mistakes and there are lessons to be learned as you go through life."

Did you talk about what he feels he is better at now after one year at Oklahoma? Did you get that deep into things?
"No, we didn't get that deep into things. I didn't ask him too much about Oklahoma. I just think that that's his business, and it is more about looking forward."

Have you ever had three players in the same class before?
"I haven't been a head coach that long. At Cincinnati we brought in a JC player to compete with another guy. Probably looking back, if this had not happened we probably would have had to recruit a mid-season JC player, just to have four quarterbacks in the system and three in the spring. I really felt strongly about having three in the spring.

"But this is where we're at.

"The only thing we talked about was the feelings of the other people. I feel I owe everybody an explanation and complete honesty, and that's what I'm going to give them. Our players need to compete for the position."

If you go into fall with only two scholarship quarterbacks eligible, do you look to someone like incoming safety recruit Charles Burrell, a high school quarterback, to take some snaps? Have you gotten that far along?
"We haven't really gotten that far along yet. So we will just try to be positive."

Do you have a meeting scheduled with Nick Foles?
"Not at this point, no. I would expect that he would be back."

Be back?
"That he will be coming back here for summer school or to talk."

How about the football building, how is it coming along?
"We are 60 days out, guys. Within 60 days. The new weight room is being constructed now and that will bring it to 16,000 square feet and that will be done in October. We are 60 days from being in that building and I think July 27th might be the actual day, or maybe the 21st that we move in there. But we are moving along and it is going to be a great facility and it will be state-of-the-art."

[yermom]

hard to blame him, really

[stoops the eternal pimp]

First article:
"They didn't want him to leave," Dantonio said of Stoops and Oklahoma. "They didn't want to lose him. They still regarded him as the quarterback of the future."

second article:
"I'm sure they felt like he was the quarterback of the future."

So in the first one its stated like Stoops said he was the QB of the future..in the second one it sounds like it was The MSU coach's opinion...not important but when I read the first comment I was thinking "If they thought he was the QB of the future, how come he couldn't get the backup role from Joey H?"

[yermom]

because Joey H is the backup of the future

[stoops the eternal pimp]

ohh......

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/5228/yermomku2.png

[soonerfan28]

because Joey H is the backup of the future

Isn't he a senior and does anybody have any idea how the QB situation will pan out over the next couple of years? Yes, I understand Sammy's the man, but after that or when he'll go pro, when Jones will get his shot?

[badger]

I think of all the talent we have lost to out-of-state schools. Tennessee steals a lot of Tulsa-area talent. So does Arkansas. Future first rounders, NFL stars, you name it. While we are sad they left their home state, we still wish them the best of luck.

HOWEVER, we probably never went to the extent that Michigan State fans went after they learned that Nichol would be de-committing and coming to Oklahoma. He was a traitor, he was a liar, he was leading them on, he's a bad person, etc.

I remember reading the comments of Sparty fans... they were very, very upset.

Perhaps years of prosperity in football has spoiled us into thinking that we can lose a few talented in-staters, because we'll always get more talent elsewhere. In Nichol's case, Mich State really needed him, because they were the third choice or worse for many in-state talents. Ohio State and Michigan were choice No. 1. Whichever school of those two wasn't No. 1 for top recruits was choice No. 2. Michigan State was No. 3 (or No. 4 behind Notre Dame if you were Catholic, No. 5 if you were Catholic but kept getting text messages from Illini Ron Zook, No. 6 if you were Catholic, received text messages from Ron Zook AND wanted to play for a program with the chance of going to the Rose Bowl, so you also like Wisconsin).

So, Nichol was that rare in-state recruit that wanted Sparty as much as Sparty wanted him.

Michigan State almost is like Aggie in a way. Aggie is the third choice or worse for in-state and area talent. Most recruits don't want to come to OSU. No, they want OU, Texas, or at least Texas A&M. If those schools don't want them, THEN they'll consider OSU. When a recruit comes out to say "I want OSU," Pokes everywhere embrace him. What would it be like if someone who said "I want OSU" from Oklahoma suddenly decommited and went to USC because they had more championships and a spot open for him to possibly become the starter?

So, Nichol made a lot of fans upset. I don't know if they'll be so open to him returning just yet... that is, until he leads Sparty past any of the teams they're used to getting spanked by. A win over Michigan or Ohio State (or even Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn State or Notre Dame) will endear him to Michigan State forever.

Until then... PUCKER, PUCKER, PUCKER!!

(if you get that reference, I may spek you)

[stoops the eternal pimp]

You havent spekked me in forever so I m gonna answer this one for Chris...

The MSU radio host who lost in on the air

[stoops the eternal pimp]

BTW, good for the kid doing what he wants to do...I won't say its a good move because who knows what will happen here and what will happen there but he definitely is giving himself a better chance of seeing the field...

However he is a 3rd string QB transferring....can't say that it really bothers me too much

[mfosterftw]

I talk the deputy sports editor for MSU's student paper on a regular basis (though not always about hockey). He never seemed to understand why Nichol came to Norman in the first place... but he's been in much better spirits since Nichol came back.

[Civicus_Sooner]

Looks like we (OU's staff) went out of our way to help this kid out. I've heard some say L. Jones, in terms of talent is a better QB for our system. It would suck to go from "Kid Nichol" to passed by at least two (sam and joey) and maybe even a true freshman, Jones.

[soonerfan28]

Looks like we (OU's staff) went out of our way to help this kid out. I've heard some say L. Jones, in terms of talent is a better QB for our system. It would suck to go from "Kid Nichol" to passed by at least two (sam and joey) and maybe even a true freshman, Jones.
Honestly, I can't wait to see Jones on the field and I'm hoping we blow people out so that he gets on the field. I know Halzle's the backup but I think they'll get him snaps or he'll take over the backup role. I think he can beat out Halzle with more knowledge of the playbook.

[Civicus_Sooner]

Honestly, I can't wait to see Jones on the field and I'm hoping we blow people out so that he gets on the field. I know Halzle's the backup but I think they'll get him snaps or he'll take over the backup role. I think he can beat out Halzle with more knowledge of the playbook.
I think he almost has to redshirt.

[soonerfan28]

I know but it would be nice.

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

when was the last time we had 4 QBs on scholarship?

[Civicus_Sooner]

when was the last time we had 4 QBs on scholarship?heh, I was thinking the same thing. We get walk ons that could earn schollys at other schools though.

We usually have at least 4 or 5 arms but usually one or two walk ons. Right?

[badger]

when was the last time we had 4 QBs on scholarship?

Hmmm... I remember a few times when we had four QB's that saw playing time in the same year...

There was a time when we had:
Jason White
Nate Hybl
Hunter Wall
Noah Allen

And then, there was that time not too long ago when we had a quarterback controversy... the controversy of "OMG A WHORN ON OUR ROSTER?!?!?!"

R**** B****
Paul Thompson
Tommy Grady
Hayes McLonghorn

So... were all four quarterbacks on scholly these two years? No idea. However, I distinctly remember them all being on our team at the same time and getting playing time, even if it was early in the season.

[OU-HSV]

Good luck KN

[OU_Sooners75]

So, Nichol made a lot of fans upset. I don't know if they'll be so open to him returning just yet... that is, until he leads Sparty past any of the teams they're used to getting spanked by. A win over Michigan or Ohio State (or even Wisconsin, Illinois, Penn State or Notre Dame) will endear him to Michigan State forever.


O'Rlly?

Of the schools you mentioned, MSU is...

(all records are the last ten meetings)
9-1 vs. Illinois
2-8 vs. Michigan
7-3 vs. Notre Dame
2-8 vs. Ohio State
3-7 vs. Penn State
3-7 vs. Wisconsin.

How can you really put Notre Dame and Illinois in the picture?

[jkm, the stolen pifwafwi]

Hmmm... I remember a few times when we had four QB's that saw playing time in the same year...

There was a time when we had:
Jason White
Nate Hybl
Hunter Wall
Noah Allen

And then, there was that time not too long ago when we had a quarterback controversy... the controversy of "OMG A WHORN ON OUR ROSTER?!?!?!"

R**** B****
Paul Thompson
Tommy Grady
Hayes McLonghorn

So... were all four quarterbacks on scholly these two years? No idea. However, I distinctly remember them all being on our team at the same time and getting playing time, even if it was early in the season.

1st set was in 2001 so almost a decade ago (2 of those 4 wouldn't last 4 months from the UNC game)

2nd set a) had a walkon b) grady didn't even make it a week into 2 a days

[sooneron]

HOWEVER, we probably never went to the extent that Michigan State fans went after they learned that Nichol would be de-committing and coming to Oklahoma. He was a traitor, he was a liar, he was leading them on, he's a bad person, etc.

I remember reading the comments of Sparty fans... they were very, very upset.



Well, they are quite the collective group of asshats up there with the suckeye fans and the mich st fans. Big Televen fans suck.

They friggin riot whenever they win something.

[boomersooner28]

Good luck Keith. Now go kick the poopoo outta Michigan and Ohio State.

[badger]

O'Rlly?

Of the schools you mentioned, MSU is...

(all records are the last ten meetings)
9-1 vs. Illinois
2-8 vs. Michigan
7-3 vs. Notre Dame
2-8 vs. Ohio State
3-7 vs. Penn State
3-7 vs. Wisconsin.

How can you really put Notre Dame and Illinois in the picture?

Ok, so how bout ND on there because PUCKER PUCKER PUCKER and Illini on there because they went to the Rose Bowl? Fair enough?

Oh, and jkm... I was just answering your question, so if its 2001, cool. You just asked, that's all.

as for Big 10 (yes, really 11) fans, they use a lot of curse words, drink a lot of beer, but they're too liberal to throw a punch, lol.

[soonerfan28]

Hmmm... I remember a few times when we had four QB's that saw playing time in the same year...

There was a time when we had:
Jason White
Nate Hybl
Hunter Wall
Noah Allen

And then, there was that time not too long ago when we had a quarterback controversy... the controversy of "OMG A WHORN ON OUR ROSTER?!?!?!"

R**** B****
Paul Thompson
Tommy Grady
Hayes McLonghorn

So... were all four quarterbacks on scholly these two years? No idea.
However, I distinctly remember them all being on our team at the same time and getting playing time, even if it was early in the season.

Whatever happened to Hunter Wall after Bob sent him packin'?

[Eddie Adams]

In 2004, we had four QBs:

Jason White
Paul Thompson
Tommy Grady
Brett Romar

Of course, this was because of White being granted a sixth year.

[badger]

Whatever happened to Hunter Wall after Bob sent him packin'?

Hmm... well, when you combine a...
http://www.realtownblogs.com/uploads/_hunter_HMCL0269.JPG
with a...
http://www.thebeijingguide.com/badaling/wall-snake.jpg
He rides one of these
http://norman.walsh.name/2003/06/18/images/truck.jpg
and then he...
http://www.comparestoreprices.co.uk/images/unbranded/h/unbranded-hipp-hopp-jumping-cushion.jpg
afterward he could be seen here:
http://www.amarillo.com/images/081905/34714_256.jpg
At West Texas A&M. Linky. (http://www.amarillo.com/stories/081905/wts_2590873.shtml)