HottyToddy.com’s Daily Ole Miss Sports Roundup

HottyToddy.com is giving readers a roundup of all the commentary and information about the Ole Miss Rebels from various publications around the Web.

Readers will be able to check out the latest information in a single post every day throughout the year. Here at HottyToddy.com, we are doing all the leg work to find the information that people may want to hear about Ole Miss sports.

Today’s roundup features stories from SEC Network and Ole Miss Sports.

SEC Schools Take Control of SEC Network Programming July 18-31

For the second year, SEC Network is turning over its control room to the 14 Southeastern Conference schools for a two-week stretch. Beginning Monday, July 18, each school will exclusively program 24-hours of the network with classic games, films, ESPN original content and school-produced content.

Some of this year’s original content includes: Catching up with the Commodores (Vanderbilt), The Burning Desire (Texas A&M), Big Blue Review (Kentucky), #MizzouMade Stories (Missouri), Being Bret Bielema (Arkansas), This is Auburn (Auburn), Eye on the Gators (Florida), Kirby Smart All Access (Georgia), Relentless (Mississippi State), The Season (Ole Miss), USC: No Limits (South Carolina), VFL Films (Tennessee) and a Season of Excellence (Alabama).

SEC schools are heavily involved in producing the more than 1,000 SEC Network + events streamed annually on WatchESPN, SECNetwork.com and the ESPN app. Every campus has at least one control room, fibered sports facilities and a bureau cam room. This year, more than 350 students gained national television experience contributing to those on-campus productions.

During the SEC Network Takeover the schools have the opportunity to create an entire day of greatest moments. Each school’s appointed date – drafted at random during The Paul Finebaum Show on May 17 (see video) – and self-determined schedule can be found below:

• July18 – Vanderbilt (schedule)
• July 19 – Texas A&M (schedule)
• July 20 – Kentucky (schedule)
• July 21 – LSU (schedule)
• July 22 – Missouri (schedule)
• July 23 – Arkansas (schedule)
• July 24 – Auburn (schedule)
• July 25 – Florida (schedule)
• July 26 – Georgia (schedule)
• July 27 – Mississippi State (schedule)
• July 28 – Ole Miss (schedule)
• July 29 – South Carolina (schedule)
• July 30 – Tennessee (schedule)
• July 31 – Alabama (schedule)

In addition to taking over the television show, SEC Network’s social handles will be devoted each day to the appropriate school.

Courtesy of SEC and ESPN

Kelly Named to Davey O’Brien Award Trophy Watch List

Chad Kelly
Photo by John Bowen

Ole Miss quarterback Chad Kelly was named to the watch list for the Davey O’Brien Award, an honor given to the National Quarterback of the Year, the Davey O’Brien Foundation announced Thursday morning (July 14). The senior is one of 30 on the watch list featuring the best quarterbacks in the country.

This is the second watch list featuring Kelly this preseason. The Rebel quarterback also found himself on the watch list for the Maxwell Award (July 5).

In his first season on campus, Kelly led Ole Miss to its first 10-win season since 2003 as the Rebels defeated the likes of Alabama, LSU and Mississippi State before taking down Oklahoma State in the 2016 Allstate Sugar Bowl.

Following a breakout 2015 campaign, Kelly enters his senior season as one of the nation’s top quarterbacks. Last year, he broke 14 single-season school records, including total offense (4,542 yards), completion percentage (65.1), passing efficiency (155.9), 300-yard passing games (8) and touchdowns responsible for (41). The Buffalo, New York, native’s offensive output was the third-highest in Southeastern Conference history, behind only the 2012 and 2013 seasons by Johnny Manziel. Completing 298 passes for 4,042 yards and 31 touchdowns, all program bests, Kelly became the third SEC quarterback to throw for more than 4,000 yards in a season.

Compiled by a subset of the Davey O’Brien National Selection Committee, this year’s list was selected based on player performance during the previous year and expectations heading into the 2016 college football season. All nominees are required to have previously started at least one game at their current institution.

Nearly half (14) of the players on the watch list are seniors, while 11 juniors and five sophomores round out the contingent. Among leagues, the Big 12 Conference and Big Ten Conference lead the way with five nominees each, followed by the Pac-12 Conference and American Athletic Conference with four apiece.

Sixteen semifinalists for the award will be named on Thursday, Nov. 10. From that list, the Foundation and the Selection Committee will announce the three finalists on Tuesday, Nov. 22. The 2016 Davey O’Brien Award winner will be announced live Thursday, Dec. 8 on The Home Depot College Football Awards.

The 2016 season marks the 10th year that fans will be invited to participate in the voting process on www.voteobrien.org. Results from the Davey O’Brien Fan Vote will be combined with the ballots from the Selection Committee. Fan voting, which accounts for five percent of the total balloting, will begin on Tuesday, Sept. 6.

The Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award is a member of the National College Football Awards Association (NCFAA) which encompasses the most prestigious awards in college football. The 22 awards boast over 722 years of tradition-selection excellence. Visit www.NCFAA.org to learn more.

The members of the NCFAA are unveiling their preseason watch lists over a 12-day period this month. Seventeen of the association’s 22 awards select a preseason watch list and the NCFAA has spearheaded a coordinated effort to promote each award’s preseason candidates. Following is the complete 2016 preseason watch list calendar:

Tues., July 5: Bednarik Award / Maxwell Award
Wed., July 6: Mackey Award / Rimington Trophy
Thurs., July 7: Lou Groza Award / Ray Guy Award
Fri., July 8: Bronko Nagurski Trophy / Outland Trophy
Mon., July 11: Jim Thorpe Award
Tues., July 12: Butkus Award / Rotary Lombardi Award
Wed., July 13: Biletnikoff Award / Wuerffel Trophy
Thurs, July 14: Davey O’Brien Award / Doak Walker Award
Fri., July 15: Walter Camp Award / Paul Hornung Award

For the latest updates on Ole Miss Football, follow the team on Twitter (@OleMissFB),  Facebook (Facebook.com/OleMissFootball) and Instagram (olemissfb).

2016 Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List

Tommy Armstrong Jr. (Nebraska, Sr., Cibolo, Texas)

J.T. Barrett (Ohio State, Jr., Wichita Falls, Texas)

C.J. Beathard (Iowa, Sr., Franklin, Tenn.)

Jake Browning (Washington, So., Granite Bay, Calif.)

Joshua Dobbs (Tennessee, Sr., Alpharetta, Ga.)

Dane Evans (Tulsa, Sr., Sanger, Texas)

Luke Falk (Washington State, Jr., Logan, Utah)

Quinton Flowers (USF, Jr., Miami, Fla.)

Skyler Howard (West Virginia, Sr., Fort Worth, Texas)

Brad Kaaya (Miami, Jr., Los Angeles, Calif.)

Chad Kelly (Ole Miss, Sr., Buffalo, N.Y.)

DeShone Kizer* (Notre Dame, Jr., Toledo, Ohio)

Taylor Lamb (Appalachian State, Jr., Calhoun, Ga.)

Mitch Leidner (Minnesota, Sr., Lakeville, Minn.)

Wes Lunt (Illinois, Sr., Rochester, Ill.)

Patrick Mahomes II (Texas Tech, Jr., Whitehouse, Texas)

Tanner Mangum* (BYU, So., Eagle, Idaho)

Baker Mayfield (Oklahoma, Jr., Austin, Texas)

Nick Mullens (Southern Miss, Sr., Hoover, Ala.)

Josh Rosen (UCLA, So., Manhattan Beach, Calif.)

Mason Rudolph (Oklahoma State, Jr., Rock Hill, S.C.)

Cooper Rush (Central Michigan, Sr., Charlotte, Mich.)

Seth Russell (Baylor, Sr., Garland, Texas)

Brett Rypien (Boise State, So., Spokane, Wash.)

Anu Solomon (Arizona, Jr., Las Vegas, Nev.)

Brent Stockstill (Middle Tennessee, So., Murfreesboro, Tenn.)

Zach Terrell (Western Michigan, Sr., Fort Wayne, Ind.)

P.J. Walker (Temple, Sr., Elizabeth, N.J.)

Greg Ward Jr. (Houston, Sr., Tyler, Texas)

Deshaun Watson (Clemson, Jr., Gainesville, Ga.)

Courtesy of Ole Miss Sports

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