Iowa State linebackers recognized nationally

 
It's a big day for seniors A.J. Klein and Jake Knott. The pair play as linebackers for the Iowa State Cyclones, rated second in the nation for linebackers by Lindy's College Football Preview, the only Big 12 school in the rankings. However, it gets more interesting for the duo. A.J. Klein was named the second best inside linebacker in the nation, after only Manti Te'o of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Jake Knott was named seventh best linebacker in the nation, as well.

Congrats, guys!


RANKINGS
Top 10 Linebacker Teams
1. Georgia
2. Iowa State
3. Alabama
4. Stanford
5. Wisconsin
6. Oregon
7. Penn State
8. Michigan State
9. Florida
10. USC

Top Inside Linebackers
1. Manti Te'o (Notre Dame)
2. A.J. Klein (Iowa State)
3. Chris Borland (Wisconsin)
4. Arthur Brown (Kansas State)
5. C.J. Mosley (Alabama)
6. Kevin Reddick (North Carolina)
7. Alec Ogletree (Georgia)

Top Outside Linebackers
1. Jarvis Jones (Georgia)
2. Gerald Hodges (Penn State)
3. Chase Thomas (Stanford)
4. Khaseem Greene (Rutgers)
5. Jonathan Brown (Illinois)
6. Mike Taylor (Wisconsin)
7. Jake Knott (Iowa State)

Coaching Spotlight: Tommy Tuberville, Texas Tech Red Raiders

Tuberville before his 100th career win - at that point he was coaching at Auburn

Thomas "Tommy" Tuberville isn't quite at the top yet, but he's in spitting distance.


In January 2010, Tuberville was named head coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders and, in January 2011, became the second coach in Texas Tech history to win a bowl game in his first year, the first in almost 60 years. Before coaching the Red Raiders, he coached at Ole Miss and Auburn University and is generally considered one of the best coaches both schools have ever had. In 2011, he was also named second vice president of the American Football Coaches Association and he'll move up to first vice president this year and president in 2013. However, Tuberville jokes his highest-profile activity was his brief appearance in The Blind Side.

Tuberville says he fell in love with his wife because she had no idea about football -- apparently it turned out well because they have two sons, Tucker and Troy.

Coaching Spotlight: Bo Pelini, Nebraska Cornhuskers

Photo from Creative Commons

Mark Pelini, nicknamed "Bo" after famous running back Bo Scott, has a career that went very, very well, very, very fast.

Pelini graduated from Cardinal Mooney High School (it has another famous alum - Bob Stoops of the Oklahoma Sooners) and played football at Ohio State University as a free safety where he earned a bachelor's degree in business marketing.

For his graduate degree, he studied sports management at Iowa State University where he was an assistant for Hayden Fry, but stopped after a year. He returned, instead, to coach at his old high school for a year, but was quickly picked up by the San Francisco 49ers, beginning as a scouting assistant but quickly being promoted up into Defensive Back Coach. In eight years he coached three NFL teams - the 49ers, the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers.

His time with the Nebraska Cornhuskers is actually the longest he's been with any one team at only four years. He coached as a Defensive Coach at both Oklahoma and Louisiana State University before becoming head coach at Nebraska. We certainly hope he'll stay with the Cornhuskers for a while yet, even if the Cornhuskers haven't stayed in the Big 12.