Chick-Fil-A Bowl President Gary Stokan announces a major Play It Smart initiative for Atlanta.

National Play It Smart Conference Generates Excitement and News

The National Football Foundation held its Annual National Play It Smart Conference, an intensive training session for the individuals responsible for the results in the organization's highly successful youth development program on July 26-29 in Atlanta, Ga.

Recent coverage in the national media about the program has included articles by the Pete Thamel of The New York Times (Click here), Eddie Timanus of USA Today
(Click here), and Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Constitution Journal (Click here).

Topics at the conference included counseling skills, building relationships, study skills, time management, drug awareness, parental involvement, data collection, college recruiting, financial aid, and the role of community service in developing student-athletes. Over 140 academic counselors from 85 different cities around the country gathered for the event.

In addition to the training, principal highlights included announcements that the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs (OJP) had increased its support of the program to $800,000 and that the Chick-Fil-A Bowl is providing $180,000 annually to ensure that all Atlanta public high schools are able to participate in the program. The Chick-fil-A Bowl is the first Play It Smart sponsor to fund and implement completely the program on a
district-wide basis in a single city. Other sponsors providing support for the event included The Coca-Cola Company and Under Armour Inc.

Some of the principal presenters and guest speakers included Steve Hatchell, president and CEO of the National Football Foundation & College Hall of Fame; Gary P. Stokan, president of the Atlanta Sports Council and the Chick-Fil-A Bowl; Len Stachitas, vice president, National Football Foundation and executive director of Play It Smart; Steve Robinson, senior vice president of marketing, Chick-fil-A, Inc.; Billett Owens-Ashford, director of health, physical education & athletics, Atlanta Public
Schools; Lisa Borders, president, Atlanta City Council; J. Robert Flores, administrator, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Programs, U.S. Department of Justice; Dr. Albert Petitpas, Ed.D., a leading sports psychologist in the field of athletic counseling from Springfield College in Massachusetts; Jason Johnson, fullback, University of Georgia and Play It Smart graduate from Dunbar HS in Chicago, Ill.

Two-Minute Drill

President Trey Johnston of the NFF Auburn Chapter is hosting the groups annual Membership Drive Barbecue on Aug. 9 at Jordan-Hare Stadium. The event has been a great method of fundraising and membership fulfillment in recent years.

Georgia Tech fans and friends attending the Yellow Jackets' game with Notre Dame on Sept. 1 can purchase tickets for a Friday night welcome reception and Saturday tailgate at the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend for $75 per person. Dodds Athletic Tours can be called directly at (866) 373-7372 for reservations and advance tickets for the social functions. Game tickets are sold out.

The Big Ten will likely discuss the addition of a 12th team over the next year... A record 836 media credentials were issued for last week's SEC Media Days event. 29 radio stations and a dozen TV satellite trucks also covered the event. It was reported that nearly 100 fans crammed into the lobby of the Winfrey Hotel at 6:00a.m.in anticipation of Alabama
coach Nick Saban's arrival...

The Insurance Office of America has made a $2 million unrestricted donation to UCF athletics... Ohio State's Woody Hayes Athletic Center, named for the NFF College Hall of Fame coach, features a renovated weight room, 78,000 square feet and even a chalkboard with the famed head coaches' notes and plays drawn. OSU also is in talks with a marketing group about hosting an inaugural "Gridiron Bash" on Apr. 18, 2008, in conjunction with the Buckeyes' spring tilt... Michigan and Notre Dame will take a series break after the 2011 meeting... Notre Dame and Oklahoma will play during the 2012 and '13 seasons...Baylor will play Notre Dame in 2012 at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas... Notre Dame will play Washington State in San Antonio's Alamodome October 31, 2009... Clemson has eclipsed 58,000 in season ticket sales to pass the previous mark of 57,626 in 1988... Illinois has sold a school-record 34,000 season tickets... Troy has scheduled Oklahoma State, LSU and Ohio State for 2008 and is looking for an additional home opponent... 2006 figures reveal that Georgia enthusiasts donated $21.3 million for the seating rights to purchase $13 million in football game tickets. The average annual athletics budget at a Southeastern Conference member is $58.7 million... Tennessee has joined Arkansas, Florida, LSU, and South Carolina in the SEC with a complete ban on smoking in football stadiums...

ESPN.com and ESPNU are running a series on fabled football rivalries and feature the Amherst-Williams' series this week. Williams leads the 123-year-old rivalry 68-48-5... Navy student-athletes and head coach Paul Johnson signed autographs and participated in a giveaway of two tickets for the 2007 Army-Navy contest in Baltimore prior to last Saturday night's Orioles-Yankees' outing at Baltimore's Camden Yards. Navy also entertained 300-plus youngsters at Monday's annual FanFest at Navy-Marine Stadium in Annapolis... Oklahoma State will invest another $28 million with alumnus Boone Pickens in an attempt to expand Boone Pickens Stadium. Construction of a new indoor practice facility will begin in December...

New Mexico will complete its $7 million indoor practice field and football facility in mid-August... North Texas will sports a new helmet look with a green "North Texas" spelled out on each side of white helmets in 2007... Vanderbilt is studying a remodeling plan for Vanderbilt Stadium to include new brick veneers and a "Brickyard" nickname to the 85-year-old facility... South Carolina (64), Georgia (56) and Alabama (55) closed 1 2-3 in SEC Freshman Academic Honor Roll student-athletes for 2006-07. The group required a composite 3.0 grade point average (4.0 scale)... UC Davis opens Aggie Stadium on Sept. 1 against Western Washington after playing home games from 1947-2006 at Toomey Field. The new stadium has competed phase-one of at least three total construction phases... Franklin & Marshall is preparing for the dedication of it new, state-of-the-art North Campus Athletic Field in August... Colorado State-Pueblo had $10 million approved for a 6,000-seat stadium on campus as the school begins football in 2008... A 32-student-athlete list of the nation's top tight ends comprises the preseason watch group for the John Mackey Award, presented annually by the Nassau County (N.Y.) Sports Commission. Navy student-athlete Jonathan Alvarado spent part of his summer duty at Camp Lejuene, N.C., as a helper calling in air strikes for fighter jets and warships during maneuvers... Oklahoma State DB Martel Van Zant was the first deaf student-athlete to attend Big 12 Conference media days in San Antonio last week. The Cowboys' starter spoke and took questions through an interpreter and said Texas had the loudest "feel" of any stadium in the Big 12... Texas Tech OT Rylan Reed eclipsed the school record for bench press with a 565-pound lift this summer. The 6-7, 315-pound former minor league pitcher in the Chicago White Sox organization has gained 55 pounds in the strength and conditioning program since coming to Tech in 2005... Nebraska director of athletics Steve Pederson has been granted a five-year contract extension...Thorr Bjorn has taken the reins as AD at Rhode Island...2007 NFF College Hall of Fame enshrine and Florida State head coach Bobby Bowden joins TCU head coach Gary Patterson as the Texas High School Coaches Association annual convention and Football Coaching School in Fort Worth, Texas, Monday and Tuesday... Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema will sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" during the famed seventh inning stretch at Wrigley Field in Chicago Monday... Head coach Turner Gill and several Buffalo student-athletes visited two YMCAs and local churches last week to promote the community theme "Positive Attitudes Equal The Right Choices" and UB football...

The Pacific-10 Conference has extended contracts for team selections in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl and the Sheraton Hawai'i Bowl through the 2009 seasons... The Big South Conference conducted its second Student-Athlete Leadership Weekend last week in Flat Rock, N.C., as more than 40 Big South student-athletes attended...The Rose Bowl has named Gina Chappin director of media. She was a 10-year veteran of operations and media at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl... ESPN, ESPNEWS and ESPNU will be providing live coverage of all 11 head coaches at Tuesday's Big Ten Conference Media Day from Chicago Tuesday in the 11 a.m.-2 p.m. (CDT) time slot... Warren Swain is the new football "voice" of the Ohio Bobcats... Tim Lewis will take over as public address announcer for Cincinnati in '07... Scott Inman will host pre and post game shows on the Arkansas Razorbacks Sports Network... Tennessee and Sodexho have signed a five year agreement for the corporation to handle all concessions and merchandise sales at football and all other UT athletics events... LSU made a $3.5 million donation back to university academics' programs at the end of the 2006-07 fiscal year and continued operation of Tiger athletics without the benefit of student fees...

Bill Flemming, 80, who worked hundreds of college football games for ABC Sports (including the 1969 Great Shootout in Fayetteville, Ark., with NFF award namesake Chris Schenkel and Bud Wilkinson between Arkansas and Texas), died last week in Petoskey, Mich... Tommy Riggs, 32, director of marketing and promotions at Pittsburg State passed away.

2007 MAC and WAC Non-Conference Schedule

Mid American Conference - EAST DIVISION

Akron: Army, @ Ohio St., @ Indiana, @ Kent St., @ Connecticut

Bowling Green: @ Minnesota, @ Michigan St., Western Kentucky, @ Boston College

Buffalo: @ Rutgers, @ Penn St., Baylor, @ Syracuse Kent State: @ Iowa St., @ Kentucky, Delaware St., @ Ohio St.

Miami (Ohio) : @ Minnesota, Cincinnati, @ Colorado, Syracuse, @ Vanderbilt

Ohio: Gardner-Webb, @ La.-Lafayette. @ Virginia Tech, Wyoming

Temple: Navy, @ Connecticut, @ Army, Penn St.

Mid American Conference - WEST DIVISION

Ball St.: @ Navy, @ Nebraska, Western Kentucky, Illinois

Central Michigan: @ Kansas, @ Purdue, N. Dakota St., Army

Eastern Michigan: @ Pittsburgh, Howard, @ Vanderbilt, @ Michigan

Northern Illinois: Iowa, Southern Illinois, @ Idaho, @ Wisconsin, @ Navy

Toledo: Purdue, @ Kansas, Iowa St., Liberty

Western Michigan: @ West Virginia, Indiana, @ Missouri, Central Conn. St.

Western Athletic Conference

Boise St.: Weber St., @ Washington, Wyoming, Southern miss, @ Utah St.

Fresno St.: Sacramento St., @ Texas A&M, @ Oregon, Kansas St.

Hawaii: Northern Colorado, @ UNLV, Charleston Southern, Washington

Idaho: @ Southern California, Cal Poly, @ Washington St., Northern Illinois

La. Tech: Central Arkansas, @ California, @ Mississippi, @ LSU

Nevada: @ Nebraska, @ Northwestern, Nicholls St., UNLV

New Mexico St. : SE Louisiana, @ New Mexico, Texas El-Paso, @ Auburn, Ark.-Pine Bluff

San Jose St.: @ Arizona St., @ Kansas St., @ Stanford, UC-Davis

Utah St.: UNLV, @ Wyoming, @ Oklahoma, @ Utah

Key NFF Dates

Oct. 14: First release of the BCS Standings

Oct. 25: Draddy Trophy Finalists and National Scholar-Athlete Award Winners Announcement

Dec. 4: The NFF Annual Awards Dinner at the Waldorf=Astoria

Jan. 2, 2008: National College Football Hall of Fame Salute at the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl

Jan. 8, 2008: Presentation of the MacArthur Trophy to BCS National Champion

-NFF-