It’s that time of year.

Collegiate football training camps have opened up for almost a full week now, and each team is seeking to ready itself for the grueling season that awaits. Position battles have only begun to develop, new faces are attempting to prove themselves, and above all: every team has (at least some) belief that they will contend for a championship.

In reality, only a handful of select teams across the country have the ability to capture truly remarkable achievements in the upcoming season.

The Virginia Tech Hokies are one of those teams.

It has nothing to do with an FBS-most eight consecutive ten-win seasons. Never mind the fact that the Hokies are 21-3 in conference play over the past three seasons, including an ACC title. Throw out the stat that shows a perfect 10-0 in road contests over the past two years.

Instead, let’s focus on the future.

A Hokie defense that was tied for seventh-best in terms of points allowed (17.2) in 2011 lost two starters in Eddie Whitley and current New York Giant Jayron Hosley. That same defense ranked 20th in terms of rushing yards despite losing three front-seven starters in Antoine Hopkins (ACL), Bruce Taylor (Lisfranc), and Jeron Gouveia-Winslow (Lisfranc) for the season. (we’ll go more in-depth previewing the D in a separate article)

Perhaps the most anticipated aspect of the Hokie team is dual-threat quarterback Logan Thomas.

The dark-horse Heisman candidate (titled by me) is in line to put up seriously-ridiculous numbers in 2012. He’s surely expected to throw even more given the fact that Tech is unlikely to have a back where you say, ‘We have to give this guy the ball 20-25 times a game.’

Last season, Thomas broke the school-record by completing 234 passes with David Wilson in the backfield. The second-team All-ACC performer passed for 3,013 yards, by far the best aerial show by a Virginia Tech signal-caller in the 21st century.

Dan Strock currently holds Tech’s record for most passing yards in a season with 3,243 way back in 1972. I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that Thomas surpasses that mark this year before moving on to play on Sunday’s.

It will be especially exciting to see the 6-6, 260-pound junior (updated from Monday’s weigh-in) bulldoze through defenders being one year older. However, the rate in which “LT” passes and runs will likely be driven by an unproven offensive line. (another aspect we’ll get into another time)

Head coach Frank Beamer is still looking for that elusive first National Championship Trophy. This is one of those years in which the Hokies have a chance to seize something special with a relatively difficult schedule.

A source has mentioned to me that the Hokies’ team motto this year is “Complete Control”.

If the Hokies are able to reach that status, we could be in for one hell of a ride this fall.

Photo courtesy of bleacherreport.com

Being an Olympian is a great feat for any individual.  Winning gold for your country must be an incredible feeling that can’t be described.  However, most of these athletes are considered amateurs.

Amateur athletes are not allowed to accept benefits beyond their expenses.  When an athlete wins gold and the endorsement offers start coming in it becomes decision time for a young amateur athlete.  Do you accept the offers and forgo your future as a high school or collegiate athlete, or decline the potential money and remain an amateur keeping your current and future eligibility?

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) also will give an athlete $25,000 for a gold medal which can’t be accepted if the athlete wants to keep their amateur status. In these 2012 London Olympics there are a couple of cases that stick out.

One is Missy Franklin, the 17 year old swimmer who won four gold medals for the United States.  Another, is Gabby Douglas, the 16 year old gymnast who has already brought home two gold medals for the United States.

Missy Franklin has to decide to turn down the $100,000 for her golds and endorsement deals and remain a high school athlete with aspirations of being a collegiate athlete, or accept the money and endorsements and give up her high school and college careers.  Gabby Douglas faces the same situation.

There have been rumors that Gabby Douglas has been offered endorsement deals that could be worth tens of millions of dollars.  That is a large amount of money for any person, let alone a 16 year old.

Many will say take the money and run with it.  However, that means giving up high school and college athletics which provides young athletes with priceless life experiences.

The tough decision looms for a number of athletes during these London Olympics.  Take the money and run or potentially live wondering what could have happened with all of that potential money.

Summer is coming to an end and we all know what that means…football starts soon! For most colleges, two a days and camps have already started. This is just the beginning though. As the summer closes out and school starts the practices will get longer and harder and then comes the games. It’s a very long wait for students from late December and early January to September. This is ultimately why the camps and practices are put on. Coaches want to make sure that their athletes are in shape and that they will be able to play without getting injured during the first game of the season.

These practices also give a coach a chance to see how their new players will interact and play with their returning players. Any sports fan knows that it is nearly impossible to play your best the first time new players are playing together. Thus the constant practices teaches the new players the plays and strategies of the game and how to play with the other players. Many of the new players are coming straight out of high school, so while they might have played for a good high school team, college is a huge change and something that takes time to learn.

Students have begun to return to Ohio State campus to move into their new places of residence and get back on track with being students. This also means that students are getting anxious for football season to start. There are many places around campus that have a countdown going on for September 1^st, the first football game of the season for Ohio State. One student that I have spoken to is exceptionally excited for the start of the season, primarily because he has just received a job with the football team.

He has stated “I am so excited to be up there! I want it to be now so that I don’t have to wait anymore!” This student is Nick Balog, now what you might notice is that he and I have the same last name. That is because he is my little brother and will be a freshman at Ohio State in the fall. A potential advantage of this amazing opportunity that he has received is that you, the readers, might be able to see pictures taken from the field by a true fan or even get to learn more about the players. What this all comes down to however, is a big congratulations to Nick on his new job and only 36 days until the Buckeyes are back in the Shoe!! Let’s get ready for some football!

The recent penalties handed down to Penn State will have a huge impact on the upcoming Big Ten season.  Penn State was expected to be a competitive team before this disaster struck, and now it will most likely not be that way for quite a while.

A number of players are expected to transfer at no penalty, and a number of them could potentially stay in the Big Ten.  The real loser in this situation besides the victims of child abuse is the Big Ten Conference.

Wisconsin can punch their ticket to the Big Ten Championship game with Penn State and Ohio State both being ineligible for post season play.  Wisconsin only has to beat out Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue to lock themselves into the Championship game.

Those three teams were not expected to be very good anyway, which makes this season even that much more boring for the Big Ten on the Leaders Division side.  The Legends Division should be exciting, but that won’t make up for the lost cause on the other side.

However, with Ohio State and Penn State both under the microscope it could generate short term media attention to head their direction to see how they attempt to overcome the recent situations.  This could potentially be very beneficial to the Big Ten.

The winners in this situation are the other schools in the Big Ten.  They now have a chance to not only swoop in and take current players off the Penn State roster, but for the next four or five seasons they are going to have their chance to get their hands on a number of recruits that will now be looking elsewhere.

There won’t be any special recruiting tools needed to lure a player away from Penn State.  All a coach has to attack is the chance to play in a bowl game and the lack of exposure Penn State will get due to the decline in the quality of their football and the poor reputation that has now been established.

Time will tell how if the penalties will be worse than the death penalty for Penn State.  However, the immediate impact will gear more towards the Big Ten and how the other football programs will be able to take advantage of the punishments handed down to Penn State.

In the wake of the guilty verdict of Jerry Sandusky child molestation hearing, the NCAA is expected to announce harsh penalties on Penn State and their football program as early as Monday.

While I have been very critical of the program and university for allowing Sandusky to terrorize young boys on Penn State’s own facilities, what else does the NCAA want to do that hasn’t been done?

Much like an ambulance chaser or Al Sharpton or Jessie Jackson, the NCAA wants to get their stink on the tragedy that the university and the entire state of Pennsylvania so desperately wants to begin to heal.

Multiple media outlets are reporting that the NCAA is expected to announce harsh and even “unprecedented” penalties, due to lack of institutional control during Joe Paterno’s legendary (and now infamous) coaching career, but look at what has already been done in less than a year that the Sandusky scandal was finally brought into the public eye less than a year ago.

• Paterno is dead.  Unfortunately, he died before he could see his own legend collapse , the legend that he determined was worth more than the innocence of so many young boys that were terrorized by Sandusky.
• Sunday, Penn State president Rodney Erickson determined that Paterno’s famous statue in front of Beaver Stadium was taken down.
• Former Penn State president Graham Spanier and former athletic director Tim Curley are no longer in their positions at the school and are currently facing jail time for perjury and crimes committed by allowing the scandal to reach the heights it did.
• The entire Penn State football coaching staff has been removed, and new head coach Bill O’Brien has brought a new staff that, unlike the last one, has done nothing wrong and has not harbored any pedophiles.

After all the changes have been made, along with the harsh (and fair) public critcism of Penn State and Paterno’s football program, why does the NCAA feel they need to do any more?  Who is left to punish?

The significant loss of scholarships and the loss of bowl games to the university is going to punish the players, new coaches and students who had absolutely nothing to do with Paterno and other former Penn State officials’ lack of judgement.

Instead, the NCAA is going to punish the very people that have joined together to help heal the damage that Sandusky, Paterno and other former admistrator caused.

Unfortunately for Penn State, this is an opportune time for the NCAA to flex their muscles in the public eye and pat themselves on the back for maintaining the status quo in a sport that makes a lot of people, including the NCAA, billions of dollars.

The sad part is that NCAA gladly benefited financially from Penn State football when Paterno was at the helm. All the bowl games, all the jersey sales and all of the video games that used Penn State and NCAA logos have sent a stream of revenue to the NCAA offices.

While the NCAA obviously used the vast majority of those funds to aid other sports programs across all divisions and all sports, salaries were paid, too. In a recent article in USA Today, it was reported that current NCAA president Mark Emmert rakes in $1.6 million per year for his position, and they’re not generating that cash from a 50/50 raffle.  It comes from the revenues from sports, the vast majority of which is football.

By intervening now and hammering an already crippled Penn State program that has shown the world that they are taking every step possible to move on and heal from this tragedy, the NCAA is only going to slow down the progress of all of the good and dedicated people who want to restore Penn State to everything it can be.

photo courtesy of USA Today

Once the Heisman Trophy winner was announced the discussions began for the favorites for the next season.  As we approach the upcoming season it is a good time to take a look at the early favorites.

The Favorites (Alphabetical Order):

Montee Ball, Senior, Running Back, Wisconsin:
Ball rushed for 1,923 yards, and 33 touchdowns while adding 306 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns giving him a total of 39 touchdowns for the season tying Barry Sanders record. Ball will be carrying the offensive load with the departure of Russell Wilson.  The Badgers also will have a new offensive line, but that shouldn’t worry Ball as Wisconsin always seems to have one of the best offensive lines in the country. The stats he put up a season ago are going to be very difficult to repeat, but he should be able to have another great season and be a potential finalist for the Heisman.

Matt Barkley, Senior, Quarterback, USC:
Barkley is by far the best quarterback coming into this season.  Barkley is a complete quarterback and would have been the second overall pick in the NFL draft had he decided to leave school early.  However, the NFL teams will be lining up for him after this season.  Barkley threw for 3,528 yards with 39 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions.  The Heisman Trophy could be sitting there waiting for him as he is the clear favorite.  The Trojans did not lose many players to the draft and they will be returning Robert Woods who was Barkley’s favorite receiver hauling in 111 catches last season as a sophomore.

Marcus Lattimore, Junior, Running Back, South Carolina:
Lattimore is an interesting candidate for the Heisman as he is going to be bouncing back from a knee injury that ended his year last season.  Lattimore rushed for 818 yards and 10 touchdowns before his season ending injury.  He is the most talented running back in the SEC and possibly the entire country.  The offense of the Gamecocks will run through him and if he comes back 100% and remains healthy he could see himself in New York as a Heisman finalist.

Aaron Murray, Junior, Quarterback, Georgia:
Coming off a great sophomore season throwing for 3,149 yards with 35 touchdowns and 14 interceptions Murray is set to be the best quarterback in the SEC this coming season.  The Bulldogs could be serious contenders for the national title this season because of Murray.  He is a very talented quarterback and he has experience since this will be his third season as Georgia’s starter.  If Murray continues to improve he could be not only a Heisman finalist, but a hot NFL prospect as well.

Denard Robinson, Senior, Quarterback, Michigan:
Back to back 2,000 yard passing and 1,000 yard rushing seasons have Denard Robinson as the top contender to beat Matt Barkley.  He his electric and creates havoc for opposing defenses.  Michigan is returning a number of starters and they look to be favorites for the Legends Division in the Big Ten with possible National Championship discussions.  Denard Robinson looks to complete his career with both a Heisman and National Championship.

Geno Smith, Senior, Quarterback, West Virginia:
Smith’s 407 yard and 6 touchdown performance in the Orange Bowl victory against Clemson put his mark in the Heisman discussion.  He threw for 4,385 yards and 31 touchdowns with just 7 interceptions last season.  Geno Smith has the Mountaineers back in the National Championship discussions.  He also has a talented receiving group returning which creates an arsenal of weapons for him to succeed and potentially win the Heisman Trophy.

On the Outside Looking In:

Tajh Boyd, Junior, Quarterback, Clemson

Rex Burkhead, Senior, Running Back, Nebraska

Landry Jones, Senior, Quarterback, Oklahoma

Logan Thomas, Senior, Quarterback, Virginia Tech

Robert Woods, Junior, Wide Receiver, USC

The Heisman Trophy race this season is set to be a great one.  There are a number of potential contenders that have not been named and the greatest thing about sports is that they are unpredictable.  So as we can discuss the favorites, it is unknown what will happen during the season.