Jackson Free Press

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is spending a lot of time in the media over the last week. Neither the Saints nor Brees have been able to stay out of the media this off-season.

Brees found himself in a firestorm last week (Tuesday, June 19) after comparing the Saints bounty scandal to weapons of mass destruction.

Brees tweeted: “If NFL fans were told there were "weapons of mass destruction" enough times, they'd believe it. But what happens when you don't find any????”

It didn’t take long for the media to jump on Brees comment and it went viral. Brees quickly apologized for his comments later the same day on Twitter.

Again from Brees’ twitter account: “My WMD comment has nothing to do with politics or our brave military. Merely an analogy to show how media influences public perception” “I apologize if the WMD comment offended anyone. Especially our military. There is no one I respect more than our service men and women”

This week (Monday, June 25) Brees partnered Dick’s Sporting Goods supporting PACE (Protecting Athletes though Concussion Education). PACE is the nation’s largest baseline testing program with the goal to test 1 million kids.

Brees made the rounds this morning (Tuesday, June 26) on Mike & Mike in the morning on ESPN Radio and the Dan Patrick Show a syndicated radio show. On both programs, Brees touched on several topics from the PACE program, his sons playing football, his contract and bounties.

Brees stated he felt like further punishment was being held over coaches heads if they didn’t cooperate with the investigation. “I’ve been informed a lot of those coaches feel there are further sanctions being held over their head if they don’t cooperate with the investigation,” Brees said on the Dan Patrick Show. “If they were to speak out on behalf of the players, maybe that’s the fear they have.”

The quarterback also says the NFL has confused, “Pay-for-performance has been lumped in with pay-for-injure.” Brees also said he hasn’t seen evidence of a pay-for-injure program.

One bit of good news, Brees stated he thought the Saints and him would get a long-term contract done before the July 16 deadline. "I've always said, you would think this process should be a lot simpler than it is," Brees said. "It just always seems to be complicated. But I'm still very confident that we'll get a long-term deal done, and hopefully that will happen sooner than later."

"When it comes down to certain provisions of the contract, there are little things here and there that take time to resolve," Brees said. "But in the end, the organization typically starts off at one place, the player starts off at another and you find a way to a compromise and meet in the middle and do what's fair and just."

The New Orleans Saints are trying to fix a defense that was terrible last season. It was one of the worst in the history of the NFL, but this preseason was a chance to improve the unit.

The defense wasn’t completely horrible in the first preseason game against the New England Patriots, but four turnovers by the offense put it in bad spots. In all, the defense gave up 18 of the Patriots’ 34 points, but New England’s two touchdown drives needed just seven plays total.

Big plays hurt the defense, including a 44-yard run and a 56-yard pass in the loss. New Orleans failed to force a turnover and only had two sacks that night.

As New Orleans tries to rebuild the defense, some bad luck hit the unit on Monday, Aug. 15. During goal-line drills, first-round pick and 12th pick overall Sheldon Rankins went down with a broken fibula.

The injury will cause the potential star defensive tackle to miss six to eight weeks. Rankins had surgery to repair the injury on Tuesday, Aug. 16, and could return before the midpoint of the regular season.

Drafted out of the University of Louisville, Rankins had already shown the athleticism that made him a top-15 pick. He even intercepted Tom Brady during joint practices with the Patriots.

He was working with the first-team defense and had shown the normal growth of a rookie with good days and plays and bad days and plays during the early portion of training camp. Rankins was expected to play a big part in the rebirth of the Saints defense this season.

Now, New Orleans will need to get even better play from free agent pickup Nick Fairley. So far in camp, Fairley has been a bright spot and was expected to rotate behind Rankins.

The defensive tackle isn’t the only injury to the Saints defense this preseason. Second-year pass rusher Hau’oli Kikaha suffered a knee injury earlier this summer that could keep him off the field all season.

Linebacker Stephone Anthony injured his leg last week but is expected to return for week one of the regular season. The secondary has banged up players such as Keenan Lewis, who has a hip injury.

The worst part of Rankins’ injury is that he will miss valuable practice time to develop as a rookie. He can watch film and practice, but there is nothing like learning during practice, drills and preseason games.

New Orleans isn’t the only club to have its first-round pick lose time this preseason. So far, 10 of the 32 first-round picks have missed time dealing with some sort of injury.

Four of the top five picks have been hit with the injury bug at some point, and so has former University of Mississippi defensive tackle Robert Nkemdiche.

Injuries are a part of football, and everyone else on the Saints defense will have to step up …

Former Mississippi State Athletic Director Scott Stricklin recently left the program to take the same position at the University of Florida. But MSU didn’t have to look to far to find its new athletic director: The university gave current head baseball coach John Cohen for the job.

Cohen is the 17th athletic director in Mississippi State history. He is a two-time SEC Coach of the Year, once at the University of Kentucky and once at MSU, for his work as the baseball coach.

MSU hired Cohen as head baseball coach in 2009, and since then, the team has won 284 games. He has seen 135 Bulldogs get selected in the MLB Draft. Two of his assistants, Nick Mingione and Butch Thompson, have become head coaches at the University of Kentucky and Auburn University.

In his eight years leading the MSU program, Cohen built a 284-203-1 record. Last season, he led the Bulldogs to a 44-18-1 record, and MSU went from worst to first after the program posted a 24-30 season the previous year.

The Tuscaloosa, Ala., native played at MSU and was a part of the Bulldogs’ 1989 SEC Championship team and 1990 College World Series team. He graduated from the University with a bachelor’s degree in English in 1990.

Cohen received a master’s degree in sports management from the University of Missouri in 1994. He spent six seasons as a graduate assistant and coach with the Tigers before taking the head coaching job at Northwestern State University from 1998 to 2001.

While at Northwestern State, Cohen built a 146-84 record before becoming an assistant coach at the University of Florida from 2002 to 2003. He left Florida to take over at the University of Kentucky.

Cohen finished his time with the Wildcats with a 175-112-1 record from 2004 to 2008.

During his time and MSU and Kentucky, he led seven teams to NCAA Regionals.

In 2013 Cohen led the Bulldogs to one of the best seasons in MSU history with a 51-20 record, and the Bulldogs reached the College World Series finals before falling to the University of California at Los Angeles.

Cohen has been a coach in the SEC for 13 seasons and has coached in the conference for 15 years overall. In July, he was named associate athletic director, along with his duties as head baseball coach.

While head coach at MSU, Cohen has helped the athletic program raise funds to upgrade Dudy Noble Field. The upgrades make the baseball stadium one of the best in the country.

Lake Charles, La.’s American Press newspaper has reported that current LSU assistant coach Andy Cannizaro is the new head baseball coach at MSU. Cannizaro joined the LSU coaching staff in 2014, when he began his coaching career.

Cohen is the third former coach to become athletic director at a SEC school. He joins Skip Berkman, the athletic director at LSU, and Ray …

While no athletes from universities in our state won at the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships, there were strong performances. The University of Mississippi, Mississippi State University and the University of Southern Mississippi all saw athletes qualify for the meet.

USM junior Cra’vorkian Carson finished 18th overall in the 100 meters, reaching the semifinals to earn Honorable Mention All-American. His teammate, senior Emron Gibbs, placed 20th in javelin to ensure Honorable Mention All-American honors, as well.

The MSU women placed two athletes on First Team All-American and one on Second Team All-American. Junior Logan Boss placed fourth in the high jump, and junior Tiffany Flynn finished eighth in the long jump for First Team honors. Junior Rhianwedd Price landed on the Second Team with a ninth-place finish in the 1,500-meters.

Two Bulldogs men earned First Team honors in the same event. Junior Nicolas Quijera finished second in the javelin, as teammate and defending national champion Curtis Thompson, who is a junior, finished seventh.

The MSU 4x400-meter relay team of Stephan James, Rasheed Tatham, Charles Taylor and Juston Waters finished 15th for Second Team All-American honors. Senior Leah Lott finished 18th in the women’s long jump, sophomore men’s long-jumper Willie Reed finished 19th overall, and the men’s 4x100-meter team of Charles Taylor, Philip Smith, Stephan James and Lawrence Crawford placed 19th overall to earn Honorable Mention All-American.

UM junior Janeah Stewart racked up the honors. She placed fifth in the women’s shot put for First Team All-American honors, and ninth in discus and 10th in hammer throw for Second Team All-American honors.

Teammate Raven Saunders, who is also a junior, finished ahead of Stewart in shot put in fourth place to earn First Team All-American for the Rebels. Shelby Brown finished 23rd in the steeplechase, and the women’s 4x100-meter relay team of Deanna Tate, Breanna Tate, Shannon Ray and Nicole Henderson finished 19th to earn Honorable Mention All-American.

Three UM men earned First Team All-American honors. Senior Craig Engels finished third in the 1,500-meters, senior MJ Erb finished fourth in the 3,000-meter steeplechase, and junior Brian Williams finished fourth in the discus.

Junior Dempsey McGuigan finished in 10th place in the men’s hammer throw to become the only men’s athlete to earn Second Team All-American honors for the Rebels.

MSU men finished in 26th place overall, and the university’s women’s team finished 38th overall. The Rebels’ men finished in 19th place overall, and the UM women took 29th in the final standings. USM’s two participants didn’t earn points to place overall.