Saints Coach Sean Payton was back with his team today after spending yesterday helping his daughter get settled in at college. She’s attending Pepperdine University in California. Payton says he had a lump in his throat when he left her.

As far as the team goes, Payton is glad cornerback Delvin Breaux is on the roster. The head coach says Breaux’s initial workout with the team was so impressive, he didn’t want him leaving the building with out a deal. The New Orleans native has looked good during camp, especially in one-on-one drills.

The Saints practice tomorrow night at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium and its open to the public.

For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has picked the LSU Tigers to win the Southeastern Conference. Herbie has the Bayou Bengals beating Tennessee in the SEC championship game and advancing to the college football playoff. Herbstreit believes Ohio State will repeat as national champs.

Another year has reportedly been added to Ragin Cajuns Coach Mark Hudspeth’s contract. If the contract amendment is approved by the UL System Board of Supervisors, Hudspeth will be under contract with the school through the end of 2020. Coach Hud is set to make one-million dollars this year and he’ll reportedly be paid one-point-two million in 2020.

A week from tonight, the Southland Conference football season gets underway with Northwestern State hosting Southeastern Louisiana. The Demons still have not named a starting quarterback. There are four players battling for that opportunity. Coach Jay Thomas says its possible that he’ll play all four.

LSU basketball freshman phenom Ben Simmons has been named to the Blue Ribbon preseason All-American team. During the Tigers’ recent tour of Australia, Simmons averaged 20 points, nine rebounds and shot 52-percent from the field.

The Saints are back at practice today getting ready for the third preseason game on Sunday against the Houston Texans. Sean Payton, who missed yesterday’s practice to be with his daughter as she reported to Pepperdine University, is back with the team today. Several players who have been out of practice because of injury, were also on the field today….cornerback Keenan Lewis, linebacker Hau-oli Kikaha (Ha-uw-lee Kee-kah-Ha) , and linebacker Ramon Humber, who has been out for awhile. Cornerback Brandon Browner continues to watch from the sidelines.

According to Fox Sports, the Saints are trying to get out of having to pay former linebacker Junior Galette some guaranteed money. The Saints apparently believe they don’t owe Galette a guaranette on his base 1.25 million dollar salary because he violated the “rep and warranty language” in his contract. Galette was released by the Saints last month and he’ll reportedly miss this season after tearing his achilles tendon in training camp for the Washington Redskins.

For what it’s worth, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit has picked the LSU Tigers to win the Southeastern Conference. Herbie has the Bayou Bengals beating Tennessee in the SEC championship game and advancing to the college football playoff. Herbstreit believes Ohio State will repeat as national champs.

ESPN’s Outside the Lines is reporting former Louisiana Tech standout IK Enemkpali punched a man in 2011 that he thought was a woman he arranged to have sex with. The incident result in Enemkpali needing surgery and he missed the Bulldogs season opener that year against Southern Miss.

A week from tonight, the Southland Conference football season gets underway with Northwestern State hosting Southeastern Louisiana. The Demons still have not named a starting quarterback. There are four players battling for that opportunity. Coach Jay Thomas says its possible that he’ll play all four.

Head Coach Sean Payton was absent from Saints camp yesterday. Payton left the team for the day so that he bring his daughter, Meghan, to college. She’s attending Pepperdine University. Assistant coach Joe Vitt led the Saints in Payton’s absence. Payton is expected back at work today and the team has also scheduled a practice Friday night at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium. The Friday night workout is open to the public. Preseason play continues Sunday when the Black & Gold take on the Texans in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Former Saints and current Redskins linebacker Junior Galette went down at practice yesterday with a reported torn achilles tendon. Washington head coach Jay Gruden confirmed Galette suffered an injury but didn’t go into details. Reports are saying Galette will miss the remainder of the year. The 27-year-old was released by the Saints before training camp because of several off-field incidents.

Louisiana Tech announced that its homecoming game against North Texas will be televised by Fox College Sports. The game will kick-off at 2:30PM on November seventh.

Former LSU All-American hurdler Cassandra Tate finished her best pro season Wednesday when she took the bronze medal in the 400-meter hurdles at the World Championships in Beijing, China. Tate clocked a time of 54.02 seconds to reach the podium. The Loranger High School graduate is the first athlete with LSU ties to claim a medal in the hurdles at the World Championships.

Southeastern Louisiana University Director of Athletics Jay Artigues announces that long-time PGA golf professional Jake Narro has been named the Lions new head golf coach. Narro was most recently the golf pro at the Country Club of Louisiana in Baton Rouge. Narro replaces Tim Baldwin, who accepted the head golf coach position at ULM last month. Narro is set to officially take over on August 31.

In the Majors, The Astros have won 10 out of their last 14 after defeating the Yankees 6-2. The Blue Jays tripled up Texas 12-4. Houston has a five and a half game lead over the Rangers in the American League West.

The LSU football team scrimmaged under the lights of Tiger Stadium last night and Coach Les Miles gave us an update afterwards on the battle for starting quarterback between Anthony Jennings and Brandon Harris…
cut 30 (18) “…this point”
Harris has been taking more of the snaps with the first team since the start of fall camp. Miles acknowledge that Harris’ work during the summer is paying off. Jennings was not part of summer workouts after he was arrested for an alleged break-in.

ULM Head Coach Todd Berry has named redshirt freshman Garrett Smith as the Warhawks starting quarterback. Smith beat out senior Brayle Brown. Smith has been listed as the Warhawks starting QB on the depth chart since the team’s first scrimmage of fall camp.

Former Saints and current Redskins linebacker Junior Galette went down at practice today with a reported torn achilles tendon. Washington head coach Jay Gruden confirmed Galette suffered an injury but didn’t go into details. But reports say Galette will miss the remainder of the year. The 27-year-old was released by the Saints before training camp because of several off-field incidents.

At Saints camp today, Head Coach Sean Payton was not there. Payton left the team for the day so that he bring his daughter, Meghan, to college. She’s attending Pepperdine University. Assistant coach Joe Vitt led the Saints in Payton’s absence. Payton is expected back on Thursday and the team has also scheduled a practice Friday night at Tulane’s Yulman Stadium. The Friday night workout is open to the public.

Louisiana Tech announced today that its homecoming game against North Texas on November seventh will be televised by Fox College Sports. The game will kick-off at 2:30. PM.

With ten days remaining before the season opener against McNeese State, Coach Les Miles says sophomore Brandon Harris is the leader in the compeitition for starting quarterback. Miles says Harris has put himself in position based on a summer’s body of work and the Bossier City native seems more sure of himself this year…
cut 30 (11) “…ten players”
While Miles calls Harris the leader in the quarterback derby, he’s stopping short in calling Harris the starter over Anthony Jennings.

ULM Coach Todd Berry is not afraid to announce his starting quarterback as fall camp has ended for the Warhawks. He’s declared that redshirt freshman Garrett Smith will get the start in the season opener against Georgia. Smith beat out senior Brayle Brown. Berry also announced that receivers Ajalen Holley, Rashon Ceaser and Jared Mapps are back at practice after suffering injuries earlier in camp.

Although he still won’t name a starter for the season opener, LSU head football coach Les Miles admits that sophomore Brandon Harris has the lead in the team’s quarterback battle with junior Anthony Jennings. Harris has been taking a majority of the snaps with the first team since preseason practice began August 6th.

Three LSU Tigers have have been named to the first team preseason All-SEC coaches team….running back Leonard Fournette, offensive lineman Vadal Alexander, and defensive back Jalen Mills, who will likely miss the first couple of games of the season due to a lower leg injury. Linebacker Kendell Beckwith and cornerback Tre’Davious White are second-team selections, along with punter Jamie Keehn. Wide receiver Travin Dural is selected to the third team along with defensive tackle Davon Godchaux.

Louisiana Tech defensive end Vontarrius Dora has been added to the Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. Dora has 99 total career tackles, 14 tackles for a loss and seven and half sacks. Defensive tackle Vernon Butler is another Bulldog on the Lombardi Award watch list.

ULM head coach Todd Berry has named Garrett Smith as the Warhawks starting quarterback. The redshirt freshman split first team reps during fall practice with senior quarterback Brayle Brown. ULM takes on ninth ranked Georgia to start the season September 5th.

Yesterday at Saints training camp, cornerback Brandon Browner was spotted on the field for the first time since sustaining an injury in the preseason opener against Baltimore. Browner was wearing a brace on his right knee and did some light work with the trainers. Running back Khiry Robinson did not practice for a second straight day.

The LSU baseball team has released its 2016 schedule. The Tigers will open the year on February 19th against Cincinnati. A few other highlights, they’ll travel to Nicholls State on March 2nd, host Louisiana Tech March 8th, battle UL Lafayette in the Wally Pontiff Junior Classic at Zephyr Field on March 22nd, host Vanderbilt April 8th to the 10th and play two games at Notre Dame on May 10th and 11th.

The LSU Tigers have three players that have been named to the first team preseason All-SEC coaches team….running back Leonard Fournette, offensive lineman Vadal Alexander and defensive back Jalen Mills, who will likely miss the first couple of games because of a lower leg injury. Linebacker Kendell Beckwith and cornerback Tre’Davious White are second-team selections, along with punter Jamie Keehn. Wide receiver Travin Dural is a third team selection and so is defensive tackle Davon Godchaux.

Louisiana Tech defensive end Vontarrius Dora has been added to the Rotary Lombardi Award watch list. Dora has 99 total career tackles, 14 tackles for a loss and seven and half sacks. Defensive tackle Vernon Butler is another Bulldog on the Lombardi Award watch list.

LSU tight end DeSean Smith says his father knew state trooper Steven Vincent, who was killed in the line of duty earlier this week. Smith says his dad, Gary Smith, were in the Police Academy together in 2003.

At Saints training camp today, cornerback Brandon Browner was spotted on the field for the first time since sustaining an injury in the preseason opener against Baltimtore. Browner was wearing a brace on his right knee and did some light work with the trainers. Running back Khiry Robinson did not practice for a second straight day.

The black college football preseason poll is out. Grambling is ranked third, Southern is ranked sixth and Alcorn State is the preseason number one team.

The LSU baseball team has released its 2016 schedule. The Fighting Tigers will open the year on February 19th against Cincinnati. A couple of other highlights, they’ll travel to Nicholls State on March 2nd, host Louisiana Tech March 8th, battle UL Lafayette in the Wally Pontiff Junior Classic at Zephyr Field on March 22nd, host Vanderbilt April 8th to the 10th and play two games at Notre Dame on May 10th and 11th.

The Saints are back on the practice field today after taking yesterday off. Cornerback Brandon Browner is with his teammates for the first time in a couple of weeks. He’s wearing shorts and a helmet but not practicing.

Louisiana Tech’s Vantarrius Dora has been added to the Lombardi Watch list. Dora enters his final season of eligibility with 99 tackles and 7.5 sacks during his career. While Coach Skip Holtz likes his starters on defense, he’s concerned about not having enough quality back-ups. He spoke following the team’s latest scrimmage….
cut 17 (23) “…want to be”

The black college preseason poll is out. Grambling is ranked third, Southern is ranked sixth and Alcorn State is the preseason number one team.

The LSU baseball team has released its 2016 schedule. The Fighting Tigers will open the year on February 19th against Cincinnati. A couple of other highlights, they’ll travel to Nicholls State on March 2nd, host Louisiana Tech March 8th, battle UL Lafayette in the Wally Pontiff Junior Classic at Zephyr Field on March 22nd, host Vanderbilt April 8th to the 10th and play two games at Notre Dame on May 10th and 11th.

The Ragin Cajuns football team is closing in on its regular season opener against Kentucky. Brooks Haack and Jalen Nixon are still competing to be the starting quarterback. Coach Mark Hudspeth says cornerback is another position that’s up for grabs..

cut 16 (24) “d-line”

UL-Lafayette capped off last season’s 9-4 record with a 16-3 win over Nevada in the New Orleans Bowl.

ULM has released an updated depth chart and Coach Todd Berry still lists redshirt freshman Garrett Smith as the Warhawks’ first string quarterback. ULM kicks off is season on the road September 5th against number nine Georgia. That game will be televised on the SEC Network.

Louisiana Tech begins its season by hosting Southern on September 5th. Coach Skip Holtz says one of his big concerns is not enough quality back-ups on defense. He spoke following the team’s latest scrimmage….

cut 17 (23) “want to be”

The Bulldogs look to improve on last season’s 9-5 record, which included a victory over Illinois in the Zaxby’s Heart of Dallas Bowl.

Carlos Beltran’s sacrifice fly to deep center in the bottom of the ninth lifted the Yankees to a 1-0 win over the Astros last night. The win moves the Bronx Bombers into a first place tie in the American League East with the Toronto Blue Jays. Houston remains atop the American League West.

We’re less than two weeks away from the start of the football season for the 14th ranked LSU Tigers. Coach Les Miles says his team is not ready yet to take on McNeese State….
cut 29 (26) “…to playing”
LSU will hold its final scrimmage of the preseason tomorrow.

ULM has released an updated depth chart. Warhawks Coach Todd Berry still lists redshirt freshman Garrett Smith as the first string quarterback. ULM begins its season at Georgia, who is ranked ninth in the preseason AP poll.

Based on his performance Saturday, second-year wide receiver Brandin Cooks appears poised for a big season. He hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Quarterback Drew Brees. The veteran QB admits he has a strong chemistry with Cooks…
cut 19 (15) “…coming along”
The news is not as positive for receiver Nick Toon, who will reportedly miss the next two to three weeks with an ankle sprain. The former fourth round pick is in battle to make the 53-man roster after catching 17 passes last season.

Former LSU pitcher Aaon Nola threw a career high eight innings for his fourth win of the year as the Phillies blanked the Marlins two to nothing yesterday. Nola allowed just three hits, walked two and struck out six. He’s now 4-0 in his past six starts and his ERA for the season is 3.59.