Archives

During Jake McQuaide’s sophomore year at Ohio State, Mike Nugent was visiting campus and working out with McQuaide and Aaron Pettrey. After one workout, Nugent told McQuaide that he would have a future as a long snapper in the NFL.

Three years later, McQuaide, an Elder grad, is in his first year with the Rams, who play the Bengals today in St. Louis.

“Mike was one of the first guys to put in my head that I could make it in the NFL,” McQuaide said this week. “You can hear it from a lot of people, but to hear it from someone who was in the league and knows what it takes gives you a lot of confidence.”

Read more.

NEW YORK, Dec. 12, 2011 – Brandon Costner of the Los Angeles D-Fenders was today named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games played Dec 5-11.

A 6-9, 235-pound forward out of North Carolina State, Costner led Los Angeles to a 2-1 record for the week, averaging 28.3 points and 5.0 rebounds.

Costner, the league’s fourth leading scorer on the season (24.6 ppg), scored a season-high 42 points, including 18 in the first quarter, in a 97-90 loss against the Idaho Stampede Dec. 10. In back-to-back victories over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Costner averaged 21.5 points, including a team-high 24 in the D-Fenders’ 117-113 home win Dec. 7.

Other top performers considered include the Vipers’ Stanley Asumnu, who averaged 21.3 points and 10.5 rebounds, and Marshall Brown, who averaged 23.5 points and 7.0 rebounds; the Fort Wayne Mad Ants’ Corey Allmond, who averaged 22.0 points and 4.3 rebounds; the Erie BayHawks’ Tirrell Baines, who averaged 25.0 points and 10.5 rebounds; the Dakota Wizards’ Maurice Baker, who averaged 14.5 points and 10.0 rebounds; the Springfield Armor’s Lance Hurdle, who averaged 27.5 points and 5.5 rebounds; the Stampede’s Willie Jenkins, who averaged 19.5 points and 5.0 rebounds; the D-Fenders’ Elijah Millsap, who averaged 24.5 points and 6.5 rebounds; the Sioux Falls Skyforce’s Billy McShepard, who averaged 16.0 points and 10.0 rebounds; the Tulsa 66ers’ Nkem Ojougboh, who averaged 14.5 rebounds and 12.0 rebounds;  the Bakersfield Jam’s David Palmer, who averaged 16.5 points and 14.5 rebounds; the Reno Bighorns’ Terrance Thomas, who averaged 18.0 points and 14.0 rebounds; and the Texas Legends’ Booker Woodfox, who averaged 22.0 points.

The NBA Development League, founded in 2001, is the NBA’s official minor league. Featuring 16 teams with direct affiliations to NBA franchises, the NBA D-League is a proven developer of talent: 23 percent of players in the NBA at the conclusion of the 2010-11 season boasted NBA D-League experience, and the league continues to develop coaches, referees, and front-office staff for the NBA and its teams. In fostering the league’s connection to the community, its teams, players and staff promote health and wellness, support local needs and interests, and assist in educational development through NBA D-League Cares programs. The NBA D-League also advances the game of basketball as the research and development arm of the NBA. Throughout the league’s upcoming 11^th season, fans can watch all NBA D-League games on NBA FUTURECAST, the free live Web-streaming initiative found at nba.com/futurecast.