Our NFL players had a superb weekend on Sunday and Monday. 

Casey Hayward had a pick six for the San Diego Chargers against the Denver Broncos though the Chargers lost a tough one at Mile High, 27-19, to the Broncos. Casey already has 34 tackles on the season and four ints. He’s come into his own in San Diego. The Chargers fell to 3-5 on the season, and the Broncos moved to 6-2, but I like this Chargers team. They are highly competitive and I expect them to keep playing well this season

Andre Hal had five tackles on Sunday in a Texans’ 20-13 victory over the Lions. The Texans moved to 5-3 on the season. Andre now has 26 tackles on the season and an int. Andre is having a super year at safety for Houston, like Casey is at corner for San Diego.

JMatt had an exceptional game for the Philly Eagles Sunday Night at Dallas catching 11 passes for 65 yards and a seven against the Cowboys in a 29-23 Cowboys’ overtime victory. Dak Prescott has been phenomenal for the Cowboys. Love that for Dak. He’s an awesome young man. JMatt has always been awesome. Jordan has 36 receptions for 419 yards and 3 TDs this season. The Eagles fell to 4-3 on the season, but have a very good team. They’ll be in the mix for the postseason for sure. Love where JMatt is. He, quarterback Carson Wentz and running back Darren Sproles just need some help from the other playmakers on offense. I see that happening. The defense is solid. Believe in JMatt, of course, and his football team.

Jay Cutler gave a passionate pre-game speech to his teammates Monday Night before the Bears game with the Minnesota Vikings then played a superior game against the Vikings as the Bears were victorious, 20-10, Monday Night. Jay had been out for five weeks with a sprained thumb, but really excelled against the No.1 defense in the National Football League. Jay was 20-of-31 for 252 yards with a 7, and the Bears ran it well and played like Urlacher and Lovie Smith defenses used to play. It was amazing how good the defense was. The Bears moved to 2-6 on the season, but even though the record isn’t good, that was a huge victory over the 5-2 Vikings. The Bears still believe they can make the postseason. I want Jay to finish strong this year and keep being a Bear. I love Jay in Chicago. The city fits his personality. Ready to see Jay shine the rest of this season. 

Our men’s golf team is the No.1 team in the country according to Golfstat.com , the premiere college golf ranking sitein my opinion. We’ve got a super team led by sophomores Will Gordon and Patrick Martin and senior Matthias Schwab. Coach Scott Limbaugh has built a powerhouse that has a shot to win it all in the spring. We’ve already won a tournament this fall and lost a tough match play event to defending national champion Oregon at East Lake in Atlanta. But I love where our program is headed under Scott. We’ve already arrived. I watched the matches yesterday. Just need to make a few more putts in the spring and we can win it all. We’ve certainly got the talent.

Luke List finished second at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, MS. over the weekend. Luke finished in a tie for second with two other players at -16, four shots back of winner Cody Gribble, a 26 year old from the University of Texas, who was lightning clutch on the back side on Sunday. Luke shot 71-66-65-70, and earned $330,000 and moved to No. 15 in the Fed Ex Cup Standings. Super weekend for the 31 year old from Seattle, Washington. Luke has arrived. Luke and Jon Curran are playing in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open this weekend in Las Vegas. Maybe one of them can win. Like where both of them are and love where Brandt is with his game. Man, he was so good at the Ryder Cup. Expecting a big year from B in 2017. Brandt’s next tournament will be at Sea Island in The RSM Classic, Nov. 17-20th. I see guys like Matthias, Will and Patrick making the tour in the future. Fully expect that from them.

Zach Cunningham was named as a semifinalist for the Butkus Award given to the nation’s best linebacker, and also a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik award given to the best defensive player in the country. Zach is one of 12 players selected for the Butkus Award, and one of 18 players selected for the Bednarik Award. Super work by Zach. Couldn’t happen to a better guy. There are some really good linebackers and defensive players nationally, with many in the SEC, but I’d put Zach up there with the best of them. Hoping and praying that Zach has a good shot at one of these awards, but if he doesn’t, it’s still an incredible honor to be selected as a semifinalist to begin with. What a great guy and super player. 

Auburn’s tough, but I expect our guys to play really well Saturday @ Auburn @ 11 AM CT/ Noon ET  on ESPN. The Tigers are a really good football team, but I believe in our guys. We need to make some short, mid range, solid and explosive throws in the passing game, our o line needs to handle their front four, and Ralph, Khari and Josh need to have really good games running the football. Our defense will have to control the Auburn running game with Kam Pettway and Kerryon Johnson. Pettway is a load at 6’2″, 245, and he can run. Johnson went to Madison Academy in Huntsville, AL., like JMatt did, and he’s outstanding. They’ve got a solid quarterback in Sean White and have developed some good playmakers on the perimeter. Their defense is very good.

We’ve got our work cut out for us, but I really like where our football team is at. I really like our players, our head coach, and our assistants. Our goals are still in front of us. We can get to a bowl game for the seniors, win it and finish off a superb year in recruiting. It starts Saturday. Let’s go down to Auburn and shock the country.