Saunders To Lead OU Receiving Corps

Former Pleasant Grove speedster Jalen Saunders was recently highlighted on the Oklahoma Sooners' website in an interesting video and Q&A session.

The feature video and Q&A session with Jalen Saunders
on the University of Oklahoma's football website.

Last season after transferring from Fresno State, Saunders played in nine games, starting eight of them and ended up the Sooners' third-leading receiver. He set a school record with 15 receptions in the loss to Notre Dame.

This year he'll wear the number eight in his senior year with the Sooners, picked again as one of the nation's top teams.

SJS Media Day

On Thursday I attended the annual Media Day at the offices of the Sac-Joaquin Section. It was the best-attended session since I've been going to this annual event the past five years. The number of media outlets that now seriously covers high school athletics is growing.

Look for a more detailed story coming next week in the Citizen, but here are a few highlights of the meeting:

• The Section will ask its Board of Directors in October to change up the method of determining  playoff teams in boys' and girls' basketball. Since 1988 a power ratings system was used, but a few big holes in that method have caused Section officials to decide they'd like the top three teams in each league to qualify for the post-season along with the fourth place school in nine leagues, the ones with the best playoff records over the previous three seasons.
• League realignments are a year off, but it was announced that the new Delta League and the Sierra Foothill League will both get the top four finishers of its league into the playoffs in sports such as basketball, volleyball, softball and baseball.
• The Section released its financial statement covering the 2012-2013 academic year and, for the first time in quite a while, the organization lost money. The ledger showed a $70,000 deficit. Section official Will DeBoard cited a down year in revenue from the football playoffs as being the primary reason for ending up in the red.
• Another proposal the Section is working on is the possibility of limiting practice time for all sports. Potential injuries such as concussions were cited as being the primary motivator for considering such a rule or guideline.
• There were more than 1,000 student transfer forms that crossed the desks of Section officials in the past year. There were an additional 834 change of residence forms also submitted. Section commissioner Pete Saco is promising a high measure of scrutiny over any transfer that crosses his desk this year. Don't be surprised a number of student/athletes trying to switch schools are ruled ineligible for the entire academic year. Saco also hinted that any parent trying to phony up transfer paperwork would be dealt with harshly.