BHS graduate a Walter Camp All-American
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Fresno State senior safety Phillip Thomas, a Bakersfield High graduate, was named to the 2012 Walter Camp All-America Team on Thursday, according to www.waltercamp.org.
Thomas' eight interceptions lead the nation and set a new Mountain West Conference single-season record. It is also the most interceptions by a Bulldogs player in 27 years, according to gobulldogs.com. He individually has more interceptions than 29 FBS teams. Thomas has returned three interceptions for touchdowns, which set a school single-season record, tied the Mountain West record, tied for the national lead and is one off the NCAA record.
Thomas has forced four fumbles and that mark tied for the Mountain West lead and ranked sixth nationally He also led the team with 82 tackles.
Thomas was also a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, given to the nation's top defensive back. Mississippi State All-American defensive back Johnthan Banks won that award Thursday at the Atlantic Dance Hall at the Boardwalk Hotel and Resort at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
Banks, also named a Walter Camp All-American, took home the award after posting 59 tackles, seven pass breakups, four interceptions, two tackles for loss, a fumble forced and a fumble recovery in 2012.
California formally introduced Sonny Dykes as its football coach, replacing the fired Jeff Tedford after three years at Louisiana Tech. Dykes takes over a proud program with a refurbished stadium and training facilities, but also one that has failed to make a bowl in two of the past three seasons and has the lowest graduation rate (48 percent) in the Pac-12 Conference.
The decision to hire Dykes was easily the biggest one Athletic Director Sandy Barbour has made in her eight-year tenure. Barbour said she interviewed between six and 12 candidates.
Mike Gundy intends to remain at Oklahoma State and is downplaying reports of a strained relationship with athletic director Mike Holder. Gundy said there was "no question" he planned to stay at his alma mater.
Wisconsin is going retro for the Rose Bowl, talking Barry Alvarez -- their former football coach-turned athletic director -- into returning to the sidelines on New Year's Day against Stanford after Bret Bielema bolted for Arkansas.
A person familiar with the decision told the AP that Butch Jones has rejected an offer to become Colorado's next coach. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because Jones hadn't publicly revealed his decision to stay at the University of Cincinnati.
Most CommentedMost Popular
He’s Dr. Merle Haggard now. The bad-boy hero of the rebel strain of music that put Bakersfield on America’s cultural map half a century ago did something Friday he hadn’t done since he was 9: He sat still in school.
The family of David Silva announced Friday it has filed its long-expected federal civil rights claims against the Kern County Sheriff’s Office, six sheriff’s deputies and a sergeant, two California Highway Patrol officers, the county and the state alleging excessive police force killed him.
SACRAMENTO -- The California High-Speed Rail Authority won approval Thursday from a federal railroad oversight board to start construction this summer on the first leg of what would be the nation's first bullet train.
The Panama-Buena Vista Union School District Tuesday night unanimously approved a contract of employment to hire Kevin Silberberg as its new superintendent.
A Bakersfield attorney’s rocky marriage, marked by a divorce suit and a history of loud, public arguments, reportedly erupted into violence early Wednesday morning when police say he turned a gun on his wife and fired.
A woman found dead in a southeast Bakersfield garage Tuesday was identified Friday as 18-year-old Mia Ramirez of Bakersfield.
After a search that lasted much of Tuesday afternoon, the Kern County Sheriff’s Office arrested a man on suspicion of homicide in connection with the discovery of a woman’s body in a southeast Bakersfield garage.
Bakersfield DUI attorney Mark Joseph Madrigali pleaded not guilty to three felonies in Kern County Superior Court Friday in connection with the shooting of his wife.