Faculty soccer has a humorous definition of a neighbor. Apparently, you possibly can share a metropolis, sit 3.2 miles aside, and nonetheless go 34 years with out taking part in one another. Elsewhere on this week’s American Convention recreation notes, there’s a receiver accumulating touchdowns in each out there kind, a punter born in 1998 and a quarterback household Jeff Traylor has been teaching because the Clinton administration. Welcome again to For the Report, the place the nice print will get its second. Shoutout to the SIDs and communications staffs who preserve giving us causes to show one other web page. This one’s for you.
1. UAB and Samford lastly remembered they reside down the road.
UAB and Samford’s campuses are separated by simply 3.2 miles. Their soccer packages, apparently, favor just a little extra distance.
Saturday can be their first assembly in 34 years and simply their second ever. The unique got here on Halloween in 1992, when Terry Bowden’s Samford crew beat the Blazers 49-3. UAB was in its second season of soccer and nonetheless taking part in in Division III. The Bulldogs went on to the Division I-AA playoffs.
There’s a private reunion tucked into this one, too. UAB head coach Alex Mortensen performed quarterback at Samford in 2006, showing in eight video games after transferring from Arkansas.
Thirty-four years between video games. Three-point-two miles between campuses. In some unspecified time in the future, someone might have simply walked over and requested.
2. Easton Messer is operating out of how to attain.
Receiving landing? Examine. Dashing landing? Examine. Passing landing? Additionally verify.
Florida Atlantic’s Easton Messer added a 73-yard punt return landing within the Owls’ 45-17 win at ULM, and in response to FAU’s notes, he’s the one participant in program historical past with passing, dashing, receiving, and return touchdowns on his résumé.
The return tied Fortunate Whitehead for the second-longest punt return in class historical past, earned Messer American Particular Groups Participant of the Week honors, and landed at No. 3 on SportsCenter’s each day High 10. It was FAU’s first punt return landing since LaJohntay Wester in 2023.
3. Tulsa’s punter has been across the solar a couple of extra occasions.
Max Tulen was born July 12, 1998. Sure, Tulsa’s punter is 28.
The Melbourne, Australia native arrived after three seasons at Bethune-Cookman, the place he earned HBCU All-American and first-team All-SWAC honors in 2025. He led the SWAC with a 44.6-yard punting common and launched a 64-yarder towards Jackson State.
Melbourne to Daytona Seaside to Tulsa is sort of a path to fourth down. And someplace in that locker room, a freshman in all probability considers 1998 historic historical past.
Senior cornerback Ira Oniha is the second-born of quadruplets, which is the sort of roster info I’ll all the time cease to learn.
Born in Baltimore to Nigerian dad and mom, Oniha attended elementary college and a part of center college in america earlier than his household returned to Nigeria. After two years of center college there, he got here again to Maryland for highschool. His two brothers graduated from UMBC in 2026 and his sister graduated from UMBC in 2025.
Navy heads to Air Drive on Saturday for the opening leg of the Commander-in-Chief’s Trophy competitors. The Mids have gained the trophy the previous two years, however the household logistics in Oniha’s bio deserve just a little {hardware} of their very own.
4 youngsters. One birthday. Any person give these dad and mom a trophy.
5. Temple’s coach has 400 video games on the odometer.
Ok.C. Keeler coached the four-hundredth recreation of his collegiate head teaching profession towards Military final week, changing into simply the twenty fourth head coach in NCAA soccer historical past to achieve that mark, in response to Temple’s notes.
Now he heads to Tampa to face Brian Hartline, who’s 4 video games into his head teaching profession at South Florida. That’s a reasonably substantial expertise hole on the other sideline.
Temple has a ground-game milestone to chase, too. The Owls have rushed for at the least 176 yards in every of their first 4 video games, together with 217 towards Military. Doing it once more Saturday would give them 5 straight such video games for the primary time since 2011.
Keeler has seen loads in 400 video games. A win over an unbeaten crew would nonetheless look fairly good in recreation No. 401.
6. Jeff Traylor has been teaching McCowns for 2 generations.
Owen McCown’s quarterback lineage is spectacular sufficient earlier than you get to the half involving his head coach.
His father, Josh, performed 18 NFL seasons. His uncle Luke performed 12. One other uncle, Randy, helped Texas A&M win the 1998 Large 12 championship. His youthful brother, Aiden, is the beginning quarterback at Lamar.
However right here’s the half buried in UTSA’s notes: Josh, Luke, and Randy all performed for Jeff Traylor when he was an assistant at Jacksonville Excessive Faculty within the Nineteen Nineties. Now Traylor coaches Owen.
That may be a household tree with its personal quarterback room. And Traylor has been there lengthy sufficient to educate the branches.
7. North Texas has a nine-touchdown drawback for someone else’s protection.
Tayven Jackson and the Imply Inexperienced passing recreation have drawn loads of consideration, however Jahiem White is making a robust case for his personal billing.
By way of 4 video games, White has 9 complete touchdowns, second-most nationally in response to UNT’s notes, trailing solely Florida’s Jadan Baugh. His 506 scrimmage yards, cut up between 363 dashing and 143 receiving, lead the American getting into the week.
North Texas opens convention play at Tulsa on Thursday after beating HCU 63-14. 9 touchdowns in 4 video games is a superb approach to verify the opposing defensive coordinator is aware of your identify earlier than the introductions.
Extra from across the convention
- South Florida: The Bulls improved to 4-0 by beating Bowling Inexperienced 14-6, however they didn’t take their first lead till Luke Kromenhoek’s two-yard landing run with 12:07 left. USF used its fourth completely different beginning offensive line in 4 video games, whereas Bowling Inexperienced’s Myles Bradley recorded 4.5 sacks, a file for a Bulls opponent. D.J. Crowther’s 143 dashing yards helped get them house.
- Military: Cale Hellums scored all three Black Knights touchdowns within the 21-17 win at Temple, dashing for 104 yards on 22 carries. His three-yard winner got here with 1:41 remaining.
- Memphis: Charles Huff’s roster options 81 newcomers, together with 61 transfers, and simply 27 returners. Seventeen gamers adopted him from Southern Miss, with 5 having performed for him at each Marshall and Southern Miss.
- Rice: Jacurri Brown is the Owls’ first beginning quarterback to put on No. 11 since Chad Nelson, who performed from 1994-97. Brown rushed for 128 yards towards Western Michigan and 141 at Fresno State.
- UTSA, yet one more time: Mekhi Anderson’s 100-yard kickoff return towards Colorado State made him simply the second participant in program historical past to return a kickoff for a landing. Chris Carpenter had been your complete membership, with three. Anderson additionally caught a landing within the 59-45 win, a recreation whose 104 mixed factors set a UTSA file.
East Carolina and Tulane are off this week.
Yet another for the individuals behind the pages
Charlotte’s packet features a tribute to longtime SID and affiliate athletic director for media relations Tom Whitestone, who died Sept. 8 after a battle with most cancers.
Whitestone joined the 49ers in 1987 and spent 37 years telling the tales of their athletes and coaches, together with the beginning and first 11 years of Charlotte soccer. He helped deliver the varsity’s Athletics Corridor of Fame into existence and realized earlier than his passing that he could be inducted alongside the 1977 Last 4 males’s basketball crew.
This column exists as a result of someone thought a element was value preserving. A milestone. A household story. A reputation that may in any other case disappear right into a field rating.
Whitestone spent a profession doing that. For the file, these individuals belong within the story, too.