Interesting Numbers

Except for players from Indiana and Miami, in tomorrow's national championship game, the deadline for entering the college football transfer portal closed Thursday. Those who have yet to commit can do so at any time, although if they don't find a new home and enroll soon they will miss out on spring practice.

Keeping that in mind, here are numbers posted by the Western Illinois recruiting coordinator that show entering the portal doesn't always result in a new home (LINK):

10,965 NCAA football players who entered the portal:
• 3,972 FBS
• 2,771 FCS
• 4,222 D2/D3

6,671 NCAA football players (61 percent) who haven't get signed:
• 1,619 FBS (41 percent)
• 1,782 FCS (64 percent)
• 3,270 D2/D3 (77 percent)

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With Chris Shula's name being floated as a potential NFL head coach, a Sports News affiliate takes a look at the Los Angeles Rams' defensive coordinator's extended family. Included in the piece are updates on his father David Shula '81, the former Dartmouth wide receiver and assistant coach, his brother Dan Shula '06, a former Dartmouth quarterback, and even Leslie Shula '81, his mom.

Find the piece headlined Chris Shula family tree: Meet NFL Hall of Fame grandpa Don, wife and daughter and more from coaching roots
 HERE.

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With Penn in town for a matinee basketball game against Dartmouth, Mrs. BGA and I shared breakfast yesterday morning with good friend Mike Mahoney '92, who spent six years as assistant sports information director at Dartmouth, and who has run the athletic communications office at Penn since 2005.

A pro's pro, Mike is this year's recipient of the Arch Ward Award, "presented annually to a (College Sports Communicators) member who has made outstanding contributions to the field of college athletics communications and, through their work, has brought dignity and prestige to the profession."

Click HERE to read the Jan. 13 College Sports Communicators (née SID) release recognizing Mike Mahoney's contributions to the field.

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EXTRA POINT
When the sun actually shines in these parts it is a reminder of how gray and gloomy it usually is in the winter months. Cloud cover is building as I type this, but the sun is still shining, which is good for harvesting power via our solar tracker (a good thing since we own two electric cars).

The sunshine is good for something else as well.

When I'm home I use a portable keyboard with my MacBook Air, and having pretty much worn out yet another one, I was disappointed when the model I've always liked was discontinued years ago. Fortunately, I found a brand new one on eBay that apparently sat unopened on a shelf for a few years. 

Beyond the feel of the keys, I like that it has a small solar panel above the function keys that keeps it charged. While a desk lamp can be enough to keep the thing going, LED bulbs are a lot less efficient at that, so as soon as I finish this PAT I'm going to put the keyboard up in the window. That should keep the new/old keyboard – and BGA I suppose ;-) – going for another month at least.