No one will ever accuse newly-named West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen of being dull.

We already know he likes to drink and mix it up at the casino, but did you also know that he enjoys plummeting 10,000 feet to the Earth?

That’s right, Holgorsen took the skydiving plunge Tuesday joining the West Virginia State Police and the U.S. Army parachute team, the Golden Knights, as part of an initiative to go out and see more of the state and culture.

“I’d never done it, but I always wanted to,” Holgorsen told the Charleston Daily Mail. “Obviously, you get the opportunity to do it with the army, you do it. Those guys are professionals. They’re the same guys that did it with George Bush and Tiger Woods.”

Holgorsen did a tandem jump with one of the Golden Knights, but the landing didn’t go quite as he expected.

“We went up about 10,000 feet and then we just jumped out of an airplane,” Holgorsen told the paper. “It was an amazing view. You could see for miles and miles just beautiful countryside.

“Then we came in and we were trying to land on a beach, obviously a small, little beach. It was pretty windy and we came up short and had kind of a crash landing. It resembled something like Bruce Irvin tackling a quarterback.”

Holgorsen jumped out over the New River Gorge and landed in the water before tumbling onto the beach. Neither Holgorsen nor the Golden Knight was injured, and Holgorsen had a good laugh about it. You can watch the entire landing here. It’s totally worth the 33 seconds.

The skydiving trip capped off a couple of West Virginia-type days for Holgorsen. On Sunday and Monday he went fishing with several boosters and basketball coach Bob Huggins.

Of course, Holgorsen probably hopes that the crash landing was not a prophetic sign of things to come.

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Have you ever bought an athlete a drink?

Really? Not even when you were in college? Just one drink to say ‘hey’ or to hit on the athlete or to just congratulate them on a job well done.

If you did, you and that player just committed an NCAA violation.

It's hard to believe that something so innocent could get your favorite athletic department in trouble, but it happens all the time.

Even famed Florida State coach Bobby Bowden acknowledges that it's impossible to run a completely clean program.

“No [you can't run a totally clean program]. And by that I don't mean that some coaches purposely try to break the rules. I mean, I don't care how good you are. Let's just say it's raining and one of your boys has to go to school and he's two miles away and some booster drives by and sees him, picks him up and carries him to school. Well, that's a violation. … You can't cover all that stuff. It's going to happen. What you have to do, what do you do about it? Well, you self-report it. You've got to turn yourself in. If you turn yourself in for something like that, they'll usually excuse you and don't let it happen again.”

Compliance has become the latest buzzword because various rule breaking incidents at Ohio State, USC, Tennessee, Boise State and North Carolina, among others. Obviously, all of those schools engaged in a little more than players taking car rides in the rain or accepting a beer from a fan, but rules are rules, regardless of how minute and sometimes it's the casual fan that helps athletes break them.

I was a Division I college athlete for three seasons and I can't tell you how many times I had food or drinks bought for me or how many times I saw it bought for others across all sports. No one thought anything about it. Of course, some violations were more egregious than others, but for the most part we all thought it was harmless. Just people being nice. And we had all sat through the compliance seminars and watched the NCAA videos. Didn't really seem to matter.

OK, so why am I bringing this up. Well, the Cleveland Plain Dealer had an interesting story today about compliance, which included a test on whether you could tell if you were helping commit a violation or not. I can honestly say that I didn't know all the answers to all the questions.

Can you tell which ones are violations and which aren't?

* During dinner, a super fan of the local college basketball team notices a few of the players glued to the big-screen TV at a nearby sports bar. To show his appreciation, he buys them a pitcher of pop and an extra-large bucket of spicy wings. He’s not an official booster.

*  A football team spends the night before a big road game in a hotel a few miles from the stadium. The university springs for pay-per-view movies so they can relax in their rooms.

* A tipster calls the university compliance office after learning the college is paying for contact lenses and braces for its athletes.

You'll have to go to the link to find out the answers, but they may surprise you and give you a different perspective on how difficult it is to monitor athletes. That's why Arizona athletic director Greg Byrne has asked students to start policing their student athletes and places such as Colorado post signs in each bathroom stall that give facts about compliance and how to spot a violation.

So, as you head into the next sports season, just be aware how easy it is to find yourself in that compliance gray area. As Bowden said, no athletic department can be squeaky clean.

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Daniel Tosh, host of Comedy Central Tosh.0, often goes out of his way to take shots at Alabama coach Nick Saban. It’s a running joke on the show thanks to two Alabama grads (and diehard Crimson Tide football supporters) on the writing staff and Tosh’s love of the Miami Dolphins, the team Saban quit after two years to become head coach at Alabama.

Once, Tosh took a sword to the head of a Saban Fathead. He’s also proclaimed his hatred for Saban many times on the show.

Well, on Tuesday, Tosh might have let his vitriol toward Saban get the best of him. While asking viewers to donate money toward Alabama’s tornado relief, Tosh said: “Apparently God hates Nick Saban more than I do,” while showing a picture of a destroyed house in the background. He also made several other comments about Alabamans, which, again, are a part of the mean-spirited shtick of the show.

Of course, Tosh’s comments earned a mixed reaction from those in Alabama.

Curtsy (female version of the hat tip) to SbB

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Recruiting aficionados are always working well in advance of the average fan, poring over grainy videos and dubious message board threads for the drop on still-developing teenagers who are two or three years away from paying off as college players — by which time, of course, they’ll be yesterday’s news to the recruitniks, who will already be on to the next crop. So while sane adults may still be waiting to see how the stars of the class of 2011 pan out beginning this fall, the hype is already in full swing for the class of 2012.

The countdown to February begins in earnest today with the ceremonial release of Rivals’ annual list of the top 100 prospects in the country, its first, oft-revised attempt to judge soon-to-be high school seniors as ruthlessly as possible. For the non-recruiting obsessed, a short primer:

• Your “obvious” No. 1 prospect is Springfield, Mo., wide receiver Dorial Green-Beckham, who may sound like a floppy-haired soccer player but is in fact a 6-foot-6, 220-pound high-wire act who also led his high school to a state basketball championship as a sophomore and runs track and has already drawn explicit comparisons to the likes of Calvin Johnson, Julio Jones and A.J. Green. Green-Beckham’s numbers over the past two seasons: 144 catches for 3,322 yards and 38 touchdowns, none of them from the arm of a fellow Division I prospect.

• Hurry up and wait. Good luck sussing out a favorite for Green-Beckham’s signature: Like most of the top prospects at this stage, his offer sheet is already a mile long, and each of the last four top-ranked prospects (Terrelle Pryor, Bryce Brown, Seantrel Henderson and Jadeveon Clowney) has dragged out his decision well beyond signing day for maximum drama. Of the 17 players bearing five stars at this stage, only four have made verbal commitments: Denton, Texas defensive end Mario Edwards (Florida State); St. Petersburg, Fla., defensive end Dante Fowler Jr. (also Florida State); unfortunately-named Atwater, Calif., defensive tackle Aziz Shittu (Stanford); and Aledo, Texas, running back Johnathan Gray (Texas).

Altogether, 30 of the top 100 already carry commitments next to their name, led by five top-100 pledges apiece to both Florida State and Texas. The only other schools with more than one so far are LSU, Notre Dame and Stanford (with two apiece) and USC (with three). But again: It is very, very early.

• Where have all the overhyped QBs gone? Once again, no quarterback on the initial list is afforded five-star status, though 6-4, 220-pound slinger Gunner Kiel of Columbus, Ind., is close at No. 19 overall — just two slots behind the lowest-ranked five-star, Louisiana defensive back Landon Collins — and will get a fifth star if he holds that position throughout the season. (Presumably it was withheld at this point based on Gunner’s uncanny resemblance to Dwight Schrute.) If he does, he’ll be the first Indianan to obtain five-star status since Rivals started keeping track in 2002, and the first five-star quarterback since current USC starter Matt Barkley, current Texas starter Garrett Gilbert and current LSU wide receiver Russell Shepard topped the charts back in 2009.

Behind Kiel, though, only one other quarterback (Zach Kline of Danville, Calif., an early Cal commit) comes in among the top 50. That’s not as uninspiring as it was in 2010, when only one QB (Alabama signee Phillip Sims at No. 67) made the cut for the final top 100, or even last year, when no quarterback was afforded five-star status and only two (Florida signee Jeff Driskel and Ohio State signee Braxton Miller) finished among Rivals’ top 70 overall. But compared to the classes of 2002-09 — which all included multiple five-star quarterbacks, at least one of whom ranked among the top 10 overall, and three of whom (Vince Young, Jimmy Clausen and Terrelle Pryor) ranked No. 1 — we do seem to be in the middle of a drought. Maybe all the overhyped young quarterbacks these days are still in junior high?

• Extremities. The resident behemoth of the 2012 class is uncommitted Encino, Calif., offensive lineman Jordan Simmons, who comes thudding in at 6-foot-5, 333 pounds — and, according to his Rivals profile, a sub-5-second 40-yard dash, which is dubious bordering on physically impossible. Only nine members of the class are listed as 300-pounders, and Simmons is the only one above 315.

By contrast, there are twice as many backs and receivers listed below 200 pounds, the relative shrimp of the class being Memphis, Tenn., running back Brian Kimbrow, who tips the scales at all of 5-9, 165, and still has offers from just about everyone in the South.

• Geography. And finally, the cartographic portion of our program shows pretty much what it always shows, i.e. the undeniable dominance of Sun Belt hotbeds in Southern California, East Texas and Florida:

In all, almost fully half of the top 100 comes from those three states alone: 14 from Texas, 16 from California and 18 from Florida. Georgia and Ohio are next with seven apiece, which concentrates 62 percent of the top players in five states. But such is the way of the recruiting world.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Mark Ingram asked for your vote, and — shockingly — the same fan base that showed up 92,000 strong for a glorified practice over the weekend has put him over the top: The former Heisman winner and soon-to-be first-round draft pick is the official choice to grace the cover of this year’s edition of the NCAA Football video game series, following Shaun Alexander as the second Alabama running back turned cover boy. (‘Bama follows Florida, Michigan, Texas and USC as the only schools with two stars on the cover; Alexander and former Pitt star Larry Fitzgerald are the only players to make the cover of NCAA Football and its more popular NFL counterpart, Madden.) Ingram’s first major marketing triumph comes after he outpolled Washington quarterback Jake Locker, Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray and Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley in an online vote.

Cam Newton? Auburn’s reigning Heisman winner/BCS hero was deemed too scandalous for EA Sports’ blood. But a Heisman Trophy winner/national champion is a Heisman Trophy winner/national champion, even if he is a year removed from the glory — in fact, the slightly delayed homage is becoming something of a tradition in this line.

The game is in stores July 12. No word on whether they’ve fixed the blown blocking assignments, or suction blocking, or time-shift blocking, or treadmill jogging, or the warp zone opposing linebackers enter to intercept passes over the middle, or DBs jumping the receivers’ routes, or the many, many, many persistent glitches that litter every new version of the game. They did, however, screw around with the lighting and put the Oregon Duck on the back of a motorcycle, though, so there’s always that.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Mark Ingram asked for your vote, and — shockingly — the same fan base that showed up 92,000 strong for a glorified practice over the weekend has put him over the top: The former Heisman winner and soon-to-be first-round draft pick is the official choice to grace the cover of this year’s edition of the NCAA Football video game series, following Shaun Alexander as the second Alabama running back turned cover boy. (‘Bama follows Florida, Michigan, Texas and USC as the only schools with two stars on the cover; Alexander and former Pitt star Larry Fitzgerald are the only players to make the cover of NCAA Football and its more popular NFL counterpart, Madden.) Ingram’s first major marketing triumph comes after he outpolled Washington quarterback Jake Locker, Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray and Auburn defensive tackle Nick Fairley in an online vote.

Cam Newton? Auburn’s reigning Heisman winner/BCS hero was deemed too scandalous for EA Sports’ blood. But a Heisman Trophy winner/national champion is a Heisman Trophy winner/national champion, even if he is a year removed from the glory — in fact, the slightly delayed homage is becoming something of a tradition in this line.

The game is in stores July 12. No word on whether they’ve fixed the blown blocking assignments, or suction blocking, or time-shift blocking, or treadmill jogging, or the warp zone opposing linebackers enter to intercept passes over the middle, or DBs jumping the receivers’ routes, or the many, many, many persistent glitches that litter every new version of the game. They did, however, screw around with the lighting and put the Oregon Duck on the back of a motorcycle, though, so there’s always that.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Making the morning rounds.

• Call it the Rocket Ismail Route. St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters isn’t the first to suggest suspended Notre Dame receiver Michael Floyd has his eye on the NFL’s supplemental draft if he’s not allowed to return to the team by this summer, but Walters added another possibility for the hometown star over the weekend: The CFL. Specifically, Floyd could be attracted to the Montreal Alouettes, who currently employ Andy Bischoff, a former assistant coach at Floyd’s high school. [St. Paul Pioneer Press]

• Justice for Jasper Howard. A 22-year-old Connecticut man who pled guilty to fatally stabbing UConn cornerback Jasper Howard outside a Homecoming dance in October 2009 was sentenced to 18 years in prison on Friday. John Lomax III initially faced a murder charge that would have carried a longer sentence, but pleaded no contest to first-degree manslaughter in January. “I would never want this to happen to any family,” Lomax said through sobs at the sentencing, surrounded by Howard’s family and friends. “Even though you may despise me, I don’t despise you. We’re all God’s children. I don’t hate y’all. I love y’all.” Two of Howard’s former teammates said outside the courtroom they had hoped Lomax would get 20 years, the maximum for first-degree manslaughter. [Associated Press, Hartford Courant]

• Get well, Sooner. Oklahoma offensive lineman Jarvis Jones, expected to take over full-time at right tackle after a part-time gig on the left side in 2010, will likely miss at least part of the season after tearing the patellar tendon in his right knee during Friday’s practice. Jones underwent surgery on the knee on Saturday, and the extended recovery time could leave the right tackle job to a redshirt freshman, Daryl Williams. [The Oklahoman, SoonerScoop.com]

• Man, that sucker is huuuuuge. Miami offensive lineman Seantrel Henderson says he’s down to 345 pounds in spring practice — about 40 pounds lighter than he weighed when he showed up on campus last summer. “Just offseason workouts, running hard and working out,” Henderson said. “I haven’t really gotten on a meal plan. I've just been eating better than I was and less than I was.” [South Florida Sun-Sentinel]

• When dumb dance videos attack. Last fall, a song and dance troupe at Wisconsin made this:

Last Friday, inevitably, “Teach Me How to Bucky” was at the center of an outbreak of campus violence. From the police report:

A 19-year old Madison man was knocked unconscious early Friday morning and taken to a local hospital with a broken nose, a broken orbital bone, and cut to his eye requiring multiple stitches following a fight on Langdon Street. The victim and a 22-year old friend were battered outside of a residence following a dispute with the suspects listed above. One, Mr. Andrew Schecher, had evidently helped the 22-year old victim film the popular dance video: “Teach me how to Bucky” and has not been happy about his level of compensation for his efforts. He says he and his twin brother, the other suspect, had gone to Langdon Street in order to speak with the 22-year old regarding the financial disagreement when a fight broke out.

Where will the scourge of parody-related crime end? [City of Madison, via Adam]

Quickly… Michigan State cuts ties to a corrupt booster club. … The NCAA could dock scholarships at Maryland for sagging academics. … Nick Saban suspends one defensive lineman, but has another one on his heels. … Georgia defensive end Jeremy Longo is hanging up the cleats after shoulder and knee surgeries. … Landry Jones gets pumped up. … Rich Rodriguez dons the crimson and cream to take in Oklahoma practice. … Urban Meyer sticks with the suit and tie at Notre Dame. … And you’ll never believe this, but Steve Spurrier is unhappy with his quarterbacks.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Making the morning rounds.

• In the details. While higher-ups at Notre Dame remembered the weather as “unremarkable” and “beautiful” on the day that student videographer Declan Sullivan fell to his death from a hydraulic scissor lift last October, documents released Tuesday by the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Administration show that at least one staffer — video coordinator Tim Collins — was concerned enough about the windy conditions to keep a female worker off a hydraulic lift before practice and tell two other videographers to keep their lifts at half the usual height.

One of the videographers told OSHA that Collins informed him the afternoon practice would be outdoors “contrary to his judgment,” amid a high wind advisory by the National Weather Service. (The previous day’s weather had forced the Irish indoors for the first time all season.) Collins, a 21-year employee of the Notre Dame athletic department, told investigators that he “noticed the weather” earlier in the day, “till we went out and felt we were in a safe range to use the lifts.” Sullivan’s reported reaction to the prospect of an outdoor practice: “Aw, man. This sucks.” [Chicago Tribune]

• Tiger tell-all. Four now-former Auburn players arrested for armed robbery last week initially admitted to their involvement in the crime, according to court records, after stolen property and a handgun was recovered from the car all four were riding in when nabbed by police shortly after the robbery. Two of the players, Mike McNeil and Dakota Mosley, have been released on $511,000 bond; the other two, Antonio Goodwin and Shaun Kitchens, remained in the Lee County Detention Center as of Tuesday evening. [al.com]

• Smoot says: Not enough Smoot. Rivals’ Olin Buchanan counts down the top 10 junior college transfers of all-time, a list that includes four Heisman Trophy winners, three NFL Hall-of-Famers and two quarterbacks who led their teams to national championships. I won’t spoil No. 1, except to say that it’s not Cam Newton, who comes in all the way down at No. 3. And to say I find that … let’s say, debatable. [Rivals]

• Where cut-blocking really pays off. The inaugural Brandon Burlsworth Trophy for the nation’s best walk-on was awarded Tuesday to Georgia Tech center Sean Bedford, a soon-to-be rocket scientist who spent his first two seasons on Tech’s defensive scout team, and his last two as an All-ACC mainstay in the middle of the nation’s best rushing attack. [Associated Press]

• Check out the undercoating on this baby. The first look at the 2011 installment of the NCAA Football video game series is live, courtesy of EA Sports, which has finally fixed the title’s persistent issues with, uh, lighting?

That’s really great. Do offensive linemen still get destroyed in hilariously not-in-the-game fashion? Can a single linebacker still teleport himself to any area between the hashmarks without taking a step on passes over the middle? Do receivers still drop something like 40 percent of passes that enter the range of their personal aura? Get back to us, please. [EA Sports]

Quickly… Jim Tressel finally says “I made a mistake.” … USC‘s last 2011 signee is finally in the fold. … Wisconsin picks up a commitment from a hyped offensive lineman. … Ricky Stanzi gets the Wonderlic bump. … Stanford players, cheerleaders and band members take a day trip to promote the spring game, with a special cameo. … Chris Leak returns to Florida with a redonkulous Grey Cup ring. … Revisiting what must be the weirdest halftime show in Rose Bowl history. … And D.J. Williams chills with Vera Wang, whoever that is.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Making the morning rounds. Patience, please: Dr. Saturday is test-driving a new publishing platform today for the first time.

• Don’t say anything you wouldn’t say in front of a recruit. Even Ohio State doesn’t dispute that Jim Tressel committed major NCAA violations by sitting on information that could have cost him multiple starters before last year’s Big Ten championship run, and then by specifically denying that knowledge when the hammer fell on the players in December. Even the student paper wants him fired. Tressel’s coaching colleagues, on the other hand, have been falling all over themselves since Tuesday night’s mea culpa to reinforce the Senator’s reputation as a paragon of virtue:

• Bob Knight, Ohio State alum, Hall-of-Fame basketball coach turned ESPN analyst: “There is no coach in college sports that’s a better example, in my mind, of what coaching is all about and what it should be and how things should be done than Jimmy Tressel. He has done a great job at Ohio State, not because he’s won a lot of games, but because he has won a lot of games doing things the absolute right way. … There isn’t anybody who is better in that regard than Jim Tressel is.”
• Rich Rodriguez, former Michigan coach and Tressel whipping boy: “In my experience in three years of recruiting against them we didn’t sense that, hey, Ohio State is one of these schools that are on the edge. … Some people would think Ohio State-Michigan is such a big rivalry, they probably did a lot of negative recruiting. They didn’t. There were other schools that did, but they didn’t, and that to me sends a message they’re trying to do things the right way.”
• Brady Hoke, recently appointed embodiment of the “Michigan Man”: “I’ve known Jim Tressel a long time,. He’s a quality guy, a doggone good football coach.”
• Jim Calhoun, UConn basketball coach and NCAA violations vet: “You don’t want people to think that [the NCAA violation] is who you are. Whatever it does to a reputation, a legacy, he’s been one heck of a coach.”

Of course, a few fans are also in Tressel’s corner. Mainly, though, the love fest reinforces the old truth: The only coaches you will ever hear say anything negative in public about another coach, specifically, are Steve Spurrier and the immortal John Chaney. [Inside the Hall, Detroit News, ESPN]

• Next man in. Meanwhile, back in Columbus, consensus buzz has anointed co-defensive coordinator Luke Fickell as Tressel’s likely stand-in during the head coach’s two-game suspension in September, or longer if the NCAA decides to tack on more games. Fickell, 37, started as a defensive lineman at Ohio State under John Cooper from 1992-96, and according to the Columbus Dispatch has “just four minor rules violations in 10 years as an Ohio State assistant,” the last one coming in 2005. That’s not a bad record, actually. [Columbus Dispatch] 

• Just a scare. A plane carrying eight Marshall football coaches was forced to make an emergency landing in Kentucky Wednesday because of malfunctioning landing gear, briefly raising the ghosts of the infamous 1970 crash that killed most of the Thundering Herd’s players and coaches. “You grow up hearing about [the 1970 crash] for 40 years,” said assistant coach Phil Ratliff, a two-time I-AA All-American at Marshall in the late eighties. “For this to happen 40 years later, it was just unbelievable. We were all praying. It was calm, but we were definitely praying. It was a situation that you never want to go — thinking about your family, having your life go before your eyes. It was just unbelievable.” There were no injuries, and head coach Doc Holliday wasn’t one of the coaches on board. [Huntington Herald-Dispatch]

• Recruiting giveth, and taketh away. North Carolina signee Delvon Simmons, a top-100 defensive tackle recruit from Pennsylvania and the highest-rated member of the Tar Heels’ incoming recruiting class, has asked for a release from his letter intent to UNC, according to his high school coach. Simmons’ change of heart could be a result of a coaching change — short-lived defensive line coach Brian Baker, hired in January, left days after signing day for a job with the Dallas Cowboys — but his former coach said no other schools are calling until Simmons gets his release.

Even as Simmons plans his exit, though, defensive line help could be on the way in the form of Brandon Willis, a one-time Tennessee commit who ultimately signed and enrolled at North Carolina last year, later transferred to UCLA and now may be looking to return to the east coast. (He was a high school teammate of teammate of South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimer at Byrnes High in South Carolina, where he became very familiar with Tennessee’s overly friendly recruiting hostesses.) Willis reportedly wants to be closer to his sick grandmother and has received a scholarship release from the Bruins — but may only leave if he’s granted immediate eligibility at UNC this fall. [News & Observer, ESPN]

• Money well spent. Notre Dame and Navy‘s 2012 date in Dublin, Ireland, will be part of a full weekend of American football on the Emerald Isle, now including a pair of high schools: Notre Dame High in Sherman Oaks (Calif.) and Hamilton High of Chandler (Ariz.) have agreed to an overseas game on Aug. 31, the day before the Irish and Midshipmen square off, with more high school additions to the bill still in the works. Both schools have Notre Dame ties: ND High in Sherman Oaks produced two current Irish players, quarterback Dayne Crist and linebacker Anthony McDonald, and Hamilton is coached by Steve Belles, a backup quarterback on the Irish’s 1988 national championship team. Just, you know, make sure the actual Irish know which Notre Dame is which, huh? [Rivals High]

Quickly… Washington running back Johri Fogerson is suspended indefinitely after last week’s marijuana arrest. … Texas welcomes Tray Allen back to the offensive line. … Alabama‘s latest quarterback target is Jim Kelly’s nephew. … Former Crimson Tide refugee Star Jackson is part of a wider house-cleaning at Georgia State. …Florida will unveil its holy Heisman trinity at halftime of the spring game on April 9. … Nebraska tries to figure out where Tim Beck is coming from. … Mississippi State tries to turn defensive tackle James Carmon into an offensive tackle. … And Tyler Sash takes out a camera man.

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Matt Hinton is on Twitter: Follow him @DrSaturday.

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Filed under: Dolphins, AFC East

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — In a scene that might not play out again anytime soon, Miami Dolphins owner Steve Ross and his starting quarterback, Chad Henne, shared a golf cart Monday morning.

Ross and Henne were part of a foursome that included Hall-of-Fame quarterback Bob Griese for the third annual Fins Cup Pro-Am. But with the dark cloud of a potential lockout hanging over their heads, both parties tried to project an optimistic outlook to the cameras.

“When I bought the team I did it because I was a real fan and loved it and certainly I don’t want to miss a season, nor do the fans,” said Ross, who became the majority owner in January of 2009. “I don’t think anybody wants that to happen. I think you all realize you’re flirting with danger and I think the way it’s going (the game) needed some changes and I think hopefully we’ll get those changes.”

Some teams already have taken financial steps to protect themselves on the heels of the recent news that the NFLPA plans to decertify its union on Wednesday, the day before the current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire. They are implementing furloughs or laying off staff, whereas Ross intends on proceeding like it’s “business as usual.” He said he wants to follow the developments and evaluate the impact of taking similar measures based on the mood going forward.

Henne is coming off of the toughest of his three seasons with the Dolphins during which he passed for 3,301 yards and 15 touchdowns but also threw 19 touchdowns. Now he’s facing the prospect of learning a different offense under new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and possibly having to prepare on his own without coaches and without the benefit of being at the team’s practice facility in Davie.

“We picked out a spot to work out at and we’re trying to get guys back in town,” Henne said. “Normally our offseason program starts March 28th, so we’re going to try to have everybody back March 28th so we can work out as a team. We already have a spot located and hopefully a lot of guys will come back and we can work out and we can build some bonding and camaraderie, too.”

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