FanHouse T.j. Yates

North Carolina quarterback T.J. Yates was taken down last Wednesday not by 300-pound teammates but a game of Ultimate Frisbee. Yates managed to sprain his right thumb, an injury that will require six weeks of rehabilitation. Congrats on having the most stupid sports injury of the week, T.J.

The game was actually part of an 'organized team activity'. With this coach Butch Davis has almost certainly nixed entertaining thoughts of further Frisbee-related gatherings. We suggest he kill any Nerf basketball thoughts as well, that's a killer. Underwater basket weaving's out. Perhaps even speed dating.

Every Monday during college football's endless offseason, The FanHouse Walk will put last week's stories to bed and deliver the essentials to bridge that agonizing space between now and September.

The Obvious -- The 2009 NFL Draft is now in the books and what's emerged from countless hours of coverage is a recurring theme of late: USC and SEC dominance. The Trojans had 11 players chosen in this year's draft, including a kicker and eight total defensive players from one of the better collegiate defenses of this era.

Meanwhile, 37 SEC players were chosen, topping last year's 35 and besting the second-place ACC's 33. USC also tied a draft record with four linebackers selected in a single draft. Their 11 overall selections bested last year's 10-player performance and again paced all colleges in the draft.

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

Pat White will go out pretty high up in West Virginia football history -- h'es somehow the only player in the history of the NCAA to win four bowl games, and in his final outing as a Mountaineer, he set a career high for passing yards (328) and tacked on three touchdowns to boot.

Hakeem Nicks -- who became a star wide receiver at North Carolina after Brandon Tate was injured -- picked up a hat trick too, registering three touchdowns and a ridiculous 217 yards, the 20th player to cross the 200 yard plateau in NCAA history.

Naturally, his blowup was aided by the absence of West Virginia cornerback Brandon Hogan, who was absent for "personal reasons" (it appears as if someone in his family is sick, because he's not suspended and there are "thoughts and prayers" being tossed around).

The game itself was equal parts insanity (i.e. offensive firepower) and poor decisions; two fourth down attempts -- the Tarheels near the goal line and the 'Neers on a fourth and one late in the fourth quarter -- encompass the latter. The former was more or less made up by the first quarter, which ended with West Virginia up 21-14 on the 'Heels. It's only insane, point totals aside, because it seemed like it happened on exactly five plays: Nicks with two huge touchdown catches and White throwing darts all over the field.

FanHouse gathers around the TV to bring you insights from Bowl Season '08.

Hakeem Nicks has a monster yards-per-catch average in the fourth quarter. That's the good news for North Carolina. The bad news is that this is probably his last game as a Tarheel.

There have been rumors floating about his departure to the NFL leading up to the Meineke Car Care Bowl and then, well, he absolutely blew the hell up today. With four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Nicks is sitting at a cool eight catches, 215 yards and three touchdowns.

Granted, the first of the touchdowns was a 73 yarder that should have been intercepted after T.J. Yates threw a wounded goose straight up in the air, but still -- the kid has been nothing short of exceptional all season (Carolina's first ever 1,000 yard receiver) and topped it all off by smashing records left and right en route to a career high in yardage.

Unfortunately for the Detroit Lions, there are rumors that Matt Millen is still running things in the front office. And there's no chance he can pass on a wide receiver this talented in the first round.