Sophomore

When I was a high school sophomore, all I did was drink Mountain Dew, hang out in American Online chat rooms and play on my old-school Playstation. Keonta Vernon? He breaks backboards. Check out this video of Vernon, a sophomore at Tulare Union High School in California, who shattered a backboard at a recent high school basketball game (in the backboard's defense, it looked a decade or so past its prime). It's become an Internet sensation. I found it on The Big Lead , so allow me to give a hit tip to them.

Loyola sophomore goalie Jack Runkel has been a pleasant surprise this season, starting 14 of 16 games. He is 14-1 and has a goals-against average of 7.75 and a .536 save percentage. But on a team which has the best starting talent of the four semifinalists, how Runkel will hold up this weekend is the major question for the No. 1 seed Greyhounds, who will play No. 4 seed Notre Dame in a semifinal game on Saturday. Fortunately, Runkel has Charley Toomey as a head coach, a former All-American goalie at Loyola.

Perry Jones, a Francis Scott Key High School sophomore, recently attended the Hugh O'Brian Youth (HOBY) Foundation annual leadership seminar in Columbia.Seminar topics included leadership, motivation, free enterprise, entrepreneurship, ethics, voluntarism, the Information Superhighway, medicine, education, media and the arts.Perry is involved in 4-H and the Boy Scouts, and plays football, basketball and track at FSK. He is on the Sophomore Executive Board and Multicultural Club.HOBY is an international organization committed to recognizing and developing the leadership potential of high school sophomores.

Mike Sawyer would take the high road and never lower himself to criticize an individual achievement, but I think the Loyola junior attackman was snubbed in the voting for the Division I All-American first team. Colgate junior Peter Baum and Virginia senior Steele Stanwick were locks for the first team. It's the third spot occupied by Massachusetts junior Will Manny that is disputable. Statistically, Manny is the better all-around player, ranking third in the nation in points per game (4.8)

Morgan State sophomore center Chris McCarthy has transferred to Alvernia College in Reading, Pa.McCarthy, 6 feet 11, was averaging 1.7 points and 3.0 rebounds as a reserve in three games.Last season, he started 28 of 29 games, averaged 5.8 points and 5.8 rebounds and made the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference All-Rookie team. He was featured in an ESPN segment about the life of a white athlete at a historically black college."We are really sorry to see Chris leave, but support his decision and encourage him in his future endeavors," interim coach Lynn Ramage said in a statement.

College Park -- In the first grade, Scott Milanovich began studying the three Rs: reading, 'riting and rating films. He grew up in a region known for producing great passers, and he selected a college that had more of its former quarterbacks playing in the NFL last year than any other.Milanovich could become the first sophomore to lead Maryland i passing since Boomer Esiason in 1981. But after spending a good portion of his young life preparing to quarterback a Division I-A team, Milanovich had expected to start sooner.

Chesapeake sophomore Michele Singer thought she would spend most of her time cheering from the Cougars' bench this year.But that was before various injuries and illnesses forced coach Dennis Thiele to move some of his players to different positions. And to call on his reserves for immediate help.Singer, 16, has answered the call, and she may have found a permanent place in the starting lineup.Her two-strike, run-scoring triple in the second inning was the key hit yesterday in No. 1 Chesapeake's 2-0 win over visiting No. 11 Glen Burnie.

Isaac Green's biggest lesson growing up in Newark, N.J., was how "to stay off the streets." He learned it well.Basketball was the outlet that kept him clear of the temptations confronting a kid who lived "right in the middle of the Newark ghetto.""I spent most of my time playing ball. There were a lot of problems going on where I grew up. So many players lost it because of the stresses. It was too bad."Fortunately for the UMBC sophomore forward, he came from a solid family with good values and attended a strong academic school (Science High)

Salisbury defenseman Zeke Smith was named the Capital Athletic Conference's Defensive Player of the Week on Monday. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound sophomore anchored a Sea Gulls defense that surrendered just seven goals in two wins against McDaniel and No. 15 Gettysburg. Smith had a team-best five caused turnovers and was tied for second on the team with six ground balls in those two victories. He leads Salisbury with eight caused turnovers this season.

COLLEGE PARK -- This was supposed to be a breakout season for Maryland sophomore Landon Milbourne. His minutes would increase, his role would expand and he would become one of the focal points of the team's offense. Midway through the season, all but the last has occurred. Holy Cross@Maryland Tonight, 8, CSN+, 1300 AM, 105.7 FM

Every offseason in Baltimore, some of the city's top players transfer high schools in search of what they hope is a better basketball situation. From an outsider's perspective, it might have appeared that John Crosby was doing the same when he left City last spring and landed at Poly in the fall. But the 6-foot-3, 186-pound point guard was hardly putting basketball first when he left one of the city's top magnet schools for another. “It was more of an academic decision,” Crosby said.

News Roundup •••• Some extremely juicy details about the exciting “God of War: Ascension” have surfaced, with some nuts and bolts of how the new multiplayer mode will function. Add this to your list of “reasons I own a PS3.” [ USA Today ] ••••  Evidence is pointing to the first bit of long-awaited “Skyrim” DLC being a) not far off and b) having something to do with Snow Elves and crossbows. Let's be honest, the “Skyrim” DLC could be anything and we'd all buy it sight unseen.

RJ Wickham was Navy's lone representative on the All-Patriot League first team, the conference announced Tuesday. The senior goalkeeper ranked first in the league in saves per game (11.3) and 11th in Division I in save percentage (.570). Wickham was a first-team selection in 2010. Sophomore attackman Tucker Hull and sophomore long-stick midfielder Pat Kiernan were selected to the second team. Hull, the Rookie of the Year last spring, finished with 23 goals and 24 assists and ranked third in the Patriot League in points per game (3.9)

Editor's note: Each week, InsideMdSports.com provides this blog with a Maryland recruiting feature that previously appeared as premium content on its site. When we recently profiled Virginia sophomore Devon Hall , his father - and coach - Mark Hall felt his son could receive an offer from the Terps during an upcoming unofficial visit to College Park. It turns out he won't have to wait that long. Maryland coach Mark Turgeon called and offered the 6-5 guard Monday morning, Mark Hall said.

During Saturday's telecast of No. 17 Army's 9-6 victory over Navy, the CBS Sports Network tandem of Dave Ryan and Evan Washburn mentioned sophomore attackman Tucker Hull's inability to use his speed against Black Knights junior defenseman Brendan Buckley due to a hernia injury. Midshipmen coach Rick Sowell, however, disputed that characterization Tuesday afternoon. He acknowledged that Hull is dealing with a sore muscle and that the injury is in the groin area. “He's been dealing with an injury, but it hasn't been a hernia,” Sowell said.

Coming into spring football practice, Navy's Noah Copeland and Travis Bridges were relatively unknown commodities. Copeland, a sophomore fullback, had played exclusively on special teams during his first season at the academy. Bridges, a junior noseguard, had spent his first two seasons in Annapolis trying unsuccessfully to make his way up the depth chart on an experienced and talented offensive line. After three weeks of practice and Saturday's spring game at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium, Copeland and Bridges are among the bright spots for a team looking to reverse course after last season's disappointing 5-7 record, the first losing mark for the Midshipmen in nine years.

COLLEGE PARK - Sophomore Hassan Fofana, who has played sparingly in six games this season, has left Maryland's basketball program and will transfer, Terps coach Gary Williams announced yesterday. Fofana, a 6-foot-10, 280-pound center, informed Williams of his plans yesterday morning. He will finish the semester in College Park and then enroll at another school, though he hasn't chosen a school or decided when he'll enroll, said Gary Gibbons, Fofana's guardian. "He got his release [yesterday]

When Navy's Sam Jones told the academy's website that his three-goal, two-assist performance in the team's 12-11 upset of then-No. 12 Colgate Saturday was a welcome sight after being mired in a slump of sorts, the sophomore attackman wasn't necessarily talking about goals and assists. “It's not really about points to me,” the Annapolis native and Severna Park graduate said Tuesday. “You can play a perfectly good game and come away zero-and-zero. I felt like I was turning the ball over way too much there in the middle of the season.

Niko Amato considers Tucker Durkin to be one of his closest friends. And perhaps because of their relationship dating back to their playing days at LaSalle College High School in Wyndmoor, Pa., Amato, Maryland's redshirt sophomore goalkeeper, doesn't seem the least bit concerned that Durkin, Johns Hopkins' junior defenseman, might be dispersing Amato's tendencies to his teammates in preparation for Saturday evening's annual showdown between the No....

Since returning March 24 from hamstring troubles, Tyler Reid has played in five games and made three starts at his usual attackman position. But the Stevenson sophomore is also adapting to another spot: midfield. Reid said he has welcomed the move to midfield because sophomore Chris Dashiell and freshmen Stephen Banick and Pat Candon - the trio that started when Reid missed three straight contests - have developed a sense of cohesion. “That attack's been working really well,” Reid said after the No. 6 Mustangs' 12-9 win against No. 8 Denison Saturday.