MOULTRIE – Eight former Colquitt County football players will be suiting up for NCAA bowl games over the next three weeks.
And one, linebacker Ty French, is on the West Virginia team that hired Rich Rodriguez as its new head coach last week.
It marks the second time Rodriguez has been the West Virginia head coach. He is replacing Neal Brown.
The 6-6 Mountaineers will meet 10-2 and No. 23-ranked Memphis in the Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 17, in Frisco, Texas.
The game will be televised at 9 p.m. on ESPN.
French, a 6-foot-1, 225-pound senior defensive end/linebacker, is in his first year in Morgantown after spending the last four seasons at Gardner-Webb, where he was a four-time first-team All-Big South Conference selection.
He was credited with 22 tackles, including 3.5 for losses, this season.
Other ex-Packers playing one more game this season are:
• Defensive back Omar Daniels, who will join his Georgia Tech teammates in competing in the Birmingham Bowl against Vanderbilt on Friday, Dec. 27.
The game will be televised 3:30 p.m. on ESPN.
Georgia Tech, 7-5 overall and 5-3 in the ACC, and Vanderbilt, 6-6 overall and 3-5 in the SEC, are two unranked teams that have knocked off ranked teams this season.
Tech has defeated Florida State and Miami. Vandy upset No. 1 Alabama on Oct. 5.
Georgia Tech is 12-0-1 against Vanderbilt since 1941.
Daniels, a 6-foot, 190-pound junior is in his second year with the Yellow Jackets after playing two seasons at Kansas State.
He has played in 11 games this season, starting four.
Daniels was credited with seven tackles in both the Miami and Georgia games.
• Ny Carr will be on the sidelines for No. 13 Miami when it meets No. 18 Iowa State in the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 28.
Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPN.
Carr has appeared in two games for the Hurricanes this season, catching one pass for eight yards in the 56-7 win over Florida A&M.
• Also on Dec. 28, North Carolina State will meet East Carolina in the Go Bowling Military Bowl.
The game, which will be played at Navy-Marine Corps Stadium in Annapolis, Md., will be televised at 5:45 p.m. by ESPN.
It will be the 33rd meeting between the two programs and the Wolfpack holds a 19-13 advantage.
Expected to start at linebacker for N.C. State will be 6-foot-2, red-shirt sophomore linebacker Kamal Bonner.
The former Packer has 22 solo and 28 assisted tackles this season, including 6.5 tackles for loss.
He was credited with a season-high nine tackles against Syracuse.
• On Dec. 31, No. 14 South Carolina (9-3 overall, 5-3 in SEC) will meet No. 21 Illinois (9-3 overall and 6-3 in the Big 10) in the Citrus Bowl in Orlando.
The game will be televised at 3 p.m. on ABC.
Starting at left guard for the Gamecocks will be sixth-year senior Kamaar Bell.
After two years at Auburn, the 6-foot-2, 319-pound Bell spent the next four seasons at Florida Atlantic, where he earned his degree in criminal justice.
This is his first season at South Carolina.
• Duke (9-3 overall and 5-3 in the ACC) and No. 16 Ole Miss (9-3, 5-3 in SEC) will square off at 7:30 p.m. on January 2, in the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville.
The game will be televised by ESPN.
Tyshon Reed has played in 11 games for Duke.
The 6-foot-3, 240-pound true freshman was recently honored as one of the recipients of the Duke Tough Award, which goes to players who personify “the personal toughness required to be a Blue Devil.”
• Le’Meke Brockington is likely to be the target of some University of Minnesota passes when the Golden Gophers meet Virginia Tech at 7:30 p.m. on January 3 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, N.C.
ESPN will televise the game.
Minnesota is 7-5 overall and 5-4 in the Big 10. Virginia Tech is 6-6 overall and 4-4 in the ACC.
A red-shirt junior, Brockington has 21 career receptions including two for touchdowns for Minnesota.
The Golden Gophers are 5-0 in bowl games under head coach P.J. Fleck.
• Pershaun Fann and his University of Buffalo teammates will travel to warmer climes to meet Liberty University in the Bahamas Bowl at 11 a.m. on January 4. ESPN2 will televise the game.
The Bulls will take an 8-4 record into the game against the 8-3 Flames.
Buffalo played in the Bahamas Bowl in 2019 and defeated Charlotte 31-9.
Fann, a 6-foot, 220-pound red-shirt sophomore nickel back, has appeared in nine games for Buffalo this season.
• And also noteworthy this week, former Packer and current Eastern Kentucky defensive back Jaheim Ward has been named to the All-United Athletic Conference team.
In his first year with the Colonels since transferring from Austin Peay, the 6-foot-2, 186-pound redshirt junior had 66 tackles, including five for losses, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, one interception and eight pass breakups this season.