LIKE IT IS

Backup plan hasn’t hurt former Hogs QB

Ryan Mallett, the New England Patriots backup quarterback, continued to work toward finishing his degree at the University of Arkansas while sitting behind Tom Brady.

Ryan Mallett received a lot of scrutiny and some questions about his character when he was taken in the third round of the NFL Draft in 2011.

Since signing with the New England Patriots, Mallett has not been heard of off the field and not much on it because he backs up Tom Brady, one of the most successful quarterbacks in the NFL.

Mallett has quietly been finishing his class work at the University of Arkansas and is set to graduate with his degree in sociology next week, having finished his last two classes.

He also has spent time working at a clinic for children with disabilities at Harvard, and last weekend he spent time throwing passes to the children and celebrating touchdowns with high-fives.

It was his second year to work the camp, for which he volunteered, and he has been a pen pal for more than a year with one of the children he met.

There also was a surprise visitor to the camp who created a lot of excitement. Although he wasn’t scheduled to be there, Patriots Coach Bill Belichick showed up and spoke about the fundamentals of football before posing for numerous pictures.

Don’t know if Belichick was there to watch Mallett, but apparently the strong-armed quarterback hasn’t been forgotten by other NFL teams. Even though Brady doesn’t like to come out of games, Mallett’s passes in practice have become near legendary.

Once he and Brady tossed one pass each at a trash can 60 yards downfield. Brady missed and so did Mallett, barely, with his pass bouncing off the lid of the can.

According to a story in the Boston Herald, the Cleveland Browns have contacted the Patriots numerous times during the off season about a trade and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have shown an interest in Mallett, who turns 25 next month.

Belichick has a reputation for developing quarterbacks and then trading them to get players at positions where the Patriots need immediate help.

As of now, Mallett is still a Patriot and is about to be a University of Arkansas graduate.

A story in Tuesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette by our man Tom Murphy about how some of the Razorbacks who are NFL rookies are faring included a quote from receiver Cobi Hamilton about how much it helped him playing for former coach Bobby Petrino.

It has been well-documented that Razorbacks who go to a camp with an NFL team already know the terminology, something that helped Ryan Mallett when he joined the Patriots.

Max Mendelsohn, son ofLarry and Sonja Mendelsohn of Little Rock, won the USTA National Open Championship for 14-year-olds last weekend in Arlington, Texas.

Mendelsohn is ranked No. 33 in the nation but is expected to move into the top 20 after winning the singles championship.

When Notre Dame announced it would be joining the Atlantic Coast Conference on a limited basis, playing five ACC opponents each season, it also announced it was ending its series with the Michigan Wolverines.

Michigan Coach Brady Hoke became another of those coaches who said too much at a booster club dinner, saying Notre Dame was chickening out of the rivalry.

A significant part of head coaches’ salaries comes from speaking engagements in the spring, and apparently there are times they get so comfortable they are totally honest.

Kudos to the University of Tennessee for its decision to honor former women’s basketball Coach Pat Summitt with a statue.

Summitt, who won 1,098 games and eight national championships as the Lady Vols coach, already has a street named after her on campus, but this is a greater honor for the lady who had to retire because of dementia in 2012.

Sports, Pages 19 on 05/15/2013