Archives
Sports Recap
UB men compete at U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships
Four members of the men's track-and-field team competed at the U.S. Junior Track and Field Championships over the weekend at the Anderson Track and Field Complex on the campus of Texas A&M University.
Brian Heim, Rayshon Higgins, Dan McKenna and Paul Riley, all of whom just completed their freshman seasons, represented UB at the event.
Heim, the 2004 Mid-American Conference champion in the 400-meter hurdles, placed third in his heat and 12th overall in the preliminaries of the 400 meter hurdles with a time of 54:06. However, he failed to advance to the finals in the event.
Higgins competed in the triple jump and placed 13th in a field of 23 with a jump of 48-03. Paul Hubbard of the University of Wisconsin won the event with a leap of 51-05.
McKenna placed fourth out of a field of 13 competitors in the 1,500-meter run with a time of 3:57.81. David Torrence, an unattached runner, won the event with a time of 3:51.36.
In the preliminaries of the 800-meter run, Riley placed sixth in his heat with a time of 1:56.62. He failed to advance to the finals.
Eight former UB players to attend NFL camps
A record-breaking number of former Bulls will be in National Football League camps this summer.
The latest to rejoin the NFL ranks is all-time UB great Drew Haddad, who signed a contract with the Buffalo Bills on Friday—rejoining the team that drafted him in 2000 and returning to the city that has been his second home since coming to UB from Cleveland's St. Ignatius High School in 1996.
After the Bills released Haddad, the Colts quickly picked him up in 2000. His most successful pre-season came with Indianapolis in 2001, when he caught 16 passes during four games for 170 yards and one touchdown. But his most impressive performances were as a punt returner. Haddad returned 14 punts for a total of 292 yards, an average of nearly 21 yards per return. He also took back two of those for touchdowns-one for 84 yards, the other for 94.
Haddad has spent these past few months playing for the Frankfurt Galaxy of NFL Europe. The Galaxy went 7-3 this season, thanks in part to Haddad's team-leading receiving performance in which he caught 28 receptions for 455 yards in the regular season, while also leading the team with 14 punt returns for 109 yards (7.8 average).
As a Bull, Haddad set numerous career records, including most career receptions (240), receiving yards (3,409), 100-yard receiving games (18), all-purpose yards (4,768), punt-return yardage (735) and punt-return average (13.9).
In Frankfurt, Haddad played alongside offensive tackle David Pruce, another former UB standout from 1997-2000. Pruce started every game for the Galaxy, who advanced to World Bowl XII before losing to Berlin, and was named as one of only two tackles on the All-NFL Europe team. Pruce is the property of the New England Patriots, who signed him last winter before allocating him to Europe.
Another former UB standout, Andre Forde, was also in Europe this summer, playing for the Amsterdam Admirals. Forde, who set a single-season, all-purpose yardage record for the Bulls in 2002 (1,556 yards), battled injuries this spring and finished with eight receptions for 85 yards and a 31-yard touchdown for the Admirals. Forde was allocated by the Chicago Bears, with whom he spent last year's training camp.
In addition, two-time All-Mid-American Conference tight end Chad Bartoszek has re-signed with the Indianapolis Colts, the team that signed him as a free agent after his graduation from UB in 2002.
With Haddad's signing, a record eight former UB players are in NFL training camps this summer. Here is the list of former Bulls, their years at UB and their current teams:
Chad Bartoszek, 1999-2002, Indianapolis Colts
Ed Ellis, 1993-96, New York Giants
Andre Forde, 1999-2002, Chicago Bears
Mark Graham, 2000-03, Buffalo Bills
Drew Haddad, 1996-99, Buffalo Bills
Adam Johnson, 2001-03, Carolina Panthers
Omari Jordan, 2001-02, Carolina Panthers
David Pruce, 1997-2000, New England Patriots