Roundup: Mariota an inspiration to Polynesian recruits

Chantel Jennings writes that Marcus Mariota is inspiring Polynesian recruits through his play and off-field demeanor. I’m sure he’s inspiring people outside the Polynesian community as well.

Staying on subject sorta, Utah has three players on the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year watch list – Siaosi Aiono, Siale Fakailoatonga and Lowell Lotulelei. Arizona State and USC have three guys as well, while Oregon, Oregon State, UCLA, Colorado, Arizona and Washington are also represented on the list.

Former USC coach Pete Carroll talks about trying to overcome the Super Bowl loss to the Patriots for the Sports Illustrated cover story.

Sonny Dykes hired John Lovett as Cal’s new cornerbacks coach on Monday. Lovett fills the coaching vacancy left behind by former receivers coach Pierre Ingram (Dykes will handle receivers responsibilities as well).

Reports indicate that Austin Hill is going to sign with the New York Jets, a team he spent rookie minicamp with in the spring.

From the very end of last week – Arizona State and UNLV scheduled a football series for 2020 (Vegas) and 2021 (Tempe).

Very interesting read from Tom James (special to The Seattle Times) on former Washington football defensive lineman Qasim Hatem, a starter on the 2001 Rose Bowl team who now leads seminars on Islam at U-Dub.

Rob Rang of CBS Sports and The Sports Xchange looks at Colorado football prospects for the 2016 NFL Draft. Nelson Spruce, Ken Crawley and Sefo Liufau get some love.

Let’s catch up with former Oregon State quarterback Sean Mannion as he gets ready for his rookie season with the St. Louis Rams. The link includes an NFL.com video feature on him.

Six Stanford student-athletes earned NCAA postgraduate scholarships for the spring – Matt Aiello (men’s volleyball), Ashley Grossman (women’s water polo), John Morrissey (men’s tennis), Luke Pappas (baseball), Robert Stineman (men’s tennis) and Ellen Tsay (women’s tennis).

UCLA baseball hired Bryant Ward as an assistant coach. He will also be the team’s recruiting coordinator.

To help hold you over 'til 2015 Pac-12 Football Media Days, watch this little sizzle reel on Washington State rallying around the school flag. That thing goes everywhere.