Tag: A.Q. Shipley

Olu Fashanu named Big Ten offensive lineman of the year

The return of Olu Fashanu paid off for Penn State in 2023. Now he’s adding some hardware to his collection.

When offensive lineman [autotag]Olu Fashanu[/autotag] announced he would be returning for another year at Penn State, it was a bit of a shock. Expected to be a potential first-round draft pick had he declared for the 2023 NFL draft, Fashanu gambled on a return for one more season of college football before turning pro. It seems that gamble has been paying off quite nicely.

On Wednesday, the Big Ten announced Fashanu had been named the Rimington-Pace Offensive Lineman of the Year. He was also a consensus first-team All-Big Ten player according to Big Ten coaches and media.

Fashanu is the second Penn State player to win the Big Ten’s top offensive lineman award. [autotag]A.Q. Shipley[/autotag] received the award in 2008. Fashanu remains a clear first-round draft pick prospect, and he could be one of the earlier picks in the draft after his performance this season.

Here is a look at how the Big Ten coaches voted for the conference’s top players on the football field in 2023. Penn State was well-represented across the board this year.

All-Big Ten selections by Big Ten coaches

  • OT Olu Fashanu (first-team)
  • DE [autotag]Chop Robinson[/autotag] (first team)
  • LB [autotag]Abdul Carter[/autotag] (first team)
  • DE [autotag]Adisa Isaac[/autotag] (second team)
  • RB [autotag]Kaytron Allen[/autotag] (second team offense, honorable mention special teams)
  • DB [autotag]Kalen King[/autotag] (second team)
  • C [autotag]Hunter Nourzad[/autotag] (second team)
  • DL [autotag]Dani Dennis-Sutton[/autotag] (third team)
  • DB [autotag]Johnny Dixon[/autotag] (third team)
  • DB [autotag]Daequan Hardy[/autotag] (third team defense; second team special teams)
  • RB [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] (third team)
  • TE [autotag]Tyler Warren[/autotag] (third team)
  • K [autotag]Alex Felkins[/autotag] (third team)
  • OL [autotag]Caedan Wallace[/autotag] (honorable mention)
  • OL [autotag]JB Nelson[/autotag] (honorable mention)
  • OL [autotag]Sal Wormley[/autotag] (honorable mention)
  • TE [autotag]Theo Johnson[/autotag] (honorable mention)
  • WR [autotag]KeAndre Lambert-Smith[/autotag] (honorable mention)
  • QB [autotag]Drew Allar[/autotag] (honorable mention)
  • P [autotag]Riley Thompson[/autotag] (honorable mention)

 

Pat McAfee starts trash talk for Penn State-West Virginia opener

Pat McAfee is already starting the trash talk for the Penn State-West Virginia season opener.

Penn State will open the 2023 season with a primetime matchup with West Virginia, a historic regional rival from before Penn State’s days in the Big Ten. Now that the game is beginning to come into closer view, the trash talk between Penn State and West Virginia fans is about to hit a boil, and former Mountaineer and rising college football analyst Pat McAfee is coming out swinging at former Penn State center A.Q. Shipley.

McAfee, an analyst for ESPN’s College GameDay pregame show, called out Shipley on his X, formerly known as Twitter, account on Sunday afternoon.

McAfee, a devoted fan of professional wrestling, channeled his inner-Hulk Hogan asking Shipley “Whatchu gon’ do when WVU runs over PSU in Happy Valley in Week 1?!”

Shipley did respond to McAfee’s callout, and he seemed more than ready and willing to lay some stakes down on the line.

McAfee and Shipley for former NFL teammates. The two crossed paths one season with the Indianapolis Colts. McAfee spent his entire NFL career with the Colts from 2009 through 2016. Shipley spent two seasons, one in 2012 and another in 2014, during that span.

It is not as though Penn State was looking for any bulletin board material, but you can be sure this social media post from McAfee, among the most popular college football and sports media personalities of this generation, will make the rounds around the program, even if just for laughs.

Penn State is an early favorite to send West Virginia back to Morgantown with a loss to start the season. Penn State will host West Virginia on Saturday, Sept. 2 for a primetime matchup on NBC.

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Cardinals unfairly criticized for facilities by former player

A.Q. Shipley suggested on the Pat McAfee Show that the Cardinals’ temple facility is run down and outdated, which is not the case.

The Arizona Cardinals lost out on hiring Sean Payton as their next head coach. He is expected to agree to terms on a contract with the Denver Broncos. To do so, the Broncos agreed to trade their 2023 first-round pick and 2024 second-round pick in exchange for the right to sign Payton (Payton retired from coaching after 2021 but is still under contract with the Saints through 2024) and the Saints’ 2024 third-round pick.

Payton was in Arizona for a daylong meeting and interview with the Cardinals last week. He spent hours at the team facility in Tempe.

It was suggested on the Pat McAfee Show on Tuesday that one reason why the Cardinals were unable to land Payton was the state of the team’s practice facility.

Former Cardinals offensive lineman A.Q. Shipley said the building was long overdue for an upgrade and had not changed since Bruce Arians retired as head coach after the 2017 season.

Shipley was with the team from 2015-2019.

That doesn’t tell the story.

The Cardinals’ team facility, weight room and locker room have not changed since Arians left. This is a fact.

However, there were major upgrades before Shipley got there.

The Cardinals opened their practice bubble in 2013. That cost the team $4.2 million.

They expanded the weight room in 2015. Team strength and conditioning coach Buddy Morris called the 9,000-square-foot weight room “the Taj Mahal of weight rooms in the NFL.” It nearly doubled the size of the weight room previously.

That same offseason, they upgraded the locker room, added a cafeteria and a hydrotherapy area. They redid meeting rooms. They expanded the facility by 92,000 square feet and invested more than $15 million into the facility. It was considered a front-of-the-line facility at the time.

That was less than 10 years ago.

Shipley is right. Nothing has been changed since Arians left.

That is because things were upgraded before Shipley got there.

McAfee criticized the Cardinals because the team meeting room was the same place as the media conference room.

That is also not completely accurate.

The team meeting room is an auditorium that is rarely used for press conferences.

The media conference room is a different, smaller area.

Payton didn’t get hired by the Cardinals either because he liked the Broncos’ situation better and because Denver was willing to give up the draft capital necessary to the Saints to hire him.

It wasn’t because Payton thought the Cardinals’ facilities were subpar.

The Cardinals have been in the same building since the 1990s and the outside of the building looks like it. However, everything inside is much different.

For Shipley, who spent several seasons with the team, to suggest that things were old and outdated, is simply incorrect.

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53 days till the Cardinals’ 2022 season opener vs. Chiefs

Check out some of the players over the years to wear No. 53 for the Cardinals.

We are less than a week away from the start of training camp for the Arizona Cardinals and a day closer to the start of the 2022 season. In 53 days, the Cardinals will suit up and take the field at State Farm Stadium to face the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 1 for the first game of the regular season.

No. 53 now belongs to linebacker Jessie Lemonier, who signed with the team late in the offseason. He and other players before him to wear No. 53 are below.

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Former Ravens OL A.Q. Shipley thanks organization for recent kind gesture

Former Ravens offensive lineman A.Q. Shipley thanked the team for a recent kind gesture they showed towards him and his family

The Baltimore Ravens are widely regarded across the NFL as a team that treats their players right. There have been numerous examples of both current and former players recalling their great experiences playing for the franchise both on and off of the field.

Recently, former Baltimore center A.Q. Shipley took to Twitter to thank the Ravens for a recent kind gesture. The organization sent Shipley and his family a gift for their newborn baby boy. The former center expressed his  gratitude and appreciation for the thoughtfulness of the team, calling them a “class organization and 1st class”.

8 ex-Colts chasing a ring in Super Bowl LV

Former Colts looking for glory.

While the Indianapolis Colts will be watching Super Bowl LV from the comfort of their home, there are a few familiar faces on both sidelines for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs.

In terms of players, there are a few that will catch the eye of Colts fans but the one dominating headlines is Bucs head coach Bruce Arians, who has a small but vital history with the Colts.

Here are eight former Colts chasing a ring in Super Bowl LV:

Cardinals 2nd-year OL Lamont Gaillard takes over A.Q. Shipley’s number

Gaillard wore No. 65 as a rookie. With Shipley signing elsewhere, Gaillard now gets to wear his old college number.

Arizona Cardinals second-year offensive lineman Lamont Gaillard has a new uniform number. He wore No. 65 last season as a rookie and began this offseason wearing it as well.

He now is wearing No. 53.

That number was worn previously by veteran A.Q. Shipley who was a free agent. While the team planned all offseason on having Mason Cole as the starting center, general manager Steve Keim and head coach Kliff Kingsbury never ruled out Shipley’s return. And if he was going to potentially return, his No. 53 was there for him.

However, now that he has signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there is no need to reserve the number.

Gaillard was seen wearing it in the team’s Red and White practice, as can been seen on the team’s television special airing some of the practice.

He wore No. 53 in college when he played at Georgia.

Gaillard is expected to make the team this year and to be the team’s backup center to Cole.

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A.Q. Shipley doesn’t believe he will return to Cardinals

He says the team wants to go younger with Kyler Murray at quarterback.

The Arizona Cardinals brought back almost their entire roster of offensive linemen this offseason after the 2019 season, but one player is notably still a free agent. Center A.Q. Shipley has not re-signed with the team and it doesn’t appear it will happen.

“(I’m a) free agent right now,” Shipley said on The Wilderness Footprint podcast. “Probably won’t be back with the Cards. They want to go younger with the young talent they got at quarterback now.”

The Cardinals haven’t closed the door on Shipley’s return. General manager Steve Keim said all options are still open and coach Kliff Kingsbury called it a work in progress.

However, they are very confident in Mason Cole, who competed with Shipley for the starting job a year ago.

Shipley isn’t upset.

“Part of the business. I get it,” he said. “I’ve got plenty of options and opportunities.”

He said that with the COVID-19 pandemic, “we’re waiting a little longer than we normally would wait.”

Shipley, in the meantime, is “just sitting tight, staying in shape, waiting till we kind of get a glimpse or a view of where the season’s going to go.”

He believes it could be a situation like the year of the lockout in 2011 when it came together and players had only a few days to get ready to report.

It should be no surprise the Cardinals are willing to move on, even though Shipley played well and was a leader. They drafted Cole to be their center. They also must believe the depth behind Cole with Lamont Gaillard and Max Garcia is fine as well.

If Shipley is re-signed, it likely would only be a scenario in which the centers on the roster were ineffective in training camp or there were an injury. Shipley could be signed and jump right in.

Other than that, he will end up finishing his career elsewhere.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 266

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Ep.265

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Mason Cole set to take over as starting center for Cardinals, but nothing ruled out yet

The Cardinals love Cole’s abilities but GM Steve Keim did not rule out a return of A.Q. Shipley.

The Arizona Cardinals have re-signed a bunch of players from the offseason. One notable player who is still a free agent is center A.Q. Shipley. He is one of very few offensive linemen from 2019 who is not again under contract.

Not long ago, head coach Kliff Kingsbury said potentially re-signing Shipley was “a work in progress.”

It appears the Cardinals are ready to move on from Shipley and give Mason Cole the opportunity to be the starter.

“Mason Cole started every game at center two years ago,” general manager Steve Keim said on a video conference with reporters this week. “He’s extremely smart, he’s tough but he’s really, really athletic at climbing and adjusting at the second level, so he’s a great fit for our offensive scheme.”

Last year before the season, Kingsbury said the competition between Shipley and Cole was very close but Shipley got the nod, in part because of his experience and how he could help a rookie quarterback in Kyler Murray.

Keim would not rule out a possible return of Shipley.

“Well it’s like anything else, there’re a number of guys that are free agents right now, but I wouldn’t rule anything out is all I’ll say,” he said.

If Shipley remains unsigned and Cole struggles or gets hurt, Shipley could get the call. It would be similar to 2015 when the Cardinals brought back center Lyle Sendlein in training camp in 2015. He had been cut in March but Bruce Arians, then the head coach, wasn’t confident enough in Shipley or Ted Larsen. Sendlein returned and the Cardinals went 13-3. Shipley took over the next season as starter and was through last season, excluding his lost season ni 2018 to a torn ACL.

The Cardinals are giving Cole the opportunity to be the guy. Kingsbury had nothing but great things to say about him all last year.

Shipley could return, but it only will be in case of injury or ineffectiveness.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 264

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Ep. 263

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Possible return of C A.Q. Shipley ‘a work in progress’

Kliff Kingsbury only had praise for Shipley but didn’t clearly say he was interested in bringing him back for another year.

The Arizona Cardinals have re-signed or retained 12 of their free agents entering the offseason. However, one notable player has not. That would be center A.Q. Shipley.

The Cardinals re-signed free agent offensive linemen Marcus Gilbert and Max Garcia. Thus far, Shipley remains unsigned.

“A.Q it’s still a work in progress,” head coach Kliff Kingsbury said in a video conference with reporters this week when asked whether they have interest in re-signing him. “He did a phenomenal job last year leadership-wise, to step into a college offense and the way he led that and bought into the tempo and the things we were doing. I couldn’t be more impressed with him.”

Kingsbury didn’t exactly give any real clarity, adding simply, ” We’ll see where that goes.”

It would appear with Mason Cole ready to play regularly, they are ready to move on from Shipley. Kingsbury repeatedly said last season how important Cole was and how he was basically even with Shipley in training camp and the preseason in terms of competing for the starting job.

Now it appears it is Cole’s job to lose. The Cardinals brought back Garcia, who can play center, and retain second-year center Lamont Gaillard.

The most likely scenario for a potential return for Shipley would be like back in 2015 when the Cardinals had moved on from Lyle Sendlein but re-signed in him training camp after they didn’t like what they saw from Ted Larson and others at center.

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Listen to the latest from Cards Wire’s Jess Root on his podcast, Rise Up, See Red. Subscribe on Apple podcasts or Stitcher Radio.

Ep. 263

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Ep. 262

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