Former Texas A&M head coach and NFL assistant Mike Sherman is getting a fresh start in the game, at a most surprising location: Nauset Regional High School on Cape Cod.

The school’s athletic director, Keith Kenyon, told Bill Higgins of the Cape Cod Times:

“I’ve known about Mike as far back as the early 1980s when I was a graduate assistant at Syracuse and he was at Pitt. This has been in the works for a few months after I knew I would be giving up coaching. It’s exciting. Mike is a quality person and obviously his coaching résumé speaks for itself.”

The predecessor to Kevin Sumlin at A&M, Mike Sherman went exactly .500 in his four seasons with the Aggies. His final season fittingly ended at .500 because he didn’t coach the bowl. However, A&M could have easily been in the hunt for the Big 12 championship.

Coaches or outside apologists will sometimes make such statements after a disappointing seas — which 2011 was for the Aggies, coming off a nine-win campaign and finish in the AP Poll the previous campaign — but A&M lost five games by a combined 17 points, and led in the second half of each those defeats.

The cardboard was far from bear upon Sumlin’s arrival. Included among Mike Sherman’s parting gifts to Texas A&M was a redshirt quarterback from Kerrville named Johnny Manziel.

Five Win Total Bets for 2015

Allen Kenney, The Student Section

For those planning a jaunt to Las Vegas before the campaign — and why wouldn’t you be, since summer is “Vegas Season,” after all? — Allen Kenney of The Student Section has you covered with his best college football bets of 2015.

I won’t spoil his picks, culled from 5Dimes’ most recent win totals, except to point out that I’m not in love with Brigham Young’s chances to win 10 games. On the contrary, I believe BYU is as likely to lose its first four as win 10 overall.

Then again, I’m not a betting man.

TCU Lands Nation’s Best JUCO Wide Receiver

Derek Young, Scout.com

Don’t think the efforts of offensive coordinator Doug Meacham to resurrect the TCU Horned Frogs offense went unnoticed in the recruiting world.

TCU helped ensure the future of a passing attack that ranked No. 7 in the nation a season ago by adding a commitment from 4-star wide receiver Taj Williams, rated tops among junior college prospect at the position.

Williams, from Iowa Western College, has other suitors in Auburn and Alabama, so his commitment is a significant win for TCU from a national perspective.

Florida Supreme Court Rules in Favor of UCF in Player’s Death

Associated Press

The Florida Supreme Court ruled that the University of Central Florida Athletic Association — a private corporation that oversees UCF sports — does not have to pay the family of Ereck Plancher the originally awarded sum of $10 million for his death at practice in 2008.

UCF will instead pay $200,000, the max per Florida’s rules of sovereignty for state agencies.

The Florida Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal in August, at which time the attorney for Ereck Plancher’s family, Steve Yerrid, told the Associated Press:

“Whether the advocacy is written or oral, this family has a just cause. We have advocated for this case for a substantial period of time. My confidence in the notion of justice has only been enhanced by my experiences. I feel these justices will find a way to do what’s right for this Florida family.”

George O’Leary, who became UCF’s head coach under inauspicious circumstances in 2005, was accused of cussing at Plancher shortly before the player collapsed.