College Football

Steve Virgen COSTA MESA - Martin Janzon, a former Orange Coast College standout linebacker, received hope in his quest to be reinstated by the NCAA when he joined the USC football team for practice Monday. He was cleared to practice, but not officially reinstated to play for the Trojans this season. Published reports Monday indicated Janzon was cleared by the NCAA to play this season. But USC Sports Information Director Tim Tessalone confirmed Janzon was cleared to practice while the NCAA continues to review his eligibility.

Steve Virgen COSTA MESA - Martin Janzon, a star linebacker for the Orange Coast College football team last fall, will not play at USC as he intended, because he does not meet NCAA Division I eligibility requirements. NCAA rules state that club/team sports played for a season after an athlete's 21st birthday are considered one Division I playing year, USC Sports Information Director Tim Tessalone said. Janzon, 25, who earned JC All-American status and was a first-team all-conference player last season, began his "eligibility clock" when he played club football in Sweden.

Steve Virgen The pageantry, the pomp and the purity, that is why Erik Escher loves to watch college football, especially the UCLA Bruins. However, there is an underlying reason why Escher enjoys college football and the Bruins so much. He used to play for the blue and gold. "I love college football, and especially UCLA football," said Escher, a former Newport Harbor High standout. "I'll watch any college football game. " Escher can identify with the college game.

Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is scheduled to welcome college football legend Lou Holtz to its 20th annual Circle 1000 Founders' Brunch Monday at the Marriott Newport Beach Hotel and Spa. The former Notre Dame football coach, who now works as an ESPN college football analyst, is scheduled to speak about his wife's battle with squamous cell throat cancer. She is a 10-year survivor. The Circle 1000 Founders' Brunch hosts its one event per year as a way for people to donate directly to the Hoag Cancer Center without having to belong to committees or attend meetings.

COACHES WILL VOTE ON RONNIE LOTT TROPHY The Master Football Coaches organization has signed a contract with Newport Beach's Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation to be the exclusive voters for the Ronnie Lott Trophy. The trophy is given annually to the top defensive player in college football, rewarding integrity, maturity, performance, academics, community and tenacity. The Master Football Coaches is a group of 17 current and former college coaches. The distinguished list includes John Cooper, Terry Donahue, Vince Dooley, Pat Dye, LaVell Edwards, Hayden Fry, Don James, Frank Kush, Dick MacPherson, Bill Mallory, Don Nehlen, John Ralston, John Robinson, Bo Schembechler, R.C. Slocum, Gene Stallings and George Welsh.

Richard Dunn Along with being the silver anniversary Mr. Irrelevant honoree, Northwestern State (La.) free safety Michael Green will become the 22nd player to receive the coveted Lowsman Trophy, an award at the opposite end of the college football spectrum from its more famous counterpart. Highlighting the zany, weeklong celebration of the last man picked in the NFL draft, a.k.a. Irrelevant Week, is the All-Star Sports Banquet and Lowsman Trophy presentation to Mr. Irrelevant XXV on June 21 at the Newport Beach Marriott.

Richard Dunn NEWPORT BEACH - College football was never a consideration for Mr. Irrelevant XXVI, Tevita Ofahengaue. Now, the former BYU tight end has something on Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick, the overall No. 1 selection in this year's NFL draft. "I feel bad for Michael Vick. He got a lot of money (a six-year, $62 million contract), but he can't buy this," Ofahengaue said, referring to Irrelevant Week, which concluded Friday with the Survivor Challenge at the Palace Park in Irvine.

Alabama defeated Texas, 37-21, in Thursday night’s Bowl Championship Series title game at the Rose Bowl. As we see it, the nation’s No. 1- and No. 2-ranked college football teams both came out champions for choosing Newport-Mesa as their gateway to Southern California. By the hundreds, if not thousands, the two teams and their legions of support staff, alumni and fans descended on the area in the first week of 2010, splashing Newport Beach, Costa Mesa and UC Irvine in hues of crimson and burnt orange and giving the area’s economy a welcome boost to open the new year.

We, the residents of Newport-Mesa, live in the world’s comfiest, most charitable time zone. What on earth, you wonder, am I talking about? Once upon a time, people rarely left the time zone in which they were born (all time was local, anyway). It’s said that Alexander the Great traveled from Greece to India in the fourth century B.C., crossing at least four (yet to be identified) time zones. It took him weeks or months to cross each. I can’t find a single reference to the fact that he needed to adjust his chronograph as he traveled east, or that he sat jet-lagged (or camel-lagged)

Club affiliation: Newport Beach Country Club Residence: Newport Beach Birthplace: Los Angeles Age: 56 Golf handicap: 18 Favorite golf moment: Scoring a hole-in-one last summer on Newport Beach Country Club's par-3 13th hole with witnesses Ron Foster and Fred Sparks. The 6-iron shot landed in the hole on the fly. Favorite course played: Pebble Beach Golf Links Favorite club: 5-wood Family: Wife, Karen; Sons, Brandon and Justin Favorite hobby outside of golf: Following college football Noteworthy: Paired with fellow Newport Beach Country Club members Ken Wasmann and Alex Jianas to win the member's division of the Senior-Junior Pro Am on their home course Dec. 1 ... Partnered with E.J. O'Leary of Newport Coast and finished second in their respective flight of Newport Beach Country Club's annual Regatta (member-guest)

Watching the Penn State students tear up their campus in support of football coach Joe Paterno was a shocking sight this week. College is supposed to be an incubator of ethics and values. The students evinced no concern for the fact their campus facilities were used for the raping of young boys by Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach who kept an office on the campus and hung around the football team. They could have cared less that their university and athletic administration covered up the crimes.

Orange Coast (3-5, 1-2) vs. Golden West (4-4, 2-1) When/where: Saturday, 6 p.m., at Orange Coast Key Pirates: Fr. RB Domenic Betts (1,351 yards, 16 TDs rushing); So. C Alec Davis; Fr. OLB Aaron Jones (65 tackles); So. S Derrick Romo (40 tackles, three INTs). Key Rustlers: So. QB Raymond Huizar (1,727 yards, 16 TDs passing); So. LB Chris Fiscus (45 tackles, three INTs); So. WR Andrew Williams (30 catches, 442 yards, two TDs); So. WR Jared Cohen (29 catches, 350 yards, eight TDs)

Who is Damon Dunn? Have you ever heard of him? At the Pacific Club in Newport Beach, he could be described as unassuming. In a room full of doctors, lawyers, retired millionaires and former professional football players, Dunn didn't really seem to stick out. Back when he was a kid on his farm in Fort Worth, Texas, he never thought he would be in this room. He was the keynote speaker Sunday night for the Ronnie Lott IMPACT Trophy annual event. John Hamilton, the Pacific Club president and a Newport Beach resident, was thrilled to land Dunn as the speaker.