Foto-Album » This university is a special place.

METAIRIE, La. -- Drew Brees top three receiving targets this season range in age from 23 to 24. None has played more than two NFL seasons and one is a rookie.They way theyve been playing is helping the Saints 37-year-old quarterback continue accumulating elite passing numbers.Now in his 16th season, Brees said one benefit to having such a young receiver group is that they dont know any other way of playing receiver in the NFL except the way that we are molding them and teaching them.I love that, Brees added. That is perfect.Of course, young players still have to be talented and have good instincts -- and it has become apparent that Brandin Cooks, Michael Thomas and Willie Snead all do.All those guys ... are good football players and the guy pulling the trigger -- hes big-time, said Kansas City Chiefs coach Andy Reid, whose club hosts the Saints on Sunday. He knows how to utilize all of those guys.Brees said that when all of your regular receivers havent played in another teams scheme, it can be easier for a veteran QB to say, This is how it needs to be done, and this is what I am expecting. I can also tell you that this is when the ball is going to be there and that is when you need to be there.And they have been in the right place, at the right time, routinely. Brees 346.8 yards per game this season is the most of any NFL QB who has played at least five games.Cooks, a former first-round draft choice now in his third season, had an 87-yard touchdown catch in last Sundays 41-38 victory over Carolina , and it wasnt even Cooks longest reception of the young season. He had a 98-yard touchdown catch in a 35-34 loss to Oakland to open the regular season. Having just turned 23 last month, Cooks leads the Saints with 428 yards receiving with 11 games to play.Thomas, a second-round draft pick last spring out of Ohio State, leads the Saints with 26 receptions. Thomas also has a TD catch in each of his past three games, tying him with Cooks for the team lead at three.Coach Sean Payton, who designs the offense, has credited the 23-year-old Thomas for his ability to correct mistakes within minimal repetitions in practice.Cooks noted that Thomas is working hard and asking questions. That is what you like to see from a rookie.Hes always in the meetings, being attentive and asking a lot of questions, Cooks continued. I feel like those questions that hes asking are showing up on the film. Now, hes being more consistent.Thomas, whose talent has been evident in the way he holds on to difficult catches, said he also puts a premium on studying the scheme and his role in it.If you know what you need to know about the game plan and the plays, it slows down the game tremendously, Thomas said.Snead, an undrafted free agent out of Ball State in 2014, did not play in his first regular-season game until last season, when he nearly reached 1,000 yards receiving.This season, the 24-year-old is third on the club in yards receiving with 296 -- 11 behind Thomas -- and has caught two touchdown passes despite missing a game last month with a toe injury.The fact that all three receivers are thriving, said Chiefs safety Eric Berry, means you have to be aware that anybody could get the ball at any given time and just be aware that everyones a threat.Snead said the key to the quick maturity of New Orleans young receiver group has been the ability to learn from and practice with a record-setting veteran quarterback such as Brees, who encourages receivers to work extra with him after practice and even during the offseason.Brees also has a leadership role on the club and is known to be an effective communicator.Its us matching his intensity and how serious he is about the game and preparation, Snead said. All of us young guys understand who he is and what he does are very important and vital to our success.Game notes Starting LT Terron Armstead, who has missed the past two games with knee soreness, completed a second straight practice on Thursday and said he is hoping to play Sunday. ... DE Paul Kruger also has practiced this week after missing last Sundays game and said he is optimistic about playing against the Chiefs. ... LB Dannell Ellerbe, who has not yet played this season, practiced on a limited basis on Thursday, raising prospects for his return. However, he was not available to speak with reporters. ... Missing practice on Thursday were OT Andrus Peat (groin), CB Delvin Breaux (fibula), CB Sterling Moore (abdomen), RB Daniel Lasco (hamstring) and DT Nick Fairley (non-injury related).---Online: AP NFL coverage: pro32.ap.org and (at)AP-NFL Buy Asics Shoes Online . -- Golden State Warriors coach Mark Jackson asked his players a simple question during Fridays morning shootaround: How many of them had ever been on a team 14 games over . Cheap Asics Australia . Q: Team Canada announces their Olympic roster three weeks from today. Who is general manager Steve Yzerman watching? LeBrun: Over the last 48 hours, hes taken in the home-and-home between the Dallas Stars and Colorado Avalanche with Jamie Benn and Matt Duchene being the obvious targets. http://www.wholesaleasicsaustralia.com/ . The incident occurred at 19:56 of the second period of the Kings 4-2 road win over Edmonton on Sunday. Nolan punched Oilers forward Jesse Joensuu in the jaw in front of the Kings goal during a scrum. Discount Asics Australia . Scott Kazmir allowed four hits in seven shutout innings, Michael Brantley hit a two-run homer in a three-run first inning and the Indians maintained their hold on an AL wild-card spot with a 4-1 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night. Cheap Asics Shoes Online .Y. -- Jayna Hefford scored the winning goal Friday as Canada survived a scare with a 4-3 win over Sweden at the Four Nations womens hockey tournament. OMAHA, Neb. -- Gary Gilmore, the Coastal Carolina coach of the past 21 seasons who ushered the Chanticleers from their infancy in Division I to a national title-clinching, 4-3 victory Thursday over Arizona in the decisive Game 3 of the College World Series finals, could not hold back any longer.For two weeks here, Gilmore stuck to baseball -- lineups and pitching moves and other strategy. But as he clutched the trophy moments after securing the first NCAA championship in school history, Gilmore thought primarily about his father.Richard Gilmore died two years ago early in the spring.He taught Gary everything about the game and about life. He taught him to stay the course in the most frustrating times, and there were plenty as the coach of a Big South program in a state dominated by two national powers.Id give a gazillion, millions of dollars to give him one hug right now, Gilmore said Thursday, standing in shallow right field at TD Ameritrade Park, the CCU logo spinning behind him alongside a championship emblem on the big scoreboard.It was Gilmores one regret, that his father could not celebrate with him.Everything else about this day was nearly perfect. At the end of the longest CWS ever -- 17 games over 13 days, ending some seven hours before the calendar flips to July and Coastal Carolina leaves the Big South for the Sun Belt Conference -- the Chanticleers accomplished a once-unthinkable feat.Some people are still going to say we got lucky, senior Anthony Marks said. And thats fine. They can say whatever they want. It aint luck. This is blood, sweat and tears.From Conway, South Carolina, to Omaha, Marks words resonate to the thumping beat of a celebration like none this university has triggered in its 62-year history.The past two weeks, in fact, unfolded as a dream for the Chanticleers. They landed at Eppley Airfield on June 16 and bused straight to this ballpark, walking through the double doors adjacent to 13th Street at 3:30 p.m. -- two weeks to the moment, almost the exact second, that Alex Cunningham fanned Ryan Haug on a full-count pitch with Wildcats at second and third base.The final pitch ignited a rush to the pitchers mound, with Cunningham buried by more than a dozen bodies.To say, Coastal Carolina, national champions, Gilmore said, its got a great ring to it. But did I really think that was going to happen when we started back in February?Shoot, I thought we had a chance to be good.The Chanticleers were more than good in Omaha, closing this CWS with a nation-high 55 wins as ace right-hander Andrew Beckwith earned his nation-best 15th victory for 5? innings of work.It wasnt vintage Beckwith, but Bobby Holmes bailed him out of the sixth inning after Arizona scored twice. And Cunninghamm pitched the final two innings, giving up one run in the ninth on two hits, a walk and a sacrifice fly.ddddddddddddArizona coach Jay Johnson held Cody Ramer, who raced from first base, at third on Ryan Agulilars two-out double to the left-field corner.A good throw from shortstop Michael Paez would have surely nailed Ramer. And to that point, Coastal made every play when needed. The win Thursday marked its sixth this postseason in elimination games.It came back in the ninth to beat North Carolina State on the road in regional play, then won two straight at powerful LSU in a super regional. The Chanticleers beat TCU twice to reach the championship series and won Tuesday to force a winner-take-all final.After stormy weather postponed the final game until Thursday afternoon, Coastal capitalized on Ramers two errors on the same ground ball hit by Zach Remillard in the sixth inning. Paez and David Parrett scored on the misplay before designated hitter G.K. Young hit a laser into the right-field bullpen for a two-run homer.It wasnt always a golden path, Remillard said. But this is a grinding group. To say we were worried, I dont think so.After the dogpile, the Chanticleers lingered on the field for an hour. A few players scooped dirt from the first-base line into empty water bottles.Theres been nothing bigger than this for our university, athletic director Matt Hogue said. We keep telling people across the country, globally, anybody who will listen, This university is a special place. Theres a special force, a special energy.Sometimes that message doesnt resonate. Sometimes, in our state, it doesnt resonate, but we knew this day was going to come.Gilmore clutched the trophy before passing it to his players and administrators.I hope he keeps it in his office, Marks said, then keeps it in his house when hes done coaching.A party on Myrtle Beach awaits the Chanticleers in South Carolina. Gilmore will partake, then he said he wants to take this weekend to reflect. Hes going to turn off his cellphone and talk to no one.I need two days to put this in perspective, the coach said. Im numb.No doubt, hell think about his father and the inspirational figures who drew this team together -- like the wife of pitching coach Drew Thomas, Jaymie Thomas, who has battled breast cancer this year, and the son of associate head coach Kevin Schnall, Jayden Schnall, who faced life-saving surgery after a series of recent strokes.All the things that have happened to us, I just have to know in my heart, there are bigger things at work, Gilmore said.It sure looked like it over the past two weeks in Omaha. ' ' '