Conference USA Football

Melissa Aaron, the mother of Marshall defensive tackle Larry Aaron, said her son was paralyzed after being hit by stray gunfire at a party on New Year's Eve in Maryland. 

"It is in his spine and he has no feeling in his legs," she told Grant Traylor of the Herald-Dispatch. "They can't remove it because they are afraid it could be dangerous and hinder him even more to do so. It is right in the middle of his spine."  

"I'm in shock myself, she added. "I'm just numb. It's such a freak accident."

Per his father, Aaron was standing by a wall with his girlfriend when a dispute broke out at the party and shots were fired.

"He was standing up against a wall, him and his girlfriend, and two guys got into an argument, and they just started shooting, and my son stepped in front of his girlfriend to shield her," Larry Aaron Jr. said, per Kim Dacey of WBAL-TV. "And one of the bullets got him."

He was one of two people shot in the altercation. The suspect in the incident remains at large.

"Since the party spread very quickly on social media, we know most of the people, if not all at this party, have social media accounts and cell phones," Anne Arundel County police Lieutenant Ryan Frashure told Dacey. "So, we're asking if anyone has any type of video or pics from the party that detectives could use, to identify anybody, whether they be more witnesses they can speak to or possible suspects, to please contact our detectives over at the western district."

His mother told Traylor that several of his teammates, including running back Tyler King and linebackers Jaquan Yulee and Donyae Moody, have since visited him in the hospital

"He is in good spirits and he's talking with teammates," she said. "I'm so proud of how the Marshall family sticks together."

Aaron, a redshirt freshman this past season, registered 13 tackles in eight games in 2017.

Lane Kiffin's Florida Atlantic Owls capped off an 11-3 season Tuesday with an emphatic 50-3 victory over Akron at the Cheribundi Tart Cherry Boca Raton Bowl, and the best is yet to come according to the coach.

"We're just getting started," Kiffin said after the win, per Andrea Adelson of ESPN.com.

His tenure with the school is just getting started, considering Chris Low of ESPN.com reported he agreed to a new contract to keep him with the program through the 2027 campaign.

The contract is not without merit. Florida Atlantic won 11 games this season on the way to a Conference USA crown and played in its first bowl game since the 2008 campaign, when it beat Central Michigan in the Motor City Bowl.

The success was enough to make Kiffin dance after Tuesday's victory:

Kiffin suggested things are only going to get better moving forward, and it's hard to argue against him, considering quarterback Jason Driskel and running back Devin Singletary are set to return in 2018.

Driskel won the MVP award in the win over Akron with 270 passing yards, 67 rushing yards and four total touchdowns while directing an uptempo offense that wore the Zips down. Singletary gashed the defense as well with 124 rushing yards and three touchdowns, marking the 12th straight game he topped the 100-yard mark.

Kiffin was appreciative of the national stage while reflecting on the extension, per Adelson:

"They came to me with it. We're very appreciative. The university feels good about what's going on here. We're changing the way people think. I'm just glad our players can play on this stage and completely dominate a good team. They wanted to leave no doubt. We want to make sure at the end of the year everybody says we don't want to play FAU."

There are likely few powerhouse programs that would want to play FAU at this point, but one of them will be tasked with the job in 2018.

The Owls open next season with a date against the Oklahoma Sooners, who could be coming off a national championship run, considering they are in the College Football Playoff. Kiffin has already captured attention with his first season, but a win at Oklahoma would turn heads across the nation.

Florida Atlantic University and head football coach Lane Kiffin reached an agreement Tuesday on a 10-year contract extension.

Chris Low of ESPN.com confirmed the re-signing and passed along comments from FAU president Dr. John Kelly about the long-term deal.

"This is further proof of FAU's unbridled ambition," Kelly said.

The contract runs through December 2027, per Low. Financial details weren't immediately released.

Kiffin ranked 80th among FBS head coaches with $950,000 in total pay for 2017, according to USA Today.

On Monday, he told Jake Elman of the Palm Beach Post he was pleased with what the contract discussions represented amid his first season on the job.

"I think (the talk of a new contract) shows a lot," Kiffin said. "It shows where we are as a program, what the leadership of the university feels about us and the direction that we're headed is great."

Florida Atlantic started the 42-year-old coach's debut campaign with a 1-3 record. The Owls have rattled off nine consecutive victories, however, earning them a place in Tuesday night's Boca Raton Bowl against MAC opponent Akron.

Kiffin previously served as head coach at the University of Tennessee (7-6 in one season) and USC (28-15 in three-plus seasons) at the collegiate level. He also posted a 5-15 record with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL in just over a year at the helm from 2007 to 2008.

The former Fresno State quarterback also spent three years as Alabama's offensive coordinator before taking the FAU job.

OddsShark notes the Owls are massive 22.5-point favorites in Tuesday's clash with the Zips.

Lane Kiffin has thrown a few shots at his former boss on Twitter recently, but he knows the jokes at Nick Saban's expense won't get back to him. 

"Everybody writes that I'm trolling him," Kiffin said Wednesday on The Dan Le Batard Show (h/t Andrea Adelson of ESPN). "What you don't realize is Nick Saban doesn't know what Twitter is. So he's never even been on Twitter. You can't troll somebody who doesn't see it. I'm really not trolling him."

Kiffin spent three seasons on the staff at Alabama working under Saban before taking his new job as head coach of Florida Atlantic.

He was replaced as offensive coordinator before the team's appearance in the national championship game last season, which ended in a loss to Clemson.

Kiffin has seemingly been trying to get back at Saban through childish jokes on Twitter:

On the other hand, he did also call Saban the "greatest coach of all time" in another tweet.

"I just like to have fun with the fans," Kiffin explained. "This profession, I don't know why, you're supposed to be so serious and just be so proper."

During Wednesday's radio show, he also followed a disconnection by saying Saban called him to stop telling stories, also joking that it was Tennessee that called.

His relaxed attitude seems to have helped him this year as Florida Atlantic finished the regular season with a 9-3 record.

Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin used Twitter to make a joke about why his team gave up a late safety during Friday's 30-25 win against Marshall that helped the Thundering Herd cover the point spread. 

Responding to a tweet from hip-hop artist Lil Mook about conceding the safety, Kiffin said he "didn't want to cover because of too much rat poison."  

Per ESPN.com's David Purdum, a Florida Atlantic spokesperson said Kiffin was making a joke. 

Kiffin also explained to ESPN.com's Chris Low (via Purdum) that he was making a joke and had no knowledge of the point spread until he got back home after the game.

"Someone sent me the funny tweet that I was supposedly trolling everyone by taking a safety to not cover, and as a joke, I retweeted it adding the rat poison line and put a shoutout to our players for earning a well-deserved weekend off," Kiffin said. "If that's a story, it must be a slow news day. Roll Tide tonight."

Purdum noted Marshall entered the game against Florida Atlantic as a 6.5-point underdog. The Owls would have covered the spread if they didn't give up a safety with eight seconds left when punter Ryan Rickel ran out of the back of the end zone on a fourth-down play with the ball snapped from their own 24-yard line. 

Per Shandel Richardson of the Sun-Sentinel, Kiffin said the coaching staff called for Rickel to take the safety rather than risk having Marshall block the punt and potentially tie the game. 

Kiffin also appeared to make a reference to a comment given by Alabama head coach Nick Saban, who Kiffin worked for as the offensive coordinator from 2014-16, after Saban told reporters last month all the good things his team hears about itself from the media are like "rat poison."

In his first season as Florida Atlantic head coach, Kiffin already has the program bowl-eligible with a 6-3 record. The Owls haven't played in a postseason game since the 2008 Motor City Bowl. 

BR Video

It's no secret that Lane Kiffin is an offensive mastermind on the gridiron. Kiffin has experienced early success during his first season as head coach at Florida Atlantic University. Watch above to see how Kiffin is winning on and off the field.

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Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin said tweets sent to Louisville quarterback Lamar Jackson were meant to be a joke. 

"I was just scrolling through things," he told Gentry Estes of the Courier-Journal. "I just saw that highlight he had posted himself. So I thought it would be funny to see if he wanted to come home, which obviously, he's not."

In two tweets that have since been deleted, Kiffin responded to posts from Jackson urging him to come to Florida Atlantic:

As noted by Ben Kercheval of CBS Sports, Kiffin's attempts, joking or not, to recruit Jackson would be against NCAA rules. 

Speaking to Shandel Richardson of the Sun-Sentinel about his Twitter usage, Kiffin said he's doing it as a marketing tool to help build Florida Atlantic's brand and profile to recruits across the country. 

"That’s obviously part of the plan," he said. "It’s marketing. The more that you hear FAU … the more that you do really bad skits for whatever that was, it’s on SportsCenter and they’re talking about FAU."

Jackson is from Pompano Beach, Florida. Florida Atlantic University is located in Boca Raton, approximately 10 miles from Jackson's hometown. 

Kiffin is in his first season as head coach at Florida Atlantic. The Owls are 4-3 through seven games and are tied with Marshall atop the Conference USA East Division. 

Florida Atlantic head coach Lane Kiffin made a late attempt to "recruit" 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson after the Louisville quarterback posted a heartwarming photo with his mother:  

Jackson, who was born in Pompano Beach, Florida, led the Cardinals to a 31-28 victory over Florida State on Saturday. Kiffin doesn't see why he can't return to his home state.  

Unfortunately for the Florida Atlantic head coach, he's three years late. Jackson could declare to enter the 2018 NFL draft at the end of the year.  

Kiffin spends significant time on Twitter, which appeals to the younger generation, but he probably needs to start with high schoolers.  

The University of North Texas reportedly plans to send cease-and-desist letters to ESPN and Michigan State University after the network used "Mean Green"—North Texas' nickname—to promote the Spartans' upcoming game against the No. 7 Michigan Wolverines.

According to USA Today's Dan Wolken, North Texas athletics director Wren Baker "confirmed that North Texas' licensing attorneys would send a cease and desist letter to Michigan State and ESPN on Wednesday morning."

That action comes after Baker tweeted at both ESPN and Michigan State indicating the school was prepared to take legal action:

Baker released a statement on Wednesday after ESPN made the correction:

It's not the first time a college has sought to protect its tradition by taking legal action.

In 2015, Texas A&M filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Colts to protect the use of the school's iconic "12th man" trademark.

The school took similar action against the Seattle Seahawks in 2006.

However, the two sides have since hammered out agreements that allow the Seahawks to use the trademark on a limited basis.

The most recent deal came in August 2016, when ESPN.com's Darren Rovell reported the Seahawks agreed to pay Texas A&M $140,000 over five years, including $18,000 a year in royalties, for rights to the "12th man" mantra.

Florida Atlantic head football coach Lane Kiffin took out a full-page ad in Friday's Wisconsin State Journal to thank the University of Wisconsin for hosting the team all week due to Hurricane Irma's impact in the state of Florida.

Todd Milewski of the Wisconsin State Journal shared the ad which included a note of thanks to Badger Nation from Kiffin:

Florida Atlantic and Wisconsin played each other at Camp Randall Stadium on Sept. 9, with the Badgers defeating the Owls, 31-14. 

FAU's football team remained in Madison, Wisconsin because of the hurricane in Florida over the weekend. Per ESPN's Myron Medcalf, school officials at Wisconsin gave Florida Atlantic access to training facilities and lodging. 

“They’ve (Wisconsin) gone above and beyond,” Kiffin told Matthew DeFranks of the South Florida Sun Sentinel. “It hasn’t just been food. It hasn’t just been facilities. To let us use their meeting rooms, that’s kind of sacred sometimes for people. It’s been really neat.”

According to the school's official website, FAU's campuses "received nominal damage" from Hurricane Irma and all classes remain canceled until Sept. 18. 

Florida Atlantic's football team planned to return home to Boca Raton on Wednesday. The team's home game against Bethune-Cookman on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. ET is still going on as scheduled.