The transfer portal window for December and January officially closed last week, and while there will still be plenty of movement with commitments in the coming days, most programs have settled on a majority of their offseason transfer additions heading into the spring semester.
Rivals.com takes a look at 10 transfers that will have the biggest impact heading into the 2023 season for teams in the Pac-12 Conference.
The Beavers are coming off a 10-win season and landing Uiagalelei, a former five-star talent that accumulated a 22-6 record at Clemson, should definitely keep the momentum in Corvallis rolling. Uiagalelei had a down 2021 season, but he bounced back with good numbers in 2022, throwing for 2,521 yards at a 61.9% clip with 22 touchdowns against seven interceptions. He also rushed for 545 yards and an additional seven scores. While Uiagalelei ended up losing his starting job to Cade Klubnik late in the season there is still plenty left in the tank for the ultra-talented signal-caller.
The Deion Sanders regime is already making waves in Boulder, and look for Travis Hunter, the former No. 1 prospect in the 2021 class, to be in the middle of the action. In eight games played for Jackson State during his freshman season, Hunter recorded 18 catches for 188 yards and four touchdowns on offense. Defensively, he tallied 20 tackles, eight pass break-ups, two interceptions and a fumble recovery. It’s time for Hunter to see if he can shine among the Power Five ranks.
Ball State RB Carson Steele expected to step in for Zach Charbonnet (USA Today Sports)
Zach Charbonnet is off to the NFL after a stellar career with the Bruins. That leaves an opening for former Ball State rusher Carson Steele, who was the most productive running back in the MAC this past season. Steele recorded 1,556 yards rushing with 14 touchdowns to go along with 166 receiving yards during the 2022 season. He rushed for 100-plus yards in nine of 12 games in which he played. It looks like Chip Kelly‘s offense at UCLA will keep on rolling.
J. Michael Sturdivant looking to be a go-to guy for UCLA (USA Today Sports)
UCLA lost Jake Bobo and Kazmeir Allen, its top two wide receivers, this past season, so adding a playmaker like Sturdivant is significant. Sturdivant was a go-to guy for Cal in 2022, starting all 12 games and leading the Golden Bears with 65 catches and seven touchdowns. He was also second on the team in receiving yards with 755 and earned Freshman All-American honors. At 6-foot-3, 205-pounds, expect Sturdivant to be a top target in the Bruins’ passing game.
The Huskies have a dynamic offense, but their defense struggled mightily against the pass, giving up 251.5 yards per game. Muhammad, a two-year starter at Oklahoma State, is expected to come in and replace Jordan Perryman who exhausted his eligibility. During his tenure with the Cowboys, Muhammad tallied 72 tackles, one interception and 13 passes defended.
Arizona State‘s roster is being overhauled by new head coach Kenny Dillingham, and he got a key quarterback transfer that could help jumpstart the Sun Devils program in Pyne, the former Notre Dame signal-caller. In 2022, Pyne played in 11 games for the Fighting Irish, passing for 2,021 yards with 22 touchdowns against six interceptions. After an 0-2 start to the season, Pyne led Notre Dame to an 8-2 record as a starter to finish the season.
Singer finished second in the Pac-12 in both yards (1,105) and catches (66) while also scoring six touchdowns during the 2022 season. The former walk-on at Arizona was the Wildcats’ go-to playmaker last season, and now he’ll display his talents for the high-powered Trojans offense led by Heisman trophy winner Caleb Williams. More fireworks in Los Angeles.
Shedeur Sanders, the Jackson State transfer, didn’t follow his father, Deion, to Colorado to be a backup. During his time in the SWAC, Sanders led the Tigers to a 23-3 overall record as the starting quarterback. He’s coming off a 2022 campaign in which he threw for 3,752 yards with 40 touchdowns and just six interceptions while leading Jackson State to a Celebration Bowl appearance. We’ll see if Sanders can provide a much-needed spark to what has been an anemic Colorado offense the past few seasons.
Oregon pulled in one of the best defensive additions from the portal in former South Carolina edge rusher Jordan Burch. The former five-star prospect had a breakout season for the Gamecocks in 2022, racking up 60 tackles, 7.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks. Burch seems to be hitting his stride in college and has two years of eligibility remaining to be a major contributor for the Ducks.
OL Jarrett Kingston brings veteran experience to USC (USA Today Sports)
Washington State‘s loss is USC‘s gain. Throughout the last three seasons with the Cougars, Kingston has started 26 games at either left guard or left tackle. This past season, he started nine games at left tackle before a season-ending ankle injury against Stanford in November. He did not allow a sack in 398 snaps and had the third-best pass-blocking grade among tackles in the Pac-12.
England play India in the first Women’s U19 T20 World Cup final on Sunday and, ahead of the match, Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discussed how far the women’s game has come in recent years.
In a low-scoring thriller at Senwes Park, England were bowled out for just 99. In response, Australia only mustered 96 runs after a fantastic bowling performance from England.
Image: England won a thrilling semi-final against Australia by just three runs
Hannah Baker, who took three wickets and was named player of the match, was the pick of the bowlers, but all of England’s bowling attack made vital contributions.
Speaking to Sky Sports after the match, Baker said she was “buzzing” after the victory but attention will quickly turn to Sunday’s final.
“We are all buzzing but we can’t wait for the final. Hope we will bring it home,” she said.
“I was literally shaking for the last five overs. But I guess it’s about trying to keep that composure, and we did that really well. I am over the moon. I will get a lot of confidence from today. Hopefully I can do it again against India.
“Last night (Wednesday) we went stargazing and tomorrow night (Saturday) we will go stargazing again just to focus the mind.”
Women’s cricket is in a ‘special’ place
England will be hoping to lift the trophy in the inaugural competition and Baker has been enjoying the experience of her first international tournament.
“Its been so good, all the coaches back all the players,” she added. “Being attacking, and having that mindset, makes us ruthless and hopefully that’s what helps us win on Sunday.
“I have a lot of pride which comes with wearing an England badge and the noise that the crowd was making today was ridiculous, but just embrace it and take a moment to embrace it all. Hopefully, one day, I will play for the senior team.”
With the announcement of The Hundred fixtures and Women’s IPL earlier this week, Baker, who was the youngest player in the Welsh Fire squad last year, is hoping to play more franchise cricket as she looks to continue her development.
“Players can focus on cricket, rather than having a side job or go to university, it will only develop the game further. For everyone to be looking at role models, it’s not what I had and it’s pretty special,” she said.
“I would like to be picked in The Hundred again and have a good domestic season. Hopefully, I’ll take a lot of wickets and have fun. I have learnt a lot [in The Hundred], I have learnt how to deal with pressure with different plans for different batters.
“It’s an incredible opportunity [in the Women’s IPL]. It gives more chance for franchises to pick players up and make cricket a real job, rather than having it as a side job.
“I would definitely like to be playing abroad, this is my first tour as well and it’s been pretty incredible. You learn so much from these pitches compared to England. Hopefully, one day, I can play in the BBL or IPL.”
Sunday 29th January 11:45am
‘IPL is the end game’
After the match, Hussain and Atherton praised the England side for their unlikely victory.
The players who have featured in South Africa will have half an eye on the senior team, and both Hussain and Atherton believe cricket is now a viable career for women.
“That’s the start of the pathway, and the end game is going to be the Women’s IPL. There is a proper lucrative career available for a lot of these girls, or there will be, which is fantastic,” Atherton said.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Nasser Hussain and Michael Atherton discuss how franchise cricket has impacted the game and what needs to happen to see a better future for the sport
Hussain added: “It’s been going on for a long time, the change has been happening for a long time. The standards we’ve seen with The Hundred, we see broadcasters want it now.
“The game changer for the players has been the announcement of the Women’s IPL. At the moment, they are loving every minute of it.”
On January 25, the Indian Cricket Board confirmed the five franchises that will compete in the inaugural IPL.
Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi and Lucknow have been unveiled as the five successful host cities, with respective owner bids combining for £465m, including a top bid of around £128m from the Adani Group for the Ahmedabad franchise.
Among the owners are the five entities that currently oversee the IPL’s Mumbai, Delhi and Bangalore franchises ahead of the T20-style tournament getting under way in March.
Watch the Women’s U19 T20 World Cup final live on Sky Sports Mix from 11.45am on Sunday.
{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-27 11:20:16 -0600’) }} football Edit
Adam Gorney
• Rivals.com
National Recruiting Director
SAN ANTONIO – Two Big Ten schools have the attention of Cameron Smith and while it’s still early in his recruitment, a regional battle could be brewing.Rutgers and Penn State are the two programs t…
You must be a member to read the full article. Subscribe now for instant access to all premium content.
The Copa América, South America’s biggest soccer championship, will return to the United States in 2024 as part of a broad collaboration agreement between soccer officials in the Americas that also includes at least one new tournament as well as expanded intercontinental competitions for clubs and women’s national teams.
Concacaf, the confederation that governs the sport in North and Central America and the Caribbean, and Conmebol, which rules the game in South America, announced their agreement on Friday.
In 2024, the 10 South American nations that would normally contest the Copa América, the century-old South American championship, will be joined by six teams from the Concacaf region.
The Copa América was previously played in the United States in 2016, the only other time it was held outside South America and also the only previous time it included as many as 16 teams.
It is not uncommon for the Copa América to include “guest teams” from other regions. But for 2024 the teams from Concacaf will qualify through the 2023-24 Concacaf Nations League, rather than by invitation. A guest team has never won the Copa América, although Mexico made the final in 1993 and 2001. The United States has appeared in the tournament four times, making two semifinal appearances.
The federations said the expanded Copa América would serve, in part, as a vital window of top-level preparation in the Western Hemisphere ahead the 2026 World Cup, which is to be co-hosted in the United States, Mexico and Canada. The tournament will be held from mid-June to mid-July 2024, simultaneously with that summer’s European Championship, a tent-pole event on the soccer calendar that is held every four years.
Argentina won the most recent Copa América in 2021, a career highlight for Lionel Messi, and his first major national team title. He and Argentina followed that with a World Cup win in 2022. In all, Argentina and Uruguay have won 15 Copa Américas each and Brazil nine.
The federations also announced that the 2024 women’s Concacaf Gold Cup will include the top four South American teams alongside eight teams from Concacaf, a rare (and welcome) bit of heightened tournament competition for the region’s best teams outside the Women’s World Cup or the Olympics.
A new men’s club competition for the region is also planned, to include two club teams from each confederation. The federations said they hoped to launch that tournament in 2024 as well. The tournament comes as the Club World Cup, for club teams around the world, is in flux, with FIFA planning to expand it but hold it less frequently.
“There are a few running backs worthy of five-star consideration in this 2023 recruiting cycle, but none fits that mold more than Alabama signee Justice Haynes. The analyst team chose to go without a five-star back in this class, and although logic behind not having one at the position is valid due to positional NFL draft value, I see Haynes as being an exception to the rule.
“Haynes’ skill set is elite in nearly every category, and after evaluating him for a full week against the nation’s best at the All-American Bowl, it became apparent that he is different than his peers. He has a future NFL frame, incredible balance, a special burst with speed to match and proved to be as good of a receiver as he is a runner. Haynes is a star in the making, and should he stay healthy I see him as a future first-rounder worthy of a fifth star.” – Clint Cosgrove, national recruiting analyst
*****
“Trying to predict what will happen in an NFL Draft three to four years away is a difficult task. One thing that has changed – making it a bit easier to predict – is draft stock on running backs has dropped, but the overlooked are still taken in the first round. The 2022 draft was a recent exception as former Iowa State standout Breece Hall was the first tailback taken off the board, going in the second round to the Jets. Najee Harris (Alabama), Clyde Edwards-Helaire (LSU), Josh Jacobs (Alabama) and Saquon Barkley (Penn State) each went in the first round, respectively, dating back to 2018. Haynes has the talent and offensive fit with Alabama to force teams to take him early instead of waiting. Haynes’ four-star ranking – slotted at No. 33 – is still fantastic, but if he goes in the first round when his time comes we may regret it.” – Ryan Wright, national recruiting analyst
“There are 37 offensive linemen in the Rivals250, which is a lot for any given year, but I don’t know if we should have left out Olaus Alinen. It took the native of Finland a little while to get used to the speed and strength of the elite defensive linemen he faced in Orlando at the Under Armour Next All-America Game, but he showed steady progress during the week of practice and played well in the game.
“Alinen has the size, raw strength and agility to compete at the highest level, but how he was able to adapt fairly quickly to the increased level of competition gives me confidence in his chances of success in college.” – Adam Friedman, national recruiting analyst
*****
JAQUAVIOUS RUSSAW: FOUR-STAR
“There have been a lot of instances in which someone just outside the five-star arena has emerged as a first-round NFL Draft pick, and while we looked sort of correct on his ranking we just missed it by a little bit. That’s why I always want to review players in that 33 to 50 range to make sure we feel relatively comfortable about where those players are positioned, but inevitably there will be some minor misses on guys who should have been five-stars.
“My pick this year is Jaquavious Russaw, who unfortunately didn’t show up to the Under Armour Game but has such excellent senior film I still think we should have considered him more for five-star status. The Alabama signee is someone who flies all over the field, is perfectly comfortable playing off the edge or standing up in space and then running everywhere to get the ball carrier on the ground. Three or four years from now, I can see Russaw as a first-rounder.” – Adam Gorney, national recruiting director
*****
RUEBEN OWENS II: FOUR-STAR RB
“The conversation of whether there is a five-star running back in the class of 2023 continued well into the final rankings discussions, and that conversation centered around Rueben Owens II for most of the recruiting cycle. Owens’ resume as a track athlete (10.68 100-meter speed), receiving threat in 7-on-7 settings and as a statistical machine on the high school level helps him jump off the chart from other backfield weapons both in 2023 and in years past.
“However, what I think makes Owens a five-star is his quick jump-cut ability combined with his skill to fight through and elude tacklers of various sizes. At Texas A&M, Owens will be used both out of the backfield and split out wide, which will make him a unique offensive weapon both in college and the NFL when it becomes time for him to go through the draft process. If Owens can stay healthy, a first-round pick could be very well in his future.” – Nick Harris, national recruiting analyst
Frank Lampard can, at least, be sure that there will be no lasting damage. The disappointment of his firing as Everton manager will sting for a while, of course, but there is little reason to believe it will be held against him. A failure to meet expectations at Everton has long since become the sort of thing that might happen to anyone.
It did not, after all, stop Carlo Ancelotti — who steered Everton to the dizzying heights of 10th in the Premier League in his sole full season at Goodison Park — from getting the Real Madrid job. Less than a year after leaving Merseyside, Ancelotti picked up his fourth Champions League trophy (a record), and became the first manager in history to win domestic titles in all of Europe’s five most illustrious leagues.
Ancelotti’s predecessor at Goodison, Marco Silva, has not done quite so well, but his Fulham team currently sits seventh in the Premier League. Ronald Koeman left England with his reputation shredded, but he has since managed the Dutch national team, Barcelona, and the Dutch national team again. Roberto Martínez spent eight years in charge of Belgium; his next task is to take Portugal to the European Championship next summer.
Indeed, of the six most recent (permanent) managers to have clasped English soccer’s great poisoned chalice before Lampard, so far only one — Sam Allardyce — failed to recover, and that might be attributed at least in part to his pre-existing, not especially flattering and largely self-inflicted caricature. (Rafa Benítez, whom Lampard replaced a year ago, has yet to return to work.)
That is instructive. Only one of those managers, Ancelotti, left the club on his terms and with the broad beneficence of the fans. The rest left Goodison Park bilious, rancorous and, more than once, on the verge of outright mutiny.
That so few of those managers have been sullied by the manner of their departures indicates that soccer, as a whole, does not feel Everton, these days, is the sort of place where a manager’s talent can be accurately gauged. Lampard — now four years into his managerial career and with little proof, either way, of whether he is particularly cut out for the job or not — will benefit from that just as Koeman, Silva and all of the others did.
Why that should be, of course, has been outlined frequently in the days since Lampard was fired.
As noted by this newsletter last week, Everton’s majority owner, Farhad Moshiri, lacks a clear vision for what he wants the club to be, other than — as a statement put it — not in the Premier League’s relegation zone. He has, in the six years since he bought Everton, spent something north of $500 million on players, but the recruitment has been so scattershot that it has incontrovertibly made the team worse.
He appointed a director of football and then, by most accounts, did not empower him to sign anyone. He has hired and fired managers with such speed that Lampard’s team for his final game, a defeat at West Ham, contained players brought in by four of his predecessors. Everton is a patchwork of different influences and ideas and policies, a consequence of years of failure.
Both among the club’s fan base and soccer’s professional commentariat, conventional wisdom has it that it is from there that the tendrils of Everton’s chronic disappointment, its permanent crisis, climb: not with the manager but with the system in which they are expected, forlornly, to work. It is, of course, correct. It may not, though, quite get to the root of the issue.
It is impossible to escape Everton’s history. It is there, emblazoned on the stadium, in a series of snapshots commemorating the club’s finest teams, its greatest achievements. It is there, in the words to “Grand Old Team,” the song that long served as one of the club’s prematch standards. It even warranted a mention in the statement Lampard released after his departure, in which he paid homage to the club’s “incredible” history.
That is understandable: Everton’s history is unusually illustrious. It is, depending on your preferred metric, either the fourth most successful team in English history — in terms of league titles won, ahead of Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham — or the eighth, if total trophy haul is deemed a better measure. That history is, as it should be, a source of immense pride.
It is also, though, a prison. The metastasis of soccer over the last two decades has, effectively, rendered history largely irrelevant as a marker of power. Everton’s nine league titles do not mean it earns more from the Premier League’s television deals than Brentford, just as A.C. Milan’s seven European Cups do not give it more financial firepower than Bournemouth (Champions League titles: zero).
The old hierarchies no longer hold, as the rise of Manchester City and Paris St.-Germain make clear, toppled and leveled by the flood of money rushing into the game from broadcasters and sponsors, from oligarchs and hedge funds. History is no longer a draw. Or, rather, it is not nearly so significant a draw as wealth, or prospects, or status, or facilities, or plans.
That adjusted reality has affected the game’s self-appointed superpowers, of course, just as surely as it has affected the vast majority of clubs, the minnows and the traditionally mediocre, all of whom have been forced to adapt to narrowed horizons and limited ambitions.
The impact has been most profound, though, on the class of club to which Everton belongs, those on the second rung of the game’s long established and now defunct power structure, those who are best regarded as soccer’s cruiserweights.
Those teams can be placed, broadly, into two categories. There are those who have accommodated themselves to the way things are now, who have managed to carve out a new definition of success that enables them to find some contentment in a hostile environment.
For Benfica and Ajax, say, that has taken the form of trading continental prominence for domestic supremacy, secured thanks to a steady stream of young talent. For Borussia Dortmund, it has involved accepting a place as the game’s most reliable springboard, a role as a midwife to greatness.
And then there are those who seem to be weighed down by the burden of their history: Valencia, Inter Milan, Marseille, Schalke, Hamburg, West Ham, Aston Villa and, of course, Everton, all unable or unwilling to adopt the methods of their former peers to stake out a new place for themselves.
It is no surprise that these teams have become, for the most part, the most unstable, the least contented clubs in Europe. Happiness is a fleeting thing in soccer; elite sport does not lend itself to lasting satisfaction. But these clubs often seem the most unhappy, caught in a grinding, unending identity crisis, trapped between what they were and what they are.
That is what lies at the heart of the modern Everton. Like Lampard, even Moshiri, to some extent, can be viewed as a consequence as much as a cause of the problem. The club was so desperate to be restored to what it once was that it sold itself to someone who — on the balance of the last six years — has very little clue what he is doing, beyond hiring famous managers and signing expensive players and hoping for the best.
And it is what will continue to undermine Everton until it is resolved, as the teams above them streak away and the teams traditionally beneath them — the smart, progressive ones, at least — roar past. Everton has never been willing to surrender the idea that it is more than a way-station, that it is a destination sort of a club, even if doing so is the first step to returning itself to relevance. To do so would be to think small, and thinking small is unimaginable when you believe, when history dictates, that you are big.
Correspondence
Thanks, first of all, to the half-dozen eagle-eyed readers who got in touch to inform me that I had my magical kingdoms mixed up: Disney World is in Florida, by all accounts, whereas Disneyland is in California. I have, alas, been to neither, owing to a lifelong — and to be honest perfectly logical — fear of giant anthropomorphized mice.
The issue of celebrations, meanwhile, seems to animate even more of you than the misattribution of theme parks. “I wonder if goal celebrations can (or used to) be culture-specific,” wrote Thomas Bodenberg. “In 1994, Brazil played Sweden at the late, unlamented Pontiac Silverdome. When Kennet Andersson scored for Sweden, putting them 1-0 up, he just jogged stoically back to his end, awaiting kickoff. I wonder if that was more a product of Swedish culture than the individual.”
What irks Allan Culham, on the other hand, is how often goal-scorers “do not recognize whoever set them up to get it. Often the assist is the most impressive part, but players celebrate as if it was a result of their effort alone.”
It feels to me as if many players do, these days, opt for the “emphatic pointing” method of celebration, singling out the teammate who made the chance, but this hits upon an issue close to my heart, and one I have discussed with a host of current and former players: the cliché runs that scoring a goal is the hardest job in soccer, but I would contend that making one is infinitely more difficult. (They largely disagree with me.)
Dan Lachman is not short on ambition. It is time, he wrote, to “retire” the tradition/habit/pretension of referring to players by the role seemingly predicated by their numbers. “Does the casual fan have any clue what a ‘No. 6’ is? How about calling it a holding, or defensive, midfielder? It’s time for this to go.”
Oddly, this is a relatively new phenomenon: At a rough guess, the phrase “No. 6” would never have appeared in English commentary of a game even 10 years ago. It is a recent (and entirely harmless) import, and I would agree that it does not actually offer the clarity people assume. What a No. 6 does in Spain, say, is different from what one does in Germany, which is different again from how the Dutch perceive the position.
And a forlorn request from Tony De Palma. “I long to know what is being sung by fans at Premier League stadia,” he wrote. “I love the feel of the spectacle, the ambient sound, but I am unable to make out all but the most well-known chants. How can I, an American onlooker, figure out what these English fans are singing?”
Alas, Tony, the first assumption should always be that whatever it is, the lyrics would almost certainly make the Grey Lady blush. I remember going to a baseball game in San Francisco a few years ago with my wife, who is no fan of either sport. So powerful is social conditioning, though, that after a few minutes even she turned to me, with the air of a disappointed line manager conducting a performance review, and asked why it was that the fans were not swearing at the opposition team.
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — When Baltimore Ravens coach John Harbaugh interviews his offensive coordinator candidates, he will ask them about their vision for the offense, how their ideas fit with the team’s current players and how their scheme can merge with what the team has done successfully in the past.
For the candidates, their biggest question to Harbaugh is this: Who will be quarterbacking the offense in Baltimore?
Ravens officials expressed confidence last week that Baltimore can still get a long-term deal done with Lamar Jackson, but there is a lot up in the air with the team’s star quarterback, especially when it comes to the franchise tag or a possible trade. If the Ravens place the tag on Jackson, it’s unknown when he would report to the team this year, or whether he would play under the tag. Baltimore general manager Eric DeCosta also declined to comment when asked whether he would listen to trade offers from other teams.
Harbaugh doesn’t believe the uncertainty with Jackson will affect his ability to attract the best offensive coordinator candidates.
“This is going to be a highly sought-after job; this is one of the top football coaching jobs in the world,” Harbaugh said. “Everybody’s going to want this job. We’ll get the best fit for what we’re trying to accomplish, and it’s going to be a highly qualified candidate.”
After parting ways with Greg Roman as their playcaller last week, it’s clear what the Ravens need to accomplish with their next offensive coordinator: fix the NFL’s most unbalanced attack.
In four seasons with Roman, Baltimore had the league’s top rushing attack and the third-worst passing game. The Ravens were the only team to rank in the top five in rushing and the bottom five in passing since 2019.
It’s not surprising that nearly all of the candidates linked to Baltimore’s opening have an expertise in the passing game. According to multiple reports, the Ravens have requested interviews with Rams pass game coordinator Zac Robinson, Vikings pass game coordinator Brian Angelichio, Broncos offensive coordinator Jason Outten, Seahawks quarterbacks coach Dave Canales and Browns wide receiver coach Chad O’Shea. Baltimore also has interest in former Colts coach Frank Reich, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and former Buccaneers coordinator Byron Leftwich, according to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler.
“We’re going to always believe in running the ball, and we’ve done that really well over the last number of years,” Harbaugh said. “With that, you’ve got to have a complementary passing game. You’ve got to have a standalone passing game — with dropback passing — situational passing, third downs, especially long and in the red zone, and then you’ve got to have a play-action passing game that goes with whatever runs you run, whether it’s quarterback-driven runs or power runs or whatever, and they’ve got to fit your run game. So, those are the things that kind of play off of each other; it’s just a well-rounded, balanced offense.”
With Roman, the Ravens called for a pass on 54.7% of the plays, which was the second-lowest behind the Titans (54.4%). As a result, Baltimore averaged 201.6 yards passing per game, which ranked 29th since 2019 (in front of only the Jets, Bears and Browns).
It was a challenge for Roman to put together a complementary passing attack when he didn’t have established playmakers at wide receiver. Others would argue that Roman’s run-first system didn’t lure the top wide receivers to Baltimore.
Last season, the Ravens’ most productive wide receiver was Demarcus Robinson after Rashod Bateman missed the last nine games with a foot injury. Baltimore was so desperate at wideout by the end of the season that the team split out Pro Bowl tight end Mark Andrews.
“We were unique; we have a quarterback that can do everything — that’s pretty unusual,” Harbaugh said. “And we have to get that wide receiver room where we want it. That’ll be the last part of the personnel part.”
The Ravens have one of the league’s top tight ends in Andrews, a motivated, young running back in J.K. Dobbins and a top-five offensive line. A playmaking wide receiver would complete this offense, as long as Jackson is returning.
Harbaugh said Jackson would be “involved” in the offensive coordinator search.
“I’ll keep him abreast to what’s going on, and I’m sure he’ll have some input along the way,” Harbaugh said. “But I know his focus — like he told me — is going to be on getting himself ready and getting his guys ready for next season.”
In the 29 years that Artur Beterbiev has been boxing, he has suffered just a single cut of any significance: a serpent-shaped gash, about 3 inches long, that squiggled upward from his brow toward his hairline.
As there’s little fatty tissue on the forehead — actually, I’m not sure Beterbiev has fatty tissue — closing the laceration during combat was an impossibility. It leaked in a steady drip, the kind for which you might call a plumber. Before long, everything was shaded in crimson: Beterbiev; his opponent, the dangerous Marcus Browne, who seems to have a knack for opening these kinds of wounds; the referee Michael Griffin; and the ring itself, which came to resemble the grisliest kind of crime scene.
What happened in the fourth round that night — Dec. 17, 2021 — provided the kind of test for which no fighter can prepare. Usually, a fighter will look to the ref first. (In Beterbiev’s case, it’s worth noting, the fight could’ve been declared a “no contest” if it was stopped before four rounds were completed.) Then, upon returning to his corner, he then tries to read the trainer and cutman. Because it’s human nature to seek reassurance, especially in times of hemorrhage, cornermen will typically lie: It’s not bad at all. With Beterbiev already covered in blood, however, that wasn’t really an option.
“This was a cut you couldn’t control,” says Luc-Vincent Ouellet, who was pressed into service when Beterbiev’s regular cutman, Russ Anber, tested positive for COVID-19.
Not that it bothered Beterbiev. “Guys cut that bad are usually looking for somebody to stop the fight,” says John Scully, an assistant in the Beterbiev camp. “They come back and ask, ‘Is it bad?’ or ‘How’s it look?’ But Artur didn’t say anything. I mean, nothing. No expression.
“I’ve never seen that before.”
Likely, he’ll never see it again. Beterbiev, who defends his three light heavyweight belts against his mandatory challenger — the formidable Anthony Yarde from England — in London on Saturday, isn’t merely unique by virtue of power and temperament. He’s the most egregiously undermentioned champion in boxing. He has 18 knockouts in 18 pro fights. Per Compubox, he’s boxing’s second-longest reigning world champion after Errol Spence Jr., and its second-oldest after Gennadiy Golovkin. Still, those numbers fall short as descriptors. When Golovkin was 38, as Beterbiev is now, he was already in decline. No shame in that — it’s human nature — but Beterbiev appears to be peaking.
In June, it was a second-round knockout of the WBO champion, Joe Smith Jr. Before that, Browne. Beterbiev bled for five more rounds that night, until Browne finally dropped to a knee from which he refused to rise until the ref had safely counted ten. Apart from the blood, though, it was the typical Beterbiev win: a slow-tightening noose, strangulation masquerading as destruction.
Beterbiev got a late start in the pro game. After competing in two Olympics for Russia, he was recruited by Marc Ramsay, a Canadian trainer who had devised an ingenuous scouting system to find medal-less Olympians who’d win professional titles. All of them, as it turned out, were light heavyweights. First Canada’s Jean Pascal, then Colombia’s Eleider Alvarez, now Beterbiev. Ramsay had been a 16-year-old right winger looking to get in shape when he first stepped foot into a boxing gym. Now, he was a kingmaker.
Unlike many of boxing’s kingmakers, however, his ego remained of this earth. In 2016, Beterbiev asked that a former pro be added as an assistant trainer. Another trainer wouldn’t have agreed. But Ramsay called on “Iceman” John Scully, a former contender at light heavyweight and fixture on the U.S. boxing scene since the 1980s. Ramsay remembered the sparring work Scully had given Pascal and the way Scully had trained Chad Dawson for his victory over Bernard Hopkins.
They’re an odd couple, Beterbiev and the Iceman. Scully lives and breathes boxing. Beterbiev, he says, “probably doesn’t know who, like, Spence is.” Beterbiev is circumspect, Sphinx-like, a devout Muslim Chechen from the Russian republic of Dagestan. Scully is exuberant and American.
They started perfecting Beterbiev’s jab and then the body shots, a much-neglected part of the amateur game. For a guy who wasn’t much of a boxing nerd, though, Beterbiev was completely dedicated to the task. He displayed an unnatural capacity for concentration. Even more unnatural, at least in Scully’s experience, were the sparring partners.
“We’ve had guys literally counting the days to go home,” says Scully. “They wanted the money, but didn’t want to absorb that power. You ask them to describe it, they just shake their heads. And we tell them all beforehand: ‘Hey, don’t be a hero.’”
Still, it wasn’t necessarily the power that got to them; it was the pressure, power combined with a frightening patience. “Sparring partners would say he makes you feel like you’re suffocating,” Scully continues. “It’s like he sucks all the air out of the room, but you’re still in there with no oxygen.”
play
1:04
Beterbiev stops Browne to retain titles in Montreal
Artur Beterbiev knocks down Marcus Browne and finishes the fight to retain his WBC and IBF light-heavyweight titles.
It’s just sparring, of course. But that’s how Browne went down. Blood or no blood, Browne lasted until he couldn’t last anymore. Same for Oleksandr Gvozdyk, an Olympic silver medalist from the vaunted Ukrainian national team, a fighter who knocked out the much-feared Adonis Stevenson to win his title. Though Gvozdyk was ahead on points at the time of the stoppage, the outcome somehow felt inexorable. During the ninth round Scully noticed the way Gvozdyk came out of a clinch: “He sagged. Like, I could see him melt. Artur came back to the corner, I told him, ‘He’s ready. It’s time.’”
More apparently atypical was the knockout of Smith. “Smith knocked out a lot of good guys,” says Scully, “But he was perfect for Artur. People don’t understand. That fight wasn’t a demolition. It was a dissection.”
Clarification, please.
“You can’t match Artur’s power, so people think he’s just a banger. But he’s really a technician. He actually took his time in that fight. He let Smith come to him. Then he started turning him, pulling him into punches, grabbing his right elbow, running him into right uppercuts. That’s the refined stuff people don’t see.”
A perfect record doesn’t make you a perfect fighter, though. Beterbiev, who can make himself a square target, is hittable. He has been knocked down twice, in 2014 and 2018, each time early in the fight. That would seem Yarde’s best chance: catching him hard and early. Then again, how’d that work out for Smith?
“Artur cuts off the ring better than anyone in boxing today,” Scully says. “Remember ‘Pac-Man’ the video game? He’s like that. He follows you everywhere you go. Then all of a sudden, he stops and makes, say, a left, knowing where you want to go. Then you stop.”
“Remember Pac-Man the video game? He’s like that. He follows you everywhere you go. Then all of a sudden, he stops and makes, say, a left, knowing where you want to go. Then you stop.”
John Scully
Then he eats you.
Scully doesn’t think Yarde, who tired in a 2019 11th-round knockout loss to Sergey Kovalev, will be ready for the pace. That Yarde is the WBO mandatory makes perfect sense to Scully: “Nobody on earth wants to fight Artur. You only fight him because you have to.”
Actually, there may be a single exception, and he happens to be 2022’s fighter of the year. Dmitry Bivol, coming off wins over Canelo Alvarez and Gilberto Ramirez, was Russia’s rising star when Beterbiev last fought for the national team. If Beterbiev beats Yarde, it’s a fight both men say they want.
“Dmitry has asked for the fight,” says his manager, Vadim Kornilov. “We’re just waiting to see what happens. Money is very important. But this is a big, big legacy fight.”
Bivol, undefeated in 21 pro fights, isn’t the biggest or most powerful at 175 pounds. But he’s easily the best boxer, with a sleek, confident style. His past eight victories, against some of the biggest punchers in the division, have been by unanimous decision. That’s something to root for, then: Beterbiev and Bivol for the undisputed light heavyweight championship. It may not become the splatter film some fans secretly wish for. But it’s as good a pure fight as there is in the sport, with two very different types of technicians: one who typically goes the distance and one who does not, each possessed of a frightening patience.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – The college football recruiting process can be a finicky thing. So much goes into a program earning a signed National Letter of Intent, but nothing can happen without a coaching staff putting forth the effort with the right messaging. From the Battle Miami 7-on-7 tournament in Fort Lauderdale, top prospects from the state of Florida were asked which programs and/or coaches were best at recruiting them or making a big impact in their process… Rivals got the answers.
Over time, fans and coaching staffs alike will find out if the “best” at what they do translates to verbal commitments and signed NLI.
*****
Miami: “I’d say Miami. All of their coaches, all of them are trying to contact me. They want me bad. They are contacting me multiple times a day.” – Joshisa Trader
*****
Florida State: “We have a good relationship. As you know, a couple of guys I played with last year went up there. There is a good vibe there. Their coaches, it is just a good vibe on their campus. I should be up there soon, if not soon, this spring.” – Fred Gaskin
*****
Florida State: “At Florida State, Ron Dugans, he’s a good coach. He’s like a big brother to me. He tells me everything. He tells me what’s wrong from right.” – Jabari Brady
*****
Florida State: “It is a dream school. Ever since I was a little kid, I envisioned myself playing at that school. I watched them when I was growing up. (Mike) Norvell, that guy is so special to me. He shows the love with me every time I go there. He makes me feel like I’m his No. 1 priority.” – Charles Lester
*****
Florida State: “(Randy Shannon) He keeps it 100. He keeps it real. I like when coaches keep it real. He always tells me, when you come in, work for your position. He tells me, you ain’t starting right away, you have to work for your position. Every position is open.” – Vincent Shavers
*****
Florida State: “Honestly, there are a lot of coaches. The guy who really stands out the most is probably coach (Ryan) Bartow (dir. HS relations) at Florida State. He hits me up almost every single day. Coach Bartow is a great recruiter, and a great guy. He encourages me to come up there all the time. He’s always staying in touch with me. He’s always hitting me up in the morning; he’s probably the best.” – Chance Robinson
Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka will do battle in a big-hitting Australian Open women’s final on Saturday.
Wimbledon champion Rybakina began her Australian Open campaign on the outer courts at Melbourne Park but the 22nd seed is now just one step away from winning her second major, with only fellow big-hitter Aryna Sabalenka standing in her way.
The Russian-born Kazakh has used her experience from winning at the All England Club to make smooth progress through the draw, knocking out world No 1 Iga Swiatek along the way.
Rybakina’s huge serve has been her biggest weapon but she has also been formidable off the ground in conditions that suit flat hitters.
“I’m happy, at the same time tired,” said Rybakina. “But I think it was a really good match. I’m super happy to be in the final and ready to give everything I have left in one day.”
On the rise in Melbourne
Elena Rybakina will make her Top 10 debut after the Australian Open. She can rise to as high a No 8 if she wins the title on Saturday
By advancing to her first major final, Aryna Sabalenka will return to world No 2
Meanwhile, Sabalenka has taken control on and off the court and finally got past her semi-final hoodoo after her three previous Grand Slam semi-finals all ended in defeat.
There has been something different about Sabalenka at Melbourne Park this year and she is yet to drop a set in 10 matches in 2023 following her successful march to the Adelaide title which warmed her up nicely for the season’s first major.
“There is still one more match to go,” said the Belarusian. “It’s good that I kind of breakthrough in the semi-finals, but there is one more match to go. I just want to stay focused.”
Image: Sabalenka has yet to drop a set in 10 matches in 2023
Sabalenka, who could become the first singles player to win a major title under a neutral flag, celebrated that milestone with an understated clench of the fist before revealing she has stopped working with a sports psychologist in favour of “helping herself”.
“I realised that nobody other than me will help,” she said. “In pre-season, I spoke to my psychologist, saying ‘Listen, I feel like I have to deal with that by myself, because every time hoping that someone will fix my problem, it’s not fixing my problem’.
“I just have to take this responsibility and I just have to deal with that. I’m my psychologist.”
Rybakina slays former Grand Slam champions
Elena Rybakina is the first female player to defeat three former Grand Slam champions (Iga Swiatek, Jelena Ostapenko and Victoria Azarenka) in single tournament at the Australian Open since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 (Martina Hingis, Lindsey Davenport and Monica Seles).
And Sabalenka will be telling herself to embrace the occasion and everything that comes with it in the biggest match of her life.
“I think that’s OK to feel a little bit nervous,” she said. “It’s a big tournament, big final. If you’re going to start trying to do something about that, it’s going to become bigger.”
Image: Rybakina’s coach believes her experience will put her on the front foot when she faces Sabalenka in the final
Although Sabalenka will be the most confident she has been in recent years heading into the final, Rybakina’s coach Stefano Vukov believes experience may become the biggest asset on the day when they go head to head.
“I think experience is a big factor,” he said. “Once you go through the roller-coaster ride once, you know what to expect, more or less, emotionally. For the team and for the player, definitely.
“I think we had a really, really good pre-season. I think she’s improved a lot physically, tactically, tennis-wise, and something that maybe we didn’t do as well before winning Wimbledon, so that was more of a surprise than this.
“I was expecting for her to start doing well. Obviously, you never know if you’re going to go this far, but preparation was key.”
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — He answers to the nickname Jet, confesses to having “little man” syndrome and has a high-pitched voice — constantly imitated by his teammates and coach — that would make a high school freshman blush.
But Jerick McKinnon, the Chiefs’ diminutive running back, has also made an outsized contribution as something of a quarterback helper. He caught nine touchdown passes during the regular season to tie the Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk’s 2001 mark for scoring receptions by a running back.
“He just finds a way to get in the end zone,’’ Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “A lot of those things he’s not the first read, he’s not the second read. He’s able to just be in the right spot at the right time whenever I need to hit a check down, I can get it to him and then he makes the most of it by getting into the end zone.”
Perhaps the best example of McKinnon’s savvy came in a December game against the Denver Broncos, when Mahomes was flushed from the pocket and McKinnon shot ahead of a defender who keyed in on the quarterback. Mahomes quickly dished a no-look pass that McKinnon took 56 yards for a touchdown.
At 5-foot-9 and 216 pounds, McKinnon has also been a shockingly effective blocker, a skill that may help fend off the Bengals’ defense in Sunday’s A.F.C. championship game with Mahomes nursing a sprained right ankle.
McKinnon, a 30-year-old journeyman, was selected as a playoff captain by his teammates because of his good humor and professionalism.
“It’s not like he’s looking for the glory or the praise,” Mahomes said. “He just comes to work every single day with a smile on his face and he brings the energy. You ask anybody in the locker room, and he’s probably one of, if not the favorite guy in the locker room.”
Kansas City Coach Andy Reid said McKinnon had fulfilled the role of “big brother” for a team that is stacked with rookies and second- or third-year pros.
“He’s got the high-pitched voice,” Reid said. “Everybody thinks the world of him and loves him.”
Reid, too, has added a McKinnon impersonation alongside his take on Mahomes’s gravelly foghorn tone, but has yet to debut it publicly.
McKinnon has taken the long path to a breakout season. A third-round selection of the Minnesota Vikings in 2014, he spent four years as a backup before signing a four-year, $30 million deal with San Francisco in 2018. That year, McKinnon tore an anterior cruciate ligament, an injury that kept him from playing until 2020. He did not have many options left when Kansas City offered him a one-year deal before last season.
The injury delay made him evangelical about taking care of his body. Besides the usual stretches and rolls before and after practices, McKinnon alternates acupuncture and dry needling along with cupping throughout the week. He said the former star running back Adrian Peterson, with whom he played in Minnesota, impressed upon him how important it was to do everything possible to remain in peak shape.
Reid says McKinnon’s background as a quarterback at Georgia Southern University allows him to see the whole field and use his intuition to feel for where he needs to be as a play unfolds.
“He kind of knows how the game works as a whole,” Reid said. “I think that helps him in the run game — knowing how gaps are set up, knowing how secondaries fill for the run.”
Reid added: “He can catch the ball on top of all of that.”
McKinnon was Kansas City’s third-leading pass catcher in the regular season with 54 receptions, but he is perhaps most beloved by Kansas City’s offensive line for his “little man” rage that shows itself in his mighty blocking, especially when opponents blitz Mahomes.
In most personnel packages, McKinnon and Creed Humphrey, the team’s 6-foot-4 All-Pro center, are responsible for picking up blitzes and making the necessary adjustments to protect Mahomes.
The team’s offensive coordinator, Eric Bieniemy, says McKinnon’s blocking prowess gets overlooked because of his stature, explosive running and his pass-catching.
“That’s probably one of the most underrated deals that people don’t think about when they mention his name,” Bieniemy said. “He’s a good football player that happens to play running back.:
McKinnon does not get a lot of carries — he ran the ball 72 times for 291 yards this season. The rookie back Isiah Pacheco led Kansas City this season with 830 yards on 170 carries.
In overtime against the Houston Texans last month, however, McKinnon showed a swagger that tickled his quarterback. With Kansas City on the Texans’ 26-yard line and within field goal range, Mahomes called for a McKinnon run.
“Two hands on the ball,” Mahomes said as they broke the huddle.
“I’m going to score,” McKinnon told him. Then he made good on the prediction for a game-winning touchdown.
Mahomes marveled, “He’s a little old but he still has his speed.”
Erling Haaland would finish the season on 63 goals if Manchester City reach all finals and he maintains his current strike-rate and game time.
However, the Norwegian could score even more, having only appeared in 68 per cent of available minutes across all competitions since the Premier League kicked off.
He could net 80 goals – if he played every minute of every game during the remainder of the season.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Watch Erling Haaland’s 25 Premier League goals for Manchester City, including his four hat-tricks at the Etihad
Haaland scored a hat-trick against Wolves on Sunday, extending his league tally to 25 in just 19 appearances – overtaking the 23 scored by last season’s Golden Boot winners Mohamed Salah and Heung-Min Son.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
FREE TO WATCH: Highlights from Manchester City’s win against Wolves in the Premier League
Additionally, the 22-year-old’s four Premier League hat-tricks during that period sets a new record in the competition – smashing Ruud van Nistelrooy’s four trebles achieved in 65 games.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Pep Guardiola says he hopes Erling Haaland will continue his incredible form after the Manchester City striker scored his fourth Premier League hat-trick
So how does Haaland score his goals and how can opponents stop him?
Hitman Haaland
Despite his record-breaking returns, the towering frontman has only clocked 86 per cent of game time in the Premier League, 46 per cent in the Champions League, 40 per cent in the Carabao Cup and is yet to appear in the FA Cup.
Currently, Haaland is averaging at 1.45 goals per 90 minutes in the Premier League – more potent than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues this season to have played in excess of 377 minutes.
The chart below plots goals and expected goal returns for all Premier League players this season and presents the scale of the striker’s early form – soaring clear in both categories.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Erling Haaland scored his fourth Premier League hat-trick in Manchester City’s 3-0 win over Wolves, the Norwegian striker now has 25 League goals
Several forwards from opposition teams are in consistent form, most notably Harry Kane – but Haaland is doubling, and humbling, the England striker’s figures.
Expected goals explained
Expected goals (xG) calculates how many goals a player should have scored, based on the quality of chances presented to them.
A shot from 8 yards has a higher xG value than a shot from 18 yards
A shot taken by the foot has a higher xG value than a header
A shot directly in front of goal has a higher xG value than a shot from a tight angle
Some critics might claim any established forward would convert bags of goals in Pep Guardiola’s side, based on the sheer quantity of clear-cut chances they create.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
This week’s Gillette Precision Play is Erling Haaland’s crucial equaliser against Tottenham at the Etihad
However, the Norwegian has also exceeded his expected-goal (xG) returns considerably, netting eight goals more than the 16.91 expected from chances presented to him – another league-topping ratio.
Additionally, Haaland has fired a league-high 40 shots on target, which means his current goal haul equates to one goal from every 1.6 shots on target – underlining the clinical finishing to date.
Key to stopping Haaland?
The shot map below highlights City’s No 9 has converted almost all of his goals from the central third of the opposition box, between the goal line and penalty spot.
In terms of shot placement, Haaland has an almost perfect conversion rate when firing low, to the left side of the goal – netting nine of his 11 shots on target – and scores with around half of his attempts in the centre of the goal and to the right.
Haaland appears to be genuinely unstoppable when in full flow. His acrobatic and aerial ability, coupled with physical height, power and speed, is defying all attempts to nullify his powers – despite opponents being aware of his primary threat down the left-of-centre channel.
All-round game
Haaland had registered three league assists this term, which is the his joint-lowest ratio since joining Borussia Dortmund in 2019. Kevin De Bruyne (11), Bernardo Silva (five) and Rodri (four) have all clocked more for City this term.
However, he averages far fewer touches, dribbles and final-third passes than other forwards – a trade-off for his prolific strike-rate.
Haaland registered merely eight touches in 74 minutes against Bournemouth in August and has clocked fewer than 25 touches in more than half of his league appearances – averaging at 18 touches per goal, which equates to scoring a goal in five per cent of his overall actions on the ball.
In terms of passing, the striker tends to drift and combine with team-mates across the width of the penalty box, with a higher concentration of exchanges down left-of-centre areas – while creating his most potent chances from central areas, just outside the box.
Have City changed to accommodate Haaland?
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Gary Neville says that Erling Haaland may not be the exact fit for Manchester City’s playing style but he wouldn’t swap him for any other striker
The graphic below shows how Haaland averages in a similar position to the false nine last term, although this is based on his limited touches, and suggests De Bruyne is holding his advanced position this term, while almost all other outfield players have retreated, albeit marginally.
Image: Erling Haaland shaded in light blue
In terms of raw attacking numbers, City are scoring an identical number of goals per game as they did last term but are clocking fewer shots on target and xG. So, City are no more potent this time out – despite Haaland’s record-breaking returns.
Interestingly, City are also firing fewer crosses and through-balls per game this season – two metrics many might expect to increase, to accommodate and serve Haaland.
City have dropped points in six of their 20 league games this term – losing three and drawing three – which, ordinarily, would almost certainly guarantee a table-topping standing – but Guardiola’s side now sit five points shy of Arsenal – with the Gunners also having a game in hand.
While City’s title hangs in the balance, Haaland’s current goal-rate sets him on course to finish the season out on his own with a record-breaking 48 league goals – but there is a growing sense he will rewrite the record scales entirely.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Jamie Carragher believes Manchester City are a different prospect with Erling Haaland in the side, but his arrival was never guaranteed to win them the title.
Golden Boot record-breakers
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Mohamed Salah broke the record for most goals in a 38-game Premier League season in 2017-18, we take a look at all of his strikes including some spectacular solo goals
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Scoring a staggering 34 Premier League goals in the 1994-95 season, we take a look at all the strikes from Alan Shearer’s record-breaking campaign
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Scoring a staggering 34 Premier League goals in the 1993-94 season, we take a look at all the strikes from Andy Cole’s record-breaking campaign
Ryan Hockensmith is a Penn State graduate who joined ESPN in 2001. He is a survivor of bacterial meningitis, which caused him to have multiple amputation surgeries on his feet. He is a proud advocate for those with disabilities and addiction issues. He covers everything from the NFL and UFC to pizza-chucking and analysis of Tom Cruise’s running ability.
THE SUMMER BEFORE SEVENTH GRADE, Patrick Mahomes got summoned to the Whitehouse High School football field for a special workout. It wasn’t quite a secret. But let’s just say the coaching staff in East Texas definitely didn’t advertise it to the other 10 to 15 middle school kids who wanted to be Whitehouse’s quarterback when they grew up.
The coaches did invite one other kid. The varsity’s offensive coordinator, Reno Moore, was running the workout that day and asked fellow seventh-grader Ryan Cheatham to come out, too. Moore had heard hype about both kids, and he wanted to get a quick assessment of what the buzz was all about.
Mahomes was a star pitcher in the Tyler area, the son of an MLB player. Cheatham was just as good as a pitcher. Together, they were the one-two punch that led Tyler’s junior baseball team (ages 13-14) to the U.S. title at the 2010 Junior League Baseball World Series.
Cheatham and Mahomes stood side by side that day, doing footwork drills and throwing for Moore. He’d scheduled this workout at a time and place where he hoped none of the other kids would see. “We didn’t need anybody thinking we’d already decided,” he says.
But … he was about to have already decided. Cheatham and Mahomes were awesome that day. They both had cannons, and Moore took note of the skills and footwork they had accumulated from playing other sports. There’s a good chance no field in America had two better seventh-grade throwers than what Moore was looking at.
Moore nodded throughout and didn’t say much. He was impressed, though. He thought Cheatham was the perfect righty pocket passer for the Whitehouse system. And Mahomes was a brilliant lottery ticket, with unorthodox arm angles and power that made anything possible on any given play. The only real concern with Mahomes was whether he would eventually decide baseball was the bigger priority — and he loved being on the Whitehouse basketball team, too.
The two boys both understood what was happening on that day in 2008. Whitehouse was a program on the rise in Texas, and Moore had developed his past two starting quarterbacks into scholarship FCS passers. Both kids were giddy about the coaches paying such close attention to them. “We were honored to get time with the varsity coaching staff,” Cheatham says. “That day was so much fun.”
The whole time that Cheatham and Mahomes threw, Moore kept noticing how supportive they were toward one another.
“Good throw,” Mahomes would say to Cheatham.
“Nice one, Pat!” Cheatham would yell at Mahomes.
After an hour or so, Moore had them stop. He’d seen enough. He already thought both kids had Division I potential. He watched as they high-fived and walked away together, and it was the first hint that Cheatham and Mahomes were, in fact, best friends.
All three left that day excited about the future. But they had no idea that one of the longest, most formative quarterback battles in the history of football had just begun.
IN INTERVIEWS WITH 14 former coaches, players and friends from that era, all said that the Mahomes-Cheatham competition laid the groundwork for what we see today — a well-liked megastar NFL quarterback who has consistently managed to navigate difficult situations with seeming ease.
It all began back at Whitehouse during what ended up being a four-plus year QB competition between young Patrick Mahomes and the kid they called Cheeto. “There was a level of respect for Cheeto from everybody, including Patrick,” says Whitehouse receiver Coleman Patterson, who later played with Mahomes at Texas Tech. “It was competitive but I don’t think there was jealousy. There was a mutual respect, and I think it was instrumental in making him the quarterback he is today.”
That friendship got off to a frosty start. Mahomes moved into the Whitehouse district in third grade, and he ended up in the same homeroom as Cheatham. The two had known each other from afar. Tyler’s one of those wide Texas areas that’s big enough to produce a bunch of great athletes, but small enough that they all know of each other.
In their first sports showdown, right before Mahomes moved to Whitehouse, he was on the mound and Cheatham was at the plate. The at-bat was a 14-pitch little kid duel, with Cheatham fouling off pitch after pitch before finally popping out. As Cheatham ran off the field, they both looked at each other like they knew this would be the first of many head-to-head showdowns in their life. “We were definitely sizing each other up,” Cheatham says.
But within a week or two of being in the same class, they realized they both loved the same things: football, baseball, basketball, video games … and heating up really crappy-but-delicious food at midnight on sleepovers. Mahomes and his buddies liked to get chicken fried steaks with mashed potatoes and gravy, and then they would chop up the beefsteak, stir everything together and splatter ketchup onto it to create a chicken fried puddle. “A lot of people might find that gross,” Patterson says. “But it was amazing. I love ketchup. But nobody loves ketchup like Patrick Mahomes.”
The Mahomes ketchup hype is very real. Cheatham says his mom had two ketchup bottles in her fridge, one for the Cheatham family and one for Patrick Mahomes. Over ketchup and Call of Duty, Cheatham and Mahomes became very close friends — and two rising dominant athletes at Whitehouse.
By the time they hit their teenage years, Mahomes and Cheatham were part of Rose Capital East, the best junior baseball team in the country. Mahomes won the U.S. final one night on the mound in 2010, then Cheatham had a no-hitter through five innings in the world championship against Chinese Taipei. But Chinese Taipei ended up batting around in the sixth to chase Cheatham and win 9-1. Mahomes played shortstop and scored the only run. If future MLB draft rankings existed for that age group, Cheatham and Mahomes probably would have been two of the nation’s best prospects.
That propelled them onto the radar of Whitehouse football coaches. From their first day of seventh grade, coaches began alternating between Mahomes and Cheatham under center, starting with that day with Reno Moore on the practice field. The coaching staff was truly 50-50 and changed their minds every other day about who was in the lead. Mahomes was a little shorter, with a slightly stronger arm, and he seemed to generate more big plays, both good and bad. Cheatham was more of a prototypical, steady distributor in the system that Moore ran at Whitehouse.
For that seventh-grade year, Cheatham and Mahomes rotated in and out on almost every series. They both were fantastic, so coaches just kept the rotation going … and going … and going. In eighth grade, they split snaps. In ninth grade, same.
When football season ended, they played hoops together. When hoops season ended, they alternated starts on the mound for the Whitehouse baseball team. There’s a decent chance that Cheatham and Mahomes had exactly zero school days off from a sport in high school. The sheer volume of sports was a crucial part of shaping young Patrick Mahomes. He had to coexist with something like 100 different kids every year in three different sports, plus take coaching from 20 or so different adults. It forged a future A-list star who is kind and generous with teammates and humble and open-minded when coaches get after him.
The only question — and it was a huge question in the Whitehouse hallways — was, which sport would Mahomes ultimately pick? If Vegas had put odds on Mahomes in junior high, it would have been something like even money for baseball and 3-to-1 for football, with sharp bettors all throwing some long shot money on basketball, which Mahomes often told friends was actually his favorite sport. He was a die-hard Duke fan — with a Duke jersey he wore as often as he could — and would argue with Patterson, a UNC fan, every March about who was better, JJ Redick or Tyler Hansbrough.
But no matter the season, his relationship with Cheatham was the through line of Mahomes’ high school life. By the time they had gotten through ninth grade, Cheatham and Mahomes had competed against one another on the football field for three full years — then stayed over at the other’s house every weekend gaming and ketchupping. Coaches up and down the Whitehouse football program marveled at the way two highly competitive teen boys managed that dynamic … while also realizing they really needed to pick one of them soon.
Before that freshman year, coaches asked Cheatham and Mahomes to take on an extra job every week. They would play their game on Thursday, then come to the varsity game on Friday night and chart plays. One kept track of down, distance and stats and the other would document every playcall and the result. They could switch back and forth, but coaches wanted detailed reports at the end of every game. “It was going to be their team someday soon,” says Adam Cook, then the quarterbacks coach at Whitehouse. “Well, one of them, anyway.”
The two eagerly took on the job, and a close friendship somehow got even closer. They spent Thursday nights trying to beat the other out for a job, then Friday nights helping each other on the sideline with pens and paper. “We knew we were both good, and that something was going to eventually happen where one of us didn’t get the playing time,” Cheatham says. “But outside the lines, Patrick is the most respectful, kindhearted guy I know.”
They both had good years rotating on the JV team, and they knew Whitehouse was committed to senior-to-be Hunter Taylor for their sophomore years. But that summer, just when they thought they were headed for yet another split season under center as JV sophomores, Whitehouse coaches pulled Mahomes aside with some stunning news.
They were bringing Mahomes up to varsity — to play safety.
MAYBE THE MOST FUN Cheatham ever had playing sports was his sophomore year of high school. With Mahomes playing varsity defensive back, Cheatham took over the JV offense, and Whitehouse dominated the surrounding schools. Coaches really began to think they had a core group of kids coming up that could challenge for a state title. They just had to figure out who was going to be their quarterback.
Mahomes had a good year as a safety. Coaches thought he had remarkable instincts and an understanding of offensive strategy, and his baseball skills, including tracking fly balls, came in handy in the defensive backfield. “He could get to more balls that you thought he had no chance at, and it’s because he has really good feet and anticipation,” Cook says.
But Mahomes didn’t love safety. Not like quarterback, anyway. He never said much about it directly to his friend group, but seeing Cheatham get every rep — and crush it — on the JV team made him a little jumpy about competing for the job the following year with some QB rust. Coaches could tell he wasn’t feeling it as a defensive back, and Mahomes eventually had a tough conversation with his mom. He aired out his concerns about his football future, and the idea of quitting football was on the table.
Mahomes and his mom, Randi, declined comment for this story. But in past interviews, she says she encouraged him to pray on it, which Mahomes did. When football rolled around before his junior year, Mahomes still was on the fence. He thought maybe this was the end of his football career. “You’re going to regret it if you quit,” she told him.
So he stuck with it and entered his junior year with coaches again unsure of who to start at quarterback. Cheatham and Mahomes had drifted a bit during that sophomore year. Not in a bad way — they just didn’t get to spend as much time together because they were on two different teams. It was weirdly nice to be competing again as juniors. “I missed being around him more on the football field,” Cheatham says.
Whitehouse opened the 2012 season 2-0, with Cheatham and Mahomes again splitting snaps. But in the third game, against rival Sulphur Springs, Mahomes started the first half in steady rain. He managed the first half with no turnovers, no botched snaps, no fumbled handoffs. The other school’s skill position guys kept having slips and dropped balls, and coaches were impressed at the way Mahomes had Whitehouse chugging along.
At halftime, Cook pulled Cheatham and Mahomes aside and told them the coaching staff wanted to stick with Mahomes because of the slick conditions. But they both had a feeling that Mahomes had just won a quarterback battle that had gone on for four-plus years.
Cheatham exchanged a look with Mahomes. It’s the kind of look between two very good friends, where no words are said because no words are needed. They were both happy and sad, all mixed up together. “At the time, I wouldn’t have admitted it,” Cheatham says. “But I knew Patrick was better than me. I could see it.”
Mahomes led Whitehouse to another win. After the game, there was a sense in the locker room that Cheatham’s quarterback career was over. As the room cleared out, only Cheatham and Cook remained. They hugged and started to cry.
“My pride hurts,” Cheatham said.
“I know, Ryan,” Cook said. “It’s going to hurt. For a while. But you have a new opportunity now. You have an entire team that respects you, and we will have a role for you. You can succeed, and you can help Patrick succeed.”
Cook told him that Cheatham could shift out to receiver, where he had taken some reps before. He knew the Whitehouse offense inside and out. He knew how to find open windows in defenses. From that year of charting plays, he knew what Cook was going to call before Cook did sometimes. And most of all, Cheatham knew Mahomes and vice versa. “It was definitely tough to come to terms with,” Cheatham says. “But internally, I thought if I was going to lose my spot, I’m glad it was to a guy like Patrick.”
Before he even left the locker room, Cheatham nodded his head. He needed to go home and process the loss a bit. But he understood the new assignment, which was essentially this: He had to become Travis Kelce 1.0.
ON THE FIELD after the Sulphur Springs game, Texas Tech wide receivers coach Sonny Cumbie approached Whitehouse’s Adam Cook. Cumbie was there to see Red Raiders wide receiver recruit Dylan Cantrell, and he stumbled upon something else. “People are going to know the name Patrick Mahomes really soon,” he told Cook.
Cumbie went back impressed, and later briefed new Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury. They both quickly made Mahomes their No. 1 recruiting mission for the next class. When Cumbie showed Kingsbury film of Mahomes, he remembers Kingsbury sitting up in his chair. “We have to get this kid, don’t we?” Kingsbury asked.
Kingsbury went so far as to take every other quarterback prospect off his recruiting board. Their infatuation makes perfect sense now that Mahomes is the best player in the NFL. But whatever Kingsbury and Cumbie saw … nobody else was seeing it.
But how? How did everybody miss on the son of a prominent pro athlete who had preposterous arm strength and won at a high level in Texas and would become one of the youngest Super Bowl MVPs ever five years later?
It’s most likely a combination of things. One is that Mahomes wasn’t exactly Arch Manning at football — he hadn’t even won the starting job at Whitehouse until he was a junior in high school, after all. And even then, as charming and breathtaking as his style seems now, football hadn’t had a Mahomes yet to make comps to. Throw in the fact that quite a few programs wondered if Mahomes might get drafted by an MLB team, and he felt like a big recruiting risk at the time.
Mahomes had a strong junior year, throwing for 3,839 yards and 46 TDs during Whitehouse’s 10-2 season. He got offers from Oklahoma State and Rice, but Texas Tech was all-in on him. He attended the Tech spring game in April 2013, and on April 21, Mahomes tweeted a photo of himself beside Kingsbury, in a Texas Tech shirt, doing the Red Raider “Guns Up” salute. He was going to be a Red Raider.
But just when Mahomes’ football future looked all but locked up, baseball decided to knock on his door one last time.
THE FINAL SEASON of Cheatham-Mahomes had a very different vibe. By the time they were seniors, the two were closer than ever and had begun to develop the kind of on-field dynamic that is eerily similar to the relationship Mahomes has now with Kelce. Kelce was once a very good high school quarterback himself before shifting to tight end at the University of Cincinnati. If you want to understand how the magic of Mahomes and Kelce came to be, the magic of Mahomes-Cheatham is the origin story.
Cook would call a play. Mahomes would get back in shotgun, with Cheatham in the slot, and they would make eye contact. “That same weird telepathy relationship that we have, you can see it with him and Travis Kelce,” Cheatham says. “I could look over before the snap and see Patrick’s eyes and then he’d look at the safety over the top of me and see that he saw there was a hole, and I knew he wanted me to go to that hole and sit down there and he would get it to me. That’s exactly what Kelce does.”
Whitehouse was ridiculous that year. Mahomes led them to a 10-0 regular season, scoring 40-plus points in every game. The team beat Sulphur Springs 38-14 in the first round of the playoffs, then lost a tough 65-60 shootout in the next round. For the season, Cheatham had 60 catches for 624 yards and 8 touchdowns, but he didn’t lead Whitehouse in any statistical category, other than maybe hauling in all-hell-breaks-loose 6-yard catches on 3rd-and-5 to bail out Mahomes. Sound familiar?
That spring, Mahomes and Cheatham finished up their last sports season together on the baseball team. Mahomes was heading for Lubbock in a few months, and Cheatham was going to pitch at Tyler Junior College. But first, they decided they wanted one last big memory before that chapter of their lives ended.
The memory came on March 11, 2014, when Michael Kopech rolled into town. The whole Whitehouse baseball team — especially Cheatham and Mahomes — had a long history with Kopech, who lived an hour away in Mount Pleasant. Kopech, now a starter for the Chicago White Sox, was a gas-throwing senior 60 miles up the road from Whitehouse. He’d been pitching against Tyler-area teams in high-level baseball games for about 10 years, and both Cheatham and Mahomes circled the Mount Pleasant-Whitehouse game that year on the calendar. So did MLB scouts. Mahomes got the call to pitch that day, and about 30 scouts showed up with radar guns. Kopech was a likely first-round pick, and MLB teams still considered Mahomes an early-round talent if he picked baseball. Everybody in the stands that day couldn’t help but think that a huge game from Mahomes might cause his gaze to drift back toward baseball.
They both were hitting the high 90s that day. Cheatham played first base, and in his first at-bat, he dug into the box hoping to get some offense going for Mahomes. Kopech wound up and unleashed a heater right at Cheatham’s knee. “It was terrifying when the ball came out of his hand and was headed straight for my leg,” Cheatham says. “Luckily, it got me in the soft spot of the knee.”
Mahomes struck out the first six guys he faced, often on 3-2 counts, and walked four in the game. Yet he took a no-hitter and a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning. His coach, Derrick Jenkins, thought he looked tired.
“Let me finish,” Mahomes told him. “I got this.”
And he did. Mahomes mowed through the last two hitters to finish off a no-no. Mahomes had 16 strikeouts — including three against Kopech. Meanwhile, Kopech had 12 strikeouts — including two against Mahomes. They combined to go 0-for-6 with five strikeouts against each other.
Kopech didn’t even get to see the last out of the game. Whitehouse players agitated him the entire day with chirping, usually goofing on Kopech’s long hair. Kopech eventually snapped and got tossed for jawing at the umps. “Our friend group always did a really good job of getting under peoples’ skin,” Patterson says. “We got in Kopech’s head pretty bad that day.”
The Whitehouse baseball ended nearly two months later after a state playoff loss. But Cheatham and Mahomes both savored that Kopech game as they moved on. “That is an all-time great memory for me and Pat,” Cheatham says. “We couldn’t have scripted it any better.”
They went their separate ways that summer. Mahomes — sort of — moved into his dorm room in Lubbock on the same day the 2014 MLB draft concluded. He’d made a seven-figure ask of any team that picked him, and scouts had continued to call Mahomes. So on move-in day, Mahomes and his family initially didn’t take his stuff in. They sat outside, fielding calls, and sure enough, the Tigers picked him in the 37th round.
But right after he got picked, Mahomes’ roommates watched as he started hoofing in his belongings. They came out and helped carry some stuff in, and when one guy asked Mahomes what happened, he said, “They didn’t offer enough money.”
“How much did they offer?” he asked Mahomes.
“A little over a million,” Mahomes said.
“Damn, that’s a lot of money,” his teammate said.
But not enough. Mahomes replaced injured starting QB Davis Webb over a month into the season, and he immediately looked like a foundational player. Mahomes threw for 1,547 yards, 16 touchdowns and four interceptions, cinching up the starting job for the foreseeable future.
As soon as the season ended, Mahomes walked on with the Tech baseball team. He still had the itch. He played a little right field, some third base and pitched during the preseason. In one of the first games of the season, Mahomes came in as a reliever against Northern Illinois with Tech up 6-0. It was, for all intents and purposes, the end of his baseball career.
Mahomes got a standing ovation as he took the mound — the excitement around him as Texas Tech’s quarterback was inescapable. But fans weren’t on their feet for very long. Mahomes walked the first hitter, including one pitch behind the guy’s back. He hit the next batter in the buttocks. He walked the next guy on five pitches and was pulled. He threw 15 pitches and didn’t record an out. All three guys scored, giving him an ERA of infinity. Mahomes played two games the rest of the year as a backup third baseman, finishing 0-for-2 at the plate. He had a bright future — but it wouldn’t be on the diamond. He let coaches know after the season that he was hanging up his baseball cleats.
“You could tell it was really hard for him,” Texas Tech baseball coach Tim Tadlock says. “Make no bones about it, I watched him play against the best players in the country, some of which went on to be major league players. He was right there with them. But football was screaming louder at him than anything else.”
Through all the ups and downs of that first year, Mahomes and his entire Whitehouse friend group stayed in touch, getting together during breaks. That’s about the time most high school friend groups begin to splinter.
But that’s not what happened with the Whitehouse gang. Mahomes and his longtime high school girlfriend, Brittany Matthews, stayed together into college. And before Mahomes’ sophomore year at Tech, two familiar Whitehouse faces transferred to Texas Tech and decided to walk on with the football team. That meant three of Mahomes’ favorite high school targets, Dylan Cantrell, Jake Parker and Coleman Patterson, were now lining up alongside their old prep quarterback again. “It was like a Whitehouse mini-reunion,” Patterson says.
Cheatham had gone off to Tyler Junior College to pitch and won a national title as a sophomore. He then transferred to the University of Texas’ Tyler branch as a junior — where he again won a national title — and Mahomes came to a few games to cheer on his good friend. His wife, Brooke, was friends with both Patrick and Brittany, too, so they all hung out when they could. Somehow, they’d moved farther apart and gotten closer.
Eight years later, the Whitehouse gang is going as strong as ever. Mahomes got engaged to Brittany in 2020, and they recently had their second child together. Most of his high school inner circle still collides at night on a regular basis, going at it playing Call of Duty the same way they did when they were teenagers. The only thing missing is Mrs. Cheatham’s extra ketchup bottle, and maybe a swamp of chicken fried steak soup at midnight.
It’s not hard to see the benefits of Mahomes’ friendship with Cheatham. When he arrived at Texas Tech, Kingsbury was up front with him that he would sit behind Webb. Mahomes never sulked and sat patiently until Webb got hurt. Then, when the Chiefs traded massive draft capital to jump from No. 27 to No. 10 to grab him, Mahomes entered training camp telling anybody who would listen that he was the backup that year to starter Alex Smith. “I come in with a little bit of pressure, but it’s Alex’s team,” he said at the time. “Alex is the starting quarterback, so I have time to really work on my game and become ready and be available whenever Coach Reid needs me.”
Just 10 months ago, Mahomes married Brittany in front of friends, family and what felt like half of Whitehouse High. Mahomes posed for pictures with Brittany, then his family, then finally with his five groomsmen. Four were Whitehouse alums.
In one photo, Patrick is standing in the middle, with his groomsmen surrounding him. Directly to his right is his younger brother, Jackson. On the far left stand his high school and college receivers, Patterson and Parker. On the far right stands Cheatham.
And the one non-Whitehouse guy, the very tall figure sandwiched between Cheatham and Mahomes? Yep, the actual Travis Kelce.
NBA All-Star Weekend is always a time of debate, and this year’s event in Salt Lake City on Feb. 17-19 will be no exception.
With only 24 roster spots in the event and 10 starters, there will be an array of stars on the court, but some talented and well-respected players are bound to miss out altogether.
The usual All-Stars are indisputable, with LeBron James, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Nikola Jokic leading the way year after year and several rising stars racking up fan votes. But this year’s selections also came with some stunning surprises.
Zion Williamson was voted a starter for the first time in his career despite playing in just 29 games so far this season, but he might not play because he is currently nursing a hamstring injury. Williamson was given the starting spot over Anthony Davis, who was projected by many to be the last starter in the Western Conference because he has higher averages in points and rebounds and fewer turnovers per game than Williamson, but Davis has played in three fewer games so far.
Meanwhile, Joel Embiid was not voted a starter in the Eastern Conference. Kevin Durant, Antetokounmpo and Jayson Tatum nabbed all of the starting frontcourt spots, leaving the Philadelphia 76ers star center potentially coming off the bench.
Our experts break down the biggest surprises and snubs from this year’s All-Star starters, and with the announcement of the new draft format, what big changes we’d like to see next.
1. Who is the biggest surprise?
Tim Bontemps: There were only two spots that were up for any sort of real debate: the third Western Conference forward, behind Jokic and James, and the second Eastern Conference guard, behind Donovan Mitchell. With Williamson having missed the past three weeks because of a hamstring injury, I was a little surprised he wound up with the nod as the third forward. But there also wasn’t a clear-cut option for the spot, with both Kings big man Domantas Sabonis (whom I voted for) and Los Angeles Lakers forward Anthony Davis (another injury absence) both meriting consideration.
Kendra Andrews: Williamson was the biggest surprise to me. This isn’t to say that Williamson isn’t an incredible talent — because he is. However, his availability has been shaky. And with so many other frontcourt players shining in the West, he was the biggest surprise to get the starting job.
Andrew Lopez: On the court, Williamson has deserved to be an All-Star, averaging 26 points and seven rebounds a game. But with 29 games played and a hamstring injury that could keep him out until the All-Star Game, it was a surprising to see him get the starting nod.
Marc Spears: I was respectfully surprised that Williamson was named a Western Conference starter after missing 20 games and 12 straight overall to injury. No question, the New Orleans Pelicans forward has the statistics, talent and popularity to be an All-Star. However, the Pelicans said on Tuesday that there won’t be an update on Williamson’s right hamstring injury in two weeks. If Williamson can’t play, Pelicans veteran guard CJ McCollum is certainly deserving of replacing his teammate as a first-time All-Star if the former is not available.
Andre Snellings: I’ll switch it up and say Kyrie Irving. Irving has played well, but James Harden has played just as well on a 76ers team with a better record that doesn’t have an All Star starter. And, if it’s about Irving having five more games played than Harden, I’d have considered Tyrese Haliburton instead, who has a higher Real Plus Minus (RPM) impact score, leads the NBA in assists per game, has an undermanned and unexpected Pacers squad in the postseason hunt and has played four more games than Irving.
2. Who is the biggest snub?
Bontemps: It’s hard to say anyone is a big snub when some of the starters won’t be playing in the game anyway, but I’ll say Embiid, simply because there were four All-Star starters for three spots in the East frontcourt. It turns out Embiid drew the short straw.
Andrews: Four players were deserving to be starting in the frontcourt for the East, and it’s hard to argue with the three who were chosen. That said, Embiid was the biggest snub. Again, I don’t know who I would swap out for him, but he is well deserving of being a starter.
Lopez: Remember the first rule of naming a snub — you have to take someone off. By résumé, the biggest snub is Embiid. He leads the East in scoring and his 59-point, 11-rebound, 8-assist, 7-block game on Nov. 13 against the Utah Jazz stands as one of the best single-game performances we’ve seen in some time. But it’s hard to argue against Durant, Antetokounmpo or Tatum.
Spears: The biggest snub was Embiid, who lacked the needed fan vote. The early NBA Most Valuable Player candidate is averaging 33.4 points, 9.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists. The big question, however, is who should Embiid replace? Durant, Antetokounmpo and Tatum were listed as the East frontcourt starters. If an injured Durant isn’t healthy enough to play in the All-Star Game, however, expect Embiid to replace him as a starter.
Snellings: Embiid is by far the biggest snub, because at this point in the season he’d be top two in my vote for an Eastern Conference MVP. Embiid’s box score stats speak for themselves, but his on-court impact is even larger. He currently ranks fifth in the NBA (second in the Eastern Conference) in RPM, and I just wrote an article breaking down how everything the 76ers do runs through/plays off Embiid. I would have Embiid ahead of any player on the team outside of possibly Tatum, but if choosing specifically I’d have him on ahead of Durant.
3. What do you think about the draft happening right before the All-Star Game starts?
Bontemps: This is what everyone has been waiting to see. Watching Durant and James dance around the Harden situation last year in a taped draft was fantastic — how much better could it be in a live situation? That said, given this was approved and jointly announced by both the NBA and NBPA, I will be curious to see how the live draft format is conducted.
Andrews: This should be a fun change to the All-Star Weekend format. Having it happen in real time will make people care more and up the excitement factor. I’d love to see this happen with all of the players in the same room together to give it some real pickup basketball vibes.
Lopez: The All-Star draft itself was already becoming the best part of the weekend, so why not take it up another notch? The playground feel of picking teams right before a game adds an extra flair to the game. One small request — can James keep his clipboard from last year’s draft? He might need it to hide his face in laughter once again.
Spears: This is a phenomenal idea and change that will bring more viewership to the game and much earlier. This is now the world’s best pickup game. Seeing stars pick teammates in real time and their reaction will be classic. Also, seeing in real time who is picked with the final two selections could bring some interesting emotion as well. It does put a lot of pressure on the stars picking. Hopefully, they will have fun with it. But it is possible it could be uncomfortable to choose in front of the world, too.
Snellings: I love the playground feel, but speaking as the resident sports betting analyst, this also amps up the energy around potential All-Star Game bets as well. Sportsbooks won’t have the large amount of lead-up time to come up with odds, so this ups the uncertainty for those betting on the game and could lead to bigger wins if you guess right. This also adds potential for big runs of real-time bets coming in during/after the draft, if one team looks a lot better than the other. Either way, it adds to the excitement and interest in the game, because there have been times when both have waned.
4. The NBA has never shied away from making sweeping changes to its All-Star Weekend. What big change would you like to see next?
Bontemps: It’s time to get rid of positional requirements. If you want to have the backcourts and frontcourts in each conference, fine. But at least for the seven reserves, it should just be a matter of coaches picking the seven players they think are most deserving for the game. This year, there were four deserving frontcourt players in the East to start — why not allow them all to start? And there is no reason for a maximum of only six guards (two starters, two reserves, two wild cards) who can be selected to the team. Also: Let’s expand the rosters to 15 players. That’s what teams are allowed to have for regular-season games now; let’s make it that way for the All-Star Game, too.
Andrews: The slam dunk contest has become more underwhelming, so they should move the 3-point contest into the final event slot for All-Star Saturday. Over the past few years, the 3-point contest has become the most exciting portion of the night, so until the NBA can figure out a way to make the dunk contest more enticing, the shootout should close the day.
Lopez: How about expanding the rosters? Why does the game still award just 12 spots? Rosters are growing, and the All-Star Game should follow suit. Pushing the game to 30 total spots — 15 for each conference — helps get more players All-Star attention (and thus more bonus money) while also being able to use and rest more players during the game itself.
Spears: Participating in the slam dunk contest could be more enticing for star players by offering a major pool of money for not only the winner but participants similar to what Major League Baseball does for its Home Run Derby. Juan Soto netted $1 million of a $2.5 million prize pool by winning the 2022 Home Run Derby. If the NBA did something similar for a small group of participants, I’m sure more young stars would be coerced into being a part of it.
Snellings: I want to fix the dunk contest. I grew up on not just the best young dunkers, but the best players in the NBA also vying for the prestige of winning the contest. Having the star power mixed with innovative, exciting dunks is the ultimate goal to me. So, I’d second Spears’ idea about a large pool of money but maybe get sponsors to tie it to a large campaign. Maybe this leads to a season-long series of commercials, like the old Dan or Dave ads, which build the hype and the prize pool so that all eyes are on the dunk contest again, and maybe it entices the biggest names back instead of just the younger talents.
5. It has been six years since the NBA changed All-Star starter voting to include media and players. Is it time for another change, and if so, what would you recommend?
Bontemps: I think the current system works well. By giving fans half the vote, it still makes it an exhibition game for the fans driven by the fans, in terms of starters. And having the media and players each getting a say in the vote helps balance out any outlier fan choices. There isn’t a better way to do it, in my opinion, than how it is now.
Andrews: There doesn’t need to be an immediate change in how All-Star votes are collected. All of those involved in voting — the fans, coaches, players and media — are the only ones who, in my head, make sense to have a hand in making the decisions. If anything, I don’t know if media members are necessary in the voting. I view All-Star Weekend as a fan-driven event, and it makes sense to have coaches and players reward their peers. Save the media votes for the end-of-season awards.
Lopez: Currently, the NBA counts fan votes for 50% and media, and player voting is 25% each. All-Star Weekend is an event for the fans, so they should have a say in the voting process. The media and player voting help balance out the process. If someone wanted to switch it to 33% for everyone, I wouldn’t be opposed to it, but I do think the process as it is now works just fine.
Spears: I don’t really like the bonus voting days. I would like that to be removed. That plays an odd role in what the final tally can be. Other than that, I have no problem and think it is smart to have fans involved at a percentage.
Snellings: I don’t think there’s a need for a big change but wouldn’t be opposed to tweaking. I like the mitigation of the fan vote with the players and/or media, to lower the likelihood of situations in which a superstar gets voted onto the team even after being injured the whole season. I agree with Andrew in that, if all three entities are going to be involved in the voting, I might split it one-third each. But I’m also in accord with Kendra in that I don’t necessarily need the media to be part of the voting process, so a 50/50 fan/players split would work for me as well.
The 2023 NBA All-Star Game is set to take place Feb. 19 at Vivint Arena in Salt Lake City. This season’s game marks the 30th anniversary of the first NBA All-Star Game hosted by the Utah Jazz in 1993.
NBA All-Star Weekend will tip off Friday, Feb. 17, with the celebrity game and Rising Stars Challenge. NBA All-Star Saturday will feature the skills challenge, 3-point contest and slam dunk contest. This year will also feature the NBA HBCU Classic with a game between Grambling State and Southern on Feb. 18.
NBA All-Star starters were announced Jan. 26 on TNT, the reserves will be announced on Feb. 2. This will be the sixth consecutive season in which the All-Star Game uses a “draft” format, in which each conference’s top vote-getter will serve as captain and draft a roster from the remaining 22 players.
This will be the first year, however, in which said draft will be just moments before the start of the game as a live segment on TNT.
This year’s All-Star Game will be the fourth to use the target score — the score of the leading team after the third quarter, plus 24 points — and the fourth quarter will be played without a game clock.
Fans account for 50% of the votes, while NBA players and a media panel account for 25% each. TNT will announce the reserves, as selected by NBA head coaches, on Thursday, Feb. 2.
James and Antetokounmpo will select their teams in a draft held immediately before the All-Star Game. This year, TNT will air the All-Star draft as a new, live pregame segment on Sunday, Feb. 19.
James has been a captain in each of the five seasons the NBA has used this format. He has drafted against Curry, Antetokounmpo (twice) and Durant (twice). Team LeBron has won the past five All-Star Games.
2023 NBA All-Star schedule
Friday, Feb. 17
NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, 7 p.m. ET (ESPN and the ESPN App)
NBA Rising Stars Challenge, 9 p.m. ET (TNT)
Saturday, Feb. 18
NBA HBCU Classic: Grambling State vs. Southern, 4 p.m. ET (ESPN2 and the ESPN App)
NBA All-Star Saturday (skills challenge, 3-point contest, dunk contest), 8 p.m. ET (TNT)
NEW YORK — The NFL is expanding its partnership with the Players Coalition to address issues of racial and social justice with a five-year extension and a $15 million grant through its Inspire Change initiative.
The agreement announced Thursday comes as the league and its teams say they have surpassed a $250 million commitment to combat systemic racism. The NFL said that goal was reached four years ahead of schedule.
“Combatting social injustice is a continuous process,” commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “The NFL family understands the role we have in shaping and contributing to a more equitable future. The more experience we have doing just that, the stronger our drive is to continue.”
The NFL’s social justice grants have supported more than 650 local nonprofits, nearly 2,000 matching grants from current and former players, and more than 40 national grant partners.
The Players Coalition is an independent nonprofit aimed at social justice and racial equity. The group works with 1,400 pro athletes, coaches and owners across sports leagues.
“We need to be vigilant in the fight for racial justice always — not just when there are mass protests in the street and it is popular to do so,” said Players Coalition co-founder Malcolm Jenkins, a defensive back for 13 seasons with New Orleans and Philadelphia. “We will continue the fight.”
The NFL said it is narrowing the focus of its Inspire Change initiative into four areas: fostering mentorship for better outcomes in education and beyond; advancing access to financial literacy and career pipelines; creating changes in policing through law enforcement-community collaboration and expanded 9-1-1 response options; providing transition support for the formerly incarcerated and advocating for key reforms to the criminal legal system, including pre-trial detention.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New York Jets ended their two-week search for an offensive coordinator, hiring former Denver Broncos coach Nathaniel Hackett on Thursday — a move that adds to the already intense speculation about a potential Aaron Rodgers trade.
Coach Robert Saleh said Hackett is a “home run” hire for the Jets. Rodgers could make it a grand slam.
Hackett, who replaces Mike LaFleur, developed a good relationship with Rodgers while serving as the Green Bay Packers‘ coordinator from 2019 to 2021. Rodgers’ future in Green Bay is uncertain and the Jets are “committed” to acquiring a veteran quarterback, Saleh told reporters.
It’s not hard to connect the dots, though Saleh claimed he didn’t discuss Rodgers — or any available quarterbacks — in his interview with Hackett. That process begins next week, he said.
“It’s all surface-level stuff because it doesn’t matter what the connections are,” Saleh said. “Everybody has a connection to everybody in this league.”
Saleh interviewed more than 15 candidates for the position, opting for Hackett because he’s a seasoned coordinator and playcaller whom he knows from their two years together on the Jacksonville Jaguars‘ staff (2015-2016). Saleh said he preferred an experienced playcaller; LaFleur was a first-timer when he was hired in 2021. Hackett inherits an offense that failed to score a touchdown in the final three games.
Hackett is a polarizing hire because he’s coming off an abbreviated and disastrous run as the Broncos’ head coach.
He didn’t make it through one season, as he was fired Dec. 26 with a 4-11 record. Under Hackett, the Broncos averaged only 15.5 points per game, their lowest total since 1966. His brief tenure was marked by the sharp decline of quarterback Russell Wilson and criticism for his game-management decisions. Late in the year, he yielded the playcalling to quarterbacks coach Klint Kubiak, who also interviewed for the Jets’ vacancy.
“You have to own it,” Saleh said of Hackett’s time in Denver. “It’s part of the résumé and I get it. But you have to have the discipline to look past recency bias. You have to be able to look past whatever you want to call Denver. But the fact of the matter is, he got to Denver — and he had that opportunity — because of his life’s work as an offensive coordinator.”
Prior to Denver and Green Bay, where he wasn’t the playcaller, Hackett was the offensive coordinator for the Jaguars (2017-2018) and the Buffalo Bills (2013-2014). In six seasons as a playcaller, only once did he have a top-10 offense — the 2017 Jaguars, with Blake Bortles at quarterback. He was the coordinator on four playoff teams, including three with the Packers.
Hackett has a distant connection to the Jets. His father, Paul, was the offensive coordinator from 2001 to 2004, a period in which he was the target of fan and media criticism. Like his dad, Nathaniel runs the West Coast offense, as did LaFleur.
Hackett took a few days to mull the Jets’ vacancy. There was some hesitancy, sources said, because of the unsettled quarterback situation, with questions about quarterback Zach Wilson, and the long-term job security of Saleh, who is 11-23. Hackett still has four years remaining on his contract with the Broncos.
“He could’ve sat on a couch for four years,” said Saleh, making the point that Hackett is excited about the opportunity with the Jets. He inherits an offense that ranked 29th in scoring and 25th in total yards. The Jets scored only four touchdowns in the last six games — all losses — leading to LaFleur’s departure. Saleh said they plan to revamp their offensive line and acquire an experienced quarterback to replace Wilson, who appears headed for a backup after being picked No. 2 overall in 2021.
“We’re committed to finding a veteran,” Saleh said. “We didn’t get into names. I don’t think [Hackett] has studied those guys yet. He’s going to start next week. We didn’t get into specific names, but it was talked about that we do plan to bring in a veteran quarterback if we can.”
The Jets also hired former Tennessee Titans offensive line coach Keith Carter, who was fired at the end of the season. His title will be line coach/running game coordinator. He replaces John Benton, who was fired.
Hackett will help fill out the coaching staff. The team is still looking for a wide receivers coach and a senior offensive assistant.
Hilton coined the moniker for Arrowhead Stadium during the team’s divisional round victory over the Buffalo Bills. Hilton said he knew he would ruffle a few feathers when he uttered the phrase into an NFL Films camera last weekend, but it’s evidence of the team’s confidence heading into the rematch with Kansas City in the AFC title game Sunday.
“That’s just our locker room, man,” Hilton said Wednesday. “That’s just who we are. We got a whole bunch of guys that love playing with each other.”
The story behind the story is about as cut-and-dried as what it’s referencing. During the team’s 27-10 win over the Bills last weekend, Hilton was walking down the sideline, realized the Bengals were headed to Kansas City for another AFC Championship Game and saw Joe Burrow, the winning quarterback in last year’s tilt for AFC supremacy. Last year’s victory that sent the Bengals to the Super Bowl was the second of three consecutive victories against Kansas City, the first on the road.
“It might have stirred a few pots, but it is what it is,” Hilton said.
Naturally, at least one Kansas City player took exception to that nickname. Tight end Travis Kelce said on his “New Heights” podcast that Bengals fans using the “Burrowhead” name are putting a lot of bulletin board material on the internet ahead of the showdown. Patrick Mahomes even chimed in on the subject on one of Audacy’s radio affiliates.
“I mean trash talk is just kind of part of the game,” Mahomes told 610 Sports Radio in Kansas City. “I know our guys will be ready to go, and I’m glad we get to play at Arrowhead and see what happens.”
Hilton’s stadium nomenclature is indicative of how confident the Bengals have felt during a 10-game winning streak that dates to Week 9 of the regular season. Ahead of the team’s Week 17 game against the Bills that was abandoned, running back Joe Mixon said the Bengals wanted to prove they were the “big dogs” in the AFC. Wide receiver Tee Higgins echoed that sentiment after the Bengals beat Buffalo this past Sunday to return to the conference title game for the second straight year and spoke of Cincinnati’s Super Bowl pedigree.
“We went last year with most of the guys in the locker room,” Higgins said. “We all knew we had the talent and the coaches to go back. We just had to put [together] the pieces of the puzzle.”
When asked about the team’s confidence throughout the year, Cincinnati coach Zac Taylor said there is a balance that needs to be struck as the team asserts its self-belief.
“Of course, we want our focus to be on our team,” Taylor said. “At the same time, I want our players to have that confidence that leads to that edge. They’re not afraid of anybody. They know that they’ve put in the work. They know they belong on the field with everybody.”
And even though Hilton has a fun, dominating nickname for the venue Cincinnati will play in this weekend, he says beating Kansas City will be challenging.
“We know what’s at stake,” Hilton said. “We know what’s in front of us. We know we’re going to play a great team on Sunday. But we’re ready.”
