{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-25 11:56:31 -0600’) }} football Edit
Adam Gorney
• Rivals.com
National Recruiting Director
SAN ANTONIO – Travis Smith Jr. is a 2025 receiver so he has plenty of time to figure out his recruitment.He also plays at Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake so one would think his focus would be on teams acros…
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Lauren Price is looking for a homecoming fight in Wales as the Olympic gold medallist prepares to take her professional career to the next level in 2023.
At the Tokyo Games in 2021, the GB squad was Britain’s most successful Olympic boxing team in 100 years. Wales’ Price was one of the stars of that side, winning the middleweight gold medal with a sequence of tremendous performances.
She turned professional in 2022, winning her debut at Wembley Arena and then halting Timea Belik on the undercard of Claressa Shields vs Savannah Marshall at The O2 in London in October.
Image: Lauren Price has set her sights on a busy 2023 (Image: Lawrence Lustig)
Now Price wants to return to Wales to fight as a professional.
“That would be brilliant. That’s the dream getting the Welsh fans behind me,” Price told Sky Sports. “That would be a dream come true to box in Wales.
“We are talking about that,” she added. “The sooner I box in Wales and get the fans on board, the better. I had a lot of support at the Olympics.
“If I box in Wales they’ll get behind me.”
Boxing is not the only sport where she has represented Wales. She also played football for the international side.
“I played football, I used to play for Cardiff,” she said. “To box in the stadium there would be great one day.”
Price’s Olympic gold medal was all the more impressive as she won it at middleweight, a division or two above her natural weight. Over the coming years, once she reaches world-class as a professional there is a potential super-fight that could be made. Boxing Claressa Shields at super-welterweight would be hard to resist.
“As long as she comes down a bit then yeah, why not?” Price said cheerfully. “Who knows, it might even fill the Principality [stadium].”
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Olympic gold medallist Lauren Price explains her remarkable career in sports, including captaining Wales and playing for Cardiff City
Price intends her next contest to be her last six-rounder before moving up to eight rounds. Before the end of 2023, she wants to be competing over 10 rounds, the championship distance.
Like her partner Karriss Artingstall, a Tokyo Olympic medallist and now professional fighter herself, Price wants to box five times within the next 12 months.
“We’re in six-rounders but we’re training like it’s a 10-round fight. We’re both in top condition,” Price said. “If I get five fights in, at the end of the year I’ll be more than ready to step up.
“The pro game is different so we’d like step-ups. I want to be in a 10 rounder but I’ll listen to Rob [McCracken, their trainer] and follow his advice.
“As an amateur, we’re not used to crowds and stuff like that. That’s something we’ve got to get used to as well. All the little things as a pro which is different to the amateurs, not wearing headguards, getting smaller gloves, having a crowd there.
“When the time is right he [McCracken] can point us in the right direction to win the world titles. Along the way now the next couple of fights are learning fights to get us in the right place.”
Price is already developing. Only two fights into her pro career, she looked dangerous last time out when she forced a stoppage against Belik inside four rounds.
“I gave a lot of weight away as an amateur because I was boxing at 75kgs, so now I’m boxing people the same weight as me. So it is a little bit different and it takes a lot of getting used to but I still want to obviously keep my speed and my movement because that’s what I’m about,” Price said.
“But in the professional game, I want to be able to land big shots as well, an all-rounder really. In the first fight, I boxed quite technically and in my last fight I just wanted to get her out of there.”
Image: Lauren Price cannot wait to box in Wales with her home supporters backing her
Performing on that major all-women’s show at the O2 was an obvious high point of 2022. But there was also a different kind of highlight for her last year when King Charles presented Price with her MBE.
“Myself, Karriss, my nan and my auntie all went up to the castle,” she said. “It was great to experience that and have my family with me.
“He just talked to me about my sport and I said to him about playing football for Wales and winning caps and obviously going to the Olympics. We had a little chat for five minutes.”
For 2023 now it is back to the hard work of training and boxing. “Looking realistically, I’d like to have one more six-rounder and then go on to eights and possibly have a 10 rounder at the end of the year,” Price said. “Just to get out as much as I can, five times… I don’t really want to have any time off.
MELBOURNE, Australia — The tennis breakthroughs keep coming for Tommy Paul and his American friends.
Taylor Fritz became the first of their peer group to win a Masters 1000 title last year at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif.
A few months later, Frances Tiafoe became the first of their group to reach a Grand Slam semifinal in singles, pushing eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz to five sets.
Now Paul, a smooth-moving talent who grew up near a small tennis academy run by his family in Greenville, N.C., has become the first American man to reach an Australian Open singles semifinal since Andy Roddick in 2009.
For Paul, who defeated American newcomer Ben Shelton, 7-6 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4, in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, all this is no coincidence.
“I think it applies a lot,” Paul said. “You see Fritz win a Masters 1000, and I think all of us we’re all happy for him, but we’re all like, ‘OK, he did it. We can do that.’
“And then ‘Foe makes semifinals of the U.S. Open and had chances in the semis, and who knows what would have happened if he had won that match? So, you see that happen, and you’re, like, ‘All right, that’s awesome. I’m happy for him, but I can do that.’”
The 2023 Australian Open
The year’s first Grand Slam event runs from Jan. 16 to Jan. 29 in Melbourne.
Paul, 25, has taken the hint, with ample encouragement from his veteran coach Brad Stine, who began working with him in September 2019 when Paul was outside the top 100 and had recently lost funding and coaching support from the United States Tennis Association and was denied a wild card at the 2019 U.S. Open.
“That was based on some disciplinary things,” Stine said.
But Stine was impressed by Paul’s openness to coaching and change — and his ability to handle world-class pace from the baseline — and though there have been some setbacks and lots of text messages, Stine feels Paul’s game is maturing and his commitment growing.
“We went from him identifying himself as a counterpuncher,” said Stine, “to being a guy that’s looking for forehands and trying to dictate and dominate the court with the forehand, which was a big change because Tommy’s backhand had always been the more solid side of his game.”
Stine already has helped a young American succeed down under.
He was part of Jim Courier’s coaching team in 1992 and 1993 when Courier won back-to-back Australian Open singles titles and jumped in the Yarra River with Stine to celebrate.
“He’s done so much for my game,” Paul said of Stine. “In the past four years, he’s really taken me up many, many levels. I’m really appreciative, and hopefully we can keep going. I’m going to make him jump in the Yarra if we win this thing. I’m not going, but I’m going to make him do it.”
That swim, perhaps not the wisest idea in view of the Yarra’s pollution levels, remains a long shot.
Paul’s opponent in his first Grand Slam semifinal on Friday will be none other than Novak Djokovic, who has won a men’s record nine singles titles at the Australian Open and who extended his winning streak at Melbourne Park to 26 matches on Thursday night, demolishing a fine player, the No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
“I could not be happier with my tennis,” Djokovic said, his left hamstring still tightly wrapped but his movement and ball striking beyond reproach.
Paul has practiced with Djokovic but never faced him on tour. Even though Djokovic and Rublev were still on court during Paul’s post-victory news conference, Paul said he wanted the ultimate Melbourne challenge.
“I probably have a better chance of winning if it’s Rublev but to play Novak here in Australia would be awesome,” Paul said.
He has more support than when he started. His mother Jill MacMillan, a former college player at East Carolina University who was his first coach, arrived in Melbourne on Wednesday morning after flying from Newark to Los Angeles to Melbourne in economy class in her scrubs. She is an audiologist and had only a carry-on bag after scrambling to make the trip on short notice after Paul beat Roberto Bautista Agut in the fourth round.
“I texted Tommy once I was on my way and told him, ‘Your mom did something really crazy today. I just jumped on a flight from work,’” MacMillan said. “And he was like, ‘Unreal!’”
Twenty-four hours and not much sleep later, she was sitting in the players box.
“Oh my gosh, I was so high on adrenaline, I didn’t feel it,” she said. “But Ben made it pretty hard for him, though.”
Shelton, a 20-year-old lefthander from Gainesville, Fla. playing in his first Australian Open, continued to impress in only his fourth tour-level event, pounding aces or aggressive second serves on break points and fighting back to force a fourth set even though he struggled for much of the match to return Paul’s serve.
“I think everyone should be really excited for that kid,” Paul said, after shaking Shelton’s hand twice and embracing him at the net.
There is genuine camaraderie among this rising generation of Americans, and Paul is now guaranteed to join Fritz and Tiafoe in the top 20 on Monday.
He already has defeated top-drawer opponents: beating Rafael Nadal and the world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in 2022. He is an all-surface threat who grew up playing on green clay at his family’s club in North Carolina and won the French Open boys’ title on red clay in 2015, beating Fritz in the final. Last year, he reached the fourth round at Wimbledon on grass.
Now, he has made his deepest Grand Slam run on a hardcourt. The Yarra River, which still flows past Melbourne Park, awaits if Paul can beat the odds (and Djokovic) and become the first of his peer group to win a major title.
“Actually, I think he will be the one taking a swim if he wins,” Stine said with a grin.
Carl Cheffers will serve as the lead referee for Super Bowl LVII, the NFL announced Tuesday.
Cheffers received the prized assignment for the second time in three seasons and the third in the past seven years. He was also the referee in Super Bowls LII and LV.
The league uses a variety of benchmarks for determining Super Bowl officials, including a season-long evaluation process as well as various seniority and eligibility requirements, including at least three credited seasons as a referee, at least five credited seasons as a game official and previous on-field postseason experience as a referee, not including the current season.
Cheffers joined the NFL in 2000 as a side judge and was promoted to referee in 2008. He is the NFL’s second-longest-tenured referee, behind Jerome Boger.
The rest of the crew:
Umpire: Roy Ellison
Line judge: Jeff Bergman
Down judge: Jerod Phillips
Field judge: John Jenkins
Side judge: Eugene Hall
Back judge: Dino Paganelli
Replay: Mark Butterworth
Super Bowl LVII will be played on Sunday, Feb. 12, at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
There’s no such thing as a meaningless, consequence-free national team match. It remains an honor for the players involved, there are a few FIFA ratings points on the line and have you seen Twitter during a U.S. men’s national team match? The existential dread gets all over the furniture even in the most mundane of settings.
That said, the coming friendlies for the men’s national team — against Serbia in Los Angeles on Wednesday night, and Colombia in Carson, California, on Saturday evening — are as close to consequence-free as it gets.
It’s a long time until the next World Cup, only two players on the 24-man roster belong to a club in Europe’s major leagues (Gabriel “Gaga” Slonina and Paxten Aaronson, whose respective journeys with Chelsea and Eintracht Frankfurt are only beginning), and only five players were on the U.S. roster in the recent World Cup in Qatar. The roster is made up primarily of players with MLS and Scandinavian clubs, and neither Serbia nor Colombia are bringing their respective A-teams to town either. Oh yeah, and the U.S. doesn’t have a manager at the moment. Maybe you’ve heard?
Still, the friendlies are opportunities to watch some intriguing, younger players making their national team debuts and attempting to leave an impression for later. With respect to both veteran stalwarts like Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta and Paul Arriola, and younger players looking to make their second appearances in a U.S. shirt (Cade Cowell, Jonathan Gomez, Paxton Pomykal), let’s focus on the debutants.
Thirteen of them are seeking their first caps in the coming days; let’s welcome them to the party. (Note: Within each position group, the players have been “ranked” in order of my own personal excitement/curiosity level.)
When the camp invitations were announced last week, you could almost hear a chorus of American fans yelling “FINALLY!” in unison. Even with the U.S. struggling at the No. 9 position last year, Berhalter didn’t seem to give Vazquez, 2022’s breakout star in MLS, much of a look.
A late bloomer of sorts, the 24-year old scored 19 goals for FC Cincinnati, and while he strikes a profile similar to many American forwards — solid shot quality, iffy shot quantity, only a little involved from a passing standpoint — he’s been more proficient at that style than anyone else in the player pool of late. He’s 6-foot-2 and solid in the air (six of his 19 goals were headers, including two from set pieces), and after flirting with the idea of accepting an invitation to the Mexican national team if it came about, he finally gets his shot with the U.S.
Vazquez might be too old to be considered a genuine prospect, but he’s only now entering his prime and could command both a larger role with the national team and a role with a European club in the years to come.
Alejandro Zendejas
To date, Zendejas’ story has been punctuated by controversy. After making more than 30 appearances for U.S. junior teams, the El Paso-via-Juarez native made two appearances for Mexico in friendlies without filing for the requisite one-time switch. Mexico was recently fined and ordered to forfeit those two friendlies (no great loss, but still), and now it appears Zendejas is filing for a one-time switch back to the U.S. to make it worse.
It’s a muddy story, but Zendejas brings a bold presence to the national team. He has scored eight goals in 22 Liga MX appearances for Club America this season, and six of them have come from at least 13 meters out. He prowls the edge of the box, searches out dangerous opportunities — he’s got three assists from 27 chances created, and he’s drawn 49 fouls — and, if there’s an opening, launches one at the net.
The U.S. have loads of options on the wings, and many of them are younger than Zendejas. But he has blossomed over the past two seasons — he’s now got 19 goals and five assists since the start of 2021-22 — and he has a major opportunity to make an impression this week.
His parents are from Ghana. He was born in Italy. He grew up in Ohio. He signed a youth contract in Spain. He has made his professional mark in Denmark.
Sabbi’s backstory is dizzying, but he has slowly crafted a solid portfolio. With first Hobro and then Odense, he has scored 23 goals with nine assists over about 98 90s in Denmark. He missed quite a bit of time because of injury in 2022 but returned to score twice and record two assists in just four matches in the fall. (The Danish Superliga halts play in mid-November and resumes in late February.)
Sabbi’s a bit of a tweener; he’s strong enough to play forward even though he’s only 5-foot-10, and he’s a good enough passer to play on the wing, but he might not quite boast the speed of others in the player pool. He’s intriguing all the same. And if or when he steps onto the field in California, he would become the 10th player from the American 2017 U-20 World Cup team to earn a cap.
Midfielders
Paxten Aaronson
With his combination of intensity and creativity, Brenden Aaronson, 22, earned both a steady role within Berhalter’s squad and made his Premier League and World Cup debuts over the last year. His little brother might somehow be more frantic, more bold and more creative.
In 450 minutes with the Philadelphia Union last year, mostly as a super-sub, Aaronson scored once and created five chances, but most of his work was done in pushing the ball into dangerous areas. He was a pressures machine, he completed 83% of his passes into the attacking third, and he made 63 combined progressive passes and carries — about 12.6 per 90 minutes. He’s a busybody, and he joins an Eintracht club who are both interesting and optimistic in attack.
It’s an exciting fit, but before he can make his Bundesliga debut, he will make his national team debut.
Alan Sonora
The “FINALLY!” chorus might not have been as loud about this one, but … finally! I have been personally curious about Sonora — the younger brother of another national team candidate, Joel — for a while. He might be the best free-kick taker in the U.S. player pool, and he’s a first-team member of the Try Stuff All-Stars.
— CONMEBOL Sudamericana (@TheSudamericana) April 13, 2022
Over the past two seasons with Argentina‘s Independiente, Sonora scored 10 goals with six assists from 63 chances created in league and Copa Sudamericana play. In nine shot attempts from direct free kicks, he put four on target and scored twice, from distances of 20 and 28 meters. He wasn’t asked to contribute much from the perspective of ball pressure, which makes him very much unlike the current first-choice U.S. midfielders, but he makes things happen, and he finally gets a chance to impress. (He might join an MLS team soon, too.)
Granted, he’s only 2½ years younger than Tyler Adams, but if you’re looking for a candidate to profile as the next Adams, Morris might be your guy. The Crew member turned 21 in November, and while he played an attacking role at times, he was mostly asked to cover massive ground, Adams-style, from a defensive midfield role.
He averaged about 6.0 ball recoveries and 12.3 defensive interventions per 90 in 2022 while completing 88% of his passes (89% in the attacking third) and creating 13 chances. Obviously the Adams role in the U.S. starting XI will be filled by Adams, when healthy, for the foreseeable future. However, Morris checks a lot of boxes and could end up playing a major role when Adams is unavailable.
The U.S. is loaded with exciting young fullbacks. Incumbents Antonee Robinson (25) and Sergino Dest (22) are only beginning to approach their prime, Borussia Monchengladbach‘s Joe Scally (20) should force his way into the next manager’s plans, and Arminia Bielefeld’s George Bello (21) has already made seven caps. But it might not be not too late for Tolkin to carve out a niche, too.
The Jersey-born Red Bull was a calming presence for a frantic team, averaging both 1.3 chances created and 13.3 defensive interventions per 90. He ended up with a goal and three assists, and the CIES Football Observatory just named him the most promising defensive left back in the game. Not bad.
A bit of a latecomer to the national scene, Jones has done everything he can to make up for lost time. After a full four seasons at Michigan State, he aced the MLS combine ahead of the 2019 SuperDraft and was picked 11th overall at age 21. He recorded nearly 1,400 minutes in his rookie season, and his minutes have increased every year since.
Playing mostly on the left for the Revolution, he has scored four goals with 12 assists from 81 chances created over the past two seasons, and while his defensive numbers aren’t quite as strong as some of his peers — he’s more Raphael Guerreiro than Reece James at full-back/wing-back — his speed is noteworthy. And his versatility could make him attractive to the next U.S. manager, whatever style said manager attempts to establish.
Neal’s camp invitation was perhaps a bit of a reach considering he has played only four minutes for the Galaxy’s senior team, but he has been allowed to develop slowly for the Galaxy II team in the USL Championship. Despite his age and the general maturity requirements of the position, he has thrived.
Over three seasons and nearly 4,000 minutes, he has won 59% of his duels and 62% of aerials, and his passing numbers have been strong for the position. He’s 6-foot-3 with broad shoulders, though his 170-pound frame could hold a bit more weight. Regardless, his potential is blindingly obvious, and his invitation is an acknowledgment of that.
Sam Rogers
Like Sabbi, Rogers is a fun addition from the Scandinavian leagues. A product of the Seattle Sounders academy and the Tacoma Defiance, the 6-foot-3 Rogers played for the U.S. in the 2018 CONCACAF U-20 Championship and ended up on loan with second-division Norwegian club HamKam in 2021. After HamKam earned promotion, manager Kjetil Rekdal took the job at Norwegian heavyweight Rosenborg and brought Rogers along.
Rogers has blossomed in Trondheim, bringing both defensive intensity and solid passing to the table. The U.S. have a lot of high-potential center-backs around Rogers’ age — among others, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Miles Robinson are both only 25 — but his development has clearly been noticed.
The German-born veteran began his youth career with Greuther Furth in the German Bundesliga, but he elected to take an American path to the pros: He came to the U.S., played for Providence in college and has now played important roles for Atlanta United (2017-19), D.C. United (2020-21) and Vancouver (2022). He earned his American citizenship in November, and though he might be running a bit late in his trajectory — he’ll be 32 at the next World Cup — he gets a chance to make an impression.
Gressel is a safe defender who can play as either a right-back or in more of a wing-back role, and he pasted together a unicorn of a stat line for Vancouver last season: He was one of only 17 MLS players to produce at least two goals, nine assists, 140 progressive passes and 140 progressive carries. Of the 17, he was the only one with more than 290 defensive interventions. He was everywhere.
The three goalkeepers Gregg Berhalter took to Qatar in November will turn 37 (Sean Johnson), 32 (Matt Turner) and 31 (Ethan Horvath) either right before or during the 2026 World Cup. Zack Steffen, with his 29 U.S. caps, will turn 31, too. Obviously goalkeepers age more gracefully than other players, but now’s a good time for the next generation of U.S. keepers to present itself.
Johnson was invited to January camp, but the two other keepers, Slonina and Celentano, are particularly intriguing. A former Indiana Hoosier, Celentano was solid for FC Cincinnati as a rookie in 2022, but Slonina, nearly four years his junior, has made more MLS appearances (34 for the Chicago Fire), earned a $10 million transfer to Chelsea and doesn’t turn 19 until May.
Slonina’s huge (6-foot-4) and aggressive, and while you don’t want your keeper having to make too many athletic, big-time saves, he’s more than capable.
He will turn 22 right before the 2026 World Cup, and one assumes that of any debutant on this list, he is the most likely to be a part of the U.S. roster when the World Cup rolls around. Matt Turner performed well in Qatar and earned his own big-club transfer (to Arsenal) recently, but Slonina will get a chance to displace him in the years to come.
The final Rivals Rankings Week for the 2023 class rolls on and the offensive position rankings are being updated today. There are 18 quarterbacks in the final Rivals250 and 24 are rated as at least four-star prospects.
Take a look at which prospects the national analyst team thinks are the best fits at the schools they chose.
“Dante Moore is arguably the top player in the entire 2023 class, and with former UCLA starting quarterback Dorian Thompson-Robinson off to the NFL Draft, the stage is set for Moore to come in and be the man for the Bruins from day one.
“Moore is a proven winner with the skill set and intangibles to shoulder the pressure of starting behind center as a true freshman, and if any player in this class is capable of doing so it is Moore under the guidance of Chip Kelly.
“Moore is the ultimate gamer and plays his best when the stakes are highest, making him the perfect fit for UCLA.” – Clint Cosgrove, national recruiting analyst
“To me this isn’t a hard question to answer. It’s Nico Iamaleava. He’s going to the perfect offense for his skill set. Just look at what Tennessee was able to do with Hendon Hooker last year. They are similar players but Iamaleava is coming in as a much more polished thrower with a more impressive athletic profile.
“The Tennessee offense has a chance to be even more dynamic with Iamaleava at the helm than it was this past year with Hooker leading the way.” – Adam Friedman, national recruiting analyst
*****
“If Hooker can thrive in coach Josh Heupel‘s offense and complete nearly 70% of his passes for 3,135 yards with 27 touchdowns and two interceptions and put Tennessee in SEC contention then Vols fans should be thrilled with Iamaleava coming to town. The five-star from Downey (Calif.) Warren has some of the same leadership traits as Hooker, but he’s just a more dynamic passer, so he and Heupel should fit together perfectly.
“And let’s not forget one of the biggest reasons that Iamaleava picked the Vols was his relationship with Joey Halzle, who’s now the offensive coordinator. A lot of quarterbacks were smart and picked pass-happy offenses that fit in well with their style, but Iamaleava went nearly across the country to an up-and-coming program to find his, and it was a really smart move.” – Adam Gorney, national recruiting director
*****
“Tennessee may have signed a program changer in Iamaleava. The five-star out of California’s Warren High School can hit any route in the playbook, and he can do so with velocity and touch, and throw into tight windows. In just two seasons, Heupel molded Hooker, a former three-star dual-threat QB, into the 2022 SEC Player of the Year; one can only imagine what Iamaleava will be able to do in Heupel’s offense over the next three seasons.” – Ryan Wright, national recruiting analyst
“Steve Sarkisian‘s offensive system at Texas through two seasons has featured a lot of complicated sets that have confused opposing defenses, but they have also added to some growing pains into the Longhorns’ quarterback room. Hudson Card and Casey Thompson each had struggles with the mental aspect of the position in 2021, and Quinn Ewers had more than his fair share of freshman mistakes in 2022.
“However, I think Arch Manning will be the smartest player between the lines that Sarkisian has been able to throw on the field at quarterback in his entire coaching career. Manning’s ability to quickly process and make the correct throw is what makes him such a unique prospect compared to No. 1 overall prospects of the past.
“And when you pair that with his ability to escape the pocket and make plays on the run, you have an offensive playmaker that perfectly fits what Sarkisian has tried to do with his quarterbacks his entire career.” – Nick Harris, national recruiting analyst
Match officials have been issued with guidance on offences involving religious head coverings after Sky Sports and former referee Jarnail Singh raised concerns about an incident involving a Sikh-Punjabi footballer.
In a Spartan South Midlands League match at the beginning of January, Langford FC midfielder Charan Basra was shown a second yellow card for his reaction after an opposing player appeared to tug at his patka, which is a religious head covering worn by many Sikhs.
The referee appeared not to see the original incident, but it caused a stir on Twitter in the days that followed after initially being shared online by social media handle @UB1UB2.
Sky Sports’ British South Asians in Football lead Dev Trehan took up the issue directly with the first turbaned referee in English league football, Jarnail Singh, who refereed more than 150 matches across the divisions between 2004 and 2010.
Jarnail’s eldest son, Sunny Singh Gill, is the country’s highest-ranked South Asian heritage match referee.
Jarnail liaised directly with colleagues at the Referees’ Association, the FA Refereeing Department and the FA Referees’ Committee, offering insight on the significance and importance that Sikhs attach to religious head coverings like turbans and patkas.
More from South Asians In Football
Just over a fortnight after initiating contact with refereeing authorities about the matter, Sky Sports News can exclusively reveal match officials across the country have now been issued with specific guidance relating to such incidents.
Match officials have been told that a head covering such as a patka or a turban is considered a religious article of faith. Touching one without permission should be deemed an offensive action under Law 12 of the FA Handbook relating to fouls and misconduct.
The offence should be punishable by a mandatory red card if seen and should be treated as an S6 breach – using offensive, insulting and/or abusive language and or action(s).
Jarnail told Sky Sports News: “I’m very happy that we were able to contribute to educating and improving understanding about South Asians and Sikh communities in football.
“This is an excellent example of cooperation and collaboration from everyone involved, especially the chair of the FA Referees’ Committee and the FA Referees’ Department.
“It’s a real pleasure to come together with Dev, Sky Sports, the Football Association and the refereeing family to help promote equality and inclusion for diverse ethnic communities in football.”
Trehan told Sky Sports News: “Jarnail is a Sikh-Punjabi trailblazer and a British South Asians in Football icon. To work together with him on something like this and yield such a positive result is a moment to cherish and savour for everyone associated with the ‘Beautiful Game’. I’m sure Langford FC midfielder Charan Basra, who is a fine role model himself, will also take great satisfaction from this outcome.
“Credit must go to all of those involved in this process as well as @UB1UB2 and the Sikh Press Association for pushing this, and also our digital teams and output editors at Sky Sports News for continuing to support our truly game-changing work around British South Asians in Football.”
Singh: A tremendous day for English football
Apna England official supporters’ group spokesperson Micky Singh told Sky Sports News: “This feels unprecedented and it offers a sense of freedom and preservation for Sikhs and every patka-wearing footballer that has ever been involved in the game.
“I can’t explain what it feels like knowing that my grandson would now be afforded a level of protection and respect for his faith if he made it all the way through to the elite game.
“This is momentous for Sikhs, a game-changer for British South Asians, and a tremendous day for English football.
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The first Sikh female in Parliamentary history, Preet Kaur Gill MP, told Sky Sports News it would be a proud moment for Sikhs when Bhupinder and Sunny Singh Gill officiate in the same Championship game
The country’s first Sikh female Member of Parliament, Preet Kaur Gill, told Sky Sports News: “It’s clear that there is still some way to go in terms of education and understanding around Sikh articles of faith.
“Respect for all people of all faiths and no faiths is really important on and off the pitch. It’s important for the football authorities to address this, so that we don’t see incidents like this going forward.”
MELBOURNE, Australia — Tommy Paul received a lot less attention than his younger, less-experienced opponent, Ben Shelton, heading into their all-American quarterfinal at the Australian Open.
Perhaps that was a product of the fascination with the out-of-nowhere Shelton: Just 20, and less than a year after winning an NCAA title for the University of Florida, he was traveling outside of the United States for the first time and participating in his second Grand Slam tournament.
So the loud shouts of support heard most often at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday under the sun that carried the temperature to 87 degrees Fahrenheit were for one of the pair: “Let’s go, Benny! Let’s go!” or “Benny, Benny, Benny! Oi, Oi, Oi!” or “Go, Gators!”
“He had a pretty good trip,” Paul noted.
Paul’s story is a pretty good one, too, and it is the one that will keep going at Melbourne Park: The 25-year-old from New Jersey was a star in the juniors and now is making good on that promise in the pros, using a 7-6 (6), 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Shelton to reach his first Grand Slam semifinal in his 14th appearance at a major.
As a bonus, Paul’s mother was in the Rod Laver Arena stands for the biggest victory of his career. He said Mom booked a flight after he won his fourth-round match, then he went straight from work to the airport to make the long journey from the U.S. to Australia.
“Making it to the second weekend of a Slam, that’s everyone’s dream when they start to play tennis,” the 35th-ranked Paul said, “so I can’t believe I’m here right now.”
His path to this point went like this: He broke through as a teenager, taking the 2015 junior title at the French Open and getting to the final at Flushing Meadows that year, too. Since turning professional, he has claimed one tour-level trophy, at Stockholm in 2021, and, until this week, had made it as far as the fourth round at just one Grand Slam tournament — at Wimbledon a year ago.
Now Paul is the first man from his country to make it to the final four at Melbourne Park since Andy Roddick in 2009. Roddick was also the last man from the U.S. to win a Grand Slam singles championship, at the US Open 20 years ago.
Based purely on ranking, Paul offered a much sterner test than anyone Shelton had faced in Australia: His prior opponents were ranked 67th, 96th, 113th and 154th.
This matchup was the first singles quarterfinal between two American men at any Grand Slam event since 2007, when Roddick beat Mardy Fish in Melbourne, and Paul generally was content to block back those big lefty serves that kept coming from Shelton, then do what he could to get the better of baseline back-and-forths.
Paul was more steady than spectacular, limiting his miscues with compact swings off both wings.
Leading into the match, Shelton called Paul a “good friend” and credited him with being “one of the American guys who’s kind of almost taken me under their wing, kind of helped me navigate some of the early stages of a professional career.”
They shared a light moment when Paul’s coach, Brad Stine, told him to look for a serve down the “T” on the ad side of the court. Shelton noticed the exchange and kicked his serve wide, leaving Paul out of position and with no chance at reaching the ace. Both players smiled.
Already up two sets, Paul broke to lead 4-3 in the third, then was serving at 30-love. But he went through a bit of a lapse. He missed a forehand, was forced into an errant forehand, double-faulted and missed a forehand to get broken for the first time in the match.
Shelton broke again to steal that set when Paul sailed a backhand long. Shelton — the far more demonstrative of the two players — yelled, “Yeah!” as he raised his left fist, then pointed to his ear with his right index finger, as if telling the crowd, “Let me hear you!”
Maybe Shelton relaxed a bit there, because he started the fourth set slowly, double-faulting twice in a row then missing a backhand to gift wrap a break for Paul, who quickly went ahead 2-0.
Soon enough, it was Paul letting out a scream of delight — “Let’s go!” — after the last point, then meeting Shelton at the net for a warm hug.
Trainer Jamie Snowden is in no doubt as to the potential of Sky Bet Chase contender Ga Law, with a potential Cheltenham Gold Cup bid in 2024 on the horizon for his star chaser.
The seven-year-old returned with a career best in the Paddy Power Gold Cup meeting in November, just getting the better of French Dynamite to claim the £90,000 prize under Johnny Burke.
And while the initial plan was to head to Ascot, that was scuppered due to frozen ground and instead attention will now turn to Doncaster and the Sky Bet Chase, live this Saturday on Sky Sports Racing.
Image: Johnny Burke lifts the Paddy Power Gold Cup after winning on Ga Law at Cheltenham
He also has an entry at Cheltenham, but Snowden expects to send his stable star up in trip for the £100,000 Doncaster feature over three miles.
“The plan was always to go up in trip and he won the Paddy Power [Gold Cup] through stamina after being a bit outpaced in the race earlier on,” Snowden told Sky Sports Racing.
“Ascot looked a perfect stepping stone for that but obviously that’s not to be so he’s in the Sky Bet Chase at Doncaster. There’s a two-mile-and-four [furlong] at Cheltenham which we’ll put an entry in for but the Sky Bet is plan A.
“He doesn’t want to be running on fast ground so safe ground is what we’re looking for. The best of his form hasn’t been on a bog but the ground at Doncaster or Cheltenham should be fine.”
Ga Law has also been given entries for both the Ryanair Chase and the Cheltenham Gold Cup, and whilst odds of 66 and 100/1 for them races would indicate they are longshots, Snowden insisted he feels his horse could develop into a Grade One performer.
“I’ve put the fancy entries in but a lot depends on how these next few runs go,” he added.
“Look at Imperial Commander though, he won the Paddy Power and went on to win the Ryanair that year and the Gold Cup the year after.
“It’d be nice to think he might develop into a Gold Cup horse in 2024 but a lot of water has got to pass under the bridge before that and he’s got to keep improving.
“He’s only a young horse, only seven, and with very few miles on the clock. There’s no reason why he couldn’t keep improving.”
“I think that’s probably a bit pie in the sky this year but never say never.
“I was rather hoping if things had gone well at Ascot we might look at the Denman at Newbury but that’s probably a bit too close to Doncaster and Cheltenham.
“There’s a three-mile Listed race up at Kelso in March and of course the handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival but a lot of that depends on how we go at the weekend.”
The quintessential San Francisco 49ers forward pass travels roughly 15 feet through the air. It can be thrown by the rookie quarterback Brock Purdy to targets like Deebo Samuel, Christian McCaffrey or George Kittle, who then dodge, weave, sprint or steam roll through defenders to transform what looked like a meager 5-yard pass into a highlight.
The 49ers have long been notorious for relying upon short tosses to speedy yet burly receivers to maximize yards after the catch, or YAC. The 49ers led the N.F.L. in YAC per reception in 2019 (6.6), 2020 (6.2) and 2021 (6.5). They tied the Kansas City Chiefs and Carolina Panthers for the league lead with 6.6 YAC per reception in the 2022 regular season.
That’s right: Kansas City, while still an aerial circus, also relies heavily on yards after the catch to supplement its offense. So do the Philadelphia Eagles, who finished tied for fifth in the N.F.L. with 5.8 YAC per reception. Even the Cincinnati Bengals, whose signature play remains a moon launch from Joe Burrow to Ja’Marr Chase, finished tied for 11th in the league with 5.2 YAC per reception.
All four teams that reached their conference’s championship game counted as much or more on their playmakers to generate passing yardage as they did upon the fastball-hurling heroics of their quarterbacks. Yet there is much more than one way to spin some YAC.
The 49ers’ offense, originally built for the unassuming Jimmy Garoppolo, is almost custom tailored to the needs of an inexperienced passer like Purdy.
Samuel is a receiver with the moves and power of a running back; McCaffrey a running back with a receiver’s speed and hands; and Kittle a tight end with the traits of a Marvel superhero. No defense is equipped to cover three receivers with such diverse skill sets, and Coach Kyle Shanahan clumps them into unpredictable configurations then sends them into unexpected patches of the field in search of mismatches. Purdy plays more like a point guard than a quarterback, dishing out dimes and then watching the drives and dunks.
Once Purdy’s tosses reach their targets, the juking and trucking begins. Broken and eluded tackles are an unofficial stat, but per Sports Info Solutions, Samuel broke or eluded 27 tackles on receptions, the highest figure in the N.F.L. among receivers, despite missing four games with injuries. McCaffrey broke or eluded 13 tackles after joining the 49ers via a trade from the Panthers in October. Brandon Aiyuk, the 49ers’ deep threat, added 16 broken or eluded tackles, while Kittle pitched in 12.
Thanks to all the evasive maneuvers, the typical 49ers completion traveled just 5.4 yards downfield through the air, tied for the ninth-lowest figure in the league, but resulted in a 12.0 yard gain, the league’s fifth-highest average.
Patrick Mahomes hardly requires training wheels to operate Kansas City’s offense. When Kansas City traded the All-Pro deep threat Tyreek Hill to the Miami Dolphins before the season, however, Mahomes and the team downshifted into a shorter passing attack built around Travis Kelce, who led all tight ends with 24 broken or eluded tackles in the regular season and caught 14 passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns in last week’s 27-20 divisional-round victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
On the rare occasions Kelce is not open, Mahomes often jettisons short lobs to running back Jerick McKinnon, whose 9.7 YAC per reception ranked third in the N.F.L. Kansas City’s game plans are also loaded with shovel passes and other glorified handoffs designed to deliver the ball to Kelce (5.9 YAC per reception) or speedsters like Kadarius Toney (7.3), who was acquired in a midseason deal with the Giants.
Mahomes sprained his right ankle against the Jaguars, limiting his mobility and ability to plant his foot to throw downfield. He is expected to play against the Bengals in the A.F.C. championship game Sunday; if he cannot, the backup Chad Henne (essentially an assistant coach in pads and a helmet) gets the start. Either way, Kansas City will probably rely heavily on its YAC game.
For pass-catchers like Samuel and Kelce, yards after catch typically involve a slalom through rush-hour traffic. The Eagles’ A.J. Brown, however, generates much of his YAC on leisurely jogs into the end zone after torching a defender on a deep catch. Brown produced 152 yards after catch on passes that traveled 20 yards through the air to reach him, the highest figure in the league.
Not all of the Eagles’ yards after catch come on glorified victory laps, however. As the Giants learned their 38-7 loss to the Eagles on Saturday, Philadelphia Coach Nick Sirianni likes to scatter his receivers near the sideline so Jalen Hurts can fling quick screens immediately after the snap. By the time defenders sift through all the blocking and braiding, tight end Dallas Goedert (7.6 YAC per reception) or receiver DeVonta Smith (5.2) might already be in the end zone.
A strong downfield passing game can force the opposing defense to play on its heels, which creates lots of open space for catch-and-run opportunities in the middle of the field. Kansas City and Philadelphia use such tactics effectively, but Cincinnati excels at punishing opponents who line their safeties up in the stadium parking lot to stop the deep threats Chase, Tyler Boyd and Tee Higgins.
Bengals running backs Joe Mixon (7.8 YAC per reception) and Samaje Perine (8.4) often leak out of the backfield for short Burrow lobs when defenses are preoccupied elsewhere. Chase himself sometimes evades defenders after catching quick screens (16 broken or eluded tackles in just 12 games) or threatens them with what looks like a deep route, then turns to snag a short catch before strolling through the open countryside as they stumble backward. All of those short jabs inevitably set opponents up for a deep haymaker.
A passing game built around quick throws neutralizes the opponent’s pass rush: bad news for the Eagles’ defense, which led the league with 70 regular-season sacks and hopes to pressure Purdy into making mistakes. A YAC-focused offense also forces defenders to make difficult open-field tackles, spelling trouble for Kansas City, which missed 82 regular-season tackles, tied for sixth most in the N.F.L.
While the other remaining Super Bowl contenders have enjoyed success after the catch this year, Shanahan’s 49ers remain the experts at forcing tiny cornerbacks to tangle with the likes of Samuel, making sluggish linebackers chase McCaffrey and Kittle and ensuring other defenders do the things they are not very good at. If the 49ers finally win a Super Bowl using their YAC tactics, the message should be clear for the N.F.L.’s rebuilding franchises: Flood the field with versatile ballhandlers, be creative, and do not be afraid to take the ball out of the quarterback’s hands a little more often.
Knowing the N.F.L., however, those franchises would more likely come away from a 49ers championship thinking, “let’s do whatever it takes to find the next Brock Purdy.”
Somewhere along his path toward becoming the NBA’s all-time scoring leader, LeBron James reached the ultimate state of being as an offensive force: unguardable.
“Early on, it was a lot of just speed and jumping and then figuring it out,” James said in January, looking back at his career the day after he joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the only other player in league history to put up 38,000 career points. “And you get smarter and smarter, you say, ‘Teams know they can key on these things, so how can I make sure that I am unguardable and can always put myself in position where I do what I want to do and not what the defense wants me to do?’”
Through regular-season losses and playoff-series exits when opposing defenses targeted the holes in James’ game, the eventual four-time MVP and four-time champion was handed a cheat sheet to know what to work on.
“There were times where I didn’t really have a low-post game — I wasn’t a low-post threat,” James told ESPN. “There were times when I wasn’t a threat from the midrange. There were times when I wasn’t a threat from the outside. There were times when you literally could just try to bait me into doing things that I wasn’t great at.
“I’ve evolved into where I do what I want to do on the floor. And I take the shot that I want to take.”
As much as James’ game has evolved as a scorer in the 20 seasons he’s spent in the NBA, consider the dramatic transformation of professional basketball as a whole. When the league launched in November 1946, the Boston Celtics had more players on their roster shorter than 6 foot (three) than it had taller than 6-6 (two). There was a narrower lane. No dunks. No 3s. The official box score didn’t even tally rebounds, assists, blocks or steals.
But it always kept track of the points — and who was responsible for them. As James marches toward the scoring summit — needing fewer than 300 points to set the record — here’s a look at the seven players to hold that torch before him.
Note: The years listed for each player are the years he was atop the scoring list.
Joe Fulks: 1946-1952
He was the first to wear the NBA scoring crown, winning back-to-back scoring titles in his first two seasons in the league with the Philadelphia Warriors. The two-time All-Star and 1947 champion scored 8,003 points in his eight-year career, playing power forward and standing 6-5, 190 pounds.
The league was a different place then, evidenced by Fulks winning the scoring title his sophomore season with a 22.1-point average on 29.3 field goal attempts per game. There are 23 players averaging more than 22.1 points per game this season but no players even coming close to Fulks’ shot attempts. Luka Doncic is No. 1 with 22.7 attempts per game, followed closely at No. 2 by James’ 22.6 attempts.
George Mikan: 1952-1957
The NBA markets itself through its stars, and Mikan was its protostar, winning five rings in seven seasons and removing Fulks from his perch for good on Nov. 8, 1952, after the two of them played hot potato with the record, going back and forth four times in March of that year. Mikan was more than horned-rimmed glasses, strong handshakes and a funky No. 99 jersey. The 6-10 center averaged more than 27 points in each of his first three seasons and scored a career-best 61 points in January 1952.
Ed Macauley: 1957
After spending the first seven years of his career in Boston, the St. Louis native returned home, joining the St. Louis Hawks to finish his decorated time in the league. He won a championship in his second-to-last season, beating his former Celtics team that featured a handful of future Hall of Famers.
The 6-8 center never averaged more than 20.4 points in a season, but he earned his brief stint as the league’s all-time scorer through consistency. He led the league in games played in three of his 10 seasons and also had the best field goal percentage in the NBA in 1953-54 at 48.6%.
Dolph Schayes: 1957-1963
Schayes was a big man with a soft touch, leading the league in free throw percentage three times and shooting 84.9% from the stripe overall during his 15-year career.
The 12-time All-Star won a championship with the Syracuse Nationals in 1955, kicking off a string of six straight seasons in which he averaged more than 20 points per game in the prime of his career. He earned his spot as the league’s most dangerous scorer through longevity and consistency, leading the NBA in games played four times and minutes played twice as a 6-8, 220-pound power forward. His son, Danny, went on to have an 18-year NBA career.
Bob Pettit: 1963-1966
The No. 2 pick in the 1954 draft out of LSU, “The Bombardier from Baton Rouge” lived up to his stock as a prospect, enjoying about as decorated a career as they come. Pettit led the St. Louis Hawks to the championship over Boston in 1958, putting up 50 points and 19 rebounds in a series-clinching 110-109 win in Game 6.
Pettit was a two-time MVP and a two-time scoring champ. He averaged 20-plus points per game in each of his 11 seasons, maxing out at 31.1 points per game in 1961-62. He was an All-Star every year he was in the league and was named All-Star MVP four times. At 6-9, 205 pounds, he was a lithe power forward and relied on a hook shot that predated Abdul-Jabbar’s. He just turned 90 last month and was a celebrated guest at All-Star Weekend in Cleveland last year, when he was honored as a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team.
Chamberlain is the Paul Bunyan of the NBA, having accomplished so many unthinkable things on the basketball court that it sounds like folklore.
Average 50 points for a season? Wilt did it.
Score 100 in a game? That, too.
Grab 55 rebounds against Bill Russell of all people? Yup.
How about averaging 48.5 minutes for a season when games are only 48 minutes long? Or leading the NBA in assists one season as a center, back when positionless basketball was not a thing? Or playing 1,045 games for his career and never fouling out of a single one? Chamberlain did all that.
He is one of the NBA’s true game-changers, as the league literally changed the dimensions of the lane because Chamberlain’s legs were so long he could straddle the old key, keeping his feet outside the paint to avoid a three-second violation by still camping himself that close to the basket.
As rich as his résumé reads with the four MVPs, two championships and 13 All-Star nods, his scoring acumen might be the most impressive facet of his impeccable career. Chamberlain won the scoring title seven times, averaging north of 35 points per game six times, and he finished with a career scoring average of 30.066 points per game, edged ever so slightly by Michael Jordan’s 30.12 career clip, giving him the second-highest scoring average in league history.
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: 1984-present
On April 5, 1984, Abdul-Jabbar received an entry pass from Magic Johnson. He established position along the baseline with his back to the basket, swung back his right foot as if he was going to make a move toward the paint and then pivoted back away from the lane to unleash his signature skyhook over his right shoulder when he was 12 feet from the hoop. The ball found nothing but net.
He surpassed Chamberlain as the NBA’s all-time leading scorer on that day and has owned the mark for nearly 40 years.
The fact that Abdul-Jabbar had 7-4 Utah Jazz center Mark Eaton guarding him and rendered him useless as a defender with his graceful flick of his wrist out of Eaton’s reach only underscored what an unstoppable move he had developed.
Abdul-Jabbar played five more seasons for L.A. after setting the mark, padding his position at the top with nearly another 7,000 points before retiring. The extra points proved insurmountable decades later when the likes of Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Karl Malone and Dirk Nowitzki pushed past Chamberlain’s 31,419 but then ran out of time on their careers before catching “The Captain.”
Abdul-Jabbar scored his 38,387 points because of his physical gifts, standing 7-2, and his skill, to be sure. But it was also a longevity achievement, pounding his body on the hardwood until he was 41 years old. Continuing to dedicate himself to the sport, he finished his career with three NBA Finals appearances and two championship rings in his last three seasons.
He ended up with a 24.6 points-per-game scoring average all told, shooting 55.9% from the field and 72.1% from the foul line, while making exactly one 3-pointer.
James will be wearing the scoring crown before long and, like Abdul-Jabbar did after passing Chamberlain, will only add to his own record with two more seasons on his Lakers contract, keeping him in the league for at least 22 seasons before he calls it quits.
It could very well be another 40 years before another name is added to this hallowed list.
“To sum up, P.I.F. and Mr. al-Rumayyan recruited players; decided how much to pay them; assured them about their positions and about indemnification from suit by P.I.F.; and controlled the conduct of this litigation undertaken by P.I.F.’s lawyers,” the tour said at the conclusion of a section filled with redactions.
But the tour, the wealth fund has complained, has misconstrued and exaggerated the influence of the shareholder agreement. And in a court filing last year, before the tour received a copy of the agreement, the wealth fund’s lawyers said it “does not control LIV’s day-to-day-operations.” The filing included a sworn statement from al-Rumayyan, who said the wealth fund provided only “high level oversight” of LIV.
LIV and the tour are not expected to face each other at trial until at least next January, and the addition of new parties to the litigation could fuel calls to extend that timeline.
The tour has hardly been alone in seeking a range of evidence for the case. In a filing on Monday, LIV detailed why it wanted copies of communications between six people closely tied to the tour — five board members and a former commissioner — and certain members of Augusta National Golf Club, which organizes the Masters Tournament and has been swept into the Justice Department’s inquiry into antitrust concerns in men’s golf.
“A central component of the tour’s scheme to foreclose competition from LIV was to threaten golfers, other tours, vendors, broadcasters, sponsors and virtually any other third parties if they did business with LIV,” the Saudi-funded circuit said. “Discovery has shown that the tour delivered these threats not only through its own executives and employees, but by dispatching other influential persons on its behalf.”
LIV, just before a redacted portion of its submission, said that “the threat of a change in relationship with Augusta’s members was used as a stick to discourage one of the top golfers in the world from joining LIV.”
In its statement in the filing, the tour said that LIV’s request “goes well beyond the issues in this case, imposes an undue burden on third parties, and exceeds the bounds of relevant and proportional discovery.”
In December, Augusta National said it would not change the standards that govern Masters invitations before its 2023 tournament, opening the door for more than a dozen LIV players, including six past Masters winners, to compete this April.
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Bill O’Brien will return to the New England Patriots after agreeing to a deal Tuesday to become their next offensive coordinator, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter and Chris Low.
O’Brien, 53, who spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama, now is back to where his NFL career began in 2007 as a coaching assistant.
In that first stint in New England, O’Brien quickly rose through the ranks on Bill Belichick’s staff to quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator, spending three years (2009-11) in that role before departing for head-coaching positions with Penn State (2012-13) and the Houston Texans (2014-20).
A Massachusetts native, O’Brien will be charged with improving a Patriots offense that dipped notably in most key areas in 2022, including:
• Red zone efficiency: 11th (39 TDs in 63 trips) to 32nd (19 TDs in 45 trips)
• Third-down efficiency: 10th (43.5%) to 27th (34.8%)
• First downs: tied for ninth (362) to 28th (288)
• Sacks allowed: eighth (28 for 241 yards) to 19th (41 for 279 yards)
• Touchdowns scored: 48 to 31
Belichick didn’t name an official offensive coordinator for the Patriots in 2022, leaning on Matt Patricia as the primary playcaller despite Patricia’s mostly defensive background in his NFL career.
Belichick also oversaw a streamlining of the offense — changing the blocking terminology for offensive linemen — in which one of his goals was to produce more big plays down the field.
But the desired results never came to fruition, leading to the Patriots, who are notoriously tight-lipped about their intentions, publicly announcing on Jan. 12 that they would be interviewing for an offensive coordinator.
In addition to O’Brien, the Patriots also spoke with current New England tight ends coach Nick Caley, Minnesota Vikings wide receivers coach Keenan McCardell, Arizona Cardinals assistant head coach Shawn Jefferson and Oregon associate head coach/offensive line/run-game coordinator Adrian Klemm about the job.
Upon landing at Alabama, where he worked closely with quarterback Bryce Young, O’Brien had also spent time with current Patriots quarterback Mac Jones, who helped O’Brien learn the Tide offense in the months following Jones’ final season with Alabama.
With O’Brien headed back to the NFL, Saban will be looking for his sixth different offensive coordinator in the past eight seasons. The previous five — Steve Sarkisian, Mike Locksley, Brian Daboll, Lane Kiffin and O’Brien — are all now either NFL head coaches or offensive coordinators or Power 5 head coaches.
Saban also is searching for a defensive coordinator after Pete Golding left for the same position at Ole Miss earlier this month. The last time Saban brought in two new coordinators in the same year was after the Crimson Tide’s 2017 national championship season.
CARSON, Calif. — For interim United States men’s national team coach Anthony Hudson, there is no hiding the obvious. After a successful run to the round of 16 at the World Cup, the hope was to build off — and celebrate — that performance to begin the new cycle.
Instead, after a bizarre set of circumstances that contributed to the expiration of coach Gregg Berhalter’s contract, Hudson admitted there is a sense of sadness hanging over the team, which was eliminated by the Netherlands in Qatar.
“It’s a shame for everyone who’s involved: players, staff, Gregg, everyone is affected by it,” Hudson said. “It’s not a nice situation.”
But, Hudson said, that’s professional sports. Adversity comes with the territory and it’s up to him and the blend of mostly high-potential young players and World Cup veterans to make the most of its annual January camp and a pair of friendlies against Serbia and Colombia on Jan. 25 and 28, respectively.
“It’s been a dream for so many of them — so many of us, but mainly the players,” said Hudson, who was on Berhalter’s staff as an assistant in Qatar. “They set out with a big, lofty ambition, not just to go [to the World Cup], but to go there and represent themselves in a way that people would sit up and take notice of the team.”
“So when all this happened, I think it was [a feeling] of shame. It’s sadness because all the attention has gone away from that. All the good work and it’s been shifted in another direction.”
Until U.S. Soccer hires a permanent coach, it will be difficult for everyone to move on completely without acknowledging the state of flux. Especially with an ongoing external investigation into a 1991 domestic violence incident involving Berhalter, which was brought to the attention of USSF general manager Earnie Stewart by Danielle Reyna, the mother of star winger Giovanni Reyna.
“I’ve said yes to doing it for now and then my next huge responsibility is to the players,” Hudson said. “Because we can’t get all our players from overseas because they’re not available, historically, this camp opens up a space for new players to come in.
“We’ve seen there’s 30-odd plus players that have made their first or second cap in this window in the past and gone on to represent [us] in the World Cup.”
Among the players that could fit that profile is goalkeeper Gaga Slonina. The 18-year-old recently completely a move to Chelsea from the Chicago Fire FC and has pledged his international future to the U.S. despite being eligible for Poland, where both his parents are from.
“It’s an honor to be here,” Slonina said. “I’m using this opportunity to show what I can do as a player for the national team, I think that’s very important. The move has been great. The training and level there is something that I think every player dreams of.
“Coming out here and showing what I’ve learned out there for the short time I’ve been there, I think that’s something I can use to my advantage.”
Slonina is one of the few European-based players who received club approval to take part in this camp, which is not in a designated FIFA international window.
“[Chelsea is] super proud,” Slonina said. “A club like that, I think, gives you the most resources to be successful. When you get an opportunity like this, yeah, they’re super happy. Told me to enjoy the moment and hopefully get my first cap with the national team.”
Hudson said the group was designed to blend high-potential, Olympic-age players with dual nationals and players with World Cup experience. The idea being the Qatar veterans — Walker Zimmerman, Kellyn Acosta, DeAndre Yedlin, Aaron Long, Sean Johnson and Jesus Ferreira — would be able to take on larger leadership roles and impart the developed culture with the new faces.
“They’ve responded really, really well as I’d expect them,” Hudson said. “I mean, that’s why we chose them to come in because we know the character of these guys.”
Following the two games, Hudson doesn’t have a clear expectation for what’s next for the team or himself.
“I have no idea,” he said. “I think we play these two games and I’m going to go home and see what comes after that.”
{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-24 18:24:04 -0600’) }} football Edit
Clint Cosgrove
• Rivals.com
National Recruiting Analyst
Five-star defensive lineman Justin Scott announced his intentions to postpone his scheduled Jan. 31 commitment date via a Twitter post earlier this evening. The announcement comes as a surprise to …
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Aaron Rodgers has not made any decision about whether he intends to continue his NFL career in 2023 — let alone with what team that would be — but he said he understands the business aspect of it.
Rodgers has $59.465 million guaranteed if he plays in 2023, as part of the three-year, $150 million contract extension he signed in March. It carries a salary-cap charge of $31,623,570 for next season.
“There’s a lot of teams, because of COVID, that are strapped, and you’re seeing with a lot of different contracts, they’re pushing more money out in deals,” Rodgers said on the show. “They’re creating void years to allow for an easier cap hit, so there would have to be some adjustments, for sure.”
The contract as it currently exists makes it difficult, but not impossible, for Rodgers to be traded, in large part because the Packers would be stuck with massive amounts of dead money on their salary cap.
First things first: Rodgers has to decide whether he wants to play — and whether that’s for the Packers or another team.
“All the other ideas about [a] trade and whatnot, that’s all conjecture until I decide what I want to do moving forward for myself,” Rodgers said.
Last summer, Rodgers said he “definitely” planned to finish his career with the Packers. Last week on McAfee’s show, he left the door open for other possibilities.
“I hope there’s some gratitude on both sides if that happens,” Rodgers said Tuesday. “But again, that doesn’t open the door for any conjecture, honestly, on my side. And I’m not saying that to be cryptic. I’ve got to figure out what I want to do, and then we’ll see where all the parties at and what kind of transpires after that.”
Rodgers also maintained that it might not be his decision to return to the Packers, even though the team has said publicly it would welcome back Rodgers.
“If they feel like it was in the best interests of the team to move forward, so be it,” he said. “Again, that wouldn’t offend me, and it wouldn’t make me feel like a victim. I wouldn’t have any animosity towards the team. I love the organization, I love the city, I love the region. I’m a minority owner in the [Milwaukee] Bucks; I’m going to be a part of the region long after I’m done playing. I have a lot of love for what’s gone on in Green Bay. And I’d love to finish there, I would. I might have finished there. Who knows?”
Rodgers, who is 39, won the MVP award in 2020 and 2021, but he had one of his worst seasons in 2022. He threw for the fewest yards (3,695) in any season in which he played at least 15 games and his most interceptions (12) in more than a decade. He did not have a single 300-yard passing game. He also dealt with a broken thumb and injuries to his ribs and a knee during the season.
The Packers missed the playoffs for the first time under coach Matt LaFleur and had their first losing record (8-9) since 2018. The Packers stayed in the playoff hunt until the end, thus ending any chance backup quarterback Jordan Love would start a game.
“What’s the old adage that people want to say? ‘Oh, the grass isn’t always greener on the other side,’” Rodgers said. “And I always say, ‘The grass is green where you water it.’ I think that’s the most important thing to remember. Change is a part of this business, it’s a part of life, and I think being open to it and embracing whatever that change looks like is an important part of coming to peace with whatever decision lies ahead of you. I think that’s the most important kind of peace I want to get to is mentally feeling good about where I’m at. If I want to hang it up and do that, having the peace to do that.”
ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Stefon Diggs‘ frustrations with the outcome of the Bills‘ divisional round playoff game were visible Sunday on the sideline and afterward, and on Monday night, the star receiver shared some of his thoughts on Twitter.
“Want me to be okay with losing ? Nah,” Diggs tweeted. “Want me to be okay with our level of play when it’s not up to the standard ? Nah.”
In a third tweet, Diggs added: “It’s easy to criticize my reaction more than the result.”
Want me to be okay with our level of play when it’s not up to the standard ? Nah
Diggs was shown on the TV broadcast midway through the fourth quarter of Buffalo’s 27-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals with his arms outstretched, seemingly saying things in the direction of quarterback Josh Allen as the Bills were limited to a season low in points.
After the game, Diggs initially moved toward leaving the stadium with his things before some coaches had an opportunity to get to the locker room, but practice squad running back Duke Johnson stopped and talked to him and Diggs went briefly back to the locker room.
“Just knowing that [Diggs] was in an emotional state, it’s not who he is, it’s not what he’s about,” Johnson said Monday. “He was just in an emotional state, so don’t want [an] emotional decision to affect him in the long term, so I thought it was best that he just be a part of whatever was going on in the locker room at the time.”
Diggs was present for Sean McDermott’s comments to the team, per the Buffalo coach, but he left soon after, in addition to multiple other Bills players departing quickly.
Diggs was not available during the team’s locker room cleanout Monday. McDermott said he did speak to Diggs the day after the game, but the coach kept the details between them.
“Stef’s a highly competitive individual, as we all know, and that’s part of the reason why we all love him,” McDermott said. “And he’s frustrated, like we all are. He was in today, and he and I spoke, and I’ll leave it at that.”
Johnson said he thinks Diggs deserves more credit for deciding to return to the locker room Sunday.
“Diggs didn’t have to listen to me. Diggs didn’t have to, he didn’t have to go back in there, but he chose to, because he also knew at that moment he was just upset,” Johnson said. “So, I think it’s a lot of credit to him, as well, just because, again, he didn’t have to. He could have told me to — you feel me? So, at the end of the day, again, he’s emotional, it was a big, big step for him, and I appreciate him more than he know[s] for actually listening and going back in the locker room.”
Diggs was far from alone in his frustration after an emotional season ended. The loss left many players searching for answers after a third straight year of coming up short of advancing to the Super Bowl.
“I’ll ask [what is it going to take to get over the hump] just like you asking that question,” wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie said. “I really don’t know, ’cause everything — we got the players, we got the coaches, we got everything we wanted. We’re winning football games when we need to win them during the season, and then we get to the playoffs, it’s just like, it’s not there, and I’m still not understanding that.”
MONT BELVIEU, TEXAS — Fort Bend (Texas) Hightower four-star all-purpose back Jeremy Payne enjoyed a big camp run last offseason, and he was able to back it up with a strong junior season performance in 2022.
In eight games, Payne rushed for 1,002 yards and 13 touchdowns while hauling in 17 receptions for 320 yards and three touchdowns.
“I feel like I got better at seeing the whole field,” Payne said about his junior campaign. “I saw more cutbacks and it was something that I was working on. I was seeing the hole and hitting it and following the blocks when I needed to.”
In his recruitment, Oregon, Oklahoma and Texas are the programs that have made early impacts.
For Oregon, running backs coach Carlos Locklyn has been the staff member that has maintained contact and he has been able to resonate with Payne and his family.
“He seems very passionate,” he said. “He sends me quotes and stuff. I like him. The program, I haven’t looked into it. I’m gonna check into the education.”
At Oklahoma, running backs coach DeMarco Murray has built a strong relationship with Payne along with offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and Brent Venables.
“I like the running backs coach, Coach Murray,” he said. “When he’s recruiting you, you know he’s thinking about you every day. He came down once or twice, brought his head coach and his OC. I trust him.”
Texas running backs coach Tashard Choice and his expertise in coaching stands out to Payne, and it has the Longhorns in his top grouping.
“The running backs coach came down and showed me his drills,” he said. “That was a big part of it, him showing me his drills and then his running backs doing it in the game.”
Payne hasn’t yet hammered out future visits, but wants to see each of the three aforementioned programs either in an unofficial or official capacity.
At 5-foot-10, 170 pounds, Payne is the No. 155 ranked recruit in the country for the class of 2024, according to Rivals. He is the No. 3 ranked all-purpose back in the country and the No. 19 recruit from the state of Texas.
{{ timeAgo(‘2023-01-24 16:58:24 -0600’) }} football Edit
Adam Gorney
• Rivals.com
National Recruiting Director
SAN ANTONIO – Jonathan Daniels is seeing his recruitment take off in recent months and while the 2024 four-star offensive tackle remains open to all programs there are definitely a few standing out…
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Stefanos Tsitsipas is into the semifinals of the Australian Open and feeling confident. Following Tuesday’s match, he extended an invite to two-time Oscar nominee Margot Robbie to come along and watch one of his matches.
Tsitsipas had just defeatedJiri Lehecka in straight sets (6-3, 7-6, 6-4) in a mere 2 hours, 17 minutes to book a spot in his fourth semifinal at the Australian Open, when he used the opportunity to send the Australian actress a message.
In an on-court interview with Jim Courier, Tsitsipas said “Australia is such a great country. I like a lot of Aussie things. One of my favourite actresses comes from here, Margot Robbie. I wish I can…”
Courier interrupted: “Are you pitching right now? What’s happening? Are you making an offer? What are we seeing here?”
“It would be nice to see her over there one day,” Tsitsipas said, gesturing to the stands. And when asked if he was definitely extending an invite, Tsitsipas responded: “Absolutely.”
Stefanos Tsitsipas invited Margot Robbie to the Australian Open after winning his quarterfinal match 😂 pic.twitter.com/7lAWYLCaKh
Tsitsipas, who is Greek, has long called the Australian Open his “home Slam” and he will face Karen Khachanov in the final four. He added: “I grew up in a place that is very similar in terms of conditions and lifestyle and I find myself feeling home when I’m here because it’s not too tropical and not too humid. It very much feels like home.”
And while it’s unclear if Robbie, who starred in “Wolf of Wall Street,” “Amsterdam,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Babylon,” will take him up on his offer, Tsitsipas already has plans for his prize money if he’s successful in Melbourne.
“I would love one day, hopefully winning the Aussie Open and giving a big portion of the prize money to build a school in Victoria, the state of education. I’d like to do that.
“… I saw how difficult it is for lots of kids around the world to get proper education. Not all kids grow up privileged, so I’d like to give kids an opportunity here to give them a school and free education. That’s what Australia means to me.”
