Feb 18, 2023; Salt Lake City, UT, USA; The NBA logo on the court at Huntsman Center. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The season from hell continues for the New Orleans Pelicans.
New Orleans announced on Friday that starting forward Herb Jones has been diagnosed with a posterior labrum tear in his right shoulder. Jones will now be out indefinitely as a result.
The 26-year-old Jones was an All-Defensive First Team selection last season and is known as one of the NBA’s marquee wing stoppers with his 6-foot-7 frame. He also finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting last year and was averaging 10.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists and a career-high steals per game this season.
Everything has gone wrong for the Pelicans this season, who have the worst record in the Western Conference at 7-31. They have had just about every meaningful rotation player miss significant time with injury this year, and now Jones joins Brandon Ingram and Trey Murphy III as their forwards who are currently sidelined. The rotten luck could have a real impact on what New Orleans does ahead of the Feb. 6 trade deadline, and there are some very interesting storylines for them there.
Sep 20, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers (17) celebrates the win over the Minnesota Vikings after the game at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
Another quarterback with the last name Rivers is on the rise.
WKRG-TV in Alabama reported this week that Gunner Rivers has received a scholarship offer from Auburn University. Gunner is the eldest son of eight-time NFL Pro Bowl quarterback Philip Rivers.
The WKRG report also notes that Gunner, a four-star recruit in the 2027 class, previously received an offer from North Carolina State, his father’s alma mater.
Gunner is currently a sophomore starting quarterback for St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope, Ala., where he is coached by his father. With Gunner under center, St. Michael went 12-2 this season as he threw for 3,974 yards with 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions.
The elder Rivers played in the NFL for 17 seasons from 2004-20 before retiring. A little over a year ago, Philip welcomed his 10th child with wife Tiffany, and now one of those kids could soon be playing football in the SEC.
Aug 22, 2015; Charlotte, NC, USA; A Miami Dolphins helmet lays on the field prior to the start of the game against the Carolina Panthers at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeremy Brevard-USA TODAY Sports
A former champion player for the New England Patriots is now looking for new employment.
The Miami Dolphins announced Friday that they have fired wide receivers coach/pass game specialist Wes Welker. Miami is parting ways with special teams coordinator Danny Crossman as well.
Welker, now 43, is best known for his stint as a wide receiver for the Patriots from 2007-12, making five All-Pro teams, earning five Pro Bowl nods, and leading the NFL in receptions three times. He retired as a player after the 2015 season and proceeded to go into coaching.
In 2022, Welker ascended to his position as wide receivers coach in Miami, following Mike McDaniel over from the San Francisco 49ers. But the 8-9 Dolphins were largely confused on offense this season, regressing to 14th in the NFL in pass yards per game after finishing first in that metric in 2023. The team is also dealing with some very unhappy receivers right now, and they have decided that Welker now has to go.
Ohio State football quarterback Kyle McCord checks into the team’s hotel for fall camp in Grandview, Ohio, on Aug. 7, 2023. Photo Credit: Lori Schmidt / Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK
Kyle McCord appeared to be ready to pursue one more season at the college level, but the Syracuse quarterback has made a different decision regarding his future.
McCord confirmed Friday that he plans to go pro and enter the NFL Draft. The Syracuse quarterback had been in the process of seeking an NCAA waiver that would have allowed him to play a fifth collegiate season, but he is now ending that pursuit.
McCord said he made the decision after sounding out his options, and determined that entering the draft on the back of a strong season made the most sense.
“I think the biggest thing for me was, obviously, I felt like I put together a really good year,” McCord told ESPN’s Pete Thamel. “With the way everything played itself out and what I’m hearing in terms of feedback at the draft, it just makes sense to go, after weighing all the options out.”
While McCord is still in all likelihood a mid-round draft pick, he has done himself a world of good with a strong 2024 campaign. In his first and only season with the Orange, he led the nation with 4,779 passing yards and threw for 34 touchdowns against 12 interceptions. He even finished tenth in Heisman Trophy voting. That is pretty good for a guy whose stock was not high when he left Ohio State in 2023.
Oct 2, 2022; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA; New York Jets helmets on the sidelines against the Pittsburgh Steelers during the second quarter at Acrisure Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
A surprising Big Ten coach has interviewed for the New York Jets’ head coach job.
The Jets announced on Friday that they have completed an interview with Mike Locksley. That’s a surprise considering Locksley went 4-8 this season as the head coach of Maryland. But Locksley has done well with the Terps overall.
Locksley was the head coach at New Mexico from 2009-2011 and went 2-26. He was fired during the 2011 season and later went to Maryland for his second stint there. He served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach of the Terps, and became their interim head coach during the 2015 season.
After 2015, Locksley began working for Nick Saban at Alabama in the 2016 as an offensive analayst. He worked his way up to offensive coordinator in the 2018 season and was then hired by Maryland as their head coach. Locksley, who is in his third coaching stint at Maryland, had a rough 3-9 start to his Terps career in 2019. But he had winning seasons from 2021-2023 and won bowl games in all three years before falling off this season.
Though Locksley has done well at Maryland on the whole, it’s surprising for a 4-win college coach to get an NFL interview.
The Jets let Robert Saleh go as their head coach during the season. They have interviewed Aaron Glenn, Matt Nagy, and Rex Ryan, in addition to Locksley, for their vacancy. The team is also interviewing general manager candidates.
Sep 3, 2022; Austin, Texas, USA; Texas Longhorns head coach Steve Sarkisian before the game against the Louisiana Monroe Warhawks in the first half at Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Scott Wachter-USA TODAY Sports
Steve Sarkisian has an interesting perspective about the College Football Playoff.
This marks the first year where an expanded 12-team College Football Playoff has been in effect. Since the field is much larger than when it was just a 4-team playoff, the barrier to qualify for the playoff is lower. Teams can now lose two games during the regular season and still make the playoff.
Sarkisian, who has his Texas Longhorns in the semifinals, noted how the expanded format changes things.
“We’re in this NFL format. It’s not about who’s the best team for 12 games, it’s who’s playing the best football this time of year,” Sarkisian said.
In past years, teams like Ohio State and Texas might not have even made the playoff, while a team like the Oregon Ducks would have been rewarded for going 13-0. These days, a team doesn’t have to run the gauntlet in the regular season. Like Sarkisian said, you just need to do well enough to make the playoff, and that’s when you have to start playing your best ball.
The Buckeyes are an example of this concept. They lost to Oregon and Michigan in the regular season but still qualified as the 8-seed. They hosted Tennessee in the first round and faced the Ducks in the quarterfinals at the Rose Bowl, and won both games easily.
Sarkisian is hoping that the Longhorns will prove to be the hotter team at this point in the season. But Ohio State enters the game looking as good as possible.
Jaden Greathouse delivered one of the biggest plays of the game in Notre Dame’s 27-24 win over Penn State in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff on Thursday night. His play was especially impressive considering how bad he made a couple of Nittany Lions players look.
Greathouse took a pass down the right sideline in the fourth quarter of the Orange Bowl and made a cut to the middle of the field and scored on a 54-yard touchdown to tie the game at 24 with 4:38 left. On two occasions, Greathouse made a Penn State defender fall down — which is called giving them “broken ankles.” The first time came when Greathouse was in the slot and got off the line of scrimmage with a move that made cornerback Cam Miller slip and fall. The second came when Greathouse made a cut that made safety Jaylen Reed fall down after he overpursued on a tackle attempt.
Not only did that play help Notre Dame tie the game, but it also may have hurt Penn State’s confidence because of how bad it made their defense look.
The Nittany Lions later threw an interception that helped set the Fighting Irish up for a winning field goal. Notre Dame has now won 13 games in a row and is now headed to the championship game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga., on January 20.
Penn State coach James Franklin appears to have made an unforced error in his press conference prior to Thursday’s Orange Bowl that wound up serving as fuel for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
Franklin made some remarks during the traditional pregame joint press conference that Notre Dame players said served as motivation during Thursday’s 27-24 College Football Playoff semi-final win. At one point, Franklin addressed Fighting Irish head coach Marcus Freeman and joked about Freeman’s age and relative youth, even playfully asking Freeman how old he was.
Franklin’s comments were presumably not meant to be taken seriously. Freeman, however, found them to be condescending and disrespectful, at least according to one of his players.
“(Freeman) was angry. He was angry with the press conference thing, whatever was going on between that,” safety Xavier Watts said, via Pete Sampson of The Athletic. “He was mad about that. All the anger went toward us and that anger went onto the field.”
“I’m not gonna speak on their head coach, but we felt like their team didn’t really respect us,” running back Jeremiyah Love added. “We wanted to come into this game and make a statement. Be the aggressors. Dominate them physically. That’s the message. Be physical and play violent. The whole game.”
Franklin had also used that press conference to argue that Notre Dame should have to join a conference, which probably did not help matters.
The Irish came into the game in subpar circumstances and fell behind early, but rallied for the win. They may inadvertently have Franklin to thank for the extra boost.
Georgia quarterback Carson Beck (15) throws a pass to Georgia tight end Brock Bowers (19) during the second half of a NCAA college football game against UAB in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. Photo Credit: Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK
Carson Beck did not take long to decide on his new school after deciding to return for one more year.
Beck has committed to the Miami Hurricanes for the 2025 season, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN. The Georgia quarterback will succeed NFL-bound Cam Ward as the Hurricanes’ starter in his final college season.
Miami had been named as an immediate favorite when Beck decided to enter the transfer portal. The program envisions itself as a championship contender and had an opening at the quarterback position, so this makes a lot of sense for both parties. Beck also appears to have some ties to one high-profile Miami student-athlete, which did not hurt their case.
Beck had planned to enter the NFL Draft, but reversed course on Thursday after determining that another year of college could benefit his draft stock. He threw for 3,485 yards, 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his second full season as Georgia’s starter this year. He is currently recovering from elbow surgery that he had after suffering an injury in the SEC Championship Game.
Sep 13, 2021; Paradise, Nevada, USA; Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson (8) reacts against the Las Vegas Raiders during Monday Night Football at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
Is Lamar Jackson the new frontrunner for NFL MVP? That’s how it seems.
The debate over whom should win NFL MVP has been ongoing, and it’s become a heated topic over the last month. Initially, Josh Allen had been viewed as the leader for the award. However, Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens have surged in December, which has led to a change.
Jackson was voted as the first-team All-Pro quarterback. He received 30 votes compared to 18 for Allen. That has led NFL Media’s Tom Pelissero to believe that Jackson is now the frontrunner to win NFL MVP.
Jackson helped Baltimore go 12-5 during the regular season. The Ravens went 4-0 to finish the season, and Jackson passed for 12 touchdowns and just 1 interception over that span.
Though Buffalo (13-4) has a better record than Baltimore, Jackson has more impressive statistics than Allen. He has completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 4,172 yards, 41 touchdowns and 4 interceptions, along with 915 rushing yards and 4 rushing touchdowns. Allen has passed for 3,731 yards, 28 touchdowns and 6 interceptions, along with 531 rushing yards and 12 rushng touchdowns.
You can’t go wrong with either player as the choice for NFL MVP. But it seems like voters are favoring Jackson.
