Player Notes

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- For the second straight year Ohio State found itself neck deep into a battle for a highly rated safety with a great chance of winning.And for the second-straight year, it’s come up short by finishing second. It’s a storyline that has continued to plague the Buckeyes during the Ryan Day era, especially over the past few cycles.In 2022 it lost out on both Zion Branch and Xavier Nwankpa, ...

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Evan Pryor at first did not realize the significance when he executed a wheel route, took a hit and bounced back up in Ohio State football’s second preseason practice.Running backs coach Tony Alford explained it to the third-year back in the next huddle. About 50 weeks earlier, Pryor attempted essentially the same play in a preseason practice. That day, he ruptured the patellar tendon ...

SOUTH BEND — Elevating a sixth-year quarterback in his first year on campus into a key role within the hierarchy of the Notre Dame football team wasn’t going to be a snap-your-fingers situation.It didn’t matter how many yards or touchdowns he’d thrown for at his previous place, it was going to take time for 24-year-old Sam Hartman to feel at home.It took the back half of winter, when Hartman arrived ...

The message to New Mexico football’s offense throughout their first three days of fall camp?Simply put: Start fast. Finish strong.“We’ve started fast a couple of times,” offensive coordinator Bryant Vincent said on Saturday. “We’ve gotta put the second part of it together — where we can finish strong. Games are won in the fourth quarter, and we haven’t gotten to that point yet.”The Journal was there ...

The Big Ten’s addition of Washington and Oregon on Friday brought Nebraska coach Matt Rhule back to a conversation he once had with Trent Green. The former quarterback and current NFL analyst for CBS told Rhule he lives in Kansas City because of the amount of travel his job requires. It’s more convenient to live in the middle of the country than on either coast.Therein lies the advantage Rhule thinks ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Eli Drinkwitz paused for 11 seconds.Shortly after Saturday’s preseason practice, Missouri’s football coach met with reporters for the first time since another blistering round of realignment shook up the state of college athletics, placing schools more than 2,900 miles apart in the same conference, all while Congress is introducing bills to regulate how college athletes can earn compensation ...

STARKVILLE — Mississippi State senior linebacker Jett Johnson admitted he received tons of messages last month when the preseason All-Southeastern Conference media teams were announced following media days in Nashville, and his name was a notable omission.“You try not to pay too much attention to it,” Johnson told local reporters following Saturday’s fall camp practice. “I had people blowing me up ...

By Randy Johnson Star Tribune AUGUST 5, 2023 — 11:53PMThe Gophers held their first open practice of training camp on Saturday night at Huntington Bank Stadium, giving fans a first glimpse of the team that will open the season with an Aug. 31 home game against Nebraska.Here are five takeaways from the practice and coach P.J. Fleck's news conference afterward:1. Quarterbacks take commandWhile the Gophers' ...

Published Aug. 05, 2023, 7:37 p.m.By Ryan Zuke |Michigan’s football program appears to have finished runner-up for another top-100 prospect in the 2024 class.Burley (Idaho) four-star receiver Gatlin Bair announced his commitment to Boise State on Saturday night in a live video on Instagram. Although he had a top five list that included the Wolverines, TCU, Nebraska and Oregon, many recruiting experts ...

HUNTINGTON — Marshall men's soccer assistant coach Rafa Simoes was impressed by how many youngsters were hitting the upper-corner targets on the regulation-sized goal carted into Joan C. Edwards Stadium on Saturday evening.That was one way for Thundering Herd fans to engage in Fans First Day, which was held at the stadium after the football team wrapped up its fourth practice of fall camp.After hitting ...