Month: September 2020

Texas Football Recruiting: Andrew Mukuba announces top three

Four-star Andrew Mukuba will be announcing his commitment on Thursday and is down to Clemson, LSU, and UT. He will commit on Thursday night.

Texas’ 2021 recruiting class has had up and downs and has the chance to move back into a positive direction. Four-star safety Andrew Mukuba will be announcing his commitment on Thursday and is down to three schools.

Clemson, LSU, and Texas are in the running according to Mukuba’s Twitter. On the 247Sports composite, the Tigers of Clemson lead the way at 76.5% with a confidence level of seven.

Mukuba has been dropping hints on his Twitter, saying the crystal ball predictions are “funny.” If he were to commit to Texas, the Longhorns’ ranking on the 247Sports composite would remain the same at No. 15.

Ranked the No. 13 safety in the country, Mukumba is a top 50 in-state player at No. 43. Nationally, he ranks just inside the top 250 at No. 243, all according to the 247Sports composite.

Coming out of LBJ High School in Austin, Texas, Mukuba would be the third in-state secondary recruit in the 2021 class. Ishmael Ibraheem and J.D. Coffey from Dallas and Kennedale respectively are the other two.

You can catch Mukuba’s decision live on Instagram on Thursday at 7 p.m.

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Ohara Davies outpoints Tyrone McKenna to win tournament

Ohara Davies defeated Tyrone McKenna by a majority decision in the 10-round 140-pound final of The Golden Contract tournament on Wednesday

Ohara Davies gets the contract.

The Londoner defeated Irishman Tyrone McKenna by a majority decision in the 10-round 140-pound final of The Golden Contract tournament on Wednesday night at the Sky Sports Studios in London.

As a result, he wins a contract with MTK Global, a combat sports managerial and promotional firm.

Davies (22-2, 16 KOs) outworked the southpaw McKenna (21-2-1, 6 KOs) and landed the harder punches, although neither fighter was particularly active. One judge had it even. The other two scored it 96-94 for Davies.

Davies has had trouble with left-handers in the past, losing decisions to Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall, but got over the hump with McKenna.

Catterall had won five consecutive fights since losing a close decision to Catterall in 2018.

Also on the card, Serge Michel (11-1, 8 KOs) put Liam Conroy (18-6-1, 9 KOs) down three times and stopped him in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round light heavyweight semifinal in the tournament.

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Ohara Davies outpoints Tyrone McKenna to win tournament

Ohara Davies defeated Tyrone McKenna by a majority decision in the 10-round 140-pound final of The Golden Contract tournament on Wednesday

Ohara Davies gets the contract.

The Londoner defeated Irishman Tyrone McKenna by a majority decision in the 10-round 140-pound final of The Golden Contract tournament on Wednesday night at the Sky Sports Studios in London.

As a result, he wins a contract with MTK Global, a combat sports managerial and promotional firm.

Davies (22-2, 16 KOs) outworked the southpaw McKenna (21-2-1, 6 KOs) and landed the harder punches, although neither fighter was particularly active. One judge had it even. The other two scored it 96-94 for Davies.

Davies has had trouble with left-handers in the past, losing decisions to Josh Taylor and Jack Catterall, but got over the hump with McKenna.

Catterall had won five consecutive fights since losing a close decision to Catterall in 2018.

Also on the card, Serge Michel (11-1, 8 KOs) put Liam Conroy (18-6-1, 9 KOs) down three times and stopped him in the fourth round of a scheduled 10-round light heavyweight semifinal in the tournament.

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PFF drops ranking of former Wisconsin RB Jonathan Taylor for week four

Tuesday afternoon, Pro Football Focus updated its rankings for fantasy running backs in week four and dropped the ranking of former Badge…

Tuesday afternoon, Pro Football Focus updated its rankings for fantasy running backs in week four and dropped the ranking of former Badger running back Jonathan Taylor from fifth to eleventh.

After a strong week two performance of over 100 rushing yards and a touchdown, Taylor was ranked as the fifth-best fantasy running back going into week 3. Unfortunately for fantasy owners, Taylor did not see a lot of action as the Indianapolis Colts’ defense handled the Jets in a 36-7 blowout victory. He finished the game with 59 rushing yards and a touchdown.

Sep 27, 2020; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Jonathan Taylor (28) runs the ball while New York Jets linebacker Neville Hewitt (46) defends in the first half at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

In addition to the average performance last week, the Colts will be playing a stout Chicago Bears’ front seven on Sunday that will try to limit Taylor’s production on the ground.

Although Taylor’s fantasy ranking may have dropped, I still expect him to have a solid workload throughout the game. Jonathan Taylor averaged over 4.5 yards per carry last week, and if he can get the touches, he will make them count.

Aaron Rodgers broke down the hilarious strategy he uses in order to call his own plays

OK, that’s great.

When a quarterback has been successful in the league as long as Aaron Rodgers has, it’s almost expected that he’ll want to take a lead on play-calling duties every once in a while. But even when head coach Matt LaFleur and the Packers staff want to dial up their own plays, Rodgers apparently has a trick to go rogue.

And it’s absolutely awesome.

In Tuesday’s appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, former Packers teammate A.J. Hawk asked Rodgers if he ever pretended his helmet microphone was out in order to call his own plays. And that was when Rodgers revealed that he does that all the time.

Rodgers said, explaining that sometimes the helmet issues are genuine:

“I’ve done that a ton of times. I’ve done that a fair amount. Every now and then, it’s real. I can’t believe it, and LaFleur thought I was messing around. Last year, the helmet went out three times, probably. And he could not believe it. The second time it went out, he thought I was messing with him. Then, I faked one in between the second and third time. I did the whole ‘Oh, I can’t — ‘ You could see him just freaking out on the sidelines. … But yeah, it went out again. I’ve had to wear the backup helmet four times I think in two years.”

It’s almost a cry-wolf situation when the helmet actually does go out, which makes the whole trick even more hilarious.

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Devin Haney vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa finally set for Nov. 7: report

Devin Haney will face Yuriorkis Gamboa in a 12-round lightweight bout on Nov. 7, BoxingScene is reporting.

Devin Haney will face Yuriorkis Gamboa in a 12-round lightweight bout on Nov. 7, BoxingScene is reporting. The site will be included in the announcement, which the website indicated is imminent.

Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) hasn’t fought since he defeated Alfredo Santiago by a shutout decision last November in Los Angeles. The 21-year-old reportedly suffered a dislocated shoulder in that fight, which required surgery the following month.

Haney holds a secondary WBC belt. Vasiliy Lomachenko is the sanctioning body’s actual 135-pound titleholder.

Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics for his native Cuba and had a reign as featherweight titleholder a decade ago.

However, he’s now 38 and coming off a 12th-round knockout loss against Gervonta Davis in December. Gamboa went down three times and was losing badly in that fight.

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Devin Haney vs. Yuriorkis Gamboa finally set for Nov. 7: report

Devin Haney will face Yuriorkis Gamboa in a 12-round lightweight bout on Nov. 7, BoxingScene is reporting.

Devin Haney will face Yuriorkis Gamboa in a 12-round lightweight bout on Nov. 7, BoxingScene is reporting. The site will be included in the announcement, which the website indicated is imminent.

Haney (24-0, 15 KOs) hasn’t fought since he defeated Alfredo Santiago by a shutout decision last November in Los Angeles. The 21-year-old reportedly suffered a dislocated shoulder in that fight, which required surgery the following month.

Haney holds a secondary WBC belt. Vasiliy Lomachenko is the sanctioning body’s actual 135-pound titleholder.

Gamboa (30-3, 18 KOs) won a gold medal in the 2004 Olympics for his native Cuba and had a reign as featherweight titleholder a decade ago.

However, he’s now 38 and coming off a 12th-round knockout loss against Gervonta Davis in December. Gamboa went down three times and was losing badly in that fight.

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Joe Burrow graded among NFL’s top 5 offensive rookies so far

Cincinnati Bengals QB Joe Burrow continues to rank highly through three weeks.

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Cincinnati Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow continues to rank among the very best from his draft class in 2020.

Granted, it’s only three games into his debut season as the possible savior of the Bengals. But given some of the surrounding circumstances, his performance has been both encouraging and obviously deserving of a high grade.

While the Bengals offense hasn’t figured out how to get the deep-passing game going and the offensive line continues to struggle (don’t forget a defense that looks lost at most times, superb rarely), Burrow’s been good enough to slot as one of the five highest-graded rookies so far at Pro Football Focus:

Burrow has been borderline elite in the short passing game, though not so much when it comes to pass attempts of 20-plus yards. He’s sitting on a 64.5 completion percentage with five touchdowns and one interception while visibly still trying to figure out what will and won’t work in the pros — something he would’ve normally done during the preseason.

If Burrow can continue on this pace he’ll perform up to expectations of being the first overall pick. And if the team around him makes some strides, the wins should follow.

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College Football Playoff to remain 4 teams

Even in these strange times during this odd season we aren’t going to see expansion to the College Football Playoff.

Despite a plea from the Pac-12 the College Football Playoff won’t be expanding beyond four teams for the 2020 season.

That news came out Wednesday afternoon after Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott suggested the move for this season.

Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports was among the first to report the news and in his piece released on Wednesday, gave the following information:

CFP sources told CBS Sports that Scott merely “mentioned” expansion in terms of asking, “Is this something we should consider?” during a call with the committee. The discussion among the 10 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick was not contentious.

Well at least everyone is getting along and not getting contentious so that part is good.

I’m usually the most anti-expansion person when it comes to postseasons in sports.  Whether it’s the NCAA Tournament, the Major League Baseball or NFL playoffs, I don’t like the idea of more teams having a shot at a title.

Except in this case.

How are we supposed to judge the Pac-12, Big Ten, ACC, SEC, and Big 12 against each other if they don’t play anyone from the other Power Five conferences?

I know the Big 12 has looked awful against the powerhouse Sun Belt but are we supposed to just say if Texas goes unbeaten that they don’t deserve a shot because the conference schedule they played wasn’t strong?

Or are we going to say that Ohio State, the team seen as the best in the nation before the year doesn’t get a shot after a possible unbeaten regular season?

I’m usually against expanding playoffs but in this case we have no real way to fairly do this.  In this strange season I’m against the decision to stay at just four teams getting in.

A problem we can save for another time is if we think these CFP games are actually going to be played on the dates their currently set to play on.

Report: New Orleans Pelicans representatives set to fly to California for ‘informal meeting’ with Ty Lue

With the coaching free agent market heating up, the Pelicans appear ready to jump in by meeting informally with Ty Lue on Friday.

The New Orleans Pelicans looked primed to make the first in-person contact with Ty Lue about their head coaching vacancy. Doc Rivers’ entrance in the coaching free agent market appears to have served as the spark to ignite conversations between teams and candidates and the Pelicans, who have had an opening for over a month, have finally actively begun their search.

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey, the franchise intends on sending representatives to California to speak with Lue on Friday.

“Sources added that representatives of the New Orleans Pelicans are scheduled to fly to the West Coast for an informal meeting with Lue on Friday.”

This report as corroborates one from Brad Turner of the LA Times on Tuesday as he noted the Pelicans were expected to interview Lue ‘in the coming days.’

It’s likely that most teams and candidates will wait on Rivers to land with a franchise before making decisions. But that won’t stop teams like the Pelicans to begin making preliminary plans as they begin what will be a critical search for a head coach.