Miller (Corpus Christi, Texas) football’s success provides a bright spot as Hillcrest neighborhood disappears

Miller football is having one of its best seasons in more than a half century, but the neighborhood that is home to many of its players is vanishing.

John Wimbish never thought he would be packing up his life at his family home.

The home Wimbish’s father owned on Dempsey Street in the Hillcrest neighborhood on Corpus Christi’s Northside had been in the family for more than 70 years. Wimbish’s grandfather originally purchased the home in the predominately minority neighborhood and later his family lived in it. Then he lived in it as he began his career as a teacher and coach more than a decade ago.

Wimbish, now a physical education teacher at Driscoll Middle School and assistant football coach at Miller High School, recalls the day he locked the door for the last time almost a year ago, memories of his family’s life flooding over him.

“It was like somebody died,” Wimbish said. “I don’t think I’ve ever experienced anything like that. When I locked the door for the last time, I sat on the porch and I probably cried for like two or three hours. And then I went to the new house and when I came back they already had the boards up. I was like, man it’s crazy.”

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Wimbish is proud of his Hillcrest roots, as is his sister, Margaret, but he is also not alone in going through the pain of selling a family home to make way for the new Harbor Bridge.

The same fall Miller High School’s football team is having one of its best seasons in more than a half century, the neighborhood that is home to many of its athletes is slowly fading away.

Residents are slowly moving from homes that have been in families for generations to make way for the billion-dollar bridge project, and Wimbish and other Hillcrest residents are building new lives in new homes and new neighborhoods in their city.

It is why the accomplishment of this year’s Buccaneers means so much. Miller’s district championship and 10-0 season remains a beacon for a neighborhood facing the reality of being a memory in a few years.

Read The Corpus Christi Caller-Times for more. 

Michigan football – Indiana kickoff time set

We now know the rest of the start times for Michigan football moving forward. With the two upcoming home rivalry games kicking off at noon EST, the lone game we didn’t know about was the final road game of the season, as Michigan travels to …

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We now know the rest of the start times for Michigan football moving forward.

With the two upcoming home rivalry games kicking off at noon EST, the lone game we didn’t know about was the final road game of the season, as Michigan travels to Bloomington to take on a currently ranked Indiana team.

While the Hoosiers play Penn State this weekend, which could affect their ability to be ranked, regardless, it’ll be a big matchup for a Wolverines team that has recently struggled at Indiana, with each of the last two road games there going to overtime.

As a result, it won’t just be an early kickoff, as Indiana announced that the game will kick off at 3:30PM EST, and will be televised on either ABC or ESPN.

Michigan has to really maintain focus, either way, given the recent struggles against the Hoosiers, especially on the road. But, it’s somewhat exacerbated given that the maize and blue take on archrival Ohio State the very next week. In recent memory, when the Wolverines have taken on Indiana, the home games have been the week before The Game, but the road games came at least two weeks before said matchup.

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Sixers take significant tumble in latest ESPN power rankings

After a disappointing West Coast swing, the Sixers fell hard in the latest NBA power rankings from ESPN.

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After starting the season with five-straight victories the Philadelphia 76ers were riding high. As a result, they had climbed all the way to the top of ESPN’s NBA power rankings. But a lot can change in a week’s time, and after a thoroughly disappointing West Coast trip during which the team dropped three out of four contests, the Sixers have suffered a precipitous fall in this week’s edition of the rankings.

Philadelphia has fallen all the way to the eight spot, trailing the Lakers, Clippers, Bucks, Celtics, Jazz, Nuggets, and Raptors. Two of those teams, the Jazz and Nuggets, handed the Sixers losses during the west coast swing.

Falling seven spots in a single week hurts, but it’s hard to say it was undeserved. The Celtics are off to a 7-1 start, while Toronto is 7-2 and coming off a win against the Lakers that snapped Los Angeles’ seven-game winning streak. Meanwhile, Denver also has seven wins in addition to its recent win over the Sixers, while Utah is even with the Sixers at 6-3 but also holds a head-to-head victory over Philadelphia.

The events of the West Coast trip were disappointing, but it’s also fair to take them with a grain of salt. West Coast trips are inherently difficult, and the fact that it came early in the season as the new-look Sixers look to build chemistry only added to the difficulty. The team was without Joel Embiid for two of the games due to his suspension and was without Ben Simmons for basically one and three-quarters of the trip after he was injured early in the game against the Jazz.

Despite all that, it’s also fair to be concerned. The team was in position to win both the Pheonix and Utah games but failed to do so, and it blew a 21-point lead in the loss to Denver. The fourth-quarter offense was anemic against the Nuggets and the Sixers settled for too many difficult shots. In addition, turnovers continue to be a serious concern. Adding to the frustration is the fact that Joel Embiid’s conditioning once again appeared to be a factor in the three-game losing streak and Ben Simmons has yet to show any signs of progression.

It’s incredibly early and way too soon to be pushing any panic buttons, but to be sitting at 6-3 after a 5-0 start is frustrating. The recurring issues are problematic, but we also don’t want to overreact to a tough stretch of games during which the team wasn’t really at full strength.

The Sixers got back on track with a win over the Hornets on Sunday and will look to build on that Tuesday when they host the Cleveland Cavaliers. Hopefully, the team will start climbing its way back up the rankings and look more like the team that was good enough to hold the top spot just a week ago. [lawrence-related id=19074,19064,19038,19021,19002]

Irish in the NFL: Rudolph’s Huge Night Elevates Vikings

Rudolph finished with four receptions for just 14 yards total but that number looks a lot more important when two of them were for scores, giving him 45 career touchdowns in his now nine-year NFL career.

Tight End U was at it again Sunday, with a Notre Dame product doing damage at the position and again helping his team to victory.

Kyle Rudolph found the end zone for the Minnesota Vikings not once but twice on Sunday Night Football at Dallas.

Rudolph was twice on the receiving end of one-yard Kirk Cousins touchdown passes in the first quarter, helping to get the Vikings to an early 14-0 lead. His first reception was as good of catch as you’ll see a tight end make.

Rudolph finished with four receptions for just 14 yards total but that number looks a lot more important when two of them were for scores, giving him 45 career touchdowns in his now nine-year NFL career.

The Vikings held off a Cowboys comeback to move to 7-3 on the season, plenty alive in the NFC playoff chase. Rudolph now has four touchdowns over the last three games after being kept out of the end zone the first six weeks of the season.

Don’t expect Kenny Atkinson to change Nets starting lineup yet

The Brooklyn Nets are off to a rocky start, but Kenny Atkinson isn’t going to make a personnel change just yet.

Brooklyn’s starting five had a rough go against the Phoenix Suns — to put it mildly.

Kyrie Irving was the only one in double figures. Even then, he wasn’t at his best, finishing 1-for-6 from three while failing to earn a trip to the free-throw line.

Jarrett Allen hardly played because he was in foul trouble so early.

Joe Harris missed all four of his 3-point attempts.

Taurean Prince went 3-for-5 from the floor (2-for-3 from three), but made mistakes elsewhere throughout the game and played a measly 17 minutes as a result — only five more minutes than Allen.

Caris LeVert was the only Nets starter who didn’t have a -20 plus-minus or worse (-15), but he still didn’t play his best game.

While the loss to Phoenix was next-level for the Nets, they’ve consistently struggled defensively in the first quarter to start the year. Even after acknowledging the issue, Kenny Atkinson isn’t ready to change Brooklyn’s starting lineup.

I’m not ready to go there after one bad game.

Raptors’ Terence Davis had the photo of the year in win vs. Lakers

Undrafted rookie Terence Davis recorded a career-high 13 points Sunday night in a win over the Lakers and had perhaps the photo of the year.

Toronto Raptors undrafted rookie guard Terence Davis recorded a career-high 13 points on Sunday night in a 113-104 win over the Los Angeles Lakers.

In a season-high 17 minutes of work, Davis helped the Raptors stave off the Lakers by recording seven of his 13 points in the fourth quarter, including a key 3-pointer late in the game to seal the win. He finished 5-of-8 from the field and added five rebounds and three assists.

Davis also may have had the photo of the season, too.

With the Raptors up by nine points with 3:50 remaining in the game, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson found Davis wide open in the corner and hit him with a nice pass behind a defender. Davis drained the shot and reacted accordingly with a dejected Kyle Kuzma looking on in the background.

Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has used a short rotation for much of the season, often going with just nine players during games, and has often called upon Davis. For a team coming off of their first NBA championship, the use of Davis in crunch time situations speaks volumes to how far the former Ole Miss product has come.

Davis has seen his playing time increase over his last two games and his performance Sunday night will certainly keep him in the rotation moving forward. The Raptors are in second place in the Eastern Conference at 7-2 and have shown no signs of showing a hangover from the NBA Finals in the early going this season.

Toronto returns to play Monday against the L.A. Clippers.

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Snap count notes: Browns primary defense played together a lot vs. Bills

Snap count notes: Browns primary defense played together a lot vs. Bills, and Kareem Hunt makes a splashy debut

The Cleveland Browns defense was on the field for 69 snaps against the Buffalo Bills in the team’s nice 19-16 win in Week 10. The primary 11 played together in those 69 snaps a lot more than usual.

Cornerback T.J. Carrie did not start the game. Juston Burris did instead. But Carrie qualified as one of the primary 11, playing 51 of the 69 reps to Burris’ 11. Every other defensive starter played at least 53 snaps, or at least 75 percent of the game. That includes Chad Thomas, who filled in for the injured Olivier Vernon at defensive end. Thomas played a career-high 54 reps in his first career start.

Also of note on defense: rookie Sione Takitaki took over the No. 3 LB role from Adarius Taylor. The third-rounder played 11 reps, while Taylor was seen exclusively on special teams.

On offense, Kareem Hunt’s return was a prominent one. The running back played 38 of the 74 offensive snaps. Hunt joined Nick Chubb (58 reps) on 28 of those for a 2-back look. To put that into perspective, the Browns did not have more than one RB on the field for a single snap in Week 9.

Rashard Higgins played 33 of the 74 snaps and caught his only passing target for the game-winning TD. KhaDarel Hodge played seven, and the Browns ran on six of those reps.

Backup OL Justin McCray played four snaps as an extra blocker in the short-yardage package. Damion Ratley and D’Ernest Johnson each saw exactly one rep on offense.

Dan Hampton calls Bears’ 20-13 win vs. Lions ‘despicable’

While Chicago’s win over Detroit was far from a pretty win, it was a win for a team that desperately needed one in a 4-game losing streak.

When you’re describing wins, the word “despicable” doesn’t usually come to mind.

Well, it does if you’re Hall of Famer and former Bear Dan Hampton, who wasn’t impressed by Chicago’s 20-13 victory over the Lions.

While it was far from a pretty win, it was a win for a team that desperately needed one as they rode a four-game losing streak.

Sure, the Bears were facing the league’s 31st-ranked defense and only managed to put up 20 points.

Sure, the Bears were facing backup quarterback Jeff Driskel, who at times drove the Lions right down the field.

But for Hampton, winning isn’t enough. You have to be able to put away those “miserable” football teams.

“Yeah, we won,” Hampton said, via the Chicago Tribune. “We won the game. We won a game. Finally. … We finally find a way to win after four straight losses. But this was despicable. … How do you not put away one of the most miserable football teams on the planet Earth with a backup nobody quarterback and let them go down the field time and time and time again and have a chance to beat you? … I’m telling you, folks, there’s something really sad, sick about this team.”

While the Bears did nothing to sway their critics with a seven-point victory over a bad Lions team missing starting quarterback Matthew Stafford, perhaps it was just the thing the Bears needed heading into the final seven games of the season.

We’ll see when the Bears head to Los Angeles to play the Rams on Sunday Night Football.

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Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes continues to break NFL records

Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes’ performance on Sunday helped him leave his mark on NFL history yet again.

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If you’re in need of an indication that Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is back and as good as ever, this should do the trick.

Mahomes made his 25th career start on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. It also marked his return from a kneecap dislocation. Despite the Chiefs’ loss, Mahomes completed 36-of-50 passes for 446 yards and three touchdowns.

A lot of NFL records have crumpled at the hands of Mahomes, and he added several more on Sunday. According to NFL Communications, Mahomes now holds the record for the most passing yards through 25 career games with 8,007. Hall of Famer Kurt Warner is the only player who comes close to that in 25 games, with just under 7,400 passing yards.

That isn’t the only record Mahomes surpassed. He also passed Dolphins legend Dan Marino for the most passing touchdowns through 25 career games with 68. Marino had 65 in his first 25 career games.

And that’s not all. According to Chiefs team reporter Matt McMullen, Mahomes has the highest passer rating and the most completions in his first 25 starts of any player in NFL history. He’s essentially leading all quarterbacks in four of the most meaningful passing categories through 25 games.

Finally, Sunday’s game marked Mahomes’ 16th with at least 300 passing yards. It was enough to surpass Warner for the most games with at least 300 passing yards in a player’s first 25 games.

You won’t see Mahomes bragging about these individual accolades, especially when the Chiefs aren’t winning. Still, it’s awe-inspiring how every time Mahomes steps on the football field he manages to break another record and etch his name in the NFL history books. You can rest assured this won’t be the last time you hear about Mahomes surpassing a record. The next one may even happen as early as Week 11 against the Chargers in Mexico City.

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Jalen Ramsey criticizes officiating after Rams loss to Steelers

Jalen Ramsey voiced his opinion on the officiating after the Rams’ loss.

There’s been a lot of talk about the officiating in the NFL this season, from the controversial pass interference rule change to players being unnecessarily flagged for roughing the passer on plays that look like ordinary tackling. Clay Matthews took issue with it last month when he criticized the officials in the Lions-Packers game from Week 6, and he was subsequently fined $12,500 for it.

Jalen Ramsey voiced his opinion of how Sunday’s Rams-Steelers matchup was called after the game, saying he was “kind of frustrated” with how closely it was officiated. Ramsey was called for two pass interference penalties, but only one of them seemed to warrant a flag.

The biggest issue Ramsey had was with JuJu Smith-Schuster pushing off at the top of his routes without being called for offensive pass interference.

“I’m kind of frustrated a little bit with the (officiating). I’ll probably get fined for this but it’s all right. I was kind of upset with the officiating a little bit, just because he was pushing off quite a bit – especially on his first pass he caught on me, he pushed off with two hands. I thought that was clear as day. It didn’t get called, I kept playing and remained playing,” Ramsey told reporters in the locker room.

As for the pass interference penalties called on him, he only agreed with one of them. He said the first one was just incidental contact after their feet got tangled. The second pass interference call, Ramsey admitted was fair.

“Then they called a PI on me when it was for the most part incidental. They called a PI when we tripped over each other’s foot. That usually doesn’t get called,” Ramsey said. “And then they called a PI when I tugged him once. That was a tug, for sure. I can’t argue that, that was a tug. But I was kind of disappointed in some of the non-calls. He pushed off quite a bit, but it’s OK. That’s just the type of game we had. I thought they were going to let us play, that’s really why I tugged him on that one.”

This was Ramsey’s first loss as a member of the Rams, but he and the rest of the team will have a chance to bounce back next week against the Bears at home.

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