Tag: Elijah Hughes

USC defensive lineman transfers to Notre Dame

Notre Dame keeps winning. USC? The Trojans aren’t doing enough of it.

It is well established in college football that USC and Notre Dame do not particularly care for one another. So, when a player transfers from one school to the other, it is particularly notable. That is exactly what happened over the weekend. On Sunday, former USC defensive lineman Elijah Hughes, who entered the transfer portal in December, announced his commitment to Notre Dame.

After signing with the Trojans in the Class of 2023, Hughes served in a rotational role over the last two seasons. In two years at USC, he recorded 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

It is yet another win for Notre Dame over USC in a season full of them. The Irish defeated the Trojans 49-35 at the Coliseum on November 30 to retain the Jewled Shillelagh. The Irish are 14-1 and headed to next Monday’s national championship game, while the Trojans finished the season a disappointing 7-6. Now, to rub salt in the wound, they added a former USC player in the portal.

Hughes will face USC for the first time when the Trojans visit Notre Dame on October 18 next season.

Notre Dame lands three transfers, two from ACC programs

When it rains, it pours.

Notre Dame is not in the ACC for football despite playing a certain number of opponents each year in exchange for keeping its independence.

But two players from programs in that conference have chosen to finish their college eligibility with the Irish in 2025. A third player arriving from the Irish’s big rival has multiple seasons of eligibility.

First is North Carolina kicker [autotag]Noah Burnette[/autotag], who will become the Irish’s fourth consecutive transfer at that position. He was successful on 38 of 39 extra-point attempts this past season and 15 of 21 in field-goal attempts. He kicked the extra points for both touchdowns the Tar Heels scored in their 2022 loss to the Irish.

Here’s one game this past season in which he was particularly clutch:

The Irish also landed Louisville defensive lineman [autotag]Jared Dawson[/autotag]. He’s coming off a season in which he established career highs in tackles (19), tackles for loss (7) and sacks (4). He had four tackles when the Cardinals lost to the Irish earlier this season. Here he is after that loss:

Finally, the Irish will welcome USC defensive lineman [autotag]Elijah Hughes[/autotag], who had 12 tackles, three tackles for loss and 1 1/2 sacks in two seasons with the Trojans. He played against the Irish in each of the past two seasons but didn’t register any statistics. Still, he’s happy about what’s to come:

https://www.instagram.com/elijah._hughes/p/DEs1rvsy9j5/?hl=en&img_index=1

Players are flocking to the Irish, and the program deserves it after what it has done this season even though there still is work to be done.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on X: @gfclark89

Yet another USC player enters the transfer portal

The portal exodus from USC continues.

Stop me if you have heard this one before: Another USC football player has entered the transfer portal.

On Tuesday afternoon, defensive lineman Elijah Hughes became the latest Trojan to put his name in the portal. The sophomore defensive lineman was the third player to depart he program that day, following safety Zion Branch and wide receiver Zachariah Branch.

Hughes signed with USC as a relatively unheralded three-star recruit in the 2023 cycle. In two years with the Trojans, Hughes recorded 12 tackles and 1.5 sacks.

According to Chris Trevino of 247Sports, Hughes entered the portal with a “do not contact” tag. Presumably, this means that he has already been in contact with one or multiple other schools.

Hughes will have two seasons of eligibility remaining.

USC has a lot of roster spots to fill. The number of players the Trojans need to gain in the portal is large at the moment, and that is certainly cause for concern. The hope is that the caliber of portal players will be better than the players who are leaving the Trojans. USC has to hope that the exchanges become a net positive in the course of time.

Elijah Hughes is the sleeper of the USC Class of 2023

Elijah Hughes is drawing some very favorable comparisons as he prepares to become a USC Trojan.

The early signing period ran its course with the Trojans signing 19 of their 20 commitments in the 2023 cycle, the No. 11 class nationally.

Three-star Arlington (VA) defensive lineman Elijah Hughes may be the most underrated USC Trojan commit in the 2023 class.

The lineman announced his commitment to USC over Virginia Tech and Stanford last week. I expect Hughes to be an All-Pac-12 player next season for the Trojans.

At Liberty HS (Arlington, VA) Hughes led his defense with 113 tackles and 13 sacks. The Trojans will need Hughes to play sooner rather than later with Stanley Ta’ufo’ou being the only experienced nose tackle/defensive tackle on their roster.

Trojans now have three interior defensive line commits in this 2023 class in Sam Greene (St. Frances Academy/Baltimore, Md.), Deijon Laffitte (Colony HS/Ontario, Calif.), and Hughes.

I expect Hughes — currently at 6-foot-3, 265 pounds — to add on weight and play the 3-tech inside for the Trojans next season and beyond.

USC did recently add a commitment from Arizona defensive line transfer Kyon Barrs. All-American Tuli Tuipulotu’s future is still up in the air, but he is expected to depart for the NFL.

Hughes showed great versatility in high school and generated pass rush production from a variety of positions and techniques. Hughes’ tape reminds me heavily of former first-round pick and current New York Jet Solomon Thomas, formerly of Stanford.

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2020 NBA Draft Big Board 5.0: Final update ranking Top 100 prospects

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

After numerous delays and postponements, front offices and draftniks have had more time to analyze the 2020 NBA draft than any previous year.

Originally scheduled for June, the ongoing pandemic pushed the big night back by five months. While this may cause some teams to overthink their decisions, it gave analysts plenty of time to study all of the top prospects eligible in this class.

This year, players had to participate in a mostly virtual pre-draft process. On the bright side, this meant that teams had the opportunity to interview more candidates than ever before.

However, the number of in-person visits were incredibly limited due to the restrictive parameters set by the league. Similarly, the NBA draft combine was conducted without the typical scrimmages where players can separate themselves from the others with impressive on-court performances.

Overall, the players that stood out in this pre-draft process had a different path to recognition than any other year. College basketball players did not have the opportunity to showcase themselves during March Madness. The nation’s top seniors did not get to participate in the Portsmouth Invitational Tournament.

As such, executives will rely mostly on the existing game footage as well as the intel they gathered during their conversations with the prospects. We also depended on similar strategies, getting access to one-on-one interviews with more than three dozen prospects and exchanging our thoughts with various scouts across the league.

This helped us put together our final big board, looking at the Top 100 players ranked on their potential to make a difference for teams in the NBA.

Relevant statistics were pulled from Synergy Sports Tech, Bart-Torvik, KenPom, Open Look Analytics and RealGM. Note that the age listed for each player references how old they will be on the night of the draft.

2020 NBA aggregate mock draft 8.0: Draft day ranges for top prospects

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done. 

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done.

We looked at mock drafts from NBADraft.net, ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, The Ringer, Stadium, SI.com, USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire, USA Today and Yahoo to give us a more clear understanding of consensus rankings and projections.

This also provided context for realistic high-end and low-end predictions for the players most often included in mock drafts.

Please note that the range included for each player is not based on our own reporting or intel and it only reflects the data pulled from the various mock drafts.

The full list of our latest aggregate mock draft rankings can be found here. HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.

2020 NBA aggregate mock draft 8.0: Draft day ranges for top prospects

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done. 

The 2020 NBA draft is fairly unpredictable and prospects have wider ranges in where they could get selected when it is all said and done.

We looked at mock drafts from NBADraft.net, ESPN, The Athletic, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, The Ringer, Stadium, SI.com, USA TODAY Sports Media Group’s Rookie Wire, USA Today and Yahoo to give us a more clear understanding of consensus rankings and projections.

This also provided context for realistic high-end and low-end predictions for the players most often included in mock drafts.

Please note that the range included for each player is not based on our own reporting or intel and it only reflects the data pulled from the various mock drafts.

The full list of our latest aggregate mock draft rankings can be found here. HoopsHype’s Alberto de Roa contributed research to this report.

Sports Illustrated mock draft: Thunder take Isaiah Stewart, Elijah Hughes

In Sports Illustrated’s mock draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder took Washington center Isaiah Stewart and Syracuse wing Elijah Hughes.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have had a handful of mock drafts recommend taking Washington wing Jaden McDaniels.

Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo went with a different Husky: center Isaiah Stewart.

Stewart, listed at 6-foot-9 and 250 pounds, averaged 17.0 points and 8.8 rebounds for Washington while shooting 58% from the field last season.

Woo writes:

“Stewart’s energy, toughness and physicality make him a good fit for the Thunder here, and although he’s more of a traditional garbage-man type up front, his strong intangibles make it unlikely he falls out of the first round. He’s big, long, and willing to do the dirty work, and even though Washington had a disappointing season, he was productive.”

In drafting a center with the No. 25 pick, the Thunder would have a replacement for Nerlens Noel, who is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.

They could also take a look at Stewart to see if he can be a replacement for Steven Adams once the longtime Thunder center’s contract expires following the 2020-21 season.

One interesting thing to watch for once Stewart starts his NBA career: Stewart shot above 40% from 3 in his senior year of high school, but at Washington, he only attempted 20 shots from deep.

“Stewart should be able to make an impact as a low-maintenance rotation piece, particularly if he starts to shoot better from outside, and he’s the type of guy worth betting on to make the most of his ability.”

In the second round of Woo’s mock draft, Oklahoma City got a player some project to be a late-first-round pick.

Syracuse wing Elijah Wings was there at No. 53 in Woo’s mock, so the Thunder snagged him.

Hughes averaged 19 points per game last season, leading the ACC in scoring. He knocked down 34% of his 3s, which is not excellent, but he took them at such a high rate (7.1 per game) and had such high usage that he projects to be better from deep than his final year.

In 2018-19, Hughes made 36.9% of his 3s while attempted 6.9 per game.

If he can last until No. 53, Oklahoma City could get a very usable option at wing to spread the floor better than any other at that position currently on the roster.

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