Wisconsin football hosts GVSU transfer defensive lineman
The Wisconsin Badgers hosted Grand Valley State transfer defensive lineman Jay’viar Suggs on Monday. The team offered him on Friday, looking to bolster a thin defensive line position.
The Badgers were among several top programs to offer Suggs, along with Nebraska, Iowa, TCU, Louisville, Arkansas, Kansas State, Indiana and Houston.
The experienced lineman compiled 42 total tackles, including eight sacks and 14.5 tackles for loss over the last two seasons with the Lakers. Notably, he was teammates with current Wisconsin cornerback Nyzier Fourqurean in his time with Grand Valley State.
Wisconsin is on the cusp of wrapping up its spring football practices, which will come to an official close following Thursday’s 15th and final session.
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The Badgers are looking to build off of a disappointing 2023 campaign in which they went 7-6 overall, including a 35-31 loss to LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl. The defense fell short of the program’s standard.
The possible addition of the 6-foot-3, 280-plus pound defensive lineman would be a significant step toward that not being the case again in 2024.
GVSU Star DL Jay’viar Suggs currently on his visit representing Nyzier Fourqurean pic.twitter.com/eev1Q59hoD
The 2023 college football season is almost here and the Badgers are now 10 days away from their opener against Buffalo on Sept. 2 at home. Last season, quarterback Deacon Hill wore the number 10, but this year a transfer cornerback will wear it.
Nyzier Fourqurean transferred to Madison in May after spending the last two seasons with Grand Valley State, a Division 2 football program. The cornerback recorded 14 pass deflections while intercepting four passes last season.
Although he had verbally committed to join Vanderbilt, Fourqurean flipped his commitment and he will look to make an impact in new defensive coordinator Mike Tressel’s defense with Wisconsin.
“It’s been my life’s work on both occasions – my own child and my team.”
Olivia Stoll doesn’t think there was one specific moment when golf finally hooked her. But deep down, she admits walking around Cypress Point watching her parents play golf might have played a significant role. Her mother, longtime Michigan State head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, had taken the family to Northern California while she recruited at the 2018 U.S. Girls’ Junior at Poppy Hills.
Shortly after that trip, Olivia arrived at a high school volleyball camp and called her dad. She wanted to ditch volleyball and head to the golf course.
“I was like ‘What is going on?’ ” recalled Olivia. “I never thought I would want to play golf.”
Oh, but her mother had dreamed of such a day for so long. Olivia’s interest in the game went from 0 to 60 practically overnight at age 15, declaring at dinner one night that she wanted to play college golf.
“Olivia,” her mother said, “I’ve already offered girls full scholarships that are your age.”
Olivia was undeterred, however, and on Mother’s Day, she’ll head to Eureka, Missouri, with her Grand Valley State team for the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championship.
Slobodnik-Stoll, the winningest player in Golf Association of Michigan history with 18 titles, heads to Arizona on Tuesday for the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship. The Spartans claimed their first NCAA Regional title last week at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Slobodnik-Stoll’s heart will be in two places as she guides her team around Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, and reads text updates from husband Jim on Olivia’s performance in Missouri.
“It’s been my life’s work on both occasions – my own child and my team,” she said. “I’m thrilled that I have such a good problem.”
Now in her 26th season as head coach at her alma mater, Slobodnik-Stoll said what impresses her most about this group of Spartans is they keep improving as the season goes along. Their success comes despite the loss of Valery Plata, a former Big Ten Player of the Year who turned professional mid-year.
Michigan State men’s basketball coach Tom Izzo was headed to watch former Spartan Draymond Green compete in the NBA Playoffs on the final day of NCAA regionals.
“When he landed he called right in the middle of our celebration,” said Slobodnik-Stoll. “I said to the girls, ‘Look who’s calling!’ and they were screaming.”
Sophomore Brooke Biermann took a share of medalist honors at PGA National, the best regional finish in program history. The team’s GPA this semester, 3.984, set a school record for the Michigan State athletic department.
“When they say they’re going to do something,” said Slobodnik-Stoll, “they’re going to do it to the best of their ability.”
That’s a trait that’s also shared by Slobodnik-Stoll and her daughter, along with showing up early and a strong competitive gene that’s not outwardly shown.
“Deep down we know we want to beat everyone in the field,” said Olivia.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Olivia asked her mom whether they could head to Florida when the temperatures dropped. MSU players weren’t coming back to school until January, and Olivia’s high school work was all online.
So on Halloween of 2020, mom and daughter packed up the car and headed south. In two-and-a-half months they played 50 rounds of golf. Olivia was also able to compete in several tournaments, and the time together proved invaluable as she strived to make up for lost time.
As Olivia began to play in more tournaments back home in Michigan, the story of a late-bloomer began to get out, and coaches were interested. Slobodnik-Stoll is often asked: Why not Division I?
Her answer is simple: “For her to go somewhere and sit on the bench was pointless. She needed to go somewhere to play, play, play.”
— GVSU Women's Golf (@gvsuwomensgolf) May 10, 2023
During her freshman year, Grand Valley traveled to tournaments in Hawaii, California and Arizona. Olivia was recently named Player of the Year in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, despite a disqualification earlier in the season for signing an incorrect scorecard.
The lessons keep coming.
Slobodnik-Stoll doesn’t get to watch Olivia compete as much as she’d like, but their trips now consist of golf as a family – and knowing they’ll have that for rest of their lives is priceless. Husband Jim also played collegiate golf and has a deep passion for the game.
Mom and daughter celebrated Mother’s Day early on Saturday with a round of birthday golf for Slobodnik-Stoll’s father Dave before Olivia headed to NCAAs.
Michigan State head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll with husband Jim and daughter Olivia tee it up together in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. (courtesy photo)
Olivia isn’t sure how far she wants to go in the game, but there will be plenty of options as her parents have purchased three daily-fee courses in Michigan over the past two years: Twin Oaks Golf Course in Freeland, Huron Breeze in Au Gres and Vassar Golf Club.
But first, there are national championships at stake.
“It’s just cool to have her as a role model,” said Olivia.
Barrow has the measurables at 6-5/335 with long arms and big hands, and he plays with a style that suggests more of a streetfight than a football game. He needs some technical polish and won’t ever be agile, but Barrow should make it as a reserve tackle/guard with some upside.
Barrow started 36 games for the Lakers since 2019. He earned First-Team All-GLIAC honors in 2021 and 2022. During the 2022 season, he was a consensus All-American and the GLIAC Offensive Lineman of the Year. With 34-inch arms, he can play both tackle and guard at the next level, but anchoring in pass protection will be a problem against some more powerful rushers.
The Chiefs do have some needs for reserve linemen on both the interior and outside. Barrow could prove to be a strong developmental candidate given his length, quickness and strength in the run game.
Texas A&M has fielded an offer to productive former Grand Valley State wide receiver, Jahdae Walker
Texas A&M and head coach Jimbo Fisher are still looking to bolster their wide receiver depth ahead of the pivotal 2023 season, and while multiple candidates remain in flux after the final day of the second transfer portal came to a close, a litany of remaining players are still looking for new homes.
Whether it’s Division 1 or Division 11, production is production, and former Grand Valley State wide receiver Jahdae Walker, standing at 6-4 and 205 pounds is as productive as they come after recording 30 receptions for 623 yards and 4 touchdowns during his sophomore campaign. After entering the transfer portal, Walker has received multiple FBS offers including Colorado, Mississippi State, Pittsburgh, and of course, Texas A&M.
The Aggies starting wide receiver core for 2023 is set, as Evan Stewart, Moose Muhammad, and Ainias Smith will man all three spots, depth is still a concern, and with two seasons already under his belt, Jahdae Walker’s potential addition in the passing game would add another layer of explosiveness under offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.
Walker will have two more years of eligibility once he chooses his new destination.
Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Cameron on Twitter: @CameronOhnysty
The Miami Dolphins have been known to find talent in places that you’d never expect.
Just last year, they signed cornerback Kader Kohou as an undrafted free agent out of Texas A&M-Commerce, and he worked his way into a starting role a year after playing for a school that most haven’t heard of.
Now, Miami may be looking to do that again.
According to KPRC2’s Aaron Wilson, the Dolphins recently met with Grand Valley State offensive tackle Quinton Barrow at his team’s pro day. Wilson states the Los Angeles Rams, Houston Texans, Detroit Lions, Seattle Seahawks and Denver Broncos also spoke with him that day.
Barrow stands at 6-foot-6 and is 317 pounds. During his time with the Lakers, he played left tackle and received All-Conference honors in 2021. He participated in this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl.
With the tackle drawing interest from multiple teams, there’s a chance he gets taken with a Day 3 pick, but it’s likely that he’ll be available after the selection process has concluded.
Wisconsin is hiring another coach Sunday, bringing in Mike Mitchell to lead their special teams unit and outside linebackers in 2023.
The Badgers are hiring Grand Valley State head coach Matt Mitchell as their next special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach. Mitchell has produced a 117-31 overall record as the head coach of the Lakers, finishing just one win short the program’s all-time leader Brian Kelly (118 wins).
Mitchell played collegiate football at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa, earning First-Team All-Midwest honors twice during his career with the program as a defensive lineman. He graduated from the college in 1997 and quickly launched a coaching career a few years later.
The former player started as a defensive coach with Wartburg College in 2000 before joining the Grand Valley State coaching staff in 2003. Over nearly two decades with the team, Mitchell worked his way from linebackers coach (2004-2007) to defensive coordinator (2008-2009) before spending a dozen seasons as the head coach of the Lakers (2010-2022).
Mitchell will be reuniting with Wisconsin’s new defensive coordinator Mike Tressel, who he coached alongside with at Wartburg in the early 2000’s.
Luke Fickell and the Badgers’ program will certainly benefit from bringing in such an experienced coach to lead their specials teams unit and outside linebackers in 2023.
Sources: Wisconsin is hiring Grand Valley State head coach Matt Mitchell as the school’s new special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach. Mitchell has a career record of 117-31 in 12 seasons at Grand Valley, a Division II school in Michigan.
Grand Valley State ended Ferris State’s 43-game regular-season win streak
Grand Valley State pulled off a stunner in Division II college football on Saturday, downing Ferris State, 22-21.
Why would this be such a big story in football on a smaller college level?
Because the loss snapped No. 1 Ferris State’s 19-game winning streak, the longest in college football regardless of division. The Bulldogs had won 43 straight in the regular season, dating back to Sept. 23, 2017.
That’s Sept. 23, 2017, the day Bruce Springsteen turned 68. He’s 73 now.
The regular-season run lasted more than five years for Ferris State.
The winning score came on a 10-yard run by Jack Provencher with less than four minutes remaining.
The Anchor-Bone Trophy is heading back to Allendale as another thrilling game in this rivalry comes right down to the end. @MISportsNowpic.twitter.com/9tTMADLMKP
The Bulldogs were 5-0 overall and ranked No. 1 in the nation. The Lakers are now 7-0 and ranked second.
Ferris is the defending Division II champion and went 14-0 a year ago, while the Lakers finished 10-2, with Grand Valley’s two losses both to the Bulldogs.
MSU has announced game times for their two preseason exhibition games
The Michigan State basketball season is just around the corner and Spartan fans are ready. The team is working to prepare for the season in training camp right now, gearing up for a bounce-back season.
MSU will open up their regular season on November 9th against Kansas in the Champions Classic.
Prior to the Champions Classic, Michigan State will have a couple of tune-up games against in-state division 2 opponents Ferris State and Grand Valley State. Both games are considered as exhibitions.
UPDATE: Both of our exhibition games will start at 7 PM ET 🏀
Michigan State and Ferris State will tip off on October 27th, and Grand Valley will play the Spartans on November 4th. Game times for both games will be 7pm.
Sarah Hoffman is a Symetra Tour player who recently returned to her career as a nurse during a nationwide pandemic.
Sarah Hoffman recently moved in with a co-worker at Michigan Medicine so that her parents wouldn’t be at a higher risk of contracting COVID-19. That first night, the co-worker apologized that she didn’t have a dresser for Hoffman.
“That’s OK,” Hoffman told her. “I don’t have a dresser for nine months out of the year.”
Such is the rather remarkable life of Sarah Hoffman, a Symetra Tour player who recently returned to her career as a nurse during a nationwide pandemic.
“I just couldn’t keep sitting on the couch and not helping my friends who were on the front lines,” she said.
Sarah Hoffman (courtesy Symetra Tour)
There’s nothing about the Hoffman file that’s standard. She didn’t grow up playing AJGA events. Didn’t compete in any tournaments outside of country club golf until the summer before college. In fact, Hoffman was set to play basketball in college until she took an abrupt turn to Grand Valley State.
“I’d only broken 80 twice in high school,” she said.
They laugh about it now, said former teammate Allie Tyler. The time Hoffman stood on the first tee of her first tournament qualifier at Grand Valley State and hit a worm burner.
“It maybe didn’t even reach the red tee,” recalled Tyler.
Oh, but that just makes the story all the better. The way Hoffman worked her way into the lineup by the spring season and went on to win 11 times at Grand Valley. That she got so good in such a short amount of time that her college coach, a former touring pro, told her she’d someday regret it if she didn’t at least try to play at the next level.
It wasn’t until her senior year that Hoffman decided to pursue the highly competitive nursing program at Grand Valley.
“I think she changed her major maybe four times,” Tyler said of her brainy friend.
To this day, Hoffman remains the only nursing student Rebecca Mailloux has ever coached at Grand Valley. It took five years and a summer to graduate from nursing school. For that entire fifth year, Hoffman didn’t touch a golf club.
Former Grand Valley State players Allie Tyer (left) and Caitlin Bennett (right) support Hoffman at a Symetra stop.
When she finished school, Hoffman, the youngest of four, had a sit-down with her parents about turning professional. Her father, a financial planner at Merrill Lynch, told her there are two reasons businesses fail: Either they run out of money, or they quit before they’re successful.
Hoffman knew her game wasn’t ready, and she wanted to self-fund. So she moved into her parents’ basement and took a job at Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor. For two years she worked the night shift and banked around $60,000, enough to get her started on the journey. She’d work two shifts from 7 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. and two shifts from 11 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. On her days off, she’d practice.
“I do remember one time I was playing in the Michigan Amateur,” she said. “I worked a 12-hour shift and then teed off an hour after I stopped working. I was up for over 24 hours. We had a rain delay and I was just chugging Red Bull.”
Hoffman can’t remember what she shot, but it was enough to get her into match play.
After a couple of years, she turned pro, going to Q-School for the first time in 2016 at age 26.
During the offseason, Hoffman returns to work full-time as a nurse from October to December, earning enough money for the next year.
In 2018, she joined West Orange Country Club in Windermere, Florida, and had to work her way into the men’s group. They wouldn’t let her play in the big Friday skins game, but agreed to a nine-hole match.
“I started talking trash to them and shot 33 from the tips,” she said. “They realized I could hang with them and at the end of the year, threw a big going-away party and donated enough money for my entry fee in Q-School. It was awesome.”
There are times Mailloux can’t believe that Hoffman is still pursuing the dream, given all the bad breaks she’s endured at Q-School alone. There was the crazy stomach bug that left her throwing up on the golf course. Another year, her grandfather, the man who introduced her to the game, died during Q-School. And then last year, one of her ribs popped out of place and she was forced to withdraw.
Hoffman tees off at the Symetra Tour’s season-opening event in Winter Haven, Florida. (Photo: Symetra Tour)
“The kid just can’t catch a break,” Mailloux said.
There’s something about this balancing act between tour life and nursing, however, that gives the 29-year-old a unique and refreshed perspective.
Hoffman has worked in the orthopedic trauma unit since 2014. She can put a bad day on the golf course in perspective after taking care of patients who are fine one day and then find out they may never walk again after a catastrophic car accident.
Golf is inherently a selfish game. During the season, she enjoys being able to focus on what she needs to realize her dream of the LPGA.
“It can be exhausting to be a nurse and constantly putting others first,” she said, “missing your lunches or taking a patient to the bathroom when you have a full bladder.”
At the end of the golf season though, she can’t wait to get back to helping people. It’s in her blood.
“She cares,” said good friend and fellow tour pro Katelyn Sepmoree. “That’s really the best part about Sarah. She cares about the people around her and what’s she’s doing.”
Because elective surgeries have been put on hold, Hoffman’s unit now looks considerably different, with patients battling any number of diseases and conditions, including COVID-19.
“We went from 229 patients admitted with COVID-19 to 95 as of yesterday,” Hoffman said on Sunday. “Had those numbers kept on growing, it would’ve been very scary and we would’ve run out of ventilators. We are just so thankful that didn’t happen.”
The course is open at Hoffman’s childhood club, Travis Pointe, but the practice facilities are still closed. She works three 12-hour shifts a week and works on her game the other four days. The Symetra Tour is currently slated to restart in early July. Hoffman said she’ll taper off her nursing duties when she gets three weeks out from competition.
Hoffman has never wanted to give herself a timetable for success. She knows that her blue-collar approach makes her older than most. But she also feels like it has given her a mental edge.
“I wanted to be able to keep on playing,” she said. “I didn’t want to have any regrets.”
