Tag: Kansas State

Report: Saints sign former 49ers DE Jordan Willis to their practice squad

NOF reports the Saints are signing former 49ers defensive end Jordan Willis to their practice squad after an injury sidelined Isaiah Foskey:

This is interesting: the New Orleans Saints are signing defensive end Jordan Willis to their practice squad, as first reported by NewOrleans.Football’s Brooke Kirchhofer. This pickup comes after news that Saints rookie pass rusher Isaiah Foskey could miss a few weeks recovering from a strained quadriceps muscle.

Originally picked three slots ahead of Alex Anzalone in the 2017 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, Willis went on appear in 26 games with the San Francisco 49ers where he bagged 7.5 of his 10.5 career sacks. He’s listed at 6-foot-4 and 270 pounds, falling right in line with the prototype the Saints value at defensive end.

Will he see many snaps in Sunday’s game with the Minnesota Vikings? That’s unlikely. The Saints have given the lion’s share of reps to Cameron Jordan (487) and Carl Granderson (459) through the first nine games, with Tanoh Kpassagnon (196) backing them up and Foskey (69) only getting into games in a reserve role. Veteran backup Kyle Phillips has been a healthy scratch after being promoted from the practice squad after an injury sidelined Payton Turner in the season opener. A corresponding move to Willis signing has not been announced, but the Saints also have preseason standout Niko Lalos on their practice squad.

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By the numbers: How No. 7 Texas compares to No. 23 Kansas State

Can the Longhorns hold off the Wildcats at home this week?

On Tuesday, the College Football Playoff committee released their first rankings of the season, placing Texas at No. 7 and Kansas State at No. 23.

The Longhorns will need help from other teams if they want to make the College Football Playoff, but most importantly, they must take it one game at a time.

What stands in Texas’ way is the Kansas State Wildcats. They are an excellent rushing team, averaging 226 yards per game.

Their rushing attack is led by DJ Giddens and Treshaun Ward, combining for nearly 1,200 yards. Quarterbacks Will Howard and Avery Johnson also have accounted for over 530 rushing yards on the year.

The Wildcat’s defense isn’t a pushover, either. KSU allows 16 points per game and 340 yards per game.

As the No. 7 Texas Longhorns prepare to host the No. 23 Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT, here are the numbers comparing the two teams for the tough conference matchup.

Week 3 Scouting Notebook: A look at potential Chargers prospects in 2024 NFL draft

Here are a handful of prospects for Chargers fans to watch in Week 3.

The third week of college football is here, which means we are back with another edition of the Scouting Notebook.

The Scouting Notebook will feature prospects to keep an eye on throughout the day. While some may think it’s too early to start talking about the 2024 NFL draft, there’s never a bad time to talk about the future of the Chargers.

With that being said, here are a handful of prospects to watch for in Week 3.

Recruitment for No. 1 Iowa prospect Grant Brix a three-team race

According to Parker Thune at Rivals, his recruitment has come down to a three-team race

As football season begins, a flurry of commitments from blue-chip recruits could happen in the coming weeks. One high-level lineman to keep an eye on is Logan-Magnolia (Iowa) four-star offensive tackle Grant Brix.

Brix (6-foot-5, 280 pounds) has offers from 24 different programs all together.

However, according to Parker Thune at Rivals, his recruitment has come down to a three-team race.

“Whether or not he participates in one of the national all-star showcases this winter, I’m counting on Brix’s senior film being dominant enough to warrant five-star consideration. He’s currently approaching the end of a recruitment process that’s come down to Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas State.”

Brix is ranked first overall in the state of Iowa, fifth at his position and No. 62 nationally in the class of 2024 going by the 247Sports composite.

According to On3’s prediction model, Matt Rhule’s Nebraska program is the favorite at 71.5%, followed by Kansas State (9%), Oklahoma (5.2%) and Iowa State bringing up the rear at 2.9%.

Landing Brix would mean a nice boost for any of them, especially the Wildcats. For now, Nebraska’s class of 2024 ranks No. 22 in the nation. The Sooners are No. 16 and Kansas State ranks No. 73.

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Oklahoma Sooners among ‘Late Kick’ Josh Pate’s top 20

The Oklahoma Sooners were included in Josh Pate’s top 20.

The [autotag]Oklahoma Sooners[/autotag] have a lot of doubters heading into the 2023 season. Rightfully so as they are coming off a 6-7 season.

Whether you doubt Oklahoma or have faith, there’s one thing for sure, a lot of question marks need to be answered this season. Oklahoma came in at No. No. 19 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and No. 20 in the AP Top 25.

247Sports’ and host of “The Late Kick Show,” Josh Pate provided his preseason top 20 ahead of week zero. Pate made it clear when he does his poll it is a “power rating system.” He also said it has nothing to do with what you did a season ago.

So, with that being said, Pate unveiled his top 20 and Oklahoma came in at No. 19. That’s about the spot Oklahoma should be. They’ll have plenty of opportunities to move up if they take care of business this season.

Pate has two Big 12 teams ahead of them. Everyone’s darling and pick to win the conference, the Texas Longhorns at No. 6, and the national runner-up from a season ago the [autotag]TCU Horned Frogs[/autotag]. TCU comes in at No. 16 despite the loss of Max Duggan, Kendre Miller, and Quentin Johnston.

In a surprise, one team not on the list is the reigning conference champions, [autotag]Kansas State[/autotag]. They lost some key pieces from a year ago like [autotag]Deuce Vaughn[/autotag], Felix Anudike-Uzomah, and [autotag]Julius Brents[/autotag] but they return a ton of talent. They also might have the best coach in the conference.

These preseason polls are fun to discuss and argue with your friends about. Now that we are less than a week away from the start of the football season, it’s time for these teams to prove it on the field.

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Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.

DE Felix Anudike-Uzomah talks learning Chiefs defense, transition to NFL from college

Chiefs defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah spoke about learning Steve Spagnuolo’s playbook and transitioning to the NFL from college. | from: @EdEastonJr

The Kansas City Chiefs made Felix Anudike-Uzomah one of their first-round selections in the 2023 NFL draft in front of his hometown crowd. Despite being an overwhelmingly popular pick, his draft slot came with high expectations that are different than most of his teammates in training camp.

Anudike-Uzomah updated reporters on his progression in defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s system on Monday after the Chiefs’ rain-shortened practice session, emphasizing that he is still on the upswing in terms of his uptake.

“At the end of the day, I’m still learning,” said Anudike-Uzomah, “For me, I’m still not there yet. And I’ve got some learning to do.”

Anudike-Uzomah is already holding himself accountable for his work at training camp as he continues to find his way through the trials and tribulations of his first season in the NFL. The former Kansas State star detailed some of the differences between life in Manhattan and the professional ranks.

“Coming from college, you’re not met with the same competition as people in [the] NFL,” Anudike-Uzomah explained. “Other people [here] are the best of the best and… there [are] a lot more things to learn from jumping from Kansas State to here, like technique-wise and plays. Plus, I was in a 3-4, and now we’re in a four-down defense. So there’s a lot more stuff, and I’m dropping back. So it’s a lot of stuff that I gotta learn. So, yeah.”

The Chiefs have Anudike-Uzomah working in most second and third-team groups during practices as he continues to find his groove in St. Joseph.

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PHOTOS: Colorado’s last win as a Big 12 member

Relive Colorado’s last win as a member of the Big 12

Under interim head coach Brian Cabral, who remains on Colorado’s current football staff as a character coach, the Buffaloes bested Kansas State in their last home football game as members of the Big 12.

The date was Nov. 20, 2010. Colorado, set to join the Pac-12 Conference in a matter of months, entered the contest 4-6 and still within reach of a bowl game while the Wildcats had already secured their sixth win.

The Buffs fell behind 14-3 early before rattling off 27 unanswered points, six of which came from a 23-yard touchdown pass from running back Rodney Stewart to Toney Clemons. Stewart would finish the 44-36 win with 201 yards rushing and a pair of TDs via the ground as well.

With Colorado set to rejoin the Big 12 next summer, take a photographic look back at the Buffs’ 2010 home finale:

College Sports Roundup: Pac-12 media day begin, Ole Miss incorporates mental health training, and more from the College Wires

The Pac-12 media days begin on Friday, Ole Miss has incorporated mental health training into their offseason regimen, and more from the College Wires.

The Pac-12 football media day will begin Friday at 8:00 a.m. PT with commissioner George Kliavkoff before each of the conference’s 12 teams and their representatives take the podium and talk to the media.

As previously covered here on College Sports Wire, Colorado head coach Deion Sanders will not be in attendance for the media day after undergoing successful surgery on Thursday to fix blood clot issues.

The Pac-12 media recently voted for USC to win the Pac-12 title this fall in their last year in the conference.

The Trojans received 25 of 36 total votes. Washington finished second with four first-place votes, Utah had six first-place votes while being in third place, and Oregon earned one first-place vote while finishing fourth.

Oregon State, UCLA, Washington State, Arizona, California, Arizona State, Colorado, and Stanford rounded out the preseason poll.

The Pac-12 is set to enter an important year that will decide its future as the conference continues to look to finalize its next media rights deal. That process will turn a year old next month.

Additionally, the 2023-2024 athletic calendar will be the last in which USC and UCLA are a part of the conference; both will leave on July 1, 2024, for the Big Ten.

Here are the rest of the top stories from around the country and the College Wires.

Markquis Nowell tried a Curry-like lookaway 3-pointer on a bad miss during NBA Summer League

Oh no, Markquis Nowell. Not like this!

It wasn’t long ago Markquis Nowell gave us one of the best highlights of March Madness. But he also has a lowlight of NBA Summer League.

Nowell, who pulled off an elite alley-oop pass for Kansas State while talking trash to Hall of Fame guard Isiah Thomas during the NCAA men’s basketball tournament, is an exciting young player. As an undrafted free agent, Nowell signed a two-way deal with the Raptors.

Although he has played well as a distributor for Toronto as one of the leaders in total assists among all rookies in NBA 2K24 Summer League, Nowell has struggled with finding an efficient jumper.

So it was particularly shocking to see him try something like this:

This would have rocked so much if it went in and, yeah, he would have looked like Stephen Curry.

The guard instead looked a bit more like Nick Young, unfortunately, celebrating a 3-pointer on a brick. That’s meme material and you never want to become meme material this early in your career!

Nowell is shooting 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) on 3-pointers for the Raptors and is shooting less than 30.0 percent overall from the field in Las Vegas. So maybe the timing wasn’t right to try to emulate Curry, even if we have to admire the confidence it took for him to try.

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2023 NBA draft: OKC Thunder select Keyontae Johnson with the No. 50 pick

The Thunder selected Keyontae Johnson with the No. 50 pick of the 2023 NBA draft.

The Oklahoma City Thunder selected Kansas State forward Keyontae Johnson with the No. 50 pick in the second round of the 2023 NBA draft.

The 23-year-old spent five seasons in college. He played in Florida his first four seasons before transferring to Kansas State for his final season. In 36 games last season, he averaged 17.4 points on 51.6% shooting, 6.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists. He shot 40.5% from 3 on an average of 3.2 attempts per game.

The Thunder completed their draft haul with Johnson and Kentucky guard Cason Wallace, whom OKC traded with the Dallas Mavericks to move up to No. 10 to select.

Johnson will likely be added to the Thunder’s roster with the third two-way spot the league recently added following CBA negotiations.

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