Tag: SI

Social media reaction to Deion Sanders being named Sports Illustrated ‘Sports Person of the Year’

This actually brings back a Notre Dame memory of sorts…

It doesn’t seem like that long ago that Tyrone Willingham was the talk of college football.  In 2002 he helped jumpstart Notre Dame an 8-0 start and No. 4 ranking before being upset by Boston College at home.

Notre Dame would get crushed at USC at the end of November to finish the regular season 9-2.  Despite the tough November, The Sporting News named Willingham their Sportsman of the Year for 2002.

Memories of that immediately came to mind to me Thursday morning when Sports Illustrated announced Colorado head football coach Deion Sanders as their 2023 ‘Sports Person of the Year’.

Sanders was certainly the story of college football for the first half of September as the Buffaloes were 3-0, but they’d finish the year with just a 4-8 mark and were blown out far more often than they were competitive.

Regardless, Sports Illustrated still named him and as you can probably guess, social media had a field day reacting.

Eagles’ All-Pro QB Jalen Hurts lands the cover of Sports Illustrated: Takeaways and reactions

Philadelphia #Eagles’ All-Pro QB Jalen Hurts lands the cover of Sports Illustrated: Takeaways and reactions from @GregBishopSI story and photo

Jalen Hurts has had an incredible year and half, earning All-Pro honors, MVP runner-up, while leading Philadelphia to the Super Bowl.

Off the field, Hurts has appeared in a short-film, signed a Jordan Brand deal, and now he’s landed the coveted cover for Sports Illustrated’s NFL preview.

Greg Bishop went in-depth with Hurts to discuss his upbring, competitive drive and plans for returning the Eagles to the Super Bowl.

Social media reacts to everything, and Hurts landing the cover shut-down Twitter/X.

Sports Illustrated’s latest top 10 features Florida at No. 5

UF’s offense is for real and though the defense struggled, it was more successful against big plays than in the first game vs Ole Miss.

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Florida’s offense may have looked the part in its 38-24 win over South Carolina, but its defensive performance once again left much to be desired.

Still, the Gators find themselves squarely in the top 10, according to Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde, heading into their third game of the season against Texas A&M.

Forde thinks the UF offense is for real and points out that though the defense struggled, it was more successful against big plays than in the first game against Ole Miss.

5. Florida

Last game: beat South Carolina 38-24

Next game: at Texas A&M Saturday

The Gators might not have the raw speed of the Crimson Tide, but their passing attack is every bit as effective. The Kyle Show rolled on against the Gamecocks: Kyle Trask threw for 268 yards and four touchdowns, and tight end Kyle Pitts had four catches for 57 yards and two TDs. That’s six times they’ve connected for six points in two games. Florida certainly hasn’t been great defensively thus far, but it did limit South Carolina’s explosive plays Saturday (just two gains of 20 or more yards from scrimmage).

UF is behind No. 1 Alabama, who is coming off a win in a 52-24 shootout over the Aggies, and No. 3. Georgia, who pummeled Auburn 27-6 on Saturday.

Here’s what Forde had to say about the Bulldogs, who may have found their answer at quarterback in Stetson Bennett.

3. Georgia

Last game: beat Auburn 27-6

Next game: Tennessee Saturday in Athens

For at least one week, everyone could stop worrying about Bennett IV. The presumptive fourth-string quarterback heading into the season turned his first career start into an easy victory, thanks mostly to the Bulldogs’ trench domination on both sides of the ball. Georgia ran for 202 yards and held Auburn to just 39 rushing yards. (That marks the first time under Gus Malzahn that the Tigers have gone consecutive games without 100 yards rushing.) The ‘Dogs might have the best defense in America.

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Notre Dame Football: 4 commits named to SI99

Sports Illustrated is getting more involved in the college football recruiting game. See their top 99 rankings for the 2021 class here.

Sports Illustrated has gotten more involved in the recruiting game of college football and has started the SI99, where they rank the 99 top high school senior football players.

They have released the 99 names to make that list and ranked them 1-99.  Although Notre Dame doesn’t have as many commitments in those 99 like the 10 Ohio State offers, the eight from Alabama, six from Clemson or five from Georgia, the four future Fighting Irish rank the Irish high on the list for most representation.

Here is where the Notre Dame commitments were ranked:

Y-TE Cane Berrong – 44th

QB, Tyler Buchner – 55th

DT, Gabriel Rubio – 66

OL, Blake Fisher – 68

Berrong checks in as the top rated tight end, one spot above Thomas Fidone, Jr. who is yet to announce his college decision.  Tight End U continues to be loaded not just today but in the years to come.

Buchner is ranked as the seventh quarterback on the list as he checks in at 55 overall.

Rubio checks in as the seventh overall interior defensive lineman in what appears to be a very strong class nationally at that position.

And Blake Fisher, fresh off getting his fifth star from Rivals, checks in 68th overall, 50 spots lower than he appears on the overall Rivals rankings.

Notre Dame is joined by Michigan, Oklahoma and Tennessee as having four commitments on the SI99 list.