Tag: The Athletic

Tyler Guyton among Dane Brugler’s top-50 prospects for the 2024 NFL Draft

Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton is the lone Sooner in Dane Brugler’s initial 2024 top 50 draft board.

Oklahoma is just a week away from kicking off its 2023 season. They’ll take on Arkansas State at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The  Sooners look to distance themselves from a squad that started 3-0 but struggled inside Big 12 play.

Along the offensive line, the Sooners lost three starters from last year. Chris Murray graduated, and the tackles Anton Harrison and Wanya Morris were drafted in the first three rounds of the 2023 NFL draft.

Enter Tyler Guyton, a former transfer from TCU who played in 10 games and made five starts last year. His best performance came against Jared Verse and Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl.

Verse would have been a top-ten pick in the 2023 NFL draft, but opted to stay in school one more year. It’s likely he’ll be a top-ten pick in the 2024 draft.

It was a nice back and for the battle between the two, with both Guyton and Verse winning snaps.

That performance and his noteworthy physical traits have caught the eye of the NFL and draft aficionados. Dane Brugler, one of the best scouting and draft experts in the business, released his initial top 50 draft board for the 2024 NFL Draft (subscription required). Oklahoma’s Tyler Guyton was the lone Sooner to crack the top 50.

If he were to be drafted there, Guyton slotted in at No. 31. He’s currently Dane Brugler’s No. 6 offensive tackle in the 2024 class. With a premium placed on offensive tackles in the draft, there’s a good chance Guyton could be a first round pick.

Now, there are a couple of ways to look at that. As it stands, Guyton is comfortably a top-100 pick. Anton Harrison was similarly in the same range to start last season and stayed in the top 50 range until the draft before being selected 27th by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Guyton has more to prove than Harrison, as this year would be his first full season as a starter. Harrison started the 2021 season and played a lot in his true freshman season in 2020.

This is a prove-it year for Guyton. Pro Football Focus said he played 400 snaps and allowed two sacks and no hits on 191 pass-blocking plays in 2022. Those numbers work, but how will they play when teams consistently gameplan for you? That will be one of Guyton’s challenges.

Offensive line coach Bill Bedenabugh had a glowing review for his starting right tackle. “He’s got all the ability in the world,” Bedenbaugh said. “He’s one of the most talented guys I’ve ever seen, and we’ve had some pretty talented guys come through here.”

Guyton’s size and athletic traits will make him one of the more intriguing prospects in draft circles next spring. The stage is set for Guyton to become one of the best players on Oklahoma’s roster. He can also position himself as a first-round draft choice next April.

If he can take his game to the next level and secure Dillon Gabriel’s blindside, he has a great chance of becoming Oklahoma’s next first round offensive tackle.

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Where Brian Kelly stands in The Athletic’s coaching tiers entering 2023

Brian Kelly is the third-winningest active coach in the FBS, but he’s still looking for an elusive national title.

LSU coach [autotag]Brian Kelly[/autotag] has been around the block.

He’s the third-winningest active head coach in the FBS ranks with stops at Grand Valley State, Central Michigan, Cincinnati and Notre Dame before arriving in Baton Rouge last offseason.

But despite a head coaching career spanning more than 30 years and 273 wins, he’s still looking for his first national championship at the Division I level.

Because of that, he doesn’t sit at the very top of The Athletic’s college football coaching tiers entering the season. He isn’t far behind, though.

Nick Saban stands in a tier by himself at 1A, followed by Kirby Smart and Dabo Swinney in the 1B tier. Kelly finds himself in Tier 2 along with Ryan Day, Luke Fickell, Jimbo Fisher, Jim Harbaugh, Lincoln Riley and Kyle Whittingham.

Kelly was a two-time national Coach of the Year at Notre Dame, and he won 10 games and the SEC West in his first season at LSU. It seems like all it would take for Kelly to move into the top tier would be finally winning it all, as the Tigers’ last three head coaches have done.

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Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

Where Billy Napier lands in The Athletic’s college football coaching tiers

Billy Napier is in the middle of the pack among head coaches according to The Athletic.

Florida football is preparing for the second season of the Billy Napier era, which kicks off next Thursday in Salt Lake City against the Utah Utes. The Gators fell short of their goals in 2022 despite the big opening win over UU in the Swamp last year, which was unfortunately the highwater mark for the Orange and Blue.

This fall represents a true test for the former Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns coach now that he has cleared the cupboard of troublesome players left over from the Dan Mullen regime while instituting a new culture inside Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. While he is not quite on the hot seat just yet, the Gator Nation will be quick to stoke those flames if he falls short of a winning season — which would mean sub-.500 finishes in each of the last three seasons.

The Athletic’s Chris Vannini and Bruce Feldman published their college football coaching tiers for the 2023 campaign after the two spoke with coaches, agents and industry experts to rank 116 FBS coaches into tiers. Napier landed in the fourth out of eight-ish tiers, with the following explanation from Vannini.

Billy Napier enters his second season at Florida with pressure after a 6-7 debut and low expectations for this season. But he went 40-12 at Louisiana with two Sun Belt titles and saw a big jump there in Year 2. Florida currently has the No. 3 recruiting class in the country, and people in the industry believe Napier will see the same jump at Florida soon.

“Billy is so consumed with getting the infrastructure right because he knows if you get that right, everything else becomes easier,” said a third agent. “People are down on him. but they’re going to be more successful than people think. … Two years from today, I bet Florida fans are really glad Billy Napier is their coach.”

Ole Miss Rebels head coach Lane Kiffin was also included as the other Southeastern Conference representative in that tier.

Florida opens its 2023 schedule on the road against Utah on Thursday, Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT.

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Florida football’s starting QB among The Athletic’s transfer portal top 100

Graham Mertz is the lone Gators transfer on The Athletic’s top-100 transfer portal players.

The NCAA’s transfer portal has become a de facto free agency apparatus in the collegiate sports realm — especially for college football. While it existed prior to the initial COVID pandemic as well as the NIL era, those two factors have turned amateur sports upside down

With the departure of Florida football’s starting quarterback Anthony Richarson to the NFL, the Gators were left with a huge vacuum at the quarterback position — especially after the Jaden Rashada drama. Billy Napier’s staff decided to take a chance on former Wisconsin Badgers gunslinger Graham Mertz, who brings a great deal of experience to the QB corps.

Ahead of the 2023 season, The Athletic’s Max Olson and Bruce Feldman put together a ranking of the top 100 transfer portal players in college football, including Florida’s starting signal caller. The duo placed him at No. 84 overall and the lone new Gator to get the nod.

The top spot in the rankings is held by quarterback Sam Hartman, who transferred from the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this past offseason. Mertz is bookended by former Clemson Tigers quarterback DJ Uiagalelei (No. 83), who now plays for the Oregon Ducks, and defensive back Bralyn Lux (No. 85), who jumped from the Fresno State Bulldogs to the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Florida opens its 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Thursday, Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT.

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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander placed in 2C tier by The Athletic

SGA was placed as one of the best 18 players in the league.

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Preparing for the 2023-24 season, The Athletic ranked the top 125 players in the league into five tiers. The higher the number and letter, the better the player.

After a career season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is ranked as one of the best players in the league. He was put in Tier 2C along with James Harden, Paul George and Jamal Murray.

The 25-year-old looks to build upon his impressive season, during which he averaged 31.4 points on 51% shooting. He earned his first All-NBA first-team bid and finished No. 5 in MVP voting.

The Oklahoma City Thunder enter the season with high expectations after being arguably the biggest overachiever last year.

Multiple former Alabama stars rank among top 25 players in the NFL under the age of 25

Alabama football continues to produce the best young talent in the NFL as voted by coaches and executives

The National Football League is more talented than it has ever been with players quickly establishing themselves as elite-level players before even turning 25. Part of that is because college development has never been better with programs like the Alabama Crimson Tide pumping out three to four first-round prospects every single year at the age of 21.

According to the Athletic, seven front-office executives and five NFL coaches came together to vote on the Top 25 players in the NFL under the age of 25, and former Crimson Tide players dominated the list (Subscription required). Broncos‘ Patrick Surtain II was voted No. 4, Jets‘ Quinnen Williams No. 7, Eagles‘ Jalen Hurts No. 8, Dolphins‘ Jaylen Waddle No. 11, Raiders‘ Josh Jacobs No. 17, Eagles’ DeVonta Smith No. 18 and Cowboys‘ Trevon Diggs No. 24.

If you look at essentially any roster in the NFL, you are more than likely going to find at least one former Alabama player who is a core piece of that franchise. The things Nick Saban has been able to do for his collegiate players are something we will never see again in our lifetime. In fact, this list will probably grow next year as Bryce Young, Will Anderson Jr. and Jahmyr Gibbs are without a doubt three of the most exciting young players in this past draft.

People used to think that Nick Saban and the Alabama program worked you so hard in college that the juice was gone by the time they got to the NFL, now they are without a doubt the best program at producing NFL talent. For example, the list doesn’t even include Jerry Jeudy who has been the lone bright spot on an anemic Denver offense or Landon Dickerson who was a Pro Bowler for Philadelphia in 2022.

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The Athletic has disappointing preseason prediction for Florida football

These might be the worst predictions yet for Florida football. Even the biggest pessimist wouldn’t project this finish.

Florida football is preparing to embark upon its second season with head coach Billy Napier at the helm of the program, looking to snap a two-season sub-.500 streak that has mired the Gators in mediocrity.

Unfortunately, the outlook for the coming campaign is pretty grim, with the Orange and Blue possessing one of the toughest schedules among Power Five schools and arguably the most difficult in the Southeastern Conference. As such, the prognostications have been tempered by low expectations while also putting Napier’s employment on the Swamp’s sidelines in peril.

The Athletic’s Stewart Mandel looked at the SEC’s upcoming 2023 season and cast his predictions for the 14-school conference, including Florida. His projection is among the most bearish among the sports media, calling for the Gators to finish last in the SEC East with a 1-7 record in conference play while going a paltry 3-9 overall.

Mandel also foresees the possibility of Napier getting the axe after yet another unsuccessful season in Gainesville, with the call coming in Week 11. Here is what he had to offer.

Big-brand SEC programs don’t let coaches have two bad seasons, and Napier, 6-7 in his first one, has the makings of a last-place team this fall. That former Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz is his best option at that position does not bode well. If he really goes 3-9, the boosters will find $32 million to pull the plug.

As for the Gators’ conference peers, the Georgia Bulldogs are expected to go undefeated in both SEC and overall regular season play while taking the East division while the LSU Tigers are projected to outlast the Alabama Crimson Tide to take the West title with just one loss in SEC play overall.

To add insult to injury, the Gators are listed behind the Vanderbilt Commodores with a last-place finish in their division.

Florida opens its 2023 schedule on the road against the Utah Utes on Thursday, Aug. 31, with a kickoff time of 8 p.m. EDT.

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Steph Curry lands near top of The Athletic’s player tiers for 2023

A member of the Warriors landed in the top group of The Athletic’s latest set of NBA player tiers

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Get ready — lists, predictions and preseason rankings are beginning to pour in before the new NBA campaign gets underway in October. In the latest list of player tiers from The Athletic, a member of the Golden State Warriors is listed near the top.

For the fourth consecutive season, Seth Partnow of The Athletic named different player tiers for some of the top players in the league. With the list narrowing, Steph Curry’s name was listed at the top, Tier 1A.

The Warriors’ point guard joined Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Denver’s Nikola Jokic in Tier 1A. Curry landed above Phoenix’s Kevin Durant, Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid and Dallas’ Luka Doncic.

Read Partnow’s full set of tiers via The Athletic.

Via @SethPartnow on Twitter:

Curry is coming off an All-Star season, averaging 29.4 points per game on 49.3% shooting from the field and 42.7% from beyond the arc to go along with 6.3 assists and 6.1 rebounds in 56 games.

This post originally appeared on Warriors Wire! Follow us on Facebook and Twitter! 

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Where Texas ranks among all 133 college football teams per The Athletic

Texas is viewed as one of the better teams in college football ahead of the 2023 season.

Despite there being tons of hype surrounding Texas ahead of the 2023 season there also appears to be caution around them. Continue reading “Where Texas ranks among all 133 college football teams per The Athletic”

The Athletic named Arrowhead Stadium as NFL’s sixth-best venue

The Athletic recently ranked Arrowhead Stadium as the sixth-best venue in the NFL.

The Kansas City Chiefs have made history at Arrowhead Stadium in recent years and have turned the Truman Sports Complex into the epicenter of American gridiron football since the Patrick Mahomes era started back in 2017.

The Athletic recently ranked every NFL stadium in a piece that looked at which venues provide the best gameday experience for fans across the nation. They chose Arrowhead as the sixth-best stadium in the league, noting that the tailgating and ambiance on gameday make it a destination for any NFL fanatic.

“It would be tough to find a better game-day atmosphere,” Jon Machota of The Athletic wrote. “The tailgating scene is outstanding and the crowd noise during games is among the best in the league. The venue has aged well considering the Chiefs have been playing there since 1972.”

While a top-10 ranking is rock-solid for a stadium as old as Arrowhead, Chiefs fans are sure to take exception to any list that doesn’t rank it as the No. 1 place to see an NFL game.

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