Tag: top-25

Joel Klatt reveals college football top 25 after spring ball

Fox Sports college football analyst Joel Klatt revealed his top 25 after spring ball.

Spring football has come and gone, and we’re less than four months from another journey through the college football season.

Recruiting has taken priority as summer approaches. For Oklahoma, the Champ U BBQ will be the next big event on the recruiting calendar. The annual event in June will bring a host of top prospects from the 2024 and 2025 recruiting classes.

Though the 2023 season is still more than 100 days away, it’s never too early to take a look at where teams stand.

On his latest edition of the “Joel Klatt Show,” the Fox Sports college football analyst shared his post-spring top 25, which included the Oklahoma Sooners. Let’s take a look.

Oklahoma Sooners unanimous No. 1 in ESPN/USA Softball preseason top 25

The Oklahoma Sooners were voted the unanimous No. 1 team in the USA Softball preseason top 25.

To the surprise of no one, the Oklahoma Sooners were unanimously voted the No. 1 team in the nation in the ESPN/USA Softball poll as voted on by coaches across the sport.

Oklahoma has now spent more than a year atop the rankings after being selected the preseason No. 1 team prior to 2022. The Sooners will open the year with No. 19 Duke and play No. 14 Stanford and No. 16 Washington in the Mark Campbell Invitational in Irvine, Calif. on February 9.

They’ll play a total of nine teams ranked in the preseason top 25, including No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Oklahoma State, and No. 4 Florida State.

The two-time defending national champions are the prohibitive favorite despite losing all-time home run leader Jocelyn Alo. They boast an incredibly deep lineup, which includes the last two national freshmen of the year in Tiare Jennings and Cydney Sanders. Their pitching staff is deep with returning All-American Jordy Bahl and transfer addition Alex Storako, who logged 200 innings and 300 strikeouts in 2022.

Here’s a look at the ESPN.com/USA Softball preseason top 25.

T.J. Hockenson earns a spot on the NFL’s best players under 25 list

“He’s the best tight end under 25, and it might not be long before he’s considered one of the premier players at the position”

Tight end T.J. Hockenson is coming off his first Pro Bowl season in Detroit. His second year with the Lions saw Hockenson spike up into the top three tight ends in receiving yards and improved blocking chops to go with it.

As a result, Hockenson earned a spot as the tight end on the NFL’s All-Under-25 team from NFL.com. The 23-year-old was an easy choice for the honor as the league’s top young tight end,

Hockenson enjoyed a relative breakout in 2020, finishing third in receiving yards among tight ends behind established stars Travis Kelce and Darren Waller. Lions tight ends coach Ben Johnson thinks it’s just the beginning for the 2019 draft’s eighth overall pick, recently telling reporters “there’s plenty of meat still on the bone” with Hockenson, and adding that “the sky’s the limit for this kid.”

The arrow is still pointing way up for Detroit’s first-round pick in 2019, too. The concluding sentence of his segment says it all,

“He’s the best tight end under 25, and it might not be long before he’s considered one of the premier players at the position, regardless of age.”

Hockenson caught 67 passes for 723 yards and six touchdowns in 2020.

The only other Lions player to earn a mention on the list was punter Jack Fox, who was second at his spot to New England’s Jake Bailey.

Where does Florida stand in USA TODAY’s 2021 college football top 25?

USA TODAY Sports published its most recent college football top 25 and Florida football landed a bit higher than in previous predictions.

The 2020 college football season is now old news but as the summer approaches, the new hotness is the upcoming 2021 season, which hopefully will be closer to normal now that the COVID pandemic appears to be waning.

The sports media has already released plenty of projections for this coming fall from the moment the Alabama Crimson Tide hoisted the championship trophy. It has been over four months since that moment and a lot has changed in the minds of many after the spring practice and scrimmage season concluded, which means it is prime time for an updated prediction.

USA TODAY Sports published its most recent college football top 25 (paywall) and Florida football landed a bit higher than in some other prognostications. Here is a look at where the Gators stand heading into summer.

10. Florida (10)

Emory Jones looks firmly entrenched as the starting quarterback after spring practice as the Gators transition to a more run-based offense after the departure of Kyle Trask. The move also should help the defense that won’t be on the field as much as last season when it gave up a school-record 370 points in 12 games. Staff changes and the arrival of defensive linemen Daquan Newkirk and Antonio Shelton from Auburn and Penn State, respectively, will hopefully fix the issues.

[lawrence-related id=43049,42969,42937,42921,42907]

[vertical-gallery id=39189]

Where Oklahoma ranks in 247Sports post-spring top 25 rankings, Alabama No. 1

A look at where 247Sports ranked the Oklahoma Sooners in their post-spring rankings.

We have reached the point in the offseason where way too early mock drafts and power rankings are the themes of the day. Recently, the Oklahoma Sooners were named the No. 1 team in the country by ESPN. However, 247Sports top analysts voted on their post-spring rankings. Instead of the Sooners coming in at No. 1, it was the Alabama Crimson Tide. The defending national champions are definitely worthy of the rankings but the Sooners are looking to gain ground.

What 247Sports Says…

Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

The Sooners were the only team in three versions of the 247Sports poll to receive a first-place vote. Alabama, however, took a unanimous No. 1 spot after National Signing Day, and remains up top after the spring. For Oklahoma, spring and the offseason brought plenty of excitement to Norman. The Sooners added multiple key talents via the transfer portal, and the hype around Spencer Rattler is as strong as ever heading into his second full season as the starter. Rattler threw for 3,031 yards, 28 touchdowns and seven picks last season, and is among the 2021 leaders to win the Heisman Trophy. Can he follow names like Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts by leading OU to the College Football Playoff?

Note: Ballots were submitted prior to the confirmation of Trejan Bridges and Seth McGowan dismissals

As seen time and time again with these rankings, the Iowa State Cyclones are consistently inside the top 10. They land at No. 6 sandwiched between the Georgia Bulldogs and North Carolina Tar Heels. The Sooners most-bitter rivals the Texas Longhorns come in at No. 19 and Oklahoma State barely made the cut at No. 25. No other Big 12 school received any votes.

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

Oklahoma Sooners jump from unranked to top 15 in Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll

After coming in just outside the top 25 last week, the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team find themselves in the top 15 of coaches poll.

It has been quite the run for the Oklahoma Sooners men’s basketball team in the month of January. They pulled off four victories over top 10 teams, becoming the first to pull that feat off since 1974. Continue reading “Oklahoma Sooners jump from unranked to top 15 in Ferris Mowers Coaches Poll”

Here’s where Florida ranks in early look at Top 25 for 2021 college football season

The book has closed on a memorable 2020 year which brings us to what lies ahead in 2021 with the start of the season less than 8 months away

Editor’s note: This article was originally published by USA TODAY Sports and has been republished in its entirety below. 

The book has closed on the memorable 2020 season that saw highs and lows along with plenty of uncertainty.

Which brings us to what lies ahead in 2021 as the start of the season is less than eight months away.

Alabama and Clemson have each made six appearances in the seven seasons of the College Football Playoff. Ohio State and Oklahoma have made four. It won’t be surprising to see this quartet again contending, though the Sooners are the only team returning significant experience at quarterback with Spencer Rattler back for his second season as the starter. The Tigers don’t have a complete unknown as D.J. Uiagalelei led the team for two games when Trevor Lawrence was out.

The other usual playoff suspects should be in the mix with Georgia, Notre Dame and Florida benefiting from years of successful recruiting. There are also some non-traditional contenders inside the top 10.

What makes guessing what happens in the upcoming season so difficult is the unexpected results of NFL draft decisions, an expected and unprecedented amount of players in the transfer portal and uncertainty about what the health situation will be in the fall.

But here goes nothing. An early look at who will be the best teams next season:

Florida Gators remain outside the top 5 in latest AP Poll

College football’s Week 11 is in the book and the AP Poll has spoken keeping Florida at No. 6 in its rankings for the second straight week.

[jwplayer RjcJQ9no]

Florida essentially fired on all cylinders in its high-scoring win over Arkansas on Saturday night. Sure, the Gators allowed 35 points. But their offensive output meant the game was never really in question, and the Razorbacks were the beneficiaries of garbage time to a degree.

Still, the performance wasn’t enough for the now 5-1 UF team to crack the top five in the latest release of the AP Top 25. Florida ranks No. 6 once again in that poll, still trailing No. 1 Alabama and No. 5 Texas A&M (who its one loss came against) within the conference.

Florida is in the top five of this week’s Amway Coaches Poll, but its ranking of No. 5 didn’t change after beating Arkansas.

The Gators will almost certainly be at least double-digit favorites in every remaining regular-season game, but they may not have much of a chance to boost their resume until a potential matchup with Alabama in the SEC Championship Game.

Here’s the full AP Poll for this week.

RANK TEAM PV CONF PTS
1 Alabama (6-0) 1 SEC 1,548 (60)
2 Notre Dame (8-0) 2 ACC 1,467 (1)
3 Ohio State (3-0) 3 Big Ten 1,445 (1)
4 Clemson (7-1) 4 ACC 1,355
5 Texas A&M (5-1) 5 SEC 1,240
6 Florida (5-1) 6 SEC 1,222
7 Cincinnati (7-0) 7 AAC 1,198
8 Brigham Young (8-0) 8 Independent 1,094
9 Indiana (4-0) 10 Big Ten 997
10 Wisconsin (2-0) 13 Big Ten 950
11 Oregon (2-0) 11 Pac-12 949
12 Miami (FL) (7-1) 9 ACC 940
13 Georgia (4-2) 12 SEC 824
14 Oklahoma State (5-1) 14 Big 12 750
15 Coastal Carolina (7-0) 15 Sun Belt 557
15 Marshall (7-0) 16 C-USA 557
17 Iowa State (5-2) 17 Big 12 498
18 Oklahoma (5-2) 18 Big 12 497
19 Northwestern (4-0) 23 Big Ten 378
20 USC (2-0) 20 Pac-12 377
21 Liberty (8-0) 22 Independent 307
22 Texas (5-2) 21 Big 12 296
23 Auburn (4-2) 24 SEC 187
24 Louisiana-Lafayette (7-1) 25 Sun Belt 177
25 Tulsa (4-1) – AAC 155
Others receiving votes:

North Carolina 101, SMU 20, Utah 17, Washington 15, Arizona State 9, Boise State 6, San Jose State 5, Appalachian State 5, Nevada 3, Iowa 2, Buffalo 1, UCF 1

[lawrence-related id=28133,27928,27912,27907]

[vertical-gallery id=28131]