This four-star DL has Florida in his top 5, planning Halloween commitment

Four-star defensive lineman Kayden McDonald is down to five schools and the University of Florida is one of them. The Gators will host McDonald on Saturday for their matchup with Missouri.

Four-star defensive lineman Kayden McDonald has narrowed down his college options to five programs — Florida, Clemson, Michigan, Ohio State and Oklahoma.

McDonald caught up with Hayes Fawcett of On3.com and spoke about each of his finalists after making the announcement, and he also set a commitment date of October 31. He’s already been to the Swamp three times this year, including an official visit in June, but McDonald is expected in the Swamp this weekend to see the Gators take on the Missouri Tigers.

“I love Florida,” McDonald said. “ The academics, staff, it’s the SEC, and there are big games every Saturday in the swamp. Coach Napier is building his team one player at a time. Coach Chaos coming from the NFL is a technician. We are real close. I’m comfortable with coach Chaos, coach Reid, coach Chaney, coach PT and pretty much all the staff. Me, my mom, and coach Napier are in a group chat and we talk to him all the time. He’s a players coach, and I like that. Definitely makes Florida a top school.”

Texas and Miami were two other schools McDonald mentioned as dark horse candidates that are still are recruiting him, but he said that he plans to focus on his top five moving forward.

The On3 consensus ranks McDonald at No. 314 overall and No. 43 among defensive linemen in the class of 2023. 247Sports’ individual rankings have him a bit high at No. 243 overall and No. 35 in his position group.

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Alabama women’s soccer ranks Top 5 in the nation

Alabama Women’s soccer ranked in the Top 5 in the most recent polls!

The Alabama Crimson Tide Women’s soccer team is off to an excellent start to the 2022 campaign. The Tide are 11-1-1 on the year with their only loss coming on the road to the Miami Hurricanes. More importantly, though, they are 4-0 in the conference as they head into the thick of their season.

Alabama has been rewarded for their good play to start the year as they are currently a consensus Top 5 team in soccer. Two polls have the Tide at No. 4 while one has them at No. 5. Only UCLA, Virginia, and Florida State are ranked higher.

The Tide have also outscored their opponents 38 to eight on the season, with every single goal coming from an assist, wow. Riley Mattingly Parker leads the way for Alabama with nine goals and two assists on the year.

Hopefully they will have enough in the tank at the end of the year to make a push for the national title!

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Class of 2023 in-state 4-star Tomarrion Parker has the Tide in his top 5

Alabama is right in the mix for a talented four-star defender in Tomarrion Parker

Now that Alabama has put the finishing touches upon the class of 2022, Nick Saban and his staff have begun to shift most of their focus to the class of 2023.

Fortunately for Alabama, the Crimson Tide staff will not have to travel far to visit with some of the nation’s top prospects. That’s because the state of Alabama is littered with an abundance of talent in the class of 2023.

One name that Tide fans should know about is four-star EDGE defender Tomarrion Parker from Phenix City, AL.

Parker has offers from all around the country but has recently trimmed his list of schools to five, and the home-state Crimson Tide are right in the mix. Joining Alabama is fellow SEC schools Georiga and Tennessee. Penn State and Ohio State finish out Parker’s top five.

Parker released his top five on Twitter.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for all the latest on the Alabama Crimson Tide!

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on Twitter @Blackwood89.

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Top 5 plays of Bryce Young’s Heisman season

The top 5 plays of Bryce Young’s historic Heisman season!

Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback Bryce Young made history last night as the Tide’s first-ever quarterback to win the Heisman Trophy.

It also marked the first time that Alabama players brought home the prestigious award in back-to-back seasons.

Now that Young has won the award, let’s take a trip down memory lane and take a look at the top five plays of Young’s Heisman Trophy-winning season.

College Football Playoff releases new rankings

What did they get right and what did they get wrong this week?

The College Football Playoff committee released their third set of rankings on Tuesday night as we continue to inch closer to the end of the regular season.

We’re certain that Georgia remained at the top but did Alabama. Oregon, and Ohio State all stay in the same order from two-through-four?

And did Michigan stay ranked ahead of Michigan State a second-straight week?

Here is the latest College Football Playoff rankings that were released on Tuesday night:

Florida Gators hang tight in Amway Coaches Poll for Week 12

Florida Gators football team remains ranked No. 5 in the nation after its shaky win over the Vanderbilt Commodores during Week 12.

The Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA TODAY Sports has been released after Week 12 of college football play and the Florida Gators remain ranked fifth in the nation after an unsteady performance in its win against the lowly Vanderbilt Commodores.

In fact, the entire top nine teams in the polls held on to their spots from the previous week, with fellow Southeastern Conference foe the Georgia Bulldogs sneaking into the top 10 by inching up a spot. UGA joins the top-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide and Texas A&M Aggies along with the Gators to give the league four teams in the top 10.

The only other SEC team in the top 25 is the Auburn Tigers, who moved up two spots to No. 19 after beating the Tennessee Volunteers at home on Saturday, 30-17.

Here are the full top 25 rankings for college football’s Week 12 of the 2020 schedule.

Rank Team RCD PTS 1ST PREV CHG Hi/Lo
1 Alabama 7-0 1547 59 1 1/3
2 Notre Dame 8-0 1469 2 2 2/10
3 Ohio State 4-0 1425 1 3 2/10
4 Clemson 7-1 1353 0 4 1/4
5 Florida 6-1 1256 0 5 3/9
6 Texas A&M 5-1 1241 0 6 6/20
7 Cincinnati 8-0 1166 0 7 6/22
8 Brigham Young 9-0 1103 0 8 8/23
9 Miami 7-1 1005 0 9 7/NR
10 Georgia 5-2 897 0 11 1 3/11
11 Oregon 3-0 876 0 13 2 9/17
12 Indiana 4-1 821 0 10 -2 10/NR
13 Northwestern 5-0 813 0 20 7 13/NR
14 Oklahoma 6-2 756 0 17 3 3/NR
15 Iowa State 6-2 685 0 16 1 15/NR
16 Marshall 7-0 563 0 15 -1 15/NR
17 Coastal Carolina 8-0 530 0 18 1 16/NR
18 Southern California 3-0 508 0 19 1 17/NR
19 Auburn 5-2 427 0 21 2 7/NR
20 Wisconsin 2-1 409 0 12 -8 11/20
21 Texas 5-2 306 0 23 2 8/NR
22 Oklahoma State 5-2 299 0 14 -8 6/22
23 North Carolina 6-2 205 0 24 1 6/NR
24 UL Lafayette 7-1 165 0 25 1 21/NR
25 Tulsa 5-1 120 0 NR 1 25/NR

Schools Dropped Out:

No. 22 Liberty.

Others Receiving Votes:

Nevada 39; Liberty 27; Missouri 24; Washington 17; San Jose State 13; Maryland 13; NC State 12; Boston College 12; Boise State 11; Southern Methodist 10; Memphis 9; Army 6; Appalachian State 6; Louisiana State 3; Purdue 2; Iowa 1.

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Notre Dame cracks top 5 in ESPN Power Rankings

Buckle up for a really fun fall if these power rankings are accurate in how things play out in 2020, Notre Dame fans…

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We’re two weeks into Notre Dame’s 2020 football season and three weeks into 2020 college football as a hole.  We started it by thinking there would be no Big Ten football, only to find out last week that we would indeed be watching the Big Ten this fall.

In these strange times, how pollsters have gone about ranking teams who are playing and not playing has been interesting while also at times confusing.

That all said, ESPN has released their latest College Football Power Rankings and after a 52-0 destruction of South Florida, they’re thinking highly of Notre Dame, even with Big Ten teams being accounted for.

Here’s what they said about No. 5 Notre Dame:

Nobody can beat up on the Fighting Irish for not racking up enough style points in Week 2. After a so-so performance in its season-opening win over Duke, Notre Dame looked every bit the part of a national title contender on Saturday in a 52-0 dismantling of South Florida, even without multiple defensive starters. One of the most impressive things about the Irish thus far is that they have a wealth of impact players on both sides of the ball. It’s hard not to like the balance that Brian Kelly has created.

In what I think will become one of the story lines of the week as well as the season is how much Notre Dame’s depth has stuck out.  At the top the Irish might not be loaded with future first and second round draft picks like we’ve seen before, but top to bottom the level of talent is just as great and seemingly deeper than at any point since the early 1990’s.

It’s hard for me to put all that stock in beating up an undermanned South Florida squad, but then again for years and years we saw Notre Dame play with it’s food in games like that and struggle mightily against mediocre foes.

As for the rest of the poll – although excited to see Notre Dame ranked in the top five, it’s hard for me to put too much credit into it when the top ranked team in it is yet to play a down of football yet this fall.

Florida Gators football cracks top 5 in ESPN’s SP+ rankings

ESPN’s Bill Connelly has released his preseason SP+ rankings, and Florida is ranked fifth heading into the 2020 season.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly has released his preseason SP+ rankings, and Florida is ranked fifth heading into the 2020 season.

SP+ is an analytics system devised by Connelly to rank every college football team at the FBS level. One of the main components of the rankings is that they aren’t weighted by wins and losses, but rather team performance and expected win probability based on said performances.

Despite the fact that two leagues in both the Power Five and the Group of Five have canceled the fall season and only 76 of the 130 FBS teams are currently planning on having a season in the fall, these rankings include every team at the FBS level, even teams that have decided to cancel/postpone.

Florida is the third-highest ranked SEC team on the SP+, behind No. 2 Alabama and No. 4 Georgia. No. 1 Ohio State and No. 3 Clemson round out the top five.

Within the SP+ top 15, there are three more SEC squads: No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 11 Auburn and No. 13 LSU.

Here are the full rankings.

Overall SP+ Rankings

TEAM PROJ. SP+ OFFENSE DEFENSE

AVG. WINS

1. Ohio St. 30.1 44.2 (3) 14.1 (4) N/A
2. Alabama 29.0 46.4 (1) 17.4 (19) 10 (8.0)
3. Clemson 26.0 42.5 (4) 16.5 (12) 11 (9.5)
4. Georgia 25.5 32.3 (29) 6.8 (1) 10 (7.6)
5. Florida 23.8 37.8 (11) 14.1 (3) 10 (7.5)
6. Oklahoma 22.7 44.6 (2) 21.9 (36) 10 (8.3)
7. Penn St. 22.3 39.4 (7) 17.1 (17) N/A
8. Wisconsin 21.6 35.9 (17) 14.3 (5) N/A
9. Notre Dame 20.5 38.1 (10) 17.6 (20) 11 (8.7)
10. Texas A&M 20.2 36.8 (14) 16.6 (13) 10 (6.6)
11. Auburn 20.0 35.0 (21) 14.9 (8) 10 (6.2)
12. Oregon 19.7 31.8 (36) 12.1 (2) N/A
13. LSU 18.5 37.3 (13) 18.8 (24) 10 (6.5)
14. Texas 16.5 40.8 (5) 24.3 (46) 10 (7.3)
15. Washington 16.4 32.2 (31) 15.9 (9) N/A
16. USC 15.8 39.5 (6) 23.7 (42) N/A
17. UCF 15.4 34.6 (23) 19.3 (29) 9 (7.1)
18. N. Carolina 15.3 39.3 (8) 24.0 (45) 11 (8.0)
19. Tennessee 15.0 29.8 (50) 14.8 (6) 10 (5.3)
20. Minnesota 14.3 38.8 (9) 24.5 (48) N/A
21. Michigan 13.4 31.0 (41) 17.7 (21) N/A
22. Kentucky 13.0 32.1 (34) 19.1 (26) 10 (5.0)
23. Miami 12.9 28.9 (56) 16.0 (10) 11 (6.9)
24. Oklahoma St. 12.7 34.9 (22) 22.2 (38) 10 (6.4)
25. Memphis 12.5 36.3 (15) 23.8 (44) 10 (7.4)
26. Utah 11.9 36.1 (16) 24.3 (47) N/A
27. Florida St. 11.7 32.5 (28) 20.7 (33) 11 (6.5)
28. Iowa 11.3 28.4 (59) 17.1 (15) N/A
29. Iowa St. 10.9 29.8 (51) 19.0 (25) 10 (5.9)
30. Baylor 10.7 34.5 (24) 23.7 (43) 10 (6.0)
31. TCU 10.0 30.2 (47) 20.2 (31) 10 (5.7)
32. Nebraska 9.9 35.6 (19) 25.7 (51) N/A
33. Indiana 9.8 32.0 (35) 22.2 (37) N/A
34. Cincinnati 9.5 28.6 (58) 19.1 (27) 10 (7.1)
35. Va. Tech 9.3 29.9 (49) 20.6 (32) 11 (6.5)
36. S. Carolina 9.0 25.6 (81) 16.6 (14) 10 (4.0)
37. Boise St. 8.6 31.6 (37) 23.0 (40) N/A
38. Ole Miss 7.8 31.3 (38) 23.5 (41) 10 (4.1)
39. App. St. 7.5 35.4 (20) 27.8 (64) 11 (9.0)
40. Pittsburgh 7.4 22.3 (101) 14.9 (7) 11 (5.8)
41. Louisville 7.3 37.6 (12) 30.3 (84) 11 (6.0)
42. Arizona St. 7.3 26.8 (73) 19.5 (30) N/A
43. Virginia 5.9 28.2 (60) 22.3 (39) 11 (5.8)
44. Missouri 4.9 22.0 (103) 17.1 (16) 10 (3.6)
45. Stanford 4.4 31.1 (40) 26.6 (60) N/A
46. California 4.3 30.1 (48) 25.7 (53) N/A
47. Louisiana 4.2 34.2 (25) 30.1 (81) 11 (8.0)
48. Miss. St. 4.2 33.6 (26) 29.5 (73) 10 (3.4)
49. Michigan St. 4.0 21.8 (105) 17.8 (22) N/A
50. Purdue 3.7 32.2 (30) 28.6 (69) N/A
51. BYU 3.3 29.8 (52) 26.4 (58) 8 (5.9)
52. Northwestern 3.0 19.3 (114) 16.3 (11) N/A
53. SMU 3.0 33.5 (27) 30.5 (86) 12 (7.4)
54. Ga. Tech 2.9 24.5 (90) 21.6 (35) 11 (4.4)
55. Wash. St. 2.3 35.8 (18) 33.5 (101) N/A
56. Kansas St. 1.9 28.0 (64) 26.1 (56) 10 (4.1)
57. WKU 1.9 20.3 (111) 18.4 (23) 11 (7.3)
58. Houston 1.1 31.1 (39) 30.0 (78) 10 (4.8)
59. UCLA 0.8 30.8 (42) 29.9 (77) N/A
60. Texas Tech 0.7 30.2 (46) 29.5 (74) 10 (4.2)
61. Illinois 0.7 26.4 (76) 25.7 (52) N/A
62. Navy 0.1 29.7 (53) 29.5 (75) 11 (5.9)
63. Tulane -0.5 27.3 (70) 27.7 (63) 11 (5.7)
64. NC St. -0.5 26.0 (79) 26.6 (59) 11 (4.6)
65. Ohio -1.1 32.1 (33) 33.1 (98) N/A
66. UAB -1.1 18.0 (119) 19.1 (28) 11 (7.3)
67. Boston Coll. -1.4 30.6 (43) 32.0 (95) 11 (3.9)
68. Temple -1.5 24.5 (89) 26.0 (55) 8 (3.2)
69. W. Virginia -1.6 26.4 (77) 28.0 (66) 10 (3.7)
70. Oregon St. -2.0 28.0 (63) 30.0 (79) N/A
71. Duke -2.3 19.3 (115) 21.6 (34) 11 (4.2)
72. SDSU -2.3 14.9 (124) 17.2 (18) N/A
73. Buffalo -2.6 24.9 (85) 27.5 (62) N/A
74. Marshall -2.8 24.6 (88) 27.4 (61) 10 (6.1)
75. Arkansas -3.2 24.8 (87) 28.0 (65) 10 (1.5)
76. Colorado St. -4.2 25.9 (80) 30.1 (83) N/A
77. Maryland -4.2 24.0 (92) 28.3 (67) N/A
78. USF -4.3 20.7 (108) 24.9 (49) 11 (4.4)
79. Ball St. -4.3 27.4 (69) 31.7 (92) N/A
80. Troy -4.7 29.5 (54) 34.1 (103) 12 (7.3)
81. Tulsa -4.7 26.3 (78) 31.0 (88) 10 (3.6)
82. WMU -5.2 28.0 (65) 33.2 (99) N/A
83. Wyoming -5.4 19.7 (113) 25.1 (50) N/A
84. Ga. Southern -5.6 23.3 (98) 28.9 (70) 11 (6.5)
85. Colorado -5.8 26.9 (72) 32.7 (97) N/A
86. CMU -5.8 24.3 (91) 30.1 (82) N/A
87. Syracuse -5.9 25.2 (82) 31.1 (90) 11 (3.4)
88. Wake Forest -5.9 20.5 (109) 26.4 (57) 11 (3.2)
89. La. Tech -6.4 25.0 (84) 31.3 (91) 11 (6.7)
90. Toledo -6.5 28.1 (61) 34.5 (105) N/A
91. Arkansas St. -6.6 32.1 (32) 38.7 (119) 12 (6.1)
92. So. Miss -6.7 23.7 (96) 30.4 (85) 12 (7.4)
93. Hawaii -6.8 30.5 (45) 37.3 (114) N/A
94. Arizona -7.4 30.6 (44) 38.0 (118) NAA
95. FAU -7.6 23.4 (97) 31.0 (89) 9 (4.4)
96. Fresno St. -8.0 28.1 (62) 36.1 (107) N/A
97. Utah St. -8.1 23.8 (95) 32.0 (94) N/A
98. Charlotte -8.2 29.0 (55) 37.3 (115) 11 (4.8)
99. Army -8.5 26.8 (74) 35.3 (106) 12 (6.7)
100. ECU -8.8 27.5 (68) 36.2 (109) 10 (3.1)
101. Air Force -8.9 21.8 (104) 30.7 (87) 2 (0.8)
102. SJSU -9.1 27.8 (67) 36.9 (113) N/A
103. Georgia St. -9.3 27.3 (71) 36.6 (110) 10 (4.5)
104. FIU -9.4 19.9 (112) 29.2 (72) 8 (3.9)
105. Nevada -9.7 20.3 (110) 30.0 (80) N/A
106. Rutgers -10.2 18.8 (116) 29.0 (71) N/A
107. MTSU -10.3 28.8 (57) 39.1 (121) 10 (4.3)
108. Miami-OH -11.1 20.8 (107) 31.9 (93) N/A
109. Coastal Caro. -11.3 24.8 (86) 36.2 (108) 10 (4.2)
110. Vanderbilt -11.6 14.2 (127) 25.8 (54) 10 (0.8)
111. Liberty -11.8 25.0 (83) 36.8 (112) 10 (4.8)
112. Kent St. -12.4 26.6 (75) 39.0 (120) N/A
113. EMU -12.5 27.8 (66) 40.3 (125) N/A
114. N. Texas -12.6 21.6 (106) 34.2 (104) 11 (5.2)
115. Kansas -12.7 24.0 (93) 36.6 (111) 10 (1.6)
116. Rice -14.2 14.3 (126) 28.5 (68) 8 (3.4)
117. NIU -14.6 18.1 (118) 32.7 (96) N/A
118. ODU -15.9 14.0 (128) 29.9 (76) N/A
119. S. Alabama -16.4 17.3 (122) 33.7 (102) 11 (3.4)
120. UL-Monroe -16.5 23.9 (94) 40.4 (126) 11 (3.3)
121. New Mexico -17.3 22.9 (100) 40.2 (123) N/A
122. UNLV -17.3 22.9 (99) 40.3 (124) N/A
123. UTSA -18.9 22.3 (102) 41.1 (127) 12 (4.2)
124. Texas St. -19.2 18.3 (117) 37.5 (116) 12 (2.8)
125. Akron -21.0 12.5 (129) 33.5 (100) N/A
126. UConn -22.3 17.7 (120) 40.0 (122) N/A
127. BGSU -23.1 14.5 (125) 37.5 (117) N/A
128. UTEP -29.9 15.4 (123) 45.3 (129) 9 (1.0)
129. UMass -30.5 17.3 (121) 47.7 (130) N/A
130. NMSU -31.5 12.2 (130) 43.8 (128) N/A

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Badgers in the top 5 for key 2021 wide receiver

Class of 2021 three-star wide receiver Skyler Bell, a key target for Paul Chryst and his staff, released his top 5 schools yesterday…

Class of 2021 three-star wide receiver Skyler Bell, a key target for Paul Chryst and his staff, released his top 5 schools yesterday and among those named were the Wisconsin Badgers.

As seen above the other teams in the running for Bell are Rutgers, West Virginia, Virginia Tech and Iowa.

The Watertown, Connecticut native is the No. 1101 recruit in the class of 2021, the No. 163 wide receiver and the No. 6 player from the state of Connecticut.

Though the Badgers have been heavily pursuing Bell to fill the void at wide receiver, 247Sports’ crystal ball projections has him choosing to play for Kirk Ferentz and the Iowa Hawkeyes.

The race isn’t over yet, though, and landing Bell would be a huge addition to a 2021 class that is currently without a wide receiver.

 

For everything Wisconsin recruiting and the class of 2021 check out the 2021 commitment tracker and follow @thebadgerswire, @benzkenney and @alow_33 on Twitter.

The five most important players on the 2020 Wisconsin Badgers

The 2020 college football season is right around the corner and teams around the country have began their in-person preseason programs…

The 2020 college football season is right around the corner and teams around the country have began their in-person preseason programs.

The Wisconsin Badgers, one of those teams holding weight room workouts, head into 2020 without many of their key contributors and most important players from the 2019 unit, those being Jonathan Taylor, Chris Orr, Tyler Biadasz and Zack Baun to name a few.

If you’ve been a college football fan for more than two years, though, you know that the key to a program succeeding year-in and year-out is having new guys come and fill the shoes of departed players.

Here, in order, are my top-5 most important players on the 2020 Wisconsin Badgers.

 

No. 5: Running back [Insert name here]

Syndication: Unknown
Badgers running back Nakia Watson pushes Michigan State safety Xavier Henderson aside on 19-yard run in the first half. NCAA Football Michigan State At Wisconsin. Credit: Mike De Sisti, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel-Imagn Content Services, LLC

The Badgers enter 2020 with Jonathan Taylor’s 2255 scrimmage yards and 26 total touchdowns gone to the NFL and big shoes to fill.

But that’s what the Badgers do, cycle in running backs like it’s been the same player all along.

On Twitter yesterday I saw the perfect description of what the Wisconsin running back system is:

“Wisconsin running backs don’t graduate – they just burn up like a Phoenix and are reborn with a new name and immediate eligibility.” I could not have chosen better words.

Now the only real question Paul Chryst and his staff have is who will their Phoenix be this year–Nakia Watson or Jalen Berger.

No matter who is the starter or who leads the team in carries, though, the position will be a pivotal one to the team’s success this year (as it is every year) because of the way Wisconsin plays football.

Normally the running back position isn’t one of the most valuable on the team–as in some cases much of their success can be attributed to offensive line play and the quarterback’s ability to not let the defense stack the box.

For the Badgers, though, an offense without a ground game and a great running back always seems to be no offense at all.

Chryst and offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph will need Watson or Berger to carry the load and (make a step towards being able to) recreate Taylor’s insane production.

 

Next…No. 4 who is getting some NFL love before he enters his senior season