Undrafted rookie Mason Tipton is emerging as a playmaker in the Saints wide receiver corps. Dennis Allen has a unique comparison for his quick rise up the ranks:
Don’t look now, or you might miss Mason Tipton. The New Orleans Saints rookie is quickly climbing the depth chart after a strong start to training camp. After emerging as a favorite target of his quarterbacks on the third- and fourth-string offenses and now he’s earning looks with the higher-ranked units. He brings a similar athletic profile to Chris Olave and Rashid Shaheed at a listed 5-foot-11, 187 pounds with credible 4.3 speed.
The Saints clearly liked what they saw from Tipton in college because they guaranteed $110,000 of his rookie contract. But it’s safe to say he’s blown past their initial expectations. You don’t see many undrafted rookies added to the media availability list to start the second week of training camp.
Dennis Allen has seen players like Tipton break out before, but his comparison is kind of unique. He pointed to one of his former players on the defensive side of the ball as an example of someone who thrived in similar circumstances.
“I was telling someone the other day,” Allen began, speaking with local media after Monday’s practice session, “I had Chris Harris in Denver. 2011, we had the lockout, and nobody knew who Chris Harris was. He was an undrafted free agent out of Kansas. But every day he showed up out there, he worked his tail off, competed at the highest level, and every day he did something to catch your eye. Next thing you know you’re two or three weeks into training camp, and he’s done something to deserve another opportunity to get more opportunities. I like some of the things I’m seeing out of him.”
Harris formally retired from the NFL earlier this year with an impressive list of achievements on his resume. He won a place on the Pro Bowl roster four times and was recognized as a first team All-Pro in 2016, also winning a Super Bowl ring with the Broncos. The Pro Football Hall of Fame honored him on their All-Decade team for the 2010s. That’s a high standard to chase, but as Allen said, he and Tipton had similarly humble starts upon turning pro.
Allen added that the Saints want to fully explore Tipton’s skill set, to see if he can be more than just a deep threat or decoy downfield. The more he can do to help the team the better his chances of making the roster. Things are fairly open after the top four spots (being Olave, Shaheed, Cedrick Wilson Jr., and A.T. Perry) and other young pros like Bub Means aren’t necessarily secure just because they were picked in the final rounds of this year’s draft.
We’ve seen undrafted wideouts make the team before. Look at Shaheed, and before him guys like Marquez Callaway and Deonte Harty. Tipton is certainly on the right track. He just needs to keep it up.
Kiran Amegadjie had his dreams come true when he heard he was getting drafted by his hometown team, the Chicago Bears.
A dream came true for Kiran Amegadjie on Friday night when he received the call from his hometown team, the Chicago Bears. The offensive tackle from Yale was drafted by the Bears with the No. 75 overall pick in the third round, giving the offense a long lineman who can potentially develop into a starter. Amegadjie hails from Hinsdale, a suburb just outside Chicago, and made it clear this was a dream come true.
Here is how the call went when Amegadjie spoke with general manager Ryan Poles, head coach Matt Eberflus, and president Kevin Warren.
"Tell your dad he's got a new golf partner." 🥹
Last summer, @the2kkiran5 introduced himself to Coach Flus at a golf course and told him he’d be drafting him in a year. Yesterday he got the call. pic.twitter.com/NJIKVg8NDA
Poles began the call asking him the most important question: “You want to be a Chicago Bear?” Amegadjie couldn’t help but smile. “I would love to.” Eberflus then reminded him about the time they met a year ago out golfing. “A year ago, you said you were going to come to the Chicago Bears. You were right, huh?” Eberflus asked. “I told you coach, I told you,” Amegadjie said. “Tell your dad he’s got a new golf partner,” Eberflus replied.
After Warren finished the call, Amegadjie’s draft party exploded into cheers and screams. The die-hard Bears fan was coming home, and he heard it first from the team front office.
Up next in the Unpacking Future Packers draft preview series is South Carolina offensive lineman Nick Gargriulo.
The Unpacking Future Packers Countdown is a countdown of 100 prospects that could be selected by the Green Bay Packers in the 2024 NFL draft.
The Green Bay Packers and Brian Gutekunst love versatile offensive linemen. Elgton Jenkins started games at left tackle, right tackle, center and left guard during his time at Mississippi State. Jon Runyan Jr started games at both tackle spots before kicking inside to guard when he landed in Green Bay. Royce Newman started games at left guard and right tackle. At Wake Forest, Zach Tom started games at left tackle and center.
A versatile offensive lineman that Gutekunst could target in the 2024 NFL Draft is Nick Gargiulo. The South Carolina offensive linemen checks in at No. 16 in the Unpacking Future Packers Countdown.
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A Yale transfer, Gargiulo started 14 games at left tackle and 10 games at center before transferring to South Carolina. During his lone season in the SEC, Gargiulo started seven games at center and five at left guard.
“He provided stability and versatility,” David Cloninger, the South Carolina beat writer for The Post and Courier, said. “In a season that more than any other the past decade was smacked with offensive-line injuries (11 of the 20 linemen were hurt at some point and the team started eight different lines in the first eight games before it stabilized in the final four games), Gargiulo started every game. He began at left guard and switched to center five games in, and finished the season playing through a bum ankle and a busted hand.”
Gargiulo plays with good sink and knee bend in pass protection. The Yale transfer is a wide-framed blocker. He stays alert and keeps his head on a swivel. He anchors against power and roots in to help keep the pocket clean. During his final two seasons at Yale, Gargiulo gave up zero sacks and 11 pressures. In his lone season playing in the SEC, he gave up two sacks (both came against Georgia) and 26 pressures.
“He can stay in place and plays with good leverage,” Cloninger said. “He uses his hands well. Even on the pop-up after snapping the ball he rarely got straight whipped.”
Gargiulo is quick out of his stance and moves well in space. The Yale transfer shows no restrictions on reaching the second level and honing in on his targets. He utilizes his length to get into defenders and displace them.
Top OL three-cone times:
7.16 Tanor Bortolini 7.26 Dylan McMahon 7.31 Joe Alt 👀 7.33 Drake Nugent 7.33 Nick Gargiulo 7.39 Frank Crum 7.44 Cooper Beebe 7.46 Sedrick Van Pran 7.47 Dominick Puni 7.47 Beau Limmer 7.50 Tyler Guyton 7.53 Jarrett Kingston 7.57 Brady Latham
“He doesn’t get pushed around,” Cloninger said. “Wherever he’s supposed to be, he’s an obstacle for defenders.”
Fit with the Packers
The Packers have a rich history of developing Day 3 offensive linemen into quality starters. With the Packers owning six Day 3 selections this year, Gargiulo could be a target with one of those picks in the sixth or seventh round.
With his athleticism and five-position versatility, Gargiulo would appear to fit the mold of what the Packers look for in their offensive linemen.
A year after not taking any offensive linemen in the draft, Gutekunst could attack that position group by using multiple picks to bolster the Great Wall of Lambeau. Gargiulo would provide quality depth along the interior and could kick outside to play tackle if needed.
The Commanders will host one of the draft’s most intriguing prospects on a top 30 visit.
We know the Washington Commanders need help at offensive tackle. The Commanders entered the offseason, possibly needing to upgrade at both tackle positions. Washington then released left tackle Charles Leno Jr. ahead of free agency, meaning the Commanders needed a new left tackle in 2023.
Washington has yet to sign an offensive tackle in free agency. As of now, Andrew Wylie, who struggled at right tackle last season, is slated to start again on the right side
The Commanders will address the offensive tackle position in the draft. They’ve already scheduled a top-30 visit with Arizona offensive tackle Jordan Morgan. Now, we can add another name to that list.
According to Justin Melo of The Draft Network, the Commanders will host Yale offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie on a visit.
#Yale OT Kiran Amegadjie is the most fascinating OL in the draft. 6-5, 326 with 36" arms + 85.5" wingspan. Can play in any scheme.
Amegadjie is a fascinating prospect. He has tremendous size (6-foot-5, 326) with over 36″ arms. With a background in basketball, Amegadjie also possesses excellent footwork. The FCS All-American told Dane Brugler of The Athletic that he was the “most interesting prospect in the draft.”
Amegadjie is an exciting prospect due to his size, athleticism and pedigree. He is also still relatively new to football, meaning he could be one of the more undervalued prospects in this class.
The Saints replaced Derek Carr in this two-round 2024 mock draft, but would Mickey Loomis and Dennis Allen really make such a bold call?
Whew: the New Orleans Saints replaced Derek Carr in this two-round 2024 mock draft, but would team decision-makers really make such a bold call? General manager Mickey Loomis and head coach Dennis Allen made a lot of excuses for Carr’s poor performance through his first twelve games. Reversing course on draft day to pick his replacement would be a stunner.
And the passer they went with in this two-round mock draft from Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy would likely draw a mixed reaction from Saints fans deep in SEC country. Popejoy has them picking former Oregon and Auburn quarterback Bo Nix at No. 14 overall, writing that “The Saints opt for Bo Nix here and get their quarterback of the future and allows them to advance a struggling New Orleans offense with his athleticism.”
Nix isn’t the same turnover-prone quarterback fans may remember from his Auburn career. He was a legitimate challenger for the Heisman Trophy this year and brings big-play ability that the Saints have lacked under center. He should be a good pro somewhere. It’s just tough to see him landing in New Orleans when the Saints have already committed so strongly to Carr, betting that his late-season surge will carry over into 2024 and beyond with a new play caller.
What about the second round? The Saints own the Denver Broncos’ pick at No. 45 this year and Popejoy has them spending it on Yale left tackle Kiran Amegadjie. A big athlete who was clean in pass protection while dominating his level of competition (earning All-Ivy recognition), he won’t be competing at the Senior Bowl this week while recovering from a torn quad muscle. Injury history hasn’t scared the Saints off before, and Amegadgie checks enough boxes to where he could be on their radar on the second day of the 2024 draft.
Up to 1,500 mature trees could be felled, one of the reasons the project has been held up to this point.
The college golf course that tops the Golfweek’s Best list of campus tracks is expected to get a facelift in the near future, and a recent decision should help push that renovation along.
Yale Golf Course, which is nearly a century old, was given a boost when the city planning commission for New Haven, Connecticut, signed off on the upcoming project that will refurbish the C.B. Macdonald and Seth Raynor design to its original state.
In the process, up to 1,500 mature trees could be felled, one of the reasons the project has been held up to this point.
This has been the site of every significant Connecticut state championship, two USGA Junior National events, and NCAA Regionals in 1991, 1995, 2004, 2010, 2015 and again in 2022. The course has also been the home of the Nike Connecticut Open.
According to a story in the New Haven Register, the project still needs to pass through an approval process from the Army Corps of Engineers, but then the work on the 278-acre parcel can begin:
Victoria Chun, director of athletics at Yale, said her goal has always been to be “a great partner to our neighbors.” An example was her decision to open the golf course to the general public rather than be membership-based.
The neighbors have also long accessed the course for walking and sledding. Chun said going forward, Yale will develop a 1.5-mile cross-country skiing trail when there is a heavy snowfall. Residents can also walk along the paved path from the entrance to the clubhouse.
The positive impact of the course renovation includes the removal of invasive plants and conservation measures that will lessen the need for city water when ponds on the course are dredged to increase storage capacity and a new computer-controlled irrigation system is installed. The renovation will upgrade tees, greens, bunkers and fairways, lengthen the course, realign the golf cart path and plant 35 acres of native grasses.
Chun said the university plans to hire an arborist to take stock of the course’s trees and then develop a management plan.
The unrelenting pressure of DP World Tour Q School left James Nicholas twisting in the wind.
After enduring difficult conditions and unrelenting pressure in the final stage of DP World Tour Q School, James Nicholas was left twisting in the wind.
For two emotional hours, the 26-year-old Scarsdale native was a mess.
“Oh my gosh,” said Nicholas, who played his way into contention with a final-round 67 at Infinitum Golf and Beach Club in Spain. “We finished the round, I thought it was gonna be very, very close, but I didn’t like my chances. I went to member orientation, came out and did some interviews, and checked the leaderboard again. I was still T19 and thinking maybe I did have a chance.”
He went looking for his caddie.
“After like 10 or 15 minutes, I finally found him sitting inside with the curtains down,” Nicholas continued. “He’s like, ‘I’m not watching anybody finish on 18. I just can’t.’ I’m anxious so I wanted to see what’s happening, so I watched players three-putt for bogey, make eagles, and hit into the water.”
Only the top 25 finishers, including ties, earn status on the DP World Tour for the 2024 season.
Nicholas had no way to gauge the impact of each birdie and bogey. After spending four up-and-down years chasing a dream of playing full-time, the former Ivy League player of the year at Yale knew a spot on the European tour could be life-changing.
When he wasn’t on FaceTime with his girlfriend, America Richmond, he was on the phone with anxious family members and friends.
A bogey late in the final round was becoming more and more difficult to look past.
“They live and breathe every swing,” Nicholas said of the folks at home. “I think it was nice for them having that time difference because when they woke up, I was on 15 so there was no praying or voodoo or anything until the final holes. I FaceTimed America once I finished and kind of told her I blew it. She was crying and upset for me, but was telling me that whatever happened, I was going to be OK.”
Optimism began to increase with each passing minute.
“After kind of telling everybody, ‘We’ll see. We’ll see. We’ll see,’ it started looking better and better and better,” said Nicholas, who’s made 39 Korn Ferry Tour starts since turning pro in 2019. “My smile got bigger and bigger and bigger, and I started walking faster and faster and faster. I was like, ‘Well, I might actually be a full member of the DP World Tour. All week, I was one shot back, one shot back, one shot back. I was never inside the top 25 until the end.”
He wound up in an eight-way tie for 22nd a week ago, finishing the six rounds at 14-under.
The mood on the next FaceTime changed drastically as the reigning Westchester and Long Island Open champion shared the news. Mom was still crying, but each tear was celebratory.
“My dad was mid-surgery with a patient on the table, so a resident was reading updates shot by shot,” Nicholas said. “My brother Steven called me, like, over the moon, wanting to know when he could play in a pro-am. My sisters were extremely, extremely proud and giving me all the congrats in the world, and my younger brother Brian called me from Sioux City after he scored two goals in his USHL game.
“We’ve always supported each other in our individual endeavors … and for me to finally like have some sort of success on the golf course, I was so proud and so thankful for the support system America and my family have provided over the years. It was an emotional couple of hours there.”
James Nicholas on the 1st hole during Day Five of the final stage of the 2023 DP World Tour Qualifying School on the Lakes Course at Infinitum Golf in Tarragona, Spain. (Photo: Octavio Passos/Getty Images)
Taking a professional mulligan
Nicholas was all-state in football, hockey and golf at Scarsdale, and went to Yale to play football and golf. He played club hockey in college, too, but eventually dropped football to focus on golf. Nicholas went on to earn Ivy League player-of-the-year honors in 2018 and 2019.
The decision to become a touring professional was initially met with skepticism by a longtime friend of the family.
“I’ve known them forever,” decorated teaching professional and former Sleepy Hollow Country Club head pro Jim McLean said. “James’ grandfather took care of me when I was in New York and I taught Stephen, his dad, when he was a junior. I stay with them a lot when I’m up there.
“When they told me James wanted to play the PGA Tour, my advice was not to do it. He was like a 3.8 in pre-med and biochemistry at Yale. He was already doing things with Greyson clothing. He had a slam-dunk life in front of him if he wanted to play top-flight amateur golf in New York and maybe national stuff. I just know James had a real late start in serious golf. Most of these guys won a lot of AJGA events and were ranked top five as juniors, but here’s the thing about James: He hangs in there and keeps clawing away.”
Nicholas won Korn Ferry Tour status in 2019, but was eventually done in by a reshuffle. He’s since played in countless Monday qualifiers and regional events to keep the dream alive. He’s been to Q school on both sides of the Atlantic multiple times.
Nearly a year ago, before heading to an Asian Tour event in Thailand, he visited McLean at his golf school in Miami. A lack of results demanded change.
“We sat down and made a plan,” McLean said. “I told him what it was going to take and part of that plan was a daily routine, which stays between James and myself. I told him it would require four hours, seven days a week. I told him it was going to be really tough. He said, ‘I’ll do it.’ And he did. There are probably very few people who would do what I asked him to do and he kept going beyond six months.”
They also made swing changes after breaking down video of touring professional McLean has taught over the years and Cameron Young, another standout with roots at Sleepy Hollow who’s having success on the PGA Tour.
Jon McLean, who played at Oklahoma State and on multiple tours before moving on to instruction, went to work on Nicholas’ short game and putting.
“I was a tour player so I know how difficult it is, but you can see how determined James is and how good he is under pressure,” Jon McLean said. “Unless you’ve been through Q school, you don’t know what he was feeling, so it was good to see him thrive under that pressure. That’s empowering. My dad kind of challenged him to put in some really hard work and James stuck with it.
“This is huge. It’s a complete game-changer, having a full-time place to play on the second-best tour in the world.”
Nicholas has always had the ability to go low, but consistency was an issue. He was under par in all six rounds at the final stage of Q school in Spain.
“James surprised me, let me just say that,” McLean added. “He’s a tremendous athlete. He’s been successful in everything he’s done, but pro sports is a tremendous jump. It was nerve-wracking seeing him be so close at Q school. The PGA Tour is 1A and the DP World Tour is 1B, so this is a big deal. It’s right there. What he’s accomplished is a huge achievement.”
Wait, there’s more
Nicholas came home after Stage 1 of DP World Tour qualifying in France to play in the first stage of Korn Ferry Tour qualifying in Alabama. He needed to do more than advance. Nicholas had to finish on the first page of the leaderboard to avoid a scheduling conflict with Stage 2 in Spain. He won by two shots, locking in a Nov. 28 start at Kinderlou Forest Golf Club in Georgia.
Preparations are currently underway.
“I just now had a long conversation with my coaches,” Nicholas said by phone on Monday. “I need to sit down and just kind of think for a little bit about whether I should go for a Korn Ferry Tour card. Knowing that the (top five) in the final stage now get a PGA Tour card is an incentive to play next week.”
There’s no reason to rush into a decision with so much golf to be played and having a spot on the DP World Tour relieves some of the stress.
“Ending up in Europe is going to be really cool if that’s what happens,” Nicholas said. “I love traveling, I love exploring different cultures and learning new things, so that would be a dream come true, but also something I think I can handle.”
Downtime has been elusive over the last year.
Thanksgiving will be spent with family heading to Florida to continue the celebration. A tryptophan nap is not part of the plan. He will also check in with friends in New York before heading for Georgia on Saturday.
“I’m going to miss a reunion party for the Scarsdale team that won a Section 1 championship,” he said. “I’m bummed because those guys are still family to me. Those are some of the best memories I have, but I’ll be able to FaceTime in and see all the boys.”
Nicholas also has a side gig.
He’s an equity partner in Grandstand, an interactive social media app for athletes developed by fellow Yale alum Sandeep Rajan.
“We’ve been going back and forth a couple of years now,” said Nicholas, a talented content producer who’s got 104,000 Instagram followers and 375,000 TikTok followers. “I’ve been consulting with the team, giving background and sharing my vision for making life easier and giving fans a better experience while kind eliminating the haters. There are so many naysayers on Instagram and TikTok and you don’t always want to read those negative comments, especially if you’re putting in the time to create this content and form this community.”
There will be updates for invited users and paid content for premium subscribers.
“It’s going to be a space to share a more vulnerable side with people that I know are there to follow me and support me,” Nicholas said.
Grandstand is building toward a wider release and will include athletes from multiple sports.
“I don’t know if I can share exactly who’s signed up right now, but we’ve got Olympians along with athletes who play football, golf and tennis and some college athletes.”
Whatever happens in the weeks ahead, the journey will be well-documented.
“I’ve never had full status on any tour,” Nicholas said. “I’ve always complained that I don’t know what I’m doing or where I’m going to be two weeks from now. To finally reach a point where I can make a schedule and play when I want to play and where I want to play is great. I’m really looking forward to that stability, but this is only the beginning. There is a lot more work I need to do.”
Mike Dougherty covers golf for The Journal News and lohud.com. Follow along @lohudgolf.
Study guide: The cheat sheet for the best Campus Courses includes Yale, Culver Academies, Williams College and Texas Tech.
Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2022 Campus Courses in the United States. This list focuses on courses owned and/or operated by colleges or other campuses, with data pulled from Golfweek‘s massive database of course rankings.
The hundreds of members of Golfweek‘s course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each that is then used to compile the Golfweek’s Best course rankings.
Listed with each course below is its average rating, location, designer(s) and whether the course is modern (m, built in or after 1960) or classic (c, built before 1960).
Who was the best of the best for the Irish this season?
The 2021-22 season didn’t start like it would be a memorable one for Notre Dame. Starting the schedule with a 4-5 record will do that. Then, the Irish rattled off winning streaks of six, four and five and stayed in contention for the ACC regular-season championship almost to the end. Their resume was enough to be selected for their first NCAA Tournament since 2017, and a pair of wins to get to the round of 32 tied a nice bow on this 24-11 season.
Before this iteration of the Irish goes its separate ways for good, there were some team awards to give out. The informal presentation was held at Rolfs Athletic Center. When you look the winners, there probably won’t be any surprises if you followed this team closely from the beginning. Let’s take a look at which players were rewarded for being the best of the best for the Irish this past season:
A first-round NCAA Tournament matchup will see the 14th-seeded Yale Bulldogs (19-11) hit the court against the No. 3 seed Purdue Boilermakers (27-7) on Friday at Fiserv Forum. The contest tips off at 2:00 PM, watch on TBS. In its most recent game, …
A first-round NCAA Tournament matchup will see the 14th-seeded Yale Bulldogs (19-11) hit the court against the No. 3 seed Purdue Boilermakers (27-7) on Friday at Fiserv Forum. The contest tips off at 2:00 PM, watch on TBS.
In its most recent game, Purdue lost to Iowa 75-66 at home, with Jaden Ivey (20 PTS, 6 AST, 50 FG%) and Trevion Williams (13 PTS, 11 REB, 2 STL, 45.5 FG%) the standout performers.
In its most recent game, Yale beat Pennsylvania, 67-61, at home. Its top performers were Azar Swain (25 PTS, 60.0 FG%, 5-8 from 3PT) and Matt Knowling (10 PTS, 55.6 FG%).
Before this college basketball showdown, here is everything you need to get ready for Friday’s action.
NCAA Basketball odds courtesy of Tipico Sportsbook. Odds updated Wednesday at 2:04 PM ET.
Spread: Purdue -16
Total: 143
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