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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Purdue vs Yale prediction, NCAA Tournament First Round game preview, how to watch, lines, and why each team might – or might not – win on Friday
Purdue vs Yale: NCAA Tournament First Round prediction and college basketball game preview.
Purdue vs Yale Game Preview, NCAA Tournament First Round How To Watch
Date: Friday, March 18
Game Time: 2:00 pm
Venue: Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, WI
How To Watch: TBS
Records: Purdue (3 seed, 27-7)
Yale (14 seed, 19-11)
Region: East
Princeton vs Yale prediction, college basketball game preview, how to watch, lines, and why each team might – or might not – win on Sunday in the Ivy League Championship.
Princeton vs Yale prediction, college basketball game preview, how to watch: Sunday, March 13
Princeton vs Yale Game Preview, Ivy League Championship How To Watch
With Notre Dame all but certain to be an NCAA Tournament team, it was a given that the ACC would reward some of its players. Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened. Three Irish players have been named to a variety of all-conference teams.
Blake Wesley, the freshman phenom from South Bend who is projected to be a first-round NBA draft selection this year, has been named to the All-ACC Second Team and the conference’s All-Rookie Team. The Irish’s last all-rookie selection was Jerian Grant on the Big East team for the 2011-12 season. Wesley definitely earned both honors after leading the team in scoring (14.8 points a game).
Senior Dane Goodwin is on the All-ACC Third Team after averaging 14.0 points a game and putting up a shooting slash line of .498/.448/.855. Only Wesley had a higher scoring average for the Irish.
Paul Atkinson Jr., the graduate transfer from Yale and former Ivy League Player of the Year, is an honorable mention on the All-ACC Team. He rounded out the Irish players with double-digit scoring averages at 12.6.
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