Category: College Football

Arkansas is adding 28-year old former MLB player Monte Harrison to its football roster. Harrison, who was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2014, will join the Razorbacks as a walk-on wide receiver ahead of the 2024 season, according to 247Sports. 

Harrison, who now measures in at 6-foot-3 and 225 pounds, took an unofficial visit to Fayetteville, Arkansas, in April. 247Sports notes that Harrison also had opportunities to play football at Nebraska and Tennessee prior to choosing Arkansas. 

Ironic, given that Harrison initially signed with the Huskers (to play football) out of Lee’s Summit (Missouri) West High School in 2014. He was the No. 52 wide receiver and No. 7 prospect in the state of Missouri in his class. 

“Best pure athlete I’ve ever seen,” says 247Sports’ Michael Bruntz, who covered Harrison as a recruit when he signed with Nebraska in 2014.

But he never suited up for Nebraska. He was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of that summer’s 2014 MLB Draft and signed a rookie contract with a $1.8 million bonus out of high school. He’d spend the next decade bouncing around various minor league farm systems, with brief stints in the majors in between. 

Here’s five things to know about Arkansas’ newest (and oldest) wide receiver. 

Major League contracts paying off

247Sports reports that Harrison will use his professional earnings to pay tuition at Arkansas, allowing him to comfortably play football without the need for a scholarship. That $1.8 million signing bonus he accrued accounts for a vast majority of the money he made playing baseball. 

According to Spotrac, Harrison boasts a career earnings figure of $2,592,449. That number is purely based on contract information and doesn’t take into account any…

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The 2025 recruiting class is filled with talent at every position. Still, in my humble opinion, the offensive line class is filled with several stud athletes who have caught the attention of every blue-blood program in the country, including new Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko.

Who am I referencing exactly? That would be 2025 five-star offensive tackle Michael Fasusi, who has been on the Aggie’s radar for over a year and even more so after making his Top 7 program list late last month while recently visiting College Station during A&M’s Maroon & White spring game.

Standing at 6 feet, 4 inches, and nearly 300 pounds, Fasusi is highly versatile. He has experience at both tackle spots. However, due to his quickness and impressive footwork, his future is clearly at left tackle. This week, Fasusi spoke to On3’s Chad Simmons to provide more detail regarding how competitive his recruitment has become:

“There are pros and cons to each school. It is for sure going to be a hard decision.”

For the Aggies, Elko and his staff, led by new offensive line coach Adam Cushing, know the importance of acquiring as much O-line talent as possible to counter the elite pass rushes the SEC deploys year after year.

With Cushing’s recent success on the recruiting trail after three four-star offensive linemen committed to the Aggies in the last two months, Texas A&M looks like a clear finalist for Fasusi’s talents.

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Cameron on X: @CameronOhnysty.

This article originally appeared on Aggies Wire: 2025 5-star OT Michael Fasusi provides more details regarding his recruitment

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This is an article version of the CBS Sports HQ AM Newsletter, the ultimate guide to every day in sports. You can sign up to get it in your inbox every weekday morning here.

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DONOVAN MITCHELL AND THE CLEVELAND CAVALIERS

Falling behind by 18 points in the first half probably isn’t the best Game 7 strategy, but it worked for the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. Donovan Mitchell caught fire and helped the Cavs storm back for a 106-94 win over the Orlando Magic.

With 4:17 remaining in the second quarter, Paolo Banchero hit a pair of free throws to give the Magic a 49-31 lead. At that point, it looked like Orlando might waltz to the second round, but the Cavaliers flipped a switch and completely reversed the momentum with Mitchell leading the way.

Mitchell finished the game with 39 points, nine rebounds, and five assists. In the third quarter, the Magic had no tricks up their sleeve to slow down Mitchell, who went off for 17 points as the Cavs went from down by 10 to leading by eight.

The…..

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Recent reports indicated that LSU had made contact with Wake Forest cornerback transfer DaShawn Jones and was attempting to get him on campus for a visit.

However, it looks like that isn’t going to happen.

On Sunday evening, 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported that Jones is expected to commit to Alabama. A redshirt sophomore from Baltimore, Jones started nine of the 10 games he appeared in this past season for the Demon Deacons.

He finished the year with 37 tackles, a team-high three interceptions and a pair of pass breakups. Jones played in 22 games over the previous two seasons after redshirting his true freshman season in 2021.

The expectation is that former Wake Forest cornerback DaShawn Jones is going to transfer to Alabama, sources tell @247sports.

Was a two-year starter at Wake and finished last season with three interceptions. Had also garnered interest from other high-end programs like LSU.… pic.twitter.com/VnqhV4gnUC

— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) May 5, 2024

Assuming Jones ultimately commits to the Crimson Tide, it will be another transfer target the Tigers have missed out on during the spring transfer portal window. They also targeted defensive tackles Damonic Williams and Simeon Barrow Jr., who committed to Oklahoma and Miami, respectively.

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

Follow Tyler to continue the conversation on Twitter: @TylerNettuno

Story originally appeared on LSU Tigers Wire

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Spring football practices around the country wrap up this weekend. While most practice reports are centered around veterans and offseason additions via the transfer portal, there are still plenty of youngsters that made splashes in one way or another. 

Last year, it was five-star safety Caleb Downs who broke through at Alabama during the spring months. His remarkable freshman season might have come as a surprise to some, but not to those that had been scouting and evaluating him since his days in high school. The same goes for other instant impact blue-chip recruits like Alabama offensive tackle Kaydn Proctor, Texas linebacker Anthony Hill and Miami offensive tackle Francis Mauigoa.

So, whose ranking are we feeling good about coming out of spring practices? Below, we highlight ten freshmen that lived up to the hype. The group includes nine true freshmen along with one very famous redshirt freshman. 

We had little concern at 247Sports about ranking Jeremiah Smith as our No. 1 overall prospect in the class of 2024 after a dominant senior season, but we’re sleeping a little bit better after seeing all the footage out of Ohio State.

Smith became the fastest player ever to lose their black stripe with the Buckeyes and was recognized as an “official member” of the team after just four spring practices. Ohio State has recruited and developed wide receivers at an astonishing level in recent years under the direction of assistant Brian Hartline. None created the buzz Smith has, especially this early. 

It’s rare for a wide receiver that has yet to play in a collegiate game to draw so much hype, but Smith absolutely deserves the attention. He’s got ready-to-play size to go along with top-flight athleticism and an advanced feel for the position….

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It is no secret that Auburn is pursuing 2025 five-star quarterback and USC commit Julian Lewis. However, he is far from the only Trojan commit that Auburn has in its sights.

Isaiah Gibson, a four-star EDGE from Warner Robins, Georgia, has been a USC commit since March but is not ready to shut down his recruitment. He has planned several official visits this summer, with Auburn getting the nod for June 10.

Gibson tells Chad Simmons of On3 that he is still firmly committed to USC ahead of his official visits but he will allow five SEC programs to sway him. He also says that his relationships with defensive line back Josh Aldridge and head coach Hugh Freeze are keeping Auburn in the running.

“Coach Aldridge came from Liberty to Auburn. At first he coached inside linebackers, and he switched to d-line. I had a relationship with him when he coached inside linebackers, so it just carried on to him being a defensive ends coach,” Gibson said in an interview with On3. “I also have a good relationship with coach Freeze. The motiviation that he gives his players — that’s why I feel like Auburn will be really good this year. When I went to Auburn. . . you could tell the whole defensive side of the team had a lot of energy.”

Georgia will get Gibson’s first official visit on May 31, followed by South Carolina (June 7), Auburn (June 10), and Florida (June 14), Ohio State (June 18), and Oklahoma (June 21).

Story originally appeared on Auburn Wire

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The spring college football transfer portal window has closed, and now it’s time to evaluate how the game’s most notable programs fared. We’ve already taken a look at things like winners and losers, top-10 classes and best fits. This piece is more of a grab-bag of how a selection of 12 household programs — 12 being the operative number this year with the expanded College Football Playoff — graded out. 

There is a mathematic calculation of the 2024 Transfer Rankings at 247Sports (where Ole Miss and Texas A&M are Nos. 1 and 2). We are taking into account whether the team filled its needs, got a good bang for its NIL buck, and how it managed its roster when constructing these grades. 

Spring transfer portal grades

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MADISON – When he met with reporters minutes after Wisconsin’s final practice of the spring on Thursday, Luke Fickell noted UW’s late finish will have his assistants playing catch-up on the recruiting trail.

“Everybody else has probably been on the road for a week-and-a-half but that’s OK,” he said. “We’ve got a little thing here the next couple days but then our coaches will be on the road recruiting.”

The late start didn’t hurt Fickell and his coaches in their pursuit of Luke Emmerich, who gave UW an oral commitment for the 2025 class several hours after the conclusion of the final practice.

Emmerich, 6-foot-1 and 195 pounds, missed his junior season because of injury but played wide receiver, quarterback and defensive back as a sophomore.

He was timed at 10.69 seconds in the 100-meter dash earlier this spring.

Emmerich visited UW last month. He reportedly held offers from Minnesota, Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa State and incoming Big Ten members USC and Washington and several other programs.

UW has 10 known commitments for its 2025 class.

More: Reasons for hope and concern as the Badgers finish spring practice

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin football secures commitment from Luke Emmerich

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