Category: College Football

Cincinnati high school sports video highlights, 2024-2025

Media partner Fox19 Sports provided a sizzle reel of top high school sports moments for the 2024-2025 Enquirer High School Sports Awards.

Fox19 Sports

The Enquirer is ranking the top 10 high school football linebackers in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeast Indiana.The list includes players from various schools, including St. Xavier, Campbell County, Anderson, Taft, Princeton, and more.Many of the listed linebackers are highly recruited prospects with offers from major college programs.Readers are encouraged to vote for the top linebacker in the region.

With the start of another high school football season around the corner, The Enquirer is ranking the best players in Southwest Ohio, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana. 

Linebackers are typically the leaders of the defense while calling out signals and showcasing their versatility by covering against the pass and crashing the gaps near the line of scrimmage to defend the run. 

Here are the best 10 linebackers to watch across the Cincinnati gridiron this fall, listed alphabetically. 

At the end of this story, remember to vote for the top linebacker in the city.

Jakobe Clapper, St. Xavier

A first-team All-Ohio selection and the Greater Catholic League-South’s Co-Defensive Player of the Year in 2024, Clapper helped anchor a St. Xavier defense that led the league in scoring, yielding just 14.6 points per game.

He finished second in the GCL-South in tackles (105), reaching double figures five times to go with 4.5 sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and two recoveries.

A three-star recruit and a top 20 player in Ohio for the Class of 2026, Clapper’s offer sheet included nearly two dozen programs before committing to Notre Dame in May.

Elijah Depperschmidt, Campbell County

Depperschmidt is coming…

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When UTEP opens camp in August, all eyes will be on the quarterback room.

Second-year head coach Scotty Walden is looking to settle the position early in fall camp, he said this week in San Antonio at the annual THSCA Coaching School & Convention. The Miners went 3-9 in his first season, but four of those losses came by a combined 24 points. Walden said getting consistent quarterback play will be key if UTEP wants to take a step forward in 2025.

One of the top names in the mix is Malachi Nelson, a former five-star prospect who transferred to UTEP from Boise State in the winter. Nelson was the No. 5 overall recruit in the 2023 class and originally signed with USC out of Los Alamitos (Calif.) High School.

Nelson’s college journey hasn’t been smooth. A shoulder injury late in high school delayed his development at USC. He was passed on the depth chart and transferred to Boise State, where he finished second to Maddux Madsen in the 2024 QB battle. In 2024, he appeared in three games and completed 12 of 17 passes for 128 yards and one interception.

Now at UTEP, Nelson is competing with returners Cade McConnell and Skyler Locklear, along with redshirt freshman Shay Smith.

“People say three, but it’s dang near four,” Walden said of the QB battle. “We’ve got Cade coming off injury who started for us, Skyler and Shay who’ve been in the program, and now Malachi. It’s a real competition.”

Walden said he hopes to name a starter by the middle of fall camp, a change from last year when the quarterback decision went down to the wire.

“I probably waited too long last year,” he said. “I want to give the guy a little more time to settle in.”

Nelson’s natural talent — he has the highest recruiting pedigree of any football player in…

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If you don’t think that Notre Dame’s run to the College Football Playoff championship game turned some heads, especially its game against Georgia, you’d be sorely mistaken.

The Irish have taken that momentum into recruiting, with both the 2026 and 2027 classes having some of the best players committed in the country. Paul Finebaum of ESPN has taken notice, and on Get Up said that there is one reason why he believes that Notre Dame will make a return trip to the CFP, head coach Marcus Freeman.

While he typically favors the SEC, there was no hesitation in his answer when asked about the Irish. “Marcus Freeman is elite… he has done more with less talent than anybody else,” said Finebaum, but also mentioned the schedule, specifically opening on the road against Miami.

Regardless of those concerns, he still believes that Notre Dame will be in the field of 12-teams after the season concludes. Finebaum ended his thoughts by saying that there is “maybe a decent run” if the Irish are in it. It’s a bit odd to see him fawn over Notre Dame, but Freeman has the program heading into a direction we haven’t seen in a long time in South Bend.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on X (Formerly Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Mike on X: @MikeFChen

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COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dylan Stewart is not much of a talker. 

The 6-foot-5, 245-pound game-wrecker of a defensive end is polite yet quiet when you sit across from him inside the Long Family Football Operations Center. Coaches joke about how many words you’ll be able to get out of him in an interview. There are no long monologues or trash talking from the sophomore South Carolina star that CBS Sports ranked as the No. 6 player in all of college football coming out of the spring.

He doesn’t need to boast about his talents when you can just turn on the tape and see what could be a generational talent. A five-star prospect in the 2024 class out of Washington D.C., Stewart has drawn comparisons to former Gamecocks star and No. 1 overall pick Jadeveon Clowney. In just his first year of college football, he totaled 6.5 sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and 34 quarterback hurries. If he keeps improving, he could follow in Clowney’s footsteps and be drafted very high in the 2027 NFL Draft. 

Kyle Kennard, Stewart’s former running mate at South Carolina and last year’s best defensive player as the Nagurski winner, couldn’t have been more effusive in his praise.

“Dylan is going to be an all-timer in this sport,” Kennard told CBS Sports. “He’s an athletic freak, gifted. Once he puts everything together that he needs to, the sky is the limit for that guy.”

Quarterback LaNorris Sellers, who thankfully can’t get hit by him but sees his impact every day, described him as “ferocious, vicious.”

Stewart and Sellers are two critical building blocks for a South Carolina program that just missed making last year’s College Football Playoff. The two budding stars give hope that this year’s team could be even better and able to get over the playoff hump. The…

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LAS VEGAS — College football’s future wore a baby blue suit, a gold pin that said “UCLA” and a pair of diamond-encrusted hoop earrings.

He glided toward the mic, sat down, then prepared for the grilling about how much money he makes, why he left Tennessee, who betrayed who when he departed, and what it all means for the college football world that his story now defines.

Bottom line: If quarterback Nico Iamaleava handles the rest of the season as well as he did with his half hour of Q&A at Big Ten media days, chances are, UCLA will be good — maybe even very good — in 2025.

“I think, it’s just, keep my head down and be humble,” the 20-year-old lightning rod of a quarterback said. “And try not to let the outside noise affect you.”

If he succeeds at that, he will have more discipline than a great majority of college football fans, experts and journalists who have filled the internet and air waves with timelines and tick-tock analysis of a decision that shook the sport and seemed to say everything about the burgeoning power players wield in a world of name, image, likeness deals and a rapidly rotating transfer portal.

The thumbnail of the story is that Iamaleava was a successful quarterback who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season, then abruptly picked up stakes to head closer to home and play for UCLA.

Money seemed to be the most obvious motive.

Reports circulated that he was looking for a raise — maybe a doubling to nearly $4 million a year — to come back to the Vols. Then, one day last spring, Iamaleava missed practice. Just as abruptly, he was gone.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel handled it diplomatically.

“Today’s landscape of college football is different than it has been,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, the situation,…

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The Big Ten owns the last two college football national championships, with Michigan and Ohio State claiming titles in 2023 and 2024, respectively. But despite the Buckeyes’ recent national crown, their ongoing losing streak to the Wolverines in The Game — now at four consecutive defeats — still looms large in the rivalry. And Michigan defensive end Derrick Moore isn’t letting them forget it.

“I’ll congratulate them on the win. But you know it’s not a real win if y’all ain’t beat us,” Moore said via The Michigan Insider. “I’m gonna congratulate them on their win, but this year, it’s gonna be different.”

Moore said he was “hoping” the Buckeyes would lose but conceded that they “deserved it” and “worked hard for it.” However, he couldn’t play nice for too long. 

“If the playoff [expansion] wasn’t around, they wouldn’t have won the national championship,” Moore added. 

Moore’s jab isn’t without merit. After falling to Michigan for the fourth year in a row in the regular-season finale, Ohio State missed out on the Big Ten title game again. But thanks to the debut of the expanded 12-team College Football Playoff, the 10-2 Buckeyes still received an at-large bid as the No. 8 seed and hosted a first-round game.

Big Ten QB rankings: Drew Allar tops list, while Bryce Underwood and Dante Moore have something to prove

David Cobb

Ohio State certainly validated its run…

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EA Sports’ College Football 26 video game released earlier this month on July 10. The Georgia Bulldogs are a team that is highly rated as one of the top 10 rated teams in the game at 87 overall.

Georgia’s most notable player in College Football 26, like just about any football video game, has to starting quarterback Gunner Stockton, who is an 82 overall upon the first release of the game. An underrated part of his football ability is his athleticism, but EA Sports made sure that it didn’t fly under the radar with his speed being an 81 while his acceleration is an 86. Stockton has the mobility to frustrate opponents.

Stockton’s throwing ratings are is impressive. He has a 92 throw power and did show his arm strength in the Notre Dame game with him pushing the ball down field vertically. His accuracy that could improve throughout the year in the game if he displays it in real time in his first full season as the starting quarterback at Georgia. Stockton’s ratings for accuracy are 85 short, 86 medium, and 79 deep accuracy.

His toughness is highly rated but could have been improved to start where it is at a 90. The famous hit he took in the SEC championship against Texas is still talked about to this day. Stockton hopping right back up after he took a massive hit and shows he could at least have a 95 rating for toughness.

Stockton has a solid rating, but he is not ranked among Georgia’s top 10 players in the popular video game.

Follow UGAWire on Instagram or Threads for additionally Georgia football coverage and analysis!

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Texas A&M mascot Reveille X underwent successful surgery to remove her right eye after she was diagnosed with glaucoma, university president Mark Welsh said in a statement. Mascot Corporals noticed Reveille experiencing “discomfort and cloudiness” in the eye, which worsened over time. Veterinarians at the Texas A&M Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital recommended the procedure.

During surgery, the veterinary team found abnormal tissue and removed the eye out of caution. The tissue was sent to an ocular pathologist for evaluation, per standard protocol. Welsh said Reveille was discharged and is “resting comfortably.”

“Our priority is her health and well-being, and we are blessed to have access to the remarkably talented and caring Texas A&M veterinary team who will continue to monitor Miss Rev on her road to recovery,” Welsh said in a release. “She will take a brief hiatus from engagements as she fully recovers. According to her veterinary team, we can expect Miss Rev to be back to enjoying all her favorite activities — cruising on Rev Force One, attending classes, cheering on the Aggies and keeping our campus squirrels in line — this fall.”

Known as the First Lady of Aggieland, Reveille X assumed her role in April 2021. The sable-and-white American Rough Coat Collie came to Texas A&M from Juell Collies in Topeka, Kansas, which is the same breeder that previously donated Reveille VIII.

Texas A&M’s official mascot, Reveille, has been a cherished tradition since 1931 when students adopted the first mixed-breed dog. Known as the highest-ranking member of the Texas…

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