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  • NCAA approves 2-minute warning in college football games, helmet communications beginning in 2024 season

    NCAA approves 2-minute warning in college football games, helmet communications beginning in 2024 season

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    The NCAA on Friday approved several rule changes that will take effect during the 2024 season, including the implementation of coach-to-player helmet communications and a new two-minute rule that mirrors the current time system utilized by the NFL. These changes were proposed by the NCAA’s Rules Committee in March amid support from some of the nation’s most prominent conferences. 

    The helmet communication rule applies only to schools at the FBS level, but it is not a requirement. Additionally, one team may employ helmet technology even if its opponent elect otherwise.

    Coaches will be allowed to communicate with one player, identified by a green dot on the back of their helmet, on the field. That line of communication will be turned off with 15 seconds left on the play clock or when the ball is snapped, whichever occurs first. 

    On top of player-to-helmet communications, teams can now use tablets to review in-game video only. Schools will be allocated 18 tablets that can be utilized in the coaching booth, on the sideline and in locker rooms. 

    Other changes approved by the NCAA Friday include: 

    Penalizing horse collar tackles that occur within the tackle box as a 15-yard personal foul. Allowing conferences the option to use a collaborative video replay review system. Head coaches can now conduct interviews with broadcast partners after the first and third quarters conclude. 

    The NCAA used the 2023 postseason as a trial run for its technological changes with several teams utilizing helmet communications in their bowl games. Several schools have incorporated the…

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  • From Maye to Harrison, what Red Sox would do with Patriots’ No. 3 pick

    From Maye to Harrison, what Red Sox would do with Patriots’ No. 3 pick

    From Maye to Harrison, what Red Sox would do with Patriots’ No. 3 pick originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston

    If baseball players have a second sport, it’s generally football. That’s partly because so many of them hail from areas of the country where pigskin is king – Texas, Florida, anywhere in the SEC – and also because the skills overlap, but the seasons don’t.

    It should come as no surprise, then, that a good chunk of the Red Sox clubhouse follows college football as religiously as New Englanders drink Dunkin’. They’re glued to their TVs on fall Saturdays, and they know their Troy Fautanus from their Taliese Fuagas in the battle of Pacific Northwest tackles.

    As such, a number of Red Sox players are enjoying the same pastime as the rest of us, wondering what the Patriots might do with the No. 3 pick in next week’s draft. And they don’t lack for opinions.

    From the debate of Jayden Daniels vs. Drake Maye vs. J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, to advocates for Marvin Harrison Jr., to one Georgia boy going off the board in favor of Bulldogs tight end Brock Bowers, they have thoughts on what the Patriots should do, and they don’t mind throwing on their NFL GM hats for a minute and pretending they have all the answers.

    “If you get a top-five pick, you’ve got to get a guy that’s going to change the game,” said shortstop Trevor Story last month.

    Here is how a few of the Red Sox would approach the draft if they were the Patriots.

    Justin Slaten: J.J. McCarthy, QB, Michigan

    The Rule 5 right-hander who’s off to an excellent start is a Texas native but a Packers fan with strong feelings about how the Patriots should draft and develop a QB. His first order of business would be sitting the pick behind veteran Jacoby Brissett.

    “These quarterbacks at the top, Caleb Williams is the only one where you feel like he could come in on Day 1 and go,” he said. “The other guys, I feel like they’re going to have to sit and learn for a little bit. I’m a Packers fan, so I’m biased to that…

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  • From among two dozen offers, Jyon Simon breaks down his Rutgers football commitment

    From among two dozen offers, Jyon Simon breaks down his Rutgers football commitment

    Jyon Simon committed to Rutgers football on Thursday, making it two big Florida commitments for the Scarlet Knights this week.

    A three-star recruit, from Raines High School (Jacksonville, Florida), Simon gives Rutgers a true threat in the interior of the defensive line. He picked the Big Ten program over eight offers.

    The other teams in the mix for Simon were Texas, Tennessee, USC (University of Southern California), Pittsburgh, Jacksonville State. NC State and Colorado.

    Simon took an unofficial visit to Rutgers, which led to a phone call to head coach Greg Schiano after he left campus.

    “So actually after I went on my visit with Rutgers, it was just ‘Man, I got to be there.’ I just felt at home,” Simon told Rutgers Wire.

    “So I was like, ‘Why not shut it down?’ So I called coach Schiano and asked him if I could commit but still go on visits to other schools. He told me how he felt about it. So that was it – it was just a done deal after that.”

    Simon is committed fully, telling Rutgers Wire “Yes, sir. 100 percent.”

    “With all 10 of my toes, I’m standing on them. I really like what coach Schiano is building over there with the coaches that he’s brought in, with the players that he’s brought in and just his knowledge of the game,” Simon said.

    “Just the atmosphere…it was a lot of things that pulled me towards this. So first and foremost, the academics. The academic program is amazing – not only in the northeast but in the nation. The player and coaches’ relationship – I love how the coaches interact with their players. They teach the game fundamentally. Their weight room program is amazing. Coach Schiano is different from the rest of the head coaches – his knowledge of the game is amazing and that’s somebody I can trust.”

    The team culture is another thing that stuck out to Simon on…

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  • 2024 NFL Draft: Buyer beware on Bo Nix, Keon Coleman and these other top prospects

    2024 NFL Draft: Buyer beware on Bo Nix, Keon Coleman and these other top prospects

    We won’t know this right away, but despite hype that leads to prospects being picked in Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft, a small grouping of selections will go much too early. This happens in every single draft class. 

    To warn you about who those prospects may very well be, I’m generating another “Buyer-Beware” prospect list.

    While I’m not insinuating these prospects are guaranteed to bust, they’re just the most risky propositions who could still land somewhere in the first round or very early on Day 2. In my estimation, they’ll have a difficult time living up to their draft positions. These are my buyer-beware prospects in the 2024 class. 

    Bo Nix, QB, Oregon

    Why: Lacking standout trait(s)

    Nix can be categorized as an “incomplete” grade, for two reasons. The system at Oregon was incredibly gimmicky — but incredibly effective — and he threw to an incredible amount of wide-open Duck receivers and tight ends the past two years in Eugene. 

    As for the nearly 78% completion percentage, Nix isn’t nearly as accurate as that record-setting rate indicates. Does he have a ball-placement issue? No. But he’s not hyper accurate. There’s an athleticism element to his game. Without question. Will he be a major running threat in the NFL? I can’t envision it.

    Now, can Nix be a quality game-manager, who operates within structure soundly? Sure. Will I trust him making challenging throws at the intermediate level or down the field in key moments? No. I didn’t see that from him on a routine basis in either of the last two seasons at Oregon. And I need that confidence from a first-round quarterback. It’s an absolute must. Because of that, and, from afar, Nix not possessing a standout trait, are why I’m placing him on this team.

    Marshawn Kneeland, EDGE, Western Michigan

    Why: Limited pass-rush move arsenal, high pad level, lacking collegiate production

    There’s a future reality in which Kneeland…

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  • Miami’s Jacurri Brown brings much-needed breath of fresh air to transfer portal QB market

    Miami’s Jacurri Brown brings much-needed breath of fresh air to transfer portal QB market

    You know that nagging feeling you’ve seen something before, like a new TV show you’re watching is just a retread of something you were excited about years ago? That’s the vibe with the 2024 spring transfer portal quarterback market. You know the names. They were former top recruits. But haven’t you seen them before? Yes, yes you have.

    Jacolby Criswell (Arkansas), Nick Evers (Wisconsin) and Christian Veilleux (Pittsburgh) are all former blue-chip recruits. Now they’re each searching for a starting job at their third program.

    UCF’s Timmy McClain? He showed some promise as a starter for USF back in 2021. But he’s trying to reset at school No. 3, too.

    Those players might be good elsewhere. But they’re not on par with the barrage of interesting quarterback transfers we saw in the winter window.

    That’s why Miami transfer Jacurri Brown — a four-star prospect in the 2022 class – is such a breath of fresh air for the quarterback market. Both the known and unknown quantities of his game are intriguing.

    The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Georgia native is everything you’d want from a size perspective. He’s also a dynamic runner who posted a 4.6-second 40-yard dash in high school.

    Throw in impressive arm strength with an ability to throw off-platform and it’s easy to understand why 247Sports ranked him as the No. 16 quarterback in the 2022 class despite his lack of development and polish. Those qualities remain enticing two years later now that he’s in the portal.

    The known qualities are also intriguing. Brown played a decent amount in the last two seasons for an underclassman. He started two games as a true freshman and also started Miami’s bowl game this past year.

    The numbers were encouraging, to a degree. He completed 61.8% of his passes…

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  • Deion Sanders disputes having list of six acceptable teams for Shedeur and Travis Hunter

    Deion Sanders disputes having list of six acceptable teams for Shedeur and Travis Hunter

    Several weeks ago, Colorado coach Deion Sanders said he knows where he wants his son, Shedeur, and teammate Travis Hunter to play in the NFL. Deion also said there are specific places he doesn’t want them to go.

    Today, Sanders was asked about it by Romi Bean of CBS Colorado.

    The clip starts with Bean asking this question: “Everybody’s saying, right, you’re only letting Shedeur and Travis go to only six teams. Is this true? Can we get some insight?”

    Responded Deion: “Who said that and did you see me say that? . . . The thing about a lie, a lie is so fast. It can outrun the truth any day. That’s a bold-faced lie. That’s a stupid lie. I have more than six owners that are friends. I have more than six G.M.’s that are friends. You gotta understand I played fourteen and I worked another seventeen I believe in the NFL, NFL Network and . . . CBS. I know a lot of people. Come on. So I would never do that. Before I would disclose — if I was that stupid, I wouldn’t disclose the teams I would want them to play for, I would disclose the several that I wouldn’t.”

    Here’s the clip from last month.

    “I know where I want them to go,” Deion said. “So, it’s certain cities that ain’t gonna happen. , , , It’s going to be an Eli.”

    Before that, Deion said he doesn’t want Shedeur to play in a cold-weather city.

    While the list might not be six, he said “I know where I want them to go.” He also said that in “certain cities” it “ain’t gonna happen.”

    Whatever the number of places he’ll approve, the fact remains that he’s planning a power play, the likes of which we haven’t seen since Eli Manning in 2004 and, before that, John Elway in 1983.

    And to that we say, “It’s about time someone else does it.”

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  • As Jim Harbaugh stares out at beach, Michigan’s no good, very bad offseason continues

    As Jim Harbaugh stares out at beach, Michigan’s no good, very bad offseason continues

    Two weeks ago, Jim Harbaugh stood behind a microphone, wearing a black hat with an arched lightning bolt across its face. His mouth was curled in the opposite direction, pointing upwards and projecting a smile.

    “This is the best damn job I ever had to start out,” the Los Angeles Chargers’ coach told his audience.

    It was the confession of a man who was free and clear after he made it out from under the NCAA cloud of suspicion that hovered over him and the Michigan football team he had ditched in late January. At his new NFL gig in sunny California, Harbaugh no longer had to fret about the potential ramifications of a pair of investigations that ensnared him and the Wolverines. He found an escapeway, racing out west like the Dust Bowl survivors on Route 66 looking to start a new chapter in their lives. In Harbaugh’s rearview mirror was a national championship program awaiting its eventual comeuppance. It started to arrive Tuesday, when the NCAA announced Michigan had agreed to a negotiated resolution that includes a three-year probation, a fine and unspecified recruiting restrictions stemming from a case centered on impermissible coaching and recruiting activities alleged to have been committed by Harbaugh’s staff.

    SO WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? Michigan football gets punished by NCAA. What does it mean for this year, Sherrone Moore?

    The news spawned another unpleasant headline for a program enduring a rough offseason and an inauspicious introduction to Sherrone Moore’s tenure as its new coach. Moore, who had been elevated from his role as offensive coordinator, took command of a team in transition during the turbulent wake of Harbaugh’s well-publicized departure. Soon thereafter, the entire defensive staff left, along with renowned strength and conditioning director Ben Herbert. Their departures came on the…

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  • Bill Belichick nowhere close to landing any HC jobs this offseason, per report: He was ‘voted off the island’

    Bill Belichick nowhere close to landing any HC jobs this offseason, per report: He was ‘voted off the island’

    One of the most surprising results of the NFL offseason was that, after the coaching carousel had finished spinning, longtime New England Patriots head coach and living legend Bill Belichick ended up without a job. Belichick is just 15 career wins shy of setting the NFL’s all-time record, and he wanted to coach in 2024. But that didn’t happen, and it apparently was not very close to happening.

    Belichick, according to ESPN, finished outside the top three of the Atlanta Falcons’ finalists, and that was the closest he came to landing any of the available — or even potentially available — head-coaching positions. Belichick apparently tried to convince owner Arthur Blank and the Falcons’ front office that he was willing to just be the head coach and not have full control over the organization, but was unsuccessful and then got blindsided when the Falcons instead decided to hire former Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris.

    “He was essentially voted off the island,” a Falcons source told ESPN.

    ESPN also went through the list of the other available head-coaching positions this offseason and provided the apparent reasoning why Belichick was ultimately not the man for the job, even if he was willing to cede organizational power to the front office:

    Philadelphia Eagles: Owner Jeffrey Lurie did not seriously consider moving on from Nick Sirianni, though he did have a conversation with Belichick where coaching for the organization did not come up. “You’ll have to start over again,” an Eagles source told ESPN. “Who would replace him? He hasn’t had a good record of developing coaches. They were afraid that he’ll have changed everything and every person, and [then] you’ll be starting from scratch again. He didn’t demand those changes, but they felt like, if we hire him, we have to give everything to him and trust how he does it.”Dallas Cowboys: Change-averse Jerry Jones decided quickly to…..

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