sutomcat
No recent Cali or Iggy awards; Mr Irrelevant
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Welcome to National Notebook Day!
First held in 2016, National Notebook Day is celebrated by notebook enthusiasts, who write in notebooks or planners and share pictures of their notebooks on social media using the hashtag #NationalNotebookDay. Sweepstakes are also held each year, sponsored by May Designs—the company that came up with the day—and other companies involved with office supplies, notebooks, and stationery.
In our twenty-first-century digital age, notebooks sometimes seem like a throwback to a time of the past, although they are more popular than ever, being used for numerous purposes, like writing, note-taking, drawing, and scrapbooking. This is good news, because it has also been shown that they may benefit cognitive function more than their digital counterparts. They are stacks of paper pages that are bound together and often ruled. Some common bindings used today includes spiral, comb, sewn, clasp, padding, disc, perfect, and padding. The first of these is usually cheaper than the others, and the last of these uses glue to hold pages together. Notebooks generally have a cover that is made from a different material than what is inside.
SU News
Syracuse football in top 7 for 4-star tight end, a top-300 national prospect (itlh; Adler)
Four-star junior tight end/wide receiver Korey “KJ” Duff Jr., who has amassed nearly 30 scholarship offers throughout his recruiting process, revealed a top seven via his Twitter page, and Syracuse football made the cut.
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Duff, a top-300 overall player in the 2024 class per On3, attends St. Anthony’s High School in Melville, N.Y. His top seven consist of the Orange, Rutgers, UCF, North Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M and Miami.
According to his Twitter page, Duff received a scholarship offer from Syracuse football in October of 2022. Per his Twitter account and media reports, I believe he has taken at least two unofficial visits to the Hill.
For the ‘Cuse to prevail in Duff’s recruitment, I would imagine that the Orange coaching staff needs to get him on campus for an official visit as well.
Syracuse football remains in the running for 2024 four-star tight end/wide receiver Korey “KJ” Duff Jr.
Per the MaxPreps Web site, during the 2022 season as a junior for St. Anthony’s, Duff played in 10 games, catching 42 passes for 995 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns.
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Miami football leads top 7 for 3-star TE Korey Duff (caneswarning.com; Rubenstein)
The Miami football program is the favorite after being named in the top seven for three-star tight end Korey Duff. The 247 Sports composite rankings list Duff as the 628th prospect, 29th TE and fourth player in New York in the 2024 Class. North Carolina, Rutgers, Syracuse, UCF, Texas and Texas A&M are the other six Duff finalists.
At 6’5 and 207 pounds Duff is hybrid TE and wide receiver. Duff has 77 receptions for 1,677 yards and 17 touchdowns in the last two seasons. Seven schools received unofficial visits from Duff before he named his seven finalists. Connecticut, Maryland, Penn State and Pittsburgh hosted Duff but did not make his top seven.
Central Florida and Texas are the only two programs among the seven Duff finalists that he has not visited yet. Duff has official visits scheduled for Rutgers and North Carolina in June with more to be scheduled. Steve Wiltfong the 247 Sports Director of Football Recruiting logged a Duff crystal ball to Miami in April.
The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine projects Miami with a 78.7 percent chance for a commitment from Duff, Rutgers at 9.1 percent, North Carolina at 4.0 percent and Syracuse with a 1.7 percent chance. Wide receivers coach Kevin Beard is leading the recruitment of Duff for Miami.
Miami does not have any TEs committed to its 2024 Class. All of the TEs on the Miami football roster have eligibility remaining beyond 2023. Four-star WR Chance Robinson is the only blue-chip prospect and receiver committed to Miami for 2024. Beard has done an exceptional job in about two months as the Miami WR coach.
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Keeping Up With The 315 5-17-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Brian Higgins kicks things off with some Syracuse football news and questions about how many defensive backs the Orange will utilize this season. Then, Brian weighs in on the latest conference realignment drama coming from ACC Spring Meetings. Later, your favorite anonymous sports bettor who sort of knows gives his weekly picks a couple days early.
Syracuse football recruit spotlight: 2024 OL Noah Rosahac (cbssports.com; video; Finneral)
2024 Syracuse Recruit Spotlight
https://images./image/upload/f_auto,q_auto,t_large/bleo1hqazc7t7ravajx2
https://www.si.com/college/syracuse/recruiting/nebraska-transfer-jalil-martin-commits-to-syracuse (SI; McAllister)
Nebraska transfer defensive back Jalil Martin committed to Syracuse on Wednesday, he announced on Social Media. Martin signed with Nebraska as part of their 2022 recruiting class but redshirted last season. Therefore, the 6-3, 200 pounder has four years of eligibility remaining. He joins transfer defensive backs Jayden Bellamy (Notre Dame) and Jaeden Gould (Nebraska) as incoming transfers into the secondary. Junior college defensive backs Jakobie Seabourn and Berry Buxton also committed this week.
Martin starred for Kenwood Academy in Illinois as a defensive back and wide receiver. He was listed as an athlete by the major recruiting services, and rated a three star prospect by each. He started out as a defensive back with the Cornhuskers but spent some time at receiver this past spring.
He picked Nebraska as a high school recruit over offers from Boston College, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Washington State and many others
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Vernon Hills grad Andre Szmyt's improbable journey to potential NFL kicker (dailyherald.com; Hammond)
Vernon Hills football coach Bill Bellecomo still remembers the afternoon when some of his football players sent him a video of Andre Szmyt kicking 50-yard field goals.
He remembers the text he sent back, too: "Get him to play."
Szmyt, a longtime soccer player, joined the Vernon Hills football team for one season as a senior in 2016. That decision eventually led him to a spot on the Syracuse football team, where he blossomed into the nation's top college kicker, and now an opportunity to play for the Chicago Bears.
The Bears signed Szmyt as an undrafted free agent rookie in the hours after the draft concluded. For Szmyt, it's only a 10-minute drive from his parents' house to Halas Hall in Lake Forest.
"If I wasn't going to get drafted, this is where I wanted to go," Szmyt said. "This is the team I want to play for. I'm so grateful it worked out."
Szmyt grew up playing striker on the soccer pitch. He never seriously considered kicking a football until his junior year, when he started practicing on his own. The summer prior to his senior year, he went out for the football team. Bellecomo doesn't take any credit.
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Syracuse RB Sean Tucker highlights 10 most intriguing NFC South UDFAs | FOX Sports (foxsports.com; Auman)
Rookie minicamps are now finished, 90-man rosters have been reset, and NFL teams are closer to knowing the players they'll bring to training camp in two months as they work their way to a final 53-man roster.
We've pored over each team's 2023 draft picks, but there's another group of players that shouldn't be ignored in the undrafted rookies who end up being some of the best underdog stories in the preseason and during final cuts. NFL teams have a $225 million salary cap, and the best of these players get around $200,000 guaranteed, so they're the penny stocks of the league, low-cost investments that can pay off in a big way down the road.
Consider the impact undrafted rookies had all over the NFC South last season. Saints receiver Rashid Shaheed had 488 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Falcons running back Caleb Huntley rushed for 366 yards and a score, and Panthers running back Raheem Blackshear had three touchdowns. The Bucs had six different undrafted rookies get snaps last season.
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Bucs: Sean Tucker, RB, Syracuse
Tucker was widely projected as a third-day draft pick but had a medical exclusion from the combine and didn't participate in Syracuse's pro day, and he didn't run the 40 at a personal pro day held the week of the draft. He's in peak physical shape, running track at Syracuse, registering 29 reps in the bench press to go with a 38-inch vertical and a 4.33 40, so this could end up a bargain for Tampa Bay if he's healthy.
Tucker set Syracuse's single-season rushing record in 2021 with 1,496 rushing yards, and he'll wear No. 44 for the Bucs, a nod to Syracuse's most famous number, worn by Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little and other Orange greats.
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Syracuse Football: ACC could change how postseason revenue is split up (itlh; Adler)
This week, officials from the Atlantic Coast Conference and administrators from league members, including the ‘Cuse representing the interests of Syracuse football, are conducting their spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla.
According to various media reports, ACC stakeholders are discussing a variety of things, and a hot-button topic is certainly how this conference can compete against the two giants in major collegiate athletics, the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference.
Amid conference realignment, the Big Ten is adding Southern California and UCLA from the Pac-12 Conference. The SEC has plucked Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 Conference. The Big Ten and the SEC have lucrative TV contracts that will allow their members to generate tens of millions of dollars more annually than ACC teams.
As Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated noted in a recent article, the ACC is “handcuffed by an ESPN broadcasting contract and grant-of-rights that extends another 13 years.”
ACC administrators are discussing postseason revenue-distribution models that could impact Syracuse football.
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ACC News
The portal and NIL are good for college football players. For loyal ACC fans, they're a gut punch (greenvilleonlinje.com; Keepfer)
Not so many years ago, keeping up with your favorite college football team’s personnel was a pleasurable and relatively easy pursuit.
If a young quarterback flashed potential, you could count on him being around for four years. He’d improve over the course of his career, perhaps even challenge school records, and earn widespread respect and admiration from the fan base.
You had an emotional investment not only in him but in the entire team.
You knew who the third-team running back was, the strengths and weaknesses of the defensive ends and where that fast-rising junior cornerback played high school ball.
But that’s so 2000.
Welcome to 2023.
School loyalty is largely a remnant of the past, tertiary to immediate gratification and earning potential.
Coaches, who in the not-so-distant past held an inordinate amount of power, are now at the mercy of the transfer portal, which is a quick and convenient out when a player is convinced there are greener ($) pastures elsewhere.
There’s never been a better time to be a student-athlete, but the pendulum has swung too far in the player’s direction.
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Florida State football is ACC favorite with Keon Coleman addition (saturdayblitz.com; Muldowney)
Arguably the best player in the transfer portal has found a new home. On Wednesday afternoon, Florida State football landed one of the best receivers in the country from Michigan State, junior Keon Coleman.
The Michigan State transfer shocked Spartan fans when he entered the portal because he was ready to have another career year in 2023, but uncertain quarterback play may have changed things. He decided to search for a more secure position.
Florida State was able to offer that.
Jordan Travis will be his quarterback which is quite the upgrade from Payton Thorne, and he’ll be surrounded by more weapons such as Trey Benson in the run game and Johnny Wilson at receiver so he won’t be the focal point for defenses. The move just made sense for both sides.
And now Florida State is easily considered the favorite to win the ACC.
As long as the defense remains strong, this team is going to be borderline dominant in the ACC this season. It looks like Mike Norvell has his first legit ACC favorite squad.
And I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Seminoles push for a playoff spot.
Coleman is that good of an addition.
https://footballscoop.com/news/acc-spring-meetings-2023-unequal-revenue-sharing-model (footballscoop.com; Barnett)
The ACC is not breaking up. At least not any time soon.
Reports emerged from the conference's spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., that seven of the league's members (that's half) united in exploring the Grant of Rights contract in search of loopholes that would let them out. Whether those seven planned to then fight to the death over SEC/Big Ten invitations that may or may not have even materialized or breakaway to form an entirely new conference (similar to how the Mountain West was formed by breaking away from the WAC in a quarter century ago), we'll never know. Lawyers from all parties have apparently determined it's not worth the risk to try to bust out of the contract, because no one's leaving.
"The ADs and the universities are very unified," Florida State AD Michael Alford told ESPN. "So we're thrilled about being in this league, and we want to stay in it."
Earlier this year, Alford and Clemson's Graham Neff publicly lobbied for their schools to receive a larger cut than the rest of the conference, a move that many interpreted as a not-so-veiled threat toward the rest of the conference. From February:
“We have to do something,” FSU AD Michael Alford told the paper. “Because we are a brand, and we’re a very important brand, and we drive the media value in this conference.”
“Is it time revenue distribution within conferences, or at least the ACC, is done differently?" said Clemson's Graham Neff. "Yeah, I’ve been very active in those conversations within the league and continue to expect to take a leadership role in our desire for that to be a changed circumstance. Urgently.”
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ACC leaders weigh merit-based revenue model amid reports of schools examining grant of rights for exit options (cbssports.com; Jayarajah)
The ACC is mulling an amended revenue distribution model that could reward high-performing members with additional revenue. Conference administrators spoke about different options during their annual meetings in Florida this week.
One proposed model shared by Florida State athletic director Michael Alford to 247Sports would have the ACC provide merit-based rewards contingent on winning in the postseason. Individual payouts could clear $10 million per season, a significant increase relative to the $36.1 million total distributed to ACC schools in 2021.
"We have to look at revenue differently," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told ESPN. "And I feel good about that."
The news comes amid reports that seven ACC schools have banded together to evaluate whether breaking the conference's grant of rights is feasible. The league signed a massive 20-year television contract with ESPN that runs through 2036, and while the deal brings stability in the form of a long-term grant of rights, it also puts a cap on league revenue and distribution as fees skyrocket.
The Big Ten signed a contract with CBS, NBC and Fox that will pay league members $75 million per season. The Big 12 locked in a short-term contract with ESPN and FOX that will push the league past $31 million annually in television revenue. For comparison, the ACC's contract with ESPN pays approximately $17 million per school.
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ACC News and Notes: Jerrick Gibson, Mike Matthews, Jalil Martin to Syracuse, Ernest Udeh Jr. Visiting Duke, Keon Coleman to Florida State (pittsburghsportsnow.com; Bechtold)
Wednesday’s ACC News and Notes focus heavily on ACC teams adding premiere talent through the transfer portal and high school recruits beginning to narrow down their lists of potential schools.
Top Running Back Jerrick Gibson Down to Five Schools
Class of 2024 running back Jerrick Gibson will choose between five schools for his freshman year. A 5-foot-11, 207-pound back from Gainsville, Florida, Gibson is the No. 1 running back in the class. He announced Wednesday he will attend either Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, or Miami. According to On3, he runs a 4.57 40-yard dash and 40.3-inch vertical. Gibson joined IMG Academy before his junior year.
Five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews is narrowing his list of Power-5 schools. Matthews will visit Clemson (June 2), Georgia (June 9), and Tennessee (June 23) over the next month, Chad Simmons of On3 reported Wednesday. Matthews ranks as the No. 10 player in the Class of 2024 by and the fourth-best receiver. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound wideout hails from Lilburn, Georgia.
Former Nebraska defensive back Jalil Martin announced he will play for the Syracuse Orange in 2023. A Chicago native, Martin entered the portal on April 30 after spending his freshman year with the Cornhuskers.
The 6-foot-3 safety was a three-star recruit out of high school. Syracuse finished 2022 7-6 overall and 4-4 in ACC play. He redshirted last season after being named the 37th-best athlete by On3 in the 2022 class.
Former Kansas Forward Ernest Udeh Jr. Visiting Duke Wednesday, Heard from Multiple Others
The Duke Blue Devils may become an even clearer favorite to win the ACC in the next coming days as former Kansas forward Ernest Udeh Jr. is on campus Wednesday. According to 247Sports analyst Travis Branham, the former McDonald’s All-American has heard from the Blue Devils, Kansas State, TCU, Arkansas, Ohio State, Florida State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgetown, and others.
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Links, News and Rumors - 2023 May 17th (RX; HM)
Links, News and Rumors - 2023 May 17th
From ESPN: ACC optimistic about reaching agreement on new revenue model
Preseason 2023 - Best Offensive Tackles (RX; HM)
Preseason 2023 - Best Offensive Tackles
Want to know why Notre Dame has been running roughshod through the ACC in recent years? Look no further than this list:
The rest of the ACC? Six of the top 50:
6. Graham Barton, Duke
12. Matt Goncalves, Pitt
16. Jeremiah Byers, FSU
29. Zion Nelson, Miami
45. Tristan Leigh, Clemson
48. Eric Miller, Louisville
Now a good Offensive Coordinator can generate offense with just one good Offensive Tackle, but when you have two of them it really opens up the playbook. None of these six teams have more than one, like Notre Dame does - and the other eight ACC teams don't even have one in the top 50!
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New ACC Tie-Breaker Rules (RX; HM)
New ACC Tie-Breaker Rules
From the consumate professional.
From Syracuse.com: ACC sets tiebreaker rules for football championship game eligibility ahead of first season without divisions
Top ACC program ‘already feels like’ SEC football institution already: Analyst (flywareagle.com; Hughes)
ClutchPoints’ Shane Shoemaker believes that Clemson would make a lot of sense in the SEC with all of the rumors of the ACC’s impending demise — going as far as to say that Clemson “already feels like” an SEC football institution already.
“(Clemson’s) potential move seems like one of the clearest ones in the entire group,” Shoemaker wrote. “Already having an in-state rival they play yearly in the South Carolina Gamecocks, the easy move is for the Tigers to move right into the SEC. Let’s be honest, they kind of already feel like an SEC team anyways.”
Sure, Clemson’s introduction to the SEC football world would add a second “Death Valley” given LSU’s Tiger Stadium nickname, but given the presence of the Auburn Tigers, LSU Tigers, and Missouri Tigers — not to mention both the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Georgia Bulldogs sharing a mascot –, adding a fourth Tigers seems like far from a deal-breaker.
SEC football could do well with both gaining and losing teams
There have been multiple SEC imports that have added plenty to the conference, there have also been additions that have not seemed to move the needle forward. Missouri in particular springs to mind, having had just two standout seasons since joining the conference along with Texas A&M.
The Aggies have been a perennial SEC West contender, but at this point, Missouri has won more than seven games just once since 2015, and given the proximity to most of the Big Ten, may make more sense in that conference or in the rebuilt Big 12.
That way, the likes of Clemson, Florida State, and Miami could join the SEC and increase the competition level. If the SEC wanted to become a top basketball conference, Arkansas could go the way of Missouri to open up room for Duke and North Carolina.
What they’re saying about the future of the ACC at spring meetings: ‘An airing of grievances’ (PS; Carlson)
In what is quickly becoming an annual tradition, the ACC’s spring meetings once again prompted national conversation about how quickly a group of schools meeting together in Amelia Island, Florida, could find themselves breaking up.
This year’s league’s meetings began just as Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported that seven members of the league explored whether there were any viable ways to break the financial arrangement that ties the ACC together through the 2035-36 season.
Those seven teams were later identified by The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy as Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and North Carolina State. He dubbed them “The Magnificent Seven.”
Subsequent reporting from a variety of outlets indicated the seven ACC members are not acting as a coordinated group. Still, the tone for the meetings was set.
ESPN’s David Hale and Andrea Adelson reported the revelation that seven teams are looking for a way to escape led to contentious moments “with multiple members admitting to raised voices and a few profanities exchanged.”
The ESPN duo reported Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich chalked the discussion up as “an airing of grievances” and that “people had to say where they were and why do you feel that way.”
The consensus from national reporters and those covering the ACC is that breaking up in the near-future is going to be very hard (and costly) to do. The league’s current agreement includes both an exit fee and a grant of broadcasting rights through 2036. That means the ACC owns the financial right to broadcasts produced at each of its schools.
Hale and Adelson summarized the financial realities facing any team looking for an exit like this:
“To exit the ACC, a school would need to pay an exit fee of three times its annual revenue (approximately $120 million) and would risk losing the right to broadcast their games because of the grant of rights.”
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Big 12 Football: 4 expansion options among schools wanting to leave ACC (hookenheadlines.com; Miller)
Conference realignment seems to be an ever-ongoing conversation these days, which is one that often involves Big 12 football. Since the news came about a couple of years ago that the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, this conference has remained in the midst of the realignment/expansion conversation pretty constantly.
The Big 12 responded to the Longhorns and Sooners leaving the conference for the SEC by adding four more teams starting in the fall of 2023. This fall, the Big 12 will welcome the Houston Cougars, BYU Cougars, UCF Knights, and Cincinnati Bearcats to the competition in this conference.
Could we see more conference realignment have an impact on the Big 12 in the near future?
Big 12 football poaching options if the ACC starts to fall apart
Something that could impact the realignment conversation for the Big 12 this year is the move that was reported by Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger this week that seven schools are looking for a way out of the ACC. Among the seven schools that could want out of the ACC are some of the most valuable athletic programs in the conference (i.e. Clemson and Florida State).
Given how imperative it will be for the PAC-12, Big 12, and ACC all to survive through the next round of TV negotiations, it will be interesting to see how this news unfolds in the coming weeks and months.
With that in mind, here’s a look at four ACC schools that the Big 12 could hypothetically try and poach in the next looming round of conference expansion/realignment.
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Other
National smoothie chain to open first location in Onondaga County (PS; Doran)
Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a national fast-casual cafe offering smoothies, wraps, sandwiches and flatbreads, is opening a new location in Cicero. It opens at 7 a.m. Thursday.
It will be the first Tropical Smoothie in Onondaga County. Roger Wagner, who runs W2B Management, is the franchise owner of the new cafe at 7987 Brewerton Road.
The cafe is offering several opening promotions, including free smoothies for a year to the first 50 customers in line Thursday. There will be other specials. The first $1,000 earned on opening day will be donated to No Kid Hungry, a nationwide organization.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe has more than 1,235 locations in 44 states.
First held in 2016, National Notebook Day is celebrated by notebook enthusiasts, who write in notebooks or planners and share pictures of their notebooks on social media using the hashtag #NationalNotebookDay. Sweepstakes are also held each year, sponsored by May Designs—the company that came up with the day—and other companies involved with office supplies, notebooks, and stationery.
In our twenty-first-century digital age, notebooks sometimes seem like a throwback to a time of the past, although they are more popular than ever, being used for numerous purposes, like writing, note-taking, drawing, and scrapbooking. This is good news, because it has also been shown that they may benefit cognitive function more than their digital counterparts. They are stacks of paper pages that are bound together and often ruled. Some common bindings used today includes spiral, comb, sewn, clasp, padding, disc, perfect, and padding. The first of these is usually cheaper than the others, and the last of these uses glue to hold pages together. Notebooks generally have a cover that is made from a different material than what is inside.
SU News
Syracuse football in top 7 for 4-star tight end, a top-300 national prospect (itlh; Adler)
Four-star junior tight end/wide receiver Korey “KJ” Duff Jr., who has amassed nearly 30 scholarship offers throughout his recruiting process, revealed a top seven via his Twitter page, and Syracuse football made the cut.
The 6-foot-5, 205-pound Duff, a top-300 overall player in the 2024 class per On3, attends St. Anthony’s High School in Melville, N.Y. His top seven consist of the Orange, Rutgers, UCF, North Carolina, Texas, Texas A&M and Miami.
According to his Twitter page, Duff received a scholarship offer from Syracuse football in October of 2022. Per his Twitter account and media reports, I believe he has taken at least two unofficial visits to the Hill.
For the ‘Cuse to prevail in Duff’s recruitment, I would imagine that the Orange coaching staff needs to get him on campus for an official visit as well.
Syracuse football remains in the running for 2024 four-star tight end/wide receiver Korey “KJ” Duff Jr.
Per the MaxPreps Web site, during the 2022 season as a junior for St. Anthony’s, Duff played in 10 games, catching 42 passes for 995 yards and 12 receiving touchdowns.
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Miami football leads top 7 for 3-star TE Korey Duff (caneswarning.com; Rubenstein)
The Miami football program is the favorite after being named in the top seven for three-star tight end Korey Duff. The 247 Sports composite rankings list Duff as the 628th prospect, 29th TE and fourth player in New York in the 2024 Class. North Carolina, Rutgers, Syracuse, UCF, Texas and Texas A&M are the other six Duff finalists.
At 6’5 and 207 pounds Duff is hybrid TE and wide receiver. Duff has 77 receptions for 1,677 yards and 17 touchdowns in the last two seasons. Seven schools received unofficial visits from Duff before he named his seven finalists. Connecticut, Maryland, Penn State and Pittsburgh hosted Duff but did not make his top seven.
Central Florida and Texas are the only two programs among the seven Duff finalists that he has not visited yet. Duff has official visits scheduled for Rutgers and North Carolina in June with more to be scheduled. Steve Wiltfong the 247 Sports Director of Football Recruiting logged a Duff crystal ball to Miami in April.
The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine projects Miami with a 78.7 percent chance for a commitment from Duff, Rutgers at 9.1 percent, North Carolina at 4.0 percent and Syracuse with a 1.7 percent chance. Wide receivers coach Kevin Beard is leading the recruitment of Duff for Miami.
Miami does not have any TEs committed to its 2024 Class. All of the TEs on the Miami football roster have eligibility remaining beyond 2023. Four-star WR Chance Robinson is the only blue-chip prospect and receiver committed to Miami for 2024. Beard has done an exceptional job in about two months as the Miami WR coach.
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Keeping Up With The 315 5-17-23 (ESPN; radio; The 315)
Brian Higgins kicks things off with some Syracuse football news and questions about how many defensive backs the Orange will utilize this season. Then, Brian weighs in on the latest conference realignment drama coming from ACC Spring Meetings. Later, your favorite anonymous sports bettor who sort of knows gives his weekly picks a couple days early.
Syracuse football recruit spotlight: 2024 OL Noah Rosahac (cbssports.com; video; Finneral)
2024 Syracuse Recruit Spotlight
https://images./image/upload/f_auto,q_auto,t_large/bleo1hqazc7t7ravajx2
https://www.si.com/college/syracuse/recruiting/nebraska-transfer-jalil-martin-commits-to-syracuse (SI; McAllister)
Nebraska transfer defensive back Jalil Martin committed to Syracuse on Wednesday, he announced on Social Media. Martin signed with Nebraska as part of their 2022 recruiting class but redshirted last season. Therefore, the 6-3, 200 pounder has four years of eligibility remaining. He joins transfer defensive backs Jayden Bellamy (Notre Dame) and Jaeden Gould (Nebraska) as incoming transfers into the secondary. Junior college defensive backs Jakobie Seabourn and Berry Buxton also committed this week.
Martin starred for Kenwood Academy in Illinois as a defensive back and wide receiver. He was listed as an athlete by the major recruiting services, and rated a three star prospect by each. He started out as a defensive back with the Cornhuskers but spent some time at receiver this past spring.
He picked Nebraska as a high school recruit over offers from Boston College, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan State, Missouri, Ole Miss, Syracuse, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Washington State and many others
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Vernon Hills grad Andre Szmyt's improbable journey to potential NFL kicker (dailyherald.com; Hammond)
Vernon Hills football coach Bill Bellecomo still remembers the afternoon when some of his football players sent him a video of Andre Szmyt kicking 50-yard field goals.
He remembers the text he sent back, too: "Get him to play."
Szmyt, a longtime soccer player, joined the Vernon Hills football team for one season as a senior in 2016. That decision eventually led him to a spot on the Syracuse football team, where he blossomed into the nation's top college kicker, and now an opportunity to play for the Chicago Bears.
The Bears signed Szmyt as an undrafted free agent rookie in the hours after the draft concluded. For Szmyt, it's only a 10-minute drive from his parents' house to Halas Hall in Lake Forest.
"If I wasn't going to get drafted, this is where I wanted to go," Szmyt said. "This is the team I want to play for. I'm so grateful it worked out."
Szmyt grew up playing striker on the soccer pitch. He never seriously considered kicking a football until his junior year, when he started practicing on his own. The summer prior to his senior year, he went out for the football team. Bellecomo doesn't take any credit.
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Syracuse RB Sean Tucker highlights 10 most intriguing NFC South UDFAs | FOX Sports (foxsports.com; Auman)
Rookie minicamps are now finished, 90-man rosters have been reset, and NFL teams are closer to knowing the players they'll bring to training camp in two months as they work their way to a final 53-man roster.
We've pored over each team's 2023 draft picks, but there's another group of players that shouldn't be ignored in the undrafted rookies who end up being some of the best underdog stories in the preseason and during final cuts. NFL teams have a $225 million salary cap, and the best of these players get around $200,000 guaranteed, so they're the penny stocks of the league, low-cost investments that can pay off in a big way down the road.
Consider the impact undrafted rookies had all over the NFC South last season. Saints receiver Rashid Shaheed had 488 receiving yards and two touchdowns. Falcons running back Caleb Huntley rushed for 366 yards and a score, and Panthers running back Raheem Blackshear had three touchdowns. The Bucs had six different undrafted rookies get snaps last season.
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Bucs: Sean Tucker, RB, Syracuse
Tucker was widely projected as a third-day draft pick but had a medical exclusion from the combine and didn't participate in Syracuse's pro day, and he didn't run the 40 at a personal pro day held the week of the draft. He's in peak physical shape, running track at Syracuse, registering 29 reps in the bench press to go with a 38-inch vertical and a 4.33 40, so this could end up a bargain for Tampa Bay if he's healthy.
Tucker set Syracuse's single-season rushing record in 2021 with 1,496 rushing yards, and he'll wear No. 44 for the Bucs, a nod to Syracuse's most famous number, worn by Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little and other Orange greats.
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Syracuse Football: ACC could change how postseason revenue is split up (itlh; Adler)
This week, officials from the Atlantic Coast Conference and administrators from league members, including the ‘Cuse representing the interests of Syracuse football, are conducting their spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla.
According to various media reports, ACC stakeholders are discussing a variety of things, and a hot-button topic is certainly how this conference can compete against the two giants in major collegiate athletics, the Big Ten Conference and the Southeastern Conference.
Amid conference realignment, the Big Ten is adding Southern California and UCLA from the Pac-12 Conference. The SEC has plucked Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12 Conference. The Big Ten and the SEC have lucrative TV contracts that will allow their members to generate tens of millions of dollars more annually than ACC teams.
As Ross Dellenger of Sports Illustrated noted in a recent article, the ACC is “handcuffed by an ESPN broadcasting contract and grant-of-rights that extends another 13 years.”
ACC administrators are discussing postseason revenue-distribution models that could impact Syracuse football.
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ACC News
The portal and NIL are good for college football players. For loyal ACC fans, they're a gut punch (greenvilleonlinje.com; Keepfer)
Not so many years ago, keeping up with your favorite college football team’s personnel was a pleasurable and relatively easy pursuit.
If a young quarterback flashed potential, you could count on him being around for four years. He’d improve over the course of his career, perhaps even challenge school records, and earn widespread respect and admiration from the fan base.
You had an emotional investment not only in him but in the entire team.
You knew who the third-team running back was, the strengths and weaknesses of the defensive ends and where that fast-rising junior cornerback played high school ball.
But that’s so 2000.
Welcome to 2023.
School loyalty is largely a remnant of the past, tertiary to immediate gratification and earning potential.
Coaches, who in the not-so-distant past held an inordinate amount of power, are now at the mercy of the transfer portal, which is a quick and convenient out when a player is convinced there are greener ($) pastures elsewhere.
There’s never been a better time to be a student-athlete, but the pendulum has swung too far in the player’s direction.
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Florida State football is ACC favorite with Keon Coleman addition (saturdayblitz.com; Muldowney)
Arguably the best player in the transfer portal has found a new home. On Wednesday afternoon, Florida State football landed one of the best receivers in the country from Michigan State, junior Keon Coleman.
The Michigan State transfer shocked Spartan fans when he entered the portal because he was ready to have another career year in 2023, but uncertain quarterback play may have changed things. He decided to search for a more secure position.
Florida State was able to offer that.
Jordan Travis will be his quarterback which is quite the upgrade from Payton Thorne, and he’ll be surrounded by more weapons such as Trey Benson in the run game and Johnny Wilson at receiver so he won’t be the focal point for defenses. The move just made sense for both sides.
And now Florida State is easily considered the favorite to win the ACC.
Florida State football has all the pieces to make a CFP run
With the addition of a 6-foot-4 freak athlete at receiver, the Seminoles will have one of the best offenses not just in the ACC, but the country. Travis will now have another weapon to utilize in the receiving corps and he’ll give Wilson a run for his money at WR1.As long as the defense remains strong, this team is going to be borderline dominant in the ACC this season. It looks like Mike Norvell has his first legit ACC favorite squad.
And I wouldn’t be shocked to see the Seminoles push for a playoff spot.
Coleman is that good of an addition.
https://footballscoop.com/news/acc-spring-meetings-2023-unequal-revenue-sharing-model (footballscoop.com; Barnett)
The ACC is not breaking up. At least not any time soon.
Reports emerged from the conference's spring meetings in Amelia Island, Fla., that seven of the league's members (that's half) united in exploring the Grant of Rights contract in search of loopholes that would let them out. Whether those seven planned to then fight to the death over SEC/Big Ten invitations that may or may not have even materialized or breakaway to form an entirely new conference (similar to how the Mountain West was formed by breaking away from the WAC in a quarter century ago), we'll never know. Lawyers from all parties have apparently determined it's not worth the risk to try to bust out of the contract, because no one's leaving.
"The ADs and the universities are very unified," Florida State AD Michael Alford told ESPN. "So we're thrilled about being in this league, and we want to stay in it."
Earlier this year, Alford and Clemson's Graham Neff publicly lobbied for their schools to receive a larger cut than the rest of the conference, a move that many interpreted as a not-so-veiled threat toward the rest of the conference. From February:
“We have to do something,” FSU AD Michael Alford told the paper. “Because we are a brand, and we’re a very important brand, and we drive the media value in this conference.”
“Is it time revenue distribution within conferences, or at least the ACC, is done differently?" said Clemson's Graham Neff. "Yeah, I’ve been very active in those conversations within the league and continue to expect to take a leadership role in our desire for that to be a changed circumstance. Urgently.”
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ACC leaders weigh merit-based revenue model amid reports of schools examining grant of rights for exit options (cbssports.com; Jayarajah)
The ACC is mulling an amended revenue distribution model that could reward high-performing members with additional revenue. Conference administrators spoke about different options during their annual meetings in Florida this week.
One proposed model shared by Florida State athletic director Michael Alford to 247Sports would have the ACC provide merit-based rewards contingent on winning in the postseason. Individual payouts could clear $10 million per season, a significant increase relative to the $36.1 million total distributed to ACC schools in 2021.
"We have to look at revenue differently," ACC commissioner Jim Phillips told ESPN. "And I feel good about that."
The news comes amid reports that seven ACC schools have banded together to evaluate whether breaking the conference's grant of rights is feasible. The league signed a massive 20-year television contract with ESPN that runs through 2036, and while the deal brings stability in the form of a long-term grant of rights, it also puts a cap on league revenue and distribution as fees skyrocket.
The Big Ten signed a contract with CBS, NBC and Fox that will pay league members $75 million per season. The Big 12 locked in a short-term contract with ESPN and FOX that will push the league past $31 million annually in television revenue. For comparison, the ACC's contract with ESPN pays approximately $17 million per school.
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ACC News and Notes: Jerrick Gibson, Mike Matthews, Jalil Martin to Syracuse, Ernest Udeh Jr. Visiting Duke, Keon Coleman to Florida State (pittsburghsportsnow.com; Bechtold)
Wednesday’s ACC News and Notes focus heavily on ACC teams adding premiere talent through the transfer portal and high school recruits beginning to narrow down their lists of potential schools.
Top Running Back Jerrick Gibson Down to Five Schools
Class of 2024 running back Jerrick Gibson will choose between five schools for his freshman year. A 5-foot-11, 207-pound back from Gainsville, Florida, Gibson is the No. 1 running back in the class. He announced Wednesday he will attend either Florida, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, or Miami. According to On3, he runs a 4.57 40-yard dash and 40.3-inch vertical. Gibson joined IMG Academy before his junior year.
High School Wide Receiver Mike Matthews to Visit Four Schools
Five-star wide receiver Mike Matthews is narrowing his list of Power-5 schools. Matthews will visit Clemson (June 2), Georgia (June 9), and Tennessee (June 23) over the next month, Chad Simmons of On3 reported Wednesday. Matthews ranks as the No. 10 player in the Class of 2024 by and the fourth-best receiver. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound wideout hails from Lilburn, Georgia.
Nebraska Transfer DB Jalil Martin Commits to Syracuse
Former Nebraska defensive back Jalil Martin announced he will play for the Syracuse Orange in 2023. A Chicago native, Martin entered the portal on April 30 after spending his freshman year with the Cornhuskers.
The 6-foot-3 safety was a three-star recruit out of high school. Syracuse finished 2022 7-6 overall and 4-4 in ACC play. He redshirted last season after being named the 37th-best athlete by On3 in the 2022 class.
Former Kansas Forward Ernest Udeh Jr. Visiting Duke Wednesday, Heard from Multiple Others
The Duke Blue Devils may become an even clearer favorite to win the ACC in the next coming days as former Kansas forward Ernest Udeh Jr. is on campus Wednesday. According to 247Sports analyst Travis Branham, the former McDonald’s All-American has heard from the Blue Devils, Kansas State, TCU, Arkansas, Ohio State, Florida State, Notre Dame, Syracuse, Georgetown, and others.
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Links, News and Rumors - 2023 May 17th (RX; HM)
Links, News and Rumors - 2023 May 17th
From ESPN: ACC optimistic about reaching agreement on new revenue model
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Preseason 2023 - Best Offensive Tackles (RX; HM)
Preseason 2023 - Best Offensive Tackles
Want to know why Notre Dame has been running roughshod through the ACC in recent years? Look no further than this list:
Argue with BGB about the order or who he left off if you wish, but one thing is inescapable: the Fighting Irish have (according to Boomer) two of the top 10 best offensive tackles in college football. Bookends.
The rest of the ACC? Six of the top 50:
6. Graham Barton, Duke
12. Matt Goncalves, Pitt
16. Jeremiah Byers, FSU
29. Zion Nelson, Miami
45. Tristan Leigh, Clemson
48. Eric Miller, Louisville
Now a good Offensive Coordinator can generate offense with just one good Offensive Tackle, but when you have two of them it really opens up the playbook. None of these six teams have more than one, like Notre Dame does - and the other eight ACC teams don't even have one in the top 50!
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New ACC Tie-Breaker Rules (RX; HM)
New ACC Tie-Breaker Rules
From the consumate professional.
If the ACC ends up using this more than once a decade or so, it's in big trouble.
From Syracuse.com: ACC sets tiebreaker rules for football championship game eligibility ahead of first season without divisions
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Top ACC program ‘already feels like’ SEC football institution already: Analyst (flywareagle.com; Hughes)
ClutchPoints’ Shane Shoemaker believes that Clemson would make a lot of sense in the SEC with all of the rumors of the ACC’s impending demise — going as far as to say that Clemson “already feels like” an SEC football institution already.
“(Clemson’s) potential move seems like one of the clearest ones in the entire group,” Shoemaker wrote. “Already having an in-state rival they play yearly in the South Carolina Gamecocks, the easy move is for the Tigers to move right into the SEC. Let’s be honest, they kind of already feel like an SEC team anyways.”
Sure, Clemson’s introduction to the SEC football world would add a second “Death Valley” given LSU’s Tiger Stadium nickname, but given the presence of the Auburn Tigers, LSU Tigers, and Missouri Tigers — not to mention both the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Georgia Bulldogs sharing a mascot –, adding a fourth Tigers seems like far from a deal-breaker.
SEC football could do well with both gaining and losing teams
There have been multiple SEC imports that have added plenty to the conference, there have also been additions that have not seemed to move the needle forward. Missouri in particular springs to mind, having had just two standout seasons since joining the conference along with Texas A&M.
The Aggies have been a perennial SEC West contender, but at this point, Missouri has won more than seven games just once since 2015, and given the proximity to most of the Big Ten, may make more sense in that conference or in the rebuilt Big 12.
That way, the likes of Clemson, Florida State, and Miami could join the SEC and increase the competition level. If the SEC wanted to become a top basketball conference, Arkansas could go the way of Missouri to open up room for Duke and North Carolina.
What they’re saying about the future of the ACC at spring meetings: ‘An airing of grievances’ (PS; Carlson)
In what is quickly becoming an annual tradition, the ACC’s spring meetings once again prompted national conversation about how quickly a group of schools meeting together in Amelia Island, Florida, could find themselves breaking up.
This year’s league’s meetings began just as Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger reported that seven members of the league explored whether there were any viable ways to break the financial arrangement that ties the ACC together through the 2035-36 season.
Those seven teams were later identified by The Action Network’s Brett McMurphy as Florida State, Clemson, Miami, Virginia, Virginia Tech, North Carolina and North Carolina State. He dubbed them “The Magnificent Seven.”
Subsequent reporting from a variety of outlets indicated the seven ACC members are not acting as a coordinated group. Still, the tone for the meetings was set.
ESPN’s David Hale and Andrea Adelson reported the revelation that seven teams are looking for a way to escape led to contentious moments “with multiple members admitting to raised voices and a few profanities exchanged.”
The ESPN duo reported Miami athletic director Dan Radakovich chalked the discussion up as “an airing of grievances” and that “people had to say where they were and why do you feel that way.”
The consensus from national reporters and those covering the ACC is that breaking up in the near-future is going to be very hard (and costly) to do. The league’s current agreement includes both an exit fee and a grant of broadcasting rights through 2036. That means the ACC owns the financial right to broadcasts produced at each of its schools.
Hale and Adelson summarized the financial realities facing any team looking for an exit like this:
“To exit the ACC, a school would need to pay an exit fee of three times its annual revenue (approximately $120 million) and would risk losing the right to broadcast their games because of the grant of rights.”
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Big 12 Football: 4 expansion options among schools wanting to leave ACC (hookenheadlines.com; Miller)
Conference realignment seems to be an ever-ongoing conversation these days, which is one that often involves Big 12 football. Since the news came about a couple of years ago that the Texas Longhorns and Oklahoma Sooners were leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, this conference has remained in the midst of the realignment/expansion conversation pretty constantly.
The Big 12 responded to the Longhorns and Sooners leaving the conference for the SEC by adding four more teams starting in the fall of 2023. This fall, the Big 12 will welcome the Houston Cougars, BYU Cougars, UCF Knights, and Cincinnati Bearcats to the competition in this conference.
Could we see more conference realignment have an impact on the Big 12 in the near future?
Big 12 football poaching options if the ACC starts to fall apart
Something that could impact the realignment conversation for the Big 12 this year is the move that was reported by Sports Illustrated’s Ross Dellenger this week that seven schools are looking for a way out of the ACC. Among the seven schools that could want out of the ACC are some of the most valuable athletic programs in the conference (i.e. Clemson and Florida State).
Given how imperative it will be for the PAC-12, Big 12, and ACC all to survive through the next round of TV negotiations, it will be interesting to see how this news unfolds in the coming weeks and months.
With that in mind, here’s a look at four ACC schools that the Big 12 could hypothetically try and poach in the next looming round of conference expansion/realignment.
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Other
National smoothie chain to open first location in Onondaga County (PS; Doran)
Tropical Smoothie Cafe, a national fast-casual cafe offering smoothies, wraps, sandwiches and flatbreads, is opening a new location in Cicero. It opens at 7 a.m. Thursday.
It will be the first Tropical Smoothie in Onondaga County. Roger Wagner, who runs W2B Management, is the franchise owner of the new cafe at 7987 Brewerton Road.
The cafe is offering several opening promotions, including free smoothies for a year to the first 50 customers in line Thursday. There will be other specials. The first $1,000 earned on opening day will be donated to No Kid Hungry, a nationwide organization.
Tropical Smoothie Cafe has more than 1,235 locations in 44 states.
