J.T. Olsen – Bucs Report – Special to Sports Talk Florida
We are in the heart of the NFL draft season. The NFL combine is over and we are now looking at free agency. But before teams make educated decisions on where to spend their money, it’s important to know where the strengths of this NFL Draft class are.
While there is still much work to be done with evaluating this draft class, there are clear trends in the first round and into the second as to where the talent is. And while future prospects may crack this list in the future, he’s where my evaluations are at as of today. Here is my NFL draft post combine top 50 big board.
1. Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado 2. Mason Graham, DT, Michigan 3. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State 4. Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State 5. Josh Simmons, OT, Ohio State 6. Will Johnson, CB, Michigan 7. Will Campbell, OL, LSU 8. Jahdae Barron, DB, Texas
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Barron is fantastic at everything he does. He’s got experience at safety and nickel and he looked great at outside corner last year. I’ve seen comparisons to Brian Branch as a safety, but I also compare him to Tre’davious White as an outside cornerback.
9. Tyler Booker, IOL, Alabama 10. Donovan Jackson, IOL, Ohio State 11. Tetairoa McMillian, WR, Arizona 12. Tyler Warren, TE, Penn State 13. Aireontae Ersery, OT, Minnesota
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There is a little projection with this one, but I really like the tools that Ersery brings to the table. Guys who are this big and strong don’t usually move as gracefully as he does. He needs some polishing with his hand placement usage as well as staying low and driving his man, but the ceiling here is very high.
14. Armand Membou, OL, Missouri 15. Colston Loveland, TE, Michigan 16. James Pearce, EDGE, Tennessee 17. Mike Green, EDGE, Marshall 18. Malaki Starks, FS, Georgia 19. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State 20. Walter Nolan, DT, Ole Miss 21. Donovan Ezeiruaku, EDGE, Boston College
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This is who I project will be the Buccaneers top choice at pick 19. A true student of the game who has the deepest arsenal of pass rush moves in the draft. On top of that, he has the flexibility to bend around the edge as well as anyone in the NFL.
Alexander looked like a man among boys while playing in the Mid American Conference. He has the pass rush moves to get to the quarterback, as well as the physical gifts to just out athlete offensive linemen. I wish he weren’t turning 25 years old as a rookie, but some team is going to love him for the next 4 or 5 years.
28. Grey Zabel, OL, North Dakota State 29. Omarion Hampton, RB, North Carolina 30. Jalon Walker, EDGE/LB, Georgia 31. Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
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Sanders isn’t my top rated quarterback in this draft, but he’s the most NFL ready. He’s accurate and does a nice job facilitating the offense and hitting his man in time. I don’t love the overall upside because his tools aren’t great, but he can be a starting quarterback in this league if you don’t ask him to do too much.
32. Shemar Stewart, EDGE, Texas A&M 33. Xavier Watts, FS, Notre Dame 34. Benjamin Morrison, CB, Notre Dame 35. Josh Conley, OT, Oregon 36. Azareye’h Thomas, CB, Florida State 37. Marcus Mbow, OL, Purdue 38. Nick Emmanwori, S, South Carolina 39. Matthew Golden, WR, Texas 40. Kelvin Banks, OL, Texas
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I struggle with what to do with Banks. I really enjoyed watching him, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a high end offensive tackle prospect with slower feet. His future might be best at guard, but that makes him a little more of a project.
41. Tyliek Williams, DT, Ohio State 42. Shavon Revel, CB, East Carolina 43. Josiah Stewart, EDGE, Michigan 44. Andrew Mukuba, FS, Texas 45. Darien Porter, CB, Iowa State
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Corners who are 6’4 and move the way that Porter does don’t come around very often. He’s only played the position for 3 of his 6 years in college, but he’s a more well rounded player than you’d expect. Another player who will turn 25 as a rookie, but for the next few years he can be a good starter on the outside.
46. Carson Schwesinger, LB, UCLA 47. Jonah Savaiinaea, OL, Arizona 48. Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State 49. Princely Umanmielen, EDGE, Ole Miss 50. Tate Ratledge, IOL, Georgia
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The NBA’s Spurs ownership lease to use the San Antonio lease ends in 2032.
For a sports owner to gain leverage in either the stadium and/or the arena game, that owner needs someone else to make the if you don’t come up with public dollars to either upgrade an existing arena or build an entirely new arena, I will move the franchise argument. The National Basketball Association’s San Antonio Spurs ownership got that person or entity to make the point. It has the local newspaper, the San Antonio Express-News, making the point. On the editorial page there was this opinion. “A new arena is key to keeping the Spurs in San Antonio. Without it, other markets will come calling for the team.” In other words, you better do this or the Spurs ownership may go to Austin, Texas full-time. The Spurs ownership has been using an Austin arena for a handful of games over the past two years and there are people in San Antonio who are convinced that people in Austin will swoop in and take the franchise after the Spurs ownership and the local government’s arena deal ends in 2032.
The quest to build an arena for Spurs ownership group has begun. The name of the plan is Project Marvel, which sounds as if it was lifted from a comic book. Project Marvel includes the construction of a San Antonio arena along with renovations to the 31-year-old Alamodome. The price tag of Project Marvel is estimated to be around $4 billion. The public will provide a share of the tab by not getting any of the taxes collected within the arena-district zone. The developers of Project Marvel will keep the 6% hotel tax and 6% sales tax so they can pay down the costs of the project. But those tax dollars are certainly not enough to fund the $4 billion expenditure. The haggling has started in the San Antonio arena game.
Iowa State women’s basketball star Audi Crooks has a love-hate relationship with social media.
Sometimes she’ll scroll through her direct messages and find a note from a little girl who sees her as a role model and asks for advice or to take a picture with her after the next game.
Other times, the Big 12’s leading scorer will receive a message criticizing the way she looks, the way she plays or the way she acts.
“They’re missing the whole point of social media, of the internet, of being able to interact with us,” Crooks said. “I want to use my social platform for positive connections.”
With March Madness approaching and International Women’s Day on Saturday, Crooks and Iowa’s Hannah Stuelke are promoting healthy digital habits through their name, image and likeness partnerships with UScellular.
“I think making connections with people online can be very healthy,” Stuelke said. “There are a lot of younger girls who reach out to me and I get to respond and encourage what they’re doing. That’s the upside to social media, being able to mentor people and be a leader to people who may not have a leader.”
Online abuse of college athletes received attention last weekend when Kansas men’s basketball player Zeke Mayo shared screen shots of hateful social media posts directed at him after he struggled in a loss at Texas Tech.
An NCAA study released last fall found female college athletes are targeted for online abuse three times as much as male athletes. Among types of content targeting athletes, 18% was sexual in nature, 17% was general abuse, 14% was sexist and 12% dealt with gambling.
The NCAA said abusive content can cause targeted athletes to suffer from anxiety, depression, loss of confidence, panic attacks and in extreme cases can be a contributing factor in suicidal tendencies or actions. Most athletic departments have counselors to help athletes who are struggling to deal with online negativity.
“Most of the time,” Crooks said, “I try to just brush it off.”
But it’s not always easy to do, she said.
“For women in sports specifically, there’s just not many things that you can do without being criticized, whether you’re celebrating, you’re getting a little chippy. All of a sudden that’s out of line,” she said. “But if a men’s basketball player were to do the same thing, then they’re OK.
“From a social media perspective, it’s the opinions of, ‘Oh, she’s cocky, she’s this, she’s that. She looks this way. She appears this way. That’s not very ladylike.’ ”
Stuelke said she follows Iowa coach Jan Jensen’s advice to the players, which is to put the phone down and spend time with people who matter the most, whether it’s teammates, coaches, friends or family. When Stuelke does look at Instagram, she knows it’s possible there’ll be a nasty message waiting for her from an anonymous keyboard warrior.
“I think it’s important we spread the message that this is happening to us and that there are ways to handle it,” Stuelke said, “and that you aren’t alone if you are struggling with this.”
The celebration started in Santa Rosa, California.
March is Women’s History Month, a celebration of women’s accomplishments that began forty-five years ago as a local event in Santa Rosa, California as Women’s History Week. Billie Jean King is part of that history. King spoke out against sexism in sports in the 1960s. In 1967, King took on the United States Lawn Tennis Association and its policy of paying top players under the table to guarantee their entry into tournaments. King felt the under the table payments practice was corrupt and kept tennis highly elitist.
King and other women players risked their careers to start the first professional women’s tennis tour in 1970. The group had trouble finding a sponsor. In 1964, the United States Surgeon General’s report concluded that cigarette smoking was harmful to a smoker’s health, but Phillip Morris’s Virginia Slims brand was the only company interested in supporting King’s circuit. King’s backers took the money despite the health risks and warnings. King defended the decision saying people could decide whether they smoked. King pushed for equal prize money in the men’s and women’s matches after winning the 1972 U. S. Open. She was paid $15,000 less than the men’s champion Ilie Nastase and threatened to sit out the 1973 U. S. Open if the prize money was not equaled. In 1973, the U. S. Open offered equal prize money for men and women. In 1973, King became the first president of the Women’s Tennis Association, the first women’s union in sports. In 1974, she helped start the Women’s Sports Foundation. Also, that year she helped launch World Team Tennis. King was part of a movement that culminated in getting Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments signed into law by President Richard Nixon. Nixon’s signature gave women equal opportunity in higher education and sports in the United States with men.
