GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — Shedeur Sanders’ wait finally has ended.

The Cleveland Browns selected the Colorado quarterback and son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders in the fifth round with the 144th overall pick in the NFL draft on Saturday. That ended a stunning fall for Sanders, the most recognizable player in this draft class after his attention-getting college career.

Draft forecasts generally rated Sanders behind only Miami’s Cam Ward — who went first overall to the Tennessee Titans — among quarterbacks in this class. Five quarterbacks were taken before him instead, with one of them going to Cleveland when the Browns picked Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel in the third round.

The uncertainty surrounding the Colorado star is the dominant story in this draft. Sanders didn’t get taken in the first round Thursday. Nor was he chosen in the second and third rounds Friday.

Sanders remained optimistic Saturday while providing an update on social media.

“Another day another opportunity to get a chance to play the game I love,” he said in an X post Saturday morning. “Thank you GOD #LEGENDARY.”

Sanders now is suddenly part of a crowded Browns quarterback room as Deshaun Watson sits out the upcoming season with a torn Achilles tendon. Sanders and Gabriel join Kenny Pickett and 40-year-old Joe Flacco.

But it’s hard to come up with a fall as steep as this one.

Sanders was one of the most recognizable names in college football the last couple of years while teaming up with 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter – taken second overall by Jacksonville – and playing for his father.

He finished eighth in the Heisman balloting last season while throwing for a school-record 4,134 yards and helping Colorado go 9-4. The Buffaloes had gone 4-8 in Sanders’ first season there in 2023 after he spent two years playing for his dad at Jackson State.

Most forecasts heading into the draft had Sanders going much sooner.

That’s now how it’s turned out.

The New York Giants traded up to get the 25th pick on Thursday but opted for Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart. Three other quarterbacks went Friday. New Orleans selected Louisville’s Tyler Shough in the second round. In the third round, Seattle chose Alabama’s Jalen Milroe and Cleveland took Gabriel.

One criticism of Sanders was the fact that he was sacked 94 times the last two seasons at Colorado. Concerns also arose about his arm strength. There also were worries about how he would adapt to playing for someone other than his father.

Earlier Saturday, some other familiar names got taken.

Cam Skattebo, the versatile running back who led Arizona State to a surprising College Football Playoff appearance, went in the fourth round to the New York Giants with the 105th overall pick. Tennessee running back Dylan Sampson, the 2024 Southeastern Conference offensive player of the year, went 126th to Indianapolis.

Three more players from Ohio State were selected in the fourth round, meaning 10 players from the reigning national champions have now been drafted. Linebacker Cody Simon went 115th to Arizona, safety Lathan Ransom 122nd to Carolina and edge rusher Jack Sawyer 123rd to Pittsburgh.

The final day of the draft also featured the trade of a quarterback, as Seattle sent Sam Howell and its fifth-round pick (No. 172 overall) to Minnesota for the Vikings’ fifth-round selection (No. 142). Seattle then used the No. 142 pick on Notre Dame defensive tackle Rylie Mills.

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

The University of South Florida women’s lacrosse team (12-4) took down Stetson 23-6, tying their program record of 23 goals in a game.
 
The Bulls’ 12-win regular season is now complete, having finished 4-2 in conference play. They will have a chance to become the second-ever first-year program to win a conference championship (HPU, 2011).
 
They will face the loser of JMU and ECU’s game this weekend, on May 1st, in the AAC Championship Tournament Semifinal in Norfolk, Virginia, at 7:30 p.m.
 
Key Stats:
• The Bulls’ 23 goals tied their program best (at ECU), and their six goals allowed were tied for the third lowest allowed all season.
• The Bulls have scored at least 11 goals in all but one game this season.
• South Florida dominated the draw tonight, controlling 24 of 32 draws.
• The Bulls finished a perfect nine of nine on clear attempts today.
• USF outshot Stetson 45 to 11, with 33 of those USF shots coming on net.
 
Notables:
• Juliana George led the Bulls in scoring with five goals and one assist, becoming the fourth Bull to score five or more goals in a game this season, (Maggie Newton, Ava Uphues, and Sofia Chepenik).
 
• Jacinda Connor scored her first career goal, adding a second later on, to mark her first career multi-goal effort.
 
• Julia Huxtable finished with two goals and one assist, marking her first career multi-goal game.
 
• Sofia Chepenik finished with two goals and three assists, bring her point total on the season up to 63.
 
• Eight different Bulls scored two or more goals today: Sofia Chepenik, Kaitlyn Tartaglione, Juliana George, Ava Uphues, Maggie Newton, Morgan Perry, Julia Huxtable, and Jacinda Connor.
 
Up Next:
USF will compete in the AAC Championship Tournament Semifinal in Norfolk, Virginia, as either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed against the loser of JMU and ECU’s game this weekend. The game will take place on Saturday, May 1, 2025, at 7:30 p.m., and fans can watch the game live on ESPN+.
 
Tickets:
Tickets to watch USF women’s lacrosse at Corbett Stadium may be purchased by calling 1-800-GoBulls or clicking HERE.
 
Follow us:
To stay up-to-date on the latest USF Women’s Lacrosse news, follow the Bulls on social media (Twitter | Facebook | Instagram).
 
About USF Women’s Lacrosse
The University of South Florida announced the addition of women’s lacrosse to its now 21-sport varsity athletics department in November of 2021. Fast forward to Feb. 7, 2025, the program embarked on its inaugural season in a 19-6 win over KSU, setting the State of Florida’s regular season attendance record (2,386 fans). The Bulls named eight-time conference coach of the year Mindy McCord to lead the program in May of 2022. McCord, who came to USF with 240 career wins, earned 21 regular season and conference tournament titles at Jacksonville University. She led the program to eight NCAA appearances after launching and leading the Dolphins’ program over its first 13 years. She developed 13 All-Americans, 81 all-conference selections, and 13 conference Player of the Year honorees during that span, departing JU following to back Sweet Sixteen berths. USF runs a fast-paced, high-scoring offense influenced by the early 1990s Loyola Marymount men’s basketball record-setting fast break, which ranked among the national leaders in shots, points per game, and scoring margin numerous seasons during McCord’s tenure at JU.

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — The Tampa Bay Lightning were in an early hole against the Florida Panthers, again.

In the first two games of their first-round playoff series, that spelled disaster for Tampa Bay.

Not this time.

The Lightning turned the deficit into a rout in Game 3, beating the Panthers 5-1 Saturday and tightening the series to 2-1.

Andrei Vasilevskiy was nearly perfect, stopping 33 of 34 shots, and the Lightning got goals from Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, Nick Paul and Luke Glendening. Anthony Cirelli added an empty-netter with five minutes left, and Nikita Kucherov had three assists.

“To be honest, you would have never known sitting in the locker room after Game 2 that we were down 0-2,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. “It wasn’t going to guarantee the result, but I knew (darn) well how the effort was going to be.”

The Lightning will try to even things up in Game 4 on Monday at Sunrise. The defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers, however, are 5-0 after taking a 2-0 lead in a playoff series.

Paul gave the Lightning their first lead of the series when he slipped a shot just inside the pad of Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky in the second period. Guentzel made it a two-goal lead just 21 seconds into the third before the Lightning pulled away with Glendening and Cirelli’s goals later in the period.

Matthew Tkachuk scored for the Panthers, his third goal of the series. Bobrovsky finished with 17 saves.

“We’ve got lots of room to get better. I’m sure they do, too,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said, “so I’m not feeling today like there’s an aberration to how I thought this would go. This was going to be a grinder straight through.”

Tkachuk, who scored twice in the opener, got on the board 2:43 into the game when he tapped a feed from Sam Bennett past Vasilevskiy for his 20th playoff goal with the Panthers. The Lightning responded when Guentzel’s shot bounced off Point and past Bobrovsky later in the first to give the NHL’s highest-scoring team in the regular season its first goal in nearly five periods.

Vasilevskiy had given up seven goals in the first two games but was huge on Saturday. He bounced back from Tkachuk’s quick goal and withstood a flurry of Florida shots in the second and third. The Panthers had 71 total shot attempts.

“I think it’s a huge win for our team. It gives us some confidence and some life in the series,” Guentzel said. “To go on the road, sometimes it brings everyone together. … It’s only one game. We’ve got to move on to the next one and be ready to go.”

The Lightning were playing without forward Brandon Hagel, who was suspended for the game after a hard hit on Aleksander Barkov that knocked the Florida captain out of the final 10 minutes of Game 3. Barkov played on Saturday, along with Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad, who returned from a 20-game suspension for violating the NHL and NHL Players’ Association’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs.

“I feel good. That’s why I was out there,” Barkov said.

Things got more physical as the game went on, and Tkachuk was assessed a five-minute major for a late hit on Guentzel before Tampa’s empty-netter.

When asked his thoughts on Tkachuk’s hit given Hagel’s suspension, Cooper shrugged.

“The only players we hit,” he said, “are the ones with pucks.”

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL