Zuffa Boxing's biggest card to date is now official after Ryan Garciaand Conor Benn made weight for their welterweight ***** le clash.

The 12-round headliner will see Garcia, the World Boxing Councilwelterweight champion, look to defend against Benn. Both men madeweight without issue despite speculation that Benn would struggleto hit his mark. All other fighters on the card also made weight,including Zuffa cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia, who will takeon Noel Mikaelian.

Garcia (25-2) enters the fight having defeated Mario Barrios toclaim the WBC ***** le. This bounceback performance came after "KingRy" failed to dethrone Rolando Romero for the WBA belt last year.Garcia officially weighed 145.5 pounds for the ***** le defense.

Looking to cause an upset is Benn (26-1), whose only career defeatcame to Chris Eubank Jr. last year. However, the British superstarwon the rematch and then defeated Regis Prograis in his latestouting. Benn weighed 146 pounds on the dot.

The Zuffa Boxing Benn vs. Garcia event will stream live onParamount+. The main card starts at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
RyanGarcia (145.5) vs. Conor Benn (146)
Champ Jai Opetaia (199) vs. Noel Mikaelian (200)
Raphael Akpejiori (246) vs. Da'Mazion Vanhouter (231.5)
Andres Cortes (135) vs. Mark Magsayo (134.5)
Oswaldo Molina (131.5) vs. Pablo Rubio Jr. (131)
Abel Gonzalez (167.5) vs. Raul Salomon (167)
Dakota Linger (150.5) vs. Vlad Panin (151.5)
Jose Ramirez (146.5) vs. Alexis Rocha (146.5)
Sean Garcia (134) vs. AbrahamMorales (134)

#garcia #boxing #opetaia

After weeks focused on his fledgling career, Keon Johnson caught up with family. The Houston Astros had the 18-year-old infielder and recent draft pick and his family attend Sunday's game at Daikin Park, with Johnson arriving from their minor-league facility in West Palm Beach, Fla., late Saturday.
"It was a pretty surreal moment to finally see them again," Johnson said. "Once I got to see them, it was like pretty much all the weight finally got back off my shoulders again."
The Astros selected Johnson in the third round in the July draft, with the No. 93 overall pick, out of First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Ga. They signed Johnson, who was committed to play at Vanderbilt, for a reported over-slot $2 million bonus. Slot value for the No. 93 pick this year was $846,900.
A shortstop listed at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Johnson was selected as the Gatorade Georgia high school player of the year as a junior in 2025. Astros director of amateur scouting Cam Pendino deemed him an "unbelievably impressive kid" with an "exciting blend of bat-to-ball and pitch recognition" after the draft.
"We think our hitting instruction can really help unlock the contact quality here," Pendino said in July. "But when you have a guy with a special blend of bat-to-ball and approach - and really specifically bat-to-ball and pitch recognition as an 18-year-old kid with really good actions in the middle of the diamond on the dirt - it's an awesome recipe."

#year #july

The San Francisco 49ers put forth a concerted effort to upgrade their wide receiver room this offseason because it lacked talent last year, and they were set to lose Jauan Jennings, who eventually signed with the Minnesota Vikings.
With that knowledge, San Francisco brought in Mike Evans, Christian Kirk and Deebo Samuel in free agency and took De'Zhaun Stribling in the second round of the 2026 NFL Draft. However, Kirk has landed on injured reserve, and Ricky Pearsall is out for the season, so the team could look to add more at the position.
Interestingly, Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox recently predicted that the 49ers will send a conditional 2027 fifth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills for Keon Coleman.
Coleman played collegiately at Michigan State from 2021-22 and at Florida State in 2023, earning All-Conference honors twice. In 34 games between the two schools, he caught 115 passes for 1,506 yards and 19 touchdowns.
Buffalo took Coleman in the second round (No. 33 overall) in the 2024 NFL Draft, and through two years, Buffalo has been disappointed by the results. The 26-year-old has caught 67 passes for 960 yards and eight touchdowns in 26 games so far.

#francisco #year

The Cleveland Cavaliers didn't blow up anything after getting swept by the Knicks in the Eastern Conference Finals, and I think that was the right call, because this team was already pretty close. Cleveland finished 52-30, ranked sixth in offensive rating at 119.2, and reached its first Conference Finals since 2018, so the answer wasn't starting over, it was finding better pieces around a core that still has the talent to win the East.
The front office basically doubled down on that idea during the summer. Donovan Mitchell signed a four-year, $273.0 million extension, James Harden came back on a three-year, $97.0 million deal after arriving for Darius Garland at the deadline, and the Cavaliers made their biggest outside move by landing Peyton Watson in a five-team sign-and-trade. Max Strus, Dennis Schroder, Dean Wade, and Keon Ellis are among the players gone, while Mario Hezonja also returned to the NBA after several seasons in Europe.
That leaves Cleveland with a very clear bet for 2026-27: The Big Four have to be good enough to carry most of this. There isn't another superstar coming, and they have the pieces to win, because Mitchell averaged almost 28 points last season, Harden can still run an elite offense, Mobley is entering his prime, and Allen remains one of the better centers in the East.
The problem is that we already saw this group hit a wall in the playoffs. Cleveland scored only 107.9 points per game during the postseason, Harden dropped to 19.2 points and 5.5 **** ists while shooting 29.9% from three, and the Knicks beat them by 37 points in Game 4 to finish the sweep.
This season isn't really about proving the Cavaliers are good. We already know about their talent, now they have to prove this Big Four can actually finish the job in a stacked Eastern Conference.

#cavaliers #points #eastern #finals

The results are in.
University Christian junior Hudson Kwartler is the new Florida Times-Union Boys Athlete of the Week for Northeast Florida high school sports for the 2026-27 season, covering the week of Aug. 17-22 in the Jacksonville area.
The kicker nailed the game-winning 20-yard field goal as time expired to give University Christian a 31-29 victory on the road at state semifinalist Ponte Vedra in the Florida High School Athletic ***** ociation season opener for football.
He placed first in a vote of top Northeast Florida performers that included Rishi Chopra (Nease cross-country), Jaspreet Kondal (Beachside golf), Luke Ross (Ponte Vedra cross-country), Keondre Smith (Englewood football) and Jaylen Underwood (Columbia football).
Watch Florida high school sports live on NFHS Network

#Florida

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — J.J. McCarthy had an erratic start for the Minnesota Vikings, completing 5 of 10 passes for 81 yards in a 13-3 exhibition-game loss to Baltimore on Saturday, after undrafted rookie Joe ******* nano threw a touchdown pass to LaJohntay Wester for the Ravens.
McCarthy played four series with the second-team offense before yielding to 11th-year veteran Carson Wentz, leaving the picture unclear about who will be the No. 2 quarterback behind Kyler Murray in the regular season.
The 10th overall pick in the 2024 draft, who missed his rookie year while recovering from knee surgery and was limited by 10 starts last season because of multiple injuries, misfired to open receivers multiple times. After a 50-yard completion to Tai Felton midway through the first quarter, McCarthy threw too hard into the end zone twice for incompletions that forced a turnover on downs from the 1-yard line.
Tyler Loop made two field goals for the Ravens, who also rested the majority of their starting lineup after two days of joint practices with the Vikings.
The second-team offense with Tyler Huntley at quarterback continually stalled out, but ******* nano — who finished his seven-year college career at UConn — fared well with the deep reserves. ******* nano went 15 for 20 for 123 yards. Rookie tight end Josh Cuevas, a fifth-round draft pick from Alabama, caught three passes for 46 yards. Keondre Jackson, the backup strong safety beginning his second season, had seven tackles, a sack and a quarterback hit to lead Baltimore's defense.

#yards #second #year #quarterback

Ahead of the Buffalo Bills' joint practice against the Cleveland Browns on August 20, injury reports and questionable statuses clouded the team's wide receiver situation. Sal Capaccio of WGR550 shared a list of "(w)ide receivers I either don't see at all or are here but NOT practicing: Khalil Shakir, Keon Coleman, Skyler Bell, Dante Pettis" — a large chunk of the wide receivers room.
Brady has indicated a lack of long-term concern for Coleman's availability even though he's dealing with a sprained toe/foot, (per ESPN's Cameron Wolfe). We don't yet know what's bothering Shakir, and Bell was seen doing sideline work with a team trainer on Thursday in Cleveland.
But if you stop and do some math, the injured list renders roughly 30% of the Bills' 13-man receivers group unavailable for the joint session, and their status for Saturday's Week 2 preseason game against the Cleveland Browns in question. NFL teams don't have to disclose injuries at this stage of the proceedings, but during head coach Joe Brady's press conference Tuesday afternoon we learned that Shakir was injured ahead of the joint practice in Cleveland.
Capaccio then shared a look at wide receivers participating for Buffalo, which encouragingly included DJ Moore and a handful of other mostly expected depth options. Once the joint practice began, the bulk of news and video highlights shared were plays to the Bills' group of tight ends.
President of football operations/general manager Brandon Beane can't sit idle hoping the injury bug exits stage left soon. He made a concerted effort to bring Moore in via trade, which so far has the looks of a potentially great move. However, Moore's effectiveness will be limited if the surrounding starting cast around him is unavailable.

#bills #joint #receivers #don 't

During Tuesday's open practice inside the new Highmark Stadium, Buffalo Bills receiver Keon Coleman was a notable non-participant because he was wearing a walking boot, and now we know the specifics of his injury. Kind of.
Per ESPN's Cameron Wolfe, the third-year receiver has been diagnosed with a sprained toe/foot:
While it's good to get a specific diagnosis, I'm not sure what to make of the "foot/toe" designation. It's also good that Brady reportedly "doesn't have much concern," although injured feet for wide receivers often nag throughout a season and unsurprisingly can sap them of much-needed explosiveness. If even remotely severe, returning to the field too quickly frequently creates prolonged issues.
We'll see if this is a very minor sprain or if it lingers into the regular season for Coleman, who desperately needs some semblance of a breakout season in Year 3 with the Bills.

#coleman

The Buffalo Bills opened up the new Highmark Stadium by defeating the Carolina Panthers, 29-14, in Week 1 of the NFL preseason.
Not only was it the first game at the new stadium, but it was also the first game for Joe Brady as head coach, and the first game for Jim Leonhard calling plays for the Bills. They both looked comfortable in their new roles, and the Bills dominated for most of the day.
Here are Bills Wire's three things we learned about following Week 1 of the preseason:
Despite only seeing the field for the first two drives of the game, the offense was rolling. There were multiple explosive plays, including three passes to DJ Moore for 61 yards, two to Khalil Shakir for 41 yards, and also a 13-yard rush from James Cook III. Combine that with an off-script touchdown throw to Keon Coleman and it looked like the "everybody eats" mantra was still on full display in the Joe Brady offense, orchestrated by quarterback Josh Allen.
Second-year defensive tackle Deone Walker looked explosive and very comfortable in the new system under Leonhard. He came away with a sack, another QB hit that forced an incompletion, and a tackle for loss, all in just ten total snaps played.

#looked #only

Head coach Joe Brady made a promise before the Buffalo Bills' first preseason game: If a player was healthy, he was playing. I was on record with the **** umption that star quarterback Josh Allen was going to come down with a very serious, and very last minute, hangnail. So suffice it to say when I saw number 17 take to the field on the Bills' opening possession. A drive that ended with a field goal. "Well" I said, "that'll be the last we see of Allen today." But it wasn't. The starters had one more drive for the day, ending with a Keon Coleman touchdown.
As it turns out, it was the most (preseason football) action that Josh Allen has gotten in years.
Josh Allen had 15 snaps against the Carolina Panthers, which amounted to 22% of the team's total snaps. For comparison, Kyle Allen and Shane Buechele had 27 and 25 snaps respectively. So Josh wasn't exactly featured mind you, but he wasn't that far behind either. As noted above, this was two drives for Josh Allen.
Now there's no comparison to his 2025 preseason whatsoever. He never played last year until the regular season hit, and you could say he had a good opening night against the Baltimore Ravens.
To find the last time Allen played at all, we need to go back to Week 1 of the 2024 preseason, against the Chicago Bears on August 10 of that year. Just over two years since he had ANY preseason play. In that game, Allen had 12% of the team's playing time, which was only eight snaps. Just over half of what happened this year. When it comes to drives, it was equal to the current year. The starting offense had two drives, they just weren't very good ones hence the shorter play time.

#preseason

The Baltimore Ravens opened the preseason with a 24-7 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, but the most important part of the night was not the final score. For a roster filled with established veterans, young players, and newcomers competing for jobs, the preseason opener provided the first meaningful opportunity to evaluate how it is beginning to take shape. Several players helped themselves, including defensive backs Keyon Martin and Keondre Jackson, while Baltimore also got extended looks at several young players across the offense and defense. With that in mind, here is our latest projection of the Ravens' 53-man roster after the first week of preseason.
Quarterbacks (3)Lamar Jackson, Tyler Huntley, Joe ****** nanoJackson remains the unquestioned starter, while Huntley gives Baltimore an experienced No. 2 quarterback. ****** nano has an opportunity to develop as the team's third quarterback and has shown enough to remain ahead of the competition.
Running backs (4)Derrick Henry, Justice Hill, Rasheen Ali, Adam RandallHenry and Hill are locks when healthy, but the rest of the running back room remains unsettled.Ali's recent absence creates an opportunity for the younger backs. Randall received significant work in the preseason opener and continues to make a case for a roster spot. Elijah Tau-Toliver and Dontae McMillan also deserve attention after receiving meaningful opportunities against Philadelphia. The Ravens could ultimately keep five running backs, particularly if one of the rookies continues to separate himself. For now, Randall gets the fourth spot.
Wide receivers (6)Zay Flowers, Rashod Bateman, Ja'Kobi Lane, Elijah Sarratt, LaJohntay Wester, Devontez WalkerFlowers and Bateman are the foundation of the position, while Lane and Sarratt have plenty of developmental upside.Wester brings another element to the group, particularly because of his ability to create separation and contribute in the return game. Walker remains an intriguing option because of his size, contested-catch ability, and touchdown prowess. Chris Moore, Cornelius Johnson and Xavier Guillory remain among the players capable of making this decision considerably more difficult.
Tight ends (3)Mark Andrews, Durham Smythe, Matt HibnerAndrews remains one of Lamar Jackson's most important weapons when healthy. Smythe gives Baltimore a veteran presence and blocking ability, while Hibner has the athletic profile to develop into a useful offensive piece.Josh Cuevas and Ty Pezza remain in the competition, but the top three currently have the clearest path.

#Opportunity

Wide receiver Keon Coleman came under fire at the end of the 2025 Bills season, but he got his 2026 season off on the right foot.
Quarterback Josh Allen found Coleman in the end zone for a nine-yard score at the end of Buffalo's second offensive possession in Saturday's preseason opener against the Panthers. The Bills are at home, which makes the touchdown the first one at the new Highmark Stadium.
The throw was the final one of the afternoon for Allen. He connected with new Bills wideout DJ Moore three times for 61 yards over his two series of work and finished the day 6-of-8 for 111 yards, so it was a positive first day for the quarterback in his new digs.
Kyle Allen took over at quarterback for the Bills, who will play their first regular season game at the stadium on Thursday night in Week 2.

#season #yards #wide #keon

Josh Allen didn't need long to make himself at home at new Highmark Stadium.
Neither did Keon Coleman.
Allen escaped pressure and improvised before finding Coleman open in the middle of the end zone for the first touchdown in the history of the Buffalo Bills' new $2.2 billion stadium.
The touchdown gave the Bills a 10-0 lead over the Carolina Panthers in the first quarter of Saturday's preseason opener.
It was Allen's first preseason action in more than two years. The touchdown was his final snap of the day.

#first #touchdown #highmark

LAS VEGAS -- Brooklyn Nets forward Julius Randle unexpectedly came to the Nets via a trade from the Minnesota Timberwolves as one of the bigger moves in free-agency this summer. Brooklyn wasn't rumored to be interested in Randle as most people around the NBA considered the team to be sellers, but he was aware of what the team had prior to acquiring him.
"Just young. When they kind of asked me about the team, I was really excited, just watching Egor [Demin] and the young guys and then talking to Mikel," Randle said to the media earlier this summer while at the Las Vegas Summer League when asked about his knowledge of the team. Randle has spent the past few seasons competing for championships with the Timberwolves and New York Knicks, but he seems to embrace the youth on the roster.
"It's gonna be fun. Obviously, in the West, it's a little bit different, you know? I really didn't watch much of the East, being in the West, but I just knew it was a lot of young talent," Randle continued. "I know a lot about Michael Porter [Jr.] and Terance [Mann] and those guys and stuff like that, so it's gonna be a fun challenge. It's exciting."
When looking at the Nets roster at this point in the offseason, Randle will be relying on someone like forward Michael Porter Jr. to help provide the offensive punch this team needs. Brooklyn has added more veterans in guard Keon Ellis and center Mo Wagner, but the majority of the rotation next season will consist of the players taken in the 2025 and 2026 NBA Drafts.
Randle and Porter will likely be starting alongside Mikel Brown Jr., Egor Demin, and Day'Ron Sharpe will players like Danny Wolf and Noah Clowney to be coming off the bench for head coach Jordi Fernandez. Randle did not keep up with the Eastern Conference much last season as he was trying to help Minnesota win a ****** le, but he now understands the kind of youth and talent that resides in Brooklyn at the moment.

#Nets

The Indianapolis Colts don't have the NFL's most formidable wide receiver corps.
The Colts traded Michael Pittman Jr. to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the offseason and signed Alec Pierce to a lucrative contract extension. The rest of the expected regulars include Josh Downs, Ashton Dulin, Anthony Gould, Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, Laquon Treadwell, and draft pick Deion Burks.
Downs (58) and Pierce (47) combined for 105 catches in the 2025 season, and the rest 18 (including Westbrook-Ikhine's 11 for Miami).
Should the Colts trade for a speedy receiver? ESPN's Seth Walder believes the Buffalo Bills' Keon Coleman would fit in Indianapolis and ease an awkward situation in Buffalo. It's one of his five preseason trade proposals.
Coleman, the first pick in the second round of the 2024 NFL Draft, has 67 receptions and eight touchdowns in two seasons. In January, Bills owner Terry Pegula criticized the previous coaching staff for pushing the front office to pick Coleman, who remains on the Buffalo roster.

#colts #pierce

Chad le Clos says his apartment in South Africa was destroyed by a fatal fire - the night after the swimmer became the most decorated athlete in Commonwealth Games history.
Le Clos picked up his 21st medal to overtake Australia's Emma McKeon as the athlete with the most medals in Commonwealths history, when South Africa took bronze in the men's 4x100m medley relay in Glasgow last week.
It was the 34-year-old's third medal of the 2026 Games, having won silver in the mixed 4x100 ⁠medley and bronze in the men's 4x100 freestyle relays.
Only days later, Le Clos has revealed that a fire destroyed his home of more than a decade in Sea Point, Cape Town and killed one of his neighbours.
"It has taken me a while to process this heartbreaking tragedy," the 2012 Olympic gold medallist wrote on Instagram.

#clos #africa #games #athlete

Chad le Clos says his apartment in South Africa was destroyed by a fatal fire - the night after the swimmer became the most decorated athlete in Commonwealth Games history.
Le Clos picked up his 21st medal to overtake Australia's Emma McKeon as the athlete with the most medals in Commonwealths history, when South Africa took bronze in the men's 4x100m medley relay in Glasgow last week.
It was the 34-year-old's third medal of the 2026 Games, having won silver in the mixed 4x100 ⁠medley and bronze in the men's 4x100 freestyle relays.
Only days later, Le Clos has revealed that a fire destroyed his home of more than a decade in Sea Point, Cape Town and killed one of his neighbours.
"It has taken me a while to process this heartbreaking tragedy," the 2012 Olympic gold medallist wrote on Instagram.

#FIRE #athlete

The Brooklyn Nets came into the 2026 NBA offseason with the goal of improving the roster as much as possible following a 2025-26 season in which they finished with a 20-62 record. Brooklyn's biggest move of the summer was trading for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle and most of the fanbase believes that the team has improved.
As of this writing, most Nets fans feel that the roster has gotten better since the beginning of the offseason, according to a poll posted on NetsDaily. Out of 41 votes, 56% of the respondents believe that the team has improved somewhat while 37% feel that the roster has improved significantly when considering all of the moves made thus far.
In addition to trading for Randle, the Nets were somewhat active in free-agency as they signed former Cleveland Cavaliers guard Keon Ellis and former Orlando Magic center Mo Wagner. More to that point, Brooklyn also managed to re-sign forward Josh Minott and center Day'Ron Sharpe, who is looking to be a starter for the first time in his career.
As far as who the Nets lost over the course of the summer, the biggest subtraction was starting center Nic Claxton, who was traded to the Chicago Bulls as part of the Randle deal. Forward Ziaire Williams, who had arguably the best season of his career this past year, left Brooklyn in free-agency to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers after being with the Nets over the past two seasons.
After a disappointing 2025-26 campaign, the Nets ultimately ended up with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, which they used to select promising point guard Mikel Brown Jr. out of Louisville. With Randle joining Sharpe and forward Michael Porter Jr., Brown will likely be in the starting backcourt with Egor Demin, who impressed during his time in the summer circuit. There are plenty of reasons for Nets fans to feel better about the team at this point in the offseason.

#roster #improved

The Brooklyn Nets are at the point in their offseason where not much will be happening between now and when training camp begins in the fall. Brooklyn does not know its entire schedule for the 2026-27 NBA season, but it does know who they will be playing in the preseason and as part of the 2026 NBA Cup where they may have gotten lucky with their scheduled slate.
The NBA announced in the beginning of July what the groups will be within the NBA Cup and the Nets will have a tough slate ahead of them given where they are in their rebuild. As part of being in East Group A, Brooklyn will be facing the Detroit Pistons, Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic, and Milwaukee Bucks, but there is a chance that the Nets could be competitive within the group.
The Nets (20-62) had the worst record of the five teams in the group with the Pistons (60-22), Raptors (46-36), Magic (45-37) were playoff teams with the Bucks (32-50) potentially making it to the postseason if Giannis Antetokounmpo was healthy for the majority of the season. To that point, Milwaukee traded Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat this summer for a package of players and picks so it seems like they're entering a rebuild of some sort.
Detroit should be the best team in this group once again with Cade Cunningham leading the way, but plenty could be unsettled by the fact that center Jalen Duren is yet another player experiencing the downside of restricted free-agency. Toronto could be better than they were last season if their trade for forward Kawhi Leonard goes through, but the investigation into the Los Angeles Clippers potentially circumventing the salary cap to sign him may not be solved until the season begins.
Orlando appears to be running it back with Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner leading the way for their squad, but Brooklyn has made key moves of its own by trading for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle along with signing guard Keon Ellis and center Mo Wagner in free-agency. Ultimately, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Nets finish the NBA Cup with a 1-3 record with the potential of pulling off upsets over the Magic and Raptors.

#toronto #orlando

The Oklahoma Sooners made some key transfer portal additions this past winter, with many of them coming on offense. Once it was confirmed that quarterback John Mateer was going to be back in the saddle to run the show in Norman, the focus for OU turned to surrounding him with talent offensively.
One of those crucial portal additions was former Texas wide receiver Parker Livingstone, who was a breakout player in Austin last year. Now, he crosses the Red RIver to the other side of the iconic rivalry, where he'll hope to help jump-start the Sooner offense.
According to ESPN's list of each top 25 team's x-factor for this upcoming season, Livingstone is the player for the Sooners that can heavily impact where Oklahoma ends up. The redshirt-sophomore should be slated into one of the outside receiver spots, likely the X-WR role that was held down by the combination of Keontez Lewis and Javonnie Gibson last season, and OU needs him to be an improvement piece there this fall.
"In the history of the Red River Rivalry, rarely ever has a player left the Longhorns for the Sooners. But former Texas receiver Livingstone -- quarterback Arch Manning's roommate last year -- could become a difference-maker for his new quarterback, John Mateer. The 6-foot-3, 202-pound Livingstone, who had six touchdown catches as a redshirt freshman last year, should give Oklahoma a physical weapon on the outside alongside returning go-to pass-catcher Isaiah Sategna III and Virginia transfer Trell Harris, who was a third-team All-ACC selection last year." - Jake Trotter, ESPN.
With the speedy Sategna once again manning the H-WR role in the slot and Harris occupying the deep threat Z-WR role that Deion Burks held last year, Livingstone can use his size and physicality to offer OU something it didn't really have last year: a jump ball threat on the outside. Combine that trio with the likes of Jer'Michael Carter, Mackenzie Alleyne, Jacob Jordan, Ivan Carreon, and some promising youngsters, and the Sooners have a chance to be an improved WR group this year.

#year #livingstone #oklahoma #player

CLEVELAND (AP) — Forward Mario Hezonja will return to the NBA for the first time in six years after signing a one-year contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Hezonja has played the last four years for Real Madrid and was the Spanish League MVP after averaging 13.3 points, 4.0 rebounds and 2.4 ****** ists this past season.
The 31-year-old from Croatia was the fifth overall pick by Orlando in the 2015 NBA draft and played five seasons for the Magic, New York Knicks and Portland Trail Blazers. He averaged 6.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.3 ****** ists.
Hezonja also played in the EuroLeague for Panathinaikos in Greece and Russia's UNICS Kazan.
Cleveland — which advanced to the Eastern Conference finals last season for the first time in 2018 — had a need for depth in the front court after the departures of Dean Wade and Keon Ellis during free agency.

#hezonja #first #years

Unsurprisingly, the Cleveland Cavaliers need to add another forward to the roster in the wake of LeBron James going to the Philadelphia 76ers. It seems that the signing of Mario Hezonja is not the only transaction the Cavaliers are pursuing.
In a segment on NBA Today, ESPN's Shams Charania noted that "DeMar DeRozan has interest from Cleveland". Charania also mentioned that "Miami, Denver and Cleveland are among the teams interested in DeMar DeRozan".
The Sacramento Kings bought out DeRozan earlier this month. DeRozan will turn 37 by the time the season tips off in October. Age hasn't hindered his ability to be a microwave scorer and availability averaging 18.4 points while shooting 49.7% from the field in the 77 games played this past season.
The Cavaliers clearly need wing talent after Dean Wade signed with the 76ers and Keon Ellis signed with the Brooklyn Nets. DeRozan projects as a more awkward fit for Cleveland's roster given that he has been the primary scoring option for the majority of his career. The unknown of how he will find his spots on a team with the ball primarily in James Harden and Donovan Mitchell is yet to be seen.
A clear benefit for the Cavaliers in a DeRozan addition would be the pressure to the rim DeRozan provides, as well as being a sufficient scorer without support. The warts of the acquisition would be that DeRozan has never established a consistent outside shot.

#derozan #james #need #season

Buffalo Bills training camp begins next week… what a fantastic sentence to write after the prolonged time spent away from football. For the Bills there are many different questions heading into camp that fans are waiting to see the answers.
One of the areas to look at is what to expect from the rookie class. It’s not crazy to say this class could be the most productive class in their rookie year that Brandon Beane has had since the 2018 class that, of course, was headlined by Josh Allen.
There’s second-round pick T.J. Parker… could he give quarterbacks problems all season and come close to double digit sacks? We do know Parker has been training this offseason with veteran Bradley Chubb who signed with the Bills in free agency. Not a bad mentor to have as a rookie.
Cornerback Davison Igbinosun was the pick after Parker and again is a question mark in this draft class that could provide a huge impact. He’s a talented cornerback that could even push Maxwell Hairston for a starting spot. We also know that the injury bug has been known to affect Buffalo’s secondary year after year so it is likely that Igbinosun will play meaningful snaps at some point in the season.
In the fourth round the team was able to draft receiver Skyler Bell who is considered by some to be one of the best receivers in the draft and provides a fun blend of speed, quickness, and tenacity at the catch point. Bell has a reasonable path to being in the rotation at receiver. Keon Coleman certainly did not impress last season while Josh Palmer dealt with injuries the second half of the year. The only locks receiver are DJ Moore and Khalil Shakir.

#class #parker

The Brooklyn Nets are now moving on with the rest of their offseason with the 2026 Las Vegas Summer League in the rearview mirror following a successful summer circuit. Brooklyn has made various moves over the course of the summer, including trading for Minnesota Timberwolves forward Julius Randle, and one of the ****** istant coaches approves of where the roster is at right now.
"What we’re excited about is the depth of legitimate NBA rotation players and potential rotation players we have now," a Nets ****** istant coach said of the team, according to Keith Smith of Spotrac. As the roster stands as of this writing, the starting lineup could be Mikel Brown Jr., Egor Demin, Michael Porter Jr., Julius Randle, and Day'Ron Sharpe.
"Not to speak ill of last year’s team, but we were down to rookies and non-NBA-level players by the end of the year. This year, we’ve got depth and the kids are improving too," the ****** istant coach continued, per Smith. Brooklyn finished the 2025-26 season with a lowly 20-62 record, rewarding them with the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, allowing them to take Brown.
To the ****** istant coach's point, the Nets have re-signed Sharpe and forward Josh Minott while adding Randle, guard Keon Ellis, and center Mo Wagner (while his deal hasn't been officially announced yet). More to the point, Brooklyn has moved on from center Nic Claxton (who they traded to the Chicago Bulls as part of the four-team deal with the Timberwolves and Charlotte Hornets) while forward Ziaire Williams signed with the Los Angeles Lakers in free-agency.
The Nets also added forwards Joshua Jefferson and Tyler Bilodeau in the 2026 draft to go along with the five first-rounders they took in the 2025 class that the team is hoping breaks through at some point. Time will tell how good this current roster will be next season but as it stands now, one of Brooklyn's ****** istant coaches believes that this roster is better than the one from last season.

#assistant #team #forward #year

When the Buffalo Bills open up training camp at the end of July, there are going to be a handful of battles at position groups, but the most important might be at wide receiver.
The Bills did a solid job updating their receiving core this offseason with the big move of trading for Chicago Bears wide receiver DJ Moore, but there are still a handful of other roster spots that need upgrades at the position.
One of the key areas to watch during training camp is who will be named the two outside starting receivers. Fansided's NFL insider, Jason La Canfora, identified the Bills' receiving competition as one of the eight biggest training camp battles.
"In most of these instances we are drilling down at a particular spot on the depth chart, and we certainly figure DJ Moore is the top guy here given what it took to get him, but this is kind of jumped. Keon Coleman has been a bit of a scapegoat for the Bills coming up short as an organization and Joshua Palmer is a nice depth signing with upside and Khalil Shakir has probably been overexposed and asked to do too much; maybe he settles into a slot-exclusive role now," La Canfora wrote on Thursday. "This group needs to step up its overall production, and they need Moore to be a legit go-to guy. I believe he will."
Moore is going to win one of the jobs if everything goes according to plan, which means not suffering any injury. However, the No. 2 outside receiver spot is going to be a test.

#bills

Jared Goff. Amon-Ra St. Brown. Jahmyr Gibbs. Aidan Hutchinson. Brian Branch. Kerby Joseph.
The Detroit Lions have their main stars that are household names and lead the charge. They also have a few unsung heroes that can make big contributions. Players that can step in when their number is called and keep the team afloat.
Detroit had one such player, ironically a player they just added this offseason, named to ESPN's recent list of their All-Backup Team.
That player is wide receiver and likely main returner Greg Dortch, formerly of the Arizona Cardinals. Here's what ESPN's Bill Barnwell had to say about Dortch and his placement on this team:
We're also going to need to take some shots on nontraditional players. The 5-foot-7 Dortch wasn't able to persuade the Cardinals to put him on the field for significant stretches of time, but he has been a reliable pair of hands out of the slot, dropping just three of his 142 targets over the past four seasons. Dortch can also back up Chimere Dikeon punt and kick returns, providing some much-needed depth at returner.

#player #returner

ESPN parted ways with Ryan Clark on Monday in an awkward on-air dismissal during "NFL Live." On Tuesday, more layoffs swept through Bristol, and former NFL MVP Cam Newton was among those let go.
The move sparked an immediate pile-on from the NFL community on X, with fans and media personalities believing that firing Newton was the right decision, and some even brought up his viral comments on Buffalo Bills wide receiver Keon Coleman from the 2025 season.
Newton wasn't the only recognizable face to get fired on Tuesday. NFL Network insider Tom Pelissero, longtime **** yst Charles Davis, NFL **** yst Bart Scott, SportsCenter anchor David Lloyd, injury and fantasy expert Stephania Bell, and MLB play-by-play announcer Karl Ravech were all let go as part of the cuts.
Before his dismissal, Newton had served as Stephen A. Smith's primary Monday co-host on "First Take" during the football season, replacing Shannon Sharpe in that role last year.
With both Newton and Clark gone, Smith now enters the 2026 football season without either of his primary debate partners on the show's highest-rated day of the week. ESPN has said it will look for a permanent replacement for Newton on Mondays, though no candidates have been named.

#analyst

Bills' Keon Coleman has a message for the haters originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
Keon Coleman hears the noise. Of course he does. It's hard to ignore the haters entirely in the year 2026.
But the Buffalo Bills' wide receiver, preparing for his third year in the NFL, isn't letting the criticism bring him down.
Instead, he has a blunt message for the haters.
"None of them going to come lace them up and try to stand in front of me," Coleman told ESPN as part of a new article. "People are going to say what they want to say. At the end of the day, my job is to come out here, put my cleats on, strap them up and prove my worth here."

The Buffalo Bills offensive formational tendency in 2025 was straight out of an Avengers movie: perfectly balanced, as all things should be.
Buffalo utilized a 2×2 offensive formation (two eligible receivers to the left of the left tackle, two eligible receivers to the right of the right tackle) on 40.67% of their regular season offensive plays last season, per SumerSports. That represented the plurality of all of their 1082 charted plays. They utilized 1×3 and 3×1 formations combined on 33.54% of their offensive plays. This was the 23rd and 31st highest rate in the NFL, respectively, for those formations.
Although the Bills have retained a man notably responsible for the offensive design in former offensive coordinator and now head coach Joe Brady, there are two main changes from last year to this year that should make this specific phenomenon one worth keeping an eye on: the departure of former head coach Sean McDermott and the arrival of wide receiver DJ Moore.
We'll never know exactly how much influence McDermott had on the offensive design for sure. He was the head coach, so his hand was at least partially in all aspects of the team, but was he primarily concerned with situational play calling and run/pass ratio, or did the balanced v unbalanced philosophy also get his input and/or direction? We do, however, know Moore represents the truest X receiver the Bills have had since the departure of former #1 wide receiver and current free agent Stefon Diggs. Teams can be more hesitant to run unbalanced formations without a player isolated on the backside they believe can win one-on-ones, particularly in the intermediate and deep parts of the field. In unbalanced 3×1 or 1×3 formations, teams frequently start the progression on the front side route combination before coming back across the formation to a backside dig. Not having an X receiver they trust to win on the horizontal intermediate plan could make a team less inclined to run those formations.
Despite the Buffalo passing attack once again being a top unit in 2025, even the most ardent Bills personnel defender would likely agree that the team didn't have a high-quality true X perimeter receiver who could be consistently counted on to fill the role mentioned above. The team was likely hoping Keon Coleman would evolve into that type of player, but going into 2026, they don't have to hope on that anymore. Moore likely slots into that role from the jump, although he'll certainly be used across the formation as well.

USA Volleyball hosted the 2026 NORCECA Women’s U21 Pan American Cup this past week at Ohio State University’s Covelli Center, bringing together eight of the top junior national teams from across North America, Central America and the Caribbean. Nebraska saw three of its players represent Team USA in the tournament, each playing a part in the team's run for gold.
Middle blockers Manaia Ogbechie, Keoni Williams and setter Campbell Flynn took part in the tournament, helping the team sweep the tournament. USA volleyball finished 5-0, winning all but one set. Flynn highlighted the trio, being named tournament MVP.
The sophomore commanded the team at setter for the tournament. In the championship match against Canada, Flynn helped the offense hit .326 as a team and contributed five digs. In her freshman year at Nebraska, she played in 28 sets and totaled 126 ****** ists, 31 digs, nine kills, two aces and two blocks.
Ogbechie also took part in the championship match, finishing with five kills, three blocks and an ace. In her freshman season at Nebraska, she played in 27 sets and averaged 2.30 kills per set on .529 hitting with 30 blocks.
Williams did not record any stats in the championship match but did earn two kills and a block in the team's semi-final clash with Mexico. The freshman arrived at Nebraska this past spring after concluding a phenomenal high school career. Williams earned Texas all-state honors after averaging 3.5 kills and 1.3 blocks per set on a .554 hitting percentage.