Detroit, MI

Catholic Central’s Samson Gash on Michigan State commitment: ‘Who knows?’

Published

4 months ago

December 1, 2025

Catholic Central’s Samson Gash on Michigan State commitment: ‘Who knows?’

Detroit ― Samson Gash was clutching onto the Division 1 state championship trophy following a dominating performance by Detroit Catholic Central on Sunday night at Ford Field.

Now, following Catholic Central’s 42-19 victory over Detroit Cass Tech in Gash’s high-school finale, will he be letting go of his verbal commitment to Michigan State following the firing of head coach Jonathan Smith earlier Sunday?

Gash, the top-ranked receiver in the state, acknowledged his phone was blowing up before Sunday’s title game, and he had to put it on “mute” to focus on the task at hand. But he also acknowledged he has some decisions to make.

“It’s kind of hard, because there’s a lot of schools that’ve been texting me now that they think I’m back on the market,” Gash told The Detroit News on Sunday night. “It’s been tough, like, trying to think about the decision, but I’m just trying to postpone that till after the season and just have fun with my guys.

“And I’ll make that decision after the season.”

So, is he back on the market?

“I’d say I’m looking around for sure,” said Gash, whose older brother, Caleb, is a defensive back at Michigan State.

Smith was fired Sunday afternoon, following two seasons at Michigan State, and a 9-15 record, 4-14 in the Big Ten. A new coach, likely former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald, will get to pick his own staff, and Gash said he’s paying attention on that front ― specifically receivers coach Courtney Hawkins, Gash’ lead recruiter.

“He’s been on me forever,” Gash said. “I love that dude and hopefully he stays.”

Hawkins has been on Michigan State’s staff through the past three head coaches, Mel Tucker, interim head coach Harlon Barnett, and Smith.

Gash, who had five catches for 25 yards and an electric 48-yard punt return in Sunday’s win over Cass Tech, committed to Michigan State in June. He’s one of two four-star recruits who committed to Smith for 2026, along with Arizona offensive tackle Collin Campbell, with the first day of the early signing period Wednesday. MSU had 20 commitments as of Saturday.

Gash did recently take a visit to Alabama, as his stock has risen recently. Speed is a big reason why. He’s the state’s reigning 100-meter champion. He said Sunday he plans to defend his track title in the spring. That’s a no-brainer, even if he fancies himself a football player who runs track, not the other way around. More up in the air, his college choice.

“(There’s) a lot of uncertainty at Michigan State,” said Gash, who’s a strong candidate for Mr. Football in Michigan, along with his marquee-matchup opponent Sunday, Cass Tech receiver/defensive back Corey Sadler Jr., who’s committed to North Carolina. “I’m gonna see how everything plays out, and who knows?”

Gash and younger brother Gideon Gash, a junior who had a monster game in the state championship game with three receiving touchdowns, are the sons of former Penn State player, Super Bowl winner and Lions assistant coach Sam Gash. One other brother, Isaiah Gash, was a running back at Michigan.

tpaul@detroitnews.com

@tonypaul1984

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Detroit, MI

Metro Detroit Weather Forecast, March 21, 2026 — 8:45 AM Update

Published

7 hours ago

March 21, 2026

Press Room

NEWS

Published: March 21, 2026 at 9:17 AM

After an unseasonably warm day across Metro Detroit to end the week on Friday, while we are cooler to start the weekend, 4Warn Meteorologist Bryan Schuerman is tracking more rain and even a few thunderstorms moving in by the end of the weekend.

The 4Warn Weather team tracks the latest weather alerts in Metro Detroit and Southeast Michigan. Get the most updated information here: https://www.clickondetroit.com/weather/

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Detroit, MI

Farmington, Farmington Hills push for revitalization of Grand River

Published

19 hours ago

March 20, 2026

Press Room

Farmington, Farmington Hills push for revitalization of Grand River

Farmington — Farmington and Farmington Hills officials are pushing to continue to revitalize a key commercial corridor through both cities, with one city leader saying residents eventually won’t recognize it because it will have evolved so much.

Both cities are using a mix of tools to develop Grand River Avenue, which runs from downtown Detroit all the way to Grand Rapids. It’s the main commercial thoroughfare in downtown Farmington and also runs through Farmington Hills. City officials want to bring in more commercial development, but also make it more pedestrian-friendly.

A 2025 market study through Gibbs Planning Group showed Farmington Hills’ side of the corridor has $1.2 billion in restaurant and retail spending over the course of a year.

But the study, which Farmington Hills Mayor Theresa Rich touched on during her State of the City address earlier this month, also indicated there’s demand for 20 new restaurants or retail businesses, and 400-500 new housing units in the corridor.

“We have the density, we have the consumer demand, and we have the traffic that can sustain the kind of investments that belong,” said Farmington Hills’ Economic Development Director Cristia Brockway.

Both cities are already making a concerted effort to revitalize Grand River Avenue east of downtown Farmington through the Grand River Corridor Improvement Authority, which was created more than a decade ago. It has focused on public projects and incentives to bring businesses, housing and landscaping to the area.

Farmington Hills’ improvement district along the corridor runs between Orchard Lake and Eight Mile roads; Farmington’s is between Mayfield and Hawthorne Streets. They’re the boundaries of the cities’ tax increment finance districts, which put money from property tax increases toward public projects.

For businesses and developers, Brockway said the city has a Housing and Urban Development grant of up to $30,000 and a Brownfield improvement grant of up to $200,000 that can assist projects. Brockway said these dollars can be used in demolition or for property owners “looking for help with their obsolete building.”

As far as public improvements go, Brockway said the city plans to bring beautification and pedestrian improvement projects valued around $250,000 to Farmington Hills City Council over the next five to eight years. Money generated from the district will pay for the projects, she said.

The city is also looking to incentivize murals in the district.

“It is going to be a continuous effort to always make this area a focus, and to make sure that when we’re adding art, we’re adding spaces, that we’re also maintaining them so things don’t look the same constantly and things don’t lose focus as far as updates,” said Brockway.

At her State of the City address, Rich said residents eventually won’t recognize Grand River.

“By the 2030s, you’re not going to recognize what the Grand River Corridor was. It will be transformed into a beautiful, vibrant, more walkable district,” she said.

On Farmington’s side, meanwhile, the city plans to collect more than $1 million from the district to put back into improvement projects. While most of the money would be spent on land acquisition, it would also be spent on a transportation study, streetscaping, a park assessment plan and gateway enhancements, said Assistant City Manager Chris Weber.

The city is especially focusing on the Farmington Junction building at 31505 Grand River for revitalization efforts.

“We are trying to spur redevelopment in the area. Obviously it’s all built up, but a lot of those areas are older commercial areas that need a refresh or need a development, a scrape and rebuild,” Weber said.

While Farmington didn’t conduct a market study for the district, Weber said “a lot of” Farmington Hills’ data would likely apply to Farmington’s district because they border each other.

Weber said the goal of the revitalization efforts is to create a “similar aesthetic” as motorists and pedestrians travel the corridor.

“We didn’t want one side of the road to look one way and another side of the road to look an entirely different way,” said Weber.

mbryan@detroitnews.com

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Detroit, MI

Lions save nearly $1.3 million with Malcolm Rodriguez contract trick

Published

1 day ago

March 20, 2026

Press Room

Lions save nearly .3 million with Malcolm Rodriguez contract trick

Earlier this week, contract details on the Detroit Lions’ re-signing of Malcolm Rodriguez came out, and if you were to just look at the Over The Cap outline of the deal, it would probably be pretty confusing.

Rodriguez has a salary of over $2.5 million—all guaranteed—a signing bonus of $137,500, and a workout bonus of $50,000. Combine all of those, and it should equal a salary cap hit of a combined $2.7 million. Yet, per OTC, the Lions’ cap charge for Rodriguez’s deal is just $1,402,5000.

There are no void years. This isn’t a misprint. The Lions are just using a salary cap stipulation that rewards teams for developing players and staying loyal to them.

How to qualify for the Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract

The relevant Collective Bargaining Agreement rule is called the “Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract.” You can read the entire terms of this rule, but here’s the short of it. In order to qualify for this advantage, a player has to have:

Four or more Credited Seasons whose contract with a Club has expired after four or more years of continuous, uninterrupted service with that Club

In Rodriguez’s case, he played through the entirety of his four-year rookie contract, so both he and the team are certainly eligible for this benefit.

What is the actual benefit?

Essentially, a team can award a one-year contract to these players that acts as a veteran minimum salary deal when it comes to the overall cap hit, but they are able to increase these players’ salaries from the minimum by a fixed number that will not count against the cap.

In Rodriguez’s case, the veteran minimum for a player with four accrued seasons is $1,215,000. According to the CBA, for the 2026 season, the “Four-Year Player Qualifying Contract” can increase the salary by a maximum of an extra $1.55 million.

So if you look at the actual cap hit, it’s based on that veteran minimum salary:

Vet minimum salary: $1,215,000
Signing bonus: $137,500
Workout bonus: $50,000

Add those together, and you get $1,402,500—Rodriguez’s cap hit for 2026.

But the actual payment Rodriguez will be getting in 2026 is this:

Actual salary: $2,562,500
Signing bonus: $137,500
Workout bonus: $50,000

For a total of $2,700,000 in earnings. In short, the Lions are saving nearly $1.3 million by using this salary cap tool. And for Rodriguez, the benefit is that everything but the workout bonus is guaranteed. Note that no player is obligated to accept this kind of contract, but for a player like Rodriguez, who is coming off an injury-shortened season, it’s a nice little guaranteed payday that he may not have been able to get elsewhere. And for the Lions, it’s a way to pay a player his value while also getting some savings on cap space.

This isn’t the first time the Lions have used this cap trick. They used it with Jalen Reeves-Maybin back in 2021, and they’ll likely use it again.

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