Michigan
Michigan State football recruiting flips 2024 kicker Martin Connington from Oregon State
Michigan State football picked up a commitment on Monday from two-star kicker Martin Connington of Mountain View High School in Meridian, Idaho.
Connington, who was previously committed to Oregon State where new head coach Jonathan Smith came from, announced his commitment on social media Monday. Connington is rated as the 13th kicker and 2,462 overall recruit nationally, according to the 247Sports 2024 composite rankings.
READ MORE: Michigan State football’s Jonathan Smith explains why QB Aidan Chiles is the right fit
Connington previously committed to Oregon State in late October when Smith and his coaching staff were in Corvallis. He will be following Smith and assistant head coach/running backs coach Keith Bhonapha, who was listed as his primary recruiter by 247Sports.
Connington will be joining an experienced kicking room with redshirt sophomore Stephen Rusnak and graduate student Jonathan Kim, who announced in a December tweet he’d be returning for 2024.
Michigan State’s 2024 class is now comprised of 18 players who signed their national letter of intent on early signing day in December, along with pledges from Connington and three-star linebacker Jadyn Walker from Portage Northern who have not signed. They could sign on the second signing day Feb. 7. Michigan State also brought in 11 transfers, headlined by former Oregon State players following Smith, through the transfer portal.
Michigan
Memorial Day ceremonies, events happening in Mid-Michigan
LANSING, Mich. (WILX) – On Monday, May 27, we honor and remember service members who sacrificed their lives for our country. Cities and towns throughout Mid-Michigan will be holding ceremonies and remembrance events to recognize the holiday.
News 10 compiled a list of Memorial Day events happening throughout Mid-Michigan:
City of Lansing
There will be a Memorial Day Ceremony at Evergreen Cemetery, located at 2600 E Mount Hope Avenue, at Little Arlington on May 25 at 12 p.m.
City of East Lansing
The City of East Lansing and Lansing-based Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 24th Marines is holding a wreath-laying ceremony in honor of the fallen military members on May 22 at 11 a.m. at the East Lansing Hannah Community Center’s Medal of Honor Memorial and Veterans Monument, located at 819 Abbot Road.
Michigan State University will be holding a memorial to students who sacrificed their lives during World War I at the Grove of the Great War Memorial on campus at 5 p.m. on May 23
Public offices in East Lansing are closed in recognition of Memorial Day.
Ingham County
Webberville will be holding a 5K run/walk throughout the village. The course begins on Main Street in front of the party store. The packet pick-up for the race will begin at 7 a.m. on May 27. The race begins at 9 a.m. The entry fee is $30. Families or groups of four or more who sign up at the same time will be $20 per person. Children 14 and under are $15. All proceeds will benefit Webberville High School student scholarships and the cross-country team.
Meridian Township will hold a Memorial Day service on May 27 at 11 a.m. at the Glendale Ceremony, located at 2500 Mount Hope Road in Okemos. During the ceremony, the Meridian Community Band will provide musical tribute selections, local Scout troops will lead the Color Guard, and a special presentation will be given.
Eaton County
Grand Ledge will be holding a Memorial Day Parade and ceremony on May 25 at 11 a.m.
Shiawassee County
The Village of Vernon will be holding a Memorial Day parade at Greenwood Cemetery on May 27 at 11:30 a.m.
Jackson County
The American Legion will hold an Honorable Service Recognition Ceremony for the veteran resident at the Countryside Grand Retirement Facility at 2140 Robinson Road in Jackson. The BBQ will be at 11 a.m., and the ceremony will be at 1 p.m. on May 23.
The Cascades will hold a Memorial Day fireworks show on May 25. Gates will open at 6 p.m., Live entertainment will be provided at 6:30 p.m., and Fireworks will start at dusk. Admission for ages 13 and up is $7, children ages 4 to 12 cost $4, and seniors ages 65 and up cost $5.
The Jackson’s Veterans Council will be holding a Memorial Day Procession at 10 a.m. on May 27 at the corner of Michigan and Jackson. It will end at Mt. Evergreen Cemetery, where there will be a ceremony to follow.
Spring Arbor Township will hold its 49th annual Memorial Day parade on May 27. The memorial service begins at 12 p.m., and the parade starts at 1 p.m.
News 10 is actively updating this article as we search for more events. Are you holding a Memorial Day ceremony that is open to the public? Let us know by emailing Newstips@wilx.com.
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Michigan
Hail Yes!’: 5 biggest questions facing Michigan football in 2024
• Hosts: Tony Garica (@RealTonyGarcia) and Rainer Sabin (@RainerSabin)
• Editor: Robin Chan
• Executive producer: Kirkland Crawford
• Producer: Andrew Birkle
• Email: apgarcia@freepress.com
Apple Podcasts | Spotify
On this episode: As things quiet down for the summer, Rainer and Tony sit down to answer the five biggest questions facing Michigan football this season. Of course, the biggest question starts at the quarterback position, but what might this offense look like overall under Sherrone Moore and Kirk Campbell? Plus, will this group get back to the College Football Playoff for the fourth straight season? The guys cover those topics and more in the final episode before they take a quick break during the slower summer period.
POTENTIAL BREAKOUT PLAYER: Michigan football’s Semaj Morgan – a self-described ‘straight dawg’ – plans on big leap
TIGHT END LEADING THE WAY: Can Michigan football’s leading receiver actually line up at TE? We’ll find out in 2024.
TOM TALKING TO THE ROOKS: Former Michigan football QB Tom Brady offers advice to NFL draftees at Fanatics rookie event
Michigan
Emerging ace leads Michigan into Big Ten Tournament
Michigan’s baseball team entered 2024 needing to fill holes in its starting rotation after losing its top two pitchers from last season.
Second-year head coach Tracy Smith was forced to juggle his rotation the first half of the year because of inconsistent results, but a surprise ace has emerged for the Wolverines (30-26, 14-10), who finished fourth in the Big Ten and open conference tournament play against No. 5 seed Iowa at 3 p.m. Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska.
Sophomore Kurt Barr tossed just 23 2/3 innings as a freshman in 2023 and began this year in the bullpen, but back-to-back superb long-relief appearances in mid-march thrust him into the starting rotation.
The former Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggitt graduate has seized the opportunity and will be on the mound to start against the Hawkeyes in the double-elimination Big Ten Tournament.
He leads the team in ERA (3.52) and innings pitched (76 2/3) and is an all-Big Ten third-team selection.
“You earn it,” Smith said of Barr’s larger role. “It isn’t anything bestowed on anybody. I tell that to the guys all the time: you have to go out there and stack good performance on top of good performance, and when you do that, it earns you more opportunity.
“I think Kurt has done a really good job this season of stacking good performances on top of each other. He has put himself in position to lead the staff.”
During last season’s exit meetings, Barr told Smith he wanted to be a weekend starter in 2024 and pitch in high-leverage situations. He posted a respectable 4.18 ERA as a freshman in limited action but also walked 19 in 23 2/3 innings – a glaring stat that needed to be shored up.
The 6-foot-2, 175-pounder spent a month last summer working with private pitching coach Dom Johnson in San Diego refining his mechanics. He ditched the overhead windup and focused on simplifying his delivery so he could find a more consistent and reliable arm slot.
During the fall – essentially the preseason for NCAA baseball – Barr said he wasn’t getting the results he envisioned, but his new-and-improved motion started paying off this spring. His walk rate has dropped significantly and he also leads the team with a 1.26 WHIP.
“It was just simplifying things,” Barr said of his adjustments. “It wasn’t adding much. It was reworking the way my arm moved a little bit. That took a little bit of time to adjust, I’m thankful for it now because it has made my delivery a lot more consistent and repeatable.
“I’ve been able to land my curveball a lot better in any count. That keeps the hitters a little more off-balance. This new motion has helped me get my curveball down and my fastball down more consistently.”
Barr’s first eight appearances this season came out of the bullpen, but he pitched at least five innings in consecutive appearances before making his first start March 23. On March 12, he tossed six scoreless innings and yielded just three hits in a 7-6 Michigan 12-inning victory.
Five days later, he entered in a 1-1 game against San Diego and pitched five innings of one-run ball in a 3-2 Wolverines win.
“I think I just needed to see it click again,” said Barr, who was a two-time first-team all-state honoree in high school. “Not that I really lost much confidence, but early in the season, I was getting reliever type innings, one or two, and then I had a game where I was able to stretch it out. Since then, I feel like I’ve taken a major stride. Seeing that (success) again and telling myself, ‘This is who I am.’ I’ve been able to roll with that.”
Barr will make the most important start of his career Wednesday in a crucial opening game for Michigan. The path to a tournament title becomes more difficult with a first-round loss, especially for a Wolverines team that finished eighth in the conference in ERA and doesn’t have the pitching depth like others in the league.
Michigan won the season series against the Hawkeyes (31-21, 14-10), taking two of three in early-April. Barr took the only loss in the series but allowed just one run on four hits in 4 1/3 innings.
“Our mindset has kind of been the same since we started Big Ten play,” Barr said. “The mentality was “win the weekend, be weekend warriors.’ It helps we’ve seen them a little bit. I’ve thrown four or five innings against those guys and we did win the series against them last time so that gives us a little bit of confidence heading into this game.”
Likely to oppose Barr is Iowa ace Brody Brecht, a projected early-round pick in the MLB draft. Michigan touched him for five runs in 5 2/3 innings in April, but he’s a tough matchup when he’s on his game. He features a high-90s fastball and has struck out 118 in 71 innings.
The Wolverines need to win the tournament to reach the NCAAs after missing last year for the first time since 2018.
“Our thing is, ‘Who are we playing today?’” Smith said. “It is always Michigan. We are going to worry about what we are doing in our dugout because we think if we do that well, it doesn’t matter who we are playing. If you go back and look at some of our box scores, they are generally not very pretty, but we find a way to win. Just keep scrapping and keep battling, and that served us well all year.”
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