On Monday, the Falcons officially signed free agent wide receiver and former Oklahoma State star James Washington, according to a social media post from his agent.

The former Cowboy was selected in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers and spent four seasons in the Steel City. Washington tallied 1,629 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns during his time with the Steelers, notching a career-high 44 catches and 735 receiving yards in 2019.

Washington was coached by Falcons’ wide receivers coach Ike Hilliard during his final two years in Pittsburgh and will now be reunited with the former NFL wideout in Atlanta.

Following his time with the Steelers, Washington signed with the Dallas Cowboys, where he played in just two games and recorded just one target and zero catches. After a disappointing year in the Lone Star State, Washington signed offseason deals with the New York Giants and New Orleans Saints, but was cut by both teams ahead of the 2023 season.

Washington remained unsigned until now, spending last year as a free agent instead of with an NFL organization.

The Stamford, TX, product came to Stillwater as a 4-star recruit, rated the No. 245 overall prospect and No. 37 wide receiver in the nation, according to 247Sports.

In four years with the Pokes, Washington tallied 226 catches, 4,472 receiving yards and 39 touchdowns. The star wideout capped off his career with a huge senior season that saw Washington win the Biletnikoff Award and earn unanimous First Team All-American honors.

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The 2024 college football season is still about a month away, but with SEC Media Days in the rearview mirror, now is the time to begin previewing the Ole Miss Rebels’ schedule.

Ole Miss is coming off an 11-2 season that saw it capture a Peach Bowl victory over the Penn State Nittany Lions in December. The Rebels return a plethora of talent from last year’s team (including quarterback Jaxson Dart, wide receiver Tre Harris, tight end Caden Prieskron and others), but they also made a huge haul in the transfer portal to shore up some holes on its roster.

It’s this combination of talent and a seemingly-managble SEC schedule that have many believing the Rebels can qualify for the new 12-team College Football Playoff.

Over the next few days, Ole Miss OnSI will preview each of the Rebels’ 2024 regular season opponents. We last looked at the LSU Tigers, and today, we analyze the Oklahoma Sooners.

Oklahoma Sooners

Ole Miss and Oklahoma have only met once on the gridiron, and it came as the final college football game of the 20th century.

The Rebels claimed a 27-25 win over the Sooners in the 1999 Independence Bowl, but now that the two programs reside in the same conference, this meeting will be a little more frequent. Oklahoma had a strong 2023 season despite dropping back-to-back regular season games against Kansas and Oklahoma State, finishing the year 10-3 with a loss in the Alamo Bowl to Arizona.

The biggest feather in the Sooners’ hat was their 34-30 win over the Texas Longhorns in the Red River Showdown. Texas would go on to the College Football Playoff with Oklahoma marking its only regular season loss.

This years Sooner team will look a little different than last year’s, however, with the most notable change coming at quarterback. Dillon Gabriel is now an Oregon Duck, so Jackson Arnold is expected to take over under center for Oklahoma. Arnold finished the 2023 season with 563 passing yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions, and two of his touchdowns and all three picks came in Oklahoma’s bowl game loss to Arizona.

Oklahoma does return leading rusher Gavin Sawchuk (744 yards, nine TDs), and a pair of strong receivers in Nic Anderson and Andrel Anthony are also back. A big addition in the Sooners’ wideout room came in the form of Purdue’s Deion Burks who put up 629 yards and seven touchdowns in 2023.

Defensively, leading tackler Danny Stutsman (104 total tackles, 16 TFLs, three sacks) is returning to anchor the linebacker room, and safety Billy Bowman will patrol the skies once again after hauling in six interceptions last season. Oklahoma ranked 77th in total defense in 2023 among FBS schools.

This game will be an interesting one in Oxford and should provide both fan bases with a new experience. From a football perspective, this will be a critical game for the Rebels if they hope to reach the College Football Playoff as the Sooners will be a quality opponent this fall. Taking advantage of the game being at home would be huge for Ole Miss.

Kickoff in this game is scheduled for an early window on Oct. 26.

On Monday, Kurt Helin of NBC Sports published an updated NBA Power Rankings list, with the Oklahoma City Thunder coming in at No. 2. 

Helin’s ranking comes a few months after OKC finished with 57 wins, earned the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference and swept the New Orleans Pelicans in the first round of the playoffs. While the Thunder eventually lost to the Dallas Mavericks in the next round, Mark Daigneault’s team should be even better in 2024-25 for a variety of reasons. 

Oklahoma City was one of the youngest teams in the NBA last season and should benefit from of internal development over the offseason. Players like Cason Wallace, Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and others still have plenty of room left to improve after the 2023-24 campaign and should perform even better with another offseason of work. 

Additionally, OKC had almost no playoff experience entering the postseason in 2024, which ended up coming back to haunt the Thunder during its series against Dallas. 

Now, the team has played in a hard-fought playoff series and will be better prepared for their matchups in the 2025 postseason.

The biggest differences for Oklahoma City heading into the new season, however, is the team’s roster additions. After a lackluster third year in the Modern Frontier, former No. 6 overall pick Josh Giddey was traded to the Chicago Bulls in return for standout wing Alex Caruso. 

Caruso averaged a career-high 10.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.7 steals and one block per game in 2023-24, earning NBA All-Defensive Second Team honors. While the 2020 NBA champion is one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, he has also developed into a reliable 3-point shooter. 

Last season, Caruso shot 40.8% from beyond the arc on 4.7 3-point attempts per game, which should make him a perfect fit for Daigneault’s system. 

Alongside Caruso, the Thunder also added free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein over the summer. 

Listed at 7-feet tall and 250 pounds, Hartenstein adds size and rebounding prowess that Oklahoma City was lacking on its 2023-24 squad. Hartenstein averaged 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks per game with the New York Knicks last year, serving as one of the best role players in the NBA.

With the addition of two talented defenders and passers who also bring other skills to Daigneault’s team, the Thunder should be even better than they were in 2023-24. 

The Dallas Mavericks, who also made a few solid offseason additions, came in at No. 3 on NBC Sports’ list.

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