Height/Weight: 6-foot-3, 215 pounds
Hometown/High School: Washington, OK (Washington H.S.)
Ranking: ★★★★ (92 Rivals — No. 123 player overall)
Notable Offers: Kansas State, Michigan, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, and Utah

Not very often Penn State goes into Oklahoma and gets a prospect, let alone one that is a four-star that the Sooners very much wanted. Fortunately for Matt Campbell and the Nittany Lions here, the familial relationship paid off, as Case’s brother, Cooper, is a rising redshirt sophomore tight end at Penn State. Doesn’t take a lot of dot connecting to imagine how much that played a part in Case deciding on the Nittany Lions. Still, given the ebbs and flows of the recruiting cycle, not sure you can take any recruitment for granted. So despite the connections Penn State had here, getting a top 10 kid from Oklahoma that the Sooners wanted is a big victory for the new staff in recruiting cycle #1.

Beyond on who his brother is, there’s a reason Case was maybe *the* top linebacker target for Penn State this cycle. This kid is an absolute beast. Tremendous linebacker frame at 6-foot-3, 215 pounds that will allow him to play up to 240 pounds easy, Alexander is what you think of when you imagine the modern day middle linebacker. He has the speed and fluidity to drop back into coverage, but has the physicality and bruteness to win in tight. The first play on his highlight film is his giving a Spinebuster to a poor opponent that rivals that of Arn Anderson’s Spinebuster on The Undertaker at WrestleMania 18.

BEIRUT — Lebanese conservationist Mona Khalil was first introduced to a green sea turtle as she was drinking a beer on the beach and a female turtle laying eggs threw sand over her, according to a volunteer with the decades-long effort she began to save the endangered animals.

Khalil, 76, died Friday after an Israeli airstrike hit her beachside home two weeks ago. She’s credited with creating a conservation movement in southern Lebanon that protected sea turtle nesting grounds and southern Lebanon’s Mediterranean coast.

Her housekeeper, who is Ethiopian, sustained less-severe injuries in the attack, Khalil’s relatives said. The two women were the only occupants of what was known as “the Orange House” just steps from the al-Mansouri beach near the city of Tyre.

The Israeli military said last week in response to an NPR query that it had no indication it had hit the house but was reviewing its records. It did not respond to a query about when the review might be completed.

Israel has invaded southern Lebanon and is attacking what it says are Iran-backed Hezbollah fighters and infrastructure. The Lebanese health ministry says more than 4,000 people have been killed since the war began on March 2, including at least 600 women and children. Israel says 35 soldiers and a military contractor along with two civilians have been killed in Hezbollah attacks.

Fadia Joumaa, a former volunteer who took over the turtle conservation effort, says Khalil had vowed to stay in her home during the fighting, believing she was safe because she was a civilian and there were no nearby targets.

Khalil trained a generation of volunteers in ecological conservation, protecting the Mediterranean coastline and the endangered sea turtles that travel hundreds of miles to return to the same beaches where they were hatched to lay their eggs.

Human encroachment, trash in the ocean and animal predators that eat the eggs and hatchlings mean newly hatched turtles have only about a 1 in 1,000 chance of surviving to adulthood.

The volunteers find clutches of eggs laid at night in late summer, protecting them with wire mesh. They then help the tiny turtles reach the water once hatched.

Rami Khachab, 32, a herpetologist originally from al-Mansouri, said he started volunteering in high school — going out with Khalil before dawn to walk the beaches looking for turtle nests.

He says after her introduction to the turtles during her evening drink on the beach roughly 25 years ago, Khalil reached out to European turtle protection organizations to learn everything she could about the creatures. She began monitoring nests, collecting data and working to keep the green sea and loggerhead turtle nests safe.

“Through the Orange House, she inspired generations of Lebanese to value and protect their natural heritage and coastal ecosystems. Her work made her one of Lebanon’s most respected voices for marine conservation and biodiversity protection,” said the environmental group Green Southerners.

It called for those responsible for the killings of Khalil and other civilians to be held accountable.

Joumaa, a Lebanese journalist, first met Khalil intending to do a story on her.

“You have to sweat and work hard the way I do before writing a single word,” she says Khalil told her. Joumaa ended up not writing the story, but instead spent years volunteering with her before Khalil retired in 2020.

By that time, Khalil had turned the Orange House into an ecotourism guesthouse, an educational space for children and sea turtle observation point.

Joumaa says Khalil’s work opposing the privatization of beaches and building along the southern coast eventually transformed the turtle nesting grounds into an officially recognized community-based conservation area.

But these conservation efforts, including a successful campaign to ban the use of dynamite in fishing, didn’t always go smoothly. “Mona was a fighter. She did not like diplomacy. There were times when they shot at her house,” Joumaa says, referring to local opponents.

“She always told me: Defend the beach, defend the turtles, defend your country.”

Jawad Rizkhallah contributed reporting from Beirut.

Copyright 2026 NPR

As Tennessee football looks to build on its 2027 recruiting class, it’s also strengthening the relationship it has with its current commits. This includes the first player to pledge to the Vols in the cycle, linebacker JP Peace.

Peace is a local recruit, initially playing for West High School in Knoxville before transferring to Maryville. He’s also as connected to the program as it gets. His father is Robert Peace, a former UT linebacker from 2000-03. His grandfather is former Tennessee national championship head coach and co-captain as a player, Phillip Fulmer.

Peace is ranked as a three-star recruit by 247 Composite. He is listed as the No. 583 player in the nation, No. 46 linebacker and No. 26 player from the state of Tennessee.

More From RTI: Kenneth Simon II Takes Official Visit to Tennessee Football After Flipping From Alabama

Other offers on the table for Peace include Florida State, Kentucky, Maryland, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, West Virginia, App State, Georgia State, Marshall, Memphis, South Florida, Southern Miss, MTSU and UAB. However, he’s been strong in his commitment to UT, which he announced back on June 16, 2025.

While this marks Peace’s official visit, he’s made his way to campus plenty of times in the recruiting process. This includes as recently as March of this year for spring practice.

Peace is one of 16 commitments in the class for Tennessee to this point. The group ranks as the No. 42 class in the country on 247.

He’s one of two linebackers in the group, joining Kenneth Simon II. Simon is also a legacy recruit and is the son of former UT star linebacker Kevin Simon. He recently flipped his commitment from Alabama to Tennessee and ranks as the No. 139 player in the class by 247 Composite. Naturally, both Peace and Simon’s primary recruiter at UT is linebackers coach William Inge.