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Could Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe go in the first round of the NFL draft?

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Could Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe go in the first round of the NFL draft?

Could there be a stunner brewing at the NFL draft?

It’s widely expected that University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward will be the first overall selection Thursday night by the Tennessee Titans.

But the real mystery lies in what happens next, and whether Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders doesn’t have to wait too long to hear his name called or if he’ll be waiting around for a team to pick him. Either way, he won’t in the green room. The son of Hall of Fame defensive back Deion Sanders declined an invitation to attend the draft, as did Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart, whose name has been floating around lately as a potential first-round pick.

Here’s the potential stunner: Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe could blow up mock drafts everywhere and go in the opening round.

Analyst Rick Neuheisel, a former head coach in college and NFL offensive coordinator, believes the ultra-mobile Milroe will be drafted by someone in the first round, potentially the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 21 or maybe even the Rams at 26 as an eventual replacement for 37-year-old Matthew Stafford.

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“There is going to be an intrigue factor with Jalen Milroe,” Neuheisel said. “He ran 4.4, ran for a bunch of yards and had an unbelievable game against LSU. Single-handedly put Alabama on his shoulders.”

In a 2023 game, Milroe rushed for 155 yards and threw for 219 in a 42-28 victory over Louisiana State.

Meanwhile, Neuheisel thinks there’s a possibility the polarizing Sanders, who skipped throwing drills at the scouting combine, could tumble down the board a bit.

“I think the league thinks he needs to be humbled,” Neuheisel said. “I think they’re sitting there going, ‘I can’t coach him. And if he goes in the second round, maybe he’ll get it.’ ”

As for Dart, who began his college career at USC, Neuheisel wonders about his consistency in pressure situations.

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“I really liked him when he was at USC,” he said. “It bothers me that [Ole Miss] lost to Kentucky [last season] having a chance to go down and win the game — they didn’t get it done.”

Neuheisel also pointed to Mississippi’s 24-17 loss to Florida last season when Dart had a pair of interceptions down the stretch.

Milroe, who is attending the draft, is the latest in a string of recent Alabama quarterbacks highly coveted by NFL teams. Jalen Hurts, coming off a Super Bowl MVP performance for Philadelphia, was drafted by the Eagles in the second round in 2020. That same year, Tua Tagovailoa was picked fifth overall by Miami. In 2021, Mac Jones went 15th to New England.

“I played at Alabama,” said Milroe, who will be attending the draft. “There’s something special about leading that script and understanding the history behind it.”

He does not appear in many mock drafts as a first-round pick.

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“All I want to do is show what right looks like,” he said, “as a player and as a person.”

Neuheisel said Milroe’s ability to make plays with his feet, while remaining a threat to throw, is reminiscent of what Hurts did for the Eagles last season during Philadelphia’s championship run. That quarterback, along with superb running back Saquon Barkley, forced opponents to commit an extra defender to stop the run, therefore making themselves more vulnerable to the pass.

“It doesn’t make total sense for the Steelers given the fact that they let [quarterback] Justin Fields go, and he did that a little bit,” Neuheisel said of the Steelers, who have quarterbacks Mason Rudolph and Skylar Thompson on their roster. “But maybe Milroe has a better personality for it.”

He can envision either Cleveland, which has the No. 2 pick, or the New York Giants, who pick third, taking other players with those first selections then trading back into the end of the first round to draft a quarterback.

Milroe believes one of his strengths is he spent his entire college career at Alabama, whereas many top-notch quarterbacks bounce from school to school these days. Ward, for instance, played for three different programs, and Sanders and Dart are at two each.

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But there are two ways of looking at that. Loyalty and continuity are important, yes, but so is the ability to adjust to different offenses, programs and locker rooms.

Joel Klatt, a draft analyst for NFL Network, said it’s important that Milroe showed he could be successful under two different Alabama coaches, Nick Saban and Kalen DeBoer.

“To me, I think that the NFL always looks at that in a positive light,” said Klatt, also lead college football analyst for Fox. “Can you master two different systems? Learn two different systems?

“Because if you’re just in one and you’re really good at it, people can look at that and say, `Well, can he do something different?’ Some of these offenses in college can be really quarterback-friendly, and they can build in wins for a quarterback that don’t need to be read post-snap.”

“The NFL likes it when players play in multiple offenses in college.”

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Fellow NFL Network draft analyst Charles Davis said pro teams aren’t worried about a player’s history of transferring as long as that player has “shown an ability to adapt and grow.”

“Cam Ward went three places, thrived at every place he went,” Davis said. “Maturity. Change of location. Get along with new people. Adapt to new situations.”

Davis, who had covered the NFL for CBS but now is shifting to college football, said the value or detriment of switching schools is in the eye of the evaluator.

“I think the older the person evaluating, the more they like a guy who stays in one place,” he said. “That’s how we were raised — the loyalty aspect. Stay at one company, get a gold watch, you know, all those sorts of, ‘Oh, it showed loyalty to the school, the state. I like that.’ ”

College football and the perceptions surrounding it, he said, are in a state of flux.

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“It’s like how long ago people were freaking out about guys opting out of bowl games? Yeah. No one’s worried about it anymore,” Davis said. “It’s just what we have now.”

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Maine fishermen support Jordon Hudson after he advocacy during pageant: 'Together, we persevere'

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Maine fishermen support Jordon Hudson after he advocacy during pageant: 'Together, we persevere'

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The Maine Coast Fisherman’s Association praised Jordon Hudson for her advocacy during the Miss Maine USA pageant earlier this month.

Support for Maine fishermen appeared to be close to Hudson’s heart. She has championed their cause, not only in the pageant, but also thanked Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and the Trump administration for its renegotiation of the Maine Sea Grant funding.

Jordon Hudson, the girlfriend of Bill Belichick, was in attendance at the Loudermilk Center for Excellence on Dec. 12, 2024. (Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images)

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“Advocating for Maine’s commercial fisherman takes many forms, and sometimes it walks across a stage in heels wearing a bikini,” the Maine Coast Fishermen’s Association wrote on its Instagram Stories on Monday. “Jordon Hudson is helping shine a spotlight on Maine fishing communities in ways we never imagined, from the stage to the working waterfront.

“We’re grateful for voices like Jordon’s that remind us advocacy doesn’t always look the same, but it always matters. Together, we persevere.”

Hudson was asked during the Miss Maine USA pageant a moment in life she would want to go back to. She said she wished she could be transported back to her family’s fishing boat.

JORDON HUDSON ABSENT FROM BILL BELICHICK’S ‘GOOD MORNING AMERICA’ INTERVIEW AFTER CBS FIASCO

Jordon Hudson at Miss Maine USA

Jordon Hudson, center, is among the contestants posing on stage after the Miss Maine USA pageant in Portland, Maine, on Sunday. (Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

“I think about this often because there’s a mass exodus for fishermen occurring in the rural areas of Maine, and I don’t want to see more fishermen leave this place,” she said, via Mass Live. “As your next Miss Maine USA, I would make a point to go to communities … to go into the government and advocate for these people so that they don’t have to think about these memories as a past moment.”

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Hudson’s parents owned a fishing business, Frenchman’s Bay Fisheries, in Maine. However, after the area they used to fish, Taunton Bay, was closed off to fishing by the state in 2000, their business eventually went bankrupt years later.

Her family’s ship reportedly suffered damage and couldn’t afford repairs. The family attempted to lobby the state and local legislatures to ease up on regulations that impeded the fishing industry, and eventually the closure of their business.

Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson

Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson on the red carpet before the Super Bowl LIX NFL Honors at Saenger Theatre. (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

The family eventually moved to Massachusetts.

Fox News’ Jackson Thompson contributed to this report.

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LAFC and Galaxy each won something notable in their El Tráfico draw

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LAFC and Galaxy each won something notable in their El Tráfico draw

It was the kind of showdown MLS has long dreamed of to sell the league.

Marco Reus, a three-time Bundesliga player of the year, standing over the ball 25 yards from where Hugo Lloris, the most-capped goalkeeper in World Cup history, waited for his free kick. With less than three minutes left in regulation, the league’s most intense rivalry was hanging in the balance.

For Reus, however, the moment felt far from unique.

“I had these kind of situations a thousand times in my career. So I know what I have to do,” said Reus, who then did it, chipping a shot inches over LAFC’s five-man defensive wall and inches wide of a diving Lloris to give the Galaxy a 2-2 draw in Sunday’s El Tráfico.

For all the drama, the result was one neither team wanted, but one that both accepted.

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“The feeling in the locker room is just pure disappointment. And we’ll learn from this moment and get better,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said.

But, he added, “it’s also really important not to lose games, not just always to look to win, win, win. Yes, we all want to win. We do everything we can to win. It’s also important to understand we’re away and we got a point tonight.”

The result extended LAFC’s unbeaten streak to seven games. However the Reus goal, with less than three minutes left in regulation time, kept the team from winning back-to-back games for the first time since March 1.

“The result is fair,” Cherundolo said.

“In a couple of key moments we weren’t good enough to win. We didn’t have our best day. But we didn’t have a poor day.”

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For the Galaxy (0-10-4), the tie extended their winless streak to 14 games, the longest ever by a reigning MLS Cup champion. However it also ended their five-game losing streak, the team’s longest in five seasons.

“It probably is somewhat of a fair result,” Galaxy coach Greg Vanney agreed.

Nobody won, nobody lost, everybody had a good time.

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Well, not exactly. Because both sides missed opportunities to take a big step forward and wound up running in place instead.

For LAFC (6-4-4), the draw continued a trend that has seen the team play well enough not to lose but rarely well enough to win. Reus’ goal prevented it from ending that mediocrity and building some momentum heading into next week’s Club World Cup qualifier with Mexico’s Club América.

“I definitely wanted to win so bad. The competitive juices were flowing,” said midfielder Mark Delgado, whose last game at Dignity Health Sports Park was the MLS Cup final, when he helped the Galaxy to their sixth league title and their last victory before being traded up the 110 Freeway to LAFC.

For the Galaxy, the winless streak remains an albatross hanging around their necks. Injuries have plagued the team, but the Galaxy were healthier Sunday than they’ve been all season. They were also playing in Carson, where they haven’t lost to LAFC in more than two years. And when Reus scored his first goal in the sixth minute, they led for just the third time all season.

“I told the guys in the dressing room that it doesn’t feel like a draw,” said Reus, whose first two-goal game in MLS won him the league’s player of the week honors. “We should win this game, especially 1-0 ahead after six minutes.”

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On Friday the team signed Vanney to a multiyear contract extension that makes him the best-paid manager in MLS. If the announcement, two days before the rivalry game, was meant to take some pressure off the coach, another week without a win left Vanney once again searching for silver linings on the black cloud hovering above his team.

This time he pointed to the determination the Galaxy showed after losing both the lead and an apparent tying goal to an offside call.

“Tonight is a positive night that hopefully we need to think about using as a springboard,” he said. “This is as good of a team as we’ve played against and we played them very even up.”

Cherundolo, like Vanney, thought his team looked good in a tie — especially at the end of a week in which it played three times in two countries in seven days.

So maybe it’s more appropriate to call Sunday’s game a tie in which both teams won something.

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For LAFC, Denis Bouanga’s first-half wonderstrike from well outside the box gave him seven goals in his team’s seven-game unbeaten streak. He led MLS in scoring the last two seasons but was goalless through his team’s first seven games this season, four of which LAFC lost.

For the Galaxy, the two scores from Reus gave him four goal contributions in two games — and he lost another assist on the offside call that negated Gabriel Pec’s second-half goal. More importantly, he played 90 minutes in consecutive games for the first time since coming to MLS last summer.

Even MLS won with the Reus-Lloris showdown.

“We can’t lose sight of the journey that we’re on for the entire season,” Cherundolo said. “The steps we’ve made as a group have been very positive. I’m seeing this as one of 34 league games, plus the Champions League games. We’re on a good path.”

You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.

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Ex-NBA player compares Angel Reese to 'Little Rock Nine' member

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Ex-NBA player compares Angel Reese to 'Little Rock Nine' member

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Former NBA player Etan Thomas compared Chicago Sky star Angel Reese to a member of the “Little Rock Nine,” as the WNBA player allegedly had “hateful comments” hurled toward her during the team’s loss to the Indiana Fever.

Thomas posted a photo to his social media account on Monday, portraying Reese as one of the nine Black schoolgirls who were able to attend an all-White school in Arkansas following the 1954 Supreme Court ruling that ended segregation in public schools.

Indiana Fever forward Natasha Howard, #6, guards Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, #5, on Saturday, May 17, 2025 during a game between the Indiana Fever and the Chicago Sky at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. (Grace Smith/IndyStar / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

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The photo showed Reese superimposed onto the iconic black and white photo known as the “Scream Image.” It showed 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford being yelled at on her way to school. The picture depicted the bravery Eckford showed by going into Little Rock Central High School.

“This is how it’s been for Angel Reese ever since the 2023 NCAA Tournament when her LSU Tigers defeated Caitlin Clark and the Iowa Hawkeyes in the national championship game,” Thomas wrote on X.

The WNBA was reportedly investigating racial slurs that were reported to have been directed at Reese during the game on Saturday. The league did not get into specifics of what allegedly occurred during the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

“The WNBA strongly condemns racism, hate, and discrimination in all forms — they have no place in our league or in society. We are aware of the allegations and are looking into the matter,” the league said in a statement.

DAVE PORTNOY SLAMS WNBA AS LEAGUE INVESTIGATES ‘HATEFUL COMMENTS’ TOWARD ANGEL REESE

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Angel Reese waves to the crowd

Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, #5, responds to the crowd after a WNBA exhibition basketball game against Brazil in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Friday, May 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The Women’s National Basketball Players Association (WNBPA) also released a statement.

“The WNBPA is aware of reports of hateful comments at yesterday’s game in Indianapolis and supports the WNBA’s current investigation into this matter,” the union said. “Such behavior is unacceptable for our sport.

“Under the WNBA’s ‘No Space for Hate’ policy, we trust the league to thoroughly investigate and take swift, appropriate action to ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all.”

Reese and Clark had a heated exchange during the game, but both players said it was a “basketball play” and nothing more.

Reese’s confidence in her abilities and willingness to back them up has made her one of the most-talked-about athletes in the WNBA.

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Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark shake hands

Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark, #22, and Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese, #5, shake hands before the game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis on May 17, 2025. (Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images)

She finished second in WNBA Rookie of the Year voting, earned a WNBA MVP vote and finished her first year with the Sky averaging a double-double.

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