Sports
Georgia football’s Nazir Stackhouse and his long struggle with narcolepsy entering NFL
ATHENS, Ga. — They were the most tense, most exciting moments of the Georgia football season, arguably the most exciting in the entire college football season: an epic game against Georgia Tech that stretched to eight overtimes and well past midnight. And as Nazir Stackhouse stood on the sideline, he was fighting an internal battle.
Stay awake, he kept telling himself. Somebody score and end this. Stay awake. Don’t fall asleep.
That’s what happened a few years before at Tennessee. The Georgia offense was on a long drive, and Stackhouse, a nose tackle, was on the bench with the rest of the defensive linemen.
“I’m on the bench fighting sleep, fighting it,” Stackhouse said.
Then, like it so often happens, bam. He was out.
Stackhouse was diagnosed with narcolepsy during his first year at Georgia. During his career, he started 42 games and won two national championships. Now he’s an NFL draft prospect, while still dealing with the condition on an everyday — or every minute — basis.
For one thing, Stackhouse rarely drives. He has a license but always has someone in the car with him and keeps the drives short. He never falls asleep when he’s on the field during game action, whether it be a game or practice. He did fall asleep during meetings, but coaches would work with him; Kirby Smart was known to lean over to tap Stackhouse: “Right, Nazir? Right?”
Former Georgia defensive lineman Nazir Stackhouse has been projected from the fourth to the seventh round in the 2025 NFL Draft. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
“Yeah, yeah, coach,” Stackhouse would reply, jolted back awake.
“More than once,” Smart said with a chuckle. “It was real. I’ve never seen a guy on the sideline in the game go out.”
Smart mimicked going to sleep.
“But he’s a great kid,” Smart said. “Once they got it under control, it was not a big deal. … It never affected his performance.”
NFL people, who tend to project Stackhouse anywhere from the fourth to the seventh round, don’t appear to think the narcolepsy is an issue. One area scout said that it “sounds like he has a handle on it, so I wouldn’t call it a red flag or anything.”
“It’s a new one for me,” a second area scout said. “Haven’t had this pop up with a player before. The coaches say it isn’t an issue.”
Stackhouse talks about the condition freely, how suddenly it hits, and can’t help but laugh at some of those times. He once slept while on a treadmill. He felt it coming on, so he grabbed the handrails, then the next thing he knew he woke back up.
“And I’m like, ‘Damn, how long was I out?’ I look down. I was down there for like 12 minutes,” Stackhouse said.
Narcolepsy symptoms usually begin between the ages of 7 and 25 and often are misdiagnosed, according to the National Institutes of Health. The exact cause is unknown, there is no cure, and the condition will be lifelong. It is a rare condition, estimated to be found in about .002 percent of the U.S. population. But some of the symptoms can be managed with a combination of medications and lifestyle changes, according to the NIH.
That Stackhouse is an athlete helps. The NIH says daily exercise of at least 20 minutes improves nighttime sleep quality and reduces “excessive daytime sleepiness.” Eating healthy helps too, so access to Georgia’s training table during the past few years has been beneficial.
Stackhouse dealt with it long before college. Growing up in Stone Mountain, Ga., he fell asleep in class. His mother started taking him to sleep studies when he was 11. The family didn’t think it was much of a problem at first. Then, as he got older, the problem didn’t go away, but it was too expensive to get an official diagnosis or even treatment. When he got to Georgia, his mother asked the medical staff to test her son, and the narcolepsy was confirmed.
Georgia put him in touch with a pulmonary doctor in Athens, and Stackhouse took a medication, WAKIX, for about a year but stopped because it gave him headaches. Stackhouse is looking at other possible medications, but otherwise just has years of knowing how to manage it on his own. If he feels sleep coming on, he moves around, if he can, or takes precautions, like the time on the treadmill.
“It never affected me on the field,” he said. “It was if I was stationary, comfortable. That’s where it hits.”
On the field, Stackhouse seemed unaffected. He played as a reserve on Georgia’s 2020 and 2021 teams, which had a remarkable collection of defensive line talent, including nose tackle Jordan Davis and defensive tackle Jalen Carter. When Davis left after the 2021 season, Stackhouse took his starting job. He had three tackles and a hurry of C.J. Stroud in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff and a tackle for loss in the national championship game.
Off the field, Stackhouse dealt with narcolepsy, often during games. When a game was in hand, and the starters were pulled, Stackhouse would head into a tent on the sideline and fall asleep.
“It definitely didn’t affect my playing,” he said. “But say we were playing one of those, I don’t know, I would say under-talented teams. I’d play one or two quarters. After that, I’m on the sideline. We had a tent, and I would literally sit down and watch the guys play. And I’d fall asleep.”
But he did not during the epic eight-overtime win over Georgia Tech. In fact, Stackhouse fought it off so well that when he got home, he actually couldn’t get to sleep for three more hours.
“Narcolepsy is so unpredictable,” Stackhouse said. “Because people are like, ‘Are you tired, are you tired?’ No, I’m not tired, I just fell asleep. I dozed off. It’s like a curse.”
Dane Brugler contributed to this story.
(Top photo: Todd Kirkland / Getty Images)
Sports
Golden Knights beat Hurricanes in double OT Game 3, one of the wildest Stanley Cup Final games of all-time
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The Stanley Cup Final shifted to Las Vegas for Game 3 with the Vegas Golden Knights and Carolina Hurricanes knotted at 1-1 after splitting the opening two games in Raleigh.
And, as you’d expect from the Golden Knights, this one got started with some theatrics, plus a little help from the city’s latest hope at quarterback, who was getting in on the festivities.
That’s right. Who better to put on siren duty than Raiders draft pick and reigning Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza?
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There was a big surprise when the game got underway: Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb — who took a slapshot straight to the face on Thursday in Game 2 — was in the Vegas lineup, albeit with a full cage.
It goes without saying, but hockey players are just built different.
The first period was physical but ultimately scoreless, with Carolina getting more offensive opportunities, leading Vegas in shots 7-2.
Vegas captain Mark Stone found the back of the net just 36 seconds into the second period; however, it was ruled offside after a Carolina challenge.
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A few minutes later, Golden Knights forward Jack Eichel found the back of the net, but Carolina challenged this goal as well after Vegas’ Ivan Barbashev made contact with Canes goalie Frederik Andersen’s head.
It was another cut-and-dried review that kept a Golden Knights tally off the board.
The first penalty of the night was a self-inflicted one, when the Hurricanes were called for too many men, and it didn’t take long for Tomas Hertl to make them pay.
Then, just moments later — 16 seconds to be exact — Mitch Marner was credited with a goal after Carolina defenseman Sean Walker tipped his shot into the back of his own net.
But, hey, those own goals are no fun; Marner wanted to get one the old-fashioned way, which he did.
What’s that, you want more?
Well, Mitch Marner — who is having the playoffs of his life — had more for you.
That’s right, Marner potted a hat trick in just six minutes and 10 seconds. That’s an NHL record.
Although, I bet The Rocket’s first goal of his lightning-quick hatty wasn’t an own goal, but hey, they count the same.
Vegas star Mitch Marner took over in the second period of Game 3 with a natural hat trick in just six minutes and ten seconds. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images)
What a performance. Maybe he was just doing that so that the next time the team puts him on a rally towel it actually looks like him.
After the second intermission, Andersen was pulled in favor of Brand Bussi, who made his Stanley Cup Playoffs debut.
Carolina was in a state of disarray in the third, and after going on a power play, Sebastian Aho slashed Marner, who was headed to the net on a short-handed breakaway.
Marner was awarded a penalty shot, but Bussi didn’t give him much to shoot at, and Marner missed his attempt on the backhand.
While it may have looked bleak after a dominant second for Vegas, in the third, Carolina dropped the fastest three goals in Stanley Cup Final history to make it a game. (Photo by Josh Lavallee/NHLI via Getty Images))
Carolina’s Jordan Martinook got the Hurricanes on the board a little under halfway through the third period to make it 4-1.
Just moments later, Taylor Hall tacked on another one to cut Vegas’ lead to 4-2.
And, while they’re doing goals, how about you just throw a Jordan Staal tally in there?
Carolina scored those three goals in 39 seconds, the fastest three goals by a single team in Stanley Cup Final history, making what looked like a no-doubt Vegas win into a game once again.
Carolina killed off a delay-of-game penalty, which was crucial for staying in the game.
Then, Vegas’ Shea Theodore airmailed a puck into the stands for delay of game, giving Carolina a late power play.
Then — as if it couldn’t get wilder — Andrei Svechnikov tied the game on the power play and with the goalie pulled.
And with that, it was off to overtime for the second game in a row.
In the extra frame, both teams got their share of chances and opportunities to put a pin in this one and hit the craps tables, but the first overtime period didn’t yield a winner.
In the second overtime, we finally got a winner, and as wild as this game was, it was only fitting that the game-winner would be unbelievable.
That’s the same Shea Theodore, by the way, who skied the puck into the stands to set up the tying goal, and he did it after 39 minutes of ice time.
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Vegas players Brett Howden (21), Shea Theodore (center), and Mitch Marner (93) celebrate the game-winning goal in double overtime. (Lucas Peltier-Imagn Images)
What. A. Game.
I think after this one, Game 4 — which will be on Tuesday in Las Vegas — is officially appointment viewing.
The Dodgers spent so long racking up an insurmountable lead in the first inning that starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto resorted to throwing a ball against the back of the dugout to stave off rust.
He also went to the batting cages to keep his arm moving, tossing weighted PlyoCare balls.
As he worked, the Dodgers scored all of the runs they would need and more to defeat the Angels 9-2 on Saturday at Dodger Stadium. The chasm between the Freeway Series rivals was on display.
“That’s a lot of fun,” Dodgers rookie Ryan Ward said of the first-inning onslaught. “You can feel them start to speed up a little bit, and we’re starting to calm down and enjoy it. And it’s easy to pass it along when you have a lot of runners on, and then just keep it going.”
The one-run lead the Angels (24-41) had jumped out to in the top of the inning — when a leaping center fielder Andy Pages couldn’t quite reel in Oswald Peraza‘s deep line drive for an RBI triple — was long forgotten after the Dodgers rallied for nine runs in the first.
Andy Pages celebrates with teammates in the dugout after hitting a two-run home run as part of a nine-run first inning for the Dodgers.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
It was the most runs the Dodgers scored in a single inning in nearly five years, matching their seventh-inning rally against the Nationals on July 2, 2021.
The Dodgers (42-23) helped themselves with a show of power. Pages drove in the first two runs by crushing a center-cut changeup from Angels starting pitcher Jack Kochanowicz over the left-field wall.
Judging by his stroll out of the batter’s box, Pages seemed to know it was a homer on contact.
The ball had so much loft that reliever Blake Treinen parked under it in the bullpen and caught it with his hat. His fellow relievers mobbed him in an impromptu mosh pit.
“The homer by Andy to answer back was big, kind of put to bed any type of momentum they had at the top of the first,” manager Dave Roberts said. “And then after that, just the hits kept coming, just good at-bats.”
Later in the same inning, after the lineup turned over, Shohei Ohtani also notched a two-run homer, for his second hit. In between, rookie Ryan Ward hit a two-run double off the wall.
The Dodgers brought 12 batters to the plate and recorded six hits in a row — seven total.
The Angels’ shoddy defense exacerbated the scoring spree. They had a chance to get out of it just four runs into the rally.
Kochanowicz had faced eight hitters and only recorded one out when Angels manager Kurt Suzuki turned to his bullpen.
Veteran left-hander Brent Suter jogged in with the bases loaded. Immediately, Suter got Alex Freeland to hit a ground ball to shortstop Zach Neto, for what should have been an inning-ending double play.
Instead, Neto’s throw across his body sailed past second and into foul territory on the other side of the diamond. By the time Angels right fielder Jo Adell collected the ball and threw to the cutoff man, three runs had scored.
“We always say, you can’t give good teams extra outs,” Roberts said. “And so, to give us extra outs just makes us really tough to beat.”
Ohtani was up next. And in a two-strike count, he stayed inside a sinker to launch his two-run blast to left-center field.
The Angels’ defense didn’t fare much better in the second, although Suter navigated a pair of misplays — Neto muffed a one-hopper up the middle, which was ruled a single, and third baseman Donovan Walton overthrew first on a chopper — to escape without the Dodgers extending their lead.
Yamamoto retired 22 straight en route to eight innings of two-hit ball.
“I was given a big lead,” Yamamoto said through interpreter Yoshihiro Sonoda. “So what I was trying to do was focus on my execution and also be fine, precise with my location, the height and location of my pitches.”
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto delivers against the Angels in the first inning Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
The lead also gave him a chance to experiment.
“You get up big like that, you don’t want to get too cute to an extent,” catcher Dalton Rushing said. “But you also want to understand and see what he’s capable of. … For him, it’s so easy, because he has eight pitches that he can throw wherever he wants. Obviously it’s fun to work with him. We tried a few new tricks, and we’ll carry them over into his next one.”
While Yamamoto gave the Dodgers bullpen a rest, Roberts used the early blowout to give first baseman Freddie Freeman some rest.
Freeman, who has played in 62 of the Dodgers’ 65 games, left after the top of the fourth inning, replaced by Miguel Rojas.
The Angels had time to chip away, but they didn’t score again until Neto’s solo homer off Dodgers reliever Jack Dreyer in the ninth inning.
The contrast was glaring.
Rams defensive end Myles Garrett throws out the ceremonial first pitch Saturday at Dodger Stadium.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
Smith scratched
Dodgers catcher Will Smith was scratched from the lineup because of a stiff neck, Roberts said. The issue “came out of nowhere,” Roberts said, pointing to a “bad night’s sleep or a bad pillow.”
“He was going to play two out of three [against the Angels] regardless,” Roberts said. “So it’s nice that we could kind of tap Dalton on the shoulder and get him in there.”
Roberts said he expects Smith will return to the lineup Sunday.
Injury update
Right-handed reliever Brock Stewart (left foot bone spur) is progressing after a setback a week and a half ago stymied his throwing progression.
The last time Stewart threw live batting practice, he aggravated the injury by running afterward. But throwing to hitters Saturday went better. He’s scheduled to throw one more live BP session before going out on a minor-league rehab assignment, Roberts said.
Roster moves
Dodgers pitcher Tyler Glasnow smiles on the field before the Dodgers’ 9-2 win Saturday against the Angels at Dodger Stadium.
(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)
The Dodgers added right-hander Nick Frasso to the 40-man roster and transferred right-hander Tyler Glasnow (back spasms) to the 60-day injured list.
The team originally expected Glasnow to avoid the IL altogether, but his back issues have persisted. He remains shut down from throwing after a flare-up.
“He wants to get cranking again,” Roberts said, “but the doctors just aren’t allowing it and the body is not allowing for it right now.”
The Dodgers also traded left-hander Antoine Kelly, whom they signed to a minor-league deal in November to the Cubs.
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It’s a two of a kind for Golden Tempo.
The winner of last month’s Kentucky Derby, who sat out the Preakness Stakes, forfeiting a shot at the Triple Crown, took home the victory at the 158th Belmont Stakes in New York on Saturday.
Renegade opened up as the morningline 2-1 favorite, similar to the Derby, followed by Chief Wallabee at 3-1 and Golden Tempo at 9-2.
The racing post is pulled down the front stretch for a race at Saratoga Race Course. (Gregory Fisher/Imagn Images)
Just like the Derby, Golden Tempo was well at the back of the pack but began to make his move at the final turn. At one point, Golden Tempo was neck-and-neck with Commandment, but Golden Tempo was able to get away from the pack in the final stretch.
This was the second consecutive year in which the Derby winner skipped out on the Preakness to tune up for the Belmont. Last year, Sovereignty won the Kentucky Derby before not traveling to Pimlico Race Course and then taking home the Belmont.
Golden Tempo (9) with Jockey Jose Ortiz crosses the finish line to win the 158th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race, Saturday, June 6, 2026, in Saratoga Springs, New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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“We made our decision, he won today, and we’re happy about that,” trainer Cherie DeVaux said after the race.
Saturday’s Belmont Stakes marked the third consecutive, and final, year in which the race took place at Saratoga Race Course in Upstate New York, as Belmont Park finishes up renovations.
Due to the change in course since 2024, the race ran at 1 ¼ miles instead of its usual mile-and-a-half. Saratoga is home to the annual Whitney, Travers, and Jim Dandy Stakes.
A sign at Saratoga Race Course for the 2026 Belmont Stakes. (Will Waldron/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
This year’s Belmont did not feature any horses from the Preakness Stakes three weeks ago and just four from the Kentucky Derby in early May: Renegade, Commandment, Chief Wallabee, and Golden Tempo.
All four of them finished in the top four.
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