I had a good handle on how things would go between the Big OV Weekend and Jones’ commitment.

However, my radar is a little scrambled going forward (trying not to use the term “c#%stal @#ll).

Where do we go from here?

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Fletcher Westphal has a "better perspective on UGA"​

By: Blayne Gilmer - UGASports.com

There aren't a lot of human beings walking around the entire planet that possess the size that Fletcher Westphal does. The 2024 offensive tackle prospect measured just under 6-foot-9 inches and weighed in at 334 pounds on his official visit with the Georgia Bulldogs this past weekend. He has 35-inch arms and over a 7-foot wingspan.

Head coach Kirby Smart and offensive line coach Stacy Searels are eyeing Westphal as one of the finishing pieces to the Class of 2024 offensive line haul for the Bulldogs.

The official visit caught the four-star tackle's attention in a significant way.

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"The OV went really well," Westphal said. "It definitely put a better perspective on UGA in my mind. The amount of information that we got on the visit, information that we previously hadn't gotten before. It was just amazing. How Georgia offers internships. Everything in the classroom, with academics. We had gotten to glance by it on unofficials, but this time it was really magnified and it put it in good light."

One experience that Westphal thoroughly enjoyed was the ax-throwing competition.

"We went to an ax-throwing type of deal," Westphal said. "I was the best offensive lineman there in that group in that. I dominated. The other offensive linemen know it on that. I was boasting about it for two days straight. That was fun. But Coach Searels whooped all of us though. My score was 39 and the other offensive lineman had around 15 points. Coach Searels, his score was 75. We didn't let him play anymore after that."

As Searels and Westphal have known each other for a lengthy period of time, the Georgia offensive line coach probably didn't feel the need to take it easy on the big tackle.

"We've known each other so long that we really don't talk recruiting much anymore," Westphal said. "It's more just that we talk back and forth, sometimes we talk ball. Coach Searels played at the Division I level and he played in the league. He tells us some good recruiting stories."

Westphal also detailed the sitdown he and his family had with Smart at the end of the official visit.

"A big part of that meeting, he gave me five things and asked me to rank them," Westphal said. "Relationships with players, relationships with coaches, winning a national championship, starting as a freshman, and NIL. We get into it, I ranked relationships with players one, relationship with coaches two, winning a national championship three, starting as a freshman four, and NIL five.

"The reason he asked that was because, he said, any kid who says starting as a freshman or NIL is number one or number two, that's a red flag in recruiting. First of all, you're in the SEC. It's the hardest conference and you're playing against freaks of nature at defensive end. Physically and mentally you're not going to be prepared. You just don't have enough time at the offensive line positions to start as a freshman, and I completely agree."

Westphal and his family have been very organized and analytical throughout the recruiting process, keeping records of all the positives and negatives on each visit. Now though, with four finalists of Clemson, Georgia, Florida, and Arkansas, a different tactic for making a decision is emerging.

"It's really going to be a gut feel for me," Westphal said. "I was very analytical. I had a spreadsheet for everything for the commitment. It's really just going to be a gut feel and kind of after I take all of my official visits and then go on vacation afterward, I'm going to enjoy my vacation first of all, then I'm going to make my decision."

Georgia moved the needle on this visit with Westphal.

"Georgia definitely upped themselves in my book," Westphal said. "I don't know that I would have said going into this that Georgia was my No. 1 school, and I don't have a No. 1 school, but Georgia has definitely upped themselves in my book."

Westphal shared Georgia's message and why it believes that Athens should be his home at the next level.

"Because I'm a big human and they can develop me," Westphal said. "I'm really big and they believe they can develop me spiritually, mentally, and physically. I can get internships with all of these Fortune 500 companies. I can learn and become better at football and become better as a man.

"They hit on every part of it. They're not pressuring me to commit right now or anything. That's my own decision. What they did tell me though is that they are taking five offensive linemen. They have three committed, two public, and one silent. Coach Smart told me they want two more and in his words, 'We want them to big two big ass human beings.'"

Westphal has now completed his official visits to Clemson and Georgia and will be visiting Florida and Arkansas next. A decision is expected in July.

SHOP NOW: Every ON SALE Clemson apparel/gear item at The Tiger Fan Shop HERE!

Im going on my 15th year in sales and to be honest this seems to be the hardest year ever. Cold calling and cold emailing are just returning ZILCH, NADA, ZERO. I'm not a pushy salesman; I try to show what value I can bring and truly try to find what your pain points are with your company. That said I try to make my emails and calls personalized and to the point but dang if im not getting anything at all. I am not too proud to ask for help so does anyone have any pointers or ideas or suggestions? Im all ears on this. Thanks everyone.

Pretty awesome to play the best team in the SEC. Our SOS next year is going to be great.

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Single game ticket order requests just went out to IPTAY members. No Notre Dame tickets were offered. Interesting!

You may as well be a f'n Grizzly
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I know this is random, but our 11 year old is at camp and our 8 year old goes this weekend, so I took him to see the movie and to give the wife 3 hours to herself.

I cannot believe how good it was. If you remotely like super hero stuff, go see it. I am just surprised how good it was.

Random as f but we had a blast.

Anyone else watched it?

I will obviously have the Kid Rock playing 24/7 and not be drinking Bud Light, but what are some must-dos up that way?

4-star safety Ricardo Jones has announced his commitment to Clemson.

I've been telling libs on here to eat sh!t for years. Sometimes you stumble onto truth.

Anyone here knowledgeable about the Jags/NFL care to give a reply detailing the Jags upcoming season for the rest of us?

Team improvements in the offseason?
Draft grade?
Schedule?
Their place in the division and conference?
Position group strengths and weaknesses?
Season outlook?

I'm not really an NFL guy, but seeing the post about DW this morning got me to thinking about Trevor and the Jags.

Thanks in advance!!

Pittsburgh commit. Have loved him for a long time but didn’t realize he had committed. Anyone have any info here. I can’t understand why he wouldn’t be an offer candidate to expand the board, given his film, unless he has other barriers?

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More NFL gambling suspensions are coming
By: Tyler Greenawalt - Yahoo! Sports

The hammer of the NFL is about to come down hard on players who allegedly participated in sports betting.

Players like Indianapolis Colts cornerback and return specialist Isaiah Rodgers are expected to be suspended for the entire 2023 season, ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Wednesday. Although Rodgers is the only named player, Schefter's reporting indicated "a handful" of players would be suspended in the league's most recent probe.

Rodgers first popped up on the NFL's radar earlier this month when reports surfaced he was under investigation for “pervasive” betting activities, including bets on Colts games. Earlier this year, the league suspended five other players for violating the NFL's anti-gambling policy, including Detroit Lions' 2022 first-round pick Jameson Williams. Three of the five were suspended indefinitely, while Williams and another — who allegedly bet on non-NFL games at a team facility — were only suspended for six games.

A year ago, the idea of player suspensions for gambling were few and far between. The only players prior to this offseason who were suspended for an entire season for sports betting were Arizona Cardinals defensive back Josh Shaw in 2019 and then-Atlanta Falcons wideout Calvin Ridley in 2021 (but he has since been reinstated).

But now it appears the floodgates have opened. And now the question remains for the league: Are suspensions levied to uphold the integrity of the game or the perception of the integrity of the game? That question remains up for debate, but NFL vice president and chief compliance officer Sabrina Perel told Yahoo Sports' Jori Epstein on a league conference call that perception does matter a lot.

"We're mindful of just gambling in general and the perception," Perel said. "Are we doing everything to make sure that there’s no negative association with those individuals both on the actual betting and the potential for the use of inside information?”

Another way to look at this news, though, is how players keep getting caught now more than ever. That part is more simple: technology and access have made sports betting incredibly easy. But with that comes the consequence of the league's ability to easily track down perpetrators. Matt Holt, the founder and CEO of U.S. Integrity, which works with major sports leagues and sportsbooks to monitor issues, told Yahoo Sports' Dan Wetzel that the location of a bettor can be tracked within a 3-foot radius. And since NFL players and staffers aren't allowed to place bets in team facilities, it isn't hard for the league to know if a bet was placed in the parking lot or a mile away.

We don't know yet the extent of the NFL's most recent betting suspensions, but it sounds as though it's going to be a lot more than a trickle of players who violated the anti-gambling policy.

Former Clemson special teams analyst Brandon "stopwatch" McCombs has accepted a similair position at VT

We r going up to Asheville for a few days. Looking at staying more downtown. Wanting to stay in a "Suite" hotel. Not budget. Haven't been in years. Any recommendations for places to stay, restaurants? Thanks.

Just saw someone post on Twitter that Greg Williams plans to enter the portal.

Any confirmation from Paul, Larry, or chirs?

Unusual Non-Conference College Football Team Names

Just talked with a few folks who work at U of M Medical Center in Ann Arbor (but husband was an Illinois grad and wife was a Spartan). They seemed to be good with it.

Also, found out that the Toro App will unlock another person’s car that is the same make and model of what I rented. Nearly went to Jail yesterday.

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Mass moves mass..and it doesn’t get much more massive than him.

I know there are multiple district champions around the state, but I wanted to share our story.

The last couple months have been the worst days of my life after losing Carson. I don’t even know how I get out of bed to function. Luckily, I’ve had the opportunity to coach these kids from Ninety Six since they were about 6 years old. This has helped me cope some and take my mind off what I have to face everyday.

Below is an article our Greenwood paper put out today about our story.

Also, we are trying to raise funds to cover hotel expenses for our 12 players families. We could possibly be in Moncks Corner for a week and it gets expensive. If you’d like to help, please PM me. Thanks, love you guys.

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is now ranked 10th nationally at Rivals.com.

Clemson's class is now fourth nationally in star rating average (3.77) behind Alabama (4.00), UGA (3.90) and Ohio State (3.88) respectively.

Rivals.com's national recruiting class rankings

• Updated: Jun. 26, 2023, 6:54 a.m.|
• Published: Jun. 25, 2023, 5:07 a.m.

Illustration by Ted Crow for Crowquill. Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson tries to stay sharp during layoff leading to training camp.


By

• Terry Pluto, cleveland.com

ABOUT DESHAUN WATSON

I checked with some of my top NFL sources about how Deshaun Watson performed in the various spring camps. There is an asterisk next to everything you read because this is no-contact football. Many of the practices weren’t open to the media, which is why I reached out to those close to the situation.

1. Watson is building a strong relationship with head coach Kevin Stefanski and offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. I heard they consider him “a no-ego star who wants to be coached hard.” That matches Watson’s reputation at Clemson and for the most part, in Houston.


2. Stefanski has corrected Watson in front of the team. Watson understands that’s part of the deal as a QB. The team is looking to see if the coaches will criticize him as they do other players. So far, Watson has been a low-maintenance QB.


3. Watson, Stefanski and Van Pelt have been exchanging ideas, texting plays to each other away from the facility. Watson has been looking at videos from other NFL and college teams, looking for plays he likes – much like the coaches do for him.


4. A major difference from a year ago is Watson’s ability to “self-coach.” He recognizes when he makes a mistake and often mentions it and corrects it before the coaches have a chance to say anything.


5. It’s early, but I hear the relationship between Watson and the coaching staff “is an incredibly healthy dynamic.”



The relationship between coach Kevin Stefanski (middle), offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt and Deshaun Watson has been strong. John Kuntz, cleveland.com


6. In spring drills, the Browns believe Watson “was crisp, making some high degree of difficulty throws.” The timing with receivers was encouraging, as was how Watson performed in various drills, including 7-on-7 and 11-on-11.


7. In the practices I saw, that assessment matched. Watson looked sharp, better than probably any QB I’ve seen since 1999 in this type of practice. I will add that Watson also was impressive in these drills last spring. Better now, but he was good in 2022.


8. The coaches will deny this, but I believe they became distracted because they had to prepare one type of offense for the pocket-passing Jacoby Brissett in the first 11 games, then another type of offense for Watson, a more athletic and mobile QB.




9. Fact is, other teams have QBs with different styles and can make the switch. I thought this was a weakness with the coaching last season.


10. The other possibility is the Browns are saying this because Watson was dealing with so much off the field and missing 700 days between regular-season games – he was simply overwhelmed. He admitted as much, as I wrote about last weekend. The coaches were willing to take some of the blame off him with the two-different-offenses explanation.



Deshaun Watson should be throwing more off the run this season. Joshua Gunter, cleveland.com


11. For Watson and the Browns in 2023, this is a fresh start. The Browns are emphasizing the concepts preferred by Watson – and those that also emphasize his strengths. Look for more no-huddle plays this season. (FYI: I begged them in print to do that with Watson in 2022). There also will be more empty-backfield formations. There will be more plays allowing Watson to throw off the run – or run the ball himself.


12. Most of changes described in the offense should be obvious, but the Browns didn’t do that last season. None of this is an excuse for Watson’s discouraging six games. But it also is true some basic changes to the offense could have helped him.


13. The Browns have been spending a lot time on “scramble drills.” That’s where the receivers keep their pass patterns alive as Watson scrambles and extends plays. This is something the Browns didn’t emphasize last year because the stationary Brissett was the main QB.


14. The receivers keeping their eyes on the QB and running to open spots should help Amari Cooper and Donovan Peoples-Jones, both extremely smart guys in terms of football IQ. I don’t know much about Elijah Moore or the Browns’ younger receivers when it comes to how quickly they will adapt to Watson. I do know the Browns are high on Cedric Tillman, their rookie from Tennessee. The early reviews of Moore have been very positive.


15. Watson was sacked 20 times in six games. Over a 17-game schedule, that’s 56 sacks. From 2018-2020, Watson was sacked 155 times. That was the most in the NFL over that three-year span. It’s an average of 52 times a season.


16. The Browns know Watson will have high sack totals. Some of it is a product of his scrambling style. Last season, Justin Fields and Russell Wilson were sacked the most – 55 times each. Then came Kirk Cousins and Geno Smith at 46 times.


17. The Browns are working with Watson and the line to help with blocking coverage. A QB who scrambles a lot can “run into sacks.” That means the linemen are blocking defenders in a certain direction, and then the QB scrambles right into a tackle. The Browns are trying to accelerate the rate of Watson and his blockers becoming used to each other.


18. It’s spring non-contact football. It’s a time of optimism and hope. Some of what I’m hearing is a product of that upbeat vibe. But the accuracy displayed by Watson in the spring was real. His growing relationship with the coaches is real and encouraging.

Red rocks has been on my bucket list for a while now. I’m going to be in Colorado for work in July. I told myself I’m going no matter who is playing. I just realized Caamp is playing 2 nights while I’m there. Freaking stoked. Couldn’t have worked out any better.

Heading down in August for a few days and looking for a good fishing guide anyone would recommend. I know, I know, you can't throw a dead cat in Islamorda without hitting a fishing guide but looking for one who would be good with kids who just want to catch fish. They are just as happy catching bait or small fish as anything closer to a tarpon/snook/mahi/tuna. TIA.

Daycare worker arrested, charged with child abuse​

By: Jessica Gertler - WREG

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County District Attorney’s office confirmed a man has been charged in connection with a child abuse incident at a daycare in the medical district.

Joe Craig has been indicted by a Shelby County grand jury on aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect. He was arrested Monday and is being held on $200,000 bond.



Craig, 31, is an employee at the Academy of Future Leaders on Madison Avenue. He also was a former standout football player at the University of Memphis. There were no previous incidents listed on his record in Shelby County.

Loved ones said the child is two years old, and his injuries were “life threatening and severe.” He has undergone multiple surgeries after an incident there last month.

In September 2020, Craig was seen on our newscast. The former University of Memphis football standout had a bad car wreck and doctors didn’t know if he would walk again.

He held an event to spread love to his supporters.



“I just wanted to pass the message on that there’s a purpose in everyone’s life and that’s why God saved me,” he said in 2020.

He was later hired at the Academy of Future Leaders. Parents told WREG he was always at the front desk and would help with the children when needed.

The TN Department of Human Services, which regulates daycares, noted Craig was with the child on May 18th.

According to DHS records we uncovered, Craig filled out an incident form that morning stating the child was scratched on his neck while playing.

The records also state Craig later messaged the parents the child was “sleepy.” Two of messages sent by the daycare were deleted.

At 12:30 p.m., staff told DHS the “child vomited” and was “taken to the restroom and cleaned up by [Craig]” and then put down for a nap.

An hour later, Craig told DHS the child’s “hands were moving oddly and legs were locked straight.”

He called the father at 1:48 p.m., and staff called 911 at 1:55 p.m.

After the incident, DHS forbid Craig on the premises when children are present. DHS stated Tuesday that it’s still investigating, and the daycare is still licensed.

Meanwhile, the child’s loved ones are asking for support. They sai telling us the child has had multiple surgeries and will still have to have more.

Last year, the daycare entered a partnership with UT Health Science Center to offer childcare services to faculty, staff, and students.

On June 9, UT suddenly terminated the contract but didn’t say why.

In a statement released Tuesday, UT said it’s aware of the charges, but since it doesn’t manage the vendor or its employees, they are not in a position to comment.

WREG reached out to the daycare multiple times, but has not heard back