Player Notes

From afar, Alabama football cornerback Kool-Aid McKinstry’s punt return judgment hasn’t looked great this season. McKinstry, who has been one of the SEC’s better returners throughout his career, has seemed to make some poor choices as to which balls to field and which to let roll.That happened again Saturday. McKinstry appeared to misjudge two kicks, one of which rolled to the Alabama three-yard line.During ...

It appears that Stanford is willing to do whatever it takes to remain in a prominent conference.Ralph D. Russo of the Associated Press reported the school informed the remaining members of the Pac-12 that it told the ACC that the university was willing to make significant sacrifices in order to move to the conference."Leaders from Stanford, California, Oregon State and Washington State spoke Thursday, ...

Bo Nix returned to the Oregon Ducks for one more season because he didn’t want “to have any regrets.”Michael Penix Jr. returned to the Washington Huskies for one more season because he had “unfinished business.”And now, amid Heisman hype, a College Football Playoff chase and a “College GameDay” frenzy, the dynamic quarterbacks’ quest for redemption will collide when they meet Saturday in a marquee ...

Tar Heels football coach Mack Brown joined The Observer’s Talking Preps show to speak his mind on a variety of topics and how he’d really like to see the ACC stick together.UNC football coach Mack Brown took a very strong stand defending a wide receiver from Charlotte against an NCAA eligibility ban.Brown wrote a public letter of support for former West Charlotte High School star Tez Walker, ending ...

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart and Kentucky coach Mark Stoops threw compliments each other’s way before their matchup of unbeaten ranked teams last Saturday.It was like a mutual admiration society.Then Stoops let down his guard Monday night on his weekly call-in show when he said that Georgia “bought some pretty good players,” with NIL money and encouraged Kentucky fans to step up their donations ...

Atherton, Calif. • The freshman runs a hitch-and-go for Menlo School on a play called “X train.”This is Laila Young’s first flag football game, but she looks like she played in a previous life, moving so smoothly and decisively. Her sister, Summer, a senior, is also a natural, covering big chunks of turf with long strides.Laila plays the X position — “I tell her she’s John Taylor, the most underappreciated ...

With an extra week to prepare, what Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze saw on film was an LSU offense that resembled arguably the best collegiate group of all time — one that wore the exact same yellow helmets Freeze will see this weekend.“I think their offense is the most explosive that I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Freeze said Monday. “I wasn’t coaching when they had their run with Joe Burrow and them. ...

Matt Calkins By Matt CalkinsSeattle Times columnistCould this be where it peaks?No doubt that the most heated annual contest in the Pacific Northwest is the matchup between the Washington and Oregon football teams.Scrappy as Oregon State and Washington State have been in years past (and, yes, both are capable of knocking off their in-state rivals), the Apple Cup and the game formerly known as the Civil ...

Lincoln Riley shook his head, shrugged his shoulders and offered a tight smile.“How long do you got?” the USC coach responded when faced with yet another question about his defense.After the team’s Heisman-winning quarterback provided unprompted, emphatic support of USC’s embattled defense last weekend, the coach provided his own Tuesday, saying the outside perception of the Alex Grinch-led unit fails ...

UCLA has had stability at the quarterback position the past four seasons. And while there have been strides toward a level of stability at the position this season, Dante Moore is still on a learning curve.While most true freshmen usually spend the first year of their college season on the sideline and some as a redshirt, UCLA coach Chip Kelly has given the 18-year-old a vote of confidence by sticking ...