North Carolina high school standout Elijah Littlejohn is the latest commitment for a 2026 Penn State recruiting class ranked top 10 overall nationally. The West Mecklenburg (Charlotte) senior announced his decision last week, giving the Nittany Lions 20 total pledges within the cycle.

The 6-foot-2, 205-pound Littlejohn is considered a Top247 talent, listed at No. 236 overall and 24th among edge rushers. Although he does supply plenty of potential as a blitzer, he is primed to play linebacker for Penn State.

The Nittany Lions extended a scholarship offer in April, then hosted him on campus for an official visit. That experience allowed for extended conversation with linebackers coach Dan Connor and helped get him on board with Penn State, topping a list of suitors that included 30 schools.

As a junior, Littlejohn terrorized opposing offensive backfields. He collected 26 tackles for loss, 14 sacks and 24 QB hurries in 2024, according to MaxPreps.

View Littlejohn’s junior season highlights above!

So what stands out about Littlejohn in our 247Sports scouting report?

In the latest installment of 1JD Films, get a behind the scenes look at the formation of Jets Flag Elite team, the first ever girls flag football travel team sponsored by the New York Jets. The 1JD films crew follows the team from the tryouts to the practice fields to their first tournament and captures all the sights and sounds.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is hosting an end-of-year news conference with Superintendent Dr. Crystal Hill.

Bowl to Present Jimmy Collins Awards to Brother Martin Wrestler and Crescent City Classic Racer

NEW ORLEANS (June 23, 2025) – Noah Confident, a top-four state finisher in wrestling, and Brian Marelo, a 15-year old competitor in the Crescent City Classic road race, have been selected to receive Jimmy Collins Awards from the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s New Orleans Sports Awards Committee.

The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has selected annual award winners in a variety of categories since 1958; it also selects Sugar Bowl Athletes of the Month and each year’s New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame class. Overall, 30 individuals and two teams will be honored for their achievements at the 2024-25 Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Banquet presented by LCMC Health on August 2. Honorees are currently being announced, wrapping up with the Corbett Awards for the top male and female amateur athletes in the state on July 8 and 9.

While there are many different categories of awards presented by the New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, some years the Committee finds that there are people deserving of recognition who do not necessarily fit into one specific category. For that reason, the Committee presents the Jimmy Collins Awards to outstanding individuals and organizations.

Collins was a longtime New Orleans sportswriter who is credited with creating the New Orleans Sports Awards and forming the Sports Awards Committee in 1958.

Noah Confident, who was born with one leg, has established himself as a high-level athlete. The 17-year-old achieved a pair of top-four finishes in Division I Wrestling at the LHSAA Championships (2024 and 2025).

“My way of wrestling is different from other people because it’s less of a hand fight and it’s more shots and just slowing down my opponent to be at my pace,” he said. “Overall, it’s just wrestling and doing the stuff I know how to do. I’m already low, so I don’t have to get low to get their legs. I just snatch and pull and try to get them down to the mat.”

“Starting out, I wasn’t even worried about winning or losing. I just wanted to wrestle. Then going into the next year, I just wanted to get better and learn more technique and everything. I wasn’t really thinking about tournaments. I just wanted to get better at wrestling. Then in my junior year I really thought about going to state and having that goal set in mind. Even though I didn’t (win at the state championship), I’m still proud of myself for getting there.

Brian Marelo competed against 18,200 fellow racers in the 47th Crescent City Classic on April 19. The 15-year-old entered the race with a goal of 55 minutes and he finished the race in 45 minutes and 52 seconds, faster than 96% of the finishers. Unlike most of the racers, Marelo competed in a lightweight chair with cantilevered wheels – he has spina bifida; he was born with his spinal cord growing out of his back and doctors said he would likely never be able to get out of bed, let alone walk. He has dealt with many challenges that came with his diagnosis, including epilepsy and hydrocephalus requiring a shunt and has undergone 20 operations in his 15 years.

“I wasn’t supposed to be able to do all these things I currently do,” said Marelo. “You’re only going to hurt yourself if you believe you can’t. But if you try, you might find out that you can.”

He hopes to attend the University of Alabama, which has a renowned adaptive sports program, and he also has 2032 Paralympic ambitions.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl will continue announcing its annual awards tomorrow (Tuesday) with the Outstanding Boys and Girls Prep Coaches of the Year from New Orleans.

Jimmy Collins Special Awards: Noah Confident, Brother Martin Wrestling; Brian Marelo, Hahnville

Outstanding Boys Prep Coach of the Year, New Orleans: June 24 (Tuesday)

Outstanding Girls Prep Coach of the Year, New Orleans: June 24 (Tuesday)

Outstanding Female Amateur Athlete, New Orleans: June 25 (Wednesday)

Outstanding Male Amateur Athlete, New Orleans: June 25 (Wednesday)

Outstanding Boys Prep Team, New Orleans: June 26 (Thursday)

Outstanding Girls Prep Team, New Orleans: June 26 (Thursday)

Outstanding Collegiate Coach, Louisiana: June 27 (Friday)

Eddie Robinson Award – July 7 (Monday)

Corbett Award – Male: July 8 (Tuesday)

Corbett Award – Female: July 9 (Wednesday)

Women in Sport Scholarships: July 23 (Wednesday)

New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Class of 2025:

Shan Foster, Basketball, Bonnabel HS/Vanderbilt/NBA, 2001-13
Temeka Johnson, Basketball, Bonnabel HS/LSU/WNBA, 1997-2018
Joe McKnight, Football, John Curtis Christian School/USC/NFL, 2004-16
Andy Russo, Basketball, Fortier HS/USL/Brother Martin HS, 1956-78

The New Orleans Sports Awards Committee came together when Collins spearheaded a group of sports journalists to form a sports awards committee to immortalize local sports history. For 13 years, the committee honored local athletes each month and a variety of annual award winners. In 1970, the Sugar Bowl stepped in to sponsor and revitalize the committee, leading to the creation of the New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame in 1971, honoring 10 legends from the Crescent City in its first induction class. While adding the responsibility of selecting Hall of Famers, the committee has continued to recognize the top athlete in the Greater New Orleans area each month as well as a range of annual awards – the honors enter their 69th year in 2025.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 29 national champions, 110 Hall of Fame players, 55 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 91-year history. The 92nd Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2026. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting over $2.5 billion into the local economy in the last decade. For more information, visit www.AllstateSugarBowl.org.

If LSU southpaw Kade Anderson is the No. 1 pick of the 2025 MLB Draft, Game 1 of the Men’s College World Series will be a reason why.

The All-American sophomore dominated Coastal Carolina with a shutout to put his team one win away from its second NCAA title in three years. His final line: eight innings, three hits, zero runs, five walks and 10 strikeouts on 130 pitches in a 1-0 win.

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It was the first shutout thrown in the MCWS finals since 2018.

The win also snapped a best-in-the-nation 26-game win streak for the Chanticleers.

Anderson is ranked by MLB Pipeline as the No. 3 prospect of the upcoming draft and is one of the top options for the Washington Nationals with the No. 1 pick. His main competition appears to be Oklahoma high school shortstop Ethan Holliday, son of former MLB All-Star Matt Holliday.

The 20-year-old Anderson has three different pitches ranked as plus by Pipeline and he showed off all of them on Saturday. His fastball sat in the mid-90s while his slider and changeup regularly fooled hitters.

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“Lot of credit to our defense, I didn’t have that many strikeouts so a lot of credit to them,” Anderson said after the game, in which he, again, posted 10 strikeouts.

LSU needed every shutout inning, with Coastal Carolina’s Cameron Flukey and Dominick Carbone holding the Tigers to six hits and one run. They got the sole run of the game in the bottom of the first inning. when a leadoff walk from Derek Curiel opened the door for a Steven Milam RBI single.

They’ll get their first chance to clinch the title on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET.

Here’s everything that happened in Game 1 of the Men’s College World Series final via Yahoo Sports: