Oregon at Risk of Losing No. 1 Player in Alabama With $442K NIL Valuation originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Oregon Ducks have been on a tear on the 2026 recruiting trail.

Dan Lanning and company have put together the No. 3 class in the country, headlined by four five-star recruits. That feat isn’t too surprising: The Ducks have routinely signed top five classes the past few seasons.

Advertisement

Even though the Ducks hold commitments from some of the best recruits in the country, that doesn’t mean other programs aren’t trying to flip some members of the class. Rivals reported such a flip appears likely for five-star edge Anthony “Tank” Jones, a native of Alabama.

Jones is the No. 22 player and No. 4 edge nationally and the No. 1 player in the state, and both Alabama and Auburn are reportedly making strong pushes to keep him home.

“We are hearing that both in-state schools, Alabama and Auburn, will play the slow game and work to get him back on campus for games this fall,” read the report. “Both the Crimson Tide and the Tigers are giving Jones his space, but as the season progresses, we expect staffs from both SEC programs to be in Mobile working to flip him from the Ducks through Signing Day in December.”

Advertisement

With the early signing period in December, the Crimson Tide and Tigers have ample time to convince Jones that there’s no reason to trek to the Pacific Northwest. They also will have time to sweeten their offers.

According to On3’s name, image and likeness licensing valuations estimates, Jones ranks 33rd in high school football with a $422,00 valuation. This past season for St. Paul’s Episcopal, Jones compiled 84 tackles, 18 tackles for loss and 16 sacks.

Advertisement

Related: College Football Insider Predicts SEC Powerhouse Will Fire Head Coach and Lose Top Recruit to Rival

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Aug 15, 2025, where it first appeared.

HANOVER, N.H. – Rich Parker, Bill Johnson Head Coach of Men’s Golf, has announced the incoming Class of 2029 to the Dartmouth men’s golf program.
 
Luke Harper
5’10” | Dallas, Texas | The Covenant School
Before Dartmouth: Four-year Varsity golfer … three straight TAPPS 4A State Championships … Individual TAPPS 4A State Champion … Four-time First Team All-State … Two-year captain … Three-time team MVP … AP Scholar with Distinction … National Merit Scholar.
Why Dartmouth: “I chose Dartmouth because of the strong community, the athletic resources, the beautiful setting and the academic rigor.”
 
Benjamin Wang
5’10” | San Ramon, Calif. | Dougherty Valley High School
Before Dartmouth: Rolex Scholastic All-American … Three-time DVHS men’s golf team Most Valuable Player … EBAL Player of the Year … Captain of the DVHS golf team senior year … AP Scholar with Distinction … AIME Qualifier.
Why Dartmouth: “I chose Dartmouth for the vibrant small community as well as the great blend of academics and athletics.”
 
The Big Green return unanimous Ivy League First Team selection Tyler Brand to their roster for the 2025-26 season and tee off when they travel to the Metropolis Intercollegiate hosted by Columbia in White Plains, N.Y. on Monday, Sept. 8 and Tuesday, Sept. 9.
 

WINTHROP, Mass. – Simmons University has been selected as the preseason favorite in the 2025 Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) Field Hockey Coaches’ Poll, marking their bid to return to the top of the league for the first time since 2015. The Sharks earned 111 points and five first-place votes in the poll, which was conducted by the conference’s 11 head coaches.

Simmons is coming off an 18-4 season (10-2 GNAC) that saw the Sharks claim the No. 3 seed in last year’s GNAC Tournament before advancing to the championship game, where they fell to Johnson & Wales (then a GNAC member).

New England College was a close second in the poll with 110 points and three first-place votes. The Pilgrims posted a 16-4 overall record (10-2 GNAC) and earned the No. 2 seed in 2024, claiming the head-to-head tiebreaker over Simmons before falling in double overtime to the Sharks in the semifinals.

Colby-Sawyer College collected 98 points and two first-place tallies to take the third spot, followed by Saint Joseph’s College of Maine, which garnered 83 points to land in fourth. Under the direction of first-year head coach Theresa Arsenault ’14, the Monks went 10-11 overall and 7-5 in GNAC play last fall, earning the No. 5 seed in the tournament. After knocking off No. 4 Colby-Sawyer in the quarterfinals, SJC fell to eventual champion Johnson & Wales in the semifinals.

Lasell University rounded out the top five with 74 points and one first-place vote.

The University of Saint Joseph (72), Dean College (56), and Rivier University (54) claimed the next three spots, while Regis College (35), Albertus Magnus College (18), and Elms College (13) closed out the rankings.

The 2025 GNAC Field Hockey season begins Friday, August 29 with non-conference action, while league play opens Saturday, September 6. Teams will compete in a 10-game, single round-robin schedule, with the top eight programs advancing to the GNAC Tournament. The postseason begins with the quarterfinals on Saturday, November 1, continues with the semifinals on Wednesday, November 5, and concludes with the GNAC Championship on Saturday, November 8. The winner will earn the conference’s automatic qualifier to the 2025 NCAA Division III Field Hockey Championship.

 

2025 GNAC Field Hockey Preseason Coaches’ Poll

1. Simmons – 111 (5)
2. New England College – 110 (3)
3. Colby-Sawyer – 98 (2)
4. Saint Joseph’s (Maine) – 83
5. Lasell – 74 (1)
6. University of Saint Joseph (Conn.) – 72
7. Dean – 56
8. Rivier – 54
9. Regis – 35
10. Albertus Magnus – 18
11. Elms – 13

 

Wildcat Nation lost one of its greatest over the weekend.

Former UA pitcher James Farris, who was part of the 2012 baseball team that won the school’s fourth national title, passed away on Sunday following a battle with liver cancer. He was 33.

Farris played for the Wildcats from 2011-14, appearing in 48 games with 47 starts. That includes in the championship-clinching win over South Carolina at the College World Series in 2012 when he threw 7.2 scoreless innings in a 4-1 win.

A native of Arkansas, Farris graduated from Highland High School in Gilbert before coming to the UA. He was drafted twice, passing on being a 15th-round selection of the Houston Astros in 2013 before the Chicago Cubs took him in the 9^th round in 2014.

Farris reached Triple-A in 2017 in the Colorado Rockies organization but was unable to crack the majors, retiring from baseball after that and entering private business. He married his wife Madeline in 2022 and leaves behind a 2-year-old son, Gatlin.

A GoFundMe page started by a family friend in May remains active, with donations going toward Farris’ family.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan gymnastics team finished the year with the second-highest GPA in the sport after posting a 3.8880, while all 20 members of the team earned Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Individual Academic Honors.

The Broncos jumped from 44th last year to second this season after posting its sixth-highest team GPA since 2015. Western Michigan has been in the Top 5 of the sport’s GPA list in sixth of the last 11 years. 

“Our Bronco gymnasts inspire me every day with their work ethic. To achieve a 3.888 team GPA with 21 student-athletes is an incredible accomplishment, and I’m so proud of how they represent our program and our university. Finishing second in the nation is a direct reflection of the culture our team has built—one where excellence is expected in every area. Our athletes push each other to be their best in the gym and in the classroom. I’m so proud of their hard work and grateful for the support of our academic staff who help make achievements like this possible.”

Booke Gelesko, Julie Korfhage, Patricia Mills, Sarah Moravansky, Reese Samuleson, and Kyler Webster led the way for Western Michigan, all with 4.00 GPAs. Every member of the team at least had a 3.50, while 12 had a 3.80 or higher. 

 

The chirps start each morning when Adam Fantilli arrives at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Mich.

They come from one of Fantilli’s teammates and best friends in Zach Werenski.

If it were a buddy cop movie, Werenski would be the grizzled but decorated veteran, Fantilli the talented, hotshot youngster.

As such, It’s only natural for Werenski – the Norris Trophy runner-up a season ago, a U.S. national team veteran and alternate captain for the Blue Jackets – to give his younger counterpart the business during their offseason training sessions.

“I think it’s fun for me to be hard on him, just being an older guy,” Werenski said. “I always give him a lot of crap, and I’m sure he’ll say that. But it’s more in good fun.”

It’s fair to say that Fantilli – someone who also could be in line to be win major NHL trophies, become a national team stalwart and wear a letter on his chest at some point in Columbus – doesn’t mind it.

“It’s all in good fun,” Fantilli said. “He does it just to keep me in line as a young guy and to make jokes, make conversation.

“I love being here with him. It’s great to have a teammate here, especially him. The guy is the best player on our team. You want to try to be with him and to work out and train with him. It’s really helpful.”

And to hear Werenski tell it, it’s not like Fantilli needs the extra push going into his third NHL campaign. The league’s youngest 30-goal scorer a season ago didn’t get where he is by taking days off, and Fantilli has already earned the respect of the nine-year NHL veteran at the top of his game.

“I think I’m not even really showing him the way,” Werenski said. “He has a lot of guys to look up to, and he already knows the way. He’s a great worker, and he knows what he needs to work on in the summers and he does it. He comes in every day and grinds.

“I love having him here. … He’s a hell of a hockey player, and he’s always pushing me to get better and hopefully I can do the same for him. I think it’s great for me. It’s something I wish I had when I was his age. It’s just going to benefit him more and more every year.”

Though he hails from the Greater Toronto Area, Fantilli chooses to get much of his pre-training camp work done in Plymouth, a short 15-minute drive from where he burst onto the scene at the University of Michigan, winning the Hobey Baker Award as the best player in college hockey as a freshman before becoming the third overall pick in the NHL draft.

The 20-year-old center has settled on spending a lot of summer in the Detroit suburbs for a few reasons. Being close to his college town and having U-M buddies to hang out with – including his brother, Luca, a Michigan defenseman – helps, as does the high-level competition he can sharpen himself against during daily workouts and summer skates.

The Hughes brothers – Jack, Quinn and Luke, all young NHL standouts in their own right – are often present, and when BlueJackets.com visited earlier this month for a summer check-in, a bevy of NHLers were in and out of the facility. Fantilli first got the invitation to join during COVID times, when he was still a year or two away from his Michigan exploits or becoming an NHL star but still was making a name for himself in the hockey world.

“I got on the ice and I was so nervous to be around the guys and everything,” Fantilli said. “I was so happy to get on the ice with them for that duration of time. And then slowly as the years go on, I feel like I fit in more and more and actually push the group. … They’re my buddies now.”

The scenes in the gym and on the ice aren’t necessarily dramatic – there’s no ear-splitting music in the gym, no screaming strength coaches getting in the faces of the players – but the intensity is real when you’re working with the best of the best.

The on-ice session was split into drills and mini-games, and the competitiveness among the high-level athletes is palpable. While there are light moments like stick taps for a player who loses an edge and slips to the ice, each 3-on-3 game ends with joyous winners celebrating and losers who start moving nets and pucks into place for the next battle.

Through it all, Fantilli – who has often talked about learning and getting better every day of his NHL career – is a keen observer of what’s going on around him.

“It’s all All-Stars out there,” he said. “You’re going against guys that are the best in the league in a lot of senses. I can take from a lot of guys’ games. You have Jack and Quinn out there that are two of the most shifty guys in the NHL, and that’s something I want to add to my game as well. Cole (Caufield) is such a great shooter. Usually Kyle Connor and (Dylan) Larkin are out there, and those are both world-class forwards as well.

“They’re guys I want to take from their games. Learning from them every day has been really beneficial.”

And then, of course, there’s the presence of Werenski, a fellow Michigan Man who speaks often about how much Fantilli’s work with such decorated pros will help him in his development. This is the second straight year the two have worked together for a significant part of the offseason, and Fantilli sees the benefits of keeping one of his CBJ leaders in close proximity during the summer.

“He’s a great role model,” Fantilli said. “Not only that, I’ve become close with him. He’s a really good friend now. It’s great to be around him. He works so hard. He grinds. It’s a great example for me as a young guy. As a leader in Columbus, he’s a guy that I look up to a lot throughout the season, and being able to have him here in the offseason is just as helpful. It’s great.”

In Fantilli, Werenski sees a player who not only can help take the Blue Jackets to the next level but also someone who has become an indispensable part of its core in just two seasons.

“He’s a guy that’s a leader on this team and is going to be a leader in Columbus for a long time,” Werenski said. “It’s nice to have a young guy like that that understands what it takes to be great in this league.”

And it all starts on warm summer days in suburban Detroit.