VILLANOVA, Pa. – The UConn softball team secured the programs 8^th BIG EAST tournament championship, and first since 2001 on Saturday afternoon as the No. 2 seeded Huskies defeated the No. 4 seeded Creighton Bluejays, 18-4 in a five inning run rule victory. UConn punches their ticket to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001.  

Payton Kinney made her third straight start in the circle in the BIG EAST tournament for the Huskies, earning her 26^th start of the season. Kinney picked up her 15^th win of the season, going 5.0 innings, giving up two earned runs on six hits, adding a pair of strikeouts. Kinney was named the BIG EAST tournament Most Outstanding Player, as the veteran right hander pitched 16 of UConn’s 18 innings at the tournament. 

The UConn offense was the story in this one, as the Huskies set a new BIG EAST record for runs in a championship game, scoring 18 across the second and third innings.

UConn hung a 12 spot on the board in the second inning, sending 16 batters to the plate in the inning, giving the Huskies a commanding 12-0 lead early. The Huskies loaded the bases with only one out, kick starting the rally. Savannah Ring worked a seven-pitch walk, forcing Kaitlyn Breslin to score from third base, opening the scoring for the Huskies. 

Lexi Hastings followed Ring with a double to right field, scoring a pair of runs in Haley Coupal and Kaitlyn Kibling. UConn once again loaded the bases for the middle of the order to do damage. 

Kaiea Higa scored another pair of runs with a single to center field, scoring Ring and Hastings. The Huskies capitalized on a Creighton throwing error that scored two more runs in Grace Jenkins and Higa.

Later in the inning, Rosie Garcia scored on a wild pitch, making it 8-0. Haley Coupal continued her recent hot hitting at the plate, driving in two more runs with a single, scoring Cat Petteys and Breslin. 

Ring drove in her second RBI of the inning with a ground out to shortstop, scoring Coupal. 

Hastings capped off the Huskies big inning with an RBI infield single, her third ribbie of the inning, scoring Kibling from third base. 

UConn kept their foot on the gas, pushing across six more runs in the third inning, extending the Huskies lead to 18-0. UConn once again loaded the bases, setting the stage for the big inning. Kibling delivered a double to right field, scoring Garcia and Petteys. Ring followed with another double to right center, scoring Coupal and Kibling, marking a record 16 runs scored for the Huskies, the most ever in the BIG EAST tournament game. 

Later in the inning, the BIG EAST Player of the Year, Grace Jenkins got in on the hit parade, knocking in Ring with a single to center field. Higa drove in her third RBI of the game with a single to right field, scoring Jenkins. 

Creighton avoided the shutout, scoring three runs in the fourth inning and one in the fifth inning, but the deficit proved to be too large for the Bluejays as the Huskies run ruled Creighton for the second consecutive game at the BIG EAST tournament. 

News and Notes

• Payton Kinney was named the 2025 BIG EAST tournament Most Outstanding Player. Kinneybecomes the sixth player in program history to receive the coveted award. 
• Lexi Hastings, Grace Jenkins, Payton Kinney, and Cat Petteys were named to the All-Tournament team. 
• UConn set a new BIG EAST tournament record, scoring the most runs in a tournament game. All nine Husky hitters logged hits. 
• UConn scored their most runs in an inning, scoring 12 in the second.
• Savannah Ring led all Huskies with four RBI in the game, her third four ribbie game this season. Ring has seven multi-RBI games this season. 
• Haley Coupal recorded three straight multi-hit games at the BIG EAST tournament. Coupal finishes her tournament with five RBI, and seven runs scored, posting a .600 batting average.
• Lexi Hastings recorded her team leading 19^th multi-hit game this season. Hastings knocked in three RBI, giving her ten multi-RBI games this season. 
• Kaiea Higa recorded back to back multi-hit games, giving her 16 this season. Higa drove in three RBI, her 10^th multi-RBI game this season. 
• This is the most runs UConn has scored in a game this season without a home run.

Up Next

UConn will await to hear their name get called on Selection Sunday on May 11. The show is scheduled to begin at 7:00pm on ESPN2. 

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19-year-old Quarterback Austin Simmons Graduates From College Before Starting For Ole Miss

Before Austin Simmons takes over for 2025 first-round NFL draft pick Jaxson Dart as Ole Miss’ starting quarterback this fall, he will have already graduated from the university.

The 19-year-old graduated from high school with a 5.34 GPA at 16, allowing him to enroll at Ole Miss two years earlier than expected. Now, the former four-star quarterback in the 2023 class will have earned a college degree before starting his first game, before turning 20 years old.

“It’s a weird feeling,” Simmons said of the accomplishment. “Everyone’s older than you, and you’re looked upon, like, he’s just a baby on campus. I’m here, I’m young and I’m just gonna make the most of it.”

Not only is Simmons extremely smart and a talented quarterback, but he is a really good pitcher as well. While redshirting as a football player in 2023, the left-hander made 13 relief appearances in the spring of 2024, finishing with a 2-0 record and a 3.21 ERA – a season he should have been playing high school baseball as a junior.

“He’s a better baseball player than a football player,” his father said. “A lot of people have no idea. He could be (Shohei) Ohtani. If he didn’t play football, he would be Ohtani.”

NCAA Could Remove Ban on Pro Sports Betting

In a day and age where betting is discussed in every capacity of college and professional sports, it seems as though college athletes might be able to start betting on professional sports sooner rather than later. Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde reported on Friday that the NCAA is considering removing the ban and soon allowing college athletes to bet on pro sports.

Part of the reason for that: Sports betting is everywhere in sports, whether it’s arenas, stadiums, TV commercials, or something else. Not only is it due to that, but as it stands, the NCAA has far more important things to worry about than whether college athletes are betting on professional sports.

“At a macro level, the biggest risk to college sports is point shaving and prop bets and the integrity of its competitions being called into question,” Banker says. “It’s not whether a college athlete or coach bets on the Super Bowl or WNBA Finals. Is it risky to gamble on an individual level? Of course. Is pro sports gambling by a college athlete or coach the biggest threat to college athletics? It’s not.”

Prohibitions against gambling on college sports would remain in place, according to Forde.

Utah Quarterback Cam Rising Retires From Football

A lot has changed in college sports since 2018, but one thing has remained the same over the last seven years: Cam Rising has been a quarterback in college football.

That era ended last Wednesday, as the Utah quarterback announced he is retiring from football.

Bad Moon Out. pic.twitter.com/hfn5n5WtKB

— Cameron Rising (@crising7) May 7, 2025

Rising redshirted in his first collegiate season at Texas in 2018 before transferring to Utah. After sitting out for one season due to NCAA transfer rules back then, he suffered a hand injury in 2020, an ACL injury in 2023 and then a major hand injury in 2024. That latest injury, paired with re-injuring his knee in 2024, caused him to miss the 2025 season.

In Rising’s only two full seasons of college football throughout his seven-year career, he led Utah to back-to-back Pac-12 titles in 2021 and 2022 while earning all-conference honors in both seasons.

The 25-year-old will now be the offensive coordinator at Newbury Park High School in California, his alma mater, according to ESPN’s Eli Lederman.

ICYMI

Transfer Portal Recap: Ohio State Adds Several Impact Players, Loses Only Backups in 2024-25 Offseason Transfer Movement

We take a position-by-position look at who Ohio State added and lost in the transfer portal this offseason, as it added several impact players without losing any projected starters.

Ohio State Basketball Coach Jake Diebler Delivers Message to Buckeye Fans: “This Year, Our Focus is Taking a Big Jump”

Jake Diebler packed tons of information into a brief update video on Tuesday, from the transfer portal to his thoughts on last season to ways to improve the Schottenstein Center’s environment.

Gameday Atmosphere A Point of Emphasis for Ross Bjork Entering Second Year As Ohio State’s Athletic Director

Improving the environment at the Shoe and the Schott is a big point of emphasis for Ross Bjork entering his second year as Ohio State’s athletic director.

What’s Next

• 111 Days: Ohio State’s season opener vs. Texas
• 174 Days: Jim Knowles returns to Columbus for Penn State vs. Ohio State
• 202 Days: The Game

South Carolina Gamecocks running back Rahsul Faison has been waiting to hear from the NCAA if he’ll receive a waiver to play in 2025. Now, he’s looking for answers and has announced that he hired an NIL lawyer.

Head coach Shane Beamer met with reporters in Greenville on Thursday afternoon. There, he admitted that hiring lawyers was a decision Faison made and that it wasn’t prompted by the program.

“Yeah, that was nothing that we directed him to do,” Shane Beamer said. “That was nothing that we set up for him. I saw it on social media like y’all did. I said, ‘Okay, that’s cool.’ That was really Rahsul, and I think that is just kind of the next step.”

Rahsul Faison retained attorney Darren Heitner, who has worked with South Carolina’s Myles Stute to help him receive a hardship waiver to play for the men’s basketball team in 2025-26. This comes as Faison is looking to get a waiver for his JUCO season, similar to the one that Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia received.

After going to Marshall in 2019, Faison used a grayshirt. After that, he transferred to the JUCO ranks, and in 2021 and 2022, he played for Snow College, though he was only on the football team there for one season. He’d later transfer to Utah State and now South Carolina.

“Like I said the other night, I understand the NCAA has a lot on their plate,” Beamer said. “But there are a lot of things in the balance here, and it is something that we have been trying to get an answer on since January. I think Rahsul felt like it was the next thing to do to try and maybe fast forward this thing along.”

Last season, Rahsul Faison rushed for 1,109 yards on 5.6 yards per attempt with eight touchdowns at Utah State. He also caught 22 passes for 99 yards.

Shane Beamer calls out NCAA over Rahsul Faison waiver delay

The frustration is clearly growing for Shane Beamer, Rahsul Faison, and the rest of the South Carolina program. Spring practice has come and gone, and it’s still unclear what his status is for 2025. It’s not surprising that Beamer is getting frustrated.

“It’s getting frustrating just to be completely frank. I understand that the NCAA has a lot on their plate, but the fact that they’ve had everything they needed from us since January and we don’t have an answer is, frankly, disappointing. We’ve given them everything they needed. …We’ve been in contact with other schools that he was at to get stuff from them to give them what they needed,” Beamer said.

“Again, I know they have a lot on their plate, but the fact that we’re now in the middle of May and we still don’t have an answer and we just went through a portal window where we didn’t add a running back but we don’t have an answer on whether or not we’re gonna have three scholarship running backs on our team or four, five, whatever it is. That’s tough when you talk about planning for 2025.”

1st

O’Connor, K. singled up the middle, RBI (2-0 BB); Kennedy, D. scored.

0

1

2nd

Hussey, G. grounded out to ss, RBI (1-2 BKKF); Swain, C. advanced to third; Rinehart, J. scored.

1

1

2nd

Kelly, G. advanced to second on a wild pitch; Swain, C. scored on a wild pitch, unearned.

2

1

2nd

Bishop, D. singled up the middle, RBI (0-1 K); Madliak, B. advanced to third; Martin, M. scored.

2

2

2nd

Kennedy, D. walked, RBI (3-1 BBBKB); Inoue, S. advanced to second; Bishop, D. advanced to third; Madliak, B. scored.

2

3

4th

Kelly, G. singled to center field, RBI (2-0 BB); Hussey, G. advanced to second; Rinehart, J. scored.

3

3

4th

Kresser, B. singled through the left side, RBI (0-0); Kelly, G. advanced to second; Hussey, G. scored.

4

3

4th

West, K. homered to right center, 4 RBI (3-2 BBKBK); King, S. scored; Kresser, B. scored; Kelly, G. scored.

8

3

6th

Rinehart, J. doubled to right center, 2 RBI (0-0); White, S. scored; Sauve, L. scored.

10

3

MANHATTAN, Kan. (May 10, 2025) – The No. 12 West Virginia University baseball team bounced back from a tough loss in the series opener with a 10-3 victory over Kansas State, Saturday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium. The Mountaineers improve to 40-9 overall and 19-5 in the Big 12 while the Wildcats fall to 29-21 and 15-11 in conference play.
 
With their 40^th win of the season, the Mountaineers have tied a program record set in 1994 and matched in 2023. It is also the most regular season wins in school history. One more win for the Mountaineers or losses by TCU and Arizona State would clinch the Big 12 title for West Virginia as well.
 
Senior Jace Rinehart went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored while Kyle West hit a grand slam, his eighth home run of the season to tie Rinehart for the team lead.
 
On the mound, sophomore Chase Meyer got his first weekend start and went 4.1 innings while allowing three runs and striking out four. Junior Ben McDougal earned his first win of the season with 4.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit and striking out two.
 

Kansas State took an early lead with a run in the first before WVU responded with two runs in the second on a groundout and wild pitch. In the home half of the second, the Wildcats answered with two runs of their own to retake the lead.
 
In the fourth, the Mountaineers put up six runs, all with two outs. Freshman Gavin Kelly evened up the game with a single before senior Brodie Kresser put WVU on top with a single of his own. West then delivered the big blow, a grand slam of off KSU’s top reliever, to extend the advantage to five runs.
 
Rinehart padded the lead in the sixth with a two-run double to give him 50 RBI on the season.
 
It was plenty of cushion for McDougal as he retired the final 11 batters to come to the plate.
 
The Mountaineers will look to take the series and the conference title on Sunday with first pitch for game three set for 2 p.m. ET.
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
 

Most Georgia football fans would assume that UGA had to pay a pretty penny to land five-star quarterback Jared Curtis last week, but that wasn’t actually the case. Many reports circulated stating that Curtis will make less than $1 million as a freshman at Georgia, which is very low for a quarterback of his ability.

But this decision was made on purpose for a few reasons. The first and most obvous reason is because Curtis likely won’t be the starter or even play during his true freshman season in 2026. So why should he get paid a premium when he isn’t even going to be on the field?

For most other schools in the country, that idea still hasn’t prevented them from paying quarterbacks millions of dollars during their freshman seasons, but it clearly didn’t scare Curtis away from Georgia. And the reason it didn’t push him somewhere else is because of an interesting NIL clause that could go into place heading into the 2028 season.

Jared Cutis can negotiate a new NIL deal if he becomes the starter

According to Maddy Hudak with si.com, Curtis will make between $600k and $800k during his freshman season in 2026. From there he will receive a raise and make between $1.2 and $1.4 million in 2027. This raise coincides with the potential of him becoming the starter for Georgia for the first time, so it makes sense that he would get this increase.

Heading into the 2028 season however is where things will reportedly get interesting, because there is not a set amount he will make from Georgia duing his third year in Athens. Both Georgia and Curtis’s camp have agreed to renogotiate his NIL deal before this season based on how he has performed in college. If he is the starter and playing well then he will become one of the highest earning quarterbacks in college football. But if he hasn’t become the starter yet then his deal likely won’t increase much.

This is a very unique strategy because most players want to make as much money as possible no matter what their performance looks like, but that isn’t what Curtis wants to do. Curtis wants to be rewarded if he plays well, and Georgia and Kirby Smart are more than happy to work things out with him this way.

So in a day and age where players will jump ship and transfer to another school whenever adversity hits, this unique NIL clause seemingly should keep Curtis in Athens throughout his entire career.