When it comes to athletes at the top of their respective sports, it’s hard to fathom anyone in North American sports comparing with the like of Michael Jordan or Tom Brady. So, when either of them dishes on their playing days, it’s hard not to fault us for lapping it up.

Recently, Brady appeared on Logan Paul’s podcast, where he discussed some of his former opponents, including who he feared the most when he looked over the line of scrimmage.

“Ray Lewis was at the top,” Brady said, according to Pro Football Talk. “Ndamukong Suh, I didn’t like getting hit by him. J.J. [Watt] wasn’t very fun to get hit by. Haloti Ngata, you remember him? He was about 340 pounds for the Ravens. He was massive.”

Brady, made sure to avoid Lewis at all costs too, as the legendary linebacker only sacked Brady once, in a 2009 playoff game. However, Brady was sacked 565 times in the regular season and 81 times in the postseason over his storied career.

The key to his ability to endure such a beating over two decades in the league? Brady says it was his offseason regimen.

“When you’re getting hit, there’s a discipline with your physical body that you need to take into account,” Brady said. “Because if you [expletive] around, you’re gonna get hurt. . .

“You don’t mess around with your training, because you will pay the price when you got Aaron Donald chasing you.”

Ironically, Aaron Schobel, who sacked Brady more than anyone else, did not make his list of most feared opponents.

Women’s

Men’s

COLUMBUS, Ohio – No. 1 Long Beach State made its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance, its eighth showing in the last nine seasons, and came away with a 3-0 [25-21, 25-16, 25-16] sweep of No. 8 seed Fort Valley State in the NCAA Quarterfinals on Thursday night at the Covelli Center.

The Beach (28-3) will go on to play the winner of the No. 4 seed Loyola Chicago-No. 5 seed Pepperdine on Saturday, May 10 at 2 p.m. (PT) / 5 p.m. (ET).

The Wildcats finish their season with a 16-10 overall record after having gone undefeated at 10-0 in SIAC action.

Freshman setter Moni Nikolov paced Long Beach State to a .367 hitting percentage as he dished out 31 assists distributing the ball evenly. Nikolov turned in an all-around performance as the 6-foot-10 rookie contributed eight kills, eight digs, three aces, and one block on the night. His three aces bring his season total to 97 as he closes in on the NCAA Single-Season aces record of 100 which was set in 2011 by Curtis Abraham.

Senior outside hitter Nato Dickinson turned in his third-straight double-figure kill performance as he led the Beach with 12 on his way to hitting .429 (12-3-21). He went on to collect five digs and two blocks on the night.

The tor-NATO strikes again!??? #GoBeach pic.twitter.com/JicqzYjutW

— Long Beach State Men’s VB (@LBSUMVB) May 8, 2025

Ben Braun, a junior middle blocker from Rancho Mirage, Calif., was efficient as he hit .800 knocking down nine kills on 10 swings, while committing just one error.

Defensively, freshman libero Kellen Larson anchored the defense that held Fort Valley State to a .129 hitting percentage. Larson’s collected seven digs, and picked up 14 perfect receptions, while adding a pair of assists.

The Beach opened the match scoring three-straight points to take a 3-0 lead. However, the Wildcats were quick to counter with three-consecutive points of their own to even the score at 4-all. After the fourth tie of the set, the Beach broke the game open with a 6-0 run, highlighted by a pair of kills from DiAeris McRaven, to open up a 22-16 advantage. After LBSU sent it to set point (24-17), the Wildcats tallied four-straight points to cut the Beach’s lead down to three (24-21). Following a Long Beach State timeout, Dickinson put the game away with a kill to win the first set, 25-21.

Long Beach State hit .450 in the second set as the Beach broke through early. A Skyler Varga kill kicked off a 4-0 run to give LBSU a lead (4-1) that it would not relinquish the remainder of the frame. Up 15-9 at the media timeout, the Beach used a block assist from Braun and Varga to extend their lead to eight (23-15) before Varga secured the set, 25-16, with a kill.

Holding a 2-0 set lead, Long Beach State hit .476 in the third set and never trailed. After two early ties, the Beach got a kill from Braun that kicked off a 3-0 run as LBSU led FVSU, 5-2. After falling behind the Beach, 18-12, after an Alex Kandev kill, Fort Valley called a timeout. The break did little to cool off Long Beach as they surged ahead and closed the set and match on a 5-0 run that saw back-to-back aces from Nikolov and a kill from Braun to win it, 25-16.

Fort Valley State was led by Isaiah Fedd’s 14 kills on a .357 attack percentage. At setter, OShane Farquharson dished out 15 assists, while libero Constantine Ononye recorded five digs.

 

DICKINSON, N.D. – Valley City State University track and field claims two conference titles and record five All-Conference performance at day one of the North Star Athletic Association Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
 
VCSU’s Karly Just started the day running the 10,000-meter in 40:04.61 claiming the conference title.
 
Viking freshman Jordan Mount later claimed a conference title of his own in the 400-meter running a 48.94.
 
The Vikings had five athlete earning All-Conference honors. NSAA All-Conference is earned by finishing in the top three of an individual event. Joining Just and Mount were Kendra Odegard who earned second in the javelin with a 38.94-meter throw. Freshman Tayshaun Robinson took second in the 110-meter hurdles after running a 14.93. Cameron Champagnie a sophomore took second in the triple jump with a 14.03-meter attempt.
 
In the top eight was Emma Muggli in the 100-meter hurdles finishing in fourth running a 15.74. Muggli also took fourth in the triple jump with a 10.47-meter attempt and sixth in the javelin with a 35.55-meter throw. Just ahead of Muggli was Sadie Hansen who took fifth in the javelin with a 35.91-meter throw.
 
Aaron Cutshall took sixth in the triple jump with a 12.72-meter attempt and senior Rigo Garcia took seventh in the 10,000-meter running a 38.29.93.
 
View Complete Results
 
VCSU Women – Top 8 Finishes:
100m Hurdles: 4 Emma Muggli, SO, 15.74
10000m: 1 Karly Just, JR, 40:04.61
Triple Jump: 4 Emma Muggli, SO, 10.47m
Javelin: 2 Kendra Odegard, SR, 38.94m
Javelin: 5 Sadie Hansen, SR, 35.91m
Javelin: 6 Emma Muggli, SO, 35.55m
 
VCSU Men – Top 8 Finishes:
110m Hurdles: 2 Tayshaun Robinson, FR, 14.93
400m: 1 Jordan Mount, FR, 48.94
10000m: 7 Rigo Garcia, SR, 38:29.93
Triple Jump: 2 Cameron Champagnie, SO, 14.03m
Triple Jump: 6 Aaron Cutshall, SO, 12.72m
 
UP NEXT: The Vikings will compete in day two of the NSAA Conference Championships on Friday, May 9 beginning at 10:00 a.m.
 

Friday, May 9 – Sunday, May 11  |  Klein Field at Sunken Diamond  |  Stanford, Calif.
	STANFORD CARDINAL (24-21, 9-18 ACC)	vs.	GRAND CANYON LOPES (28-20, 13-8 WAC)

As a heated WAC race takes its final turn, all Grand Canyon can do is scoreboard watch from afar as the Lopes travel to Stanford for a nonconference weekend. With GCU returning to Sunken Diamond for the first time since 2020, the series gets underway on Friday at 6 p.m.

The three-game series will be streamed on ESPN+.

 

3 THINGS TO KNOW

1. REMEMBERING: GCU last played at Stanford in 2020 as part of the 18-game reduced schedule before the season was halted. Current GCU assistant coach Channy Ortiz provided a memorable moment, hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning to tie the series opener at 2-2. GCU went on to win that game 5-3 in 18 innings.





2. WAC RACE: The Lopes will sit the weekend out from WAC play and watch a heated conference race from afar. The No. 1 and 4 teams in the conference standings will play a three-game series as Sacramento State visits Utah Valley. Abilene Christian is also in the race for the pennant and will host Tarleton State for three. GCU could emerge from the weekend in a three-way tie for first if Utah Valley wins two of three against Sacramento State and Abilene Christian loses at least one game to Tarleton State.





3. YORKE IN THE RECORDS: Junior first baseman Zach Yorke is chasing history as the regular season comes to a close. The new holder of the program’s Division I career home runs record after hitting his 30th and 31st homers on Tuesday, Yorke is also one RBI away from breaking a tie with Jacob Wilson for D-I career RBIs. Yorke also needs four hits to reach the 200-hit mark.
   
    

SCOUTING STANFORD

Stanford enters its final home series against Grand Canyon with a 24-21 record and a team searching for consistency following a challenging ACC debut campaign. After opening the season with a perfect 9-0 start—including sweeps of Cal State Fullerton and Washington—the Cardinal have gone 9-18 since March 21, struggling in conference play with an 8.28 ERA and allowing 31 home runs in those games.

Despite its 9-18 ACC record, Stanford remains formidable out of conference at 15-3 and boasts a deep, experienced roster that returned nearly all of its at bats and innings from 2024. Offensive production has been steady, averaging 6.40 runs per game with a .300 team batting average and 53 home runs through 45 games. The Cardinal will host senior day on Sunday.

 

WHAT’S NEXT?

GCU plays its nonconference finale at Arizona State before finishing the regular season at Tarleton State.
 

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For more GCU baseball news, notes and numbers, click here to view game notes.
 

East Texas A&M University track and field sprinter Ibrahim Fuseini has been named the Southland Conference Men’s Track Athlete of the Week on Wednesday.

Fuseini (Accra, Ghana) had an impressive performance last week in Lubbock at the Corky/Crofoot Shootout. He raced in two races and both times are tops in the Southland.

He started the day taking part in the 4×100 meter relay with a time of 38.98 seconds, which is a new school record, first in the Southland, and top 15 in the country. He also timed 10.03 seconds in the 100 meter dash, which is fastest in the SLC this year.

This is the second time this season that Fuseini has earned SLC Men’s Track Athlete of the Week award during the outdoor season. He is slated to compete for Ghana in the World Athletics Relay Championships this weekend in China. It is the ninth weekly honor for the Lions during the 2024-25 season.

The Lions ended their regular season in Lubbock last week and close out the 2024-25 season at the Southland Conference Championships next Thursday-Saturday in Houston.

2025 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE WOMEN’S TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Date	Track Athlete of the Week	Field Athlete of the Week
Jan. 15	Kiara Brown, East Texas A&M	Veronika Kramarenko, East Texas A&M
Jan. 22	Maygan Shaw, Northwestern State	Veronika Kramarenko, East Texas A&M
Feb. 5	Nayla Harris, UTRGV	Cyan Green, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Feb. 19	Eline Mast, HCU	Jaslyn Russell, McNeese
Feb. 26	Marvellous Aseemota, Southeastern	Bernesha Knowles, Northwestern State
March 26	Maygan Shaw, Northwestern State	Romi Griese, East Texas A&M
April 2	Nayla Harris, UTRGV	Cyan Green, A&M-Corpus Christi
April 9	Esther Nwanze, Southeastern	Samari Finney, Northwestern State
April 16	Maygan Shaw, Northwestern State	Isa Gonzalez-Velasquez, UIW
April 23	Nia Clatworthy, Lamar	Romi Griese, East Texas A&M
April 30	Maygan Shaw, Northwestern State	Hannah Hilding, UTRGV
May 7	Nayla Harris, UTRGV	Hannah Hilding, UTRGV

2025 SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE MEN’S TRACK & FIELD ATHLETES OF THE WEEK

Date	Track Athlete of the Week	Field Athlete of the Week
Jan. 15	Ondray Miles, McNeese	Chris Calloura, McNeese
Jan. 22	Vincent Graiani, Northwestern State	Terrell Webb, Southeastern
Feb. 5	Ibrahim Fuseini, East Texas A&M	Josh Gillis-Harry, HCU
Feb. 19	Ibrahim Fuseini, East Texas A&M	Marcus Francis, McNeese
Feb. 26	Euan Lagan, Southeastern	Donroy Brown, Southeastern
March 26	Marcus Francis, McNeese	Jamari Harts, UTRGV
April 2	Ibrahim Fuseini, East Texas A&M	Marcus Francis, McNeese
April 9	Elijah Rowe, Northwestern State	Marcus Francis, McNeese
April 16	Corin Burns, UTRGV	Dadrian Calhoun, HCU
April 23	Edouard Lecrivain, HCU	Dadrian Calhoun, HCU
April 30	Vincente Graiani, Northwestern State	Christopher Murphy, New Orleans
May 7	Ibrahim Fuseini, East Texas A&M	Emmanuel Ekuma, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Source and photo credit: lionathletics.com