The Michigan football team is hoping to land a big commitment soon as four-star linebacker Nick Abrams is set to announce his college decision this week. The Wolverines are one of his top schools, but they have a lot of tough competition. Abrams is one of the best LBs in the 2026 class, so Sherrone Moore and the rest of the Michigan staff are going to have to really show how the program is above the rest.

Nick Abrams is set to announce his decision next week as he commitment date is July 16th. Abrams has offers from a plethora of major programs around the country, but the main teams to watch are Michigan, Alabama, Georgia and Oregon.

In this new era of college football, NIL is a big factor in every player’s recruitment. Even if guys aren’t going pro, they have a chance to make a name for themselves in college. The Michigan football program is known for being a big NIL program, and that is something that Abrams likes to see.

“For me and my family, it is the true NIL; the name, image, likeness,” he said, according to an article from 247Sports. “It’s branding, exposure. Revenue sharing, that will come, but just looking for ways to enhance my brand. That is kind of how we look at it.”

Abrams is a four-star recruit, according to 247Sports. He is the #229 player in the 2026 recruiting class, the #14 LB and the #6 player in the state of Maryland. Abrams currently attends McDonogh School in Owings Mills, MD. Michigan is hoping to keep Abrams in Big Ten country.

The Michigan football team doesn’t have to wait very long to hear a commitment as Nick Abrams will make a decision in just a few days. Sherrone Moore and the Wolverines are hoping to continue the momentum that they have built on the recruiting trail.

When he was an NFL player, Deion Sanders was fined multiple times for uniform violations. Now that Sanders is the Colorado head coach, he’d like to see such fines brought to college football.

Sanders said at Big 12 media days that he dislikes how many players in college football wear their pants down only to their thighs, with nothing covering their knees.

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“Let’s do something about the uniforms,” Sanders said. “We’ve got guys in biker shorts. That makes me sick because I’m a football guy — I played this game at a high level and I have so much respect for this game. How can we allow guys out there in biker shorts, no knee pads, no nothing, literally pants up under their thighs, and that’s cool?”

College football officials could enforce the uniform rules by throwing flags on players who don’t wear knee pads, but Sanders said he’d like to see the rule enforced with fines.

“I think there should be a fine implemented for that stuff, and let’s have more respect for this tremendous game,” Sanders said.

Sanders has also said he wishes the NCAA had a salary cap, and that the NCAA would adopt NFL playing rules. As college football becomes more than ever a professional sport, Sanders wants to go all the way and make it as close to the NFL as it can possibly get.

Campbell Hall is set to reopen its doors to MSU students this August, following the much-needed renovations that are nearing completion. The $37 million renovations for the century-old building were approved by the MSU Board of Trustees in February 2024.

While there is not a specific date in place, Campbell Hall will open as part of MSU’s fall move-in process, said Associate Director of Communications Bethany Balks.

“That means that if we have some students with some programmatic early arrivals, Honors College does have an impact program, so some of those students may be residents of Campbell Hall,” Balks said. “Our international students move in on August 16th and 17th, and then most of our other students moving into Campbell Hall will be moving in on the 19th through the 21st.”

Campbell Hall, which was built in 1939, is the third building in West Circle Drive to go through key renovations, Balks said. With MSU focused on physical structure and safety updates while keeping the building’s historical aesthetic.

“Because we know our West Circle halls are very popular with students and alumni love to come back and look at them, there were some important upgrades we needed to make,” Balks said.

Among the necessary renovations were accessibility upgrades, as Campbell Hall did not have any elevators in the building. Now, it will have a full elevator on the south side of the hall, an elevator lift from the first floor to the basement level on the north side and an accessible entrance ramp on the southwest side of the building.

“We worked on other safety features including sprinkling and upgraded wiring,” Balks said. “We worked to have some energy efficiencies through all new windows in the hall.”

For bathroom upgrades, Balks said the university looked for best practices across other peer institutions and found that Penn State University and Ohio State University had started doing a different kind of setup.

Living wings will now have community sinks that any resident can use with the inclusion of private bathrooms with individual shower rooms and fully enclosed toilets. Instead of having gender-specific bathrooms, Balks said the bathroom upgrades offer some flexibility in the ways the hall can have different makeups of genders in the building and for residents while also being more supportive when students have guests in their spaces.

MSU, in collaboration with the Residence Education and Housing Services, the MSU Dairy Store and other partners, is working on a ribbon-cutting ceremony to take place on September 12.

“There were many donors that contributed towards the Honors College portion of the Campbell Hall renovations, but we’re also bringing some of our construction partners, IPF and other leaders around campus to really just celebrate this exciting renovation and reopening,” Balks said.

In addition to the ribbon cutting ceremony, Balks said there will be other activities planned for both community members and the Honors College, with MSU’s residence education team working with the college on other welcome events taking place in both Campbell Hall and West Circle.

Balks said the building’s renovation was a $37 million project, with around $3 million dollars of funding contributed through the Honors College and the remaining funds through MSU’s Division of Residential and Hospitality Services.

“It’s an important renovation, it’s an important project for us to continue to support student success,” Balks said. “We’re really excited about the spaces that we’re collectively building.”

Other inclusions stemming from the renovation include improved student spaces for gathering and community building, a seminar room and office spaces to serve the Honors College. The hall will also have more centralized services available to the West Circle portion of North Neighborhood in Campbell Hall including a mail center, package processing location and package center.

Lane Kiffin played the troll game once again and targeted Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze Sunday. The Ole Miss coach likely heard about Freeze’s controversy surrounding how much golf he plays amid critiques of Auburn’s recruiting classes.

So because of that, Kiffin was out on the boat Sunday, American flag and all. With that, he was fishing and perhaps signaling to Freeze that he couldn’t “haul in the big fish” in terms of recruits.

Whatever he was going for, Kiffin was being his typical self. You can see the video that Kiffin tagged Freeze in below.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A collection of notes, insights, ruminations and did-you-knows gathered throughout the week that was for the Columbus Blue Jackets:

Item No. 1: Net questions

By now, most of the NHL is in offseason mode. Most executives and veteran players are settled in their offseason, up-north cabins for the next month or so. But some general managers are still working the phones, and that includes Blue Jackets GM Don Waddell.

Waddell is looking for a goaltender. He may be looking for two. If you think the Blue Jackets’ goaltending depth chart is shaky at the top — Jet Greaves and Elvis Merzlikins, in some order, are set to be the one-two punch — try looking just below the surface.

“It’s not becoming clearer yet,” Waddell told The Athletic this week. “But I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire.”

The Blue Jackets are looking for a No. 3, meaning a goaltender who has AHL experience but also doesn’t look out of place in the NHL. In other words, they’re looking for somebody who can play the role that Greaves played the last two seasons.

But, aside from his mostly stellar play, a big benefit to having Greaves on the roster was that he could go up and down from Columbus to Cleveland — which he did many times — without needing to be exposed to the rest of the league on waivers.

Waddell’s first attempt this offseason was to trade for a goaltender who is talented enough to have had AHL success, but still young enough not to require waivers. Having a goaltender like that allows teams to know who their top AHL goaltender is and who they’ll turn to in the event of injuries.

The problem?

“They’re very valuable guys,” Waddell said. “I’ve talked to all of the teams who have those guys, and nobody wants to give those guys up. You can understand why.”

Don Waddell is on the hunt for a No. 3 goalie. (Jason Mowry / Getty Images)

If something doesn’t break, Waddell said he is fully prepared to wait out the waiver wire during training camp. A rough count, using PuckPedia, reveals that up to 30 goaltenders (of varying ability) will likely hit the waiver wire at some point in late September or early October.

Another problem: If the Blue Jackets, who would be 13th in the waivers pecking order through the end of October, claim a player on waivers, they’d have to keep them on the NHL roster, or expose them to waivers again in order to clear them through to AHL Cleveland.

“We might be forced to carry three goalies, which I’m not against,” Waddell said. “It’s not ideal, but I’m not against it if that’s the best way to get our third goalie.”

However, it wouldn’t help AHL Cleveland to have the organization’s three best goaltenders playing in Columbus, which is how yet another waiver claim could come into play. The Blue Jackets do not want to leave their top affiliate high and dry, after all.

Among the more recognizable names expected to hit the waiver wire this fall are, listed alphabetically: Laurent Brossoit (Chicago), Pheonix Copley (Los Angeles), Ivan Fedotov (Philadelphia), Marcus Hogberg (New York Islanders), Ville Husso (Anaheim), Matt Murray (Seattle), Cal Petersen (Minnesota) and Cayden Primeau (Carolina).

For now, the Blue Jackets have Greaves and Merzlikins at the top. They have Zach Sawchenko set to play in Cleveland, and while he’s had intermittent AHL success, he’s viewed as an organizational No. 4 (AHL backup) at this point in his career.

Nolan Lalonde, who signed an entry-level deal as an undrafted free agent on Oct. 3, 2022, has aged out of major junior. He’s turning pro, but with an .876 save percentage in 167 OHL games, he’ll likely start with an ECHL club this season.

The Blue Jackets have drafted a goaltender in each of the last four drafts, so help may be on the way as soon as next season.

2026-27

Evan Gardner — The 19-year-old, selected with a second-round pick (No. 60) in the 2024 draft, is headed back to the Saskatoon Blades of the Western Hockey League, but he’ll be able to turn pro in 2026-27, or whenever this coming season ends for the Blades. He got a one-start taste of the AHL late last season.

Sergei Ivanov — He has played on some bad teams in the KHL, but Ivanov has shone, with a cumulative .921 save percentage in 79 games across four seasons and four different clubs. The 21-year-old, selected in the fifth round (No. 138) in 2022, is expected to play this season with SKA St. Petersburg, a very competitive club. His contract with Russia expires at the end of May, and the Blue Jackets are hopeful he’ll come to North America next season.

2027-28 or 2028-29

Melvin Strahl — After making the leap from Sweden to the USHL last season, Strahl is on the move again. He’ll attend Michigan State beginning this fall — he will be a teammate of Jackets top prospect Cayden Lindstrom — and could be there for at least a couple of seasons. The 20-year-old, drafted in the fifth round (No. 156) in 2023, played well in his lone season with USHL Youngstown.

2030-31

Pyotr Andreyanov — Less than an hour after the Blue Jackets spent a first-round pick (No. 20) on Andreyanov, Waddell acknowledged he’d likely spend the next four or five years in Russia. In other words, the announcement this week that he’d signed a five-year contract was not a surprise. Andreyanov is set to be the starter for his KHL club (CSKA), and the hope is he’ll be NHL-ready when his contract expires.

No surprise, but #CBJ first-round draft pick — Pyotr Andreyanov, selected No. 20 overall last month — has signed a new five-year agreement with CSKA of the KHL, keeping him under contract through 2029-30. pic.twitter.com/w4SjJvb1Fq

— Aaron Portzline (@Aportzline) July 10, 2025

Item No. 2: Nice office

Back in April, at the end of the Blue Jackets’ season, coach Dean Evason let it be known he wasn’t planning to meet with every player on their way out the door.

There would be meetings with players who weren’t likely to return in 2025-26, but he didn’t want to cram a season’s worth of events and developments into a five-minute meeting. The lengthier chats with veteran players and significant returnees would be handled in due time during the offseason.

But why meet in the bowels of Nationwide Arena when you can play Double Eagle Club, the exclusive golf course owned by the McConnell family, the majority owners of the Blue Jackets? Evason has spent many days this offseason on the course, often with a player.

“When I played with (Erik) Gudbranson, we were walking down the fairway, and he said, ‘Dean, I’ve played 800 or so hockey games (in the NHL) and I’ve never played golf with my coach.’

“Honestly, that makes no sense to me. You could go for a coffee or go for lunch, but why wouldn’t you want to be in this setting for four or five hours and just talk? And as we’re going down the fairway, I was able to have little talks with him: ‘What happened in that situation?’ or ‘What about this guy?’

“It’s a very open opportunity for the player to feel comfortable talking. All we talk about as coaches now is building relationships with players. To me, it’s perfect. And you get to know them on a competitive level, too. They’re competing their ass off to beat you. And I want that. I love that.”

Two more tidbits that relate to Evason and Double Eagle …

Evason said he had “no idea” that a membership to Double Eagle was part of the package when he took the Blue Jackets job last summer.

“We had finished the interview process, I signed my contract and (Waddell) said, ‘Oh, by the way, we both have a membership at Double Eagle.’ That sounded good, sure, but I really had no idea what that fully meant.

“After I saw the place, I joked to Don that if he would have led with that in our negotiations, it would probably have gone a lot faster. I pinch myself every time I drive out there, just in realizing that I have a chance to be a member and play at this course because of what I do in the hockey world.”

Evason must be a pretty good golfer. How’d he play the day he and Gudbranson hooked up?

“I played like s—, but I actually scored OK,” he said. “I ended up shooting 77, but I didn’t play very well.”

Item No. 3: Snacks

• The NHL is tentatively expected to release the 2025-26 regular-season schedule on Wednesday. This will be the last season of an 82-game slate. As part of the new collective bargaining agreement, the schedule will include 84 regular-season games beginning in 2026-27.

• So far, Waddell and the Blue Jackets have not started talking contract extensions, he said. That’s on the list beginning later this month. Many eyes will be watching center Adam Fantilli, who is entering the final year of his entry-level contract with restricted free-agent status looming next summer. Cole Sillinger signed a two-year contract in 2024, so he’s set for RFA status next summer, too. And there’s one veteran to consider in this conversation: Captain Boone Jenner is entering the final year of his contract, and Waddell and the Blue Jackets would like him to spend his entire career in Columbus.

GOAL NO. 30 FOR ADAM FANTILLI!

And this one is a big one! pic.twitter.com/22slFT7CWV

— NHL (@NHL) April 16, 2025

• There have been reports that Andreyanov’s just-signed KHL contract has an “out” clause for the player after four seasons, but his agent, Dan Milstein, shot down that idea. “It’s a five-year contract,” Milstein said. “KHL contracts have no ‘out’ clause.”

• If the timeline for Andreyanov to arrive in the NHL seems unnecessarily long, well, you’re not wrong. Some of the NHL’s Russian goalies spent two years after their draft years playing in the KHL before making the leap, including Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy, Carolina’s Pyotr Kochetkov and San Jose’s Yaroslav Askarov. Others took at least as long as Andreyanov likely will. The New York Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin was drafted in 2014 and spent five additional seasons in the KHL before splitting the 2019-20 season between the NHL and AHL. The New York Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin was drafted in 2014 and spent the following six seasons in the KHL before arriving in Long Island in 2020. And what team did Sorokin play for? CSKA, same as Andreyanov.

• Example No. 2,988 that it’s a small world, especially in hockey: Andreyanov has spent the past two seasons playing for CSKA’s junior team, but he’ll be on the top club beginning this season. That will make him a teammate of former NHLer Cole Cassels, who is also a former Ohio AAA Blue Jackets player and the son of former Blue Jackets center Andrew Cassels. Andreyanov will have two other Blue Jackets draft picks around him, too, in towering forward Kirill Dolzhenkov (fourth round, No. 109, in 2002) and defenseman Nikolai Makarov (fifth round, No. 132, in 2021). Also in the room is long-ago Blue Jackets draft pick Vitaly Abramov (third round, No. 65, in 2016), who was traded to Ottawa at the 2019 trade deadline (in the Matt Duchene deal) and hasn’t played in the NHL since 2020-21. Another CSKA player from this past season, defenseman Christian Jaros, signed a two-way deal with Columbus this summer.

• Forward Luca Del Bel Belluz has a shot to make the Blue Jackets out of training camp, but it won’t surprise anybody if he starts this coming season with AHL Cleveland. Forward Luca Pinelli, after a brief taste late last season, will be a Cleveland lineup regular. Defenseman Luca Marrelli, after four years of major junior, is ready for his pro debut this fall. That’s three Lucases in one lineup. Cleveland coach Trent Vogelhuber got (somewhat) used to keeping them straight when Pinelli joined Cleveland late last season. “(Del Bel Belluz) is either Del Bel or Beller,” Vogelhuber explained. “(Pinelli) is Pins. And I don’t know what Marrelli goes by yet, so TBD on that one.”

• The Blue Jackets have two remaining restricted free agents who need contracts for next season: forward Mikael Pyyhtiä and defenseman Daemon Hunt. Waddell said talks continue with both.

• The NHL’s new CBA includes changes to the rules regarding emergency goaltenders, requiring clubs to employ their own amateur goaltender rather than have an unaffiliated amateur at the rink who would go in for either club. There are still some rules to settle on, Waddell said, but the likely candidate to fill this role for the Blue Jackets is Reid Robertson, who played at Manhattanville College, a Division III school in Harrison, N.Y. He’s worked as a hockey operations assistant the last few seasons and has stepped in a few times each season as a practice goalie.

• This week’s Blue Jackets trivia question: With Andreyanov contractually bound to Russia for five years, the soonest he will make his NHL debut is the fall of 2030. And that got us thinking: Which player has waited the longest between the day he was drafted and the day he made his NHL debut? (This is a tough one, so pat yourself on the back if you get any of the top five correct.)

What jersey number will Sean Kuraly wear in Boston? (Tim Fuller /Imagn Images)

• When former Blue Jackets center Sean Kuraly left Columbus to sign a free-agent contract with Boston, he walked into a room with many familiar faces. Kuraly, whose career started in Boston, was gone for four years, but there are still some Bruins around from that era. And there’s Andrew Peeke, a former Blue Jackets defenseman who spent three years as Kuraly’s teammate in Columbus. That friendship may be tested, though. Peeke has worn No. 52 since he was traded to the Bruins by the Jackets on March 8, 2024. Kuraly wore No. 52 during his four-plus-year run with the Bruins. He can’t go back to No. 7, which he wore in Columbus, because that’s been retired in Boston (Phil Esposito); one of 12 sweaters taken out of circulation. So either Peeke is going to have a strong net-front presence in protecting his kit, or his wallet will get fatter. Stay tuned.

• The Athletic published a story on Friday that detailed the many Blue Jackets prospects who will be playing college hockey this season. None of them are attending Ohio State, but that doesn’t mean the Buckeyes aren’t welcoming their own players from the Canadian major-junior ranks. They are: forwards Niall Crocker (Prince Alberta, WHL) and Jake Karabela (Guelph, Ontario Hockey League), defenseman Sam McGinley (Swift Current, WHL) and goaltender Sam Hillebrandt (Barrie, OHL). Another player, defenseman Maddox Labre, will play for Victoriaville of the Quebec Maritimes Junior Hockey League this coming season, with plans to join OSU for the 2026-27 season.

• Former Ohio State and Blue Jackets player Zac Dalpe announced his retirement last week after a 15-year pro career that included NHL stops with Carolina, Vancouver, Buffalo, Minnesota, Columbus and Florida. He played 574 of his 742 pro games in the AHL and spent parts of five seasons in the Columbus organization. Dalpe told The Athletic he’s hoping to stay in the game, perhaps by joining an NHL club’s player development department.

• Trivia answer: The Blue Jackets drafted forward Andrew Murray in the eighth round (No. 242) of the 2011 draft, and he made his NHL debut on Dec. 27, 2007, a span of 2,377 days — the longest span between draft and debut. The next four on the list are T.J. Tynan (2,082), Grant Clitsome (2,075), Lukas Sedlak (1,945) and Merzlikins (1,925).

(Top photo of Jet Greaves: Eric Hartline / Imagn Images)

North Augusta, SC— On Thursday, our focus was Adidas (Rock Hill), with some NIKE EYBL as well. Friday was all Adidas to put a bow on Rock Hill, and Saturday was Under Armour. 

On Saturday, we made the trip over to Georgia to spend all day at Under Armour. A few players that we had our eyes on included Rashaun Porter (2026, Illinois Wolves), Zavier Zens (2026, Wisconsin PGC), and of course, commit LaTrevion Fenderson.

And today, I am back at EYBL for the morning session, to watch the loaded Team Herro group in action ahead of a huge week at Peach Jam. 

Follow along all week at Peach Jam and in the comments below….

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