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“You saved his life.”

Those were not the words Mike Pereira expected to hear as he strode out onto the playing field of the Rochester (New York) Redwings minor league ballpark during the summer of 2019. The man who once officiated an NFL postseason game and has spent the last decade-plus on national television as a rules analyst, he was unexpectedly nervous, worried about doinking the ceremonial first pitch he was about to throw in front of 10,000 fans.

But en route to the mound, a woman had tugged on his shirttail and pointed to the man walking up ahead of them, speaking as tears pooled in her eyes.

Pereira was stunned. “I saved his life?”

“You saved his life,” she repeated. Her name was about to become Lisa Pilgreen, engaged to be married to the man she was referring to, Jamaison Pilgreen. He was recently retired after 18 years of service in the United States Army, during which he did six tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, added to the action he saw in Bosnia before the ink was barely dry on his enlistment paperwork.

Pilgreen retired from the Army in May 2015. The next two years were hell. Civilian life felt so alien. He struggled with post-traumatic stress. He went through a series of jobs and an even longer list of failed job interviews. His efforts to self-medicate led to an overdose from a mix of pain meds, muscle relaxers and alcohol. Even after he met Lisa through a support group and fell in love, he still felt unmoored.

But on this day in Rochester, Jamaison Pilgreen looked like a man with purpose. He walked with his shoulders up and eyes bright. He was smiling. So was Lisa, as she gripped Mike Pereira’s hands.

“I used to not want to go to work because I was afraid of what I was going to come home to,” she explained. “And one day I came home, and he had a smile on his face. He said, ‘I think I found it.’ I asked, ‘You found what?’ And he said to me, ‘Battlefields to Ballfields. Officiating. I’m going to try this.'”

Battlefields to Ballfields, commonly referred to as B2B, is a foundation started by Pereira in 2016. At the end of every NFL season, he leaves California and drives up to Oregon. In 2015, that trip was preceded by a visit with some veterans in Los Angeles. Several of them were homeless and confessed to Pereira how difficult life had been since they’d hung up their uniforms. That conversation echoed in his mind all the way up the coast. By the time he’d reached Oregon, he had formulated an idea that would become B2B, with the ambitious goal of trying to solve two problems at once.

The first is to give back to men and women like Pilgreen and those men he’d met in LA, helping veterans reintegrate into their community and do it through a most unlikely home base: sports officiating.

“To be wanted again, to be accepted again, to be a part of something. That’s what a lot of these guys are looking for,” explains Michael Kennedy. He spends his weekdays as an Operations and Readiness Officer with the Naval Information Warfare Training Group in Virginia. His weekends are spent as an FCS back judge and as one of B2B’s regional directors. “When I leave the military in two years, I’m going to miss the comradery that I have with my unit, my division, my department. Being a grown adult, it’s hard to find that type of stuff.

“What Battlefields to Ballfields does is takes those that are hurting that really need to be able to be a part of something, to have that fellowship and find that fellowship and they give them an avenue to do that. That’s officiating, right?”

It is. To be a sports official is to be part of a team. It requires study, attention to detail and the ability to digest a lot of visual and sensory information in a fraction of a second. There is also a chain of command, a tradition of mentorship and a connection with others via a sense of understanding of the job that only those who don the uniform truly understand.

Sounds a lot like the military, doesn’t it?

“It’s just like the army. We’re a tight group,” says Hector Tarango, a B2B participant in Southern California who is moving up the ladder from youth football to high school games. “When you get your squad and your team, you’ve got brotherhood. I’ve got brothers right now. There are a lot of ways to save a man’s life. A man named David Knowles, he saved my life in Iraq. I named my son after him. Well, here, Battlefields to Ballfields saved my life. Mike Pereira saved my life. These are honorable men. Honorable men.”

TARANGO SERVED NEARLY a decade and a half, as a recruiter and in tours of Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. He suffered multiple injuries, a divorce and he lost touch with his oldest son, Joey. When he received a medical discharge in 2014, he couldn’t make himself leave the house. The furthest he would wander from the couch was into the backyard, where he would obsessively water his lawn because it gave some sense of having at least one aspect of his life that he could control. When he left the house, he rode nervously as a passenger when friends or family would drive, his PTS triggered by the sight of any trash on the side of the road, his brain alarmed at the possibility of improvised explosive devices that lined the roads of his overseas patrols.

A mutual friend — a former Marine and local football coach who had enrolled in Battlefields to Ballfields — gave Tarango’s number to Pereira. When the Fox Sports analyst called, Hector had no idea who he was.

“Mike P. goes, ‘I’ve got this program I’m doing for vets, to help them get back out in the street. I heard you needed help,'” recalls Tarango. “I said, ‘I don’t need no help. If you want to help me, help me see my son.'”

Pereira responded, “I can’t guarantee that, but I heard your son plays football. Maybe this can help you.”

Within days, Tarango was sitting in a B2B meeting filled with other veterans as well as local sports officials who were there to teach and to help. It was the first room in years that made Tarango feel even a tiny bit of belonging. Soon, he was chasing youth football players as a downfield officiating trainee, with Pereira in hot pursuit, coaching him up.

“Here’s the thing about these veterans, you only have to tell them something once,” Pereira says of Tarango, using him as a representative of nearly every former serviceman and woman he works with. “Officiating is about mechanics, positioning, where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there and focusing on a specific area of the field. That’s what they’ve been doing their entire adult lives in the military. If I say, ‘Hector, you have to stay back and keep the play in front of you’ I only have to explain that one time. Then they just do it.”

After that first afternoon with B2B, Tarango signed on. After a couple of seasons, he was working games on a weekly basis. That included sharing the field with his son, Joey, after five years apart.

“That was a good time. He would just nudge me on the field, and I was like, ‘All right, yes, my dad!’ It meant the world to me. I feel like I finally had that thing that I needed,” says Joey, now a college grad and in the Army himself. He says his father became visibly healed by officiating, as the PTS that dominated his life became slowly replaced by a sense of what his father calls “the mission” of officiating a game. “He’d be like, ‘Yeah man, you were holding him.’ I was like, ‘No, I wasn’t!’ We would argue back and forth, but it was funny.”

What B2B does for those who sign on is provide scholarships, covering the cost of equipment and training for anyone who dips the toe of their cleats into the officiating waters. It can be surprisingly steep, especially starting out in youth and high school sports, all of whom pay next to nothing, if anything at all.

THAT BRINGS US to the second problem Pereira is trying to help solve, an issue that is becoming increasingly evident to anyone who watches or attends sporting events, no matter where or at what level.

When Veterans Day arrives every fall, it does so right in the middle of that amazingly sweet spot on the sports calendar when football season is at full steam and is being joined by the start of basketball and hockey. Throw in soccer, volleyball, field hockey, even cross country and water polo, and from professional leagues all the way down through your local youth sports organizations, there is no busier time for athletics than this time.

However, the most alarming issue facing all of those leagues and teams is that there is an increasing lack of people to officiate them. Referees, judges, umpires, no matter what the sport or officiating position, the numbers of those willing to hang a whistle around their neck and enforce the rules of the game are dwindling.

The list of reasons for that growing drought of officiating talent is long, beginning with those unforeseen costs and the length of time it takes for anyone with eyes on reaching the big leagues. Take Pereira, who became a college official because his father was. But it took the junior Pereira nearly 15 years in college football before receiving a call from the NFL. Most college football officials spend years at the high school and JV level before getting a sniff of their first small college game.

But time and low pay are easy issues to overcome when compared to the rapidly deteriorating issue of sportsmanship. More and more would-be officials, regardless of the sport, are walking away after brief stints at entry levels because of the increasingly dangerous conditions being created by angry parents, coaches and even athletes.

The National Association of Sports Officials (NASO) conducts an annual survey among its members. In the latest of those studies, 57% of the 17,500 respondents said that sportsmanship has gotten worse, and 40% pointed to parents as the primary issue. A stunning 43% said they believe in the adage that most new officials quit within the first 1 to 3 years, and the No. 1 reason given by those who did walk away was the constant venom thrown at them, most frequently by parents.

The numbers around the nation do nothing to dispute that.

The North Carolina High School Athletic Association conducted its own survey this fall, revealing that more than half of the 7,400 NCHSAA officials surveyed had considered quitting over the last two years. In San Diego, where B2B has recently established a partnership, the number of youth football officials has dropped by nearly half over the last two seasons. As a result, those who are officiating are beginning to show their age. Of those 7,400 North Carolina officials, 51% are over 55.

The lack of personnel in the pipeline is currently causing Friday night issues, with high school games across the nation being moved to Thursday and Saturday to accommodate the shortage. But the effects are also being felt on Saturdays and Sundays, where inexperienced men and women in stripes are being thrust onto stages they aren’t yet prepared for.

Death threats have forced NFL officials to change hotel rooms in the middle of the night. An SEC official from last month’s Alabama-Tennessee game had his personal information posted on a message board to aid attackers. In the age of Twitter, it’s not difficult to find video of fans assaulting officials on a weekly basis.

But those who do officiate truly love it. And those who truly love it are working to find ways to recruit new officials.

“Where are these thousands and thousands and thousands of young men and women who play high school sports and maybe even start peewee, where did they go after their senior year?” Pereira asks. “Can we keep them from just getting out of sports and falling off the abyss somewhere? Get them involved even at a younger age than we’ve ever gotten people involved in officiating before. I mean, I challenge people to think of ways to create situations that may help to address this shortage.”

The NASO has launched a “Say Yes to Officiating” campaign to help organizations and leagues at all levels, but even that help needs help. Battlefields to Ballfields, slowly but surely, is doing what it can. While officiating numbers fall around the nation, B2B’s membership has grown from around 200 in 2019 to more than 700 this season. Pereira believes they can get to 1,000 within the next two years.

“Hey man, we’re used to being yelled at or being put into tough situations,” explains Pilgreen. “Those that have deployed, being in combat, a parent or a coach raising their voice saying things is like, ‘Whatever.’ You go through basic training, you’ve got Drill Sergeants yelling at you all the time, so it’s like, ‘Okay.’ We don’t take it personally and we don’t let it get to us because we’re so used to it.”

“There’s a lot of similarities,” Tarango says. “First of all, nobody likes you. Half the people there are going to leave mad at you. But yet everybody comes to you. There can’t be a game without a ref, right?” Tarango says, laughing. “I’m like a soldier. I have my assignment. My mission I have trained for. My white hat, the referee, if something does get out a hand, that white hat’s going to have your back. No different than a platoon sergeant. No different than a squad leader. Just no one’s shooting bullets at you here. You know what I mean?”

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Spring game previews: Georgia, Florida, Miami among teams hitting the field

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April 11, 2025

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Spring game previews: Georgia, Florida, Miami among teams hitting the field

Apr 11, 2025, 08:00 AM ET

Many college football programs are wrapping up spring practices this weekend, which traditionally has included an intrasquad game, giving fans and players a sneak peek at what is to come on the field in the fall with a game-day atmosphere.

This year, for a variety of reasons, many programs are skipping the scrimmage for a different kind of spring showcase, including skills contests, fanfests and meet-and-greets. Among the teams taking this route as they close their spring sessions this weekend are Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Purdue and defending national champion Ohio State.

But several schools will be hosting spring games, including Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Miami and Georgia Tech. Here’s a look at those teams and what to watch for this weekend.

All times Eastern.

Game time: Friday, 6 p.m.

2024 record: 9-4

Spring storyline: Just how good can this offense be? In his first year, Jeff Brohm made the most of veteran QB Jack Plummer. Last season, Tyler Shough developed into one of the most productive QBs in the country. Now Brohm turns to USC transfer Miller Moss, perhaps the most talented QB he has had at Louisville, and the Cards will surround Moss with a host of ubertalented skill players, including Caullin Lacy and Isaac Brown. Brohm’s offenses are always explosive, but this Cardinals squad has a chance to be one of the most terrifying units in America.

Position of intrigue: The secondary is littered with transfers — no shocker at Louisville — including the two corner positions, where Jabari Mack (Jacksonville State), Rodney Johnson (Southern) and Justin Agu (Louisiana) will be in the mix for playing time. There’s a big void in the secondary, after Louisville said goodbye to a host of veterans, including Quincy Riley. How this new unit jells will be crucial for a Louisville D that was far too susceptible to the big play in 2024.

Player to watch: Here’s a fun scenario: Isaac Brown was among the most prolific freshmen in the country last season, racking up 1,527 all-purpose yards. And yet, it’s another rising sophomore — Duke Watson — who might be the more explosive player. Watson got just 67 carries last season but averaged nearly 9 yards per rush and scored seven times. His role will grow alongside Brown in 2025, giving Louisville arguably the best one-two punch at tailback of any squad since last season’s Ohio State national champs. — David Hale

Game time: Saturday, noon (ACC Network)

2024 record: 5-7

Spring storyline: Virginia hit the transfer portal hard to boost its roster, signing 16 players in hopes of putting the Cavaliers in position to make a bowl game for the first time since 2021. While the program has made some strides since Tony Elliott was hired in 2022, he also knows the team must show significant progress this year. His players have already spoken confidently about putting Virginia in a spot where it can compete for championships. We will get our first glimpse at the possibility this spring.

Position of intrigue: Virginia lost quarterbacks Anthony Colandrea (portal) and Tony Muskett (final season) and went into the portal to find their replacements. The headliner is Chandler Morris, now at his fourth school after spending last season at North Texas. Virginia also signed Daniel Kaelin from Nebraska as the potential quarterback of the future with four years of eligibility remaining. Look for Morris to take the reins giving his experience.

Player to watch: Linebacker Fisher Camac, a transfer from UNLV, has the ability to make the types of plays that set the tone on defense. Last season, he had 15 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, 5 pass breakups, 3 QB hurries and a forced fumble. — Andrea Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 8-5

Spring storyline: Embattled Gators coach Billy Napier completely flipped the narrative on his future at Florida by guiding his team to four straight victories to finish with an 8-5 record in 2024. That winning streak included upsets of then-No. 22 LSU and then-No. 9 Ole Miss. Much of the optimism is because of quarterback DJ Lagway, who was 6-1 as the starter as a freshman, and a veteran offensive line. Lagway threw for 1,915 yards with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has been limited throughout spring practice because of shoulder and lower-body injuries and won’t play Saturday. Florida will play another brutal schedule in 2025 with road games at LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Ole Miss and a neutral-site contest against Georgia.

Position of intrigue: Finding Lagway dependable targets on the perimeter will be a focus this spring. Top receivers Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike departed for the NFL, and Eugene Wilson III is coming back from season-ending hip surgery. Receivers Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson and Naeshaun Montgomery were three of Florida’s highest-ranked signees, and J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA) was one of the top pass catchers in the portal.

Players to watch: Florida’s strength coach called linebacker Aaron Chiles an “alien” before his freshman season because of his exceptional work in the weight room. With Shemar James leaving for the NFL draft, Chiles and Myles Graham will have a chance to make an impact on defense this season. Graham had 30 tackles and one sack in 2024; Chiles had 23 tackles with one sack. — Mark Schlabach

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 11-3

Spring storyline: Much of Georgia’s attention this spring will be focused on its offense, which struggled to catch the ball and run it when it mattered in 2024. The Bulldogs went 11-3, won an SEC championship and reached the CFP last season. But Georgia’s offensive production slipped mightily — it scored 31.5 points per game (after averaging 40.1 in 2023) and ranked next to last in the SEC with 124.4 rushing yards. Georgia will be breaking in four new starting offensive linemen and a new quarterback. Newcomers will also be counted on to improve an inconsistent receiver corps.

Position of intrigue: Georgia’s offensive line was expected to be one of the best units in the FBS in 2024, but it struggled to create holes in the running game and protect the quarterback. Four starters are gone, including center Jared Wilson and All-America guard Tate Ratledge. Earnest Greene III and Monroe Freeling have a lot of experience at tackle, and Micah Morris has been a mainstay at guard. Drew Bobo and Daniel Calhoun are the favorites to take over at center and right guard, respectively. Freeling missed spring practice after undergoing shoulder surgery; Calhoun was sidelined for much of it because of a foot injury.

Player to watch: No position on the team was criticized more in 2024 than Georgia’s receivers. The Bulldogs led Power 4 conference teams in dropped passes, and top receivers Arian Smith and Dominic Lovett left for the NFL. Georgia brought in two high-profile transfers, Zachariah Branch (USC) and Noah Thomas (Texas A&M), and Talyn Taylor and C.J. Wiley are two highly regarded freshman receivers. Branch had 1,863 all-purpose yards during his two seasons with the Trojans, including two kicks returned for touchdowns in 2023. He caught 78 passes for 823 yards and three scores. — Schlabach

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m. (ACCNX)

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: Georgia Tech ended last season with a good bit of buzz, and the Yellow Jackets return one of the most productive QBs in the ACC in Haynes King. Will all of that add up to a breakthrough season? There’s a lot to like on this team, but the story of coach Brent Key’s first few years in Atlanta has been the Jackets’ ability to play their best in big games then stub their toes against teams they should beat. Key is a ferocious competitor, and this spring seems like it should be a turning point when he pushes Tech from surprising upstart to a real contender.

Position of intrigue: The wide receiver room will look a lot different this spring. Three of the five wideouts with at least 100 receiving yards last season are gone, including star Eric Singleton, who exited via the portal for Auburn. Malik Rutherford is back, and he’ll be joined by a pair of FIU transfers in Eric Rivers and Dean Patterson, who combined for 112 catches and 19 touchdowns last year, as well as freshman Jamari Bruce.

Player to watch: Key is a former offensive lineman, and he believes championship teams are built in the trenches. Enter Josh Petty, a five-star recruit and arguably the most talented O-lineman the Jackets have landed in decades (and their first five-star signee since Calvin Johnson). Petty will need to work his way into the starting five, which already features talented veterans in Joe Fusile and Keylan Rutledge, but that doesn’t mean all eyes won’t be on the talented freshman to see just how much bang Georgia Tech is getting for its buck. — Hale

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: Pitt got off to an unexpected 7-0 start last season, only to finish on an equally unexpected six-game losing streak. After winning 20 games between 2021 and 2022, Pitt has struggled to find the same winning consistency the past two seasons. The hope is that the return of quarterback Eli Holstein and all-everything back Desmond Reid, plus a healthier offensive line, in Year 2 under offensive coordinator Kade Bell will allow the Panthers to find the rhythm and consistency to win.

Position of intrigue: Pitt struggled on the offensive line last season for a variety of reasons, including injuries that hindered the overall cohesion of the group. The Panthers put an emphasis on this position group in the portal, particularly offensive tackle, signing transfers Jeff Persi (Michigan) and Kendall Stanley (Charlotte). Stanley played 706 offensive snaps, all at right tackle, this past season, while the 6-foot-8, 310-pound Persi brings an imposing presence — though he has spent the majority of his career as a backup.

Player to watch: Pitt does a terrific job developing defensive backs, and safety Cruce Brookins could be next in line. With All-ACC safety Donovan McMillon gone to the NFL, Brookins has drawn praise for his striking ability and ball skills (two interceptions in reserve duty last season, including one against West Virginia). — Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: There’s a reason the coaches voted Clark Lea SEC Coach of the Year last season. He led the Commodores to their best season in more than a decade, took them to their first bowl game since 2018 and beat No. 1 Alabama for the first time since 1984, all this coming off a 2-10 season in 2023. The challenge now is building off such a solid season, creating more depth on the roster and continuing to develop players, which has been Lea’s strength. Some of the best news is that most of the key players are back, and there should be good carryover with Lea calling defensive plays for the second straight year.

Position of intrigue: With Diego Pavia back at quarterback, he’ll also have his favorite receiving target back. Eli Stowers, an All-SEC selection at tight end a year ago and the Commodores’ top receiver, bypassed the NFL draft to return for another season in Nashville. Stowers will need some pass-catching help on the outside from receivers. It’s a big opportunity for Junior Sherrill to have a breakthrough season, while Trent Hudson reunites with Pavia after spending last season at Mississippi State. Hudson and Pavia played together at New Mexico State in 2023, and Hudson had 10 touchdowns.

Player to watch: Who else but Pavia, who sparked Vanderbilt’s revival last season and electrified the SEC with his fearless play at quarterback. He gets another shot at SEC defenses after passing for 2,293 yards and rushing for 801 yards last season. Pavia, who’s seemingly never out of a play, accounted for 28 touchdowns (20 passing and eight rushing). — Chris Low

Game time: Saturday, 2 p.m.

2024 record: 11-3

Spring storyline: The Vols have knocked down several barriers under Josh Heupel. They’ve beaten Alabama twice and Florida twice in the past three seasons and made their first playoff appearance a year ago. The defense was the backbone of Tennessee’s run to the playoff, and several key pieces from that unit are gone and need to be replaced. Keeping defensive coordinator Tim Banks was a priority for Heupel. One of the big challenges for the Vols in Year 5 under Heupel will be playing better on the road, particularly in night games in hostile environments.

Position of intrigue: The young talent in Tennessee’s secondary is promising, and keeping safety Boo Carter from transferring was important. Carter may also play some offense in 2025. But at cornerback, it could be dicey. Jermod McCoy had an All-SEC season in 2024 after transferring from Oregon State. He tore his ACL in January, though, and is working toward getting back in time for the start of the season. Reports surfaced that the Vols’ other starting cornerback, Rickey Gibson III, was planning to enter the transfer portal, but he has changed his mind. His return would help the Vols’ situation in the secondary.

Player to watch: Nico Iamaleava has been the most closely watched player at Tennessee since his first season in 2023 when he arrived with a reported $8 million NIL deal. Now in his third season on campus and second as starting quarterback, Iamaleava would seem poised to have a breakout year. He was solid a year ago in leading the Vols to the playoff. He needs to provide more firepower in the downfield passing game if they’re going to get back to the playoff in 2025. — Low

Game time: Saturday, 3 p.m.

2024 record: 10-3

Spring storyline: Fran Brown surprised and impressed in Year 1, leading Syracuse to its first 10-win season since 2018, including a regular-season finale victory over Miami that kept the Hurricanes out of the ACC title game. But this will be a very different team on offense this spring with Kyle McCord, LeQuint Allen and Oronde Gadsden all gone to the NFL draft. Indeed, the biggest questions this spring surround how the Orange are going to replace all that production.

Position of intrigue: Replacing McCord is at the top of the list. Syracuse signed transfer Rickie Collins from LSU and Brown said earlier this week he has emerged as the starter to begin the season. The Orange also return backup Michael Johnson Jr. and redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams, and signed two freshman quarterbacks in Luke Carney and Rich Belin. Though the room is missing the veteran presence McCord brought last season, offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon said he is pleased with the depth he has among his QBs.

Player to watch: Syracuse was not nearly as aggressive in the transfer portal as it was a year ago, but landing defensive lineman Chris Thomas Jr. from Marshall should help shore up a run defense that was inconsistent for most of last season. — Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 3 p.m.

2024 record: 6-7

Spring storyline: Last season was supposed to be a breakout year for Virginia Tech. Instead, the Hokies struggled to a 6-7 record, lost 24 players to the transfer portal and saw some of their best players move on to the NFL draft. Though the Hokies bring back veteran quarterback Kyron Drones, there will a lot of changes, not only from a personnel perspective but among its coaching staff, with new offensive (Philip Montgomery) and defensive coordinators (Sam Siefkes).

Position of intrigue: The Hokies have holes to fill across the board, given the roster turnover. But let’s stick with offense and look at the running back room, where leading rusher Bhayshul Tuten is off to the NFL and backup Malachi Thomas transferred. Virginia Tech signed three transfer backs: Terion Stewart (Bowling Green), Braydon Bennett (Coastal Carolina) and Marcellous Hawkins (Central Missouri State) to fill the void.

Player to watch: Wide receiver Donavon Greene, a Wake Forest transfer, brings much needed experience and a veteran presence to the young, unproven Virginia Tech receiver group. Greene has been limited by injuries over the past few seasons, so staying healthy is imperative. — Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

2024 record: 10-3

Spring storyline: Can the defense get turned around? Miami parted ways with Lance Guidry after the D let the Canes down in 2024, and new coordinator Corey Hetherman is taking over with sights set on a far more dominant unit. Getting star defensive lineman Rueben Bain healthy will be a big first step, but figuring out a game plan for a beleaguered secondary will be even more significant.

Position of intrigue: Did we mention the secondary? Yes, breakout freshman OJ Frederique Jr. returns, but most of the rest of the DB room gets a fresh start with transfers Ethan O’Connor (Washington State), Charles Brantley (Michigan State), Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State) and Xavier Lucas (Wisconsin) arriving with ample hype, alongside blue-chip freshman Bryce Fitzgerald, among others. Miami’s DBs were a mess down the stretch last season — in part due to talent, in part due to injuries — so this spring is about breaking in the new faces and developing some depth at key spots.

Player to watch: New quarterback Carson Beck, transferring in from Georgia, would be the natural choice, but he is rehabbing from an elbow injury and hasn’t thrown this spring. Instead, we’ll look to Bain, who as a true freshman in 2023 was a force of nature on Miami’s D-line, racking up 7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss and 3 forced fumbles. Injuries set him back from the outset in 2024, however, and his production regressed significantly. Bain had just 5.5 TFL last season and missed four games entirely. Bain appears healthy this spring, however, and if he can return to form this fall, he could be a key piece in revitalizing the Canes’ defense. — Hale

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ND boosts recruiting class with 4-star DE Dunham

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April 11, 2025

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ND boosts recruiting class with 4-star DE Dunham

  • Eli LedermanApr 10, 2025, 04:43 PM ET

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      Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.

Four-star edge rusher Rodney Dunham, ESPN’s No. 6 defensive end in the 2026 cycle, announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Thursday, landing with the Fighting Irish as the top-ranked prospect in coach Marcus Freeman’s incoming recruiting class.

A 6-foot-4, 220-pound recruit from Charlotte, North Carolina, Dunham is the No. 57 overall prospect in the 2026 ESPN 300. He picked Notre Dame over South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Duke following visits to all five schools in 2025. Dunham joins offensive tackle Tyler Merrill (No. 67 overall) and outside linebacker Thomas Davis Jr. (No. 146) as the Fighting Irish’s third top-150 commit and the program’s sixth ESPN pledge in the cycle.

Alongside two local programs (Duke and South Carolina) and a pair of nearby SEC powers (Georgia and Tennessee), Notre Dame stood as a regional outlier among Dunham’s finalists before surging in the late stages of his recruitment this spring.

Dunham told ESPN that his late March visit to see the Fighting Irish marked his first time on an airplane. That trip reinforced the school’s football tradition and academic prestige and strengthened Dunham’s connection with Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington. It also offered Dunham a valuable window into Freeman, the program’s fourth-year coach, through a chance encounter Dunham said ultimately helped seal his decision to commit.

“I was talking to one of the members of the staff there — someone who was serving food — and he was telling me how great of a leader [Freeman] is and how he presents himself in front of the players. That’s the type of guy you want to lead you growing up as a young adult and entering manhood. It’s not just all about football.”

Dunham projects as a high-upside, developmental prospect at the next level with speed off the line of scrimmage and standout pass-rush technique. He recorded 94 tackles (26 for loss) and 12 sacks across his sophomore and junior season at Myers Park High School in Charlotte.

An imposing pitcher with a fastball clearing 90 miles per hour, Dunham no longer plans to play baseball in college after initially considering a two-sport track earlier in his recruitment.

The defending national runner-up Fighting Irish closed the country’s 15th-ranked class in the 2025 cycle. If Dunham lands on campus in 2026, he’ll arrive to Notre Dame as the program’s highest-rated defensive signee since outside linebacker Jaylen Sneed, ESPN’s No. 48 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle.

Dunham’s pledge arrived less than a week after the Fighting Irish secured the commitment of four-star defensive end Ebenezer Ewetabe (No. 229 overall). With Davis — son of three-time NFL Pro Bowl linebacker Thomas Davis Sr. — also in the fold, Notre Dame has the early makings of a standout front-seven class in the 2026 cycle. Three-star cornerback Chaston Smith rounds out the program’s collection of four defenders committed so far in the class.

Dunham joins five-star Maryland pledge Zion Elee (No. 2 overall) and Texas A&M commit Jordan Carter (No. 59) among the earliest elite defensive ends to come off the board in 2026.

Five-star edge rusher JaReylan McCoy, a former LSU pledge, is set for a return to Florida this weekend, while fifth-ranked defensive end Nolan Wilson also remains on the Gators’ radar. Ohio State and Texas are two of the latest programs to host five-star reclass Richard Wesley, who will also take trips to Texas A&M and Tennessee over the next week. Five-star defensive end Jake Kreul visited Oklahoma on Thursday.

All told, seven of ESPN’s top 10 defensive ends in the 2026 class remain uncommitted this spring.

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Sports

Capitals celebrate Ovi’s record, wrap up top seed

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April 11, 2025

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Capitals celebrate Ovi's record, wrap up top seed

  • ESPN News Services

Apr 10, 2025, 11:04 PM ET

WASHINGTON — The Capitals wrapped up the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a 5-4 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes while celebrating new goals king Alex Ovechkin at Capital One Arena for the first time since he made history.

Ovechkin, who assisted on a goal in the win Thursday night, was treated to a pregame ceremony for scoring his 895th career goal to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record Sunday at the New York Islanders. The arena introduced Ovechkin before showing the crowd a video of the historic goal, and fans were able to cheer the Capitals legend for the first time at home.

Ovechkin and his family then were presented with a series of gifts, including an engraved gold stick commemorating breaking the goal record and a 6-foot sculptural painting of a puck with his image on it. The ceremony ended with a team photo before players from the Hurricanes lined up to shake Ovechkin’s hand one-by-one.

In the game that followed, Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the shootout winner after the Capitals rallied from a 2-0 deficit, then blew a 4-2 lead with Carolina’s Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis scoring in the third period to tie it. That came after Washington’s scoring spree in the second, with Dylan Strome, Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson all putting goals past Frederik Andersen.

Dubois also scored in regulation, while Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves and stayed in the game after a nasty collision seven minutes in on Carolina’s second goal.

The Hurricanes, who are locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division and a first-round matchup against New Jersey, managed to get to overtime but lost their fourth in a row. Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake also scored, and Andersen allowed four goals on 28 shots in regulation.

Brandon Duhaime and Jalen Chatfield dropped the gloves early to settle a score from the teams’ game last week. The Capitals were unhappy with Chatfield’s takedown of Connor McMichael at the end of their fight.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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