Kiffin keeps padding via portal, adds QB Sanders
Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin scored big again in the transfer portal Thursday with former Oklahoma State All-Big 12 quarterback Spencer Sanders telling ESPN that he’d play for the Rebels next season.
“I fit in very well there with what they do on offense, their play-action game, the way they take deep shots down the field, Coach Kiffin’s mindset and their balance with a great running back like Quinshon Judkins,” Sanders said. “It’s just a very well-rounded scheme.”
Sanders is the second heralded quarterback in a week to join Ole Miss. Walker Howard, a former five-star recruit, announced Wednesday that he was transferring from LSU to Ole Miss. Jaxson Dart, who transferred last season to Ole Miss from USC, is the Rebels’ returning starter at quarterback after throwing for 2,974 yards, 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 2022.
“There’s always going to be somebody you’re competing against, whether it’s at this level or the next,” said Sanders, a four-year starter who accounted for 85 career touchdowns at Oklahoma State. “It just helps all of us — the competition — and I’m going to be the oldest one and will do the best I can to help those guys, even after I leave.”
Ole Miss lost backup quarterback Luke Altmyer to Illinois, so adding to the quarterback room this offseason was a crucial need for Kiffin. Howard has four years of eligibility remaining, so he sets up the Rebels for the future along with Dart, who still has two years of eligibility.
The staff did not add a high school quarterback in the 2022 and 2023 class, so Kiffin is relying on the transfer market to help build his quarterback room and now has a few options.
Sanders was one of the most coveted quarterbacks available in the portal. Other schools to show serious interest included Auburn, UCLA, Baylor, BYU, Kentucky and Virginia Tech, he said. He also emphasized that there was no ill will toward Oklahoma State.
“I’m excited to take my shot in a league [SEC] that’s in a different category, and I’m ready to see what that’s all about,” Sanders said. “I’ve had three different offensive coordinators, so it’s not like I’m opposed to playing under new people or new schemes. It’s no disrespect to Oklahoma State, either. They raised me to be the quarterback I am right now, and I’m thankful for that. It was just time to move on and try something new.”
In the new world of the transfer portal, being able to keep great players is just as important as getting them. Judkins, who led the SEC with 1,565 rushing yards last season as a freshman, could have easily tested the waters in the portal, but stayed put.
“You want to play with great players,” Sanders said. “It’s pretty obvious they’ve been able to build their roster and keep their most talented guys.”
Sanders, who was 31-12 as a starter at Oklahoma State, said he separated the AC joint in his throwing shoulder a month into the 2022 season and that he was never completely healthy after the injury. He said he re-injured his shoulder against Kansas State and missed three of Oklahoma State’s final five games. The Cowboys went 1-4 during that stretch.
“It was definitely the most painful season I’ve gone through,” Sanders said. “There were times I thought it was healing and then I’d get hurt and it would be back to square one again. I did the best I could to play through the pain.”
Sanders’ best season came in 2021 when he was named first-team All-Big 12 and led the conference with 3,507 total yards (2,839 passing and 668 rushing). His multipurpose skills particularly appealed to Kiffin, who uses his quarterback frequently in the running game. Sanders has 18 career rushing touchdowns, but he has also thrown 40 career interceptions.
Having seen other versatile quarterbacks move on to different places and have success (USC’s Caleb Williams, Oregon’s Bo Nix and LSU’s Jayden Daniels to name a few), Sanders said he’s excited about the possibilities in Kiffin’s up-tempo, high-octane scheme.
“I’ve been looking at their playbook, and the more I look at it, the more I like the leeway they give their athletes to go make plays,” Sanders said.
This is the second straight year that Kiffin has dipped heavily into the transfer portal. This class, in addition to Sanders and Howard, also includes Washington offensive lineman Victor Curne, Memphis tight end Caden Prieskorn, Texas A&M receiver Chris Marshall, Louisiana Tech receiver Tre Harris and UAB offensive lineman Quincy McGee.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
MILWAUKEE — The Brewers‘ starting rotation could have a new look next season with right-handers Frankie Montas and Colin Rea heading into free agency.
The Brewers announced Monday that Montas had declined his part of a $20 million mutual option for 2025. The Brewers turned down the $5.5 million club option on Rea’s contract.
Montas receives a $2 million buyout and Rea gets a $1 million buyout.
In other moves Monday, right-hander Kevin Herget was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets, and left-hander Rob Zastryzny was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs. First baseman Jake Bauers and right-hander Bryse Wilson cleared waivers and were sent outright to Triple-A Nashville.
Montas, 31, had a combined 7-11 record with a 4.84 ERA and 148 strikeouts over 150⅔ innings in 30 starts for the Cincinnati Reds and Brewers this season. He was 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, who acquired him just before the trade deadline.
Rea, 34, was 12-6 with a 4.28 ERA this season in 32 appearances, including 27 starts. He struck out 135 in 167⅔ innings. Rea had an 8.31 ERA in September and was left off the Brewers’ NL Wild Card Series roster.
Herget, 33, had no record with one save and a 1.59 ERA in seven appearances with Milwaukee this year. He was 5-1 with four saves and a 2.27 ERA in 38 relief outings with Triple-A Nashville.
Zastryzny, 32, was 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances with Milwaukee. He pitched in 30 games with Nashville and went 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA.
The 29-year-old Bauers batted .199 with a .301 on-base percentage, 12 homers and 43 RBIs in 116 games this season. He also hit a seventh-inning homer that broke a scoreless tie in the decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card Series with the Mets, who rallied in the ninth to win 4-2.
Wilson, who turns 27 on Dec. 20, went 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 34 appearances, including nine starts.
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