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MOBILE, Ala. — Former Army star Andre Carter II enters the NFL combine this week as a unicorn draft prospect. He’s poised to become the first Army player drafted higher than the seventh round in more than a half-century.

Carter is a 6-foot-6, 255-pound rush end who led the nation in sacks per game in 2021. He is nearly certain to be the highest-drafted Army player since Glenn Davis, a Heisman Trophy winner known as Mr. Outside, went No. 2 overall in 1947.

Carter’s draft path could end up being tracked all the way to Capitol Hill, as the attention his professional career yields may become the focal point of a Congressional debate later this year. In December, Congress passed a law that’s going to eventually eliminate the opportunity for military academy graduates like Carter to defer service requirements and pursue professional sports.

After the rule passed, Carter and others attempting to go pro both this year and next got legacied into the old rule, enacted in 2019, that allows deferment. That leaves officials at Army, Navy and Air Force worried that athletes like Carter with high-end potential will not attend the academies or will transfer out early in their careers.

“Why do we want to repel people who want to serve?” Air Force coach Troy Calhoun told ESPN. “They want an opportunity in that short, short window that’s available to make the most of their gifts and talents. Well, let’s be forward thinking here. If not, then we don’t attract the best, because we’re putting up roadblocks.”

For the road to be clear, it will likely take an act of Congress. Representative Adam Smith, a Democrat from the state of Washington, is the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee. He told ESPN he hasn’t decided whether he’ll attempt to bring forward a proposed law to try to change the rule back to the 2019 version.

Smith said it’s not the obligation of Congress to help the service academies in recruiting so they can win games on the field. But he was compelled by the argument that the rare players who do make it professionally from the academies offer priceless free advertising. (He credits both Ryan McCarthy, the former US Secretary of the Army, and General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for stressing this point to him.)

“The pertinent argument is … this actually helps the service academy mission,” Smith told ESPN. “It’s not to win football games. It’s to recruit, train and retain the best America has to offer. You can argue, you get an Andre Carter, David Robinson or Napoleon McCallum, a top-flight athlete brings attention to the service academy and it’s easier to recruit for the academies and enables the military academy to fulfill its mission.”

The attention for Carter is growing quickly. His story has created some buzz, and while there some ambiguity of how high he’ll go, he should be chosen somewhere in the draft’s first two days, which encompasses the first three rounds.

Regardless, after each Senior Bowl practice, a cocoon of media formed around Carter, who gladly told the story of early wake-up calls, rigorous academics and responsibilities of being a cadet.

“Definitely, the USMA has just provided me with so much,” Carter told ESPN. “Just the way I want to live my life. And I’ve learned so much and I’ve met so many great people. It’s something I’m going to take with me the rest of my life. I’m just truly grateful and appreciative.”

Carter was just the second Army player to ever play in the Senior Bowl, following the Eagles’ Brett Toth in 2018. But the chance to go through the draft process this year was in peril, after the law was tucked into Section 553 of the National Defense Authorization Act. It says that pursuit of a professional sport immediately after graduation would be viewed as a “breach of service obligation.”

An outcry over Carter’s future led to the tweak nearly a week later, essentially legacying academy upperclassmen. As his story bubbled to the service, it illuminated how important both the publicity from his rise as a draft prospect and the ability to pitch athletes on having pro sports as an option is for the academies.

“It’s a significant difference in recruiting in the fact that schools couldn’t immediately use it against us,” said Jeff Monken, Army’s coach since 2014. “A lot of kids have aspirations to play in the NFL and don’t want to wait [after two years of service], and coaches from other schools tell them they will. It’s an eliminator for us, as sometimes we can’t even get in the conversation.”

Army athletic director Mike Buddie told ESPN that, in reality, few players will really use the deferment. He estimated there would be a handful of players every decade from Army and perhaps a dozen per decade overall from the three academies combined who are good enough to reach NFL.

“For us, it’s all about opportunity,” Buddie said. “Obviously, we’re not getting many commits from four- and five-star kids. But if a young person comes to the academy and shows a proclivity in medicine, we reward them and send them to medical school. If they earn a Rhodes scholarship, we send them to Oxford. To me, this is an extension of that.”

McCarthy, the former Secretary of the U.S. Army, was part of the process for the Department of Defense passing the guidance in 2019 allowing the potential deferment for academy athletes. McCarthy went so far as to reach out to NFL general managers interested in prospects from Army such as Toth (Eagles), Jon Rhattigan (Seahawks) and Elijah Riley (Steelers) to let the GMs know that the academies were serious about the rule change.

“I wanted them to know that the institution was behind it,” McCarthy told ESPN. “This isn’t a gimmick or going to go away. We’re behind these young men. Before this whole issue arose last fall, we were finally at a point where teams were going to draft guys. It was real and teams were going to be behind it.”

McCarthy expressed his disappointment in the law passed in December and agrees with Smith and the academy coaches and officials on the power of the marketing opportunity.

“Every Sunday that Andre Carter puts his uniform on, it’s going to be noticed and mentioned,” McCarthy said. “And every time the service academy football coaches visit a high school kid in America, they should be able to see that opportunity is there for them if they can achieve the results on the football field.

“It’s very rare. It’s extraordinary to make the NFL. I think this is something that can be managed. It’s such a small number, it’s almost insignificant.”

There’s a feeling at the academies that the limitations in recruiting by kids crossing the academies off the list will end up, down the line, limiting the caliber of officers that the academies can recruit and produce. The government isn’t focused on the ability to compete on the field, but the coaches say that they could end up limiting the potential officer talent coming through the academies.

“Why not let these young men and women shine a light on military service?” said first-year Navy coach Brian Newberry. “It’s a win-win. The transfer portal and NIL have already put the service academies at a disadvantage, and taking away this opportunity puts all three Academies at even more of a disadvantage in recruiting some of the best student-athletes in the country.”

Air Force’s lone NFL Combine participant this year is Kyle Patterson, a star tight end who is one of Calhoun’s most decorated recruits in his 16 seasons there. Patterson had offers from UCLA, Washington and Arizona, but Calhoun said Patterson committed to Air Force for the chance to be both an officer and an NFL player.

Calhoun said Patterson likely wouldn’t have committed to Air Force if the rule wasn’t being discussed back in 2019. And if it hadn’t passed, he could have transferred out after two years and played nearly anywhere in the country.

“To bring in top level talent to the academy and football program, the pro option is a very important linchpin,” said Nathan Pine, the Air Force athletic director. “Whether they make it or not, most elite athletes believe they can. Having that door open to them is very important to the academies.”

And that door is ultimately going to be up to Congress. Smith told ESPN that he “hasn’t really decided” if he’s going to bring something forward this year. He points out there’s “a lot going on in the world.”

The law that passed in December was introduced by Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, whose belief is based on a premise he’s stated previously: “U.S. military service academies exist to produce warfighters, not professional athletes.”

But McCarthy expressed his disappointment in the law passed in December and agrees with Rep. Smith and the academy coaches and officials on the power of the marketing opportunity.

“Every Sunday that Andre Carter puts his uniform on, it’s going to be noticed and mentioned,” he said. “And every time the service academy football coaches visit a high school kid in America, they should be able to see that opportunity is there for them if they can achieve the results on the football field.”

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Stanton won’t blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

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Stanton won't blame ailing elbows on torpedo bats

NEW YORK — Giancarlo Stanton, one of the first known adopters of the torpedo bat, declined Tuesday to say whether he believes using it last season caused the tendon ailments in both elbows that forced him to begin this season on the injured list.

Last month, Stanton alluded to “bat adjustments” he made last season as a possible reason for the epicondylitis, commonly known as tennis elbow, he’s dealing with.

“You’re not going to get the story you’re looking for,” Stanton said. “So, if that’s what you guys want, that ain’t going to happen.”

Stanton said he will continue using the torpedo bat when he returns from injury. The 35-year-old New York Yankees slugger, who has undergone multiple rounds of platelet-rich plasma injections to treat his elbows, shared during spring training that season-ending surgery on both elbows was a possibility. But he has progressed enough to recently begin hitting off a Trajekt — a pitching robot that simulates any pitcher’s windup, arm angle and arsenal. However, he still wouldn’t define his return as “close.”

He said he will first have to go on a minor league rehab assignment at an unknown date for an unknown period. It won’t start in the next week, he added.

“This is very unique,” Stanton said. “I definitely haven’t missed a full spring before. So, it just depends on my timing, really, how fast I get to feel comfortable in the box versus live pitching.”

While the craze of the torpedo bat (also known as the bowling pin bat) has swept the baseball world since it was revealed Saturday — while the Yankees were blasting nine home runs against the Milwaukee Brewers — that a few members of the Yankees were using one, the modified bat already had quietly spread throughout the majors in 2024. Both Stanton and former Yankees catcher Jose Trevino, now with the Cincinnati Reds, were among players who used the bats last season after being introduced to the concept by Aaron Leanhardt, an MIT-educated physicist and former minor league hitting coordinator for the organization.

Anthony Volpe, Jazz Chisholm Jr., Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Austin Wells were among the Yankees who used torpedo bats during their season-opening sweep of the Brewers.

Stanton explained he has changed bats before. He said he has usually adjusted the length. Sometimes, he opts for lighter bats at the end of the long season. In the past, when knuckleballers were more common in the majors, he’d opt for heavier lumber.

Last year, he said he simply chose his usual bat but with a different barrel after experimenting with a few models.

“I mean, it makes a lot of sense,” Stanton said. “But it’s, like, why hasn’t anyone thought of it in 100-plus years? So, it’s explained simply and then you try it and as long as it’s comfortable in your hands [it works]. We’re creatures of habit, so the bat’s got to feel kind of like a glove or an extension of your arm.”

Stanton went on to lead the majors with an average bat velocity of 81.2 mph — nearly 3 mph ahead of the competition. He had a rebound, but not spectacular, regular season in which he batted .233 with 27 home runs and a .773 OPS before clubbing seven home runs in 14 playoff games.

“It’s not like [it was] unreal all of a sudden for me,” Stanton said.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the torpedo bats “as the evolution of equipment” comparable to getting fitted for new golf clubs. He said the organization is not pushing players to use them and insisted the science is more complicated than just picking a bat with a different barrel.

“There’s a lot more to it than, ‘I’ll take the torpedo bat on the shelf over there — 34 [inches], 32 [ounces],'” Boone said. “Our guys are way more invested in it than that. And really personalized, really work with our players in creating this stuff. But it’s equipment evolving.”

As players around the majors order torpedo bats in droves after the Yankees’ barrage over the weekend — they clubbed a record-tying 13 homers in two games against the Brewers — Boone alluded to the notion that, though everyone is aware of the concept, not every organization can optimize its usage.

“You’re trying to just, where you can on the margins, move the needle a little bit,” Boone said. “And that’s really all you’re going to do. I don’t think this is some revelation to where we’re going to be; it’s not related to the weekend that we had, for example. Like, I don’t think it’s that. Maybe in some cases, for some players, it may help them incrementally. That’s how I view it.”

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Rangers’ Eovaldi gets season’s 1st complete game

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Rangers' Eovaldi gets season's 1st complete game

CINCINNATI — Nathan Eovaldi pitched a four-hitter for the majors’ first complete game of the season, and the Texas Rangers blanked the Cincinnati Reds 1-0 on Tuesday night.

Eovaldi struck out eight and walked none in his fifth career complete game. The right-hander threw 99 pitches, 70 for strikes.

It was Eovaldi’s first shutout since April 29, 2023, against the Yankees and just the third of his career. He became the first Ranger with multiple career shutouts with no walks in the past 30 seasons, according to ESPN Research.

“I feel like, by the fifth or sixth inning, that my pitch count was down, and I feel like we had a really good game plan going into it,” Eovaldi said in his on-field postgame interview on Victory+. “I thought [Texas catcher Kyle Higashioka] called a great game. We were on the same page throughout the entire game.”

In the first inning, Wyatt Langford homered for Texas against Carson Spiers (0-1), and that proved to be all Eovaldi needed. A day after Cincinnati collected 14 hits in a 14-3 victory in the series opener, Eovaldi (1-0) silenced the lineup.

“We needed it, these bats are still quiet,” Texas manager Bruce Bochy said of his starter’s outing. “It took a well-pitched game like that. What a game.”

The Reds put the tying run on second with two out in the ninth, but Eovaldi retired Elly De La Cruz on a grounder to first.

“He’s as good as I have seen as far as a pitcher performing under pressure,” Bochy said. “He is so good. He’s a pro out there. He wants to be out there.”

Eovaldi retired his first 12 batters, including five straight strikeouts during one stretch. Gavin Lux hit a leadoff single in the fifth for Cincinnati’s first baserunner.

“I think it was the first-pitch strikes,” Eovaldi said, when asked what made him so efficient. “But also, the off-speed pitches. I was able to get some quick outs, and I didn’t really have many deep counts. … And not walking guys helps.”

Spiers gave up three hits in six innings in his season debut. He struck out five and walked two for the Reds, who fell to 2-3.

The Rangers moved to 4-2, and Langford has been at the center of it all. He now has two home runs in six games to begin the season. In 2024, it took him until the 29th game of the season to homer for the first time. Langford hit 16 homers in 134 games last season during his rookie year.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Source: USC flips Ducks’ Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

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Source: USC flips Ducks' Topui, No. 3 DT in 2026

USC secured the commitment of former Oregon defensive tackle pledge Tomuhini Topui on Tuesday, a source told ESPN, handing the Trojans their latest recruiting victory in the 2026 cycle over the Big Ten rival Ducks.

Topui, ESPN’s No. 3 defensive tackle and No. 72 overall recruit in the 2026 class, spent five and half months committed to Oregon before pulling his pledge from the program on March 27. Topui attended USC’s initial spring camp practice that afternoon, and seven days later the 6-foot-4, 295-pound defender gave the Trojans his pledge to become the sixth ESPN 300 defender in the program’s 2026 class.

Topui’s commitment gives USC its 10th ESPN 300 pledge this cycle — more than any other program nationally — and pulls a fourth top-100 recruit into the impressive defensive class the Trojans are building this spring. Alongside Topui, USC’s defensive class includes in-state cornerbacks R.J. Sermons (No. 26 in ESPN Junior 300) and Brandon Lockhart (No. 77); four-star outside linebacker Xavier Griffin (No. 27) out of Gainesville, Georgia; and two more defensive line pledges between Jaimeon Winfield (No. 143) and Simote Katoanga (No. 174).

The Trojans are working to reestablish their local recruiting presence in the 2026 class under newly hired general manager Chad Bowden. Topui not only gives the Trojans their 11th in-state commit in the cycle, but his pledge represents a potentially important step toward revamping the program’s pipeline to perennial local powerhouse Mater Dei High School, too.

Topui will enter his senior season this fall at Mater Dei, the program that has produced a long line of USC stars including Matt Leinart, Matt Barkley and Amon-Ra St. Brown. However, if Topui ultimately signs with the program later this year, he’ll mark the Trojans’ first Mater Dei signee since the 2022 cycle, when USC pulled three top-300 prospects — Domani Jackson, Raleek Brown and C.J. Williams — from the high school program based in Santa Ana, California.

Topui’s flip to the Trojans also adds another layer to a recruiting rivalry rekindling between USC and Oregon in the 2026 cycle.

Tuesday’s commitment comes less than two months after coach Lincoln Riley and the Trojans flipped four-star Oregon quarterback pledge Jonas Williams, ESPN’s No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in 2026. USC is expected to continue targeting several Ducks commits this spring, including four-star offensive tackle Kodi Greene, another top prospect out of Mater Dei.

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