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  • Chris Low

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    Chris Low

    ESPN Senior Writer

    • College football reporter
    • Joined ESPN.com in 2007
    • Graduate of the University of Tennessee

  • M.A. Voepel

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    M.A. Voepel

    ESPN.com

      M.A. Voepel covers the WNBA, women’s college basketball, and other college sports for espnW. Voepel began covering women’s basketball in 1984, and has been with ESPN since 1996.

Sep 3, 2023, 09:00 AM ET

BATON ROUGE, La. — Brian Kelly was already keenly aware that he and his LSU football team were on deck.

LSU’s baseball team, led by coach Jay Johnson, had captured the national championship in June, a little more than two months after Kim Mulkey and her women’s basketball team won the NCAA tournament in April. A pattern clearly had been set.

But on a recent scorching summer day in Baton Rouge, Kelly could only chuckle when told of a playful but confident comment made by longtime football staffer Ya’el Lofton while showing a visitor into Kelly’s office. Lofton is in her 32nd year at LSU with her seventh head coach. Kelly is the fourth for whom she’s served as executive assistant. The other three — Ed Orgeron, Les Miles and Nick Saban — all won national championships.

“Coach Kelly will win my fourth this year, and then I can retire,” Lofton said before Kelly was within earshot.

Informed of Lofton’s prediction as he took a seat, Kelly shook his head with amusement.

“So she’s already putting me on the clock,” he said. “But, hey, welcome to LSU. That’s why I’m here.”

Kelly has had a front-row seat to a recurring national championship parade on LSU’s campus, which can be traced back to a seven-month stretch in 2021 when athletic director Scott Woodward made three coaching hires that have resonated on the Bayou.

• April 25, 2021: Woodward hired Mulkey, who in her second season with LSU women’s basketball led the Tigers to the program’s first national championship.

• June 25, 2021: Woodward hired Johnson, who in his second season led the Tigers’ baseball team to their seventh national title and first since 2009.

• Nov. 29, 2021: Woodward hired Kelly, who in his first season led LSU to a 10-4 record, an SEC championship game appearance and a Citrus Bowl victory.

With a lofty precedent set by his coaching colleagues, Kelly enters his second season at LSU with his team ranked No. 5 in the country as it opens the 2023 campaign against No. 8 Florida State on Sunday night (7:30 ET, ABC) in Orlando, Florida.

“Hey, I get it,” Kelly said. “People may talk about pressure to win a national title when you look at what Kim did and what Jay did in their second seasons. But I look at it as more of that’s what you’re supposed to do at LSU. We’re all in this together, and the standard has been set.”

Much of the work to continue that standard was done by Woodward, who was born and raised in Baton Rouge and is an LSU graduate.

“When I talk to Scott, you feel like you’re sitting down at the dinner table having a conversation with a family member,” Mulkey said. “There’s nothing pretentious about him. He doesn’t make anyone uncomfortable because he’s your boss. This is his school, he went here. He’s the athletic director at the flagship university of our state, and he wants everybody here to be successful.”

Woodward got involved in athletic administration at LSU in 2000 and initially worked on the university side as director of external affairs. He worked closely with Saban after Saban was hired at LSU in 2000. Later, Woodward became AD at Washington, where he hired football coach Chris Petersen away from Boise State. Then at Texas A&M, Woodward lured Jimbo Fisher from Florida State in football and Buzz Williams from Virginia Tech in men’s basketball.

He returned to LSU in 2019 and has gone 3-for-3 in hiring Mulkey, who won three NCAA titles coaching at Baylor; Johnson, who led Arizona to a Pac-12 title and CWS appearance in 2021; and Kelly, who won 10 or more games in six of his last seven seasons at Notre Dame.

Clearly Woodward has never been shy about swinging for the fences when hiring coaches.

“Sometimes, you hit it just right, and the timing is just right. There is no algorithm to it,” Woodward said. “I’ve always been, ‘Why not take a shot?’ And when you’re at LSU, that takes on even more meaning when you look at everything that’s in place here to win championships.”

WOODWARD SAID COMMON denominators for Kelly, Mulkey and Johnson included their intelligence and organizational skills but pointed out all three are from different parts of the country and have their own coaching styles.

Mulkey is from tiny Tickfaw, Louisiana, about 50 miles east of Baton Rouge. After playing and coaching at Louisiana Tech, she spent 21 years at Baylor, winning national championships as a player, assistant coach and head coach along the way. Her son, Kramer, played baseball at LSU.

Johnson is from Oroville, California, 70 miles north of Sacramento, and one of his inspirations was Skip Bertman, the legendary LSU baseball coach who won five NCAA titles before becoming the school’s AD.

Perhaps the most surprising hire, though, was Kelly, a Boston-area native who had just built his dream home in South Bend, almost literally in the shadow of Notre Dame’s Golden Dome, when Woodward came calling.

As the season wound down, three marquee jobs already were open — LSU, USC and Florida. Competition for filling them would be fierce and rumors were flying. Because of his friendship with Woodward and a previous stint at LSU as Saban’s offensive coordinator, Fisher was the hot name initially at LSU and he was a serious target. But with a new contract extension at Texas A&M, Fisher wasn’t going anywhere.

Woodward had another idea anyway. Staying true to his “why not take a shot?” approach, he zeroed in on Kelly.

The thought of Kelly down on the Bayou may have seemed far-fetched at first, including to Kelly himself.

“Uhmm, not interested,” Kelly told his agent, Trace Armstrong, when the subject was first broached.

Armstrong had helped Woodward with one of his contracts at LSU, so the 15-year NFL veteran-turned-agent was close to both Kelly and Woodward. Armstrong approached Kelly a second time and asked if he would at least talk to LSU as a favor to him.

At that point, Kelly hadn’t even told his wife about LSU’s overtures. But he agreed to talk with Woodward the final week of the regular season.

“I guess I thought I was doing Trace a favor, but when we were finished, I said, ‘I have to call my wife,'” Kelly recalled. “I told her, ‘Honey, we have something to talk about.'”

Woodward and Kelly had a deal, although they never met in person.

“I knew what I was getting,” said Woodward, who had interviewed Kelly for the Washington job when he was at Cincinnati. “There was no need for us to meet.”

Kelly said he could have been involved with the USC and Florida jobs, and while at Notre Dame, he passed on opportunities at both Tennessee and Texas, among others. Prior to Kelly’s hiring at LSU, there were reports that Lincoln Riley was also seriously in play. But sources told ESPN that Woodward never considered Riley for the job.

As Kelly listened to Woodward’s pitch, he knew that the time was right for him to make a move and that LSU was the right fit for him. He signed a 10-year, $95 million deal and became the first sitting head coach at Notre Dame to leave for a different job on his own volition in more than 100 years.

“I loved my time at Notre Dame. I have nothing but great memories there,” Kelly said. “But the whole landscape there is different than it is here. It just is. There are priorities at Notre Dame. The architectural building needed to get built first. They ain’t building the architectural building here first. We’re building the athletic training facility first, [and] we’re in the midst of a $22 million addition to our athletic training facility.

“It’s something I said we needed, and we went and immediately raised the money.”

MULKEY KNEW OF Woodward — who graduated from high school in 1981, a year after Mulkey — but had not met him until she was set to take the LSU job. Nikki Fargas — LSU’s women’s basketball coach from 2011 to 2021 — had left to become president of the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces. Mulkey had great success at Baylor, but because it was LSU calling, she felt the time was right for one last big career move.

“I had a 10-minute — if that long — conversation with Scott when I was hired,” Mulkey said. “He introduced himself, and he said, ‘I feel like we should know each other, we know so many mutual friends.’

“We didn’t have to talk long. I didn’t need to come in and look around. All I said was, ‘Pay me what I’m making at Baylor, take care of my assistant coaches and I’m ready to come back home.'”

Home for Johnson had always been out West with coaching stops at Nevada, San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene (his alma mater) before landing at Arizona in 2016. Johnson, whose first head-coaching job at NAIA Point Loma Nazarene came when he was just 27, played three sports in high school. His father, Jerry, was a highly successful high school track and field coach whose teams went unbeaten for five straight years in varsity dual meets. Johnson got the coaching genes naturally, although he thought at one point he was destined for stardom as a football player.

“I thought I was going to win the Heisman Trophy as a good high school running back, but then I realized 5-7 guys weren’t running around in the SEC,” Johnson joked. “Being a major league baseball player would have been like going to the moon for a kid growing up where I did. But I always loved college baseball, and with Coach Bertman doing what he was doing, the College World Series seemed like a realistic goal.”

So, as a seventh-grader, Johnson would occasionally sport an LSU baseball shirt.

“And now, to be coaching here at LSU, alongside coaches the caliber of Brian Kelly and Kim Mulkey, is humbling,” Johnson said. “I always viewed Arizona as the best job in the country for me personally, with it being a West Coast job. I would only leave for the best job in the country, and I viewed LSU as the best job in the country.”

Mulkey mentioned another Woodward hire in late 2021. Former LSU volleyball player Tonya Johnson took over that program after being a top assistant/recruiting coordinator for national powerhouse Texas. As a player, Johnson led LSU to the 1990 volleyball Final Four. Last year in her first season as coach, she led the Tigers to their first NCAA tournament victory since 2014.

“So Scott has put together quite an athletic program with the people he’s hired,” Mulkey said, adding that when it comes to luring top coaches away from established programs, “obviously, there’s no secret — you’ve got to start by talking about money. But there’s also the SEC; particularly in football, the SEC sells itself.”

That was a major selling point for Kelly — the opportunity to prove he could win in the SEC, which has produced 13 of the last 17 national champions in football. And over the last 20 years, only Alabama (six) has won more national championships than LSU (three).

“When you grow up in Boston, which was a pro town, you’re always measured by how you play at the highest level,” Kelly said. “And to me, the SEC was always the preeminent league, so that had a lot to do with it for me.”

Kelly’s Notre Dame teams twice lost to Alabama in the postseason, once in the 2013 BCS national championship game (a 42-14 beatdown) and again in the 2020 College Football Playoff semifinal (a 31-14 loss). Kelly dismisses the notion that he left Notre Dame because of those two losses.

“That second time, we played an outstanding Alabama team as well as anybody played them that year,” Kelly said. “My take after the game was, ‘Yeah, we lost again, but let’s keep it in perspective. That team killed everybody.’

“But it had zero bearing on me leaving Notre Dame. What it did is it motivated me to want more for our student-athletes, to say, ‘This is what we need, and if we get these things, we can do this.’ That’s where it motivated me, and from a timing standpoint, we couldn’t deliver at the same time. Then this LSU opportunity opened up that had the things I was looking for, and I didn’t have to wait for them.”

Everyone knows football drives the financial engine, but there is a sense of camaraderie in the LSU athletic department that Mulkey said makes for an atmosphere she enjoys. She appreciates that Woodward always answers calls or texts.

Once she called him, not realizing he was meeting with Kelly. Woodward gave his phone to Kelly to answer, and he jokingly greeted Mulkey with, “Hey, why are you bothering our boss?”

“That’s relationships, that’s fun, that’s how it should be,” Mulkey said. “I just like that kind of leadership.”

One of Kelly’s biggest moments in his first season at LSU was the 32-31 overtime upset of No. 6 Alabama on Nov. 5. Asked if she was at Tiger Stadium for the game, Mulkey said, “Heck, yeah, I was — going crazy,” and added it was a perfect day for her hoops recruits to be visiting.

Johnson added: “There’s nothing like Tiger Stadium on a Saturday night, and I loved being there and feeling the energy of that crowd and seeing us beat Alabama. The more success we all have here, the more it’s going to help us individually, and that support is genuine.”

Mulkey was already a longtime fan of LSU baseball, visiting often to watch her son Kramer play there. After celebrating with her team at the women’s Final Four in Dallas in April, Mulkey was in Omaha, Nebraska, in June to watch the LSU baseball team triumph at the College World Series.

She also has taken a few swings against Johnson’s pitching; the two did an LSU promotional video where she went into the batting cage. Mulkey, who was a Little League baseball standout before her hoops stardom, also has been a guest coach during the baseball team’s Purple and Gold game in the fall.

“She literally hit five line drives in a row, a couple right back at me at the screen,” Johnson said with a laugh.

With all the hardware LSU has collected over the last few months, Kelly and his football team are not about to get sidetracked. They understand the importance of getting off to a better start than they did a year ago, when the Tigers lost their season opener to Florida State and were blown out at home five weeks later by Tennessee. Kelly has preached the importance of consistency all offseason as the next step in his program’s development.

“We want to follow up and win a national championship of our own,” LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels said. “But you can’t do it by talking about it. You’ve got to go out there and do it every week.”

As they say in these parts, it’s Geaux time.

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ESPN Football Recruiting – 300 Player Rankings

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April 7, 2025

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ESPN Football Recruiting - 300 Player Rankings

RK PLAYER POS HOMETOWN HT WT STARS GRADE SCHOOL

1 DT Baton Rouge, LA
University Laboratory School 6’5” 285 93

2 DE Baltimore, MD
St. Frances Academy 6’4” 220 92

3 OT Nixa, MO
Nixa High School 6’8” 315 92

4 WR Santa Ana, CA
Mater Dei High School 6’6” 200 92

5 QB-PP Nashville, TN
Nashville Christian School 6’4” 225 92

6 QB-PP Plantation, FL
American Heritage High School 6’3” 215 91

7 RB Hollywood, FL
Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School 6’2” 205 91

8 QB-PP Greensboro, NC
Grimsley High School 6’4” 195 91

9 DE Tupelo, MS
Tupelo High School 6’7” 260 91

10 WR Hattiesburg, MS
Hattiesburg High School 6’3” 190 91

11 TE-Y Reidsville, NC
Reidsville High School 6’6” 250 90

12 OT North Bethesda, MD
Georgetown Prep 6’7” 350 90

13 OLB Loganville, GA
Grayson High School 6’2” 215 90

14 ATH Spring Valley, CA
Mount Miguel High School 6’1” 180 90

15 CB Akron, OH
Archbishop Hoban High School 5’11” 180 90

16 ATH Spring, TX
Legacy The School of Sport Sciences 6’3” 185 90

17 OT Bradenton, FL
IMG Academy 6’8” 325 90

18 DE Chatsworth, CA
Sierra Canyon High School 6’5” 245 90

19 TE-H Bowdon, GA
Bowdon High School 6’7” 210 90

20 OT Mansfield, TX
Lake Ridge High School 6’7” 285 90

21 DE Bradenton, FL
IMG Academy 6’3” 235 90

22 S Las Vegas, NV
Bishop Gorman High School 6’5” 200 88

23 WR DeSoto, TX
DeSoto High School 6’1” 180 88

24 TE-H Santa Ana, CA
Mater Dei High School 6’5” 225 88

25 OLB Mobile, AL
Saint Paul’s Episcopal School 6’4” 220 88

26 WR Miami, FL
Miami Northwestern High School 6’6” 190 87

27 RB Mineral, VA
Louisa County High School 6’0” 200 87

28 CB Rancho Cucamonga, CA
Rancho Cucamonga High School 6’0” 185 86

29 OLB Gainesville, GA
Gainesville High School 6’4” 205 86

30 S Baltimore, MD
St. Frances Academy 6’3” 210 86

31 RB Jackson, AL
Jackson High School 5’11” 210 86

32 S Flowood, MS
Hartfield Academy 6’0” 200 86

33 TE-Y Saint George, UT
Pine View High School 6’7” 240 86

34 S Baton Rouge, LA
Catholic High School 6’1” 205 85

35 ATH Ogden, UT
Fremont High School 6’2” 175 85

36 RB Frisco, TX
Lone Star High School 6’1” 190 85

37 OT Santa Ana, CA
Mater Dei High School 6’6” 290 85

38 CB Marietta, GA
Sprayberry High School 6’3” 180 85

39 OLB Tavares, FL
Tavares High School 6’1” 215 85

40 DT Suwanee, GA
Collins Hill High School 6’2” 280 85

41 OLB Bradenton, FL
IMG Academy 6’2” 220 85

42 CB Fort Lauderdale, FL
Saint Thomas Aquinas High School 6’1” 185 85

43 OLB Jacksonville, FL
The Bolles School 6’2” 195 85

44 OT Fort Worth, TX
North Crowley High School 6’4” 305 84

45 QB-PP Newbury Park, CA
Newbury Park High School 6’5” 210 84

46 S Bradenton, FL
IMG Academy 5’11” 195 84

47 OT Vero Beach, FL
Vero Beach Senior High School 6’6” 320 84

48 WR Alexander City, AL
Benjamin Russell High School 6’4” 210 84

49 CB Sarasota, FL
Booker High School 6’2” 175 84

50 QB-PP Folsom, CA
Folsom High School 6’2” 205 84

51 OT Durham, NC
South Garner High School 6’6” 270 84

52 WR Knoxville, TN
Knoxville Catholic High School 5’11” 175 84

53 DE Picayune, MS
Picayune Memorial High School 6’5” 250 84

54 OLB Orange, CA
Orange Lutheran High School 6’4” 215 84

55 DT Buford, GA
Buford High School 6’2” 255 84

56 CB Toledo, OH
Central Catholic High School 6’0” 165 84

57 DE Charlotte, NC
Myers Park High School 6’4” 220 84

58 WR Morton, MS
Morton High School 6’3” 160 84

59 DE Douglasville, GA
Douglas County High School 6’3” 235 84

60 TE-H Great Bend, KS
Great Bend High School 6’6” 210 84

61 DE Pensacola, FL
Pensacola Catholic High School 6’4” 220 84

62 WR Cartersville, GA
Cartersville High School 6’1” 185 84

63 CB Westlake Village, CA
Oaks Christian High School 6’0” 180 84

64 WR Destrehan, LA
Destrehan High School 6’0” 200 84

65 CB Gadsden, AL
Gadsden High School 6’0” 175 84

66 WR Knoxville, TN
Webb School Of Knoxville 6’4” 195 84

67 OT Mechanicsburg, PA
Cumberland Valley High School 6’7” 335 84

68 WR Jackson, AL
Jackson High School 6’4” 190 84

69 CB Baltimore, MD
Loyola Blakefield High School 6’2” 175 83

70 QB-PP Tampa, FL
Jesuit High School 6’4” 230 83

71 WR Richmond, VA
Trinity Episcopal School 6’2” 200 83

72 CB Chatsworth, CA
Sierra Canyon High School 6’2” 170 83

73 OT Richmond, VA
St. Christopher’s School 6’4” 290 83

74 DT Santa Ana, CA
Mater Dei High School 6’3” 295 83

75 RB Cibolo, TX
Byron P. Steele II High School 6’1” 210 83

76 OT Charlotte, NC
Providence Day School 6’6” 280 83

77 WR Douglasville, GA
Douglas County High School 6’3” 180 83

78 OT Orange, CA
Orange Lutheran High School 6’5” 295 83

79 CB Los Angeles, CA
Loyola High School 6’3” 165 83

80 OT Harrisburg, PA
Harrisburg High School 6’5” 245 83

81 RB Forney, TX
Forney High School 5’9” 190 83

82 DT Cherry Valley, AR
Cross County High School 6’4” 300 83

83 TE-H Fairburn, GA
Langston Hughes High School 6’5” 215 83

84 CB Carrollton, GA
Carrollton High School 6’1” 175 83

85 DE Sarasota, FL
Cardinal Mooney High School 6’4” 255 83

86 OT Gonzales, LA
East Ascension High School 6’6” 280 83

87 CB Goodyear, AZ
Desert Edge High School 6’1” 180 83

88 DE Washington, DC
Gonzaga College High School 6’6” 220 83

89 RB Texarkana, TX
Texas High School 5’10” 180 83

90 DT Eugene, OR
Willamette High School 6’5” 275 83

91 RB Valencia, CA
Valencia High School 6’0” 185 83

92 DE Gainesville, GA
Gainesville High School 6’3” 255 83

93 DT New Orleans, LA
Edna Karr High School 6’4” 345 83

94 CB Brandon, MS
Brandon High School 5’11” 180 83

95 RB Painesville, OH
Thomas W. Harvey High School 5’10” 205 83

96 DE Temple, TX
Temple High School 6’5” 235 83

97 WR Mission Viejo, CA
Mission Viejo High School 5’10” 170 83

98 CB Cornelius, NC
Hough High School 6’0” 185 83

99 OT Avon Lake, OH
Avon Lake High School 6’5” 265 83

100 S Rock Hill, SC
South Pointe High School 6’4” 205 83

101 CB Richmond, VA
Hermitage High School 6’2” 170 83

102 WR Jacksonville, FL
The Bolles School 6’0” 175 83

103 ATH Wyndmoor, PA
La Salle College High School 6’4” 180 83

104 DE Princeton, NJ
The Hun School Of Princeton 6’4” 235 83

105 QB-DT Jackson, AL
Jackson High School 6’3” 195 83

106 DT Highland, UT
Lone Peak High School 6’5” 275 83

107 RB Carthage, TX
Carthage High School 5’10” 180 83

108 WR Plantation, FL
American Heritage High School 6’0” 170 83

109 ATH Frisco, TX
Panther Creek High School 6’0” 170 83

110 WR Chesapeake, VA
Oscar Frommel Smith High School 6’4” 180 83

111 RB De Kalb, MS
Kemper County High School 5’10” 195 82

112 WR Aledo, TX
Aledo High School 6’1” 195 82

113 QB-PP Mustang, OK
Mustang High School 6’3” 215 82

114 DT Richardson, TX
Richardson High School 6’4” 290 82

115 WR Mansfield, TX
Mansfield High School 6’3” 180 82

116 DT Clemmons, NC
West Forsyth High School 6’4” 305 82

117 WR Mineral, VA
Louisa County High School 6’0” 175 82

118 RB Westlake Village, CA
Oaks Christian High School 5’10” 185 82

119 WR Carrollton, GA
Carrollton High School 6’3” 210 82

120 ATH Detroit, MI
Cass Technical High School 5’10” 175 82

121 OG San Francisco, CA
Archbishop Riordan High School 6’6” 340 82

122 WR Naples, FL
First Baptist Academy 6’4” 200 82

123 DT Miami, FL
Miami Northwestern High School 6’3” 275 82

124 OT Clearwater, FL
Clearwater High School 6’5” 260 82

125 OLB Wadley, AL
Wadley High School 6’4” 220 82

126 S New Orleans, LA
Edna Karr High School 6’2” 195 82

127 WR Potomac, MD
Bullis School 6’1” 190 82

128 S Roebuck, SC
Dorman High School 6’2” 185 82

129 RB Moultrie, GA
Colquitt County High School 5’11” 200 82

130 WR Douglasville, GA
Douglas County High School 6’1” 175 82

131 DE Jemison, AL
Jemison High School 6’5” 220 82

132 OLB Torrance, CA
Bishop Montgomery High School 6’2” 205 82

133 DE Arlington, TX
James Martin High School 6’5” 230 82

134 CB Brownsville, TN
Haywood High School 6’0” 165 82

135 RB Harrisburg, PA
Harrisburg High School 5’11” 200 82

136 ILB West Palm Beach, FL
Cardinal Newman High School 6’2” 210 82

137 DE Columbus, GA
Carver High School 6’4” 220 82

138 TE-H Dunlap, IL
Dunlap High School 6’5” 220 82

139 OLB Auburn, AL
Auburn High School 6’2” 205 82

140 RB Carrollton, GA
Central High School 5’10” 200 82

141 TE-H Lexington, OH
Lexington High School 6’3” 220 82

142 OLB Miami, FL
Carol City High School 6’2” 220 82

143 DE Matthews, NC
Weddington High School 6’3” 250 82

144 WR Charlotte, NC
Providence Day School 6’3” 185 82

145 DE Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Santa Margarita Catholic High School 6’5” 250 82

146 OLB Matthews, NC
Weddington High School 6’2” 210 82

147 WR Coconut Creek, FL
Monarch High School 6’2” 205 82

148 DE Duncanville, TX
Duncanville High School 6’4” 240 82

149 WR Saint Augustine, FL
Saint Augustine High School 6’2” 180 82

150 DT Bastrop, TX
Bastrop High School 6’3” 265 82

151 S McDonald, PA
Fort Cherry High School 6’0” 180 82

152 OLB Marietta, GA
Kell High School 6’3” 200 82

153 S Leesburg, GA
Lee County High School 6’3” 175 82

154 TE-Y Mount Zion, IL
Mount Zion High School 6’6” 235 82

155 OT Washington Court House, OH
Miami Trace High School 6’7” 280 82

156 QB-DT Frankfort, IL
Lincoln-Way East High School 6’2” 200 82

157 RB Delaware, OH
Rutherford B. Hayes High School 6’0” 195 82

158 QB-DT Del Valle, TX
Del Valle High School 6’0” 190 82

159 TE-H Newberry, SC
Newberry High School 6’4” 215 82

160 S Manhattan, KS
Manhattan High School 6’3” 190 82

161 DE Saint Louis, MO
De Smet Jesuit High School 6’5” 240 82

162 S Winter Park, FL
Winter Park High School 6’3” 170 82

163 OG Exeter, NH
Phillips Exeter Academy 6’5” 285 82

164 QB-PP Lake Mary, FL
Lake Mary High School 6’4” 220 82

165 OLB Santa Ana, CA
Mater Dei High School 6’3” 240 82

166 ILB Lakeland, FL
Lakeland High School 6’1” 225 82

167 ATH Chicago, IL
Morgan Park High School 6’0” 180 81

168 RB Fairburn, GA
Langston Hughes High School 6’1” 195 81

169 OT Lexington, MS
Holmes County Central High School 6’4” 295 81

170 ATH Buford, GA
Buford High School 6’0” 195 81

171 ILB Mobile, AL
Cottage Hill Christian Academy 6’3” 215 81

172 WR Pearland, TX
Shadow Creek High School 6’0” 180 81

173 ATH Vero Beach, FL
Vero Beach Senior High School 6’2” 165 81

174 OG Prosper, TX
Prosper High School 6’3” 280 81

175 CB Avon, OH
Avon High School 5’10” 180 81

176 DT Oradell, NJ
Bergen Catholic High 6’6” 270 81

177 WR Willis, TX
Willis High School 6’0” 165 81

178 OT Brunswick, GA
Brunswick High School 6’5” 265 81

179 DT Petal, MS
Petal High School 6’6” 300 81

180 WR Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
Santa Margarita Catholic High School 5’10” 170 81

181 OLB Cleveland, OH
Glenville High School 6’3” 225 81

182 DE Thomasville, GA
Thomas County Central High School 6’3” 230 81

183 S Milton, FL
Milton High School 6’3” 200 81

184 DT Monroe, LA
Ouachita Parish High School 6’3” 330 81

185 OLB McMurray, PA
Peters Township High School 6’3” 230 81

186 OG Cartersville, GA
Cass High School 6’4” 305 81

187 OT Tampa, FL
Berkeley Prep 6’6” 280 81

188 CB Waco, TX
Connally High School 6’2” 165 81

189 DE Las Vegas, NV
Bishop Gorman High School 6’3” 250 81

190 OG Bradenton, FL
IMG Academy 6’6” 295 81

191 WR San Antonio, TX
James Madison High School 6’3” 200 81

192 OT Sarasota, FL
Cardinal Mooney High School 6’5” 340 81

193 QB-PP Downey, CA
Downey High School 6’3” 175 81

194 WR Bronx, NY
James Monroe High School 6’1” 185 81

195 OT Virginia Beach, VA
Green Run High School 6’7” 275 81

196 DT Decatur, GA
Southwest DeKalb High School 6’6” 285 81

197 OG Kennesaw, GA
North Cobb High School 6’4” 340 81

198 S Oradell, NJ
Bergen Catholic High 6’1” 180 81

199 QB-PP San Marcos, CA
Mission Hills High School 6’4” 200 81

200 DE Rolesville, NC
Rolesville High School 6’6” 230 81

201 OT Bauxite, AR
Bauxite High School 6’7” 325 81

202 DT Birmingham, AL
A. H. Parker High School 6’3” 305 81

203 OG Klein, TX
Klein High School 6’4” 325 81

204 WR Harrisburg, PA
Harrisburg High School 6’3” 190 81

205 OLB Bogart, GA
North Oconee High School 6’4” 225 81

206 S Warner Robins, GA
Houston County High School 6’2” 185 81

207 ATH Honey Grove, TX
Honey Grove High School 5’10” 175 81

208 OG Flower Mound, TX
Flower Mound High School 6’4” 290 81

209 WR New Orleans, LA
McDonogh 35 High School 6’0” 160 81

210 DE Burien, WA
John F. Kennedy High School 6’6” 250 81

211 RB Dallas, TX
Lake Highlands High School 6’1” 205 81

212 ILB Lewis Center, OH
Olentangy High School 6’3” 225 81

213 OT Portage, MI
Portage Northern High School 6’5” 260 81

214 RB Spartanburg, SC
Mountain View Preparatory 5’10” 210 81

215 CB Tuskegee, AL
Booker T. Washington High School 6’0” 165 81

216 OT Chicago, IL
Mount Carmel High School 6’6” 310 81

217 CB Windermere, FL
Windermere Prep 6’0” 165 81

218 ATH Tuskegee, AL
Booker T. Washington High School 6’5” 200 81

219 CB Jonesboro, GA
Jonesboro High School 6’0” 175 81

220 S Boca Raton, FL
West Boca Raton High School 6’3” 190 81

221 WR Santa Ana, CA
Mater Dei High School 6’2” 185 81

222 TE-H Visalia, CA
Redwood High School 6’5” 205 81

223 ATH Baltimore, MD
Milford Mill Academy 5’11” 180 81

224 WR Carrollton, GA
Walton High School 6’4” 190 81

225 OG Draper, UT
Corner Canyon High School 6’4” 295 81

226 WR Leakesville, MS
Greene County High School 6’2” 190 81

227 DE Irmo, SC
Dutch Fork High School 6’5” 230 81

228 OT Waterloo, IA
West High School 6’7” 270 81

229 DE Garner, NC
South Garner High School 6’4” 220 81

230 OG Orlando, FL
Lake Minneola High School 6’4” 290 81

231 S Windermere, FL
First Academy 6’2” 190 81

232 TE-H Old Hickory, TN
Donelson Christian Academy 6’6” 220 81

233 DE Duncanville, TX
Duncanville High School 6’4” 235 81

234 DT Bradenton, FL
IMG Academy 6’1” 315 81

235 DE Cross Plains, TN
East Robertson High School 6’4” 220 81

236 WR Bossier City, LA
Airline High School 6’0” 180 81

237 QB-DT Nazareth, PA
Nazareth Senior High School 6’5” 205 81

238 OT Leesburg, VA
Loudoun County High School 6’5” 275 81

239 QB-DT Kentwood, MI
East Kentwood High School 6’2” 190 81

240 WR Bluffton, SC
Bluffton High School 6’4” 200 81

241 S Cocoa, FL
Cocoa High School 6’1” 180 81

242 WR Iowa Colony, TX
Iowa Colony High School 6’2” 185 81

243 DT Jackson, MS
Jackson Academy 6’2” 315 81

244 WR Bellflower, CA
St. John Bosco High School 6’2” 190 81

245 OLB Princeton, WV
Princeton Senior High School 6’2” 225 81

246 QB-PP Wayne, NJ
DePaul Catholic High School 6’1” 200 80

247 DE Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Christian High School 6’3” 245 80

248 DT Clayton, NC
Clayton High School 6’4” 260 80

249 DE Naperville, IL
Naperville North High School 6’2” 240 80

250 OT Cold Spring, MN
Rocori High School 6’6” 275 80

251 WR Red Oak, TX
Red Oak High School 5’9” 165 80

252 CB New Orleans, LA
Edna Karr High School 6’2” 175 80

253 WR Savannah, GA
Benedictine Military High School 5’10” 180 80

254 DT Owasso, OK
Owasso High School 6’3” 275 80

255 WR Norman, OK
Norman North High School 5’11” 175 80

256 DT Fort Myers, FL
Fort Myers High School 6’4” 270 80

257 DE Gardena, CA
Junipero Serra High School 6’4” 245 80

258 CB Seffner, FL
Armwood High School 6’1” 175 80

259 DE Irvine, CA
Crean Lutheran High School 6’2” 270 80

260 CB Duluth, GA
Duluth High School 6’0” 195 80

261 DE Chicago, IL
Simeon Career Academy 6’5” 230 80

262 S Homestead, FL
Miami Northwestern High School 6’4” 180 80

263 OG Toms River, NJ
Monsignor Donovan High School 6’5” 290 80

264 QB-DT Celina, TX
Celina High School 6’1” 205 80

265 DT Eugene, OR
Willamette High School 6’3” 305 80

266 QB-DT Queen Creek, AZ
Queen Creek High School 6’2” 205 80

267 OLB Jackson, MS
Jackson Academy 6’2” 225 80

268 WR Sarasota, FL
Booker High School 6’0” 180 80

269 OT Akron, OH
Archbishop Hoban High School 6’7” 305 80

270 WR Wolfforth, TX
Frenship High School 5’11” 175 80

271 OT Honolulu, HI
Kamehameha Schools 6’6” 310 80

272 DT Calypso, NC
North Duplin High School 6’3” 310 80

273 RB Boca Raton, FL
West Boca Raton High School 6’1” 205 80

274 DE Miami, FL
Miami Southridge Senior High School 6’5” 210 80

275 WR Gainesville, FL
Buchholz High School 5’11” 190 80

276 OLB Venice, FL
Venice High School 6’2” 225 80

277 ILB Carthage, TX
Carthage High School 6’1” 215 80

278 OG Goodyear, AZ
Desert Edge High School 6’5” 315 80

279 S Miami Lakes, FL
Goleman High School 6’0” 190 80

280 OT Fruitland, ID
Fruitland High School 6’5” 270 80

281 OG Bradenton, FL
IMG Academy 6’4” 330 80

282 OT Clarksville, TN
Kirkwood High School 6’6” 245 80

283 TE-H Jacksonville, FL
The Bolles School 6’4” 220 80

284 OLB Newnan, GA
Newnan High School 6’1” 210 80

285 OG Pace, FL
Pace High School 6’4” 300 80

286 S Jonesboro, GA
Jonesboro High School 6’0” 185 80

287 OLB Loganville, GA
Grayson High School 6’2” 195 80

288 OT Prosper, TX
Prosper High School 6’4” 270 80

289 WR Hollywood, FL
Chaminade-Madonna College Preparatory School 6’1” 185 80

290 OG Davison, MI
Davison High School 6’6” 320 80

291 OT Prosper, TX
Prosper High School 6’5” 265 80

292 DT Richland, NJ
Saint Augustine Prep 6’2” 275 80

293 ILB Lawndale, CA
Leuzinger High School 6’4” 230 80

294 OT Hemingway, SC
Carvers Bay High School 6’5” 295 80

295 WR Pataskala, OH
Watkins Memorial High School 6’0” 190 80

296 OG Willis, TX
Willis High School 6’4” 300 80

297 TE-H Billings, MT
Billings West High School 6’4” 230 80

298 DE Rogers, AR
Rogers High School 6’2” 230 80

299 S Pascagoula, MS
Pascagoula High School 6’2” 185 80

300 WR Powder Springs, GA
McEachern High School 6’3” 210 80

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Can USA Hockey get more elite players to go to the IIHF World Championship?

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1 hour ago

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April 7, 2025

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Can USA Hockey get more elite players to go to the IIHF World Championship?

  • Ryan S. ClarkApr 7, 2025, 07:00 AM ET

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      Ryan S. Clark is an NHL reporter for ESPN.

Less than an hour after the United States lost to Canada in overtime of the 4 Nations Face-Off championship game, Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin was asked about the growth of American hockey and what lies ahead.

“You know what I think it does? I think we’ve had a tough time with USA Hockey getting guys to play in the World Championships,” said Larkin, a five-time World Championships participant. “I think guys are at home watching this and I hope they are wanting a piece of this.

“They gotta go to the World Championships and prove themselves and play for their country. We gotta start winning that tournament. I think that’s where Canada, those guys go and they play.”

Larkin’s words have since sparked a discussion about one of the largest challenges facing the nation’s governing body for the sport as it tries to become the world’s strongest men’s hockey power. Getting there means having an investment that goes beyond marquee events such as the 4 Nations Face-Off or the Olympics, and it all starts with how players regard participation in the IIHF Men’s World Championship.

The leadership team at USA Hockey have heard or read about what Larkin said, as have his peers in the NHL. But a gap persists in getting all of those peers to buy in.

ESPN spoke to 10 sources, including players and management, about why it’s been a struggle for USA Hockey to get more top-level NHL players to participate at the World Championships. And while this year’s edition presents a potential path toward a player making a case for the Olympics roster next February, there are those who feel that shouldn’t be the only motivation to play for Team USA.

“We have to rebuild our culture that the tournament is important and it should be more important than it is for our players,” said Minnesota Wild general manager Bill Guerin, who was Team USA’s GM for the 4 Nations Face-Off, and will also manage the 2026 Olympic team. “The excuses that I hear for guys not going over, they’re not good enough. We need guys to go over. We want to try to start winning more often than we do, and we need our best players to consider going over.

“I know there’s real-life situations. I know there’s injuries. I know there’s contracts. But some of the excuses I’ve heard? Quite honestly, they’re not good enough.”

THE AMERICAN HOCKEY LANDSCAPE has changed dramatically since when Guerin and John Vanbiesbrouck, who is the assistant executive director for hockey operations for USA Hockey, were in the NHL.

Neither of them were born when the U.S. won its second World Championship along with its first Olympic gold medal in 1960. They were youths when the “Miracle On Ice” team made up of amateur players beat the Soviet Union before winning America’s second hockey gold at the 1980 Olympics.

Initially, the annual World Championships tournament was limited to amateur players as well, but the IIHF allowed professionals to participate starting in 1977. The IIHF’s decision came in the wake of the Canada Cup, a six-team tournament featuring pro players that was held five times between 1976 and 1991.

Eventually, the Canada Cup was replaced by the World Cup of Hockey in 1996. The NHL then allowed its players to participate in the Olympics starting in 1998.

This created opportunities for players such as Guerin and Vanbiesbrouck to represent the U.S. throughout their professional careers. It also presented a contrast in terms of how rosters were constructed.

For example, Vanbiesbrouck represented the U.S. at the World Championships four times and was on two Canada Cup teams. He made the roster for both tournaments in 1991. The U.S. roster for the World Championships that year had 10 players younger than 23 while the Canada Cup team had only four players younger than 23.

While Guerin never played at the Worlds, he represented the U.S. at three Olympics and twice at the World Cup of Hockey. Guerin was part of the gold-medal winning team at the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, and the silver-medal winning team at the 2002 Olympics. Team USA’s median age when Guerin played was 30.

“Our expectations have changed,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “Whenever somebody wears the jersey, there’s a certain expectation. There’s an element of national pride to wear a jersey, to honor the flag and honor those people who came before you. It’s a great element in our game.”

One item that helped with elevating those expectations was the creation of the United States National Team Development Program in 1996. The NTDP became an incubator for the nation’s premier U18 and U17 male players.

Prior to the NTDP, the U.S. had medaled only twice — with a pair of bronze-place finishes — at the IIHF U20 World Junior Championships. The NTDP has since played an instrumental role in the U.S. establishing itself as a WJC powerhouse. Team USA has captured seven gold medals since 2010 and won its second consecutive gold earlier this year.

play

1:02

USA wins world junior hockey title on Teddy Stiga’s golden goal

Teddy Stiga nets the winning goal in overtime as the United States tops Finland to win the world junior hockey championship for the second year in a row.

Between the NTDP producing 98 first-round picks and the success at the World Juniors, it created the hypothesis that USA Hockey should be able to easily recruit players to represent the nation. That much was evident after the 4 Nations Face-Off, and it’s part of why the U.S. is considered to be one of the front-runners for gold at the 2026 Olympics.

“A lot of guys went through the NTDP and even coming here for two weeks, it was the closest group I’ve been around,” Columbus Blue Jackets and Team USA defenseman Zach Werenski said after the 4 Nations Face-Off. “It was awesome being here for two weeks and it was so much fun being around these guys. Everyone bought in. I think that’s a testament to what USA Hockey is doing from younger ages on right now.

“We expect to win. We expect to be in gold medal games and to be in these positions against Canada and the best teams.”

Players like Larkin and Werenski have a different experience compared to those who came before them. Fewer international opportunities existed, because the NHL didn’t allow players to participate in the Olympics in 2018 or 2022, while there have been only two World Cups (2004, 2016) since the first one in 1996.

It left the World Championships as the primary consistent option that could come close to replicating those best-on-best tournaments. But even as the demand for international hockey grows, there remains a disconnect when it comes to U.S. players and the World Championships.

The timing of the World Championships could be a factor. This year’s tournament runs from May 9 through May 25, which is simultaneous to the second round and conference finals of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

This limits the player pool to those whose teams didn’t qualify for the playoffs, or who were eliminated in the first round.

“It’s the time of year when everyone’s really looking for a break, and to go for a month, give it your all and sacrifice? It’s a lot for players,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “Most of the guys in the NHL are family guys, which we can all appreciate. Another is with the hip injuries that are happening today, they need a whole summer to recuperate and there’s so many significant injuries now that take such a long time that we understand. But I think that’s a big factor.”

WINNIPEG JETS DUO Connor Hellebuyck and Nikolaj Ehlers represent just how much differently the World Championships are viewed in the United States compared to the rest of the world.

Hellebuyck grew up in Commerce Township, Mich., which is a 45-minute drive from the NTDP’s headquarters. He grew up watching the Detroit Red Wings and went to games. He watched American-born players such as fellow goalie Jimmy Howard, who he idolized.

But he first learned about the tournament as a 21-year-old who had just finished his first AHL season in 2015, when he received a call from USA Hockey asking him to join the team for the World Championships.

“When USA Hockey called, it was cool. It was a cool experience,” Hellebuyck said. “The more I did it, the more I started to realize it is for the experience and it’s for the young guy trying to get better. It’s not for the veteran unless he wants to travel, unless he wants to see the world or he wants to play a little more hockey.”

American-born players like Hellebuyck often grow up associating hockey in May with the Stanley Cup playoffs. Major League Baseball, the NBA Finals and the PGA Championship, among many other sporting events, are also going on at that time. Having that many options plays into the lack of visibility.

Compare that to Ehlers. He grew up in Aalborg, Denmark where there was a pro hockey team, but nothing like the NHL. As a nation, Denmark has around 5,000 registered hockey players. But it hosted the World Championships for the first time in 2018, and had the eighth-highest total attendance in tournament history. Denmark will co-host this year’s tournament in May with Sweden.

In Europe, the World Championships have become a tentpole event within the European sporting landscape in nations such as Czechia, Finland, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland, home of the IIHF’s headquarters. Last year’s tournament in Czechia set a new tournament total attendance record of 797,727 fans. Five of the 10 most attended tournaments have come since 2010, none of which were in North America.

The U.S has hosted the tournament three times — with the most recent coming in 1962, when it was hosted in Colorado Springs and Denver. Canada, which has won the tournament a record 28 times, has hosted the World Championships just once, back in 2008.

Vanbiesbrouck said there haven’t been any discussions throughout his time with USA Hockey about trying to host the event, adding that he would like to challenge the status quo and “be able to say that we could do this.”

Ehlers, who played in his first Worlds in 2016, said the tournament has such a reverence in Europe that fans will travel to support their respective homelands. But for nations such as Denmark, Ehlers said the Worlds provide them a chance to show they do belong.

“To be able to have had the amount of NHL players that we’ve had over years and the way that we’ve gone at The Olympics, they reached the quarterfinals at the last Olympics,” said Ehlers, who is one of 17 Danes to play in the NHL. “We’ve beaten Canada and Sweden and teams like that. We go out there to try to prove we are not a small hockey country even though we are in the big picture.”

Or as Guerin said: “Because it matters to them. It’s important and it needs to be important for us.”

WHAT CAN USA HOCKEY do to get more NHL players to play at the Worlds?

Guerin said that the organization has developed a program allowing players to bring their family members and/or friends to Europe for the tournament. Vanbiesbrouck added that it’s something they’ve evolved after observing what Canada had with its program.

Utah Hockey Club coach Andre Tourigny — Canada’s coach for the past two cycles — said Hockey Canada created a family environment. He said bringing families over for the tournament means there’s a chance for them to share what it means to be in a different part of the world. But when it’s time to play, those individual families then create their own community despite being thousands of miles away from home.

“Admittedly, USA Hockey has had to do a better job of getting the people and bringing them over with a certain standard and they’ve done that,” Guerin said. “The last little while they’ve stepped up to the plate and made it a better experience for the players, their wives and their families. It can just be a great opportunity to play for your country. Hopefully, we start to see more guys feel the importance of that tournament.”

Wild forward Matt Boldy said that Guerin and others within USA Hockey have done a strong job of emphasizing why the World Championships matter, and how they used it in their process for creating Team USA’s 4 Nations Face-Off roster.

Boldy said he viewed going to the World Championships as a chance to show how he could be counted upon playing in a different system in international play. Especially when he saw other nations bring more of their best players to the tournament.

A two-time World Championship team member, Boldy got a chance to learn from Johnny Gaudreau and Brock Nelson, two players he grew up watching. While Boldy learned from them on the ice, he also got a chance to know them as people, which he said helped when it came to establishing a dynamic with teammates.

“I think the more that we can get our USA guys there playing together, comfortable with each other … it just makes things easier so in tournaments like the 4 Nations, it makes that transition smoother,” Boldy said. “It’s a big tournament. Every country wants to win it including the U.S. If we can get our biggest guys there and everyone kind of spends that extra time together, it could mean a lot.”

Guerin and Vanbiesbrouck said that they have heard from the agents of American players who missed out on the 4 Nations Face-Off about wanting to be involved in the Olympics. Vanbiesbrouck said that the 4 Nations event also made older players realize that the 2026 Olympics might be their final opportunity to play for Team USA.

“It’s one of those things where if you want to be in one of those tournaments and participate, then, be a part of it,” Guerin said. “Don’t be a part of it when you want to be a part of it. A lot of the guys we’ve had have gone to the World Championships and done that. If you want to have a better shot of something like the 4 Nations and the Olympics, help us in other areas. We need it. It’s not just trying to win the 4 Nations or The Olympics.

“The World Championships go on every year and we want to try to win it. That’s the bottom line.”

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Sources: Jays give Vlad Jr. 14-year, $500M deal

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7 hours ago

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April 7, 2025

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Sources: Jays give Vlad Jr. 14-year, 0M deal

First baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and the Toronto Blue Jays are in agreement on a 14-year, $500 million contract extension, pending physical, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday night.

This is a monumental, no-deferral deal to keep the homegrown star in Toronto for the rest of his career, and comes as the 5-5 Blue Jays are in the midst of a road trip that takes them to Fenway Park to meet the Boston Red Sox on Monday.

Guerrero, 26, a four-time All-Star and son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, had said he would not negotiate during the season after the sides failed to come to an agreement before he reported to spring training. The sides continued talking, however, and sealed a deal that is the third largest in Major League Baseball history, behind only Juan Soto‘s 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets and Shohei Ohtani‘s 10-year, $700 million pact with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Blue Jays, snakebit in recent years by Soto and Ohtani signing elsewhere, received a long-term commitment from their best homegrown talent since Hall of Famer Roy Halladay.

They had tried to sign Guerrero to a long-term deal for years to no avail. Toronto got a glimpse of Guerrero’s talent when he debuted shortly after his 20th birthday in 2019 and homered 15 times as a rookie. His breakout season came in 2021, when Guerrero finished second to Aaron Judge in American League MVP voting after hitting .311/.401/.601 with 48 home runs and 111 RBIs.

Guerrero followed with a pair of solid-but-below-expectations seasons in 2022 and 2023, and in mid-May 2024, he sported an OPS under .750 as the Blue Jays struggled en route to an eventual last-place finish. Over his last 116 games in 2024, the Guerrero of 2021 reemerged, as he hit .343/.407/.604 with 26 home runs and 84 RBIs.

With a payroll expected to exceed the luxury tax threshold of $241 million, the Blue Jays ended the season’s first week atop the American League East standings. Toronto dropped to 5-3 on Friday after a loss to the Mets, in which Guerrero collected a pair of singles, raising his season slash line to .267/.343/.367.

Between Guerrero and shortstop Bo Bichette‘s free agency after the 2025 season, the Blue Jays faced a potential reckoning. Though Bichette is expected to play out the season before hitting the open market, Guerrero’s deal lessens the sting of Toronto’s pursuits of Ohtani in 2023 and Soto in 2024.

Toronto shook off the signings of Soto and first baseman Pete Alonso with the Mets, left-hander Max Fried with the New York Yankees and infielder Alex Bregman with the Boston Red Sox to retool their roster. Toronto gave outfielder Anthony Santander a heavily deferred five-year, $92.5 million contract, brought in future Hall of Famer Max Scherzer on a one-year, $15.5 million deal, bolstered its bullpen with right-handers Jeff Hoffman and Yimi Garcia, and traded for Platinum Glove-winning second baseman Andres Gimenez, who is hitting cleanup.

Toronto’s long-term commitments will allow for significant financial flexibility. In addition to Bichette and Scherzer, right-hander Chris Bassitt and relievers Chad Green and Erik Swanson are free agents after this season. After 2026, the nine-figure deals of outfielder George Springer and right-hander Kevin Gausman come off the books, as well.

Building around Guerrero is a good place to start. One of only a dozen players in MLB with at least two seasons of six or more Wins Above Replacement since 2021, Guerrero consistently is near the top of MLB leaderboards in hardest-hit balls, a metric that typically translates to great success.

Like his father, who hit 449 home runs and batted .318 over a 16-year career, Guerrero has rare bat-to-ball skills, particularly for a player with top-of-the-scale power. In his six MLB seasons, Guerrero has hit .288/.363/.499 with 160 home runs, 510 RBIs and 559 strikeouts against 353 walks.

Originally a third baseman, Guerrero shifted to first base during the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Had the Blue Jays signed Alonso, they signaled the possibility of Guerrero returning full time to third, where he played a dozen games last year.

With the extension in place, the 6-foot-2, 245-pound Guerrero is expected to remain at first base and reset a market that had been topped by the eight-year, $248 million extension Miguel Cabrera signed just shy of his 31st birthday in 2014.

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