Bama RB McClellan (foot) questionable vs. UGA
-
Mark Schlabach, ESPN Senior Writer
Alabama coach Nick Saban said Sunday that leading rusher Jase McClellan is questionable to play against No. 1 Georgia in Saturday’s SEC championship game in Atlanta because of a left foot injury.
McClellan was injured in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s 27-24 victory at Auburn. He was using crutches and wearing a boot on his left foot late in the game. McClellan ran for 66 yards on 15 carries before he was hurt.
“He’s had a little foot injury all year long,” Saban said. “He tweaked it in the game, so he’ll be day to day this week. I can’t tell you how much progress he’ll make. Probably the next 48 hours will tell us whether he’ll make the kind of progress he needs to be able to practice and play in the game.”
McClellan, a senior from Aledo, Texas, leads the No. 8 Crimson Tide with 803 rushing yards with six touchdowns. He had 105 yards with one score in a 24-10 win against then-No. 15 Ole Miss and 115 yards with one touchdown in a 34-20 victory over then-No. 17 Tennessee.
Roydell Williams, a senior from Hueytown, Alabama, has 497 rushing yards with four touchdowns.
Meanwhile, Georgia coach Kirby Smart said All-American tight end Brock Bowers didn’t play in Saturday’s 31-23 victory at Georgia Tech because of soreness in his surgically repaired left ankle. Bowers, the team’s leading receiver with 51 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns, had TightRope surgery to repair a high sprain on his ankle Oct. 16.
“As far as last night, Brock was probably the closest to being able to go of those guys,” Smart said. “He just didn’t feel as good as he had, he’s a little sore. We wanted to be able to use him situationally or see what he could if he felt comfortable with it, and he just didn’t think that he could go.”
Bowers, the No. 4 prospect on ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s Big Board for the 2024 NFL draft, returned to action Nov. 11. He had three catches for 34 yards with one score in a 52-17 rout of Ole Miss. He had seven catches for 60 yards with one touchdown in a 38-10 win at Tennessee the next week.
“It was nothing about who we were playing or anything else,” Smart said. “He’s got to be able to go compete at a high level and be able to feel good about what he’s doing. We didn’t feel that he had that last night.”
Smart said staring guard Tate Ratledge (knee) could have played against the Yellow Jackets, but wouldn’t have been 100%. Injured receivers Ladd McConkey (ankle) and Rara Thomas (foot) are questionable to play against the Tide.
“As far as those other guys go, it’s going to be day to day,” Smart said. “We just don’t know anything.”
-
Ryan S. Clark
Chicago Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno will miss four weeks after injuring his hand Saturday in his team’s 3-2 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs, coach Jeff Blashill said.
Foligno, 38, suffered the injury with 90 seconds left in the second period when he was skating near the top of the Blackhawks’ defensive zone and Jake McCabe‘s shot on net deflected off Foligno’s hand.
Foligno immediately hunched over and favored his hand while skating back to the Blackhawks’ bench. Foligno, who did not return for the third period, finished with three shots on goal and logged 10:41 in ice time.
The absence of Foligno, who has six points in 15 games, means the Blackhawks will be without their fourth-line center who was anchoring a combination featuring Sam Lafferty and Landon Slaggert. His injury is also the second to impact the Blackhawks’ forward group with winger Jason Dickinson currently on injured reserve.
After finishing last season with the second-fewest points in the NHL, the Blackhawks (9-5-4) have emerged into one of the biggest surprises through the first quarter of the regular season. With their win against the Maple Leafs, they enter Sunday third in the Central Division and a point ahead of the Vegas Golden Knights and Seattle Kraken in the Western Conference wild-card race.
New Jersey Devils star Jack Hughes had successful surgery on his finger Saturday, the team announced. The expected recovery time is eight weeks, though he will be reevaluated in six weeks.
According to sources, Hughes injured his hand in a “freak accident” that involved getting cut by glass at a team dinner Thursday.
Hughes’ procedure was performed by Dr. Robert Hotchkiss at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
The 24-year-old was off to a terrific start for New Jersey, which is 12-4-1 and atop the Metropolitan Division entering Friday. The American-born star has 10 goals and 20 points in his first 17 games.
The injury will create an interesting predicament for Team USA ahead of the 2026 Olympics in Milan. Hughes’ brother, Quinn, has already been named to the team while the Devils star was expected to be a front-runner for the roster. Federations must submit rosters by Dec. 31. The Devils’ projected return-to-play timeline is around the second week of January. The Olympic men’s hockey tournament begins Feb. 11.
Olympic rosters feature 25 players, which is two more spots than teams had at Four Nations.
-
Ryan S. Clark
Center David Kampf signed a one-year contract with the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, just a day after the Toronto Maple Leafs terminated his previous deal.
Kampf, whose deal with the Canucks will carry a $1.1 million cap hit, was entering the third year of his four-year contract with the Maple Leafs that was worth $2.4 million annually.
The Leafs waived Kampf before the season, and he began the year with their AHL affiliate. Kampf played four games in the AHL before taking a voluntary leave of absence, which wasn’t sanctioned by the Leafs, to evaluate his options.
Kampf, who scored 5 goals and 13 points in 59 games last season, gives the Canucks a two-way center who has logged more than 110 short-handed minutes in seven straight seasons.
The Canucks have faced defensive challenges under first-year coach Adam Foote, who already has had to navigate injuries to Filip Chytil, Thatcher Demko, Derek Forbort, Filip Hronek and Quinn Hughes, among others.
Entering Saturday, the Canucks were allowing 3.53 goals per game, which is the fifth most in the NHL, while their penalty kill is the worst in the league at 66.1%. The Los Angeles Kings set the NHL record for the worst penalty kill in league history with a 68.2% success rate in the 1979-80 campaign.
Kampf also provides a veteran presence at center for the Canucks, who entered the season with questions at the position. Those concerns have intensified with Teddy Blueger and Chytil on injured reserve.
Entering Saturday, the Canucks (8-9-2) had the second-fewest points in the Pacific Division but were two points behind the Chicago Blackhawks and Winnipeg Jets for Western Conference wild-card spots.
-
Sports2 years agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports3 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Sports3 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment1 year agoHere are the best electric bikes you can buy at every price level in October 2024