‘Obnoxious’ trash-talker and faster than you’d think: What Georgia coach Kirby Smart was like as a player
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Alex Scarborough, ESPN Staff Writer
At 47 years old, despite two decades of wear and tear from coaching college football, Georgia’s Kirby Smart exudes a boyish enthusiasm on the sidelines. Following a hard-fought win at Auburn in late September, he grinned wildly while cheering on visiting fans dressed in red and black, tossing his visor into the crowd as he walked into the locker room to celebrate with his players.
In many ways, he hasn’t changed much from his days as a Georgia player. Same love for the game. Same boundless energy. Same haircut. Same school.
Defenders Smael Mondon and Javon Bullard weren’t alive when Smart arrived in Athens as a freshman defensive back in 1994. But they know the backstory. Mondon recalled watching a clip of Smart’s playing days during a team-building meeting in camp last summer. Bullard said they’ll occasionally dig up Smart’s old highlights on their own, texting them to mess with their coach.
Mondon said “every now and then” Smart will talk smack about how he could’ve hauled in an interception they missed.
“He’ll rub those picks in your face,” Bullard said, smiling.
Smart might be better known as one of the top coaches in college football now, armed with two national championship rings. But before that, he was one of the best players in the SEC.
Smart will coach Georgia in the Orange Bowl against Florida State on Saturday (4 p.m. ET, ESPN), but 25 years ago, he hauled in a league-best five interceptions on his way to first-team All-SEC during his senior season with the Bulldogs. And that was after leading the league with six picks as a junior.
In an effort to better understand Smart’s origins, ESPN spoke to more than a dozen former teammates and coaches. Together, they painted a picture of a brilliant, driven player who they suspected one day would make a great coach. In many ways he was already a coach on the field.
“Thirteen picks?” Bullard said of Smart’s final total, which still ranks in the top 10 at Georgia. “You can’t argue with that. Hell of a career, hell of a DB and one hell of a coach.”
Steve Dennis remembers the marching orders he got shortly after Georgia coach Ray Goff hired him to coach defensive backs in the winter of 1993. “You need to go down there to Bainbridge and check out this DB,” Goff told him. When he got there, Dennis didn’t think Kirby Smart was much of a physical specimen. He was only about 5-foot-11 and 180 pounds at the time. But Dennis found Smart to be quick and intelligent, and he liked that he came from a football family — the son of a longtime high school coach. “Hey,” Dennis told Goff, “I want to coach him.” Smart signed with the in-state Bulldogs and made a strong first impression.
Richard Seymour, Georgia defensive end (1997-2000) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: First of all, what I’d say is — and this is no slight to anyone — you don’t see a lot of white defensive backs, right? I mean, it just kind of stood out.
Corey Johnson, Georgia defensive back (1993-96): He didn’t have any muscle tone or anything like that. You would be like, “Man, is there somebody else at your high school that we really want? Or is your dad a coach and somebody owes him a favor? Like, why are you here?”
Glenn Ford, Georgia defensive back (1994-98): I used to cut his hair. I was pretty good with him, Paul Snelling, all those guys.
Matt Stinchcomb, offensive lineman (1995-98) and a member of the College Football Hall of Fame: [His hair] was actually a lot better in college. He’s let it poof out — but I don’t have enough hair to comment.
Ford: He won’t change it. [Laughs.] We used to cut a little bit more on the sides, but … I’m talking about it’s the same Charlie Brown haircut since we’ve been in school.
Dustin Luckie, linebacker (1995-98): He had the khaki shorts and the fraternity shirt, so it looked like just be a normal guy. But I want to get this straight: Even though Kirby didn’t look imposing, he was quite an athlete.
Stinchcomb: Let’s just speak plainly and dispense with all the faux — oh, he’s a heady player and tough over the middle and a good route-runner and a lunch-pail guy and a coach on the field and all that other garbage. He’s a white guy, so you wouldn’t think he would be that fast. But he was faster than people would’ve anticipated.
Champ Bailey, defensive back (1996-98) and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: The way he was built, you had to be some type of athlete. … You better be good at something. And he returned punts, and I’m like, nobody just goes back there and returns punts unless you are pretty good at it.
Johnson: He enrolled early, and he was just bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, just eager to learn, competitive. He was like a sponge. He wanted to hang around the older guys from both sides of the ball. I can remember him spending a lot of time with Brice Hunter and talking about the receiver side of the ball. He just wanted to touch on every angle that the game had. And that wasn’t really typical of a high school kid.
Brandon Tolbert, linebacker (1993-97): I thought I knew a little bit about football, but you could tell Kirby really knew a whole lot.
Ford: Very, very competitive. I don’t care what it was. It could be marbles, it could be debating. He wants to win ev-ery-thing.
Johnson: He’s still a high school kid and you are out there trying to go 7-on-7 and he would take his lumps. And he didn’t have to; it was not like any coaches were out there watching, but he wanted to get back out there because he wanted to get better. He wanted to be the best at what he did. He never shied away from jumping back up there and trying to apply the knowledge.
Seymour: He was always going to be in the right places. And I think as a safety, we knew he was well prepared. So just as a student of the game, obviously A-plus.
Joe Kines, defensive coordinator (1993-97): When he talked, his teammates listened. And he was fun to be around because he knew what he was talking about. He had been around [football] since he was in the fifth grade.
Bailey: He had a good time. He hung out with the guys. He was never one of those just always in a book.
Tolbert: He was very interested in what you had to say or what anybody had to say about it. He was dialed into that. And I think that helps him today.
Trey Sipe, defensive back (1993-97): He’s a fun guy, and the media never sees that because he’s always Mr. Serious and all that. He can take ribbing. And the group we had, he was one of the younger guys. But, buddy, he was witty and he could give it right back to you, dude.
Tolbert: I can’t remember if it was at lunch or breakfast, but [quarterback Mike Bobo] was just kind of messing around with him. Kirby forgot his napkin or something. He went back up there to get his napkin, and Bobo put a little hot sauce in his drink. He came back, took a sip of it, and I can’t remember exactly what Kirby said, but he jumped in him pretty good. I don’t think Mike ever did it again. Kirby’s got a pretty good vocabulary, so it’s probably one of those words.
Sipe: You couldn’t ever one-up him, man. He’d always have something in the back of his mind that he’d throw at you. You’re like, “Man, what in the world?”
Stinchcomb: He’s got a pretty active mind, a busy mind. Maybe it was him thinking about football or whatever, but it always seemed like there was something else running on his desktop, so to speak. Like, he could be sitting in class and be there in class and capturing whatever’s going on in class, but also have two or three other things that were occupying his thoughts.
Sipe: You definitely didn’t have to be around him very long to realize that he was a pretty smart cat.
Stinchcomb: I always hesitate when I talk about him as being a future coach because oftentimes it’s associated with guys that are out there just because they’re smart and maybe can anticipate and all that other stuff — that was all true — but in lieu of being a good athlete. But the guy was a good player. So even if he was half-witted, he was still a good football player. You could blitz him, he could get a quarterback on the ground. He’d come up and run support. He could play the ball in the air, and just the things that you would look for in a safety and could quarterback the back end and would.
Sipe: When he had a chance to shine, he did. I’ll never forget, we’re practicing, and they throw out the freshmen there to give us a look. It’s a live kickoff. Well, Kirby was back deep and he takes the dadgum thing all the way back for a touchdown. That’s when I knew. I was like, “This guy’s a little different, man.”
Chris Scelfo, offensive line coach (1996-98): He carried himself with this, as we say nowadays, swag. But it was just confidence because he knew what he was going to do every day. You got a consistent person every single day.
Stinchcomb didn’t mince words about what Smart was like in practice. “Obnoxious,” he recalled. “Because, yeah, he’s a talker.” Stinchcomb described Smart as “mouthy” and always “stirring it up.” And his recollection was shared by others. Johnson said Smart often boasted that he was faster than him, to which he’d reply, “Whatever, Kirby.” Ford said, “If he’s right, he’s going to let you know.” It was all in fun, though. Smart was able to talk to anyone about anything, which is how he established himself as a leader at an early age.
Seymour: One thing that stuck out to me was he was a great teammate on and off the field. I remember being a freshman in the lunchroom and him coming and sitting at my table and talking about football and life and his family and where he grew up. It was refreshing to get to know him. He was a football guy, and he was sold out for the game of football. But he understood how to bring people together.
Luckie: That’s his leadership skills. He was probably thinking, “We got to be a family,” and he took it upon himself.
Seymour: He had the ability to connect to everybody, and he was smart in how he did it. He was very natural. You know how when you’re talking to somebody and they’re not trying and just being themselves?
Tolbert: That’s why he is very good at recruiting today.
Seymour: And I thought he had a sense of accountability to his teammates to make sure that everybody is on the same page and have the same expectation level. So it created a sense of, you don’t want to let your brothers down.
Sipe: He’s highly competitive, and if there’s a breakdown, he’s going to let you know.
Ford: That was just who he was. And he was supposed to do that because he could see stuff that we couldn’t see.
Kines: I was walking down the hall one day early and I heard some racket and I thought, “Well, one coach is getting after them.” And I walked on down to the middle of the hall and I looked up, and it was Kirby and four to five defensive backs in there going over the practice tape from the day before.
Luckie: He was like an extra coach, man.
Kines: And you got to understand he wasn’t playing coach. If that were the case, it probably wouldn’t have been worth a dime.
Ford: They called him Smart the Dart; a news reporter gave it to him or something. But he had the right last name because he was smart. He could pick up defenses fast. But again, he was a coach’s son. So his football IQ was really high. Studying film and stuff, he already knew how to do that way beyond us because he had already been doing it with his dad.
Tolbert: He was very good at saying, “Hey, it’s a run,” or, “Watch a bootleg,” or, “Hey, watch the screen pass.”
Sipe: Kirby, he always knew.
Scelfo: After the first week of two-a-days when you put in your base plays, it’s hard to get anything going on offense because Kirby already knew it. It used to piss me off.
Ford: By our last year, it kind of got boring because we knew everything. So [Smart] would always come into the meeting room with the biggest bag of sunflower seeds so we wouldn’t go to sleep.
Luckie: When Coach Kines or someone got stumped, Kirby would help out. He would stump the Schwab sometimes and ask questions other people just weren’t asking. And then he would bring up some things that maybe weren’t thought about by the coaches when they were breaking film down. You could understand why they treated Kirby differently. They treated him like a coach because they knew that he put the work in. He was probably watching as much or more film than them. That’s just how he was cut.
Stinchcomb: He was a guy that definitely had an edge. He wasn’t for everybody, so to speak. How would I put it? I guess blunt is the best way, but that implies intent. It was less intent than being transparently honest. I think it was, “I could filter this, but what good would that do?”
Greg Williams, secondary coach/receivers coach (1996-2000): There were a couple of times where some of the guys weren’t carrying their load and they were having to do drills over again. He got right in a couple guys’ faces on that.
Ford: He could get up under your skin because he would say stuff that would touch you emotionally.
Stinchcomb: What I don’t want to convey is he was a jerk and he was running around spewing off, “You’re not that good.” That wasn’t it at all. But there were definitely times where it was like, “You know what? There’s no reason to mince it, so here it comes.”
Ford: I’d tell all the young guys, “That’s Kirby. If you’re listening to all the words he’s saying, you’re going to get lost. But listen to what he’s trying to tell you because he’s trying to put you in the best position to be successful.”
Seymour: A lot of people have passion, but if you can’t communicate effectively and have it resonate, it can sometimes fall flat. And he’s just the opposite.
Williams: Kirby can yell at somebody and it doesn’t alienate them. Now I’m different. If I yell at somebody, 50 percent of the time I’m alienating the guy.
Ford: Once that play was over, he was moving to the next one. And then you could make a play and he’d be the first one jumping on your back and congratulating you.
Seymour: I always remember him being in the huddle and talking about what was about to happen. As a young player, it was always refreshing for me to be around because now I started to not only just have the ability to play the game but have the ability to think the game too. So that’s what he gave me as a player.
Stinchcomb: What stood out to me even then was a willingness to speak plainly. He was not interested in comforting you with a lie. So if it wasn’t good enough, then it wasn’t good enough. And if it needed to change and it needed to change, and that was true even as a player. That’s not an easy tightrope to walk. That’s a really tricky one to walk, especially when you aren’t the best player in the backfield. And as soon as Champ Bailey set foot on campus, no one would’ve been.
Bailey: I will say my first impression as a teammate was, “Oh, this guy thinks he knows everything.” [Laughs.] Because he wouldn’t shut up. He always had something to say. He always had an opinion. But over time you realize, “Oh, he does know everything.”
Sipe remembered Smart’s debut, which included three sacks against South Carolina in the season opener of the 1995 season. But the team struggled to a 6-6 record, and Goff was fired. Coach Jim Donnan arrived, but he wasn’t the only new face that offseason. A young cornerback showed up and proved to be a generational talent, with Smart as his wingman.
Sipe: I remember the first practice that Champ [Bailey] was at as a true freshman and he was just dominating. I’ve never seen anything like that.
Seymour: Champ’s probably the best athlete that I’ve played with — high school, college or pro. He could do it all: offense, defense, special teams.
Williams: He was Travis Hunter before Travis Hunter.
In 1998, Bailey played more than 1,000 total snaps on offense, defense and special teams, including seven games with more than 100 snaps. A consensus All-American who finished seventh in the Heisman Trophy voting, he had 744 yards and five touchdowns receiving, 52 tackles and three interceptions on defense, and 261 yards on kickoff returns.
Bailey: [Smart] was my safety. The dynamics between the corner and the safety is your safety gets you lined up.
Ford: Our job was to make Champ not look bad. But Kirby, he was the field general.
Bailey: The guy just knew what the hell was coming, so I would always turn my ear to him. He constantly was the leader I gravitated to.
Sipe: Champ and Kirby had a real special bond. So unique. They hit it off well. Greatness knows greatness.
Bailey: [Smart] would always make comments to me that gave me the confidence that I was going to the NFL. Because he could see it. I remember we were playing Tennessee, we got our ass kicked, but I had to pick that game and he just kept saying little stuff, man. “Man, that’s a big league play. Man, the s— you’re doing today, that’s NFL-type stuff.” To have him in my ear just saying little s— like that, I didn’t understand what he meant until I look back now.
Sipe: Kirby did mentor Champ and helped him feel more comfortable. And I think things like that help Kirby decide, “You know what? I think I can be a pretty good coach if I decide to go this route in this profession.”
Seymour: They both helped one another compete at a high level.
Bailey: The mental side of the game and the preparation, I started getting a jump on that listening to guys like Kirby.
Seymour: Champ’s one of the best athletes of all time, and then you also pair that with him and Kirby always being on the same page. They were just a difficult tandem to go against and compete against for 60 minutes. I knew if we got pressure up front that those guys were going to be one of the ones that intercepted or knocked the pass down.
Williams: When he and Champ were on the same side, I would’ve thrown someplace else.
During their second year together — 1997 — things really clicked. Smart, after posting an interception in each of his first two seasons, became a magnet for the football. He would pick off six passes as a junior and five as a senior.
Seymour: He was a rangy guy. He could flip his hips and run. A lot of times you see a lot of defensive backs, they knock a lot of balls down, but the exceptional ones know how to intercept them and create turnovers.
Bailey: His stat line reveals that he was very much a ball hawk.
Ford: [Laughs.] I tipped about three of ’em to him, so he owes me some assist money.
Bailey: I remember in the end zone he jumped in front of me, took a pick from me. … If he knocked it down, we’d have a problem. So the argument for me is always short-lived because he caught the damn ball.
Scelfo: He made a great interception against Florida when we beat them for the first time in 10 years or so.
Donnan: It’d been so long since Georgia beat Florida and we finally put ’em away there my second year and we were like a 20-point underdog and he and Champ both I think got a pick in that game. All of us were so happy.
Ford: When we beat Florida, he was on all cylinders. He was making those calls, making the checks. “Hey man, watch him, he’s coming this way! Hey man, watch the inside!”
Dennis: Was he Champ Bailey? No. There’s no, “Oh there’s Champ Bailey.” No. “There’s Kirby.” He wasn’t going to Ronnie Lott you and knock your bells out, but he’s going to be at the right place.
Kines: On the goal line against Florida and it’s fourth down and inches to go. We stuck ’em all in there: the two corners got the two tight ends. And he lined up right over center. So they snap the ball, and we were fortunate enough to stop ’em. Everybody comes running off the field and going ballistic. So Kirby ran by me, and I said, “Kirby, who had that tight end?” He said, “Aw, Coach, if I were that smart, they would’ve scored on us.” Some guys might have done that out near midfield and turned someone loose and it would’ve ended with a touchdown. But Kirby had enough ball sense to know.
Sipe: One time we were in man coverage and he had gotten off of his man, and Peyton [Manning] threw him the ball. It was the weirdest thing. How did that just happen? You weren’t even covering your man and you did that. Kirby just peeled off his man, and then Peyton just threw it to him. I was like, “How in the world did you do that?”
But success was hard to come by against Tennessee overall. Smart never beat the Vols during his time at Georgia. Teammates recalled one particular game in which Smart was beaten badly by a then-young running back named Jamal Lewis, who wound up rushing for 232 yards. The next day, coaches replayed a clip, which showed Smart getting stiff-armed and whiffing on two other tackle attempts. “Son!” Kines said in his gravelly Southern accent. “I never seen anybody get run over three times on the same play!”
Ford: Jamal Lewis? Yeah …
Bailey: We got our asses kicked.
Luckie: Jamal was a man amongst boys. He was 245 pounds, running a 4.4. And they had a game plan for us. They were running it down our throats the whole time.
Johnson: I went back after I graduated and it was in the summertime and they were running hills. And I’ll never forget, I was standing at the top of the hill, and when he got up to the top of the hill it was like it was instant. [Smart] said, “Man, did you see the Tennessee game?” I said, “Yeah.” And he said, “How do you tackle Jamal?”
Williams: Kirby and Peyton Manning were friends because they had gone on several recruiting trips together. So when Kirby visited this school, it was the same time Peyton Manning had visited the school. Well, Kirby didn’t have such a good day up there in Knoxville. It was one of those days where you have ’em covered but Peyton Manning was throwing ’em in there. So the only way you’re going to stop that is to put him on the ground, and we weren’t putting him on the ground. So Kirby had a rough day and I didn’t think much of it. I talked to him a little bit after the game and told him, “Look, you did everything you could. Sometimes s— happens.” Well, the next morning, I came to work about 8:15 and he was sitting on the ground waiting for me right outside the building. In 43 years coaching, that was the only time a player ever waited for me.
Luckie: You can kind of see it on his face. “What could I have done a bit better to stop us from losing this game?” He did hate to lose. I wouldn’t say he was a bad sport, but you could just tell that he was extremely disappointed when we didn’t play the way we were supposed to play or he didn’t play the way he was supposed to play. He wasn’t one of those guys that was cracking jokes on the bus after we took a loss.
Bailey: He’s just a competitive dude, man. He loves to win, and I think the best thing happened to him was learning enough before he became the head coach.
Ford: That dude did everything 1,000 percent. A person in life, he’s supposed to maximize your talent. He came to practice every day and maximized his talent. I don’t remember one practice where he just didn’t give it his all. He loved the game inside and outside.
Bailey: He’s still the same person. [Laughs.] He’s a lot older and probably a lot wiser than he was back then, but I just still see that same type of individual — smart, understands the game, he’s a football guru. Football is his life.
Smart never heard his name called in the 1999 NFL draft. The Indianapolis Colts invited him to camp, but his tryout was short-lived.
Donnan: He went in there knowing it was going to be hard for him to play pro football. I mean, just like anybody, he had some skills and he had good speed, but it’s a tough road to make it in the NFL.
Tolbert: It’s a time where you’re like, “Holy cow. Everything’s kind of gone my way. I went through high school and then college and everybody’s told me what classes to take and what to eat and when to be at practice and all that.” Then all of a sudden that’s gone. But I think Kirby had a deep understanding of what he would be good at. And I think Kirby could have been good at a lot of different things. But I don’t think he could have found that love of football.
Kirby Smart, in a speech to the Terry College of Business in 2018: Peyton Manning’s out there torching me, beating me. I’m getting Marvin Harrison. I’m like, “Man, what am I doing?” I hadn’t seen this kind of speed come flying by me in forever. Well, Vic Fangio was the defensive coordinator. He called me and said, “You’re not going to make it, you know?” I had a guy come talk to me who said, “Will you go over to NFL Europe and play over here?” Which, if you go over to NFL Europe, you have to come straight back after a 12-game season and go straight into camp with the NFL team. I’d seen these guys that had just come from overseas and they were beat up, tired. I said, “Noooo, that’s not for me. I’m going straight into coaching.”
Donnan: His best friend was Mike Bobo. They were roommates and he came back to town. Mike was a GA for me and [Smart] just came over and said, “Hey Coach, I got cut.” And then I went up and talked to Coach Dooley. I said, “Look, can we just get some money for him to kind of live around here and help us? It’d be a big help.” And Coach Dooley helped me out on it. We didn’t have anything [available], but we created a position for him where he was kind of one of the first analysts back in 1999.
After one season as an off-the-field staff member under Donnan, new Valdosta State coach Chris Hatcher offered Smart a chance to coach closer to home in South Georgia. Smart stayed two seasons there before making the short trek over to Florida State as a graduate assistant. The following offseason, he connected with the man who, other than his father, would influence his career more than anyone: then LSU coach Nick Saban.
Kines: It’s like a recipe for a cake. Biscuits got flour and dough — that’s it. Put a little water in there, but that’s it. But then a cake’s got all this kind of stuff. And that’s what Kirby was. He had it all. He had all those ingredients that made him a little special. … I think what he learned from Coach Saban probably could be poured into the mixture and not left out. Kirby was always studying, learning, doing what he was supposed to do.
Ford: I don’t think he missed one place he was at. He hit the mark everywhere.
Tolbert: Kirby was very fortunate in that he jumped around a little bit early, but he was going around with Nick at LSU and in Miami. But then when they got to Alabama, he was there for 10 to 12 years.
Stinchcomb: He was sitting on the launchpad in Tuscaloosa for so long.
Ford: When he got with Coach Saban — they’re almost the same guy. [Laughs.] It just took him to another place. He learned some stuff from Coach Saban that made him who he is today. I know Coach Saban, and Kirby might be a little more over the top than Coach Saban. The way he practices, it’s harder. He’s on another level. He took what Saban did to another power. And it was already enough, but then he took it further.
Sipe: I thought when he got into college football, I was like, “Well, he’ll be great. He’ll do a great job.” But did I think he was going to take us to the national championships? I mean, that’s just amazing what he’s doing there. But yeah, it doesn’t surprise me. I mean, he’s a perfect fit for the University of Georgia. We’re lucky to have him. I tell my friends all the time, “Y’all better enjoy this, because this is the golden era of Georgia football. This is incredible, what’s going on right now.”
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Bradford Doolittle
Something has to change.
Of course, much has already changed since we last convened with our final preseason projections. But for each MLB team, playing five weeks of a new season will inevitably expose additional shifts that are needed. Every team, no matter how splendid or how dreadful the start, has something.
One thing the forecasts suggested that has borne out so far is the relative levels of stratification between the leagues. The National League, led by the champion Dodgers, looked top-heavy, and while not all of the teams we thought would make up that elite tier are a perfect match with the forecasts, the overall dynamic is very much one of dominance. Meanwhile, the American League figured to be a whole bunch of teams in spitting distance of break even, with little separation among the top 12-13 teams in the circuit.
How will these dynamics hold up until we Stock Watch again in June?
Each team’s ability, or lack thereof, to make the following changes might determine that.
Win average: 104.5 (Last: 102.4, 1st)
In the playoffs: 98.8% (Last: 97.7%)
Champions: 28.5% (Last: 28.4%)
What must change: Rotation health
There were actually some bumpy moments in the early weeks of the season for the Dodgers but nothing has happened to really knock them out of the favorite’s perch as we think ahead to late October. One thing that could change that is L.A.’s ever-growing injured list, especially its collection of 60-day IL assignments. For all the depth the Dodgers seemed to build up in their rotation over the winter, they’ve still gone with two bullpen games already. And this doesn’t even include Shohei Ohtani, who’s still building up so he can take his turns in the rotation. Given their recent history of starter injuries … maybe he shouldn’t? Including the two openers, the Dodgers have already had 10 different pitchers start games.
Win average: 96.0 (Last: 90.2, 3rd)
In the playoffs: 88.6% (Last: 73.5%)
Champions: 10.5% (Last: 6.0%)
What must change: Middle relief instability
There hasn’t been much to complain about with the Mets. Though New York hasn’t overtaken the Dodgers in the simulations from a going-forward perspective, the Mets have probably been the better team to this point. The Dodgers have the better winning percentage, but the Mets’ Pythagorean pace (109.7) is the National League’s best. With not much to nitpick about, the relief contingent in front of Edwin Diaz needs to coalesce a little more. Ryne Stanek has the pen’s second-highest average leverage index but has struggled, and the two top lefties (A.J. Minter and Danny Young) have already been lost to injury. Still, if this is a team’s biggest worry at the beginning of May, it’s in a good place.
Win average: 95.8 (Last: 84.3, 13th)
In the playoffs: 92.7% (Last: 51.2%)
Champions: 7.8% (Last: 1.5%)
What must change: Ninth-inning drama
The Cubs have mostly bludgeoned their opposition so far with a breakout offense that ranks among baseball’s best in pretty much every major category. Assuming Chicago won’t average over six runs per game all season, eventually its thin bullpen is going to move into the spotlight. The Cubs have blown seven of their first 15 save opportunities. Closer Ryan Pressly has managed to white-knuckle his way through most of his outings but has struck out fewer than four batters per nine innings, with more walks than K’s. Overall, Chicago’s relievers rank 28th in swing-and-miss percentage, underscoring the general lack of dominance in that unit. The Cubs have been strong in every other facet but for them to establish themselves as a true front-runner, the relief leaks will need to be shored up.
Win average: 93.7 (Last: 83.0, 16th)
In the playoffs: 91.7% (Last: 41.2%)
Champions: 10.1% (Last: 1.8%)
What must change: Shortstop play
You hate to pick on Trey Sweeney, who accounts for most of Detroit’s starts at shortstop, but there just aren’t many shortcomings for the Tigers so far. No team has improved its forecast more since the start of the season. Detroit is now landing a No. 1 playoff seed more often than any other AL team in the simulations, though the Yankees’ pennant odds are still a tick better because of a higher baseline. (New York has a lower regular-season win forecast because of schedule differences.) Sweeney hasn’t hit (.234/.317/.355)* and the Tigers’ shortstop defensive rating, per FanGraphs, ranks 20th. It’s the most obvious blemish on what is shaping up as a pristine season in Detroit.
* These numbers were .202/.282/.303 entering Sunday, but Sweeney must have had spies watching over my shoulder. Against the Angels, he went 4-for-5 with a homer and six RBIs. That’s more like it.
Win average: 92.9 (Last: 84.5, 12th)
In the playoffs: 76.9% (Last: 44.4%)
Champions: 4.0% (Last: 1.8%)
What must change: Lineup depth
The Padres are off to a great start, largely on the strength of a bullpen that has been off the charts. The relievers have racked up 14 saves (they’ve blown only one) and 27 holds while compiling a collective 1.73 ERA. Those numbers are both unbelievable and unsustainable. When some regression sets in, a top-heavy lineup will need to get production from spots like catcher (21st in OPS) and left field (27th) to offset the difference. We kind of knew this was how the Padres were constructed, but still — San Diego has given too many plate appearances to too many players in what we’ll call the post-productive phases of their careers.
Win average: 91.4 (Last: 84.3, 13th)
In the playoffs: 85.4% (Last: 46.8%)
Champions: 8.1% (Last: 2.5%)
What must change: First base production
Generally speaking, the more specific the issue we choose to worry about, the better off the team. For Seattle, the primary concern the past couple of years has been more wide-lens than specific: offense. For now, that problem has apparently been largely solved. The Mariners’ offense has been one of the hottest in baseball and over the past couple of weeks, with its hitters even managing to mash at T-Mobile Park. So rather than worrying about the offense, writ large, we can point out that at first base, the Rowdy Tellez–Donovan Solano combo is mostly responsible for Seattle’s .518 OPS (tied for 29th in MLB) at the position. This projected to be a major hole before the season, so the chances of self-correction are limited. Now, the stakes are higher to shore up the weak spots, since the Mariners have emerged as the early front-runner to win the AL West.
Win average: 90.8 (Last: 88.7, 5th)
In the playoffs: 84.5% (Last: 68.3%)
Champions: 9.3% (Last: 6.5%)
What must change: Rotation depth chart
For a first-place team, there is plenty to worry about when it comes to the Yankees. They’ve had the best position player (Aaron Judge, by far) and arguably the best pitcher (Max Fried) in baseball. The relief staff has dealt with the struggles of demoted closer Devin Williams, but the bullpen still ranks sixth in relief ERA and with only 14% of inherited runners scoring. But the rotation has been below average (4.07 ERA and only eight quality starts) despite Fried’s great beginning. Even worse, with Gerrit Cole out for the season and Luis Gil and Marcus Stroman currently on the shelf, it’s not immediately clear how this is going to get better. This issue might really start to mushroom if and when Fried regresses from his hot start.
Win average: 90.3 (Last: 89.2, 4th)
In the playoffs: 66.2% (Last: 68.9%)
Champions: 4.1% (Last: 4.8%)
What must change: Slumping stalwarts
The Phillies’ roster was constructed on star power, not depth, and while that has worked well enough the past few years, they need the stars to produce. The “it’s still early” caveat applies, but so far, Bryce Harper hasn’t hit like Bryce Harper, Alec Bohm‘s production has gone missing, Aaron Nola just earned his first win but remains under league average (91 ERA+) and key bullpen acquisition Jordan Romano has gotten shelled. If the Phillies don’t want to lose sight of the front-running Mets in the NL East race, they’ll need their main cogs to start firing.
Win average: 89.7 (Last: 79.9, 20th)
In the playoffs: 59.7% (Last: 24.6%)
Champions: 2.5% (Last: 0.6%)
What must change: Team batting average
The Giants have inserted themselves into a top-heavy NL postseason chase that they didn’t figure to be a part of when the season began. The pitching and defense has been stellar, but the offense hasn’t kept up. San Francisco ranks eighth in walks percentage but 24th in batting average. That can work in a take-and-rake general approach to offense, but the Giants are only middle of the pack in homers. Since they aren’t very athletic and rarely steal bases, this leads to uneven production. The Giants can hang in contention with a league-level batting average, but they simply don’t hit enough homers to do so if they continue to hover around .230. That puts the onus on low-average hitters such as Matt Chapman (.198), LaMonte Wade Jr. (.141, ouch) and Willy Adames (.230 and now four homers after hitting two on Sunday) to up the ante.
Win average: 87.1 (Last: 87.1, 8th)
In the playoffs: 44.2% (Last: 58.4%)
Champions: 1.7% (Last: 3.0%)
What must change: Bullpen health
In what’s shaping up as a historically good NL West (save for the Rockies), little problems can quickly become big ones. For the Diamondbacks, a shiny start has lost its luster a bit as they have battled bullpen problems in both the performance and health categories. The unit scuffled badly during a 5-9 stretch, posting a 5.61 collective ERA while blowing six of 10 save opportunities. Closer A.J. Puk (elbow) is on the 60-day IL and Justin Martinez (shoulder) hit the 15-day IL after two concerning outings with diminished velocity. Both are expected to help later this season but for that to matter, the likes of Kevin Ginkel, Shelby Miller and Ryan Thompson need to step up in high-leverage spots.
Win average: 86.8(Last: 88.7, 5th)
In the playoffs: 66.6% (Last: 68.7%)
Champions: 3.7% (Last: 5.4%)
What must change: Homer count
It has been a mixed bag for the Astros. Hunter Brown has been one of the game’s best pitchers and Josh Hader is having a vintage season at the back of the bullpen. The relief staff, in general, has been strong. But the lineup has been below average with a lack of power at the root of the issue. No Astro has homered more than four times and Houston ranks 21st in home run and overall slugging percentage. It’s an issue up and down the lineup but things would look a lot more promising if Christian Walker and Yordan Alvarez were going deep at their usual rates.
Win average: 86.7 (Last: 96.5, 2nd)
In the playoffs: 43.5% (Last: 91.1%)
Champions: 2.2% (Last: 14.4%)
What must change: IL roster
An 0-7 start threatened to sink the Braves’ season before it began. They recovered — nearly climbing to .500 at one point — but they have a lot of work to do. Hopes that the Braves can still reach their ceiling hinge on the longed-for returns of Spencer Strider and Ronald Acuña Jr. In the meantime, they need underperforming stalwarts such as Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, Chris Sale and Raisel Iglesias to hit their stride. Atlanta can’t keep plodding along under .500 in this year’s NL while waiting for its stars to get healthy, but if the Braves can stay above water until then, they might be able to really take off. Considering what we’ve seen so far, the fact that they won’t see the Dodgers again during the regular season certainly helps.
Win average: 83.6 (Last: 84.6, 11th)
In the playoffs: 47.4% (Last: 48.8%)
Champions: 1.3% (Last: 2.3%)
What must change: Outfield production
The Royals’ offense, in general, has been missing, with only Bobby Witt Jr. producing all season. But the outfield ranks 29th in bWAR as a group — the continuation of a problem that hovered over the roster last season. MJ Melendez was sent to the minors to find himself. His initial results in Omaha suggest he’ll be searching for some time. Hunter Renfroe has produced less than a good-hitting pitcher. Mark Canha has helped in a big role and Drew Waters has had some nice moments. But the Royals need some stable offense from the corner outfielders, making this a must-get as the trade deadline starts to loom.
Win average: 82.9 (Last: 77.7, 22nd)
In the playoffs: 40.9% (Last: 19.0%)
Champions: 0.9% (Last: 0.5%)
What must change: Emmanuel Clase
You figured the Guardians’ bullpen would fall off a bit after last season’s off-the-charts showing. That has happened even though set-up relievers Cade Smith and Hunter Gaddis have been every bit as good as they were in 2024. No, the problem has been a mystifying start by Clase, who has already given up more runs (11) than he did all of last season (10). He already has won four games, matching a career high, but of course that’s not necessarily a good sign for a closer. Clase’s dominance was the biggest differentiator on last year’s team. The 2025 squad, which has been outscored by 23 runs despite a 20-14 record, needs him to approximate that performance.
Win average: 82.8 (Last: 84.1, 15th)
In the playoffs: 43.6% (Last: 45.6%)
Champions: 1.8% (Last: 2.5%)
What must change: Bullpen depth
Despite an elite offense, the Red Sox have hovered around .500 because of a thin bullpen. The relievers have blown as many saves (eight) as they’ve converted and only one team has seen a higher rate of inherited runners score. Closer Aroldis Chapman has been fine, but he hasn’t had enough situational help. Boston ranks in the middle of the pack with a 4.11 relief ERA and its 10 holds are tied for the fewest of any bullpen. The rotation has been solid, but it’ll need more support to remain that way.
Win average: 81.9 (Last: 87.1, 8th)
In the playoffs: 38.1% (Last: 61.0%)
Champions: 1.1% (Last: 5.2%)
What must change: The offense
Even after an eight-run outburst against the division-leading Mariners on Sunday, Texas ranks 29th in run scoring. Only the Rockies have scored fewer. It’s a stunning turnaround for an offense that kept scoreboards spinning in 2023 on the way to a World Series title. Last year’s falloff was steep, and based on what we’ve seen so far, hopes for positive regression are fading. Adolis Garcia is having another down season. Marcus Semien is below replacement. And the key additions from the winter — Joc Pederson and Jake Burger — have hurt more than they’ve helped. Pederson is hitting a remarkable .094 with a .334 OPS, and Burger (.561) was sent to the minors. Not good. The Rangers’ brass has taken note: Offensive coordinator Donnie Ecker, who was with the club during its 2023 run, was fired after Sunday’s game.
Win average: 79.5 (Last: 85.1, 10th)
In the playoffs: 25.7% (Last: 52.4%)
Champions: 0.7% (Last: 2.7%)
What must change: Carlos Correa
For once, we don’t have to cite the availability of the Twins’ stars as their primary problem. That’s still an issue, too, as Royce Lewis has yet to make his season debut — but the larger problem has been the star who has stayed on the field, Correa, is off to a miserable start. He’s hitting .216 with a lone homer and a .560 OPS to begin the season, hamstringing a Twins lineup that has struggled. Everything is off, even Correa’s plate discipline, as he has walked at a rate less than half his career norm. The Twins need more to turn around than just Correa, but no one else on the roster has fallen as far below expectation as he has.
Win average: 79.4 (Last: 82.9, 17th)
In the playoffs: 25.0% (Last: 39.2%)
Champions: 0.6% (Last: 1.6%)
What must change: Powerless stars
After the formerly punchless Royals hammered seven homers in Baltimore on Sunday, the Blue Jays sank to last in the majors with 23 homers. The power trio of Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Anthony Santander and Bo Bichette have hit nine of those dingers between them — and that’s just not enough. Guerrero will be fine. Bichette has recovered most of the batting average he lost during last year’s .225 season, but he has homered only once. This is a player in his age-27 season who topped 20 homers in each season from 2021 to 2023. Finally, Santander has flailed during his first Toronto season, hitting four homers with a 67 OPS+. This can’t continue if the Jays are to contend.
Win average: 79.1 (Last: 79.9, 20th)
In the playoffs: 11.4% (Last: 28.9%)
Champions: 0.1% (Last: 0.5%)
What must change: The pitching
The Brewers are built to win on pitching and defense. Every year, they overperform their projections because of an organizational ability to find, or produce, quality pitchers. But so far, they just haven’t found enough of them in 2025. The overall run prevention has been off. In the first season after Willy Adames’ departure, the team defense has been more decent than elite. The rotation has received good work from Freddy Peralta, Jose Quintana and upstart Chad Patrick, but the falloff after that has been steep. Brandon Woodruff might return to the mix soon and that will certainly help. More troubling is Milwaukee’s normally airtight relief staff, which has struggled to finish games and strand inherited runners.
This all needs to turn around — and fast. With the Cubs emerging as a potential powerhouse in the NL Central, being an above-average team is no longer the bar to clear in the division. And it’s unlikely the Central’s second-place club is going to have a chance at a wild-card slot — not in this league.
Win average: 78.8 (Last: 80.3, 19th)
In the playoffs: 22.3% (Last: 27.1%)
Champions: 0.5% (Last: 0.8%)
What must change: Home-field disadvantage
No matter what happened, this was going to be a strange season for the Rays. Playing in a minor league facility owned by a division rival was going to take some getting used to. The problem for the Rays is that they need to get used to it quickly, because of a schedule heavy on early home games. When the Rays depart for a six-game trip on June 8, they will have played nearly twice as many games in Tampa (43) as on the road (22). That means, of course, that the Rays will have a road-heavy schedule after that, which would be fine if the Rays were playing well at George M. Steinbrenner Field — but they aren’t. When the Rays return to Florida on Tuesday, they’ll be 9-13 at their temporary venue. With a lot more games in Tampa coming up, it’s an issue they need to fix fast. If they don’t, they’ll be looking at an uphill battle for playoff contention, and most of those hills will be confronted away from home.
Win average: 78.8 (Last: 75.9, 23rd)
In the playoffs: 10.6% (Last: 14.6%)
Champions: 0.2% (Last: 0.2%)
What must change: Lead protection
The Reds might be good. The pitching staff (122 ERA+) ranks third in the NL. The rotation and the bullpen have contributed even though presumed closer Alexis Diaz floundered so badly that he was sent to the minors. Emilio Pagan has been OK in Diaz’s place, but he’s better suited for set-up work. Diaz’s trouble started last season, so it’s hard to say where his trajectory is headed. Recently recalled Luis Mey has electric stuff, but he’s unproven and prone to lapses of command. However it happens, manager Terry Francona needs someone to step up to lock down the ninth because the overall pitching is contention-worthy. The lineup … well, it’s another reason why the Reds can’t afford back-of-the-bullpen inconsistency.
Win average: 77.5 (Last: 73.5, 26th)
In the playoffs: 16.1% (Last: 8.4%)
Champions: 0.2% (Last: 0.1%)
What must change: The defense
This is shaping up as an exciting first season in Sacramento for the Athletics. The offense has been productive and looks legit, especially if rookie Nick Kurtz hits the ground running. The pitching is going to be more of a scramble, but what would help if the Athletics could field. They rank last or second to last in the leading defensive metrics. Only the Red Sox have committed more errors. Some teams can overwhelm opponents by favoring offense over defense at most positions, but the Athletics aren’t likely to be one of them. Key spots to shore up are second base and third base, positions that aren’t producing at the plate, either, so at the very least the Athletics could favor a glove.
Win average: 76.8 (Last: 81.0, 18th)
In the playoffs: 6.4% (Last: 33.9%)
Champions: 0.1% (Last: 0.7%)
What must change: Ryan Helsley
The Cardinals are perfectly mediocre, owning a run differential that has hovered around break even. Their record is a little worse than the expectation the so-so differential portends, largely because of a 4-5 record in one-run games — two of those coming in Sunday’s doubleheader against the Mets. This is not exclusively because of Helsley, but he has not been on his game so far with two blown saves in seven chances and walking nearly as many batters as he has struck out. The strikeout and walk rates are alarming, as they reflect what Helsley was early in his career before he ascended to All-Star status. If the mediocre Cardinals are going to do better than middling, they need their star closer to help them close out more than their share of close games. The kicker, though, is that if the Cardinals go into offload mode, this version of Helsley isn’t going to look nearly as alluring in the trade marketplace.
Win average: 75.7 (Last: 88.0, 7th)
In the playoffs: 11.7% (Last: 64.7%)
Champions: 0.2% (Last: 5.9%)
What must change: Right-handed hitting
No team has lost more from its preseason projection than Baltimore, so it’s very difficult to boil it down to one big thing. The problem with right-handed hitting could also be framed as a problem with hitting left-handed pitchers. The Orioles rank fifth with a .774 OPS against righties but are dead last against lefties (an anemic .502). Their righty hitters (Tyler O’Neill, Jordan Westburg, Gary Sanchez, et al.) are hitting a collective .200/.261/.319. This of course comes after the Orioles moved in the left-field fence at Camden Yards over the winter. How’s that going? Opposing righty hitters have a .972 OPS there, while their Baltimore counterparts are at .586. The visitors have outhomered Baltimore’s righty swingers 20-8 at Oriole Park.
Win average: 70.5 (Last: 67.7, 27th)
In the playoffs: 0.9% (Last: 1.9%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
What must change: Dylan Crews
The Nationals are competitive already and often fun to watch. Actual contention seems like a longshot, though, especially given the current state of their bullpen. Still, the more long-term questions the Nationals can answer in the affirmative, the better they will be able to set themselves up for a real push in 2026. At some point, infield prospect Brady House should join the big league fray. Until that happens, eyeballs remain on Crews, the touted second-year player whose MLB career has sputtered at the beginning. Crews looked lost early, going 5-for-47 with zero extra-base hits to start. Then came a two-week splurge with four homers and a 1.026 OPS over 13 outings. He’s 1-for-21 since. More than anything, Crews needs to get off the roller coaster and enjoy a nice, prolonged run of good, solid consistency.
Win average: 66.8 (Last: 73.8, 25th)
In the playoffs: 0.9% (Last: 8.9%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.1%)
What must change: Roster make-up
What do I mean by “roster make-up”? Remember the glory days of April 12, when L.A. was 9-5 and it seemed its floor-raising project from the winter was going to work? Since then, the Angels have a minus-65 run differential, 14 runs worse than any other team and, yes, that includes the Rockies. And also, Mike Trout is back on the injured list. The Angels are in the bottom five in OPS, ERA and defensive runs saved. This incidentally isn’t a tanking team. So how to change the roster makeup? Maybe just go young and lose big? The losing might happen anyway and, besides, what the Angels are doing now is not working.
Win average: 66.0 (Last: 74.2, 24th)
In the playoffs: 0.2% (Last: 10.4%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.1%)
What must change: Oneil Cruz‘s defense
According to baseball-reference.com, Cruz’s offense has been nine runs better than average, once you combine his hitting (.243/.377/.505 with eight homers) and baserunning (14 steals). His defensive performance in center field is minus-9 runs, erasing all of that offensive value. His bWAR (0.5) is a product of accounting — positional value and replacement value. Cruz is now minus-12 in fielding runs over the past two seasons in center. His career figure at shortstop was minus-9. Given his speed and arm strength, wherever Cruz plays, this cannot continue to happen. For all that athletic ability and offensive output, to this point he’d have produced almost as much value as a DH.
Win average: 63.6 (Last: 62.9, 28th)
In the playoffs: 0.1% (Last: 0.4%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
What must change: Sandy Alcantara‘s command
It’s great to have Alcantara back after Tommy John surgery. But so far, he has been a little tough to watch. It’s often said that command lags behind stuff for many surgery returnees, and that certainly seems to be the case for the 2022 NL Cy Young winner. His walk ratio (5.9 per nine innings) is more than double his career norm and his strikeout rate (15.8%) is the lowest of his career. Alcantara threw strikes nearly 69% of the time during the three years before he was injured; this season he’s at 62%. His velocity isn’t quite all the way back either, but he’s still averaging 97.4 mph with his fastball. He’s just not putting it where it needs to be.
Win average: 54.9 (Last: 54.1, 30th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
What must change: Fan patience
To paraphrase Timothée Chalamet, now ain’t the time for your tears, Sox fans. That was last year. The White Sox are the team nearest to me — less than two miles from my keyboard — so I get a good sampling of fan feedback as I get out and about, plus plenty from the local media. This isn’t a scientifically-informed observation, but it feels as if many are missing the point. The White Sox tore the team down to the studs — last year — and this is the aftermath. The bounce-back was never going to be immediate. This year’s team stinks, sure, but it’s playing a much better brand of baseball than it did last year. There are players on the roster now who might be around for awhile and more are on the way. The rebuild isn’t even 20% complete and another 100-plus losses is a near certainty, but things are better. They had to be. Watching a team come together required patience, but it’s better than what White Sox fans dealt with a year ago.
Win average: 44.6 (Last: 57.1, 29th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 0.1%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
What must change: Everything
The Rockies’ saves leader (Zach Agnos with two) has struck out one of the 26 batters he has faced. Their wins leader (Chase Dollander, a legitimately exciting prospect) has a 6.48 ERA. The team OPS+ is 62. Their leader in plate appearances (Ryan McMahon with 136) has an OPS of .574. Did the Rockies tear down? If so, how long have they been rebuilding? It’s really hard to make sense of the last half-decade or so of this franchise, and at this point, there seems to be no relief on the horizon. They did change hitting coaches.
With the final game of the first round of 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs completed Sunday night, there’s no rest for hockey fans. The second round begins Monday.
The first series to get rolling features the two remaining teams from the Atlantic Division, as the Florida Panthers visit the Toronto Maple Leafs (8 p.m. ET, ESPN).
Read on for a game preview with statistical insights from ESPN Research, a recap of what went down in Sunday’s game and the three stars of the first round from Arda Öcal.
Matchup notes
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs
Game 1 | 8 p.m. ET | ESPN
ESPN BET has installed the Panthers as the favorites in the series at -175, while the Maple Leafs are +150 to win the series against the defending Stanley Cup champions.
The Panthers won the regular-season series 3-1 by an aggregate score of 13-7. A major factor in those four games was the Panthers’ power play, which converted five of 11 chances (45.5%). For comparison, the Leafs’ power play converted only one of nine opportunities (11.1%).
This is the second time these clubs have met in the postseason; the other time was also the second round in 2023. Florida eliminated Toronto in five games, punctuated by an overtime win in Game 5. (Nick Cousins scored the goal.)
Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Steven Lorentz and Anthony Stolarz won the Stanley Cup with the 2024 Panthers. The only previous playoff series in NHL history in which three players dressed against a team with which they won a Cup during the previous season was when Los Angeles Kings teammates Wayne Gretzky, Mike Krushelnyski and Marty McSorley skated against the Edmonton Oilers in 1989.
The Panthers have won more playoff games (39) since 2021 than they did in their first 26 seasons (19). Their 39 wins and 66 games played in the postseason since 2021 lead the NHL.
Florida’s postseason goal-scoring leaderboard features current players through the top four spots: Carter Verhaeghe (28), Sam Reinhart (23), Aleksander Barkov (20), Matthew Tkachuk (20).
This is the Leafs’ ninth straight postseason appearance, which is the longest active streak in the NHL and tied for the second longest in franchise history. That other nine-year streak ended in 1967 with a Stanley Cup win.
Toronto captain Auston Matthews is tied with Darryl Sittler for seventh in franchise history in playoff goals, with 25. His next goal will push him into a tie for fifth, with Steve Thomas and George Armstrong. Wendel Clark is atop the leaderboard, with 34.
Arda’s three stars from Round 1
Rantanen had 12 points in the first round to help the Stars eliminate his former team the Avalanche. He had multiple Stanley Cup playoff firsts along the way, including the first Game 7 with a third-period hat trick (“The Rantanen Game”).
McDavid put the team on his back many times during the series against the Kings, especially early. He finished with 11 points in the series, as the Oilers sent the Kings home in the first round for the fourth straight season.
The netminder allowed two goals or fewer in four of the Caps’ five games against the Canadiens, earning a .922 save percentage.
Sunday’s score
Winnipeg Jets 4, St. Louis Blues 3 (2OT)
WPG wins 4-3, plays DAL in Round 2
The Blues raced out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first period — on goals by Jordan Kyrou and Mathieu Joseph — and many thought this could be another bad playoff memory for Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck. Though the Jets got one back in the second off the stick of Cole Perfetti, Blues center Radek Faksa scored with under a minute left in the period, giving them a 3-1 lead heading into the third.
St. Louis carried that lead into the final two minutes, when the Jets furiously rallied; Vladislav Namestnikov scored at 18:04, and Perfetti deflected in the game-tying goal with three seconds remaining. The teams fought hard through the first 36 minutes of OT, before Adam Lowry tipped Neal Pionk‘s shot from the point past Jordan Binnington for the series-clinching tally. Full recap.
0:35
Jets score tying goal in final seconds of regulation
Cole Perfetti knocks in the tying goal for the Jets with one second remaining in regulation.
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Andrea Adelson
ORLANDO, Fla. — Scott Frost walks into the UCF football building and into his office, the one he used the last time he had this job, eight years ago. The shades are drawn, just like they used to be. There are drawings from his three kids tacked to the walls. There are still trophies sitting on a shelf.
He still parks in the same spot before he walks into that same building and sits at the same desk. The only thing that has changed is that the desk is positioned in a different part of the room.
But the man doing all the same things at the University of Central Florida is a different Scott Frost than the one who left following that undefeated 2017 season to take the head coach job at Nebraska.
UCF might look the same, but the school is different now, too. The Knights are now in a Power 4 conference, and there is now a 12-team College Football Playoff that affords them the opportunity to play for national championships — as opposed to self-declaring them. Just outside his office, construction is underway to upgrade the football stadium. The same, but different.
“I know I’m a wiser person and smarter football coach,” Frost said during a sit-down interview with ESPN. “When you’re young, you think you have it all figured out. I don’t think you really get better as a person unless you go through really good things, and really bad things. I just know I’m where I’m supposed to be.”
Out on the practice field, Frost feels the most at home — he feels comfort in going back to the place that has defined nearly every day of his life. As a young boy, he learned the game from his mom and dad, both football coaches, then thrived as a college and NFL player before going into coaching.
He coaches up his players with a straightforwardness that quarterbacks coach McKenzie Milton remembers fondly from their previous time together at UCF. Milton started at quarterback on the 2017 undefeated team, and the two remained close after Frost left.
“I see the same version of him from when I was here as a player,” Milton said. “Even though the dynamic in college football has changed dramatically with the portal and NIL, I think Coach Frost is one of the few coaches that can still bring a group of guys together and turn them into a team, just with who he is and what he’s done and what he’s been through in his life. He knows what it looks like to succeed, both as a coach and a player.”
Since his return, Frost has had to adjust to those changes to college football, but he said, “I love coming into work every day. We’ve got the right kids who love football. We’re working them hard. They want to be pushed. They want to be challenged. We get to practice with palm trees and sunshine and, we’re playing big-time football. But it’s also just not the constant stress meat grinder of some other places.”
Meat grinder of some other places.
Might he mean a place such as Nebraska?
“You can think what you want,” Frost said. “One thing I told myself — I’m never going to talk about that. It just doesn’t feel good to talk about. I’ll get asked 100 questions. This is about UCF. I just don’t have anything to say.”
Frost says he has no regrets about leaving UCF, even though he didn’t get the results he had hoped for at his alma mater. When Nebraska decided to part ways with coach Mike Riley in 2017, Frost seemed the best, most obvious candidate to replace him. He had been the starting quarterback on the 1997 team, the last Nebraska team to win a national title.
He now had the coaching résumé to match. Frost had done the unthinkable at UCF — taking a program that was winless the season before he arrived, to undefeated and the talk of the college football world just two years later.
But he could not ignore the pull of Nebraska and the opportunities that came along with power conference football.
“I was so happy here,” Frost said. “We went undefeated and didn’t get a chance to win a championship, at least on the field. You are always striving to reach higher goals. I had always told myself I wasn’t going to leave here unless there was a place that you can legitimately go and win a national championship. It was a tough decision because I didn’t want to leave regardless of which place it was.”
Indeed, Frost maintains he was always happy at UCF. But he also knew returning to Nebraska would make others happy, too.
“I think I kind of knew that wasn’t best for me,” he said. “It was what some other people wanted me to do to some degree.”
In four-plus seasons with the Cornhuskers, Frost went 16-31 — including 5-22 in one-score games. He was fired three games into the 2022 season after a home loss to Georgia Southern.
After Frost was fired, he moved to Scottsdale, Arizona, where his wife has family. He reflected on what happened during his tenure with the Cornhuskers but also about what he wanted to do with the rest of his career. He tried to stay connected to the game, coaching in the U.S. Army Bowl, a high school all-star game in Frisco, Texas, in December 2022. Milton coached alongside him, and distinctly remembers a conversation they had.
“He said, ‘It’s my goal to get back to UCF one day,'” Milton said. “At that time, I was like, ‘I pray to God that happens.'”
If that was the ultimate goal, Frost needed to figure out how to position himself to get back there. While he contemplated his future, he coached his son’s flag football team to a championship. Frost found the 5- and 6-year-olds he coached “listen better than 19-year-olds sometimes.”
Ultimately, he decided on a career reboot in the NFL. Frost had visited the Rams during their offseason program, and when a job came open in summer 2024, Rams coach Sean McVay immediately reached out.
Frost was hired as a senior analyst, primarily helping with special teams but also working with offense and defense.
“It was more just getting another great leader in the building, someone who has been a head coach, that has wisdom and a wealth of experience to be able to learn from,” McVay told ESPN. “His ability to be able to communicate to our players from a great coaching perspective, but also have the empathy and the understanding from when he played — all of those things were really valuable.”
McVay said he and Frost had long discussions about handling the challenges that come with falling short as a head coach.
“There’s strength in the vulnerability,” McVay said. “I felt that from him. There’s a real power in the perspective that you have from those different experiences. If you can really look at some of the things that maybe didn’t go down the way you wanted to within the framework of your role and responsibility, real growth can occur. I saw that in him.”
Frost says his time with the Rams rejuvenated him.
“It brought me back,” Frost said. “Sometimes when you’re a head coach or maybe even a coordinator, you forget how fun it is to be around the game when it’s not all on you all the time. What I did was a very small part, and we certainly weren’t going to win or lose based on every move that I made, and I didn’t have to wear the losses and struggle for the victories like you do when you’re a head coach. I’m so grateful to those guys.”
UCF athletics director Terry Mohajir got a call from then-head coach Gus Malzahn last November. Malzahn, on the verge of finishing his fourth season at UCF, was contemplating becoming offensive coordinator at Florida State. Given all the responsibilities on his desk as head coach — from NIL to the transfer portal to roster management — he found the idea of going back to playcalling appealing. Mohajir started preparing a list of candidates and was told Thanksgiving night that Malzahn had planned to step down.
Though Frost previously worked at UCF under athletics director Danny White, he and Mohajir had a preexisting relationship. Mohajir said he reached out to Frost after he was fired at Nebraska to gauge his interest in returning to UCF as offensive coordinator under Malzahn. But Frost was not ready.
This time around, Mohajir learned quickly that Frost had interest in returning as head coach. Mohajir called McVay and Rams general manager Les Snead. They told him Frost did anything that was asked of him, including making copies around the office.
“They said, ‘You would never know he was the head coach at a major college program.” Mohajir also called former Nebraska athletic director Trev Alberts to get a better understanding about what happened with the Cornhuskers.
“Fits are a huge piece, and not everybody fits,” Mohajir said.
After eight conversations, Mohajir decided he wanted to meet Frost in person. They met at an airport hotel in Dallas.
“He was motivated,” Mohajir said. “We went from coast to coast, talked to coordinators, head coaches, pro guys, all kinds of different folks. And at the end of the day, I really believe that Scott wanted the job the most.”
The first day back in Orlando, Dec. 8, was a blur. Frost woke up at 3:45 a.m. in California to be able to make it to Florida in time for his introductory news conference with his family.
When they pulled into the campus, his first time back since he left in 2017, Frost said he was in a fog. It took another 24 hours for him and his wife, Ashley, to take a deep exhale.
“Rather than bouncing around chasing NFL jobs, we thought maybe we would be able to plant some roots here and have our kids be in a stable place for a while at a place that I really enjoyed coaching and that I think it has a chance to evolve into a place that could win a lot of football games,” Frost said. “All that together was just enough to get me to come back.”
The natural question now is whether Frost can do what he did during his first tenure.
That 2017 season stands as the only winning season of his head coaching career, but it carries so much weight with UCF fans because of its significance as both the best season in school history, and one that changed both its own future and college football.
After UCF finished 13-0, White self-declared the Knights national champions. Locked out of the four-team playoff after finishing No. 12 in the final CFP standings, White started lobbying for more attention to be paid to schools outside the power conferences.
That season also positioned UCF to pounce during the next wave of realignment. Sure enough, in 2023, the Knights began play in a Power 4 conference for the first time as Big 12 members. This past season, the CFP expanded to 12 teams. Unlike 2017, UCF now has a defined path to play for a national title and no longer has to go undefeated and then pray for a shot. Win the Big 12 championship, no matter the record, and UCF is in the playoff.
But Frost cautions those who expect the clock to turn back to 2017.
“I don’t think there’s many people out there that silly,” Frost said. “People joke about that with me, that they’re going to expect you go into undefeated in the first year. I think the fans are a little more realistic than that.”
The game, of course, is different. Had the transfer portal and NIL existed when Frost was at UCF during his first tenure, he might not have been able to keep the 2017 team together. The 2018 team, which went undefeated under Josh Heupel before losing to LSU in the Fiesta Bowl, might not have stayed together, either.
This upcoming season, UCF will receive a full share of television revenue from the Big 12, after receiving a half share (estimated $18 million) in each of his first two seasons. While that is more than what it received in the AAC, it is less than what other Big 12 schools received, making it harder to compete immediately. It also struggled with NIL funding. As a result, in its first two years in the conference, UCF went 5-13 in Big 12 play and 10-15 overall.
Assuming the House v. NCAA settlement goes into effect this summer, Mohajir says UCF is aiming to spend the full $20.5 million, including fully funding football.
“It’s like we moved to the fancy neighborhood, and we got a job that’s going to pay us money over time, and we’re going to do well over time, but we’re stretching a little to be there right now, and that requires a lot of effort from a lot of people and a lot of commitment from a lot of people,” Frost said. “So far, the help that we’ve gotten has been impressive.”
Mohajir points out that UCF has had five coaching changes over the past 10 years, dating back to the final season under George O’Leary in 2015, when the Knights went 0-12. Frost says he wants to be in for the long term, and Mohajir hopes consistency at head coach will be an added benefit. Mohajir believes UCF is getting the best of Frost in this moment and scoffs at any questions about whether rehiring him will work again.
“Based on what I’m seeing right now, it will absolutely work,” Mohajir said. “But I don’t really look at it as ‘working again.’ It’s not ‘again.’ It’s, ‘Will it work?’ Because it’s a different era.”
To that end, Frost says success is not recreating 2017 and going undefeated. Rather, Frost said, “If our group now can help us become competitive in the Big 12, and then, from time to time, compete for championships and make us more relevant nationally, I think we’ll have done our job to help catapult UCF again.”
You could say he is looking for the same result. He’s just taking a different route there.
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