UW’s DeBoer expects ‘smooth’ jump to Big Ten
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Heather Dinich, ESPN Senior Writer
The College Football Playoff national championship game between No. 1 Michigan and No. 2 Washington will be a sneak preview of two future Big Ten opponents, as the Huskies will join the 18-team superconference in August, and Washington coach Kalen DeBoer said on Wednesday there’s already plenty of familiarity with their new home.
Washington and Oregon will join the Big Ten in 2024 along with USC and UCLA, which will make the conference the biggest in the country.
“Our staff has a lot of ties and connections, both to the Midwest and the Big Ten, whether it be coaching there in the Big Ten, or just from that region of the country,” DeBoer said when asked on a CFP teleconference about recruiting for the Big Ten. “I think it will be a transition that will be pretty smooth for us that way. We have lot of familiarity with the type of football they play, the different styles of each program.
“We still have to keep our footprint in the West Coast, but we won’t be afraid to venture off and find the right fit, the guys we have contacts with, head coaches, and we’re very familiar recruiting already,” he said. “There’s certainly a lot that we already feel we have in this program that fits well with what can compete well in the Big Ten.”
In 2019, DeBoer was on Indiana‘s staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, where he met quarterback Michael Penix Jr. They helped guide the Hoosiers to an 8-5 record and a berth in the Gator Bowl. IU’s eight wins that season matched their highest win total in 26 seasons, and the Hoosiers ranked No. 3 in the Big Ten in total offense.
In 2020, after DeBoer left IU to become the head coach at Fresno State, Penix Jr. beat Michigan during the COVID-19-ravaged season. He threw for 342 yards and three touchdowns in the Hoosiers’ 38-21 win against the Wolverines, but he said it won’t be a factor in his preparation or mindset heading into the national title game.
“I don’t remember much, I just remember winning, really,” Penix Jr. said. “It’s a totally different ball game. But I’m always confident in myself and this team and the preparation that our coaches give going into each game.”
Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh hasn’t forgotten how good Penix Jr. is.
“He’s a super great player,” Harbaugh said. “My impressions of him when he played at Indiana were the same. Big-time arm talent, tremendous presence in the pocket, sees the field really well. He is so polished. Watching him and his accuracy, his decision-making, timing. He has really just continued to have this tremendous presence of going through progression, feels pressure, will drop it off to a checkdown. Yeah, it’s at an elite level.”
That’s why Harbaugh said he’s thinking “more about the here and now” than playing Washington more regularly as a future conference opponent. The two teams will play again on Oct. 5 this fall in Seattle.
“They’re an outstanding football team,” Harbaugh said, “just a very one-track mind of today, getting our team prepared, get them back moving around, but also schematically onto what Washington does and preliminary plans for putting in our game plan.”
In addition to establishing itself as the best team in the country on Monday night, Washington also has a chance to set the bar for preseason expectations as a member of the Big Ten by knocking off the undefeated conference champs.
“Physically, you get to this point in a playoff, you’re facing the best of the best,” DeBoer said. “Obviously we’ll learn more about that when we step on the football field against them and where we match up as far as being the best in the Big Ten as well.”
Hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski is a National League All-Star replacement, giving the Milwaukee Brewers right-hander a chance to break Paul Skenes‘ record for the fewest big league appearances before playing in the Midsummer Classic.
Misiorowski was named Friday night to replace Chicago Cubs lefty Matthew Boyd, who will be unavailable for the All-Star Game on Tuesday night in Atlanta because he is scheduled to start Saturday at the New York Yankees.
The 23-year-old Misiorowski has made just five starts for the Brewers, going 4-1 with a 2.81 ERA while averaging 99.3 mph on his fastball, with 89 pitches that have reached 100 mph.
If he pitches at Truist Park, Misiorowski will make it consecutive years for a player to set the mark for fewest big league games before an All-Star showing.
Skenes, the Pittsburgh Pirates right-hander getting ready for his second All-Star appearance, had made 11 starts in the majors when he was chosen as the NL starter for last year’s All-Star Game at Texas. He pitched a scoreless inning.
“I’m speechless,” said a teary-eyed Misiorowski, who said he was given the news a few minutes before the Brewers’ 8-3 victory over Washington. “It’s awesome. It’s very unexpected and it’s an honor.”
Misiorowski is the 30th first-time All-Star and 16th replacement this year. There are now 80 total All-Stars.
“He’s impressive. He’s got some of the best stuff in the game right now, even though he’s a young pitcher,” said Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, who is a starting AL outfielder for his seventh All-Star nod. “He’s going to be a special pitcher in this game for a long time so I think he deserved it and it’s going be pretty cool for him and his family.”
Carlos Rodón, Carlos Estévez and Casey Mize were named replacement pitchers on the AL roster.
The New York Yankees‘ Rodón, an All-Star for the third time in five seasons, will replace teammate Max Fried for Tuesday’s game in Atlanta. Fried will be unavailable because he is scheduled to start Saturday against the Chicago Cubs.
In his final start before the All-Star game, Rodón allowed four hits and struck out eight in eight innings in an 11-0 victory over the Cubs.
“This one’s a little special for me,” said Rodón, an All-Star in 2021 and ’22 who was 3-8 in his first season with the Yankees two years ago before rebounding. “I wasn’t good when I first got here, and I just wanted to prove that I wasn’t to going to give up and just put my best foot forward and try to win as many games as I can.”
The Kansas City Royals‘ Estévez replaces Texas’ Jacob deGrom, who is scheduled to start at Houston on Saturday night. Estévez was a 2023 All-Star when he was with the Los Angeles Angels.
Mize takes the spot held by Boston‘s Garrett Crochet, who is scheduled to start Saturday against Tampa Bay. Mize gives the Tigers six All-Stars, most of any team and tied for the franchise record.
Royals third baseman Maikel Garcia will replace Tampa Bay‘s Brandon Lowe, who went on the injured list with left oblique tightness. The additions of Estévez and Garcia give the Royals four All-Stars, matching their 2024 total.
The Seattle Mariners announced center fielder Julio Rodríguez will not participate, and he was replaced by teammate Randy Arozarena. Rodríguez had been voted onto the AL roster via the players’ ballot. The Mariners, who have five All-Stars, said Rodríguez will use the break to “recuperate, rest and prepare for the second half.”
Arozarena is an All-Star for the second time. He started in left field for the AL two years ago, when he was with Tampa Bay. Arozarena was the runner-up to Vladimir Guerrero Jr. in the 2023 Home Run Derby.
Rays right-hander Drew Rasmussen, a first-time All-Star, is replacing Angels left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who is scheduled to start Saturday night at Arizona. Rasmussen is 7-5 with a 2.82 ERA in 18 starts.
San Diego added a third NL All-Star reliever in lefty Adrián Morejón, who replaces Philadelphia starter Zack Wheeler. The Phillies’ right-hander is scheduled to start at San Diego on Saturday night. Morejón entered the weekend with a 1.71 ERA in 45 appearances.
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — Former White Sox lefty Mark Buehrle was forever immortalized inside Rate Field as the team unveiled a statue in his honor Friday.
Buehrle, 46, played 16 years in the majors, including the first 12 with the White Sox, who he helped win a World Series in 2005. He won 214 games and pitched 200 innings or more in 14 consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2014.
“I can’t put it into words,” Buehrle said after the unveiling. “You don’t play the game for any of this. You never think of number retirements or statues. I can’t even wrap my head around it. It doesn’t make sense.”
The statue is an action shot of him throwing a pitch.
His wife and kids were in attendance and helped pull off the cover to unveil the statue while his 2005 teammates looked on. The event kicked off a weekend reunion for the World Series team which went 11-1 in the postseason, beating the Houston Astros in four games to take home the title.
Buehrle was a five-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner, finishing fifth in Cy Young voting in 2005.
“Well-deserved,” former right fielder Jermaine Dye said of the statue. “Great teammate. Great leader. Definitely someone you want on a ballclub to lead a pitching staff.”
The White Sox rotation — led by Buehrle — threw four complete games in the ALCS against the Boston Red Sox in 2005, missing a fifth complete game by two-thirds of an inning. It’s an unheard of accomplishment in today’s game since starters infrequently go the distance.
Besides being an innings-eater on the mound, Buehrle was a fast worker — a favorite trait of his catcher, A.J Pierzynski. And he wasn’t someone who threw a lot of different pitches. He caught it and threw it without much input from behind the plate.
“He was fast,” Pierzynski said. “We had Jermaine Dye calling pitches from right field some games. We did come crazy things you wouldn’t recommend to people to do nowadays.”
Buehrle is a notoriously low-key guy who hates the spotlight but even he was moved by the team’s decision to honor him with a statue, which joins former slugger Harold Baines in the right-field concourse.
“I joked with him when I saw him,” Dye said. “I told him ‘Man it takes you getting a statue to get you out of the house.'”
Buehrle added: “I was literally nervous as can be today. This is not my comfort zone but by no means am I taking it lightly. This is incredible.”
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