QB Bachmeier to join WR brother at Stanford
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Pete Thamel, ESPN
Bear Bachmeier, one of the top quarterbacks in the Class of 2025, has committed to play at Stanford, he told ESPN in a phone interview.
Bachmeier is the No. 6 dual-threat quarterback in the ESPN Junior 300 and is ranked No. 262 overall. He’ll be joining his brother, Tiger Bachmeier, a rising sophomore at Stanford who led true freshman Pac-12 wide receivers in both catches (36) and yards (409) last season, scoring three touchdowns.
Bear Bachmeier chose Stanford over Oregon, Arkansas and Michigan State. His offer sheet included Alabama, Notre Dame, Texas A&M and Michigan.
“Stanford is one of the top degrees in country,” Bachmeier told ESPN. “What Coach [Troy] Taylor’s background is, I have full belief and confidence that Stanford football is on the rise and will start winning ACC championships and compete for national championships.”
The 6-foot-2, 215-pound Bachmeier is entering his senior year at Murrieta Valley (California) High School having already thrown for 5,550 yards and 47 touchdowns.
He will become the third member of his family to play FBS football. His oldest brother, Hank, is a quarterback at Wake Forest who also has played at both Boise State and Louisiana Tech. His sister, Ella, is a heptathlete for the University of Redlands.
Bear Bachmeier told ESPN he plans to wear No. 47 as a quarterback in college. He said the idea was greenlighted by the Stanford staff, and he posed in the number on his recruiting visit. He said he’s worn that number since he started playing football at age 5 and likes to channel a fullback mentality when he takes off running.
“I wouldn’t want to get in front of me,” Bachmeier said. “I think I play like Josh Allen. I’m a passer first but can tuck the ball and go get extra yards.”
Through watching his brother thrive last season, Bachmeier said he saw both the connection the Stanford coaching staff has with the players and the off-field opportunities available through the university. He also saw firsthand the offensive innovation of Taylor and his staff, as he said development was a critical part of his college decision.
Bachmeier also admitted that playing with his brother was a big allure.
“It was a big influence,” Bear said of playing alongside his brother. “Him being there and getting first-hand experience through him to what really goes on. Also, it’s going to be cool as hell when I’m throwing touchdowns to him.”
Hank Bachmeier beamed with pride about his brothers uniting at Stanford. He said that Tiger is studying computer science, and with a chuckle, said that Bear, the extrovert of the family, wants to be President of the United States.
He recalled childhood games of hallway football and Bear Bachmeier being able to dribble a basketball between his legs at age 3. He joked about Bear walking around as a kid with a whiffle ball bat and asking strangers to pitch to him. (One more Bachmeier sibling, Buck, is in the pipeline, although he’s still just 14 years old.)
“Our bond is cool,” Hank Bachmeier told ESPN. “To be able to see these guys grow up. I don’t push these guys. They are incredibly disciplined, and to watch their journey, it makes me tear up. I’m so proud of them.”
Bear Bachmeier said he’s appreciative of all his siblings pushing him and hopes to carry on the family tradition.
“I think just blindly copying their work ethic and their intelligence and how they carry themselves,” Bachmeier said. “The youngest, in my opinion, is always going to be the best. It’s going to be great to keep the lineage going. I’m going for it all. I want to be the best Bachmeier.”
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
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Jorge Castillo, ESPN Staff Writer
Thirteen free agents received qualifying offers from their former teams Monday before free agency officially began at 5 p.m. E.T., sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Among those tendered the offer, which is a one-year, $21.05 million contract for the 2025 season:
The players have until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 19 to decide whether to accept the offer, which is calculated annually based on the mean average annual value of Major League Baseball’s 125 biggest contracts.
The most sought-after free agents have historically rejected the proposal to enter free agency in search of a multiyear contract. Just 13 of 131 players have accepted a qualifying offer since it was introduced following the 2012 season. Last year, all seven players presented the deal, valued at $20.325 million, turned it down.
Clubs can give a player a qualifying offer only if the player was with the team continuously from opening day and has never received a qualifying offer before.
Dodgers right-hander Walker Buehler, San Diego Padres outfielder Jurickson Profar, and Yankees second baseman Gleyber Torres were among the free agents not extended the qualifying offer.
Teams that lose a player who received a qualifying offer receive a compensation pick. Clubs that sign players who rejected the qualifying offer before the amateur draft the following year must surrender draft compensation and could also lose international bonus pool money. The possible penalties have not affected top-tier free agents’ earning potential, but they have hampered the market for midtier players.
Teams that surpassed the competitive balance tax line in 2024 and sign a player tied to a qualifying offer stand to lose their second- and fifth-highest picks in the upcoming amateur draft. They also lose $1 million from their international bonus pool. Revenue-sharing organizations lose their third-highest draft selection. The others lose their second-highest draft pick and $500,000 from their international bonus pool.
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