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  • Bradford Doolittle, ESPN Staff WriterDec 21, 2024, 06:05 PM ET

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      • MLB writer and analyst for ESPN.com
      • Former NBA writer and analyst for ESPN.com
      • Been with ESPN since 2013

If you could name one player in the history of baseball who was the Platonic ideal of a leadoff hitter, who would you name?

Rickey.

Even today, 21 years after Rickey Henderson’s last big league appearance and as the news of his death just four days before his 66th birthday reached us, that first name is likely the immediate response to the question. That’s your answer whether you’re a Gen Xer who was a child when Henderson broke in with the Oakland Athletics, or a Gen Zer who was a child when he played his last game for the Los Angeles Dodgers 25 years later.

Rickey. If you have even a passing knowledge of baseball history, that name is all you need to answer the question. The name encapsulates so much.

Set aside for a second everything you know (or think you know) about Henderson as a one-of-a-kind personality and just consider what he was on the field. There, too, he was singular, and not just because he threw left-handed and batted righty.

For every team, the leadoff hitter is one of the most important roles on the roster — and it was a role Henderson played better than anyone before or since.

What Rickey did

Think of the crucial traits you want in a leadoff hitter: getting on base, stealing bases and scoring runs. Let’s take them in order.

1. Getting on base.

Henderson is one of just 63 players to retire with a career on-base percentage over .400. Only three players reached base more times than his career total of 5,343: Pete Rose, Barry Bonds and Ty Cobb.

Henderson started 2,890 games during his quarter century in the majors. He batted leadoff in 2,875 of those games. Rose was a leadoff hitter for the majority of his career, but he also started more than 1,100 games in other spots. Bonds started off as a leadoff hitter but is much better known for what he did further down in the lineup. Cobb started just 29 games in the leadoff slot.

In other words, no leadoff hitter has ever gotten on base more often than Henderson.

And of course, there was no player who you wanted to keep off the bases more, because he did so much damage once he was there.

2. Stealing bases.

Steals is the category that will likely always be most associated with Henderson. He’s the all-time leader in single-season steals (130 in 1982) and the career leader (1,406). That career total is almost right at 50% above the second-highest mark, Lou Brock’s 938.

It’s hard to describe how we looked at Henderson during his apex in the 1980s, a decade in which he swiped 838 bags. It almost felt like he had broken baseball. Perhaps the perfect example of this: July 29, 1989, when Henderson was playing for Oakland and facing Seattle, with future Hall of Fame lefty Randy Johnson starting for the Mariners. Henderson played the full game and did not record an official at-bat. Instead, he walked four times, stole five bases and scored four runs.

Every walk felt like at least a double but perhaps a triple; so did every single. The geometry of the sport felt inadequate to accommodate his ability. You can’t help but wonder how many bases Henderson might steal now, with the new set of steal-friendly rules in place.

Let’s say a long-ball hitter dominated the home run category over his peers the way Henderson did the stolen base column. That slugger would have finished with around 1,143 homers — or 1.5 times the final tally for Bonds.

When Henderson broke Brock’s all-time mark in 1991, he still had more than a decade left in his career. He finished that season, his age-32 campaign, with 994 steals. From age 33 on, he tacked on another 412, a total which by itself would rank 68th on the career list.

With so many things Henderson did, the scope of it all now takes on an air of mythology, because he did it so well for so long. Henderson first led the American League in steals with 100 swipes in 1980; he was 21. He last led the AL in steals in 1998 with 66 — when he was 39.

3. Scoring runs.

Despite all those stolen bases, and all those times on base, Henderson likely still saw those things as a means to his ultimate goal for any trip to the plate: scoring.

In 2009, around the time of his induction to the Hall of Fame, Henderson told reporters, “To me the most important thing was stirring things up and scoring some runs so we could win a ballgame.”

No one scored more runs. His 2,295 times crossing the plate is the record, 50 more than Cobb and 68 more than Bonds. Only eight players have ever cracked the 2,000-run barrier. The active leader — the Dodgers’ Freddie Freeman, who has played 15 years in the majors — is at 1,298, nearly 1,000 shy of the mark. It’s a staggering figure.

What Rickey meant

For much of his career, a lot of what Henderson did beyond stealing bases was underappreciated. He played so long that he was around to see perceptions of baseball value shift more than in any time in the sport’s history, but during most of his years, batting average earned more attention than on-base percentage, and RBIs held sway over runs.

The illustration of this came in 1985, when Henderson batted leadoff for a Yankees team that featured that year’s MVP, Don Mattingly. It might have been Henderson’s best overall season: He hit .314 while drawing 99 walks, stealing 80 bases, clubbing 24 homers and scoring 146 runs — his career high, a figure tied for the fourth-highest total of the integration era.

If current analytical practices were in place then, Henderson would have been the likely AL MVP, as his 9.9 bWAR total led the AL (and dwarfed that of Mattingly, who won the award with 6.5). Henderson finished third in a hotly contested race among himself, Mattingly and George Brett.

Mattingly’s 145 RBIs likely won the votes he needed for that award, but he wouldn’t have reached that total without Henderson in front of him: Donnie Baseball drove in Rickey 56 times that season. Henderson did win an MVP award in 1990 — but he probably should have won one or two more.

Eventually, the analytics caught up with Henderson’s greatness, and there are few who would dispute his stature at this point. We have WAR at our disposal now, and Henderson’s total of 111.1 is the 19th highest in the history of a sport that dates to 1871 — without a doubt, among the very best who ever put on a uniform.

Still, he was more than his numbers. For legions of Gen X baseball fans, especially those on the West Coast, he represents childhood. Whether it was the mere act of stealing a base or imitating his sleek, low-slung, head-first slide into the bag, he was one of those players you would pretend to be on the sandlot. He was one of those players you wished you could be.

If you were of that generation, you were about 10 years old when he arrived in Oakland in 1979. By the time he finally left the majors — not of his own volition, as Henderson would have played on and on if it were up to him — you were in your mid-30s, with adult responsibilities and virtually no memory of Major League Baseball without Rickey.

Henderson was almost without antecedent, the only real historical comparison being the legendary Cool Papa Bell of the Negro Leagues. Whatever you might think of Henderson given his quirky and often misinterpreted public persona, the man knew his history. He would sometimes use “Cool Papa Bell” as an alias when checking into a hotel.

My favorite anecdote about Henderson might be apocryphal, at least in that I have no way to verify it. But it’s harmless, so I’ll pass it along. There’s something beautiful in imagining it to be true.

A few years ago when I was in Cooperstown, I was chatting with a man who kept a boat on one of the docks of Otsego Lake, which spreads away from the bottom of the hill on which Cooperstown resides.

The man told me that during the weekend on which Henderson was inducted, Rickey approached him and asked how much it would cost to be taken out in the man’s boat. They agreed to a price and headed out. Henderson was “dressed to the nines” and wearing wraparound sunglasses.

The unlikely pair went out into the water a ways, then stopped. Henderson sat there looking back at the village, home to baseball’s immortals, arrayed along the hillside. He didn’t speak. Just looked, swaying with the water. After a few minutes, Henderson asked to be taken back to shore. That was it. The man had no idea what Henderson was thinking about during those minutes.

That was in 2009, four years after Henderson played his last season in independent ball in 2005. For the 39 years before that, since his pro career began in the minors in 1976 when he was 17, he did it his way, which was the perfect way.

In doing so, he became more than a player, but an archetype. Rickey, the leadoff man. No one will ever be more suited for a role on the baseball field than he was for that job. And no one is likely to ever do it better.

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ESPN Football Recruiting – 300 Player Rankings

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April 9, 2025

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ESPN Football Recruiting - 300 Player Rankings

RK PLAYER POS HOMETOWN HT WT STARS GRADE SCHOOL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Auburn’s Freeze ‘at peace’ with cancer diagnosis

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April 9, 2025

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Auburn's Freeze 'at peace' with cancer diagnosis

  • Chris LowApr 8, 2025, 08:53 PM ET

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

AUBURN, Ala. — About three months after his second straight losing season at Auburn, Hugh Freeze found out in February that he had prostate cancer.

“At the time, the only thing you hear is that ‘C’ word,'” Freeze told ESPN on Tuesday.

Admittedly rattled, and more scared for his family than anything else, Freeze has since settled on a course of treatment, and after getting some encouraging news recently from doctors that his form of cancer was low aggressive, he has decided to wait until January and let doctors reexamine his situation instead of having surgery.

“I’m only 55. We’re a family of faith, and I just didn’t feel like it was time to rush into surgery,” Freeze said. “I’m at peace with it.”

The same goes for his football team as Freeze enters his third season on the Plains. He’s by no means content with the results the past two seasons — and neither is he naïve about the lack of patience within the realm of SEC football — but Freeze was outspoken when he arrived that it would take three full recruiting classes to get Auburn back into championship contention. His first two have both been top-10 classes nationally.

“I think it’s as settled as we’ve been as a program, the continuity of our staff, the pieces of our staff that we’ve added and what we’ve been able to do in building our roster in high school recruiting and in the portal,” Freeze said. “Now, we’ve got to go compete and win some more games, but I don’t feel any sense of panic.

“We’re on our way to getting where we want to be and where we should be.”

Auburn last had a winning season in 2020, when it was 6-5, and has won more than eight games only twice (2017 and 2019) since playing for the national championship in 2013. The Tigers finished 5-7 last season.

Freeze said the support and commitment from Auburn chancellor Christopher Roberts and athletic director John Cohen couldn’t be stronger, and in the world of name, image and likeness, Auburn is going all-in on locking in key players financially. The payroll for the 2025 roster will exceed $20 million.

One of the key acquisitions was quarterback Jackson Arnold, who transferred from Oklahoma. Arnold was ESPN’s No. 2-ranked dual-threat quarterback prospect in the 2023 signing class, but he was benched for part of last season after some early struggles.

“One hundred percent, I needed a reset,” Arnold said. “It was just time to move on. I needed to go to a place where I was going to put myself in a better position. I’m never going to say anything bad about OU or any of the people there, but it just wasn’t a fit. And as the season went on, maybe it was them losing confidence in me or whatever, but I never doubted that I could play at this level and win at this level.”

Arnold said it was especially important to him to play for an offensive-minded head coach and one with a history of coaching and developing quarterbacks. Freeze said he plans to call the majority of the plays this season (although new offensive coordinator Derrick Nix might call some), and Freeze said he will spend more time with the quarterbacks on the practice field this fall.

“[Quarterbacks coach] Kent Austin is great,” Freeze said. “From fundamentals and coverage recognition and all that, he’s better than I am, but I think it’s vital that they’re hearing my thoughts, and I just think this fall it would be even more vital that Jackson is hearing my thoughts.”

As spring practice winds down this week for Auburn, Arnold said his rapport with the receivers grows stronger every practice. And for Freeze, he said he has seen a “monumental difference” in the receivers, particularly with the addition of transfers Eric Singleton Jr. from Georgia Tech and Horatio Fields from Wake Forest.

“We’ve got more depth, and there’s a maturity factor, too,” Freeze said. “I know quarterbacks take the brunt of the deal, but there were times that [last year’s starter] Payton [Thorne] was ready to pull the trigger on something that should have been there and we didn’t run the right depth of a route or the right route.”

Cam Coleman, who averaged 16.2 yards per catch and had eight touchdown receptions a year ago as one of the more heralded true freshman receivers in the country, said his emphasis has been more consistency. He said the entire receiving corps has taken on a leadership role to push each other and hold each other accountable, which wasn’t necessarily the case a year ago.

“Every receiver brings something different to the table, and our identity is we’re going to catch anything and everything, by any means as possible,” Coleman said. “That’s no matter if we make the quarterback look good or the quarterback makes us look good. We’re going catch the ball and make things happen.”

Singleton’s speed should complement Coleman’s ability to win one-on-one battles down the field, and Malcolm Simmons is equally explosive. He returns for his sophomore season after catching 40 passes last season. The 6-3 Coleman said he’s up to 205 pounds.

“Good luck. That’s all I can tell anybody trying to cover him,” Singleton said of Coleman.

Arnold said his role is to come in and “play point guard” and that Freeze also likes his ability to extend plays. The Tigers struggled mightily to score last season. They finished 14th in the SEC in scoring offense (19.1 points per game) and were 13th in third-down conversions, while scoring just six rushing touchdowns in eight SEC games. But they did move the ball on offense and finished second in the league in yards per play (6.67 yards). Three of their seven losses last season were by a touchdown or less.

What plagued the Tigers were crippling turnovers, coming up empty on key third downs and not being able to finish drives — or even make field goals. They were 8-of-17 on field goal attempts in SEC play, but the good news is that regular kicker Alex McPherson is back after missing almost the entire past season a with gastrointestinal issues.

“We’re all in this together, and I know for a fact these coaches believe in me and they know I can do it, and in turn, I’ve been able to play a lot more,” Arnold said. “Mistakes are going to happen. No one’s going to be perfect, but my confidence is really high right now. I’m playing free and just being myself.”

Even with the cancer diagnosis, Freeze has also felt a sense of freedom. His players have seen it up close and personal.

“He’s out here every day, and it gives the whole team the sense that he cares, and that whatever he’s going through, he’s going to push through,” junior defensive end Keldric Faulk said. “It gives us the confidence to just ride behind him.

“The only difference I see is that he’s brought way more energy, and it’s contagious to the whole team.”

Freeze would tend to agree that his cancer diagnosis has helped him to narrow his focus, although life as an SEC head football coach tends to have that effect naturally.

“I don’t know. I think as much as anything it’s just been a reminder that every day is a gift, and man, I’m going to give my best to these kids, my family and our fans,” Freeze said. “That’s what I should be concerned about.”

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Northwestern working to settle hazing lawsuits

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April 9, 2025

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Northwestern working to settle hazing lawsuits

  • Adam RittenbergApr 8, 2025, 10:53 AM ET

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      College football reporter; joined ESPN in 2008. Graduate of Northwestern University.

Northwestern is finalizing settlements with former athletes who filed hazing-related lawsuits against the university and former coach Pat Fitzgerald, whose $130 million wrongful termination lawsuit against the school is set to go to trial in November.

In a motion filed last week, requesting a continuation of the trial date in Fitzgerald’s claim, Northwestern stated it recently began mediation with the athletes that resulted in an undisclosed settlement currently being finalized. Northwestern said athlete plaintiffs “will be witnesses in the ongoing litigation” involving Fitzgerald.

“While the terms of the provisional settlement are confidential, we intend to continue to work through the remaining outstanding issues to finalize a settlement that will hopefully allow both sides to move forward in a positive way,” attorneys Patrick Salvi and Parker Stinar, who are representing some of the former football players, said in a statement.

Fitzgerald’s attorneys on Tuesday said Northwestern’s motion for continuation was denied, and that the trial date for his case remains set for Nov. 3. They have repeatedly requested earlier trial dates so that Fitzgerald, fired in July 2023 for cause, can return to coaching college football.

“Coach Fitzgerald committed no wrongdoing,” Fitzgerald’s attorneys Dan Webb and Matthew Carter said in a statement. “Despite extensive written and testimonial discovery, there remains no evidence to show or suggest that Coach Fitzgerald was aware of any hazing at Northwestern. The discovery has thus confirmed what Northwestern said through President Michael Schill both before and after Coach Fitzgerald’s termination: that there is no evidence that Coach Fitzgerald was aware of any hazing.”

Dozens of former athletes filed hazing-related lawsuits against Northwestern and Fitzgerald in 2023 and 2024. They cited sexualized acts and other troubling rituals that occurred during Northwestern’s preseason training camp and at other times.

In last week’s filing, Northwestern said that after repeated requests, attorneys representing the athletes responded Jan. 29, noting that 81 athletes had relevant information. Northwestern said it had conducted six depositions and has 33 more scheduled, and has identified 40 former athletes to be witnesses in its defense against Fitzgerald’s claim, as well as non-plaintiffs “identified as having information related to the hazing and other conduct in the football program during Fitzgerald’s tenure.”

The school requested the continuation so it could finish depositions with athletes and depositions or document requests with approximately 70 “third-party” individuals identified as having relevant information, including many who live outside of Illinois.

Northwestern fired Fitzgerald three days after announcing a two-week offseason suspension for the coach, following the completion of a university-commissioned investigation into allegations of hazing from a sole football player in late 2022. The investigation found that hazing had occurred in the program but that there was no evidence Fitzgerald knew about what had happened.

The player went public with his allegations to The Daily Northwestern and then ESPN, and Schill ultimately fired Fitzgerald amid significant backlash. Fitzgerald had led the program since 2006 as is Northwestern’s all-time winningest coach and a two-time national defensive player of the year at linebacker.

Fitzgerald filed his lawsuit in October 2023, claiming that Northwestern violated a verbal contract by firing him for cause, after agreeing to the suspension following the conclusion of its own investigation. He also claimed Northwestern and Schill violated his written contract. He’s seeking $68 million that remained on his contract, which ran through 2030, as well as future earnings losses of approximately $62 million. Fitzgerald has been a volunteer assistant for his son’s high school team but has not re-entered college coaching.

“Coach Fitzgerald has proven himself a staunch advocate of student well-being, including consistently emphasizing a zero-tolerance policy on hazing,” Webb and Carter’s statement reads. “He implemented and maintained some of the strongest anti-hazing programs and policies in collegiate sports.”

They added that every Northwestern player signed a hazing policy form before being allowed to practice, and that his actions to prevent hazing were “fully integrated” into the program.

“He continues to assert that Northwestern illegally terminated his employment, violated an oral contract, and defamed him, causing significant damage to his sterling reputation,” the attorney statement reads.

Former Northwestern offensive coordinator Mike Bajakian also sued the school for defamation and spreading false information in the wake of the hazing scandal. Bajakian’s case has been consolidated with Fitzgerald’s and also could go to trial. Bajakian spent the 2024 season at Utah and is currently offensive coordinator at Massachusetts.

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