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DESTIN, Fla. — The major theme lingering over the SEC’s annual meetings this week is an air of uncertainty clouding the future of the sport. With the fate of the House v. NCAA case, the College Football Playoff format and the league’s football schedule in flux, there are plenty of complex and transformative issues.

Georgia football coach Kirby Smart made it clear, however, that there’s one issue of paramount importance to SEC football coaches — clarity on the future of the NCAA transfer portal.

“So, the biggest decision that has to be made across football right now to me, by far, is when is the portal window and is there one or two,” Smart said Tuesday.

Currently, there are two NCAA transfer portal windows, one in December at the end of the regular season (Dec. 9-28) and one in the spring (April 16-25).

Coaches generally support a single transfer window, but issues including its timing, the impact of the academic calendar and the future of spring practices loom over the potential placement of that window. There is also concern that limiting transferring by going from two windows to one would end up being challenged legally.

Smart, the SEC’s second-longest-tenured coach, said there is a large and growing “contingency” of coaches who want a portal in April or May followed by OTA-style practices in June.

He said he doesn’t like that idea, however, as Georgia uses 10 days in June to hold camps that are key in recruiting and evaluating players. June has also become the busiest month for official visits on the calendar. Smart said having to practice at that time would be too much.

“Needless to say, I’m a proponent for a January, wherever it fits, window,” he said. “There’s people saying, ‘We can’t get our kids in academically.’ Well, they’re getting midyear high school players in that same academic window. It’s happening everywhere. So, I’m a big believer in that, and I think that’s [the] decision that has to be made at least from a standpoint of SEC and bigger picture of the country. Where is the portal window? And is there two or is there one?”

Smart said anyone who thinks players wishing to transfer will willingly stay on a roster until April is showing naivete.

“You think tampering is a problem?” he asked. “Put that [one] portal [window] in April and see what teams do in January, February and March. Just think about it now because we’re getting ready to make a big decision, and a lot of people believe, ‘Well the kids won’t be able to leave if we put it in April. They’ll have to stay the next semester.’

“Oh no, they’ll be on your campus getting tampered with it, collecting 33% of your cap before they leave.”

Texas A&M’s Mike Elko pointed out that the NFL and other professional leagues have one free agency period — not two.

“It happens right after the season, before you start practicing,” Elko said, with a hint of sarcasm. “That seems to be the landscape for every single professional league across the world. Why that wouldn’t be how this works [in this sport] is hard to wrap your head around.”

After Tuesday’s meetings, SEC commissioner Greg Sankey said the consensus in his room was that his coaches would be in favor of a single January portal. That’s similar to a model favored by the American Football Coaches Association earlier this year.

He said the coaches found the notion of having the portal later in the spring semester “highly problematic.”

At Big Ten meetings last week, the coaches and athletic directors didn’t vote on a portal recommendation, according to sources. But the consensus leaving the room was that they’d prefer one window around the beginning of March or early April. That would still allow for some type of spring practice — or perhaps OTAs afterward — but limit transfer activity to the single window.

One of the drawbacks discussed at the Big Ten gathering was that even with just one January portal, two windows could still be needed. One driver for the Big Ten was the notion that the window shouldn’t open and close during the College Football Playoff.

Smart brought that issue up Tuesday. He said that when he complained about the portal being open during the CFP in the past he was told: “There’s no crying on the yacht.”

He added: “We had to deal with that multiple times. It’s not fun. It’s not fun. It’s really hard to be playing in a championship setting and having to deal with that.”

In a landscape that’s bracing for significant change that could alter the trajectory of the sport, Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea highlighted the different issues involving the topic.

“I think if in a perfect world, the earlier the better,” Lea said. “I mean, I think every coach would feel that way. The complexity comes with, again, you’re dealing with one sport within the context of college athletics, and you’re dealing with academic calendars that vary from school to school, and you’re trying to create as competitive a product as you can with so many variables that that’s where I think the need [is] for some over-the-top consideration with setting these schedules and giving us the framework through which we build our team.”

There’s also uncertainty over which entity will end up making the decision. Smart indicated it could be the House Implementation Committee, which has been working on the issue. Clarity will likely have to come before July 1.

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Keselowski: NASCAR rulebook like IRS tax code

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Keselowski: NASCAR rulebook like IRS tax code

LEBANON, Tenn. — Brad Keselowski said RFK Racing has made some small changes and talked about the “complexities” and team burdens under the NASCAR rulebook after an appeal reduced a penalty given to driver Chris Buescher and his team at Kansas Speedway.

Keselowski compared the NASCAR rulebook a bit to the IRS tax code during practice and qualifying Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway for Sunday night’s Cracker Barrel 400.

“You read this paper and then you got to reference this paper to reference this paper to reference this paper, and when your head’s down and digging and you’re running 38 weeks a year, oversights are going to happen,” Keselowski said.

The co-owner of RFK Racing said that’s not an excuse. Keselowski said the team changed some roles and responsibilities this week to help the team be “better prepared and more mindful of what it takes to to be in compliance.”

NASCAR penalized Buescher and his team May 15 for illegal modifications to the bumper of his No. 17 Ford at Kansas. The team was docked 60 driver points, 60 owner points, five driver playoff points and five owner playoff points for the level one violation. It also fined the team $75,000 and suspended crew chief Scott Graves from the next two races: the All-Star Race and the Coca-Cola 600.

Those penalties came three days after Buescher finished eighth at Kansas and dropped him from 12th to 24th in the Cup Series point standings.

RFK Racing appealed and had a partial win Wednesday with the appeals panel ruling the team violated the rule on the front bumper cover but not the exhaust cover panel.

Buescher got back 30 points, moving him to 16th in the Cup Series points standing. That’s a slot below the playoff cutline and six points behind RFK Racing teammate Ryan Preece.

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Thousands attend race event honoring Gaudreaus

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Thousands attend race event honoring Gaudreaus

SEWELL, N.J. — A few days after brothers John and Matthew Gaudreau died when they were struck by a driver while riding bicycles on the eve of their sister Katie’s wedding, family friends were visiting parents Guy and Jane at their home during a rainstorm. Looking outside after the skies cleared, they saw a double rainbow that brought them some momentary peace.

Since then, Jane Gaudreau had not gotten any signs she attributed to her sons, so she sat in their room Friday and asked them for some divine intervention to clear out bad weather in time for an event to honor their legacies. After a brief scare of a tornado watch the night before, a rainbow appeared Saturday morning about an hour before the sun came out for the inaugural Gaudreau Family 5K Walk/Run and Family Day.

“I was so relieved,” Jane said. “I was like, ‘Well, there’s my sign.'”

Thousands attended the event at Washington Lake Park in southern New Jersey, a place John and Matthew went hundreds of times as kids and around the corner from Hollydell Ice Arena, where they started playing hockey. Roughly 1,100 people took part in a walk or run in person, along with more than 1,300 virtually in the U.S., Canada and around the world.

“I think it speaks to them as a family, how close they were and how everybody loved being around them,” said Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkachuk, one of a handful of NHL players who were close to the Gaudreaus and made a point to be there. “You just see the support from this community and from other players as well that are here and traveled in. It just says a lot about Johnny, Matty, their legacy and this family as a whole, how much support they have because they’re such amazing people.”

Along with honoring the NHL star known as “Johnny Hockey” and his younger brother who family and friends called Matty, the goal of the event was to raise money for an accessible playground at Archbishop Damiano School where Jane and her daughter Kristen work. It was a cause John and Matthew had begun to champion in honor of their grandmother Marie, who spent 44 years at the school and died in 2023.

It became their mother’s project after their deaths.

“Jane works every day with children with disabilities, and she knew how important it was for the playground to be built,” said family friend Deb Vasutoro, who came up with the idea for a 5K. “The playground has been a project for, I think, four or five years, and there just never was enough funding. When the boys passed and Jane needed a purpose, she thought, ‘Let’s build the playground.’ It was the perfect marriage of doing something good to honor the boys and seeing children laugh and smile.”

The Rev. Allain Caparas from Gloucester Catholic High School, which the brothers attended and played hockey for while growing up in Carneys Point, said raising funds for the playground is an extension of the impact they had on the community.

“They’re continuing to make a difference in the lives of so many others,” Caparas said. “Johnny and Matthew lived their lives with purpose, and now we’re celebrating that.”

Social media filled with mentions from folks in Columbus and Calgary, the NHL cities in which John Gaudreau played, and as far away as Ireland and Sweden. Paul O’Connor, who has been tight with the Gaudreau family from son Dalton being childhood best friends with Matthew, couldn’t empty out his inbox because he kept getting notifications about signups and donations.

“It just keeps growing,” O’Connor said. “And people that couldn’t be here, they’re doing a virtual [5K]. If they can’t do either, they’re just throwing money at the cause.”

Tears welled up in the eyes of Guy and Jane as they talked about the event. His speech to the crowd was brief and poignant at the same time.

“I’d like to thank everybody for coming,” Guy said after running the 5K. “It really means a lot to Jane and the girls and the family. We miss the boys, and it really means a lot for us to have you here to honor my boys. Thank you.”

The sea of people first in the rain and then the sunshine included folks in gear from all across hockey. Tkachuk wore a “Johnny Hockey” hoodie with Gaudreau’s name and No. 13 on the back.

He handed sticks, collected from various vigils in late August and early September, to race winners along with fellow players Erik Gudbranson, Zach Aston-Reese, Tony DeAngelo and Buddy Robinson.

“Our family wouldn’t have missed this,” Gudbranson said after flying in Friday night following a trip to Walt Disney World. “Hockey’s a very tight community. It’s still a tragedy. We miss the boys.”

The aim is to hold the event annually moving forward, potentially in Calgary and Columbus.

“We thought this was such a good thing to honor the boys we want to keep it up,” Jane said. “I just think each year it’ll just get better and better.”

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Panthers’ Lundell, Luostarinen clear for Final G1

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Panthers' Lundell, Luostarinen clear for Final G1

Florida Panthers forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Anton Lundell will be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night in Edmonton, coach Paul Maurice said Saturday.

Both players were injured in Wednesday’s series-clinching Game 5 win against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Panthers forward A.J. Greer‘s status for the series opener against the Oilers remains uncertain. He missed Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals and was on the ice for only 4:22 in Game 5 due to a lower-body injury.

All three players did not participate in Saturday’s practice, the first team skate since the defending champions booked their spot in the Final rematch.

“I think the only question mark is Greer,” Maurice said. “We will list him as day to day. The other guys are fine. They will be back on the ice tomorrow when we do a little bit of an optional.”

Luostarinen, 26, recorded 24 points (9 goals, 15 assists) in 80 games during the regular season and 13 points (4 goals, 9 assists) in 17 games this postseason.

Lundell, 23, tallied 45 points (17 goals, 28 assists) in 79 games in the regular season and 12 points (5 goals, 7 assists) in 17 playoff games.

Greer, 28, posted 17 points (6 goals, 11 assists) in 81 games in the regular season and three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in 12 playoff contests.

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