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OXFORD, Miss. — Lane Kiffin’s coffee looks like someone shoveled dirt in a pot and set it to boil. Mysterious clumps float on top. It’s best not wondering what’s sunk to the bottom. “It’s some digestive thing that’s supposed to make you lose weight,” Kiffin says, gesturing to the Styrofoam cup atop his desk, unsure if it’s meant to reduce bloat, increase metabolism or both.

Kiffin is committed to living a healthy lifestyle these days, so over the course of an hour-long conversation about everything from his vision for Ole Miss football to how Auburn tried to lure him away last fall to the impact the transfer portal and NIL have had on the sport, he sips the brownish concoction until it’s gone.

“I tried hard this week,” he says. “I was in California on spring break and didn’t work out that much. So I went this morning to hot yoga for the” — he closes his eyes, counting in his head — “ninth time.”

Nine times since Monday, and it’s only Friday afternoon. “Two-a-days,” he says, as if he too is a player in the middle of spring practice. The first class is at 6:15 a.m. It’s 105 degrees and as humid as a sauna inside thanks to a steam machine Kiffin bought the studio out of his own pocket. “A lot of coaches obviously have addictive personalities,” he admits, “so when they do get into something, they go full speed.”

The weight loss is nice, but it’s the mental health boost that Kiffin craves. The workout is so demanding, he says, that he has to shut off his brain to get through it. Thoughts of career paths and roster management and the upcoming season are set aside. There’s only the sound of the instructor’s voice and Kiffin’s own labored breathing.

“How you are on your mat, like your presence, your ability to deal with things and push through, is going to be equivalent to how the rest of your day is going to be,” he says. He fancies himself an outside-the-box thinker, but he realizes this is all a bit much. “Most coaches wouldn’t admit they buy into yogi teachings.”

No, they certainly would not. But then again, most coaches wouldn’t still be here. They would have left when presented with an opportunity to go from a program that has never competed for a national championship during the modern era to one that has competed regularly on the sport’s biggest stage.

Kiffin, who at 47 has already been part of two dynasties and had several stops in between, signed a massive six-year contract extension to stay at Ole Miss. He bought the steam machine soon after turning Auburn down, figuring, “All right, I’m going to be here longer, so let’s get this thing fixed.”

It may look strange and maybe even a little unbelievable from the outside, but Kiffin trusts that Oxford has everything he needs both personally and professionally. He believes he has the tools to build a program that can capitalize on the way college football has changed, the science of assembling a roster becoming more reminiscent of the NFL.

Maybe it would be easier to win elsewhere, maybe even at Auburn with its tradition and vast resources. But he’s fine sweating it out at Ole Miss and doing things differently.

KIFFIN IS BLUNT in his assessment of the Auburn job. Ten years ago, he admits, “I don’t know that decision would’ve gone the same way.”

Back then, he says, he would have seen the opportunity in simplified terms. He would have run the numbers, found that the Tigers’ four head coaches before Bryan Harsin all had teams ranked No. 1 or No. 2 in the final Associated Press poll, and that would have been enough for him to sign on the dotted line.

All four of those coaches were also fired with multiple years left on their deals, but Kiffin says he wasn’t overly influenced by the high rate of turnover. Nor was he swayed by Auburn’s reputation for meddlesome boosters. He believes he could have navigated those murky waters if he had to.

So why not leave Ole Miss? What exactly changed in his thinking and caused him to stay?

Kiffin says he’s in a different place mentally, more mature.

Granted, he still enjoys trolling people on Twitter, but he’s already lived a lifetime in the sport and wisdom was bound to sink in along the way. An offensive wunderkind on Pete Carroll’s USC staffs in the 2000’s, Kiffin’s first head coaching job was in the NFL with the Oakland Raiders, which ended after 1½ seasons with owner Al Davis firing him and then holding a bizarre news conference explaining his decision in excruciating detail. Kiffin then went to Tennessee where he pissed off pretty much the entire SEC, left after one season to replace Carroll at USC, and was let go midway through his third season.

In the 10 years since being fired on a Los Angeles tarmac, he picked up the pieces by joining Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama, overhauling the offense and learning how the greatest coach of all time created and maintained a dynasty. They were an oddly fascinating couple, and they had a messy split, but Kiffin’s three years in Tuscaloosa led to him becoming a head coach again at Florida Atlantic, which in turn led to him finding his way back to the SEC at Ole Miss.

It’s been a long road to get back here, to a place where he has options. So instead of looking at one thing and making a decision about whether to go to Auburn, he looked at the situation in totality. He considered those firings and those boosters. Of course he did. But he also had to consider his personal situation. Was he really ready to start over again? Did he really want to tell his daughter, a senior in high school with plans on going to Ole Miss next year, that he was moving again?

And another part of the equation changed: the sport itself. With NIL and the transfer portal at his disposal, did Kiffin really believe Auburn was that much better positioned to win than Ole Miss? Maybe not. He had confidence in the program before, but, he says, “I have more confidence than I would’ve prior to this system.”

Again, he runs the numbers. Careful not to offend anyone, he says the record shows that Ole Miss doesn’t have a history of fielding top-five high school recruiting classes.

“Really,” he says, “it’s only happened once. So because of the portal and the one-time transfer, that helps your ability outside of those programs that you would put in that group that signs top-five classes every year.”

See: Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, etc. Blue bloods.

“Outside of them, this helps because this allows you to have a good year, lose players [to the NFL] and not go like whoosh,” he says, mimicking a nosedive, “because you can plug in players [from the portal].”

To be clear, Kiffin doesn’t love the current structure of NIL and the portal, and how intertwined they’ve become. He calls it like it is: semi-professional sports, albeit with almost no oversight, no salary cap and no contracts to keep players in place. The only limit is your imagination and the strength of your school’s NIL funding.

“The current system, even though I have issues with parts of it and wish it was set up better,” Kiffin says, “I like the current system, especially the one-time transfer, for Ole Miss.”

By going all in on the portal, Kiffin has tried to turn a traditionally developmental program — one that’s capable of competing at a high level in short bursts — into one that minimizes down cycles and strives to get rid of them completely. Instead of waiting on three- and four-star high school recruits to develop, hoping they pan out, Kiffin can go out and sign established players from Power 5 schools.

This offseason, Ole Miss brought in linebackers from Louisville and UCF, an offensive lineman from Washington, a tight end from Memphis, a defensive lineman from NC State and a cornerback from Georgia Tech. Kiffin already had a 2,900-yard passer returning in Jaxson Dart — who transferred from USC a year ago — and still he went into the portal and signed former All Big 12 selection Spencer Sanders from Oklahoma State and former five-star prospect Walker Howard from LSU.

Kiffin used to preach to players about having a “pro mindset” so they would prepare like pros. But now it’s taken on a different meaning, including how they think about roster management.

A few days ago, Kiffin says, he was talking to his coaches about this very thing.

“These coaches sell parents on — especially in the south — come here, it’s family, we’re gonna treat you like family,” he says. “I’m like, ‘No, they’re not.’ If it was family, then why do coaches bring kids in and say, ‘Hey, we want to help you transfer, it’d be better for you to transfer.’? You don’t do that to your family. So the whole family thing, I said, ‘We have to teach some reality that there’s a business side.'”

The quarterback situation is a perfect example, Kiffin says. Because if they can go out and make a position group better, they can’t hesitate. Maybe it appears redundant to have Dart, Sanders and Howard sharing space. All three can’t play at once. But it’s also insurance at the most important position in football.

Kiffin tells players that competition ultimately makes everyone better, and, “Just like the pros, we can’t not sign players based off your feelings.”

“That’s not my job to make you happy,” he says. “My job is to make the best roster for our fans, for our [athletic director], for our chancellor that hired me.”

Jordan Watkins, a former transfer receiver from Louisville, feels for the high school players who are fighting for an opportunity. But, he says, “I would probably prefer the college guy too because of the competitive factor and they’ve been in a college system before.”

If Kiffin was at a place that traditionally recruited highschoolers at a higher level, such as Auburn or Alabama, he might think differently. It’s a challenge to build a roster this way; there’s no such thing as continuity when some players are on campus for only one semester. Watkins says it takes time for a team of transfers to gel. They have to break old habits and form new ones.

But Kiffin enjoys the problem-solving it requires. He has to think ahead: If he signs a transfer at a certain position, how will it impact the rest of the depth chart? Will younger players, sensing their reps are about to be cut, pack up and leave? It’s a high-wire act, balancing immediate needs with long-term stability.

Kiffin doesn’t claim to have the answer when it comes to how many high school recruits he should sign versus transfers. It’s a moving target, he says, but one he’s interested in trying to figure out.

He gestures to a sign outside his office. It has the Oakland A’s logo on it and “MONEYBALL” underneath, a nod to the groundbreaking way former baseball general manager Billy Beane exploited inefficiencies in scouting and changed the sport forever.

Kiffin doesn’t compare himself to Beane, although Beane had a chance to leave for a bigger market and never did. Kiffin’s point is that he and his staff strive to be ahead of the curve.

Another sign nearby puts it differently: “Change the way people think. We don’t think outside the box, we create a new one.”

IT’S NOT SOMETHING he picked up from his neighborhood yogi, granted, but Kiffin wants to talk about a self-help concept he found in the book “The Obstacle is the Way” by Ryan Holiday. To sum it up, Kiffin says, “Things happen that appear to be bad in your life and then really they’re not, and the obstacle was the way to improve.”

Case in point: Auburn came calling and Kiffin says Ole Miss fans saw it as a “distraction” and “probably wish it never happened.” Fine. That’s understandable considering the way the season ended with four straight losses, including to in-state rival Mississippi State. But step back and look at the timeline.

On Oct. 31, Auburn fires Harsin and Kiffin is immediately linked to the opening. Kiffin has already made it known that he believes Ole Miss’ collective is lagging behind those of the rest of the conference, and any coach considering a job should take into account a collective’s funding. Not doing so would be like a general manager in the NFL ignoring a prospective team’s cap space, he says.

The very next day, while Kiffin’s name is appearing on every Auburn candidate board online and in print, Ole Miss’ Grove Collective reports “unprecedented membership traffic.” Their website crashes. Thousands of people join and donate.

A few weeks later, on Nov. 23, the collective announces it has topped $10 million in funding.

That night, before the Mississippi State game, Kiffin tells his team he’s staying.

“So you can look at it and say, all right, there’s something we wish wouldn’t have happened and the whole Auburn thing was a distraction,” Kiffin says. “But you can also look at it and say, if that didn’t happen, what would the collective be? And not just in what we signed in the last portal and recruiting class, but the future? Or, more importantly, keeping our own players.”

Yes, Ole Miss retained Kiffin by giving him a raise to roughly $9 million per year. But its collective also raised the money needed to retain its best players. Tampering, Kiffin says, is happening “nationwide” with players being lured elsewhere with promises of a better situation (read: $).

So add one more date to the post-Auburn vacancy timeline: Dec. 1. Four days before the postseason transfer window opened and eight days after the Grove Collective’s $10 million announcement, running back Quinshon Judkins announces that he’s signed a deal with the collective to “continue my football career here at Ole Miss.” The SEC Freshman of the Year who set the school single-season record for rushing yards (1,567) and rushing touchdowns (16), Judkins was called “a lot” by other schools trying to get him to leave, Kiffin says.

“If you don’t have a good collective, you’re going to lose your own players and then you’re really in trouble,” Kiffin says. “I don’t care, you can pick an all-star coaching staff, if they don’t have a collective, they’re not going to win. So when you find a guy that wasn’t a five-star recruit — Quinshon — and you lose that, you can forget about it. How are you ever going to sign really good players? Because they’re going to say, ‘Wait, your own guy that was there and had all this success, he’s not even going to stay. Why am I going to go there? Why transfer and then when I get there all the good players are going to leave?'”

Or, in the case of the head coach, why stay when you’re worried you can’t retain your best players?

Time will tell whether Ole Miss’ collectives can continue this level of fundraising. Sustainability is a question on the mind of a lot of coaches and athletic directors these days. But for now, Kiffin feels good about the situation. He feels good about where he is and what they’re building for the future.

Ten years ago, he drove home from the airport unemployed. He thought he’d get another head coaching job quickly. Surely, people would remember that he inherited a program on probation, down 30 scholarships. And unlike Miami, which suffered similar penalties and struggled to reach .500, the Trojans were 28-15.

Kiffin understood he might not get a big-time Power 5 job, more likely something along the lines of Conference USA. “Not at all,” he recalls. “I’m not getting any calls.” It was a painful reminder, he says, “because we think differently of ourselves.”

So he went to Alabama and FAU. He didn’t lose faith. But he did gain perspective.

“I always had confidence in myself that I’d be back, but I don’t know that I would have said I’d have an SEC job and having another SEC school talk to me,” Kiffin says. “I don’t know that I would have said that. And I really don’t think there’s any way I would have bet I’d be in Oxford, Mississippi.”

He laughs. It’s actually become part of his sales pitch to players from the West Coast. He knows the idea they have in mind when they picture Ole Miss because he had the same idea himself. So he tells them, just come and visit, and then judge for yourself.

“I went from L.A. to Boca,” he says. “I never would have put Lane Kiffin in Mississippi.”

But this place, he says, is so much better than he thought.

“And I certainly wouldn’t have told you I’d ever been the head coach of the state of Mississippi and choosing to stay.”

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Ranking the best running backs in college football for 2025

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9 hours ago

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April 2, 2025

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Ranking the best running backs in college football for 2025

Apr 2, 2025, 09:00 AM ET

Who will be the best running backs in college football in 2025?

We asked our college football reporters to vote for their top 10, distributing points based on their selections (10 points for a first-place vote, 9 points for second place and so on).

The results at the top include some familiar faces who made a mark in the College Football Playoff last season, but further down the list are some key transfers in new places and two freshmen who burst on to the scene, among others.

Here’s a look at our picks for the top 10 running backs in college football:

Points: 96 (8 of 10 first-place votes)

2024 stats: 163 carries, 1,125 yards, 17 TDs; 28 receptions, 237 yards, 2 TDs

Love emerged as Notre Dame’s top offensive playmaker during his sophomore season with 1,125 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry. The only two FBS running backs with 150-plus attempts to average more yards per carry last season were Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Louisville’s Isaac Brown.

Love, at 6 feet and 212 pounds, is as effective earning the tough yards, as evidenced by his tackle-breaking touchdown against Penn State in the College Football Playoff, as he is breaking big plays. He had eight touchdowns of 30 yards or longer last season. The Irish want to get him the ball even more in 2025, as Love has lined up some as a wide receiver during spring practice. He caught 28 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns in 2024. — Chris Low

Points: 82 (2 of 10 first-place votes)

2024 stats: 172 carries, 1,099 yards, 12 TDs; 41 receptions, 375 yards, 5 TDs

Singleton faced five-star expectations when he enrolled at Penn State in 2022 and has lived up to them throughout his time in State College. Now he’s coming back for his senior season to chase a national championship after helping the Nittany Lions break through to the CFP semifinals last season.

Singleton has put up a combined 4,673 all-purpose yards over the past three seasons, second most among all FBS backs behind Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, and 41 career touchdowns. He has shared carries every season, averaging just 12.2 rushes per game over his career, but has consistently been highly productive and a true home run threat as a rusher, receiver and kick returner. — Max Olson

Points: 68

2024 stats: 220 carries, 1,108 yards, 8 TDs; 18 receptions, 153 yards, 2 TDs

ESPN’s Mel Kiper had Allen ranked as the No. 6 draft-eligible running back in the 2025 NFL draft class earlier this year. But rather than jumping to the pros, Allen will resume his position at Penn State as part of one of the nation’s most talented backfields alongside fourth-year quarterback Drew Allar and rushing partner Nicholas Singleton.

The Nittany Lions’ physical complement to Singleton and his elusive rushing style, Allen carried 220 times — fourth most among Big Ten running backs — and finished with 1,108 rushing yards and eight touchdowns as a junior in 2024. The 5-foot-11, 229-pound rusher averaged 6.7 yards per attempt across four postseason games, and ball security stands among his most valuable traits — Allen has lost one fumble across 559 career carries. — Eli Lederman

Points: 51

2024 stats (with Tulane): 265 carries, 1,401 yards, 15 TDs; 19 receptions, 176 yards, 2 TDs

The Tulane transfer ran for 1,401 yards last fall, ninth most nationally and more than any other returning running back. Hughes established himself as an exceptionally productive talent in two seasons with the Green Wave, and he lands at Oregon with two years of eligibility as an ideal replacement for 1,267-yard rusher Jordan James.

Hughes broke out for 1,378 yards on 258 carries as a freshman in 2023 before effectively replicating that rushing season. A key uptick in 2024: Hughes’ rushing touchdown count climbed from seven to 15. His 949 yards after first contact in 2024, per TruMedia, also leads all returning rushers in 2025. As the Ducks break in new quarterback Dante Moore, Hughes’ production and dependability could be especially important. — Lederman

Points: 45

2024 stats: 165 carries, 1,173 yards, 11 TDs; 30 receptions, 152 yards, 1 TD

There’s a good argument that last season, as a true freshman, Brown was the most explosive back in the country. Brown led all power-conference backs in yards per rush (7.11), had the fifth-most explosive runs (12 yards or more) with 33 and forced 41 missed tackles. His 8.2 yards-per-carry average between the tackles was a full yard better than any other power-conference running back. Brown also was a threat out of the backfield and in the return game. He eclipsed 99 yards of all-purpose yardage in eight of his past 10 games. — David Hale

Points: 38

2024 stats (with Louisiana-Monroe): 237 carries, 1,351 yards, 13 TDs; 8 receptions, 72 yards, 0 TDs

Hardy established himself as one of the top true freshmen in college football last season at Louisiana-Monroe. He rushed for 1,351 yards, including eight 100-yard games, and scored 13 touchdowns. He was overlooked by recruiters coming out of high school but was one of the top running back targets in the transfer portal and landed at Missouri.

Hardy, 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds, is at his best making defenders miss and churning out yards after contact. He was one of seven players nationally to have 1,000 yards or more after contact (1,012) last season. Hardy forced 91 missed tackles — only Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo had more. With Kewan Lacy leaving for Ole Miss, Hardy will get all the carries he can handle in 2025. — Low

Points: 31

2024 stats: 184 carries, 966 yards, 5 TDs; 52 receptions, 579 yards, 4 TDs

Reid made the move up from FCS Western Carolina to follow his offensive coordinator, Kade Bell, to Pitt last year and quickly proved he’s one of the most dynamic offensive playmakers in college football. The 5-8, 175-pound playmaker put up 1,704 all-purpose yards — 966 rushing, 579 receiving and 159 on punt returns — and scored 10 total touchdowns in an All-America debut season.

Reid achieved all that despite missing two games because of injury, and he finished fifth among all FBS players in all-purpose yards per game (154.9). The do-it-all back had three 200-yard performances over his first four games with the Panthers and will return for his senior season to produce plenty more in 2025. — Olson

Points: 19

2024 stats: 226 carries, 1,064 yards, 5 TDs; 44 receptions, 311 yards, 1 TD

Wisner stepped up in a big way for the Longhorns in 2024. Despite a depleted running back room and injuries to the offensive line across different portions of the season, Wisner had 1,064 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, adding 311 yards and another touchdown through the air. CJ Baxter should be back for the Longhorns after missing 2024 with a knee injury, but given what we saw from Wisner, he should still be well in the mix in the Texas backfield. — Harry Lyles Jr.

Points: 17

2024 stats: 169 carries, 944 yards, 9 TDs; 28 receptions, 166 yards, 3 TDs

Haynes, a wide receiver turned running back, has been one of the most consistent players in Georgia Tech’s offense over the past two seasons. Since 2023, Haynes has 2,003 yards on the ground and 16 touchdowns.

His versatility is something every team looks for in a back — he’s good at getting yards before defenders can get a hand on him (856 rushing yards before contact over the past two seasons, the most of any power-conference back in that span, per Pro Football Focus) and he’s good after they get a hand on him (his 1,145 yards after contact rank fourth, per PFF). In Haynes’ third year, the Yellow Jackets will be expecting much of the same. — Lyles

Points: 16

2024 stats: 175 carries, 1,028 yards, 12 TDs; 22 receptions, 217 yards, 1 TD

By mid October 2024, Washington had just 186 rushing yards and a touchdown to his credit (nearly all of which came against Air Force) and Baylor was a miserable 2-4 on the season. Then coach Dave Aranda tabbed Washington to serve as the Bears’ lead back, and everything changed.

Over the next six games, Washington racked up 127 carries for 818 yards and 11 touchdowns as Baylor won six straight. Washington was banged up early in Baylor’s bowl game against LSU and got just five carries — it’s no coincidence the Bears lost — but his growth throughout 2024 paired with that of quarterback Sawyer Robertson has Baylor thinking playoff in 2025. — Hale

Also receiving votes: Jonah Coleman, Washington, 15 points; Jaydn Ott, California, 14; Jahiem White, West Virginia, 14; Darius Taylor, Minnesota, 13; Caden Durham, LSU, 11; Jadan Baugh, Florida, 8; Nate Frazier, Georgia, 6; Jadarian Price, Notre Dame, 2; Le’Veon Moss, Texas A&M, 2; CJ Baxter, Texas, 1; Roman Hemby, Indiana 1

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Inside one prospect’s ‘storybook’ journey from Egypt to the NFL draft

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April 2, 2025

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Inside one prospect's 'storybook' journey from Egypt to the NFL draft

  • Josh WeinfussApr 2, 2025, 06:00 AM ET

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      Josh Weinfuss is a staff writer who covers the Arizona Cardinals and the NFL at ESPN. Josh has covered the Cardinals since 2012, joining ESPN in 2013. He is a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and a graduate of Indiana University.

AHMED HASSANEIN‘S JOURNEY to the doorstep of the NFL began on a balcony seven years ago in Cairo around a hookah.

With the roar of Cairo International Airport in the distance, Hassanein joined his two sisters, brother and nephew trading puffs in the sixth-floor penthouse they grew up in overlooking the Heliopolis suburb.

As they passed the hookah, Hassanein’s sisters, Gigi and Aziza Ibrahim, told Hassanein’s older brother, Cory Besch, about Hassanein’s life over the past decade after moving from California at age 6. Hassanein had forgotten how to speak English, had behavioral issues that caused him to be expelled from school, and was being raised by his mother, who he said had a substance abuse disorder.

“She was a very, very abusive person,” Hassanein told ESPN. “Like starting with addiction, with drugs and all that stuff, and she was really verbally abusive and physically abusive.”

Through it all, Hassanein took solace in sports including breakdancing, soccer, swimming, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, pingpong and CrossFit. He became the top-ranked CrossFit athlete in Egypt and one of the best in Africa. It also helped him cultivate a strong work ethic.

Besch, who was 30 at the time and making his first trip to Egypt in 20 years, hadn’t seen Hassanein in a decade. After hearing from his siblings that night — June 26, 2018 — Besch started formulating a plan to get Hassanein, then 15, back to the United States.

“I was like, ‘Well, what if he came and lived with me and played football for me?'” said Besch, who coached at Loara High School in Anaheim, California.

It was a major pivot for Hassanein, who was set to attend Riverside Preparatory, a military school in Gainesville, Georgia.

“I remember Aziza telling me, ‘It’s going to be really hard, and it’s going to be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done because the culture shock is going to be there, you’re going to lose all your friends, you can’t speak English very well,'” Hassanein said.

“And I was like, ‘I can do it.'”

During a family vacation at a resort on the Red Sea later that week, Besch helped convince their father to let him move away 7,500 miles. A month later, Hassanein was on a plane to Los Angeles.

Fast-forward to today and — despite initial language barriers, lack of football knowledge and playing the sport for the first time as a sophomore in high school — Hassanein is on the verge of becoming the first Egyptian to be drafted into the NFL. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has the former Boise State defensive end, who is 6-foot-2, 267 pounds, going in the sixth round at pick No. 216 in his latest mock draft.

“It was surreal to think that we just dreamed this to save Ahmed and get him to the U.S., like ‘Project Mission: Get Ahmed to the U.S.,’ and then it was ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into College,’ and now it’s ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into the NFL,'” Gigi said from her apartment in Cairo.

“But it’s all surreal because who would’ve thought that Ahmed would be great at being a defensive lineman in American football when literally seven years ago, he was just sitting on the balcony praying that someone would … get him out of this misery.”

THE CULTURE SHOCK was real for Hassanein when he moved in with Besch in August 2018.

Everything from the food to the language to school was different. And then there was football.

All Hassanein knew about the sport was what Besch had posted on social media, most recently playing in a second-tier Austrian league from March to June 2018, just before he visited Egypt.

“People run and hit each other,” Hassanein recalled. “That’s all I know.”

When Hassanein arrived in California, Besch gave him a crash course, explaining everything from how to put on his pads, helmet and mouth guard to the sport’s rules.

“Everything from line of scrimmage to downs to your role and responsibility on the defense,” Besch said. “And I don’t think everything was explained explicitly because you don’t ever go back and explain the X’s and O’s in high school, right?”

Hassanein didn’t know how to get in a stance or how to catch a ball, said Mitch Olson, Hassanein’s head coach at Loara. His school’s football program was in one of the lower levels in California and didn’t have the resources other schools around them had. Each coach was in charge of multiple positions, and most of the kids didn’t play football before ninth grade because there wasn’t a youth program in the district.

“It’s like the kid got pulled off of Mars and started playing football,” Olson said.

Still, Olson saw the potential in the 16-year-old sophomore. He lined up Hassanein, then 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, at defensive tackle on the junior varsity team for the first game of the season before moving him up to varsity. It was, by all accounts, an experiment.

Hassanein had at least one penalty every game because of his unfamiliarity with the rules. There was a game in which he grabbed a quarterback’s face mask to bring him down and another in which he tripped the quarterback, who was about to scramble by him. He remembered throwing players, kicking people and flipping them like in jiujitsu.

“I was out there just doing whatever,” Hassanein said. “I was just out there being physical. See ball, get ball.”

In fall 2018, Hassanein was watching highlights of former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.

“What high school does he go to?” Hassanein asked his brother.

“And he was like, ‘Bro, that’s the NFL, that’s the National Football League.’ I was like, ‘OK, I want to go there.’ And he was like, ‘Bro, you know you don’t have a D-line coach at your high school and you don’t have a sled?'”

It didn’t matter to Hassanein. After talking to his brother and Olson, and watching videos, he devised a plan: Hassanein began waking up at 5 a.m. every day to work out before school. After school, he’d go to practice — either football or basketball, depending on the season — and then go back to the gym for three to four hours a night.

Everything started to click for Hassanein midway through his sophomore season.

The key, Besch, Olson and defensive coordinator Jonathan Rangel decided, was to let Hassanein’s natural strength make up for whatever technique he lacked. It worked.

Eventually, Besch started taking Hassanein to camps, where he was facing — and outplaying — prospects from top high school programs around Southern California such as St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. The night before one camp, Hassanein studied pass-rush moves on YouTube and implemented them the next day.

Colleges noticed the three-star pass rusher. On Aug. 27, 2020, as his senior season was postponed until the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hassanein received a direct message from Spencer Danielson, now Boise State’s head coach, who was then coaching the defensive line. He loved Hassanein’s film.

Hassanein told his brother, who couldn’t believe it. Besch played football with Danielson at Azusa Pacific University. Hassanein relayed that information to Danielson, and they hopped on a Zoom call to explain the situation.

Hassanein had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Duke, Kansas and Colorado before eventually choosing Boise State.

Had Hassanein’s life followed his initial plan of going to military school, looking back, he thought he’d return to Egypt after four years. Instead, he was living out a dream he never knew he had.

“It meant the world to me that somebody believed, and my brother always believed in me, but it gave me confirmation that I can do this,” Hassanein said. “I took it as a challenge because I had a lot of family members say, ‘You’re going to come back in two weeks. You’re never going to succeed. You can’t even speak English. How the hell are you going to play football?’

“And I really made it. I took it as, ‘OK, watch this.'”

DANIELSON STOOD OUTSIDE Boise State’s football facility on a June morning in 2021 with a hope and a prayer.

Because of COVID-19 restrictions, neither Danielson nor any of his coaches were able to recruit Hassanein in person, so the first time they met him was when he stepped out of the car that day. Sitting in the back of Danielson’s mind was the fact that Besch was 5-foot-8, 150 pounds in college.

“I’m waiting for him at the front of the facility like, ‘Please be 6-3. Please be 6-3,'” Danielson recalled to ESPN. “If he pops out and he’s 5-9 and Cory got me, I’m going to be really hot.

“And he pops out and he just looks like a Greek god. I’m like, ‘Yes.'”

His first year on campus, Hassanein looked like some of the Broncos’ juniors and was lifting more weight than a number of the upperclassmen, Boise State edge coach Jabril Frazier said.

From a football standpoint, Hassanein was very much a freshman.

“He didn’t know what was going on,” Frazier said. “But he played at a high level.”

Danielson’s way of rectifying that was with his “Football School,” a weeklong program leading into fall camp for all of Boise State’s incoming freshmen. It covered everything from the width of the field — 53.3 yards — to the verbiage Boise State’s coaches prefer to the fundamentals of tackling to A, B and C gaps.

For Hassanein, college football was an entirely new game. In high school, he relied on his natural ability to dominate. Not so much in college. He had to account for how the offensive lineman across from him lined up and blocked in every possible scenario and what kind of offense he was facing on a weekly basis.

It was essentially Football 101 for Hassanein.

“It was really eye-opening,” he said.

In 20 games over his first two seasons, he had two sacks. Then, going into his junior year in 2023, it all clicked. Hassanein finished with 12.5 sacks and was mentioned among the nation’s best pass rushers.

Heading into his senior season, he was coming off labrum surgery and spent the spring watching his own film and breaking down his games while he rehabbed. Hassanein had 9.5 sacks in 2024, giving him 24 for his career, the fourth most in school history.

“I currently have him projected as a late fifth- to early sixth-round pick as teams are always looking for pass-rush help,” ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said. “Hassanein will likely be a part of special teams early on during his career while he searches to earn a role as a contributor on defense.”

Hassanein is on the verge of making international history. When he does, it will be an emotional moment for those who helped him on the journey.

“The journey that dude made and the guts that he had to do, the things that he did to get to where he is, it is storybook, man,” Olson said. “It really is. It’s a frigging movie.”

He knows he’s not the biggest or quickest, but he says he thinks his strength will help him become a disruptive pass rusher at the next level.

Danielson described Hassanein as “one of the most violent run defenders we’ve ever had here,” pointing to the Broncos’ first defensive play of the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.

It was first-and-10 from the Nittany Lions’ 28-yard line when Penn State tight end Tyler Warren went in motion from left to right, overloading the side closest to Hassanein. It was a run and, with a running start, Hassanein bulldozed Warren back four yards, throwing him to the ground in the process.

To Danielson, that play is everything teams need to know about Hassanein.

“Once he gets there, he’s going to be all over the coaches about being better, getting better, getting help,” Frazier said. “Give him a year to two years in the NFL and you’ll be hearing his name a lot.”

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NHL playoff watch: Are the Rangers and Wild both on the ropes?

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April 2, 2025

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NHL playoff watch: Are the Rangers and Wild both on the ropes?

As the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, the New York Rangers were envisioned as a playoff team again in 2024-25. As the team on top of the league standings in early December, similar words could be written about the Minnesota Wild.

And yet, heading into Wednesday night’s matchup between the clubs (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+), nothing is certain about either team’s playoff chances after the pair has gone 8-9-3 in the past 10 games apiece.

The Wild enter the game in a playoff position, and have a 91.0% chance to make the playoffs per Stathletes. A key part of that is the team’s remaining strength of schedule; their remaining opponents have a 46.0% winning percentage, which is the second-easiest path. (Only the New Jersey Devils face a weaker slate in the final stretch.)

Compare that to the Rangers, who have a 27.3% chance, and will begin this game on the outside looking in. New York’s remaining slate is considerably more difficult; a 54.1% opponents’ winning percentage ranks as the second toughest, behind only the Detroit Red Wings.

If the Wild qualify as the first wild card, their likely first-round opponent is the Vegas Golden Knights; if they land in the second wild-card position, their likely opponent is the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, Minnesota went 0-3 against both teams this season.

The Rangers’ more likely outcome as a playoff entrant is as the second wild card, which earns them a matchup against the Washington Capitals; the Caps have won all three games against New York this season. The Rangers could wind up as the first wild card, earning a matchup against the Atlantic Division champ. They went 1-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 0-2 against the Florida Panthers (with one more game coming up on April 14), and 0-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning (with games coming up on April 7 and April 17).

So, the future isn’t blindingly bright in the playoffs for these teams. But all you need is a ticket in, and unexpected things can happen!

There are just over two weeks left until the season’s end on April 17, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.

Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.

Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Yesterday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick

Current playoff matchups

Eastern Conference

A1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Florida Panthers
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 Montreal Canadiens
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils

Western Conference

C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 Minnesota Wild
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 St. Louis Blues
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers

Wednesday’s games

Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).

Minnesota Wild at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Seattle Kraken at Vancouver Canucks, 10:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s scoreboard

Washington Capitals 4, Boston Bruins 3
Montreal Canadiens 3, Florida Panthers 2 (OT)
Buffalo Sabres 5, Ottawa Senators 2
Columbus Blue Jackets 8, Nashville Predators 4
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, New York Islanders 1
St. Louis Blues 2, Detroit Red Wings 1 (OT)
Utah Hockey Club 3, Calgary Flames 1
Edmonton Oilers 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2
Anaheim Ducks 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (SO)
Los Angeles Kings 4, Winnipeg Jets 1

Expanded standings

Atlantic Division

Points: 94
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 104.1
Next game: vs. FLA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 93
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 92
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 102.0
Next game: @ TOR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 84
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 93.1
Next game: vs. TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 79
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 44.7%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 83.1
Next game: vs. CAR (Friday)
Playoff chances: 2.9%
Tragic number: 13

Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: vs. TB (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 8

Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 75.4
Next game: @ MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 5

Metro Division

Points: 105
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 116.4
Next game: @ CAR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 94
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 9
Points pace: 105.6
Next game: vs. WSH (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 87
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 6
Points pace: 93.9
Next game: vs. NYR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 9
Points pace: 86.5
Next game: vs. COL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 16.7%
Tragic number: 17

Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 85.3
Next game: vs. MIN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 27.3%
Tragic number: 15

Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82
Next game: vs. MIN (Friday)
Playoff chances: 8.7%
Tragic number: 12

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: @ STL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 7

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 6
Points pace: 76.6
Next game: @ MTL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 5

Central Division

Points: 106
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 7
Points pace: 115.9
Next game: @ VGK (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 102
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 113.0
Next game: vs. NSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 94
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 7
Points pace: 102.8
Next game: @ CHI (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 6
Points pace: 96.0
Next game: vs. PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 92.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 88
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 7
Points pace: 96.2
Next game: @ NYR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 91%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. LA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 7

Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 67.8
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 56.5
Next game: vs. COL (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Pacific Division

Points: 98
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 108.6
Next game: vs. WPG (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 93
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ UTA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 91
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 100.8
Next game: @ SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.1%
Tragic number: N/A

Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 90.9
Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 13.9%
Tragic number: 11

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 89.8
Next game: vs. SEA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 2.7%
Tragic number: 10

Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82.0
Next game: @ CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 3

Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 74.3
Next game: @ VAN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 55.4
Next game: vs. EDM (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E

Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.

Race for the No. 1 pick

The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.

Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14

Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18

Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23

Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25

Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20

Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20

Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23

Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25

Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32

Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24

Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26

Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26

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