UCLA head coach Mick Cronin issued a long apology Friday, days after he threw his own player out of a loss for a hard foul and got into it with a reporter.
Cronin said he directly apologized to center Steven Jamerson II, and that he thought he had committed a dirty play late in East Lansing in the final moments of UCLA’s 82-59 loss against Michigan State. Now, after seeing the tape and all of the pushback, Cronin realized that wasn’t what had happened.
“It’s the only reason I sent him to the locker room,” Cronin said, via the SoCal News Group’s Aaron Heisen. “I thought he literally made a dirty play and tried to wipe the guy out. … To me, that’s a bad play. You can’t be down 25 or getting your butt kicked, don’t try to take somebody out, hurt somebody on the other team, which is what I thought.”
Cronin threw Jamerson out of the game himself after Jamerson drilled Michigan State center Carson Cooper on a breakaway dunk late in the blowout loss Tuesday night. Jamerson was called for a foul in the moment, though Cronin wasn’t having it.
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He called Jamerson over to the bench, grabbed him by his jersey and started walking him off the floor. Jamerson left without much protest.
“I guess he upgraded that to a Flagrant 2, huh? That’s the first time I’ve [seen] a coach do that,” Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo said. “That sounded like Mick, he’ll get that straightened out.”
Jamerson, a senior, finished with two points and two rebounds in eight minutes. He was hit with a technical foul on the play, as was Cooper for his reaction. Cooper split his free throws for the original foul, which put Michigan State up by 28 points at the time.
After the game, Cronin was still in a terrible mood. He got into it with a reporter who asked him about Michigan State’s student section, and then Cronin asked if that reporter was raising his voice at him.
Cronin apologized for his behavior in general Friday, too, and said he needs to “dial back some of my humor” after the wave of criticism he received this week.
“In this climate, you have to be careful with what you say,” he said. “Because, I’m a good fit here because I know I’m not bigger than the brand. The brand matters here, the school matters. The last thing I want to do is bring negative publicity to our school.
“Sometimes, because it’s not about me, I don’t care what people think about me, I need to do a better job knowing, ‘Well I am the coach here.’ I need to make sure I don’t do anything to embarrass our school. For that, I apologize.”
Cronin is in his sixth season at UCLA, which started the season No. 12 in the national rankings before falling out completely. Cronin holds a 155-73 record with the Bruins, whom he led to a Final Four in his second campaign with the school.
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UCLA now sits at 17-9 this season after back-to-back blowout losses last week. The Bruins will host No. 10 Illinois on Saturday.
The New England Patriots felt receiver Mack Hollins earned an incentive in his contract, even if he didn’t technically reach the number that triggered the bonus.
Hollins, 32, received a $400,000 bonus from the Patriots on Friday that would have come with him getting 50 catches this season, according to NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero. He finished with 46 receptions for 550 yards and two touchdowns, but missed the final two games of the regular season with a lacerated spleen.
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The eight-year veteran also missed New England’s wild-card and divisional playoff games, but returned for the AFC championship game and the Super Bowl. During the postseason, Hollins finished with eight catches for 129 yards and a TD. Against the Denver Broncos and Seattle Seahawks, he led the Patriots in receiving yards.
In addition to his on-field performance, Hollins drew attention for his quirky behavior off the field. He arrived for Super Bowl 60 wearing a Hannibal Lecter-style mask on his face, along with handcuffs on his wrists and ankles.
Head coach Mike Vrabel appreciates what Hollins brings to the Patriots’ culture by being a great teammate.
“Mack brings a great spirit to work every day. He’s a great teammate,” Vrabel told Boston.com in December. “I actually showed a clip from the first game on a kickoff coverage, and Mack’s over there excited, not going in the game, but he’s into it.
“Somebody made a tackle and Mack’s the first one cheering on the sidelines, and those are the little things that mean a lot, I think, to me,” he added. “So, again, we ask him to do a lot of different things, and again, I think just the spirit that he brings to work and the teammate that he is.”
Last season with the Buffalo Bills, Hollins would also arrive to Highmark Stadium barefoot and shirtless despite the area’s snow and frigid temperatures. Before the Super Bowl, he warmed up without shoes or a shirt in Santa Clara, California.
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Hollins just finished the first year of a two-year, $8.4 million contract he signed with the Patriots. During his NFL career, he’s also played for the Philadelphia Eagles, Miami Dolphins, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons and Bills. In his eight seasons, Hollins has compiled 208 receptions for 2,619 yards and 17 TDs.
We’re only a few weeks removed from the Indiana Hoosiers pulling off one of the great underdog stories in American sports — let alone college football — and winning the College Football national championship 27-21 over the Miami Hurricanes.
While we’re still months away from any games being played on the field, odds are already out for next season — notably, odds for the 2026 Heisman trophy.
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And for potentially the first time ever, a Notre Dame Fighting Irish QB is the preseason favorite. Notre Dame QB CJ Carr (+700) is the favorite to win the 2026 Heisman at BetMGM, followed closely by Texas QB Arch Manning (+800). They are the only two players with single-digits odds.
No Notre Dame player has been a preseason Heisman favorite since at least 2009, which is as far back as the Sports Odds History database goes.
Carr started all 12 games for Notre Dame this past season, going 10-2 and throwing for 2,741 yards, along with 24 passing touchdowns and six interceptions. The Fighting Irish missed out on the College Football Playoff, losing their two games (at Miami and against Texas A&M) by a total of four points.
Manning was the 2025 Heisman preseason favorite at sportsbooks, but lost that spot after a tough debut against Ohio State. Manning had the most bets, total dollars wagered and was BetMGM’s largest liability in the Heisman market before the 2025 season began.
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Oregon QB Dante Moore (11-1), Ohio State QB Julian Sayin (12-1) and new Indiana QB Josh Hoover (12-1) have the next-best odds. Moore chose to return to the Ducks after struggling in the CFP, while Hoover joined the Hoosiers via the transfer portal, and is the presumed starter with Fernando Mendoza declaring for the 2026 NFL draft. Sayin was a 2025 Heisman trophy finalist and finished fourth.
Ohio State WR Jeremiah Smith (14-1) has the best odds for any skill-position player.
No Notre Dame player has won the Heisman trophy since WR Tim Brown in 1987.
MILAN — Some athletes measure their Olympics duration in seconds. Others, like Brittany Bowe, measure in decades.
Bowe took her final laps as an Olympic speed skater on Friday afternoon in Milan. She received an ovation from the heavily pro-Netherlands crowd at the speed-skating arena, though her head-to-head rival Antoinette Rijpma-de Jong received a louder one. Bowe sprinted off the starting line, and at the 300m mark was 0.69 seconds ahead of the leaders’ pace. That mark stayed at 0.46 seconds at 700m, and just 0.17 at 1100m. But she steadily began losing pace, and she crossed the line 0.55 seconds behind the lead time.
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Rijpma-de Jong won gold with a time of 1:54.09, Norway’s Ragne Wiklund took silver, and Canada’s Valérie Maltais claimed bronze. Bowe would go on to finish fourth overall, missing out on the podium by 0.30 seconds. It’s the third fourth-place finish for Bowe at these Games.
“I am tired of fourth-place finishes,” Bowe said. “Finishing fourth place three times this Olympics is heartbreaking.
“We are all out here trying to get on that podium. To see my pair finish first and to see the gap between myself and not just a podium finish, but the top spot, is tough as a competitor.”
Brittany Bowe of Team United States waves to spectators after competing in the Speed Skating Women’s 1500m on day fourteen of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic games at Milano Speed Skating Stadium on February 20, 2026 in Milan, Italy. (Joosep Martinson/Getty Images)
(Joosep Martinson via Getty Images)
And yet, Bowe embodies the Olympic ideal for four separate Games now. She’s won two medals. She carried the flag of the United States into the Opening Ceremony at Beijing in 2022.
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Bowe is one of those athletes who can seemingly do anything well. She was a championship-winning inline skater before she switched over to ice … oh, and she also played basketball for Florida Atlantic for four years, averaging 12.2 points per game her senior year. Bitten by the Olympics bug after seeing inline friends skate in Vancouver in 2010, she laced up the blades, and American Olympic speed skating was never the same.
She debuted in Sochi in four events, finishing as high as sixth in team pursuit and eighth in the 1000m. Four years later, she claimed a bronze in team pursuit, and her individual finishes were as high as fourth in the 1000m. She added her first individual medal in Beijing, winning bronze in the 1000m.
Bowe also carried the flag in Beijing, but like almost all other athletes at those Games, she was alone, cut off from family and friends and competing in empty arenas because of COVID restrictions. That inspired her to make one more run at an Olympics … and, naturally, she qualified for Milan, too.
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“After Beijing I was really determined to go four more,” Bowe said earlier during these Games. “I’m really blessed to be able to walk away on my own terms, because not everybody gets to do that. I knew I was going to dedicate four more years of my life, and here we are. It’s gone by in the blink of an eye.”
The Olympics run has paid off in other ways for Bowe. She met Team USA forward Hilary Knight eight years ago in Pyeongchang. Earlier this week, the two got engaged, just before Knight scored the crucial late-game equalizer in America’s gold medal win over Canada:
That’s been the highlight of this year’s Games for Bowe, who ended up fourth in the 1000m following a spectacular skate by the Netherlands’ Jutta Leerdam. She and her teammates ended up in fourth place in the team pursuit event, nudged off the podium by Japan by a margin of 3.5 seconds.
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“Speed skating has shaped me into the person I am,” she said after her final Olympic skate. “So it is so sad, but it is also so great that I am able to finish on my own terms, because a lot of athletes do not have that opportunity.
Her fans have given themselves a name — The Bowe-lievers — and on Friday, they were loud indeed. “We have Bowe-lievers in all 50 states and around the world,” Bowe said. “That support does not go unnoticed.”
Sidney Crosby was not be available for Canada’s Olympic semifinal victory over Finland on Friday after suffering a lower-body injury during their quarterfinal win over Czechia.
Connor McDavid served as Canada’s captain as international rules require teams to feature a playing captain. Cale Makar and Nathan MacKinnon acted as alternates.
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Hockey Canada did not reveal specifics of what Crosby is dealing with or whether he’d be available for the rest of the tournament.
Crosby did not take part in an optional practice on Thursday, but skated during a session closed to the media on Friday morning.
“He’s got a lot better chance of playing in the gold medal game than he did today,” said Canada head coach Jon Cooper on Friday.
The 38-year-old, two-time Olympic gold medalist left in the second period after being hit along the boards by Czechia’s Martin Nečas and Radko Gudas. It was the third big hit Crosby took in the period after Gudas and Ondřej Palát connected on checks with the Team Canada captain.
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Crosby recovered and took a stride following the Gudas and Nečas hit and was seen shaking his right leg before exiting the ice. After being attended to on Canada’s bench, Crosby limped down the tunnel to the locker room. He was ruled out for the remainder of the game early in the third period.
Cooper said afterward that it was important to his players that Crosby had not played the final game of his Olympic career.
This is Crosby’s third Olympics. He won gold the last two times NHL players participated — Sochi 2014 and Vancouver 2010, where he scored the golden goal in overtime that led Canada past the U.S.
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Crosby, who underwent an MRI after the game, was not ruled out for the rest of the tournament by Cooper after the test.
“He’s Sidney Crosby,” said McDavid. “He’s going to have a big influence no matter what. In the lineup, not in the lineup, he’s going to have a big influence. That’s what he does.”
Crosby has two goals and six points in four games with Canada during the Milan Cortina Olympics.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Penguins are holding their breath that their captain will be fine as they have 19 games in 34 days when the NHL resumes play next week. Crosby has a team-leading 27 goals and 59 points through 56 games this season.
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Despite the injury risk posed, Penguins head coach Dan Muse understands the opportunity for NHL players to be involved.
“It’s the Olympics,” Muse said, via the Tribune Review. “Anytime these guys get an opportunity to represent their countries, I’m just happy for them. To play in a tournament like that, to be playing in that setting, that is something I think everybody dreams of. The only thing for me is that I’m excited for those guys getting that opportunity that they’ve earned.
“Excited for them being over there. There’s no other thoughts in my mind other than that.”
Nathan MacKinnon’s power play goal with 35.2 seconds completed Canada’s comeback against Finland to send them to Sunday’s Olympic gold-medal game with a 3-2 victory.
Niko Mikkola’s high-sticking penalty put Canada on the power play with 2:35 left in the third period. Canada set up shop in Finland’s zone and fired away at goaltender Juuse Saros. They found a breakthrough with two seconds to go on the man-advantage via MacKinnon’s one-timer.
Canada needed to come from behind after trailing 2-0 early in the second period following goals by Mikko Rantanen and Erik Haula. As the tournament favorites faced the two-goal deficit and time became of utmost importance, pressure was applied to the Finns.
Canada’s star-studded lineup led by Connor McDavid, who was serving as captain for an injured Sidney Crosby, found themselves inside Finland’s zone often, peppering Saros with shots. The breakthrough would finally come late in the second period as Sam Reinhart, stationed in front of Saros, deflected a Cale Makar shot to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Assisting on that goal was McDavid, who picked up his 12th career Olympic point — all in this tournament — which saw him pass Finnish greats Teemu Selänne and Saku Koivu for the most among players in Olympics featuring NHL players.
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Finland’s attempts at suppressing Canada’s vaunted offense slowly weakened. With under 10 minutes to play in the third period, Shea Theodore’s rocket from the point would even the score at two and give Canada life.
Saros and Finland could only do so much to stave off the offensive threats. The Finns manage to slow Canada for most of the first two periods, but Canada sustained offensive pressure and found space through the neutral zone to create chance after chance.
Over the final 40 minutes Canada outshot Finland 31-9.
Crosby did not take part in an optional practice on Thursday, but he skated during a session closed to the media on Friday morning. Hockey Canada did not reveal specifics of what he is dealing with or whether he’d be available for the rest of the tournament.
The 38-year-old, two-time Olympic gold medalist left in the second period after being hit along the boards by Czechia’s Martin Nečas and Radko Gudas. It was the third big hit Crosby took in the period after Gudas and Ondřej Palát connected on checks.
Crosby recovered and took a stride following the Gudas and Nečas hit and was seen shaking his right leg before exiting the ice. After being attended to on Canada’s bench, Crosby limped down the tunnel to the locker room. He was ruled out for the remainder of the game early in the third period.
It wasn’t until an hour before the Finland game that Crosby was ruled out, which means it might be another late decision ahead of the gold-medal game on whether he will be available to play.
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“We have 48 hours to decide that,” Canada coach Jon Cooper said Friday. “But I will tell you he’s got a better chance of playing that than he did of playing today.”
MILAN — Polish skater Kamila Sellier suffered a serious injury in the sixth quarterfinal of Friday night’s 1500m short-track speedskate and was taken from Assago Ice Skating Arena to a nearby hospital. Polish officials indicated that she was in good spirits, even raising a thumbs-up as she left the arena.
Late in the quarterfinal, Sellier appeared to lose her footing and slipped, colliding with the United States’ Kristen Santos-Griswold. In the ensuing accident, Santos-Griswold’s skate caught Sellier on the face. Sellier slid into the protective retaining wall, and medical crews raised a sheet around her to protect the scene from the audience. She was stretchered from the ice.
Konrad Niedźwiedzki, press attache for the Polish speed skating team and a 2014 Olympian, informed reporters at the arena that Sellier had suffered a cut on her cheek and eyelid that required stitches. Other reports indicated that Sellier had potentially fractured a cheekbone and suffered severe swelling.
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“We are waiting for what the hospital tests will show,” Niedźwiedzki said, via translation.
One of Sellier’s teammates, Natalia Maliszewska, appeared visibly shaken as she spoke with reporters. “My thoughts are with her,” Maliszewska said in Polish. “I can’t think of anything else.”
“These aren’t common accidents, but they do happen,” Sellier’s teammate Gabriela Topolska said in Polish. “Kamila already has one of them, from a skate on her face. Kamila has a cut in her skin, with stitches.”
Sellier has won several European speed-skating medals, most recently a silver medal in the 2000m mixed relay at the European short track speed skating championships in January.
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Santos-Griswold was disqualified from the race, potentially because of an illegal pass that led to the accident. She declined to speak to media after the race, which continued after the injury timeout.
Barring injuries, the roster is fully set, with manager Mark DeRosa opting to carry 16 pitchers and 14 position players. That’s a deviation from what DeRosa did in 2023, when Team USA featured 15 pitchers and 15 position players. Most likely, this tournament will be won or lost by its stars — the Judges, the Ohtanis, the Sotos — but DeRosa’s roster machinations will have an impact, too, as they did last time around, when Team USA fell to Japan in the final.
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With the stars and stripes assembling a comically formidable roster for the 2026 tournament, particularly on the pitching front, the pressure is very much on DeRosa to retake the title. Here are a handful of questions about Team USA’s roster.
What are the biggest differences between the 2023 and 2026 Team USA rosters?
Instead of rostering a third catcher like in 2023, Team USA will enter the 2026 WBC with an eighth bulk arm, basically swapping Kyle Higashioka (2023) for Michael Wacha (2026). That makes tons of sense, as in the previous tournament, Higashioka didn’t start and barely played. Cal Raleigh and Will Smith are more than capable of handling the catching duties, and Wacha isn’t the most exhilarating arm, but he can cover innings out of the bullpen.
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The other major adjustment DeRosa seems to have made is carrying two additional lefty-hitting bats and a switch-hitter in Raleigh. In 2023, Team USA inexplicably faced southpaw starters in six of its seven games. That’s unlikely to happen again. Even so, the greater diversity in handedness should allow DeRosa to make his lineup more reliever-proof.
How will the second- and third-base alignment play out?
In 2023, Nolan Arenado started all seven of Team USA’s games at the hot corner. Tim Anderson, of all people, started the final five at the keystone. Things won’t be so settled at second and third in the upcoming tournament. Bobby Witt Jr., who was on the 2023 club exclusively as a pinch runner, should start every game at short. That leaves two starting spots for the quartet of Gunnar Henderson, Brice Turang, Alex Bregman and Ernie Clement.
DeRosa could go about this multiple ways. He could play both lefties (Henderson at 3B and Turang at 2B) against righty starters and both righties (Bregman at 3B and Clement at 2B) against southpaws. He could prioritize offense (Bregman at 2B and Henderson at 3B) and slot Turang in late for defense. He could lean on Turang’s phenomenal glove and start him regularly at second, alternating between Bregman and Henderson at the hot corner. He could also get Witt off his feet and give Henderson the occasional start at short, the only position he has played for Baltimore since Opening Day 2024. The good news here is the Team USA manager has options, all of which are relatively reasonable.
Team USA’s lineup is led by veterans stars Alex Bregman, Aaron Judge and Kyle Schwarber, while the rotation features arguably the two best pitchers on the planet in Paul Skenes and Tarik Skubal.
(Josh Heim/Yahoo Sports)
Will having more role players lead to less lineup shuffling?
Of the 15 position players on the 2023 team, only two were used as typical substitutes: Higashioka as the rarely used third catcher and Witt as a pinch runner. Witt has since blossomed into the third-best player on Earth and will probably lead off and start at short this time. The 13 other hitters in 2023 all received multiple starts, while only four — Arenado, Mookie Betts, Mike Trout and Paul Goldschmidt — started every game.
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There will almost certainly be more lineup continuity in 2026. That’s the case for two main reasons: (1) There’s one fewer hitter after DeRosa opted against a third catcher; (2) There are more role players on this team. While he might nab a start or two, Pete Crow-Armstrong figures to feature most prominently as a pinch runner and late-inning defensive replacement for Byron Buxton in center field. Goldschmidt, who turns 39 in September, is here to crush southpaws and provide veteran leadership. Clement offers versatility and splendid vibes.
In 2023, it seemed like DeRosa was trying to keep his star-studded group happy by shuffling through a carousel of players at the bottom of the lineup. Will he change that strategy this year? Given the personnel assembled, it seems like it. Witt, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge and Roman Anthony (in for the injured Corbin Carroll) will probably start every game. Kyle Schwarber will probably do the same at DH, unless DeRosa really wants Goldschmidt in against a lefty starter.
How will the starting pitching line up?
Team USA’s enormous upgrade of its pitching staff could prove to be the most consequential story of this entire tournament. The Americans will have reigning Cy Youngs Tarik Skubal and Paul Skenes leading a rotation that also includes Giants sinkerballing ace Logan Webb, Mets rookie phenom Nolan McLean and 2025 All-Star Joe Ryan.
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In 2023, four different pitchers started USA’s seven games. Adam Wainwright started the opener against Great Britain and the semifinal against Cuba. Nick Martinez kicked off a disastrous bullpen game against Mexico. Lance Lynn took the rock against Canada in pool play and against Venezuela in the quarters. D-backs kitchen-sinker Merrill Kelly faced Colombia in pool play and got the call against Japan in the finals. Three other traditional starters — Kyle Freeland, Miles Mikolas and Brady Singer — served in bulk roles out of the bullpen.
While the 2026 pitching plan has yet to be confirmed, let’s copy and paste the 2023 strategy onto this year’s group. Skenes and Skubal will almost certainly be put on schedule to start the semis and finals. That means Skenes would likely start March 9 against Mexico, and Skubal would go March 10 against Italy. Most of the top Italian hitters — Vinnie Pasquantino, Jakob Marsee, Dominic Canzone, Jac Caglianone and Miles Mastrobuoni — are left-handed, making Skubal the obvious choice there. That plan would then have Skenes start the semis on March 15 or 16 and Skubal on track for the finals on March 17. Webb and Ryan probably get the two other pool-play starts, and one of them probably starts the quarterfinals on March 13 or 14.
That leaves McLean, Wacha, Clay Holmes and Matthew Boyd available in multi-inning relief roles. In theory, DeRosa could go with McLean over Ryan for a start or give the ball to the southpaw Boyd against another lefty-heavy lineup, but the Skubal-Skenes-Webb-Ryan starting quartet makes the most sense.
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Which relievers will throw the highest-leverage innings?
This is the one area on the roster that hasn’t necessarily improved compared to 2023. To be clear, that’s more a compliment to the previous group than a criticism of this one.
During the previous WBC, DeRosa leaned on former Astros hurler Ryan Pressly to close out three games but didn’t use him in the semis or finals. David Bednar (back for 2026), Devin Williams and Jason Adam were the other “Tier A” relievers. All appeared in four of seven games. Aaron Loup was the first lefty and Adam Ottavino the No. 2 southpaw. Daniel Bard and Kendall Graveman were further down the depth chart.
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In the 2026 Team USA bullpen, Bednar and Padres flamethrower Mason Miller are the only two relievers slated to close for their MLB teams this coming season. They’ll be the top two dogs in the kennel. Brad Keller, Griffin Jax and Garret Whitlock make up the next tier. The two high-leverage southpaws will be Gabe Speier and Garrett Cleavinger. Future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, who retired from MLB after the 2025 World Series, almost certainly won’t see the mound in anything resembling a crucial moment. He’s here to eat up pool-play innings against Brazil and Great Britain and generally have a good time.
A Knoxville judge denied Aguilar’s preliminary injunction for another year of eligibility, according to multiplereportson Friday.
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Aguilar can request an interim appeal, according to On3’s Chris Low, who also reported, however, that the appellate court doesn’t have to grant it.
Aguilar will attend next week’s NFL combine, per Low and ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Tennessee is poised to have a new starting quarterback for the fifth season in a row.
The Vols’ competition under center is expected to feature George MacIntyre, Faizon Brandon and Ryan Staub. MacIntyre played sparingly as a true freshman this past season. Staub spent the past three seasons at Colorado, where he tossed three touchdowns and four interceptions in five appearances, including one start, during the 2025 campaign. And Brandon was a five-star recruit and the No. 9 overall prospect in the 2026 class, according to the Rivals industry ranking.
Tennessee is coming off an 8-5 season and is two seasons removed from its first-ever College Football Playoff appearance.
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Aguilar has been vying for one more college season. He’s already got seven years of college football under his belt, but he’s played just three seasons in the NCAA, which traditionally permits athletes to play four seasons within a five-year span. Although junior colleges aren’t part of the NCAA, the NCAA counts seasons spent in JUCO toward that eligibility clock.
Aguilar’s case centered more around Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia’s lawsuit against the NCAA than Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’.
Aguilar began his college career in the JUCO ranks at City College of San Francisco. He redshirted in his first season of junior college football in 2019 before the 2020 season was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. He transferred and played two seasons at nearby Diablo Valley Community College prior to making the move to Appalachian State ahead of the 2023 season.
After two seasons at App State, Aguilar transferred to UCLA to compete for the Bruins’ starting job. In a matter of months, he headed to Tennessee after Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava transferred to UCLA during spring practice.
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Pavia, who recently completed his college career, had contended that his time at a junior college should not count against his NCAA eligibility clock. Pavia’s college career began a season after Aguilar’s though.
Chambliss, meanwhile, successfully argued that he should have been given a medical redshirt by the NCAA for the 2022 season. Chambliss, who was at Division II Ferris State at the time, didn’t dress for a game that season.
In his one season at Tennessee, Aguilar completed 67.3% of his passes while throwing for 3,565 yards and 24 touchdowns with 10 interceptions. Over his three-year FBS career, he accumulated 80 touchdown passes and 34 picks while averaging 8.2 yards per attempt.
The 31st Major League Soccer season will begin this weekend, and there are more storylines than ever heading into another exciting campaign.
Lionel Messi helped Inter Miami win the club’s first MLS title in 2025, recording two assists in Inter Miami’s 3-1 MLS Cup win over the Vancouver Whitecaps. Inter Miami opens the season as the +400 betting favorite at BetMGM sportsbooks, just ahead of Los Angeles FC at +600.
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LAFC has plenty of appeal as well, adding former Tottenham star Son Heung-min in the middle of last season. The franchise won its first — and only — MLS Cup back in 2022. LAFC opens its season Saturday in Los Angeles against Messi and the defending champs. LAFC is a +110 favorite on the three-way line, with Inter Miami at +210 and a draw at +270.
San Diego FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps — 2025 MLS Cup runner-ups — have the next-best odds at +900, followed by the Philadelphia Union and FC Cincinnati at 14-1.
Sporting Kansas City and original MLS franchise DC United have the longest odds of any team to win this year’s title at 80-1.
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It’s a unique season for MLS as well, with the 2026 World Cup taking place in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The league will take a break from May 25 to July 16, in the middle of the season, to accommodate players participating on their international teams.
