The Florida A&M story gets worse and worse.
As a refresher: Florida A&M played North Carolina in football this past Saturday in Chapel Hill. It was a standard early-season buy game, one where the smaller-brand university receives a nice payout (in this case, a reported $450,000) in exchange for playing on the road against a larger-brand team. The day before the game, though, reports emerged that Florida A&M’s team might not board the plane to Chapel Hill due to upwards of twenty players being ruled “ineligible,” not due to failing to make grades but due to reported paperwork issues within the university. Eventually, they boarded the plane and played the game, but fears of injury—especially to offensive linemen, of whom there were merely seven eligible—loomed from the opening kickoff, and sure enough, the team lost two players for the season (both indeed linemen).
The issue was more sensitive than if it had happened at, say, Duquesne, which just played Florida State in a similar game in Tallahassee. Both Duquesne and Florida A&M support FCS football programs, but Duquesne is a private university, while Florida A&M is a public HBCU, a Historically Black University. Traditionally, HBCUs are underfunded relative to their historically white counterparts. Maybe, some college football reporters narrated, this eligibility issue is due to the underfunding.
It’s good to be aware of the circumstances surrounding this. We’d all probably benefit from doing more of that, in more areas than just college football. But the circumstances don’t seem to help Florida A&M here. In fact, the circumstances make things look a lot worse.
Yesterday, a letter was released signed by 88 Florida A&M football players alleging, among other things, that the university was frequently late on financial aid payments, causing some players to receive eviction notices which remain on their credit reports; that the university declined to provide players with housing and meals during summer practice, increasing the personal expense for athletes; and that the university misplaced academic transcripts, letters of recommendation, and immunization records with regularity during the admissions process. The letter pinned some of the blame on understaffing within university offices, and that is a symptom of underfunding, but it doesn’t excuse the school, and the school’s press release last night called its NCAA compliance processes “effective and timely” when they self-evidently are not. 28 schools played Division I football games last weekend. No other school had a quarter of its roster ineligible.
One of the most biting lines of the letter compares Florida A&M not only to big-money college football programs, but to another HBCU, reading, “Do you think that the same conditions are placed on the players at The University of North Carolina or Jackson State?” It’s dangerous to make one-to-one comparisons—there are differences between Jackson State and Florida A&M, especially right now, with Deion Sanders coaching the former—but the point stands. This is not an HBCU problem. This, if what the players say is true, is a Florida A&M problem.
If a school can’t support Division I football, it’s fraudulent to recruit players to play Division I football. It’s deceptive. It’s cruel. It’s wrong. And yes, HBCUs need more funding. But they also need, or Florida A&M at least needs, more support. This isn’t the sort of problem at which money can be effectively thrown. Florida A&M’s a public university within the state of Florida. This problem is larger than a wacky football headline.
Iowa State’s Depth Chart: One Thing of Note
Iowa State released its depth chart for Saturday’s game against Southeast Missouri State, and while this is mostly just a milestone on the road to the season opener, one notable name was listed as a starter: Jake Remsburg, at right tackle. Remsburg’s been battling an injury this offseason and has been referred to as day-to-day, and while this doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll definitely start on Saturday, or that he’ll play every offensive snap (hopefully none of the starters will play every offensive snap against Southeast Missouri State), it’s a good sign about his health and therefore a good sign about an offensive line that’s not entirely unproven but isn’t as proven as one would like it to be.
NFL Depth Charts: A Couple Things of Note
In other roster finalizations, Jimmy Garoppolo is staying in San Francisco, agreeing to back up Trey Lance under a restructured contract with a no-trade clause and a no-franchise tag clause (keeping the QB a free agent this upcoming offseason). There’s a significant boost in cap space under the contract for the Niners, and Garoppolo may also get more money? I would assume Garoppolo is getting more money than he would have were he released. It’s that, or he loves being in the Bay Area.
As far as a backup quarterback goes, you can do worse than Jimmy Garoppolo, so the decision made by San Francisco here must indicate that what they could garner in a trade doesn’t match their perception of Garoppolo’s backup value. Still, it feels like a weird situation, and it’s probably fair to ask just how confident Kyle Shanahan really is in Lance.
On the Packers side of things, the only things that have caught my eye so far are that Danny Etling was, as expected, cut, and Juwan Winfree was cut too, though that was on the unexpected side. Evidently Aaron Rodgers liking Winfree wasn’t enough to keep him on the active roster—that, or the Packers really think he’ll clear waivers and there’s another player they want to keep in his stead. Travis Fulgham and Samori Toure remain not-yet-cut as of this moment when I write this (2:18 PM CDT), but that’s only per the more accepted channels of such news. Others say Fulgham’s been cut. No word on Toure, who had a fairly productive preseason in games and seems to be favored to hold onto a seventh wide receiver spot (the first six are fairly comfortably Cobb/Doubs/Lazard/Rodgers/Watkins/Watson, going alphabetically). Tyler Goodson has been cut.
Pujols: 694, Judge: 50
Albert Pujols hit his 694th career home run last night, with Ross Detwiler becoming the hitter’s 450th home run victim. Evidently Barry Bonds only hit home runs off of 449 pitchers, making Pujols, in this regard, the all-time home run king. I would like to see someone make a case for honoring that as the true record while also adjusting for the fact Babe Ruth played in an era where his only regular season games were against the seven other teams in the American League, not the 19 or however many opponents Pujols has had this year alone (also, fewer pitchers back then within each team, I’d assume). Make it happen, folks.
Aaron Judge hit his 50th home run of the year last night, and the latest projection on him from FanGraphs’s Depth Charts is that he’ll finish with 59. He is right around 50/50 likely to get there, and with the Yankees’ clinch potentially not happening until the season’s final week or two, I’m not sure he’s going to get as much rest as he might have were they up twenty games.
Results, news:
AL East
We’re a little fixated on the AL East race. Sue us. The Yankees probably still have it wrapped up, but that lingering possibility that they don’t is enticing as a narrative, and with them falling to the Angels and the Blue Jays beating the Cubs, they only lead Tampa Bay and Toronto by six and seven in the loss column, respectively (eight and nine in the win column).
AL Central
The Twins beat the Red Sox in Minnesota, stretching their win streak to four games and cutting their division deficit down to one and a half games behind the idle Guardians.
NL Wild Card
The Brewers coughed up a lead and then took it back from the Pirates, tying the game on recent call-up Garrett Mitchell’s first career home run in the eighth before Keston Hiura walked it off in the ninth. With the Cardinals blowing the doors off of the Reds, there was nothing to be gained in the division, but Milwaukee did pick up a game on Philadelphia, who led 7-0 after three and a half innings, trailed 12-7 after five, and lost 13-7. The Padres beat the Giants, 6-5, to climb back within a game and a half of the Phillies, who are three clear of the Brew Crew.
Elsewhere
The Dodgers beat the Marlins in ten, but what was mostly interesting there was Chris Martin taking over for Craig Kimbrel with one out in the tenth, a one-run lead, and the bases loaded and wiggling out of it, striking out Garrett Cooper before getting Jacob Stallings to pop out in foul ground. The performance moved Martin up into 65th place among pitchers this year in Win Probability Added, meaning that by measurable impact, he’s now done more for the Dodgers and Cubs than Gerrit Cole’s done for the Yankees. And to help him out, Blake Treinen is expected to return for the Dodgers this weekend. One more rehab appearance there before activation.
Joey Votto says he’ll play next year after recently undergoing season-ending surgery, but only if he’s performing well enough. He has one guaranteed year remaining on his contract in Cincinnati, plus a club option for 2024 that’s effectively a $13M decision for the Reds.
Justin Verlander’s going on the IL, but the word from Houston is that his muscle isn’t injured and he should be able to miss a fairly small amount of time.
The A’s are calling up Ken Waldichuck, argued by some to be among the best pitching prospects in baseball. He won’t come up until later this week, when active rosters expand from 26 to 28, but it could be noteworthy.
The Cubs
Fun night last night, though I could’ve done without the seventh and eighth-inning Toronto comeback. It was sweet to see Marcus Stroman connecting with people, and Nick Madrigal’s defense in the extra innings was a thrill. The guy plays like he’s a gamer. Hard to not like him, easier to say that when his bat is working.
In news, Miguel Amaya will evidently catch in the Arizona Fall League, not just DH, according to Mark Gonzales. That indicates that his Tommy John surgery recovery is going well enough for Amaya to play some defense at a position that isn’t exactly easy on the arm (unless the Cubs decide to tell Amaya to just let every runner steal, which doesn’t feel believable, especially in the AFL where the teams are constructed of players from different franchises). So, good news about a once-promising, now-approaching-a-decision-point prospect who some are saying is going to be behind the plate at the MLB level next year (I still think the plan is to work something out with Willson Contreras and stick with him on a platoon with Yan Gomes, but I’m in the minority on that).
Also, Jesse Chavez was just claimed off waivers by Atlanta (he’d been with the Angels), meaning he’s back on an MLB roster yet again. Baseball cannot rid itself of that man. Good for him.
RJ Barrett Extended
The Knicks have extended RJ Barrett’s contract, locking the rising fourth-year player up for an additional four years and possibly closing the door on negotiations between New York and Utah over a Donovan Mitchell trade. If I’m understanding this correctly, a third team would now have to be involved for Barrett to go to Salt Lake City, and if Barrett doesn’t go the already unmatched draft pick price for Mitchell would grow a lot steeper.
Will Mitchell still get traded? I don’t know. The Jazz would like to kickstart the rebuild, but Mitchell isn’t an expiring asset. They’ve got him for a while.
**
Viewing schedule, second screen rotation in italics:
Soccer Relevant to Our Futures Portfolios
- 2:30 PM EDT: Brentford @ Crystal Palace (Peacock)
- 2:30 PM EDT: Brighton @ Fulham (Peacock)
- 2:45 PM EDT: Reading @ Sheffield United
- 2:45 PM EDT: Hull City @ Queens Park Rangers
- 3:00 PM EDT: Middlesbrough @ Watford (ESPN+)
MLB
- 7:07 PM EDT: Cubs @ Toronto, Stroman vs. Gausman (MLB TV)
- 6:10 PM EDT: Baltimore @ Cleveland, Watkins vs. Quantrill (MLB TV)
- 6:40 PM EDT: St. Louis @ Cincinnati, Hudson vs. Dunn (MLB TV)
- 6:40 PM EDT: Tampa Bay @ Miami, McClanahan vs. Luzardo (MLB TV)
- 7:10 PM EDT: Los Angeles @ New York (NL), Heaney vs. Walker (MLB TV)
- 7:10 PM EDT: Seattle @ Detroit, Kirby vs. Manning (MLB TV)
- 7:20 PM EDT: Colorado @ Atlanta, Ureña vs. Fried (MLB TV)
- 7:40 PM EDT: Boston @ Minnesota, Crawford vs. Archer (MLB TV)
- 8:05 PM EDT: Houston @ Texas, Valdez vs. Dunning (MLB TV)
- 8:10 PM EDT: Kansas City @ Chicago (AL), Singer vs. Giolito (MLB TV)
- 8:10 PM EDT: Pittsburgh @ Milwaukee, Keller vs. Alexander (MLB TV)
- 9:38 PM EDT: New York (AL) @ Anaheim, Taillon vs. Mayers (MLB TV)
- 9:40 PM EDT: Philadelphia @ Arizona, Nola vs. Gallen (MLB TV)
- 9:45 PM EDT: San Diego @ San Francisco, Snell vs. Webb (MLB TV)
