Alex Smith, Utah Football’s first inductee into the Ring of Honor, is honored at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News When Mark Harlan’s number popped up on Alex Smith’s phone, the former Ute quarterback initially thought Utah’s athletic director was calling to ask for money. By the end of …

Louis Rees-Zammit and Travis Clayton are the latest players to have quit rugby to pursue a career in the NFL. It has proved a difficult task. Only Jordan Mailata has managed to make the transition. “It recalibrates what you think is hard,” says Christian Scotland-Williamson, one of those who missed out. So as Rees-Zammit and Clayton prepare for the next …

Another Central Texas high school football power is opening its season against a solid program from the Dallas area, and fans can stream it live. Travis Lake football, the No. 2 team in our preseason countdown, is traveling to Arlington to face Martin High School for a 7 p.m. Friday battle between two 2023 Class 6A playoff teams. The two met last …

The clock struck 12. The deal is done. In a deadline-driven industry, the deadline finally arrived for the 49ers. And they moved to their bottom-line position. And receiver Brandon Aiyuk took the deal. PFT has confirmed that the 49ers and Aiyuk have agreed to terms on a four-year, $120 million extension. Adding in his pre-existing 2024 salary of $14.1 million, …

A popular ESPN personality and Centerville High School alum will be honored before Friday night’s football game. [DOWNLOAD: Free WHIO-TV News app for alerts as news breaks] Centerville will host St. Xavier on Friday night and we will have a LIVE preview today on News Center 7 at 5. ESPN College Football analyst Kirk Herbstreit played quarterback for the Elks …

Drake Maye might be ready, but the Patriots aren’t ready for the rookie quarterback to start yet. Coach Jerod Mayo said “a lot of factors led to this choice.” Mayo didn’t say it, but the state of the Patriots’ offensive line surely played a part. David Carr, the No. 1 pick in 2002, was ruined as a rookie when he …

Brighton’s football team has seen enough of the Carr brothers the last two years. A year ago, the Bulldogs faced current Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr, who threw for 308 yards during Saline’s 42-3 victory. On Thursday, junior Tommy Carr threw for three touchdowns and ran for another as Saline beat Brighton, 41-20, in a season opener. Carr’s 3-yard scramble …

Rams quarterback Stetson Bennett showed enough in the preseason for coach Sean McVay to be comfortable with him as the primary backup for the first two weeks of the season. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Quarterback Stetson Bennett got the news from Rams coach Sean McVay in a Houston hotel elevator. It was the morning of the Rams’ …

It’s Year 2 for Purdue football coach Ryan Walters, and the Boilermakers hope greater stability yields more wins. They went 4-8 last season (3-6 Big Ten) and Hudson Card returns as the starting quarterback. Purdue has seven games at Ross-Ade Stadium, including an early-season matchup with Notre Dame, and Big Ten newcomer Oregon. ▶ BoilerUpdate: Sign up for our Purdue …

The Broncos signed inside linebacker Kristian Welch, the team announced Thursday. They waived inside linebacker Levelle Bailey in a corresponding move. Welch, a fifth-year player, was released by the Packers on Tuesday despite tying for the team lead with 16 tackles in the preseason and leading the NFL with two interceptions. He has appeared in 57 games with the Packers …

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Noah Burnette made four field goals, three of them after quarterback Max Johnson was carted off with a knee injury, and hit the go-ahead 45-yarder with 1:44 left to lift North Carolina past Minnesota 19-17 in the season opener for both teams on Thursday night. Dragan Kesich, whose 30-yarder with 3:40 to go gave the Gophers the …

The NFL does so well that even its games that don’t mean anything still draw plenty of viewers. Even with major events like the Olympics going on. Via Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal, the total TV and digital audience for the 2023 preseason averaged 1.93 million viewers, up slightly from last year’s 1.91 million average. This year, the Hall …

ORLANDO — Shaking off a sloppy first quarter in its home debut, UCF nearly smashed a school record Thursday night in demolishing New Hampshire. The Knights rushed for 454 yards, averaging 8.4 per carry, to pull away from the visiting Wildcats in a 57-3 rout. Only once before had UCF (1-0) piled up more yards on the ground in program …

Chargers edge rusher Joey Bosa broke his left hand in an Aug. 4 joint practice with the Rams, he said Thursday. He required surgery to repair the fracture. Bosa has been wearing a club on his hand, allowing him to practice, but doesn’t expect to wear it much longer. He has played only 14 games the past two seasons combined, …

College Station is the site for one of the biggest games of Week 1 of the college football season as the 20th-ranked Aggies of Texas A&M host the 9th-ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame Saturday Night in front of the 12th Man. Expectations are sky high for both these schools. The Mike Elko Era begins at Texas A&M with the …