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 …

Some are saying that, at times, the 49ers can be a little low-key dysfunctional. (I’m not saying it. But some are.) For those who believe that, the team’s handling of the Brandon Aiyuk contract helps bolster their case. Apart from the CeeDee-style failure to set the deadline before the start of training camp (which the 49ers also did last year …

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Shedeur Sanders threw for 445 yards and four touchdowns — three to Travis Hunter — and Colorado began Year 2 under Deion Sanders by holding off FCS power North Dakota State 31-26 on Thursday night. A 10 1/2-point favorite, the Buffaloes couldn’t shake a pesky Bison team that scored with 2:19 remaining to make things interesting. …

The Cleveland Browns are breaking new ground in just how bad a contract can look, courtesy of, naturally, Deshaun Watson. The mud they dredged up on Thursday: a contract restructure that will see $44.79 million of his cap space this season converted to a signing bonus, giving the team $35.83 million new cap space according to ESPN’s Field Yates. The …

UNC quarterback Max Johnson was injured in the second half of the Tar Heels’ game at Minnesota and was carted off the field after an apparent right leg injury. Johnson, a Texas A&M transfer, was the Tar Heels’ starting quarterback for the season opener and completed 12 of 19 passes for 71 yards with an interception before leaving with 3:06 …