logo
Burk's Buford signs NLI, MSU tennis advances to final four and Bearden is an All-American

Burk's Buford signs NLI, MSU tennis advances to final four and Bearden is an All-American

Yahoo23-05-2025
Burkburnett's Ozavian Buford signed a letter of intent to play basketball at Nelson University in Waxahachie. Buford averaged 17 points a game for the Bulldogs in his senior season. He also averaged five rebounds, 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game. In his two seasons with Burkburnett, the Bulldogs went 51-16.
Midwestern State golfer Seth Bearden has been named a PING All-American. He becomes the seventh golf in program history to earn the honor. The junior from Crowell High School helped the Mustangs make a 15th straight postseason appearance while winning three events.
The 3rd-ranked MSU women's tennis team dispatched Wayne State(MI) is the Division II National Quarterfinals. The Mustangs will now face 2nd-ranked Nova Southeastern on Saturday morning in the national semifinals. Southeastern is the defending national champion.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Why Georgia has one of the easiest schedules in the SEC
Why Georgia has one of the easiest schedules in the SEC

USA Today

time6 hours ago

  • USA Today

Why Georgia has one of the easiest schedules in the SEC

The Georgia Bulldogs 2025 schedule has some similarities to 2024's schedule. Their SEC slate is the same except the venues from last season are flipped. Instead of playing several ranked opponents away, the Bulldogs will host them in Athens. Between this and many other factors, Georgia comes into the 2025 season with one of the SEC's easiest schedules. Georgia's schedule is the No. 14 most-difficult in the SEC, according to CBS Sports' Brandon Marcello. This comes a year after Georgia had the toughest schedule in the country. Here are four reasons why Georgia's schedule is easier this season. Georgia had a gauntlet on the road last year, playing against three ranked opponents (Alabama, Texas, Ole Miss) and one in a neutral site (Clemson). However, this season, Georgia only plays three total teams on the road. They play at Tennessee on Sept. 29, Auburn on Oct. 11 and Mississippi State on Nov. 8. The Bulldogs play Georgia Tech at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta this year (was set to be Georgia Tech's turn to host) and Florida in EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, so Georgia plays three road games and two neutral site games. Georgia's home schedule is a gauntlet. Playing against Alabama, Texas, and Ole Miss is not going to be easy, and it threatens Georgia's massive 31-home-game winning streak. However, playing all three of those games in your home stadium is an absolute advantage. Sanford Stadium is the No. 4 hardest stadium in the nation, according to College Football 26. Georgia was victorious on the road against the No. 1 Texas Longhorns last year and the Bulldogs had a fourth quarter lead on the road against the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide. Safe to say, Georgia gets a favorable draw in their ranked games. Rounding out the Bulldogs' SEC schedule, they play the Kentucky Wildcats on Oct. 4. With Kentucky finishing 3-9 last year and Mississippi State finishing 2-10, Georgia plays the two worst teams that are projected to be the worst in the SEC. Of course, Kentucky gave Georgia a scare in the Bulldogs' Week 3 road matchup. However, now with the game being at home, Georgia has a much bigger advantage. Mississippi State also played competitively with Georgia in their 2024 matchup, with Georgia winning 41-31. However, Georgia outgained Mississippi 605 total yards to 385 total yards. As long as Georgia can limit the turnovers, the Bulldogs should cruise in that game. In 2024, the Bulldogs had a tough nonconference slate, playing against No. 14 Clemson (who would go on to win the ACC championship) along with Tennessee Tech, UMass, and of course, Georgia Tech. This year, the Bulldogs play against Marshall, Austin Peay, and Charlotte this year. Marshall is ranked No. 94 in ESPN's FPI (Football Power Index), while Charlotte is ranked No. 116. Austin Peay isn't ranked in FPI because it is a Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) team and FPI only rates the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Of course, Georgia will still have to play Georgia Tech, and the Yellow Jackets are progressing as a team. However, Georgia's relatively easy schedule should set them up nicely for that matchup. The Dawgs play Charlotte the week before facing Georgia Tech.

Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title
Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title

NBC Sports

time7 hours ago

  • NBC Sports

Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title

ATHENS, Ga. — Kirby Smart opened his 10th season as Georgia coach with Thursday's first preseason practice knowing he didn't have to worry about his message growing old with his players. More than half of Georgia's players are starting their first or second years. Smart knows his lessons won't quickly sound stale for the defending Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs. With only seven returning starters, Georgia opened practice with a long list of young players eager to seize their first starting jobs. 'We are young ... but we are hungry,' Smart said Thursday. 'We've got a team that's fun to coach. ... A lot of them haven't had an opportunity to play, and now this is their opportunity. Sometimes when you're coaching, it's a lot more exciting for guys when they're having their first time. Now that being said, the lack of experience sometimes can show, but we're going to try to get through that in camp.' A more experienced Georgia team finished 11-3 last season and No. 6 in The AP Top 25 final poll. It was the team's eighth consecutive top 10 finish under Smart, including back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Last season's SEC championship was Georgia's third with Smart. Georgia returns only four starters on offense. That total includes two tight ends — Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie, who made seven starts. Right tackle Earnest Greene III is the only returning starter on the offensive line. Wide receiver Dillon Bell is the fourth returning starter on offense. Quarterback Gunner Stockton took over for injured Carson Beck in the second half of Georgia's 22-19 overtime win over Texas in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta. Stockton started in the Bulldogs' 23-10 Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals. Smart says Stockton is still competing with Ryan Puglisi, but it would be a major surprise if the junior doesn't start in Georgia's season opener against Marshall on Aug. 30. Following Beck's transfer to Miami, Stockton strengthened his hold on the job with a strong spring practice and directed the first-team offense in the G-Day spring game. The defense includes only three starters: lineman Christen Miller, inside linebacker C.J. Allen and cornerback Daylen Everette. Fire, passion, energy Smart, 49, was asked if he still lives up to the team's 2025 motto: 'fire, passion, energy.' 'I feel it every day, because if you don't have it, it's hard to be successful,' Smart said. 'You can't keep up. Our staff has it. Our staff has great juice. We've had a chance to reenergize.' A championship standard Delp was a freshman on Georgia's 2022 national championship team. He said he's motivated to help the Bulldogs win another title and has tried to share lessons from that team with new players. 'I came back for a reason,' Delp said when asked why he didn't enter the NFL draft. 'I want to have a great season. 'I know how it was when when we won games and we won national championships. I was here for that and so I just kind of share with them the standard and what those older guys were holding me to when I was younger. I just try to keep it the same, you know, the standard is the standard. You've got to do it certain ways to win championships.' 'Big Mike' finally has his chance Offensive guard Micah Morris (6-4, 330) entered camp as a projected starter. The fifth-year senior was a fill-in starter last season. This is his long-awaited opportunity to be a full-time starter. Morris, who has a nickname of 'Big Mike' and a reputation as the strongest player on the team, said he never considered finding an opportunity to start at another school through a transfer. 'This is my home, this is where I committed,' Morris said. 'This is where I wanted to be when I was a 17-year-old kid. ... I knew I could develop here even if I wasn't starting.' Jackson facing internal discipline Smart said backup offensive lineman Jahzare Jackson, a sophomore, 'is disappointed, obviously, in the decision-making process' following his arrest in Athens on July 16 on possession of more than an ounce of marijuana, a felony. 'He's being disciplined internally, but he's with the team,' Smart said.

Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title
Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title

Fox Sports

time8 hours ago

  • Fox Sports

Kirby Smart opens preseason camp for 10th season at Georgia with young team after 2024 SEC title

Associated Press ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Kirby Smart opened his 10th season as Georgia coach with Thursday's first preseason practice knowing he didn't have to worry about his message growing old with his players. More than half of Georgia's players are starting their first or second years. Smart knows his lessons won't quickly sound stale for the defending Southeastern Conference champion Bulldogs. With only seven returning starters, Georgia opened practice with a long list of young players eager to seize their first starting jobs. 'We are young ... but we are hungry,' Smart said Thursday. 'We've got a team that's fun to coach. ... A lot of them haven't had an opportunity to play, and now this is their opportunity. Sometimes when you're coaching, it's a lot more exciting for guys when they're having their first time. Now that being said, the lack of experience sometimes can show, but we're going to try to get through that in camp.' A more experienced Georgia team finished 11-3 last season and No. 6 in The AP Top 25 final poll. It was the team's eighth consecutive top 10 finish under Smart, including back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022. Last season's SEC championship was Georgia's third with Smart. Georgia returns only four starters on offense. That total includes two tight ends — Oscar Delp and Lawson Luckie, who made seven starts. Right tackle Earnest Greene III is the only returning starter on the offensive line. Wide receiver Dillon Bell is the fourth returning starter on offense. Quarterback Gunner Stockton took over for injured Carson Beck in the second half of Georgia's 22-19 overtime win over Texas in the Southeastern Conference championship game in Atlanta. Stockton started in the Bulldogs' 23-10 Sugar Bowl loss to Notre Dame in the CFP semifinals. Smart says Stockton is still competing with Ryan Puglisi, but it would be a major surprise if the junior doesn't start in Georgia's season opener against Marshall on Aug. 30. Following Beck's transfer to Miami, Stockton strengthened his hold on the job with a strong spring practice and directed the first-team offense in the G-Day spring game. The defense includes only three starters: lineman Christen Miller, inside linebacker C.J. Allen and cornerback Daylen Everette. Fire, passion, energy Smart, 49, was asked if he still lives up to the team's 2025 motto: 'fire, passion, energy.' 'I feel it every day, because if you don't have it, it's hard to be successful,' Smart said. 'You can't keep up. Our staff has it. Our staff has great juice. We've had a chance to reenergize.' A championship standard Delp was a freshman on Georgia's 2022 national championship team. He said he's motivated to help the Bulldogs win another title and has tried to share lessons from that team with new players. 'I came back for a reason,' Delp said when asked why he didn't enter the NFL draft. "I want to have a great season. 'I know how it was when when we won games and we won national championships. I was here for that and so I just kind of share with them the standard and what those older guys were holding me to when I was younger. I just try to keep it the same, you know, the standard is the standard. You've got to do it certain ways to win championships.' 'Big Mike' finally has his chance Offensive guard Micah Morris (6-4, 330) entered camp as a projected starter. The fifth-year senior was a fill-in starter last season. This is his long-awaited opportunity to be a full-time starter. Morris, who has a nickname of 'Big Mike' and a reputation as the strongest player on the team, said he never considered finding an opportunity to start at another school through a transfer. 'This is my home, this is where I committed,' Morris said. 'This is where I wanted to be when I was a 17-year-old kid. ... I knew I could develop here even if I wasn't starting.' Jackson facing internal discipline Smart said backup offensive lineman Jahzare Jackson, a sophomore, 'is disappointed, obviously, in the decision-making process' following his arrest in Athens on July 16 on possession of more than an ounce of marijuana, a felony. 'He's being disciplined internally, but he's with the team,' Smart said. ___ AP college football: and recommended Item 1 of 3

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store