Pair of Oklahoma Sooners named to Maxwell Award watch list
Fall camp will kick off on Wednesday, marking the beginning of the 2025 season. With the Season just over a month away, watch lists will begin rolling out, and the Sooners' backfield mates landed on the Maxwell Award watch list.
The Maxwell Award is given to the most outstanding player in college football.
Three former Sooners have won the award. Tommy McDonald won the Maxwell back in 1956. Jason White won the award during his Heisman Trophy-winning season in 2004. Baker Mayfield is the most recent recipient of the national honor, winning the award in 2017.
In 2018, when Kyler Murray won the Heisman, the Maxwell went to Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa.
Mateer is coming off a 2024 season in which he led the nation in total touchdowns with 44 and had nearly 4,000 yards of total offense for Washington State. Ott is coming off an injury-plagued 2024 season, but back in 2023, he ran for 1,300 yards and 13 touchdowns for Cal. He's hoping he can have a bounce-back year this year ahead of the 2026 NFL draft.
Mateer and Ott will need to have big years for the Sooners in 2025 to be in the running for the prestigious award. If they do, the Sooners could be on their way to the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2019.
Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow John on X @john9williams.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: John Mateer, Jaydn Ott named to Maxwell Award watch list
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
The Lakers' full 2025-26 preseason schedule has been revealed
It may be the middle of the summer, but before we know it, it will be time for NBA teams to report to training camp and start the new season. About two months ago, the Los Angeles Lakers announced their preseason schedule for the upcoming season. They will have games at Arena versus the Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings, as well as a contest at Acrisure Arena in greater Palm Springs against the Phoenix Suns and one in Las Vegas against the Dallas Mavericks. Their full preseason schedule has now been revealed, per Khobi Price of Southern California News Group. The Lakers will also play a road game on Oct. 5 versus the Warriors and another one against the Suns on Oct. 14. One thing to note is that the Lakers will have a set of back-to-back games on Oct. 14 and Oct. 15, as well as a total of four games in six games to close out their exhibition schedule. It will therefore be interesting to see how much the team's veterans, especially LeBron James, will play during that stretch. This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: The Lakers' full 2025-26 preseason schedule has been revealed
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Former Iowa football running back accepts new coaching position
When players go through the Iowa football system, they become so much more knowledgeable of the game and can think football at a higher level than others. That's a big reason why so many Hawkeyes find their way into the NFL and usually stick around longer than some may expect. But for those who weren't able to make it to the league, that knowledge doesn't evaporate. Some players use it to be involved with the game in a different aspect: coaching. And this former Iowa football running back is the next in a great line of Hawkeyes turned into coaches. Bemidji State University football announced on X that it had hired former Hawkeye running back Ivory Kelly-Martin to be its running backs coach for the 2025 season. Bemidji State is a Division II school located in Bemidji, Minnesota. They compete in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC). Kelly-Martin played at Iowa from 2017-2021, appearing in 44 games. He had 181 carries for 804 yards and six rushing touchdowns in those 44 games. He spent a lot of time backing up Tyler Goodson and providing valuable snaps. While he wasn't a star at Iowa, Kelly-Martin was well respected by his teammates and coaching staff and was a true steward of the game. That was evident with his inclusion on the 2021 Players Council. Before accepting this position with Bemidji State, Kelly-Martin was a graduate assistant running backs coach at Baker University in Baldwin City, Kansas. With his Master's in Business Administration all finished up, he can now start his coaching career with the Bemidji State Beavers. Hawkeye fans wish Kelly-Martin the best of luck as the next chapter of his life begins. Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Zach on X: @zach_hiney This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Former Iowa football running back accepts new coaching position
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
'They keep me young': Veteran Shelby Harris enjoys leading Browns young defensive linemen
BEREA — Shelby Harris is the ultimate pro athlete paradox. The Browns' veteran defensive tackle is 33 years old. In two weeks, on Aug. 11, he's going to turn 34. In pro football terms, or in general pro athlete terms, is considered "old." Look pretty much anywhere else, and being 33-going-on-34 is the prime of life. Harris knows that as well as anyone. "Man, I'm young, too," Harris said following the Browns' ninth training camp practice Aug. 2. "You got to think about it, at the end of the day in life, being 33, about to turn 34, that's young. So this football stuff ages us." Harris — who was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the seventh round of the 2014 draft, the same one in which the Browns selected Joel Bitonio in the second round — isn't afraid to lean into the old-guy bit either. The man they call "Unc" around the Browns was coming out to the field for one of the first open training camp practice when he yelled out to no one in particular, "Here comes the old man." The father of four children, the oldest an 18-year-old daughter Kamaya, who'll be playing softbal at Fort Hays State University. The youngest is a 4-year-old son Shelby Jr., who was born near the end of his father's fourth season with the Denver Broncos. Those four children are in addition to the other "kids" in his life. Those are the collection of 20-somethings he shared a defensive line meeting room with on a daily basis with the Browns. "I just think it's cool because you got to think, I got a daughter about to go to college and these dudes just got out of college," Harris said. "It's a full circle moment. But I embrace it, though. They keep me young. I love it because I hear music I don't hear all the time, and it's just little things like that where you appreciate what the young players can bring to the table. I just think that everybody brings something a little bit unique and a little bit different and it's all welcomed." A look around the Browns' defensive line shows just how young the position group is comparative to Harris. He and 30-year-old defensive tackle Maliek Collins are the only two whose age starts with a number three, although All-Pro Myles Garrett will turn 30 on Dec. 29, the same day Harris' youngest son turns 5. The rest of the group? The ones the Browns have invested the most in are not too far removed from just becoming legal to drink: 21-year-old rookie Mason Graham, 22-year-old second-year pro Mike Hall Jr. and a pair of 24-year-old defensive ends Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire. Harris won't go as fas as to say the youthful group of defensive linemen has left him feeling 10 years younger or anything like that. He will say that it's left the nearly 34-year-old veteran with a youthful spirit, and in a way, giving him a new connection to his own kids as well. "Football years, the kids are young and then I'm telling you, like, having an 18-year-old, I'd be listening to stuff," Harris said. "I'm like, what the hell did that come from? And that's why I just think it's cool, because we always talk about it, me and my wife will, but like, half these kids are closer to my daughter's age than they are to my age. And so I just think this is a cool moment where I can go up there and still kind of be one of the guys, even though I'm older, and then I gotta go home and be dad to pretty much the same age." Harris' isn't playing like he's in his mid 30s, at least not over the first nine days of training camp. That's coming off a second season in Cleveland that was cut short by a Week 15 elbow injury, although he still managed to record 1.5 sacks, five tackles for loss, forced one fumble and nine combined pressures in the season. Over his first two years with the Browns, Harris has recorded five passes batted at the line of scrimmage, giving him 21 over his career. He's contined that going into his latest training camp, including the rejection of rookie quarterback Dillon Gabiel early in Saturday's practice. "Back to my Denver days, they've always put an emphasis on, at least if you can see the quarterback's eyes, get your hands up, if you're not going to get the sack, at least make something happen," Harris said. z{I didn't even realize they were on Dillon, but that's just something I've always done. I've led the league a couple times in batted balls, and so it's just something that the more you can do. That's the way I look at it." Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@ Read more about the Browns at Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Shelby Harris 'feels young' around youthful Browns defensive linemen
