Former 2024 5-star recruit Micah Hudson transfers back to Texas Tech after leaving for Texas A&M in December
Former five-star recruit Micah Hudson is heading back to Texas Tech after transferring away from the school after the 2024 season.
Hudson was a top-10 recruit in the class of 2024 and widely expected to make an immediate impact with the Red Raiders. That didn't happen. Thanks to injuries, he played in eight games and had eight catches for 123 yards without a TD. Ten players had more catches than Hudson did in 2024.
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Hudson entered the transfer portal after the season and transferred to Texas A&M. He spent just months with the Aggies, however. In March, Hudson was in the transfer portal again.
He's now heading back to Lubbock.
The Temple, Texas, native was the No. 9 recruit in the class of 2024 and the No. 4 wide receiver. He was the top recruit in the state of Texas and his commitment was seen as a coup for Joey McGuire's staff.
Texas Tech has been one of the most active teams in the transfer portal this offseason as they have benefitted heavily from a greater NIL investment ahead of the potential House settlement in 2026. The Red Raiders have the No. 3 transfer class in the country according to Rivals and have landed four top-100 transfers. Rivals' top-ranked Tech transfer is Purdue cornerback Tarrion Grant, and the team has also added two top offensive lineman through the portal.
The Red Raiders finished 8-5 in 2024 after losing the Liberty Bowl to Arkansas. With the Big 12 wide open in 2025, Tech figures to be one of the favorites after going 6-3 in conference play last season.

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USA Today
9 hours ago
- USA Today
Texas A&M finalizes 2025 football roster ahead of season opener
The Texas A&M football roster is officially locked in for the 2025 season. All player measurements and jersey numbers have been updated on the team's website, offering fans a clearer look at who will take the field this fall. It's been a chaotic offseason for the Aggies starting with the house settlement being approved, which sparked a wave of new lawsuits. The summer also saw a whirlwind of recruiting action, including the high-profile commitment and eventual decommitment of Micah Hudson. On the lighter side, several football and softball players took part in a crowd-pleasing 'Celebrity Softball Game,' giving fans a fun break from the intensity of the offseason. Now, with the season opener just a month away, attention turns toward on-field preparation. In about a week, the Aggie football team will begin gearing up for their August 30 showdown against UTSA at Kyle Field. Among all scholarship players—including incoming freshmen and transfers—only Jerome Myles didn't report early, joining the squad in June. And yes, everyone else is accounted for… except Shemar Stewart, who is working out with the team while he waits for his NFL contract to be finalized. You can view the updated roster here. Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes, and opinions. Follow Jarrett Johnson on X: @whosnextsports1.


New York Times
14 hours ago
- New York Times
One player from each MLB franchise who will be wearing a new uniform by July 31
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Or maybe it'll just look like more of the same. — Andy McCullough White Sox general manager Chris Getz faces such an annoying dilemma with Robert, one of the last links to the 2021 club that won the American League Central. Robert was an All-Star as recently as 2023 but has been far less productive these past two seasons. Should the team accept a return for a rental who entered the All-Star break with a sub-.600 OPS? Or should the team pick up his $20 million option for 2026 and hope he rejuvenates himself in time to be traded next year? The financial risk of Robert continuing to crater may force Getz's hand. — McCullough The Nationals don't really have much for new general manager Mike DeBartolo to move. Their best relievers, Kyle Finnegan and Brad Lord, don't miss bats. Their best starters, besides MacKenzie Gore, couldn't start a postseason game for a contender. They don't really have quality position players besides CJ Abrams and James Wood. So let's go with Soroka, a swingman whose peripherals are better than his raw numbers. — McCullough Should the Marlins sell low on Sandy Alcantara? Maybe. Should the team sell high on Cabrera? Definitely. Cabrera has cut down on his walks during the best season of his career. There is an argument for Marlins president of baseball operations Peter Bendix to hold onto Cabrera, who is under team control through 2028. But the risk of injury or regression is significant enough that Miami should explore his market aggressively. — McCullough The Red Sox outfield is already facing a crunch at the big league level with Roman Anthony, Wilyer Abreu, Jarren Duran and Ceddanne Rafaela. That's not counting Rob Refsnyder and Masataka Yoshida, who are getting occasional outfield reps. The Red Sox may trade from their big league core, but have said they'd prefer not to. Garcia is a top-5 prospect in the system, hitting close to .300 with a .900 OPS in Triple A. There's little room for him in the majors, but he could be part of a bigger package to acquire a pitcher at the deadline. Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow has shown a willingness to trade prospects with Kyle Teel and Braden Montgomery as part of the Garrett Crochet deal and Nick Yorke traded for Quinn Priester last summer. — Jen McCaffrey If there's anything the Yankees have to trade, it's young pitching. Hess, almost 23, was the Yankees' first-round pick last year. He has a big fastball with strikeout ability (13.1 K/9) and a 6-foot-5 frame to dream on, but he's also shown a lack of control (5.1 BB/9) in his first professional season, all at High-A Hudson Valley. A caveat: Many evaluators prefer 2024 second-rounder Bryce Cunningham, 22, to Hess. — Brendan Kuty Castro is the best of the Twins' six impending free agents, each of whom figures to be very available. He can play anywhere defensively and he's a switch hitter with good speed and a .741 OPS over three seasons in Minnesota, making him a smooth fit in almost any lineup. Castro was an All-Star last season and he's having an even better 2025, so the 28-year-old should have plenty of suitors. — Aaron Gleeman Luciano still has the lightning-quick bat that made him a top-20 prospect, but he's stalled in Triple A, both offensively and defensively. He'll be out of options next year, and he still has some measure of trade value, which makes him the perfect player to include in a larger deal. — Grant Brisbee If the Reds want to get an impact player for a playoff push, they'll have to give up something, and the one place they're set for the immediate future is shortstop. The switch-hitting Arroyo missed all of 2024 after shoulder surgery. His power's been limited, but he has a solid batting average and OBP in Double A this year and his defense is still good at a premium position. — C. Trent Rosecrans The Jays have nine outfielders on the 40-man roster, plus Anthony Santander on the 60-day IL. They'll likely move one of the many similar young outfielders. It's a group that includes Alan Roden and Jonatan Clase, but Joey Loperfido's value might be the highest of the bunch. When Daulton Varsho returns from his hamstring injury, Loperfido likely loses his MLB spot anyway. So, he's the perfect high stock to cash in. — Mitch Bannon Ozuna was the second-best DH in baseball over the 2023-24 seasons, behind Shohei Ohtani. He got off to another strong start this season, albeit with more walks and fewer homers while playing through a hip injury. But Ozuna, on an expiring contract, slumped badly since early June, and recently lost regular DH duties as manager Brian Snitker decided to go with catchers Sean Murphy and Drake Baldwin in the lineup most games, one at DH. — David O'Brien No one ever has enough starting pitching, which is why Abel's renaissance season is important. He was a first-round pick for a reason, and he's regained confidence. But he projects as the sixth or seventh starter now and in 2026 for the Phillies. That makes him a trade chip. — Matt Gelb A fourth-round pick out of high school in 2023, Ewing has done nothing but hit over the last calendar year. Sent in the spring to repeat Low A, he earned a promotion before April was up and has carried a .400 on-base percentage over three months in High A. He's precisely the kind of appealing top-20 prospect the Mets have lacked at recent deadlines. — Tim Britton The Dodgers want to be bringing in arms to address their issues, not ship them out. But as their rotation gets healthier, some names are going to get squeezed out — including, potentially, May, who has not missed a turn through the Dodgers rotation and has remained healthy. The stuff remains tantalizing, but the production (4.73 ERA) hasn't matched up. 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He'll bring in considerable value in a return for St. Louis, even as a rental, as all signs point to the Cardinals opting for a soft sell at the deadline. — Katie Woo Just when it seemed like the Rangers might have to wave the white flag, this team is waking up. Whether the Rangers buy, sell or thread the needle, García could be most vulnerable to a move. The Rangers could aim to reshape their offense with a more consistent hitter, and García could still have value elsewhere as an elite defender with one remaining year of team control. — Stavenhagen This one isn't exactly a no-brainer. Luis Severino has publicly stated how much he dislikes Sutter Health Park due to its playing environment. And with a road ERA of 3.10 versus a home ERA of 6.68, it's clear he'd rather be playing literally anywhere else. The veteran will most likely get his wish granted, with the rebuilding A's hoping to bring in a young prospect or two in return. — Dhani Joseph Houston's major-league roster is so ravaged by injury that it's difficult to envision any player getting moved, but McCormick makes the most sense if one does. He is the odd man out of a full-strength Astros outfield, has one more season under club control and is making $3.4 million — not an insignificant sum for a Houston team that may have to move money around if owner Jim Crane doesn't authorize crossing the luxury tax threshold. — Chandler Rome The Cubs are clear buyers searching for pitching. Wicks just hasn't gotten the job done for them this season in his big-league opportunities. But he still has value as a future starter. It could benefit Wicks and the team he's moved to if he's allowed to just pitch through struggles without the concern of a playoff race hovering over him. — Sahadev Sharma The Angels could try to move Moncada regardless of whether they intend to compete. With Christian Moore set to return at some point this season, the Angels won't really have much use for either Moncada or Luis Rengifo in their starting infield, and Moncada is going to be the more desirable trade piece by opposing teams. The only issue is his health. He can barely stay on the field this season, so whatever value the Angels get back might be minimal. — Sam Blum (Illustration: Kelsea Petersen / The Athletic; Alika Jenner / Getty, Jason Miller / Getty, Diamond Images / Getty)


Los Angeles Times
20 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
USC's Lincoln Riley feeling ‘refreshed' as pressure mounts to win in Year 4
LAS VEGAS — While the rest of the college football world spent the summer whipped into a frenzy, swept up by the specter of revenue sharing or congressional intervention or one of the many other landscape-altering changes looming over the sport, Lincoln Riley was able to actually step away and take a breath. In four years as USC's coach, Riley hasn't had many chances to really unplug. There was the sprint ahead of his first season, and the heavy portal push ahead of his second. The third came with a new conference, new defense, new expectations, new pressure. The fourth, by comparison, is starting on a more relaxed note than Riley is used to. There were no phone calls taking up half a day of his family vacation. His fly fishing went mostly unbothered. He even golfed at Pebble Beach in May. 'I'd say I'm feeling as refreshed and recharged as I've been in a long time,' Riley said Thursday during Big Ten media days. Never mind that the pressure for Riley to win at USC has perhaps never been so high, coming off a 7-6 campaign in which the Trojans needed a comeback bowl win to scrape past .500. The path to winning has arguably never been so uncertain, either, with the advent of revenue sharing completely upending how championship rosters are constructed. In spite of that backdrop, this past summer still felt less daunting to Riley than the rest. He says he didn't feel the offseason chaos that some of colleagues have described in the wake of the House settlement. Some of that added calm he credits to Chad Bowden, USC's new general manager, and his handpicked front office, who have taken personnel matters largely off Riley's plate. Immediately laying claim to the nation's No. 1 recruiting class for 2026 hasn't hurt in building that trust, either. But it's more than that, according to Riley. 'There are less big fixes going on right now, you know?' he said. 'It's like you've got the house built, and it's kind of all about the finishes now. You're not trying to put up a wall or anything like that.' Whether USC is actually that close to being a finished product is up for debate. The Trojans' win total has declined in each of Riley's first three seasons, during which his record is worse than that of his predecessor, Clay Helton. Now the Trojans enter his fourth with a raw, unproven commodity at quarterback, a threadbare linebacker room, and an inexperienced offensive line that could already be down a projected starter. There's also the matter of their fourth-quarter issues last season, which saw the Trojans inexplicably cough up leads in five of their six losses. But Riley looks at it differently. 'It's the first time where we had an opportunity at the end of the game to win every single game that we played,' he said. 'The really good teams separate in a lot of their games, and they win the close games they end up in. That's typically how it happens, and that's what we've got to become. And so the way to do it, every part of your program has to be pretty strong. 'We've graduated from being way behind in this area, and being pretty decent in this area to, like, every right now is either good or pretty darn good. Now it's just about taking those small steps in all those areas to, I guess, hypothetically push you over the hump.' The biggest leap in that regard could once again be on defense, where USC went from one of the worst units in the nation in 2023 (121st in scoring defense) to respectable (56th) under defensive coordinator D'Anton Lynn. That was no small feat, considering where they came from. And the Trojans have added considerable talent to its defense since. The front seven should benefit greatly from the return of linebacker Eric Gentry and defensive end Anthony Lucas from injury. And on the interior, USC brought in two massive transfers on the interior, as well as a five-star freshman. 'I think the depth, the talent level, and the size of the defensive line, I mean, there's honestly really no comparison to this time 12 months ago,' Riley said. But the Trojans' path will inevitably, at some point, come down to their quarterback. Riley reiterated his confidence in Jayden Maiava as the Trojans' starter, even as he once again heaped praise on five-star freshman Husan Longstreet. Left tackle Elijah Paige said Thursday that he has seen a major change in Maiava since he entered the offseason as the presumptive starter. 'He's taken a complete 180,' Paige said of USC's quarterback. '[In the spring,] he commanded the offense, and that's what this team needs.' Of course, everyone is feeling optimistic this time of year, with more than a month still remaining before USC kicks off against Missouri State. But Riley isn't the only one who feels those finishing touches underway. 'We've gone and gotten some of the very best people in the business,' Riley said. 'They're not going to attach themselves to something where they don't see the progress. 'And you do not get a recruiting class like this unless there's a crazy amount of momentum within the program. Like, I don't care what else you have. If you don't have momentum, you do not get a class like we have.'