As the Royal Oak Leprechauns fight for a playoff spot, a collective of former Catholic League stars have played integral roles in the team’s success this summer.

Some, like Aidan Schuck, a Detroit Catholic Central grad who just finished his freshman year at Oakland University, are done for the summer — in his case, his last game with the Leprechauns came last weekend — but have left their mark.

Schuck batted .337 this summer for the team, with 23 RBIs and 15 stolen bases. But he hit his stride as his time with the team wore on, and began to put together a hitting streak that eventually reached double-digits.

“I didn’t even have an idea the streak was going on until I think it was the 15th game,” Schuck said. “I was told by one of our interns who does the stats and he said you’re two away from the franchise record.”

It ended up as a 19-game hitting streak before it was snapped, and at one point included a span of five games where he had 13 base knocks. “You can tell when you’re doing well, seeing it well, but yeah, I had no idea there was a streak going on. It’s kinda harder once you know about it, because then self-consciously you’re trying to continue it.”

In his first year as a Golden Grizzly, Shamrock batted .279 with 10 RBIs in 18 games, but he believes he’ll be returning to OU as a better player after this summer. “I’d say I had a good year, but there were times where I struggled seeing spin,” he said. “I feel like this summer, I made a big jump and I was able to hit off-speed pitches and drive them the other way. Obviously, this was my freshman season of college and I saw new to seeing a lot of the pitching, but playing (as many games as I did this summer) against college pitching, , that’s the best way to get better, seeing arms like that every day. Overall, I developed as a hitter.”

From Brother Rice, Tristan Crane (Eastern Michigan) played 39 games for the team, batting .305 with a .378 on-base percentage and drove in 29 runs. Fellow Warrior Owen Turner (Yale) drove in 21 runs while stealing eight bags in 40 appearances.

The Leprechauns’ all-star representative this season, infielder Ryan Tyranski (Cincinnati), another one-time staple in the Brother Rice lineup, has been a fine example of the difference a year makes. He played 31 games in Royal Oak in 2024 and batted .262 with 12 RBIs and six stolen bases in 31 games. This summer, he’s hitting at a .296 clip in 54 games, has hit a pair of home runs (along with four triples), driven in 33 runs and swiped 19 bags.

On the mound, another Warriors’ alum, Wyatt Ruppenthal (Kalamazoo College), has been one of the Leprechauns’ best arms. In 14 appearances, the 6-foot-2 righty has sported a 3.58 ERA over 27 2/3 innings, striking out 29 with a solid 1.30 WHIP.

For some, it’s a chance to thrive while getting to know ex-rivals even better, and also forge new bonds.

“It’s awesome playing with all the Catholic League guys the whole summer,” Schuck said. “There’s time we’ve had debates in the dugout about who was better in high school. It’s fun getting to know those guys you somewhat knew (when) playing against them, but were never on the same team. Then they’ve got new guys who’ve come in towards the second half of the season, guys like Danny Cook from Pepperdine, a couple guys from Colorado, and it’s good getting to know those guys from all across the country as well as ones we already know.”

With just single-digit games remaining, the Leprechauns have a string of games at home coming up that includes Military Appreciation Night Sunday afternoon against the Kenosha Kingfish and Fan Appreciation Night on Tuesday evening against the Kalamazoo Growlers.

CANTON, Ohio — Not many things went according to plan for the Detroit Lions in a preseason loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Thursday, but their concerted effort to put the ball in the hands of their rookie receivers did.

Heading into the Hall of Fame Game, the Lions wanted to give Isaac TeSlaa and Dominic Lovett ample amounts of opportunity. Neither receiver, drafted in the third and seventh rounds, respectively, lit the field on fire at Tom Benson Stadium, but they combined to account for more than 70% of the team’s receiving yards, and they were the only Lions with multiple targets; Lovett had nine, and TeSlaa had three.

TeSlaa, specifically, was impressive. He recorded back-to-back explosive plays on Detroit’s third drive, hauling in receptions of 24 and 22 yards. Exactly half of TeSlaa’s 46 yards came after the catch, as the physically gifted receiver caught both of his balls on the move. He appeared natural as a ball carrier, and he finished his first catch by attempting to run through a defensive back on his way out of bounds.

“It kind of felt good to drop my shoulder a bit on that DB,” TeSlaa said. “Definitely got hyped up about that one.”

TeSlaa, who played about 40% of Detroit’s offensive snaps, was wide open on both of his receptions. The Arkansas and Hillsdale product benefited from the off-ball coverage on each rep, but he was able to shake the cornerback off-balance on his second catch, aggressively attacking the defender on his vertical stem and faintly faking to the outside before he broke inside on an over route.

It was encouraging to see TeSlaa create separation. It hasn’t been a notable issue through the first couple of weeks of training camp, but most of his standout plays in practice were courtesy of his contested-catch ability. He didn’t need to use that against the Chargers.

“TeSlaa made some plays. … We wanted to get TeSlaa and Lovett the ball,” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said. “We wanted to get these receivers some throws. I wish we could’ve gotten all those guys some throws. But it was good to see. I did think those two guys showed up.”

TeSlaa admitted to having some pent-up emotion escape out of him after his first catch, but he tried to reel himself back in as the game wore on. “Football’s an emotional game,” he explained. “But you’ve gotta be able to tame those emotions.” To settle himself down, TeSlaa remembered this is the same sport he’s been playing since he was in the third grade.

“I typically don’t get too nervous,” TeSlaa said. “Obviously, this was definitely a big game for a lot of us, especially us rookies. It’s our first NFL action, so it was more of like nervous anticipation, I would say, than like jitters or anything. But it was good to get out there. Once I got out there and got in the flow of things, I definitely felt good.”

Nothing about TeSlaa’s unofficial NFL debut surprised him, but now he knows what it’s like to go up against professionals. That experience should help him continue his development, ahead of his first season on the team he grew up rooting for.

“When you get to this level, everyone’s gonna be bigger, faster and stronger. … Now that I’ve seen firsthand what it’s like, I’ll just continue to grow every single day,” TeSlaa said.

DETROIT — If you didn’t know this before Thursday, you should know this now, unequivocally.

Tigers’ president Scott Harris isn’t trying to win press releases. He isn’t trying to win the trade deadline. He’s trying to build winning and championship baseball teams for now and for years to come.

And if his plan, his methods, don’t generate big headlines or sweeping approval throughout the fan base, he can live with that.

“It’s important that we continue to build through development and continue to build for the growth we can access from within,” he said Thursday after trading for five relievers and two starting pitchers at the trade deadline. “It’s one of the reasons why this organization is so healthy and we have a nine-game lead and a farm system that’s winning a ton.

“I have to balance that. That’s the job. And if that subjects me to criticism, like, I totally understand it. But I’m never going make moves to avoid criticism if they are not in the best interest of the organization.”

You should also know now, unequivocally, that his faith in the talented young group of players both at the big-league level and coming up through the system is unshakable. Which is at least partly why the Tigers didn’t land any of the marquee names that were available — like third baseman Eugenio Suarez, who is now a Mariner.

There was an outside assumption the Tigers needed to acquire another right-handed bat, preferably one with power. And Harris, by all accounts, stayed in the conversation for Suarez right up until the deal was made with Seattle.

“I’m not sure our body of work over the first half suggested that we needed to add a right-handed bat,” Harris said.

Certainly not enough to warrant parting with any of the club’s top-tier prospects for a short-term boost, which was the cost.

“The central question we asked ourselves over and over again, is the player available better than the player we have? Do we believe in the player available more than we believe in the player we have now?”

He’s not just talking about Zach McKinstry, who has been the primary third baseman. Or righty hitters like Andy Ibáñez  or Jahmai Jones or even Justyn-Henry Malloy. He’s also talking about the prospects such a trade would cost — Max Clark, Kevin McGonigle, Bryce Rainer, Thayron Liranzo, Josue Briceño and others.

“Every decision or non-decision is a bet,” Harris said. “If you decide to trade for a player, you are betting on that player. If you make a non-decision, which is a decision in itself, you are betting on the player you have. We’re betting on the player we would have had to give up to acquire that player.

“I think these guys have earned (that trust). We did what we did because we believe in these players. They are still getting into their prime years and they will continue to get better.”

Harris didn’t buy into all the outside noise about “seizing the moment,” nor is he swayed by any illusionary window of opportunity. To him, that’s a far too restrictive and narrow approach.

“We have a real opportunity in the American League this year, but I kind of hope we have a real opportunity every year,” he said. “If we run out the best version of us, we can beat a lot of teams and I think we’ve demonstrated that over the last year.”

They were the winningest team in baseball from the All-Star break last year through the All-Star break this year. They have a nine-game lead in the division. They have one of the highest-rated farm systems in the game. Seize the moment or build on the momentum?

“We want to be good every year, really, really good every year,” Harris said. “I don’t think we thought about this deadline as different from future years. I always want to sit in front of you and say we’ve got a real good baseball team and we’ve got a lot of chances to get better.

“I think I can credibly say, we have a really good baseball team by our competitive standing right now. I think I can also credibly say we got better (at the deadline). And I can credibly say that we have some players coming in our farm system, both for this year and for future years, that are going to help us get even better.”

The Tigers didn’t land Suarez. They didn’t land the marquee relievers like Jhoan Duran, David Bednar, Ryan Helsley or Camilo Doval. They didn’t land many players the casual fan would recognize, let alone celebrate.

But maybe, by incrementally strengthening both the rotation and bullpen — building a deeper and diverse pitching staff that manager AJ Hinch and pitching coach Chris Fetter can maneuver around different types of lineups — they got better nevertheless.

“My job is to make the best decisions for this organization,” Harris said. “I understand everybody wants to go grab the flashiest name and not give up any good players. But that’s not an option. We can’t do that.

“If we’re going to grab those players, we’re going to give up some really talented players and I didn’t think that was in the best interest of our organization.”

Harris pointed to the emergence of rookie Troy Melton, who the Tigers believe will be a swing-and-miss weapon in the bullpen down the stretch and into the playoffs. He pointed to Dillon Dingler, who scuffled mightily last September but has emerged as the team’s primary catcher. He mentioned Wenceel Perez, in the organization since he was 16, who is just now impacting the lineup in multiple ways.

Those are examples of players who at one time were sought after by teams either over the winter or in past trade deadlines.

“It comes with a real cost that is sometimes invisible to the casual observer,” Harris said. “If you move players you really believe in, sometimes it makes you worse. Sometimes if you go grab the flashiest player, you have to trade a better player to get that player. I’m hyper-conscious of that.

“I am not averse to doing those deals, but the specific asks were for players we think might actually be better than the player we would be acquiring — obviously on different timelines.”

You don’t have to love his methods. But you would be hard-pressed to dispute the results up to this point.

“In my tenure here, I have made some really unpopular moves in drafts, free agency and trades,” Harris said. “But I think one of the reasons we’re here (in first place) is that a lot of the non-moves or non-decisions actually set us up better for the future than they would have in the press release that comes right after the deadline.

“We’ll see if I got it right.”

By EDDIE PELLS, AP National Writer

In its push to remove transgender athletes from Olympic sports, the Trump administration provided the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee a detailed legal brief on how such a move would not conflict with the Ted Stevens Act, the landmark 1978 federal statute governing the Olympic movement.

That gave the USOPC the cover it needed to quietly change its policy, though the protection offers no guarantee the new policy won’t be challenged in court.

Olympic legal expert Jill Pilgrim called the Trump guidance “a well thought-out, well-reasoned set of arguments for people who want to look at it from that perspective.”

“But I’d be pretty shocked if this doesn’t get challenged if there is, somewhere along the line, a trans athlete who’s in contention for an Olympic team or world championship and gets excluded,” said Pilgrim, who has experience litigating eligibility rules for the Olympics and is a former general counsel for USA Track and Field.

The USOPC’s update of its athlete safety policy orders its 54 national governing bodies to rewrite their participation rules to ensure they are in sync with the executive order Trump signed in February called “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports.”

When the USOPC released the guidance, fewer than five had rules that would adhere to the new policy.

Among the first adopters was USA Fencing, which was pulled into a congressional hearing earlier this year about transgender women in sports when a woman refused to compete against a transgender opponent at a meet in Maryland.

One of the main concerns over the USOPC’s change is that rewriting the rules could conflict with a clause in the Ted Stevens Act stating that an NGB cannot have eligibility criteria “that are more restrictive than those of the appropriate international sports federation” that oversees its sport.

While some American federations such as USATF and USA Swimming follow rules set by their international counterparts, many others don’t. International federations have wrestled with eligibility criteria surrounding transgender sports, and not all have guidelines as strict as what Trump’s order calls for.

World Rowing, for example, has guidelines that call for specific medical conditions to be met for transgender athletes competing in the female category. Other federations, such as the one for skiing, are more vague.

White House lawyers provided the USOPC a seven-paragraph analysis that concluded that requiring “men’s participation in women’s sports cannot be squared with the rest of the” Ted Stevens Act.

“And in any event, permitting male athletes to compete against only other fellow males is not a ‘restriction’ on participation or eligibility, it is instead, a neutral channeling rule,” according to the analysis, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.

Once the sports federations come into compliance, the question then becomes whether the new policy will be challenged, either by individual athletes or by states whose laws don’t conform with what the NGBs adopt. The guidance impacts everyone from Olympic-level athletes to grassroots players whose clubs are affiliated with the NGBs.

Shannon Minter, the legal director at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, said it will not be hard to find a transgender athlete who is being harmed by the USOPC change, and that the White House guidance “will be challenged and is highly unlikely to succeed.”

“There are transgender women. There are some international sporting organizations that have policies that permit transgender women to compete if they meet certain medical conditions,” Minter said. “Under the Ted Stevens Act, they can’t override that. So, their response is just to, by brute force, pretend there’s no such thing as a transgender woman. They can’t just dictate that by sheer force of will.”

Traditionally, athletes on the Olympic pathway who have issues with eligibility rules must first try to resolve those through what’s called a Section IX arbitration case before heading to the U.S. court system. Pilgrim spelled out one scenario in which an athlete wins an arbitration “and then the USOPC has a problem.”

“Then, it’s in the USOPC’s court to deny that person the opportunity to compete, and then they’ll be in court, no doubt about that,” she said.

All this comes against the backdrop of a 2020 law that passed that, in the wake of sex scandals in Olympic sports, gave Congress the power to dissolve the USOPC board.

That, combined with the upcoming Summer Games in Los Angeles and the president’s consistent effort to place his stamp on issues surrounding sports, is widely viewed as driving the USOPC’s traditionally cautious board toward making a decision that was being roundly criticized in some circles. The committee’s new policy replaces one that called for reliance on “real data and science-based evidence rather than ideology” to make decisions about transgender athletes in sports.

“As a federally chartered organization, we have an obligation to comply with federal expectations,” CEO Sarah Hirshland and board chair Gene Sykes wrote to Olympic stakeholders last week. “The guidance we’ve received aligns with the Ted Stevens Act, reinforcing our mandated responsibility to promote athlete safety and competitive fairness.”

The USOPC didn’t set a timeline on NGBs coming into compliance, though it’s believed most will get there by the end of the year.

ALLEN PARK — The Detroit Lions’ hole at the center position was its most significant question mark entering camp, but some clarity has been provided after the first week of practice.

Lions veteran Graham Glasgow has been playing center for the last four practices — after rookie Tate Ratledge handled responsibilities for the first three practices — and reading between the lines on comments from Lions offensive coordinator John Morton, it seems that might be the team’s preferred course of action going forward.

Morton told reporters Monday that Glasgow is “at the center now” because “I think that’s more natural for him.” He noted the importance of trust between the center and quarterback, which is worth paying attention to since Glasgow has actually played center for quarterback Jared Goff in regular-season games.

“We’ve been in pads, what, for (three) days now. So that’s the real, true reading of where we’re going to be. I do like where we’re at right now,” Morton said Monday morning. “I think Ratledge has done a good job. I mean, we had him at center first and now we moved him to guard. Glasgow is at the center now; I think that’s more natural for him because that center and quarterback, that needs to be right.”

Campbell echoed those feelings Tuesday morning.

“Look, we just finished two days with Graham back at center in pads, and it’s looked pretty good. It’s looked pretty dang good,” Campbell said. “I think every day that it looks pretty dang good, it looks a little clearer. So it’s good to have him in there and it’s good for Tate, too, to get those right guard reps, so we’re holding tight right now.”

Over his nine-year career, Glasgow has primarily played guard. He has ample experience at center, though, having played center for an entire season in 2018 (Frank Ragnow’s rookie year), half of 2022 (with the Denver Broncos), and a few spot starts in Ragnow’s absence since returning to Detroit in 2023.

“I think things are going pretty well right now, to be honest,” Glasgow said after his fourth day of center work. “There’s a couple of little things to work out out there. I probably could’ve changed the protection today a couple times, maybe in the two-minute (drill), but other than that, today was a good day.”

Plus, Glasgow said that he actually likes playing center. If the Lions were to make him the starting right guard but still give him some center responsibilities to take a load off Ratledge, he’d rather just be the full-time starting center.

“I do like playing center. Center’s fun,” Glasgow told reporters. “I like the mental load that comes with it. I think there’s — it’s a challenge, but I think that’s something that I’m pretty good at, so I like to do it. If it came to me having to play center and make the calls or me be a guard and then think about the calls anyways just to make sure that the calls were right, I’d probably rather just play center.”

Asked how Ratledge had been doing late last week (the first day with Glasgow repping at center), Goff said, “It’s been great. Tate, I thought, was doing a good job, and Graham was in there today. I’ve been comfortable with Graham for quite some time. So whoever it ends up being, I’ll be good with.”

Of course, as it pertains to Morton’s comments, there’s still plenty of time for things to change. This time last week, it seemed the Lions believed Ratledge could be the guy — why else would they have put him there to begin training camp?

“I do like the way it’s going right now,” Morton said of the offensive line’s progress. “It’s still early, the more we do it, the better we’re going to get.”

DETROIT (AP) — Bo Bichette’s two-run single broke a scoreless tie in the eighth inning and the Toronto Blue Jays defeated the slumping Detroit Tigers 6-1 on Saturday night.

Nathan Lukes, George Springer and Vladimir Guerrero Jr. homered in a four-run ninth as the Blue Jays won their fourth in a row and increased their AL East lead to 6 1/2 games over the New York Yankees.

The Tigers have lost six straight and 12 of 13, but still hold a comfortable lead in the AL Central. They’ve scored only 33 runs during that stretch (2.5 per game) and were held to a pair of Jake Rogers singles on Saturday.

Four Toronto pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts and one walk. The Blue Jays are 8-1 since the All-Star break and have won 21 of 26 overall.

Riley Greene’s ninth-inning groundout plated Detroit’s only run.

Tarik Skubal allowed five hits in six scoreless innings for the Tigers. He walked three and struck out seven.

Toronto starter Kevin Gausman permitted one hit and one walk in six shutout innings, striking out 10.

Braydon Fisher (4-0) pitched a perfect seventh for the win.

Detroit threw out a runner at the plate on an unusual play in the sixth. With the bases loaded and one out, Tyler Heineman hit a soft flare into center field that Matt Vierling grabbed on a short hop. Springer had to hold up at third to see if the ball would be caught on a fly, and Vierling’s throw home was in time to get him.

Key moment

Pinch-hitter Joey Loperfido and Springer started the eighth with singles and moved up on a wild pitch by Will Vest (5-2). Guerrero grounded out before Bichette hit a two-run single past diving second baseman Gleyber Torres.

Key stat

Detroit has been outscored 89-33 over the last 13 games.

Up next

RHP Max Scherzer (1-0, 5.14 ERA) faces one of his former teams Sunday when Toronto tries for a four-game sweep. RHP Jack Flaherty (5-10, 4.77) pitches for the Tigers.

DETROIT — Round and round it goes. The Tigers’ bullpen carousel continues to spin through veteran right-handed relievers.

Carlos Hernandez and Geoff Hartlieb have come and gone. Next up, 33-year-old Luke Jackson.

“There’s no question we’ve been cycling through some arms,” manager AJ Hinch said before the game Saturday. “And I feel for some of the arms that are now gone. But Luke is going to get an opportunity here. He’s a veteran guy who I think has some upside to recapture some of the usage he’s had in the past.”

The Tigers designated Hartlieb for assignment and signed Jackson, who had been released by the Texas Rangers on Friday. The Rangers will pay the remainder of his $1.5 million contract for this year. The Tigers will pay him the prorated MLB minimum.

Jackson, who has 15 games of postseason experience and was part of the Atlanta Braves’ 2021 World Series championship run, features an elite slider, which he throws off a 94-mph four-seam fastball.

In 2019, he posted a 36.7% whiff rate. In 2023, it was still at 30%. This year, it’d fallen to 22.4%. In 39 games with the Rangers this year, he had a 4.11 ERA with a team-high nine saves.

But his strikeout rate (15.8%) and walk rate (12.5%) were both well off his career norms.

“The swing-and-miss hasn’t been there this year, but we’re hoping to get more out of that,” Hinch said. “The breaking ball is real. He’s a guy who has been there and done that a little bit.”

He got five outs against the Tigers on Sunday.

“We try to give opportunity when it’s there and to the guys we feel can help us win,” Hinch said. “On the front end, I don’t know how long the opportunity is going to be for some of these guys.”

The Tigers gave Hernandez 11 games. Hartlieb got two.

“This one could be anywhere,” Hinch said of Jackson’s potential run. “Luke has been through the league and has run the gauntlet. He’s pitched in the back end of games this year. But performance matters and certainly we expect Luke to make a better impact.

“But the message is, when opportunity opens up, however big or small, try to come in, take it and run with it. We clearly are searching for the right combination of bullpen arms to stay here.”

Important to note, the signing of Jackson does not preclude the Tigers from pursuing other bullpen arms this week prior to the trade deadline.

Montero optioned

The Tigers optioned right-hander Keider Montero back to Triple-A Toledo after the game Friday to clear a roster spot for Tarik Skubal’s return from the paternity list.

“Keider has been on the shuttle between Toledo and the big leagues,” Hinch said. “Some of it has been where the health of our team has been. Some of it has been an execution issue.”

After getting tagged for six runs (five earned) and nine hits in four innings Friday, Montero’s ERA ballooned to 4.66 with a 1.432 WHIP.

“It’s about execution and he’s going to work his tail off,” Hinch said. “He really takes to a plan that’s laid out in front of him. You see it when he’s good. He’s got two types of spin, two types of fastballs and the occasional changeup. But when he’s not, it’s long at-bats and big counts and he’s spraying the ball and getting himself in harm’s way.

“The ebbs and flows of a young pitcher can be sometimes hard to navigate. But he’s going to put the work in and that’s why we sent him down — to work.”

Hinch said Montero would continue to start at Toledo, but did not rule out the possibility of him being a bullpen piece in the final two months.

“We’ve proven we’re willing to do anything,” he said. “We’ll use our players accordingly. We’re not pursuing that right now but I don’t think we’d turn our backs on an idea like that.”

The move also clears the way for rookie right-hander Troy Melton to take the fifth spot in the rotation.

The emergence of Troy is part of this conversation when you make a move like this,” Hinch said. “Troy was at a really good place at a really good time. He needed the challenge of being up in the big leagues.”

Around the horn

The Tigers traded outfielder Brewer Hicklen, who was designated for assignment Wednesday, to the Phillies for cash considerations.

ALLEN PARK — Here are some observations from Day 6 of Detroit Lions training camp.

• Saturday marked the first practice of the year with fans in attendance, and per usual, there was a noticeable change in the energy. Supporters in attendance gave Lions owner Sheila Hamp a standing ovation when she arrived, and later started a chant for linebacker Alex Anzalone, who returned to practice amid a contract dispute with the team.

• Ultimately, Anzalone didn’t partake much in team activities while continuing to work through rehabbing his hamstring. Neither did edge defender Al-Quadin Muhammad, who was spotted running the hill near the practice field alongside cornerback D.J. Reed. UDFA safety Ian Kennelly, who missed Friday’s practice with an undisclosed injury, did not practice again Saturday but was spotted working off to the side with trainers.

• Saturday was also the second day with pads, and the defense was feasting early on. Linebacker Jack Campbell dropped running back Jahmyr Gibbs for a loss on the second play of the day. Two plays later, edge defender Aidan Hutchinson brought down running back David Montgomery for no gain.

Defensive linemen Keith Cooper Jr. and Ahmed Hassanein immediately got a stop for the second team, and Roy Lopez, who returned to practice for the first time since suffering a foot injury on Monday, stuffed running back Jabari Small for no gain.

UDFA running back Kye Robichaux eventually snapped the drought for the offense, breaking off an explosive run after being sprung by UDFA tackle Mason Miller in the open field. Two plays later, Robichaux had another run of 10-plus yards.

• Rookie defensive tackle Tyleik Williams returned to practice on Saturday after missing Friday for personal reasons. On the first team’s second session of 11-on-11 reps, he and veteran DJ Reader teamed up to stuff Gibbs on a run. And on the very next play, Williams was at the front of another run stop for minimal or no gain. Hutchinson ended the set with a tackle-for-loss on Montgomery. A few plays later, Grant Stuard dropped Craig Reynolds for a loss, and Cooper and Chris Smith also teamed up for a stop for no gain.

• Fans hoping to see some plays from third-round receiver Isaac TeSlaa were treated to big plays from multiple rookie receivers.

UDFA Jackson Meeks ran a slot fade down the left sideline and got perfect placement on a ball from quarterback Kyle Allen, hauling the pass in with one hand while going to the ground. Seventh-rounder Dominic Lovett caught a tight-windowed pass between two defenders on another great throw from Allen for a touchdown in a 7-on-7 red-zone drill.

“I love being able to sit back and watch those guys work,” veteran receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown said of the rookie class. “It’s a lot of fun cheering them on. They make big plays. I mean, Meeks had a one-hand catch today, Dom had one the other day, Isaac’s ending practice with touchdowns, so it’s awesome to see.”

Between TeSlaa, Lovett and the rest of the veteran receiving core, the Lions have about six receivers who have a pretty good shot of making the roster. But if Lovett can uphold his production while remaining a factor on special teams, he’s going to have a huge opportunity to be a weekly contributor come this fall.

“You guys know, and they know, they’ve been told, ‘Man, if you can help on special teams and continue to develop at your role in your position, there’s a place for you,’” Lions head coach Dan Campbell said.

TeSlaa closed the practice with one of the plays of the day. He ran a slot fade to the end zone against cornerback Dicaprio Bootle and went up to haul in a throw from Jared Goff, going down at the 1-yard line and electrifying the crowd one last time.

“I would say, Lovett has…popped more early out on the field, but I thought TeSlaa had a really good day yesterday,” Campbell said before Saturday’s practice. “I can see the uptick now with him. He’s got to stack another good day, but that was good to see yesterday. And that’s the first day of pads, by the way.”

• For the third straight practice, veteran Graham Glasgow took reps at center while rookie Tate Ratledge played left guard. In addition to struggling with the interior defensive line on run plays, Ratledge also registered a false start early in the practice.

• Hutchinson’s 2025 Defensive Player of the Year campaign is officially on. He had another standout practice, sacking Goff in team period off a nasty spin move to beat offensive tackle Dan Skipper. Hutchinson also had another highlight-reel spin on Skipper during one-on-one drills.

“I see a player that is very confident in his abilities. I see a player that appears to bend even better than last year, and I see a player who was hungry that’s even hungrier,” Campbell told NFL Network after practice. “He’s gonna have a hell of a season for us.”

• Linebacker Zach Cunningham was the most noticeable player on the field Friday, but he got off to a rough start on Saturday. He bit on play-action on the first pass attempt of the day and got torched by tight end Sam LaPorta, who ran wild after making a catch to give the offense an early explosive play.

• The best reps from the offense came in 7-on-7 red-zone drills, with all three strings making light work of the defense.

The first team got things rolling with a first-play touchdown to receiver Jameson Williams, as Goff fed the ball into a tight window for the connection. Goff then had two really nice passes to receiver Kalif Raymond and fed the ball to tight end Shane Zylstra for a completion near the sideline. Goff finished things off with a dart to receiver Tom Kennedy in the end zone.

Kennedy connected with quarterback Hendon Hooker two plays later, going up to high-point a ball on a fade route and getting two feet down in the end zone while working against cornerback Tyson Russell.

Allen, meanwhile, went 5-for-6 on red-zone attempts, with his only incompletion coming on a ball to Lovett in the end zone where the receiver could only get one foot in.

• The first-team defense got its revenge after the 7-on-7 period during full-team red-zone drills. Cornerback Terrion Arnold defended a throw to St. Brown on the first play, followed by a sack in which Reader pressured first before the whole line converged on Goff.

• During the final 11-on-11 period of the day, Raymond caught a crosser from Goff and took it 45 yards to the house for a score. Shortly after, Hassanein pressured Hooker for a near-sack after beating tackle Giovanni Manu. TeSlaa ended the day with his phenomenal catch over Bootle.

• Manu had a tough day. He got beat cleanly twice in a one-on-one pass-rush drill, losing to edge defender Mitchell Agude on a speed rush and getting beat by defensive lineman Pat O’Connor on a swim move. He was almost beaten by Hassanein on a bull rush but recovered in time to anchor and stave off the rush.

Hassanein continues to stand out in a positive way. In addition to the win over Manu during one-on-ones, he used a Hutchinson-esque spin move to beat Miller. Cooper also had a terrific rep, using a push-pull move to beat veteran Trystan Colon.

ALLEN PARK — If you hang around the Detroit Lions‘ practice field, it won’t take long to hear Ahmed Hassanein’s voice.

The sixth-round rookie isn’t shy in letting out a roar while getting in reps alongside his new teammates, whether that’s before the ball is snapped to amp himself up or after in reaction to the play’s result. It happened at least twice Friday, as the Lions completed their fifth practice of training camp.

“In my mentality, it gets the whole defense together,” Hassanein said of his shouts. The habit began at Boise State, where coaches would know the defensive end was ready when they could hear him. “I get encouraged when somebody else yells. … This is just me. I love playing like that. Whatever it takes, you know?”

Hassanein’s relentless motor has been as advertised since the Lions selected him with the 196th overall pick in April’s draft. His physical abilities need to be honed — he only started playing football in 2018, after moving back to the United States from Egypt — but his hustle is never questioned, and that effort, as general manager Brad Holmes has previously pointed out, can “make up (for) a lot of things.”

“With the way he plays, the mentality he plays with, the effort he plays with, he’s everything we’re about here,” defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said of Hassanein on Thursday. “Like I said, it’s just that development piece, the learning curve.”

Hassanein, trying to absorb all the information available to him, has made a concerted effort to observe and learn from Aidan Hutchinson. Hassanein imitated one of the Hutchinson’s signature moves — a swim move to the inside — during Tuesday’s practice.

Hutchinson took notice, jokingly telling the rookie to “stop studying my tape.”

“He’s really been helping me a lot, and I’m super grateful for him,” Hassanein said. “Everybody in the room, honestly, (defensive line) Coach Kacy Rodgers, they’ve been teaching me. Because I’ve only been doing this for seven years, so I just want to learn and want to grow. … Being an open book and being a sponge. Not to have that like, ‘Oh, I know everything’ type of guy. No, I know nothing. But at the end of the day, I’m gonna give you 100%, I’m gonna run to the ball, I’m gonna run through somebody’s face.”

Fans have been clamoring for a long-term answer on the edge opposite Hutchinson. Perhaps the role could be filled by Hassanein, but that’s likely a down-the-road development than something we’ll see immediately. Sheppard doesn’t want expectations to get too high for Hassanein in Year 1, but there are clear reasons for optimism going forward.

“This guy is a rookie. He just started playing football six years ago,” Sheppard said. “He just learned the English language six, seven years ago. … (But) that guy’s all in. Whatever his potential is, Ahmed will reach it because he’s going to work at it that way.”

Tom Izzo has got his next point guard.

Metro Detroit prospect Carlos Medlock Jr. announced his commitment to Michigan State on Friday evening.

Formerly of Wayne Memorial High School, the four-star prospect Medlock currently plays for Link Academy in Branson, Mo.

He is the first commitment of the Spartans’ 2026 recruiting class, ranked the 10th-best point guard in his class and just outside the top 100 overall by the 247Sports Composite.

Izzo’s teams rely on a strong point guard to lead the way. Jeremy Fears Jr. will return as the starter this coming season as a core returner from last year’s Big Ten championship team.

En route to the Elite Eight, Fears averaged 7.2 points and 5.4 assists in 36 games. He has three years of remaining eligibility, and so does incoming Miami transfer Divine Ugochukwu.

Medlock appears the heir apparent somewhere down the line to run the Michigan State offense.

A fairly undersized guard at 5-foot-11 and 165 pounds, Medlock is the son of former Eastern Michigan star Carlos Medlock, who scored 1,574 points and 400 assists in an All-MAC career.

The younger Medlock received offers from a dozen Division I programs, including Michigan and Iowa. Michigan State was the earliest power conference school to offer him.

In Medlock, Izzo has his replacement when Fears either runs out of eligibility or decides to go pro, though in the meantime Medlock’s scoring ability may open up some options at shooting guard.

He’s been tearing up the Adidas-sponsored 3Stripes Select league. He’s explosive out of ball screens with a knack for finishing off balance.

Players of his size can struggle against bigger players in college, but so far those problems haven’t shown. He’s also got plenty of time to grow.

The most recent recruiting cycle yielded a modest two-man class for the Spartans in DMV freshmen small forwards Cam Ward and Jordan Scott. Both are expected to play this season.

Michigan State will follow up a 30-7 run to the Elite Eight with a team led by returners Fears, Coen Carr, Jaxon Kohler and Carson Cooper. The Spartans added key transfers in Ugochukwu and Samford journeyman Trey Fort in the offseason.

ALLEN PARK — Aidan Hutchinson’s goals aren’t going to change, even when he’s coming off a significant injury.

The Detroit Lions pass rusher, now more than nine months removed from the broken leg that prematurely ended his third NFL season, has high personal expectations heading into 2025. He hasn’t taken an in-game rep since last October, but playing football has been “feeling normal for a long time” after he was months ago cleared to return to play.

“I’m at a point now in my career where it’s like, you’re shooting for the stars every year,” Hutchinson said Friday, following the fifth practice of training camp. “And if that’s not the expectation or standard you put to yourself, it’s got to be that way. … Those first couple of years, you’re getting in the league and figuring it out. But now, it’s every year (that) the standard is what it is.”

Hutchinson was on the way to setting quite a high bar last year, compiling 45 pressures and 7.5 sacks through about 4.5 games before his tibia and fibula were broken in the third quarter of Detroit’s Week 6 win over the Dallas Cowboys.

Predicting Hutchinson to match those numbers this season would be aggressive, but defensive coordinator Kelvin Sheppard said Thursday he’s seeing “a better player than we had last year.” Hutchinson agreed, as he’s mentally grown after spending another year in the league: “If I wasn’t progressing every year, I think there’d be an issue,” Hutchinson said.

Pads have only been on for one of Detroit’s five practices in training camp thus far, but Hutchinson continues to pass the eye test, physically, as he doesn’t appear at all slowed down. Hutchinson said he started to feel normal at offseason team activities (OTAs), which began in late May.

“I went out there, I got kicked, stepped on, you can think of everything under the sun, on this leg,” Hutchinson recalled. “And after practice I got up and I was like, ‘All right, we’re good.’ I think it takes those physical things to happen to you to mentally solidify where you’re at and the confidence and moving past it.”

Hutchinson, playing for a new defensive coordinator (Sheppard) for the first time in his professional career, will continue to be tested during training camp, and he’ll have the opportunity to see opponents from outside the building during joint practices with the Miami Dolphins (Aug. 13-14) and Houston Texans (Aug. 21).

If all continues to go well, Hutchinson plans for the same version of himself that was toasting offensive tackles in 2024 — he had a remarkable pass-rush win rate of 38.3% through Week 6, more than 10% better than the next-closest qualified player (Cleveland’s Myles Garrett, 27.5%) — to be ready for Week 1 in 2025.

“Camp is always a grind, so you always, in these hard days, you look forward to September and opening up with Green Bay,” Hutchinson said. “So, that’s kind of the thought pattern.

“Everything is to be ready for that game.”

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ANN ARBOR — When the dust settled on Michigan’s roster a year ago, coach Dusty May thought he and his staff assembled one of the premier frontcourts in college basketball.

Danny Wolf, a first-round draft pick, and Vlad Goldin, an All-Big Ten first-team selection, ended up proving May right.

As the Wolverines prepare for a new campaign with a different cast, May feels this season’s revamped frontcourt can be just as good, if not better, than any in the country.

“I do,” May said this month at the midway point of summer workouts. “I felt like that last year when we signed Danny and Vlad.”

That’s saying something, considering Wolf and Goldin played starring roles as they led Michigan to a 27-10 record, Big Ten tournament title and Sweet 16 appearance. On top of that, the two were finalists for awards that recognize the nation’s top power forward and center.

But May and the Wolverines put together a frontcourt mix that’s arguably more talented and deeper than a year ago, bringing in transfers Morez Johnson Jr., Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara and returning Will Tschetter and Oscar Goodman. There’s also incoming freshman Malick Kordel, a 7-foot center from Germany.

“When you look at their skill sets, when you look at what they do well, their physical attributes, I do think all of them complement each other,” said May, noting Kordel wasn’t on campus for the first half of summer practice but is expected to join the team soon.

“We do think we have a lot of options. As the teams in the Final Four proved last year, you need great depth if you want to play late into March and, hopefully, April.”

Each of the frontcourt pieces has different strengths and can impact the game in different ways. As Lendeborg explained, Johnson is a “brute force inside who can do whatever you need” at the power forward and center positions, while the 7-foot-3 Mara is a “surprisingly good passer” and someone you can throw the ball up to anywhere.

Both Johnson and Mara are lob threats whereas Lendeborg described himself as more of an “under-the-rim player.” Johnson takes pride in his defense and being physical, something Lendeborg has noticed as he’s had a tough time bumping Johnson off his spots. Mara, whom Lendeborg called the “tallest person I’ve ever met in my life,” has ridiculous length that can frustrate and baffle others.

“We do layup drills, and I’m trying to take a layup. I’m thinking it’s a good layup. (Mara) comes out of nowhere, blocks it, and I’m like, ‘OK. How do I score on him?’” Lendeborg said. “Morez as well. He’s a super athlete. He’s my height (6-foot-9) jumping like 40 inches off the ground. It’s been crazy.”

Tschetter, who has worn different hats throughout his Michigan career, is a 3-point threat who can space the floor and slide up and down the lineup. He’s the glue guy that every team needs and does the little things — like boxing out, setting screens and constantly communicating — that make a big difference. Goodman, who joined the team midseason last year and redshirted, is another versatile piece that allows Michigan to play big or small. Kordel is a project who has long-term potential and upside.

Then there’s Lendeborg, the do-it-all forward who can play out on the perimeter, handle the ball under pressure and operate with bigger or smaller defenders on him. He can knock down outside shots and be a playmaker in ball screens like Wolf.

“We’ve got so many guys that are versatile and can do everything, and that’s going to help us out a lot,” Johnson said. “We’re very interchangeable.”

Added Lendeborg: “We’re diverse. We have a lot of assets.”

One key to making it work is the team’s unselfishness, something that Lendeborg, Mara and May all pointed to. Everyone in the frontcourt is a willing passer and shares the game.

Lendeborg, for example, hasn’t been shooting as much in summer workouts. He’s been more focused on figuring out how to get the ball to his teammates in their spots rather than figuring out his scoring spots.

“He (Lendeborg) enjoys passing the ball. When you have a guy that’s been as publicized as Yax, if they’re selfish, they’re about numbers, if they’re about themselves, it can present a number of challenges,” May said. “With Yaxel, he’s so team-oriented that it’s been a pretty smooth transition.”

Much like Goldin and Wolf, opportunity is what drew Johnson, Lendeborg and Mara to Michigan. And seeing how Goldin and Wolf were utilized in May’s system last season also caught the trio’s attention.

Mara decided to leave UCLA after two seasons. May noted like most big men, Mara likely wasn’t physically ready as a freshman. It wasn’t until the second half of his second year with the Bruins that Mara began to emerge and come into his own.

Seven of the nine times he scored in double figures last season came in the final 16 games, including a three-game stretch in late January where he scored 22 points in 21 minutes against Wisconsin followed by back-to-back 12-point, five-block outings against Washington and USC.

“After two years, I felt like they didn’t give me an opportunity to help the team,” said Mara, who averaged 6.4 points and four rebounds in 13.1 minutes off the bench as a sophomore.

“When I went into the transfer portal, I spoke with Coach (May) a couple of times. I really liked the way (Michigan was) playing. They were a good team and won the conference (tournament). Coach told me the way that they’re playing — a lot of ball screens, ball movement — and he knows how to use the bigs, so I was really excited to come here.”

Mara added he’s comfortable playing in the high and low post and at whatever pace May wants. Given his background as a European big, he’s used to running in transition and playing in pick-and-rolls.

Despite cracking the rotation as a freshman at Illinois, Johnson felt transferring “would be better for my game overall and its longevity.” As a rim runner and bruiser in the paint, Johnson did much of his damage around the rim and was one of the best in the Big Ten at cleaning up on the offensive glass.

Johnson believes he’ll get a chance to do more and show more at Michigan, whether that’s being in more dribble handoffs, driving if a defender closes out too hard or taking catch-and-shoot 3s (he didn’t attempt a single 3-pointer in 30 games at Illinois).

“Just adding more reads to my game, instead of having just one read,” said Johnson, who averaged seven points and 6.7 rebounds in 17.6 minutes per game and set a freshman record at Illinois by shooting 64.2% from the field.

“I connected with May and (assistant coach) Akeem (Miskdeen). They’re both player coaches. They’re hands-on. I love how they focus on player development, and I love how they let their bigs play.”

For Lendeborg, Michigan and the Big Ten offer a bigger stage. After shining in the American Athletic Conference with UAB the past two seasons, he’ll look to follow Wolf’s and Goldin’s footsteps, make the high-major jump and produce at a high level.

Lendeborg was projected to be a late first-round draft pick following a stellar season where he averaged 17.7 points, 11.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists, earned All-AAC first-team honors and was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year. He opted to withdraw from the draft and head to Michigan, where he’ll put the feedback he received from NBA teams into action — like showing more “aggressiveness” and getting better at initiating and playing through contact, he said — and be determined to prove himself against Power Four competition.

“Seeing what Danny Wolf and Vlad were doing, coming from basically the same level as me, was great,” Lendeborg said. “The role that Wolf played, too, was something that I wanted to be a part of.”

It’s all led to this for May and the Wolverines: A new season with some new faces, but a similar feeling.

“We’re going to be the best frontcourt in the game — Big Ten, NCAA, whatever it needs to be,” Lendeborg said. “I have high hopes for us, and I feel like we’re going to do the best we can to deliver.”

Jason Benetti and T.J. Lang will be on the call for three of the Detroit Lions’ four preseason games this season, the team announced Wednesday.

Benetti, the play-by-play announcer for the Detroit Tigers, and Lang, a former offensive lineman who now serves as an analyst on Detroit Lions Radio, alongside Dannie Rogers, will be the broadcast team for Detroit’s exhibition matchups at the Atlanta Falcons on Aug. 8, versus the Miami Dolphins on Aug. 16 and versus the Houston Texans on Aug. 23. The broadcast will be shown locally on Fox 2 Detroit (WJBK) and on the Detroit Lions Television Network.

“Jason Benetti and T.J. Lang are extremely exciting additions to our preseason TV broadcast,” team president and CEO Rod Wood said in a release. “Combining Jason’s unique and exciting style on the mic with T.J.’s experience as both a former Lions player and our current radio analyst will bring a new dimension to our broadcast this year. We are grateful to the Tigers organization for graciously lending us Jason for our preseason.”

Benetti, who is in his second year calling Tigers games, will be the play-by-play announcer during the preseason. Lang will be an analyst, and Rogers will continue in her role as sideline reporter.

“Detroit’s sports tide is rising and lifting all boats,” Benetti said. “I saw first-hand for Westwood One radio last year on Thanksgiving the magic of a Lions home game. We’ve seen the power of the city’s fandom at Comerica Park all summer. I’m grateful to the Lions and (Detroit Lions Director of Broadcasting) Carl Moll for the opportunity to begin their season and join their wonderful crew. I’m also grateful to the Tigers for their willingness to have me cross the street for a few games in August.”

Added Lang: “As someone who was able to spend the end of my playing career with my hometown team and continue my career as a Lion on the radio, it’s an honor to expand my role as an analyst to now include the preseason TV broadcast as well. I am excited to work with Jason and the rest of the crew and combine all our backgrounds to create the best possible show for all our viewers.”

The Lions, who are nearly a week into training camp, will open the preseason in the Hall of Fame Game against the Los Angeles Chargers on July 31. They’ll begin the regular season with a trip to Lambeau Field for a bout with the Green Bay Packers on Sept. 7.

ALLEN PARK— Kingsley Eguakun, one of the dark-horse candidates to win the Detroit Lions’ starting center job in training camp, underwent an NFL rite of passage this summer.

He lost “20, 30 pounds from the season” in hopes of improving his strength, speed and endurance.

Eguakun gained “15 or 20 of those pounds” back — pure muscle, he said — and after merely holding on for dear life as a UDFA rookie last year, is hoping to earn himself a spot on the Lions’ 53-man roster.

“I did it slowly, the right way,” Eguakun told The Detroit News. “Really, it was just me, something I wanted to just do to feel better. … I don’t know if I’ve had fast food in the last eight months, I would say. I’ve been really focused on eating whole foods and stuff, just trying to keep it real clean, not only for my weight and stuff, but just for my own health.”

Eguakun, who played his entire college career at Florida, was signed by the Lions as a UDFA last offseason. He hung around on the practice squad throughout the 2024 season. Back in the spring, Lions coach Dan Campbell mentioned him as a player who has a major opportunity in the wake of Frank Ragnow’s retirement. Monday, he explained why.

“(He’s had) a lot of scout-team reps,” Campbell said. “Man, him on Sunday, just watching him get better and better and better. The way he competes, man, he’s tough, he’s physical. He is a smart, really good athlete, man, he can move.

“And he knows this, so much about him is going to be the anchor. We put pads on, the size, and those things. Just being able to sit some guys down, anchor, things of that nature. I like Kingsley; he’s improved. He’s improved a lot.”

The new physique, combined with a full year of experience under his belt, has Eguakun playing faster than ever.

“(I’m) just playing faster. Just (identifying the middle linebacker) faster, getting on the ball quicker, being able to help guys who might be confused, not having to think as much,” Eguakun said.

“The game slowed down a lot for me.”

‘Be quiet, be a sponge’

Rookie receiver and seventh-round pick Dominic Lovett faces an uphill battle in the Lions’ wide receiver room. With at least five receivers in front of him on the depth chart — and no guarantees that Detroit will keep a sixth on the 53-man roster — training camp is more critical for Lovett than it is for, say, third-round pick Isaac TeSlaa.

But he appears to be developing good chemistry with both reserve quarterbacks, Hendon Hooker and Kyle Allen, and has popped on a few occasions during 11-on-11 periods in practice. Lovett said developing a connection with his throwers has been a point of emphasis as he begins to navigate life in the NFL, and it’s apparent.

“(I’ve been) just asking the QBs, like, do they want to get catches after practice, whether it be any of them, you know?” Lovett said. “Anybody I can get chemistry with, I want to, because you never know who you may end up in the game with,” Lovett said. “So I feel like whenever a quarterback pulls you to the side and asks if you want to get catches, the answer should be ‘yes’ automatically.”

While the number of quality receivers in Detroit’s receiving room might make it tougher for him to secure a spot on the roster, it should also aid his development.

“Honestly, just be quiet, be a sponge. I don’t know everything and that’s totally OK,” Lovett said of how he’s approaching the opportunity to learn from guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, Tim Patrick and Kalif Raymond. “From them, I might learn different things. I might steal a release from him, I might steal a second release lever from him, I might steal a piece of his IQ. Just always picking.”

Raising the standard

Lions safety Kerby Joseph is now a veteran on Detroit’s defense, part of a budding core that has grown together over the last few seasons. On the field, he’s known for his mastery of taking the football away. Off it, he’s helping raise the standard for the entire unit following the installation of Kelvin Sheppard as the team’s new defensive coordinator this offseason.

“It’s a lot more expectations. When (former defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn) was here, we were still … in that stage of getting guys right,” Joseph said. “But now I feel like there’s a lot of things that we know what to expect, and not even with the coaches, but Shep is putting a lot on the players to make calls and understand certain situations.”

Joseph’s position is unique in that all 21 other players on the field are generally in front of his line of sight, which gives him a duty to correctly position his teammates and ensure the defense is prepared for the ball to be snapped.

“A lot of young guys grew up (in this defense) — like myself, I’m going into my fourth year — so there’s a lot on my plate to understand what’s going on and get guys right,” Joseph said.

LAS VEGAS— Adding four new teams to the Big Ten brought plenty of rivalry games along with them last season, but one of the most heated may be that of Michigan and Michigan State.

In two of the past three seasons, the teams have come to blows with 2022’s tunnel fight and 2024’s postgame melee, and the animosity between the teams continues to take a year-round tone. There was March’s basketball dustup at Breslin Center. And just this week, a group of Michigan players at a golf outing were already mocking their peers in East Lansing, with the usual chirps of “little brother” accompanied by pretend belting.

It will be a charged environment when Michigan comes to Spartan Stadium on Oct. 25, one that may end in dustups that have become all the more common between the schools. But the Big Ten conference is prepared for the animosity that may show up, whether it’s with this rivalry or any others in the 18-team league.

“If you take a look at what’s going on in the Big Ten, there’s so many good teams, so many good rivalries,” said Bill Carollo, the Big Ten’s coordinator of football officials. “Our antennas are up on every single game.”

The preparation for any big conference rivalry game starts with Zoom calls between the conference, officials, coaches and athletic directors. They get all parties of influence on the same page.

“Because we think there was trouble last year, there’s a good chance there’s payback this year, right?” Carollo explained. “And these are kids, and I look at a lot of seniors and they don’t care, you know, whatever their next game might be. And they’re kids. They’re 18- to 20-year-old people that make mistakes.”

After meeting with the administrators and coaches, a 100-minute meeting prepares officials to deal with the extremes. Clearing the field, dealing with threats to the stadium and, of course, if teams start fighting.

“The reality is, I really focus on how we’re going to handle a situation where there’s bad blood between the teams or the coaches,” Carollo said. “And someone says something, you know, poster board information — ‘we’re going to kick their butts.’ Well, there might be a fight later that game, and the game’s over, and if it’s lopsided, we have problems. So we prepare for the worst and hope that things are under control.”

The Paul Bunyan Trophy has set up a long-term home at Schembechler Hall as of late, with the Wolverines winning the past three games, including last year’s 24-17 nailbiter at home. Michigan State’s last win in the rivalry came in 2021, when the Spartans won a bout between two undefeated, top-10 teams.

Lost locker room doomed Maryland

There’s a sign hanging outside of the Maryland football team’s locker room, coach Mike Locksley says, that sets the ground rules for what goes on behind its closed doors.

“You can leave your Louis belts, your car keys and your financial statements outside of this locker room, because when you enter those doors, we all pay the same price for success or failure.”

Locksley didn’t hold back Tuesday, admitting that, hand-up, he lost control of his locker room last season. As NIL money and the finances of college football create a divide between “haves and have nots,” as Locksley described, the rift between his players sabotaged his team from the inside.

Locksley learned a lesson.

“That valuable lesson is important for me even in the midst of this change, to continue to educate our players on the importance of what playing for something bigger than yourself is all about,” Locksley said.

Maryland finished last season at a paltry 4-8, 1-8 in Big Ten play. It was the worst record since his 2019 debut at 3-9, 1-8, coming on the heels of massive steps forward that landed the Terrapins three straight bowl games for the first time since 2006 to 2008.

Most preseason polls rank Maryland in the bottom couple of spots in the 18-team conference, not the echelon that Locksley wants to occupy. There’s pressure on his team to win, especially with new athletic director Jim Smith at the helm after a messy split with Damon Evans.

Locksley feels it is imperative to keep his locker room this season, but that falls on his entire team to keep faith in him, too.

“With the new day and age of how everything’s going, you gotta have a brotherhood in order to be one of the best teams in college football,” linebacker Daniel Wingate said. “So being able to keep it all together, and him emphasizing the message, it really is something that helps us to continue to work together.”

Maryland starts its season against Florida Atlantic. Its toughest games are Week 10 versus Indiana and Week 12 at Illinois.

Raiola applies dad’s lessons

Dylan Raiola could’ve played anywhere when he was rated one of the top two quarterbacks in the 2024 class. At one point, he committed to Ohio State. Then he decommited for Georgia. Before signing day, Raiola flipped again this time for … Nebraska?

Yeah, that decision stumped some people, though his dad, Dominic Raiola, was a Rimington winner there at the turn of the century before a 14-year NFL career with the Lions. His uncle Donovan Raiola is an offensive line coach on Matt Rhule’s staff. The Nebraska coach wooed Dylan with a pitch that might’ve seemed counterintuitive:

“When I recruited Dylan, I said, ‘Hey, come help me turn around Nebraska football, man; it’s going to be hard,’” coach Matt Rhule said. “And doing something hard is how we can become great.”

It worked, but everything Rhule told Dylan about the difficulty of the path ahead came true his freshman season. The Cornhuskers finished 7-6, 3-6 Big Ten, with a win in the Pinstripe Bowl capping an up-and-down season. At one point, the group was 5-1 with only an overtime loss to ranked Illinois. The college football world’s eyes were wide open. And then a four-game losing streak to Rutgers, Ohio State, UCLA and USC left Nebraska listless.

“I mean, that’s about as much adversity as it comes down to,” Dylan Raiola said. “You train, you prepare so hard in the offseason and in the week to get ready for a game and you lose. You know, that sucks to happen multiple times. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a growing opportunity.”

Dylan knew what he was getting into, and so did his family. After all, his dad was the starting center on 2008’s 0-16 Lions. He gave Dylan some advice.

“He just said stay true to yourself,” Dylan said. “There’s gonna be a lot of people saying different things, but all you have is your teammates, your family, and at the end of the day, my faith is what carries me through everything. So I’m gonna stand on that. And that’s kind of just my foundation.”

Raiola and Nebraska are one of the Big Ten’s more intriguing teams this season, with the growth of Raiola and other young contributors central to fielding a more competitive group. Nebraska is fresh off its first bowl game in eight years, its first win in nine. The Cornhuskers open with a game at Cincinnati, and the regular-season slate includes games against Michigan and Penn State.

“As much as I didn’t want hard things to happen at our program, the things that coach Rhule was telling me — they happened, and I’m still here now, right?” Dylan said. “And so our team’s ready. I’m excited. We have a bunch of great dudes ready to go play this year.”

ALLEN PARK — The interior of the Detroit Lions‘ defensive line was supposed to be a bona fide strength in 2025.

Maybe it will be, but the definitive nature in which people spoke about the unit has seemed to dissipate. We already knew Alim McNeill would be on the shelf for the start of the season, but the news of Levi Onwuzurike’s season-ending ACL injury is a notable hit. He’s never been able to stuff the conventional stat sheet with tackles for loss and sacks, but he was Detroit’s best pass rusher from the interior, sans McNeill. Onwuzurike’s pass-rush win rate of 11.9% ranked fifth among all Lions last season, and it was second (to McNeill) among players on the interior. He also finished, including the playoffs, with a team-high 47 pressures in 2024.

Onwuzurike kicking out and playing some on the edge led to a mild inflation of his pass-rush numbers. Regardless, his ability to get after the quarterback was expected to keep the Lions’ interior afloat until McNeill was healthy. There isn’t a firm date established for McNeill’s return, but general manager Brad Holmes, in an interview Tuesday with Sirius XM NFL Radio, said the Lions may be getting McNeill back “a little bit earlier than expected.”

Until then, the coaching staff will have to look elsewhere, and options range from multi-year veterans like Pat O’Connor and Raequan Williams to rookies like first-round pick Tyleik Williams and undrafted free agent Keith Cooper Jr.

“It’s kind of an open competition to see who can give us the most in there,” head coach Dan Campbell said Tuesday. “We talked about Tyleik, we know (DJ) Reader. … Look, we kind of like Cooper, now. He’s a young guy. Let’s see what he can do. We’ve got Raequan, a veteran guy. We’ve got some guys here.”

Tyleik Williams has been getting much of the first-team action next to Reader, a nose tackle, through the early portion of training camp. He was known more as a run-stopper during his four-year career at Ohio State, but the Lions, similar to how they viewed McNeill coming out N.C. State in 2021, think there are some abilities to be unlocked as a pass rusher.

The Buckeyes, who won the national championship last season, ran a “bull-rush, cage scheme,” Williams explained in a Zoom interview with reporters after he was drafted. That led to modest production: 42 pressures and 5½ sacks over 654 pass-rush opportunities in the last two seasons.

“He’s a lot like (McNeill) in terms of being able to catch an edge, rush with power, have instincts, he’s got quickness, he can counter,” Holmes has previously said of Williams. “I know his pass-rushing stats aren’t off the charts, but when you watch the tape, you see he’s a three-down player.”

Another first-year option who earned a shoutout from Campbell was Cooper, an undrafted free agent out of Houston who signed with the Lions following a tryout with the team during rookie minicamp. Cooper played off the edge with the Cougars, but the Lions value him on the inside: “They want the pass rush, especially in the interior,” Cooper said Tuesday. “That’s what I gave (during the tryout), and that’s what I hope to build on.”

Raequan Williams was also signed following a minicamp tryout, though he’s been in the league since going undrafted in 2020, making stops with the Philadelphia Eagles (2020-21), Jacksonville Jaguars (2022) and Carolina Panthers (2022-23). Williams has only one sack in the NFL (seven games), but he showed some of what he’s capable of as a senior at Michigan State, posting 34 pressures and five sacks from the interior.

O’Connor, meanwhile, has the most experience between himself, Cooper, Raequan Williams and Tyleik Williams. A seventh-round pick by the Lions in 2017, O’Connor was waived less than six months after he was drafted, and he signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with whom he spent seven seasons. He was brought back to Detroit last August, and he proved integral on a defense that lost player after player to injury.

Perhaps what makes O’Connor most valuable is his versatility. He can play all over the line and contribute in multiple ways, including as a pass rusher. He finished last season with 10 pressures, including four against the Chicago Bears in Week 17.

“He’s a jack of all trades. … Played the nose, played the three(-technique), played the big end,” Campbell said of O’Connor. “He’s versatile, and that’s why he just keeps competing to stay on rosters because it’s hard to ignore a guy like him. He just — he does so many different jobs. You know if you get him into the game, you’re going to be able to use him.”

There’s also someone like Mekhi Wingo, who is recovering from a torn meniscus and should be back in September. Josh Paschal is an option, as well, though he’s also expected to be unavailable until after training camp. Paschal was drafted as an edge rusher, but Holmes said at owners meetings earlier this year he could see the former second-round pick getting more reps on the inside this season.

“We’ll be alright, we’ll find it,” Campbell said, discussing how the Lions can replace the pass-rush abilities of McNeill and Onwuzurike. “And if we need to fabricate it, we’ll fabricate it.”

Skating Club of Novi coach Julie Mitts saw opportunity for her students when U.S. Figure Skating launched its Excel Series to pair with its longstanding Championship tier.

“Prior to (the Excel Series), we just entered competitions, went, competed, won or cried and went home,” said Mitts, a Crestwood High School grad who competed herself for over 15 years and has been coaching in Novi for at least that long. “At that point, the Excel Series was only two or three years old, and not many people understood what it was or how it gave purpose. Once I learned (about it), I started talking to skaters more, convincing them to enter the series. It gives you something to fight for.”

Last year, several of her skaters entered, and one, Tessa Meadows of Northville, qualified for nationals in the Novice Division.

Efforts to push more skaters toward the series again paid dividends when Mitts went with a trio to the Excel National Festival held several weeks ago in Colorado Springs.

Abby Yin, who will enter her sophomore year this fall at Novi High School, was the standout, capturing first place in the Intermediate Division.

Competition for each year in that division begins in January and runs through early June as skaters at their respective levels can enter up to four different competitions that are Excel certified anywhere in the country, which is split into three regions that send six qualifiers each to the nationwide festival. There, skaters have a camp where they partake in the ranked competition, and also perform in an exhibition to add some enjoyment to the experience.

Mitts complimented Yin’s mindset over the course of the year, saying, “Abby was very driven. She held the No. 1 spot at the Intermediate Level, but she wanted to skip one competition the other girls were going to because she wanted time to improve on things she didn’t like. I asked her and said that’s kind of strange, because the judges were applauding (her). But she wanted to work on her speed, polishes, finishes. She did that, and I think it paid off (even though) I don’t think she had or needed to. That’s just the kind of kid she is.”

Also competing from the club were Aubrey Tieu of Northville and Naomi Jude of Northville, who will each be freshmen this year at their respective high schools. Tieu placed 11th in her Division, while Jude took 16th.

“All three had almost flawless practices, and all three it was their first time skating at nationals,” Mitts said. “They were a little intimidated I think at first when they saw the stadium and started to ease into it. They did altitude training at home and wore masks as they did their programs trying to prepare, so they definitely worked their tails off leading into leaving for Colorado.”

For anyone who might consider Skating Club of Novi on just a “recreational” level, the organization is proving it is a step or two higher on the ladder with multiple competitors in the past several years earning national plaudits.

As Mitts put it, “We’re starting to get girls who are doing big things.”

The club is based out of Novi Ice Arena, which just underwent significant renovations over the summer that lasted nearly a month. Those upgrades included a new dehumidifier to improve ice quality, sand floor replacement on both ice sheets, and upgraded heaters that make for a more comfortable experience.

Adding to the atmosphere, banners recognizing the accomplishments by those from Skating Club of Novi are planned to be raised this week. That includes several banners with Yin’s name on it for her achievements in ice dancing. Yin is looking to add another as she and several others from the club are competing at the end of this month in the Lake Placid Ice Dance Championships, part of part of US Figure Skating’s National Qualifying Series and Solo Dance Series.

Like other sports dominated by the travel scene, there’s no true offseason in figure skating. That means Yin and others will hit the reset button and soon begin preparation for next year’s competitions.

“We’re in the process of looking for new music and gonna start a new program,” Mitts said. “Abby’s taking the next step and moving up to the Novice Division. We’re probably tracking to where she’ll go Senior (Division) her senior year depending on the elements and what she’s able to do, but I think this year she’ll go Novice, and I think she has a chance to do pretty well.”

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