(DRAFT)—More former Missouri Tigers signed on with NFL Teams as Undrafted free agents than were picked up in the draft itself.
The New York Jets have signed quarterback Brady Cook, who was praised by NFL analyst Lance Zierlein for his toughness, athleticism, and arm talent. He calls Cook a “developmental prospect.”
One of his receivers, Theo Weese Jr., is headed to the Miami Dolphins, as is running back Nate Noel. and edge rusher Johnny Walker Jr., and the Denver Broncos appear to be getting together.
Tigers taken in the draft were tackle Armond Membou, who calls himself “a mauler.” His performance at the talent combine elevated him to the seventh choice in the first round, takenby the Jets. Jets GM Darren Mougey he’s a “natural fit” who will compete right away for a starting slot at right tackle.
Receiver Luther Burden III went to the Bears in the second round. He’s the first tiger WR to be drafted since J’Mon Moore in 2018. He’s the highest drafted wide receiver since Jeremy Maclin went to the Eagles as the 19th choice in 2009. He had a 13.3 yard career reception average. Moore lasted one year with the Packers and had two career receptions for 15 yards.
(BLUES—The St. Louis Blues appeared on the verge of being blown out of the first round of the National Hockey League playoffs before bouncing back with a pair of wins against Winnipeg to even their best of seven series at two each. One of these teams is going to win two of the next three to advance.
The Blues have picked themselves up off the mat before this year. Until a coaching change early in 2025 the Blues were headed for an early end to the 2024-25 season before they ripped off a franchise-record winning streak that put them back into contention. It has been more than nine weeks since they lost a game at home.
(CARDINALS)—The Cardinals continued their mediocre season during the last week and at the end of it they lost the architect of their latest championship-contending years.
Walt Jocketty, the general manager whose trading expertise built teams that won a World Series (2006), six NL Central Division championships, two National League pennants. The Cardinals made the post season seven times in his 14 years. He was the executive of the year three times. He was 74. He knew he had been voted into the Cardinals Hall of Fame and reportedly was writing his acceptance speech when he died.
(THE TEAMS)—Looks like a long season, folks, especially in St. Louis.
The Cardinals dropped to 12-17 after yesterday afternoon’s loss to the Reds in the first game of a four-game series.
The Redbirds have called up Jose Barraro from Memphis and they’ve sent Thomas Saggese down. Saggese had come up to fill in for Masyn Winn while he was out with an injury.
Barraro signed as a free agent in the offseason and had an impressive spring she he played 24 games, hit two homers drove in eight runners and stole four bases. At Memphis he was hitting .299 with ten extra base hits (four homers, 13 RBIs) and a recent 19-game on base string. He’s 5/6 in steal attempts this year at Memphis.
The Royals went into a four game series with the Rays last night after a 6-4 week that brought them back to near break-even at 14-15.
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Let’s return to football for a couple of notes.
(THICK)—The Thicker Kicker is ten out of eleven for the Birmingham Stallions of the UFL. But he can’t hit them all—-and his first miss of the season became a spectacular touchdown last weekend that helped the Memphis Showboats beat his Stallions 24-20 in overtime.
Harrison Mevis is 10/11 in the UFL this year and remains consistent from mid-field. But 63 yards was a little much. The Stallions trailed 10-3 as the first half wound down. Mevis’s field goal attempt was picked up by the Showboats’ Isiah Hennie, who took it 108 yards for a touchdown.
Mevis was an undrafted free agent last year who spent three months with the Carolina Panthers.
(ANOTER EX-TIGER)—Maty Mauk, an Ohio kid whose career with Missouri was cut short by three suspensions and an eventual dismissal from the team despite his talents, is now the head football coach at Principia High in the St. Louis suburb of Town and Country. He was an assistant coach at Springfield Glendale, along with his brother, while his father was the head coach there. His brother went to Monett last season with Maty and their father as assistants.
Principia was 1-9 last year. They are 3-33 in their last four seasons. Principia College used to have a football program but ended it after the 2009 season.
At Missouri, he emerged as a red shirt freshman in 2013 when starting QB James Franklin was hurt. The Tigers went 3-1 with him. He tied a school record with five TD passes in a game against Kentucky. He was a starter the next year and led the team to its second strait SEC East conference championship. But he had his problems and was finally dismissed in 2016. He finished his college career at Eastern Kentucky, and spent some time with the Saskatchewan Rough Riders in the CFL but injuries ended his pro career.
Speeding along—
(INDYCAR)—Thirty-four drivers aiming for the 33 positions in the Indianapolis 500 field a month from now have run 5,804 test laps (14,510 miles) in their first major test runs on the Speedway using the new hybrid power plant.
2024 Pole winner Scott McLaughlin had the hottest lap at 232.686 mph, with the extra boost allowed for qualifying. In race trim, the fastest driver was defending national champion Alex Palou, who was about ten miles an hour slower.
Takuma Sato, who has won the 500 twice, was second fastest to McLaughlin in the boosted runs at 232.565. But he crashed shortly afterwards and sat out the rest of the test day.
The day also ended badly for NASCAR star Kyle Larson, who is back for his second attempt at running “the double”—the 500 in the afternoon and the Charlotte 600 that night in his regular NASCAR ride. He crashed his car, too, ending his test session.
The hybrid engine debuted last year after the 500 so the test provided drivers with their first experience on the track, and at racing speeds. The added 100 pounds or so that the new system puts at the rear of the car left drivers feeling their cars were more ticklish. Palou said the added weight makes cars “tougher to drive, so it’s a lot easier to see people do mistakes.”
The new power plant provides for bursts of sixty extra horsepower for a few seconds. The tests gave drivers a chance to adjust to some new handling characteristics and a chance to test when and how to use the extra surge of horsepower. But Pato O’Ward, who has had two second-place finishes in the 500 says the new power plant will make the cars “less forgiving.”
INDYCAR runs at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama this weekend, then heads to the Speedway for a road course race and two weeks after that, the 109th running of the 500.
(NASCAR)—The Big One never happed at Talladega this time, leading to the last 69 laps being run caution-free and an eyelash win by Austin Cindric, ending a 30-race winless streak.
Cindric picked up the win over Kyle Larson with a last-lap pass and hung on for a in by .022 second. It’s the first win of the year for Penske Racing.
The race was typical for a NASCAR superspeedway contest, with 23 drivers leading at least one lap and 67 lead changes. Cindric’s win makes him the tenth different winner in the last ten races on NASCAR’s longest track (2.66 miles). But the race was uncharacteristically free of crashes. The yellow flag came out only twice for on-track incidents.
(Photo Credit: Rick Gevers)