Pickerington North’s Sawyer skips senior season, will enroll at OSU
Five-star Ohio State commit Jack Sawyer announced Friday that he would not play his senior football season at Pickerington North.
He will enroll early at Ohio State. “Thanks for the awesome 3 years playing for Pickerington North,” Sawyer said on Twitter. “See you soon #Buckeyenation.”
Sawyer, a 6-foot-5, 248-pound defensive end, is the No. 3 overall prospect in the 247sports.com’s national composite rankings. He is the top-ranked player in the 2021 Buckeyes recruiting class that’s ranked No. 1 in the country.
Sawyer spent much of the offseason rehabbing from a torn medial collateral knee ligament suffered in a playoff game in November.
Former Browns LB Banks shot, listed in serious condition
Former Cleveland Browns linebacker Chip Banks was found shot, along with two other men, at an Atlanta-area residence on Wednesday, according to TMZ.
Police responded to a call about a shooting and found three victims with gunshot wounds. One of the men died at the scene, and Banks, TMZ reported, was taken to a local hospital and in “serious condition.”
The Browns made Banks the No. 3 overall pick of the 1982 draft out of Southern California. He was the NFL’S Defensive Rookie of the Year and made the Pro Bowl four times, all with the Browns.
Lilliard leads Blazers to win, spot in West’s play-in series
Damian Lillard sent Portland into the NBA’S first play-in series with 42 points, helping the Trail Blazers escape with a 134-133 victory over the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday night in Lake Buena Vista, Florida.
The Trail Blazers secured the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference only after Pickerington native Caris Levert, who scored 37 points for Brooklyn, missed a jumper just before time expired. Portland will play ninth-seeded Memphis on Saturday. If the Grizzlies win, the deciding game would be Sunday.
The winner of the play-in series gets the final spot in the West and a firstround playoff series against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Bulls fire Boylen as coach after club missed restart
The Chicago Bulls fired coach Jim Boylen on Friday, the new front office beginning its remake of a team that missed the playoffs again.
The Bulls were 22-43 and one of the eight teams that didn’t qualify for the NBA’S restart at Walt Disney World. That meant they wouldn’t make the postseason for the fourth time in five years.
Chicago then hired Arturas Karnisovas as executive vice president of basketball operations, and on Friday he decided he wanted a new coach.
Boylen finished 39-84 after taking over as coach on Dec. 3, 2018.
NCAA calls off most fall title events in wake of cancellations
The NCAA called off fall championship events — though Thursday’s move does not affect major college football — because not enough schools will be competing in sports such as men’s and women’s soccer and women’s volleyball during the first semester.
It had been clear the decision was coming as conferences canceled fall sports seasons because of the coronvirus pandemic.
Djokovic says he’ll play in US Open; Andreescu won’t
Novak Djokovic announced Thursday that he will enter the U.S. Open and the hard-court tuneup preceding it in New York.
Djokovic, ranked No. 1 in the world and who tested positive for COVID-19 in June, initially complained about the U.S. Tennis Association’s plans to try to protect people from the pandemic with such measures as limiting the size of players’ entourages, going so far as to say he didn’t know whether he would participate.
Meanwhile, reigning women’s champion Bianca Andreescu pulled out of the Grand Slam tournament, saying the coronavirus pandemic prevented her from properly preparing for competition.
Andreescu joins 2019 men’s champion Rafael Nadal in skipping the U.S. Open.
FC Dallas owners support player over backlash
The owners of FC Dallas came to the defense of player Reggie Cannon after he expressed disgust at the fans who booed players who knelt during the national anthem — and then faced a backlash on social media that included threats.
Cannon made comments following an MLS game against Nashville SC on Wednesday night. Players from both sides, as well as the officials, took a knee during the anthem at Toyota Stadium, prompting a smattering of boos.
The response against Cannon was swift on social media, including comments that were racist and threatening. That prompted a statement from team owners Clark and Dan Hunt.
“We want to be clear: We love and support Reggie Cannon,“the Hunts said in a statement.
2023 MLS expansion team to be called St. Louis City SC
The newest Major League Soccer team will be called St. Louis City SC when it debuts in 2023, team officials announced.
The team’s name and logo were unveiled nearly a year after the city was given an MLS franchise. St. Louis City SC will join Sacramento as the 29th and 30th teams when they begin play. The name was selected from more than 6,000 submissions.
The team colors will be red, blue, yellow and gray. The logo will include a representation of the Gateway Arch.
Diomande says he’s leaving LAFC for family reasons
Los Angeles FC forward Adama Diomande announced Thursday that he is leaving the club for family reasons.
Diomande was a valuable backup striker for LAFC. The 30-year-old Norwegian veteran scored 12 goals in just 18 games during LAFC’S inaugural season in 2018, and he added eight regular-season goals last year.
From wire reports