USC QB Williams among finalists for Maxwell Award
Quarterbacks Caleb Williams of USC, C.J. Stroud of Ohio State and Hendon Hooker of Tennessee have been named finalists for the Maxwell Award as the player of the year in college football.
The Maxwell finalists were announced Tuesday along with finalists for other awards that will be presented Dec. 8 on ESPN.
Williams is throwing for more than 300 yards per game and has 34 TD passes against just three interceptions. Stroud, the former Rancho Cucamonga High standout, has thrown for a nation-leading 37 touchdowns. Hooker was leader of the nation's No. 1 offense before an anterior cruciate ligament tear in his left knee ended his season Nov. 19.
Williams and Stroud are also finalists for the Davey O'Brien Award, given to the outstanding QB, along with TCU's Max Duggan.
Other award finalists:
Chuck Bednarik Award (defensive player of the year): Will Anderson Jr., Alabama; Ivan Pace Jr., Cincinnati; Tuli Tuipulotu, USC.
Biletnikoff Award (outstanding receiver): Marvin Harrison, Jr., Ohio State; Xavier Hutchinson, Iowa State; Jalin Hyatt, Tennessee.
Lou Groza Award (outstanding kicker): Christopher Dunn, North Carolina State; Joshua Karty, Stanford; Jake Moody, Michigan.
Outland Trophy (outstanding interior lineman): Calijah Kancey, Pittsburgh; Olusegun Oluwatimi, Michigan; Peter Skoronski, Northwestern.
Jim Thorpe Award (outstanding defensive back): Tre'Vius Hodges-Tomlinson, TCU; Clark Phillips III, Utah; Devon Witherspoon, Illinois.
Doak Walker Award (outstanding running back): Chase Brown, Illinois; Blake Corum, Michigan; Bijan Robinson, Texas.
John Mackey Award (outstanding tight end): Brock
Bowers, Georgia; Michael Mayer, Notre Dame; Sam LaPorta, Iowa.
• Georgia Tech named interim coach Brent Key to the full-time position after he led the team to a 4-4 finish.
Key, 44, was in his fourth season as assistant head coach, run game coordinator and offensive line coach before Geoff Collins was fired on Sept. 26, two days after the Yellow Jackets lost 27-10 to Central Florida and dropped to 1-3.
Key played for the Yellow Jackets and graduated in 2001.
Dodgers sign veteran Miller to help bullpen
The Dodgers' annual search for upside potential in their bullpen candidates has apparently led them to veteran right-hander Shelby Miller.
Miller, 32, has reportedly agreed to a one-year, $1.5 million contract that includes performance incentives that could take it higher.
He was once one of the most successful young starting pitchers in the National League. After debuting with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2012, Miller went 26-18 with a 3.33 ERA over three seasons before he was traded to the Atlanta Braves.
Miller never recaptured that early success. He bounced from the Braves to the Arizona Diamondbacks to the Texas Rangers, missing time following Tommy John surgery in 2017 and sitting out the 2020 season.
He spent much of 2021 and 2022 in the minor leagues, working his way back as a reliever. He has pitched a total of just 192/3 innings in the major leagues since 2019 (with the Chicago Cubs, Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants) but struck out 14 in seven innings at the end of this season with the Giants after posting a 2.87 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 53-1/3 innings as a TripleA
reliever in the Giants' and New York Yankees' systems.
•José Abreu and the World Series champion Houston Astros agreed to a $58.5 million, three-year contract, adding another powerful bat to the lineup.
Abreu, the 2020 AL MVP, gets $19.5 million in each of the next three seasons.
The 35-year-old Abreu spent his first nine major league seasons with the Chicago White Sox. The first baseman became a free agent after batting .304 with 15 home runs, 75 RBIs and an .824 OPS this year.
With the Astros, he replaces free agent Yuli Gurriel at first base in a batting order that also features AllStar sluggers Yordan Alvarez, Jose Altuve, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker.
Born in Cuba, Abreu is a three-time All-Star, the 2014 AL Rookie of the Year and a .292 career hitter in the majors with 243 homers, 863 RBIs and an .860 OPS.
• The Pittsburgh Pirates signed 36-year-old first baseman/designated hitter Carlos Santana to a 1-year, $6.75 million contract.
The switch-hitting Santana split time between Kansas City and Seattle in 2022, hitting .202 with 19 home runs and 60 RBIs. He provided some muchneeded pop to Seattle's lineup after arriving in a trade in June, slugging 15 home runs to help the Mariners reach the postseason for the first time since 2001.
Santana has hit 278 homers over 13 major league seasons, including 10 years with Cleveland.
• Switch-hitting Infielder Jeimer Candelario agreed to a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals.
The 29-year-old Candelario is coming off a down year for the Detroit Tigers, hitting just .217 with a .272 on-base percentage in 2022.
But in 2021, he tied for the major league lead with 42 doubles and batted .271 with a .351 on-base percentage, 16 homers and 67 RBIs.