UM snags Clemson WR from transfer portal
Former Clemson starting receiver Frank Ladson ,a talented 6-3, 205-pound South Florida native and graduate of Homestead South Dade High, announced Saturday on Twitter that he is transferring to the University of Miami.
Ladson’s transfer marks the third time since 2019 that UM has gotten an elite receiver from the portal — the other two times being KJ Osborn in 2019 and Charleston Rambo in 2021. Rambo, who broke multiple UM records this season, finished with 1,172 yards and seven touchdowns and is entering the NFL Draft.
Ladson, 21, was rated as high as a five-star prep receiver (PrepStar) and four-star wideout by 247Sports, Rivals and ESPN when he signed with Clemson in December 2018. He started four games this season, tallying four catches for 19 yards, before he had groin surgery in October and missed the rest of 2021. Because the limited four games in 2021 make him eligible as a redshirt, and because of the extra year all players got in 2020 because of COVID-19, Ladson could be eligible for as many as three upcoming seasons.
His career so far: 428 yards and six touchdowns on 31 catches. He also was a two-time ACC Honor
Roll selection heading into 2021.
In 2020, Ladson caught 18 passes for 281 yards and three touchdowns in 10 games, four of them starts “while battling various injuries during much of the season,” according to his Clemson bio. In a victory against then-No. 7 Miami that season, Ladson, whose Tigers were No. 1, had three catches fo 43 yards.
In 2019, he had nine catches for 128 yards and three TDs in 15 games.
In high school, Ladson represented South Dade in the All-American Bowl and was rated the No. 23 player in USA Today’s “Chosen 25” national high school rankings.
Elsewhere: Todd Graham resigned as the University of Hawaii’s football coach Friday, stepping down amid controversy after completing the second-year of a five-year
Aago felt like rock-bottom. The 10-17 record and 4-15 ACC mark were Miami’s worst since 1994. Coach Jim Larrañaga was being assigned the GHPHB bin: Game Has Passed Him
By, with fans calling for a change.
Well, who’d have believed the 72-year-old coach would be the comeback, but Larrañaga’s Canes are today 13-4 and atop the ACC. They just upset No. 2 Duke and are now getting poll votes and just outside the Top 25.
But March Madness will define the season. UM and Larrañaga must end the three-year drought of NCAA Tournament appearances and then advance past the first round for the first time since 2016.
MIAMI DOLPHINS: Overall grade: C-plus — Erratic owner Stephen Ross stunned the NFL by firing coach Brian Flores last week after consecutive winning seasons totaling a 19-14 record.
Can the leadership of Ross and retained general manager Chris Grier be counted on to find the right replacement? And two years in, fans still wonder exactly what they
Acontract. Graham resigned a week after former players and some parents testified before a state legislative hearing, criticizing the coach’s management style and relationships with players. More than a dozen players have entered the transfer portal. ... UCLA football coach Chip Kelly agreed to a new four-year contract after leading the Bruins to their best season since 2015.
EVERT ANNOUNCES CANCER BATTLE
Support poured in for have in quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, or whether the team is plotting for his replacement, too.
The Fins have lots of young talent and potential, a situation that should be attractive to many coaches.
But this is a club that has not won a playoff game since 2000, has been to the postseason only three times since and not for five years. Ross’ failed 13 years as majority owner instills little faith.
MIAMI MARLINS: Overall grade: C — The Derek Jeter group has been in place beginning with the 2018 season. In the pandemic-shortened 2020 season the Marlins eked over .500, snuck into the expanded playoffs and even won a series.
The trailblazing hiring of general manager Kim Ng was inspired, and the ground-up rebuilding of the farm system was needed. The roster is pretty well stocked on the starting pitching side led by Sandy Alcantara.
Much good has happened.
Still, the Fish have lost 98, 105 and last year 95 games in the three full
AChris Evert after the 18time Grand Slam champion revealed that she has been diagnosed with Stage 1 ovarian cancer on Friday night.
“I wanted to share my stage 1 ovarian cancer diagnosis and the story behind it as a way to help others,” Evert, 67, wrote in a message posted to Twitter. “I feel very lucky that they caught it early and expect positive results from my chemo plan.”
Evert’s younger sister, Jeanne, who was also a tennis player, died of ovarian seasons under the Jeter brand. And there wasn’t a lot of big spending for marquee bats this offseason before the lockout put it on indefinite pause.
Miami is pegged no better than fourth of five in the NL East for 2022, with World Series odds tied for 23rd best of 30 teams. The grand rebuild must begin to show itself.
INTER MIAMI: Overall grade: D — The Major League Soccer expansion franchise David Beckham fought so long and hard to realize was born into a pandemic and has appeared snake-bit approaching its Year 3.
Despite the imprimatur of the golden Beckham brand, Miami has not succeeded, finishing 10th of 14 Eastern team each of its first two seasons.
The bottom line has been harsh, winning only 19 of 58 matches while tying eight and losing 31. The teams have been near the bottom in goal scoring and largely been bereft of star power. Beckham already is on his second head coach and second sporting director (GM), with a retooling underway based on youth and speed.
And overarching everything: A third straight season in Fort Lauderdale as fans wonder if the proposed new stadium near Miami airport ever will really happen.
With Inter Miami, Beckham has failed thus far in a way seldom associated with his name. The area remains ripe for soccer, but it’s also a market that demands a winning product.
How’d we do on our grades?
AGreg Cote: 305-376-3492, @gregcote cancer in 2020 at age 62. She was diagnosed only after the disease was in its late stages and had spread.
ETC.
Soccer: Kevin De Bruyne curled home a brilliant second-half goal to earn Manchester City a 1-0 win over Chelsea and a 13-point lead over its nearest rival in the Premier League. ... Robert Lewandowski bagged a hat trick as Bayern Munich scored for a record 66th Bundesliga game in succession to beat Cologne 4-0 and restore its six-point lead.
Olympics: American
Kaillie Humphries got a win. Elana Meyers Taylor got an overall title. And the U.S. bobsled team got more momentum to take into the Beijing Olympics. Humphries prevailed in the final women’s monobob race of the season at St. Moritz, Switzerland, with Meyers Taylor finishing second. In the season-long standings, the order was reversed – Meyers Taylor winning the points crown, with Humphries second. ... Shaun White finished third at the Laax Open in Switzerland, marking his first podium finish since he won his
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Skiing: It is never easy for Switzerland to watch an Austrian downhiller win its signature ski race that is part of the Alpine nation’s culture. It was even harder to take as Vincent Kriechmayr
won the classic Lauberhorn race that Swiss team officials said this week he should not have been allowed to start. ... Swiss skier Lara Gut-Behrami
won the fourth women’s World Cup downhill of the season at AltenmarktZauchensee, Austria, after Olympic champion Sofia Goggia had an awkward crash halfway down her run. The Italian, who had won the previous three downhills, seemed unhurt and skied down the course shortly after the incident.
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