Florida Memorial to face Southern University
Florida Memorial University’s football team continues to make history.
The rebirthed program held its first spring practice on March 9 and released its fall 10-game schedule on the same day. FMU athletics director spoke of an 11th game — a “special game against another HBCU” — potentially being added and announced at a later date.
On Friday, Jones said Florida Memorial will play NCAA Division-I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) opponent Southern University on Oct. 31 at Southern’s A.W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Thisseason’s game will be the first in a two-year, twogame agreement between the schools. Both games will be played in Louisiana, with the date of the 2021 matchup to be announced later.
Jones called the game a “great opportunity” for Florida Memorial University.
“This is a huge deal for our football program and our university as a whole,” Jones said. “I said earlier that we had one of the best schedules in the NAIA … now — without a doubt — we have the best NAIA schedule in the country.
This is exactly what you want for your program — to be able to put your studentathletes in position to compete at the highest level against other top programs.”
In adding the game against the Jaguars, who compete in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) and went 8-3 this past season, Florida Memorial fills one of its open weeks and will now play five games in October. The
Halloween day game will also be homecoming for Southern University.
Lions head football coach
spoke confidently in March as the team unveiled the schedule, saying that he had no fear of the slate of games that already featured five games against teams that will start the 2020 season ranked in the NAIA top 25.
“This is all I’ve been doing my whole life — as a head coach, playing a schedule full of the toughest teams,” Harris said. “It doesn’t change who we are … because that’s who we are. We play against the best teams. And when we [have success] against a schedule like this, it not only elevates the football program, but it elevates the university as a whole.”
GULLIVER STAR COMMITS
didn’t have a scholarship offer from Notre Dame until Tuesday. Now the the Gulliver Prep boys’ basketball star is planning to head to Notre Dame for the next level.
Sanders, a three-star small forward in the 247Sports.com composite rankings, orally committed to the Fighting Irish on Friday while on a video chat with Sanders then announced his commitment on his Instagram page.
“I just felt like it was the right fit,” Sanders said. “Just how the school is and just the history of it kind of reminds me of my setting at Gulliver, and also the ball is going to stop eventually dribbling, so I just like the aspect they give me of the education part and also, of course, the basketball. You just can’t beat that.”
Sanders said he has been talking with Notre Dame since the end of last year, even though the formal scholarship offer didn’t come until earlier this week. He said Brey took him on a tour of the Indiana campus via Zoom Video Communications.
In less-than-ideal times, it was as good a look at the school as Sanders could have asked for while unable to travel because of the coronavirus.
“They were just telling me back in December how you can just fit in this program and pretty much just welcomed me with open arms,” Sanders said.
Sanders is the first player from Miami-Dade County to commit to a Power 5 Conference school in the Class of 2020. He picked Notre Dame from a long, eclectic list of offers from teams including the Florida State, South Carolina, Georgia, Dayton, Yale, Penn and Wyoming.
Sanders helped lead Gulliver to the championship game of a loaded Region 4-4A, where the Raiders fell to eventual state-champion Stranahan. In 30 games, the 6-foot-7, 190-pound forward averaged 20.6 points and
7.2 points per game. The senior is regarded as the No. 222 overall prospect in the country by the 247Sports composite rankings.
“Coach Brey was just telling me how they pretty much let their guys play,” Sanders said. “They play the right way, they’re unselfish with the ball and they get guys open, and that’s what I like about them.”
ETC.
The attorney representing retired NFL players alleges the players’ union stonewalled his clients when confronted with questions whether their Social Security disability payments would be affected before the labor agreement with the league was narrowly ratified last month.
told The Associated Press on Friday that email exchanges between his clients and the NFLPA show the union refusing to provide responses to direct questions about the status of their disability benefits before and after the agreement was presented to its players for a vote on March 5. It wasn’t until after the deal passed on March 15 by a mere 60-vote margin when his clients learned they would lose out on disability benefits included in the previous CBA . ... The Tampa Bay Buccaneers re-signed free agent backup quarterback
to a one-year contract. The 10-year veteran spent last season on injured reserve after hurting his shoulder during the preseason.
Philadelphia 76ers managing partner
co-managing partner and three-time All-Star center
donated $1.3 million to Penn Medicine. The joint donation is to support health care workers fighting the coronavirus pandemic. The funding will help with the deployment of COVID-19 testing to Philadelphia doctors and nurses.
The underconstruction Athletes Village for the Tokyo Olympics could be used as a temporary hospital for cornoavirus patients. Tokyo Gov.
has been talking about the possibility of occupying the massive development on Tokyo Bay, which is to house up to 11,000 Olympic and 4,400 Paralympic athletes and staff during the games. The complex, which will eventually include 24 buildings, is expected to remain unoccupied with the Olympics delayed for 16 months. Through Thursday, Japan had reported about 3,300 cases of cornoavirus with 74 deaths, according to the health ministry . ... FIFA has extended the age limit for the men’s soccer tournament at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics due to the coronavirus pandemic. The amended Olympic rule retains the “players born on or after Jan. 1, 1997” standard for the Tokyo Games following a one-year postponement agreed last week by the International Olympic Committee and Japanese
authorities.
The U.S. Golf Association postponed the 75th U.S. Women’s Open from early June to midDecember, a notable sign that golf’s governing bodies are seriously weighing dates late this year as they scramble to reschedule an expanding list of major postponed events. The women’s Open will now be contested Dec. 10 to 13 at the Champions Golf Club in Houston, which had been set to host the event June 4 to 7. It would be the first women’s major held in December.
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit by fantasy sports contestants who claimed they were damaged by sign stealing in Major League Baseball. Five men sued MLB, MLB Advanced Media, the Houston Astros and the Boston Red Sox in federal court in Manhattan, claiming fraud, violation of consumer-protection laws, negligence, unjust enrichment and deceptive trade practices by teams that violated MLB’s rules against the use of electronics to steal catchers’ signs.
The International Swimming League will fund its professional athletes through next year’s rescheduled Tokyo Olympics, starting with payments in September.
The league said Friday it plans a five-week, all-expenses paid combined training and competition event this year from Oct. 14 to Nov. 17 at a location yet to be determined depending on developments involving the coronavirus pandemic. Every athlete who has signed or will sign a contract with an ISL club will receive an equal amount of money per month, starting Sept. 1 through July 1, 2021. No financial details were provided.