Florida QB with 3-star rating picks PSU
Penn State added to its future quarterbacks room yet again. Three-star-rated signalcaller Marcus Stokes announced his commitment to the Nittany Lions via Twitter late Friday, giving coach James Franklin an important early victory in the 2023 recruiting cycle.
The Ponte Verda, Fla., product is rated three stars by the scouts at Rivals and On3, and four by 247 Sports.
Should he sign with the program this coming winter, he would be the second quarterback recruit rated at least four stars by at least one service to do so in the past two cycles, joining highly-touted Drew Allar.
Rivals has not yet ranked the dual threat against his peers, but 247 Sports regards him as the 10th-best quarterback and the 165th-best overall prospect in his class.
At the time of his commitment, he held scholarship offers from power conference programs including Indiana, Pitt, Virginia Tech and Utah.
This past season, 247 Sports reports that Stokes led Nease High School in Ponte Verda to the regional finals in Florida’s second-highest classification, passing for 2,672 yards and 22 touchdowns against 9 interceptions along the way. He added another 496 yards and six scores rushing.
Solid credentials that blend well with a 2023 class that is already nine members strong and ranked fourth in the nation by Rivals.
He is now the fourth quarterback Penn State has lined up as a possible replacement for Sean Clifford, who’s expected to start for a fourth season for the Lions this fall. He joins Allar, Christian Vellieux and York, Pa., native Beau Pribula, who signed alongside Allar this past winter.
Tennis
Belinda Bencic rallied to beat second-seeded Paula Badosa, 2-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4, to advance to the semifinals of the Credit One Charleston Open in South Carolina. No. 4 Ons Jabeur also reached the final four in the season’s opening clay-court event by beating Anhelina Kalinina, 6-3, 6-2.
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Soccer
Real Zaragoza is set to be purchased by a group of foreign investors led by two of the owners of Inter Miami, the second-division Spanish soccer club saidy. The club said in a statement that a “diverse group of investors” agreed to purchase a 51% stake. It said that the group included brothers Jorge and José Mas Santos, who own Inter Miami along with former England great David Beckham.
College volleyball
New Grambling women’s coach Chelsea Lucas cut more than half of the team’s scholarship players and told incoming recruits that the previous coach’s commitments would not be honored. The move has drawn criticism from spurned student-athletes and their families, but has been defended by athletic director Trayvean Scott, who also sought to refute reports that Lucas had cut the entire team. But it’s not clear if any players from last season’s roster remain. Grambling officials have so far been unable to specify which players, if any, have been retained, and the volleyball roster page on Grambling’s official athletics website displayed an error message stating: “The page you are looking for no longer exists.” NCAA regulations currently allow for up to 12 scholarships for women’s varsity volleyball.
Bobsled
USA Bobsled coach Mike Kohn stepped down after four seasons, though he may remain with the national team in a different capacity. Kohn, an Olympic medalist in bobsled at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, said that he made the decision to leave the coaching role because of a desire to spend more time with his family. The World Cup season typically takes coaches and sliders away from home for months at a time.