Mel Kiper Jr. makes the Mac Jones, Tom Brady comparison
ESPN’s NFL draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. has called an audible, projecting quarterback Mac Jones to the 49ers instead of Justin Fields from Kiper’s previous mock draft.
Why? Brace yourself for a lofty comparison to Tom Brady.
“You can say super-super intelligent, super-super accurate, super competitive, then that’s all the things that allowed Tom Brady to be successful,” Kiper said on Thursday’s media conference call.
“That’s not saying he’s going to be Tom Brady-successful,” Kiper said in couching his praise. “And that’s not saying he’s going to be Tom Brady; he’s the greatest of all time but who thought he was going to be anywhere close to that when he was a late sixthround pick out of Michigan?
“I think Tom Brady really helped Mac Jones and he helped other quarterbacks along the way. You don’t need dual-threat quarterbacks to be effective.”
The 49ers are debating Jones, Fields (Ohio State) and Trey Lance (North Dakota State) as top options for the No. 3 pick, presuming Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson go 1-2 to the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets.
Kiper thinks Fields will be the fifth quarterback taken.
Memo to Mel: Fields is not the fifth choice of 49ers’ fans, who have raged on social media at any mention of Jones.
“After Trevor, good luck trying to figure out the two quarterbacks who are going to be disappointments or busts. All four could be,” Kiper added. “Which ones are, I don’t have my crystal ball.”
—CamInman
Men’s college basketball
USC’S EVAN MOBLEY HEADING TO NBA >> USC freshman Evan Mobley declared for the NBA draft in an expected move. Mobley, who led the Trojans to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament, will be in the conversation to be the No. 1 pick when the draft is held in July. In his one season in Los Angeles, he was named Pac-12 Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year — the first Trojan ever to win all three in the same season.
He averaged 16.4 points, 8.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists in 33 games. Mobley was the No. 1 player in the 2020 class — the first top recruit to sign with USC.
Track and field
AMERICAN SPRINTER COLEMAN TO
MISS OLYMPICS DESPITE REDUCED BAN >> The man who had been expected to succeed Usain Bolt as Olympic champion will miss the Tokyo Games after failing Friday in an appeal to overturn his ban for missed doping tests.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport cut current 100-meter world champion Christian Coleman’s ban from two years to 18 months, but it won’t expire until November, three months after the Olympics.
Coleman’s 9.76-second run to win the 2019 world title was the fastest in the world in the past five years, and 0.05 quicker than Bolt when he won a third straight Olympic gold in 2016.
Tennis
RUBLEV BEATS 11-TIME CHAMPION
NADAL AT MONTE CARLO MASTERS >> Andrey Rublev produced an audacious display of attacking tennis to hand record 11-time champion Rafael Nadal a 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 defeat in the Monte Carlo Masters quarterfinals. Having beaten the 20-time Grand Slam champion on one of his clay strongholds, Rublev’s next opponent is unseeded Norwegian Casper Ruud.
Ruud also beat a former champion by knocking out 2019 winner Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-4, 6-3.
A day after upsetting the topranked Novak Djokovic, unseeded Dan Evans beat 11th-seeded David Goffin 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 to reach the first Masters semifinal of his career.
Golf
CINK TAKES FIVE-SHOT LEAD INTO WEEKEND AT RBC HERITAGE >> Stewart Cink carded his second consecutive 8-under 63 at Harbour Town Golf Links to take a five-shot lead into the weekend at the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, S.C.
Cink posted a bogey-free second round to finish at 16-under 126 and five strokes ahead of Corey Conners, who shot 64. The 47-year-old Cink won the event in 2000 and 2004.
Emiliano Grillo matched Connors’ 64 and stands in third place at 10 under.
COUPLES TAKES TWO-STROKE LEAD AT CHUBB CLASSIC >> Fred Couples carded a bogey-free 9-under 63 at Tiburon Golf Club to take a two-shot lead after the first round over Germany’s Bernhard Langer at the Chubb Classic in Naples, Fla.
Couples, a 13-time winner on the Champions Tour, is seeking his first win in 35 starts.
Gymnastics
CAL’S BORDAS SHARES INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL TITLE IN UNEVEN BARS >> Cal’s women’s gymnastics team totaled its best team score at the NCAA Championships in school history, but the Bears just missed qualifying for today’s finale in Fort Worth, Texas.
Junior Maya Bordas, competing in her home state, won the individual national championship on the uneven bars, sharing the title with Maile O’Keefe of Utah, who recorded a 9.95 in the second semifinal. Bordas recorded a 9.95 score in the first semifinal.
Cal finished with a 197.3625 score, the 10th-best total in school history and a school record for the NCAA championships.
Oklahoma, Michigan, Utah and Florida made today’s finals.