Ex-East Bay star announces he’ll transfer to Alabama
Tennessee’s leading tackler Henry To’o To’o, a former De La Salle High star, is heading to rival Alabama.
The junior linebacker announced Saturday on social media that he was transferring to the defending national champions. To’o To’o would likely be a candidate to replace starting inside linebacker Dylan Moses.
A new NCAA policy allows players to transfer once and be eligible to play immediately. However, the Southeastern Conference currently requires intraconference transfers to sit out a season.
To’o To’o had 148 tackles over his first two seasons with the Volunteers, leading the team with 76 tackles and 10 stops for a loss as a sophomore.
To’o To’o, the Bay Area News Group’s Player of the Year in 2018, was a Top 50 recruit and the third-rated outside linebacker in 2019, according to the 247Sports composite rankings.
Golf
DECHAMBEAU HAS ADVEN
TURE AFTER THINKING HE MISSED CUT >> Bryson DeChambeau shot a thirdround 68 in the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship, but that’s not the story he’ll tell about this day years from now.
Instead, he’ll talk about how he had to fly from Dallas back to Charlotte, N.C., to play the round at Quail Hollow Golf Club. After shooting a 74 on Friday, and sure he wouldn’t make the 36-hole cut at 2-over par, he boarded a private jet and flew home. Wrong move.
The cut line turned out to be 2-over, which he learned after he landed in Dallas. He had to hurry to make arrangements for his return to the Tar Heel State.
“We did a lot of scrambling last night to get back,” DeChambeau, 27, said. “One of the scenarios was turning right back around, but the crew couldn’t do it. So we had to get a new crew, and we were like, ‘Well, let’s just go in the morning.’
“So I left at 2:45 on a flight, and I got here at 6:20 a.m. Drove 30 minutes to the golf course, put on my clothes in the locker room and headed out to the putting green. I did get a workout last night, though.”
DeChambeau had five birdies on the day, which ended with a double bogey on the par-4 No. 18. He is tied for 23rd at 1-under 212, eight shots behind leader Keith Mitchell. TAVATANAKIT GRABS LPGA LEAD >> Patty Tavatanakit shot a 2-under 70 to take a one-stroke lead after 54 holes at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul and Germany’s Caroline Masson trail Tavatanakit by one heading into the final round.
STRICKER’S EAGLE GIVES HIM CHAMPIONS LEAD >> Defending champion Steve Stricker made a long eagle putt on the final hole for 7-under 65 and the third-round lead in the Regions Tradition in Birmingham, Ala., the first of five PGA Tour Champions majors.
Motorsports
ALLGAIER TAKES XFINITY RACE IN OT >> In a dramatic two-lap overtime shootout, Justin Allgaier squeezed past JR Motorsports teammate Josh Berry and held on to win the Steakhouse Elite 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Darlington Raceway.
Allgaier chose the outside lane for the final restart and had to fend off Berry, who edged ahead entering Turn 1. But Allgaier shot the gap to the outside off Turn 2 and pulled away to win by .422 seconds over his teammate at the South Carolina track.
Brandon Jones ran third, one spot ahead of Noah Gragson, who was disqualified after the race when his car failed the post-race inspection. Gragson led for 40 laps.
Football
PANTHERS HIRE DAN MORGAN AS ASSISTANT GM >> The Carolina Panthers are reuniting with one of their own, hiring former linebacker and one-time firstround pick Dan Morgan as assistant general manager.
Morgan spent seven seasons, three of them injuryfilled, with the Panthers after they made him the No. 11 overall pick in the 2001 NFL Draft. He was a key member of the 2003 team, which lost Super Bowl XXXVIII to the New England Patriots.
He retired in 2008 because of injuries and started to work in NFL front offices a few years later.
Tennis
CAL WINS, STANFORD FALLS IN NCAA TOURNAMENT >> Thirteenth-ranked and 16th-seeded California women’s tennis team defeated No. 26 Kentucky 4-2 in the NCAA second round to advance to the round of 16 in Orlando, Fla. The Bears will face top-ranked North Carolina on Sunday. Meanwhile, the Stanford women fell to No. 5 Pepperdine 4-2.