Sports briefs | Cappa signs on with Raiders, Fowler named Freshman of the Year

Cappa released by Bengals, signs with RaidersIts been a whirlwind of a week for former Humboldt State football player and current NFL offensive lineman Alex Cappa.

After spending three seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bengals released Cappa earlier this week to clear cap space but he wasnt out of a job for long as he signed a two-year deal with the Las Vegas Raiders on Wednesday.The Bengals cleared $8 million in cap space by releasing Cappa, who ranked dead-last by ESPN among 64 qualified guards in pass block win rate after ranking 60th in 2023.That certainly didnt scare off the Raiders, who quickly made a move on Cappa and handed him a two-year deal worth $11.2 million, with $5.1 million being guaranteed.

Cappa, who began his career on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has career earnings of $31,821,704 before his deal with the Raiders kicks in.While at Humboldt, Cappa was a four-time all-conference player.

He was picked in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft before being a part of the 2021 Super Bowl champion Buccaneer team, where he played alongside Tom Brady.Cappa is the only former Humboldt State football player still in the NFL and will likely be the last as the university (now Cal Poly Humboldt) hasnt fielded a football team since the 2018 season.Jacks Aidan Fowler named Freshman of the YearCal Poly Humboldts mens basketball team got some good news before the start of the CCAA Tournament with Jacks guard Aidan Fowler named the conferences Freshman of the Year this season.Its the second straight season that Humboldt has won the award but it gets even more coincidental because Fowler and Rob Diaz III, who won CCAA Freshman of the Year a season ago, both attended JSerra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano together.

Humboldt has gotten great results from former JSerra Catholic Lions, with both Diaz and Fowler helping lead the Jacks to a conference tournament berth.Fowler has played the third-most minutes on the Jacks this year, doing so despite starting only 12 of 27 games, serving as a bench complement to Diaz and junior guard Kalib LaCount.

Fowler is averaging 11.1 points per game while adding 1.7 assists and 1.6 rebounds.

Fowler also had a good freshman season in terms of shooting efficiency, shooting 41.7% from the field, 37.0% from three and 83.3% from the free throw line.Humboldts freshman guard Aidan Fowler drives against Chico State earlier this season.

(Photo by Mark Larson)Back in November, Fowler was named the CCAA Player of the Week, after leading Humboldt to a win over Western Oregon where he scored 24 points and hit five threes.

He became the first freshman to win the award since his teammate, graduate student Cam Timmons, won it back in 2022.Three other Jacks players were named to the All-CCAA teams, with Diaz being the lone Humboldt player on the All-CCAA First Team and senior center Kyle Frelow and LaCount each being named to the All-CCAA Second Team.

Humboldt forward Josiah Sanders was named as an honorable mention following his freshman season with the Jacks..

This article has been shared from the original article on times_standard, here is the link to the original article.