The Sports Report: USC's Waymond Jordan ready to make his mark

From Ryan Kartje : When he first started spreading the word about Waymond Jordan , Mike Bennett figured the film would speak for itself.

The Escambia High coach had been in the South Florida preps scene long enough to know what he was seeing from his new running back.

Just watching him run the football for the first time, he was amazing, Bennett said.

He figured scholarship offers would roll in soon enough.

Jordan had similar expectations.

Since he first picked up football, at 4 years old, hed always told himself that hed play at a big school, on the biggest stage.

Hed come to Escambia as a senior with that in mind.

But in 2021, four years before Lincoln Riley and USC would see that same star potential, other college coaches, for whatever reason, werent paying much mind.

Given where Jordan stands today the top running back on one of the nations top rushing offenses through two weeks of the college football season plenty of them probably regret that now.

Every coach in the country, I sent stuff to, Bennett said.

I mean, everybody.

I sent it out to everybody.

Some smaller schools monitored Jordans senior year at Escambia, keeping a close eye as he rushed for 1,225 yards and 12 touchdowns.

A few schools said he could walk-on.

But none of them extended a scholarship offer.

Jordan couldnt understand why.

Hutchinson Community College, a junior college in Hutchinson, Kan., was one of the only places to give him an opportunity.

Hutchinson was a thousand miles from his hometown of Pensacola, and a world away from the major college football he thought hed be playing.

But the staff there knew Escambia well, and they believed in what they saw in Jordans tape.

Continue reading ALSO: Three key questions Trojans must answer vs.

Purdue NBA From Kevin Baxter : Early on a muggy Saturday morning, seven dozen riders lined up five and six abreast and aimed their mountain bikes toward a narrow, rocky trail leading away from the 91 Freeway and into the wilderness of Anaheims rugged Gypsum Canyon.

In their white helmets and monotone synthetic racing kits, the riders were more an indistinct mob than a collection of individuals.

But in the middle of the pack, perched on a pricey, Santa Cruz Blur XL, one cyclist stood out if for no other reason than, at 6-foot-7, Reggie Miller was a foot taller than most of the people around him.

Miller is also, it should be noted, a basketball hall of famer and five-time NBA All-Star who seamlessly transitioned into a career as one of the sports most-respected TV analysts.

He has earned fame and riches most will never know and competed at a level few have ever achieved.

Yet on the day before his 60th birthday, he was about to pedal his way along 19 miles of treacherous trails, swallowing the dust kicked up by cyclists a third his age.

And he couldnt have been happier because bike racing has not just given Miller a competitive outlet, its provided an avenue for addressing issues of importance to him, among them equality, inclusion and social justice.

You see so many retired football, baseball, basketball players turn to golf.

Thats their vice, he said.

Mine is cycling.

Continue reading here RAMS From Gary Klein : Puka Nacua stole the show.

Davante Adams was a supporting player.

That was the story for the star receivers in the Rams season-opening victory over the Houston Texans.

No one was complaining.

Except, perhaps, fantasy football players who drafted Adams.

Thats not in the forefront of my mind, Adams, chuckling, said this week.

I know they think it is.

Im just out here trying to win games and contribute and make plays when I can.

Nacua brushed off a cut above his eye that required stitches and caught 10 passes for 130 yards.

Adams, making his Rams debut, caught four passes for 51 yards.

Continue reading here NFL scores NFL standings CHARGERS From Sam Farmer : Jim Harbaugh didnt know if he was coming or going.

Exhausted to the point of collapse and parked in the driveway of his Oakland Hills home, he briefly allowed himself to close his eyes was it for a minute? An hour? before jolting awake at 4 a.m.

in a foggy panic.

Had he just returned from his round-the-clock job with the Oakland Raiders, or was he supposed to be on his way back? Here he was, a first-round pick from Michigan, a 15-year NFL veteran, and now a coaching grunt for the Silver & Black, ready to do whatever was asked.

I always remember him with the hair all over his head going everywhere, recalled receiver Tim Brown .

The veteran guys on the team were saying, Jimmy, you dont have to do this, bro.

Theres other ways you can make money.

You dont have to be in here.

Because he was literally the guy printing the papers, working the copiers.

We were like, All right, if thats what you want to do with your life then OK.

Continue reading here ANGELS From the Associated Press : Rookie pinch-hitter Harry Ford drove in the winning run with a sacrifice fly in the 12th inning and the Seattle Mariners beat the Angels 7-6 on Thursday night to move into a tie with Houston atop the AL West.

It was the second straight walk-off victory in extra innings for the Mariners, who extended their win streak to six games.

Leo Rivas hit a two-run homer in the 13th inning Wednesday night to complete a series sweep of the St.

Louis Cardinals.

Mike Trout launched his 399th career home run for the Angels , tying it 4-4 in the fifth inning after they fell behind 4-0 in the second.

Continue reading here Angels-Mariners box score MLB scores MLB standings SPARKS From Anthony De Leon : Being out of postseason contention didnt make the Sparks season finale meaningless.

It was a chance to avoid finishing with a losing record for the first time since 2020.

An opportunity to foil the Las Vegas Aces push for the No.

2 seed in the playoffs while derailing a 15-game winning streak.

And, above all, a matter of pride.

But just as with their season-long goal of reaching the playoffs, the Sparks fell short of their goal, as Aja Wilson and the Aces dominated in a 103-75 victory at Crypto.com Arena.

Continue reading here Sparks-Aces box score WNBA scores WNBA standings NBA From Chuck Schilken : Retired NBA player and former Harvard-Westlake star Jason Collins is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, the NBA said Thursday in a statement released on behalf of Collins and his family.

Jason and his family welcome your support and prayers and kindly ask for privacy as they dedicate their attention to Jasons health and well-being, the league said.

A 46-year-old native of Northridge, Jason Collins and twin brother, Jarron, led Harvard-Westlake to state Division III titles in 1996 and 1997, with the former being named the state Division III player of the year both seasons.

His 1,500 career rebounds stood as a CIF state record until 2010, when Hemet West Valleys Joe Burton finished his career with 1,721 rebounds.

Continue reading here THIS DATE IN SPORTS 1895 Defender wins three straight matches from the British challenger Valkyrie II to defend the Americas Cup for the United States.

1936 Fred Perry becomes the first foreign player to win three U.S.

mens singles titles when he defeats Don Budge, 2-6, 6-2, 8-6, 1-6, 10-8.

Alice Marble ends the four-year reign of Helen Jacobs as U.S.

womens singles champion, with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

1955 Tony Trabert wins the U.S.

Lawn Tennis Association championships with a victory over Ken Rosewall.

Doris Hart wins the womens title.

1966 Australias Fred Stolle beats countryman John Newcombe to win the U.S.

Lawn Tennis Association championships.

Stolle wins in four sets, 4-6, 12-10, 6-3, 6-4.

1976 Jimmy Connors beats Bjorn Borg in four sets to win the U.S.

Open.

1979 Carl Yastrzemski reaches 3,000 hits off of NY Yankee pitcher Jim Beattie.

1981 Tracy Austin wins her second U.S.

Open singles title, edging first-time finalist Martina Navratilova, 1-6, 7-6, 7-6.

1982 Jimmy Connors wins the U.S.

Open, defeating Ivan Lendl, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

1984 N.Y.

Met Dwight Gooden sets rookie strike out record at 251.

1988 1st NFL regular-season game played in Phoenix; Dallas beats Arizona.

1995 The Harlem Globetrotters 24-year, 8,829-game winning streak is stopped.

It ends in a 91-85 loss to a team led by basketball great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who scores 34 points in a competitive, unscripted game in Vienna, Austria.

1998 Lindsay Davenport captures her first Grand Slam tournament singles title, defeating Martina Hingis, 6-3, 7-5 at the U.S.

Open.

1999 Andre Agassi comes back from two-sets-to-one down to win his second U.S.

Open singles title.

Agassi, who never loses his serve, defeats Todd Martin, 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-3, 6-2.

Its the first five-set U.S.

Open final in 11 years.

2004 Roger Federer becomes the first man since 1988 to win three majors in a year, thoroughly outclassing Lleyton Hewitt 6-0, 7-6 (3), 6-0 to add the U.S.

Open title to those he took at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

2005 Mark Messier announces on ESPN radio that he will retire from the NHL.

2010 Houston running back Arian Foster rushes for a franchise-record 231 yards and three touchdowns in the Texans 34-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.

Foster is the first player in NFL history to rush for at least 200 yards and three touchdowns for an opening weekend.

2011 Tom Brady passes for a team-record 517 yards and four touchdowns, including a 99-yarder to Wes Welker, and the New England Patriots beat the Miami Dolphins 38-24.

2011 U.S.

Open Mens Tennis: Novak Djokovic wins his first US title; beats Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-4, 6-7, 6-1.

2014 Diana Taurasi and Candice Dupree score 24 points each and the Phoenix Mercury, playing without star center Brittney Griner, beat the Chicago Sky 87-82 to complete a three-game sweep of the WNBA Finals for their third championship.

2015 Kent State dominates Delaware State in the Golden Flashes home opener, 45-13, but its overshadowed by a single point-after kick in the second quarter by April Goss.

Goss, a four-year member of the Kent State team and a former high school soccer player, becomes the second female to score in a Division I game in NCAA history.

Katie Hnida kicked a pair of extra points for New Mexico in 2003.

2015 David Ortiz homers twice to become the 27th player in major league history to reach 500 homers, and Boston beats Tampa Bay 10-4.

2018 Breanna Stewart leads the Seattle Storm to their third WNBA title, scoring 30 points in a 98-82 victory over the Washington Mystics in Game 3 of the best-of-five series.

2020 Naomi Osaka of Japan wins her second US Open title beating Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Compiled by the Associated Press Until next time...

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