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💥 Five things to know Wednesday
- DJ Lagway, Nico Iamaleava among college football’s boom-or-bust players. Either the stars align and these former five-star recruits reach stardom, or they fail to live up to expectations and their teams suffer as a result. Our Brad Crawford ranked the Baylor and UCLA quarterbacks highly on his list of X-factor players who need to put together a strong 2026 season in order for their squads to reach their goals. Clemson’s Christopher Vizzina is on the list (and he ranks in the bottom half of ACC signal-callers). And it’s not just quarterbacks. Florida State and Missouri need their offensive linemen to deliver, while SMU and Indiana are focused on the defensive backfield.
- Drama unfolded at the European soccer transfer deadline. The summer transfer window closed Tuesday, but not before Manchester City landed Enzo Fernandez in a record-tying $170 million transaction. And while Borussia Dortmund secured Ethan Nwaneri on loan, Arsenal included a recall clause for the touted prospect, which could send him back to England in January. The biggest drama of the day revolved around USMNT star Folarin Balogun. He was set to leave Monaco for Everton, but he failed his medical, which nixed the deal entirely. The Premier League is already a big winner from the transfer window, but it would have been even more so if the Balogun deal had gone through. A couple of other USMNT standouts are on the move this summer, and we graded every deal.
- Coaches and executives sounded off on NFL players returning to college. Tensions between LSU and the SEC are high as the Tigers seek to add three former NFL players to their roster. Many other prominent figures in football disagree with the idea of pros heading back to college, too. Dabo Swinney, who will coach against LSU in Week 1, called it “embarrassing.” Steve Sarkisian called it “morally wrong,” even though his own Texas team found a similar eligibility loophole. And Colts general manager Chris Ballard gave the strongest take when he called it “the stupidest s— I’ve ever heard.”
- Michigan five-star freshman Brandon McCoy Jr. is out for the season. One of college basketball’s most highly regarded newcomers tore his ACL during the Wolverines’ trip to Europe. McCoy, the No. 11 player in the 2026 recruiting class, had to be carried off the court in Lithuania after averaging 14.5 points, 5.0 rebounds and 4.0 steals in his first two games. The loss of a projected starter in the backcourt sent Michigan tumbling in the preseason Top 25 And 1.
- The 2026 Presidents Cup teams are set. United States and International captains Brandt Snedeker and Geoff Ogilvy announced their 12-man rosters for the biannual tournament. With FedEx Cup champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler headlining the U.S. team and a host of stars hand-picked by Snedeker rounding out the squad, the Americans are in great shape as they open their quest for an 11th consecutive cup victory. Ogilvy picked just one player with a PGA Tour win this season: Nico Echavarria.
⚾ Do not miss this: MLB September storylines
Michael Meredith, CBS Sports
We’ve arrived at the final month of baseball’s regular season. September brings expanded rosters, battles for playoff spots, award races and pressure for disappointing teams to right the ship at the last minute. For the Padres, it also brings top prospect Ethan Salas, who became the youngest active player in MLB and the youngest catcher to reach the majors since 1991.
The prospect call-up is a big one, but with all due respect to Salas, his arrival is a footnote to the biggest storylines in the sport. The developments that will define the last couple of weeks of the regular season promise to be incredibly compelling, like the NL MVP battle between Pete Crow-Armstrong and Shohei Ohtani.
Our Mike Axisa explained why the margin between the Cubs and Dodgers stars is so slim.
- Axisa: “There is more to MVP voting than WAR, but it does inform the voters, and PCA’s lead is significant. They’re comparable hitters at this point. Crow-Armstrong is the better baserunner and will give his team 1,300 innings or so of the best defense at any position in baseball. Ohtani has made 14 ace-caliber starts.”
Here are a few other storylines you should follow between now and the start of the postseason:
- Yordan Alvarez’s pursuit of the Triple Crown: He could become the second player to achieve the feat in 59 years.
- Division and wild-card races: Every division besides the NL West and (probably) the NL Central is up for grabs.
- Fond farewells: Justin Verlander will retire at the end of the season, and Craig Kimbrel, Paul Goldschmidt, Kenley Jansen and Max Scherzer are also on retirement watch.
🔠 NFL preseason grades
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In a lot of cases, it is wise not to put too much stock in the NFL preseason. But that does not mean it is useless. You can still glean plenty of meaningful information from the exhibition games and the practices that go into them.
Unfortunately for the Falcons, most of what we learned about them was negative. Tua Tagovailoa was brutal in his preseason action, so Kevin Stefanski still has not named a starting quarterback. The edge rusher group was decimated when Jalon Walker suffered a torn ACL and James Pearce Jr. received an eight-game suspension. All of this makes Atlanta the only team to receive an “F” on our report card.
The good news for the Falcons is that nobody in the NFC South looked particularly great in August. Here are the grades for the whole division:
- Panthers: C
- Buccaneers: C+
- Falcons: F
- Saints: C-
We also graded the performances from all 32 first-round picks. Since we highlighted a poor division, let’s take a look at one strong individual standout. Jets edge rusher David Bailey showed why he was worth the No. 2 overall pick, according to our Josh Edwards.
- Edwards: “There is an insatiable motivation within David Bailey. He holds his ground in the run game and fights to get off blocks as a pass rusher. The Texas Tech product, by way of Stanford, generated pressure on stunts but also showed the speed and flexibility to win on the high side of his rush. Opponents showed their respect with the occasional double team.”
👍👎 The best (and not-so-best) of the rest
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📺 What we’re watching Wednesday
⚽ Coppa Italia, second round: Frosinone at Sassuolo, 9 a.m. on Paramount+
🎾 US Open: Second round, 11:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. on ESPN
⚽ Coppa Italia, second round: Venezia at Udinese, noon on CBS Sports Golazo Network/Paramount+
⚾ Braves at Nationals or Padres at Reds, 12:40 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Phillies at Diamondbacks, 3:40 p.m. on ESPN Unlimited
⚾ Mariners at Red Sox, 4:10 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ Brewers at Cubs, 7:40 p.m. on MLB Network
⚾ White Sox at Astros, 8:10 p.m. on Peacock
⚽ Canadian Championship, semifinal: Montreal vs. Whitecaps, 10 p.m. on FS2