Day: March 11, 2026

This year’s NFL Scouting Combine featured the best showing in the history of the event, according to FOX Sports lead college football analyst Joel Klatt. In fact, Klatt was so impressed by the prospects at this year’s combine that he didn’t even mention Ohio State edge rusher Arvell Reese as one of the top risers following the event. Reese ran a 4.46 40-yard dash, which was the best mark among edge rushers at the combine, as he looks to prove he can play the position at the next level. Reese had already been featured as a top-10 pick in many mock drafts ahead of the combine, which led to Klatt excluding him from his top five risers list. But one of his teammates made the cut, as did one of college football’s top defensive players last season. Here are Klatt’s five biggest risers following this year’s combine. 5. Caleb Banks, DT, Florida After playing just three games in 2025 due to a foot injury, Banks needed to have a strong showing in Indianapolis. He did, showing an impressive combination of burst and size. “Banks wasn’t really on anyone’s radar coming into the combine,” Klatt said. “Maybe he is, but he didn’t really play [in 2025]. He lost most of the season due to an injury. So, now you’ve got to go perform. And perform he did. He’s 6-foot-6 and 327 pounds with an 85-inch wingspan and he jumped 32 inches. What are they feeding these kids?” Banks, who had 4.5 sacks in 2024, also ran a 5.04 in the 40-yard dash. He had the fifth-best athletic score of all defensive tackles at the combine, per Next Gen Stats. He also climbed up to No. 14 in FOX Sports NFL Draft analyst Rob Rang’s most recent big board. 4. Omar Cooper Jr., WR, Indiana Klatt admitted that he carries some bias for Cooper, thanks to his game-winning touchdown grab in Indiana’s win over Penn State this past season. “Omar Cooper had an outstanding combine,” Klatt said. “Bear with me for everything I’m about to say here: I thought he was the best wide receiver in the Big Ten after he had the ball in his hands. I know that’s a big preface, but when you watch Omar Cooper, man, those RPO games — you should go back and watch the Illinois tape. But that catch against Penn State … that was the greatest play I’ve ever seen live and I’m always going to remember Omar Cooper because of that.” Cooper didn’t necessarily put up amazing numbers during the athletic testing at the combine, but Klatt thought his 4.42 in the 40 was strong enough. He also thought Cooper performed well enough in the on-field drills, holding the third-best production score among all wide receivers at the combine, per Next Gen Stats. “I think his tape is incredible. I think his body control is incredible. His hands are incredible. Then, he runs a 4.42. Boom! Let’s go, Omar Cooper. Now, I think he’s a first-round wide receiver. Daniel Jeremiah, he’s the guy I most respect, has him inside of that first-round ranking.” 3. Jacob Rodriguez, LB, Texas Tech Some might see Rodriguez as the quintessential linebacker who peaked in college. He’ll turn 24 before he makes his NFL debut, and he isn’t the most physically imposing linebacker, standing at 6-foot-1. Klatt hears those concerns, but thinks Rodriguez’s combine might have disproved the narrative that he’s just a college linebacker. “Wrongly, there were some people around the sport that thought, ‘You know what, he might have just been a good college linebacker,'” Klatt said. “There have been guys like that. Manti Te’o comes to mind. There’s nothing wrong with that. People say it like it’s a knock. It’s really not. I think there was a thought that Jacob Rodriguez was going to be just a really good, intuitive college player. Then he puts a season like he had together and a combine like he just put together — top times for the linebackers in the three-cone and shuttle drills. He ran a super solid 4.57 in the 40.” Rodriguez’s athletic score was the fourth-best among linebackers at the combine, according to Next Gen Stats. That pairs well with the productive 2025 season he had, in which he recorded 128 total tackles, seven forced fumbles and four interceptions. Klatt thinks we could hear the Butkus Award winner’s name get called earlier than initially expected. “I think he was trying to get himself into the second round,” Klatt said. “Now, I think there’s a conversation for him to get into the backend of the first round, certainly at the top of the second round. So, he created value for himself.” 2. Kenyon Sadiq, TE, Oregon Sadiq showed out in Indianapolis and made history at the combine when he ran a 4.39 in the 40. That time was the fastest ever for a tight end in the event. While Klatt was impressed by that, he also believes that it doesn’t define Sadiq as a route-runner, and he meant that in a good way. “This guy’s not just a straight line, track speed tight end,” Klatt said. “Remember Kyle Pitts? He was a flex tight end and he was fast, athletic and going to take the NFL by storm. Sadiq is not just that. He’s not just a track star that’s going to run a fast 40, which was a 4.39.” That speed helped Sadiq record eight receiving touchdowns this past season, which was the best among all FBS tight ends. But Klatt doesn’t think Sadiq’s receiving skills are the best part of his game. “Here’s what’s going to make him so valuable: He was better as a blocker than he was a wide receiver, and he runs a 4.39,” Klatt said. “He’s an insanely good wide receiver; he can flex and be an athlete. This guy’s a phenomenal player, but it’s all the work he puts in at the point of attack. He’s a terrific blocker. He’s humble. He works hard. “When I talked to [Oregon head coach] Dan Lanning and [former Oregon offensive coordinator] Will Stein for preparation ahead of the Northwestern game this past season, Dan Lanning was like, ‘Joel, you can’t watch just a pass-catching cut up of Sadiq. You have to watch him block.’ So, I did. I reset the filters and just watched run plays. I watched this guy work in the run game, block, work his tail off and get after it. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, he’s one of the best blocking tight ends in all of America.'” Following the combine, Klatt believes that Sadiq “could be approaching the top 10.” 1. Sonny Styles, LB, Ohio State Klatt has Styles at No. 1 after a showing that he thinks might be the best ever in the history of the combine. What Klatt really liked about Styles’ combine performance, though, was that he participated. “That was bonkers. Was that the best on-field workout in combine history? You’re not going to get an argument from this guy. I think it might have been the best on-field workout in the combine ever,” Klatt said. “Here’s what I love, at least for Sonny Styles, is that this guy was already a first-round guy. He pops off the tape. He’s a great leader. He wore No. 0 because that’s the most important number in that program, and he was voted to that position by his teammates. He had the audio in the helmet and he was the leader of that defense. The best defense in America was led by Sonny Styles. “He’s got all the intangibles and he’s got a first-round grade. It’s so easy for a guy like that to be like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to compete.’ But he knew, ‘I can go to the combine and absolutely blow it out of the water.’ Now, here’s where he finds himself.” Styles ran a 4.46 in the 40, which was the best among all linebackers at this year’s event. But it was his vertical jump that was even more impressive, leaping 43.5 inches for the best vertical by an off-ball linebacker since 2003. When you consider that Styles’ on-field production earned him a first-team All-American spot this past season, Klatt thinks that the Ohio State product might be as sure a prospect as it gets in this year’s NFL Draft. “He goes from a mid-first-round guy to clearly in the conversation to be in the top 10 and maybe in the top five,” Klatt said. “Here’s the best part about it: All those intangibles are now backed up by freak athleticism. So, if you’re an NFL organization, there are zero concerns about Sonny Styles. “I think he’s going to have a phenomenal career in the NFL. Like I said, some organization is going to look up and say, ‘We have to take Sonny Styles. Obviously, he’s going to be our captain and play in our organization for 12, 13 years and be the face of our organization and our city.'”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Several years ago, Louisville men’s basketball coach Pat Kelsey embarked on an offseason study of Michigan State. He wanted to better understand how the Spartans, led by Hall-of-Fame coach Tom Izzo, always seemed to be among the best teams in the country despite an apparent reluctance to embrace some of the sport’s new-wave, offensive ideology trickling in from Europe and the NBA. Kelsey was fascinated by the way Izzo reached eight Final Fours and won 11 Big Ten regular-season titles while embracing wildly different principles. He considers Izzo to be “one of the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball,” in part because of the sustained success. The Spartans were not, as far as Kelsey could tell, adopters of the “free throws, rim-shot 3s” approach that seems to be infiltrating the game at a remarkable pace. But night after night, month after month, season after season, Michigan State always won. How? “What they emphasize, they’re great at,” Kelsey told me last month. “One of those is offensive rebounding, you know? Coach Izzo became one of the great offensive rebounding gurus.” Kelsey was one of numerous coaches who told me that a drastic rewiring of how offensive rebounding is viewed, valued and taught across the country has helped fuel college basketball’s current offensive explosion. This season, nearly three times as many teams are averaging at least 120 points per 100 possessions than any of the last 30 seasons, according to KenPom. As the NCAA Tournament approaches, 71 teams are securing offensive rebounds on at least 34% of their field goal attempts, a number that was only at 27 teams five years ago. There are 315 players averaging at least two offensive rebounds per game this season, up from 251 five years ago. All shapes and sizes are now crashing the glass. When coupled with what we explored in Part 2 of this series — the evolution of shot selection as teams lean more heavily into analytics and 3-pointers — it becomes easier to understand why offenses are operating so efficiently this season. More offensive rebounding creates more possessions, and more possessions are now ending with made 3s than ever before. Second-chance points, perimeter shooting and offensive efficiency all go hand in hand. “Part of the secret sauce is the rebounding,” Texas head coach Sean Miller told me. “When teams used to heave up all those 3s, what they were sacrificing is they would miss and they couldn’t get a rebound. Now, you’re rebounding on 3-point shots like never before.” In Part 3 of this series, we launch ourselves into the world of offensive rebounding, as college basketball’s keenest minds explain how crashing the glass is contributing to what might be the greatest scoring season in the sport’s history. [THE BLUEPRINT: Offense-First Player Acquisition | Shot Selection] *** *** *** Miller: If you track it and start to look at Final Fours, one common theme that most, if not all, of those teams had was they’re prolific on the offensive glass. There’s always exceptions, but the teams who rebound the best, the second-shot opportunities, to me, went the furthest in the tournament. Obviously, that has a lot to do with offensive efficiency. The game changed in Europe, and then it changed in the NBA, copying Europe. Now it’s worked its way to college where teams are crashing the glass on 3-point shots, and they’re crashing the glass more with perimeter players than ever before. Kelvin Sampson, Houston: Not everybody tries to score off an offensive rebound anymore. They grab it, they throw it back out and shoot a 3. I’m convinced we’re going to have some games where if a team takes 50 shots, 40 of them are going to be 3s. And then that triggers or mandates how you’re going to recruit. Grant McCasland, Texas Tech: I think what everyone has always done is taught what they’ve been taught, which is take [the ball] right back up when you [get an offensive] rebound. And I would have been in that camp when I first started 20 years ago. Why wouldn’t you do that? Then you learn about the dagger 3, and then you see the numbers behind it, and I think people are starting to lean into that more often, obviously some more than others. T.J. Otzelberger, Iowa State: If you catch [an offensive rebound] on balance in the paint, go right back up and score. If you catch it off-balance or out of the paint, spray it for a 3. That’s something we work on every single day. Having Milan Momcilovic on our team, a deadly 3-point shooter, that’s usually the pathway to getting him the best 3s that we can get him. Miller: It’s called corner crashing, 3-point crashing. There’s another term, tagging up, which basically everybody goes [for the rebound]. I’ve been doing it for 21 years as a head coach. That term and that philosophy didn’t exist just a few short years ago. Jon Scheyer, Duke: When you think about the math game, there’s been a shift. Teams are way more aggressive crashing offensive glass, which creates more opportunities there. I think that’s kind of the possession battle. McCasland: Those are numbers games [and] how you win the game is creating more opportunities and getting more shots than your opponent. And then, obviously, that’s a high-percentage shot, at least statistically, the kick-out 3. Why wouldn’t you try to utilize something that’s got a higher percentage of success and gets you more possessions? Kelsey: You look at our offensive rebounding numbers for a lot of years, we very much value offensive rebounding. There was a guy on my staff several years ago, Dave Davis, who was a famous Division II coach. He had a bunch of 6-foot dudes, and they led the country in offensive rebounding several years at the D-II level. … He wrote a document called the “Rebounding Manifesto,” and he was our rebounding coordinator and coached it and brought that philosophy to us. You look at his teams and the way they shot a million 3s, they played incredibly fast, they crushed the offensive rebounds, and he just owned that. Our big thing is if you get an offensive rebound and you’ve got a clean finish, a clean look at the rim, you better make it or get fouled. If not, obviously look for that kick-out 3. It’s something that we celebrate. Miller: There are extra possessions now that didn’t exist years ago because teams — and Illinois would be Exhibit A — they shoot a ton of 3s, almost 51% or more of their shots are from 3. But if you look at how they rebound the ball, it’s different than it ever was. And there’s all these extra possessions that I think make them more efficient and give them more points per possession than teams five, six years ago who didn’t do that. Matt Painter, Purdue: It starts with possessions. If you turn the ball over a lot and you don’t get rebounds, you’re probably not going to be efficient because you don’t have as many possessions. So the No. 1 thing is, if you want to be efficient, don’t turn the ball over. … If you can play without turning the ball over and you’re a really good offensive rebounding team, you automatically have an advantage. If you’re just a one-trick pony and you’re really a perimeter-oriented team, you better learn to be able to drive the basketball. You’ve got to be able to get to the free-throw line in some capacity, whether that’s off the glass, whether that’s in the post or whether that’s driving the ball. Ben McCollum, Iowa: It seems like teams are focusing a little bit more on offensive rebounding, but I think that goes back to the same theory of there’s not as much toughness and grit to box out. A guy that’s been to three different schools or is getting paid a lot of money, his last interest is to make sure that he consistently boxes out, right? And so, then you get O-boards, and then, naturally, with offensive rebounds, they either kick out or go back up. Kelsey: Rebounding is a mentality as much as it is a technique. It’s grit, it’s hustle, it’s nastiness, it’s toughness, it’s all things that we want to be known as. But we put such a value on offensive rebounding. Every day we measure certain things, and one of them is offensive rebounding. We grade our guys on every single opportunity: Did you do your job, or did you not? And as you can imagine, that takes hours to grade and to evaluate. But since we invest so much time on it and the players know that’s important to me, we’re usually good at it. Come back on Thursday for Part 4 in this series, which explores how on-court processing and individual decision-making has expanded from point guards to all five positions, which is rendering college basketball smarter than it’s ever been before. In The Blueprint, our in-depth, long-form series takes you inside some of the most amazing stories in sports.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

The race for the NCAA Tournament’s No. 1 seeds is nearly settled — with one spot still very much in play. In his latest bracket projections, FOX Sports bracket forecaster Mike DeCourcy projects Michigan, Duke, Arizona and Florida on the top line as conference tournaments are underway across the country. Michigan, Duke and Arizona have separated themselves from the field over the course of the season and appear firmly positioned to hold their places as No. 1 seeds heading into Selection Sunday. Florida is the newest addition to that group. The Gators surged onto the top line after closing the regular season in dominant fashion, while UConn slipped following its surprising loss to Marquette in the Big East regular-season finale. That combination allowed Florida to jump the Huskies as the fourth and final 1-seed. The result of the SEC and Big East Tournaments could determine how secure that spot really is. If Florida wins the SEC Tournament, the Gators would almost certainly lock up the final No. 1 seed. But if they stumble and UConn goes on to win the Big East Tournament, the debate for the last place on the top line could quickly heat up again. With that, DeCourcy shares his latest NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament projections: EAST REGION SOUTH REGION MIDWEST REGION WEST REGION And it’s never too early to check in on the bubble. According to DeCourcy’s projections, Texas, SMU, VCU and New Mexico are the last four teams in the tournament, while Indiana, Auburn, Cal and Cincinnati are the first four out. As for conference representation, the SEC leads the way with 10 teams, while the Big Ten has nine teams. The ACCand the Big 12 each have eight teams in DeCourcy’s latest tournament projections. The Big East and the West Coasthave three teams represented, while the Mountain West and Atlantic 10 have two teams. Selection Sunday is four days away, and these projections will inevitably evolve. For now, DeCourcy’s latest bracket forecast offers a clear snapshot of who’s rising, who’s falling and which programs are already building the résumés they’ll need when March Madness arrives.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports