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Malvern, Pennsylvania, 2026 running back Ezekiel Bates posted on X Wednesday that he has verbally committed to the Gophers, giving them their first RB pledge in the class.
"1000% committed! Let’s Work!! #RTB #SkiUMah," he wrote.
1000% committed! Let’s Work!! #RTB #SkiUMah
— Ezekiel Bates (@bates_ezekiel) April 30, 2025
@CoachJ_Everett @Coach_Fleck @CoachWilsonUMN @WillxDrew @CoachGueriera @__CoachChris__ @MalvernPrepFB pic.twitter.com/2f2aWzwo8L
Listed at 5-foot-11, 210 pounds, Bates chose Minnesota over 16 other Division I offers from notable schools such as Virginia Tech, Boston College and Wake Forest. He is currently unranked as a recruit on 247Sports, On3 and Rivals.
Virginia Tech was his first power conference offer last May. The Gophers got involved and offered him a scholarship on Febuary 19. He took an unofficial visit to Minnesota on March 25 and then he verbally committed just over a month later. He previously scheduled an official visit to Boston College, but there's no confirmation if he plans to still take that in June.
Bates now gives new Gophers running backs coach Jayden Everett his first high school commitment and their first in the class of 2026. Injuries cut his junior season at Malvern Prep short, but he had eight touchdowns as a sophomore in 2023. With a big senior campaign, he could quickly rise up recruiting boards.
Updated 2026 recruiting class: 9 verbal commitments
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Iowa Releases Non-Conference Hoops Schedule
Iowa’s men’s basketball nonconference schedule will have nine home dates — eight regular-season games and one exhibition game — and three neutral-court games this season. The entire nonconference schedule was released on Wednesday, and it includes a December 12 home game against Iowa State. Iowa’s neutral-court games, which have already been released, are Washington State in Moline, Ill. (25-10, 41 NET), Utah State in Kansas City, Mo., on November 22 (28-7, 43 NET), and Utah in Sioux Falls, S.D. on December 21 (22-15, 47 NET). The Hawkeyes will play Minnesota-Duluth in an exhibition game on October 25 before opening the regular season on November 4 against Texas A M-Commerce (13-20, 335 NET). Other November home games are against Southern (November 7, 18-14, 255 NET), South Dakota (November 12, 12-20, 322 NET), Rider (November 19, 15-17, 220 NET) and USC Upstate (November 26, 10-20, 307 NET). Besides the game against the Cyclones (29-8, 6 NET), the other December nonconference home games are New Orleans (December 15, 10-23, 343 NET) and New Hampshire (December 30, 16-15, 228 NET). The Big Ten schedule is expected to be released later this month.
Major domino falls for Yankees with Trent Grisham decision
Outfielder Trent Grisham is accepting his $22.025M qualifying offer and will return to the New York Yankees in 2026, reports ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. Players who accept a QO are considered free-agent signings and are thus ineligible to be traded prior to the following June 15 unless they consent to the move. Trent Grisham had a breakout season It’s at least a modest surprise, as Grisham is coming off a breakout year at the plate that saw him club a career-high 34 home runs. He slashed .235/.348/.464, thanks in no small part to a career-best 14.1% walk rate and a 23.6% strikeout rate that stood as the second-lowest in his career. Between that production, the fact that Grisham only just turned 29 earlier this month, and a thin outfield market in free agency, the stars seemed to align for him to pursue a weighty multi-year contract this winter. Instead, Grisham returns to the site of his breakout and will hold down a key role in an outfield that’s also currently slated to include Jasson Dominguez and Aaron Judge. The Yankees are interested in re-signing Cody Bellinger, have been linked to Kyle Tucker and also have DH Giancarlo Stanton at least loosely in the outfield mix. (He played 132 outfield innings in 2025.) How does Trent Grisham's decision affect the Yankees? Grisham’s return muddies the waters a bit, but GM Brian Cashman said recently that even if he accepted, it wouldn’t impact the team’s pursuit of a new deal with Bellinger, via the New York Post’s Greg Joyce. The Yankees wouldn’t have made the QO to Grisham if they believed his acceptance was a roadblock to bringing back Bellinger or signing Tucker. They’re surely glad to have him back. Even though his defensive grades took an unexpected downturn in ’25, he has the best defensive track record in center of the Yankees’ in-house options. While Grisham could have looked to cash in this winter, he’ll instead take a hefty one-year payday in what amounts to a bet on himself. Though he’s a left-handed bat, his power output was hardly a product of Yankee Stadium’s short right field porch. In fact, Grisham hit just .195/.326/.376 at home this season, compared to .254/.364/.506 on the road. If he can replicate this year’s huge power production, he could hit the market next offseason on the back of consecutive plus seasons at the plate and without the encumbrance of a qualifying offer. A big enough showing this year could realistically position Grisham for a $100M+ contract — particularly if his defensive grades rebound, too. The looming potential for a work stoppage is one other wrinkle to consider, but if anything, today’s glut of QO decisions suggests that players aren’t necessarily going to shy away from short-term deals that put them on the open market next year — at least not en masse. Grisham is one of four players to accept the QO, joining Gleyber Torres, Shota Imanaga and Brandon Woodruff in that regard. In a vacuum, any one of the four accepting his QO wouldn’t be considered a major surprise — but all four accepting in the same offseason is downright atypical. This marks the first time since the inception of the qualifying offer that more than three players have accepted a QO. With Grisham back in the fold, the Yankees’ projected payroll for the upcoming season jumps to about $263M, per RosterResource. They’ll now have about $286M of luxury-tax obligations, placing them just over the third penalty line. That means that the Yankees’ top pick in the 2026 draft will drop by 10 places, unless they’re able to sneak their luxury count back under $284M. Given the wide swath of offseason dealings that’s likely still on the table for Cashman and Co., that doesn’t seem to be a very likely outcome. In all likelihood, the Yankees will wind up in the top CBT penalty tier, just as they’ve done in each of the past three seasons. How does Trent Grisham's decision affect the rest of MLB? Turning to the rest of the league, Grisham’s early removal from the free-agent market — to a team that didn’t clearly need to retain him, no less — subtracts arguably the top center field option from the market. Bellinger, of course, can still play center but barely did so in 2025. Most teams probably consider him more of a corner outfielder/first baseman who can play occasional center field. Harrison Bader and Cedric Mullins are the two most notable options still on the market, though the former has been more of a part-time player and the latter is looking to bounce back from an awful 2025 showing. The market was light on center fielders to begin with and is even more so now, so teams looking for help at the position might be more inclined to turn to the trade market to address that deficiency.
Adam Schefter: Aaron Rodgers frustrated Steelers let news slip
The Pittsburgh Steelers have an interesting next couple of weeks ahead of them as the organization navigates an injury to starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The four-time league MVP is said to have suffered a slight fracture in a bone in his left wrist, which is luckily his non-dominant wrist. This happened near the end of the first half against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, and the quarterback did not leave the locker room after going in as normal for halftime. Rodgers has not been ruled out for Pittsburgh's Week 12 matchup with the Chicago Bears, and he might not miss any time at all. Throughout the second half of the game against the Bengals, it was made clear that Rodgers had some sort of hand or wrist injury. It was reported later that night that it was "feared" Rodgers may have a slight fracture in his wrist, which is exactly what wound up being the case. Rodgers is typically a very secretive individual, and it is fair to assume that he might not have liked the way that information got out and just how quickly it got out. NFL insider Adam Schefter spoke about this on "Unsportsmanlike" on Tuesday, and he believes Pittsburgh is now tightening things up. "I think what happened, me reading between the lines is, they kind of tightened the circle," Schefter said of the Steelers. "Obviously, Aaron Rogers is a private kind of guy and he probably didn't like initially that even this got out." Pittsburgh is usually pretty secretive as well as an organization, but the injury news got out quick, and Schefter believes that will force the organization to tighten things up moving forward. It is important to keep a player like Rodgers happy, and it is also crucial that he feels comfortable within the organization. As an extremely private individual, he needs to be able to trust those around him, and his injury news getting out so quickly does not help that case. A player's injury news getting out isn't the end of the world. It was going to happen at some point whether Rodgers wanted it to or not. The NFL has rules and protocols in place that force teams to be transparent about injuries to all players. However, this is the second time in roughly two weeks that things have made it to the media involving Rodgers. The injury news was broken quick, and Rodgers was also in tabloids after another player's wife spoke to the media about Rodgers' marriage — which is something he has been adamant about keeping private. Keeping Rodgers happy is crucial to this team having success, which is why Schefter is insinuating that the organization would be tightening things up moving forward. The Steelers are entering a crucial time in the season as the team has some difficult matchups coming up, and all distractions need to be limited as the franchise tries to hang onto the lead in the AFC North. Steelers still not certain who the starting quarterback will be in Week 12 Rodgers has not been ruled out for Pittsburgh's game against Chicago, and there is a chance he could start. It will all depend on how his pain feels throughout the week, and whether or not he can grip the football/take snaps from the center. Mason Rudolph played well in the second half on Sunday in relief of Rodgers, so the coaching staff should feel comfortable in starting Rudolph if that is something that has to happen. Rudolph playing well also takes pressure off of Rodgers rushing his own return, even though he certainly wants to be out on the field in Chicago.
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NFL's decision on Ja'Marr Chase suspension was the right call
The NFL has heard the arguments from Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase regarding his spitting incident against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It did not buy what he was trying to sell. Nor should it have. NFL upholds one-game suspension for Ja'Marr Chase Chase immediately appealed the one-game suspension the NFL handed down for spitting on Steelers safety Jalen Ramsey during Sunday's game, but on Tuesday night hearing officer Jordy Nelson upheld the league's initial decision. That means Chase, the Bengals' best wide receiver and one of their best players overall, will miss Sunday's game against the New England Patriots. It was the only decision that made sense. Especially given the precedent they set early this season involving Philadelphia Eagles defensive tackle Jalen Carter. Prior to this season the NFL did not treat spitting incidents as a suspension-worthy offense, only issuing fines for them. But the league is attempting to crack down on unsportsmanlike conduct incidents, and spitting is pretty clearly high on the list. The season began with Carter being ejected from their season opener following a spitting incident involving Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott. Even though the NFL did not suspend Carter beyond that, it viewed his ejection as serving as a one-game suspension because he never actually played a snap in the game. Chase's incident happened late in the fourth quarter after he had played nearly a full game, and also received no penalty or ejection for it. Ramsey was ejected from the game for punching Chase in response. It is the type of thing the NFL — and all sports leagues — should have zero tolerance for and punish harshly. It goes beyond the game and has nothing to do with the physical nature of the game. It's not a heat of the moment punch. Or a borderline play that produces a dirty or illegal hit because of the speed of the game. It is a blatant act of disrespect that takes thought and effort to do. The fact Chase denied doing it, took no accountability for it and had a lame excuse for doing it despite clear video evidence showing that he did it, only adds to the issue for him. He deserves to sit a game for it. Now he will.
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