There was zero chance the Arizona Cardinals were going to go through the 2025 NFL Draft without selecting at least one football player from THE Ohio State University.
Some teams have an affinity toward a certain program and the Cardinals doubled-down on their love for Ohio State - literally - when they ended up selecting two Buckeyes.
The first of two was linebacker Cody Simon.
Simon was a guy who had to fight his way onto the field. He was a consensus top-100 recruit in the 2020 high school cycle and a four-star product, but he found himself fighting for a spot on a crowded Buckeyes team.
In his five seasons in Columbus, Simon battled standout linebackers like Pete Werner and Tommy Eichenberg for playing time, along with countless others who pushed to find the field. Simply put, nothing was given to Simon.
But instead of entering the NCAA Transfer Portal and looking for somewhere else to play right away, he stuck it out, got better, and was rewarded for it.
That's the kind of attitude and determination that makes players like Simon standout and become fan favorites. And it's also what makes Simon such a "perfect" fit for the Cardinals.
Whatever you value in a linebacker, Simon can do it. The vet is an elite run defender, rushes the quarterback (seven sacks in 2024), and flies to the football. There's work to be done in pass coverage, but he is far from a weakness in that department.
And for what it's worth, he spent some time in the slot on defense (110 snaps per PFF), so he's truly a player to be moved around for matchups purposes.
Simon earned the right to wear #0 for Ohio State, which is an honor reserved for the greatest of leaders. He spent four seasons working his way tirelessly through the lineup from special teams to a rotational role and finally to the man running the defense.
Simon commands the respect of the defense and can inherit that same role quickly with Arizona.
Taking those first two points and applying them here paints a perfect image of the player and individual that Simon. In an era where the Transfer Portal allows you to move around the country freely with next to no punishments, Simon could've left Columbus anytime and played for a myriad of teams who would've loved him.
Instead, he stuck it out and did whatever was asked of him. It turned Simon into a player who will take any role you give him.
We don't find many football players like Simon these days -- someone who is willing to work from nothing to greatness no matter how hard it all may be.
Ohio State is one of the most difficult programs to crack a lineup considering the amount of talent they funnel in on an annual basis, and Simon had to fight through it every season. And yet, he never gave up and was rewarded for his efforts.
We got to see him mature as a player on and off the field and it made him someone that Cardinals fans could easily fall in love with. Don't be surprised to see Simon become a fan favorite sooner rather than later.
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The North Carolina State Wolfpack have continued to look for the best prospects in a majority of the recruiting classes. They have started to receive the attention that they have by nature. It is safe to say that the North Carolina State Wolfpack, continuing to prioritize the class of 2026 more than others simply because this class will not sign until December and some won't sign until a little bit after December which still gives him plenty of time to land more commitments in the class as we know this is something that they need to do. Current Thoughts on North Carolina State's 2026 Recruiting Class It is no secret that they don't have near the best class that mini fans were hopeful that they could land, as they currently have what could be considered an underwhelming class. It is easy to point fingers at certain people, but the truth is the North Carolina State Wolfpack simply has to do a better job when it comes to recruiting the 2026 class before it is way too late. They put themselves in a phenomenal position many times, but they couldn't close the deal, which is something that we know North Carolina State can lack at times, which is quite frustrating if you are a fan. The Wolfpack have only landed 18 commits as mentioned, but it is safe to say that the guys that they have brought are quite good. This includes many different positions that they have recruited very well at like the safety position, where, according to the 247Sports rankings, the four top commits in the class for the Wolfpack are all at the safety position. This could be considered a little bit excessive, as many of the programs across the nation will typically land 2 to 3 safeties per class in the Wolfpack or Landing four, which is four of their 18 commit, which drops the total of other players to 14. This doesn't include the positions that you need depth, such as the wide receiver position where you wanna land 2 to 3 guys the cornerback position what you wanna learn 2 to 3 guys the linebacker position which you probably wanna land two guys and the defense line which you have to learn a plethora of guys along with the offensive line which is very similar. When you start crushing these numbers, you can start to tell that they are falling a little bit behind when it comes to the recruiting cycle, but they are still awaiting many different commitments that are expected to be made during the fall or on early signing day as they are targeting many defensive players, including some defensive lineman, which would be extremely important if they were to commit to the North Carolina state Wolfpack for this program. Ensure you follow on X (Twitter) @WolfpackOnSI and @SennettTucker and never miss another breaking news story again. Please let us know your thoughts when you like our Facebook page WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer thinks the Los Angeles Chargers or the NFL should take it upon themselves to punish Jim Harbaugh. On Aug. 15, the NCAA punished Michigan for violations connected to the Connor Stalions sign-stealing scandal. Harbaugh received a 10-year show-cause order. During Wednesday's episode of "The Triple Option" podcast, Meyer compared Harbaugh's situation to that of Jim Tressel in 2011. Meyer argued that the league or the Chargers should suspend Harbaugh, like the Indianapolis Colts did to Tressel. "There's an elephant in the room here, boys, though, that no one's talking about," Meyer said. "When Jim Tressel was fired at Ohio State and he was given a suspension, Roger Goodell, commissioner of the National Football League, came out and said that, 'We're going to honor that suspension.' And you remember, he went to the Indianapolis Colts to work in the replay room or something. "The Colts, because of the respect they had for the NCAA and the suspension, you realize suspended Jim Tressel? So he was unable to perform his duties for the first six games of the year for the Indianapolis Colts. I think we all know the answer. Any chance that Roger Goodell and the NFL, of course not. And I don't know why." There is a belief that Harbaugh bolted to the Chargers after winning the national title in 2023 because he knew the NCAA was getting ready to punish the Wolverines. A six-game suspension is not comparable to a 10-year show-cause order, and punishing Harbaugh so lightly would be more symbolic than substantive. Frankly, it's bad business for the league to suspend Harbaugh and to connect the outspoken head coach to a trivial scandal that happened in college. Punishing Harbaugh would draw unwanted attention to the Chargers and the league, who knew what happened before he jumped to the NFL before the 2024 season.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones wants to deal with David Mulugheta insofar as to get Micah Parsons' agent to fill out the paperwork on the contract extension that was already negotiated. During an appearance with Michael Irvin on Thursday, Jones said Mulugheta told him to shove the paperwork up their heinie. "When we wanted to send the details to the agent, The agents told us to stick it up our a--," Jones said. "Just so we're clear. (Parsons) and I talked, and then we were going to send it over to the agent, and we had our agreements on term, amount, guarantees, everything. "We were going to send it over to the agent, and the agent said, 'Don't bother, because we've got all that to negotiate.' Well, I'd already negotiated. I'd already moved off my mark on several areas." Following an incoherent analogy to a child going between a mom and dad to negotiate, Jones accused Mulugheta of trying to "stick his nose" in negotiations to try to get the Cowboys to cave for a better deal for his client. Jones has no plans to back down from the agreement he had already worked out with Parsons. "In my mind, for the Dallas Cowboys, we've got it done," Jones said. "And if the agent wants to finish up the details, which he should, and do all the paperwork, he can do that, and we're ready to go. But as far as the amount of money, the years, the guarantees, all of that we negotiated." Dallas is set to conclude its preseason against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday night with no end in sight to the biggest distraction on the team this summer. Jones should have avoided the situation with Parsons by dealing with Mulugheta directly, but that might have caused the theatre to be much less dramatic before the regular season.
The Blackhawks have officially announced a seven-year extension for pending RFA forward Frank Nazar. The deal will pay him an AAV and cap hit of $6.59M for a total value of $46.13M. It’s a gargantuan commitment to the 21-year-old Nazar considering his lack of NHL experience. The 2022 No. 13 overall pick lands the richest total-value contract in league history for someone with 56 or fewer career appearances, which is Nazar’s tally entering the 2025-26 campaign. Nazar, who still has one year left on his entry-level contract before his extension will kick in for 2026-27, has yet to spend an entire season on the NHL roster. Last year was his first full run in the pros after two years at the University of Michigan, but he made his NHL debut in the final three games of 2023-24 after signing his ELC. He did not make the Blackhawks’ opening night roster but, after recording 11 goals and 24 points in 21 games for AHL Rockford, was recalled in mid-December shortly after Chicago’s coaching change and never looked back. He faltered out of the gate, recording only one assist and a -5 rating through his first 10 appearances while averaging 14:44 of ice time per game. But under interim head coach Anders Sörenson, who had overseen his early-season success in Rockford, he was extended some patience. That paid off in the long run as Nazar built confidence, including a four-game point streak in January and a run of nine points in eight games in April to end the season. All told, Nazar finished the season with a 12-14–26 scoring line 53 games — ninth on the team — and averaged nearly 16 minutes per game. While size concerns (5-foot-10, 190 pounds) created some detractors about his ability to hold down his natural center position in the NHL, he saw a fair amount of time as Chicago’s second-line middleman behind Connor Bedard. His most common deployment (107 minutes) amid an astronomical 91 different line combinations used by the Hawks last year was at 2C between Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teräväinen, although he did also see some time up on Bedard’s wing. Nazar was seen as a top-10 threat in the 2022 class, but after slipping to Chicago and missing most of his freshman year at Michigan due to injury, there were warranted doubts about his development path. He silenced them quickly with a point-per-game sophomore showing for the Wolverines and has made about as good an adjustment to pro hockey as can be expected, given the lack of quality veteran support on the Hawks’ NHL roster. A long-term bet at what’s even now a conservative second-line price point in 2025 could pay incredible dividends for the Blackhawks if he remains a long-term top-six piece, even if it’s on the wing, as the cap increases and they reward the other pieces of their young core with long-term deals. There’s also an incredible risk factor for someone still relatively early on their development track with less than a full season’s worth of NHL experience. The only recent comparable for someone with his experience is Wild superstar Kirill Kaprizov, who signed a five-year, $45M contract after his rookie season (55 GP). Kaprizov, however, had far more professional experience after coming up through Russia’s KHL and was two years older than Nazar is now, making him a more projectable player. Kaprizov also took home the Calder Trophy that year and had twice the offensive output Nazar did. As such, the Blackhawks are betting hard on Nazar being a long-term solution, either as a wingman for Bedard or as a second-line center behind him. There’s certainly reason for optimism – he’s developed well and is coming off a spectacular World Championship showing with the United States that earned him a spot at their Olympic orientation camp. He’ll be under contract through the 2032-33 season and can walk to unrestricted free agency upon expiry. Getting Nazar’s extension out of the way now isn’t just about him, though. Chicago has two other big-ticket RFAs next summer — Bedard and new No. 1 goalie Spencer Knight — who will take serious resources to extend. They still have barely over $40M in allocated cap hits for 2026-27, though, leaving them with virtually unlimited spending power under a projected $104M cap. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet first reported the Blackhawks were signing Nazar to a seven-year extension. Bleacher Report’s Frank Seravalli reported a more accurate cap hit in the $6.6M range.