Bishop Media Sports Network
Wanna Bet On It
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Atlanta Falcons wide receiver Calvin Ridley has made the headlines for a negative reason.
Ridley stepped away from football on Halloween, saying he needed to get his personal life in order.
He gambled on NFL games in 2021 and he has been suspended for at least the 2022 season.
The NFL released a statement Monday announcing his suspension, saying Ridley gambled on games over a five-day stretch in November 2021 when he was on the non-football injury list to address his mental health.
In a series of tweets, Monday after the suspension was announced, Ridley said he bet $1,500 total and that “I don’t have a gambling problem.” He also tweeted that he couldn’t even watch football at the time he made the bets. He added that he’s just going to “be more healthy when I come back” and that “I know I was wrong But I’m getting 1 year lol.”
The NFL determined that Ridley placed multilegged parlay bets involving three, five and eight games that included the Falcons to win via his mobile device out of state, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
“There is nothing more fundamental to the NFL’s success — and to the reputation of everyone associated with our league — than upholding the integrity of the game,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wrote in a letter to Ridley notifying him of his suspension. “This is the responsibility of every player, coach, owner, game official, and anyone else employed in the league. Your actions put the integrity of the game at risk, threatened to damage public confidence in professional football, and potentially undermined the reputations of your fellow players throughout the NFL.”
“For decades, gambling on NFL games has been considered among the most significant violations of league policy warranting the most substantial sanction. In your case, I acknowledge and commend you for your promptly reporting for an interview, and for admitting your actions.”
The NFL said its investigation uncovered no evidence that Ridley used inside information or “that any game was compromised in any way.” There also was no evidence that any of the Falcons’ coaches, staff or players were aware of his betting activity.
The earliest Ridley can apply for reinstatement is Feb. 15, 2023, the NFL said. He also can appeal the suspension by filing notice within three days, per the collective bargaining agreement. It is not known if he has appealed the punishment.
Multiple NFL teams reached out to the Falcons in recent weeks to inquire about trading for Ridley, and each time, Atlanta declined to enter into talks out of good faith, knowing the issues in store for their standout wide receiver.
Ridley’s contract will toll until 2023 and come off the books for 2022, opening up $11.1 million in salary-cap room for the Falcons.
Ridley was a disappointment last season because he only played a few games. It was his first season without Julio Jones because he was traded to Tennessee. Having a player not play for reasons that are not related to an injury is hard for a team to deal with. The Falcons only have one receiver from the 53-man roster last season under contract; rookie Frank Darby.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch March 5
The 5th Major
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We are a week away from returning to Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida for The Players Championship.
The total purse of $20 million is a record for the tournament. The winner will take home over $2 million. Justin Thomas won the 2021 Championship with a score of -14 under par.
The Favorites:
John Rahm 10/1: Rahm is the current favorite to win the TPC. Rahm is playing exceptionally good golf so far this year with three top ten finishes.
He is coming into this tournament with his game peaking. At last year’s tournament, Rahm finished in a tie for ninth. He finished with a Sunday score of 73.
You must think if he can improve his play in the final round, he stands a good shot at winning.
Rahm is currently the top ranked player in the world. Rahm is the type of player that can dominate the competition if he gets hot.
Justin Thomas 14/1: Thomas comes in second to Rahm as betting odds go for this year’s tournament.
Since the event last year, Thomas has not won another tournament. Thomas currently ranked seventh in the World Golf Rankings and is still playing as one of the best players on tour.
He already has three Top-10 finishes this season, his latest coming at The Genesis Invitational. In the history of the Players Championship no player has ever won in back-to-back years. History is working against Thomas in this area.
Other Odds:
Collin Morikawa 16/1: The Open Champion plays well on tough golf venues.
Morikawa just seems to hover near the top of leaderboards in about every big event on the PGA Tour. If he is within striking distance on Sunday, then he will be a major factor in the outcome.
Patrick Cantlay 20/1: Cantlay is one cool customer on the golf course. Pressure does not seem to bother him at all. He has the mental makeup to win the TPC.
Do not be surprised if Cantlay is holding the TPC trophy at the conclusion of this year’s event. He is that good. Also do not be surprised if Cantlay does not win The Masters in April.
Will Zalatoris 50/1: Who does not want to see Will win the TPC?
Zalatoris will be a huge crowd favorite if he is in contention. This kid brings a ton of excitement to the game of golf. Players like Will Zalatoris provide a bright future for the PGA Tour.
The Course: THE PLAYERS STADIUM COURSE AT TPC SAWGRASS
The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass was built in 1980 to be the permanent home of THE PLAYERS Championship.
As the first true Stadium Course, it was designed to improve the overall on-site fan experience.
The signature island green on the par-3, 17th hole is one of the most recognized in golf and the course is consistently named among the best in the world.
My Pick: Patrick Cantlay. Cantlay is on track to becoming the number one player in the world in 2022.
Dark Horse: Will Zalatoris. The kid is a great ball striker, and would it not be impressive if the kid wins his first PGA tournament at TPC Sawgrass?
I hope golf gets a big shot in the arm after the negativity surrounding some comments made by Phil Mickelson recently.
Phil has had a brutal week with sponsorship losses after his controversial comments about Saudi Arabia.
Can we give Lefty a break? Society seems so unforgiving these days.
New Winds For Hurricanes
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Mario Cristobal and the Miami football staff assembled a stellar 2022 class in less than two months.
Defensive lineman Nykalik Kelly and Cyrus Moss rank in the top 100. Tight end Jaleel Skinner and running back Trevonte’ Citizen are in the next 10.
Rivals.Com analyzed and ranked the 2022 classes in the ACC. Miami is much lower in the rankings by Rivals than 247 Sports’ composite rankings. The Hurricanes are ranked fourth in the ACC and 34th overall by Rivals. In the 247 Sports Composite rankings, Miami is third in the ACC and 15th overall.
Cristobal did not panic with a lower-ranked class when he was hired. Miami has the second-highest ranked average per player in the ACC by 247 Sports and Rivals. Cristobal put an emphasis on signing blue-chip players instead of filling out an entire class. Miami has roster spots available for transfers and 2023.
Citizen, Kelly, Moss and Skinner are the foundation of the 2022 Miami class. Kelly and Moss should be part of the Miami rotation on the DL in 2022.
Miami signed 14 players in that Class and added five transfers. Cristobal has stated that Miami might not be finished adding to the roster.
Moten was an import signing late for Miami on National Signing Day. Miami improved their depth at defensive tackle with the Cardinal Gibbons star.
Eight of the 14 Miami signees and all five transfers committed to the Hurricanes after Cristobal was hired. Cristobal secured several 2022 signees who are projected as impact players.
Miami will make the line of scrimmage a priority under their new Head Coach. Eight of the 19 players new to Miami football are on the line of scrimmage.
Miami lost out on five-star DL Shemar Stewart, who signed with Texas A&M however, the Hurricanes will win more of those caliber recruits with Cristobal leading the program.
The Miami football program has a blue-chip (four and five-star players) of 71 percent in the Class of 2022 with 10 of their 14 signees being four-stars. Having a roster of at least 50 percent blue-chip players is the standard in the State of Florida.
Cristobal and the Miami football program signed qualitatively to achieve the nation’s 15 ranked class.
Miami didn’t need to stack their class with numbers to achieve a recruiting class full of fool’s gold. The Hurricanes 2022 signees have the seventh-highest average rating nationally and is top in the ACC.
Miami was able to finish with the 15th best average span from 2017-2021 despite the Hurricanes 2018 class finishing 28th. The 2018, 28th ranked class was the worst of the top 15 programs from 2017 through 2021.
Cristobal has routinely been praised as an elite recruiter. In the three full classes that Cristobal signed at Oregon, the Ducks averaged 8.3 nationally. At Oregon, Cristobal had to sign a near-complete recruiting class from out of state. At Miami, Cristobal will be able to do a significant amount of recruiting in South Florida.
Stock is up on Miami and Mario Cristobal!
Southern Draft
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The 2022 NFL Draft starts April 28th in Nevada. We’re going to take a look around the AFC South to see who the first picks will be for each team.
#1 Jacksonville: The Jaguars (3 – 14) have the top pick in the draft for the second year in a row. Last year they picked Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence. He struggled in his first season but that’s because they were a bad team with bad coaching.
The Urban Meyer experiment ended during the season. Doug Pederson has been hired to replace him. He won a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, which was the first for the franchise.
“This culture is all about winning. The players here want to win. I want to win. And that’s what I can bring to the Jacksonville Jaguars, to this community, and to our fan base,” Pederson said at his formal introductory press conference, with the former Eagles coach flanked by owner Shad Khan and general manager Trent Baalke.
Jacksonville’s first priority should be a tackle to protect Lawrence. Alabama tackle Evan Neal will be the pick. He’s massive, standing 6’7 and 360 pounds. He’s versatile and he should help improve Jacksonville’s fifth worst third down conversion rate (35.8 percent).
#3 Houston: The Texans (4 – 13) have a ton of needs which also includes a quarterback. The problem is this is not a great quarterback class and rookie signal-caller Davis Mills got better later in the season. I think they’ll draft the best available player which will be someone on defense.
Oregon defensive end Kayvon Thibodeaux will be a good pick. He’s the best pass rusher in the draft. He’s 6’5, 258 pounds and a great athlete. Last season he had 35 solo tackles, 7 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. He should be an impact player and an immediate starter.
# 26 Tennessee: The Titans (12 – 5) had a surprisingly good year considering star running back Derrick Henry missed several games with an injury. They were the top seed in the AFC and lost to Cincinnati in the divisional round.
Iowa center Tyler Linderbaum would be a good pick. He’s athletic with a mauling mentality, which is perfect for the run game. That would be an ideal fit for the Titans.
Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams might also be a possibility. He tore his ACL in the National Championship Game against Georgia, which unfortunately altered his draft status.
He obviously will need time to recover from his injury, but this may be a bargain for an explosive receiver. Williams had an amazing 2021 season with 79 receptions, 1,572 yards and 15 touchdowns.
#47 Indianapolis: The Colts (9 – 8) traded their first-round pick to Philadelphia for quarterback Carson Wentz. The Eagles have the 16th pick and Wentz struggled last season so it may not have been worth it.
Washington corner back Kyler Gordon would be a good selection because he addresses a need. He had 36 solo tackles, 2 interceptions, 7 pass deflections and 1 forced fumble. He’s 6’0 and 200 lbs. so he’s a big corner back.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch February 26
History Lesson
By: Charles Skipper
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Daytona International Raceway was the site of the 64th running of the Daytona 500 recently.
The mecca of Stock Car Racing held its first 500-mile race on the track built by NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. on February 22, 1959.
The winner’s trophy for the inaugural race went to a fellow with the last name of Petty but not the Petty you might think it was.
Lee Petty, not “The King” Richard Petty was victorious that Sunday afternoon. The driver of the #43 Petty Blue car did manage to take the checkered flag at the iconic racetrack seven times and is the all-time leader in wins in the event.
The Daytona racetrack was the first Superspeedway to be built and the new venue replaced the Daytona Beach Road Course, which included a portion of the race being ran on the beach itself.
Vintage film footage of the cars flying down the beach at breakneck speeds illustrate the love for speed in the early years of automobiles.
The picturesque beach course was not designed just for looks as there were 15 World Land Speed records set there, with speeds reaching a whopping 211 mph during the race.
Races were first held in 1936 on the course and continued until it closed in 1958 after the opening of the new track.
Bill France, a garage owner/operator in Daytona Beach, whom had been a race car driver himself, began managing the road course in 1938. France believed people wanted to watch stock car races and began talks in a motel bar on Daytona Beach that led to the formation of the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing. This group is still the governing and operating company for stock car racing today.
The next move France made to lead NASCAR into the future was to plan the building of a new track in Daytona.
The legendary high banked turns in Daytona were utilized to foster more speed and to allow the fans to see the cars better.
The Father of NASCAR patterned the banking on the Florida track after the Ford Motor Company Proving Grounds, which had banking to allow for faster speeds in their test cars. The new banked tri-oval became the fastest track in the series until Talladega opened ten years later.
The Daytona 500 has grown from these roots to the pinnacle race of the NASCAR season.
Every other sport you can think of holds their signature event at the end of their season and the winner of that culminating event is the champion for that season. NASCAR comes right out of the gate with their top event first on the schedule.
The design of the Super Speedway track leads to a style of racing where the cars form long lines of cars at speeds near or at 200 mph in a row usually inches from the bumper of the car in front of them.
This combination has led to many exciting finishes like the Cale Yarborough-Donnie Allison fight after a crash on the last lap of the 1979 race.
These wrecks sometimes though have ended in tragedy such as the one that took the life of NASCAR legend Dale Earnhardt in 2001.
Through the highs and lows of the track’s fabled history, the Daytona 500 has become the most important and prestigious race on the NASCAR circuit, bringing in the highest television ratings and by far has the largest purse awarded.
The Super Bowl of Stock Car Racing signals the beginning of a new NASCAR season each year and entertains millions of fans along the way.
The brainchild of Bill France Sr. continues to thrive today and live up to the title it was given as The Great American Race.
Florida State Semi-Nos Recruiting
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The Seminoles having a knockout season in 2022 looks to be an unrealistic expectation.
But progress is progress. Finishing above .500 for the first time since 2017 could help them significantly improve their recruiting efforts.
None of FSU’s recruiting classes under head coach Mike Norvell and since 2019 have finished in the top 15 nationally, per 247Sports and Rivals. Under former Seminole’s head coaches Bobby Bowden and Jimbo Fisher, top 10 classes were the standard.
In an effort to improve recruiting, FSU added three off-field staff members this offseason: GM Darrick Yray, Director of Football Relations Corey Fuller, and Assistant Director of High School Relations Keiwan Ratliff.
These hires, along with top in-state recruiting could be the key to the Seminoles elevating their recruiting prowess.
In each of Norvell’s three recruiting cycles, FSU has finished below Miami and Florida in the overall team rankings.
247Sports pegged the Hurricanes at No. 18, 12 and 15 in the 2020-2022 classes, respectively. The Gators came in at No. 7, 13 and 17. The Seminoles landed at 25, 31 and 18.
To have a solid recruiting operation again, FSU will need to compete better against its in-state rivals. Especially when Miami and Florida struggle.
Head coaches Mario Cristobal and Billy Napier are hired. That may have enhanced the in-state recruiting competition.
Until that happened, Norvell was the best head coach recruiter in the state. So, it’s gotten competitive now for top in-state targets, because Mario Cristobal lives and breathes recruiting. He does a tremendous job – as good as any head coach at communicating with top targets.
Billy Napier is as organized of a head coach as you are going to find with their recruiting infrastructure as well. It just got a lot more competitive.
We’ve seen college football be great when all three of those teams have been great. So, you can live in a world where Florida, Miami and Florida State are all terrific football programs. We are just so far removed from that right now.
As FSU tries to build off a topsy-turvy 5-7 record heading into their third season under coach Mike Norvell, the Seminoles’ biggest recent splashes came once again through the transfer portal.
A year after landing transfers such as Jermaine Johnson and Keir Thomas, who would prove to be standout starters on defense, FSU landed seven transfers it hopes will add explosiveness to its offense including four wide receivers.
Oregon transfer Mycah Pittman (5-11, 195), Illinois transfer Deuce Spann (6-4, 194), as well as 6-6, 224-pound Johnny Wilson add some needed depth at the position.
FSU might have found its next big contributor from Miami Central High through the portal as well. Former Rockets linebacker Tatum Bethune transferred from UCF in early January after three years with the Knights.
Bethune totaled 185 tackles including 13 for loss with 4.5 sacks, three interceptions and two forced fumbles while playing in 35 games for the Knights, which included 16 starts.
Mike Norvell had the perfect storm this past recruiting cycle with Miami and Florida making coaching changes, but Norvell showed his inability to pull top tier talent to Tallahassee.
Stock Down on FSU and Mike Norvell.
Prove It To Me
By: Kipp Branch
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
It is that time of the year that is dreaded and that is the official ending of football season.
Football, the greatest game on the planet, is in hibernation until August. However, it is never too early to discuss SEC football in the South. Here is a look at my top five teams in the SEC with the most to prove in 2022:
1: Texas A&M: All the talent money can buy. They need a good season this year, and need to prove they can win.
Can Jimbo get it done in College Station? Yes, they beat Alabama last season, but they found a way to lose 4 football games.
The Aggies must find a QB that can lead this team to the SEC title game. The new NIL landscape favors the Aggies, who have very deep pockets. If this team can’t win 10-11 games this fall, then the heat starts mounting on Jimbo Fisher.
2: LSU: When you think LSU, you think contenders.
LSU will have a new coach, and will have to prove they are making progress.
I think Brian Kelly is a pretty good hire. Talent is never an issue in Baton Rouge, but right now the QB position is a big question mark. If the Tigers can figure that out quickly, they could be factor in the West.
3: Tennessee: The Vols have not been relevant since 2007, when they last won the SEC East.
Tennessee has not won a national title since 1998.
Skill position talent is much improved, but Tennessee does not have the offensive or defensive line talent to be a serious SEC contender yet.
Tennessee has lost 15 straight to Alabama and is 1-16 against Florida in the last 17 years.
Since Philip Fulmer was forced out in 2008 the Vols have whiffed on 4 straight head football coaches. Josh Heupel hopes to reverse that trend.
Tennessee went 7-6 in 2021. In the last five years Tennessee is a combined 0-15 against Alabama, Florida and Georgia, which are the 3 biggest games on the Vol schedule. Tennessee needs to beat one of those three teams in 2022.
4: Florida: Florida also has a new head coach.
They must prove they can compete in the SEC East. The East is way better when Florida can challenge UGA for that top spot.
Billy Napier was a great hire for UF. There is talent on the roster, but it is undisciplined talent. If Napier can change that culture in Gainesville and recruit then Florida will be back soon.
If Florida can win 8-9 games in 2022 then things should take off quickly in Gainesville.
Since Steve Spurrier retired Florida has missed on 4 of its last 5 football coaches. Only Urban Meyer has had consistent success since 2001.
Florida has not won an SEC or National Title since 2008. Too much talent in the State of Florida for the flagship university not to be a national player and to top it off you just lost to UCF in a bowl game.
5 Ole Miss: Ole Miss surprised a lot of people last season by being a top 10 team. Was it a fluke? They must prove they can maintain solid seasons with Lane for years to come.
I don’t think 2021 was a fluke for Ole Miss. If Matt Corral can be replaced then I think this team will finish right behind Alabama, and Alabama does come to Oxford in 2022.
The defense is improving, and we know a Lane Kiffin offense will produce. I think this will be the surprise team in the SEC next year. I believe Ole Miss is here to stay and 2022 will prove that.
I did not mention Auburn because Bryan Harsin is dead man walking on The Plains of Auburn. Of course, it has all been self-induced by Auburn, who set this man up for failure.
Jason Bishop Show w Kipp Branch February 19
