New York Giants draftee Marcus Mbow lives for 'demoralizing people' on the field
New York Giants draftee Marcus Mbow lives for 'demoralizing people' on the field
Back with my Dawg!!! Proud of him and his journey !! Great pick up 🦍 https://t.co/Z7ZtkzwPSZ — TYRONE TRACY JR (@TyroneTracy) April 26, 2025
On Saturday afternoon, the New York Giants selected Purdue offensive lineman Marcus Mbow in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL draft.
No pun intended, but it wasn't just a pick out of the blue.
Mbow was recently in for a Top 30 visit plus the Giants got a close-up look at him at the Senior Bowl earlier this year. But, they also know him as a blocker for one of their picks from last year's draft, running back Tyrone Tracy Jr. The two played together with the Boilermakers in 2022 and 2023.
"That's my guy," Mbow told reporters on Saturday. "We've been in touch a good amount throughout this process. I was talking to him earlier today, so I'm extremely excited to be back with him and ready to go put it back on the line for him for sure."
Asked if he could block for Tracy, Mbow had no doubts.
"I know I can block for him," he said.
Mbow can play anywhere on the line and is confident that he will be able to fulfill any role the Giants ask of him.
"No doubt," Mbow said when asked if knocking people over is something he cherished. "Putting people on the ground, winning reps, demoralizing people. It's always fun. It's definitely part of the reason I love the game."
That's the sort of identity the Giants are striving for in 2025.
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New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Casey Schmitt contributes as Giants' win streak reaches seven games
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It will be no easy feat for the Giants to replace any element of Matt Chapman's game while he recovers from a sprained right hand. He's one of the league's smartest and tidiest baserunners. He is their leading home run hitter. And, of course, he's a five-time Gold Glove winner whose defensive skills annually account for a significant portion of his Wins Above Replacement. Chapman's defense should be the most irreplaceable aspect of his game. Instead, it might be the area where the Giants have the most coverage. Schmitt, a gifted defender, turned heads with his sparkling play in the fifth inning. Then he made contributions to a pair of late rallies as the Giants scored four runs in the eighth inning and three more in the ninth while storming to a 10-7 victory over the Rockies Wednesday night. It was the Giants' 20th come-from-behind win of the season. 'notha comeback in Colorado! — SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 12, 2025 Schmitt drew an eight-pitch walk in the eighth that set up Mike Yastrzemski's tying, two-run double. Then Schmitt scored the tiebreaking run following a replay reversal when he sprinted home on Tyler Fitzgerald's safety squeeze and slid a hand across the plate barely ahead of the tag. At that point, the Giants were set up to win their seventh consecutive game by a one-run margin, which would have matched the 1927 Chicago Cubs for the longest streak in major-league history. But it's a good thing they didn't stop there. They scored three more in the ninth and Schmitt knocked in one of them with a single up the middle. Advertisement Camilo Doval needed the extra cushion in the bottom of the ninth. He served up a solo home run to Hunter Goodman and the Rockies brought the tying run to the plate before Orlando Arcia tapped to the mound to end it. The streak of one-run victories might be over, but the winning habit continues. The Giants are a season-best 12 games over .500, just a half-game behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West, and they will have a theoretical chance to dislodge their archrivals when they arrive at Chavez Ravine this weekend to begin a three-game series. The three-run victory didn't release much pressure, though. 'Well, it still came down to the last pitch,' Giants manager Bob Melvin said. 'So I won't necessarily say this was a laugher.' Every pitch seems to matter more at Coors Field, where attrition is a way of life. Schmitt's defensive play had the underrated impact of saving Beck from throwing more pitches in the fifth inning, which otherwise might have prevented him from completing the sixth and seventh. The Giants dealt with the opposite effect earlier in the game when a missed-catch error on Encarnacion compounded a labor-intensive third inning for Robbie Ray, in which the left-hander was charged with four runs (two earned) and threw 34 pitches. 'It just drains you,' said Ray, who was lifted after throwing 93 pitches in four innings. 'More than at normal altitude. Any time you have to throw that many pitches in an inning, regardless of where you are, it's tough. But when you're here, it just takes more out of you.' So when a defensive gem like Schmitt's ends an inning here and allows everyone to get back to the dugout? 'Oh, a hundred percent, it's huge,' Beck said. 'Any pitcher will tell you what it's like here. Any chance you get to have a ball fielded and make a play like that, it's so important. That's one of the better plays I've seen behind me in my career. We all knew Casey could do that. Obviously, we're a little used to it with Chappy over there on the regular. But we know Casey can, too.' What a play by Casey Schmitt 🤯 — SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 12, 2025 Schmitt became the best defensive infielder in the Giants' farm system from the moment the club took him in the second round of the 2020 draft out of San Diego State. But every avenue to playing time on the left side of the infield appeared impassable at the end of last year when the Giants agreed to a six-year, $151 million extension with Chapman and then signed shortstop Willy Adames to a seven-year, $182 million free-agent contract. Both Chapman and Adames pride themselves on playing 150-plus games and have to be cajoled into taking a day off. When spring training began, it was unclear what future Schmitt might have in the organization. Advertisement Schmitt made the opening day roster anyway, in a utility role. Then he added to his value when he turned himself into an above-average first baseman seemingly overnight. Now he's expected to receive an extended run of playing time while Chapman recovers — a process that is likely to extend into July. Even though Schmitt acknowledged that he is merely holding down the fort at third base, there's plenty more at stake for him. It's not impossible to envision Schmitt parlaying this opportunity into unseating Fitzgerald, who is in the midst of an inconsistent season at the plate and ran into another out on the basepaths on Wednesday. While Fitzgerald has played a credible second base, he cannot match Schmitt's arm strength or tagging skills, either. If Schmitt can combine better situational at-bats with his defense, then the Giants will be tempted to find a way to keep him in the lineup even after Chapman returns. 'That was huge, (fouling off) breaking ball after breaking ball and taking a fastball on the last pitch,' said Melvin, describing Schmitt's walk against right-hander Tyler Kinley in the eighth. 'It's a great opportunity for him. He's got a real opportunity to do some good things while Chappy is out. We're lucky to have him.' Does it help Schmitt to relax knowing he'll be in the lineup virtually every day for at least a couple weeks? 'I guess so, but I know my role,' he said. 'We all can't wait for (Chapman) to come back to doing his thing here. We're counting down the days.' The Giants also have been counting the days until Adames began to make an impact at the plate following two slow and challenging months. Perhaps these first two games in Denver will be the start of something. Adames hit a home run for the second consecutive game and finished a triple short of the cycle, singling to ignite the four-run rally in the eighth and doubling to help set up the three-run ninth. Advertisement His two-run home run gave the Giants a quick lead in the first inning. He also contributed a sacrifice fly. Arcia took away a potential fourth hit at third base in the fifth. Whether the margin of victory was one run or three, the Giants continued to do just enough to cover up their mistakes. Encarnacion's error in the third might have been the most glaring, but the coaching staff also blundered when Melvin failed to signal in time for a replay challenge on a blown call that ended the seventh inning. It was the second mea culpa of the series for Melvin, who acknowledged on Tuesday that he shouldn't have sent reliever Spencer Bivens out for a third inning. Maybe it didn't feel like the Giants had breathing room when Doval recorded the final out, but the three-run margin meant that the Giants would not equal the all-time one-run margin of victory record. The Cubs set that mark in a season in which they added a new upper deck above the third base stands at Wrigley Field (one year after the name had been changed from Cubs Park) and became the first National League team to draw 1 million fans. The seventh of those one-run triumphs came June 12, 1927, against the New York Giants when Charlie Root retired Rogers Hornsby to seal a 7-6 victory and delight an overflow crowd that spilled onto the grass and required the use of a boundary rope in the outfield. How long ago did the Cubs fashion that streak? The headline in the New York Times the next morning was: 'New York in Holiday Mood Greets Lindbergh Today' It astounded the nation when Charles Lindbergh climbed into the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis and crossed the Atlantic. Bet he couldn't throw a scoreless relief inning at Coors Field, though.
NBC Sports
an hour ago
- NBC Sports
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Indianapolis Star
4 hours ago
- Indianapolis Star
Paying players, private equity, roster limits: What House settlement means for Purdue
Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski has publicly welcomed the revenue sharing era of college sports as a way to even the playing field and stabilize a volatile name, image and likeness market. When judge Claudia Wilken gave final approval to terms of the House vs. NCAA settlement last week, Bobinski's letter to the Purdue community stressed the competitive upside — and the financial urgency — for the Boilermakers. The initial $20.5 million which can be shared — and which Bobinski has said Purdue will fully utilize — is not the only added expense. Bobinski said Purdue will increase the number of athletic scholarships awarded in some sports. He asked for expanded support for the John Purdue Club, the primary athletics fundraising organization. He also urged contributions to athletics through the university's "Victories & Heroes: Your Campaign for Purdue" initiative. "This moment requires all of us — alumni, fans, donor and friends — to step up and be bold," Bobinski wrote. "… Your support is not just appreciated — it is absolutely essential." Here's what we know about what the settlement term means for Purdue, and how it is moving forward. Bobinski stated early and often Purdue will participate fully in revenue sharing. That $20.5 million obligation would have equated to 15.2% of the athletic department's income for the 2023-24 fiscal year based on its annual report to the NCAA. (Figures for 2024-25 are not yet available.) Additionally, the NCAA's agreement to pay $2.6 billion in back pay damages to former athletes come out of its annual distributions to member schools. Purdue expects to receive about $1.2 million per year less from the NCAA for the next decade. It received $4.47 million in 2023-24. Dating back to the hire of Barry Odom in December, both Bobinski and President Mung Chiang have suggested a change to the university's financial relationship with athletics will help close the budget gap. Per records compiled by the USA Today Network in partnership with the Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database, Purdue was one of 11 Division I athletic programs from the more than 230 public schools in the 2023 fiscal year which either received no revenue from its university (eight) or returned any revenue it received (three). Among the ways the university could help athletics would be to take on debt obligations. Purdue listed $14.5 million in "debt service, leases or rental fees" on its 2023-24 NCAA financial report. Direct overhead and administrative expenses — things like facilities maintenance, security, insurance and utilities — accounted for almost $13 million in expenses. An announcement on the specific details will come. Whatever the solution, belt-tightening alone won't get an already lean athletic department to its $20.5 million goal. It remains to be seen how transparent Purdue will be about which sports receive what percentage of the revenue-sharing pool. However, based on reports from around the country, estimates have power conference schools allotting 70% to 75% to football and 15% to 20% to men's basketball. The sports which by far bring in the most money will receive the lion's share. Not much will change for Purdue's marquee sports. Odom said he expects to operate on the traditional 85-scholarship limit within the new roster limit of 105. Walk-ons can make up that gap. Men's basketball can use up to 15 scholarships, but don't expect coach Matt Painter to fill up that allotment often, if at all. Keeping 13 players satisfied with their roles in any given year is difficult enough. Also, teams have the option of grandfathering in current athletes who would otherwise put them over those roster limits. This most likely applies to walk-ons who will be allowed to keep their spot until their career is over. Bobinski's mention of adding scholarships might impact the non-full scholarship sports, which is everything outside of football, men's and women's basketball and volleyball. Baseball used to be limited to 11.7 scholarships, distributed at the coach's discretion, on a roster three or four times that numberr. Going forward, teams are not beholden to those scholarship limits. However, they cannot exceed newly established roster limits. Baseball, for instance, can have up to 34 players on its roster. Purrdue's roster from this past season included 44 names. In most other sports, based on rosters posted on the athletics website, Purdue operated below or near the new limits. It has known this new structure was coming for months. Within the Big Ten, the impact will likely vary from school to school. In purely speculative example, historic wrestling powers Iowa and Penn State could offer more scholarships in that sport than most schools. Athletes can still earn income beyond their revenue share cut through those avenues currently associated with NIL: endorsements, brand campaigns, online influencing, etc. In his letter, Bobinski announced the formation of Boiler BrandWorks. Described as an "in-house student-athlete marketing and brand-building unit," this new arm of the athletic department will help athletes find and develop NIL deals with local and national businesses. 'Not everybody is marketable.' Purdue coach Matt Painter welcomes 'balance' House settlement brings Per the university's athletics careers website, it is hiring a director of NIL strategy and athlete marketing who will oversee Boiler BrandWorks. Even with revenue share, programs will need to show they can maximize the earnings potential of their most marketable athletes. (Think Zach Edey, Braden Smith or football quarterbacks.) This new administrator and department are responsible for making that happen. The 501c3 non-profit collective associated with the athletic department continues to operate. It was involved with the finalization of deal such as those struck by returning and incoming men's basketball players and football's two dozen-plus spring transfer portal additions. Last winter, though, Bobinski predicted the end of the philanthropic model of NIL fundraising. Schools will no longer need to hook players up with deals attached to charitable organizations or activities. However, a 501c6 entity known as Boiler Up Inc. also operates in conjunction with Boilermaker Alliance. The main difference between the two types of non-profits is Boiler Up Inc. can raise money through memberships or fundraising without any charitable endeavors. This setup or something similar is fairly common at power conference athletic programs. In recent months, more collectives have begun sunsetting their 501c3 to focus on their other platform — some of which are for-profit LLCs. IU's Hoosiers For Good announced last December it would cease operations early this year. Purdue could keep some version of the current collective to facilitate fundraising beyond the John Purdue Club and the new, in-house marketing arm. College athletic programs across the country have begun to partner with private equity firms, or are exploring the idea. These firms would not take a stake in the athletic program. Rather, they would offer a private source of credit paid back over time. Finance bump: Indiana, Purdue received roughly $62 million of Big Ten's $928 million in revenue. What it means Such a relationship could make sense for Purdue if it directly led to a long-term revenue enhancement. For example, taking private credit to fund an important facility or resource enhancement without asking for the money from the university. However, Purdue prides itself on fiscal responsibility. It typically does not lead the pack in creative ways to spend money it does not have. This could be a realistic opportunity in time, depending on how the market evolves.
