Jordan Burroughs weighs wrestling future away from World Championships trials field
'I don't know yet,' Burroughs said in March when asked about his competitive status. 'I think that's a question I haven't even answered myself. Some days, I'm like, I've had a good career. I'm ready. And then there's other days where I'm like, I still got more left in the tank. So I haven't made an official decision on what I want to do yet. Occasionally, I get back on the mat and try to continue to sharpen my chops, stay in shape, but a decision still isn't official.'
Burroughs made every Olympic or world team he tried out for from 2011 through 2019, including winning Olympic 74kg gold in 2012.
He then came back from a defeat at the Tokyo Olympic Trials to win an American record-tying sixth world championships title in 2022 (at 79kg, a non-Olympic weight).
He came back from trials defeats in 2023 (worlds) and 2024 (Olympics) to make the team for last October's worlds, where he lost in the 79kg quarterfinals.
The 2025 World Team Trials, the second leg of a three-event process to determine the team for September's worlds, is taking place over the next two days in Louisville, Kentucky. The team will be known after Final X in June.
Burroughs is not competing, but he has been sharing his expertise, training with Chance Marsteller. Marsteller beat Burroughs for a spot on the 2023 World team and is entered in this week's World Team Trials.
Nick Zaccardi,
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Miami Herald
2 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
After offseason of buildup, projections for Florida Gators' daunting 2025 slate
If it were not for the final three weeks of the regular season last November, Florida football would be dragging into the 2025 season without much optimism. Due to the SEC's scheduling practices, UF faces the same schedule, save for a pair of non-conference switchups. That means the Gators, who faced six ranked opponents last season, are slated to meet seven teams that debuted in the preseason Associated Press Top 25. Four of UF's opponents (Texas, Georgia, LSU and Miami) project as top 10 teams. That is to say, concern would litter Gainesville had Florida not concluded 2024 with four straight wins, including two home victories over No. 21 LSU and No. 9 Ole Miss. But with the ascension of star quarterback DJ Lagway and a defense that ranked in the top 10 nationally over the final month of last season, Florida should expect to be in contention for a College Football Playoff berth for the first time since 2020. Here is a breakdown of UF football's schedule and how that could happen. Aug. 30 vs. LIU (7 p.m., SEC Network+): The Sharks return starting quarterback Ethan Greenwood, who led the team in rushing and passing with roughly 900 yards apiece. He is an FCS Preseason Third-Team All-American, but the key word there is 'FCS.' While every Florida fan remembers the trauma of losing to then-FCS Georgia Southern in 2013, this should be a walkover. Florida 42-7 Sept. 6 vs. USF (4:15 p.m., SEC Network): South Florida has a good coach in Alex Golesh, who guided the Bulls to consecutive bowl appearances in his first two years in Tampa. He brings back quarterback Byrum Brown, who finished 2023 with 37 total touchdowns but missed eight games last year with a leg injury. This could serve as an in-state trap for UF as it looks ahead to SEC play next week, but the Gators defense should be able to tame an innovative USF attack. Florida 34-14 Sept. 13 at LSU (7:30 p.m., ABC): Nothing like opening SEC play in Death Valley, where Florida has not won since 2016. The Tigers arguably return the most high-level contributors of any SEC team, including quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. While Florida's offense should hum, home-field advantage and the experience of Nussmeier and All-American linebacker Whit Weeks could be the difference for the Tigers. LSU 38-28. Sept. 20 at Miami (TBA): The Gators have 14 players from greater South Florida, so this will be a homecoming of sorts. But it's also an opportunity for revenge after the Hurricanes leveled UF 41-17 to open the season last year at The Swamp. Florida also knows new Miami quarterback Carson Beck well from his Georgia days, and should notch its first victory over the familiar foe. Florida 27-23 Oct. 4 vs. Texas (TBA): Last year, when the Gators traveled to Austin to face Texas for the first time since pre-World War II (1940), they got demolished 49-17 by a well-oiled Longhorn machine. This year, the matchup features arguably the two highest-profile collegiate quarterbacks in Lagway and Arch Manning, and should be an offensive affair. Florida does not have the firepower or experience, though, to outlast the Longhorns. Texas 39-24. Oct. 11 at Texas A&M (TBA): Kyle Field is as tough an environment as any, especially if this game falls at night. The Aggies also return quarterback Marcel Reed, who single-handedly threatened Florida coach Billy Napier's job in Texas A&M's 33-14 win last September. But the Aggies' defense should be worse than its 35th ranking in scoring last year, and also features a pair of former Gators edge T.J. Searcy and linebacker Scooby Williams. Florida 24-21 Oct. 18 vs. Mississippi State (TBA): The Bulldogs are the worst team in the SEC, and last year, they gave UF the jolt of life it needed in September when the Gators won in Starkville 45-28. This season, they will travel to Gainesville, and this could be an opportunity for UF's new receivers, freshman Dallas Wilson and redshirt senior J. Michael Sturdivant, to get into rhythm before the second bye week. Florida 52-21 Nov. 1 vs. Georgia (Jacksonville, 3:30 p.m., ABC): Florida has lost seven of the last eight contests of the World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party. Gators fans' ears are accustomed to ringing from barking for at least a week into early November. This year should prove to be a more even contest, but Georgia still has the pedigree to pull out a rivalry win. Georgia 27-19 Nov. 8 at Kentucky (TBA): Florida has struggled in Lexington lately, losing its last two visits. This should be the moment UF gets back to its winning ways of a decade ago, tossing around a significantly less talented SEC foe. Florida 40-17 Nov. 15 at Ole Miss (TBA): Florida ended the Rebels' playoff hopes last season in its 24-17 late-November win that has sponsored much of the Gators' optimism entering this year. Lane Kiffin has proven he can reset his offense, so replacing Jaxson Dart with Austin Simmons shouldn't be an issue. Expect the Rebels to return the favor at home. Ole Miss 33-28 Nov. 22 vs. Tennessee (TBA): The Vols vs. Gators rivalry has leaned one direction since the century mark, but with two Tennessee wins in three years, this is a chance for Florida to reestablish its dominance. Tennessee welcomes a new quarterback, Joey Aguilar, after the Nico Iamaleava saga, and Lagway's comfortability at home should help outlast the new signal caller. Florida 21-17 Nov. 29 vs. Florida State (TBA): Florida State is rebuilding from its worst season since 1974, going 2-10. While the Seminoles will see marked improvement, venturing to The Swamp post-Thanksgiving should yield poor results as Florida's offense is much more dynamic than the quarterback Thomas Castellanos-led Seminoles. Florida 36-22 The Verdict - 8-4: Returning a bevy of defensive talent, coupled with an offense that has star-caliber skill position pieces like receiver Eugene Wilson III and running back Jadan Baugh, the Gators should make the jump from middling to wandering near the CFP border. At 8-4, they are just on the outside of the playoff looking in, sitting somewhere in the No. 13-16 ranking range.
Yahoo
10 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jumbo Package: How will Alabama replace Jam Miller?
SEC Network analyst Roman Harper offered some insight into how Alabama might navigate the challenge. 'I know with [Ryan] Grubb as the offensive coordinator, they want to throw the football,' Harper explained. 'That is what he likes to do. So whoever can protect the quarterback by maybe being a good pass blocker, as well as someone being efficient enough to catch the football, will be the guy that really kind of steps in.' This quote from Roman Harper is one of the first times I've seen anyone in the college/Alabama sphere of media really say something about Ryan Grubb that I think actually matches what we've actually seen from the OC on the field. No matter what Grubb says about running the ball (and he said that a lot in Seattle last year, too), this is going to be a dropback heavy offense that wants to push the ball down the field. While the backs may get a few more carries than they did last year (because the QB won't be eating up as many touches), the main focus is still going to be the downfield passing game. And with that comes the desire for a running back who can block and catch. More and more, it sounds like Daniel Hill may be that guy. He's apparently got great hands, and since he's huge, you'd think he can be a good blocker. But who really knows. The Julian Sayin era is underway at Ohio State. Buckeyes coach Ryan Day confirmed the expected when he announced that Sayin will lead Ohio State in its Aug. 30 season opener against Texas. Sayin, a former five-star prospect and Alabama signee, beat third-year signal caller Lincoln Kienholz and true freshman Tavien St. Clair for the job. Sayin is entering his second year with the Buckeyes after serving as backup for Will Howard last season. He appeared in four games, preserving his redshirt in the process, and completed five of his 12 pass attempts for 84 yards and one touchdown. He did see a few snaps in Ohio State's College Football Playoff win against Tennessee. Though Sayin is short on experience, winning the starting QB job at Ohio State is like getting handed the keys to a brand new Lamborghini. He'll have plenty of help from the nation's top wide receiver room, with standouts like Heisman Trophy contender Jeremiah Smith and veteran wideout Carnell Tate. Well, it's official, Julian Sayin is going to be Ohio State's starter. It would have been a little hilarious if he wasn't. Still, we'll all be watching closely, as his success vs Ty Simpson's this season will make for a fascinating storyline. Had Sayin not transferred, it would likely be between him and Ty for Alabama's starting job this season, and it also seems probably that Keelon Russell would have committed somewhere else. The Crimson Tide's stars continue to pile up preseason accolades, with four Alabama players named to the AP Preseason All-American teams. Offensive lineman Kadyn Proctor and wide receiver Ryan Williams were named to the first team while center Parker Brailsford and defensive lineman Tim Keenan III were named to the second team. Personally, I'd have put Parker Brailsford as a first team All-American. And, while Kadyn Proctor still has unlimited potential, I'm not sure his on-field results have shown him to be a true 1st-team All-American to this point. Still, his improvement from year 1 to year 2 was staggering: 36 pressures and 12 sacks in 2023 to 15 pressures and 3 sacks in 2024. If he keeps improving, he definitely can become that guy. Asked about that by Sisler, Saban got a big laugh from the crowd in the Birmingham theater hosting the event. 'You know, I don't know where that came from,' Saban said. 'Greg McElroy played quarterback for us. And if he had something like that when he was a player, he would have got his ass kicked.' I think Nick Saban is staying retired, y'all.
Yahoo
15 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Years after abuse reports, ex-coach at renowned US gymnastics academy is arrested by FBI
USA Gymnastics Abuse Inquiry IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. gymnastics world was only just recovering from a devastating sexual abuse scandal when a promising young coach moved from Mississippi to Iowa to take a job in 2018 at an elite academy known for training Olympic champions. Liang 'Chow' Qiao, the owner of Chow's Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, thought highly enough of his new hire, Sean Gardner, to put him in charge of the club's premier junior event and to coach some of its most promising girls. But four years later, Gardner was gone from Chow's with little notice. USA Gymnastics, the organization rocked by the Larry Nassar sex-abuse crisis that led to the creation of the U.S. Center for SafeSport, had been informed by the watchdog group that Gardner was suspended from all contact with gymnasts. The reason for Gardner's removal wasn't disclosed. But court records obtained exclusively by The Associated Press show the coach was accused of sexually abusing at least three young gymnasts at Chow's and secretly recording others undressing in a gym bathroom at his prior job in Mississippi. Last week, more than three years after being suspended from coaching, the FBI arrested Gardner, 38, on a federal child pornography charge. But his disciplinary case has still not been resolved by SafeSport, which handles sex-abuse cases in Olympic sports. In cases like Gardner's, the public can be in the dark for years while SafeSport investigates and sanctions coaches. SafeSport requires that allegations be reported to police to ensure abusers don't run unchecked outside of sports, but critics say the system is a slow, murky process. 'From an outward operational view, it seems that if SafeSport is involved in any way, the situation turns glow-in-the-dark toxic,' said attorney Steve Silvey, a longtime SafeSport critic who has represented people in cases involving the center. While acknowledging there can be delays as its investigations unfold, SafeSport defended its temporary suspensions in a statement as 'a unique and valuable intervention' when there are concerns of a risk to others. Nevertheless, in 2024, Gardner was able to land a job helping care for surgical patients at an Iowa hospital — two years after the abuse allegations against him were reported to SafeSport and the police. And it was not until late May that West Des Moines police executed a search warrant at his home, eventually leading to the recovery of a trove of photos and videos on his computer and cellphone of nude young girls, court records show. Authorities in Iowa sealed the court documents after the AP asked about the investigation earlier this month, before details of the federal charge were made public Friday. Gardner, Qiao and Gardner's former employer in Mississippi did not respond to AP requests for comment. 'The job that I've always wanted' Chow's Gymnastics is best known as the academy where U.S. gymnasts Shawn Johnson and Gabby Douglas trained before becoming gold medalists at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. Qiao opened the gym in 1998 after starring on the Chinese national team and moving to the United States to coach at the University of Iowa. The gym became a draw for top youth gymnasts, with some families moving to Iowa to train there. Gardner moved to Iowa in September 2018, jumping at the opportunity to coach under Qiao. 'This is the job that I've always wanted. Chow is really someone I have looked up to since I've been coaching,' Gardner told the ABC affiliate WOI-TV in 2019. 'And you can tell when you step foot in the gym, just even from coaching the girls, the culture that he's built. It's amazing. It's beautiful.' A year later, Gardner was promoted to director of Chow's Winter Classic, an annual meet that draws more than 1,000 gymnasts to Iowa. He also coached a junior Olympics team during his four-year tenure at Chow's. Several of his students earned college gymnastics scholarships, but Gardner said he had bigger goals. 'You want to leave a thumbprint on their life, so when they go off hopefully to school, to bigger and better things, that they remember Chow's as family,' he said in a 2020 interview with WOI-TV. Coach accused of sexual misconduct in Iowa and Mississippi Gardner is accused of abusing his position at Chow's and his former job at Jump'In Gymnastics in Mississippi to prey on girls under his tutelage, according to a nine-page FBI affidavit released Friday that summarizes the allegations against him. A girl reported to SafeSport in March 2022 that Gardner used 'inappropriate spotting techniques' in which he would put his hands between her legs and touch her vagina, the affidavit said. It said she alleged Gardner would ask girls if they were sexually active and call them 'idiots, sluts, and whores.' She said this behavior began after his hiring in 2018 and continued until she left the gym in 2020 and provided the names of six other potential victims. SafeSport suspended Gardner in July 2022 – four months after the girl's report – a provisional step it can take in severe cases with 'sufficient evidentiary support' as investigations proceed. A month after that, the center received a report from another girl alleging additional 'sexual contact and physical abuse,' including that Gardner similarly fondled her during workouts, the FBI affidavit said. The girl said that he once dragged her across the carpet so hard that it burned her buttocks, the affidavit said. SafeSport shared the reports with West Des Moines police, in line with its policy requiring adults who interact with youth athletes to disclose potential criminal cases to law enforcement. While SafeSport's suspension took Gardner out of gymnastics, the criminal investigation quickly hit a roadblock. Police records show a detective told SafeSport to urge the alleged victims to file criminal complaints, but only one of their mothers contacted police in 2022. That woman said her daughter did not want to pursue criminal charges, and police suspended the investigation. Victims of abuse are often reluctant to cooperate with police, said Ken Lang, a retired detective and associate professor of criminal justice at Milligan University. 'In this case you have the prestige of this facility,' he said. 'Do they want to associate their name with that, in that way, when their aspirations were to succeed in gymnastics?' Police suspended the investigation, even as Gardner was on probation for his second-offense of driving while intoxicated. A dormant case reopened, and a year later, an arrest The case stayed dormant until April 2024 when another former Chow's student came forward to the West Des Moines Police Department to report abuse allegations, according to a now-sealed affidavit signed by police detective Jeff Lyon. The AP is not identifying the student in line with its policy of not naming victims of alleged sexual abuse. The now 18-year-old told police she began taking lessons from Gardner when she was 11 or 12 in 2019, initially seeing him as a 'father figure' who tried to help her get through her parents' divorce. He told her she could tell him 'anything,' the affidavit said. When she moved in 2021, she told police, he gave her a hug and said she could text and follow him on Instagram and other social media sites, where he went by the nickname 'Coach Seanie,' because gym policy barring such contact no longer applied. According to a summary of her statement provided in Lyon's affidavit, she said Gardner fondled her during exercises, repeatedly touching her vagina; rubbed her back and butt and discussed his sex life; and made her do inappropriate stretches that exposed her privates. She told police she suspected he used his cellphone to film her in that position. Reached by the AP, the teen's mother declined comment. The mother told police she was interested in a monetary settlement with Chow's because the gym 'had been made aware of the complaints and they did nothing to stop them,' according to Lyon's affidavit. The gym didn't return AP messages seeking comment. It took 16 months after the teen's 2024 report for the FBI to arrest Gardner, who made an initial court appearance in Des Moines on Friday on a charge of producing visual depictions of minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct, which can carry up to 30 years in prison. A public defender assigned to represent him didn't return AP messages seeking comment. It's unclear why the case took so long to investigate and also when the FBI, which had to pay $138 million to Nassar's victims for botching that investigation, got involved in the case. Among evidence seized by investigators in late May were a cellphone, laptop and a desktop computer along with handwritten notes between Gardner and his former pupils, according to the sealed court documents. They found images of girls, approximately 6 to 14 years in age, who were nude, using the toilet or changing into leotards, those documents show. Those images appear to have come from a hidden camera in a restroom. They also uncovered 50 video files and 400 photos, including some that appeared to be child pornography, according to the FBI affidavit. One video allegedly shows Gardner entering the bathroom and turning off the camera. Investigators also found images of an adult woman secretly filmed entering and exiting a bathtub, and identified her as Gardner's ex-girlfriend. That woman as well as the gym's owner, Candi Workman, told investigators the images appeared to come from Jump'In Gymnastics' facility in Purvis, Mississippi, which has since been closed. SafeSport's power has limits SafeSport has long touted that it can deliver sanctions in cases where criminal charges are not pursued as key to its mission. However, Gardner's ability to land a job in health care illustrates the limits of that power: It can ban people from sports but that sanction is not guaranteed to reach the general public. While not commenting about Gardner's case directly, it said in a statement provided to AP that a number of issues factor into why cases can take so long to close, including the 8,000 reports it receives a year with only around 30 full-time investigators. It has revamped some procedures, it said, in an attempt to become more efficient. 'While the Center is able and often does cooperate in law enforcement investigations,' it said, 'law enforcement is not required to share information, updates, or even confirm an investigation is ongoing.' USA Gymnastics President Li Li Leung called the center's task 'really tough, difficult to navigate.' 'I would like to see more consistency with their outcomes and sanctions,' Leung said. 'I would like to see more standardization on things. I would like to see more communication, more transparency from their side.' A case that lingers, even after the SafeSport ban As the investigation proceeded, Gardner said on his Facebook page he had landed a new job in May 2024 as a surgical technologist at MercyOne West Des Moines Medical Center. It's a role that calls for positioning patients on the operating room table, and assisting with procedures and post-surgery care. Asked about Gardner's employment, hospital spokesman Todd Mizener told the AP: 'The only information I can provide is that he is no longer" at the hospital. Meanwhile, the case lingers, leaving lives in limbo more than three years after the SafeSport Center and police first learned of it. 'SafeSport is now part of a larger problem rather than a solution, if it was ever a solution,' said attorney Silvey. 'The most fundamental professional task such as coordination with local or federal law enforcement gets botched on a daily basis, hundreds of times a year now.' ___ Pells reported from Denver. AP National Writer Will Graves contributed.
