
Former Mercer QB Whitt Newbauer commits to Oklahoma
May 7 - Ex-Mercer quarterback Whitt Newbauer announced Tuesday that he has transferred to Oklahoma.
Newbauer passed for 1,398 yards, 12 touchdowns and four interceptions in nine games as a freshman last season. He started the team's last seven games, including two FCS playoff games.
Newbauer completed spring drills with Mercer early last month before shopping his services. He found the Sooners to be the right fit.
"Forever grateful to Mercer -- my coaches, teammates, and the entire community -- for believing in me and helping me grow on and off the field," Newbauer said on social media. "After much thought and prayer with my family, I'm incredibly excited to announce my commitment to the University of Oklahoma #BoomerSooner"
Newbauer provides depth behind starter John Mateer, the former Washington State star who joined Oklahoma earlier this offseason. Holdover quarterback Michael Hawkins also returns; he passed for 783 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions last season.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
-and-Riley-Gaines.jpeg%3Fwidth%3D1200%26height%3D800%26crop%3D1200%3A800&w=3840&q=100)

The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Simone Biles blasts ‘truly sick' Riley Gaines over swimmer's mockery of 17-year-old trans athlete
Olympic champion Simone Biles eviscerated former college swimmer Riley Gaines over her 'sick' online comments about a transgender female softball player. Gaines, a vocal Donald Trump supporter who is known for campaigning against trans athletes in women's sports, had mocked the Minnesota State High School League for removing comments on their post about the Chaplin Park girls' team celebrating the State Championship. 'To be expected when your star player is a boy,' Gaines wrote on X of 17-year-old pitcher Marissa Rothenberger, who threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just three hits and striking out six to secure the title. Seven-time Olympic gold medalist Biles responded to Gaines's tweet on Friday, writing: 'You're truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race.' Gaines tied for fifth place with transgender woman Lia Thomas in the 200m freestyle swimming at the 2022 NCAA Championships. 'Straight up sore loser,' Biles continued. 'You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!' 'Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male,' Biles added in a separate post. Gaines quickly shot back, writing: 'This is actually so disappointing. It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with YOUR platform. Men don't belong in women's sports and I say that with my full chest.' Responding to Biles's jab about her size, she added: 'And the subtle hint at 'body-shaming' ???? Plzzzz I'm 5'5.' Gaines has been actively campaigning for policies that restrict transgender women from competing in female sports categories since tying with Thomas in 2022. That year, World Aquatics implemented a policy barring transgender women from participating in women's elite races if they had undergone any stage of male puberty. Thomas later pursued a legal challenge to overturn the regulations but was unsuccessful. This February, Gaines was present at the White House when U.S. President Trump signed an executive order excluding transgender girls and women from competing in women's sports. Former Harvard University swimmer Schuyler Bailar, who made history in 2015 as the first openly transgender athlete to compete on an NCAA Division I men's team, called the order 'absolutely devastating' and 'discriminatory.' 'This, I think, is a really horrible way to invite a lot of discrimination — not just against trans people — but also against all people in the women's category, because this is a policing of women's bodies in sports.' said Bailar.


Daily Mail
36 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Riley Gaines hits Simone Biles with ultimate comeback as she resurrects gymnast's horrific past in trans feud
Conservative activist Riley Gaines has fired back at Simone Biles with a pointed dig at the gymnast's harrowing past amid their bitter online feud surrounding transgender athletes' participating in women's sports. The USA Olympic hero, 28, launched a scathing attack on Gaines Friday night when she compared her to a man after the former swimmer criticized a Minnesota high school softball team for competing with a trans player. Gaines, 25, who has been one of the most outspoken voices against transgender athletes in women's sports, responded by referencing the horrific abuse Biles and other gymnasts suffered at the hands of pedophile doctor Larry Nassar. 'All the horrific sexual abuse @Simmone_Biles witnessed and spoke out against caused by one man, yet believes women should be forced to strip naked in front of men to validate the man's feelings,' the former collegiate swimmer posted on X following the gymnastics legend's attack. 'You know how many gold medals you'd have if your "inclusive" dream came true? Zero.' Gaines later doubled down, sharing a clip of Biles testifying before Senate about the abuse suffered at the hands of the former team doctor. Alongside it, she posted a screengrab of Biles' tweet. 'Simone Biles when she had to endure a predatory man Vs Simone Biles when other girls have to endure predatory men,' she wrote. Gaines, who tied for fifth with trans swimmer Lia Thomas at the 2022 NCAA championships, later clarified her position, insisting that she hopes Nassar 'spends the rest of his life rotting away and miserable in prison.' She said that the gymnasts were 'failed by a system that protected an abusive man at the expense of the girls' safety.' However, she claimed that female athletes were equally being failed by the same system amid the gender row sweeping through sport. Nassar was a leading doctor at Michigan State and with USA Gymnastics, but used his position within those organizations to sexually abuse young women under the guise of treatment at the now-closed Karolyi Ranch National Team Training Center in Huntsville, Texas. He was sentenced in federal court in 2017 to 60 years in prison on charges of possessing child sex abuse material. The following year, Nassar was sentenced to up to 175 years and up to 125 years, respectively, in two separate Michigan courts for molesting female gymnasts under his care. Biles publicly broke her silence in January 2018, revealing in a powerful tweet that she was one of Nassar's victims. In 2019, Biles revealed that the trauma of the assaults had left her struggling with suicidal thoughts. Gaines has forged a career as a political commentator for OutKick and Fox following her time as a swimmer, where she competed against trans athlete Lia Thomas. Her campaigning has won praise from Donald Trump, who welcomed her to the White House before signing the 'Keeping Men out of Women's Sports' executive order in February. On Friday, Gaines retweeted a picture of Minnesota team Champlin Park celebrating the state high school title that they won with transgender pitcher Marissa Rothenberger on the team. 'Comments off lol,' Gaines wrote in response to the post. 'To be expected when your star player is a boy.' Gaines clarified that hopes Nassar 'spends the rest of his life rotting away' in prison It sparked a blistering response from Biles, 28, who first criticized Gaines' view and then compared her appearance to a man. Biles wrote: 'You're truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. 'You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! 'But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!' She then tweeted at Gaines again, saying: 'Bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.' Gaines replied: 'This is actually so disappointing. It's not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women's sports with YOUR platform. Men don't belong in women's sports and I say that with my full chest.' She continued: 'My take is the least controversial take on the planet. Simone Biles being a male-apologist at the expense of young girls' dreams? Didn't have that on my bingo card. Maybe she could compete in pommel horse and rings in 2028.' Gaines then addressed Biles mocking her appearance, saying: 'And the subtle hint at "body-shaming" ???? Plzzzz I'm 5'5".' Sage Steele, the former ESPN reporter who has also been a vocal critic of trans athletes, backed Gaines up with a fiery tweet of her own. Biles attacked Gaines on X on Friday night after her latest remarks on trans athletes 'Easy to say this @Simone_Biles when you only had to compete against fellow women. Every one of your Olympic medals came competing against fellow women,' Steele wrote. 'Riley Gaines was not only forced to compete against a man, but forced to share a locker room with a man. THAT is SICK. Shocked and disappointed that you'd attack another woman who has done nothing but uplift other women. 'If YOU think it makes sense to create a league for trans people, go for it! Use that huge platform of yours! But to attack Riley for what she has done for little girls who want to be the next Simone Biles is……..sick.' Biles, a seven-time Olympic gold medalist, also gave a savage reply to a Trump voter that wrote back to her: 'Simone, there is a reason they have rings in men's gymnastics, and not women's. Male athletes have a biological advantage over female athletes. That will never changes.' Biles wrote back: 'Can you even read? I see we are lacking comprehension skills as well…..' The gymnast has offered no further comment other than to retweet her original post calling Gaines 'sick'. The issue of trans athletes in sports has been a bigger talking point in the US this week with the Minnesota high school team reaching the state championships. Rothenberger is biologically male. At nine, Rothenberger's mother applied in district court to alter her child's birth certificate after their ninth birthday, with the petition being approved, per Reduxx. Rothenberger was issued a new birth certificate showing to be born female, switching their name from 'Charlie Dean' to Marissa.


Daily Mail
43 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Sean O'Malley to beat Merab Dvalishvili by TKO/KO is BOOSTED to 11/2 ahead of UFC 318 - as American star looks to avenge defeat last year
After months of build-up, Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili will meet inside the octagon once again on Saturday night. The UFC bantamweight stars faced off inside the cage back in September when Dvalishvili dethroned his American counterpart over a five-round contest at the Las Vegas Sphere. It marked the second professional defeat in O'Malley's mixed martial arts career and the American sensation has vowed that he's put in the work since then to avenge the defeat. With that in mind, Sky Bet are offering a Price Boost on O'Malley to re-claim his bantamweight title via TKO/KO with odds standing at 11/2 - previously 4/1. Dvalishvili, meanwhile, is priced at 4/11 to retain his title - which he since defended on one occasion against Umar Nurmagomedov back in January. The bookmakers have priced a TKO/KO win for the Georgian at 17/2. The last time he won via that method was against Marlon Moraes back in 2021. Sky Bet are offering the same odds for Dvalishvili to submit O'Malley - with the American given 22/1 odds to do the same to his rival. UFC 218 Price Boost Sean O'Malley to Win by TKO/KO WAS 4/1 NOW 11/2 Fight Outright Merab Dvalishvili 4/11 Sean O'Malley 9/4