Latest news with #Annis
NBC Sports
03-04-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
Florida Spotlight: Five quarterbacks on the rise
Editor's Note: This article first appeared on the leader in college football and basketball recruiting coverage. Be the first to know and follow your teams by signing up here. The state of Florida has seen an uptick of coveted signal callers over the last few cycles, and the rising-senior group includes five with blue-chip grades already to their name on Rivals. The trend arrows are pointing up with that group and several behind it in the Sunshine State, as evidenced by five of the hottest arms in the state heading into spring football season. MORE: Five Southeast prospects on flip watch CLASS OF 2025 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State CLASS OF 2026 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State CLASS OF 2027 RANKINGS: Rivals250 | Team | Position | State TRANSFER PORTAL: Full coverage | Player ranking | Team ranking | Transfer search | Transfer Tracker When you grow up in the Sunshine State and land an offer from the Florida Gators and Miami Hurricanes, it's a day one won't soon forget. That's how it went down for Annis on Monday, picking up offers from the in-state rivals. Not bad for a passer who was a projected backup as a freshman at Jacksonville (Fla.) Mandarin High School entering the 2024 season. That was until senior Florida signee Tramell Jones went down with a leg injury early in the campaign. Annis stepped in and helped the program to seven wins, including an undefeated run in the district. Annis was at UF on Sunday and will be at UM later this week. Maryland, Auburn, North Carolina and several others have also offered the rising-sophomore since the New Year began. The offseason has been very good to the longtime Miami commitment, but the 2024 campaign was the springboard for it all. Coleman led Orlando (Fla.) Jones to an undefeated run toward the state championship as primarily a passer, setting various school records in the process. In the state title game against mighty Plantation (Fla.) American Heritage, Coleman flashed the legs for more than 100 yards and a couple of scores in the process. A true 'pick your poison' quarterback who can win in a variety of ways, the run early this offseason has been tough for any prep passer to match. The Miami commitment won the deepest 7-on-7 tournament of the cycle at Battle Miami and he has since taken home multiple camp MVP awards in the process. At this stage, 11 prep passers ranked higher than Coleman seems to be a bit much given the athleticism, velocity and consistency he has offered for the last year or so. SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS WITH MIAMI FANS AT The rising-junior has moved to one of the most tracked football programs in Orlando, The First Academy, and the scholarship offers have followed the transfer. Holley has added about a half-dozen tenders of late, including Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech since January. Double-digit offers now sit next to his name as his overall profile rises, aided by strong athletic testing numbers at Under Armour Orlando, where Holley clocked a 4.71-second 40-yard dash and 4.3-second shuttle run right at 6-foot-1. Throw in some steady 7-on-7 showings following flashes as a sophomore as a legitimate dual-threat talent and the run of offers may not soon slow down for Holley at his new post. Another young passer with great size and some college football pedigree, Pyne has heated up after spot duty as a freshman at Tampa Plant in 2024. He has since showed second and third level juice in the offseason circuit, taking home 7-on-7 titles in both February and March with a pro-style build and throwing motion to his name. Pyne has seen the offers start to roll in simultaneously, up to eight as of this writing, including recent tenders from Oklahoma State and Bowling Green since the New Year began. Previous showcases led to offers dating back to his middle school days from Wisconsin and Kentucky, among others. Pyne is now at Alonso High School and is poised for more as QB1 for the program entering the spring football season. Perhaps the most physically gifted quarterback in the country is not even through his freshman campaign just yet. Wade, who has added offers from Miami, Auburn, Nebraska, Georgia Tech and many others since January, has flashed once again this offseason not only with a mature build and arm at nearly 6-foot-4, 185 pounds, but the verified athleticism is off the charts relative to his age and the position itself. Wade has a verified 4.49-second 40-yard dash to his name in addition to a vertical leap beyond 35 inches and a broad jump already north of 10 feet – the type of numbers that would have paced all quarterbacks at the 2025 NFL Combine by a wide margin. Wade will likely get the reins as QB1 at IMG Academy this fall, a long-anticipated post that will potentially push his profile through the roof given the national schedule and pressure IMG contends with every season.
CBC
25-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Surrey council launches external investigation into 3 councillors' alleged misleading statements
Surrey council has voted at a closed-door meeting to launch an external investigation into three city councillors, two of whom criticized staff after being forced to file a freedom of information request to access city files. A statement from the city said the investigation was ordered over concerns the councillors may have violated city policies by disclosing confidential council information to the public and misrepresenting city staff directives. It said the closed-door meeting was held on Friday to address recent public statements made by councillors Mike Bose and Linda Annis regarding the city's contract with Hunden Strategic Partners Inc., a Chicago-based real estate consulting firm hired to advise on two new entertainment districts in the city. Bose and Annis released a statement to the media last week that Bose had requested details of the contract from the city's finance department. The councillor said he was reportedly told that he would need to file a formal freedom of information (FOI) request to access the documents, something Bose described as a "slap in the face." "I thought that information I was asking for would have been available to me," he told CBC News. Both the councillors from the opposition party Surrey First are recommending the city cancel its contract with the U.S.-based company over ongoing tensions between Canada and the United States. "We need to buy Canadian; we need to support our Canadian businesses," Bose said. "We're asking our residents to do that; we need to show leadership and be doing that ourselves." Mayor Brenda Locke says that Hunden was hired in 2024, well before the current U.S. tariff environment, and that "all contractual arrangements have been conducted lawfully." "Any suggestion by councillors Bose and Annis that our professional staff acted improperly by directing information requests through the FOI process is unfounded," she said in the city's statement. Locke also criticized councillors for involving city staff in political disputes. "Any councillor who deliberately drags our dedicated staff into partisan agendas will be called to account for misrepresenting the facts," Locke said. The city's investigation also involves Coun. Doug Elford, who was also directed to file an FOI request when he inquired about the salary details of two city employees. "This includes misleading information provided to the media by Councillor Elford that staff should have simply handed him information regarding the salaries of staff members, implying that staff were obstructing him due to his position," the mayor said. Councillors say they aren't in the wrong Annis says in the six years she has served as a councillor she has never been asked to file an FOI to access information. "Councillors should be entitled to look at any information," she told CBC News. "They can't necessarily share it with the public, but they should be able to look at anything. That's the way they can make the best and most informed decision." The councillor also maintains that she hasn't broken any privacy laws in talking publicly about the city's involvement with Hunden. "I'm completely astonished that [the mayor] thinks we have breached any code of conduct issue around leaking information from closed council," she added. "It's widely known that [the company] is doing business with the city." University of B.C. political science lecturer Stewart Prest says requiring a councillor to file an FOI request raises accountability concerns. "I honestly don't understand how the Surrey city staff can … expect councillors to be able to represent their constituents effectively without access to the information they need to evaluate … the actions of the city," he said. Prest says the situation also points to deeper issues within council, particularly in how different political groups communicate. "There is a sense of an inability to have an effective working relationship between Brenda Locke, her governing majority, and opposition members of council," he said. City discloses contract details The city has disclosed a summary of the Hunden contract, revealing that about 55 per cent of the consulting work remains to be completed. The Chicago consulting firm has been conducting feasibility studies for a new 12,000-seat stadium and two new entertainment districts — one in the city centre and another in Cloverdale. Bose said he was glad the contract was now public but maintained that city councillors should not have to file FOI requests to access city business information. The city also released a legal opinion from a local government firm, outlining the limits of council members' access to municipal records under the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FIPPA), the Community Charter, and city bylaws. According to the legal opinion, individual council members do not have unrestricted access to city records, especially those that are confidential or privileged. If they seek records outside of a formal council request, they must go through the same FOI process as the public.
CBC
19-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
New waterfront entertainment district in Surrey, B.C., could be gateway to city, supporters say
The City of Surrey is undertaking a feasibility study on a new waterfront entertainment district near the entrance to the city by the Pattullo Bridge. Currently, a small area near the bridge linking Surrey and New Westminster, B.C., has two city parks, a trailer park, and industrial areas — with landowners that include the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority and CN Rail. A city staff report asked for a consultant to look at the feasibility of a waterfront entertainment district there, including restaurants, shops, park and plaza areas "to create a memorable gateway into Surrey." It passed council last Monday. Proponents of the plan say the waterfront district would be fitting for the rapidly growing city, B.C.'s second-largest by population, which is set to outpace Vancouver in population over the next decade. "Surrey will soon be the biggest city in British Columbia ... and we don't have any really iconic place for people to go and to, you know, spend their leisure time, and this will be that," said Coun. Linda Annis. Annis said the feasibility study would look to speak to all the stakeholders involved, including residents of the RV park and the federal and provincial governments, but called the proposal "great news for the City of Surrey." A city spokesperson says the comprehensive feasibility study would look to properly define the geographic area of the waterfront district, and is expected to be complete next year. "Surrey has some great parks and public spaces," the spokesperson wrote. "A waterfront district could complement these existing amenities with a landmark type waterfront destination that could blend with active industry such as Granville Island or North Vancouver Shipyards, creating a more memorable gateway into Surrey from across the Fraser River." Plan could face opposition The plan could face opposition, with the port authority indicating in the staff report that it would prefer land adjacent to the port to be designated for industrial use only. In addition, hundreds of people live at the trailer park within the study area, which is close to the Scott Road SkyTrain station and between Brownsville Bar and Tannery parks. The city spokesperson said that the trailer park site was currently zoned for tourist accommodation, and any changes would require rezoning on the part of the landowner. It said the public would have an opportunity to weigh in on any rezoning of the site at council, and residents there may have rights under the provincial Manufactured Home Park Tenancy Act when it comes to tenant compensation. Andy Yan, director of Simon Fraser University's City Program, said that Surrey was a city that could afford to have several more public spaces, and the proposal spoke to the "urban ambitions" of the city's residents and council. However, he cautioned that there were already issues in the area regarding flooding and said it was important for the city to engage with residents before proceeding. "With the latest provincial guidelines, there are some sizeable, I think, challenges towards ... developing infrastructure, developing a road network that is, I think, really meant to move the amount of people that would not be possible now," he said.
