Latest news with #Blankenship
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Blankenship travels from the beach to cheer on the Pilots
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — LSU-Shreveport head basketball coach Kyle Blankenship might be the baseball team's biggest fan. The Pilot baseball team is fresh off an unbeaten National Championship season. Blankenship started the World Series in Florida, on vacation with his family. He jumped on a plane and flew across the country to Lewiston, Idaho to support his friend and colleague Brad Neffendorf and the Pilots as they won the National Title. Perfect season, 1st national championship for undeafeated LSU Shreveport At the National Championship celebration, Neffendorf spoke fondly on his relationship with his basketball counterpart. 'I think ever since I've gotten here our families have hit it off,' said Neffendorf. We're in full support of each others programs, our guys go to every one of his games and his guys come out and watch ours.' In Neffendorf's tenure at LSUS, the Pilots are 3-0 in Lewiston with Blankenship in attendance. 'Kyle brought to my attention today, he's undefeated in Lewiston,' said Neffendorf. 'As far as I'm concerned he's got to be with us with a special assignment or assistant coach it doesn't matter.' Shreveport celebrates LSUS perfect ending, historic season Upon returning to Florida and rejoining his family on vacation, Blankenship posted a video to social media congratulating the baseball team on an historic season. 'Well I'm not in Idaho anymore but the flags are still flying purple and gold here in Florida baby' said Blankenship while showing the beach's yellow and purple flags for the gulf's water conditions. 'Congrats to LSUS Baseball on your history making, record setting 59-0 NAIA World Series National Championship. Let's go Pilots.' Blankenship traveled over 5,000 miles to essentially be in two places at once. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Eagles' star safety had his number retired by West Limestone High School in Alabama
Eagles' star safety had his number retired by West Limestone High School in Alabama Reed Blankenship, a 2022 undrafted free agent, was a standout two sport athlete at West Limestone High School in Lester, Alabama Reed Blankenship has become a critical cog in the Eagles' Super Bowl history, and he's continuing to add honors to his resume. Blankenship joined the Eagles as an undrafted free agent out of Middle Tennessee State and played his first two seasons at the NFL's minimum salary before earning escalators and a one-year extension. Now a Super Bowl champion and one of the best young safeties in the NFL, Blankenship just had his No. 12 football jersey retired by West Limestone High School in Lester, Alabama. Blankenship logged 78 tackles (52 solo), six pass defenses (including four interceptions), and one fumble recovery in 15 regular-season games in 2024. Blankenship improved during the playoffs, logging 27 tackles (18 solo), one forced fumble, and one fumble recovery during the Eagles ' four-game run to the Super Bowl. Blankenship signed a one-year, $3.58 million contract extension with the Eagles last April after leading the team in tackles and interceptions. Blankenship could be in line for another, more lucrative contract extension.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Saquon Barkley boldly claims that 2024 Eagles were 'a top-5 team of all time'
We're only a few months removed from the Philadelphia Eagles' dominant Super Bowl win to close out the 2024-2025 season. But it's been long enough for Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to make some bold claims about last season's team. On an episode of "Exciting Mics" — a podcast co-hosted by Barkley's Eagles teammates Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship — released on Thursday, Barkley told the defensive backs that he believed last year's team should be valued as one of the best teams all-time. "I firmly believe when you look at our team that we had last year, I think we're a top-five team of all time. And I tell my boys this all the time. Like if you really look at the season, outside the first four games, it was belt to a**," Barkley said. "How dominant you guys were on defense, and how dominant we were on offensive and special teams — people don't realize how great of a team that actually was." Advertisement "We were working together," Blankenship chimed in. "After the bye week, we just bought in." Barkley agreed, and added, "When you have the talent and skill that we have in our team, mixed with the coaches, we all play together like how we played, teams really stood no chance." Barkley, DeJean and Blankenship are obviously going to be a bit biased when it comes to the Eagles. But does Barkley's claim hold water? Barkley's key caveat — "outside the first four games" — is kind of a hard one to overlook. The Eagles lost two of their first four games of the year; their two victories were only one-score wins. After a bye week in Week 5, Philadelphia went on a much better run, going 12-1, before cruising through four playoff games to win the Super Bowl. But to ignore those first low-scoring games feels like a major oversight. Advertisement Otherwise, when looking at the season-long stats, the 2024-25 Philadelphia Eagles were an excellent team — especially, as Barkley noted, on defense. The Eagles were arguably the best defense in the league last year, allowing by far the fewest yards (4,732), the fewest offensive plays (999) and the fewest passing yards allowed (2,961), per Pro Football Reference. Opposing teams averaged only 4.7 yards per play, and only one team allowed fewer points (the Chargers, who allowed two fewer points in total). Philadelphia's offense was also incredibly strong, though less so comparatively than its defense. The Eagles had one of the best scoring offenses in the league, but were seventh in key offensive stats like total points and points per game. Philadelphia was top 10 in most of the special teams stats as well. But calling the team an all-time great might be a little bit too strong. Even on defense, Philadelphia's strongest area, the '24-25 Eagles don't quite measure up to some of the greatest defensive teams in the NFL's history. Advertisement Last season, Philadelphia had a DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) of 21.3%, per Joseph Acosta of SB Nation. That number, per Acosta, is lower than some of the top Super Bowl-winning teams of the past two decades, including the 2004 New England Patriots, 2013 Seattle Seahawks and 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Those teams (two Tom Brady-led squads, and the Seahawks at the peak of the Legion of Boom era) alone are hard for the 2024 Eagles to square up against — and that's not including all of the legendary teams that came before the turn of the century. With that said, last season's Philadelphia team was a great, cohesive squad — enough that the organization is sticking with most of its biggest pieces. Barkley got a massive extension that can keep him in Philadelphia potentially through 2028; Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni just agreed to a multi-year extension of his own. Now, Barkley and the team will just have to try and replicate that success next season.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Saquon Barkley boldly claims that 2024 Eagles were 'a top-five team of all time'
We're only a few months removed from the Philadelphia Eagles' dominant Super Bowl win to close out the 2024-2025 season. But it's been long enough for Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to make some bold claims about last season's team. On an episode of "Exciting Mics" — a podcast co-hosted by Barkley's Eagles teammates Cooper DeJean and Reed Blankenship — released on Thursday, Barkley told the defensive backs that he believed last year's team should be valued as one of the best teams all-time. "I firmly believe when you look at our team that we had last year, I think we're a top-five team of all time. And I tell my boys this all the time. Like if you really look at the season, outside the first four games, it was belt to a**," Barkley said. "How dominant you guys were on defense, and how dominant we were on offensive and special teams — people don't realize how great of a team that actually was." Advertisement "We were working together," Blankenship chimed in. "After the bye week, we just bought in." Barkley agreed, and added, "When you have the talent and skill that we have in our team, mixed with the coaches, we all play together like how we played, teams really stood no chance." Barkley, DeJean and Blankenship are obviously going to be a bit biased when it comes to the Eagles. But does Barkley's claim hold water? Barkley's key caveat — "outside the first four games" — is kind of a hard one to overlook. The Eagles lost two of their first four games of the year; their two victories were only one-score wins. After a bye week in Week 5, Philadelphia went on a much better run, going 12-1, before cruising through four playoffs games to win the Super Bowl. But to ignore those first low-scoring games feels like a major oversight. Advertisement Otherwise, when looking at the season-long stats, the 2024-25 Philadelphia Eagles were an excellent team — especially, as Barkley noted, on defense. The Eagles were arguably the best defense in the league last year, allowing by far the fewest yards (4732), the fewest offensive plays (999) and the fewest passing yards allowed (2961), per Pro Football Reference. Opposing teams averaged only 4.7 yards per play, and only one team allowed fewer points — the Chargers, who allowed two fewer points in total. Philadelphia's offense was also incredibly strong, though less so comparatively than its defense: The Eagles had one of the best scoring offenses in the league, but was seventh in key offensive stats like total points and points per game. Philadelphia was top 10 in most of the special teams stats as well. But calling the team all-time great might be a little bit too strong. Even in defense, Philadelphia's strongest area, the '24-25 Eagles don't quite measure up to some of the greatest defensive teams in the NFL's history. Advertisement Last season, Philadelphia had a DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) of 21.3%, per Joseph Acosta of SB Nation. That number, per Acosta is lower than some of the top Super Bowl-winning teams of the past two decades, including the 2004 New England Patriots, 2013 Seattle Seahawks and 2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Those teams (two Tom Brady-led squads, and the Seahawks at the peak of the Legion of Boom era) alone are hard for the 2024 Eagles to square up against — and that's not including all of the legendary teams that came before the turn of the century. With that said, last season's Philadelphia team was a great, cohesive squad — enough that the organization is sticking with most of its biggest pieces. Barkley got a massive extension that can keep him in Philadelphia potentially through 2028; Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni agreed to a multi-year extension of his own. Now, Barkley and the team will just have to try and replicate that success next season.
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
USC rolls past North Florida 8-0 in 5 inning to win Columbia Regional
COLUMBIA, S.C. (USC SID) – For the third time in program history, the South Carolina softball team is heading to the NCAA Super Regionals. The No. 8 seed Gamecocks (43-15) won the Columbia Regional Tournament Sunday (May 18), taking down North Florida (47-15) 8-0 in a five-inning rule-rule victory. Brook Blankenship and Abigail Knight led the Carolina offense with a pair of hits on the day. Knight drove in three runs while Blankenship has two RBIs. The game resembled the Gamecocks first face-off against North Florida, with both teams held scoreless through the top of the fourth inning. Sam Gress (13-9) in the start for Carolina tossed four scoreless innings, giving up three hits. Like the previous matchup, the Gamecocks broke through offensively first. In the bottom of the fourth, Ella Chancey reached on an error and stole second. Brooke Blankenship had the clutch single, allowing Chancey to score. Abigail Knight followed with a single to score Blankenship and give the Gamecocks the only runs they would need. Jori Heard came in the fifth to pitch a clean frame to prevent a response from North Florida and earn her third save of the season. The game broke open in the bottom of the fifth when Karley Shelton found a two out single to put one on for Arianna Rodi. Rodi's double to right center scored Shelton and took down two records in the process. Her hit marked the team's 324th RBI and 96th double on the season, setting a single-season record. Pinch runner Chloe Lackey scored on a Lexi Winters single to put the Gamecocks up by four. Back-to-back singles from Blankenship and Knight put Carolina within reach of ending the game early. With a 1-1 count, senior Emma Sellers made the final blow with a single to left for the walk-off win in run-rule fashion. With the win, the Gamecocks punched their ticket to the Super Regional for the first time since 2018. It will be the first time they have hosted a Super Regional at Carolina Softball Stadium since the format was implemented in 2005. Carolina will host the Super Regional and winners of the Los Angeles Regional, either UCLA or UC Santa Barbara, with the schedule to be announced. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
