Latest news with #Grayson
USA Today
3 days ago
- Sport
- USA Today
Michigan football in the hunt for Georgia's four-star linebacker Anthony Davis Jr.
Michigan football in the hunt for Georgia's four-star linebacker Anthony Davis Jr. The Wolverines have been hitting the South hard in the 2026 recruiting cycle with a player already committed from Georgia, another from Florida, and another in Texas. And the maize and blue are working hard on several others in all three of those states. Grayson is a powerhouse high school in Loganville, Georgia, just east of Atlanta, that's produced some of the best talent in the country for decades. There are several prospects over the years that Michigan football has worked hard to bring into the fold, with the latest to actually come to Ann Arbor being standout right tackle Trente Jones. Now there's another that the maize and blue strongly covet. But it's going to be difficult to pull him out of SEC country, given the other schools he's interested in. Michigan makes the top group for a four-star linebacker From said Loganville (Ga.) Grayson, four-star linebacker Anthony Davis Jr. revealed his final five schools in advance of taking his official visits starting on Friday. And the one outlier is Michigan football, with the other five hailing from the SEC footprint. The bad news for the Wolverines is that Davis is set to visit Auburn this week, Ole Miss next week, and Alabama on June 20. He's set to see Ann Arbor on June 13, giving the maize and blue a chance to overcome his other SEC finalists. Florida is not listed as having an official visit forthcoming, but he's been to Gainesville three times already. Ranking and more Davis is listed as the No. 174 overall prospect according to Rivals, which is the highest on the 6-foot-2, 205-pound linebacker. He's listed as a consensus four-star, with only On3 having him as a three-star in its proprietary rankings. There are no predictions yet as to where Davis will end up at the next level. He is committed to play in the Under Armour All-America Game at year's end.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Bradford family: Giants in height and volleyball
When the Bradford family walks together on a beach, at an airport, in a restaurant, eyes turn. They aren't just tall, they're giants. They aren't a basketball family — they play volleyball. On Memorial Day, mom, dad, daughter and son were at the beach looking for games. Lee Bradford was a 6-foot-7 middle blocker at Pepperdine in the 1990s. His wife, Sara, is 6-1 and played basketball at Fordham. Their oldest daughter, Carissa, was the 6-2 City Section volleyball player of the year at Granada Hills, played at Tennessee and South Alabama and is now head coach at Bates College. Advertisement Their son, Derek, is 6-8, won a CIF title with Royal and now trains with the USA beach volleyball team. Their son, Grayson, is a 6-11 senior at Mira Costa and plays for a state championship on Saturday in Fresno. He's committed to UCLA. Even the youngest in the family, 12-year-old daughter Brooke, is 5-10 and headed for volleyball stardom. Talk about good height genes — no giant shoes go unused in this family. Dad gave his kids a choice growing up. 'I love the sport and offered free private lessons,' he said. They took him up and the rest is history. Lee has been a teacher at Granada Hills and used to be an assistant coach to Tom Harp. He eventually moved his family to Manhattan Beach after driving to the South Bay for years for club competition. Advertisement 'We made a really good decision four years ago to go to a high level club program,' he said. 'It's been a great journey.' Grayson has been a key player for Mira Costa, which won the Southern Section Division 1 championship, then the Southern California regional championship and play San José Archbishop Mitty in the first state Division 1 boys title match on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Fresno City College. It's a weekend for championships. The Southern Section baseball will be held Friday and Saturday at Cal State Fullerton and Blair Field in Long Beach. The Southern Section softball finals are Friday and Saturday in Irvine. Advertisement The state track and field championships will be Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis (temperatures will hit triple digits). The state tennis championships are Saturday in Fresno. The City Section softball finals are Saturday at Cal State Northridge. Tuesday's Division 1 baseball semifinals produced a shocker. No. 1-seeded Corona, which started the year considered as high school baseball's version of the Dodgers, was beaten by St. John Bosco 2-0. It was the first high school pitching defeat for Seth Hernandez, who came in 18-0. St. John Bosco has unleashed a closer extraordinaire in junior Jack Champlin. Last week, in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied, Villa Park had the winning run on third and Champlin was brought in to get a strikeout. He threw 2 1/3 hitless relief before the Braves won 5-4 in nine innings. Advertisement He was inserted into the game with a 2-0 count, one runner on and one out in the seventh inning against Corona. He walked the first first batter, then got a strikeout and fly out to end the game. He said of the situation, "'I love it,' he said. 'There's close to 1,000 people and it's electric. I didn't feel any pressure, didn't feel nervous. It's just fun to compete against all these Power 5 players." That kind of closer's mentality and confidence should help St. John Bosco in Friday's 7 p.m. Division final against Santa Margarita at Cal State Fullerton. Champlin will gladly take the ball whenever coach Andy Rojo offers it. Advertisement 'I haven't had a blown save,' he said. That's not the kiss of death. That's a teenager who wants the ball with the game on the line. Sign up for the L.A. Times SoCal high school sports newsletter to get scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Sport
- Los Angeles Times
Bradford family: Giants in height and volleyball
When the Bradford family walks together on a beach, at an airport, in a restaurant, eyes turn. They aren't just tall, they're giants. They aren't a basketball family — they play volleyball. On Memorial Day, mom, dad, daughter and son were at the beach looking for games. Lee Bradford was a 6-foot-7 middle blocker at Pepperdine in the 1990s. His wife, Sara, is 6-1 and played basketball at Fordham. Their oldest daughter, Carissa, was the 6-2 City Section volleyball player of the year at Granada Hills, played at Tennessee and South Alabama and is now head coach at Bates College. Their son, Derek, is 6-8, won a CIF title with Royal and now trains with the USA beach volleyball team. Their son, Grayson, is a 6-11 senior at Mira Costa and plays for a state championship on Saturday in Fresno. He's committed to UCLA. Even the youngest in the family, 12-year-old daughter Brooke, is 5-10 and headed for volleyball stardom. Talk about good height genes — no giant shoes go unused in this family. Dad gave his kids a choice growing up. 'I love the sport and offered free private lessons,' he said. They took him up and the rest is history. Lee has been a teacher at Granada Hills and used to be an assistant coach to Tom Harp. He eventually moved his family to Manhattan Beach after driving to the South Bay for years for club competition. 'We made a really good decision four years ago to go to a high level club program,' he said. 'It's been a great journey.' Grayson has been a key player for Mira Costa, which won the Southern Section Division 1 championship, then the Southern California regional championship and play San José Archbishop Mitty in the first state Division 1 boys title match on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. at Fresno City College. It's a weekend for championships. The Southern Section baseball will be held Friday and Saturday at Cal State Fullerton and Blair Field in Long Beach. The Southern Section softball finals are Friday and Saturday in Irvine. The state track and field championships will be Friday and Saturday at Buchanan High in Clovis (temperatures will hit triple digits). The state tennis championships are Saturday in Fresno. The City Section softball finals are Saturday at Cal State Northridge. Tuesday's Division 1 baseball semifinals produced a shocker. No. 1-seeded Corona, which started the year considered as high school baseball's version of the Dodgers, was beaten by St. John Bosco 2-0. It was the first high school pitching defeat for Seth Hernandez, who came in 18-0. St. John Bosco has unleashed a closer extraordinaire in junior Jack Champlin. Last week, in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied, Villa Park had the winning run on third and Champlin was brought in to get a strikeout. He threw 2 1/3 hitless relief before the Braves won 5-4 in nine innings. He was inserted into the game with a 2-0 count, one runner on and one out in the seventh inning against Corona. He walked the first first batter, then got a strikeout and fly out to end the game. He said of the situation, ''I love it,' he said. 'There's close to 1,000 people and it's electric. I didn't feel any pressure, didn't feel nervous. It's just fun to compete against all these Power 5 players.' That kind of closer's mentality and confidence should help St. John Bosco in Friday's 7 p.m. Division final against Santa Margarita at Cal State Fullerton. Champlin will gladly take the ball whenever coach Andy Rojo offers it. 'I haven't had a blown save,' he said. That's not the kiss of death. That's a teenager who wants the ball with the game on the line.
Indianapolis Star
27-05-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
Noblesville and its 'incredibly impressive' offense dethrone defending 4A state champion
FISHERS — The Noblesville softball team typically likes to show up early for games, especially when they're at home. But there were conflicting reports (briefly, at least) as to how early the Millers were for Monday's Class 4A Sectional 8 opener vs. Hamilton Southeastern. "We got here kind of around normal game time," Brookelyn Grayson said. "We pulled in before 4," teammate Addi Emmerson quickly corrected. "Oh, we did?" Grayson replied, before explaining that, yes, the Millers were in fact very early for their first state tournament game. "We got here and the other team was nowhere to be found. 'Are we here too early? Are we at the right spot?'" the senior infielder laughed. "We normally get there early for games. … But yeah, we were definitely here earlier than normal." More: Defense has carried Lapel softball. And the gloves were on point again Monday. It's better to be ahead of schedule than behind it and Noblesville's unusually early arrival allowed the players to take their time warming up and gave them an opportunity to calm the pregame nerves. The vibes were immaculate. Noblesville was ready. And when the first pitch was thrown, it set about executing its gameplan. Facing arguably the state's top pitcher in Hamilton Southeastern junior Grace Swedarsky, the Millers looked to attack early in the count so as to avoid seeing her up-spin later in the at-bat. Delaney Rundle ripped a lead-off triple on Swedarsky's third pitch of the game, then came around to score when Grayson doubled on the second pitch of her at-bat. "After the first inning, I felt really hype for our team, just getting a run early," Grayson said following her 3-for-3, two RBI, two-run performance. "We only had one run (against her during the regular season), so that was huge." Noblesville remained aggressive, and when the Royals scratched across runs in the second and fifth to tie, it unleashed a seven-run barrage in the bottom of the fifth, setting itself on course for a decisive 9-4 victory. Seven of those runs came against Swedarsky, who allowed nine hits, issued one walk and struck out four. The Virginia Tech commit has allowed multiple runs in three of her 11 postseason starts (five shutouts). It's happened twice vs. Noblesville. "Grace is a really fantastic pitcher, but we're also really good hitters here," Emmerson said. The Millers spent the past few practices with the speed dialed up on the pitching machine to prepare for Swedarsky's speed and focused on laying off pitches up in the zone. Force her down in the zone, said catcher Maggie Kern, who initiated the fifth-inning rally with a bases-clearing double. From there, approaches were more individualized. Emmerson doubled on a pitch inside in the fourth, so her coaches told her to watch for an outside pitch. "I was like, 'OK, let's see it." The senior infielder took the first pitch then, as promised, Swedarsky went outside with her next pitch — and Emmerson launched it over the right-field wall for a two-run home run, her fifth of the season and third over the past four games. "When I saw it go over, I was ecstatic," beamed Emmerson, who finished 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and a run scored. "I'm never looking for a home run, but when they go over, I'm always OK with it." Rundle finished with two hits, two walks and two runs scored; Izzy Zapp tallied two hits and a run scored and pitcher Addison Retzinger notched a hit, while also allowing just two runs on three hits with six strikeouts and seven walks over 6.2 innings. Noblesville out-hit HSE, 11-4, and boasts a team season average of .365 with 25 homers and 39 doubles. It's averaging around eight runs per game, and has seven-plus in four straight games. "Noblesville's always been an incredibly impressive offensive team," HSE coach Emily Pusti said. "Their bats are good. They've got really fast slappers. And their talent being really aggressive challenges the defense. … We got checked on that in the first inning, but our girls figured it out from there and improved. I'm so proud of them." Noblesville advances to face Fishers on Tuesday.
Sydney Morning Herald
24-05-2025
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Jobs for ‘mates' accusations over new TAFE Queensland board
The state opposition has blasted the appointment of three LNP 'mates' to the TAFE Queensland board, saying it contradicted Premier David Crisafulli's pre-election rhetoric about government integrity and accountability. Employment and Training Minister Ros Bates appointment former Devine Limited chief financial officer Vivian Grayson as chairman of the board on Friday. Among a further six board members announced were former LNP Ferny Grove candidate Christopher Lehmann and party donor Andrew Knox, who has donated more than $5000 to the LNP since 2016. Grayson has also donated to the LNP in the past. In a LinkedIn post on Friday, outgoing chairman Andrew Dettmer said his sacking came as a surprise. 'Last night at 4.47pm I was informed by Minister Ros Bates that my tenure as a board member of TAFE Queensland was terminated as of 11.59pm that day – some 18 months before the expiry of my term,' he said. Grayson was thanked in the maiden speeches of two Gold Coast-based LNP MPs – state Housing Minister Sam O'Connor and federal MP Angie Bell. 'My region is served well by Viv Grayson, with his calm and collected leadership style,' O'Connor said in his 2018 speech. 'There is rarely a [party] meeting that he is not at, and I thank him for his guidance.' Opposition integrity spokeswoman Leeanne Enoch said the previous Labor-appointed board were selected on their merits, not party affiliation.
