Rippee Writes: Transfers, golf latest, Ohtani and a life lesson
Ole Miss adds OL, WR transfer, Ohtani makes history, plus a golf update and a life lesson.
Happy Wednesday to you all. Hope everyone had a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend. We’ll have a pair of podcasts out at the end of this week. We got off schedule due to the content lull, me being on vacation and a couple guests not working out timing-wise but be sure to look for those tomorrow and Friday as we will return to a normal schedule next week. A lot to dive into today. Let’s go.
Ole Miss adds pair of transfers
Ole Miss added a wide receiver and an offensive lineman via the transfer portal over the last week. Former Missouri wide receiver Jalen Knox announced his intent to join the Rebels a week ago. The 6-foot, 196 lb. junior will be eligible in 2022, provided he is academically cleared. Knox is a versatile receiver that tallied 31 receptions for 305 yards last season for the Tigers. He totaled 77 receptions and five touchdowns in his career. Missouri used Knox out of the backfield sporadically in 2020, to the tune of 12 carries over nine games.
Ole Miss needs play-making receivers this year, and will likely have to supplement a lack of them by moving Jerrion Ealy around the field, particularly in the slot, but Knox’s ability to play the slot will certainly be helpful in 2022.
Former Utah offensive lineman Orlando Umana announced his intent to transfer to Ole Miss on Monday. The former All-PAC 12 honorable mention selection in 2019 played in 40 games with the Utes over a three-year career and notched 26 starts. Umana played center predominantly (22 of his starts) during the 2018-19 seasons and also made four starts at guard. Umana played in just one game in 2020 due to injury. His arrival at Ole Miss adds a crucial depth piece to the interior offensive line and could potentially allow Ben Brown to slide back to right guard. Caleb Warren is also a candidate to be the starting center for the Rebels this fall, which would leave Umana competing with Jalen Cunningham and Cedric Melton at left guard. At worst, Umana adds 26 games of power five experience to the Rebels’ depth, and at best, of course, he becomes a 12-game starter. Who knows how it will shake out in terms of positions and snap counts. It’s still only July, but this is a nice pickup for a line unit that helped Ole Miss lead the SEC in rushing last fall.
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Magnolia State golf update (all times CT)
The PGA Tour is in Illinois this week for the John Deere Classic.
There are no Mississippians in the field, but as we always say in this space, there soon will be.
The Korn Ferry Tour is back in action this week in Colorado.
Four of the usual five Mississippians are in the field.
Tupelo native and Mizzou alum Hayden Buckley tees off at 8:12 tomorrow morning and 1:37 on Friday afternoon. Buckley sits at 35th in the standings thanks to a win in February and is eyeing to climb inside the top 25 to lock up his PGA Tour Card. With only eight events left, this is a crucial stretch for all of these guys, particularly Buckley. His ascent to improved (and eventually full) status on this tour began around this time last year. As his swing coach Chris Harder put it on last week’s podcast, “When he has to do something, he does it. I know he’ll get it done.”
Ole Miss alum Braden Thornberry tees off at 9:40 tomorrow morning 3:05 on Friday afternoon. Thornberry sits 54th in the points. He should be well-rested after taking off the Maine event two weeks ago, which I thought was an odd move with a rare off week in the schedule happening the next week, but I am sure there is more to that than I know, or maybe he just needed a break. Thornberry is well within striking distance to climb into the top 25. A made cut and a solid finish here would be a nice kickstart.
Hattiesburg native and Alabama alum Davis Riley tees off at 1:26 tomorrow and 8:01 on Friday morning. Riley won twice in 2020 before the COVID shutdown and would already be on the PGA Tour had the pandemic not forced a pause and an eventual wraparound season. He’s essentially bided his time over the last 12 months and collected checks. He officially locked up a PGA Tour card six weeks ago after earning enough points to guarantee he remained inside the top 25. Another win would immediately vault the 24 year old straight to the PGA Tour via a battleground promotion. He’s had a remarkably quick ascent in professional golf.
Brandon native and Ole Miss alum Jonathan Randolph tees off at 1:59 tomorrow and 8:34 on Friday morning. Randolph sits at 100th in the standings. He needs a good finishing stretch to climb inside the top 75, which would qualify him for the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, a three-tournament stretch that awards an additional 25 PGA Tour Cards at its conclusion.
Fulton native and Mississippi State alum Chad Ramey appears to have taken the week off. What a freeing feeling that must be. Ramey locked up his PGA Tour card two weeks ago, then proceeded to notch his first professional win in Maine six days later. I’ll have more on that in a story this week. Ramey is a great talent and has worked his ass off to get where he is, often with limited opportunities. Congrats to him.
The LPGA Tour is in Sylvania, Ohio, for the Marathon classic.
Ole Miss star Kennedy Swann is in the field as an amateur. She tees off at 12:43 tomorrow.
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Ohtani continues to make history
I went to visit a buddy over the weekend in Newport Beach, California. We went to an Angels game on the Fourth of July. In the bottom of the fourth inning, Shohei Ohtani absolutely nuked a hanging breaking ball over the center field fence. It went a casual 459 feet. I went to a lot of baseball games in my last job. I saw some pretty good players (and was fortunate enough to cover big league baseball for a very brief period of time). Of course I am not comparing college kids to a generational talent at the game’s highest level, my point is that some guys are just different. The ball makes a different sound coming off their bat. I don’t get shocked by a whole lot, but Ohtani effortlessly hitting one that far was absolutely staggering to watch. It was his Major League-leading 31st of the year. Less than an inning later, the stadium public address announcer informed the crowd Ohtani had just become the first player ever voted to the All-Star Game as both a pitcher and a hitter.
I spent a good portion of the rest of the game wondering how this isn’t one of the biggest stories in sports. I understand that I like baseball more than a lot of people and I am well-aware of how regionalized the sport has become. But this guy is doing things no one has ever done before in the sport and will likely never do again. How is it not dominating SportsCenter ever night? How does he not have some version of a Barry Bonds home run chase tracker? I have seen Ohtani twice now in person and he is by far and away the most electric baseball player I have ever watched, and is perhaps the most mesmerizing athlete I have ever seen. Every facet of what he does on a baseball diamond looks smooth and effortless. It’s almost intoxicating to watch. He leads the sport in home runs, is third in RBIs, all while simultaneously averaging over 11 strikeouts per nine innings.
I don’t really even know what my point is here other than to implore you to go see this guy while you can and to appreciate greatness when it is thrust in front of you, because it is always finite. It’s incredible stuff.
We can all learn from Monty Williams
I enjoy watching the NBA. I don’t have time to watch as much as I would like. I don’t cover it much here just because the interest doesn’t seem to be there and I don’t want to feed you guys content you are not interested in. For whatever reason, NBA podcasts dominate my regular lineup. I just enjoy listening to a number of different shows because I find the constant, league-changing drama appealing and it also helps me understand what I am watching when I am able to watch. The Suns and Bucks are in the NBA Finals. Monty Williams is the head coach of the Suns. He coached Suns point guard Chris Paul at the beginning of his career in New Orleans over a decade ago. Paul is arguably the greatest player of the last 25 years to never play in an NBA Finals and the storyline of these two reuniting to accomplish that together is cool in its own right. But Williams has a far more inspiring story that we can all learn from.
In 2016, while Williams was assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder, his wife , Ingrid, was struck head on by a car that lost control and veered into the wrong lane. She died instantly, leaving Williams and their five kids behind. I knew this backstory and remember it happening at the time, but a podcast I was listening to yesterday mentioned Williams’ speech at his wife’s funeral. I don’t know why I did this, but as I watched game one of the series last night, I pulled up the speech. It’s worth your time.
Whether or not you are a religious person, there’s plenty to admire from this. It’s one of the most compelling things I have ever watched. The composure he keeps the entire time, the almost inexplicable ability to see a larger picture in the worst moment of his life and the way he speaks about his wife and family are remarkable to me. I am not here to give life lessons and offer advice. I am just some guy with a newsletter, but this really had a profound impact on me after watching it. If that guy can get through something as horrific as that, what in the hell do I have to complain about?
Anyway, at the risk of rambling, I am no Suns fan (I do love Chris Paul though), but find this story to be incredible and hope they win. It is hard not to be inspired by Monty Williams.
On the horizon:
Two podcasts
Two newsletters
Chad Ramey feature.
That’s all from me today. I am back from vacation and will be ramping back up to a normal content schedule as football season rapidly approaches. Thanks for being a loyal subscriber. Send to your friends and tell them to join in on the fun. Back with more tomorrow.