Coach Steve,

My child is having a difficult year and wants to quit the team. I don’t want to force him to do anything but feel like he’ll be missing out on the fun and life lessons of sports if he quits now. What do I do!?

Eric

Communicate with your son or daughter to find the best fit

Dear Eric,

If you need instant motivation, there are numerous stories of famous athletes who were cut or wanted to quit when they were younger.

It’s well known that Michael Jordan was once cut from his high school varsity basketball team as a sophomore, but did you know Bill Russell was cut from junior varsity as a sophomore and Julius Erving was an uncoordinated kid who shot with two hands? Mark Buehrle, a former major league pitcher who won 214 career games, got cut from J.V. as a freshman and sophomore.

I use these anecdotes as motivation, but the first thing I would suggest is that your son finish out the season. If he has made a commitment to a team, then his coach and teammates are likely counting on him. Sometimes numbers come into play and you would not want his absence to be the reason the team has to forfeit games. If you’re looking for a life lesson for sports, that is a good one: If you make a commitment to something, you need to stick with it.

For the rest of the season, make sure you or an adult or mentor figure attends games for moral support. Look for ways your son might learn from a mistake or misfortune of a circumstance in a game that he can take with him into the next game. This can be something as simple as giving his all at every moment he’s in the game, something difficult to maintain when things aren’t going well. A bad game or two can just as easily be turned into a teaching tool for getting better as it can for reason to want to leave a team. 

Sometimes it just takes one highlight to turn an outlook around. My son’s high school team played a 17-inning game the other night that lasted more than four hours. By the end, his team needed contributions from throughout the roster to keep extending the game. Inning after inning, they cheered and motivated each other. When it finally ended, the game had become such a bonding experience for them it didn’t even seem to matter that they lost.

After the season, take a step back and assess. Youth and high school sports have become so much about the competition these days that maybe playing sports as a club or recreational level is the right answer. Or maybe it’s a team with friends where he feels more included or a sport with which he is a better fit. (Dr. J said he was better at baseball and football than basketball but didn’t like the cold.) 

If you have an honest discussion with your child, you might see the warning signs he or she is ready to change sports. And if it’s not what you want to hear, you need to be willing to be flexible. When I recently wrote about tips for parenting a young athlete, I heard from a former high school teammate, Pete Freeman, of Bethesda, Maryland.

‘One other suggestion – look for signs your kid wants to quit,’ he wrote. ‘They can sense your expectations and be reluctant to tell you when they want to do something else.’

His son started baseball at 4 but switched to squash when he was 12.

‘What tripped me up wasn’t being a pushy or loud parent, it was assuming he wanted to keep playing because he was good and because he kept working on his skills.’ Pete said. ‘Instead of just asking him if he wanted to keep playing, I should have asked him whether he enjoyed the game and being on a team or whether there are other sports he wanted to explore.’

Or perhaps the activity your son or daughter needs has nothing to do with sports. Maybe you just need to ask them.

Sincerely,

Coach Steve

Steve Borelli, aka Coach Steve, has been an editor and writer with USA TODAY since 1999. He spent 10 years coaching his two sons’ youth teams. He and his wife, Colleen, are now loving life as sports parents for a high schooler and middle schooler.

The NFL’s latest pretentious uniform reveal occurred Thursday night, the Arizona Cardinals unveiling their new look at The Van Buren – a music and art venue in downtown Phoenix.

And, admittedly, this ‘event’ might count as the apex of what projects as a dour 2023 season for the Cards. But it’s still hilarious reading a news release that seems aimed at technocrats.

To wit:

‘The Nike Vapor Field Utility Special Edition (F.U.S.E.) uniforms combine leading edge fabric technology with a precision fit. The stretch woven body fabric of Nike Vapor F.U.S.E. is made with at least 85% recycled nylon. Lightweight with superior breathability and mobility, it is also the first football uniform to meet Nike Dri-FIT standards for thermal regulation and airflow.’

Sweet. And this …

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‘Capping off the new look for the Cardinals is a re-designed helmet. Its white shell gets a subtle silver sparkle from Large Texas Flakes. This complements a new silver facemask that replaces the previous gray one. The helmets front and rear ‘bumpers’ feature rubberized, 3-D Cardinals wordmarks in red. The Cardinals logo on each side of the helmet is now larger and updated with digital shading and a metallic sheen.’

Texas Flakes? Ironically, Texas is one of, like, five states the Cardinals haven’t been based in during their century-plus history, but I digress.

Anyhoo, the helmet logo is bigger and shinier, the facemask is radiant, and what were previously the league’s most hideous uniforms are now … merely dull? But I’ll get into that more in just a minute.

First, you’ll have to scroll through what have essentially became my annual NFL uniform power rankings (previous rank in parentheses):

32. Denver Broncos (24)

They decidedly look their best with the orange pants and jerseys tied with the throwback logo on the navy helmet – but it’s too rarely employed. And aligning the blue pants with the bloated orange stripe in conjunction with the white jersey and navy side panels last season was a truly horrid idea. (Russ?) With the Cardinals getting their makeover, many uniform aficionados would agree the Broncos should probably be next in line.

31. Washington Commanders (29)

Garbage rebrand, especially the white jerseys, and I’d love to see the new ownership purge the whole thing at the first opportunity a few years from now – may as well just reset the whole dreadful franchise. Yet I have to admit – though I’m generally not a fan of teams incorporating black alternates – that it was the best uniform option of the Commanders rollout, the D.C. flag on the shoulders a deft detail.

30. Cleveland Browns (28)

Clevelanders notwithstanding, this team’s (necessary) brown and (unnecessary) orange color combo and presentation will always be boring – yet also somehow revolting – to the rest of us. But at least the Browns have had the sense not to put that silly elf on the helmet.

29. Carolina Panthers (30)

They plan to reveal an update on draft night, but it’s not expected to amount to much more than Nike tweaking the team’s shade of blue while curtailing the shoulder stripes. Shame.

28. Tennessee Titans (26)

The sword elements are slick, particularly the helmet stripe and sheath on the pants. And the understated incorporation of the state flag into the logo has always been a nice touch. But on the whole, too many colors amid an overly busy design that just doesn’t coalesce.

27. Atlanta Falcons (19)

If only they’d revert to their original 1960s look now that the red helmets are back in play for the retros. If only they’d scrap those gradient alternates that make the eyes bleed.

26. Baltimore Ravens (27)

Maybe a team linked to Edgar Allan Poe should have a sinister mien. But this dark? Wearing black and purple also makes you look like you lost a bar fight … which doesn’t align with the Ravens’ ethos. (But at least the dijon pants remain safely locked away.)

25. Arizona Cardinals (32)

So this took three years of development? K … we happy, Kyler? The new vanilla getup is a significant step up from what they’d been relegated to the past 18 seasons. The all-white version elicits memories of the St. Louis Cardinals era, though the baseball team has always looked fresher. But the dopey phrases inside Arizona’s collars – ‘Protect the Nest’ and ‘Bird Gang’ – don’t help, and neither does the Ohio State-y veneer. Still, there was nowhere to go but up.

24. Jacksonville Jaguars (31)

We’re nearly recovered from the days of the two-toned helmet, so I’ll keep any complaints to a minimum. But a young franchise could use a touch of signature flair – light incorporation of jaguar spots? – and we’d like to see a return to the former logo, which was ditched following the 2012 season.

23. Chicago Bears (12)

Totally old school, which is fine, and the GSH tribute to founder George Halas on the shoulder had long been a nice differentiator. But Da Bears need to get out of the alternate space, and it would be perfectly fine if they never donned an orange helmet or jersey again.

22. Detroit Lions (18)

Don’t love that I always feel like I’m watching a Ford commercial as I’ve never been a fan of the brand. Didn’t love them stealing from the division rival Bears with ‘WCF’ on the left shoulder to honor late owner William Clay Ford … but especially hate the blocky ‘Lions’ on the opposite shoulder. Still, the ‘Honolulu Blue’ lion logo trumps Chicago’s humdrum ‘C.’

21. New York Jets (23)

The current versions have slowly grown on me, though the combination of the ‘Gotham Green’ helmet, ‘Spotlight White’ jersey and ‘Stealth Black’ pants has to go. And what they really need to get the Aaron Rodgers era off the runway in flying fashion is to reinstitute their 1980s look as a throwback.

20. Los Angeles Rams (25)

Maybe winning a Super Bowl softens the blow of scrapping classic tradition … but I still can’t unhear Hall of Fame RB Eric Dickerson saying the new helmet’s ram horn ‘looks like two bananas.’ The shiny gradient numbers on the blue jerseys also need to go, though adding white roadies to the palette – they were exclusively ‘Bone’ during the 2020 relaunch – helped.

19. New England Patriots (22)

Not that the ‘Flying Elvis’ era was ever resplendent – from a wardrobe perspective, of course – but the Pats were especially drab post-Brady. Thankfully, the ‘Pat Patriot’ throwbacks made a triumphant return in 2022, as did an appearance from the silver pants.

18. Houston Texans (20)

As they’ve tried to be in so many ways in recent years, basically a wannabe New England Lone Star version – though the steer logo incorporating the Texas state flag trumps the Pats’ emblem.

17. New York Giants (16)

I don’t like the absence of (Big) blue in their standard road uniforms. I do like that they seem to have completely ditched the gray pants. I love that they reinstituted the 1980s home uniforms as an alternate in 2022, fully glamorizing that decade’s look (take note, Jets).

16. Buffalo Bills (13)

They complete a run on red, white and blue teams in standard fare garb distinguished by the crests. And the Bills’ charging buffalo has always been sweet … though we missed the grazing bison last year.

15. Miami Dolphins (21)

The aqua and orange are quintessential South Florida, and I’ve come around to the sleeker marine mammal that now serves as the primary logo … as long as we continue to get a steady diet of the 1972 throwbacks and adhere to a ban on orange jerseys and pants that dates to 2016.

14. San Francisco 49ers (10)

A nuts and bolts uniform distinguished by its gold and red color scheme. But Niners fan are fine with basic, mounting an uprising when the organization tried to change its ‘SF’ helmet logo shortly after the 1990 season. To their credit, the 49ers listened and quickly scrapped the new look.

13. Green Bay Packers (11)

Not all that much more inspiring than their divisional brethren, though the green and gold pop nicely together. The monochrome green alternate has been a nice addition, though not a fan of the logo-less yellow helmet that comes with it.

12. Dallas Cowboys (7)

Did you know they wore four different helmet styles in 2022, with a pair of variants for the ‘Metallic Silver’ dome and two others for the white one? Bringing back the single red stripe down the center of the helmet in recent years to honor veterans is a primo stroke by ‘America’s Team.’ Any combo with the standard navy road jersey gets two thumbs up. Anything with the white helmet and the retro jerseys … meh.

11. Kansas City Chiefs (14)

The red, gold and white threads are clean and crisp all the way to the interlocking K and C within the arrowhead logo. Wouldn’t mind seeing the red monochrome more.

10. Indianapolis Colts (6)

The royal and white threads are clean and crisp all the way to the iconic horseshoe helmet logo. The newish blue-on-blue option is a nice alternative.

9. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9)

Their regrettable detour into the digital alarm clock jersey number font aside, I’ve always been partial to the Bucs – since their inception with the ‘Bucco Bruce’ logo to the modernized pewter look in which they won both Super Bowls. But it’s an absolute football tragedy that we won’t see Tom Brady in this year’s alternates as the Creamsicles make their long-awaited return.

8. Minnesota Vikings (8)

The NFC North’s youngest franchise is also its best looking. The horn emanating from the golden helm is an underrated detail, as are the shoulder stripes symbolizing Norse longboats. Prefer the purple jerseys with all gold trim.

7. Cincinnati Bengals (17)

They cleaned up their cluttered jerseys in 2021, again making them worthy of one of the league’s most distinctive helmets on the way to Super Bowl 56. Cincy gets a nice bump courtesy of 2022’s addition – the full white tiger look topped by the bleached helmet. Sick.

6. Philadelphia Eagles (15)

Hard to beat that helmet – especially when the signature wings are silver and the dome (plus jersey) are Kelly Green, as will be the case with the triumphant return of the retros as an alternate in 2023. And, for what it’s worth, I’ve never been too bothered by the current ‘Midnight Green’ iteration … though last year’s head-to-toe black, including helmet, was a touch much.

5. Seattle Seahawks (5)

For my money, still the best overhaul Nike has done – from the contrast of ‘College Navy,’ ‘Action Green’ and ‘Wolf Grey’ to the incorporation of the feathers down the helmet’s centerline and throughout. Would like to see the ‘Wolf Grey’ components used more regularly … but not as much as I’d like the Seahawks to bring back the silver helmets and their inaugural uniforms as an occasional option.

4. New Orleans Saints (4)

They had eight different uniform combos in 2022 … and they all drip, the union of ‘Old Gold,’ black and white always popping with the city’s signature fleur-de-lis logo. And the beautiful black helmet with the fleur-de-lis running down the center that debuted in 2022? Simply gorgeous. If the NFL ever authorizes outlier alternates, would love to see the Saints in purple, green and gold. 

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (3)

They’ve helped make black and gold synonymous with the Steel City. And the helmet remains unique – while providing a callback to Pittsburgh’s industrial history – with the trio of hypocycloids in the logo (which appears only the right side of the helmet) evoking the Steelmark symbol used by the American Iron and Steel Institute. And the all-black alternates are badass.

2. Los Angeles Chargers (1)

The 2020 update was needed and generally well done for one of the league’s vintage looks. But, being an honest, I’d like to see the ‘Powder Blue’ jerseys and ‘Sunshine Gold’ – they’re mustard – pants with less frequency and the ‘Midnight Lightning’ and royal kits mixed in more often. And good bet the navy jersey would flash with the white pants and helmet, so let’s try that?

1. Las Vegas Raiders (2)

The Silver and Black remain the gold standard, from the classically clean ebony finery to the marauder wearing the eyepatch on the shield crest. But from the suggestion box: A team that plays in a building called the ‘Death Star’ should take advantage of the league’s relaxed uniform policies and periodically don black pants and a black helmet while embracing its Darth Vader persona.

***

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Nate Davis on Twitter @ByNateDavis.

If awards were given out for blown leads, the Edmonton Oilers would be one game away from advancing in the NHL playoffs.

But instead, the Los Angeles Kings lead their first-round series two games to one as a result of an overtime goal that left the Oilers frustrated in more ways than one.

Trevor Moore netted the winner on a play that saw Gabriel Villardi nearly play the puck with a high stick in the offensive zone, a play, per Rule 80, that would’ve necessitated a stoppage as the puck was corralled by the Kings. While Oilers star Connor McDavid immediately pointed up to gesture for a high-stick, the NHL’s situation room said there was no conclusive video evidence that determined the puck touched Villardi’s stick.

‘It’s a play where the greatest player in the world (Connor McDavid) is 2 feet away as it happens, and his arm comes straight up in the air,’ Oilers coach Jay Woodcroft told reporters. ‘He knows that it hit the stick. Otherwise, he wouldn’t put his arm up in the air. He’d keep playing. It appears to me in the video that the puck’s going straight up in a trajectory and deadens.

‘In the end, I’m going to go with the greatest player in the world who’s 3 feet away.’

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McDavid elaborated after the game.

‘I saw just in the corner … the puck kinda goes up and it goes off his stick, so I called high stick, that’s what I saw on the ice and then obviously they go on and score,’ McDavid told reporters.

But the NHL didn’t see it that way, and with it came a 3-2 win in Game 3 for the Kings, who erased a 2-1 Edmonton lead in the second period. The Oilers blew two-goal leads in the prior two games, though they won Game 2.

‘To be completely honest with you, I had no clue what they were checking for,’ Kings center Anze Kopitar said. ‘Obviously, I saw the goal and that was certainly not played with a high stick. I didn’t know. I guess in my mind the longer it took – usually the longer it takes, it’s inconclusive and the call on the ice was a goal.’

Los Angeles hosts the Oilers in Game 4 on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET (TBS).

The NFL suspended Jameson Williams on Friday for something legal in 26 states and Canada.

Williams, the Lions’ precocious second-year receiver, was banned six games for placing online bets on non-NFL games from an NFL facility in a probe that also snared three of his Detroit Lions teammates. Stanley Berryhill was suspended six games for the same offense, and the Lions released C.J. Moore and Quintez Cephus, who will serve indefinite suspensions of at least a year for betting on football.

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The NFL will convene in Kansas City next week when Missouri’s most populous city hosts the 2023 NFL draft for the first time.

The Carolina Panthers are on the clock with the first overall pick. Carolina is expected to draft either Alabama quarterback Bryce Young or Ohio State quarterback  C.J. Stroud. The Houston Texans are likely to draft the best quarterback available on their draft board at No. 2.

While the first two selections are presumably quarterbacks, there’s plenty of uncertainty following the top two picks.

USA TODAY Sports tackles 10 of the biggest questions in advance of the 2023 NFL draft.

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How many quarterbacks will be selected in the first round of the draft?

As many as five quarterbacks could be drafted in Round 1, especially considering the Carolina Panthers, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Las Vegas Raiders, Atlanta Falcons, Tennessee Titans and Washington Commanders all have needs at the position.

Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Anthony Richardson (Florida) are likely to be taken in the first round, but don’t be surprised if Will Levis (Kentucky) and Hendon Hooker (Tennessee) join the three.

What’s the deepest position group in this year’s draft?

This year’s draft class is considered deep at both edge rusher and defensive line. Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson could be the first defensive player drafted. Many scouts consider Anderson and Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter as the best two players in this year’s draft. Carter recently pleaded no contest to charges of racing and reckless driving in connection to a fatal car crash in January.

Clemson’s Myles Murphy, Texas Tech’s Tyree Wilson, Georgia’s Nolan Smith, Pittsburgh’s Calijah Kancey and Clemson’s Bryan Bresee are first-round talents along the defensive line and edge. USC’s Tuli Tuipulotu, LSU’s B.J. Ojulari and Florida’s Gervon Dexter are names to watch after Day 1.

Should the Arizona Cardinals trade out of the No.3 pick?

The Cardinals are rumored to be shopping the pick. Could they orchestrate a trade with the Colts, who select one spot after Arizona at No. 4? The Cardinals shouldn’t trade back further than four or else they might miss out on the opportunity of selecting the best defensive player in the draft.

Arizona lost its top two pass rushers this offseason in J.J. Watt (retirement) and Zach Allen (free agency). Will Anderson would immediately become the Cardinals’ best pass rusher if the franchise drafted him.

How many wide receivers are expected to be drafted in the first round?

Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba, USC’s Jordan Addison, Boston College’s Zay Flowers, Tennessee’s Jalin Hyatt and TCU’s Quentin Johnston are the wide receivers with the best chance to be drafted in the first round. There’s a drop-off after those five receivers so they could all be off the board after round one.

After trading the No. 1 overall pick, what’s the Chicago Bears’ biggest draft need?  

The Bears acquired wide receiver DJ Moore in their blockbuster trade with the Panthers and upgraded their linebacker position in free agency. (They also received the No. 9 pick and a second-rounder this year (No. 61 overall), along with a first- and second-rounder in 2024 in the trade.)

Now it’s time for the Bears to fortify their offensive and defensive lines through the draft as it’s the team’s two biggest areas of need. The Bears’ offense allowed 58 sacks last year, and Chicago’s defense had a league-worst 20 sacks in 2022.

Which team has the chance to benefit most from this year’s draft?

The Texans because they currently have 12 total draft picks, including picks two and 12. Houston has five picks in the top 75 in this year’s draft. Texans general manager Nick Caserio has a prime opportunity to inject the franchise with talent on both sides of the ball, including at quarterback.

Will the Green Bay Packers and New York Jets complete the Aaron Rodgers trade during the draft?

Which school will have the most players drafted this year?

Alabama is the likely candidate for most drafted players this year. Nick Saban has a factory in Tuscaloosa that annually produces NFL prospects. This year is no different. The Alabama Crimson Tide had 13 players invited to the 2023 NFL combine, the most of any school this year.

Who is a sleeper draft prospect on offense?

UCLA running back Zach Charbonnet is projected to be a day two, or, at worst, a day three selection. But Charbonnet has the ability to be a three-down NFL running back. He runs with good vision and power and usually falls forward after initial contact. Charbonnet led the nation in all-purpose yards per game (168.0) and led the Pac-12 in rushing yards per game (135.9).

Who is a sleeper draft prospect on defense?

South Carolina CB Darius Rush started his collegiate career as a wide receiver before converting to cornerback, so he has good ball skills. In Rush’s senior season, he tallied 38 tackles, seven pass breakups and two interceptions. In 2022, he received the second-highest grade among SEC cornerbacks, per Pro Football Focus.

At 6-2, 198 pounds, Rush ran a 4.36-second 40-yard dash at the 2023 combine. He has great size, length and speed for an NFL cornerback.

Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Tyler Dragon on Twitter @TheTylerDragon.

Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is set to be a very rich man when he signs his next contract, but don’t expect it to be with the New York Yankees.

The Toronto Blue Jays’ two-time All-Star doubled down on his stance Friday that he will never play for the American League East rivals.

“It’s a personal thing that goes back with my family,” Guerrero Jr. said through a translator, according to the New York Post. “So, that’s my decision. I would never change that.”

Guerrero Jr., who has two more years of arbitration left before he’s a free agent in 2026 when he’s 27, made the comments before going 2-for-4 with a two-run home run in the Blue Jays’ win at Yankee Stadium. He’s the son of Hall of Famer Vladimir Guerrero, who played 16 seasons with the Montreal Expos, Angels franchise, Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles.

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Guerrero Jr. is slashing .346/.429/.513 with four home runs and 11 RBI in his fifth season. The 24-year-old has won a Silver Slugger and Gold Glove and finished second in MVP voting (in 2021). He’s earning $14.5 million in his second arbitration-eligible year.

“Since you are a little kid, you dream of playing at Yankee Stadium,” Guerrero Jr. said. “Yankee Stadium is always a stadium you want to go to, you want to perform, you want to hit. That’s the mentality all the time when I come here.”

BOULDER, Colo. – Deion Sanders’ grand experiment at Colorado has set up quite a contrast with the rest of major college football.

The Buffaloes have been bringing in so many new transfer players from other colleges that it almost seems like a test run for a new model of team building.

It also tees up a big question:

Is ‘Coach Prime’ outsmarting everyone else right now with his recruiting and roster strategy as Colorado’s new head coach? Or is he climbing a slippery slope?

‘Once you start getting off the established path, and you think you’ve got it figured out more than everyone else does, obviously there’s a huge potential risk there, and I see that risk for the Buffaloes and Coach Prime,’ former Colorado and NFL linebacker Chad Brown told USA TODAY Sports.

The flip side of that risk is that it comes with the potential for big rewards – fielding a winning team after last year’s team finished 1-11.

What is his strategy?

Just a few years ago, the conventional way to win was to recruit better high school players and nurture them along for four or five years until they left.

Sanders instead has pushed an instant rebuilding strategy that he piloted at his previous job at Jackson State. He calls it his 40-40-20 formula. His goal, he said, is to recruit a team with 40% undergraduate transfers, 40% graduate transfers and 20% from high schools.

Since his hiring in early December, he’s hauled in more transfers than any other team this year (28) with a transfer class that ranks No. 1 in the nation, according to 247Sports.

“We’ve been pretty successful,” Sanders said this week. “I can’t tell you everything, but we’re pretty good.”

Others have much different ways to build programs, such as Matt Rhule, the new coach at Nebraska, or Kirby Smart, the coach at Georgia.

But this is what college football is now – free-agent players who want to win right away and make some money on the side from their names, images and likenesses (NIL).

Sanders recognized this, took advantage of the transfer portal and rode it into a sold-out spring football game here Saturday at Folsom Field.

The big question is how it will go when they start playing real games in September and beyond.

What makes it so different?

Players switching teams from other four-year colleges wasn’t that common until 2021, when an NCAA rule change allowed players to transfer without first sitting out a year of competition.

Some coaches still want to build with high school players, including Smart, who won a national title in January after not adding any transfer players the year before.

‘I’m really big on getting the core of your team from high school, developing them the right way,’ Smart said earlier this month on SiriusXM Sports. “It really boils down to who … you bring in your organization, because if they come in looking to leave, or if they come in expecting to only play as a freshman and have it easy, then we’re probably recruiting the wrong guy.”

Others would rather not have to watch the portal constantly and would prefer to focus on developing their current players to make sure they stick around and succeed. Rhule made a comment about this last week, which some interpreted as a dig at Sanders.

What did Rhule say?

Players who wanted to change teams could enter their names in the transfer portal for 45 days starting Dec. 5 and then again from April 15 to April 30. On the day the spring portal opened last week, Rhule spoke about how he loves players who “buy in” and accept his coaching, as opposed to constantly shopping for new players in the transfer market.

“I hear other schools, they can’t wait for today, the transfer portal,” Rhule said.

By contrast, Rhule said, “I can’t wait to coach my guys. Let me tell you that. I’m not thinking about anybody else but this team out here.”

Rhule didn’t mention Sanders by name. So perhaps it was just a coincidence that Sanders had posted a short video on Instagram the day before in which he openly celebrated the opening of the spring transfer portal.

In the video, Sanders dances in his chair to music above a flashing graphic that says, “Portal Coming!”

It was a marketing pitch. Sanders developed the 40-40-20 formula to win ‘now’ and previously acknowledged that programs with more recent long-term success could afford to take a more traditional approach, unlike his team, which went 1-11 before his hiring.

“Looking forward to another big day tomorrow,” Colorado offensive coordinator Sean Lewis said in the same video. “Looking for dogs that are going to meet our needs. We coming.”

Who is right?

It largely depends on how good and hungry the players are, whether they came from high school or other colleges. Last year, Southern California had the nation’s No. 1 transfer class before finishing 11-3. That class was smaller than CU’s but had more top-tier players, including quarterback Caleb Williams, who won the Heisman Trophy after transferring from Oklahoma.

We’ll know more Sept. 9, when Nebraska plays Colorado in Boulder. Rhule inherited a 4-8 team and has pumped the portal to get 12 new players for 2023 – a transfer class that ranks 25th, according to 247Sports.

By contrast, Sanders enrolled 14 four-year transfers this spring, along with seven graduate transfers. Even more are coming in the fall, putting pressure on players from last year’s team to leave as they face heightened competition under the scholarship roster limit of 85 players. A number of CU players from last year’s team recently decided to put their own names in the portal, including several defensive linemen.

“The bottom line is we’re going to work with the guys that are here,” said CU defensive tackles coach Sal Sunseri, who joined Sanders’ staff from Alabama. “The guys that don’t want to be here, see you later. And we’re gonna get better.”

This kind of pressurized roster churn resembles pro football, where teams regularly upgrade their rosters by signing free agents and cutting players who aren’t good enough. Sanders, a Pro Football Hall of Famer, seems to be an apt choice to lead players in such an environment.

What’s the disadvantage?

Sanders, 55, is a sports marketing icon with a history of commercial endorsements and success in pro football and baseball. He also is adept in social media channels, which resonates with today’s players.

That gives him an edge over most other coaches in terms of recruiting and attracting transfer players, especially after college players were allowed to earn money from their NILs for the first time in 2021.

But what about bringing them all together as a team to win games after all that turnover?

“You just hope you can find the right fit,” former Colorado and NFL quarterback Kordell Stewart said Wednesday when asked about the overhaul. “That’s the key, right? It’s the fit.”

Every year, teams across the country start over with new coaches, players and schemes, just not to this degree.

‘If every year there is going to be this massive roster turnover, how do you establish the culture?’ Brown said in an interview with USA TODAY Sports. ‘How do the kids get a collective belief going? How do they avoid this kid of mercenary-for-hire kind of thinking?’

Brown wants Colorado to succeed. He said he’s just generally skeptical when players are changing teams because the grass appears greener somewhere else without realizing it might not be after they get there. 

Where is this going? 

In this case, if Sanders succeeds with this formula in the fall, more and better transfers might want to join him next year, putting even more pressure on his team’s weakest links to improve or leave. His roster improves again as a result.

On the other hand, if his team fails in the fall, he could lose some of his own best players to the transfer portal. Or if the players he’s bringing in through the portal don’t pan out, he could be stuck with them to some degree.

Players aren’t allowed to transfer multiple times and remain immediately eligible to play. Last year, the NCAA also guaranteed that players who transfer will receive their scholarship money at their next school through graduation, with some exceptions.

It still comes down to acquiring and developing the best talent, one way or another. 

“We know what we want, and we’re going to get it,” Sanders said.

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com

Nate Diaz has a knack for the street fight, which was on full display Friday in New Orleans once again.

Not only did Diaz ignite a physical kerfuffle when he chucked a water bottle at Netflix reality series star Chase DeMoor at a Misfits Boxing event where his teammate Chris Avila was competing, he also guillotined a man into unconsciousness in a post-event melee on the streets of New Orleans, a new video shows.

It’s unclear how or why the scuffle started, but the video captured how it ended – at least for one man. The video was posted by social media and YouTube influencer JiDion, who wrote in a lead-in tweet, ‘Broooo I’m (expletive) up and Nate Diez [sic] choked out my homie.’

Shortly thereafter, other videos surfaced of DeMoor in a street brawl against multiple people. The caption that accompanied the video, posted by gamer OVERT, read, ‘Chase Demoor fights Nate Diaz whole team in New Orleans.’

The video appears to be taken in front of the same businesses that were visible in the original Diaz choke video.

Diaz has quite the resume of fights in and around events he’s not actually competing on. From the infamous Strikeforce Nashville brawl, to a fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov and company at a World Series of Fighting event, to the more recent ejection at the Jake Paul vs. Anderson Silva event, Diaz and his squad have proved unwilling to back down.

On the eve of the 1986 NFL draft, Philadelphia Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan went on a Philadelphia radio station and said there was one player he would not be selecting.

‘We will not take Keith Byars,’ Ryan said, even going so far as to call the Ohio State running back a ‘medical reject’ because of his broken foot.

The next day, he took Byars with the 10th overall pick.

‘You don’t get anywhere in this world unless you roll the dice,’ Ryan told reporters.

In most corners of the world, this would be called lying. But in the leadup to the annual NFL draft, it is explained away as a ‘smokescreen,’ intended to deceive rival teams.

NFL Draft Hub: Latest NFL Draft mock drafts, news, live picks, grades and analysis

It’s just one example – albeit, a particularly blatant one – of the deception that takes place in the NFL at around this time every year, as people in and around the league attempt to gauge one another’s true intentions while disguising their own. 

‘This is the time of year for subterfuge,’ longtime agent Mike McCartney of Vayner Sports said. ‘It’s just the way it is in this league. You’re going to get misinformation.’

The methods by which that misinformation starts and spreads, however, is nuanced – more complicated and, in some cases, less deliberate than fans might realize. 

Here are some of the major ways it all comes about, some intentional and others not so much.

Deceptive visits 

In the weeks leading up to the draft, each NFL team is permitted to host up to 30 prospects on a private visit at its facility. These visits can be a valuable way to further evaluate a player the team is genuinely interested, or try to signal interest in one it is not.

NFL Network analyst Marc Ross said his teams usually had a few misleading visits per draft cycle, especially when they were targeting another player at that same position.

‘You have to play the game,’ said Ross, who spent more than two decades in the scouting and personnel departments of the New York Giants, Buffalo Bills and Philadelphia Eagles.

‘Most of (the visits are) legit. Some of it’s you’re just trying to throw people off the scent a little bit.’

Feigned interest

Perhaps the most basic diversion used by team executives around this time of year? Expressing interest in one player to hide genuine interest in another.

Sometimes it’s a conversation between low-level scouts or assistant coaches that balloons into a narrative about who one team wants to pick. Other times it’s interest being surreptitiously fed to someone in the media, who will amplify it.

Ross said that, in his experience, teams are more likely to lie about their interest in a specific player than they are to tell the truth.

‘Because it could come back to get you,’ he said. ‘That would be counterproductive to really tell people.’

Even the slightest degree of public interest can fuel rumors.

In 2013, for example, NFL Network reported that Kansas City Chiefs scouts were ‘fascinated’ by Geno Smith and comparing him to a young Donovan McNabb. They drafted offensive lineman Eric Fisher No. 1 overall instead.

In 2014, Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Lovie Smith talked about how much tape he had watched of Johnny Manziel at Texas A&M, fueling speculation that they could draft him. Really, the player they wanted was Manziel’s college teammate, Mike Evans.

False promises

An oft-overlooked type of misinformation around the draft: Promises made to players about who is going to draft them, and when.

McCartney, who represents six draft-eligible players this year, said this happens so frequently that he has taken to warning his clients about it. He’s seen it happen hundreds of times, usually with assistant coaches making promises they know they do not have the power to follow through on.

The longtime agent mentioned one client, a tight end he declined to mention, who got a phone call from a team’s tight ends coach, informing him that the team was about to take him in the third round. Then he got the same call in the fourth round. And the fifth. And in the sixth, the player was drafted by a different team. 

‘It doesn’t make any sense to me, that you as an adult would get a 21, 22-year-old guy’s hopes up, when you surely know that what you’re telling him is a guess at best,’ McCartney said. ‘So that’s extremely frustrating. And it just doesn’t stop.’

Perhaps the most recent example is Lewis Cine, who said on a podcast that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers promised to take him with the 27th overall pick before trading out of the first round. Cine was instead taken by the Minnesota Vikings.

‘I’m like, damn, they did me just so dirty,’ Cine said on the podcast.

Saying nothing

With the growth of social media and the mock-drafting ecosystem, some teams have realized that the most effective way to create misinformation about their true intentions in the draft is to say nothing – just set back and let the rumor mill take off.

In 2021, for example, the San Francisco 49ers traded for the 3rd overall pick, prompting several prominent media members – including ESPN’s Adam Schefter and NBC Sports’ Chris Simms – to claim they were moving up to pick quarterback Mac Jones. Because Schefter and Simms have close ties with 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan, their statements became almost an organic smokescreen Shanahan instead took Trey Lance.

‘We weren’t going to work to correct that,’ Shanahan later told NBC Sports of the Jones rumors. ‘But to see how much this matters to so many people was just unbelievable.’

The same strategy applies to top-30 visits. Ross, who is also the executive vice president of football operations for the XFL, said it helped the New York Giants nab wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in 2014. Though the Giants attended Beckham’s pro day, Ross said they deliberately did not bring him in for a private workout or do anything that would otherwise link him with the team.

‘That’s moreso what you should be looking at: Who teams are ignoring, not who openly you just keep hearing they’re taking,’ Ross said.

Some executives, like Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman, say they don’t talk about the draft with anyone outside of their own building – whether its an old friend with another team, or a casual fan at a child’s soccer game.

‘This is a huge game of poker,’ he said during his pre-draft news conference Thursday. ‘So am I going to give you guys any answers today? No. Not even a little bit.’

Contact Tom Schad at tschad@usatoday.com or on Twitter @Tom_Schad.