INDIANAPOLIS – Travis Hunter stepped to the podium on Thursday wearing the official NFL combine-issued shirt that identified him as “DB 15.”

What a misnomer that was. In multiple ways.

Hunter is, well, arguably No. 1 when it comes to ranking the talent, cornerbacks or otherwise, lined up for the upcoming NFL draft. And to ID the Heisman Trophy winner these days as merely a DB misses the point, too.

As Hunter prepares to make the leap from Colorado to a much greater stage in the NFL, he’ll bring significant intrigue with hopes to play both ways – as cornerback and wide receiver – as demonstrated in college under the watch of Coach Prime.

“They say nobody has ever done it the way I do it,” Hunter, 21, declared before a thick pack of media. “But I tell them I’m just different. I’m a different person.”

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Shoot, if any player needs a shirt with a slash – as in CB/WR – this is your guy.

Hunter undoubtedly possesses immense talent. Yet he might have even more self-confidence as he doesn’t blink when sharing his vision of full-time double duty. If only there was a combine measurable for that trait.

“I’ve got my own unique case that I can play both sides of the ball,” he said. “Not that many people in the NFL have done it.”

Especially since Chuck Bednarik went both ways for the Philadelphia Eagles in the 1960s.

Conventional wisdom suggests Hunter would establish himself as a full-time player at one position, then handle a lesser amount of snaps at the other position. After all, it’s the highest level of competition that we’re talking about. It will be tough enough, even for an immense talent like Hunter, to prove elite at one position.

Then again, they told Hunter coming out of high school that there was no way he would excel as a two-way player on the major college level. Just one coach, Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, was willing to let him go for it.

And well, this past season en route to the award for the best player in college football, Hunter averaged an astonishing 113 snaps per game – with basically a 50-50 split between offense and defense.

But still. Several NFL personnel shot-callers told me recently that they projected Hunter as a cornerback who could get spot duty as a receiver.

At the combine this week, Eliot Wolf, the New England Patriots’ top personnel executive, echoed that theme. The Patriots, by the way, could have a shot at drafting Hunter while holding the fourth pick overall.

“He’s probably going to major in one and minor in the other,” Wolf said. “But I think there’s a scenario where he could play both ways.”

This intrigue includes whether he’s a cornerback first (as the shirt suggested) or a receiver first. Part of the cornerback-first argument: It is much more difficult to find an elite cornerback than an elite receiver. So, maybe there’s a supply-and-demand quotient in play.

Yet the receiver-first argument includes this: Size. Hunter is listed at 6-1, 185 pounds. No, he wouldn’t be a “big” cornerback. Besides, what makes him special are his “ball skills.”

“Well, I’d say this, in terms of Travis Hunter, cornerback or receiver? The answer is yes,” Cleveland Browns general manager Andrew Berry said. “So, he can play both and I think that’s what makes him special.

“We would see him as a receiver primarily first, but I think part of what makes him a bit of a unicorn is the fact that he can do both at a high level.”

Berry, holding the second pick overall, said he sees Hunter as a receiver first because of the opportunities he would have to impact the game.

“His superpower, they’re really his ball skills, and that’s a position where you can use it 100 times during the season versus maybe 30 on the high end,” Berry maintained. “But look, we’ll have our coaches and scouts fight it out.”

Although Hunter doubled down on his desire for full-time double-duty, he also said he wouldn’t push back if the team that drafts him prefers to concentrate on one position.

 “Yeah, I would hope for them to go out there and let me earn the other position,” he said. “But that’s up to them, not me.”

In the meantime, Hunter hopes to convince teams that his body can withstand the rigors of double duty. He talked up the training and recovery methods employed during his college career as proof.

“Cold tubs, hot tubs, cardio, (hyperbaric oxygen) chamber, red-lighting,” he said. “A lot of stuff.”

It should also be noted that hundreds of top-tier athletes in the NFL employ such methods to maintain peak performance. And many have reputations similar to Hunter for extreme endurance.

Go ahead, question what makes him special with this. The doubt might be part of the equation that triggers his superpower.

“Nobody has done it, but I feel like I have put my body through a lot,” Hunter said. “I do a lot of treatment. People don’t get to see that part, what I do for my body to make sure I’m 100 percent each game. I feel like nobody can do it. I did it at the college level, where you rarely get breaks. There are a lot more breaks in the NFL.”

Say what?

Let’s hear it for youthful vigor and fresh legs.

It makes you wonder: If Travis Hunter the cornerback covered Travis Hunter the wide receiver, who wins that matchup?

“Travis Hunter,” he said.

Then again, even Hunter has his limits. Someone asked him whether he expects that he will also return kickoffs and punts in the NFL.

“I don’t know about returner,” he replied. “I’ve already got two jobs on my hand.”

And if it’s up to Hunter, it will prove quite the point. Again.

Follow Jarrett Bell on social media @JarrettBell

INDIANAPOLIS — There’s no real movement on Myles Garrett’s trade request.

The Cleveland Browns don’t want to trade the star defensive end as Browns general manager Andrew Berry stated at the NFL combine. However, the Browns have had preliminary dialogue with teams about a trade, per a person with knowledge of the situation. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. No trade is imminent.  

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Stephen Curry took a run at the NBA single-game 3-point record he once held Thursday night, hitting 12 and scoring 56 points in the Golden State Warriors’ 121-115 win over the Orlando Magic.

It was a throwback performance for Curry, whose previous season-high was 38 points. He went 16-for-25 from the field, including 12-for-19 from beyond the arc. He also hit all 12 of his free throws.

This marks the third time Curry, the NBA’s all-time leader in 3-pointers, has hit 12 in a game. He matched the then-record of 12 for the first time in February 2016 before breaking it by hitting 13 in a game that November. Former teammate Klay Thompson broke Curry’s mark and holds the current record, having hit 14 in a 2018 game.

Though Curry no longer has the single-game record, no one really comes close to him when it comes to hitting 3-pointers in volume. Per The Athletic, Curry has 45 games with at least nine made 3-pointers. Second place? Damian Lillard … with 14.

Curry was cooking Thursday night and was particularly hot in the third quarter, outscoring the Magic by himself, 22-21. He capped the first half by hitting a 3-pointer from well beyond half court.

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Steph Curry highlights vs. Magic

Steph Curry stats vs. Magic

Points: 56
FG: 16-for-25
3PT: 12-for-19
FT: 12-for-12
Rebounds: 4
Assists: 3
Steals: 2
Blocks: 0
Turnovers: 4
Fouls: 0
Minutes played: 34

This story was updated with new information.

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INDIANAPOLIS – Brian Schottenheimer’s life hasn’t changed all that much.

Yet.

It’s been five weeks since the Dallas Cowboys promoted their 51-year-old offensive coordinator to his first NFL head coaching gig. And while it’s been two months since the season ended for “America’s Team” – and more like four months since it effectively did – Schottenheimer feels like he and his staff have remained in regular-season mode. He certainly hasn’t made time to hit the Indy bar scene during the league’s annual scouting combine.

“I haven’t gotten out much to be honest with you,” he said Thursday. “It’s been nonstop, there’s a lot of work to be done. Again, other than a few autograph seekers, it’s been pretty normal.

“It feels like we’re in in-season a little bit right now in terms of the hours.”

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That’s because he and newly hired coordinator Klayton Adams have been redesigning an offense that ranked 17th in 2024. Former Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus is doing the same for a defense that just surrendered the second-most points in the league. In his spare time, Schottenheimer is having cram sessions ahead of free agency … when not participating in interviews for this year’s draft prospects.

“I haven’t had a whole lot of time,” said Schottenheimer. “It’s been a lot of long hours, and I really haven’t had time to say what feels different.”

Even his working environment seems similar after team owner Jerry Jones agreed to transplant the entire Dallas staff from Frisco, Texas, to the combine.

“We all got in here on Sunday, and Monday morning was no different than working out of The Star,” said Schottenheimer, referencing the Cowboys’ headquarters.

And there’s more. So much more.

Schottenheimer is closely monitoring Dak Prescott’s recovery and rehabilitation from a serious hamstring injury that ended the season for the league’s highest-paid quarterback at the midway point. He’s considering what life will look like without perennial All-Pro guard Zack Martin, who is expected to retire. He’s hoping 2025 won’t bring the same contractual distractions that 2024 did with Prescott and wideout CeeDee Lamb – especially with All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons now in line for his own payday.

And then there’s the matter of just getting more familiarized with the entire team, particularly the defensive players Schottenheimer hasn’t worked as closely with.

“I would say most of my day is spent walking the hall and getting a feel for the players,’ said Schottenheimer, who often patrols the weight room and training room at The Star.

Bring it on – even for a highly flawed team coming off a 7-10 season after Schottenheimer’s predecessor, Mike McCarthy, had run off three consecutive 12-win campaigns.

“I’m ready for it, always have been,” said Schottenheimer, “way more ready for it now than I was probably when I was 32 and had some opportunities.

“But I think the biggest thing for me would be it’s way more clear to me now what I want to do, how I want to do it – with a special culture about winning, about doing it with the right type of people.”

It seems the right type of people have already been helping Schottenheimer – namely his peers.

“I’d say the other head coaches have been amazing,” said Schottenheimer, who’s been patrolling NFL sidelines in various capacities since 1997, minus a few brief stints in the college ranks.

“They’ve reached out to me. They’ve been awesome as sounding boards.”

That includes Eberflus, whom the Bears fired after Thanksgiving, the first time they’d ever made a midseason coaching change. Now he’s back in North Texas after being the Cowboys’ linebackers coach from 2011 to ’17. Schottenheimer, who admits issues he hasn’t anticipated in his new role arise nearly every day, is leaning on him for advice and counting on Eberflus to deploy a defense that gets back to generating takeaways.

“(T)hink the world of him,” said Schottenheimer. “I think that that was just an incredible hire for us – and one that, quite honestly, that a lot of people were trying to get him. And we were able to get him, which is great for me – not just as a coach, but as a man.”

However Schottenheimer, the son of Marty Schottenheimer, whose 200 regular-season wins are the most in league history for a coach who never won a championship, reserved his loftiest praise for his two most recent bosses, McCarthy and Pete Carroll.

“Mike and Jerry had a lot of hard conversations and it ended up not working out, but I will never talk about Mike McCarthy in any way but holding him in the highest regard,” Schottenheimer said of his predecessor, whose contract expired in January.

“He is one of my best friends in football. An amazing coach, an amazing mentor to me. And he’ll be back on the sidelines before too long.”

Carroll, 73, who fired Schottenheimer when he was the Seattle Seahawks’ offensive coordinator four years ago, is back himself as the Las Vegas Raiders’ new boss.

“Pete’s been incredibly impactful to me,” said Schottenheimer. “And what do I mean by that? I mean the way he looks at the game, the way he wants people to let their own personality shine and not kinda put people into a box, per se, I think that’s one of his greatest strengths – even at his age – his energy, his juice, his passion.

“He challenged me,” he continued, admitting they had a “hard breakup” in Seattle.

“He said, ‘Schotty, in a lot of ways you’re a football savant. You’ve been around the game your whole life, there’s things that you’ve learned along the way that you don’t even know you’ve learned. But what do you really believe in?’

“And I thought that was really, really cool. And he didn’t have to do that. But, yeah, amazing coach. Truly of all the coaches, including my father, he’s the guy I probably model myself the most after.”

And if, like Carroll and McCarthy have already done in their own careers, Schottenheimer can capture the Lombardi Trophy that always evaded his dad and the Cowboys for nearly the past three decades, then his life truly will change.

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Travis Kelce’s self-reflection has paved the way for a 13th season with the Kansas City Chiefs.

The 10-time Pro Bowl tight end will return to action in 2025, putting to rest speculation about his future. Kelce confirmed the news Thursday on the X account of ‘New Heights,’ the podcast he co-hosts with his brother, former Philadelphia Eagles All-Pro center Jason Kelce.

Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said Tuesday at the combine that he expected Kelce to be back based on their most recent conversation.

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“How we left it at the end of the season is that he was fired up. He has one more year under contract and still think he has that fire and desire to play,” Veach said of Kelce.

‘I think I owe it to my teammates that, if I do come back, it’s going to be something that it’s a whole-hearted decision … I’m fully here for them, and I think I could play,’ Kelce said on a ‘New Heights’ episode that aired Jan. 12. ‘It’s just whether or not I’m motivated or it’s the best decision for me as a man, as a human and as a person to take on all of that responsibility.’

Kelce, 35, is coming off a season in which his 823 receiving yards and three touchdowns catches represented his lowest output since his rookie campaign, with defenses regularly blanketing him and forcing Patrick Mahomes to look to other options in a largely unproven receiving corps.

In a November story by the Wall Street Journal, Kelce acknowledged that injuries had taken a significant toll on him throughout his career and prompted his contemplation of retirement. After the Super Bowl, Kelce, who has started 21 playoff games since Mahomes first took over behind center in 2018, said this season had been particularly challenging from a physical standpoint.

‘The fact that we keep going to these AFC championships and these Super Bowls, that means I’m playing an extra three games more than everybody else in the entire league,’ Kelce said on ‘New Heights.’ ‘That’s a lot of wear and tear on your body, and it’s a lot of time spent in the building, focusing on your craft, focusing on the task at hand and every challenge that you set up for yourself.

‘That process can be grueling. It can weigh on you. It can make you better. It can drive you crazy at the same time. And right now, it’s one of those things where it was driving me crazy this year. It happens as you kind of tail off towards the back nine of your career, as SVP (ESPN anchor Scott Van Pelt) would say.’

Prior to the Super Bowl, Kelce acknowledged that he had been ‘setting myself up for other opportunities in my life.’ After being thrust into a heightened level of fame amid his relationship with pop superstar Taylor Swift, he has pursued several entertainment projects – including a role in the FX series ‘Grotesquerie’ – while ‘New Heights’ has remained popular.

Kelce’s return provides a significant dose of stability for a Chiefs team looking to bounce back after it was denied a historic Super Bowl three-peat. Despite the attention he received from defenses, Kelce has 35 more targets than the next closest player, receiver Xavier Worthy. Outside of the rookie wideout, no other player had even half of Kelce’s 97 receptions. Go-to target Rashee Rice was lost for the season to a lateral collateral ligament injury in October, and his recovery and potential discipline for his role in a six-vehicle crash last year could leave his return on uncertain ground.

Kelce has one year remaining on his contract and is due a $11.5 million roster bonus on March 15, five days after NFL free agency first opens with the opening of the negotiation window.

When Lionel Messi and Inter Miami return to action this weekend for ‘Sunday Night Soccer” in Houston, a couple of opposing players will be living out their dreams on the same pitch.

Houston Dynamo defender Franco Escobar and striker Ezequiel Ponce hail from Rosario, Argentina, like Messi. They started their journeys in soccer with hometown club, Newell’s Old Boys, like Messi.

They can’t wait to shake Messi’s hand, give him a hug, face him in the heat of battle and even ask for his jersey after the Dynamo host Inter Miami at 7 p.m. ET Sunday in Shell Energy Stadium.

Escobar may even lift his shorts above his right thigh to show his personal tribute — a massive tattoo of Messi kissing the World Cup trophy.

“It’s going to be something very beautiful for me that will remain in my memories until the day I no longer play. For me, the best player in history,” Escobar said of Messi during an interview with USA TODAY Sports. ‘It’s something very beautiful that doesn’t happen every day, and it’s going to be a very beautiful game and a very beautiful memory for me and for all of us.”

Escobar — who won MLS Cup titles with Atlanta United (2018) and Los Angeles FC (2022) before joining Houston in 2023 — always wanted a Messi tattoo. He watched the last World Cup intently, like all of Argentina did, hoping Messi would have the defining moment of his legendary career.

When he looks at his thigh, Escobar thinks of how Messi dropped to his knees in relief and exhaustion, celebrating after Argentina beat Kylian Mbappe and France in a thrilling penalty shootout at the historic Qatar final.

The 30-year-old MLS veteran almost never thinks about the four hours he endured or the roughly $400 he spent in Argentina for the ink job about a month after the World Cup win.

‘It hurt a lot, but the result was worth the pain,” Escobar said with pride.

‘The truth is that I admire him a lot. I always hoped and was confident that he was going to win the World Cup with Argentina, and that was the tattoo I was waiting for. He has to have the biggest trophy in football. He has to have it. He’s the best. Then, thank God, he was able to win it and make us all happy.”

Messi will be on center stage in the second edition of ‘Sunday Night Soccer” — a primetime showcase created by Major League Soccer and Apple TV this season. The league had a memorable debut when expansion side San Diego FC took down the defending champion L.A. Galaxy last week.

Slowing Messi – who has started the year with two goals and two assists in three matches – will be imperative for the Dynamo players. Houston (0-0-1) and Inter Miami (0-1-0) each are looking for their first MLS win of the season.

Escobar knows he’ll be up against the same thing he loves the most about Messi: His tireless desire to win.

‘It’s going to be difficult. It’s very difficult to mark him, to control him. It’s almost impossible, if not impossible. I’ll try to put aside the fanaticism and admiration one has for him for just 90 minutes,” Escobar said. “It’s going to be intense. A player like him generates something in his opponents, in his own teammates, that must be unusual. I haven’t had to face him, but I’ve heard many players say the same thing – that his presence alone is different, and you know that every time he gets hold of the ball, something can happen.

“I haven’t played against a player who touches the ball anywhere on the pitch and you’re thinking (expletive), something could happen. It could end up as a goal, even if he’s got two players on him marking him. So, you have to be very careful. Anyway, it’s going to be a very nice experience, and hopefully with a happy ending for us.”

Messi is already off to a fast start in 2025. He scored two goals in two matches against Sporting Kansas City to help Inter Miami advance 4-1 on aggregate score to the Round of 16 in the Concacaf Champions Cup tournament.

Messi had two assists in Inter Miami’s 2-2 draw to open the MLS season Saturday against New York City FC. He was also fined by the league’s disciplinary committee for inappropriately squeezing the back of an opposing coach’s neck as the match concluded.

Houston lost to FC Dallas 2-1 at home in their season opener.

Ponce, who wears No. 10 like Messi, is also motivated by playing against Inter Miami’s other former Barcelona stars like Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba in Sunday’s match.

“I think it’s very important to face figures like Leo, like Luis, like Sergio, Jordi and all the people around them, too,’ Ponce said. ‘It’s going to be a nice challenge to take on. It’s important for us because it could be a big turning point in our season, being able to compete, and do well, and get the three points.

“We look at it from that point of view, and having Leo here motivates everyone. Just proud to have him around.”

The match will be Messi’s first against Houston. He was injured and unable to play when Houston beat Inter Miami in the U.S. Open Cup final on Sept. 27, 2023.

Escobar and Ponce plan to ask Messi for his jersey after the match, an experience they’ll cherish regardless of the result.

“I think all my teammates are going to want to have his shirt, but let’s see if – because he’s Argentinian from Rosario – we have a little advantage,” Escobar said.

“God willing, if he has room to leave me his jersey, it would be an honor to have it at home,” Ponce said.

Days before reporting to the Cleveland Browns training camp in Hiram, Ohio in 1964, John Wooten took a detour to Washington, D.C. for the sake of history.

Wooten, then a veteran guard who blocked for Jim Brown, was at the White House on July 2 when President Lyndon Johnson signed the monumental Civil Rights Act of 1964.

No, Wooten wasn’t inside the Oval Office when LBJ signed the sweeping measure into law that banned discrimination and ended segregation in public places. Yet the football player, invited by Martin Luther King, Jr. and civil rights activist Whitney Young because of his progressive social efforts with the Negro Industrial Economic Union, was close enough in the corridors of the White House.

“When President Johnson did the signing, there was just a mass of people all the way back out of that office, all down the hall, everywhere,” Wooten, 88, recalled during an interview with USA TODAY Sports. “You’re talking about hundreds. That’s where I was.”

Wooten ultimately left a huge footprint on the NFL as a champion of equal opportunity for coaches and executives while serving as the longtime chairman of the Fritz Pollard Alliance. Yet to hear him flash back to 1964 – when the Browns, by the way, claimed the franchise’s last championship by winning the NFL title – is a special kind of history lesson.

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Especially now.

Sure, it’s Black History Month. It’s American History, too. LBJ, who picked up the mantle after the 1963 assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy, signed the Act roughly two weeks after it passed in the U.S. Senate following a 72-day filibuster by opponents resistant to social change and, well, equality.

“This was the beginning of us being able to move forward as a people in this country,” Wooten said. “Now it’s the law of the land. I can’t tell you how privileged I was – not as a football player, but as a young Black guy – to be there.

“It gave us a completely new look on life as a people.”

Wooten certainly remembers the resistance, particularly from the Deep South, where Jim Crow laws of that era legalized segregation in all areas of life. The Civil Rights Act banned discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin; and it required equal access to public places, schools and the right to vote, among other impacts.

“LBJ took it up as his legacy,” Wooten said. “That’s how he wanted to be remembered. You have to give him credit for picking up the banner that John F. Kennedy carried. He could have very easily let it go.

“But in his speech, he said: This would be one of the greatest things that’s ever happened in this country, to letting the world know that all of us are equal.”

Wooten is so passionate in sharing his perspective on history. It is hardly surprising that for all he has accomplished over many years as an athlete, activist, NFL scout and executive, one of his most cherished mementos came from that day at the White House more than 60 years ago. It’s a pen that LBJ used.

“I walked out of there with that pen, and with a new fight,” he said. “The significance will never change.”

That trip to the White House for Wooten came less than a year after more than 250,000 people participated in the March of Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963, when MLK gave his “I Have a Dream” speech at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial. Wooten has a vivid memory of that event, too.

On August 28, 1963, the Browns were on the West Coast for back-to-back exhibitions against the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams. Wooten remembers his roommate, Brown, asking coach Blanton Collier to reschedule practice for earlier on the day of the March. Collier obliged. Then Brown and Wooten took it a step further.

“Of course, we announced that we were going to be watching it in our room,” Wooten recalled. “We invited everybody, Black and white, to sit there and watch.”

And who showed up?

“We had guys on the floor, on the beds, watching this together,” Wooten said.

Fast forward to now. It pains Wooten to consider how the Trump administration has attacked DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) as a core principle.

“It hurts your heart,” Wooten said. “We had come so far in terms of moving this country in the right direction. DEI, all of that, has come from the Civil Rights Act. It was what we stood for as a nation.”

Yet decades since he reveled in the White House with the passage of civil rights legislation, which paved the way for other measures, Wooten shudders in weighing plans outlined in Project 2025. He may be well into retirement, but his spirit hasn’t waned as he considers social and political ramifications projected in Project 2025.

Said Wooten, “When you read through it, you see immediately that it would destroy every single thing we have worked for and won in this country.”

In other words, some history lessons beg for fresh perspective.