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I heard this during the NFL Draft over the weekend: Only 58 underclassmen declared for this year's draft, the lowest since 2011.
https://www.acmepackingcompany.com/2024/1/19/24044307/2024-nfl-draft-fewest-underclassmen-declare-in-over-a-decade
This is way down from a peak of 130 in 2021. The chance to earn serious NIL money in college is keeping more athletes from shortening their college careers.
One pundit said this trend meant there were a lot fewer NFL-ready players available during the final day of the draft. I don't know if that's true since the team here in Jacksonville has a long tradition of avoiding NFL-ready players.
Encouraged by head coach Trent Dilfer, the entire University of Alabama at Birmingham football team has joined Athletes.org, one of several players associations attempting to organize players ahead of the anticipated future where they can collectively bargain for a slice of the sport's revenue.
"I wanted to make sure I helped pour gasoline on something that is going to happen no matter what," said Dilfer, who was paid zero dollars and zero cents playing for the Fresno State Bulldogs from 1990-93.
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/40024327/uab-becomes-1st-d-football-team-join-players-association
DENTON – The UNT men's basketball team has signed Missouri Valley Conference All-Tournament team selection transfer guard Atin Wright.
Wright comes to North Texas from Drake where he was the MVC champion's second leading scorer averaging over 14 points per game during the season and was one of the league's top 3-point shooters as he made 65 long range shots at a 40.6 percent clip.
The 6-foot-1 guard started all 32 games he played in last year and helped lead the Bulldogs to the 2024 MVC Tournament championship as he averaged 16.3 points per tournament game and poured in 17 points in the title win over Indiana State. For his tournament performance he was named to the league's all-tournament team.
Wright will have one year of eligibility remaining.
In Drake's NCAA Tournament game last year, Wright led all players as he scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting versus Washington State. It was his ninth 20-point game of the season. He scored a season-high 26 points on Feb. 13 in a 78-75 road win over Evansville. In that three-point win at Evansville, Wright sank a 40-foot-game-winner at the buzzer.
One of those 20-point performances came on the road against American Athletic Conference foe UAB on Dec. 22. Wright scored 20 points versus the Blazers on 11 shot attempts to go along with a pair of steals.
Wright last year played six games against opponents who reached the 2024 NCAA Tournament. In those six games he averaged 15.1 points per game, including three 20-point performances. Drake went 4-2 in those games.
The Hawthorne, California, native began his collegiate career at Cal State Northridge. He played three seasons for the Matadors and was a two-time Big West All-Conference honoree before transferring to Drake in 2023.
In his final year at CSUN (2022-23), Wright averaged 16.7 points per game. On Feb. 15, 2023, he set the Matadors single-game scoring record as he dropped 42 points at UC Davis.
Wright will join North Texas with 116 career games played, 1,530 career points scored, 198 career 3-pointers made and 174 career assists.
A southern California native, Wright graduated from Fairmont Prep in Orange County. He averaged 22.7 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.1 steals per game as a high school senior. He led Fairmont to a league title his senior year and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2AA California Southern Sectional playoff round. His junior year, he led Orange County in scoring with 25 points per game and was named Southern Section Class 4AA Player of the Year.
North Texas is coming off a 19-win season under first-year head coach Ross Hodge where they reached the second round of the NIT. He was the only rookie head coach last year to lead his respective team to either the NCAA Tournament or NIT. The Mean Green won 10 league games in their first season in the American Athletic Conference. It was the most league wins by a first year UNT head coach. UNT is one of just seven schools in the country who has won a NCAA postseason game in each of the last four seasons.
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