Tommy Castellanos is on a mission to play in as many parts of the United States as possible — or at least that’s how somebody could view his career path.

That’s because the fifth-year senior quarterback has committed to transfer to Texas Tech, a decision Castellanos reportedly told ESPN on Wednesday afternoon.

Castellanos went unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft after one season at Florida State, with him later entering the transfer portal after being granted a temporary injunction for a fifth year of eligibility by a Kentucky judge last week.

Last season (2025), Castellanos totaled 2,760 passing yards, 15 passing touchdowns, nine interceptions and a 143.5 passer rating for the Seminoles, while completing 58.3% of his passes. He also rushed for 557 yards and nine touchdowns. Castellanos previously played two seasons at Boston College (2023-24) and one season at UCF (2022). In 2023, he rushed for 1,113 yards and 13 touchdowns. Over his four-year collegiate career, Castellanos boasts a combined 137.4 passer rating and has completed 58.5% of his passes.

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Florida State opened the 2025 season by upsetting the Alabama Crimson Tide, who went on to reach the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, 31-17, but the Seminoles went on to finish the season at 5-7, marking back-to-back losing seasons (Florida State went 2-10 in 2024).

Castellanos joins a Texas Tech team that’s coming off a 12-2 season, highlighted by it winning the Big 12 and reaching the College Football Playoff before being shut out by the Oregon Ducks in the quarterfinal round, 23-0. Texas Tech starting quarterback of three seasons Behren Morton was selected by the New England Patriots in the seventh round of the 2026 NFL Draft, with the Red Raiders’ quarterback room including junior Will Hammond and senior Kirk Francis, among others. 

Brendan Sorsby, a transfer from Cincinnati, was originally slated to be part of the quarterback room, but was deemed permanently ineligible by the NCAA due to his gambling, with the Big 12 conference threatening Texas Tech with legal action if Sorsby played. Castellanos gives the Red Raiders the veteran QB they were looking for, without the legal complications.

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Manchester City signed highly rated teenage midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille in a deal worth $117 million on Wednesday, securing a rising star seen as the Premier League giant’s long-term replacement for Rodri.

The 18-year-old Morocco international signed a five-year contract, City said, for a fee of 95 million euros ($110 million) plus 5 million euros in add-ons.

Bouaddi, a deep-lying midfielder, is being viewed as the replacement for 2024 men’s Ballon d’Or winner Rodri, who recently joined Barcelona after helping Spain win the World Cup.

City’s midfield rebuild under manager Enzo Maresca, who has replaced Pep Guardiola, has also seen the club spend $155 million on England international Elliot Anderson and is unlikely to stop there, given Bernardo Silva has already left after his contract expired and Nico Gonzalez has traveled to Newcastle to tie up a transfer.

Newcastle announced Wednesday that it signed the 24-year-old González on a long-term deal from City.

Gonzalez joined Barcelona’s youth squads as an 11-year-old and made his first-team debut on the opening day of the 2021-22 Spanish league season. He joined Valencia on loan the following season, before making a permanent switch to Portugal’s Porto in 2023 and then joining Man City in 2025.

Newcastle coach Matthias Jaissle said Gonzalez “brings serious quality and elite experience in a key area of the pitch.”

Reports in the British media say City retains an interest in Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez.

The fee makes Bouaddi the most expensive player sold from the French league, surpassing the 90 million euros Saudi Pro League side Al Hilal paid to get Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain in 2023, and the costliest teenage signing in Premier League history.

“This is a very special day for me and my family,” Bouaddi said. “I’ve watched City for many years, and I love their style of play. City always try and play quality football. And they have shown they are winners, this club feels like it’s built to win.”

Rising Star

Although Bouaddi impressed at the World Cup with his assured touch, tactical understanding and maturity, he had already caught the eye two years ago.

At the start of his career he was being touted as Lille’s best midfielder since Eden Hazard, who left to become a Premier League star with Chelsea.

Bouaddi joined Lille’s academy in 2021 and, just three days after his 16th birthday, became the youngest player to appear in a European game in a Europa Conference League match last October against KI Klaksvík.

City’s director of football, Hugo Viana, described Bouaddi as “a player equipped with everything a top midfielder needs.”

“At just 18, he already has outstanding football intelligence and that will only improve under the guidance of Enzo,” Viana said.

“We have watched him very, very closely and throughout that process we have become increasingly convinced he is a huge talent who will thrive at City.”

Bouaddi’s skill set may be lacking in one area: goals. He did not score in 96 games for Lille and has yet to find the net in eight games for Morocco.

“I am only 18. I am happy with the progress I have made so far, but I also know I can improve so much,” he said. “This is undoubtedly the best place for me to do that.”

Big Sales

Lille has earned a reputation as one of best sellers of talented players in European soccer.

The northern club sold Ivory Coast forward Nicolas Pepe to Arsenal in 2019 for 80 million euros and Nigeria striker Victor Osimhen went to Napoli the following year for a similar amount.

Manchester United paid 62 million euros for central defender Leny Yoro two years ago.

Last year, goalkeeper Lucas Chevalier was sold to Paris Saint-Germain for 40 million euros and center back Bafode Diakite went to Bournemouth, for around the same fee.

Bouaddi’s Debut Could Come On Friday

City beat Bournemouth 2-1 in its season opener on Sunday thanks to a pair of late goals, marking a successful start to Maresca’s tenure following the departure of Guardiola after a trophy-laden 10-year spell.

In that game, Maresca played Marc Guehi — a center back — as a holding midfielder, a sign that City was short of options in that area. Bouaddi will solve that and could make his debut against Crystal Palace on Friday.

Reporting by the Associated Press.

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The Big Ten learned how to speak Petitti and liked how it sounded.

The Big Ten Conference announced a five-year extension for conference Commissioner Tony Petitti on Wednesday afternoon, keeping him in the role through June 2033. This contract was unanimously approved by the Big Ten Conference Council of Presidents and Chancellors.

“Tony has provided outstanding vision for the Conference through extremely turbulent times,” COP/C Chair and President of Indiana University Pamela Whitten said in a statement. “We’re thankful for his leadership and appreciate his spirit of innovation and collaboration as we continue to navigate the changing landscape of college sports.”

Petitti became the seventh commissioner in the history of the Big Ten in May 2023 after Kevin Warren left his position to become president and CEO of the NFL’s Chicago Bears.

Prior to becoming conference commissioner, Petitti was a television executive, highlighted by being a senior vice president of business affairs and programming at CBS, an executive vice president at CBS Sports and helping launch MLB Network, among other roles.

On the gridiron, the Big Ten has claimed each of the last three National Championships since Petitti became commissioner: the Michigan Wolverines in 2023, Ohio State Buckeyes in 2024 and Indiana Hoosiers in 2025.

On that note, the Big Ten had two teams reach the College Football Playoff semifinals last season and sent four teams to the College Football Playoff in 2024. Moreover, the conference expanded from 14 teams to 18 teams in 2024, adding the USC Trojans, Oregon Ducks, UCLA Bruins and Washington Huskies from the Pac-12.

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As for other football-related matters, the Big Ten banned any player who has appeared on an NFL roster, declared for the NFL draft and didn’t withdraw or played professionally from joining a program in the conference on Tuesday in the wake of temporary restraining orders being granted to 16 players in Louisiana, allowing those who appeared in NFL training camps this summer to play a fifth collegiate season.

Meanwhile, on the hardwood, the Michigan Wolverines won the Big Ten its first men’s college basketball championship since the Michigan State Spartans won the National Championship in 2000. Six teams from the conference reached the Sweet 16 last season.

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After six years at Aston Villa F.C., Argentina star Emi Martinez looks certain to move clubs before the European transfer window closes on Tuesday, September 1, and Chelsea F.C. has emerged as a likely destination.

Martinez, Argentina’s No. 1 goalkeeper and the hero of the 2022 FIFA World Cup final, has been offered to Chelsea by his representatives and the club is considering making an offer, according to a report from The Athletic on Wednesday.

Martinez, 33, was made available after Aston Villa paid a $35 million transfer fee for Japan goalkeeper Zion Suzuki, who is expected to be the club’s No. 1 choice in goal this season. He has also been linked to Manchester United, Juventus, Atlético de Madrid and Galatasaray.

Aston Villa have valued Martinez at $13.4 million.

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Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will not play in Kansas City’s preseason finale against the Seattle Seahawks on Friday night, the first time that the two-time MVP has gone through a full scheduled preseason without appearing in a game.

Mahomes is making his comeback after tearing ligaments in his knee in December. But while he’s been on or ahead of schedule since the ensuing surgery, and taken part in the entire offseason program and training camp, it was always expected that Mahomes would not appear in any of the three tuneups ahead of the regular season.

The Chiefs play Denver in a marquee Monday night showdown Sept. 14. And Mahomes plans to be on the field then.

“It’s the amount of time they’ve said from the beginning, that if I did everything the right way, I would be ready to play Week 1,” he said. “I’m someone, if you put (a target) in front of me, I want to go out and get it and maximize every single opportunity, every rep in the weight room, every hour that I can spend in the building to get my body right.”

Mahomes has missed a preseason before, when the NFL canceled it entirely in 2020 amid the pandemic. He went on to have one of the best seasons of his career, throwing for 4,740 yards with 38 touchdowns and only six interceptions as Kansas City went 14-2 and beat Buffalo for the AFC championship, before losing to Tampa Bay in the Super Bowl.

“You know, this week we’ve kind of treated it more like a game week, being able to go in that same process — have Wednesday practice and then a Thursday practice, take my notes the same and watch same film that I’ll usually watch. I think that’s kind of how I prepare,” Mahomes said. “Get out there on the practice field and treat every rep like it’s the most important rep.

“I think if you can do that,” Mahomes said, “you’ll be ready to go whenever you get that opportunity to go out there in the game.”

Chiefs coach Andy Reid said Wednesday that backup quarterback Justin Fields also is unlikely to play against the Seahawks, though many offensive starters will get at least a few reps. Fourth-string quarterback Chris Oladokun remains in the concussion protocol, so it is possible that seventh-round pick Garrett Nussmeier will play al l of the Chiefs’ preseason finale.

Nussmeier has been impressive in extended reps in their first two preseason games.

“He’s done a nice job, thrown right in the fire with the first group. I thought he handled it well,” Reid said. “He looked like he stepped in, took it on, good leadership, tempo in and out of the huddle. It was all positive. It’ll pay off down the road.

“I’m sure they would all love to play a game,” Reid added, “and now he has a chance, potentially.”

Reid did not say whether wide receivers Rashee Rice and Xavier Worthy, who have been held out of the first two preseason games while coming back from injuries, would play against the Seahawks. Rice had surgery to clean up some debris in his knee earlier in the offseason, and Worthy has been dealing with a shoulder injury that he sustained earlier in training camp.

Running back Kenneth Walker III also is unlikely to play after missing practice time this week with a swollen ankle.

“He’s OK. He’s going to be fine,” Reid said. “We’re just trying to get that swelling out of there.”

Notes: The Chiefs traded a 2028 seventh-round pick to the New York Giants late Tuesday for offensive lineman Joshua Ezeudu. He is expected to provide experienced depth for an offensive line that has dealt with injuries throughout camp. … The Chiefs head into their game against the Seahawks having lost their past eight preseason games.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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Week 0 is upon us in college football, and the wait for pigskin games that count in the standings is nearly over. 

The headlines these days are often regarding legal battles over who is or isn’t eligible and players trying to return to campus from NFL training camps. 

But once the games start, all will be right in the world.

Let’s take a look at three games I have my eye on this week from a betting perspective.

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North Carolina vs. TCU

The season kicks off Saturday afternoon in Dublin, Ireland, as Bill Belichick and North Carolina try to avenge an embarrassing 48-14 loss in a rematch of last year’s season opener. 

I like the Under 47.5 here, as some rain and wind are expected for this one and both teams’ starting quarterbacks have some question marks. 

TCU is going with Jaden Craig, a Harvard transfer who is facing a big step-up in competition coming over from the Ivy League. UNC is starting journeyman Billy Edwards Jr., who won the quarterback competition largely due to his ability to protect the ball and avoid turnovers. But he is far from a gunslinger that racks up explosive plays. 

Sloppy weather and new QBs point to a lower scoring game.

  UNC vs. TCU

Under 47.5 Points Scored by Both Teams Combined

San Jose State @ No. 14 USC

Lincoln Riley and the Trojans start their quest to get to the CFP this weekend (Getty Images).

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The USC Trojans have their sights set on breaking through and finally earning a trip to the College Football Playoff in 2026, and their season starts with a game they should win comfortably. 

In recent years, when USC has a chance to name its score, it usually does so in emphatic fashion. 

In 2023, the Trojans scored 56 against San Jose State and 66 against Nevada. Last year, they hung 73 on Missouri State and 59 on Georgia Southern. 

I like USC to go Over its team total (48.5 -130 is available on DraftKings) and score seven touchdowns or more to kick things off on Saturday.

  SJSU vs. No. 14 USC

USC Team Total Over 48.5 (-130)

NC State @ Virginia

NC State does something that is rare these days in college football and that is return its quarterback.

Junior CJ Bailey has a combined 53 career touchdowns passing and rushing in his first two years, and I think he provides enough offense to keep this game close. 

Virginia loses a lot of production from a year ago, including quarterback Chandler Morris, who was prolific in 2025. NC State won this meeting last September, 35-31. 

I think we get a similarly close game in this one, and I’ll take the points. 

  NC State vs. Virginia

NC State +5.5 (to Lose by Fewer Than 5.5 Points or Win Outright)

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The Pro Bowl is no more. 

After decades of format tweaks and noncompetitive play, the NFL is officially ending the Pro Bowl as a standalone event, according to The Athletic. On Wednesday, league executives presented a new vision to team owners that folds the festivities directly into Super Bowl week.

Under the new format, 88 players will receive Pro Bowl honors without any replacement alternates. All physical competitions, which included tackle football, flag football and skills challenges, will be completely eliminated, leaving only the official honor itself.

Instead of the traditional game, Pro Bowl selections will be invited to Los Angeles for an in-person celebration in February. The selection process remains unchanged as fans, players and coaches’ votes are weighted equally to determine the 88-player roster across both conferences.

The NFL’s first All-Star Game was played at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles in 1939. Decades later, the Pro Bowl ended its long-standing tradition of being held in Hawaii, moving to mainland venues across the country.

Over time, the event shifted from a physical contest into a friendly, non-competitive flag football game. Following years of skepticism from fans and players around the league, the tradition has officially come to an end.

The game will always be remembered as one of the sport’s premier annual events. However, the Pro Bowl game’s cancellation felt almost inevitable and that long-feared possibility has finally become a reality on Wednesday afternoon.

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Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber hit his MLB-leading 40th home run Wednesday.

Schwarber drove a 98-mph fastball off Seattle starter Bryan Woo approximately 425 feet into right-center field, a three-run shot that gave the Phillies a 6-0 lead over the Mariners in the second inning.

Schwarber’s homer tied a Phillies record for the most 40-plus homer seasons, matching former first baseman Ryan Howard. The 33-year-old Schwarber, who hit 56 homers last season, is also tied for the most 40-plus homer seasons among active players with Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Aaron Judge of the New York Yankees.

Schwarber’s 227 homers with Philadelphia are the second-most in a player’s first five seasons with a club. He trails only Babe Ruth, who had 235 homers with the New York Yankees. Schwarber, who spent six years with the Chicago Cubs, has 380 career homers.

Matt Olson (Braves) and Yordan Alvarez (Astros) trail Schwarber in homers with 36 each.

Reporting by The Associated Press.

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The Los Angeles Lakers and San Diego Padres have each been in the news after being sold to new owners, and the Padres new ownership group just grew.

Joey and Jesse Buss have officially joined the Padres ownership group, which is led by Jose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones.

The new Padres ownership group led by private equity investors FJose E. Feliciano and Kwanza Jones is finalizing the purchase at an MLB-record valuation of $3.9 billion. (Photo by K.C. Alfred / The San Diego Union-Tribune via Getty Images)

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The brothers confirmed their involvement in a statement provided to ESPN, following earlier reporting from multiple outlets. 

“We are honored to join Kwanza and José and have the opportunity to contribute to the future of a team that Jesse and I have loved since we were kids growing up in San Diego,” Joey Buss said in a statement. 

“The Padres are on the cusp of something special, and through Buss Sports Capital, we look forward to bringing our experience and perspective to the ownership group and doing our part to build on the strong foundation already in place.”

“Joey and I had the privilege of learning from our father and then spending nearly two decades building our own careers in professional basketball operations,” Jesse Buss said in a statement. “We saw firsthand what it takes to build a championship organization, and throughout our careers have applied those lessons across talent evaluation, roster construction, player development and long-term organizational planning. While every sport is different, we believe the principles behind building sustained success are universal.”

The Buss brothers grew up in San Diego County and were formerly executives with the Los Angeles Lakers. The family sold its majority stake in the Lakers last year to Mark Walter, who also owns the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

The new Padres ownership group led by private equity investors Feliciano and Jones is finalizing the purchase at an MLB-record valuation of $3.9 billion.

Using capital from the sale of the Lakers, the Buss brothers established Buss Sports Capital last year to direct their investments. Walter subsequently sold the Lakers to an investment group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger.

The Buss brothers confirmed their new venture with the Padres one week after five of the six Buss heirs voted to sell their 17.8% minority ownership stake in the Lakers to Kushner and Iger.

Jeanie Buss, the Lakers’ governor since the death of their father in 2013, is contesting her five siblings’ desire to sell its remaining interest in the NBA franchise purchased by Jerry Buss in 1979.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Kylian Mbappé’s first goals of the season came via a hat-trick in Real Madrid’s 4-1 victory over Real Sociedad in the Spanish league on Wednesday.

Mbappé scored once in the first half and twice in the second to lead Madrid to its win over Sociedad in Mourinho’s return to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium.

Jude Bellingham had two assists, including on Vinícius’ first goal of the season in the second half.

Madrid had opened its Spanish league campaign with a win at Espanyol.

Sociedad had lost its league opener at Real Betis.

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