DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Former football players from Duke and North Carolina have a hearing next week in lawsuits seeking additional eligibility from the NCAA for playing careers they say were hampered by injuries, ailments and personal difficulties. Duke's Ryan Smith and Tre’Shon Devones are plaintiffs in a complaint filed in Durham County Superior Court on April 3. Additionally UNC's J.J. Jones and Duke's Cam Bergeron are plaintiffs in a similar lawsuit filed that day. They seek to prevent the NCAA from following its policy of having athletes complete four years of eligibility within a five-year window. A hearing is set for April 22.
UNDATED (AP) — Attorneys working on the legal settlement designed to reshape college sports filed a brief that did not offer changes a judge suggested regarding roster limits, reiterating the benefit the limits provide to some athletes and the havoc a late change to that rule could create. The latest legal maneuver came in response to U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken’s suggestion that the terms of the roster limit rules be shifted “to grandfather in a group of rostered people” set to lose their spots on teams if the rule comes into play.
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Quarterback Cam Ward might be the first name off this year’s NFL draft board. Five years ago, he was pretty much off everybody’s radar outside of West Columbia, Texas. Ward took the only scholarship offer he had coming out of high school and turned it into a record-breaking college career that has made him the frontrunner to be the No. 1 overall pick April 24. He's hardly the only hidden gem-turned-top-prospect in the draft. The others include Cam Skattebo of Arizona State and Harold Fannin Jr. of Bowling Green and players such as David Walker of Central Arkansas and Carson Schwesinger of UCLA.
UNDATED (AP) — West Virginia has the best overall and road records in Division I baseball and the Big 12-leading Mountaineers are doing it with a first-year coach and a No. 1 pitcher who spent his first four seasons at a Division II school in Illinois. The Mountaineers have won 10 straight and their 30-4 record gives them a .882 winning percentage. Their three-game weekend sweep at Houston made them 18-1 on the road. Pitching has been a pleasant surprise. All three weekend starters and a reliever were taken in the 2024 Major League Baseball amateur draft.
