by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/29/2026 Aidan Lambert will be the first to tell you he's not a normal fighter. In fact in his own words he's "nerdy." When the Fall River native traveled to Chile in August for the WAKO Pan American Championships, they weren't calling him a "nerd". They called him "Gold Medal Champion". Aidan with his Gold Medal and Team USA teammates When he's not in school, in Massachusetts state police academy, or working on cars, Aidan Lambert is one of th

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/8/2026 Photo Credits to Jeff Bottari via Zuffa LLC Salahdine Parnasse vs 6Benoit Saint Denis Zak Drapeau - Welcome to the UFC Salahdine Parnasse! We were expecting a lot from the French superstar in his UFC debut and a brutal sub-3 minute knockout of Dan Hooker was exactly what we wanted. Parnasse debuts in the Lightweight rankings at #9 and should definitely get a fight up in the rankings next. Saint Denis makes a lot of sense

Photo: Brian Spurlock-USAToday Another week, another flashback into the past. This time, the time machine is taking us all the way back to 2015—more than a full decade removed from when some of the best high-school basketball players in America shared the floor as teenagers with the basketball world at their feet. Most of these guys were attached to enormous expectations. Five-star recruits. Future lottery picks. Supposed franchise prodigies. But ten years is more than enough

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 9/8/2026 Zak's Top-25 Updated 1. Ohio State (1-0) /\1 2. Georgia (1-0) /\1 3. Oregon (1-0) \/2 4. Texas (1-0) /\1 5. Miami (1-0) /\2 6. Indiana (1-0) -- 7. LSU (1-0) /\3 8. Notre Dame (1-0) \/4 9. Texas A&M (1-0) \/1 10. Oklahoma (1-0) /\1 11. Ole Miss (1-0) /\2 12. USC (2-0) /\2 13. Alabama (1-0) \/1 14. Texas Tech (1-0) \/5 15. BYU (1-0) /\1 16. Penn State (1-0) /\2 17. Washington (1-0) -- 18. SMU (1-0) /\2 19. Florida

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/4/2026 In our FN Nurmagomedov v Yadong Predictions, which you can find here, Zak went 5-1 in picks with 4 method for 9 points. Matt went 4-2 in picks with 3 method for 7 points. Points To Date: Zak: 170 (114-64) Matt: 155 (101-71) *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 9/3 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Graphic Credit to UFC via UFC.com 10Dan Hooker vs Salahdine Parnasse (Parnasse -600) Zak Drapeau - Truth be to

Photo: Tony Guiterrez-AP The future of basketball isn’t approaching—it’s already here. Across the league, the next generation of stars is kicking down the door, taking over franchises and, in some cases, already battling the game’s best players for NBA supremacy. We’re talking freak athletes, walking triple-doubles, defensive monsters, fearless scorers and young franchise players who somehow still have years before they even enter their primes. With so much young talent flood

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 9/1/2026 Photo Credits to Williams Navarro via Imagn Images Above Everyone Else 1. Los Angeles Rams ESPN Rank: 1 Super Bowl Odds: +500 Key to Season: Not underperforming The Rams added Myles Garrett, Trent McDuffie and Aaron Donald on the defensive end while keeping their offensive talent and adding Kliff Kingsbury as assistant Head Coach for a little extra fire power in the passing game. They were already one of the favorites before their histo

Photo: John Raoux/AP The 2022 NBA Draft is loaded with star power. Headlined by 6'10" Duke phenom Paolo Banchero, this particular class entered the league with plenty of hype surrounding its top prospects. Chet Holmgren looked like one of the most unique big-man prospects basketball had seen in years, Jabari Smith Jr. put Auburn on the map, and names like Jaden Ivey and Shaedon Sharpe gave the lottery plenty of intrigue beyond the top three. Four years later, we're starting t

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 9/1/2026 Photo Credits to Xinhua via IMAGO Song Yadong vs Merab Dvalishvili Matt Hylen - After a knockout like that against an opponent like Umar Nurmagomedov, Song Yadong has officially solidified himself as one of the top-2 contenders in the division, alongside Sean O'Malley. His performance on Saturday night was absolutely spectacular; he did not let anything get to him, stayed composed, and ultimately sent Umar Nurmagomedov in

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 8/28/2026 In our FN Hernandez v Rodrigues Predictions, which you can find here, Zak went 3-3 in picks with 0 method for 3 points. Matt went 2-4 in picks with 1 method for 3 points. Points To Date: Zak: 161 (109-63) Matt: 148 (97-69) *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 8/27 _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Graphic Credit to UFC via fighting.dk 3Umar Nurmagomedov vs 6Song Yadong (Nurmagomedov -600) Zak Drapeau - The craz

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/28/2026 10. Wyatt Young 6'0" 195 lbs. Oklahoma St Pro Comparison John Metchie 2025 Overview Young went from an okay freshman season to an absolute breakout year in 2025 at North Texas and one of the best slot receivers in all of FBS. Young didn't truly gain WR1 favor until Week 6 but once he did he was unguardable. He had 5 games over 100 yards in a 6 week period including 9-190-1 and 8-295-2 performances against admittedly weaker teams in Cha

Photo: Antoine Crowley-AP Some players spend their entire careers building a legacy in one city. These guys practically collected boarding passes. They’ve been traded, waived, signed, re-signed and shipped across the league more times than they can probably count. They’ve gone from starters to sixth men, contenders to rebuilds, fan favorites in one city to forgotten veterans in the next. But through every new jersey, new locker room and new role, they found a way to stick aro

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/27/2026 Welcome to Draft Season! Technically the new draft season starts the day after the NFL Draft but with the College Football season set to kick off tomorrow and the NFL season only 2 weeks away, I'm using this timeline to start my official Draft Content for the 2027 season. Draft content will start with this Mock Draft but as my content showed last year, I will be again prioritizing player evaluations and team makeup over Mock Draft exer

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/26/2026 Photo Credits to Jamie Rhodes via Imagn Images 10. Isaac Brown 5'9" 190 lbs. Louisville Pro Comparison Bucky Irving 2025 Overview Brown was starting 2025 pretty good before a hamstring injury would keep him out of 5 games towards the end of the season. In the 3 games before his injury, Brown was TORCHING ACC defenses for 150 yards per game and 10 yards per carry. He would even return for Louisville's final game of the season and went

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/25/2026 Photo Credits to Ricardo B. Brazziell/The Austin American-Statesman via Getty Images College Football will return this Saturday with the Aer Lingus College Football Classic in Dublin, Ireland between TCU and North Carolina at Noon. The rest of the schedule for "Week 0" is only 7 more games in the FBS including only 1 consensus Top-25 team. Even though we won't see most of the teams we are most excited about this week, let's give the

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/24/2026 Photo Credits to Jeff Bottari via Zuffa LLC Gregory Rodrigues vs Brendan Allen Zak Drapeau - Hell yeah, RoboCop is gonna be Top-7 in the Middleweight division this week. I'm stoked! Rodrigues had a great display of power and striking this weekend and now has 4 wins in a row and in 7 of his last 8. His next fight doesn't necessarily have to be a Top-5 guy, but Brendan Allen is also not active enough for his #4 ranking either. If the t

Photo: Donovan Cook-AP For years, Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown were my standard for NBA tandems—a homegrown one-two punch that eventually grew from promising young wings into champions. Now, with the two officially split up, the league’s duo hierarchy suddenly feels wide open. And that got me thinking: who is actually the best Batman-and-Robin pairing in basketball right now? We're firmly in the superteam era. Teams aren’t just chasing Big Threes anymore. Some are trying to

by Zak Drapeau and Matt Hylen Sportz Nation - 8/21/2026 In our FN Gamrot vs Salkilld Predictions, which you can find here, Zak went 3-3 in picks with 2 method for 5 points. Matt went 3-3 in picks with 2 method for 5 points. Points To Date: Zak: 158 (106-60) Matt: 145 (95-65) *All odds courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook on 8/ Photo Credits to Uselyis on Youtube.com _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 6Anthony Hernandez vs 11Gregory Rodrigues (Hernandez -165) Zak Drapeau - T

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/20/2026 Make sure to come back everyday for positional rankings and my MOCK DRAFT 1.0 releasing Thursday, August 27 at noon Top-10 Quarterbacks of the 2027 Draft Class Photo Credits to Chad Hamilton/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images 10. John Mateer 6'1" 225 lbs. Oklahoma Pro Comparison: Older Russell Wilson 2025 Overview 2025 was a very up and down year for the former Washington State transfer. At one point early in the season, Mateer's name wa

by Zak Drapeau Sportz Nation - 8/19/2026 We are 3 weeks away from the start of the 2026 season and if it's anything like last year, the only thing we know for sure is that making predictions like this are almost useless and more often wrong than not. Just to make my case, let's look at my predictions for the 2025 season that I made the same time last year: MVP - Baker Mayfield Super Bowl MVP - Lamar Jackson Coach of the Year - Todd Bowles Comeback POY - Christian McCaffrey OP