{"id":16293,"date":"2025-07-17T11:59:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T11:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/16293\/"},"modified":"2025-07-17T11:59:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-17T11:59:10","slug":"the-most-interesting-player-in-college-football-plus-early-open-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/16293\/","title":{"rendered":"The most interesting player in college football, plus early Open coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here<\/a> to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.<\/p>\n

Good morning! I hope you set your alarm early.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tee Times: The Open Championship is happening right now\"\"<\/p>\n

Ramsey Cardy\/Sportsfile via Getty Images<\/p>\n

We start on the links this morning because, well, the golf is already underway. The Open Championship began this morning (check the scores here<\/a>), which means either you\u2019re a complete sicko and have been up for hours, or you need to catch up like the rest of us.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Either way, it\u2019s a beautiful day. The Open is one of my favorite tournaments. I\u2019d probably rank it only behind the Masters (sorry, U.S. Open) among golf events. The sport gets back to its roots here. Links golf, gray skies, windy conditions, good vibes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Consider this a quick Pulse \u201cpreview\u201d before the narratives fully begin:\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are two obvious names at the top: Scottie Scheffler, our nihilist king<\/a>, and Rory McIlroy, who\u2019s playing on home turf<\/a> this week. McIlroy fascinates me most, as he would normally face immense pressure here, but after his win at the Masters to complete the career grand slam, is that true anymore? Both of these guys sit atop our big board<\/a>.
Two others to ponder: Jon Rahm, who\u2019s quietly been brilliant on the LIV Tour, and Shane Lowry, the other Irishman who won the Open the last time it was hosted here at Royal Portrush. Lowry has lagged so far in majors this year, but don\u2019t count him out this week. Rahm has two top 10s in majors this year already, too.
If you need a long-shot name, we invite you to the Jordan Spieth experience. Spieth has played well this year but is still major-less since winning the Open in 2017. He also welcomed a baby this week, which means he\u2019ll be playing with dad strength (or fatigue). I choose strength for him. See more on all our long shots here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Again, the live blog is here<\/a>. Happy golf watching this weekend. Onward: <\/p>\n

Unproven Superstars: The difficult hype of Arch Manning<\/p>\n

It is hard to remember a college player with the profile of Arch Manning. The Texas redshirt sophomore quarterback has played in just 12 college games (two starts) and thrown all of 95 passes. And yet, pedigree and hype have NFL prognosticators wondering if he\u2019s the No. 1 pick in next year\u2019s draft.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I feel secondhand pressure for the kid just pondering that alone. Because of it, Manning might be the most interesting player in college football this season. Two things:\u00a0<\/p>\n

The main question: How good is he? No one really knows. Reading our college football QB tiers<\/a> yesterday sparked this entire idea for me. Sam Khan Jr. and Antonio Morales ranked Manning at No. 10, but I\u2019d consider that a placeholder. Manning clearly has the physical skills and genetic traits to be a great quarterback; we just need to see it first. To be fair, he did impress against subpar teams last year.
Everything is riding on him, too. Texas is a real-deal contender this year. BetMGM<\/a> has them as a slight favorite (+500) to win the national title. The Longhorns are No. 1 in our most recent top 25<\/a>, too. The roster is stacked with both returning talent and transfers. If Manning starts slow, it will be a disappointment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which is completely unfair for a first-year starter \u2026 but his name is Arch Manning and he went to Texas. This is reality. And Manning seems well-adjusted enough<\/a>, anyway, so he may just go and win the Heisman (highest odds for that on BetMGM right now, too).\u00a0<\/p>\n

No pressure, kid.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Make sure to read the full tiers list<\/a>, which features a certain LSU quarterback at No. 2.<\/p>\n

News to Know\"\"<\/p>\n

Beal heads to L.A.
Bradley Beal agreed to a buyout with the Suns, sources told The Athletic<\/a>, forgoing $13.8 million of the remaining $110.8 million Phoenix owed him, and will sign a two-year, $11 million contract with the Clippers. Beal forms a star trio in Los Angeles with James Harden and Kawhi Leonard that, if healthy, makes the Clips a serious threat in the Western Conference. As for the Suns? The initial Beal trade goes down as one of the worst in franchise history<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Portnoy, Fox join forces
Barstool founder Dave Portnoy is finalizing a deal to become a regular on Fox\u2019s \u201cBig Noon Kickoff,\u201d sources told The Athletic\u2019s Andrew Marchand. It\u2019s part of a larger agreement between Barstool and Fox Sports, which would also place Barstool personality Dan \u201cBig Cat\u201d Katz alongside Portnoy on a daily FS1 show to directly compete with ESPN\u2019s \u201cGet Up\u201d and \u201cFirst Take.\u201d It\u2019s a major pivot for Fox just days after cleaning house. The war between the networks is spicy now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

More news<\/p>\n

Shaquille O\u2019Neal threatened to punch Robert Griffin III over his posts about Sky forward Angel Reese. The beef is real<\/a>.
\nCaitlin Clark missed last night\u2019s game against the Liberty, but no decision has been made on her status<\/a> for Saturday\u2019s All-Star Game.
\nIt looks like LeBron James will be back with the Lakers after all, The Athletic\u2019s Dan Woike and Joe Vardon reported<\/a>.
\nChargers running back Najee Harris will likely start training camp on the non-football injury list<\/a> after a fireworks accident.
\nWyndham Clark is temporarily banned<\/a> from Oakmont Country Club after damaging the locker room when he missed the cut at last month\u2019s U.S. Open. Tough scene.
\nUSMNT midfielder Johnny Cardoso is heading to Atletico Madrid from Real Betis on a $34.8 million transfer<\/a>. Good sign for the American squad.
\nThe NCAA put Memphis on probation after it found that two softball players did coursework for a men\u2019s basketball player. More details here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udceb\u00a0Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What to Watch<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Golf: The Open Championship
Right now on USA and Peacock
Coverage started at 1:30 a.m. ET this morning and golfers started teeing five minutes later, or when this newsletter writer was still penning these words. See how to watch all the action here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\ud83d\udcfa Soccer: Sweden vs. England
3 p.m. ET on Fox
Another Women\u2019s Euros quarterfinal is on TV today, and if it\u2019s anything like yesterday\u2019s Italy-Norway tilt<\/a>, we\u2019re in for a treat. The Lionesses are a slight favorite. If you can, turn it on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Get tickets to games like these here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pulse Picks<\/p>\n

Mike Jones picked a delicious offseason NFL topic: the underrated and overrated teams<\/a> of 2025. Notice how a lot of folks really like the Cardinals this year. Hm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

With the Tour de France past the halfway point, our writers named the top riders and moments<\/a> of the race so far.<\/p>\n

Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft\u2019s feud continues to deepen, as Chad Graff expertly detailed<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I\u2019m still buzzing from the MLB All-Star Game. Ken Rosenthal is, too<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jayson Stark, per usual, also has a must-read Weird and Wild column<\/a> from the All-Star Game, which was made for Jayson. Some players also think it fixed the sport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The college basketball rankings continue, this time with CJ Moore picking the best men\u2019s coaches of the 2000s<\/a>. Coach K doesn\u2019t even make the top two.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Was the Club World Cup really worth $1 billion<\/a> to DAZN?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: Brendan Quinn\u2019s story on nihilist Scottie Scheffler, whose words Tuesday were moving<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Most-read on the website yesterday: Once again, our story on Amanda Anisimova and her masterclass in handling failure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(Top photo: Kevin C. Cox \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Pulse Newsletter \ud83d\udce3 | This is The Athletic\u2019s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[1607,399,398,396,397,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-16293","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-college-football","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-ncaa","11":"tag-ncaa-football","12":"tag-ncaafootball","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}