Latest news with #Eagles
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Sport
- Miami Herald
Southwest's Diaz and Reagan's Gonzalez are the Dade Boys' Volleyball Players of the Year
The best athletes have that intangible factor, which elevates their team in the toughest of moments. Some call it the 'clutch gene.' Juanmarco Diaz has had that for years on Southwest's boys' volleyball team. And over at Reagan High, they hadn't seen something quite like that in a player until Yeison Gonzalez donned a Bison uniform this season. The two talented and versatile outside hitters helped their respective teams overcome the odds and secure state runner-up finishes this season. As such, Diaz and Gonzalez are the Miami Herald's Miami-Dade County Co-Players of the Year. Diaz won the honor for the third consecutive season as he completed a stellar career, which began his sophomore season when he guided the Eagles to their third state title all-time. This season with a younger roster overall, Southwest found itself in more of an underdog role for most of its top matches. But Diaz's efforts throughout the playoffs propelled the Eagles to huge wins including a win over Columbus in the Class 3A regional final. Unfortunately for Southwest, its bid for redemption fell short in a three-set loss to Winter Park in the state final. 'It was something we expected,' Diaz said. 'We knew Winter Park had much better players than we did and we were really young this season and not expected to make it back. But we pushed through and made it happen.' Diaz, a 5-11 senior who is signed to play college volleyball at Northern Kentucky, totaled 191 kills, 101 digs and 77 assists. Over his career, Diaz proved himself one of the most versatile and talented players in the state. 'I love that and I take on any challenge and just have to enjoy any experience that comes my way,' said Diaz, who plans to study finance and accounting. Gonzalez, a 6-2 outside hitter who has signed to play for Barry University, had experience already when it came to leading a young program to the state tournament. A year after leading Mater Lakes there, Gonzalez took Reagan's program to new heights, leading them to the Class 2A state championship match. He finished with a staggering 446 kills, 168 digs and 56 aces. 'He's brought so much to our program,' said Reagan assistant coach Joshua Garavito of Gonzalez. 'I'm sure it was a very tough decision for him to transfer over and people were always chirping to him about he had made the wrong decision and stuff like that. But he never let it get to his head and stayed strong throughout the process.' The Bison advanced to their first state final and went 25-5, proving themselves one of the top teams overall in the state. The FHSAA expanded boys' volleyball to a three-classification format for the first time this season. Reagan's run ended with a loss in the 2A final to Winter Park Lake Howell, but beat some of Dade's best teams including two wins over Class 3A state runner-up Southwest and victories over Columbus, Palmetto and Belen Jesuit along the way. Before this season, the Bison had never advanced past the regional semifinals. 'I love the faculty and staff here, it's been an honor to help this program to success,' Gonzalez said.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Eagles Pass Rush Remains 'Dilemma' In 2025
Eagles Pass Rush Remains 'Dilemma' In 2025 originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The Philadelphia Eagles are in a dilemma this offseason. Their roster appears to be good enough to compete for another Super Bowl run, but there's one lingering weakness they have to deal with. Advertisement And it's the one weakness that may not be solved this season. FanSided's Ryan Heckman made it clear that the Eagles have a "dilemma" with the pass rush heading into training camp, especially after all their losses during the offseason. "With training camp around the corner, the Philadelphia Eagles are still looking thin at one specific position, and to this point, Howie Roseman has not done much to remedy the concern," Heckman said. "Spoiler alert: it's the pass rush. The Eagles watched their group's best player, Josh Sweat, sign with the Arizona Cardinals and did not do a lot this offseason to remedy that loss. "Howie Roseman will watch the Eagles enter training camp with massive question marks at edge rusher." Advertisement Sweat wasn't the only pass rusher on the team who left this offseason. Brandon Graham retired, and Milton Williams, a defensive tackle, also left on the open market. Philadelphia needs to determine whether it can rely on young players like Nolan Smith and Jalyx Hunt without having to spend important draft capital on a trade. If both Smith and Hunt can step up immediately, the Eagles' defense should remain a top unit in the league. Philadelphia also added free agents Josh Uche and Azeez Ojulari to bolster the group's depth. Will it be enough? Only time will tell in that regard. Related: ESPN Links Eagles To Possible Signing of Asante Samuel Jr. Related: Eagles Young Cornerback Remains Big Winner of Offseason This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Five Eagles Named To All-Quarter Century Team
Five Eagles Named To All-Quarter Century Team originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Since 2000, the Philadelphia Eagles have become one of the better rosters in the league. They have reached the Super Bowl four times, been to the conference championship game eight times, and won two titles. Advertisement Along the way, they have seen some of the league's biggest stars don the midnight green uniform. Five stars found their names on the Quarter Century Team made by ESPN Thursday afternoon. Right tackle Lane Johnson, center Jason Kelce, safety Brian Dawkins, and receivers Terrell Owens and Julio Jones were all named to the prestigious honor. Of the five names, Owens and Jones lasted less than two full seasons with the organization. Johnson, Kelce, and Dawkins are all-time fan favorites for the Eagles. Dawkins is a Hall-of-Fame safety and was a face of Philadelphia sports during the 2000s. His intensity brought a new flare to the organization. Kelce and Johnson, meanwhile, are two of the better offensive linemen in league history. Kelce was a former sixth-round steal out of Cincinnati. He became a starter right away and later an All-Pro. He's just the third member in Eagles history to be named an All-Pro six times. Advertisement As for Johnson, the former fourth overall pick has become one of the best right tackles in league history. His work as an athletic freak has allowed him to continue to be among the elite players in the game even into his 30s. All five Eagles have made their mark on NFL history. Although the majority of the players on the list are retired, making the All Quarter Century Team is a great honor. And it's another reminder of how good the Eagles have been recently. Related: ESPN Links Eagles To Possible Signing of Asante Samuel Jr. Related: Eagles Young Cornerback Remains Big Winner of Offseason This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
ABC News
6 hours ago
- Sport
- ABC News
Jeremy McGovern retires as one of the West Coast Eagles' all-time greats
Jeremy McGovern's footy career was a long-odds bet to begin with. McGovern, the son of former Fremantle player Andrew McGovern, was taken with pick 44 in the 2011 rookie draft. The chances of him playing 197 games, winning a flag and earning five All-Australian blazers would have been, at best, very slim. Then-Eagles recruitment boss Trevor Woodhouse admits he probably only looked at the kid from North Albany because of his surname, and decided to roll the dice. "I think back then it was probably easier to just take some speculative rookies, I don't think the scrutiny was on them like it is today," Woodhouse told Fox Sports. McGovern sat on the Eagles' rookie list for three years without playing an AFL game. Then, in early 2014 at the age of 21, he sat crying in a meeting with new Eagles coach Adam Simpson and an assortment of club staff, fearing the worst. He had relaxed a little too thoroughly during an off-season trip to Phuket and returned in sub-elite condition. McGovern's footy career looked over before it began. "They were talking about ripping contracts up, which was fair enough," he told the Backchat podcast. In the era of the AFL ultra-athlete, skin-folds and beep tests, McGovern had a refreshingly old-school frame. "I'm not the fittest-looking footballer," he once said. That 2014 meeting resulted in him being sent away to train on his own, and after regaining his condition and stringing some solid performances together for East Perth at WAFL level, he was selected to make his senior debut against Carlton in round six. Two years later he was an All-Australian, the first of five blazers he would earn. McGovern's greatest strength was his ability to read the play, and the flight of the ball through the air, better than just about anybody else. It's a trait he traces back to his boyhood, playing footy with Indigenous kids on a red-dirt oval in the remote community of Warburton, about 1,500 kilometres from Perth. "Every now and then, I'd sit back and watch how the Indigenous boys up there played footy," he told The Age. "I'd try to mimic how they were doing it. They were so good. They're just natural footballers up there. They don't get taught. "[They] probably had the best judgement I've seen. "That's where I started reading the ball." It was a trait he used to help the Eagles repel opposition attacks, and begin their own, for more than a decade. The term "intercept mark" should be renamed a "Gov", given all he's done to popularise the term. Where coaches of a bygone era might have exhorted him to punch, McGovern's vision and magnetic hands offered West Coast the perfect way of turning defence into attack. It was a trait he used to brilliant effect in the frantic final stages of the 2018 grand final. With less than three minutes to play, he read Adam Treloar's kick inside Collingwood's 50, peeled off his man and planted his knee in Brody Mihocek shoulder to mark, kick-starting one of the most famous grand final moments — up there with Wayne Harmes's knock back, or Matthew Scarlett's toe poke. "What a player," Bruce McAvaney said of him as it happened, and McAvaney has seen plenty. If reading the play was McGovern's best trait, his courage was not far behind. He needed six painkilling injections to play in that grand final, after he tore his oblique muscles during the preliminary final against Melbourne the week before. Then, during the game, his ribs were cracked. Speaking after the match about the ordeal he had endured in the week leading up to the biggest day of his football career, McGovern offered a sore smile and said: "You've got to love your footy." The site of a banged-up McGovern hauling himself up off the ground after bone-jarring collisions became routine over the years for West Australian football fans. Just when you thought his day was surely over, he would shrug off a trainer and throw himself into the fray again. Now, after the latest in what the club has described as "multiple concussions" over his career, McGovern has been advised to retire on medical grounds. When his case was referred to the AFL's "concussion panel", the writing was on the wall. With the spectre of lawsuits from former players who played after head knocks hovering over the league, it seemed unlikely the panel would advise anything else. With a long life to be lived after football, and many more memories to be made off-field, he has read the play here just as well as he did throughout a wonderful career, painful though it may be. The West Coast Eagles have produced defensive greats like Glen Jakovich, Ashley McIntosh and Darren Glass, and Jeremy McGovern more than belongs in that illustrious company. When it comes to all-time Eagles greats, he is in the very top tier. WA footy will be poorer without him patrolling the half-back line, watching his man, but always with one eye scanning ahead reading the play.
West Australian
7 hours ago
- Entertainment
- West Australian
Jeremy McGovern retirement: West Coast Eagles teammates lead tributes to champion backman
The football world and West Coast teammates are paying tribute to one of the club's greatest-ever careers after the retirement of Jeremy McGovern. The champion Eagles backman was forced to retire after a series of concussions, including a brutal hit in a marking contest during his 197th and final game earlier this year. Those tributes were led by McGovern's management group Young Guns Sports Management. Alongside a picture of McGovern lifting the 2018 premiership cup, the account posted: 'what a journey it's been'. 'Today, we celebrate the retirement of one of the toughest, most respect and most loyal players to ever wear the jersey,' the post continued. 'From the early days of raw potential to becoming one of the best intercept defenders in the game, Gov gave everything for the team. 'Week in, week out, he led with heart, courage, and the kind of composure you just can't teach. A leader on and off the field — we are proud to walk alongside him every step of the way.' Premiership teammate Josh Kennedy posted an emoji of a crocodile and a heart, while Elliot Yeo shared it to his Instagram story with a teary-eyed emoji. Elijah Hewett, Tyler Brockman and Archer Reid were among the current teammates who also shared it to their account. Australian Twenty20 cricket captain Mitch Marsh was among those to comment on the Eagles' official Instagram post, sharing an emoji of a goat.
