Manning to be inducted into HOF

Manning to be inducted into HOF

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Peyton Manning will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this Sunday as part of the 2021 class.

Peyton has chosen his father, Archie Manning, to be his presenter in Canton, Ohio. The 2020 Hall of Fame class will be enshrined on Saturday.

Manning played 18 seasons in the NFL, 14 with the Indianapolis Colts and four with the Denver Broncos. He appeared in four Super Bowls, winning two.

His mother, Olivia Manning, is originally from Philadelphia.

The Neshoba County Fair had its first Football at the Fair last Thursday, and those who attended thought it was an exciting event. Southern Mississippi head coach Will Hall, Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin and Mississippi State’s Mike Leach were present and seemed to have a blast interacting with each other.

Hall gave Golden Eagles fans hope that things will change in Hattiesburg. Kiffin gave his fans hope that the Rebels defense will be much improved. Leach talked about many humorous subjects but promised that his Bulldogs will be exciting.

The Bulldogs will open their season on Sept. 4 at 3 p.m. by hosting Louisiana Tech while the Rebels will tangle with Louisville in Atlanta on Labor Day night at 7 p.m. The Golden Eagles will visit South Alabama on Sept. 4 at 7 p.m. to open the Will Hall era. 

Collegiate sports are rapidly changing whether we fans want it to or whether we do not. Last week the Southeastern Conference announced the University of Oklahoma and the University of Texas will become official members of the conference effective July 1, 2025. The addition of the Sooners and the Longhorns will bring the SEC membership to 16 schools. The Longhorns and the Sooners are two of the media darlings of college football.

The two new members play each other in what is called the Red River Showdown annually in Dallas. Last year’s game was the eighth most-watched game of the 2020 college football season. The SEC money coffers doubled when two former Big 12 members Missouri and Texas A&M joined the conference back in 2012.

The questions now are how will those additions affect our two SEC schools? Will we be able to keep up or be non-factors in the future? Only time will tell. 

Last week we reported on SEC Media Days and C-USA. This week we will recap the other Media Days. The Atlantic Coast Conference media chose Clemson to win the ACC Championship over North Carolina. North Carolina was chosen to win the Coastal Division of the ACC while Clemson was picked to win the Atlantic. In the Big Ten media poll, Ohio State of the Eastern Division was overwhelmingly chosen to win the championship game over Wisconsin of the Big Ten West. Oklahoma was named by the Big 12 media to win the championship over preseason runner-up Iowa State. The final Power 5 Media Days was the PAC-12, which was staged last week. Their media picked Oregon to win the championship game as the North Division champ over South Division champ USC. 

Baseball Notes

Former DeSoto Central star Austin Riley knocked his 22nd home run of the season last Friday night for the Atlanta Braves. 

A trio of former Magnolia State baseball stars were involved in Major League baseball trades this past week. One of the top relief pitchers Kendall Graveman was sent from Seattle to Houston. Former Meridian CC star Corey Dickerson was sent from Miami to Toronto. Former MSU ace Konnor Pilkington was traded from the Chicago White Sox Double AA Birmingham team to the Cleveland Indians AA team in Akron. 

Odds & ends 

There was some sad news to report recently on the pro football front as Clinton native Cam Akers of the L.A. Rams ruptured his Achilles while working out and is expected to miss the 2021 NFL season. 

New Orleans all-pro receiver Michael Thomas could miss a large portion of the upcoming football season. He had ligaments in his ankles surgically repaired last month and he could miss over half of the regular season games. Last year, Thomas missed nine games. 

Dale McKee, a Waynesboro native, has been writing about Mississippi sports since 1973. 






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