Sports
‘Here we go’: Washington Commanders fans react to Jayden Daniels’ call-up

WASHINGTON — As DCity Smokehouse staff prepare plates of brisket, pulled pork, rib suggestions and Meaty Palmer and Big Snoop sandwiches within the kitchen, all eyes are on the various televisions dotted across the local barbecue joint.
Some people eat meals, others send text messages on their phones. At least one person sits on a stool and rubs his face while waiting.
The smell of spicy barbecue sauce fills the air. Auntie hairstyles may be found at many tables. The evening host updates the status of Thursday night’s draft in a small restaurant.
As expected, the Chicago Bears will select former USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the primary overall pick. There is light applause as Williams is a Washington product who led Gonzaga College High School to the 2018 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship.
Next up are the hosts, the Washington Commanders. Former LSU quarterback and current Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels was the consensus pick No. 2 in ESPN’s mock drafts prior to tonight, so it’s almost certain that he will likely be the one chosen. However, former UNC quarterback Drake Maye is also chosen.
Daniels, who threw 40 touchdowns and 4 interceptions last yr, looks to be the subsequent dynamic NFL quarterback. He’s big (6-foot-10), has a powerful arm, and his speed has been compared to quarterback Lamar Jackson, the two-time MVP of the Baltimore Ravens.
For fans who have not had a player like this in greater than a decade since Robert Griffin III was drafted in 2012, Daniels may very well be the one to finally – finally – make the Washington franchise relevant again. And do it as a black quarterback. There’s at all times hyperbole in situations like this, but Daniels may finally be that guy.
When NFL commissioner Roger Goodell steps up to the rostrum to announce the commanders, everyone within the restaurant stops in his tracks.
“Here we go,” one fan shouts, “Jayden to the rescue.”
Daniels was chosen.
Patrick Semansky/AP Photo
Washington fans have had terrible draft pick luck through the years. Receiver Terry McLaurin, a third-round pick within the 2019 draft, was a very good pick, but ask him about bad picks they usually can easily name them: Emmanuel Forbes Jr., Chase Young, Jonathan Allen, Ryan Anderson. “…We chose Patrick Ramsey,” said Lionel Redd, 44, who’s wearing a T-shirt that reads: “I’m proud he hates the Cowboys.”
But turn the query around and ask fans about their top draft picks and all of it comes back to one name: Griffin.
The 2011 Heisman Trophy winner burst onto the scene in his first game for the Washington Redskins in 2012, completing over 73% of his passes for 320 yards, two touchdowns and a further 42 yards on the bottom. More would come later in his rookie season, as Griffin dazzled along with his legs and arms, totaling 4,015 yards and 27 touchdowns.
The future looked vibrant for each Griffin and the franchise. That was until Griffin tore his ACL within the playoffs, never regained his superstar form from his first season, and left the team in 2016.
“I just wish he knew how to take care of himself and learn to skate,” Redd said. “He might have won the Super Bowl.”
For those interviewed for this story, an important takeaway from Thursday’s selection was that commanders chosen someone who could contribute immediately and who would remain because the starter for a while. The last Washington quarterback to lead the team in passing yards for five straight seasons was Mark Rypien (1989-1993).
If Daniels stays on target, he’s destined to be a long-term command option on the position.
In five college seasons (three at Arizona and the last two at LSU), Daniels amassed 12,750 passing yards, 3,307 rushing yards and 123 total touchdowns. His most impressive season got here in 2023, when he threw for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns after which rushed for a further 1,134 yards and 10 scores. Daniels did this by playing error-free, throwing just 4 interceptions and being sacked 22 times (down from 43 in 2022).
Daniels has a powerful arm (nation-leading 11.7 yards per attempt) and might run the ball in addition to any starting player within the league. Daniels is not shaken by various defensive coverages or situations wherein coordinators determine to attack him. As Daniels’ 8.4-yard cross-country average last yr shows, he also can take off.
Before the Commanders selected Daniels, fans on the DCity Smokehouse were asked who they wanted the team to select. Most of them fell on Daniels, praising him for his speed and, more importantly, his passing ability.
“First and foremost, he throws,” said Kenny Anyikud, 32, a Washington native.
Cedric “DJ Mello T” Curtis, a hometown musician who has written many anthems in regards to the Washington franchise (“Let’s Go Redskins,” “Commander Stomp”), notes Daniels’ big arm and quick release but is worried in regards to the quarterback situation a leaner frame (Daniels weighs 210 kilos) holds his own within the NFL.
“Personally, I think Daniels is too light in the butt,” Curtis said, comparing Daniels’ physique to Griffin’s.
Paul Sancya/AP Photo
In addition to Daniels’ ability on the sphere, he also represents more of the Washington region. Racism has permeated every crevice in American sports, however the Commanders find themselves within the unlucky position of being the last NFL team to racially integrate their roster. The first black quarterback to start and win the Super Bowl was Washington’s Doug Williams in 1987. Since 2005, the team has drafted three quarterbacks in the primary round: Jason Campbell, Griffin and Dwayne Haskins.
Being a black quarterback in Washington means something. While the remainder of the world probably doesn’t think much of Griffin the player anymore (Griffin currently works for ESPN as an analyst), his name remains to be respected within the district thanks to only one season of service. For an area that is almost 45% black, Washington is exclusive in its association with black quarterbacks. Williams, for instance, still often visits Ben’s Chili Bowl, the neighborhood’s top Black-owned restaurant.
Melvin Hines, founding father of DCity Smokehouse, one other Black-owned establishment, has been a lifelong Washington fan, dating back to when his father had season tickets to Redskins games. Although the years under Daniel Snyder’s ownership have tested Hines’ faith, he still watches every game and is willing to host a draft party for the team’s fans. While winning was an important think about deciding the commanders Thursday night, Hines knows how necessary it’s to have someone who looks like Daniels playing here.
“Seeing a black quarterback is inspiring,” Hines said. “Seeing a black quarterback thrive makes me feel a little better.”
Hines has an 8-year-old son who loves the NBA because he sees the faces of black players and identifies with them. He wants the identical from the preferred team within the district.
“It means a lot to these young people,” he said.
Gabriel Olaiya is a friend of Anyikuda who also grew up in Washington. While Olaiya can list all of Daniels’ strengths as if he were writing a scouting report, it means something to him that a black point guard plays on his favorite team.
“I will always stand up for our people,” Olaiya said. “Absolutely.”
Anyikud imagines what a man like Daniels could do along with his fan base. Most Commanders home games, especially against NFC East rivals the Philadelphia Eagles and Dallas Cowboys, can sometimes feel like away games given the sheer variety of opposing fans within the stadium. A player like Daniels can change that.
“It’s called Chocolate City, so why not?” Anykiud said. “Why not bring back Chocolate City? Put more butts within the seats.
But a player’s race doesn’t necessarily equate to success. In football, all the pieces is dependent upon winning. And for musician Curtis, the band’s success sets a precedent.
“The only colors I identify with, brother, are burgundy and gold,” he said, referring to the Commanders’ team colours. “And green for the dollar.”
Ed Zurgi/Getty Images
While Daniels’ success is dependent upon him becoming the second coming of Jackson moderately than Griffin, it isn’t entirely up to him. The coaching staff, offices and team property are integral to player development. Until recently, commanders were a multitude from top to bottom.
Ron Rivera was fired as coach in early January after going 26-40-1 in 4 seasons. And that pales compared to the damage Snyder has done to the franchise since becoming majority owner in 1999. Attendance was among the many lowest within the league, Snyder was repeatedly accused of sexual harassment by former employees, and the franchise was subject to quite a few state and federal inspections. investigations. Snyder was also known for meddling in football decisions, including the drafting of Griffin and Haskins. Washington had a record of 164-220-2 from 1999 through 2022.
In 2023, Snyder sold the team to a consortium led by Josh Harris.
“Now that Daniel Snyder is gone, there is no disrespect,” Redd said, before catching himself. “Well, to hell with him, I’m sorry.”
Redd believes the team is finally in good hands with Harris, who also owns the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils, and recent general manager Adam Peters, who won Super Bowls as a scout with the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos.
And meaning Daniels actually has a likelihood to succeed.
“I definitely want us to show that now that we have a new owner and new management, we’re going to treat him better and act differently than Dan Snyder unfortunately did,” Redd said.
After Daniels’ selection was announced, I asked Hines how he felt. In his opinion, “we’ll see” because he isn’t very aware of Daniels’ game. Hines notices the energy within the room after the dial – Curtis doing the “Commanders Stomp” – and tells him the band is heading in the suitable direction.
Washington has had many starts and stops, but one draft pick has filled the team’s fans with optimism for the primary time in an extended time. Who knows who Daniels will ultimately change into? But for now, the Commanders are a team value supporting.
“Here we go,” Hines said.
Sports
Jalen Milroe can follow the Jalen path in NFL

Star Black playmakers aren’t any longer an exception – they’re the rule. Throughout the entire football season, this series will discover the importance and influence of black QB from bottom -up to NFL.
Indianapolis-keep me, should you heard it earlier: playmaker Alabama born in Texas, who’s a stronger runner than a passerby, will probably be called outside the first round of the NFL Draft.
The playmaker was undefeated in Sec as a primary -year starter.
The playmaker never played for the same offensive coordinator.
The name of the playmaker is even Jalen.
But it isn’t clear that Jalen hurts. This winter he was busy winning the Super Bowl MVP, and he didn’t play Iron Bowl or against Michigan.
Instead, it’s a former playmaker of Crimson Tide Jalen Milroewho last week Combine Combine tried to convey the case to the trainers and evaluators that he – like his namesake – is price being their playmaker franchise in the future despite questions on his ability.
“I went through adversity. I saw everything as a quarterback, “Milroe said on Friday. “I played at the most difficult conference in the country. It would be easier to play at other conferences, but what I could see in Sec catapulted me that I was ready to play NFL. “
Justin Casterline/Getty Images
Departing from Katy in Texas, she originally got involved in Texas in 2019, but a 12 months later she fell to Alabama. After he was sitting behind the Crimson Tide Starter Bryung for 2 seasons, Milroe took his reins in the 2023 season. He helped Alabama survive Sec (8-0) this 12 months, won by the conference rival and two-time defender Georgia in the SEC championship, which caused Crimson Tide to the play-off collection.
But while Milroe had a big arm (his 10 yards for the test took third place in Sec in 2023), the pass was not his strong suit. For two seasons as a starter Milroe never achieved 3000 yards in one season, the first starter of Alabama, who did it because it … hurts.
Hurts, from Houston, led Crimson Tide to the National National Championships in 2016–17, but during these two seasons were lower than 5,000 yards. While Hurts was a singular Rusher (1,809 yards and 21 sticks) at the moment, his weakness as a passerby is known for led to the spare Tua Tavailoa during the break of the national championships in 2017.
In the mix, Milroe decided that despite his pedestrian passes, he was still worthy of being a start at NFL.
He is aware of his weaknesses and swore that he worked in the ass to enhance outside being “one dimension.” He could move when his legendary trainer, Nick Saban, retired after the 2023 season, but decided to not fall off. He traveled six miles a day to ensure that that something was left in the fourth quarter in the fourth quarter. He studied progression and reads after I-SNAP to lift his IQ in football.
Unlike the forecast sorts of the first round, Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders, Milroe threw a mix on Saturday, hoping that he would show the bands that he has mechanics to do that to the playmaker NFL. It turned out to be a mixed bag. Milroe showed strong arm strength and a very good location of sail routes, curls and it while throwing exercises, but fought accuracy on intermediate and on the routes.
“That’s so many things that I can learn more where I am today and where I will be when it comes to day 1, starting with NFL,” said Milroe before Saturday exercises. “Always be a game student, at all times attempt to develop, because it would be so many opportunities in which I can look back and say that it was the moment after I grew up as a playmaker.
“That’s right now, I’m just trying to grow as much as possible, put my best foot forward and just look for development.”
Derick E. Hingle/Getty Images
Milroe was asked that he was one other playmaker in Alabama to succeed in the mix, following in the footsteps of the role (who moved to Oklahoma in 2019), Tavailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young. Milroe said he appreciates being in the company of others, but he added that it’s difficult to check him with others.
“We had different bands, we had different players around us, we had a different system,” he said.
But when he specifically asked what he could study the journey of Hurts-from the first manager of the game after the super Bowl-Milroe master said he inspired him his companion Alabam.
“The most important thing I learned from J. Hurts is how he kept his head (I) always continued to work,” said Milroe. “He at all times raised his game, he has never been self -deserved, and all the pieces you see is great progress from him.
“And I have to applaud him as a person, he as a man, because he is definitely inspiring for many playmakers of my image, as well as many playmakers throughout the country. He leads to all of us. “
The couple isn’t completely similar. Hurts had about 20 kilos on Milroe when he was in college. Milroe has a stronger arm, while Hurts played more and not using a mistake of football: Milroe threw 17 interceptions and ate 67 bags for 2 seasons as a starter in comparison with 10 captures Hurts and 43 bags.
But they can each be changing the game when their teams need them. In a highly publicized match against Georgia at the starting of the last season, Milroe finished almost 82% of his passes on 374 yards and two appointments, adding 117 yards to the ground for the next two results.
Milroe can also match the wounds in the so -called “Jalen-ISMS. “
“Climbing upstairs is not easy, but when you reach the top of this mountain, you will learn so many things when it comes to adversity when it comes to difficulties, things along the way,” said Milroe in a mix.
Sports
Like Tommie Smith and John Carlos from 1968. Black Power Salute inspired me to find my goal

I’d say that I grew up within the household to be sure that that me and my siblings were aware of the black history. My parents invested in the gathering of black encyclopedias. On the duvet we had a version of the Bible with Black Jesus. Our house was stuffed with books of black novelists and thinkers, and if a black document appeared, we watched it. I watched all movies made on television about Dr. King, each “Roots” and “Alex Haley’s Queen” and I sat for all 14 hours “Eyes on the reward”-as a toddler. Bless my heart.
Having said this, there have been pockets of black history, and more likely that I had no opportunity to delve into once I was a toddler. The college was where all the will for information and understanding of the combined. I attended Morehouse College in Atlanta, Ga., One of a very powerful historically black universities within the country. It was there that I met people from around the globe whose knowledge about black history differed (often depending on the colleges and the communities by which we lived), but everyone had hunger to learn more.
One day, through the first yr, I remember one among my friends in a T -shirt by which I had definitely seen before, but I never paid attention to. There was a black and white screen printing on the shirt (what I do know now) the enduring moment on the Olympic Games in Mexico in 1968, where on the rostrum for 200-meter medals, Tommie Smith, John Carlos (races 1. And 3. Place Finaners) Everyone gathered a black fist in gloves while he played “Star Spangled Banner”. Peter Norman, the second place from Australia, wore a human rights badge, like Smith and Carlos.
Not only did they raise the fist of black power (although they each said it was for human rights), they received medals in black socks to represent poverty within the black community, and Smith wore a black scarf for black pride. Carlos showed solidarity with blue-wheeled employees, unpacking the jacket and wore a necklace from the beads for individuals who were lynched. Due to the state of Black America in 1968 and a continuing struggle for equality and civil rights, there have been calls to a boycott of the Games. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was also killed in April this yr – and all three athletes were inspired enough to find a way to do it on the rostrum, which led to one of the crucial durable images of public protest.
I remember how I learned history and realized that on the most important scene these brave men used their moment of triumph and victory to quietly protest against the conditions of underrated communities in America. I felt strengthened; We often discuss standing on the arms of giants, however the more I got into the history of black in America, the more I spotted what number of giants there have been. In college I used to be very bad and for a while ready to burn every part that represented the establishment or any obstacle to black liberation. I felt like all those individuals who even saw their space on the planet in reference to individuals who could never give you the option to speak as heroes whose lives were to be modeled later. Especially since it was also fastidiously that putting people in front of him can often bring an enormous personal loss.
When Smith and Carlos took their position, they were booed on the stadium and ordered to be sent home by the International Olympic Committee. The athletes returned home, but they weren’t welcomed by the hero, but as a substitute of rough sleds, and even in some cases the specter of death. They were also not beloved by athletes. Two men, associated eternally in history, even have a good relationship –Carlos even claims that he let Smith go within the race Because “Tommie Smith would never put his fist in the sky if I won this race,” the claim that Smith denies.
History ultimately has a way of rights, but it surely took a few years and realizations on the front of social policy, in order that the actions of those persons are perceived as brave and needed, not only selfish and smug.
The lessons that I learned from College and continuous reading and education I gained (my head remained within the book about black history) were one among the best advantages in HBCU. The very variety of books I learned about about which I actually have never heard of – I actually have upheld me all my life.
That is why I remember sooner or later I used to be walking around Washington, the eastern Washington market and a street seller was selling different photos of moments in black history, and he had a 40 -inch photo within the Tommie Smith and John Carlos frame. I paid for it in money and spent it across the capital of the country until I returned home. I do know that it happened in 2005 (I finished Morehouse College in 2001) because I just moved to my first apartment with no roommate and it was the very first thing that I actually have ever suspended on the wall. This picture within the frame still hangs on the wall in my home in 2025 and I used it to teach my children about sacrifice and privilege and how you may have to discuss individuals who cannot.

The query that my youngest children often ask: “How do I know who can’t speak for herself?” Which is an incredible query. For this I answered an easy fact, pointing to the photo:
“These men have made a gesture that gave people whose most of us, including them, would never see or never know them, but on which life negatively affects the alternatives of the wealthy and the federal government. Sometimes you may have to take this chance to say something because you do not know in the event you’ll ever have such a big platform.
Son, there may be at all times someone who cannot speak for himself, and you may have to use it in a voice, because perhaps the thing you say or a stand that can help someone you understand, live a greater life. ”
I take advantage of words that may understand a little bit higher, but I can inform you that my children have a look at this photo on a regular basis, and once one among my sons said: “These guys are heroes, right?”
I say yes, they’re. They are the heroes of the Black History.
They will live eternally for speaking, and even quietly, in solidarity with those that couldn’t.

(Tagstranslate) @Ap
Sports
Main Treasury Official Morgan State University, Sterling Steward, died

Morgan State University announced that his older associate athletics director and tax director, Sterling Steward, died.
No reason for death was disclosed, but the college has confirmed his contribution since he was employed in December 2022.
Morgan State University Athletics mourns Sterling Steward’s departure https://t.co/avjzilxhja
– Grizzly Life (@grizzlylife22) February 26, 2025
Steward died on February 26. In Morgan State he was accountable for the event of university programs, supporting partnerships and strengthening the financial and operational success of the Faculty.
“Sterling was more than a colleague-he was a respected leader, mentor and friend,” said in a written statement by Den Freeman-Patton, vice chairman and director of inter-university athletes. “His passion for athletics and commitment to raising Morgan programs were visible in everything he did. He worked tirelessly to ensure that our sports students had resources and the possibilities of distinction, and its impact will be felt for many years. We expand our deepest condolences to his family and loved ones, especially his three sons and sister when we mourn this huge loss. “
While the steward worked in Morgan, strategic growth and cooperation occurred. His work with the institutional development department helped to offer more opportunities and created lasting relationships to support sports programs.
Steward earlier he worked At the University of New Orleans (UNO) as an assistant to the college athletics director for strategic income generation. He also made stays on the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Savannah State University, Mississippi Valley State University, Alabama State University, Kentucky State University, Eastern Oregon University and Xavier University in various roles, including for a senior consultant athletics director and sports director.
He was from New Orleans, who received the title of bachelor and master’s degree on the University of Southern Mississippi. He won a bachelor’s degree in the sphere of coaching and administration/history of sport and his master’s degree in the sphere of sport management.
(Tagstransate) Morgan State Universiry
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