by Patrick Zier | Jun 5, 2025 |
Locklan Hewlett is, right now, the No.3 quarterback on South Florida’s football team, so if everything goes according to plan, meaning if Byrum Brown stays healthy, you probably won’t hear from him this year. But that doesn’t mean you won’t hear from him.
Hewlett, a 6-foot-1, 190-pounder out of St. Augustine high, has already gotten the attention of the USF coaching staff even though he is just a freshman and hasn’t played a down in competition.
But he did play in USF’s spring game, sharing time with Bryce Archie, Brown’s back-up, and completing 13-of-14 passes for 110 yards and three touchdowns as Brown, still in somewhat of a healing mode after suffering a lower leg injury last year, was held out just to be on the safe side.
The spring game was just a sample of the kind of talent Hewlett displayed in high school, where he was a three-year starter and threw for 7,917 yards over the course of his career, including his senior season when he was 198-of-298, 66 percent, for 2,910 yards with 31 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Rated as the No.52 quarterback in the country in On3’s industry rankings, Hewlett was sought by several schools including Miami, Pitt and Texas A-M before signing with Wake Forest.
But then, he decommitted from Wake Forest and switched to USF. According to On3, Hewlett said he decided on Wake Forest early in his recruitment and didn’t give himself enough time to think things through and that USF was a better fit.
“They play with tempo and play fast and that’s my style,” Hewlett told On3. “The future is really bright here,” he continued. “People are still sitting (on USF) but they’ll be awake soon,” Hewlett added.
Going into the season, USF is in an interesting position. The Bulls open against Boise State, which made the College Football Playoffs last year and is generally considered the standard by which other Group of 5 teams are judged.
Win that game and suddenly, USF has a chance to break out of the pack, move away from mediocrity to big boy status. Anything would be possible, even being the Group of 5 representative in the CFP. While that would still be a longshot, it would be possible.
Much of that, particularly on offense, would depend on Brown, and what happens to Brown will go a long way toward determining what happens to Hewlett. If Brown avoids injury, USF has a chance to make a serious run and Hewlett remains in the background, at least for this year.
But Hewlett has already shown enough so that if he continues to develop, he could pass Archie, a steady workman-like player who has experience but lacks Hewlett’s upside, as the team’s No.2 quarterback.
Right now, the plan would be to get Hewlett into four games, which would allow him to preserve his redshirt season and leave him with four years of eligibility.
But if Brown were to go down again USF might see Hewlett as giving it the best chance to win, particularly if it were in contention for a major bowl or post season play.
“Just in terms of attention to detail and the growth he has made as a young quarterback, for a young guy that just got here, man, he continues to be really, really special in a lot of ways,” USF Coach Alex Golesh said after the spring game.
“He’s a little baller and he’s fun to coach and we’ll see how his progression goes,” Golesh continued. “But I think he’s got a really bright future here.” The question is whether the future is now.
Even Archie, who played solidly as Brown’s replacement last year and, in some ways, saved USF’s season, has picked up positive vibes from Hewlett.
“He did nothing but come here and work,” Archie commented. “He didn’t really care about anything else. He was in the facility as much as I was. I’d get back from baseball practice (In addition to football, Archie is a pitcher on the USF baseball team) and he’d just be coming back from meetings with one of the coaches and I think that just showed on the field.
“Really, he came to the first practice; you know a lot of guys just expect a young quarterback to come in and just kind of look mediocre,” Archie said. “He didn’t.
“He came in and executed and I think it wowed a lot of people, even the coaches. He just put his head down and worked and it shows every day on the field.”
Without question, Brown is USF’s big gun. He has the ability to be one of the best quarterbacks in the country and that ability is going to get him noticed by Power 4 teams. If he has a big year, he could hit the transfer portal and if he leaves, then the quarterback spot is open and Hewlett just might fill it.
And while he may not be the next Byrum Brown, maybe he won’t have to be. Maybe being Locklan Hewlett will be good enough.
by Patrick Zier | May 31, 2025 |
Richard Childress Racing (RCR) is on the ropes. Down for the count. Struggling to get back up. The once formidable organization is a shell of its former self, when it regularly competed for championships in the fearsome black No.3 driven by Dale Earnhardt.
The car is gone now and so is it’s driver and so, it seems, is whatever it was that enabled this team to stay on top for so long. For one thing, RCR clearly has struggled to adapt to the modernized NextGen version racer, which came on line in 2022.
Sure, RCR has won a few races since then and made the playoffs, but that’s more a function of the NASCAR point system, which rewards finishing over competing and lets you in the playoffs with a single win no matter how far down the standings you are.
This year though, RCR has been exposed. in 2023, RCR signed Kyle Busch to team with Austin Dillon as the organization’s lead driver. Busch’s talent has never been in doubt.
With Joe Gibbs Racing, a NASCAR powerhouse, he won at least one race every year from 2005 through 2022. And he made a seemingly seamless transition to RCR in 2023, winning three times for what had become a second-tier team.
With some changes in the shop and some shifting roles in upper management, it was thought that Busch might lead RCR out of the doldrums. And then in 2024, it all fell apart again. For the first time in his career, Busch didn’t win a single race.
Dillon did, shoving both Joey Logano and Denny Hamlin out of the way on the last lap to triumph at Richmond, but his moves were so egregious NASCAR banned him from the playoffs.
And RCR’s problems have continued this year. Heading into Sunday’s Craker Barrel 400 at Nashville, Busch has gone 70 straight races without a win and Dillon hasn’t won either. The team has only one top five, that by Busch in the season’s first race in Austin, Tx.
But again, because NASCAR rewards finishing races more than competing in them, Busch, 19th in the standings, still has a shot at the playoffs with 266 points. That’s just 14 behind Ryan Preece who is 16th, the cutoff right now.
Busch, though will likely have to win to get in, and that may be a real chore as RCR keeps blundering through race after race with messed up pit stops, messed up strategy and engine and car pieces that just don’t hold up.
“I feel like a broken record saying another difficult night for our No. 8 Chevrolet team,” Busch told NBC after a 15th place finish at Charlotte. “The weekend started with a steering issue.
“We got the pump changed and were able to make a qualifying lap but had to change the rack (the component that connects the steering wheel to the steering gear allowing for precise steering movements) and go to the rear for the start of the race,” Busch said.
“We were tight (the front of the car not wanting to turn) in dirty air (air swirling off the cars in front of him),” Busch continued. “Crew chief Randall Burnett made some changes and got it running better when I heard a loud pop. Something broke and we’re still no sure what it was.
“From that point on we were just out of it,” Busch said. “We tried making a strategy call late in the race, but we had an issue on pit road so we weren’t really able to capitalize on that,” he added.
Busch has just signed a contract extension that keeps him with RCR in 2026 and at 40, he’s near the end of this career. Whether or not RCR can put him in a competitive car for the duration is open to question, but in reality, given his age and the fact that there don’t seem to be any better openings, he’s stuck.
And while RCR seems to be in almost constant disarray, one thing is certain. RCR is not what they were. Even Dale Earnhardt would have trouble winning in these cars.
NASCAR NOTES
Three most likely winners at Nashville: 1-Kyle Larson, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-William Byron. Last year’s winner at Nashville: Joey Logano. Top five at Nashville last year: 1-Logano, 2-Zane Smith, 3-Tyler Reddick, 4-Ryan Preece, 5-Chris Buescher.
Last week’s Old Guy Sport picks: 1-Ryan Blaney, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-Kyle Larson. Charlotte winner: Ross Chastain. OGS season record: 5-5.
Top 10 in OGS competition index after 10 races: 1-Larson 291 points, 2-Bell 228, 3-Denny Hamlin 223, 4-William Byron 204, 5-Blaney 107, 6-Chastain 102, 7-Chase Briscoe 90, 8-Josh Berry 83, 9-Bubba Wallace 73, 10-Logano 73.
Top 10 on intermediate tracks (similar to Nashville) in OGS competition index: 1-Larson 176, 2-Byron 153, 3-Chastain 102, 4-Blaney 92, 5-Bell 71, 6-Briscoe 70, 7-Hamlin 68, 8-Berry 59, 9-Logano 58, Alex Bowman 58.
INDY 500
OGS Indy 500 picks: 1-Alex Polou, 2-Scott Dixon, 3-Pato O’Ward. Indy 500 winner: Polou.
by Patrick Zier | May 21, 2025 |
It was close to midnight, and Charlotte Motor Speedway was nearly deserted.
It’s light towers, serving as sentinels in the dark, still lit up the racing surface, but the grandstands had emptied and there was no sound, the roar of the race cars in the 1999 Coca-Cola 600 having long since reverberated into the night.
In the infield, the last spectators, headlights flashing as they left, were winding their way toward the tunnel which would take them out of the track and home.
Back in the garage, which was almost empty, down the aisle that led past all the tools and parts and pieces needed to put the finishing touches on a competitive stock car, Tony Stewart sat in the front of his hauler and rested on a couch. He was exhausted.
He had just run the Memorial Day double, the Indy 500, where he finished 9th, and then the Coca-Cola 600, where he was fourth. He had not completed every lap of both races, falling four short at Indy, but his performance was the best anyone had ever done to that point.
And he had put on a show at Charlotte, gutting out all 400 laps although it had been an ordeal that left Stewart completely drained. After climbing from his car, Stewart sank to his knees. He talked to no one. The only place he went afterwards was the infield care center. There, he took some ice packs and was given fluids to drink. He did not want an IV…
Running 1,100 miles on the same day requires planning. Once the checkered flag flew at Indy, Stewart was rushed to an airport where a private jet was waiting to take him to Concord, N.C., a Charlotte suburb and a 55 minute flight.
There, he boarded a helicopter for a quick trip to CMS, descending from the sky in front of a cheering throng and immediately changing into his driver’s uniform and getting ready to race – again.
For a very tired Stewart, the Coca-Cola 600 had been a test of will. He spun on the second lap, apparently for no reason. He managed to pull himself together, but as the miles went by, he started to lose focus.
It became harder and harder to run the correct line through the corners, harder and harder to keep the car from wobbling in the straights, harder and harder to pass although Stewart had really done an amazing job of that.
Forced to start dead last, 43rd, because he missed the mandatory drivers meeting, Stewart began a steady march forward. And with 90 laps to go, he was leading the race. But he couldn’t keep the lead. He was too tired, two worn out.
Now, in his hauler, everything was quiet. Only Stewart’s voice broke the silence. He had, he said, almost nothing to eat all day, and that, he thought, might have contributed to his problems. He had, he said, two mini-bagels before Indy and two power bars on the plane.
“They tried to give me another power bar during the (Charlotte) race, but did you ever try to open one of those things wearing driving gloves?” Stewart asked. “I got most of it all over me.”
In the pits, Stewart’s crew chief, Greg Zipadelli, spent almost as much time working on Stewart as he did the car. “Whenever we came in, they threw ice packs in the car and gave me a bottle to drink,” Stewart continued, still slumped on his couch.
“I kept drinking and drinking and drinking, but the bottle would get hot and I don’t think it helped much. Toward the end, I got light-headed and I was nauseous twice.
“I never use the head rest in cars, and I used the head rest the last 60, 70 laps,” Stewart went on. “I felt like I was 90 percent and leaving 10 percent on the table.”
There was a pause in the conversation as Stewart collected his thoughts. And then came the question that had to be asked.
Stewart, who had grown up in open wheel cars, was running his first season in NASCAR, teamed with Bobby Labonte at Joe Gibbs Racing, a relatively new organization that was quickly establishing itself as one of the sport’s best. Had running the Indy 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 cost him the race?
“It might have,” Stewart admitted. “Running both races wasn’t fair to these guys (his crew). They work seven days a week on my car and they deserve more. Next year, I won’t run Indy. I’m going to concentrate on the 600.
“I’m here for the long haul and much as I’d love to go back, I’m going to stick it out with these guys. These guys have been great to me. They’re my family now.”
Of course Stewart did go back, in 2001. And this time, he was ready. Gibbs, his team owner, made sure of that. He told Stewart if he was going to do the double again, he was going to do it right.
Gibbs got him a personal trainer, Stewart learned from his mistakes and this time, he finished sixth at Indy and third at Charlotte. And he ran every lap.
That’s the standard if you want to give it a go, and it’s a pretty high hurdle to get over.
NASCAR’s Kyle Larson, generally regarded as the most talented driver in American motorsports, gave it a shot last year but couldn’t pull it off, in part because of bad weather at Charlotte.
His effort paled in comparison to Stewart’s, though. At Indy, Larson ran all 200 laps and finished 18th, but that was well behind Stewart’s sixth place finish in 2001. Larson then flew back to Charlotte where the race was in a rain delay.
Justin Allgeier had started his car and was still in it when the rain came. Had the race continued, Larson was scheduled to get in after the end of the third stage, which means he would only have run 100 of the 400 laps.
Anyway, he’ll do it again this year and hope for better results. Larson has an emotionless, almost robotic approach to racing, never over reacting to anything, good or bad, and maybe that’s what it takes.
But, for whatever it’s worth, here’s a tip. When you start your day, try eating something besides mini-bagels and power bars.
NASCAR NOTES – Three most likely winners at Charlotte: 1-Ryan Blaney, 2-Christopher Bell, 3-Kyle Larson. Last year’s winner at Charlotte: Bell. Top five at Charlotte last year: 1-Bell, 2-Brad Keselowski, 3-William Byron, 4-Tyler Reddick, 5-Denny Hamlin.
Old Guy Sport’s pick last week: No pick, All-Star race.
OGS competition index top 10: 1-Larson 287 points, 2-Bell 227, 3-Hamlin 218, 4-Byron 139, 5-Blaney 107, 6-Josh Berry 83, 7-Bubba Wallace 73, 8-Joey Logano 70, 9-Reddick 67, 10-Alex Bowman 62.
OGS competition index top 10 on intermediate tracks: 1-Larson 172, 2-Blaney 92, 3-Byron 88, 4-Bell 70, 5-Hamlin 63, 6-Berry 59, 7-Logano 58, Bowman 58; 9-Ross Chastain 51, 10-Daniel Suarez 41, Wallace 41.
INDY NOTES – Three most likely winners at Indy: 1-Alex Palou, 2-Scott Dixon, 3-Pato O’Ward. Last year’s winner at Indy: Josef Newgarden. Top five at Indy last year: 1-Newgarden, 2-O’Ward, 3-Dixon, 4-Alexander Rossi, 5-Palou.
IRL point standings going into Indy: 1-Palou, 248 points, 2-Kyle Kirkwood 151, 3-Christian Lundgaard 150, 4-O’Ward 148, 5-Scott McLaughlin 137, 6-Dixon 134, 7-Will Power 128, 8-Felix Rosenqvist 125, 9-Colton Herta 104, 10-Rinus Veekay 100.
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