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Sports briefing

West Branch, East Liverpool to play in football

BELOIT- West Branch and East Liverpool have signed a two-year football agreement starting in 2021. The schools will play Week 1 and the first game in 2021 will be at East Liverpool. East Liverpool Head Coach Josh Ludwig said he likes the addition and hopes it can turn into a multiple-year agreement to play the Warriors.

Browns sign rookie Delpit, last of team’s ’20 class

CLEVELAND (AP) – The Browns signed LSU safety Grant Delpit to his rookie deal on Wednesday, meaning all of Cleveland’s 2020 draft class is under contract.

Delpit was the last of the team’s seven selections to sign. The Browns posted a photo on Twitter of the second-round pick signing his deal at a table while holding a bulldog and near the Jim Thorpe Award he won last season as the nation’s top defensive back.

Delpit’s deal is worth about $7.5 million, including a $3 million signing bonus.

The signing came shortly after the Browns finalized a record-setting, $125 million contract extension over five years to defensive end Myles Garrett.

While the Browns will count on Garrett to hold things down up front, they have high hopes for Delpit, who finished his career with 199 tackles and eight interceptions for the reigning national champions. Delpit had six tackles and a sack in LSU’s title game win over Clemson.

He’ll be reunited in Cleveland’s secondary with cornerback Greedy Williams, his former college teammate and a second-round pick by the Browns in 2019.

Delpit is expected to challenge for the starting job at free safety alongside free agent Karl Joseph, who will likely start at strong safety.

Kent State QB named to award watch list

KENT- Kent State quarterback Dustin Crum has been named one of the 30 quarterbacks to the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award Watch List as announced by the Davey O’Brien Foundation.

The Davey O’Brien Trophy is given annually to the player “judged to be the best quarterback in the NCAA.” The Award’s namesake starred at TCU and won the Heisman Trophy in 1938. The award has been given annually since 1977 and has been a quarterback-only award since 1981.

Crum is one of 10 non- “power-5” quarterbacks to make the list and the only representative from the Mid-American Conference (MAC). After taking over as QB1 in week two, Crum went on to lead the MAC in passing in conference games, averaging over 240 yards per contest. Crum added another 60 yards rushing per game, putting him atop the conference with 300 yards of total offense per game. His stellar TD-to-INT ratio of 20:2 last year was one of the best in the NCAA, leading to an overall efficiency rating of 159.7, good for 11th in the FBS.

Crum’s two interceptions put him in rare company. He was the only FBS quarterback to have 20 or more TDs and two or fewer interceptions. It had only been done three previous times in the past 10 seasons: Drew Hare of NIU in 2014, Connor Shaw of South Carolina in 2013 and Chuckie Keeton of Utah State in 2013.    

This accolade is the latest pre-season honor for the senior signal caller. Crum has already earned pre-season first-team All-MAC honors from Athlon Sports as well as Phil Steele, while ESPN has rated Crum number eight on the top returning quarterbacks in the FBS, a mark that tops all “group-of-five” schools.

Justin Fields of Ohio State was also named to the O’Brien watch list.

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