Sports
The unlikeliest journey to NCAA volleyball’s final four
THE DAY KYNDAL STOWERS was told she couldn’t play volleyball anymore, she got in her car, silenced her phone, and drove aimlessly around town.
It was the spring of 2024, and she had endured four concussions over eight months on the volleyball court at Baylor, once in a collision with a teammate and three times from getting hit by the ball. “Why does this keep happening?” she asked herself. She figured she would redshirt her sophomore season and give her brain time to heal.
But near the end of the 2024 spring semester, a team doctor summoned Stowers. She thought it was just another checkup. When she arrived, the doctor, a trainer and a member of the university’s compliance department greeted her. They told her that she was being medically retired, and that her tuition would be paid for but her playing days — at Baylor at least — were finished.
She eventually went home to Denton, Texas, and watched the 2024 Final Four on her parents’ couch.
One year later, on Sunday, Stowers stood on the court at the Bob Devaney Center in Lincoln, Nebraska, celebrating her Texas A&M team’s five-set upset over the No. 1 — and previously undefeated — Cornhuskers in the regional finals. She had 25 kills and then found her mom in the crowd and cried. She rarely does that, Tina Stowers said.
But this is a story about the unlikeliest player on the unlikeliest semifinal team in the NCAA women’s volleyball tournament, and the moment commanded some emotion. It’s about a sports family supporting her decision to keep playing, and taking the steps necessary to ensure she’s as safe as she can be in an unpredictable arena of high-velocity swings, crashing bodies and flying elbows.
On Thursday, she’ll play for Texas A&M against Pittsburgh in the national semifinals.
“I knew that I wasn’t done,” Stowers said. “How can I be done with something I never got to start?”
THE STOWERS FAMILY knows about the violence of sports. Don Stowers, Kyndal’s dad, played football for New Mexico State in the 1990s, and was invited to the NFL combine. He played in NFL Europe for a year, and before that was a priority undrafted free agent for the Cincinnati Bengals before becoming a preseason cut by the Bengals and Denver Broncos. But he said there’s video of him tackling Emmitt Smith in a preseason game.
He has coached high school football in Texas, and his son, Eli, is a tight end for Vanderbilt. Tina Stowers graduated from Baylor, played beach volleyball for more than a decade, and coached high school and junior college volleyball. She said she never had a concussion in 30-plus years of volleyball, but acknowledges that back then, there were no protocols, and assessments were generally concluded with the term “getting your bell rung.”
But concussions in volleyball aren’t as rare as they might seem. A 2023 study found that volleyball had the highest rate of concussions (4.93 per 10,000 athlete exposures) among limited-contact sports, including softball, swimming/diving and baseball, and a rate higher than men’s basketball, which is considered a high-contact sport. The NCAA has a concussion safety protocol that schools must follow that applies to all sports. It includes immediate removal from a game or practice if a concussion is suspected and continued evaluation by a team physician in the hours and days following the injury.
When Kyndal sustained her first concussion at Baylor during the summer of 2023, before her freshman season, she called her mom. She was annoyed, Tina Stowers said, but otherwise fine. Then came the September game when she dove for a ball and a teammate went airborne and kneed her in the head.
Baylor sat her for 10 days, Tina Stowers said, but about a week after she returned, she looked tired. After an early October game, Tina and Don spoke to the trainers.
“So they were like, ‘You know what? We’re just going to take you out of the gym for a little bit longer,'” Tina Stowers said. “And then she was shagging balls and she got hit by [a serve] probably going 70 mph. Hit her right in the back of the head.”
When Stowers played, she dominated. During her freshman season, she had double-digit kills in 12 of the 14 matches she played. She had 29 kills and 16 digs against SMU; she hit above .450 in three matches and was once named Big 12 offensive player of the week.
But she never played after that Oct. 6 game against Kansas State.
During a spring practice in February 2024, she got hit by a shanked ball. She was diagnosed with her fourth concussion.
Baylor coach Ryan McGuyre said the decision to medically retire her was difficult for him and the Stowers family to take.
“Both of us were frustrated about not being able to navigate forward or at least just wait longer and let it work itself out,” he said.
BACK HOME IN Denton, Stowers lifted weights and worked on her speed and explosiveness alongside football players. She served and swatted at volleyballs alone in her club gym. She did Fellowship of Christian Athletes camps, binge-watched some TV series and dog-sat to earn money. Her symptoms waned.
One of the biggest perks of being off for an entire autumn was that she was finally able to see her brother play football for Vanderbilt.
“On the weekends, I was going to all of his games,” she said, “which was really cool because I’ve never been able to do that ever because we’ve both been playing at the same time.”
Her mom lovingly called her “college dropout” during her stay back home.
During the 2024 NCAA volleyball tournament, she entered the transfer portal. She wasn’t sure what the market would hold for a 19-year-old outside hitter with an extensive concussion history. She was at church one day when an onslaught of calls and texts hit her phone. It was so intrusive that she had to activate the “Do Not Disturb” feature.
Texas A&M coach Jamie Morrison was among the many reaching out. The Aggies were coming off a 21-8 season that ended with a five-set loss to Wisconsin in the regional semifinals. They were returning a talented roster, but there was room for more. Soon, Stowers visited College Station. Her brother started his football career there before transferring to New Mexico State and then Vanderbilt, so she was familiar with some of the faces and the athletic department’s culture.
“But obviously meeting the volleyball staff and seeing what they were about in their program meant a lot to me,” she said. “So, yeah, fell in love with it and then committed two days later.”
MORRISON SAID HE had two priorities when Stowers arrived. He wanted to give her back the thing she loved — the ability to play volleyball. He said he was also committed to keeping her safe.
Stowers wasn’t just working out during her time away from volleyball. She underwent concussion rehabilitation at the Andrews Institute in Plano, Texas, and received VOMS (Vestibular Ocular Motor Screening), which is a clinical assessment tool.
“When I moved home, I saw a ton of doctors in Dallas,” Stowers said, “a lot of very well-known neuropsychologists. Neurologists. Even some, like, general people, across every board that I could think of because I didn’t want to put myself at risk.
“I mean, my dad played football … my brother is about to go into the NFL. The world of concussions is not foreign to me, and I know obviously what that can lead to. So I didn’t want to put myself at risk by any means. Part of it was like, I want to get all of this evidence that I’m fine to continue playing, but I also want to make sure I’m good.”
She said that eventually, the lingering concussion symptoms she’d experienced at Baylor were gone, and she was cleared to continue playing volleyball by her personal doctors.
“I would never have put my daughter back out on a court if I thought it was not safe for her,” Tina Stowers said. “We definitely got plenty of clearance from a lot of people that know better than I do. And then it just kind of worked out.”
Morrison said A&M’s medical staff pored through all of her medical records, which accounted for about 60 hours of work. One of the conditions he set for Stowers to play was that she wore a Q-Collar, a horseshoe-shaped safety device that is worn around the neck and has been cleared by the FDA.
Dr. Julian Bailes, a renowned neurosurgeon and concussions expert who was part of the research and development of the Q-Collar, said the device has a spring inside that compresses the jugular.
“And what that does,” he said, “it puts a little more blood in the cranium, which reduces the ability of the brain to move or slosh around. …
“If you get hit on the head by any mechanism, if the brain doesn’t move, it doesn’t get injured. It’s the movement of the brain that creates brain injury, whether it’s concussion or, you know, major injury in a car accident or a fall, something like that.”
Though the device, which has become common in the NFL, has its skeptics, most everyone agrees that more research on concussion prevention needs to be done.
Stowers said she has worn the Q-Collar all season, and has been hit in the head occasionally. That’s going to happen to everyone, she said. But she hasn’t sustained another concussion, and doesn’t worry about getting hit in the head.
“I’ve been perfectly fine,” she said.
IT HAS BEEN a busy December for the Stowers family. Eli won the John Mackey Award, which is given to the nation’s top tight end, and the William V. Campbell Trophy, which honors the top scholar-athlete.
The family has jet-setted to New York and Las Vegas for Eli’s awards, then watched Kyndal play in the postseason in between. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what time zone they’re in — or where they are.
Texas A&M came back from two games down last weekend to knock off No. 2-seeded Louisville, then had the gumption to cancel the plans of thousands of Nebraskans who were supposed to flock three hours south to see their undefeated team hoist the trophy.
“Zero surprise to me what she’s doing,” said Baylor’s McGuyre, who has known Stowers since she was in junior high. “I’m really excited for her. My wife was the first to tell her, ‘Hey, if you don’t feel like you’re done playing, go play. You’ll flourish.’
“We were cheering super, super loud in that Nebraska match. Seeing her do what she did just kind of is another sucker punch to the gut a little bit, like, ‘Oh, what if?’ But I think both families still believe there’s a purpose and plan in this life. … I believe in over-comers. I wouldn’t be [talking] if I didn’t believe she’s something special.”
The Stowers family will be there Thursday to watch Kyndal try to do what seemed impossible 12 months ago. And if the Aggies beat Pitt, Eli hopes to make it to Sunday’s championship game.
On Tuesday, Kyndal, who was scrambling to pack for Kansas City, paused for a moment to reflect on the Aggies’ postseason run. She felt as if she fit in seamlessly when she arrived in College Station, that she was around like-minded teammates with the perfect measure of confidence and goofiness.
Nobody has time to worry about the heaviness of the moment.
“[Last year] I was sitting at home on my couch watching all these games being played,” she said.
“I believe that that’s where the Lord had me. And I was like, ‘This is a really cool story. God, if you want me to come out of this, how dope would that be?’ I mean, being medically retired, and now we’re here? It’s surreal.”
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Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea defended quarterback Diego Pavia after his controversial behavior following the Heisman Trophy ceremony, but noted that Pavia’s actions “sent the wrong message.”
Pavia, 23, finished second behind Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, who led the Hoosiers to a perfect 13-0 record and a Big Ten Championship prior to the College Football Playoff (CFP). The result prompted a less-than-gracious response from Pavia, who posted on social media, “F-ALL THE VOTERS, BUT…..FAMILY FOR LIFE.”
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (2) throws to a receiver during warmups before an NCAA college football game against Tennessee, Saturday, Nov. 29, 2025, in Knoxville, Tennessee. (AP Photo/Wade Payne, File)
He was also later pictured at a nightclub with a sign that read, “F— Indiana.
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Pavia later apologized in a lengthy post on social media, but not before being met with widespread backlash.
Speaking to the media on Thursday, Lea addressed the situation and attempted to explain Pavia’s thought process.
“I regretted the fact that he put that out there, and I appreciated his apology. This is such an example of the way – I mean, this kid has had an unbelievable career. It’s an amazing story, and he got up until the point where he was reaching a childhood dream, and he fell just short and there’s so much goodness in that.
Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Diego Pavia of the Vanderbilt Commodores poses with the Heisman Memorial Trophy before the 2025 Heisman Trophy Presentation at Marriott Marquis Hotel on Dec. 13, 2025, in New York City. (Adam Hunger/Getty Images)
HEISMAN TROPHY VOTER BLASTS VANDERBILT’S DIEGO PAVIA FOR F-BOMB REMARK IN FIERY COLUMN: ‘PUNK MOVE’
“But the idea that he’s been battling against doubters and feels like he’s constantly having to prove himself, that’s not new to him. But what is always true to Diego is the people in his corner, those that he’s closest with, they have his heart. That’s our program,” Lea continued.
“In a moment where I think he was trying to communicate that, he used words that sent the wrong message, that don’t align with our program, that don’t align with who he is. And we make mistakes.”
Lea’s remarks echoed those of Vanderbilt athletic director Candice Lee, who said Monday, “We believe in growth and accountability, and we will continue to support Diego as he learns from this moment.”
Heisman Trophy finalist Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia speaks during an NCAA college football news conference before the award ceremony, Saturday, Dec. 13, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
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Pavia will wrap up his collegiate career at the ReliaQuest Bowl where Vanderbilt will face Iowa on Dec. 31.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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After a series of bouts against MMA fighters or retired boxers well past their prime, the former YouTuber steps up in class against a 36-year-old former heavyweight champ.
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You know it’s probably going to be Arsenal or Manchester City for the Premier League title; Burnley and someone else for relegation; and one of, like, eight or nine different teams for the final two or three UEFA Champions League places.
These are the races that matter. These are the races we talk about. They frame everything that happens with a given club: Is the manager keeping the team safe from relegation? Are the new signings boosting the midtable club into the European places? Can that new striker put that already-excellent team over the top in the title race?
But in reality, clubs don’t function in this way. Or at least, they shouldn’t function in this way. They’re signing players, developing talent, and acquiring coaches with a multi-year view into the future. If everyone only cared about this season, every player in the league would be 27 years-old.
So, today, we’re going to rank all 20 Premier League clubs based on how the future looks. This isn’t a prediction for who is going to win the league in a couple of years — that wouldn’t be fun since we’d be stuck picking someone from the so-called Big Six. Instead, it’s a ranking of how likely a team is to have self-defined successful seasons in the future.
To create the rankings, we’ll use a combination of four inputs:
• Squad age: The team’s average age, weighted by minutes played this season, via FBref.
• Young talent: The combined Transfermarkt value of the team’s players aged 23 and under.
• Managerial stability: A combination of how likely the current manager is to be at the club in a few years and how confident we should be that the club would be able to replace their current manager with the right guy.
• Club health: A combination of how highly I think of the ownership and the team’s decision-makers, the state of the team’s financial health, and how likely they are to be relegated at some point.
We’ve ranked each club in each of the four categories, added them up, and came up with the following list. Let’s get to the Premier League Future Power Rankings!
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Overall score: 14
• Squad age: 5
• Young talent: 4
• Managerial stability: 3
• Club health: 2
Reason for hope: It doesn’t feel like any of their recent moves have been major successes. There’s no clear young star on the roster like Moisés Caicedo or Alexis Mac Allister. And teams aren’t knocking Brighton’s doors down to hire Fabian Hurzeler, either.
But despite all of that, the club is currently in 10th, and they have the seventh-best expected-goal differential in the league. Midtable might be the floor for a team that, according to FBref, has the fourth-lowest wage bill in the Premier League. Still, they still have a ton of young potential on the roster. If two of them become stars at the same time, this could be a Champions League club.
Reason for concern: Take all of that and spin it around. They haven’t whiffed on any signings, but the club has some more money now, thanks to its continued presence in the league and the growing financial gap between the Premier League and everyone else. And as Brighton have started to spend more on transfers for individual players, there haven’t been any real hits.
There’s a chance — a small one — that their player-identification model doesn’t work higher up the market.
Overall score: 19
• Squad age: 2
• Young talent: 11
• Managerial stability: 5
• Club health: 1
Reason for hope: Last season, Brentford’s per-game expected goal differential was plus-0.09. This season, Brentford’s per-game expected goal differential is plus-0.09. Did I mention that they lost their manager to Tottenham and their best player to Manchester United over the summer?
Reason for concern: They’ve outscored their opponents by one goal since they were promoted back in 2021. Given their wage bill — estimated by FBref to be the smallest in the league — that’s an incredible level of relative performance. But Brentford still haven’t shown the upside that we’ve seen from Brighton. One season of bad luck could still plunge them down into a relegation battle.
Overall score: 20
• Squad age: 9
• Young talent: 7
• Managerial stability: 1
• Club health: 3
Reason for hope: So much has gone wrong this season. Every key player has spent time on the sidelines. It’s increasingly looking like summer signing Viktor Gyökeres just isn’t good enough to play consistent minutes for a team at this level. And Manchester City have already passed them on goal differential.
… But despite all of that, they’ve clearly been the best team in the Premier League so far: a plus-1.09 xG differential, while no one else is even at plus-0.8.
Reason for concern: They’re all-in. After multiple seasons with one of the youngest rosters in England, this team’s average age is just, well, average. Gyokeres has attempted two shots in the Premier League in his last five appearances, and with sizable fees already invested into Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, they might be stuck with what they currently have at center forward.
Overall score: 23
• Squad age: 1
• Young talent: 1
• Managerial stability: 14
• Club health: 7
Reason for hope: They’ve collected more young talent than probably any other club in Premier League history. And those double No. 1 rankings don’t even include all of the great prospects over at Strasbourg, the ownership group’s other club in France.
Reason for concern: It’s still unclear whether the people in charge know how — or even want — to turn that talent into a team that could genuinely win domestic and continental trophies. Their current accounting books would violate the Premier League’s new squad-cost-ratio rules, and I don’t know if Enzo Maresca is the right guy for this job or if Chelsea know who his best replacement would be, either. We know Chelsea’s future is filled with talent — but we don’t know a whole lot beyond that.
Overall score: 25
• Squad age: 14
• Young talent: 3
• Managerial stability: 4
• Club health: 4
Reason for hope: Now, here’s the club where everything has gone wrong this season. Almost none of the new signings have played well. Most of the guys from last year’s team look worse. Mohamed Salah might leave the club — and might have already left the company of the best players in the world. Manager Arne Slot can’t find any of the right buttons to press. They’ve already lost more games than they did all of last season.
And yet: they’re two points back of fourth place in the Premier League and tied for sixth place in the big Champions League table.
Reason for concern: This was the first real transfer window for new-ish sporting director Richard Hughes. The club spent a ton of money — and they got significantly worse.
The Alexander Isak signing, in particular, was a massive departure from the way Liverpool usually do things: a record-breaking fee for an already-in-his-peak-years, injury-prone player with system-fit issues. Their transfer moves no longer deserve the benefit of the doubt.
Overall score: 29
• Squad age: 3
• Young talent: 15
• Managerial stability: 6
• Club health: 5
Reason for hope: The two more subjective rankings here are a combination of inference and what I know from people I talk to in the sport. But Bournemouth were willing to move on from a beloved manager who saved them from relegation because they (1) knew they got lucky, and (2) thought they’d identified a better option.
This kind of decision only gets made when a club really knows what it’s doing, from top to bottom. Most of the soccer world thought it was madness when they fired Gary O’Neil. Now, pretty much every club in the world would be willing to hire Andoni Iraola.
Reason for concern: The top-end talent seems to have dried out, and we’re already seeing it both from their results and performances this season. I trust Bournemouth to go through a rigorous process of identifying an eventual Iraola replacement — I trust they’ve already done it, too — but what does this team look like with a different coach and without players who will go on to start for PSG and Real Madrid?
Overall score: 31
• Squad age: 3
• Young talent: 2
• Managerial stability: 13
• Club health: 13
Reason for hope: After an era-ending season where the squad looked old and Pep Guardiola couldn’t find any solutions for a team that frequently got trampled by the Premier League’s increasing athleticism, City have turned the roster over in one offseason. They’re back to being title contenders — at home and abroad.
Reason for concern: There are those 115 Premier League charges still hanging over the club, and Pep Guardiola’s contract expires at the end of next season.
Man City have such financial power that they’ll always be competitive, but we’ve never seen a club with this much money be transformed into the vision of one man before. What happens when Pep leaves? And what punishment might the league still have in store for its most dominant club?
Overall score: 37
• Squad age: 12
• Young talent: 12
• Managerial stability: 7
• Club health: 6
Reason for hope: They’ve lost Michael Olise and Eberechi Eze in consecutive summers. And somehow, the more talent they lose, the better they get:
• 2023-24: minus-0.09 xG differential per game
• 2024-25: plus-0.30 xG differential per game
• 2025-26: plus-0.48 xG differential per game
Reason for concern: Oliver Glasner isn’t long for London — South London, at least — and Palace’s track record with coach hirings is mixed before the Austrian arrived to replace Roy Hodgson. While Palace seem to have a better handle on Championship prospects than anyone, their young-talent pipeline is starting to dry up. With Marc Guéhi expected to leave either in January or after the season, how many more star departures can they weather?
Overall score: 38
• Squad age: 6
• Young talent: 5
• Managerial stability: 16
• Club health: 11
Reason for hope: If Spurs had Brighton’s budget, we would be raving about all of the young talent they’ve built up over the past couple years. In fact, only Brighton and Chelsea have more 23-and-under players with an estimated market value of €10 million or more.
If you’re going to run off a bunch of disappointing seasons in a row, you need to be building for the future while your results are in the tank. Spurs have at least done that.
Reason for concern: They’re … getting worse? Here’s their expected goals differential, or xGD, over the past three seasons:
• 2023-24: plus-0.13 xGD/game
• 2024-25: minus-0.12 xGD/game
• 2025-26: minus-0.43 xGD/game
Former club chairman Daniel Levy is gone, but the club’s long-term performance level is lower than it’s been at any point this century.
Overall score: 40
• Squad age: 6
• Young talent: 10
• Managerial stability: 10
• Club health: 14
Reason for hope: Sunderland aren’t your typical relegation survivor. Sam Allardyce isn’t on the sidelines, and Gareth Barry isn’t playing in the midfield. Instead, they’re managed by Regis Le Bris, who had never coached in England before and had only been the manager at one other club before joining Sunderland.
And — OK, sure, Granit Xhaka is basically their Gareth Barry. But beyond him, this isn’t a roster of late- and post-peak Premier League vets. Just two of their most-used 11 players are in their 30s and almost everyone who comes off the bench is 25 or younger.
Reason for concern: Although they’re currently in eight place, they have the 17th-best xG differential in the Premier League. And that’s after a season in the Championship when they ranked seventh by the same metric. Now, xG isn’t a perfect indicator of team performance, but clubs that overperform their aggregate chance quality tend to eventually come crashing back to Earth — at some point.
Overall score: 41
• Squad age: 10
• Young talent: 6
• Managerial stability: 15
• Club health: 10
Reason for hope: They figured out how to fix the attack in a single summer. Last season, United scored 44 goals in 38 matches. This year, they’ve scored 30, and they’ve only played 16 games. For the first time in a long time, United identified a problem, threw a bunch of money at it, and actually got the result for which they were hoping.
Reason for concern: Five Manchester United players have created a combined 3.0 expected goals and assists so far this season. Four of them are 26 or older, two of them are 30-plus (Bruno Fernandes and Casemiro), and Ahmad Diallo is the only one (23) who still hasn’t hit his prime.
They’re going to have to replace Bruno and Casemiro over the next couple seasons, and by the time they figure it out, their two major attacking signings from this summer, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo, could already be aging out of their primes.
Overall score: 43
• Squad age: 18
• Young talent: 14
• Managerial stability: 2
• Club health: 9
Reason for hope: Here’s how many points every Premier League team has won since Oct. 24, 2022:
In other words, Aston Villa have been one of the four best teams in the Premier League since Unai Emery replaced Steven Gerrard.
Reason for concern: They’re really old — and they’re on a gonzo heater right now. I have no doubt that Villa’s weird style of play — high line with little pressure, slow possession but also lots of through balls — is fooling the models that measure these things, but Villa are three points off the table despite, uh …
Can they retool as the roster gets older and the results inevitably start to go against them?
Overall score: 44
• Squad age: 16
• Young talent: 9
• Managerial stability: 11
• Club health: 8
Reason for hope: If Lewis Hall can stay healthy, Newcastle might have the best pair of young fullbacks in the Premier League — if not the world.
Both Hall and Tino Livramento are already fantastic passers, and I think the single-best predictor of whether or not a young player will have a successful career might be how much progressive passing they do. Livramento is 23, Hall 21, and they both rank in the 84th percentile or better among all players at their position across Europe’s Big Five top leagues for progressive passes completed.
Reason for concern: That’s really it? Nick Woltemade has been OK to start his career, Anthony Gordon is a solid Premier League player, but every other key contributor to this team is at the end or already past his peak years.
The first era of Saudi ownership at the club was an on-field success; they were in a relegation battle when the new owners came in; they’ve been a top five team in the league since. But that version of Newcastle looks like it’s reaching its conclusion. What comes next?
Overall score: 51
• Squad age: 8
• Young talent: 8
• Managerial stability: 18
• Club health: 17
Reason for hope: They’re even younger than they look. Among the 14 players who have featured in at least 400 minutes this season, just two are older than 30: 33-year-old keeper Mats Selz, who has played every minute of all but one match this season, and 34-year-old striker Chris Wood, who has only started seven games but pushes the average age up since he’s so old.
Nikola Milenkovic and Ibrahim Sangaré are both 28, but the other 10 players are all 25 or younger. A lot of their big signings from this summer haven’t featured much yet, and many of them are 23-and-under, so there’s potential for Forest to get even younger
Reason for concern: This is the worst-run team in the league because of the guy who owns it. Now, there are a bunch of smart people working at Forest, and you can see it shine through in every fourth or fifth signing they make — hello, Elliott Anderson! — but they’re already on their third manager of the season.
Sean Dyche has stabilized the club after the philosophical whiplash from Nuno Espirito-Santo to Ange Postecoglu, but owner Evangelos Marinakis is a complete wild card who is liable to do something ridiculous at any moment. The only reason they aren’t lower is that they’re five points clear of the relegation battle.
Overall score: 52
• Squad age: 18
• Young talent: 13
• Managerial stability: 9
• Club health: 12
Reason for hope: David Moyes has been willing to play Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Ilman Ndiaye, and Jack Grealish … and a center forward all at the same time. While they’re still waiting for one of those strikers to start producing, KDH, Ndiaye, and Grealish all rank in the top 15 in the league for expected assists created. That’s something to build on!
Reason for concern: Grealish is only on loan, and this is tied with Villa and Fulham for the oldest team in the league. Everton signed a bunch of young prospects this summer, but Thierno Barry, Tyler Dibling, and Adam Aznou have combined to start 10 matches this season. Dibling has only played 80 minutes; Anzou hasn’t played at all. There is some young talent on this roster — internal solutions to the aging issue — but can we trust Moyes to integrate the next generation?
Overall score: 60
• Squad age: 13
• Young talent: 20
• Managerial stability: 12
• Club health: 15
Reason for hope: Leeds were one of the all-time great Championship sides last season, and they were one of the most popular picks I can remember for a promoted side to stay up. They’re currently just one spot clear of the relegation places, but they’ve been significantly better than that.
Through 16 matches, their total xG differential is just minus-1.0 — a fantastic mark for a team that was in the second-division last season, and the 11th-best differential in the league so far.
Reason for concern: Wilfried Gnonto is the only player under the age of 25 who has even played a single minute for Leeds this season. And he’s only started four matches. Part of the reason Leeds were so good last season and why their underlying performance has been so impressive is that they’re built to win right now. But beyond the next couple of years, the cupboard is almost completely bare.
Overall score: 61
• Squad age: 18
• Young talent: 19
• Managerial stability: 8
• Club health: 16
Reason for hope: After Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta — or, the managers for the two best teams in the league — Marco Silva is the Premier League’s longest-serving manager. They’re only ranked eighth in my managerial-stability rating because Fulham’s previous managerial hiring history is total chaos, but while he’s there, Silva secures the club’s floor.
This might not sound like a compliment, but it is: We can be confident that Marco Silva is not going to make Fulham worse than the aggregate talent on their roster.
Reason for concern: Outside of midfielder Joshua King, there’s no young talent making any kind of impact. And, well, there’s not much peak-age talent, either. Seven of Fulham’s 11 most-used players are 29 or older. Unless they start signing some younger players and integrating them into the club soon, the bottom could fall out — especially if someone else decides they want to hire Silva.
Overall score: 65
• Squad age: 14
• Young talent: 16
• Managerial stability: 17
• Club health: 18
Reason for hope: They spent a combined €66 million on a pair of 21-and-under prospects, Mateus Fernandes and El Hadji Malick Diouf, this summer, and both of them pretty much immediately became two of the most important players on the team. For a club that’s too long obsessed over acquiring famous older players like Niclas Füllkrug, the identification and subsequent integration of Fernandes and Diouf is a notable, positive change.
Reason for concern: They’re terrible? Simon Tinsley’s projections give the Hammers a 50% chance of being relegated. Per FBref, West Ham are paying higher wages than half of the teams in the league, and they’re currently a coin-flip away from lugging an expensive, aging roster down to the Championship.
Overall score: 69
• Squad age: 11
• Young talent: 18
• Managerial stability: 20
• Club health: 20
Reason for hope: I, uh, their roster isn’t that old? I’m struggling here …
Reason for concern: They have two points through 16 matches, they’ve scored the fewest goals, and they’ve conceded the most goals. Both of the sites I’ve mentioned put their probability of being relegated north of 96%.
Overall score: 72
• Squad age: 17
• Young talent: 17
• Managerial stability: 19
• Club health: 19
Reason for hope: They’re only six points from safety, and stranger things have happened … right?
Reason for concern: According to FBref’s Stathead database, which goes back to the 2017-18 season, only three Premier League teams have posted a per-game xG differential below minus-1.0: Norwich City in 2021-22, Southampton last season, and Burnley this year. Those other two teams? They both finished in 20th.
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