Comment on USA TODAY Sports staff makes college football picks: Check out the predictions for 2023

Nikola Jokic and Aaron Gordon did not practice Thursday as the Nuggets got back in the gym ahead of their NBA Cup home game against the Mavericks. Gordon is still rehabbing from a right calf strain and is unlikely to play Friday (8 p.m. MT) after missing the last two weeks.

On a Thursday in Deion Sanders’ world that saw Julian Lewis unofficially enter CU’s orbit, Travis Hunter decided to more or less make his exit official. Hunter, the CU Buffs’ two-way star and front-runner for the 2024 Heisman Trophy, said during a conference call with reporters Thursday that he’s “definitely” forgoing the rest of his collegiate eligibility to enter the 2025 NFL draft. “For sure,” Hunter added. While the 6-foot-1 cornerback/wide receiver would have a season of eligibility remaining under NCAA rules, it was widely assumed from the minute he transferred into CU from Jackson State two winters ago that the 2024 season would be his last in Boulder. Hunter and longtime teammate Shedeur Sanders, the Buffs’ QB1 and son of Coach Prime, are unanimously projected by experts to be taken among the top 6 picks in the upcoming draft.

Vlatko Cancar’s left knee injury is “not necessarily” season-ending, according to Nuggets coach Michael Malone, but the reserve forward will be out long-term as he and the team weigh possible next steps. “It could go a couple different ways,” Malone said Thursday. “We’re still gathering information. Letting the knee calm down a little bit.

Denver Post beat reporters Parker Gabriel and Ryan McFadden break down Bo Nix’s breakout performance against Atlanta in which he threw for 307 yards and four touchdowns. What’s led to the improvement from Denver’s rookie quarterback? And did his outing overshadow perhaps the most impressive element of the afternoon for the Broncos in their 38-6 win?

Coach Prime just landed his biggest recruit yet, receiving a verbal commitment Thursday from prep quarterback Julian Lewis, ESPN’s No. 2 recruit in the Class of 2025. Lewis, a five-star QB out of Carrollton, Ga., is one of the top quarterback prospects in his age group and gives the CU Buffs a clear successor to Shedeur Sanders. The Georgia teen took his final official on-campus visit to CU in June.

Arkansas sees fivefold surge in whooping cough cases, affecting children and teens 4029tvThe US states where a Victorian-era disease is spreading causing worrisome school outbreaks Daily MailAs whooping cough spikes statewide, Port Washington-Saukville schools see outbreak Milwaukee Journal SentinelMore than 200 cases of whooping cough reported in Arkansas KARKWhooping cough surges, vaccination rates have declined across Washington Kitsap Sun