More than 20 million people in the Southeast have the potential for severe storms this weekend, including possible tornadoes, waterspouts, hail and damaging winds.

“Yet another round or two of severe weather and heavy rainfall is expected over the weekend,” the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee said. “Still some uncertainty in placement and timing, but the ceiling for this event may be a bit higher than Thursday’s event.”

In Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, cars were toppled and debris was strewn along roads Saturday night after a tornado touched down. The National Weather Service office in Miami confirmed the twister and said a survey of damage was underway.

Florida had more than 40 severe storm reports Thursday, including six tornado reports. Damage was reported in more than a dozen Florida counties, including Liberty County, where a tornado ripped through the town of Hosford Thursday afternoon. There was an additional tornado report in Palm Beach on Friday.

Saturday, there is a Level 2 of 5 slight risk for severe storms for parts of the Florida Panhandle and southern Georgia, including Tallahassee and Panama City, Florida, and Valdosta, Georgia.

A marginal risk for severe storms spreads from southeastern Louisiana to coastal South Carolina down to central Florida, including New Orleans, Mobile, Tampa, Jacksonville, Orlando and Savannah.

“Two rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms are expected across portions of Florida and southern Georgia this afternoon and overnight tonight with damaging winds, large hail, and a few tornadoes possible,” the Storm Prediction Center said Saturday morning. “More isolated severe storms are possible across parts of Mississippi and Alabama with an attendant damaging wind/hail threat.”

For the Sunshine State, Saturday will mark the third day in a row of severe thunderstorms.

It also means the ground across much of the Southeast is so wet, any additional rainfall could lead to localized flooding.

A slight risk for excessive rainfall, Level 2 of 4, has been issued for portions of Florida and Georgia, where rainfall could exceed 3 inches. A Level 1 marginal risk surrounds the area and stretches from coastal Mississippi over through coastal South Carolina.

Much needed rain for Florida

Parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia could see up to 3 to 6 inches of rain, some of which is welcome with much of the state in drought conditions.

Unfortunately, most of the rain this weekend will be focused across the panhandle including Tallahassee, Pensacola, and Panama City, not the areas needing it most.

More than 65 percent of Florida is under drought conditions according to the latest drought monitor report issued Thursday. Severe drought conditions exist across much of central Florida and include Tampa, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Gainesville, and Naples.

More than 1300 acres have burned across the state of Florida from two separate fires the past few weeks due to dry conditions.

Storms shift east for Sunday

By Sunday, the potential for strong to severe thunderstorms shifts east and south, encompassing more than 25 million people. From Dover, Delaware, down to Savannah, Georgia, as well as central and southern Florida are all at risk of damaging winds, waterspouts, tornadoes and hail.

“The setup could potentially result in hazardous marine and beach conditions during the latter half of the upcoming weekend,” the weather service office in Miami said.

The good news is all the affected areas in the Southeast clear out by Monday with sunnier and drier conditions through at least the middle of the upcoming week.

On the northern side of this system, strong storms are also possible in the Mid-Atlantic where damaging winds and a possible tornado will be the main threats.

“The northern extent of the threat remains uncertain, but modest destabilization appears possible into at least the Delmarva region, where some threat for damaging gusts and possibly a tornado may develop late in the afternoon or evening as the surface low tracks across the area,” the prediction center said.

Editor’s Note: If your area is under a tornado warning or a tornado emergency, seek shelter immediately. Tornadoes can pose a threat at any strength, and warnings can got out with only a few minutes to prepare. Take them seriously: It could save your life.

The strength of tornadoes is rated on the Enhanced Fujita, or EF, Scale.

The scale runs from 0 to 5 and rates tornadoes after they’ve hit by assessing damage to determine wind speed. Estimates are based on damage to trees, institutional buildings and homes, making it harder to gauge tornadoes that leave little damage or happen in open space.

The scale is named after Tetsuya “Ted” Fujita, an engineer and meteorologist who developed the original version of it in 1971.

Here are the Enhanced Fujita Scale ratings used today by the National Weather Service and the kind of damage associated with each:

EF0: 65- to 85-mph wind gusts

These tornadoes are the least destructive and typically break tree branches, damage road signs and push over small, shallow-rooted trees.

EF1: 86- to 110-mph wind gusts

With similar wind speeds to weak hurricanes, these tornadoes can push moving cars off course, shift mobile homes from their foundations and remove roof surfaces.

EF2: 111- to 135-mph wind gusts

Significant damage starts to emerge from these tornadoes, which can snap or uproot trees, destroy mobile homes and tear roofs completely off homes.

They also can pick up small objects and turn them into dangerous projectiles.

EF3: 136- to 165-mph wind gusts

These tornadoes produce severe damage, uprooting nearly all trees in their path, blowing over large vehicles like trains and buses and significantly damaging buildings.

Less than 5% of all tornadoes are rated EF3 or higher.

One such tornado in March 2022 struck near New Orleans, hitting Arabi, Louisiana, with 160-mph winds. At least one person was killed and eight hospitalized after the storm ripped through homes and businesses, leaving a trail of destruction.

EF4: 166- to 200-mph wind gusts

Easily destroying homes, tossing cars and downing large trees, these tornadoes can be devastating.

One ripped through eastern Alabama in 2019 with top winds estimated at 170 mph. Blazing a track a mile wide, it killed at least 23 people, including three children.

Another EF4 tornado was part of an outbreak that tore through eight states just two weeks before Christmas 2021. It destroyed part of Mayfield, Kentucky, and left at least 74 people dead in that state alone.

EF5: 200+-mph wind gusts

These monsters cause complete devastation, flattening nearly everything in their path.

They are rare, with only 59 have been recorded in the United States since 1950, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

The most recent struck in 2013 in Moore, Oklahoma, killing 24 people, including several students at an elementary school where only a few walls were left standing.

Editor’s Note: If your area is under a tornado warning or a tornado emergency, seek shelter immediately. Tornadoes can pose a threat at any strength, and warnings can go out with only a few minutes to prepare. Take them seriously: It could save your life.

Tornadoes are one of Earth’s most violent natural forces.

They have whipped up in all 50 US states – and across the globe – at various times of year, sometimes causing untold devastation. But despite strides in their study, there’s still so much scientists don’t know about them.

“Sometimes, it may appear that a storm is in a perfect environment for a tornado to form, yet it never does. Conversely, tornadoes frequently form in marginal environments where it seems like one or more ‘ingredients’ to storm formation is missing or lacking,” he said.

Still, there are some common factors anyone can look for to understand the life cycle of a developing storm that could produce a tornado. They are:

A thunderstorm develops

In the developing phase of the thunderstorm, warm air rises and fluffy white cumulus clouds begin to grow.

The clouds grow taller and taller, even before rain or thunder appears.

Then, the bottom of the clouds darken and the very top could flatten out, creating a protruding anvil shape that indicates very cold air at the top and could be a precursor to hail.

A thunderstorm becomes a supercell

As warm as rises, cold air is pushed down. This results in wind speed and direction changing with height within the storm – a phenomenon called wind shear.

Wind shear helps the storm begin to rotate and become what’s called a supercell.

In this maturing phase, heavy rain, lightning, hail and very strong winds are expected.

Sometimes, a strong gust of wind – called a gust front – blows a few moments before rain arrives. It’s caused by cool air being forced down from the storm cloud. When the cold air hits the ground, it spreads out quickly ahead of the storm and is a sure sign a storm is near.

“Nearly all supercells produce some sort of severe weather (large hail or damaging winds) but only 30 percent or less produce tornadoes,” said the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

A tornado forms

Tornadoes usually form from supercells when the right ingredients are in place to help them thrive:

• instability in the atmosphere, which allows air to rise;

• lift, the rising itself;

• and most critically, wind shear: when winds at different heights within the supercell blow in different directions.

The wind shear creates a horizontally rotating column of air within the thunderstorm cloud.

Then, two key forces inside the supercell can act on the rotating air column:

• the updraft – or the rising of warm air – lifts the horizontal air column,

• while the downdraft – an area of drier air pushed down from the storm – twists the column so it’s vertical, then wraps around its backside.

The resulting vertical column of air is called a funnel cloud until it touches the ground – when it becomes a tornado.

“The most telltale sign that a tornado could be forming, when you are looking at a close-range severe thunderstorm, is the ‘wall cloud,’” Miller said.

The wall cloud is a lowering of the darkened cloud base that leads to the air rotation. While the presence of a wall cloud doesn’t always mean a tornado will form, it certainly ups the odds.

“You will know you are looking at a wall cloud because it will hang noticeably lower than the rest of the thunderstorm, and you may notice it is rotating if you look closely,” Miller said.

A tornado dies

Tornadoes can disappear as quickly as they appear – often morphing from roaring funnels of fury into nothing in seconds – when a key ingredient is lost, Miller said.

Sometimes as a thunderstorm evolves, its source of warm, moist air is cut off, causing a tornado to die, he said.

Tornado-producing supercells also can merge with other storms, forming into a so-called “squall line,” which generally kills a tornado, Miller said. Squall lines, though, have their own dangers, including gusty winds that can stretch for hundreds of miles – and even spin up quick tornadoes of their own.

In the Midwest, the unofficial start to summer with barbecues seems a little far-fetched as people are still shoveling and having to clear snow off their grills before they even think about using them.

Another late-season storm is bringing wintry conditions this week to parts of the Midwest and Ohio Valley. Heavy snow, torrential rain, gusty winds and possible record cold high temperatures will make for a pretty miserable start to the week weather-wise.

Meteorologists from the National Weather Service office in Marquette, Michigan, are describing the event as “a historic late spring snowstorm the likes of which we have not seen here in Upper Michigan since May of 1990.”

Parts of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula have already seen up to 18 inches of snow and another two feet are possible through Tuesday.

“Given the late-season event, surface temperatures hovering around freezing will lead to a very heavy, wet snow, which may result in downed trees and powerlines,” the Weather Prediction Center said.

Along with heavy snow, winds will be gusting up to 50 mph across the Upper Midwest, which will add to the danger of falling trees.

The reason is a strong area of low pressure, which has stalled out over the Great Lakes region. It is bringing strong effects, felt for a longer duration, simply because the storm is not moving.

“Several locations (are) potentially approaching May monthly low-pressure records,” the prediction center mentioned in its forecast discussion.

As barometric pressure drops, it can be an indication of how strong a storm is. In this case, the pressure over the Great Lakes is equivalent to a strong tropical storm or low-end Category 1 hurricane.

The steady stream of strong winds will cause incredible wave heights across portions of the Great Lakes as well.

“The strong north winds will cause waves to build into the 15 to 20 feet range along the shores of Lake Superior today into tonight resulting in possible lakeshore flooding for portions of eastern Marquette and Alger counties,” the weather service office in Marquette said.

Flood watches are in effect across the region for not only the lakeshore flooding, but the additional river rise expected from snowmelt.

Temperatures across the Midwest, Great Lakes and Ohio Valley are running 10 to 20 degrees below normal early this week and more than 60 cold temperature records could be broken.

Here are a few cities expected to break records for cold high temperatures. All will experience temperatures more typical for early March:

The system will finally push out by midweek, moving into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast by Wednesday. I know many of you in the Northeast are tired of rain, after the miserable and dreary weekend, but this week is unfortunately going to remain unsettled. Rain and normal temperatures will settle in.

“Below-average temperatures will spill into the mid-Atlantic and Northeast, with nighttime lows dipping into the low 40s across nearly the entirety of the I-95 urban corridor,” the prediction center said.

Some of the higher elevations like the Pocono Plateau could even see a little snow.

“If some wet flakes do mix in, no impacts are expected (besides asking yourself “isn’t it May?”),” the weather service office in New York City pointed out in its forecast discussion.

For the rest of the Northeast, the precipitation type will be all rain, on top of what has already been a soaking weekend.

Yesterday Portland, Maine set a new daily rainfall record after picking up 2.5 inches of rain. Central Park in New York City also broke a daily rainfall record on Saturday after recording 2.46 inches of rain.

Much of the late-season misery should be pushed out by the second half of the week, nudging temperatures warmer and closer to where they should be this time of year, just in time for the weekend.

Every April, during Autism Awareness Month, Debra Vines and her nonprofit field a surge of calls from parents needing autism-related services and resources. It’s a phenomenon she says she would prefer to see year-round.

She and her organization, The Answer Inc., provide support, services, and education for Black and Brown families in the Chicago area who are impacted by autism. Vines’ 35-year-old son, Jason, has autism, and she knows first-hand the everyday struggles that families face.

“Children and adults that live with autism are very repetitive – everything that they do, it’s the same way. But when you have a career, or are parents that have other children and other responsibilities, sometimes it can be very, very, very, very challenging,” she said.

Vines and her late husband, James Harlan, co-founded The Answer Inc. 16 years ago after realizing they were not alone in their struggle to find the support, resources, education, and services Jason desperately needed. Since then, their nonprofit has helped more than 4,000 families in underserved communities. She notes that the need continues to grow.

“With the numbers going up every day, we need support from the community every day.”

According to the CDC, about 1 in 36 children in the United States has been identified with autism spectrum disorder. And research shows that early intervention services can improve learning, communication, and social skills, as well as brain development.

For Vines, Autism Awareness Month helps her advocate for families who are unsure what to do after receiving an autism diagnosis.

“I think it opens up eyes to this disability and the things that we need,” she said. “We would have to work even harder as providers to get the word out about autism.”

One area where Vines sees the greatest need is for adults with autism, who age out of many programs at 22.

“It’s almost like they fall off the face of the earth,” she said. “There’s hardly any resources available for them.”

The Answer Inc. addresses this need with programs like Spectrum University, which helps participants ages 13 to 40 enter the workforce by connecting them with employers.

Her organization is also working to educate the community at large about autism, including training first responders and other public workers to recognize the signs and symptoms of autism.

“I would like to see (families) have more integral resources within the community, within the park districts, within the businesses,” she said.

Vines says her son, Jason, is doing “amazing” and reaching new milestones. She has been working with him on social skills like saying “please” and “thank you.” The other day, she swept up some trash at home and asked Jason to help her pick it up. He surprised her by asking her to “say please.”

It’s moments like this that remind Vines why she and others in the autism community continue to do the hard work, year-round.

“I encourage families every single day not to give up because you never know when that light bulb is just gonna go off, and they’re gonna hit another milestone.”

Soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo has become the highest paid athlete in the world, with a move to Al-Nassr nearly doubling his salary, according to Forbes.

Ronaldo joined the Saudi Arabian club in January after leaving Manchester United last year and, despite rumors suggesting he’s already looking to move on, the five-time Champions League winner has reaped the financial benefits of his decision.

According to Forbes, Ronaldo has an estimated $75 million playing salary and has cashed in on a number of marketing opportunities.

Forbes estimates the 38-year-old has earned $136 million from both on-field and off-field revenue in the past year, a total boosted by his move to the Middle East.

Ronaldo tops the athlete rich list for the first time since 2017 and sits just ahead of fierce rival Lionel Messi in second.

According to Forbes, the Argentine earned $130 million last year with his Paris-Saint Germain teammate Kylian Mbappé just behind on $120 million.

The three soccer superstars are followed closely by NBA legend LeBron James in fourth, with a revenue of $119.5 million, with Mexican boxer Canelo Álvarez completing the top five with an income of $110 million.

Golfers Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson occupy sixth and seventh place, highlighting the impact of the new LIV Golf series.

Both have lost sponsors since joining the controversial Saudi-backed breakaway group but have more than made up for it in prize money.

Johnson secured the inaugural LIV Golf individual championship last year and, according to Forbes, finished the season with a tour-best prize money of $35.6 million.

The American wasn’t even in the top 50 highest-paid athletes in 2022 but has now jumped up to sixth.

Steph Curry, Roger Federer and Kevin Durant complete this year’s top 10, consisting entirely of men, which is calculated between May 1, 2022, and May 1, 2023.

Forbes’ estimates are based on prize money, salaries and bonuses as well as estimations of sponsorship deals and other off-field revenue streams.

“Skyrocketing league media rights agreements and growing off-field opportunities have already sent athletes’ pay soaring in recent years, but Middle Eastern money is pouring oil on the fire,” Forbes wrote.

“In all, the world’s ten highest-paid athletes collected an estimated $1.11 billion before taxes and agents’ fees over the last 12 months, up 12% from last year’s $990 million and 5% from the record of $1.06 billion set in 2018.”

Heavy rain caused flooding and landslides on Tuesday in western Rwanda killing at least 109 people in the Western and Northern Provinces, according to state media Rwanda Broadcasting Agency (RBA.)

The Rwanda National Police warned that due to heavy rains, the roads Mukamira-Ngororero and Rubavu-Rutsiro are temporarily unavailable.

“You are advised to use alternative roads. Police officers are available to direct traffic,” the Rwanda National Police said in their twitter account.

The Rwanda Meteorology Agency had warned in its forecast for May that many parts of the country will receive more rainfall than average this month.

It added that the first 10 days of the month will be wetter-than-normal with increased rains compared to April.

According to the Rwandan Government’s Ministry in Charge of Emergency Management (MINEMA), more than 60 people have died from disasters between January and April this year, and the country’s Northern and Western provinces have been the most hit.

The Northern Province alone has witnessed no fewer than 1500 cases of disaster ranging from floods and landslides in the last five years, with more than 200 people killed and thousands of homes destroyed, according to MINEMA.

Last year, 205 people died from disasters across Rwanda, MINEMA said in its Disaster Effects Situation Report. Sixty-nine were from floods, landslides and rainstorms, the report said.

New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas called the deal to acquire four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers from the Green Bay Packers “historic” for the franchise.

Douglas spoke Tuesday on how the trade – which has not yet been finalized as the two teams work out the details – came together.

“Obviously, a long time in the making,” Douglas told reporters at a previously scheduled pre-draft press conference.

“There’s still some I’s to be dotted, T’s to be crossed to ultimately finalize everything … I can’t thank [Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst] enough for the open dialogue that we’ve had and ultimately being able to get what we feel is a historic trade for this franchise.”

The long-awaited trade will reportedly see Rodgers sent to the Jets along with the Packers’ 15th overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, according to reports from ESPN and NFL Network.

The Packers will receive the Jets’ 13th overall pick in Thursday’s draft, as well as one of the Jets’ second-round picks and their 2024 first-round draft pick if Rodgers plays at least 65% of the Jets’ offensive plays this season, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported.

“Aaron is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play this game and to have an opportunity to add a player of that caliber, you are always going to look into it and how it fits within our culture,” Douglas said. “We’re all excited to add someone of his character and his ability.”

Rodgers has spent his entire 18-season NFL career with the Packers, where he led the team to a 31-25 victory in Super Bowl XLV in 2011.

Writing on Instagram on Tuesday, the 39-year-old expressed his gratitude to the “Packers, our incredible fans, the state of Wisconsin, the thousands of players that I crossed paths with, the incredible men and women who work for the organization, and the amazing people who I got to meet along the way.”

On whether Rodgers intends to play beyond the 2023 season, Douglas said: “I don’t want to put words in Aaron’s mouth. You guys are going to have the opportunity at the right time to ask him those specific questions, but we’re obviously excited about this opportunity, excited about this deal and excited to add him to the team.”

Kyle Stickles, a Make-A-Wish recipient from Ghent, New York, will announce the Jets’ first-round pick.

Asked who he thinks his favorite team should select in the first round, the 13-year-old said: “We definitely don’t need a quarterback.”

In 2020, Stickles was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, bone cancer, in his left tibia, according to the NFL.

The NFL Draft begins Thursday night in Kansas City, Missouri.

Diatchenko was denied boarding a LOT flight departing from Cairo on Monday as she was traveling to Calvi in Corsica via Warsaw and Nice to play at a tournament.

“The provisions of the regulation introduce restrictions at certain border crossings, including airport crossings, in relation to citizens of the Russian Federation traveling from outside the Schengen area,” the airline said.

Tennis has been one of the most prominent sports which has continued to welcome Russian and Belarusian athletes at international competitions despite the International Olympic Committee (IOC) executive board’s initial recommendation in February 2022 that they be banned.

But in January 2023, the IOC outlined a multi-step plan for Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate at the upcoming 2024 Summer Games in Paris and the 2026 Winter Games in Milan, which was met by criticism from the United States, Canada and several European countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.

According to the latest IOC recommendations released in March, athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport must compete only as individual neutral athletes, meet all anti-doping requirements while those who support the war or are contracted to military or national security agencies cannot compete.

IOC president Thomas Bach defended the latest recommendations citing tennis as an example that participation of Russian and Belarusian athletes “works” despite the war.

Bach also blasted some European governments as “deplorable” for what he calls their “negative reactions” to the organization’s stance on Russia

Heading into the NFL Draft, there’s always one prospect coming out of college who everyone becomes infatuated with, despite not being the finished article.

Sometimes, it’s down to physical traits shown at the Combine; sometimes, it’s down to their personality; or sometimes, it’s down to their display at their particular pro day in front of scouts.

This year’s golden boy is Anthony Richardson and, in his unique case, he’s impressed at every stage of the process.

Richardson ran the fastest 40-yard dash time of all quarterbacks, as well as jumping the highest and furthest at the Combine.

But it was at his University of Florida pro day where his big arm and all-around skillset lit up social media and had teams drooling over his potential.

He literally almost threw the ball out of the building when one of his booming throws hit the ceiling of the indoor facility.

Richardson has become the most tantalizing prospect at the draft; reports have indicated some see him as the next Josh Allen – a rough diamond who will take years to perfect but who has elite potential – with teams all the way up to the Carolina Panthers at No. 1 considering taking him.

It is those rough edges which could see him fall down the draft order. But the prospect of ‘what if’ that comes with Richardson – and at just 20 years of age – is one general managers and coaches around the league have been unable to turn a blind eye to for years.

NFL analyst Lance Zierlein described him as having “elite size, strength and athletic ability for the quarterback position … potential to perform in a variety of offensive schemes … arm strength to throw downfield and into tight windows” in his official draft profile, but also points to his passing inaccuracy.

With potentially nine picks in the opening 12 being held by quarterback-needy teams, Richardson could be finding a new home anywhere across the league.

Diamond in the rough

Richardson first burst onto the footballing scene not for his skills throwing the ball, but for catching it instead.

In his first game for Eastside High School in Florida, Richardson was deployed as a wide receiver and was caught making an extraordinary one-handed leaping catch, similar to one made by Odell Beckham Jr. for the New York Giants.

That video, posted over four years ago, has become a portent for the athleticism Richardson is now known for.

Richardson says that he has a new tattoo which reads “1 of 1” to describe his unique skillset.

“A lot of people say I’m a different breed. I always tell people I’m not from Earth,” Richardson told ESPN. “I’m gifted, I’m talented. I feel like God made me different, and I just try to use that in my daily life.”

He quickly earned the starting quarterback spot, before deciding to attend the University of Florida; the college was just 15 minutes from his high school.

Richardson’s start to life with the Gators was underwhelming; he redshirted his first year and attempted just 64 passes in his second.

It was only in his third year at the college where he laid down a marker, starting 12 games and throwing for 2,549 passing yards, 17 touchdowns and nine interceptions as the team finished with a 6-6 record with him at the helm. He also ran for 654 yards and nine more touchdowns.

It means that Richardson has just 13 career college starts to his name entering the draft. According to ESPN, that would be tied for the lowest amount of college starts for a first-round quarterback draft pick if he gets selected in the opening round, level with Mitch Trubisky, since 2002.

Despite the lack of experience, the evidence on tape shows that Richardson has ability.

Richardson’s electricity with the ball in his hands isn’t limited to throwing; the young quarterback has had touchdown runs of 45, 60, 73, 80 and 81 yards over the past two seasons.

But despite those wow plays, both throwing and running the ball, Richardson will need “a lot of work that needs to be done to reach a potentially high ceiling,” according to Zierlein’s evaluation.

“His accuracy on short and simple throws left much to be desired due, in part, to shoddy footwork and inconsistent rhythm. The footwork issues can be corrected, but the challenge will be determining whether he can be at least a functionally accurate passer at the next level.”

But it is that hope that Richardson could make the maximum out of his potential which has teams intrigued.

According to FiveThirtyEight, Richardson’s draft stock rocketed from a mid-first round pick at the end of a college season to a top-five pick in the matter of months.

The comparison which Richardson has drawn from analysts is to Cam Newton – a physically dominant quarterback with some accuracy issues.

In 2011, Newton was coming off a thrilling final season with Auburn, winning the Heisman Trophy and the NCAA championship, and eventually going on to have an extremely successful NFL career with the Carolina Panthers, including winning the 2015 NFL MVP award.

Matching the production of an MVP is a high bar, but Richardson’s ceiling is such that Newton’s career path is what a team selecting him in the top five of the draft will be hoping for.

Richardson would also continue the trend of teams prioritizing quarterbacks in the draft who can excel at both throwing and running the ball – Trevor Lawrence, Trey Lance and Justin Fields in 2021 and Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, Justin Herbert and Jalen Hurts in 2020 can all count mobility in their arsenal of weapons.

And nobody wants to miss out on picking a franchise quarterback; no one wants to be the Chicago Bears choosing Trubisky over Patrick Mahomes. While Mahomes has won two Super Bowl rings and two league MVPs, Trubisky is on his third team and has settled into a back-up role.

Come Thursday, Richardson could be drafted first overall or he could go outside the top 10.

His rare combination of athleticism and a big arm is an intriguing prospect and could have general managers pulling out their hair if they decide to look past him or could totally transform their prospects if he reaches his potential.