I am not sure how to begin stuff like this, but I am Dan Rys, the former sports editor and incoming Editor-in-Chief for next year! 

At the office, we think it is the funniest pipeline ever as Ben Diamond, the current Editor-in-Chief, and I both were former sports editors that have moved into this role in back-to-back years. Since I am a current sophomore, I am hoping to go beyond just one year as Editor-In-Chief.

It is going to be sad to see all of our staff graduating, this felt like one of the best Oswegonian staff we have seen in years. Everyone has worked so hard all year, but I am excited to see what is in store for next year. I do want to give a special thank you to Ben Diamond, Faith Summerville, Mackenzie Shields and Ethan Semeraro this newspaper truly does not run without you all. I also want to thank the news editors, Nicolas Diaz Contreras and Nate Sprenger, for their phenomenal work this year. The Oswegonian will still have the majority of our staff next year, so I am pumped to see where we bring this newspaper next semester.

A little bit about myself: I fell in love with sports about ten years ago. I grew up not wanting to play them, but to watch them. I have always wanted to write for sports, to talk about sports, to just be the guy that gets to genuinely have fun for a living. So, I think it is only fitting that I kick one of these columns off with a little talk about the National Football League (NFL).

I am an Atlanta Falcons fan- yes, I live in misery, and yes, my friends send me 28-3 memes all the time. However, this is the first time in about seven years that I genuinely have hope for this season. The Falcons finally have a quarterback for the short future and us fans are all waiting for Kirk Cousins to send us into the promise land. 

My favorite time of the NFL year is draft season. For the last four years or so, I have taken a very serious look at prospects in the drafts. I had a lot more time in highschool than I do here at Oswego, but I still try to look at the top ten for each position group. So here is my analysis on the top prospects that you will see picked on Thursday, April 25:

Caleb Williams has been destined to be a no.1 overall pick since he was taken off the bench to replace another quarterback in this draft, Spencer Rattler. Williams has elite arm talent, great out-of-structure touch and he also has winning on his mind all the time. The Chicago Bears know Williams is going to be their franchise guy. This is one of those prospects who will be going blow-for-blow with Patrick Mahomes for the foreseeable future.

Drake Maye has the same talent “ceiling” that Williams does, it is going to be interesting to see where he falls in this draft. If I was the one making decisions for every NFL team, Maye is the easy no.2 overall pick. However, all I see on sports talk right now is his stock falling below (who I think is a bust) Jayden Daniels.

Let me group this column back together by talking about where I want to see the Falcons go in this draft. I think it is obvious, it is an edge, preferably not Jared Verse from Florida State, but an edge regardless will make me smile come Thursday night. 

I am unbelievably excited to see where the staff and I bring this newspaper in the fall semester in the coming months. We all work so well together and the positive environment we build will hopefully bring more people along on the ride. 

I will finish with this: thank you for reading the Oswegonian, us staff love doing what we do and you are all the reasons why we work so hard to put the best product out there.