MAKING MOVES IN THE MEDIA

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Michigan State volleyball is partnering with renowned mindset and peak performance coach Seth Makowsky. The Spartans are the first collegiate women's team in the country to partner with Makowsky and his program, Poison Pawn.

"As I was thinking of what our team needed, I wanted it to be something that didn't demand much from our bodies and instead focused on our minds," said head volleyball coach Leah Johnson. "I started researching and came across Poison Pawn. We invited everyone that participates in our program, including support staff, because we don't win alone. As the first collegiate women's team Seth has worked with, we are setting the standard."

LA TIMES - Houston’s C.J. Stroud has the third-most passing attempts (151) by a rookie without an interception to start his career.

Despite not taking a snap for Arizona in the preseason, the Cardinals’ Joshua Dobbs has completed nearly 71% of his passes in the last three games, with four touchdowns and zero picks.

Some play checkers. These guys play chess.

No one understands that better than Los Angeles-based performance coach Seth Makowsky, who has worked with all three quarterbacks at various points in their football careers, harnessing the game of chess to teach poise under pressure, quick decision making and how to avoid turning one mistake into a string of them.

THE ATHLETIC - On the first day of February, the new chess set appeared atop the circular glass table in the Mo Ostin Center lobby. Nobody with the UCLA men’s basketball team knew it was coming. But here it was, delivered by the founder of Poison Pawn, a local company. A crisp black-and-white board with objectively cool redesigned pieces, begging for tactics and gambits.

As Jaime Jaquez Jr. sat down for a conversation, his eyes went wide. Like a spaceship landed a foot in front of him. The hoops talk, clearly, had to wait.