I hope it's not a revelation to you that when it comes to football managers, the four apocalyptic horsemen are injuries, defeat, the sack and the transfer market.

The first will lead to the second. Injuries provoke an increase in dropped points. Accumulate enough defeats and the clattering hooves of the third will soon be heard. But the fourth, the transfer market, can look deceptively like he's mounted on a friendly, exquisitely-groomed, well-tamed thoroughbred until the beast rears its forelegs and thumps unsuspecting football managers full in the face. That's why it has been fascinating and uplifting to see how Zinedine Zidane and Ernesto Valverde trying to turn into horse-whisperers over the past 10 days, each of them actively battling the collateral damage the transfer market is trying to inflict on them.

The main actors in this theatre of defiance and risk, directed and produced by "Zizou" and Valverde, are Ansu Fati, Gareth Bale, Carles Aleña, James Rodriguez, Luka Jovic, Carles Perez, Vinicius Jr., Sergio Busquets and Sergi Roberto. Neither manager actually needs to lie in bed at night cold-sweating the arrival of the third horseman. They're not immune to being sacked, but they're also not currently in danger.

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Valverde has his critics, but he looks safe until his contract ends in June 2020. Zidane? In theory, given his brilliant champions league legacy as a player and coach, he should be the unsackable coach. However, on Tuesday, Marca, a newspaper consistently drip-fed information by Florentino Perez, splashed its front page with the headline "Zidane Loses His Immunity." Zidane and President Perez are in a battle of wills as to whether it should be Paul Pogba or Neymar shipped in before the transfer market closes next Monday.

If Marca plasters "Zidane Loses His Immunity" across their front page, to be seen or read by several million people around the world, it must be accepted as a rap across the knuckles from a higher office than merely the season ticket-holders. "Get your nose out of the Neymar affair, forget about Pogba and get the team playing better" -- that sort of message.

The first two apocalyptic riders, the pale and the red horses of injury and defeat, have visited Zidane and Valverde from almost the minute their summer holidays ended.

Madrid have been blighted by eight major injuries in 47 days, which crippled their preseason stamina-building, team understanding, sharpness and new-player induction. It was brutal for Ferland Mendy and Eden Hazard, new arrivals, while Real also bid goodbye to Marco Asensio for most of the season. Meanwhile, Barcelona lost Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Ousmane Dembele to a plague of muscle problems that would have sent many managers gibbering to a psychiatrists couch with claims that "life has got it in for me!"

These things, while either improved or worsened by a club's fitness practices, are largely out of the control of football managers. That particular horseman will visit: it's inevitable.

What about defeats? Madrid lost 7-3 to Atleti in New Jersey and Barça kicked off the season with a defeat for the first time since 2008. These things do damage managers, all of which means that studying Zidane and Valverde's decisions of who to pick or drop in their four matches, has been riveting for anyone who likes to people-watch in football and try to get under the skin of the main on-stage actors.

We've seen serious, ambitious but overburdened men making it crystal clear that they will embrace risk, that they will enforce principles, that they will stand defiant against certain club wishes... if it helps them deflect the damage the fourth horseman can inflict. The transfer market can become a pestilence for these two elite, seemingly untouchable and vastly successful men because it's a beast that they cannot outright control. No way. It leaves them fighting to become survivors, not victims.

Zidane wants Pogba this summer, though not only does it seem sure he's not going to get Manchester United's marquee player, but Perez doesn't appear particularly interested in trying to force a deal through. Zidane neither wants nor needs Neymar, sentiments that are of little or no interest to his employer.

Up front, Luka Jovic is far from the finished article as a striker. Zidane's assessment seems to be that Jovic has little in his locker beyond the fact that the young, burly Serb inarguably tucks away goals. But "suck it up, Zizou!" is the message from the big Bernabeu offices. This is who you're getting, regarding Jovic, so Zidane drops him.

As for Valverde? He'd love to be able to rely on Ivan Rakitic, one of his "most-used" footballers since the Basque (himself nicknamed "the Worker Ant") discovered the Croatian's unselfish, team-oriented relentless "all for one and one for all" playing ethic. But Rakitic is one of the few transfer-market coins that cash-strapped Barca have at their disposal.

The likeliest resolution is that Rakitic's stubborn insistence on staying will win the day when the market shuts on Monday. Meantime, the club's requirement that Ivan-the-terribly-good doesn't get injured, thus scuppering any possibility at all of putting him in a deal to secure Neymar, has been dominant.

Of Barcelona's 180 competitive minutes so far in 2019-20, Rakitic has only been given 45. Those only came while Suarez was already off injured and Messi was absent. In other words, in extremis. Valverde has had no choice. The point is this: when Valverde opted to deploy 16-year-old Ansu on Sunday he did so as if he was saying "I'm taking back control!"

The previous week at San Mames, he'd already ignored Sergio Busquets and Junior Firpo on the bench and given 21-year-old winger Carles Perez only his second-ever senior appearance. Then Valverde started the kid again at the Camp Nou in week 2.

Against Betis, when Ansu was made Barcelona's second-youngest player in club history, Valverde left on the bench two big-reputation (and big salary) players, Samuel Umtiti and Arthur, on the bench despite each of them crying out for game time.

Ansu may well be an emerging phenomenon and Perez a confident, talented young buck. But this was quite clearly a series of very firm messages. To President Bartomeu: "I don't need Neymar, I've got the super-kids and I'll use them." To the senior players who have been ignored: "It's time to sharpen up." To the unreliable Dembele: "Get professional or get ready to languish on the bench or in the stands." To the fans, media and to young academy players, including Ricki Puig, who some Barça media personalities and fans think is a mercurial genius already worthy of an automatic first-team place: "Youth will be trusted when I think it's time."

Zidane's decision-making in Madrid can be regarded as a little more pragmatic but like Valverde, it's still heavily laden with important declarations of self-determination, independence and potential conflict to come.

In order to have any chance of raising the cash to buy Neymar, Madrid's bean-counters would need to sell or trade James or Gareth Bale. Or both. Zidane may not have been terrifically keen on either man until now but the instant the Premier League market closed, he exercised some good old common sense and extended the olive branch of peace to the Welshman, who has since started both Liga matches and played all but fifteen minutes of the 180 available.

James, ripe to be sold or traded before the other major markets close next Monday, was picked on merit against Valladolid and played well; he wasn't wrapped in cotton-wool as Valverde has felt forced to do with Rakitic. The result? A good performance, but an injury now removes the Colombian as a trading piece from Florentino Perez's shopping basket.

Zidane took back control. The club haven't benefitted, but perhaps the team has. Perhaps he, himself, has. The manager's authority, his character and how he's viewed by the rest of the squad: all of those things have been reinforced. More, Zidane's decision to drop Jovic demonstrated his thoughts on the Serb's current form and preseason performances.

Cost: €50 million. The amount Zidane cares about that? Zero. It's a message to the striker, message to those who signed him. Oh, and as for Alvaro Odriozola, signed after Zidane quit Madrid in June 2018? He was dumped out of the squad altogether at the weekend.

Neither manager has won all his bets, and each has faced criticism. But both of them wrenched back the idea that "the buck stops with me and I'm not just flotsam or jetsam to be tossed around by the furies of the transfer market."

I think each man burnished his reputation, reaffirmed his authority, won back self-respect and faced down the fourth horseman of the apocalypse for football managers. How they must yearn to hear those hooves echoing into the distance next week.

Mithali Raj remains committed to playing T20Is for India, making herself available for the home series against South Africa in September. However, it is unclear whether the team still has space for the 36-year-old batsman.

Mithali was at the centre of a great deal of controversy at the last T20 World Cup, where she claimed she was unfairly excluded from the XI for the semi-final, which India lost. India's coach at the time, Ramesh Powar, had said that she had gone as far as to threaten retirement if she wasn't allowed to open the innings.

Things, however, did calm down with time and she was picked for each of India's last two T20I series, against New Zealand and England. But there is increased focus on her role now with the team looking to groom players for the next T20 World Cup, which is six months from now.

"I am definitely available for the T20 series next month but, at the moment, haven't really thought about the T20 World Cup. I usually take it series by series," Mithali told PTI when asked about her plans for the shortest format.

The selectors are set to meet in Mumbai on September 5 to pick India's squad to play South Africa. That series, in Surat, will be followed by three ODIs in Baroda.

Harmanpreet Kaur led the team to the semi-final of the T20 World Cup last year. But since losing that game to England, India have hit a slump, losing each of their last six games.

"As a team, we still have a lot to catch up on the T20 format," Mithali said, "But we do have youngsters coming in and with the exposure of T20 leagues around the world they will get more experience and mature faster.

"Genetically we can't be like other teams [and power hit to victory] but we can be more smart in our planning and shot selection. We worked very hard on our fitness in the recent camp in Bangalore and you can see the girls are much fitter on the ground and that reflects in their drills."

Mumbai have reappointed Vinayak Samant as their coach in controversial circumstances just before the start of the upcoming domestic season. Samant was retained after former Mumbai coach Sulakshan Kulkarni, who served them from 2011 to 2014, turned the offer down following disagreements with the Mumbai Cricket Association's (MCA) ad-hoc committee, primarily over the remuneration offered to him.

Kulkarni claims that when he was initially interviewed in May for the post by Dilip Vengsarkar, chairman of the MCA's Cricket Improvement Committee (CIC), he was offered a remuneration of INR 24 lakh for one year, from June 1, 2019 to May 31, 2020, as posted on the MCA website. However, Kulkarni says, the MCA delayed his appointment and sent him a contract in mid-August with an offer of INR 14 lakh, valid from September 2019 to March 2020, which he turned down.

"I told them I won't accept the contract like this if you reduce the amount from 24 to 14 lakh, there's no chance" Kulkarni told ESPNcricinfo. "It's not my mistake because I was ready to take up the job on 1st June. The delay was from their side."

Kulkarni was also unhappy that the MCA made this and other changes in the contract without consulting the CIC. Karsan Ghavri, a member of the CIC, said this was unacceptable.

"The ad-hoc committee [of the MCA] cannot overrule a decision which has already been made by the CIC," Ghavri told mid-day. "They should have had a meeting with the CIC to discuss the issue [after Kulkarni did not agree to MCA's contract terms]. If this is how MCA is going to function by taking their own cricketing decisions, then I don't wish to be on the CIC. I am going to resign in a couple of days.

"We [CIC] held several meetings, each lasting for nearly five hours, to interview coaches and support staff for the junior and senior teams. [By appointing Samant] they have not just treated CIC badly, but also the coaches and support staff."

Kulkarni said there were more changes in the contract he was eventually offered, which didn't make sense to him.

"When I was the Mumbai coach in 2011, the daily match allowance was INR 10,000," he said. "Now, nearly 10 years later, they are offering only INR 5,000 per day. The amount should have actually gone up, there is no common sense in this."

According to Kulkarni, the MCA also reduced the number of leaves offered from 60 to 15 per year and changed "many other" terms and conditions which he "was not ready for". Kulkarni said he turned the offer down on August 20.

Last week, the MCA then went back to Samant, who had also applied for the post in May as he had been appointed only for the 2018-19 season last year. In that season, he helped Mumbai lift the Vijay Hazare Trophy but they then went downhill and failed to qualify for the Ranji Trophy quarter-finals, and couldn't make the final in the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy.

"Among the main drawbacks last season was that we didn't have many pace bowlers and established spinners," Samant told ESPNcricinfo. "We were banking on only a couple of bowlers out of whom Tushar Deshpande was unfit in the second match. To win matches outright, you need to take 20 wickets. And if you don't have the bowlers to pick up those wickets, then you're going to suffer. Then that adds further pressure to the batting which was not up to the mark."

Samant started working with the team in Mumbai on Tuesday and will travel with them to Nagpur on September 4 with a 15-man squad for the Bapuna Cup, a pre-season tournament for which they are trying several fringe players. They have named Suryakumar Yadav captain for the tournament as they want to groom him as a leader for whenever regular captain Shreyas Iyer is unavailable because of national duty. Mumbai are also going to try out 19-year-old Arjun Tendulkar, a left-arm quick, before the domestic season begins.

"We want to try him and see how effective he is. I saw Arjun at the MPL (Mumbai Premier League), he bowls very well. He bowls quick and is very accurate," Samant said.

"We're looking to make Surya the captain in Shreyas' absence. He's a very good captain. Surya has had some issues in the past but we're backing him again and grooming him for captaincy."

Fidel Edwards has signed a one-year contract extension with Hampshire, keeping him at the Ageas Bowl until the end of the 2020 season.

Edwards, the 37-year-old West Indian fast bowler has taken 47 wickets at an average of 23.55 this season, including four five-wicket hauls, with three Championship fixtures remaining.

"I'm very pleased to have signed for my sixth season at Hampshire, which has become my second home," Edwards said. "Hopefully next year we can push on further and I'll be trying my best to help make it a successful season for the club."

Hampshire Director of Cricket Giles White said: "Fidel has been fantastic for us since joining in 2015 and this year he's excelled once again. He's an important part of our squad and a great character to have in and around the group - we're delighted to welcome him back for another year."

Edwards joined the county in 2015, picking up 45 first-class wickets in eight matches at an average of just 20.80 in his debut campaign and, despite suffering a season-ending injury in early 2016, he returned to pick up 33 wickets at an average of 24.06 the following year.

Edwards continued that good form in 2018, passing 50 first-class wickets in a season for the first time in his career as he picked up 54 scalps in 15 matches.

James Anderson has taken another step in his Ashes comeback plan with a solid day's work for Lancashire 2nd XI.

Anderson bowled just four overs on the opening day of the first Test at Edgbaston before he was struck down by a calf injury which ruled him out of the rest of that match and the following two Ashes Tests. He was, however, present behind the scenes for England's historic victory at Headingley, as he continued his rehabilitation with national team medical staff.

Anderson bowled 20 overs for Lancashire 2nd XI on the first day of a four-day friendly against Durham 2nd XI at Chester Boughton Hall CC on Tuesday, claiming 1 for 38 with nine maidens.

It follows his appearance for Lancashire Seconds in a match against Leicestershire last week in which he took 2 for 23 in nine overs and reported no recurrence of the injury, which first bothered him in early July.

It is expected that if he comes through this latest match unscathed, Anderson will have a good chance of winning a recall to the England side for the fourth Test at Old Trafford starting on September 4.

Ezekiel Elliott is still holding out, but that hasn't stopped him from working out.

The Dallas Cowboys running back is working with Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk in Cabo San Lucas so he can be ready to play when his contract issue is resolved.

"His fitness is great, but playing in games is different," Faulk told ESPN in a text message. "My job is to close that gap with putting him in active game situations. The only thing we can't simulate is the contact."

Elliott and Faulk are both represented by agent Rocky Arceneaux.

Elliott has won the NFL rushing title and the Cowboys have been division champions in every season in which Elliott has played more than 10 games. But the number of games Elliott plays this season remains in doubt.

Asked whether he believed Elliott is willing to miss games over his insistence on becoming the highest-paid running back in the NFL, Faulk countered with a question of his own.

"The question is," Faulk said, "are the Cowboys willing to have him miss games because they don't believe he should be the highest-paid RB?"

The Cowboys have made an offer to Elliott that ranks between the $13.125 million average salary the New York Jets have given Le'Veon Bell and the $14.375 million average salary the Los Angeles Rams are paying Todd Gurley.

Tiger Woods announced Tuesday that he had an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee last week but expects to return to play in a PGA Tour event in Japan in late October.

Woods, 43, failed to qualify for last week's Tour Championship in Atlanta, where he won his 80th PGA Tour title last year.

He announced via Twitter that the procedure was performed by Dr. Vern Cooley and was to repair minor cartilage damage.

Woods released a statement from Cooley, who said: "I expect Tiger to make a full recovery. We did what was needed, and also examined the entire knee. There were no additional problems.''

Woods had reconstructive ACL surgery on his left knee after his 2008 U.S. Open victory. This is believed to be the fifth procedure on his left knee dating to 1994 when he was an amateur.

Cooley is part of an orthopedic clinic in Park City, Utah, along with Dr. Thomas Rosenberg, who performed the 2008 surgery.

"I'd like to thank Dr. Cooley and his team,'' Woods said in his statement. "I'm walking now and hope to resume practice in the next few weeks. I look forward to traveling and playing in Japan in October.''

Woods was two years removed from spinal fusion surgery in April of 2017 and notched his 15th major championship when he won the Masters.

But he also had a series of ailments, including missing the Arnold Palmer Invitational because of neck strain and withdrawing from the Northern Trust three weeks ago thanks to a mild oblique strain. He also had lingering back stiffness throughout the year.

Woods is scheduled to play an exhibition match against Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and Hideki Matsuyama on Oct. 21 followed by the Zozo Championship that begins on Oct. 26.

Former New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski became emotional Tuesday morning when describing his decision to retire from the NFL in March.

"I want to be clear to my fans. I needed to recover. I was not in a good place. Football was bringing me down, and I didn't like it. I was losing that joy in life," Gronkowski said, fighting back tears.

Gronkowski's remarks came at an announcement that he will be an advocate for players to be allowed to use CBD products for pain relief. He left the door open to possibly un-retire, saying, "physically, I could play right now" but added he is not there mentally.

Gronkowski detailed how he sustained a quad injury in Super Bowl LIII, and he knew that he was retiring after that.

"I got done with the game and I could barely walk," he said. "I slept five minutes that night. I couldn't even think. I was in tears in my bed after a Super Bowl victory. It didn't make that much sense to me. And then, for four weeks, I couldn't even sleep for more than 20 minutes a night. I was like, 'Damn, this sucks.' It didn't feel good.

"It was one of the biggest, deepest thigh bruises I've ever gotten," he added, noting it led to significant internal bleeding.

Gronkowski was 29 when he retired, the same age as Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck, who shocked the NFL on Saturday by retiring because of the toll injuries have taken on his body. Gronkowski said he felt empathy for Luck.

Gronkowski told those in attendance in New York that he's in a better place now and "very satisfied with where I am in life now."

"I truly believe going through those tough times, nine years -- off the field, on the field -- has brought me to this point and I believe I'm on the right path in my life," he said.

"It's a purpose to have passion in my life, to have joy in my life. And then to inspire optimal health within myself, I need to do that in order to get to a peak and then I can bring it to other people. Because I know [in] the NFL, players are dealing with that kind of stuff, they're dealing with pain. I was. And I needed to walk away because I needed to do what was best for myself."

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers coach Ron Rivera says there's "no doubt in my mind'' quarterback Cam Newton will be ready for the Sept. 8 opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

Newton suffered a sprained left foot in last Thursday's preseason game against the New England Patriots. X-rays came back negative and team officials have been "cautiously optimistic" that the 2015 NFL MVP would play in the opener.

Rivera on Tuesday was adamant Newton would be ready.

"No, there's no doubt in my mind,'' Rivera said while hosting an NFL Boot Camp as part of a USAA Salute to Service event. "Everything he's been doing, everything he's done, he's done exactly what he's needed to. We're at the point now where it's just a matter of time before we start our official prep for the Rams that he's back on the field.''

Newton was on the practice field for the second straight day, stretching and warming up with teammates. He threw on the side with trainer Ryan Vermillion, as he did on Monday, and put a little more stress on the foot in his throwing motion than he had.

He was again not wearing a walking boot, as he had been immediately after suffering the injury and the following day.

"He's made good strides," Rivera said. "We're pretty excited about him.''

Neither Newton nor any of the starters will play in Thursday night's preseason finale against the Pittsburgh Steelers. After final cuts are made on Saturday, the team will begin preparing for the opener at Bank of America Stadium.

Tua Tagovailoa's game-winning touchdown pass in the 2017 national title game might be the biggest play in college football history. But in Atlanta and elsewhere that night, something else was happening: The wheels of the quarterback transfer market started spinning.

Tagovailoa's emergence started the clock on Jalen Hurts' transfer, while also serving notice to Clemson's Dabo Swinney that he needed a higher-ceiling QB to compete with the Tide. On the other side, Jake Fromm solidified his spot as Georgia's signal-caller of the future, opening the door for Jacob Eason and Justin Fields to move on. Here's where each player was and how that one performance, culminating with that one touchdown pass, set off a chain reaction still unfolding to this day.

Jalen Hurts

Then: Alabama
Now: Oklahoma

Jan. 8, 2018: With Alabama trailing 13-0 at halftime against Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship, Hurts is benched in favor of Tagovailoa. Hurts then watches from the sideline as Tagovailoa leads the comeback, ending in overtime with the winning touchdown pass to DeVonta Smith.

Later that night: Rather than sulking over his benching, Hurts is all smiles as reporters crowd around his locker after the game. He praises Tagovailoa's ability to lead the come-from-behind victory. "He was built for this," Hurts says.

Aug. 4, 2018: After an offseason of rampant speculation over who will start at quarterback and whether the loser will transfer, Alabama finally opens preseason camp. Inside Bryant-Denny Stadium, Hurts speaks with reporters for the first time since the title game and immediately sets the tone, expressing frustration with the media as well as the coaching staff's handling of the situation.

Sept. 1, 2018: Tagovailoa gets the starting nod in the season opener against Louisville, in which he accounts for three touchdowns in the 51-14 victory. Hurts plays sparingly. Less than 48 hours later, Saban names Tagovailoa the starter for the season.

Sept. 29, 2018: After much speculation about whether he would play only four games and take a redshirt season in order to preserve an extra year of eligibility, Hurts chooses to remain the backup and plays against Louisiana.

Dec. 1, 2018: Tagovailoa rolls his ankle and struggles against Georgia in the SEC title game. Hurts, who hasn't played much meaningful football all season, enters with roughly 11 minutes remaining and orchestrates a come-from-behind win, clinching a spot in the playoff. "It kind of feels like I'm breaking my silence," Hurts says afterward.

Jan. 9, 2019: Two days after Alabama's loss against Clemson in the national title game, Hurts officially enters his name into the transfer portal. Dozens of FBS programs reach out within hours, hoping to lure the former SEC Offensive Player of the Year away from the Crimson Tide.

Jan. 11, 2019: Hurts visits Maryland and is spotted at the basketball game against Indiana alongside new Maryland coach and former Alabama offensive coordinator Mike Locksley. The student section chants, "We want Jalen!"

Jan. 12-13, 2019: Hurts' final two visits are to Oklahoma and Miami, where his former QB coach Dan Enos recently took the job as the Hurricanes' offensive coordinator.

Jan. 16, 2019: In a first-person essay on The Players' Tribune -- titled "To My Alabama Family" -- Hurts announces his next destination. "I've decided to take my talents to the University of Oklahoma," he writes, "where I will continue my development as both a quarterback and as a student."

March 28, 2019: Players rarely deliver opening statements during media availability. But in his first address to local reporters, Hurts does, saying how he's "built for these types of situations." He hasn't been on campus long, but OU coach Lincoln Riley is impressed. "Hell, I feel like he's older than me," Riley will later say.

Aug. 19, 2019: What was expected comes to pass as Riley announces Hurts will start the season opener against Houston. Riley lauds Spencer Rattler and Tanner Mordecai, "but Jalen was just a little bit better. Just a little bit more in control."

Jacob Eason

Then: Georgia
Now: Washington

Jan. 8, 2018: A former five-star recruit who started double-digit games as a freshman doesn't typically become an afterthought, but Eason is exactly that against Alabama, relegated to the sideline. Earlier that season, he'd been the starter. But after he was injured during the opener, Fromm took over and never gave the job back. Eason doesn't take a snap in Atlanta and winds up recording stats in just three games all season.

Jan. 12, 2018: Eason takes to Twitter to announce his decision to transfer.

Feb. 6, 2018: Via Twitter, Eason announces it's "Good to be home!" again at Washington. The native of Lake Stevens, Washington, will have to sit out the 2018 season, per NCAA rules. With Jake Browning firmly entrenched as the Huskies' starter and a year away from graduation, it's the perfect setup.

April 16, 2018: Speaking with Seattle media during spring practice, Eason says it was an "easy" decision to go to Washington, where the former starter will spend the season as the Huskies' scout-team quarterback. "I looked other places, but I didn't seriously consider them," he says. "This was the only place I was looking at coming to."

April 3, 2019: Eason enters spring practice in a QB battle with redshirt sophomore Jake Haener -- not that anyone is buying the idea of an actual competition. Coach Chris Petersen warns against sky-high expectations, pointing out how Eason "hasn't really played real football in a long, long time. ... I think it's a disservice for you guys to put all this pressure on him."

Aug. 23, 2019: Petersen calls it a "gut feeling," going with Eason as the Week 1 starter, but Petersen adds Haener will also play against Eastern Washington. "You have a plan and you adapt and adjust as the season goes," he says. "That's just how it is."

Aug. 24, 2019: Washington announces in a statement: "Sophomore quarterback Jake Haener has elected to leave the Washington football program, effective immediately."

Justin Fields

Then: Georgia
Now: Ohio State

Jan. 8, 2018: Fields, the No. 1-ranked player in his class, has been enrolled at Georgia for roughly three weeks despite the emergence of freshman Fromm and some last-minute sales pitches from Texas A&M, Florida and Florida State. As an early enrollee, he can't dress for the national title game, where Fromm nearly leads the Bulldogs to a victory over Alabama.

Sept. 29, 2018: During a home game against Tennessee, Georgia baseball player Adam Sasser allegedly shouts racist remarks at Fields. Sasser is dismissed from the team. While it's unclear how the incident will later be presented to the NCAA, it does appear to fall under a new rule which allows for the immediate eligibility of a transfer student if it can be proved that a change of schools will affect his or her "health, safety and well-being" for the better.

Dec. 18, 2018: Fields, who was relegated to mop-up duty behind Fromm all season, enters his name into the NCAA transfer portal. ESPN reports his interest in Ohio State, while Florida State and Oklahoma are two other destinations he's considering.

Dec. 21, 2018: Buckeyes backup QB Tate Martell tweets what can be seen only as a warning shot to Fields: "word of advice: -- don't swing and miss ... especially not your second time."

Jan. 4, 2019: Fields posts a note on social media, announcing his decision to transfer from Georgia to Ohio State. In the note, he says, "I appreciate what Coach [Kirby] Smart and the UGA football coaching staff have done to help me progress as a quarterback and for their patience and understanding while I thoughtfully consider my future as a student-athlete."

Feb. 6, 2019: Fields addresses the media for the first time as a Buckeye. He declines to go into the specific reasons for leaving Georgia and instead focuses on why he chose to come to Columbus: to get to the NFL. "I was just worried about the best place to develop me for the next level," Fields says. "That's the main thing I was looking for."

Feb. 8, 2019: OSU athletic director Gene Smith tweets the news that the NCAA has approved Fields' application for a waiver to have immediate eligibility.

Aug. 19, 2019: Fields is named the starter, but coach Ryan Day makes it clear the selection really pertains only to who takes the first snap in the season opener against Florida Atlantic. "Where it moves from there who knows," Day says.

Tate Martell

Then: Ohio State
Now: Miami

Jan. 8, 2018: The Buckeyes are home after falling short of making the playoff. But Martell has a reason to look forward to the following season. With three-year starter JT Barrett finally off to the NFL, it's the former high school phenom's chance to compete with Dwayne Haskins for playing time.

Dec. 21, 2018: Martell sends his eyes-emoji-inducing subtweet toward Fields.

Jan. 4, 2019: Fields announces he will transfer to Ohio State. The move doesn't bode well for Martell, who as a redshirt freshman attempted just 28 passes in six appearances as Haskins' backup. Martell will later tell ESPN that OSU made it known to him toward the end of the season that he would be better off finding another school.

Jan. 10, 2019: Martell enters the NCAA transfer portal. He will end up visiting West Virginia on a Monday. That Tuesday, he'll visit Miami, which will have hosted Hurts just two days earlier.

Jan. 16, 2019: Shortly after midnight -- and right on the heels of his visit to Miami -- Martell announces he's transferring to the Hurricanes. A graphic he posts on Twitter features Martell alongside his former Bishop Gorman High School (Las Vegas) teammates Brevin Jordan, a tight end at Miami, and Bubba Bolden, a safety who is also transferring to Miami from USC.

April 20, 2019: Martell ends spring practice in a quarterback battle with N'Kosi Perry and Jarren Williams. During Miami's spring game, Martell is the third QB to take the field, but he looks sharp, completing 6 of 10 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He feels a sense of urgency, he tells ESPN during the spring. "This is my move," he says, "so I've got to make it work however it goes."

Aug. 12, 2019: Williams, a redshirt freshman, beats out Martell for the starting job. It's unclear whether Martell or Perry will be the No. 2 QB.

Aug. 24, 2019: Martell lines up on several plays at wide receiver and situationally at quarterback in Miami's 24-20 loss to Florida. He finishes the game with one carry for -1 yards on a QB run.

Kelly Bryant

Then: Clemson
Now: Missouri

Jan. 8, 2018: The No. 1 Tigers and their starting QB, Bryant, are home after being bounced out of the playoff semifinals by Alabama. Bryant, in particular, is coming off perhaps the worst game of his career, having thrown for 124 yards, no touchdowns and two picks in the 24-6 loss against the Tide.

Jan. 10, 2018: Clemson's early enrollees arrive. Among the nine eager freshmen is top-ranked quarterback Trevor Lawrence, whom many have already pegged to give Bryant a run for his money. Nine days later, backup QB Zerrick Cooper will opt to transfer, and fellow backup Hunter Johnson will also choose to leave in the spring.

Aug. 27, 2018: Ahead of its Week 1 game against Furman, Clemson releases its depth chart, on which Bryant is listed as the starting quarterback. But Swinney's words from earlier in camp are still ringing in everyone's ears: "The one thing I can probably definitely say is regardless of how it plays out, I don't see a situation early where we just play one guy."

Sept. 1, 2018: Right away, it's obvious Bryant is in a position battle. Against Furman, Lawrence comes off the bench and throws three touchdowns and no interceptions. The following week, on the road in a big-time game against Texas A&M, Swinney will call on Lawrence again, and he will complete 5 of 9 passes for 93 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions.

Sept. 24, 2018: Swinney makes the move everyone has been waiting for. Less than 48 hours after Lawrence tosses a career-high four touchdowns against Georgia Tech, he is officially named the starter. While Tagovailoa powers a historically explosive Tide offense, the memory of Bryant's last performance against Alabama looms large. With the teams on a collision course, Swinney commits to the high-ceiling Lawrence. Bryant, who started and won all of Clemson's first four games, has a decision to make: keep playing and lose his final season of eligibility, or sit and take a redshirt.

Sept. 26, 2018: On the heels of missing two consecutive practices, Bryant tells The Greenville News he will sit out the rest of the season and transfer. He tells the South Carolina newspaper that being benched was a "slap in the face." During an interview with ESPN weeks later, Bryant will say he still bleeds orange and purple, but leaving was "a decision I had to make for myself."

Dec. 4, 2018: Bryant, who took visits to the likes of Arkansas, Auburn, Mississippi State and North Carolina, ultimately chooses to transfer to Missouri. The Tigers of the SEC East, who just lost a multiyear starter in Drew Lock, pick up a quarterback in Bryant who has started 18 games and accounted for a combined 31 touchdowns.

April 13, 2019: Bryant, the presumptive starter, shines during Missouri's spring game, completing 11 of 17 passes for 150 yards. He calls the experience "surreal." He tells reporters he's not going to get caught looking ahead to the season, but he acknowledges, "The ceiling is high for this group."

Austin Kendall

Then: Oklahoma
Now: West Virginia

Jan. 8, 2018: The former four-star recruit has just finished watching one of the most special seasons in Oklahoma history as quarterback Baker Mayfield wins the Heisman Trophy and leads the Sooners to the playoff. Coming off a redshirt season, Kendall is among the contenders to take over for Mayfield the following season. But he has competition in the form of transfer quarterback Kyler Murray.

Aug. 22, 2018: Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley tabs Murray as the starter. Riley compliments Kendall and says it was a close battle, "but just felt like from an overall perspective that Kyler was just a little bit ahead."

Jan. 11, 2019: Kendall, who has now backed up back-to-back Heisman winners and has just learned that Oklahoma will host Hurts on an official visit, enters the NCAA transfer portal. Having graduated in three years, he will be immediately eligible to play wherever he goes as long as Oklahoma doesn't choose to block his destination.

Jan. 14, 2019: Kendall visits Auburn, which has just lost two-year starting quarterback Jarrett Stidham to the NFL draft. He is also considering Kentucky and West Virginia.

Jan. 16, 2019: The same day Hurts commits to Oklahoma, ESPN reports that the school would block Kendall's transfer to West Virginia under a rule which allows schools to hamper intraconference transfers. But the Sooners ultimately relent and clear the way for Kendall, who is scheduled to visit Morgantown the following day.

Jan. 18, 2019: Kendall announces on Twitter that he's transferring to West Virginia, where he'll reunite with coach Neal Brown, who recruited him back when Brown was an assistant at Kentucky.

April 15, 2019: Brown says he doesn't know who the starting quarterback will be, but based on the Mountaineers' spring game, Kendall is in good shape as he completes 7 of 12 passes for 154 yards and a touchdown. Speaking to the media the following day, Kendall cites backing up Mayfield and Murray at Oklahoma and says, "I don't have a lot of playing time, but I'm here to prove people wrong. I'm excited to get my chance and I'm ready to go."

Aug. 20, 2019: Brown tabs Kendall as the Week 1 starter against James Madison. "We tracked everything from spring practice through fall camp -- decision-making, completion percentage, number of turnovers, scoring drives, and it was clear after Friday night's scrimmage in the stadium that he earned it," Brown says.

Illustrations by Timba Smits