Prospects...

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The transfer was listed at No. 22 in the rankings.

Roc Riggio, sophomore, second base

In his first season of college baseball last year, Riggio posted a .295 batting average — which ranked seventh among starters — 11 home runs and 47 RBI’s. His performance in the Stillwater Regional last season pinpointed the former top 100 recruit’s potential, where he batted .555 through 27 at-bats, and raised his average. Not to mention, his defensive ability was almost nonpareil among D-I second basemen. His successful freshman campaign earned him a spot on the All-Big 12 Freshman Team. Reggio was No. 30 on the list.

Nolan McLean, junior, utility

After being drafted by the Baltimore Orioles with the first pick in the third round of last year’s MLB Draft, McLean returns to Stillwater with prime expectations heading into his junior season. The 6-foot-4 slugger began last season at right field before meshing into a permanent role at third base. Last year, McLean batted .285 while posting a team-leading 19 home runs and 47 RBIs. However, strikeouts were a recurring issue throughout the year, as he led the team with 107. McLean also saw himself become the team’s closer midway through last season. During that time, he posted a 4.97 ERA with 39 strikeouts and five saves. Of course, a near-5.00 ERA isn’t ideal for any closer in baseball.

Consistency was an issue for McLean. However, his fastball — which sat around 97-99 miles per hour — along with a backdoor slider and a changeup with movement has him poised for a potential breakout season on the mound with a full offseason of preparation with that role. The two-way star appeared at No. 56 on the list.

Marcus Brown, junior, shortstop Brown isn’t too flashy, and certainly nowhere near a slugger, yet, consistent offense and the ability to make his way around the bases makes him a pivotal piece for this year’s Cowboy baseball team. Last year, Brown posted a .316 batting average along with 31 RBI’s and four home runs. While still leading the team in errors, Brown ranked second in the Big 12 last season in double plays initiated, just behind former Texas shortstop, Trey Faltine. Brown was No. 81 on the list. sports.ed@ocolly.com

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After all, she said, much of white America didn’t fully realize the brutality of law enforcement in Black and Latino neighborhoods until the video of Los Angeles police beating Rodney King during a traffic stop in 1991 became public.

Before then, Sherman said, those victims of police violence were widely ignored.

“If a Black person says that, we only believe it if: one, there’s a death; two, if there’s video; and three, if there’s witnesses,” she said.

But Sherman’s decision to avoid the traumatizing images herself was endorsed on social media, which was filled with commentary about the need for collective healing and the right of Black people to grieve privately when tragedy strikes.

More than any other high-profile police killing in recent memory, the Nichols recording — compile d from various forms of video, including body camera footage and pole camera images was widely anticipated, inspiring dread.

Memphis officials said early last week that the release would be Friday. Some residents in a city synonymous with blues music and the civil rights movement feared a repeat of the largescale protests that followed the acquittal in 1992 of the officers in King’s beating. The FBI issued a warning to local law enforcement agencies around the country to be on alert for potential unrest , while some school districts canceled after-school activities and businesses shut down early.

For several days, the city held its breath.

Adding to the anxiety were comments by senior law enforcement leaders who had seen the images and described them as “heinous” and “absolutely appalling.” Lawyers for the Nichols family, which also previewed the footage, told reporters that officers were seen treating Nichols like “a human piñata“ and compared it to the recording of King — only in higher definition.

Attorney Benjamin Crump said Nichols’ family agreed to investigators’ request to wait a week or two before making the recording public to “make sure to give this family what they want most, and that is justice.” Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, said that she had been unable to finish watching the video, and encouraged parents everywhere to keep their children from seeing it. She asked that those who protest do so peacefully.

Some observers credited officials’ decision to release the videowith helping defuse violent protests. And police Chief Cerelyn “CJ” Davis — who became the city’s first Black female top cop after taking the job in 2021 — also drew praise in some quarters for firing the five officers most directly involved in Nichols’ beating.

The officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Emmitt Martin III, Desmond Mills Jr. and Justin Smith — were indicted on various criminal charges, including second-degree murder. They were released from the Shelby County Jail early Friday morning after posting bond, according to jail records. Several hours after the video’s release, Jerry Torres, 22, was one of several people who’d stopped by to pay their respects at the spot where Nichols was taken into custody. After pulling him over for unclear reasons, officers chased Nichols for nearly half a mile to a cu l-de-sac of tidy brown brick buildings down the street from his mother’s house. Torres said he felt that as difficult as it was, people should watch the video of the beating so that they could grasp the horror of what happened to Nichols.

“The only reason that people are out here is because of the body cam footage and that’s the only reason that people really know where the incident happened,” he said.

The next day, roughly 200 people gathered under a light rain outside the city’s Public Safety Building before marching through downtown. Walking several yards behind the main group, Frank Gibson, a local activist known as “Frank Gottie,” said he pulled the video of the beating up on his laptop, but had to turn it off after about 30 seconds.

“That was enough. Five seconds of it was enough,” he said. “I seen how they ran up on him like in football; he kicked him like he was kicking a field goal.”

Theodore Martin, 51, said he knew some people, including his sister, who refused to watch the video. But, he said, even though he doubted that the actions of police would surprise him, he still wanted to see it.

“I’m just curious, was this man handcuffed and all that, you know why’re they doing all this to him ,” said Martin, 51, who was sitting on a fourwheeler outside a home in the New Chicago neighborhood in North Mem-