Over the hump and safely into the best Thursday of the year. OK, well, the second-best Thursday of the year.

Night 1 of the NFL Draft. That’s right. The king returns to his throne tonight after a few months off, and he’s set to steal all the headlines. It’s the NFL’s world, folks, and we just live in it. Get on board or get OUT!

Big night. A lot to get to. Let’s roll.

ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON’T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!

Welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps — the one where Jena Sims gears up for the PGA championship with another SI Swimsuit shoot. As one does, of course.

What else? I’ve got NFL Draft night memories with Gia Duddy, “First Take” acting DISGUSTED by the Russini-Vrabel drama, and Queen Kay Adams has found her QB1. Forget Fernando Mendoza, folks. He’s off the board. It’s Ty Simpson time. You’ll see.

OK, let’s get AFTER it. Grab you a Busch Light Apple since they are officially BACK, and settle in for a Thursday ‘Cap!

Look at that. I mean, does it feel like summertime, or what? She’s right around the corner, boys and girls. I can feel it in my bones. I can smell it. And, once I get to the Walmart later today, I will be able to taste it.

That little picture came courtesy of Ryan P, who simply writes:

Zach,

Stocked up for the summer today.

Amen, brother. I actually had a Busch Light Apple about four months ago, long after they were off the shelves. I took most of the fall off for golf, which meant whatever was left in my bag from last summer was still there when I dusted it off after Thanksgiving.

Imagine my delight when I took out my beer-sleeve to reload, and found two Busch Light Apples still at the bottom. In perfect shape, too. I was like a fat kid at the candy shop. What a rush.

Anyway, it’s still been a while since I had one. That changes tonight, assuming my neighborhood Walmart plays ball. We’ll see.

OK, let’s get this class started. I can hear the draft jingle fine-tuning itself. We’re low on time.

Brooks Koepka’s wife, Jena Sims, is ready. Are you?

Brooksie was briefly in contention at Augusta before a rough moving day, but I think he’s close. Jena seems ready to rock and roll ahead of Aronimink next month. Don’t be surprised if Brooks finally puts it all together.

Can’t wait.

Before that, though, we obviously have to get into the biggest story of the day/week/month … Mike Vrabel and Dianna Russini! Yes, the story that just refuses to go away.

It was almost dead until this morning, when Vrabel dropped the … oddly-timed … bombshell that he’d be leaving the team during the draft to seek therapy.

Side note: LOVE that Vrabes didn’t just skip the draft entirely. Can’t miss the first three rounds! That’s when you have to hit. Self-help can WAIT.

Anyway, I said “oddly-timed” because it felt odd. Why would he announce it now, when the story was seemingly dying?

Well …

Ahhhhhh. Now I see why he put out that statement. Makes sense! Goodness gracious. Six years ago! These two animals have been — allegedly — canoodling for over a half-decade. Since before COVID!

Think about that. This Vrabel-Russini drama predates COVID. What a time to be alive. And you know where you’re going to continue reading about it? OutKick.

You know where you ain’t? ESPN!

Rapid-fire time:

I mean, is “First Take” serious here? THIS is where … FIRST TAKE … draws the line? What world am I living in?

Since when does “First Take” have a moral code of conduct?

This is the same show that features Mad Dog Russo screaming like a maniac into the camera every week, right?

The same one where Stephen A. wears a cowboy hat on set 14 times a season just to piss off Dallas fans?

The same one where Cam Newton had some weird, fake drama with Drake Maye all of last season?

Yeah, thought so. Amazing.

So sorry, Shae, that Mike didn’t check into rehab after your precious NFL Draft. Sorry this interrupted the constant LeBron/Cowboys talk. Sorry Mike didn’t hold off on the therapy until Monday so you could avoid talking about it on your show.

The show, by the way, where you get PAID to talk about the biggest sports topics of the day.

PS: Anyone wanna guess who Dianna Russini worked for back in 2020? Ahem …

If you thought ESPN buried this story … whoooooooooof. What drama. Amazing.

Next? Speaking of drama, let’s A) remind everyone that the time to make a pick tonight has been reduced from 10 to 8 minutes, and B) also remind everyone why:

Yes! The infamous 2007 draft. The one where poor Brady Quinn sat in the green room for nearly seven hours while his hot girlfriend went semi-viral. I say “semi” because this was back before the internet really took off. The pre-Twitter days.

Could you imagine if that happened nowadays?!

Oh yeah …

Can’t believe it’s been three years since the world met Gia Duddy. For the Nightcaps OGs who have managed to stick around through the website change, you remember where you met her first, right?

That’s right. Here. In these spaces. We featured Gia the DAY of the draft, hours before anyone else knew who she was.

I’m still waiting for my Pulitzer. Oh well.

OK, that’s it for today. Happy NFL Draft Night everyone.

Take us home, Kay Adams … and Ty Simpson!

OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).

Is First Take above the Russini story? Email me at [email protected].

Some Harvard students have launched a petition urging the university to abandon plans to pursue grading reform, calling it “racist.” 

“This petition calls on Harvard to reject the proposed grading policy, arguing that it is not merely flawed but racially harmful in effect,” a petition on Change.org started by Angelina Agostini, a freshman at Harvard College, reads. 

“We center racism as a core concern, contending that although the policy is framed as neutral ‘differentiation,’ it functions as a system of ranking and sorting that mirrors and reinforces existing racial and socioeconomic hierarchies,” the petition reads. “Because first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students and students of color are disproportionately affected by structural inequities long before arriving on campus, the policy would compound those disadvantages rather than correct them.” 

HARVARD ALUM BLASTS DEI POLICIES AFTER ‘WOKE’ VALUES DRIVE LONGTIME PROFESSOR’S EXIT

On March 30, Amanda Claybaugh, dean of undergraduate education, announced that Harvard College would postpone its controversial grading reform to fall 2027 and implement a new “SAT+” grade, The Harvard Crimson reported.

The initial version of the reform was a “strict cap on A grades,” which “drew sharp backlash from students and cautious concern from faculty,” the student newspaper reported. 

In February, The Harvard Crimson noted that the proposal came following a October 2025 report from Claybaugh which found that more than 60% of grades Harvard undergraduates received were A’s, compared to only a quarter of grades 20 years ago.

The report found that grade inflation started to increase in the late 2010s, surging during the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now leveling off.

HARVARD UNIVERSITY’S ALLEGED TIES TO CHINESE PARAMILITARY GROUP, IRAN-BACKED RESEARCH SPARK GOP PROBE

The modified reform will institute three significant changes, namely delaying the implementation by a year, adjusting how the cap on A grades is estimated, and adding a new grade within the Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory (SAT/UNSAT) grading system.

In a letter directed to “Harvard College Undergraduate Students, FAS Faculty, Amanda Claybaugh, Undergraduate Educational Policy Committee, and whomever else this may concern,” Agostini and another student wrote, “The proposed grading policy is blatantly racist. Its harms are not hypothetical and have a history of heavily harming and burdening students of color and first-generation, low-income (FGLI) students.”

“To everyone reading this letter, we want to reiterate that FGLI students of color are no less capable, intelligent, or deserving than their more privileged peers,” the letter continued. “What differs is the burden we are forced to carry. Policies like this shift the costs of institutional decisions onto marginalized students while dismissing the resulting harm as accidental or nonexistent. So-called ‘neutral’ standards can produce racial outcomes without discriminatory intent (Inoue, 2023). History shows where this leads, and ignoring those lessons only ensures the harm will be repeated.”

FEDERAL COMPLAINT TARGETS BOSTON SCHOOL DISTRICT FOR WHITES-ONLY TEACHER TRAINING ON RACISM

Agostini and her co-signer also called Harvard’s history “sexist, racist, and classist,” and urged the faculty not to repeat that history. 

“We urge you to center the well-being of your students rather than reputational concerns,” they wrote. “Do not act on the whims of current reputation and forget how it will be remembered. Harvard history is sexist, racist, and classist. Regardless of its intent, this policy will reinforce that legacy.”

They continued, “Let us work together in shaping a future that is supportive for all students while also expanding upon Harvard’s rigorous educational environment. This means creating targeted resources that acknowledge differences in experiences and identities, embracing different educational pedagogy, and recentering the enriching academic experience that is expected of Harvard.”

Fox News Digital reached out to Harvard and Agostini via Change.org for comment. 

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Thursday that a recently busted international car theft ring could steal a vehicle in less than 60 seconds without swiping keys, smashing windows or hot wiring, instead using a specialized piece of technology to “rewrite the brain” of the car.

“There’s no drama. And they’ve got something called an Autel… that is a very simple device that literally rewrites the brain of the vehicle,” Pirro said on “Fox & Friends.”

The suspects in the car ring operated in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Once they successfully hacked into a car, they allegedly disabled tracking systems, including GPS and Bluetooth, to avoid detection, Pirro said.

PIRRO WARNS CAR THEFT RING USED NEW TECH TO QUICKLY ACCESS VEHICLES: ‘GONE IN 60 SECONDS’

They then transported them to a “cooling off zone,” like a Marriott hotel in Pennsylvania or another location in D.C.’s Navy Yard, Pirro said, where license plates and VINs were swapped, before the cars were allegedly loaded onto transport carriers at ports in Savannah, Georgia, and Baltimore, Maryland.

“These cars are then transported to Africa. And they put them on these cargo holders where they label the holder ‘Furniture’ so that it doesn’t get the scrutiny that it would normally get if it were labeled ‘Vehicles,'” said Pirro.

DRIVERS TARGETED IN EMERGING CRIME TREND HAVE ONE THING IN COMMON

Pirro on Wednesday announced a 15-count federal indictment targeting the ring, which she said uses Autels to recalibrate a vehicle’s internal computer, allowing them to program a blank key fob instead of using more traditional methods to steal cars.

Hondas are the most popular make of car to steal in the U.S., she said, adding that authorities are pursuing about 100 more vehicles in connection with the auto theft ring.

“Bang, less than 60 seconds, the car is gone. It’s cooled off, transported and then shipped to Africa. No one is looking in the container, and they’re making a fortune,” Pirro stressed.

“These are old crimes being committed in new ways.”

Fox News Digital’s Stephen Sorace contributed to this report.