The Atlanta Falcons said Sunday that defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich’s son was responsible for a prank call made to Cleveland Browns draft pick Shedeur Sanders.

The Falcons released a statement saying 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich “unintentionally came across the draft contact phone number for Shedeur Sanders off an open iPad while visiting his parent’s home and wrote the number down to later conduct a prank call.”

The Falcons said Jeff Ulbrich was unaware of the data exposure or the prank until after the fact.

Sanders, a standout quarterback from Colorado, is the son of Buffaloes coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, who began his NFL career with the Falcons.

Shedeur Sanders was perhaps the draft’s biggest story as he had to wait until the fifth round Saturday before being drafted by the Browns. He received a prank call Friday night, the second day of the draft, while waiting.

In the call, Jax Ulbrich identified himself as New Orleans Saints general manager Mickey Loomis and told Sanders he had been drafted by the Saints before ending the call.

“It didn’t really have no impact on me because it was just like, OK. I don’t feed into negativity or I don’t feed into that stuff,” Sanders said Saturday after being drafted by Cleveland. “... This is what it is. I think, of course, it’s childish, of course I feel like it was a childish act, but everybody do childish things here and there.”

The Falcons apologized to Sanders and his family and said they were facilitating an apology directly from Jax Ulbrich to the family.

soccer

Liverpool was crowned Premier League champion on Sunday after a 5-1 win against Tottenham. The Merseyside club’s record-equaling 20th English league title matched the achievement of its great rival Manchester United.

Liverpool fans partied inside and outside its famous Anfield Stadium as coach Arne Slot sealed a remarkable first year in charge of the club.

Arsenal stunned Lyon with a 4-1 away win to reach the Women’s Champions League final at the eight-time champion’s expense. Lyon, previously unbeaten across all competitions this season, won the first leg of their semifinal 2-1 in London last week. But goals from Mariona Caldentey, Alessio Russo and Caitlin Foord — after an own-goal from Lyon goalkeeper Christiane Endler — gave Arsenal a 5-3 win on aggregate and set up a showdown with defending champion Barcelona in the final.

running

Running his first major marathon in unusually warm temperatures, Sabastian Sawe made it look easy. The Kenyan runner made a solo breakaway with more than 10 kilometers left and never looked like wavering in the sunshine as he cruised to victory in the London Marathon. Sawe pulled away from a leading group of nine runners about 90 minutes into the race and finished in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds.

In the women’s race, Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia secured her first London Marathon title after pulling away from Joyciline Jepkosgei near the end, finishing in 2:15:50. It was the fastest-ever time in a women’s-only marathon — but 25 seconds slower than the course record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race.

miscellany

Cycling star Tadej Pogacar launched one of his trademark uphill attacks to win the Liège–Bastogne–Liège classic race for the third time. The defending champion made his move some 22 miles from the end of the undulating 156-mile trek to open up a gap of 10 seconds at the top, and then kept increasing it all the way to the line.

It was his third victory overall at the spring classic race, which is also one of the five “monuments” in one-day cycling along with Paris-Roubaix on the cobbles, the Tour of Lombardy, Milan-San Remo and the Tour of Flanders.

Mauritian rider Kim Le Court won the women’s race for the first time as four riders contested a sprint finish.

Oleksandr Usyk and Daniel Dubois have confirmed they’ll fight again for the undisputed heavyweight championship on July 19 at London’s Wembley Stadium. Dubois, who holds the IBF belt, had been pushing for a rematch since Usyk stopped him in the ninth round of a controversial first fight between the rivals in Poland in August 2023.