Good morning, and welcome back to CFB Roundup from CFB Home – the first daily newsletter that’s all college football, all the time with no bias, no slant, and no fluff.

North Carolina Hiring Bill Belichick on 5-Year Deal

North Carolina and Bill Belichick have agreed to a five-year deal to make Coach Belichick the new Head Coach of the North Carolina Tar Heel football program.

Earlier reports are that Coach Belichick and North Carolina agreed to a 3-year deal for roughly $10M per year, but the official release from the University has actually called the deal a 5-year deal with no specific amount of money disclosed.

Coach Belichick shared, “I am excited for the opportunity at UNC-Chapel Hill. I grew up around college football with my Dad and treasured those times. I have always wanted to coach in college and now I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill.”

Coach Belichick coached in the NFL for multiple decades, amassing a 302-165 record as an NFL coach, and is now set to become the UNC Coach in 2025 following a year off from coaching where he was in the media space.

West Virginia Targeting Rich Rodriguez as Next Head

West Virginia is apparently targeting Rich Rodriguez as its next Head Coach. Coach Rodriguez was with the Mountaineers from 2001 to 2007, where he amassed a 60-26 record and led the Mountaineers to three consecutive Top 10 finishes in the AP Poll.

Coach Rodriguez left West Virginia to go be the Michigan head coach, where he experienced less success, going 15-22 across 3 seasons. He also coached at Arizona, going 43-35 across 6 seasons. Most recently, though, he’s been the Jacksonville State head coach, where he’s gone 9-4 in each of his two years – the first two FBS seasons in program history.

Ohio Legislator Wants Flag Planting at Ohio State’s Stadium to Be a Felony

Josh Williams, State Representative for the state of Ohio, introduced the O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act on Tuesday. The act would make it a felony offense to plant a flag in the center of Ohio Stadium, home of the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Specifically, the bill would, “prohibit planting a flagpole and flag in the center of the Ohio Stadium football field on the day of a college football game and to name this act the O.H.I.O. Sportsmanship Act.”

Other stadiums in Ohio would not be impacted by this bill, as it only refers to Ohio Stadium by name, meaning Cincinnati, Miami (OH), Toledo, and other Ohio-based programs would not be included.

This bill comes after Ohio State and Michigan fought following the most recent game in the rivalry when Michigan players went to plant a flag at midfield. Police officers used pepper spray and tasers to calm the situation, and the Big Ten fined each program $100,000 for the incident.

Despite this bill being introduced, there is the thought that it is not going to be passed into law. Apparently, it would need to be passed in the next week or so before the General Assembly wraps up, which would be a really tight turn around for this bill to be made a law.

Iowa State, Matt Campbell Agree to Contract Extension

Iowa State and Head Coach Matt Campbell announced an extension yesterday that will now keep Coach Campbell with the Cyclones through 2032.

This move comes after a 2024 season where Iowa State had its first 10-win season in program history. Though it was the first 10-win season in program history, Coach Campbell has generally had steady success with the Cyclones, including finishing the 2020 season in the Top 10 of the AP Poll. In his 9 seasons with Iowa State, Coach Campbell is 63-51 with 7 bowl appearances.

Former Tulane QB Darian Mensah Commits to Duke

Tulane QB Darian Mensah commits to Duke out of the transfer portal.

Mensah is one of the top rated players in the transfer portal, being listed as the top ranked quarterback by On3.

Mensah is a redshirt freshman with 3 years of eligibility remaining. In his one season as Tulane’s starter, Mensah led the Green Wave to a 9-4 record and a conference championship appearance. He also finished with 2,723 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions in his first season starting.

Duke, on the other hand, is coming off of a 9-3 season but lost its QB Maalik Murphy to the transfer portal. For all intents and purposes, with Mensah’s three years of eligibility remaining, it will be left to be seen if this is an upgrade or not, but it certainly is a competent replacement for the Blue Devils.

Former Boston College, UCF QB Thomas Castellanos Commits to Florida State

FSU’s new OC Gus Malzahn and FSU’s new QB Thomas Castellanos are having a reunion of some sort, as Castellanos announced his transfer commitment to Florida State after having spent the past two seasons with Boston College.

With UCF, Castellanos was merely a backup, only throwing 16 passes and attempting 14 rushes across 5 game appearances. However, with Boston College he threw for 3,614 yards, 33 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions in 21 games played. He also ran for 1,307 yards and 14 touchdowns, with 1,113 of those yards and 13 of those touchdowns coming in 2023.

Castellanos announced his intentions to hit the transfer portal after he was benched in favor of Grayson James, but he is evidently looking to stay in the ACC by transferring to the Seminoles.

Former Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman Commits to Houston

Former 5-star and former Texas A&M QB Conner Weigman has committed to Houston out of the transfer portal as a 4-star transfer prospect.

Weigman has had some issues with injuries in his career, having only played 15 games over the last 3 seasons. In his 15 games played, Weigman has thrown for just 2,700 yards, 19 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions.

In 2024, Weigman appeared in 6 games, throwing for 819 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 5 interceptions while completing just 56.1% of his passes before being benched, for good, for Marcel Reed.

In Coach Willie Fritz’s first season with Houston, the Cougars went 4-8, missing a bowl. But with Weigman as an option at quarterback and Coach Fritz’s rebuild style, Year 2 is something to be optimistic about for Houston fans.

Former New Mexico QB Devon Dampier Commits to Utah

New Mexico QB Devon Dampier has committed to transfer to Utah.

Dampier is one of the top QB prospects in the portal as of right now, being ranked as a composite 4-star according to On3’s industry composite transfer portal player ranking.

In two seasons with New Mexico, Dampier played in 21 games and finished with 18 touchdowns and 7.3 yards per pass attempt while also adding nearly 1,500 rushing yards, 23 touchdowns, and 7.0 yards per attempt.

With Dampier at QB, New Mexico had its best record as a program since 2016. Now, Dampier heads to Utah, with two seasons of eligibility, where QB has been a position lacking consistency.

Former Alabama LB Keanu Koht Commits to Vanderbilt

Former Alabama LB Keanu Koht committed to Vanderbilt out of the portal yesterday. Koht spent 4 years with Alabama before leaving the Tide for his final season of eligibility.

It was believed that Ole Miss was also a big player for Koht coming out of the portal, but Koht is headed to Nashville for another SEC program.

Koht last played in a game in late October after being suspended by Coach Kalen DeBoer for a speeding violation, but he finished the season with 5 tackles, 0.5 tackles for loss, and 0.5 sacks in 7 games for Coach DeBoer’s first season.

LSU Star OT Will Campbell Opts Out of Texas Bowl Ahead of 2025 NFL Draft

LSU OT Will Campbell confirmed with Wilson Alexander of The Advocate that he intends to sit out of the Texas Bowl against Baylor on December 31st to prepare for the NFL Draft, but he will be with the team nonetheless to support his teammates.

Campbell is expected to be one of the first offensive tackles to come off the board in the 2025 NFL Draft after having started 38 games for the Tigers.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

2-Star (76) LB Parker Meese flips from UNLV to Purdue

Unrated QB Samari Collier commits to Coastal Carolina

Unrated S Elijah Hunter decommits from Georgia State