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.

Ohio State Promoting TE Coach Keenan Bailey to Co-OC

ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that Ohio State is promoting TE Coach Keenan Bailey to a Co-OC position while remaining with the tight ends, as well.

Ohio State is attempting to replace former OC Chip Kelly in the aggregate, as the three of Coach Bailey (Co-OC/TEs), Tyler Bowen (Run Game Coord/OLs), and Brian Hartline (new OC) have been tasked with the job of coordinating the Buckeyes offense.

Coach Bailey has been with Ohio State since 2016, where he’s worked in various roles.

Florida Hiring Former Pro Staffer as GM

Florida is planning to hire former pro Director of Football Operations Nick Polk for its GM position.

Polk spent five seasons in the pros as the Director of Football Administration before being promoted to Director of Football Operations. While working with former pro GM Thomas Dimitroff, Polk handled contracts, negotiations, and salary cap management.

He has coaching experience at Lock Haven University, his alma mater, James Madison, Brown, Delaware State, and Southern Connecticut State University. He also was a candidate for a professional GM opening in 2021, too.

Most recently, Polk has been working for Athletes First, one of the largest agencies, and lives in Gainesville. It’s unclear precisely what Polk will be working on, but handling revenue sharing will be a key aspect of his job.

Report: Clemson Adding Former ECU HC As Defensive Assistant

ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that Clemson is adding former ECU Head Coach Mike Houston as a defensive assistant.

Coach Houston spent six seasons with the Pirates, finishing 27-38 (15-28 in conference play) during his time there. However, he did win an FCS National Championship with James Madison in 2016 and was 37-6 from 2016-2018 with the Dukes before being hired by ECU.

Coach Houston should be able to provide some veteran insight and coaching ability to the Clemson defensive coaching staff.

Auburn Extends DC DJ Durkin, Offer from Ohio State Helped with Extension

Rivals’ Brian Stultz shared that Ohio State attempted to hire away Auburn DC DJ Durkin for their vacancy, but instead, Auburn was able to extend DJ Durkin.

The extension came with a raise of up to $2.5M for the 2025 season, which makes him the 2nd highest paid assistant in college football behind only Jim Knowles.

Coach Durkin is now headed into his second season as the Auburn DC and has a nice, shiny extension to go with it.

Former Ohio State Coach Jim Tressel To Serve as Ohio Lieutenant Governor

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine shared recently that Coach Jim Tressel will serve as Ohio’s next Lieutenant Governor.

Coach Tressel served as the President of Youngstown State from May of 2014 to February of 2023.

Coach Tressel shared that “I promised for 699 days to have a singleness of purpose and singleness of focus” with the lieutenant governor job, but that he isn’t ruling out running for Governor in 2026 or beyond.

With both Youngstown State and Ohio State, Coach Tressel finished 229-79-2, with a BCS National Championship in ‘02, and 5 Big Ten Championships while with the Buckeyes.

Ole Miss Transfer Safety Jadon Canady Commits to Oregon

Ole Miss transfer safety Jadon Canady committed to Oregon yesterday with one season of eligibility remaining.

Through 4 seasons in college, PFF credits him with 112 combined tackles, 2 interceptions, and 13 pass breakups.

He is coming off of one of his most productive seasons in pass coverage, finishing with 8 pass breakups in 2024.

He started his career with Tulane, where he spent two seasons before transferring to the Rebels.

He ranks 182nd nationally and 10th in the transfer portal for this offseason and was the second highest rated safety still remaining uncommitted in the transfer portal. He might not be a top player in the portal, like Top 10 portal talent and fellow Oregon transfer Dillon Thieneman, but he brings a lot of experience – starting experience – and great depth to the Ducks’ safety room.

OL Bear McWhorter Names Top 5 and Sets Commitment Date

OL Bear McWhorter plans to end his month by committing, as he currently holds over 30 offers and wants to commit at the end of February – February 28th.

McWhorter shared with On3 that there is nothing special about the date, just that he thought it was the right amount of time to think the decision through, but not so much time to allow him to overthink the decision.

His top 5 programs are Alabama, Clemson, Florida, Michigan, and South Carolina, all for different reasons.

McWhorter was a one-time Arkansas commitment before decommitting and reevaluating.

Devin Fitzgerald, Son of Larry, Shares Programs at Top of His List

WR Devin Fitzgerald, son of legendary WR Larry Fitzgerald, shared with On3 some of his top programs.

For him, currently, Clemson and Notre Dame are two programs to watch in his recruitment in the event either extend an offer.

From the offers he currently has, UCLA, Pitt, and Arizona State are the three that are currently in line to earn potential official visits, as his father obviously was an elite WR for Pitt, landing on the cover of NCAA Football ‘05 as a Pitt Panther.

4-Star QB Landon Duckworth Narrowing in on 4 Schools

4-star QB Landon Duckworth is ranked as high as 25th according to Rivals and as the player at his position (Dual Threat QB) according to ESPN. The On3 industry composite has him ranked 106th nationally and 8th at the QB position thanks to a high 3-star rating from On3.

However, after meeting with over 20 schools’ coaches in the last few weeks, four programs have stood out to me: Ole Miss, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida State.

He shared with On3 that he is planning to take an official visit to all 4 programs. Thus far, his only visit of any kind was to Ole Miss, an unofficial visit.

Duckworth was previously committed to South Carolina, but the relationships he had with the Gamecock staff are still there.

Auburn and Missouri are also programs that are on Duckworth’s radar, but Florida State and Georgia are the new offers that have really piqued his interest and he believes warrant a visit.

Consensus 4-Star OT Bryce Gilmore’s Top 6 Schools

Consensus 4-star OT Bryce Gilmore recently shared with On3 which programs were currently in his Top 6 as he goes through his recruitment process and tries to narrow down where he will commit.

For Gilmore, he shared that the schools towards the top of his list all have offensive line coaches who have taken time with him to evaluate him and his technique. He shared, “that is big because I am going to college to elevate my game. Their effort really stood out to me.”

Those 6 programs are: Arizona State, Arkansas, Ole Miss, Penn State, Texas Tech, and Vanderbilt. Of these six, the only place Gilmore has visited is Texas Tech, an environment he described as a family environment.

He will be visiting all 6 programs this spring, though, as he makes his first visits to many of these schools: Vanderbilt (3/6), Arkansas (3/15), Texas Tech (3/29), Arizona State (4/5), Ole Miss (4/12), and Penn State (4/19).

From there, he’ll make his official visits: Arizona State (5/2), Arkansas (5/30), Texas Tech (6/6), Penn State (6/13), and Ole Miss (6/20). On these official visits he’s looking to learn more about the culture of the OL room, the experience in the classroom, and find out if he has a personal connection with the players and coaches in the program.

Gilmore wants to commit before his senior season begins, and he’ll be a great land for whoever gets him, as he ranks 187th nationally and 16th at the OT position according to the On3 industry composite.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

Unrated IOL Zion Smith commits to North Carolina

Unrated DL Dane Bathurst commits to Duke