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College Football Playoff Investigating Leak of Final Team In

Brett McMurphy of the Action Network posted on Twitter, mere minutes before the live reveal, that SMU was being awarded the final spot in the 12-team field.

This tweet has College Football Playoff executives furious according to a report from USA Today Sports.

CFP Director Rich Clark said yesterday, “I was furious. I told all involved, you’ve betrayed the process.” He has already promised there will be an investigation to determine how the leak occurred, because only a certain number of people know.

According to Clark, the only groups of people who knew were the selection committee, ESPN, and the CFP staff.

SEC Announces All-SEC Teams for 2024

The SEC has announced its 3 All-SEC teams for the 2024 season, with Alabama and Ole Miss tying for the most first team players, with 4 each. Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina each have 3 first team players.

First Team:

• QB Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

• RB Dylan Sampson, Tennessee

• RB Jarquez Hunter, Auburn

• WR Ryan Williams, Alabama

• WR Luther Burden III, Missouri

• TE Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt

• OL Kelvin Banks, Texas

• OL Will Campbell, LSU

• OL Tyler Booker, Alabama

• OL Tate Ratledge, Georgia

• C Cooper Mays, Tennessee

• AP Dylan Sampson, Tennessee

• DL Kyle Kennard, South Carolina

• DL Walter Nolen, Ole Miss

• DL Nic Scourton, Texas A&M

• DL James Pearce Jr., Tennessee

• DL Princely Umanmielen, Ole Miss

• LB Danny Stutsman, Oklahoma

• LB Jihaad Campbell, Alabama

• LB Whit Weeks, LSU

• DB Trey Amos, Ole Miss

• DB Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina

• DB Malachi Moore, Alabama

• DB Jahdae Barron, Texas

• K Alex Raynor, Kentucky

• P Kai Kroeger, South Carolina

• Ret Spec Barion Brown, Kentucky

• KO Spec Peyton Woodring, Georgia

• LS Beau Gardner, Georgia

Michigan Hiring North Carolina OC Chip Lindsey as Next OC

Michigan has found its new Offensive Coordinator in Chip Lindsey who has been the North Carolina OC for the past couple of seasons.

Lindsey has also been an OC at stops like UCF, Auburn, and Arizona State while also having spent some time as the Head Coach of Troy.

Coach Lindsey gets the enviable position of designing an offense around #1 recruit Bryce Underwood. As for NFL pedigree, Lindsey also was around at North Carolina for Drake Maye’s final college season, so he’s no stranger to top talent in an offense.

Lindsey is replacing Kirk Campbell, who was fired by HC Sherrone Moore following his first season, which led to subpar results for the Wolverines offense.

Missouri DL and Former Consensus 5-Star Williams Nwaneri Plans to Enter Transfer Portal

Missouri DL Williams Nwaneri is planning to enter the transfer portal after spending his true freshman season with Missouri.

Nwaneri preserved his redshirt by only playing in four games for the Tigers, but he got to Missouri as one of the highest rated recruits in program history as a consensus 5-star that ranked 7th nationally according to the On3 industry composite.

For the 2024 class, Nwaneri was the nation’s top edge rushing prospect and was the top prospect in the state of Missouri, as well as being the best prospect to come from the state of Missouri to stay home at Missouri in a long, long time, since Dorial Green-Beckham.

South Carolina Expected to Promote Mike Shula to OC

South Carolina is expected to name Mike Shula the new OC to replace Dowell Loggains, who just left to be the new HC at App State.

Shula was with the South Carolina staff this past season as an offensive assistant, with a special focus on working with the QBs. LaNorris Sellers had a great season of almost 3,000 total yards and 24 total touchdowns.

Shula does have experience as an OC and QBs Coach in the NFL, as well as being a former Head Coach at Alabama, having the distinction of having been the Alabama coach directly before Nick Saban. Shula has worked in the NFL for the Jaguars, Panthers, Giants, Broncos, and Bills, including being the OC for the Panthers during their Super Bowl run when Cam Newton was the league MVP but came up short against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl 50.

Shula will call the plays against Illinois in South Carolina’s bowl game, his first crack at calling plays for the Gamecocks ahead of the 2025 season.

Nebraska Promoting DBs Coach John Butler to DC

ESPN’s Pete Thamel is reporting that Nebraska is set to promote John Butler to become the program’s new DC.

Previous DC Tony White recently left Nebraska for Florida State’s DC vacancy. Butler spent nearly a decade in the NFL and was also the DC of Penn State back during the Bill O’Brien era.

He most recently spent this past season as the Secondary Coach and Defensive Pass Game Coordinator for Coach Matt Rhule and the Huskers.

SMU Backup QB Preston Stone Planning to Enter Transfer Portal, 13-3 in Career as Starter

SMU backup QB Preston Stone is planning to enter the transfer portal after the Playoff run the Mustangs are on.

Stone entered the season as the starting QB after a great season in 2023 where he was PFF’s top rated returning QB for 2024, but Kevin Jennings ultimately took the job over thanks to increased ability as a dual-threat.

In 4 seasons, Stone has started 16 games and has posted a 13-3 record while tallying a little over 4,000 passing yards and an impressive 35/8 touchdown-to-interception ratio. While it has been 4 seasons, nearly 3,200 of those yards came in 2023, where he was 10-2 as a starter and was instrumental in SMU winning its first conference championship in decades.

Former UAB QB Jacob Zeno Announces Commitment to Texas A&M

UAB QB Jacob Zeno has announced a transfer commitment to Texas A&M after a visit a couple days ago. Zeno has spent 3 years at Baylor and UAB, each, meaning that Zeno will be on his 7th year of college football.

Zeno only played in four games this past season, but he played much more in 2023.

In his career, Zeno has completed 69.1% of passes for 4,948 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions. Most of that production came in 2023 with UAB, when he finished with an impressive 73.6% completion percentage, 3126 yards, 20 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions. This season, Jalen Kitna did a majority of the QB-work, finishing with 2,209 yards and 17 touchdowns to Zeno’s 819 yards and 6 TDs.

With just one year of eligibility and Marcel Reed seemingly having the starting job, it would appear that Zeno might be transferring in to be a backup at a big school where he can start working on an(other) Master’s.

Gus Malzahn Contract Details as FSU’s New DC

Gus Malzahn stepped down from his role as Head Coach at UCF to go be the DC at Florida State, and Florida State is set to make him one of the highest paid coordinators in the country.

Matt Murschel of the Orlando Sentinel is reporting that an open records request has revealed that Malzahn is set to be paid $6 million across 3 seasons, making $1.5M, $2M, and $2.5M in each of those seasons.

In looking at the USA Today report from late 2023, Clemson OC Garrett Riley was the highest paid assistant at $2.05M

2026 4-Star OT Javeion Cooper Commits to Syracuse

2026 4-Star OT Javeion Cooper committed to Syracuse yesterday over a handful of other schools.

Cooper has visited Syracuse four different times, and, though he never planned on making a commitment this early, he “felt it” during his most recent trip, and decided it was time to commit.

In talking with the offensive staff, he feels particularly good about the direction the staff has the program headed, as well as how the coaches develop their players.

On3 rates Cooper as a 4-star and ranks him 181st nationally and 16th at the OT position. And though it’s still early in the 2026 class, Syracuse currently sits with the 25th ranked class according to the On3 team rankings with 4 total commitments.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (87) OT Laparka Langston commits to UCF

2026 3-Star (85) CB Justice Brathwaite commits to BYU

2-Star (79) LB Darion White commits to UTSA

Unrated DL Porter Patton commits to Arizona

Unrated ATH JJ Garner commits to Louisiana

Unrated OT Jared Smith commits to Weber State