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.

TODAY’S SCHEDULE:

Betting Information as of time of writing

Utah State Hiring New Mexico’s Bronco Mendenhall as Head Coach

Utah State is planning on hiring New Mexico’s Bronco Mendenhall, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

Coach Mendenhall has been with the Lobos for a season following a 2 year break from coaching. Before that, Coach Mendenhall spent 11 years with BYU, going 99-43 and finishing a season ranked 4 times and appearing in AP Poll at some point in 7 of the seasons. Then, he spent 6 seasons with Virginia where the Cavaliers were 36-38 and 0-3 in Bowls in his time before stepping away from coaching. He also spent two seasons with BYU as its DC in 03-04.

Now, he makes his move back to the state of Utah with Utah State after the University parted ways with Blake Anderson following a university investigation. Anderson has since sued the university for wrongful termination. Either way, Coach Mendenhall is going to be the next full-time coach for the Aggies, as Interim Coach Nate Dreiling was not made the full-time coach, though he did coach (and presumably recruit) for the entire season.

New Mexico is now going to need to look for a new coach, as well as a new OC (Jason Beck is leaving for Utah’s OC position) and a new QB (Devon Dampier is planning to enter the portal; see story below).

Indiana Makes OC Change: Swaps Eric Bienemy for Tino Sunseri

Indiana’s QBs Coach Tino Sunseri is remaining with the Hoosiers through the end of the season, but after will be taking over with UCLA as its OC after it was announced that UCLA was moving on from Eric Bienemy as the OC.

Bienemy was only with UCLA for a season, but Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports was the first to report that UCLA was expected to fire him after his one season with the Bruins.

Bienemy’s agent, Jason Fletcher, has shared that Bienemy plans on returning to the coaching ranks, stating, “Eric and UCLA mutually parted ways today as previously planned. After interviewing for head coaching jobs last year, he wanted to stay active and busy. So, he decided to go help out DeShaun Foster, who is like his little brother, at UCLA as opposed to sitting out a year. The plan was always to return to the NFL in 2025, and he’s looking forward to the opportunities ahead.”

Whether it was a firing or mutual parting of ways, either way, Coach Sunseri is going to be the new OC for the Bruins once the postseason ends.

Texas Tech Hiring Texas State OC Mack Leftwich

Per ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Mack Leftwich is being hired by Texas Tech to be its new OC, the role Leftwich had with Texas State the past two seasons.

During both seasons with Texas State, the Bobcats finished 11th in points per game nationally. In 2023, Texas State stepped up with an improvement of 15.6 points per game, a marked improvement that earned Leftwich a nomination for the Broyles Award as one of the top assistant coaches in CFB.

Leftwich is replacing Zach Kittley, who left Texas Tech’s OC position to go be FAU’s next HC. Leftwich also joins Shiel Wood as a new Coordinator at Texas Tech after Coach McGuire fired Tim DeRuyter at DC.

North Carolina Coaching Search: Bill Belichick Interviewed

ESPN’s Chris Low recently shared that there are some names who have been interviewing with North Carolina regarding its coaching opening, including Bill Belichick, who is reportedly impressed by the job and is particularly interested in getting back into coaching, especially at North Carolina.

However, Low shared that the big name at or near the top of the list for North Carolina is Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, who is going to be a hot name on the coaching carousel after the AAC Championship later tonight.

Iowa State’s Matt Campbell and Georgia DC Glenn Schumann are also considered to be towards the top of the list for the Tar Heels.

Former NFL Coach Steve Wilks is also a candidate, per ESPN’s Low.

Lincoln Riley on USC’s QB Plans Post-Miller Moss Transfer

USC’s QB entering the season was Miller Moss, but the switch was made to Jayden Maiava, and Moss is now planning to enter the transfer portal.

Coach Lincoln Riley currently has Maiava and 2025 signee, 5-star and true freshman Husan Longstreet as QB options, which is not exactly a deep QB room. Coach Riley shared during his National Signing Day press conference, “we will look for another quarterback in the portal. I think we’re going to be looking for somebody to come in and provide some depth in that room.”

Coach Riley also shared that he’s not freaking out about the current lack of depth, sharing that at this point, this lack of depth headed into the offseason is a yearly occurrence.

USC WR Kyron Hudson Planning to Enter Transfer Portal

USC WR Kyron Hudson is planning to enter the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining.

Hudson might be remembered by fans of college football, generally, for making a highlight reel one-handed catch against LSU in the season-opener for the Trojans.

Hudson finished 2024 with 38 catches, 462 yards, and 3 touchdowns. This is following his 2023, when he finished with 17 catches, 189 yards, and 2 touchdowns.

From Mater Dei HS, Hudson was a 4-star prospect coming out of high school.

Oklahoma WR Nic Anderson Planning to Hit Portal

Oklahoma WR Nic Anderson is planning to enter the transfer portal following his redshirt sophomore season this year where he did not play due to injuries.

Anderson had a big year in 2023, finishing with 31 catches for 798 yards (21.0 yards per catch) and 10 touchdowns.

Prior to enrolling at Oklahoma, Anderson was a 4-star recruit from Katy, TX.

4-Star QB Robert McDaniel Flips Commitment from Arizona to UCLA

4-Star QB Robert McDaniel flipped his commitment from Arizona to UCLA yesterday after originally committing to Arizona on May 24th.

The OC change from Eric Bienemy to Tino Sunseri helped with McDaniel making the decision, saying he has a great relationship with Coach Sunseri.

McDaniel is ranked highest by On3, where he ranked inside their Top 300 at 299th nationally and 22nd at the QB position. According to the On3 industry composite, McDaniel ranks 387th nationally and 28th at the QB position.

This is UCLA’s 3rd 4-star and 18th commitment overall for a 2025 class which ranks 48th nationally and 13th in the Big Ten.

As for Cal, the Bears are now without a Blue Chip commitment and are down to 14 commitments overall for a 2025 class which currently ranks 64th nationally and 15th out of 17 in the ACC.

Kentucky WR Barion Brown Entering the Portal

Kentucky WR Barion Brown plans to enter the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining.

Brown was a composite 4-star recruit and ranked inside the Top 100 for both On3 and 247Sports’ recruit rankings coming out of high school a few classes ago.

Brown finished his 37 career games with the Wildcats with 122 receptions, 1,528 receiving yards, and 11 receiving touchdowns. After entering the season as a Preseason First Team All-American, Brown finished with just 29 catches for 361 yards and 3 touchdowns, no thanks to a passing attack that finished 110th nationally in terms of yards per game.

He’s also a dynamic special teams threat, averaging 29.3 yards per kick return in his career.

New Mexico QB Devon Dampier Entering the Transfer Portal

New Mexico QB Devon Dampier is planning to enter the transfer portal with two years of eligibility remaining.

Dampier was the full-time starter for this first time in his career, establishing himself as a solid dual-threat in Bronco Mendenhall’s offense.

Dampier finished the season with nearly 4,000 all-purpose yards, with 2,768 passing yards and 12 passing touchdowns while also adding 1,166 rushing yards and 19 rushing touchdowns.

It will be interesting to see if Dampier follows Coach Mendenhall to Utah State or if Dampier looks elsewhere for his final two seasons.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

4-Star (90) OT Alai Kalaniuvalu flips from BYU to Oregon

3-Star (88) OT Connor Howes flips from Arkansas to Ole Miss

2026 3-Star (87) IOL Sullivan Garvin commits to Notre Dame

3-Star (86) S Chandler Jordan commits to Georgia State

3-Star (85) ATH Chase Hatch commits to Boise State

3-Star (85) RB Malaki Page decommits from Southern Miss

3-Star (81) LB Micah Mosley commits to Sacramento State

3-Star (80) OT Jeremiah McCrimmon commits to Georgia State

3-Star (80) LB Nikko Speer commits to Idaho

2-Star (79) LB Damien Ordonez commits to Temple

2-Star (79) IOL Cameron Schultz commits to Texas State

2-Star (78) ATH Parker Graham commits to Idaho State

2-Star (77) EDGE Gauge Larsen commits to Eastern Washington

2026 Unrated ATH Jaiden Taylor commits to Mississippi State

Unrated S Ty Snead commits to Georgia State

Unrated OT Kirk Kildon commits to Texas State

Unrated EDGE D’Ante Keys commits to Texas State

Unrated WR Cashmire Lewis commits to Bowling Green