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Former Colorado Assistant Coach Sought NIL Funding from Saudi Arabia

Former Colorado assistant Trevor Reilly resigned on August 1st. After he resigned, Sports Illustrated obtained his letter of resignation, which shares several interesting points, with the most notable being that Reilly went to Saudi Arabia seeking funding from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund for the Buffaloes team.

In response to Reilly’s letter, Colorado has publicly announced that Reilly operated on his own accord.

Reilly’s letter reads, according to CBS Sports: “You paid me $90,000 a year and let me handle special teams. I did all this work in your name and was told to pursue it. I burned through all my contacts in my Mormon community, which is worth about $3 trillion. Now, I can’t get these people to answer my calls because I just found out today that none of my endeavors will happen. I even went to Saudi Arabia and got a meeting with the Saudis, who were interested in pursuing business. I have email receipts to prove it, and you guys let it fall flat on its face. I spent two months and lot of my own personal money and a lot of my time I sacrificed. I spent Christmas in a Turkish bathhouse in Amman, Jordan. Saying hi to my keys, ‘Hey, I’ll see you in a couple weeks.’ They’re Wall Street people. They don’t know football. Football is a different language. All of you out there who played college football, or have been around it as big-time fans, you know that the language and the way that we operate and the commitments and the time, it’s just a different animal. You don’t go home at 5 o’clock. We work on Saturdays and Sundays.”

Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz and Jon Budmayr Suspended for One Game Due to Tampering in 2022 for QB Cade McNamara

Iowa’s head coach Kirk Ferentz and assistant coach Jon Budmayr are suspended for Iowa’s season-opener against Illinois State due to tampering done in 2022 for starting QB Cade McNamara.

The last time someone not named Kirk Ferentz was on the sideline for the Iowa Hawkeyes was in Hayden Fry’s final game as Iowa’s head coach over 25 years ago on November 21, 1998.

ESPN insider Pete Thamel recently went on The Pat McAfee Show and shared that he believes that there’s going to be a few more small suspensions handed out here in the early going of the season for tamperings. It’s hard to get caught, but because of how common it is, there are going to be a couple people here and there who get clipped and take minor punishments as a result, a small price to pay for what is seen as the cost of doing business in today’s college price. Florida State offensive coordinator Alex Atkins, for example, will be missing for the Seminoles in its Week 0 matchup against Georgia Tech in Ireland.

Texas Adds former SMU RB Velton Gardner as Grad Transfer

Texas added grad transfer RB Velton Gardner, who most recently was on SMU’s roster. Gardner entered the transfer portal in July after announcing his intentions to enter five months prior.

This addition comes less than one week after Texas coach Steve Sarkisian shared that Texas had a spot available and were strongly considering using that spot on a running back who was not a traditional transfer. A 6th year grad transfer who entered the transfer portal long after anyone else definitely fits that criteria and bolsters a thin running back room for the Longhorns.

Prior to spending a couple seasons with SMU, Gardner also spent a few years with Kansas, running the ball a total of 229 times in his career. During his SMU career, Gardner played in 18 games and ran for 505 yards.

Lincoln Riley on NIL: Don’t Want to Show Up With a Knife to a Gun Fight

Lincoln Riley recently opened up on recruiting and NIL, sharing that USC’s NIL collective, House of Victory, has been doing a better job of late with its operations. So now, USC and Riley feel comfortable being more aggressive in the high school recruiting scene.

Riley shared that when NIL opened up, he felt like USC was “going to a gun fight with, like, a toy sword. We’ve made a lot of progress. Those folks have done a great job.”

Thus far, the results have not necessarily looked overwhelming on paper, with USC’s 2025 class ranked 16th according to On3. But Riley has said that it’s not so much about making a splash as it is being strategic in who is being brought in and the relationships that are cultivated so that way they can also hit the portal harder to grab established talent which they will then presumably have a relationship with.

WR Ahmari Huggins-Bruce No Longer at South Carolina, Enrolling at Louisville

WR Ahmari Huggins-Bruce is no longer with South Carolina and has announced he will be re-enrolling at Louisville while he evaluates his options moving forward.

According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Huggins-Bruce has yet to rejoin the program, and would have to rejoin the program as a walk-on. Also worth adding to the context is that star transfer WR Caullin Lacy is going to miss a good chunk of the early season.

South Carolina’s Shane Beamer also confirmed that Huggins-Bruce is no longer with South Carolina. Beamer said that he will have more to share later, but it was too new to him for him to comment on it publicly.

Michigan State QB Aidan Chiles: If You Bet, Take the Over

Michigan State transfer QB Aidan Chiles was asked about setting the tone in the season opener against FAU, and Chiles shared that he wants to prove himself, so if you bet, take the over.

It’s unclear whether the suggestion is to take the over on his player prop numbers, the team total number, or the game total number – or some combination of all of those, but that’s an interesting statement as there continue to be concerns over the player prop market and college athletes’ involvement in sports gambling.

As for Chiles’ actual performance, it will be interesting to see how he performs in his first season as the full-time starter after sitting behind DJ Uiagalelei at Oregon State last season before transferring from Oregon State to Michigan State following Jonathan Smith’s move. Chiles threw for 309 yards and 4 touchdowns as a true freshman in a reserve capacity.

Clemson TE Jake Briningstool: Clemson Not The Underdog Against Georgia

Clemson’s tight end Jake Briningstool does not believe that the Tigers are underdogs going into their season opener against Georgia.

Briningstool shared that Clemson is not the underdog, and they’re just laying low right now. He also said that Clemson will be ready for Georgia.

Briningstool believes that Georgia being the No. 1 team is not really a concern for the Tigers, because he sees it as Clemson just needing to focus on themselves and going out there and executing.

As for the actual sportsbook number, well, Clemson is a two-touchdown underdog.

SEC Coaches Preseason All-SEC Teams

The coaches of the SEC unveiled their preseason All-SEC teams which included three full teams worth of players.

With almost 30 players on each level of team, there were still somehow incredibly talented players on the Third Team, showing just how deep the conference is.

The top 3 most represented programs were Georgia, Alabama, and Texas. Georgia players make up 15 of the nearly 90 players from the conference. Alabama also features 14 players, with Texas being mentioned 10 times.

Vanderbilt Injury Update: Commodores Looking Healthy

Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea shared some injury updates through what was still a relatively healthy camp.

TE Cole Spence is dealing with a sprain that should not linger, but did lead to him missing some practice time for an abundance of caution. Spence also missed all of 2023 with an injury. Other than that, the Commodores are not really missing anyone of note with injuries. For Coach Lea to have a successful 4th season with Vanderbilt, the injury luck is obviously going to have be on his side as he swims upstream in the SEC.

3-Star QB Jamison Kitna Commits to UAB

3-Star QB Jamison Kitna committed yesterday to UAB over the other finalist program, James Madison. Kitna also held offers from 8 programs in the P4, including Kansas State, Pitt, Baylor, and Duke.

Kitna said that over the course of four visits to UAB, he got very familiar with the Blazers and their staff. But perhaps the biggest draw for Kitna was getting to play for a coach who played quarterback at such a high level in the past.

Kitna is ranked as the 1,202nd ranked player nationally and the 73rd ranked quarterback in the 2025 class according to the On3 industry composite.

This is only UAB’s 2nd commitment in the 2025 class, where Kitna joins 5’9” ATH Julius Moss who is unrated by 3 of the 4 major recruiting services, and is ranked a low 3-star by On3. UAB’s class does not have a rank nationally, and is ranked last in the AAC.

Other Commitments/Decommitments