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.

Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love Injury Update

Notre Dame OC Mike Denbrock had a promising update for RB Jeremiyah Love, sharing that Love has practiced the last two days and should be ready to play on Thursday night against Penn State.

Love went down in the 3rd quarter of the 23-10 Sugar Bowl win over Georgia and later had a brace on his right knee. Love led all Irish players with 1,076 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns before the Georgia game, but then only ran for 19 yards on 7 carries before injuries cut his night short.

If Love is unable to play, or sees his workload cut down, RB Jadarian Price and QB Riley Leonard will pick up some of the slack, like they did against Georgia, but Jeremiyah Love’s availability would still be a great boost to the Notre Dame offense.

Tulane Transfer RB Makhi Hughes Expected to Commit to Oregon

Tulane transfer RB Makhi Hughes – the #10 overall transfer portal player and #1 RB in the transfer portal – is expected to commit to Oregon according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Hughes saw the field for the Green Wave in 2023 and 2024 after redshirting in 2022, and he finished with 2,779 rushing yards and 22 rushing touchdowns over 523 carries. He also caught 30 passes for 243 yards and 2 more touchdowns.

He finished the season 9th in the FBS for rushing yards, but returns for 2025 as the leading rusher, as Nos. 1-8 all are entering the NFL Draft. Hughes was First Team All-AAC each of the last two seasons and was a Semifinalist for the Doak Walker Award.

Hughes is also the older brother of incoming consensus 5-star CB signee Na’eem Offord, who flipped his commitment from Ohio State to Oregon during the early signing period.

Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt Signs New NIL Deal with ASU’s Collective

Arizona State QB Sam Leavitt announced he will be back in 2025 after signing a new deal with the Sun Angel Collective.

On3’s Pete Nakos is currently reporting that Leavitt took a “hometown discount” of sorts, because, even though his On3 NIL Valuation places his yearly value at roughly $3M, Leavitt wants to stay with Coach Kenny Dillingham to see what heights they can get both get to together.

Leavitt was a key member of an Arizona State team that won the Big 12 and got a first round bye in the CFP, as he finished with 2,885 yards and 24 touchdowns.

Leavitt shared, “I want to have a statue here and make Arizona State something that it’s never been before.”

Between Coach Kenny Dillingham signing an extension, Leavitt announcing a re-upped NIL deal, and leading WR Jordyn Tyson also announcing a re-upped NIL deal with the same collective, the Sun Devils are retaining as much talent as they can before loading up for another run in 2025.

Arizona Transfer CB Tacario Davis Commits to Washington

Arizona transfer CB Tacario Davis committed to Washington recently, per On3’s Hayes Fawcett.

He heads to Washington with one year of eligibility remaining. According to the On3 industry rankings, Davis was the 16th ranked player nationally and the top rated CB.

Davis spent the last three seasons at Arizona, having breakout seasons in 2023 and 2024 that earned him some draft buzz headed into this offseason. However, Davis has evidently decided he’d rather come back for 2025 after hitting the transfer portal and attempting to earn some more NIL money at the college level before going pro.

Davis finished this season with 44 tackles, 2 TFLs, and 6 passes defended. In his career, he has 76 tackles, 3 TFLs, an interception, a fumble recovery, and 22 passes defended.

Oregon WR Evan Stewart Announces He Will Return in 2025

Oregon WR Evan Stewart announced he will be returning to Oregon for the 2025 season.

Stewart finished 2024 with 48 catches, 613 yards, and 5 touchdowns. Between 2022 and 2023, Stewart finished with 91 catches, 1,163 yards, and 6 touchdowns while with Texas A&M.

Stewart missed the Rose Bowl game, a game which Oregon lost, due to injury. Coach Dan Lanning shared that, “I think if you asked Evan, he wanted to be out there on the field, but you don’t want to put him in a situation that’s not going to be safe for him,” so, from the sounds of it, it was the coaches’ call to not play Stewart.

Nonetheless, Stewart’s return in 2025 is a big one for Oregon, as Stewart likely would have been an intriguing NFL Draft prospect for at least a handful of teams.

Texas A&M Transfer WR Noah Thomas Commits to Georgia

Texas A&M transfer WR Noah Thomas committed to Georgia yesterday according to DawgsHQ.

Thomas is 6-foot-6, a massive addition (both physically and metaphorically) for Georgia, as Thomas ranks 31st nationally and 10th at the WR position, a position of need for the Bulldogs this offseason.

Thomas comes with one year of eligibility, as he played in 11 or more games in all 3 of his seasons with the Aggies. He had career numbers in 2024, though, finishing with 39 catches for 574 yards and 8 touchdowns.

Kirk Herbstreit: ESPN Could Not Have Paid for a Better Final 4

In his endless quest to convince fans that he does not favor the SEC and big brands (despite mounting evidence and Twitter/X Community Notes showing the opposite), Kirk Herbstreit joined Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman of On3 to “straighten the record,” in his own words.

“Let me straight the record on one last thing. You know, ESPN loves the SEC so much, that we could not have paid for a better Final 4, with Notre Dame and Ohio State and Penn State and Texas. The only one missing is Michigan, if you could somehow wedge Michigan in. So like, this idea that we want Alabama and Texas A&M and Auburn, are you kidding me? Like if you’re asking us who we would want, uh, we’ll take Ohio State every year, Notre Dame. Like this is a ratings bonanza.”

Of course, Herbstreit received backlash for his comments regardings Indiana’s and SMU’s inclusion over Alabama, especially Indiana. Which makes this a weird deflection, as it misunderstands why he received backlash in the first place.

Herbstreit continued, “if you’re going to accuse us of anything, you should accuse us of wanting Ohio State, wanting Notre Dame and these big brands. If you knew anything about ratings, that’s who you want. You don’t want these small little Clemson’s and small little southern schools when it comes to cheering for ratings. Ratings are big, massive, Big Ten brands. That’s where ratings are.”

Utah State Transfer RB Rahsul Faison Commits to South Carolina

Utah State transfer RB Rahsul Faison committed to South Carolina out of the portal yesterday as one of the top RBs still available.

Faison is ranked as the 77th player nationally and 7th ranked RB in the portal, according to On3.

Faison finished this 2024 season with an impressive 1,190 yards and 8 touchdowns while also adding 22 catches for 99 yards. In 2023, Faison ran for 736 yards and 5 touchdowns. Faison is also one of the players who benefits from the extra season of eligibility, having been a former JUCO player.

Alabama S Keon Sabb Returning for 2025

Alabama S Keon Sabb will be returning for 2025, he announced, after having transferred in to Alabama from Michigan ahead of the 2024 season.

Sabb released a statement, where he shared, “this past year with the Crimson Tide has been special to me. Since stepping foot on campus, Alabama has felt like home. I have met so many great people and grown significantly but I feel like there’s more left for me here. … Let’s run it back – Roll Tide!”

Sabb missed much of the season due to injury, not making an appearance in a game after the Tennessee game on October 19th. Still, though, he finished with 39 tackles, 0.5 TFLs, 2 interceptions, and 4 passes defended.

Despite the injury, Sabb was receiving some draft buzz, but this is a big win for the Tide to get Sabb for another year where he can hopefully stay healthy.

South Dakota State Transfer QB Mark Gronowski Commits to Iowa

South Dakota State transfer QB Mark Gronowski committed to Iowa yesterday.

Gronowski was weighing his options between programs offering him in the transfer portal and trying his hand in the NFL Draft. However, Gronowski has made the decision he is going to go to Iowa for his remaining eligibility.

With South Dakota State, Gronowski finished with more than 10,000 yards, winning a pair of national titles. He was the Walter Payton Award winner in 2023 (the FCS’ Player of the Year) and was a finalist for it this year. He also tied an all-time FCS record with 49 wins in his career.

Gronowski ranks as the 143rd ranked prospect nationally and the 15th ranked QB in the transfer portal this offseason, according to the On3 transfer portal rankings.

He is not the first QB to transfer to the Hawkeyes this offseason, as Auburn’s Hank Brown also is heading to Iowa. The Hawkeyes also still have Brendan Sullivan in the QB room, who was the most likely starter had the Hawkeyes not brought in Gronowski (unless Hank Brown won the job).

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (89) Deandre Desinor commits to NC State

3-Star (85) DL Donovan Fitzmaurice commits to Washington State

Unrated CB Elijah Brown commits to Arizona

Unrated RB Keenan Phillips commits to South Alabama

2026 Unrated WR Jeffrey Roberts commits to Iowa State