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 Hiring Matt Patricia as DC, Promoting Secondary Coach to Co-DC

ESPN is reporting that Ohio State is hiring Matt Patricia as its new DC.

Coach Patricia spent 2024 working at the 33rd Team with Bill Belichick.

Additional moves came in the way of Tim Walton getting promoted from secondary coach to Co-DC, as well as safeties coach Matt Guerrieri getting promoted to pass-game coordinator.

Coach Patricia’s experience is brief, spending one season as a GA at RPI, before coaching the DL for two seasons at Amherts, and spending 3 seasons as an offensive GA with Syracuse. The rest of his experience is all in the pros.

Details Emerge on Passing of UNLV Football Player, Ben Christman

UNLV announced the passing of a player a couple days ago, and yesterday revealed the identity of the player is Ben Christman, a member of the offensive line.

Christman arrived to UNLV in the transfer portal this offseason from Kentucky after having started his college career at Ohio State before transferring to Kentucky.

New Head Coach Dan Mullen shared the following, “our team’s heart is broken to hear of Ben’s passing. Since the day Ben set foot on our campus a month ago, he made the Rebels a better program. Ben was an easy choice for our Leadership Committee as he had earned the immediate respect, admiration and friendship of all his teammates. Our prayers go out to his family and all who knew him. Ben made the world a better place and he will be missed.”

Ryan Day Announces Brian Hartline Will Call Plays for Ohio State as OC

Ohio State HC Ryan Day shared in an interview with WBNS-TV that new OC Brian Hartline will call plays for the Buckeyes in 2025.

Coach Hartline was Co-DC and WRs Coach from 2023-24, but did not call plays, as Coach Day controlled the play sheet in 2023 and OC Chip Kelly did it in 2024 in his one season with the Buckeyes.

Coach Day said of Coach Hartline, “You talk about sacrifice. Here’s a guy who, he was named coordinator, and I ended up calling the plays that year. But he grew that year. And then, we decided to bring in Chip, and he had to take a step back. But he learned from Chip, and I thought down the stretch, he did some of his best work I’ve seen him do as a coach. Some of the passing install, the route concepts, the coaching that was done right there was a high, high level. Certainly, Keenan [Bailey] helped him a lot, [Billy] Fessler helped him a lot, and I was very much involved with it. But you could just see him growing as the season went on. His understanding of protections. Some guys would say, ‘wait a minute, I’m going somewhere else; he didn’t name me the coordinator.’ Now, he’s going to be the coordinator. Now, he’s going to call plays. That loyalty and that patience is going to pay off, and I think he’s going to be the best coordinator in the country.”

Ryan Day Confirms Ohio State QB Competition is Wide Open

In the same interview as the one above, Coach Day also shared that the QB competition is wide open headed into the offseason.

The three names in the mix are Lincoln Kienholz, Julian Sayin, and Tavien St. Clair for what Coach Day described as a “fierce” competition:

“It’ll be a very fierce competition. Lincoln and Julian and then, Tavien. We’re excited to see those guys compete. … I’ve shared with those guys – especially with Lincoln and Julian, who were there last year – you got a chance to see a guy lead at a high level. … Now, you have to now take it over. You have to walk different, you’ve got to move different. You have to practice different. Everything like that. This is an opportunity now for these guys to take it and run. And Tavien, Tavien spent two weeks here, too, and that was great for our freshmen to see how these guys operate in the last two weeks of the season.”

Pat White Returning to West Virginia as an Assistant Coach

With Rich Rodriguez returning as the new Head Coach of West Virginia, what’s old is new again, including a familiar face in the QB room.

Except instead of playing QB, Coach Rodriguez has hired former Mountaineer great and Hall of Famer, Pat White, as their Assistant QBs Coach and Assistant Head Coach.

A top 7 finisher in the Heisman in both 2007 and 2008, Pat White finished with a career that landed him in the College Football Hall of Fame: 6,049 passing yards, 56 touchdowns to just 23 interceptions, a 147.4 passer rating, 4,480 rushing yards, and 47 rushing touchdowns. He finished as the all-time leader in touchdowns responsible for in Big East history, 7 ahead of Donovan McNabb in 2nd place and 15 ahead of Ken Dorsey in 3rd.

4-Star RB Jaylen McGill Decommits from Rutgers

4-star RB Jaylen McGill decommits from Rutgers after committing to the Scarlet Knights a couple weeks ago on January 25th.

McGill shared on his Twitter that “I feel like the lord has called me some place else. I’ve prayed about this decision and reflected on my decision. With that being said, I’m choosing to reopen my recruiting back up, and I’m decommitting from the University of Rutgers. Thank You @RFootball For The Opportunity!❤️”

McGill ranks as high as 183rd nationally (On3) and 19th at the RB position (ESPN). According to the On3 industry composite, McGill ranks 223rd nationally and 19th at the RB position.

With the decommitment, Rutgers is now down to 2 Blue Chip commitments and 4 commitments total for the 2026 class, a class which still ranks 18th nationally and 6th in the Big Ten.

Consensus 5-Star OT and #2 Overall Prospect Immanuel Iheanacho Names Top 11

Consensus 5-star OT Immanuel Iheanacho has named his top 11 programs.

Iheanacho shared with On3’s Hayes Fawcett that his top 11 consists of the following programs: Oregon, Georgia, Penn State, Alabama, LSU, Texas A&M, Maryland, Florida, Miami, Auburn, and Tennessee.

He shared with On3’s Steve Wiltfong this month that Oregon is currently his leader with Georgia and Penn State pushing towards the top. Ultimately, the visits he plans on taking will play a big factor in where he decides to go.

4-Star LB TJ White Has Scheduled OVs to His Top 4

4-star LB TJ White has set 4 official visits for the summer for the programs he called his “top group.”

White also shared that “the official visits will be a big piece for me in my commitment.”

As for the OVs he has lined up, he is visiting Wisconsin on May 30th, Florida State on June 6th, Tennessee on June 13th, and Mississippi State on June 20th.

As for which one he will pick, “it will have a lot to do with the relationships and the relationship the schools have with my family. It will be important that the schools and the coaches have the same energy then that they have now.” He shared with On3 that he is not planning a summer commitment, rather eyeing the fall.

4-Star S Bralan Womack Names New Top 4, Sets Official Visits

4-star S Bralan Womack has shared with On3 that he has named a new Top 4 that he has booked official visits with, and those are the only schools presently on his list.

Womack shared that he will be at Florida on May 30th, Texas A&M on June 6th, Auburn on June 13th, and Ohio State on June 20th.

This news comes about a month after announcing his top 4 included Texas A&M and Ohio State, but also Alabama and Tennessee, instead of Florida and Auburn – so, a couple changes there.

When he named his last Top 4 he was also considering an August commitment, however he now intends to push that back later: “It will probably be later in the fall when I commit now. It will come down to where I feel I can produce at and be developed at. Being put in the best position for success is very important to me.”

Ohio State Freshman RB Sam Williams-Dixon Withdraws from Transfer Portal

Ohio State now redshirt freshman RB Sam Williams-Dixon has withdrawn his name from the transfer portal, and will remain at Ohio State.

Williams-Dixon entered the portal last month, and was rated as the 886th ranked player nationally and 72nd ranked running back.

Williams-Dixon was part of Ohio State’s 2024 class, where he was a medium to high 3-star who was ranked 766th nationally and 63rd at the RB position.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (88) CB Ryan Gilbert decommits from Texas A&M

3-Star (86) EDGE Andrew Williams commits to USC

2025 3-Star (82) WR Braden Peevy commits to Western Michigan

2025 2-Star (77) WR Nick Crowley commits to Western Oregon

Unrated CB Maddox Quiller commits to Texas Tech

Unrated EDGE Cole Albrecht commits to UNLV

2025 Unrated ATH Gary Merrill commits to North Carolina

2025 Unrated LS Jacob Tannenbaum commits to North Carolina