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.

Brent Venables on Decision to Name Michael Hawkins Starter

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables dove a little deeper into his rationale for benching Jackson Arnold in exchange for true freshman Michael Hawkins.

Venables shared that with Arnold at the helm in the Tennessee game, things were starting to get away from the Sooner offense.

Venables also thinks that Hawkins might give Oklahoma a better chance moving forward, saying that he “believes in Mike. I made that announcement for lots of reasons, certainly didn’t want a decision like that to hang over anyone’s head.”

Venables believes Hawkins is talented, though he’s inexperienced. But ultimately, Hawkins has showed the requisite talent and intangibles to justify the decision to have him start.

As for Arnold’s future, Venables shared that, “ain’t nobody throwing anybody away from a player standpoint. We’ve got to get guys better and we’ve got to develop them and, like I said, we’ve got to do a great job of putting them in a successful position.”

Lane Kiffin: Our Opponents Haven’t Prepared Us for SEC Play

Through four games, Ole Miss has been absolutely lambasting opponents, winning by a combined mark of 220-22.

However, coach Lane Kiffin looks at the performances in the games and does not see it as particularly helpful for the team’s preparedness once conference games start this weekend.

Coach Kiffin shared, “I’m a realist. I don’t think our opponents have really prepared us for the SEC play. My hope is our practice and our fall camp has prepared us because we play against really good players on both sides of the ball. Defensively, we play against really big linemen. Same on the other way around.”

Thus far, Ole Miss’ strength of schedule ranks 125th out of 134 as it features home wins against Furman, Middle Tennessee, and Georgia Southern, and then a road win over Wake Forest. Looking forward, however, the Rebels have the 25th hardest schedule remaining according to ESPN.

Brian Kelly Confirms Star LB Harold Perkins Done for 2024

LSU Coach Brian Kelly took some time recently to publicly confirm the speculated and journalist sourced news that star LB Harold Perkins has likely suffered a torn ACL and will be out for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Coach Kelly did say that they’re not positive on the specifics of what the injury is in so far as surgery and timeline for recovery go, but he did say that it looks to be an ACL injury and that he will miss the rest of the season due to the injury.

Coming into the season, Harold Perkins was expected to finish out this season as a top prospect in the upcoming NFL Draft, so even with the significant knee injury, it is likely that Perkins has played his last snap in college for LSU.

Lincoln Riley: No Story With Bear Alexander’s Play Time

USC DT Bear Alexander only played in 21 of 58 defensive snaps for USC on the road against #12 Michigan in a close 27-24 loss, but Coach Lincoln Riley recently downplayed the situation, saying there’s no story.

More specifically, Coach Riley said, “he played over a third of the game. People want to act like he’s not playing snaps. He’s doing a good job for us out there. There’s no story there. I know you guys are looking for one. There’s no story there.”

Alexander’s dad, on the other, had a colorful response, stating, “but sh*t, what y’all want from him with 21 f*cking snaps. But let’s watch every snap from the interio defensive lineman this game and let’s see who the f*ck was WHO. My son won’t be the mf scapegoat, if you ask me he had the best game inside, in only 21 f*cking snaps.”

For whatever anyone wants to say about his snap count, Coach Riley did also point out that Alexander was on the field on a 4th down defensive attempt in the final minute of the game when the chips were down.

Injury Updates for Two Key Players on #2 Georgia

#2 Georgia is set to take on #4 Alabama this weekend, and Coach Kirby Smart recently took some time to cover some key injuries, with DL Warren Brinson and Edge Mykel Williams the two most notable.

Both Brinson and Williams left in Georgia’s Week 1 win over Clemson, with Brinson suffering a calf contusion and Williams suffering a Grade 2 ankle sprain.

Smart shared, “Mykel’s been able to do a little bit. I still don’t know a timeline on Mykel. … it was his first day really getting out there and doing some things.”

As for Brinson, “Warren’s continued to practice, taking his rep load… I feel good about Warren, Mykel’s going to be close,” Smart said.

Injury Updates on #12 Michigan Stars

Pete Thamel recently went on College Football Live and shared some updates on the health of a pair of Michigan Wolverine stars in CB Will Johnson and TE Colston Loveland.

After Loveland suffered a shoulder injury against Arkansas State, Thamel is reporting that Loveland will be a gametime decision for this weekend’s game against Minnesota to see what his range of motion is like in his shoulder.

As for Will Johnson, who left the game and went to the locker room at one point, Thamel said that he is expected back and is fine.

Jeff Lebby Starting True Freshman QB Following Injury to Starter Blake Shapen

Mississippi State lost starting QB Blake Shapen for the season in its loss to Florida to open SEC play, and coach Jeff Lebby shared that true freshman Michael Van Buren will be replacing the injured Shapen.

Coach Lebby did share that Chris Parson has done a good job as a teammate, has worked hard, and has the confidence of the coaching staff, but ultimately Van Buren is going to get the first chance to fill in for Shapen.

Van Buren played for Mississippi State against Florida after Shapen came out of the game, and finished 7-for-10 with 100 yards in a performance that included a 12-play, 75-yard touchdown drive. Coach Lebby shared that predictability and consistency are what the staff is looking for as Mississippi State travels to Austin for a game against the top-ranked Texas Longhorns.

Dabo Swinney: I Don’t Know Why Cade Klubnik Wouldn’t Be Back for 2025

Clemson QB Cade Klubnik will be draft eligible following the 2024 season should he desire to leave, but Coach Dabo Swinney recently stated that he wasn’t sure why Klubnik would not be back for 2025.

Coach Swinney shared some of the players he knows are moving on based on running out of eligibility, but beyond that, he seemed fairly disinterested in speculating right now as Clemson prepares for its home game against Stanford this weekend.

“I don’t know why he wouldn’t be [returning]. He needs to just beat Stanford. … He’s a junior. You may have somebody that may just want to move on somewhere else and you never know. Our anticipation and where we are on paper, we know we’re gonna lose Marcus [Tate] and [Jake Briningstool] and Phil [Mafah]. Outside of that, we expect everybody back.”

Injury Updates for #15 Louisville

#15 Louisville has started out fairly well, but lost a few players in its game against Georgia Tech this past weekend due to injury.

As the Cardinals prepare for its Week 5 matchup against Notre Dame, Coach Jeff Brohm recently shared some details on some injuries.

One injury is to WR Jadon Thompson (pictured above) who is expected to be out for the season after tallying 6 receptions for 88 yards and 2 touchdowns.

There are a few more injuries, ranging from game-time decisions to out for the season.

DB Quincy Riley will be a game-time decision, RB Maurice Turner is someone Coach Brohm is not optimistic about returning but said “we’ll see,” and DB/Special Teamer DK Saunders is out for the season with a knee injury.

Star WR Caullin Lacy has yet to play this season after transferring in from South Alabama and subsequently breaking his collarbone in fall camp, but he is expected to be a game-time decision for this weekend.

Payton Thorne on Coach’s Comments and Media Reaction

Following Auburn’s loss to Arkansas, Coach Freeze shared that “he knows that there’s people open… We’ve got to find a guy that won’t throw it to the other team…”

And these comments have more or less snowballed to be a fairly large story in the college football world for more than one reason.

Auburn QB Payton Thorne was on The Next Round recently where he weighed in on this comment. He took a fairly modest and neutral tone, stating “I try my best not to pay too much attention to stuff that’s said to the media by anybody because, being in it as long as I’ve been in it – it’s still kind of a short time compared to some people, or a lot of people – but when you say stuff to the media, it’s not always true.”

He also said, “obviously we’ve turned the ball over too many times, and we got to fix that and be clean with the ball. But for me, personally, when I’m analyzing my game and I take a look at the turnovers that I’ve had myself, I look at it, I’m not too terribly upset about the decision-making that I’ve had. When I look back and look at the context of those interceptions, I’m not banging the table going, ‘what the hell am I doing?’ I try to keep that in mind as best I can. And obviously, you want to keep getting better as the season goes, but, in terms of that, that’s what I’ve been doing.”

On the season, Thorne is currently 40-for-70 with 700 yards, 7 passing touchdowns, and 5 interceptions – an interception count that currently leads the SEC despite having been benched for a game.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

Unrated IOL Landon Rapkiewicz commits to FAU