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.

New Oklahoma QB John Mateer Priotizing Winning Over Individual Accolades

Former Washington State QB and new Oklahoma QB John Mateer shared with Georgia Stoia of On3’s Sooner Scoop that his priority and focus is on winning games over whatever individual accolades he could rack up with his new program in Norman.

“It’s pretty clear. I don’t think about [the Heisman] every day. I want to win games, and if you win games, [winning the Heisman] could happen. That’d be cool, but I want to win games.”

Mateer transferred in with new Oklahoma OC Ben Arbuckle after throwing for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns for Washington State.

UNC QB Max Johnson Injury Update

UNC QB Max Johnson shared at one point that he plans to return for a sixth season of college football in 2025 following his season-ending injury in the first game of the season.

New coach Belichick had a general update but did not have a timeline for Johnson’s return, sharing, “Max has worked hard. He’s made a lot of progress. He’s still limited, but he’s definitely getting better. We’ll take it day by day, but nobody’s put in more work than he has. We’ll see where that takes him, but he’s definitely making progress. It’s just a day by day process. If he has a good day, then he can do more the next day. If it doesn’t move along quite as quickly, we’ll slow it down until he can progress.”

Brent Venables: Fighting For My Job Every Year

As Oklahoma coach Brent Venables gears up for his fourth season at the helm of the Sooners’ program, he shared with the media on Wednesday that his mindset has been that he’s fighting for his job every year:

“I’ve been fighting for my job every year like somebody’s holding me out of the water trying to drown me. And that’s been my mindset, that’s been my attitude when I come to work every day. So, nothing’s changing for me. Do we need to be better? You’re damn right. Does your mindset have to change? Nope. Every year is big, and for me, I know I’ve said that [before]. I think people are like, ‘well, that’s just coach speak.’ But I go back to my first year, and Bill Snyder hired me on an interim basis. You ever been hired on an interim basis, where basically, they said your job’s on the line? ‘I’m watching everything you do, and your first screw up, there’s no guarantee, and I’m also going to pay you pennies.’ Well, that was my first time, and I was so thankful. But I’ve literally had that mindset my entire career. Every game is that way. Every day I show up, something’s on the line. My job is on the line. I’ve had that for 30 years.”

ESPN Reveals Preseason Strength of Schedule Rankings

ESPN released its strength of schedule ratings ahead of the 2025 season. Unsurprisingly, SEC teams dominate the top of the list, containing 12 of the top 13 with all 16 SEC programs in the Top 25.

Here are the Top 25:

1. Oklahoma

2. Florida

3. Arkansas

4. Wisconsin

5. Vanderbilt

6. Mississippi State

7. South Carolina

8. Kentucky

9. LSU

10. Texas A&M

11. Alabama

12. Texas

13. Georgia

14. Syracuse

15. Auburn

16. Rutgers

17. Purdue

18. Northwestern

19. UCLA

20. USC

21. Ohio State

22. Iowa

23. Ole Miss

24. Tennessee

25. Missouri

Warde Manuel, Most Recent CFP Chairman, Supports Seeding Changes to CFP

Michigan Athletic Director Warde Manuel is in support of some adjustments for the CFP seeding, a concept he shared on The Triple Option podcast.

Manuel shared, “Greg Sankey and Tony Petitti came out and said they would like to see the seeding change to seeing the teams ranked and seeded as they are. I would 100% agree with that. I think what threw it off. … To me, it makes it unfair. … I think it puts those teams that bounce out of the top four because other teams come in. I think it puts them at a disadvantage because you’re either playing tougher teams earlier or as the number one and two teams did this year, they’re playing a higher-ranked team earlier in the Playoff than they would have if they had just seeded them.”

Vandy’s Clark Lea on Decision to Hire DC After Calling Defense in 2024

Vandy HC Clark Lea promoted DC Steve Gregory this offseason to be the defensive play caller, a role he filled this past season.

Coach Lea shared the reason for the decision recently, saying, “I think a lot of it just had to do with paying attention a year ago to where I felt like I was effective. And where I felt like I lost some effectiveness. When you look at the defensive coordinator position, especially for where our program is and what we need from the head coach, where we’re still trying to build something – when I was just a DC, I would spend 100 hours a week doing that job. When you call a play, you want the process to lead to that play, and to be immersed in that process…. As the year wore on, it felt more and more like there were gaps in my preparation that I was having to late in the week kind of catch up to.”

Coach Lea reiterated his trust in Coach Gregory to call the defense and improve the overall efficiency of the defense.

Vanderbilt OLs Grayson Morgan and Anthony Miles Medically Retire

Vanderbilt HC Clark Lea recently shared that OLs Grayson Morgan and Anthony Miles have both medically retired from the game.

Coach Lea shared with media members, “they retired. So, both have dealt with back injuries. We always want to – I recruited both of them with big visions for their football careers. Both are such positive members of our football community and I can’t say enough about the people.”

Morgan retires having only played in 8 career games, making 4 total starts.

Miles was a 3-star in the Class of 2023 but never saw the field before being forced to call it quits.

North Carolina’s First Open Practice Under Bill Belichick on April 12th

North Carolina announced its first open practice in the Bill Belichick era will take place on April 12th.

Opening practice for the Tar Heels starts at 6:30 PM, and the practice will be in Kenan Stadium. Admission will be free, and the event comes with an autograph session.

3-Star WR Brody Schaffer Commits to Iowa

3-Star WR Brody Schaffer committed to Iowa yesterday over offers from Northwestern, Washington State, and plenty of others.

As for why Schaffer wanted to commit to Iowa, he shared with On3 that he attended Iowa’s junior day and immediately felt at home.

Schaffer is a consensus 3-star, ranking 684th nationally and 114th at the WR position according to the On3 industry composite, but he is one of the top players from the state of Wisconsin, ranking 3rd from WI on the On3 industry composite.

This is Iowa’s 7th commitment for a 2026 class which ranks 21st nationally and 8th in the Big Ten.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

2025 3-Star (83) ATH James Dowd commits to Northern Arizona