Ollie Gordon, Top LBs, Arch Manning, Miami, and More!

CFB Roundup – July 10, 2024

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Mike Gundy: Ollie Gordon Will Miss No Games For DUI Arrest

At Big 12 Media Days yesterday, Oklahoma State’s Mike Gundy confirmed star RB Ollie Gordon will miss no time on the field for his DUI arrest this offseason.

The 20-year-old Gordon was booked on June 30 after being pulled over for doing 82 in a 65 and the police subsequently finding half-full bottles of tequila and vodka in the car. When tested in jail, Gordon had a BAC of 0.11 and 0.10.

Coach Gundy has stated that the program will discuss potential internal punishment to hold Gordon accountable, but missing on-field time seems to be off the table as of now.

Phil Steele’s Top 25 LB Units for 2024

Phil Steele has shared his top 25 linebacker units ahead of the 2024 season. Leading the way are the Iowa Hawkeyes, followed by Oklahoma, Georgia, Texas, and Oklahoma State to round out the Top 5.

The SEC newcomers are not the only top 10 units to be competing in a new conference – new Big Ten team Oregon finds itself 7th and new ACC team SMU finds itself 10th.

For a conference breakdown, the SEC leads the way with 9 mentions, followed by the Big Ten (8), the ACC + ND (4), the Big 12 (3), and the Group of 5 (1 – Miami of Ohio)

Arch Manning Will Be in EA Sports’ CFB 25 After All

After publicly announcing he would not opt-in to EA Sports’ new College Football video game until he was the starter – similar to his family’s announcement that he would not sign any NIL deals until he was the starter – Arch Manning has announced he has opted in to EA Sports CFB 25.

The Texas QB’s previous announcement to not be in the new video game was noteworthy as Manning is one of the biggest names in football, even if he has yet to start ahead of Heisman hopeful Quinn Ewers. But, now Manning is in the game and the Era of Arch can start early for Texas fans and CFB fans alike.

Miami Revamping Personnel Department

Miami has had a fairly strong recruiting profile under Head Coach Mario Cristobal, and it continues to build out its recruiting side of the staff by adding a few names.

Miami’s new Executive Director for Player Personnel is Arkansas State’s Trip Carrico, who has also spent some time with ECU, Virginia, and Alabama.

Miami’s new Asst. Director of Player Personnel is Arizona State’s DeVontay Love-Taylor, who is a former Florida State offensive lineman.

Miami’s new Coordinator of Scouting Administration is Jacob Lucas, a former Miami recruiting assistant and UAB’s Former Player Personnel Coordinator for Offense.

Miami also elevated former intern Nick Sparber to be the new Asst. Director of Recruiting Administration. Finally, Miami got creative and hired Frank Tucker, a guy who runs the popular The Cribs South Florida social media pages, to be the Recruiting Relations Coordinator.

Phil Steele’s Top 25 Freshman DBs for 2024

Phil Steele released his Top 25 Freshman DBs ahead of the 2024 season. It’s an all-SEC Top 5, with Alabama’s Jaylen Mbakwe leading the group, followed by Georgia’s Ellis Robinson IV and KJ Bolden, Texas A&M’s Terry Bussey, and Texas’ Kobe Black.

The list also includes Georgia’s Demelio Jones and Ondre Evans, as well as Alabama’s Zabien Brown, Zay Mincey, and Peyton Woodyard, giving just those two teams 8 of the 25 players.

Unsurprisingly, the SEC leads the way with an eye-popping 14 mentions, followed by the Big Ten (6), the ACC (3), and the Big 12 (2).

Brett Yormark Expects Big 12 To Be #1 Conference in America

At Big 12 Media Days, Brett Yormark has once again made plenty of headlines regarding his ambitious plans for the conference, with perhaps the most noteworthy being that he will not stop until the Big 12 is the #1 conference in college football.

He additionally declared the conference, which adds Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado, and Utah to replace Oklahoma and Texas, the deepest in the country, which is definitely a popular opinion amongst fans and media pundits.

Phil Steele’s Top 25 Draft Eligible CBs

Phil Steele also released his top 25 draft eligible cornerbacks ahead of the 2024 season. Leading the way is Michigan’s Will Johnson, followed by Colorado’s Travis Hunter, Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison, Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston, and Ohio State’s Davison Igbinosun.

The Group of 5’s lone representation is East Carolina’s Shavon Revel, who checks in ranked 7th.

The best CBs do appear to be spread out, as the only schools to be mentioned multiple times are Ohio State and Virginia Tech.

As for the conference breakdown, the Power 4 conferences are all tied with 6 mentions each.

3-Star DL Randy Adirika Commits to Penn State

3-Star DL and Rivals’ #6 DL in the 2025 class, Randy Adirika, has committed to Penn State over Miami, USC, among others.

According to Adirika, his main reasons for committing were the environment, the style of football, the way they develop, and the winning culture.

Adirika is Penn State’s 22nd commitment in the 2025 class, which ranks 17th according to On3’s industry composite and ranks 4th in the Big Ten.

Utah QB Cam Rising Not Planning on Using 8th Year of Eligibility

7th Year QB Cam Rising was asked at this year’s Big 12 Media Days whether he would plan to use his nearly unprecedented 8th year of eligibility next year.

Rising told the Action Network’s Brett McMurphy that he is not planning on using the 8th year of eligibility, and that 7 years is more than enough.

Coach Kyle Whittingham stated that the compliance department at Utah has said that Rising is technically not eligible, but others in the media space and on Twitter have done the eligibility counting and seem to believe otherwise.

Indiana Flips 3-Star LB Paul Nelson from Cincinnati

3-Star LB Paul Nelson has flipped his commitment from his hometown Cincinnati Bearcats to Coach Curt Cignetti and Indiana.

Nelson committed to Cincinnati on June 9th, but on July 9th has decided he’d rather be a Hoosier.

Nelson’s flip brings the Indiana class to 21 total commitments and into the Top 50 of the On3 composite ranking, moving them into 49th overall and 15th out of 18 in the Big Ten.