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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.

NCAA Rules Committee Recommends Charging Timeouts for Injury Subs After Ball is Spotted

The NCAA announced yesterday that the Rules Committee has proposed a major rule change to try and help combat fake injuries.

The Rules Committee is recommending that if medical personnel enters the field to evaluate a player after the ball has been spotted by officials, the player’s team shall be charged a timeout. If the team has no timeouts, a five-yard penalty will be assessed.

Any rule changes must be approved by the full NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which is set to discuss new proposals on April 16th.

Georgia Coach Kirby Smart is Co-Chair of the Committee, and he shared the following in the NCAA release, “the Committee identified the time period after the ball has been spotted as the most egregious violations of the injury timeout rule and is addressing the issue this way. Having a set time frame of when the game is stopped for an injured player should hopefully help curtail the strategy of having players fake injuries.”

Hard Knocks to Feature UNC, Bill Belichick in Offseason Series

According to Ryan Glasspiegel of Front Office Sports, ‘Hard Knocks’ will feature North Carolina and new Coach Bill Belichick, rather than a professional team.

Hard Knocks had trouble finding a professional team to be part of it for this offseason, so they’re pivoting to one of the biggest coaching switch-ups of the offseason, with Bill Belichick heading to North Carolina.

Coach Belichick has never had a team make Hard Knocks when he was in the pros, so this will be a new experience for him and a team coached by him, too.

Bowling Green HC Scot Loeffler Leaving to Be QBs Coach at Pro Level

Some surprising news yesterday morning, as Bowling Green HC Scot Loeffler was announced to be leaving Bowling Green to be a QBs Coach in the pros.

After 6 seasons with the Falcons, Coach Loeffler was coming of of three consecutive bowl appearances, the first bowls the program had experienced since the four bowl game stretch from 2012 to 2015.

Derek van der Merwe, the Vice President for Athletics Strategy, shared a statement on Coach Loeffler’s departure: “BGSU is a special university and community that truly embraces relationships, people, and the student experience. In these last six seasons, Scot has built a very successful program in a challenging climate in collegiate sports. More importantly, he built this program while ensuring his team and coaches were truly committed to the values and mission that make this university great. Like other great coaches in the history of BGSU football, he has demonstrated that when you build around the strengths of this University and its mission, anything is possible. I am looking forward to this process of finding the next great leader for our program who embraces what it means to be a Falcon.”

Coach Hugh Freeze Diagnosed With Early Form of Prostate Cancer

Auburn Coach Hugh Freeze was recently diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer, according to the Auburn program.

The full statement is above:

“Recently, Coach Freeze was diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer. Thankfully, it was detected early and his doctors have advised that it is very treatable and curable. He will continue his normal coaching duties and responsibilities, and with forthcoming proper treatment, is expected to make a full recovery. Coach Freeze is incredibly appreciative of our medical professionals and has asked that we use his experience as a reminder of the importance of prioritizing and scheduling annual health screenings.”

Texas A&M Agrees to 15 Year, $515M Deal with Playfly Sports

According to TexAgs.com’s Billy Liucci, Texas A&M has signed a deal with Playfly Sports worth $515M over the course of the next 15 years.

This would be a fully guaranteed multi-media contract that would take Texas A&M’s multi-media rights payouts from $18M to $34M annually.

Playfly Sports, according to its website, is a sports media, marketing, and technology business centered around the team, league, brand, and network. It is focused on a consultative, data-driven approach to reach, engage, monetize, and measure fandom that gives its partners a competitive advantage.

According to Liucci, this deal is the current richest media rights deal in the history of college sports.

There is also an unspecified amount of that payment which will be earmarked for NIL opportunities for Aggie student-athletes.

Playfly is also affiliated with 25 college departments, the ACC, the Big East, and the former Pac-12. Within the SEC, Playfly already has some affiliation with Auburn and LSU, too.

Michigan’s Sherrone Moore: Big Ten Should Have AQ’s in CFP; Lighten Up Non-Conference Schedule

Michigan Head Coach Sherrone Moore shared with On3 earlier this week that he believes the Big Ten should have automatic qualifier spots in the CFP, because the Big Ten is the best conference in football.

“I think our conference and the SEC, for sure, should have automatic qualifiers. You can just look at the strength of schedules, the week-to-week and the games. You feel like you’re in the NFL sometimes, where every week is a battle. Doesn’t matter who you play; every week is a battle. Absolutely, that should be the case. … I would say we have the best conference in football. With us winning the national title in 2023 and Ohio winning in 2024, and as competitive as all the bowl games were, the Big Ten is back on top as the best conference in football. People are going to challenge that, but the facts are the facts.”

Coach Moore also spoke on reevaluating the non-conference schedules so long as the Big Ten is playing 9 conference games: “If other conferences are only going to play eight conference games, and if we’re playing nine conference games, maybe those non-conference games are going to be a little different than they are now.”

3-Star OL Bear McWhorter Commits to Michigan

3-Star OL Bear McWhorter committed to Michigan yesterday over Alabama, Clemson, Florida, and South Carolina, among almost 40 other offers.

McWhorter committing to Michigan was a little bit of a surprise, as much of the buzz in the recruiting world recently had been around Alabama as the favorite. He shared the following two quotes (as well as others in the link above) with On3:

“There were some changes for me since I set my commitment date. I kept talking to the coaches, talking with my family, and it came down to being a part of that blue-collar mentality at Michigan.”

“Coach [Grant] Newsome talks to me every day. He is a very personable guy, I can go to him about anything and we have gotten really close. I trust him, I like who he is, and I believe in him.”

McWhorter ranks 415th nationally and 38th at the IOL position designation according to the On3 industry composite, but he ranks 5th at the OG position designation according to ESPN’s recruiting rankings.

For Michigan, this is just the 3rd commitment for the 2026 class, a class which currently only ranks 27th nationally (though it is plenty early) and 10th in the Big Ten.

3-Star WR Jerquaden Guilford Decommits from Penn State

3-Star WR Jerquaden Guilford decommitted from Penn State yesterday evening after originally committing to them back in December.

When he originally committed to Penn State, he committed to the Nittany Lions over offers from Georgia, Tennessee, Ohio State, Miami, Indiana, Wisconsin, and others.

The On3 Recruiting Prediction Machine is certainly going to need to be recalibrated for Guilford’s recruitment, as Penn State is listed with a 98.4% chance to get his commitment, with every other school listed as <1%.

Guilford ranks as high as 34th at the WR position (Rivals), but the On3 industry composite ranks him 445th nationally and 67th at the WR position.

Penn State’s 2026 class still ranks 6th nationally and 3rd in the Big Ten behind only Oregon and USC for a class which still has 8 total commitments, 5 of which are 4-star players.

4-Star OT Deacon Schmitt Names Top 8

4-Star OT Deacon Schmitt shared yesterday with On3’s Hayes Fawcett that he has narrowed down his recruitment to his Top 8 programs.

His top 8 includes Alabama, Colorado, Georgia, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio State, Tennessee, and USC.

Of these 3, he already has official visits scheduled for Oklahoma (June 6), Nebraska (June 13), and Tennessee (June 20), with more potentially on the way.

As for the programs listed, he’s given quotes in the past about Nebraska, and how he loves the atmosphere there, and Oklahoma, and how he likes their pipeline to the NFL and have one of the best OL coaches in the country.

He also has visited Colorado multiple times, being a Colorado native himself. He has yet to visit Tennessee, but is looking forward to that official visit this summer, and he’s looking into making a spring visit out to USC.

Schmitt ranks as high as 16th at the OT position, with an On3 industry composite ranking of 304th nationally and 24th at the OT position.

3-Star WR Peyton Zachary Commits to UNLV

3-star WR Peyton Zachary committed to UNLV yesterday over offers from Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee, Pitt, Indiana, Louisville, and others.

An impressive offer list for a 5’8” WR who is only rated an 84 by On3 and an 85 by 247 (currently), Zachary is described by many online as shifty and a speedster as a slot receiver.

Zachary is ranked 163rd at the WR position according to On3, but his On3 industry composite ranking places him 898th nationally and 143rd at the WR position. Still, that offer list is nothing to scoff at and shows that he’s got some solid film even if his recruiting ranking does not reflect that.

For UNLV and new Coach Dan Mullen, this is just his 2nd commitment for his first full class, for a class which is therefore yet to be ranked.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

2025 2-Star (78) ATH Trey Jacobsen commits to Idaho State