Texas, Pitbull/FIU, Doak Walker Watch List, and More!

CFB Roundup – August 6, 2024

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Texas RB CJ Baxter Suffers Knee Injury in Practice, Undergoing MRI

According to Anwar Richardson of Orangebloods.com, RB CJ Baxter suffered a knee injury during Tuesday’s practice and will undergo an MRI to determine the extent of the injury.

Baxter is coming off a true freshman season where he ran for 659 yards and five rushing touchdowns with an extra 24 catches and 156 receiving yards, as well.

Behind Baxter are junior Jaydon Blue and true sophomore Quintrevion Wisner, with Blue having put up almost 400 rushing yards last season.

Pitbull Purchases Naming Rights to FIU’s Stadium

FIU and Pitbull announced yesterday that Pitbull has entered into a naming rights agreement with the university to name their football stadium Pitbull Stadium.

For the deal, Pitbull will pay FIU $1.2 million per year over the course of five years – more than FIU gets as part of the Conference USA’s TV deal, which is worth roughly $800,000 for each member annually.

On top of it being named Pitbull Stadium, Mr. Worldwide will get the stadium for 10 days each year, as well as two suites for every FIU home football game.

Doak Walker Award Watch List Announced

The 2024 Doak Walker Award watch list was announced yesterday.

After winning in 2023, Oklahoma State RB Ollie Gordon was obviously named to the watchlist where he’ll try to become the third running back to win it multiple times.

There are dozens of RBs listed on the watch list, a group which also includes Penn State’s Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton, Ole Miss’ Ulysses Bentley IV, Texas Tech’s Tahj Brooks, Michigan’s Donovan Edwards, Ohio State’s TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, Clemson’s Phil Mafah, and Miami’s Damien Martinez, among others.

Nebraska’s Starting LT Teddy Prochazka Out for Season with Knee Injury

Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule announced yesterday that starting LT Teddy Prochazka is out for the season after suffering a torn ACL.

This comes on the heels of Nebraska also losing LB Roger Gradney with a season-ending leg injury in the past week, too.

Prochazka has been unable to catch a break since getting to Nebraska as a 3-star recruit. The OT suffered an injury in 2021 as a freshman, with another injury in 2022 and several injuries throughout 2023.

Ohio State OC Chip Kelly Not Sharing Info on Buckeyes QB Battle

Ohio State offensive coordinator Chip Kelly was recently asked if he had any updates or a timeline on the QB battle for Ohio State.

Kelly replied, “that’s a great question by you and I know exactly where you’re going with that. I don’t have an answer for you.” A reporter then followed it up with asking who QB2 is at Ohio State. To which Kelly said, “That’s a good question too. That’s a great way to phrase it.”

Looking at the options, there’s Kansas State transfer Will Howard, who comes in with by far the most experience. There’s also Devin Brown, a former five-star recruit. Then there’s Lincoln Kienholz, a 4-star returner from last season’s Buckeyes team. The Buckeyes also added Air Noland and Julian Sayin from high school and the transfer portal, respectively.

CBS Sports Releases Its Top 25

Unsurprisingly, the Top 5 are Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, and Alabama, with those five more or less being the consensus top 5 in that order, with some debate over 1/2 and some debate over 3/4.

Ole Miss, Penn State, Notre Dame, Michigan, and Utah round out the Top 10.

9 of the Top 25 are from the SEC, including 4 of the Top 6.

4-Star WR Jayvan Boggs Flips from Missouri to UCF

4-Star WR Jayvan Boggs flipped his commitment from Missouri to UCF yesterday.

Having once committed to Ohio State, Boggs flipped to Missouri on the 4th of July. Now, it appears as though he has had a change of heart once again to stay home with UCF.

Boggs is ranked highest on Rivals, at 67th nationally and 13th at the WR position. According to On3’s industry composite rankings, Boggs is the 221st ranked player and 28th ranked WR.

This is UCF’s 20th commitment in the 2025 class which jumps UCF past TCU, South Carolina, and SMU into 24th place nationally and 1st in the Big 12.

SEC Considering Mandating Injury Reports

According to reports from CBS Sports, the SEC is considering mandating injury reports and could be implemented as early as this season.

The Big Ten was the first power conference to mandate injury reports during the 2023 season, a move implemented focusing on integrity within the world of sports gambling.

Commissioner Greg Sankey did discuss it some at SEC Media Days in July, but said a decision was not imminent. Now, in August, it would appear that a decision should be expected soon.

Rhett Lashlee: SMU in the ACC Validates the Mustangs

SMU’s head coach Rhett Lashlee was on The Paul Finebaum Show yesterday and he shared that he believes SMU’s jump to the ACC greatly validates the program.

“You’re in the heart of Dallas. There’s not another Division I school within 30 miles of downtown Dallas. So, the recruiting footprint is excellent. We’ve become a transfer destination, we have a great university, good history, and we’ve been winning the last five years. We just needed that conference affiliation. I think being in the ACC is a big deal for us.”

Prior to joining the ACC, the only 4-stars to sign with SMU out of high school were QB Preston Stone and TE RJ Maryland, with four 4-stars already committing to SMU since the jump to the ACC.

3-Star WR Evan Haynes Commits to North Carolina

3-Star WR Evan Haynes committed to North Carolina yesterday over an offer list which included Georgia Tech, Miami, and Colorado, among others.

For what Haynes was looking for – good education, good environment, good feeling – North Carolina checked all of the boxes.

Haynes ranks as the 189th ranked WR according to On3’s industry composite rankings and is only North Carolina’s 13th commit for the 2025 class which currently ranks 34th nationally and 6th in the ACC.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (84) ATH Marcus Nixon commits to Eastern Washington

3-Star (83) ATH Andre Thomas commits to Central Michigan

2026 Unranked QB Jacob Smith commits to NC State