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.

Texas Tech General Manager James Blanchard Turns Down Notre Dame’s Offer

Texas Tech’s James Blanchard has reportedly turned down an offer from Notre Dame to become its new GM.

Blanchard will be remaining in Texas Tech, getting a new deal from the Red Raiders worth $1.575M across 3 years, or an average of $525k annually.

Notre Dame has a vacancy after USC hired away its previous general manager for a salary of $1M per year. Blanchard has been with Joey McGuire for a bit now, and has also been an Assistant Athletic Director for Scouting for the football team at Baylor, as well as having experience working in the pros.

Blanchard has reshaped the personnel department, and runs it similar to an NFL front office.

North Carolina System President Limits Chapel Hill Trustees’ Authority

According to Matt Hartman of The Assembly, UNC System President Peter Hans sent a memo to the trustees of UNC-Chapel Hill, telling them to stay out of negotiations around Tar Heel athletics.

Hans cited the possibility of “substantial legal risk” and does not want the trustees overstepping their boundaries.

Hans also shared, “instances continue to occur where members of the board appear to act independently of their campus’s administration in matters squarely within the responsibility of the chancellor. Such actions create substantial legal risk to the University – jeopardizing the North Carolina taxpayers’ money by blurring the lines of actual and apparent authority when these athletic departments negotiate business transactions with third parties.”

Hans also shared he was “temporarily suspending parts of ‘the delegations of authority’ that system policy gives to the Board of Trustees.”

Going forward, Hans or Hans’ designee must approve any hiring or salary adjustment related to any athletic department employees other than administrative assistants.

Clemson Hiring Veteran NFL Talent Evaluator as Director of Player Acquisition

Clemson announced yesterday that it has hired Kevin Kelly, from the Los Angeles Chargers, as their new Director of Player Evaluation and Acquisition.

Kelly spent the last 12 seasons with the Chargers, with 11 of them as the Senior Director of College Scouting, with another season as Senior Scouting Executive in 2024.

Dabo Swinney shared the following in a statement: “I’m super excited to have Kevin Kelly joining our staff. To be able to add someone with his experience is a great benefit to Clemson. He’s got over 20 years of front office experience in scouting and evaluation of player personnel, so he will bring a wealth of experience and be able to work alongside General Manager Jordan Sorrells, Director of Recruiting Ty Clements and the rest of our staff on player acquisition, evaluation, and retention.”

Deion Sanders Critical of Parents Involved in NIL Negotiations, Recruiting Conversations

Colorado’s Deion Sanders was on ESPN’s First Take yesterday and talked on several topics, including NIL and recruiting.

ESPN’s Shannon Sharpe asked Coach Sanders, “is that why we see the jumping around? You know, I’m here for a year, I’m there for a year? It seems, like you said, you take the bag, which might not be the best situation but they offer the most security as far as financially.”

Coach Sanders responded: “It’s because parents are involved. Once upon a time, my parents were praying for us and couldn’t wait until we got to the next level and, if we chose to bless them, they received the blessing. Now, these parents will never gain any darn thing. They want theirs off the top, and that’s not proper. I feel bad for these kids and some of the agents that have attached themselves to these young men. It’s very unfortunate.”

As for the program that Coach Sanders and Colorado are trying to build, and as far as the financial outlook is concerned, he said, “well, we kids come to play for me at Colorado, they come to play for me and the coaching staff that we’ve assembled. They hadn’t come to play for money because I let them know that will maintain you. That pro contract is gonna sustain you. So, we’re chasing that thing. And I don’t attract those type of kids that’s playing for a bag. I attract those type of kids that’s just playing because they love the game. That’s what I want. I don’t like that other thing. That other thing has disrupted a lot of things because kids nowadays are choosing a bag rather than a situation and a place that’s more conducive to their success. I wish they took a class on financial literacy. That should be mandatory in college sports as well as high school.”

Former Pro LB Jamie Collins Joining UNC Staff as Defensive Assistant

Former professional and All-Pro level LB Jamie Collins is joining UNC’s staff as a defensive assistant, according to new uncovered by TMZ Sports.

Collins went to Southern Miss, where he finished with 314 tackles, 21 sacks, and 3 interceptions, and 3 defensive touchdowns before being drafted with the No. 52 overall pick by Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

Across 10 seasons in the pros, Collins finished with 708 tackles, 26.5 sacks, 39 passes defended, 12 interceptions, 19 forced fumbles, 8 fumble recoveries, and 2 defensive touchdowns.

Details on Ryan Day’s New Extension from Ohio State

The Athletic’s Chris Vannini has shared some new details on Ryan Day’s new extension from Ohio State, including the $80.5M buyout that he now has in his contract.

This is the first big contract handed out by AD Ross Bjork since getting to Ohio State, who some will remember as being the AD which gave a big extension with a massive buyout to former Texas A&M Coach Jimbo Fisher.

Coach Ryan Day is now on a massive 7 year contract worth $87.5M total, or $12.5M annually.

Colorado, DC Robert Livingston Agree to 2 Year Extension Worth $1.55M Per Year

According to a report from ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg, Colorado and DC Robert Livingston have agreed to a 2-year contract extension worth $1.55 million per year.

This makes Coach Livingston the highest paid assistant in Colorado football history, as his previous deal was set to have him making $800,000 in 2024 and $995,000 in 2025.

In just one season at DC, Coach Livingston helped oversee a defensive improvement from 124th in scoring defense to 42nd. The total defense also improved from 130th nationally to 50th nationally in just one season.

3-Star QB Kayd Coffman Commits to Michigan State

3-Star quarterback Kayd Coffman committed to Michigan State last night over offers from Ole Miss, Syracuse, Duke, Iowa State, and others.

As for why he committed to Michigan State, he spoke on the relationship he had with coaches, sharing he really connected with QBs Coach Jon Boyer at Junior Day.

Ever since Michigan State offered Coffman in November, he said he’d been thinking about committing to Michigan State.

On3 is highest on Coffman, rating him as a 4-star and ranking him as the 22nd ranked QB in the 2026 class. But the On3 industry composite ranks him 423rd nationally and 27th at the QB position.

For Michigan State, this is just the 2nd commitment for the 2026 class, which means its recruiting class is still unranked, but now that the class has its quarterback, it will be interesting to see what that means for other prospects looking at Michigan State.

3-Star S Kaedyn Cobbs Commits to Illinois

3-Star safety Kaedyn Cobbs announced his commitment to Illinois yesterday morning, committing to Illinois over offers from Nebraska, Oklahoma State, and a few others.

Cobbs visited the Illini for a game back in October before hosting the Illinois staff at his high school recently.

Cobbs is seen the most positively by On3, which actually gives him a 4th star and ranks him 224th nationally and 16th at the safety position. But thanks to lower ratings on the other recruiting platforms, the On3 industry composite ranks Cobbs 470th nationally and 46th at the safety position.

Illinois has been performing well early in the 2026 recruiting cycle, as this is the Illini’s 9th commitment for a recruiting class which currently ranks 18th nationally and 6th in the Big Ten.

Louisville TE Grad Transfer Izayah Cummings Enters Transfer Portal

Louisville TE Izayah Cummings announced yesterday that he was entering the transfer portal as a grad transfer with one season of eligibility remaining.

Cummings spent 4 seasons at Kentucky, appearing in 47 games for the Wildcats before transferring to Louisville and appearing in 4 games this past season. With Kentucky, he caught 18 passes for 293 yards and 3 touchdowns, while with Louisville he caught 3 passes for 33 yards. His best season receiving, though, was with Kentucky in 2021, when he caught 14 of his 21 career passes and had 195 of his 326 career yards.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

2025 2-Star (78) ATH Jacob Williams commits to Navy

Unrated IOL Jordan Harrison commits to USF

2025 Unrated OT Maysan Neubauer commits to UNLV