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.

Penn State Transfer WR Omari Evans Commits to Washington

Penn State transfer WR Omari Evans committed to Washington yesterday for his final season of eligibility.

Evans was one of two starting WRs for Penn State to transfer, finishing the 2024 season with 21 catches for 415 yards and 5 touchdowns.

Tennessee, Syracuse, and Texas Tech were all also heavily involved for Evans out of the portal.

According to the On3 transfer portal rankings, Evans is ranked as the 90th ranked WR but was the 6th ranked WR still uncommitted.

Auburn Expected to Hire Former GA Southern HC Chad Lunsford as Special Teams Coordinator

According to a report from CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz, Auburn is expected to hire former Georgia Southern Head Coach and recent FAU Interim Coach Chad Lunsford to be its new Special Teams Coordinator.

Lunsford has worked for Auburn in the past, being in the Director of Scouting and Player Personnel from 2009-13. The Auburn job opened up at the Special Teams Coordinator position after the previous Special Teams Coordinator, Tanner Burns, left the staff to go be the AHC, Special Teams Coordinator, and a Defensive Assistant for Texas State.

Notre Dame WR Jayden Thomas Enters Transfer Portal

Notre Dame is losing a veteran WR to the transfer portal, as Jayden Thomas has entered the portal.

Thomas finished the season with 18 receptions for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns, but he has a career statline of 64 catches for 838 yards and 7 touchdowns in the last 3 seasons.

Thomas enters the transfer portal with one year of eligibility remaining.

TV Ratings for National Championship: 22.1M Average Viewers

An average of 22.1M viewers watched the National Championship between Ohio State and Notre Dame.

This is the most watched non-NFL sporting event since last year’s National Championship, when Washington and Michigan averaged 25.05M viewers.

The game did peak at 26.1M viewers from 8:30 PM to 8:45 PM EST.

This caps off a Playoff where the Rose Bowl reached 21.1M viewers, the Cotton Bowl became the most watched Cotton Bowl ever, and the Orange Bowl became the second most watched Orange Bowl in the last 20 years.

Clemson DL Demonte Capehart Returning for 2025 After Waiver Approved

Clemson DL Demonte Capehart had some good news for Clemson-faithful after he took to social media to share that he was back for the 2025 season, and that his waiver was approved.

Capehart had a strong season this year, which was causing him to generate some late Draft buzz as a potential Day 3 pick.

In his last 2 seasons, Capehart finished with 36 tackles, 7 tackles for loss, a sack, 3 pass deflections, and a forced fumble. And in 5 seasons with Clemson, Capehart has a career statline of 51 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 3 pass deflections, and a forced fumbled.

ESPN’s Matt Miller: Ewers a Name to Watch Rising in Pre-Draft Process

ESPN’s Matt Miller is currently predicting that Texas QB Quinn Ewers is a name to pay attention to moving forward during the pre-Draft process.

“I’ll say the name to watch through the pre-draft process – someone always rises – Texas’ Quinn Ewers. He did not have the year he wanted … but when you talk to scouts, they talk about, who’s a clean prospect that could rise throughout this process? Ewers was, at one time, one of the highest-rated high school prospects of all time. Now, did the career go at Texas like he wanted? Maybe not statistically, but they were in the College Football Playoff semifinals in back-to-back years. Ewers is going to be an interesting name to watch. We know there are some inconsistencies there. But the tools that made him that five-star prep player are certainly still there.”

Texas A&M Hires James Madison’s DC Lyle Hemphill to Defensive Staff

Texas A&M and Coach Mike Elko are expected to hire James Madison’s DC Lyle Hemphill as a Senior Defensive Assistant coach according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Coach Hemphill has experience working with Coach Elko, having served as Safeties Coach and Co-DC of Coach Elko’s Duke teams from 2022-23. He also spent 5 seasons as DC at Wake Forest from 2017-21, and was the Co-DC and Safeties Coach in 2024 at James Madison.

Coach Hemphill will be working under second-year DC and LBs Coach Jay Bateman.

Former USC Legend Reggie Bush Fighting to Get USC’s 2004 BCS National Championship Trophy Back

Legendary USC RB Reggie Bush and the Trojans won the 2004 BCS National Championship 55-19 in a dominant performance over Oklahoma. In 2010, the NCAA stripped USC of the entire 2004 season after determining that Bush received “improper benefits” which would now be legal in the age of NIL.

Now, after Bush was able to successfully petition the Heisman Trust to return his 2005 Heisman, he is “extremely optimistic” that a 2023 defamation lawsuit against the NCAA will result in a reinstatement of the vacated wins and rescinded awards, including the BCS National Championship trophy.

Of it, Bush shared, “we deserve our place in history and to be recognized as one of the greatest teams ever to come through college football.”

The NCAA issued a statement in 2021 indicating it would not re-evaluate any previous infractions, pointing out updated NIL rules still prohibit pay-for-play, which implied that Bush’s benefits were still illegal. This statement led Bush to sue for defamation in a lawsuit which is still pending.

Mel Kiper Jr. Predicts Miami QB Cam Ward Will Be #1 Pick

Mel Kiper Jr. predicts Miami QB Cam Ward will be the number one pick in the 2025 NFL Draft this spring.

Kiper admitted he has Shedeur Sanders higher on his board, but he thinks that there are a few reasons to go with Ward over Sanders.

“I think it’s the arm strength – the superior arm strength with Cam Ward. He can make all the throws. All those different arm angles that he throws from. Shedeur is old school. He’s a traditional pocket passer. I love Shedeur. But I think the arm strength, and those angles, and the mobility – he can beat you with his legs, he can do that. Now, Shedeur can roll right, roll left, and make accurate throws. But the ability to run… I just think arm strength and mobility … may give him a slight edge in terms of where he goes in the draft.”

Mel Kiper Jr. Predicts Shedeur Sanders Will Be 3rd Pick to Giants, but Raiders Could Trade Up

Mel Kiper Jr.’s first mock draft came out yesterday with Shedeur Sanders being the 3rd overall pick with the Giants, with Ward 1st and Travis Hunter 2nd.

As for why the Giants, Kiper thinks it’s a fit that makes sense for the scheme the Giants are looking for, “And I think when you look at number three and you’re the New York Giants, people say, hey, Brian Daboll likes mobile quarterbacks. Well, hey, in Baltimore they had Joe Flacco and then went to Lamar Jackson. Won with them both. Why not Shedeur Sanders? He’s surgical in the way he goes about his business. He completes a high percentage of his passes.”

Kiper continued, about Sanders’ skillset, “He’s a guy certainly super tough in that pocket, great instincts, and awareness as well. To me, Shedeur Sanders, with the ability, has that magic when he throws that football, it would make sense with the New York Giants.”

However, Kiper plans on projecting trades in a few months, and he sees the Raiders as maybe wanting to move up to get their guy at QB, saying, “I’m interested to see one thing, and I almost did it. I’ll wait ‘til April to do trades. I almost had the Raiders going up from six to two to get Shedeur Sanders ahead of the Giants. I think Tom Brady will see a little bit of himself in Shedeur. We know they have a relationship. I think Shedeur Sanders with the Raiders by moving up from six to two could be something in the cards, possibly.”

Other Commitments/Decommitments

2026 3-Star (88) WR Jameson Powell commits to Ole Miss

2026 3-Star (88) WR Kamarie Smith commits to Sacramento State

2026 3-Star (87) WR Nate Sims commits to Kansas

3-Star (85) LB Sullivan Schlimgen flips from South Dakota State to Washington State

3-Star (85) WR Jaylin Carter commits to Southern Miss

2026 3-Star (85) QB Angelo Renda commits to Pitt

3-Star (84) ATH Erimus Wright commits to Washington State

3-Star (84) QB Jackson Kilburg commits to Colgate

3-Star (83) RB Connor Mathews decommits from UMass

3-Star (81) IOL Dylan Hildebrand commits to Washington State

3-Star (80) OT Jorden Cunningham commits to Washington State

2-Star (79) TE Josh Wedel flips from South Dakota State to Washington State

2-Star (77) EDGE Manaalii Danielson commits to Cal Poly

2-Star (75) IOL Mason Wendt commits to Missouri Western State

Unrated IOL Trevor Bindel commits to Washington State

2026 Unrated DL Maddox Flynt commits to TCU