Category: College Football

SAN DIEGO — J.D. Wicker is standing on the top concourse of one of the biggest parties in the country. What else would you call San Diego State’s new stadium, which equates to the latest lob pass for what the school hopes is a slam-dunk entry into the Pac-12?

On its best day, which projects to be every game day , college football is almost a sideshow in new Snapdragon Stadium. The main event is the craft brew-infused vibe that San Diego State’s athletic director has, well, crafted.

“There’s more bars in that stadium than there are in most cities,” said Aztecs coach Brady Hoke.

That isn’t entirely why San Diego State enters 2023 as the next hottest realignment candidate, but elite concessions certainly do not hurt. Taps or no taps, Wicker’s vision of a 35,000-seat boutique stadium reflecting the city’s culture, history, food and brew — built on one of the country’s most expensive pieces of real estate — was going up regardless.

Snapdragon opened last year on time and under budget — rebranding, renewing and rallying a 126-year-old institution. At the same time, in and around “America’s Finest City,” the planets have (re)aligned. When USC and UCLA left for the Big Ten, San Diego State in a flash became the best, brightest, most geographically desirable school to fill what is now a gaping hole in Southern California for the Pac-12.

After years of priming itself in hopes the West Coast’s flagship conference would notice, SDSU doesn’t have to flirt anymore. The moment has met SDSU, roaring down I-5 from Los Angeles to meet the school on what seems to be the Aztecs’ terms.

“We basically went from, ‘Hey, you’re doing a good job. Your break is coming,’ to, ‘You’re the only team in Southern California that plays FBS football that isn’t in…

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Which head coaches are going to new places and who should be the best of the lot? They might not be in a transfer portal, but like the top prospects, a few key coaches moved around.

Transfer Portal 2023 Rankings: Head Coaches

– Contact/Follow @ColFootballnews

Okay, okay, there isn’t a transfer portal for college football head coaches, but the ones at new gigs were out there in the mix – just like the players who switched schools – and they found new landing spots that will make them very, very big this season.

No, really. Why are there coaches lumped into a thing about the college football transfer portal? If you go through the lists of where all of the top prospects are going, the new head coaches in new places had a whole lot to do with the moves.

How do the head coaches who changed jobs rank? Who’ll make the biggest impact and who were the best gets of the bunch? There were six college football head coaches who left for other college football gigs, and we’ll throw in a former NFL head man, too.

2023 Transfer Portal Rankings
QB | RB | WR | TE | OT | OG/C
DE/EDGE | DT | LB | CB | Saf | Coaches

7 Scott Satterfield

New School: Cincinnati
Former School: Louisville

This worked for all sides. Louisville – at least parts of the fan base – was ready to move on, the school got the guy it wanted before hiring Satterfield, and the former guy landed in a sweet new gig. The pressure will be on, though. Satterfield didn’t exactly light it up at Louisville, and now he has to keep the success going at Cincinnati as it goes into the Big 12.

6 Jamey Chadwell

New School: Liberty
Former School: Coastal Carolina

This sort of makes sense. Think of it this way. Billy Napier turned Louisiana into a national thing and a Sun Belt powerhouse, and he parlayed that into the Florida job. Chadwell turned Coastal Carolina into a national…

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Good morning to everyone but especially to…

SCOTT ROLEN

The wait is over and the meteoric rise is complete for Scott Rolen. He is heading to the Baseball Hall of Fame after his sixth year on the ballot. He’ll join Fred McGriff, who was voted in by the Contemporary Era Committee in December, in the two-man 2023 class.

Over his 17-year career with the Phillies, Cardinals, Blue Jays and Reds, Rolen racked up seven All-Star Game nods, eight Gold Gloves, the 1997 NL Rookie of the Year and the 2001 Silver Slugger. He also won the 2006 World Series with St. Louis.Rolen’s 70.1 career WAR is 10th all-time among third basemen.Rolen received just 10.2% of the vote his first year on the ballot, lowest ever by a player eventually voted to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He received 76.3 percent this time around, five votes above the 75 percent threshold.

Rolen is unsure whether he’ll choose a Phillies or Cardinals hat for his plaque… or if he’ll have no logo at all. With 10 years eligibility available to players, it’s not all about who makes it. Gaining votes is a huge storyline, too — as evident by Rolen’s story — and several notable names did well there:

Todd Helton — 72.2 percent (11 votes shy of induction) in fifth yearBilly Wagner — 68.1 percent in eighth yearAndruw Jones — 58.1 percent in sixth year

Carlos Beltrán garnered 46.5 percent of the vote in his first year on the ballot, normally a solid number but, in this case, one complicated by his role in the Astros‘ cheating scandal. Where Beltrán’s vote share goes from here will be one of the biggest stories of the 2024 ballot, and our Matt Snyder examined what that ballot will look like here.

As for active players with Hall-of-Fame potential, Matt took a look at more than 50 names and…

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In Georgia’s most extensive comments on the wreck that killed football player Devin Willock and a recruiting staff member, athletic director Josh Brooks said Tuesday the two were not on department business at the time of the incident, which occurred after the Bulldogs celebrated their second straight national title.

The fatal wreck also left offensive lineman Warren McClendon with minor injuries and seriously injured another member of the recruiting staff.

The incident, which occurred in the early morning hours of Jan. 15 not far from the school’s Athens campus, has raised questions about the relationship between athletes and those who work in the athletic department.

“Out of respect for the families involved, we have refrained from making any public statements up to this point regarding the circumstances of the tragic accident that claimed two lives and injured two members of our campus community,” Brooks said in a statement.

“However, we want the public to know that the athletic department is conducting a thorough review, in coordination with appropriate legal counsel, to fully understand the circumstances surrounding this tragic event. We want to emphasize that these individuals were not engaged in athletic department duties around the time of this incident.”

An SUV driven by 24-year-old Chandler LeCroy, who worked in the recruiting department, left the road on a turn, sliced through a pair of utility poles, struck two trees and finally came to rest against an apartment building.

The 20-year-old Willock was ejected from the vehicle and pronounced dead the scene. LeCroy died a short time later after being taken to a nearby hospital.

McClendon, who had announced hours earlier he was entering the NFL draft, received a laceration to the middle of his head. The other university employee, Victoria Bowles,…

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The deadline for college football players across the country to declare for the 2023 NFL Draft has come and gone. I’m sorry if you intended to throw your name into the mix but slept through your alarm (college kids, am I right?), but it’s too late. Your punishment is that you have to stay in school for another year.

The NFL’s loss is college football’s gain, however. Some players weren’t eligible for the draft — the NFL has a rule requiring all players to be at least three years out of high school before entering the draft — while others took advantage of name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities to return for another season. Players return to iron out some kinks in their game and to make actual, legitimate money — perhaps more than they would’ve made as mid to late-round picks.

Who are the players coming back for another season that will be the talk of the draft process a year from now? I’ve put together a list of 20 names to follow ordered by position. No, I did not include every player in the country, so I’m sorry if the player on your team didn’t make the list. It does not mean I hate them. But I do love these players, so let’s get to them. 

Caleb Williams, QB, USC: If Williams was eligible to go to the NFL this spring, odds are he’d be the favorite to go No. 1 overall. NFL teams are always looking for comps with prospects, and Williams is truly the most Patrick Mahomes-like quarterback in the college game. That’s not to say he’s as good as, or will be as good as, Mahomes in the NFL. But Williams does a lot of similar things to Mahomes. Oh, and he won the Heisman while playing for a coach in Lincoln Riley who has helped mold multiple Heisman winners and No. 1 draft picks. Rest assured, NFL scouts will spend the next year picking him…

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With the first transfer portal window coming to a close, The Athletic looked at how each SEC East team fared, with the Florida Gators categorized as a “turnstile team”.

The transfer portal’s first six-week winter window closed on Jan. 18, meaning that all nongraduates who wished to enter the portal had to do so by that date. Graduate transfers are eligible to enter the portal at any time.

But just because there are limits to when you can enter your name in the portal, doesn’t mean that’s the only time a player can sign with a new program — players who are currently in the portal can sign with any school of their choice. So don’t expect the commitment announcements to slow down any time soon.

Here is what The Athletic’s G. Allen Taylor had to say about the roster turnover in Gainesville:

Total portal arrivals/departures: 7/23

Key portal arrivals: QB Graham Mertz (Wisconsin), G Micah Mazzccua (Baylor), T Damieon George (Alabama), CamRon Jackson (Memphis), DL Caleb Banks (Louisville), LB Teradja Mitchell (Ohio State), LB Deuce Spurlock (Michigan)

Key portal departures: G Ethan White (undecided), DB Tre’Vez Johnson (Missouri), T Michael Tarquin (USC), CB Avery Helm (TCU), DT Jalen Lee (LSU), Donovan McMillon (Pitt), TE Nick Elksnis (South Carolina)

The outgoing volume looks jarring. In reality, many of the players leaving were caught up in a rebuild and weren’t courted intensely to stay. Among the exceptions were White and Johnson, both multi-year starters. Tarquin struggled to distinguish himself in four years at Florida but certainly factored into next season’s plans, given the depth issues at tackle.

The analysis Taylor writes up here is spot on. The roster turnover was to be expected. The number discrepancy is also aligned with Billy Napier’s “quality over quantity” approach…

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Back on the road again to another all-star event, this time it’s the Tropical Bowl in Orlando, Florida. What makes this game unique this year is that they’ve added two additional days to the front end of the week, where guys who just missed the regular Tropical Bowl roster got to compete in a two-day practice and scrimmage format in front of the scouts from all across the professional football ranks.

Some guys who performed well were rewarded with a call up to the regular Tropical Bowl week. Don’t forget that we will have scouting reports on all of these guys, which you can at www.footballgameplan.com/2023DraftGuide.

With a lot on the line for these guys, it yielded some spirted and competitive days of work under the Florida sun.

Tropical Bowl scrimmage

CB Prince Washington: 5-7 175, Sacramento State

Don’t let the size fool you — Washington plays a big man’s game out on the perimeter. He competes really well, and competed extremely well during 1-on-1s, 7-on-7s and team periods. Really impressive week for the former Hornet.

CB Darius Williams: 5-9 189, Texas A&M-Commerce

The Lions had three defensive prospects in this game, and all three guys put TAMU-Commerce on the map. Williams, the son of the late, former Denver Broncos star Darrent Williams, was simply outstanding in coverage. At times you thought he was the receiver with how well he covered the route. I also thought his ball skills were top notch.

CB Natrone Brooks: 5-9 165, Southern Miss

Speaking of top-notch ball skills, Brooks showed that he had that as well with his requisite ball instincts and awareness in coverage. He was in the running for the best defensive back of the week with how well and consistent he performed. 

CB Tye Freeland: 5-9 191, William & Mary

My colleague and…

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For a majority of the 2023 recruiting cycle, Michigan State fans expected that Bo Edmundson was going to be the quarterback of the recruiting class. Edmundson committed to MSU in early February, and stayed committed until November, when the two sides decided the fit wasn’t right and parted ways.

Since parting ways, Edmundson has reopened his recruitment and has now found a new home for his college career. After a visit to Las Vegas, Edmundson has officially committed to UNLV of the Mountain West.

Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Cory Linsner on Twitter @Cory_Linsner.

More Recruiting!

2024 4-star, top 50 PF Aiden Sherrell includes MSU basketball in top 8 list

Story originally appeared on Spartans Wire

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