Category: College Football

Feb 1, 2025; Orlando, FL, USA; New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) during AFC Practice for the Pro Bowl Games at Camping World Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye had a busy week in Orlando at the Pro Bowl, and he concluded by playing in Sunday’s game.

The rookie made some highlight plays on the day, including dropping a dime pass to Cincinnati Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase for his first Pro Bowl touchdown.

It was a beautifully placed deep throw in the corner of the end zone for Chase to haul in for points. He also linked up with fellow rookie wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. for another touchdown pass later in the game. That touchdown came on a dart over the middle of the field that fired right into Thomas’ hands.

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There were some bumps in the road for Maye in the game considering he threw two interceptions. With that said, it was all in fun on a mostly laid-back flag football game featuring some of the best players from the NFC and AFC.

More than anything, it was an exciting experience for a young quarterback like Maye, who has the potential to be one of the top players in the NFL someday.

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This article originally appeared on Patriots Wire: WATCH: Drake Maye throws dime in first Pro Bowl touchdown

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Jack Bech already had a lot of reasons to perform well at the Senior Bowl, but an unthinkable tragedy had given the TCU wideout even more incentive to stand out while competing against other NFL draft prospects. 

One of the top-ranked receivers in this year’s upcoming draft, Bech caught the game-winning touchdown in leading the American Team to a 22-19 win over the National Team. Bech’s big moment occurred a month to the day after his older brother, Martin “Tiger” Bech, was among the 14 killed in the terrorist attack in New Orleans. 

“My brother, if he could tell me one thing, it would be to get my ass ready, to keep on going, to keep pushing,” Bech recently said. “It’s just given me that extra motivation to come out here and chase greatness each day in his name and continue to live his legacy.”

Bech, who named as the game’s MVP after catching six passes for 68 yards, wore No. 7 during the Senior Bowl to honor his brother, a two-time All-Ivy performer at Princeton. A receiver and a dangerous returner for the Tigers, Martin Bech was part of Princeton’s 2016 and 2018 Ivy League Championship teams that included the Tigers’ first perfect season since 1964. 

“He was a ‘Tiger’ in every way – a ferocious competitor with endless energy, a beloved teammate and a caring friend,” Princeton head coach Bob Surace said of Tiger Bech last month. “Our last conversation was about how proud I was of the growth he showed during his time at Princeton and the success he was having after graduation. My love goes to the entire Bech family.”

During this past week, Bech used every…

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Wisconsin football extended an offer to top class of 2027 quarterback Jameson Purcell on Friday.

The Park Ridge, Illinois native is the program’s sixth reported quarterback offer in the class. The Badgers are looking to continue their talent pipeline at the position after landing top 2025 signal-caller Carter Smith.

Related: Final winter transfer portal destinations for every former Wisconsin Badger

Purcell has yet to receive a ranking from any of the major recruiting services. It’s still early in the class of 2027 cycle, however, as he and his class will only be high school juniors this upcoming fall. The class of 2026 cycle is set to dominate headlines and interest through December 2025.

Despite the early stage in the 2027 cycle, Purcell already has offers from top programs, including Auburn, Indiana, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisville, Miami, Nebraska, Oregon, Texas A&M, UCLA and Washington. Based on that early offer sheet, it’s safe to assume he will soon carry a strong positional ranking.

Wisconsin’s offer to Purcell is one to bookmark as the program puts together its class of 2026. New offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes and quarterbacks coach Kenny Guiton have reshaped the Badgers’ quarterback room since taking over, led by transfer additions Billy Edwards Jr. and Danny O’Neil, plus 2025 signee Smith.

The program’s high school recruiting at the position will dictate some of its future on-field success. 2025 will be Wisconsin’s third consecutive season with a one-year transfer starting the year (Edwards Jr). That reality must change in the near future if the program is to return to its classic eight-win standard in a tough Big Ten landscape.

Class of 2027 quarterback Jameson Purcell highlights

Jameson Purcell to Jacob Vitel for a 20-yard TD.

Maine South leads Naperville North 49-28 early in the 4Q.

Purcell has…

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MOBILE, Ala. — Watching former Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe perform at the Senior Bowl this week may be the ultimate Rorschach test for NFL executives and evaluators.

Do you fall in love with his big arm and athleticism that can make something out of nothing? Or are you scared off by his intermediate passing deficiencies and questions around whether he can process the game fast enough at the next level?

Milroe could be the most polarizing prospect in this year’s NFL Draft, the kind of player that can make a general manager look like a genius or have to look for a new job, especially if he drafts him in the first round. Some analysts, including CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso, think Milroe is indeed a Round 1 pick. 

The full Milroe experience, the one Alabama fans know all too well, has been on display in Mobile this week. He’s made big plays with his arm but also poor decisions like this interception on Wednesday. 

Milroe throws a beautiful deep ball but his intermediate passes seem to have too much speed on them. In his first few days in Mobile, it looked like he was having trouble keeping up with the speed of what was happening in front of him. There were rumblings that he hadn’t aced some of his meetings with NFL teams this week, either. 

“He’s not had the best week this week,” The Ringer’s Todd McShay said on his podcast. “Everything he’s still developing is what has been featured this week so, of course, it’s not going to be his shining moment the first two days of practice.” 

McShay thought Milroe looked better on Thursday and that was the general consensus of media and NFL folks inside Hancock Whitney Stadium. But it still wasn’t a standout performance. During one stretch of red zone offense, he went 0-for-3 on fade passes,…

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As I reach for my red pen to award grades for SEC football coaches, I worry that a few fellas might require remedial coursework after receiving their report card.

At least some SEC coaches are headed for the honor roll.

Here’s my season grade for each coach. Keep in mind grades are awarded on a curve. A 7-6 record at Vanderbilt resonates better than a 9-4 mark at Alabama.

Clark Lea: A

Vanderbilt beat Alabama, Auburn and Kentucky, then finished it off with a bowl victory against Georgia Tech. Forget the hot seat for Lea. Lifetime contract?

Steve Sarkisian: A-

Texas lost to its toughest opponents – twice to Georgia, and to Ohio State in a playoff semifinal. But, the Longhorns took care of business elsewhere. They beat Texas A&M, continued their upward trajectory and glided into the SEC.

Shane Beamer: A-

South Carolina’s win against Clemson cemented this as a season of celebration for the Gamecocks, and Beamer’s best record yet in Year 4 triggered a contract extension.

Josh Heupel: B+

By making the playoff, Tennessee met the bar of expectations. Include a win against Alabama, and the Vols experienced more good than bad. But Tennessee’s playoff flop sours the grade a bit.

Kirby Smart: B

Nobody has outperformed Smart in the sum of the past eight seasons, but this didn’t reflect his finest hour. Credit Georgia for capturing the SEC championship, but it was fortunate to avoid losing to Georgia Tech, then went poof in the playoff.

Billy Napier: B

Napier endured a season on the hot seat, surviving with a red-hot finish after a pitiful start. Four straight wins and quarterback DJ Lagway’s surge offer hope for the future.

Eliah Drinkwitz: B

It’s a testament to Drinkwitz that Missouri fans were left a bit unfulfilled after a 10-win season. The Tigers didn’t entirely cash in on a forgiving schedule. They lacked a signature…

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ESPN has exercised its opt-in clause with the ACC, extending its media rights deal with the league through 2036, the league announced Thursday. The news comes just before a Feb. 1 deadline that could have concluded the partnership in 2027.

The extension is a relief to those inside the ACC looking for stability in turbulent times at the highest ranks of college athletics. The deal was initially agreed upon in 2016, but that contract has been the subject of multiple lawsuits from Florida State and Clemson, making the opt-in deadline a hot-button topic for the league’s future. 

With the extension settled, the league can move forward with other business. That includes resolution for those lawsuits and revaluation of the league’s revenue structure. 

Big win for most ACC schools 

While Florida State and Clemson are engaged in a legal battle with the ACC to determine the actual cost of leaving the conference, they are not the only schools that would be deemed “valuable” on an open market. If the contract had concluded in 2027, there would be a handful of schools that would have opportunities to join other leagues. 

When the Pac-12 was unable to secure its future in the summer of 2023, Oregon and Washington found landing spots in the Big Ten. Shortly after, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah joined Colorado in a move to the Big 12. If the ACC were in a similar position, the schools with the strongest brand value would be candidates for further expansion in other conferences.

That would leave a significant number of the league’s 17 full members to the same fate as Washington State and Oregon State. Yes, those schools have preserved the Pac-12 name and intellectual property — along with some lingering financial benefits — and are moving ahead…

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BYU linebacker Jack Kelly (17) celebrates his interception against Houston in Provo on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024. Kelly has announced that he plans to return to BYU for one more season. | Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

A month after the BYU defense’s season-ending coup de grace against Colorado in the Alamo Bowl, coordinator Jay Hill’s unit continues to reap the rewards of an outstanding 2024 campaign.

Perhaps the most significant development is that it appears that all three starting linebackers — Isaiah Glasker, Jack Kelly and Harrison Taggart — are planning to return for more heroics in 2025. Throw in some solid backups such as Ace Kaufusi, Miles Hall and Siale Esera, and it might qualify as the most talented, deepest group of linebackers in recent BYU football history.

“Well, we have great players (returning),” Hill told BYUtv’s “Sports Nation” last week. “Keeping those guys around (was a priority). Jack is a good example of that. (He) is so important to us and our future successes and stuff. We need to keep the guys that have helped build it, and Jack is one of those guys.”

There was also some question regarding Glasker’s future plans — he was noncommittal from the podium after earning the bowl’s Defensive Player of the Game award — but the converted safety appeared at last Saturday’s basketball game at the Marriott Center with other team leaders when the football team was honored for its season and Kalani Sitake and Jake Retzlaff spoke to the crowd.

That’s probably a good sign for the Cougars.

How good was BYU’s defense in 2024? It was easily one of the better ones in program history, given the quality of competition — 11 of the 13 foes were Power Four schools — and what the season-ending statistics revealed.

BYU finished 13th in total defense, allowing 308.8 yards per game. It…

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In the hours preceding Ohio State’s eventual national championship victory, it was hard not to be transfixed watching a 6-foot-1 freshman quarterback throw the ball.

Spend a minute watching Julian Sayin throw the ball and you understand why he was ranked the No. 3 quarterback in the class of 2024, according to the 247Sports, behind only Florida’s DJ Lagway and Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola. The player Sayin reminded West Coast scout Greg Biggins of was JJ McCarthy, ironically enough. 

The ball effortlessly jumped out of Sayin’s hand as he showed off pinpoint accuracy warming up inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Sayin surely knew it would take a calamity — or a huge blowout — for him to actually play against Notre Dame in the title game but he more than looked the part dropping perfect pass after perfect pass into his receivers’ hands. 

If Ohio State is going to return to that setting next year, Sayin will be a big reason why. He doesn’t have the size of outgoing starting quarterback Will Howard (6-foot-4, 235-pounds) or incoming five-star quarterback Tavien St. Clair (6-foot-4, 225-pounds). 

But the way Sayin throws the ball and the preternatural calm that envelops his play, it’s easy to imagine how explosive the Ohio State offense can still be with star receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate coming back to Columbus. He looked every bit like the heir apparent on the night Ohio State finally broke through and won it all. 

“Jules is a great kid,” Ohio State quarterback Will Howard told CBS Sports. “From the moment he’s come in, he’s tried to be a sponge. He’s a quick learner and he processes really, really well for a freshman, better than a lot of guys I’ve seen. 

“The dude spins a ball like I’ve never seen a ball get spun before. When the…

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