Player Notes

5-6 minutes 7/28/2023Every offseason presumably features some self-discovery for major college football coaches. Every second of game film from the previous season is dissected, every mistake second-guessed.It’s been a standard part of the process for Alex Grinch during his two-plus decades in the business. But after his USC defense’s especially dismal finish last fall — and questions looming about ...

Staff writerPublished 7/28/2023 7:16:02 PMFriday dawned bright and hot without a cloud in the sky, and UMass football coach Don Brown was ecstatic to see the weather forecast. With the first game of the season at New Mexico State, Brown wants his team used to playing in high temps.“It was a Las Cruces day, because we were able to practice in the heat,” Brown said. “The weather report for the next week ...

Daniel AllenKevin Wilson's inaugural recruiting class as Tulsa's head coach continues to take its form.On Friday afternoon, the Golden Hurricane landed their sixth commitment of their 2024 class with the pledge of three-star safety, Ashton Williams.A standout prospect at Byron Nelson High School in Trophy Club, Texas – a distant suburb of Dallas -- Williams chose Tulsa over the likes of Texas Tech, ...

Edwin Spillman's journey from his native West African home of Sierra Leone to Nashville, Tennessee, has been well documented.But Spillman's full story is still a work in progress. The 6-foot-1, 216-pound Lipscomb Academy linebacker added a chapter to the story last week when he committed to Tennessee football, joining his brother Nate, who will begin his freshman year in Knoxville as a wide receiver.Spillman ...

Lipscomb Academy wasn't about to tip its hand during Friday's scrimmage against Pearl-Cohn, less than four weeks before the season opener against IMG Academy. The Mustangs pared down their offense and ran their base defense en route to a 12-0 scrimmage win over the Firebirds.Tennessee football commit and Mustangs star defensive back Kaleb Beasley is champing at the bit to play offense this season. ...

6:00 AM on Jul 29, 2023College football realignment tends to render more questions than answers. For one, why do conferences still insist on using numbers in their names? With Colorado’s pending departure from the Pac-12 to the Big 12, 2024 would see a nine-team Pac-12, a 13-team Big 12 and a 16-team Big Ten.We can’t even count on geographic conference names, with the Big Ten stretching from New Jersey ...

JULY 28, 2023 8:07 PMJalen Mayden’s ever-present smile seemed even wider, if that’s possible, when San Diego State football players stepped onto the practice field Friday afternoon for the first official workout of the 2023 season.It still hasn’t sunk in that he’s QB1.A year ago, he was like DB12.Mayden treats both roles the same.“It still feels like I’m competing for my job,” Mayden said. “I mean, ...

Oklahoma Spring Football Game — April 22, 2023Nicholas RutledgeOklahoma offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said that the Sooner offense is in a much better place than it was a year ago.He even threw out the phrase that seems to be a favorite coming out of the Oklahoma camp — competitive depth. It still remains to be seen how the perceived new depth will translate into winning more games.But as for the ...

Published Jul. 28, 2023, 6:00 a.m.By Nathan Baird,INDIANAPOLIS — Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said he simply had no other choice. Ohio State football coach Ryan Day may not have the option.The Wolverines’ preseason closed last August with the quarterback competition between Cade McNamara and J.J. McCarthy too close for Harbaugh to call. He couldn’t make a decision prior to the season opener against ...

Published Jul. 28, 2023, 8:09 p.m.By Stephen Means,COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline had a type on the recruiting trail when it came to wide receivers, then Marvin Harrison Jr. came along in the 2021 class.The four-star recruit was a bigger receiver who didn’t look like the other highly-rated players Hartline had been bringing in. He was a clear X-receiver as a bigger ...