Big 12 Notes

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Big 12 Notes – Spring/Summer

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May 20th

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ESPN rates Big 12 quarterbacks: Kaidon Salter/Julian Lewis a “Tier 9” QB room

From ESPN … There’s plenty of star power in the 2025 quarterback class. Carson Beck, Cade Klubnik and Drew Allar return. Kevin Jennings, Maddux Madsen and Sam Leavitt led playoff teams and are back for more. Oh, and there’s some guy named Manning who’ll finally get his shot to start at Texas.

But after the past few years in which blue bloods routinely chased veterans in the transfer portal, we’re about to enter a season in which Michigan, Georgia, Texas, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama and Ole Miss expect to start guys with little or no experience as QB1.

After COVID-19 rules allowed players to stick around for five, six or even seven years in college, 2025 represents the unofficial end point of the bonus year — unless you’re Diego Pavia, who might play until he’s eligible to collect social security.

Meanwhile, some of last season’s most disappointing QB stories — Miller Moss, Conner Weigman, Jackson Arnold — will get a chance to rewrite their script with new teams this season.

It all shapes up to be one of the more intriguing seasons at the game’s most important position.

But luckily, we’ve done the heavy lifting of sifting through the depth charts of all 136 FBS teams, digging deep into the stats, and consulted our Magic Eight Ball to rank every QB situation in the country by tiers.

From the Big 12 … 

Tier 2: Pretty darned good:
– Arizona State (Sam Leavitt, Jeff Sims)
– Baylor (Sawyer Robertson, Walker White)
– Iowa State (Rocco Becht, Connor Moberly)

Tier 3: Buckle up:
– Kansas (Jalon Daniels, Cole Ballard)
– TCU (Josh Hoover, Ken Seals)
– Texas Tech (Behren Morton, Mitch Griffis)

Tier 6: Second time’s the charm:
– Kansas State (Avery Johnson, Jacob Knuth)

Tier 7: Consistently consistent:
– BYU (Jake Retzlaff, Bear Bachmeier)
– Cincinnati (Brendan Sorsby, Brady Lichtenberg)

Tier 8a: Fresh starts: veteran edition:
– Houston (Conner Weigman, Zeon Chriss)

Tier 9: Welcome to the big leagues:
– Colorado (Kaidon Salter, Julian Lewis)
– Utah (Devon Dampier, Brendan Zurbrugg, Isaac Wilson, Nate Johnson)

Tier 10: One more try:
– Arizona (Noah Fifita, Braedyn Locke)

Tier 11: Room for improvement:
– West Virginia (Nicco Marchiol, Jaylen Henderson, Max Brown)

Tier 12: What’s in the box?:
– Oklahoma State (Hauss Hejny, Zane Flores)

Tier 15a: We used to be somebody: top recruit edition:
– UCF (Tayven Jackson, Jacurri Brown, Davi Belfort, Cam Fancher)

… Read full story here …

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May 19th

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Could the Big 12 be a two-bid CFP conference in 2025?

From CBS Sports … What if I told you the Big 12 could get two teams in this season’s College Football Playoff without the charitable offer of two auto bids from the Big Ten and SEC? I know, it sounds odd given the national view of the conference, but I’m here to tell you it’s more likely than you think.

The Big 12 is a fascinating case study in college football fandom. It’s everything a lot of fans tell you they want from college football. There’s no “big brand bias” in the league because now that Texas and Oklahoma are gone, there are no big brands in the league to be biased toward. It’s also a league of tremendous parity.

If you look at projected win totals for the Big 12 in 2025, no team in the league has a projected win total higher than 8.5 or lower than 5.5. You can’t find anything remotely close to that congestion in a Group of Five league let alone the other Power Four leagues.

The congestion has a downside, though. If you head to your local sportsbook and scroll down the list of national title futures, you’ll see at least 20 schools before you come across a single Big 12 school — and one of them is SMU!

I won’t pretend there aren’t good reasons for this. If you want to win the national title, you need great players, and any look at recent NFL Drafts will tell you that when it comes to talent, the Big 12 lags a bit behind the Big Ten and SEC. However, I’m not here to explain how the Big 12 can win a national title; I’m here to tell you how it could get multiple teams into the College Football Playoff.

How Big 12 can earn more College Football Playoff bids

QB depth is key

The first part of it is simple. Quarterback remains the most important position in the sport, and the Big 12 has an argument that it’s the deepest league in the country at the position. There are 16 teams in the league and 10 have a returning starter. That includes the starters at seven of the top nine teams in last year’s Big 12 standings. Among the four teams that finished 7-2 in league play, only Colorado (Shedeur Sanders) lost its starter. Arizona State (Sam Leavitt), BYU (Jake Retzlaff) and Iowa State (Rocco Becht) are all running it back.

Questions abound in other conferences

Last year, the SEC only got three teams into the field. If both the SEC and Big Ten get four in this season, that leaves four spots and only one at-large spot (the ACC champ, Big 12 champ, and G5 champ take the other three). The Big 12 could still get that at-large, but it would need Notre Dame to have an unexpectedly awful season and for the ACC not to have a strong second team. The ACC section of that hypothetical seems more likely, but there’s another factor worth considering.

How confident are you the Big Ten will get four teams in? Don’t forget Indiana was one of the Big Ten’s four teams last season, and few people saw it coming. Heading into 2025, how many Big Ten teams are you confident about reaching the playoff? Outside of Oregon, Ohio State and Penn State, who are you willing to really get behind? Sure, Michigan could recover, but Illinois and Indiana are seen as the next likely candidates. No offense to those two, but nobody who pays attention to college football would be shocked if Illinois and Indiana fail to reach the playoff.

Performance in nonconference games

The Big 12 would do itself a tremendous favor by performing well in nonconference games. The league only went 5-8 in 13 regular season games against the ACC, Big Ten and SEC. When it comes to comparing resumes for at-large spots, that simply isn’t good enough. Fair or not, the perception of the Big 12 is the perception and will be until the league changes that, and the only way to do so is on the field.

That means winning high-profile games against the likes of Auburn, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Oregon and SMU.

… Read full story here …

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May 15th

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CBS 100 Day Countdown: CU now judged by results “like everyone else”

From CBS Sports … Every year, dating back to 2014, we here at CBS Sports have taken the opportunity to celebrate the impending arrival of college football with a comprehensive list of stories, predictions, burning questions, names and games to note for the upcoming season. This 100-Day Countdown is as much a part of our year as media days or the start of fall camp; we’ve wrapped up spring practice but not quite gotten into the business of putting pen to paper when it comes to our final projections for what’s to come in the season ahead.

May is a time for meandering, discussion and debate as we consider what’s ahead in a 2025 college football season that will no doubt be loaded with results that prove us wrong and performances that make the sport feel right. In 100 days we will have college football, and even if there are only a handful of FBS games on the Week Zero slate, the schedule includes a conference game between conference title hopefuls in a foreign country — Kansas State vs. Iowa State in Dublin, Ireland. When you consider those factors, it’s hard not to be romantic about this big, dumb sport that we love so much.

So, we’re back at it with 100 names, games and talking points to set the stage for the season ahead as we sit 100 days away from Week Zero in the 2025 college football season.

Prominent storylines

4. The post-Travis Hunter, Shedeur Sanders era at Colorado

Speaking of week-by-week check-ins, two straight years of the Deion Sanders Colorado football experience have brought unprecedented attention to the Buffs and levels of real success not foreseen for a program that was 1-11 as recently as 2022. Travis Hunter’s run to a Heisman Trophy, Colorado finishing in a four-way tie for first place in the Big 12 standings and much more of 2024’s breakthrough normalized having one of football’s biggest stars wearing the headset on the sideline at the power conference level. The individual successes of Hunter and Shedeur Sanders drew some of the attention away from Coach Prime, and our discussions pivoted to football instead of focusing on what had been viewed as unorthodox methods of flipping the roster through the transfer portal.

Two notable things have happened since Sanders first told a meeting room full of players that he was “bringing his Louis” that have changed how we view that transition now. The first, and most important, is that his methods produced results in the form of nine wins and a top-25 finish last season. But also because of the changing portal and NIL rules, we have now seen similar roster overhauls in the wake of coaching changes. First-year coaches at Purdue, West Virginia, UCF and North Carolina will have transfer portal classes that, according to 247Sports, range between 39 and 53 players with Barry Odom (53) and Rich Rodriguez (52) each taking at least 50 transfers.

That first Colorado portal class was a never-before-seen outlier, but given the recent trends, the Buffs portal-heavy approach is not a differentiator. Colorado has also boosted its high school recruiting prowess since Sanders arrived, giving evidence that this is a staff looking to build the future and not just for the upcoming fall. Now, Colorado is judged by results, like everyone else, but without a Travis Hunter Heisman push or Shedeur Sanders NFL Draft storylines, the attention will fall back to the superstar head coach. Colorado is 10th on the odds board to win the Big 12 (+2700) and have a preseason win total of 6.5, so another first place finish might not be the expectation, but this should again be a winning season for Coach Prime.

8. Parity will NOT rule the day in the Big 12: We have a running bit on the Cover 3 Podcast discussing the Big 12 and its upside-down nature, where no team should be favored by more than a touchdown against any other team and literally any set of results is believable because the league is a “random number generator.” That certainly held up last season as three of the four teams that finished tied for first in the Big 12 league standings were picked 11th (Colorado), 13th (BYU) and 16th (Arizona State, the eventual champion) in the preseason media poll. The inverse also held true as four of the top five teams in the preseason media poll — Utah, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Arizona — failed to even make a bowl game in 2024.

But, I think 2025 will be a break from that trend, with not only some clear tiers to the league but the preseason favorites actually holding up their end of expectations in terms of being at the top of the conference. Arizona State, Kansas State and Texas Tech are currently the betting co-favorites to win the Big 12, and while teams like TCU, Iowa State, Kansas, Baylor and Utah will all provide stiff competition, I do think the winner of the conference comes from that trio. Arizona State might have been a little bit ahead of schedule with its Year 2 success under Kenny Dillingham, but arriving early does not mean the Sun Devils have to leave the company of contenders anytime soon, Texas Tech has loaded up the roster in the transfer portal, and Kansas State was a couple of head-scratching upset losses away from fulfilling its expectations last season. If Avery Johnson and the Wildcats can clean up some of those costly errors, it won’t take much to be a contender not just for a Big 12 title but being an at-large selection to the College Football Playoff.

… Read full story here …

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ESPN’s 100 storylines 100 days out from the season includes CU headlines

From ESPN … One hundred days from now, the college football season will officially begin. Week 0 will kick off on Aug. 23 with an international edition of Farmageddon as Big 12 hopefuls Iowa State and Kansas State meet in Dublin.

While we’re counting down days until the season starts, it’s never too early to look at storylines, players and coaches who should define 2025. We’ll even make some wild predictions.

This year, we’ll see six-time Super Bowl-winning coach Bill Belichick make his college football coaching debut at North Carolina and star QB Nico Iamaleava debut at UCLA after a dramatic transfer portal exit from Tennessee.

We’ll see former Georgia QB Carson Beck at Miami (if he’s healthy) and Arch Manning-mania officially kicks off at the Horseshoe when SEC favorite Texas travels to face Ohio State, the reigning College Football Playoff national champions.

Our ESPN college football reporters have put together 10 lists of 10 things to know (100 in total!) ahead of the college football season.

10 must-know storylines

4. Deion without Hunter and Shedeur at Colorado: The Colorado Buffaloes proved a lot of the skeptics wrong last year by posting a nine-win season and losing out on a chance to play in the Big 12 title game due to a tiebreaker. It was a remarkable improvement over the previous season, when Colorado finished in last place in the Pac-12. But for Deion Sanders, here’s where the real test probably begins. Even with a generational talent in Travis Hunter and a dynamic quarterback with his son, Shedeur Sanders, the Buffaloes were still just 13-12 over the past two seasons. They masked a lot of issues. Without them, the team’s on-field identity will inevitably evolve. And with that, we’ll also likely get a better understanding of how committed Coach Prime is to the job long term.

10 coaches to watch

5. Deion Sanders, Colorado: The spotlight has been on Sanders since he arrived in Boulder, and Year 3 will be no different. What will be new: He no longer will be coaching his sons Shedeur Sanders and Shilo Sanders, or 2024 Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Phase 2 of Coach Prime at CU will feature a team trying to build on a nine-win season and challenge for the Big 12 title. A quarterback competition featuring Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter, decorated incoming freshman Julian Lewis and holdover Ryan Staub adds intrigue.

10 potential first-time CFP teams

7. Texas Tech: This might come as a surprise to those unfamiliar with the program, but coach Joey McGuire has landed one of the top transfer portal classes in the country, and the overall financial backing of the program has been significant in recent years. The Red Raiders reportedly spent more than $10 million to sign 17 players, with a focus on both lines. If they can avoid upsets and earn a winning record against Arizona State, K-State and BYU, the Red Raiders can be a surprise Big 12 — and CFP — contender.

6. Kansas State: If the Wildcats beat Iowa State in their season opener in Dublin, Ireland, they’ll take the early lead as the Big 12’s best playoff hope. The return of quarterback Avery Johnson is significant, as the dual-threat player racked up 3,317 yards of offense and 32 touchdowns. Expectations are even higher in his second season as the starter.

5. BYU: The Cougars were another fringe playoff contender last year, and will have to win on the road to take the next step. They have tough trips to Colorado, Iowa State and Texas Tech, but they return top talent in quarterback Jake Retzlaff, running back LJ Martin, and receivers Chase Roberts and Keelan Marion.

4. Iowa State: In another wide-open Big 12 race, the Cyclones return enough talent to win the school’s first conference title in 113 years. Iowa State is coming off its first 11-win season, and quarterback Rocco Becht is back, along with top tailbacks Carson Hansen and Abu Sama III. Home games against BYU and Arizona State gave it the edge here.

10 freshmen to watch

6. Julian Lewis, QB, Colorado: Lewis, a long-time USC pledge, ended a lengthy recruiting saga with his flip to coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes last November. A 39-game starter in high school, Lewis enters a quarterback battle in 2025 with Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter. Given Salter’s experience and Lewis’ age after reclassifying from the 2026 cycle, Lewis might need to be patient in Year 1, but his time will come at Colorado.

… Read full story here …

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May 14th

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Report: Big 12/ACC may be willing to give up first round CFP byes to conference champions

From CBS Sports … The College Football Playoff’s power brokers are nearing consensus to change the seeding process next season and eliminate first-round byes for conference champions, sources told CBS Sports.

The “straight seeding” proposal has gained support from the ACC and Big 12 in recent weeks, sources said. On Wednesday, ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said for the first time that the format “may be the right thing for us to consider.” CFP administrators must approve the proposal, which could happen within the next month, sources said. The proposal requires unanimous approval from the 10 FBS conferences and Notre Dame to be enacted for the 2025-26 season.

The Big Ten and SEC openly supported a shift to straight seeding during a meeting between conference athletic directors and administrators in March.

The CFP expanded to 12 teams for the 2024 season, with the top four conference champions receiving first-round byes. Starting in 2025, straight seeding would eliminate those automatic byes and instead reward the top four teams in the CFP selection committee’s final rankings.

The 12-team format’s contract expires at the end of the upcoming season. Discussions about expanding the field to 14 or 16 teams — with multiple automatic qualifiers reserved for the four power conferences — have been ongoing for months. Administrators are hopeful a format will be approved by the time CFP officials meet June 18.

… Continue reading story here …

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May 13th

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NCAA President open to Presidential commission: “I’m up for anything that can help us get somewhere”

From ESPN … NCAA president Charlie Baker said Monday he was “up for anything” when asked about a President Donald Trump-proposed commission on collegiate athletics.

Reports surfaced last week that Trump was going to create the commission.

While his conversations at ACC meetings with league football coaches, men’s and women’s basketball coaches, athletic directors and other school officials focused on governance and the pending House settlement, Baker was asked during an informal media availability for his thoughts on the presidential commission.

“I think the fact that there’s an interest on the executive side on this, I think it speaks to the fact that everybody is paying a lot of attention right now to what’s going on in college sports,” Baker said.

“I’m up for anything that can help us get somewhere.”

… Continue reading story here …

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May 12th

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ESPN: CU has the No. 12 Top Newcomer Class in the nation

… Not bad for a program which has the fan base wringing its hands over how poorly the coaching staff has done in bringing in talent this off-season … 

From ESPN … While annual College Football Playoff contenders like Georgia, Alabama and Ohio State are ace recruiters, elite recruiting isn’t the only path to becoming a top program.

The transfer portal has changed how programs build rosters. Some schools go all-in every offseason to overhaul their rosters through the portal, while others use the portal to add depth to a position or target major transfers who could take a team from great to national champion.

And now that spring football and the spring transfer portal period are over, we can look at the best groups of newcomers. When looking at modern roster development, it’s important to consider the combination of recruiting class and success in the portal.

This ranking is the top 25 groups of newcomers — recruits and transfers combined — based on who could see the most impactful immediate returns for 2025.

From the Big 12 (only two teams) … 

5. Texas Tech Red Raiders

Top impact recruits: WR Leyton Stone, WR Michael Dever, WR Bryson Jones

The Red Raiders signed a solid class, but transfers are expected to make the majority of the immediate impact. They also bring back good production at wide receiver, but in a high-powered passing attack with an experienced quarterback in Behren Morton, there’s always opportunity for young players to jump in and contribute. Although he didn’t enroll early, Jones, a four-star, is the highest-ranked receiver in the recruiting class and could work his way into the rotation.

Top transfers: DE David Bailey, DE Romello Height, DL Lee Hunter, DL Skyler Gill-Howard, WR Reggie Virgil, TE Terrance Carter, OT Will Jados, OL Howard Sampson

Few teams were more active and successful in the portal this offseason than Texas Tech, which finished with ESPN’s top-ranked transfer portal class. Much of that activity focused on improving a defense that ranked near the bottom nationally in several categories.

Adding Bailey from Stanford was a big addition. He already has 14.5 career sacks. Along with Height, Hunter and Gill-Howard, they can revitalize Texas Tech’s defensive front.

Virgil and Carter, who caught 48 passes last season for Louisiana, should pair nicely with returning targets Coy Eakin and Caleb Douglas, who combined for more than 100 catches. To help better protect Morton, Texas Tech landed several potential offensive line starters, with Jados and Sampson poised to man tackle spots.

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12. Colorado Buffaloes

Top impact recruits: QB Julian Lewis, DE London Merritt, WR Quentin Gibson, WR Quanell X. Farrakhan Jr.

Lewis, a five-star recruit, is one of the most heralded quarterbacks in the ESPN recruiting era. He headlines Colorado’s recruiting class and arrives with all the tools to set records in Boulder. Lewis could work his way into the mix as the season progresses.

Farrakhan might see the field before any other freshman, as either a returner or rotating outside receiver. He brings big-play speed, great hands and good football instincts to the Buffs. Gibson is small in stature but is coming off a monster senior season when he had more than 2,000 receiving yards with 36 touchdowns. At 5-foot-9, 155 pounds, his lack of physical stature could limit his initial role, but he’s another electric option in the return game and an offensive weapon if coordinator Pat Shurmur can create ways to get him the ball in space.

Top transfers: QB Kaidon Salter, OT Xavier Hill, WR Joseph Williams, WR Sincere Brown, OL Zylon Crisler, OL Akinola Ogunbiyi

Salter arrives from Liberty as a more dynamic runner than his predecessor, Shedeur Sanders, especially when making plays outside the pocket. He’s not that far behind Sanders’ accuracy, either. Salter’s presence allows the five-star Lewis to develop patiently in his first year without immediate pressure.

The offensive line has undergone a near-complete overhaul, though it’s too early to say whether it will be better than last year’s group. At 6-foot-4, 318 pounds, Hill, a Memphis transfer, has impressive mobility for his massive size and can play either guard or tackle. Brown was a key spring addition who caught 61 passes for 1,028 yards and 12 scores at Campbell last year. His production will translate to the Big 12 and, at the very least, in the red zone, where the 6-foot-5 receiver has great ball skills.

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… Read full story here …

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May 10th

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List of “Bleakest” QB rooms includes three Big 12 teams (no, not CU)

From CBS Sports … Looking around the post-spring landscape, there are a lot of really good quarterbacks in college football. After a down year — from the NFL Draft perspective, at least — in 2024, the 2025 season is shaping up as solid for the most important position on the field.

Players like LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Penn State’s Drew Allar and Clemson’s Cade Klubnik eschewing the draft for another year at their respective schools certainly helps the perception. As does the arrival of Texas’ Arch Manning, the most ballyhooed recruit in recent memory who finally gets his chance to start in the wake of Quinn Ewers’ departure.

Even prominent schools embroiled in quarterback competitions like Alabama and Ohio State have a wealth of promising options. While there are fair conversations to be had about increased talent inequality in the modern era of college football, the transfer portal makes finding a serviceable quarterback easier.

Unfortunately, not every program can tout its quarterback room. Yes, even in a year like 2025, there are a handful of schools with a lot to be desired under center.

1. Oklahoma State 

Quarterbacks: Zane Flores (R-Fr.); Hauss Hejny (R-Fr.); Banks Bowen (Fr.)

Mike Gundy played quarterback at Oklahoma State. He was a quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator for the Cowboys, Baylor and Maryland before he took control of his alma mater in 2005. So the fact that his quarterback room is in this state, entering the 21st year of his tenure, is, frankly, inexcusable. Oklahoma State lost its only quarterbacks with any real experience — Garrett Rangel and Maealiuaki Smith — to the transfer portal. That means it doesn’t have a single signal caller that has so much as attempted a collegiate pass. Things got to the point where the Cowboys had to poach Bowen, a freshman from Tulsa. At least Hejny graded as a four-star prospect out of high school, even if Flores might have a slight edge for the starting spot.

… Read full story here …

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May 9th

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Spring Overreactions: CU now a defense first team?

From CBS Sports … The offseason is in full swing after spring camps came to a close, and it’s now time to look ahead. Nearly every roster underwent a transition, which will only become the new reality as the transfer portal allows for major shifts each cycle.

Change opens the door for more optimism, however. Remember, this is the most upwardly mobile power conference in the country. Last season, Arizona State was picked last place in the preseason Big 12 media poll before exploding to the College Football Playoff. No fanbase can count itself out until the season ends.

With that in mind, we’re running through all 16 members of the Big 12 with overreactions from the spring. Some will be positive, from optimism about quarterback situations to serious national expectations. Others will bring up major questions about the direction of the program. However, now is the time for speculation, so let’s get into it.

Arizona

The vibes are real weird: The Wildcats made a curious decision by hiring Brent Brennan to coach a roster that did not belong to him, and it delivered vastly underwhelming results. After losing star players Tetairoa McMillan, Tacario Davis and Jonah Savaiinaea, the task will be even harder. Running back Ismail Mahdi gives the offense a new playmaker, but Brennan’s job is dependent on creating a team that plays in his image. It’s truly unclear if he can do it.

Arizona State

The 2025 team will be even better: The Sun Devils were on a stable growth curve entering the 2024 season, but things progressed faster than anyone could have expected. Running back Cameron Skattebo is off to the NFL, but otherwise, it’s impressive just how much of the roster is back. Quarterback Sam Leavitt, receiver Jordyn Tyson and safety Xavion Alford sit among the nation’s best. If the defensive front is poised to take another step, a CFP run may only be the beginning.

BYU

The Cougs are (still) America’s most underrated team: Imagine a team that went 11-2 and beat a College Football Playoff opponent on the road. Now imagine that team brought back their starting quarterback and the vast majority of their production. Shouldn’t that team be a lock for the top 10? Instead, BYU is still undervalued everywhere, barely even scraping some rankings. Again, the Cougs will surprise people and force themselves into the conversation. It’s legitimately befuddling that they’ve been so forgotten.

Colorado

The Buffs are a defensive football team: The past two years of CU football were built almost exclusively around showcasing Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter. With both off to the NFL, it’s the defense’s time to shine. Defensive coordinator Robert Livingston is a rising star, and the defensive line — led by players like Samuel Okunlola, Jeheim Oatis and Arden Walker — should still be one of the Big 12’s best. It’ll be fascinating to see what Deion Sanders’ Colorado 2.0 looks like.

… Read full story here …

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May 8th

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Report: President to create commission on college athletics, led by Nick Saban

From YahooSports.com … For years now, college sports leaders journeyed to the nation’s capital by the dozens to lobby for congressional help.

Soon, the White House may step in.

President Donald Trump is making plans to create a presidential commission on college athletics, the first step in what could be a months-long endeavor for solutions to the issues ailing the ecosystem.

Multiple sources, both in Congress and within college sports, spoke to Yahoo Sports under condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak about Trump’s plan. Many college sports stakeholders have been briefed on the matter. It is unclear when an announcement could come.

The commission will be led by former Alabama coach Nick Saban and Texas billionaire businessman Cody Campbell, multiple sources told Yahoo Sports late Wednesday.

Trump’s involvement, though not surprising, is a landmark moment in college athletics history — the country’s most powerful elected leader potentially shaping the future of the industry. Details of the commission are for now mostly being kept private, but the group is expected to feature other college sports stakeholders, prominent businesspeople with deep connections to college football and, perhaps, even another former coach and administrator.

The commission is expected to deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of player movement in the transfer portal, the unregulated booster compensation paid to athletes, the debate of college athlete employment, preserving the Olympic sport structure, the application of Title IX to school revenue-share payments and, even, conference membership makeup and conference television contracts, those with knowledge of the commission told Yahoo Sports.

… Continue reading story here …

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May 7th

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End of an era: Utah’s Cam Rising medically retires

From ESPN … Former Utah quarterback Cameron Rising announced Wednesday that he’s retiring from football.

Rising, 25, started three games last season before suffering a season-ending injury to his throwing hand. He wrote in an Instagram story Wednesday that two orthopedic physicians had advised him to give up football because of the hand.

Rising said in the post he will undergo surgery and focus on rehab.

Rising played in 30 games for the Utes, making 28 starts. He led Utah to Pac-12 championships in 2021 and 2022, and was a first-team All-Pac-12 selection in 2021.

He played in only three games after 2022, however, missing the entire 2023 season with a knee injury. He was removed from the Utes roster after last season.

Rising, who began his college career in 2018 at Texas, still had a year of eligibility remaining because of redshirt seasons, the COVID-19 waiver in 2020 and the injuries.

Utah already had added transfer quarterback Devon Dampier, who started during the 2024 season at New Mexico.

Rising’s 53 career passing touchdowns ranked fourth all-time at Utah.

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Notre Dame and Texas Tech Named in Accusations About NIL Spending by Indiana Coach Curt Cignetti

From the College Football Network … In a stirring revelation that has sent shockwaves through college football, Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti accused a half‑dozen programs of leveraging “unlimited NIL resources” to assemble rosters valued at upwards of $40 million, far beyond what most of the sport can match.

ESPN analyst Adam Breneman then fanned the flames on social media, calling Cignetti’s comments “snitching on teams in college football.” Which elite programs are Cignetti calling out, and what does it mean for competitive balance as revenue-sharing rules remain in limbo?

Adam Breneman first spotlighted Cignetti’s remarks in a TikTok clip, remarking, “Curt Cignetti is calling out the schools cutting massive checks. He named Notre Dame, Miami, and Texas Tech alongside the usual suspects.” Breneman quipped that Cignetti was “snitching on teams that have $40 million rosters,” underscoring the scale of the spending arms race.

The backdrop to Cignetti’s critique is a pending NCAA revenue-sharing settlement that remains unapproved, leaving third-party NIL arrangements effectively uncapped for the 2025 cycle. As one ESPN analysis explained:

“The House settlement states that athletes must report any NIL deal… and that any deal must be for a ‘valid business purpose.’ Power conferences have contracted Deloitte to review booster NIL deals and decide whether each is a legitimate endorsement contract.”

Meanwhile, Texas is poised to set a new benchmark, reportedly elevating its NIL budget from $20 million to $35 million and $40 million for the 2025 roster—an “unsustainable” spike that includes a $20.5 million revenue-sharing allotment. Ohio State, which invested roughly $20 million last season, remains the gold standard in NIL spending.

… Continue reading story here …

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May 6th

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Big 12 extends the contract of commissioner Brett Yormark

From ESPN … The Big 12’s board of directors has voted to give commissioner Brett Yormark a three-year contract extension, the conference announced Tuesday.

Yormark’s extension will run through 2030. He had originally agreed in 2022 to a five-year deal through 2027.

The Big 12 presidents are rewarding Yormark’s work stabilizing and modernizing the Big 12 in the wake of the Oklahoma and Texas announcing their departures in 2021.

“We have made great progress over the last three years, and our best days are ahead,” Yormark said in a statement. “I am thrilled to continue to work alongside our member schools as we grow and strengthen the Big 12 into a Conference that is innovative and prepared for what the future may hold.”

Yormark took over for Bob Bowlsby in 2022, and he led two signature moves for the league — a new television deal and a four-school expansion. His early declaration of the Big 12 being “open for business” has served as a fitting mantra for a tenure that has been highlighted by his constant pursuit of dealmaking.

Yormark has done considerable work in upgrading the experience and feel of both the Big 12 football and basketball championships, helping elevate those events. The Big 12 also added a conference-wide football pro day under Yormark, the first of its kind in college sports.

The aggressive pursuit and consummation of a new television deal is Yormark’s biggest moment as commissioner. Early on in his tenure in the summer of 2022, he prioritized and achieved early negotiations with Fox and ESPN more than a year before the exclusive negotiating window. A few months later, the Big 12 agreed to a six-year, $2.28 billion deal.

By going to the table early, the Big 12 positioned itself ahead of the Pac-12, which proved an inflection point in the Pac-12’s spiral.

The Pac-12’s weakness and failure to land a television deal of significant heft led to the Big 12 luring Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah as members. Yormark led that charge in July and August of 2023.

Along with the addition of those four schools, he helped oversee the transition of four additional members that agreed to come aboard before his arrival — UCF, BYU, Cincinnati and Houston.

… Continue reading story here …

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May 3rd

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Longhorns’ turn to buy a title? Payroll projected to be $40 million

From The Athletic …  College football roster budgets have ballooned this offseason as teams prepare for a new era in which schools can compensate athletes directly. But could a championship team cost as much as $40 million?

That’s one high-end estimate of what Texas could be spending on its 2025 roster, according to a Houston Chronicle report from columnist Kirk Bohls. Bohls, who has covered the Longhorns for more than 50 years, reported Wednesday that the team’s roster budget currently sits somewhere “between $35 million and $40 million,” including the revenue the school will be able to share as a result of the House v. NCAA settlement.

If that budget range is accurate, it represents a significant leap from the previous highest known roster budget in the sport: Ohio State’s 2024 roster, which went on to win the national championship, cost around $20 million, athletic director Ross Bjork told the Columbus Dispatch and Yahoo! Sports last summer.

Is an estimate of as much as twice the Buckeyes’ figure realistic or far-fetched? The Athletic reached out to multiple Texas officials to confirm the veracity of the Chronicle’s report, but all declined comment. But after conversations with a dozen people elsewhere in college football with knowledge of roster budgets, including general managers, personnel directors and name, image and likeness collective heads, here’s what we know — and don’t — about Texas’ spending power and the state of roster budgets headed into the 2025 season. Each person was granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about team finances.

Industry insiders don’t think a $35-40 million roster budget is out of the question for top programs.

A February survey of 13 coaches and personnel staffers on the transfer portal and player compensation contained a variety of answers on what it would take to build a championship roster in their conferences. But one Power 4 general manager offered this: “$40-50 million. That’s where I think it’s going to go.”

Asked about the Texas estimate today, several GMs, personnel directors and people in the NIL world believed the number.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said the founder of a Power 4 collective. “Texas is a massive program and is obviously looking to win titles. (Athletic directors) and universities who don’t believe teams will go way above the (revenue sharing) cap, especially ones that want to compete for titles, are lying to themselves and their fan bases.”

Nearly everyone surveyed on Wednesday found a $35 million to $40 million roster to be realistic for Texas, with several suggesting only a small handful of schools can spend in that ballpark. A second Power 4 GM described Texas as paying some of its backup players like starters.

… Read full story here …

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May 1st

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Big 12 teams which lost the most to the Spring Transfer Portal (no, not CU)

From The Athletic … The 10-day spring transfer portal window traditionally is not as loaded with talent as the winter window. Most Power 4 rosters have had position needs met by now, and NIL budgets are usually tapped out by the time April rolls around.

Yet, we’ve continued to see movement as players look for a boost in pay or a fresh start on a depth chart elsewhere. It’s hard to call any P4 program a winner or loser at this point in the process (the portal window closes end of day Friday for both graduates and undergraduates), but it’s fair to say some programs have been hit harder by departures than others.

Yes, Tennessee lost quarterback Nico Iamaleava to essentially a contract dispute, but the SEC, for the most part, was unscathed by losses during the spring window.

Here’s a look at eight programs that lost notable players.

BYU

The Cougars have had 10 players enter the portal during the spring window, and two stand out as notable losses. Linebacker Harrison Taggart had 69 tackles, one sack and one interception over 12 starts in 2024. Receiver Keelan Marion, an electric return specialist, ranked third on the team with 24 catches for 346 yards, and he returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last season as well.

Houston

Willie Fritz has had some solid transfer portal victories since taking over the Cougars, including landing tight end Tanner Koziol this spring after he left Wisconsin.

But it’s not often that a first-team All-Big 12 selection like safety A.J. Haulcy hits the market this time of year. Haulcy, who signed with New Mexico out of high school, led the Cougars with five interceptions and ranked second with 74 tackles last season. He’s made 33 career starts. The Cougars also lost cornerback Jeremiah Wilson, who started eight games in 2024 and was second on the team with four interceptions.

… Continue reading story here …

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April 27th

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CU’s Big Saturday gives Buff Coaches a selling point

The Shedeur Sanders soap opera played out on the national stage over the weekend. From about 7:00 p.m., MT, on Thursday to around 1:00 p.m., MT, on Saturday (or about TEN hours of air time on ESPN), the “Mel Kiper Best Available” list on the scroll, popping up every few minutes, listed: “1. Shedeur Sanders – Quarterback – Colorado”.

ESPN’s lead story on its NFL Draft page on Friday was about the fall of Shedeur Sanders out of the first round, with the New York Giants trading back into the first round … to take quarterback Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss.

ESPN’s lead story on its NFL Draft page on Saturday was about the fall of Shedeur Sanders out of the second and third rounds, with three more quarterbacks taken before him.

Finally, with the sixth pick of the fifth round – pick No. 144 overall – Shedeur was off the board.

Perhaps as important for Coach Prime and the CU coaching staff, though, was the drafting in the sixth round of wide receivers LaJohntay Wester (by Baltimore) and Jimmy Horn (by Carolina).

Now, there are certainly no guarantees that Wester or Horn will make the final roster of their respective teams, but that is almost beside the point.

What matters is that CU had four players taken in the 2025 NFL Draft. Certainly not double digit selections, like Ohio State (14) or Georgia (13), but that isn’t the arena within which CU coaches are currently competing for recruits.

CU doesn’t have NIL money the big boys have. CU’s pitch to transfers and recruits is to not worry about getting the bag in college. “Come to CU, be coached by Hall of Famers. We’ll get you to the NFL … then you will get paid”.

That sales pitch would ring pretty hollow if all CU had to show from the 2025 Draft was Travis Hunter and … Shedeur being drafted as a backup quarterback.

But now …

Here is a listing of the 2025 NFL Draft by school:

• 14 – Ohio State
• 13 – Georgia
• 12 – Texas
• 10 – Oregon
• 8 – Ole Miss
• 7 – Alabama, Michigan, Miami, LSU, Florida
• 6 – Notre Dame, Maryland
• 5 – South Carolina, Penn State, Virginia Tech, UCLA, Iowa
• 4 – Tennessee, Iowa State, Cal, Colorado, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Syracuse

In the Big 12, the list looks like this:

• Arizona – 4 … Colorado – 4 … Iowa State – 4 … Oklahoma State – 4
• Kansas State – 3
• Kansas – 2 … TCU – 2 … Texas Tech – 2 … UCF – 2
• Arizona State – 1 … Cincinnati – 1 … Utah – 1 … West Virginia – 1
• Baylor – 0 … BYU – 0 … Houston – 0

National programs which had fewer draft selections in the 2025 NFL Draft than did Colorado:

• SEC … Texas A&M, Missouri, Auburn, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Arkansas, Vanderbilt
• Big Ten … USC, Nebraska, Minnesota, Rutgers, Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, Washington
• ACC … Clemson, Pitt, Boston College, SMU, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Florida State, Virginia, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Cal

Now, having four picks in the Draft is not great, especially when three of the four Buffs taken were in the later rounds, but it’s a very good start. The four picks equals the total number of Buffs who heard their name called in the past five NFL Drafts combined.

So, dear recruits, you can come to Boulder, get paid less than you would at other name schools, and still make it to the league (where the guaranteed salary for the lowest paid player is $800,000 per year).

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The future is now in the race to the Super Conference

It’s important for CU to remain competitive over the next few years, hoping to get an invite to the Big Boy table in a few years, when the Super Conference is formed.

But the future may be coming even sooner than we thought.

In total, 150 of the 257 players selected in the 2025 NFL Draft finished their collegiate careers at SEC or Big Ten schools. Including players from the ACC and Big 12, the four power conferences made up 223 of the 257 picks in the draft, and the staggering 86.7 percent figure demonstrates how talent now rises through the collegiate ranks before making its way to the NFL. The Mountain West and AAC tied for the most picks of any Group of Five conference with six each. Eight players went from the FCS level to the NFL.

But, Big 12 and ACC, don’t look now, but the gulf between the Big Two and the Lesser Two is widening as well. Here is the breakdown by conference:

• SEC … 79 selections;
• Big Ten … 71;
• ACC … 42;
• Big 12 … 31;
• Notre Dame … 6;
• Mountain West … 6 (CSU: 1);
• American … 6;
• MAC … 4

So, for those scoring at home, out of the Power Four, out of the 223 picks, 150, or 67%, played for the Big Ten and SEC; only one-third came out of the Big 12 and ACC.

And it’s not likely that the gap will be narrowing anytime soon.

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It’s the same at the top of the Draft as well … 

Take a look at how the first round of the NFL Draft played out, with picks by conference:

• SEC: 15
• Big Ten: 11
• Big 12: 2 (CU’s Travis Hunter No. 2; Arizona’s WR Tetairoa McMillan No. 8)
• ACC: 2 (Miami’s QB Cam Ward No. 1; North Carolina’s RB Omarion Hampton No. 22)
• Mountain West: 1 (Boise State’s RB Ashton Jeanty No. 6)
• FCS: 1 (North Dakota State’s OG Grey Zabel No. 18)

Yup. That’s 26 of the 32 first round NFL Draft picks (81%) coming from the Big Two, with a grand total of four from the Big 12 and ACC. Ohio State had as many first round picks as the Big 12 and ACC had combined.

The division between the have’s and the have not’s in the FBS is getting even greater. But the division between the Big Ten/SEC and the Big 12/ACC is growing at an alarming rate.

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This post, about the Spring/Summer game, from the 2025 Season, is filed under Article.
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