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CFB Catch All Thread -- 2022


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The Playing Rules Oversight Panel approved a fail-safe option to catch egregious targeting calls, but critics are still likely to be frustrated by the rule.

NCAA approves tweak to targeting rule

ZACH BARNETT     23 HOURS AGO

The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel on Thursday approved a tweak to the targeting process that should eliminate gross miscarriages of punishment moving forward.  

First proposed last month, second-half targeting fouls can now be subject to appeal -- assuming the game in question has instant replay capabilities.  "If it is obvious that a player was incorrectly penalized for targeting, the call would be overturned and the player would be cleared to play in the first half of the next game," the statement read.

Of course, the NCAA has already implemented a system in which any targeting foul must be confirmed by replay, meaning the on-field official and the replay official must agree a play in question constituted targeting. Overturning such a call would require the NCAA to overrule both officials' opinions after the fact. 

Still, targeting is a foul where the same action can result in drastically different consequences. A targeting foul on the final play of the first half would require the offender to miss half a game, whereas the exact same action on the first play of the second half would bar the player from competition for essentially one full game, minus one play.

Sports Illustrated found that the risk of concussions were higher on targeting plays even when the foul was overturned upon review, meaning the Powers That Be will never get rid of the targeting foul and its instant-disqualification penalty. Many in and out of the game have called for a red card/yellow card solution; the Panel's move Thursday is likely the closest we'll ever get to that. 

Also, the Panel implemented a report-and-review system for teams suspected of faking injuries to force a stoppage in play. Schools and conferences can report instances to the NCAA's national officiating office, who would then review the situation and recommend action to the conference office. Such a system requires conferences to punish their own members, rather than hand it off to a national office. Injury fakers are surely shaken to the core by such a system.

"It is very difficult to legislate ethics, particularly when an injury timeout is being used to gain an advantage," David Shaw said last month. "The small number of teams that seem to use these tactics should be addressed directly."

Finally, the Panel approved the so-called Kenny Pickett rule, outlawing fake slides by quarterbacks. The former Pitt quarterback pulled off the move in last December's ACC Championship, a one-time-only affair.   Officials are now instructed to blow the play dead at the moment the ball-carrier even begins motioning toward a slide.   

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  • 2 weeks later...

Reigning Biletnikoff Award winner Jordan Addison is reportedly mulling an 11th-hour transfer from Pitt, in what could be a watershed moment for college athletics' free agency and free market era.

Report: Pat Narduzzi confronts Lincoln Riley amid tampering accusations

ZACH BARNETT       1 HOUR AGO

Pitt wide receiver Jordan Addison is reportedly mulling a transfer, in what could become a watershed moment for college football's free agency and free market era.  Addison is the reigning Biletnikoff Award winner, fresh off a season in which he caught 100 passes for 1,593 yards and 17 touchdowns, while helping the Panthers win the ACC championship. 

On Friday night, word broke that Addison is considering leaving Pitt, and not only that, his supposed destination was already picked out: USC. 

Shocking as it was to see the news Friday night, one can see why Addison would consider a transfer. The quarterback (Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers), coordinator (Mark Whipple, Nebraska) and position coach (Brennan Marion, Texas) that helped Addison to his breakout season have all since left Pitt. Addison is from the Washington, D.C., area, as is USC quarterback Caleb Williams.

Still, losing Addison would be a crippling blow to Pitt's ACC title defense, and the Panthers don't intend to go down without a fight. ESPN's Pete Thamel reported Narduzzi placed a call to Lincoln Riley on Friday night:

A source told ESPN that Pitt coach Pat Narduzzi caught wind of USC as a potential destination and called Trojans coach Lincoln Riley multiple times on Friday to express his displeasure. Pitt officials suspect that tampering could have occurred.

(Addison's camp told Thamel that no final decision has been made and that if the player does transfer it would be for professional development reasons, not monetary ones... because what else are they going to say.)

While it could be difficult to prove, prosecute and enforce, it would be even more difficult to explain to the layman how Addison could leave Pitt and choose a new destination all in one fell swoop without some form of tampering involved. 

(Standard disclaimer: Even if USC, or someone else, tampered to secure Addison, it would not be the first or only time a team bent the rules to secure a player. But it would be the most high profile and clear cut example, which is why the news has caused such a commotion.) 

Combined with the situation unfolding with Miami's basketball program and it seems as if this week has brought us to something of a breaking point for college athletics current moment, where, after a century-plus of limited movement and no (legal) payments, players can now leave with no penalty and make as much money as the free market will pay them. 

Some will say these two examples are proof that the NCAA and the various powers that be need to put the genie back in the bottle and go back to the old rules, before one-time transfer exception and NIL. This will not and can not happen, thanks to the court system. Others will argue the Miami and Pitt examples are proof that college sports needs to move all the way in the other direction: to create a union for college athletes, sign them to collectively-bargained contracts, which would then standardize how much money they can earn while also limiting their movement.

The ultimate question there is: Who out there has the willingness and the power to get anything like that done? 

That, though, is a conversation for another day. As for right now, there's a reason that Isaiah Wong has threatened a holdout at Miami and Jordan Addison is mulling a transfer from Pitt right now. The deadline to enter the Portal and maintain eligibility for the fall is May 1, as in Sunday. 

So we should get an answer here real soon. 

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The 25-man signing limit could go away, and soon

The 25-man limit is a relic of a pre-Portal era. But will removing it create as many problems as it solves?

ZACH BARNETT         17 HOURS AGO

The NCAA could do away with the 25-man scholarship limit (dubbed "initial counters"), possibly by as soon as the end of this month.  The 25-man limit is a relic of another era. Established in 2011, it was a response to Houston Nutt signing 37 players at Ole Miss in 2009. That practice, known as "oversigning," inevitably led to players having the rug pulled out from under them -- either recent signees who learned they weren't wanted until the following spring, or current players who were told they no longer had a scholarship.

Over the years, the NCAA moved to strengthen the 25-man limit. 

Now, though, times have changed.

Kansas has been stuck in scholarship hell for darn near a decade, with numbers at one point in the low 40s and at 53 as recently as 2018. A hard 25-man limit, combined with natural attrition every program faces, meant KU had to wait until 2022 before it could even talk about returning to the 85-man number. 

More recently, Arizona State has lost more than two dozen players to the Transfer Portal since the end of last season. Even upping the limit to 32 (25 initial counters plus seven transfers) would not allow the Sun Devils to catch up in time for this fall.

Some have suggested keeping the 25-man initial counter limit and then moving to a 1-for-1 system on transfers, where each program can add one imPort for each exPort, but it seems a simpler system is set to win out.

In short, programs can add as many initial counters and transfers as they want, but to limit greyshirting and trap-door cuts, they may not go over 85 scholarships at any one time. Presently, the current rules allow teams to go over 85 scholarships so long as they get to the number by the opening of training camp.

“We have to do something,” West Virginia head coach Neal Brown told Sports Illustrated. “The current system doesn’t work. It’s extremely difficult to get to your 85 without putting walk-ons on scholarship.”

Removing the 25-man limit has been framed as a player safety issue. By limiting each team to 25 (or even 32) new players each year, the current system keeps a large number of teams under 85 scholarships, and thereby exposes players to injury by being short of the ideal number at any given position.

Player safety arguments happen to be the one universally-agreed upon principal in college football, which also makes it a sure-fire way to get a rule change fast tracked for immediate approval. 

“Our coaches have always been in support of the 25,” Berry says, “but the landscape has changed. All of our coaches have recognized that it’s not realistic anymore. From a health-and-safety standpoint, the only way to allow us to get to a situation to have the right amount of players at positions is to just get to 85.”

Even if this rule is well-intentioned from a player-safety perspective, a necessary reaction to the Transfer Portal could, in turn, push even more kids to the Transfer Portal. What's to stop the Houston Nutt of 2022 and beyond from signing 40 kids per class while pushing dozens of kids per year to the Portal? 

“The thing that concerns me is that coaches will be flipping rosters constantly and potentially running kids off,” West Virginia AD and Division I Council chairman Shane Lyons said. “That’s why we got the caps. You have to go back in history and ask, ‘How did we get here?’”

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Bobby:

As the NCAA attempts to put guardrails on portal recruiting and/or some limitations in luring high school recruits with NIL offerings, my feeling is they are missing the entire point.

It’s just once again the NCAA trying too hard to put the Genie back in the bottle.

The problem is, and what some college administrators don’t seem to understand, no college football program anywhere took the NIL Genie out of the bottle.

The United States Supreme Court did!


The Genie is not going back in, not without major federal reform. Anything short of that is a farce.

So the sport doesn’t need “a reminder of the guardrails” as some NCAA leaders have squawked this week at a meeting in Scottsdale, what it needs is an overhaul. It needs leadership and system of fair play.

If the NCAA doesn’t like the subverted outcome of NIL, the NCAA and those schools who want to should embrace pay-for-play. It’s clear that is the reality of the world. It is why NIL has taken off.

I say it is what it is, so accept it, and create a governing body worthy of the sport.

Otherwise, the sport isn’t moving forward. The sport we love is sinking. Until the leaders realize and address the real issues, they’re just reshuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

(Thx for IT stuff @BurntOrange&White

 

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On3 releases their top 10 transfer portal QB rankings

  1. Caleb Williams - Oklahoma to USC
  2. Quinn Ewers - Ohio State to Texas
  3. Spencer Rattler - Oklahoma to South Carolina
  4. Jaxson Dart - USC to Ole Miss
  5. Cameron Ward - Incarnate Word to Washington State
  6. Bo Nix - Auburn to Oregon
  7. Kedon Slovis - USC to Pitt
  8. Connor Bazelak - Missouri to Indiana
  9. Max Johnson - LSU to Texas A&M
  10. JT Daniels - Georgia to West Virginia

"You may not be surprised by the two quarterbacks atop the list, but it’s interesting to note that Oklahoma’s new quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, did not make the cut."

 

 

 

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Spoiler

Predicting 2022 win totals for Power Five college football programs in Texas including Texas A&M Aggies, Texas Longhorns, Baylor Bears, Texas Tech Red Raiders and TCU Horned Frogs.

Mike Craven   May 12 8:15 am

Why wait for sports books across the country to release win totals for the 2022 season? Dave Campbell’s Texas Football attempts to set the over/under for each of the 12 FBS teams in the Lone Star State, starting with the five Power Five programs. 

Texas A&M

DCTF 2022 Win Total Projection: 9

2021 Final Regular Season Win Total: 8

Over or under?   Over 

The schedule sets up well for Texas A&M, but questions linger at quarterback and along the defensive line. I feel confident that the young defensive linemen on campus, as well as the incoming freshman, are good enough to make the Wrecking Crew a strength of the team. My only concern is the passing game. A trip to Alabama feels like the only sure-fire loss. Every other game is winnable. Texas A&M looks more likely to end the season at 10-2 than 8-4, but 9-3 feels like the sweet spot. 

Texas 

DCTF 2022 Win Total Projection:   8

2021 Final Regular Season Win Total: 5

Over or under?   Under

Do you trust the Texas Longhorns with your hard-earned money? I sure don’t. Texas is undoubtedly talented enough to make a run at the Big 12 title in 2022 in year two under Steve Sarkisian in a way that Baylor surged in year two with Dave Aranda. Still, the past decade suggests a letdown is more likely than a pleasant surprise. We could easily wake up in December watching a 10-win Texas team, but I’d feel more confident hedging my bets until I saw the Longhorns improve in the trenches with my own eyes. 

Baylor

DCTF 2022 Win Total Projection:   9

2021 Final Regular Season Win Total: 11

Over or under? Over 

A push is a copout, so I’ll lean towards the Bears overachieving for the second consecutive year because quarterback Blake Shapen offers an improvement in the passing game over the 2021 version of the Baylor offense. It’ll be tough to replace the production at running back and multiple NFL draft picks on defense. The schedule also features road games against BYU, Iowa State, and Oklahoma. This one is tough. 

Texas Tech

DCTF 2022 Win Total Projection:   6

2021 Final Regular Season Win Total: 6

Over or under? Under 

Count me in the camp that believes in the long-term success of the Red Raiders under first-year head coach Joey McGuire, but I’m not sure I’m willing to bet on it happening in year one. The Red Raiders host a Houston program that could run the table in 2022. The out-of-conference schedule also features a trip to North Carolina State. Road games against Kansas State, Oklahoma State, and TCU are tough wins. 

TCU

DCTF 2022 Win Total Projection:   7

2021 Final Regular Season Win Total: 5

Over or under? Under 

TCU is an interesting case study in first year coaching success. The Horned Frogs return plenty of experienced talent, at least on paper. Quarterback Max Duggan and a solid group of receivers and offensive linemen return. The defense can only improve from the 2021 season, and new head coach Sonny Dykes knows how to win. However, the backend of the regular season schedule includes a four-game stretch with games at Texas and Baylor and at home against Texas Tech and Iowa State. Dykes’ SMU teams struggled to close seasons with wins. 

 

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Power 5 Coaches ranked  #65 - #26

#39  Steve Sarkisian: This is one of the more confusing results of our rankings this season, though aspects having nothing to do with Sarkisian himself -- the influx of new coaches, substantial drops of others -- may have simply resulted in Sark's slight rise. Last year, Sarkisian took the Texas job and showed up at No. 46 in our rankings. Then, after the Longhorns went 5-7, losing six of the last seven games (including to Kansas) and missing a bowl game for the first time since 2016, Sark rises seven spots in our rankings. I suppose landing a QB like Quinn Ewers and other transfers this offseason has some voters feeling more bullish on him than the results dictate. 2021 rank: 46 (+7)

 

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Taking it easy collecting checks from gator...

Ex-Florida Gators football coach Dan Mullen joins Georgia high school program

Joe Vitale       Tue, May 17, 2022

On Sunday, Lake Oconee Academy in Greensboro, Georgia announced that former Florida Gators head football coach Dan Mullen will be joining the program for the 2022 season.

Mullen will join on “as a contributing resource to the football program and athletic department,” athletic director Chris Ingle told Lake Oconee News.

This comes after there was a report on Twitter stating that Mullen was hired as Lake Oconee Academy’s offensive coordinator. The school clarified that that was an incorrect report.

“It is unfortunate that reports of him being named the offensive coordinator surfaced without confirmation,” the school said in a press release. “While he would be tremendous at this position, he will not be active as the offensive coordinator at Lake Oconee Academy. We look forward to him being a member of our community and Titan family.”

The head coach at Lake Oconee Academy is Patrick Stewart. Stewart was a former defensive assistant under Kirby Smart at Georgia.

Florida fired Mullen in November after posting a 34-15 record in four seasons with the Gators. At the time of his firing, Florida was 5-6 on the 2021 season and had just lost an overtime game to the Missouri Tigers by a score of 24-23.

Per Lake Oconee News, Mullen has a vacation home in Reynolds-Lake Oconee and currently resides in Greensboro, Georgia.

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South Carolina adds former NFL head coach to off-field staff

ZACH BARNETT     MAY 18, 2022

Former Cleveland Browns head coach Freddie Kitchens has joined South Carolina's staff as a senior football analyst, the program announced Wednesday.

"I worked with Freddie Kitchens previously at Mississippi State and have known him for close to 20 years," said Coach Beamer. "He's a fantastic coach with head coaching experience and coordinator experience. He's a long-time NFL coach who will be a great asset and resource for our program and will help us in so many ways."

Kitchens was the Cleveland Browns' head coach in 2019 and spent the past two seasons with the New York Giants, coaching tight ends and serving as interim offensive coordinator this past season. 

Mississippi State happens to be Kitchens' last college job, until now. He left State after the 2005 season to become the Dallas Cowboys tight ends coach in 2006 and made a career of coaching tight ends and running backs before he was promoted to offensive coordinator in 2018. That season landed him the head coaching job the following year, where he went 6-10.

An Alabama graduate, Kitchens got his start in coaching as Glenville State's running backs and tight ends coach in 1999. He was a GA on Nick Saban's original LSU staff.

South Carolina is looking to improve upon a 7-6 record in Shane Beamer's first season.

 

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Former Buckeye DB shares Kerry Coombs' key to developing defensive backs

Tyvis Powell, a former Buckeye defensive back, shares a key Kerry Coombs has used over the years to develop defensive backs.

DOUG SAMUELS       MAY 31, 2022

While his tenure as the Buckeyes defensive coordinator wasn't what many had hoped for, Kerry Coomb's stamp on developing defensive backs is undeniable.

For the better part of the past decade, outside of a few seasons in the NFL with the Titans, Kerry Coombs has mentored a number of NFL bound defensive backs. 

In 2012 the ace recruiter joined the staff in Columbus as corners coach and a year later added special teams coordinator duties through 2017. He spent the 2018-19 seasons with Mike Vrabel and the Titans before returning to Ohio State as defensive coordinator in 2020.

During his time in Columbus, a number of top notch defensive backs were developed, with 15 members of the Buckeyes secondary selected in the NFL Draft since Coombs first year with the program in 2012.

In 2017, the Ohio State secondary enjoyed a banner year come the draft when Coombs and the Buckeyes saw three members of the secondary selected in the first round (Marshon Lattimore - #11 overall to Saints, Malik Hooker - #15 overall to Colts, and Gareon Conley #24 overall to the Raiders).

Former Buckeye safety Tyvis Powell, who went undrafted in 2016 before bouncing around the league for a few seasons until recently finding a home in the CFL, went on the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show and shared a nugget about Coombs coaching style that shines some light on why he's been able to develop guys so well.

"One of the things that he focused on the most is you pick one thing every day. Today, I'm just going to watch [the receiver's] hips and whatever he do, I am going to do."

"Or today, I'm going to work on coming out of my break. 1-2, and making sure everything is 1-2."

"If you focus on that one thing, it will get better because your mind is on that. Now, when you get to the game, you're focused on it so much that it becomes second nature."

"If you are trying to focus on a whole bunch of things, it is too much in practice and something is going to get away from you."

Now coaching the corners and special teams for Luke Fickell in Cincinnati, the Bearcats defensive backs will now have the advantage of learning from a guy like Coombs.

Hear Powell's answer in the clip.

 

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