CFB DeptHITS: Saturday, February 1
Get caught up on the news and notes from the past 24 hours around the world of college football...
Today, we’ll get you caught up on the latest news and notes from around college football as we are seeing a slow down in player movement; but an uptick in the off-field/business/legal moves that are very much a part of the game (whether you like it or not)…
|||||| THE HITS
Notes impacting our depth charts and/or impacting the eventual on-field performance in 2025.
Indiana ::: Former Notre Dame starting center Pat Coogan [14.3] will play his final collegiate season at Indiana. He picks the Hoosiers and Curt Cignetti gets a really solid, veteran replacement for Mike Katic (graduation) at a key spot on the offensive line.
Maryland ::: Pep Hamilton, a veteran offensive coach, is heading to Maryland to take over as offensive coordinator. Mike Locksley brings on Hamilton, whose son recently signed with the Terps, to call plays. Hamilton was last seen as the NFL's Houston Texans OC in 2022. He had a short stint as the head coach of the DC Defenders of the second version of the XFL before COVID shut that down. He then joined the Chargers staff as a quarterbacks coach.
North Carolina ::: Bill Belechick continues to build his first staff for the Tar Heels and word is that former NFL star and UNC alum Natrone Means (business) will be elevated to the on-field coaching role of running backs coach after being an analyst on Mack Brown's staff since 2021.
Washington State ::: The Cougars get good news as safety Jerrae Williams [12.4] is no longer looking around in the portal and will return to Washington State in 2025. He was limited to just one game and got an extra season of eligibility tacked on. He started his career at the Division II level before a stint at UNLV.
In other news, Sam King is a veteran and respected coach with most of his time thus far spent at FCS North Dakota tutoring the quarterbacks. He now makes the move to the FBS level and joins the first staff of Jimmy Rogers. He'll take on the same role of quarterback coach for the Cougars.
California ::: Bears DB Matthew Littlejohn has withdrawn from the portal and will return in 2025. He played in just seven games but has shown well and finished the season strong. He has been seen a lot in the slot and the data suggests he chips in well on helping stop the run. We show him with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
|||||| QUICK HITS
Other news and notes from around our game that you may want to know and potential further reading links…
Former Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling is said to be joining Brent Venables’ defensive staff. We don’t know the capacity or exact role, but many times they begin as Senior level analysts before moving into more impactful roles.
The Rocco Spindler [13.9] visit tracker has him in Charlottesville, VA to take a look at UVA. He is looking around the ACC as his previous stop was at Pitt. The starting right guard at Notre Dame this past season is getting a lot of attention.
Houston is hiring PJ Hall as its new cornerbacks coach. He comes to the Cougars after a one season stop at FCS Tarleton State where he was a defensive assistant after three years at Baylor as a graduate assistant. He played safety at Tulane from 2016-19.
Mike Moon became a pretty important coach at Notre Dame under defensive coordinator Al Golden. He worked as an assistant to the defensive line and linebackers. Golden thought enough of him to convince him to join him on the Bengals staff as the Notre Dame coaching staff continues to be raided.
Former FIU head coach Mike MacIntyre’s “retirement” didn’t last too long (as expected). He joins the Mississippi State staff as a defensive analyst.
More chaos as the NCAA House Settlement continues to dominate the off-field headlines. Now, a group that opted out of the last settlement are looking to get theirs, according to Ross Dellenger. Read the full article here »
|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ UPDATE SERIES
Later today, we’ll kick off our State of the Chart™ update series by detailing out the state of the Alabama Crimson Tide. We’ll recap what was the 2024 season and give a point-in-time update and then follow-up throughout the off-season and post updates as big news breaks. We will plan to release these around lunch time on the days of release for all 136 programs. We will bring it all together with even more information in the State of the Chart™ magazine to be released in July.
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