CFB DeptHITS: Thursday, January 30
Getting you caught up on the news that impact 2025 depth charts and notes on "fringe" stories that happening behind-the-scenes of the great sport of college football.
Today, we’ll get you up on the latest player and coaching movement that may more directly impact on-field performance in 2025. We’ll also get you notes on other news happening in the background of this great sport. Enjoy!
|||||| THE HITS
Georgia ::: WR Colbie Young [13.9] has dealt with off-field legal issues since he was charged with assault in October. Some charges were dropped, others altered and a plea deal was reached. He has received probation and could not look at a return to the field for the Dawgs in 2025. The talented receiver came to Athens from Miami, where he was a solid contributor for the Hurricanes in both 2022 and 2023, compiling 79 catches for 939 yards and ten scores. If he can get things back on track, we could see a full breakout in 2025.
Miami (OH) ::: Former Notre Dame WR Deion Colzie [12.7] is headed to the RedHawks of Miami (OH) to continue his career. The former four-star recruit is looking to be a bigger part of an offense and he'll get that shot by moving down to the group of five. With two of the top three likely to be gone from this room, Colzie jumps to the front of the line for targets, along with Colorado transfer-in Cordale Russell. It’s certainly worth noting that our friend
has Colzie on the radar as a potential #MACDaddy for 2025.
UAB ::: WR Corri Milliner [13.2] is returning to Birmingham after checking out the portal options. He finished this past season with 24 grabs for 416 yards and three scores as a redshirt freshman. A really solid retention for Trent Dilfer and company.
UNLV ::: Three Revel offensive linemen have announced their withdrawal from the portal and return to play for Dan Mullen at UNLV next season. Those three include Will Thomas, Austin Boyd and Toby Moore. Two of the three (Thomas & Boyd) saw backup snaps and Moore was a true freshman who took a redshirt, recording just 15 snaps. While these do not appear to be super impactful retentions, the depth is improved on the offensive line.
Notre Dame ::: Marcus Freeman has landed his first choice to replace departing defensive coordinator Al Golden. It's Chris Ash, a familiar name in coaching circles as he was the former head coach at Rutgers and also held the DC title at big programs such as Wisconsin, Ohio State and Texas. He spent the past four seasons in the NFL in various roles after his stint with the Longhorns ended in 2020.
Freeman is also working quickly to replace departed GM Chad Bowden (USC) and word is that he is targeting Texas Tech’s James Blanchard for the role. Blanchard joined Joey Maguire’s initial staff with the Red Raiders and quickly took an NFL-like approach to scouting and scholarship offers. This was born from his experience after leaving Baylor with head coach Matt Rhule to the NFL’s Carolina Panthers, where he focused on breaking down game film on prospective free agents. He is known as a rising star in the profession and the move to Notre Dame would accelerate that upward path.
|||||| QUICK HITS
Former Ball State head coach Mike Neu has landed as a senior offensive assistant at Illinois. He was relieved of his duties after leading his alma mater since 2016, compiling a 40-63 record with their best showing in the COVID 2020 year, going 7-1 and finishing ranked #23 in the AP’s final rankings.
Kenny Dillingham has convinced a rising star in the personnel world, Josh Omura, to head to Tempe to take on the role of "executive director of player personnel and recruiting,” as reported by FootballScoop.com. Omura comes to the Sun Devils after work with Jedd Fisch at both Arizona and Washington. He started his career as an intern at Hawaii before quickly rising through the ranks.
Brian Kelly and LSU is grabbing up the veteran coaches who are being let go from previous roles. They nabbed former Miami (FL) defensive coordinator Lance Guidry a couple of days ago. That is followed quickly by word that former Florida State offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Alex Atkins is being targeted for a role on the Tigers’ staff.
Oregon head coach Dan Lanning earns the “Stallings Award” which goes to the Division I coach who best displays leadership, character and achievement. Named after the great Gene Stallings.
Ohio State offensive line coach Justin Frye is interviewing with Ben Johnson and the NFL’s Chicago Bears.
|||||| NOTES FROM OTHER NEWS
Wisconsin CB Nyzier Fourqurean is looking to get his name in lights next to Diego Pavia. This, after he has submitted a lawsuit of his own focused on retaining eligibility for seasons played at the Division II level. Similar to the Pavia ruling that granted another year of eligibility for time spent at the JUCO level, Fourqurean is seeking this for years played below the FBS level. This may as well include Division III at this point.
The Mountain West has announced a “grant of rights” deal signed by the seven “foundational institutions” and announce their future plans to secure media coverage/deals and expand the conference. The seven who are “locked in” to the conference are Air Force, UNLV, New Mexico, Nevada, San Jose State, Wyoming and Hawai’i.
The Michigan football program has issued its response to the Connor Stalions, sign-stealing investigation held by the NCAA. The school came out aggressively in defense of (most) involved and called the probe itself an ‘overreach’ by the governing body. The rebuttal was 140-pages long and very detailed about its defense of its current staff, including head coach Sherrone Moore, who deleted over 50 text messages from Stallions during the time in question. He explained it away as an attempt to protect the program from somebody trying to hurt it. You can see the full report from the great Ross Dellenger here »
The objections to the NCAA House case that would severely limit roster spots across many sports keep on coming in. This is an expected move as it would have a major impact on the future of college sports. Schools must choose to “opt in” to the settlement in order to get the money promised to be paid out in damages and then shared with the athletes. However, if they do choose this route, they must uphold to the roster limits that are imposed and a part of the settlement.
The Collective Association is gathering 45+ leaders of individual Collectives and are discussing how they will have a seat at the bargaining table for the future of collegiate athletics. They are pushing to make collective bargaining a part of college athletics. That seems like the future — but a lot needs to happen. We’ll be following in the background.
That's our show for today. Thanks for following along and please consider subscribing and/or sharing this content. Thank you.
