CFB DeptHITS: Wednesday, March 5
These are the news and notes you'll want to know around the world of college football.
Today, we’ll discuss transfer portal news as more players identify opportunities for the 2025 season. While the official window for non-graduates or Bowling Green players doesn't open until April 16th, there is still news of players planning to enter. Coaches continue to move around, as that carousel never seems to stop. We’ll finish with some suggested reading on some of those bigger ‘off-field’ topics that we aren’t qualified to discuss in much detail—we are just depth chart guys.
|||||| THE HITS
Vanderbilt ::: Head coach Clark Lea took over defensive play-calling for 2024 after a rough showing in 2023. His goal was to get the unit back on track. That was accomplished, and now Lea will hand those duties over to a defensive coordinator for 2025. Steve Gregory will take that on going forward.
Iowa ::: Kirk Ferentz is now really stepping out of his comfort zone with the modernization of his Iowa offense. This most recent hiring of former Wake Forest OC Warren Ruggerio is further proof. Ruggerio ran a successful 'slow mesh' system to great success with the Deacons back when the personnel matched the vision. It will be interesting to see how Ruggiero, who will serve as an analyst, will work with OC Tim Lester going forward.
Arkansas State ::: DL Tim Hardiman [13.0] plans to enter the portal. He's gone from a no-name recruit to a high performer for the Red Wolves. He has one year of eligibility remaining.
North Alabama ::: CB Ashaad Williams [12.3] is hitting the portal and looking to level up after three solid seasons as a starter for the Lions at the FCS level. He projects as a potential starter at most group of five schools and likely more of a depth play at a power four school.
Alabama ::: Backup OL Jayden Hobson [8.4] joins Alabama as a grad transfer. He spent his first two years at Mississippi State and then South Alabama as a part of the 2023 class. Now, maybe Alabama sees something in him and wants to get him in the pipeline. He is not anticipated to impact the rotation in 2025.
Samford ::: LT Darrian King [7.4] is going to hit the portal, as was reported on Monday. He played a lot in the last two years before cutting the '24 season short after week eight. He does not grade out as a FBS starter.
|||||| MORE NEWS & NOTES
Northern Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock adds a special teams coordinator from Ball State set to hire Cory Connolly. He comes to Dekalb, IL from Muncie, IN, and will take on the linebackers coach role while running the special teams.
Rich Rodriguez continues to build his West Virginia staff, and the most recent addition is that of a veteran and considered one of the best running backs coaches in the land, Larry Porter. Porter was most recently coaching RBs at North Carolina and helped develop a really good one in Omarion Hampton. He has deep experience, including time spent at Auburn, Texas, and LSU.
Craig Naivar is headed to Arizona as special teams coordinator. He was most recently the defensive coordinator at Coastal Carolina, where his contract was not renewed. He was a Broyles Award finalist in 2023. He returns to his roots, where he spent much of his coaching career with the special teams unit. His resume includes special teams experience at Texas, SMU, Kentucky, Rice and Sam Houston.
Ohio lands experienced linebackers coach Chris Woods to join the new staff under new head coach Brian Smith. Woods was most recently a part of the Temple staff as inside linebackers coach since 2022. He has previous experience with Oklahoma (2015-17) and Kansas (2020-21).
Baylor athletic director Mack Rhoades is the new CFP committee chair and new members include some names you’ll surely recognize »
We wanted to take a minute to honor the life and mourn the loss of a young man who was not able to put on the Pitt uniform, as he so hoped. The world lost Mason Alexander, a recruit in the 2025 class who had recently enrolled at the university. These losses of life too soon are difficult to comprehend. We just wanted to take a minute to honor Mason.
|||||| SUGGESTED FURTHER READING
The ACC and member schools Clemson and Florida State have recently been mired in legal battles. On Tuesday, the Boards of the ACC and both schools have agreed to a new deal that would address revenue distribution and grant of rights lawsuits, enhancing financial equity in the two schools, primarily. It also sets a new ‘exit fee’ schedule that decreases each year. This is the ability to leave the conference with your media rights to sell.
"This new structure demonstrates the ACC embracing innovation and further incentivizing our membership based on competition and viewership results. The settlements, coupled with the ACC’s continued partnership with ESPN, allow us to focus on our collective future.."
-ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips
Others believe this is a band-aid for the conference and will resolve short-term issues that will raise again in the future.
|||||| STATE OF THE CHART™ UPDATES
We are getting you all caught up on each program's current state, depth charts, and coaching staff while looking back at 2024 and ahead to 2025. These updates will feed into the release of our first annual publication — the State of the Chart™ digital magazine coming in July. If you’d like to know more about that, check it out and get on our mailing list for updates, sneak previews and the such »
Here are links to all of the teams for which we have finished updates to this point. Our goal is to release one a day until we reach summer camps opening…
Southeastern Conference (SEC)
2/1: Alabama Crimson Tide
2/3: Georgia Bulldogs
2/4: LSU Tigers
2/5: Auburn Tigers
2/6: Arkansas Razorbacks
2/7: Florida Gators
2/8: Ole Miss Rebels
2/10: Tennessee Volunteers
2/11: Missouri Tigers
2/12: Texas A&M Aggies
2/13: Oklahoma Sooners
2/14: Texas Longhorns
2/15: South Carolina Gamecocks
2/16: Vanderbilt Commodores
2/17: Mississippi State Bulldogs
2/18: Kentucky Wildcats
Big Ten Conference
2/19: Ohio State Buckeyes
2/20: Michigan Wolverines
2/21: Penn State Nittany Lions
2/22: Indiana Hoosiers
2/23: Wisconsin Badgers
2/24: Northwestern Wildcats
2/25: Oregon Ducks
2/26: Nebraska Cornhuskers
2/27: Minnesota Golden Gophers
2/28: Iowa Hawkeyes
3/1: Michigan State Spartans
3/2: Maryland Terrapins
3/3: Purdue Boilermakers
3/4: Rutgers Scarlet Knights
Coming later today…the Illinois Fighting Illini.
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