College Football

(Editor’s note: This article is part of a new weekly series featuring Columbus Dispatch journalists and their work in our community.) Joey Kaufman has covered Ohio State football for The Dispatch since he joined the paper in 2019. He answered a few questions about his job below. Why I became a journalist Since childhood, I’ve loved newspapers. I grew up …

Lancaster senior Cole Dickerson, who excelled in football and wrestling, is the 2024 Eagle-Gazette Male Athlete of the Year. LANCASTER — Being a multi-sport athlete can be challenging, but it also has its rewards, especially when you are the best at what you do. There were several area male athletes who had standout seasons, but one stood out above the …

Kent Roosevelt’s Jaiden Portis catches a 54-yard pass and scores on Aug. 18, 2023. The Rough Riders will play Ravenna on Aug. 23 in one of the 2024 season’s 15 must-watch games. Here are 15 must-watch Portage County high school football games in 2024: Ravenna at Roosevelt (Aug. 23) For years, it must have felt like Ravenna’s Jim Lunardi and …

The celebrations for joining the SEC just mean more for Oklahoma and Texas. After agreeing to join the league three years ago and negotiating a settlement with the Big 12 to leave one year early July 1 is the official day the Sooners and Longhorns join the SEC. Both schools are going all out to mark the occasion. Texas is …

When Ron Bellamy made his recruiting pitch to Jacob Washington, he showed him clips of Nico Collins. Long before he became a budding star and earned a lucrative contract extension from the Houston Texans in May, Collins sparked intrigue in Ann Arbor. At 6 feet 4, he was a tall, rangy receiver who had a penchant for making plays. But …

In the recruiting world, things can change at a moment’s notice. A little over a week ago, Cornhuskers Wire reported that Chase Loftin, the top high school player in Nebraska, was projected to commit to the Cornhuskers. That changed Saturday evening when Loftin announced his commitment to the Florida State Seminoles. He chose FSU over Nebraska, Missouri, and Texas A&M. …

When Penn State and USC meet on the football field this October, they will both have new defensive coordinators. Tom Allen is the new man for the Nittany Lions, while D’Anton Lynn is the new defensive guru for the Trojans. The two men might be able to share some stories about the similarities in how they are perceived by the …

LAWRENCE — Expectations abound for Kansas football in 2024. Head coach Lance Leipold has taken the team to back-to-back bowl games already, despite the rebuild only starting in 2021. Redshirt junior Jalon Daniels is making his way back from injury and set to start again at quarterback, providing the Jayhawks with one of the more intriguing talents in the Big 12 …

The USC fan base is concerned about Lincoln Riley and whether the Trojans’ head coach can bounce back from an 8-5 disaster in 2023. Meanwhile, Penn State is coming off a relatively typical season under coach James Franklin: 10 wins, with the losses coming against Ohio State, Michigan, and in the bowl game against Ole Miss. Franklin has been excellent …

Well, here we go: USC is entering the Big Ten with the Pac-12 essentially dead. It’s sad, but the move was entirely necessary. As the move becomes a more real part of our lives, some people might be having final pangs of regret, an understandable emotional response to the end of what has been a special era for millions of …

There’s been a constant debate among college football fans about which stadium is the best in the sport. Even more so, which is the best in each conference? Often, you hear that The Big House in Ann Arbor, despite it being the grandest cathedral in all of sport, the biggest sports stadium in North America, that it doesn’t compare to …

If you want to play offensive line in college football, there’s arguably nowhere better to do so than in Ann Arbor. But that doesn’t entice everyone. Michigan football won two straight Joe Moore Awards but may have had among its best years at the position the year after, when the Wolverines won the national championship. And though the Wolverines have …

Julius Holly is off the board as one of the top pass-rushers in the Southeast makes the call for the Wolverines. Holly, the No. 22-ranked defensive end in the country out of Alpharetta (Ga.) High in Georgia, committed to Michigan on Saturday. Georgia, Texas A&M and Ole Miss were also finalists for the four-star end. Michigan offered the best combination …

Michigan football has been on a tear on the recruiting trail and it almost seems foreign that the Wolverines haven’t gotten a commitment in nearly a week thanks to the torrid pace pledges have been coming in. One visitor to Ann Arbor in the month of June was 2025 Alpharetta (Ga.) four-star edge rusher Julius Holly. A 6-foot-3, 230-pound dual-sport …

One of the biggest differences since Marcus Freeman took over the Notre Dame football program is its quarterback recruiting. The Irish have stacked up the room with plenty of talent, potentially more than we have ever seen in South Bend. With that comes other teams trying to flip those commitments, as we already have seen Ole Miss trying to do …