College Football

It didn’t take long after Tommy Rees arrived at the University of Notre Dame for Chuck Martin to realize that the quarterback understood the game of football at a higher level than most. “Probably about 30 seconds after you start a conversation with him,” Martin, now the head coach at Miami of Ohio, recalled to the Beacon Journal. “It wasn’t …

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On Monday, in a conference room at the convention center here, several coaches explored one of the hottest of hot-button topics in the world of college football: faking injuries. In fact, the meeting even featured in-game clips of players (allegedly) dropping to the field in the middle of a drive in an effort, defensively, to slow an …

WEST LAFAYETTE — Prior to finding Purdue football’s latest coach, athletic director Mike Bobinski made it public knowledge the hire would not only be someone with a proven background, but also a coach who could rebuild a roster quickly through the transfer portal. Barry Odom was the man tasked with doing so. And now, the Boilermakers have a revamped roster …

WEST LAFAYETTE − Prior to finding the next Purdue football coach, athletic director Mike Bobinski made it public knowledge the hire would not only be someone with a proven background, but also a coach who could rebuild a roster quickly through the transfer portal. Barry Odom was the man tasked with doing so. And now, the Boilermakers have a revamped roster that includes …

Defensive lineman Smith Vilbert will become the first seventh-year Penn State football player. The top backup, who grew up in Haiti, announced on social media that he intends on returning for the 2025 season. He used his fifth season as a redshirt in 2019, received an extra sixth season of eligibility with the COVID pandemic and successfully petitioned for an …

Matthew Scott is familiar with facing Edinboro University’s football team. The West Allegheny graduate was a defensive lineman for Indiana (University) of Pennsylvania from 2004-07. Now, Scott will experience what it’s like coaching the Crimson Hawks’ PSAC West Division rival. Edinboro announced Scott’s hire as its next football coach on Tuesday. He succeeds Jake Nulph, who last month resigned to …

Texas football tight end Gunnar Helm has declared for the 2025 NFL draft after exhausting his college eligibility. The fourth-year senior has appeared in 54 games with 25 starts and was a John Mackey Award semifinalist this past season. Helm caught 14 balls for 192 yards and two touchdowns during the 2023-24 season while playing under Carolina former Texas tight …

Clemson has found its new defensive coordinator. The Tigers announced Tuesday that Penn State’s Tom Allen would be making the move to the ACC. Allen, the former head coach at Indiana, had been in State College for one season. “He will hit the ground running this week to get started helping us achieve all of our goals in 2025,” Clemson …

In Ohio State’s first two College Football Playoff games this season, Jeremiah Smith caught 13 passes for 290 yards and four touchdowns in lopsided victories. Texas learned from that in Friday’s semifinal. The Longhorns geared their pass coverage toward stopping Smith with a combination of man and zone coverages, often with multiple defenders. He caught one pass for 3 yards. …

Penn State football head coach James Franklin will be making his third defensive coordinator hire in four years. This comes after Clemson University officially hired former Nittany Lion defensive leader Tom Allen on Tuesday for the same position. Allen has reportedly agreed to a three-year contract worth an average of $2 million, according to reports. Allen, the former Indiana head …

Wide receiver has been a contentious position for Penn State football, and one of the top players at that position has decided to find a new home. Junior wide receiver Omari Evans announced that he was entering the transfer portal. The news was broken by On3. A 6-foot, 188-pounder from Killeen, Tx., Evans caught 21 passes for 415 yards and …

CLEMSON — Tom Allen was officially named Clemson football’s defensive coordinator on Tuesday. Clemson University’s Board of Trustees compensation committee unanimously approved Allen’s three-year deal worth $6 million. He also received a signing bonus of $903,150 “plus a gross up” that can increase to $1.75 million to cover his buyout from Penn State. Allen, 54, replaces Wes Goodwin, who was fired after …

Jeremiah Smith has taken his first season at Ohio State by storm, putting the star freshman on pace to be one of the Buckeyes’ top wide receivers of all time — and potentially the No. 1 overall pick of the NFL draft by the time he is done in Columbus. In order to ensure that, Smith’s family has taken out …

The old me would rip Cincinnati Bearcats fans for booing their team in last weekend’s loss to Kansas. Not now, though. Players wanted to be paid like professional athletes, and they got it with name, image and likeness deals. They wanted free agency like professional athletes, and the players got it with the transfer portal. They wanted to be able …

Matthew Sluka briefly became one of the biggest names nationally in college football during the 2024 season when he left UNLV over a dispute over name, image and likeness payments, an ordeal that instantly turned him into a lightning rod in the debate over the rapidly changing college sports landscape. Now, the quarterback has found a new home. Four months …