NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

CFP field to remain at 12 for 2026 … The college football playoff will stick with 12 teams for the upcoming season after the SEC and Big 10 could not agree on the format for expansion. The SEC reportedly wanted to expand the playoff field to 16 teams, but the Big 10 would only agree if the SEC would commit to a 24-team model after three years which they were not prepared to do at this time because it would mean the end of the conference championship games which are very lucrative for the SEC.

Star ‘Canes OT enters draft … To absolutely no ones surprise, All-America Miami OT Francis Mauigoa has confirmed that he will in fact be etering the 2026 draft where he is projected to be a top 5-10 pick. And speaking of Miami, the Hurricanes got a big get in the transfer portal when rising former Missouri DE Damon Wilson committed to the program.

American Bowl on tap … One of the lesser all-star games kicks off in just a few hours with the American Bowl set to go at 8 PM E later this eveing in Lakeland, Florida. Coverage will be provided by the NFL Network. Again, this is a lesser star which could very well not having selected in this year’s draft. However, there are a number of players with at least some name recognition including Florida State QB Tommy Castellanos, WR Daniel Sobkowicz of FCS national champion Illinois State, along with veteran offensive linemen Ethan Onianwa of Ohio State and Texas A&M’s Reuben Fatheree. Here are the full rosters for tonight’s game.

Shrine prospects heading to Frisco as star week set to kick-off … NFL hopefuls participating in next week’s East-West Shrine all-star game are gathering in Frisco as we speak for the start Shrine activities. Players will start their interviews tomorrow and we presume get weighed and measured, while the 4 days of practice get underway on Friday culminating in the actual game this coming Tuesday evening, the 27th, with KO set for 7 PM ET on the NFL Network.  And while the Shrine game did appear to close the talent gap on the Senior Bowl, which gets underway on Monday, in the past couple of years, that may not have been the case this year. Indeed, the majority of Shrine participants this year look to be more third-day prospects. However, there are clearly also plenty of players that NFL teams want t check out including QBs Cade Klubnik (Clemson), Haynes King (Georgia Tech), Miller Moss (Louisville), Jalon Daniels (Kansas), Mark Gronowski (Iowa) and Joe Fagano (UConn). Meanwhile, some of the higher rated non-QBs in Frisco this weekend include TE Jack Endries and OG DG Campbell of Texas, LSU LB Harold Perkins; LB Jake Golday and DT Dontay Corleone of Cincinnati, LBs Taurean York of Texas A&M and Eric Gentry of USC; Florida State DT Darrell Jackson; OTs Aamil Wagner of Notre Dame and Wisconsin’s Riley Mahlman; OGs Brain Parker of Duke, Alabama’s Jaeden Roberts and Ar’maj Reed-Adams of Texas A&M; and Indiana C Pat Coogan. Here are the full Shrine rosters: East; West

Senior Bowl adds DE Bain, CB Ponds, three others from title game … The Senior Bowl has announced that Miami DE Rueben Bain, a top 5 prospect for the upcoming draft, is one of 5 players from Monday’s national championship game to commit to this year’s all-star game in Mobile. Bain will be joined in mobile by teammates Markel Bell, a massive 6-8, 345-pound OG and CB Keionte Scott, along with CB D’Angelo Ponds and RB Kaelon Balck from Indiana. Of note, both Bain and Ponds are 3rd year juniors who are in effect declaring for the draft.

January mock updated … With the 2026 draft class now pretty well set, the GBN projection for the first round of the upcoming draft has has been updated. Again, please note that our goal is not to try and predict which particular player a particular team will select 3 months plus down the road; rather we are primarily trying to give some idea where the different players might be selected given the current intel. And while the potential blue/red chips prospects for the upcoming draft are starting to come into focus, exactly which of those players teams with early picks are likely to target is not. In fact, trying to slot the first half dozen or so picks into this projection had the feel of trying to herd cats!

And the meek shall inherit the earth!!! … Indiana, which hadn’t won a conference title since the 1960s, won their first ever national championship ever, with a 27-21 win over a game Miami team in a terrific game that went down to the final minute. However, there won’t be much time for many of the best players on both teams to dwell on what happened Monday night as those thinking of entering the upcoming draft, including top 10 prospects QB Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and DE Rueben Bain and OT Francis Mauigoa of Miami, have only until Friday to make decision on whether to turn pro this winter.

Peeking ahead to what may be loaded 2027 draft … Now that the field for the 2026 draft – now just 95 days away – has been pretty well set, we can also get a sense of what the 2027 draft class might look like. And while the current draft class isn’t exactly blowing anyone away, especially at the very top of the board, next year’s class has the potential to be very talented. Let’s start with the QBs for example. While there is really only one QB in this year’s class – Fernando Mendoza of Indiana – with a top 5-10 grade, the 2027 draft could include, in no particular order, Dante Moore of Oregon, South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers, Arch Manning of Texas, Oklahoma’s John Mateer, Sam Leavitt, who transferred to LSU, Darian Mensah, formerly of Duke who is in the portal, Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Texas Tech, Southern Cal’s Jayden Maiava, Drew Westemaker, the leading passer in college football last year who transferred to Oklahoma State, and Byrum Brown who transferred to Auburn. In fact, several of those players will actually have eligibility remaining after the upcoming season and need not enter next year’s draft, but that’s a lot of arm talent.

And quarterback likely won’t be the only stocked position in 2027 as there are several others with multiple prospects with elite potential including the edge rushers. That group could include, for example, Dylan Stewart of South Carolina, Colin Simmons of Texas, Utah’s John Henry Daley, Minnesota’s Anthony Smith, Quincy Rhodes of Arkansas, Damion Wilson, formerly of Missouri who is in the portal, and the Oregon duo of Matayo Uiagalelei and Teitum Tuioti. Meanwhile, no position may have more pure elite talent for 2027 than the WRs which could feature Jeremiah Smith of Ohio State, Alabama’s Ryan Williams and Cam Coleman of Auburn, while there are a number of quality OT prospects including Trevor Goosby of Texas, Jordan Seaton, formerly of Colorado who is in the portal, Xavier Chaplin who transferred to Florida State and Cayden Green of Missouri.

‘Canes to face Hoosiers in CFP championship … It is championship Monday in college football as Miami will take on top-ranked Indiana in the CFP title game later this evening with KO set for just after 7:30 PM ET on ESPN. The Hurricanes will actually be the home team as the game will be played in Miami. And they’re be plenty of NFL bound talent on the field starting with Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza and DE Rueben Bain and OT Francis Mauigoa of Miami, each of whom is considered to be a top 10 prospect for the upcoming draft.

Four more picks set; four to go … As a result of this weekend’s conference semi-final playoff games, 4 more picks were settled in the selection order for the 2026 draft. Chicago will have the 25th pick in each round, while Buffalo will have the 26th selection in the opening round, followed by San Francisco at #27 and Houston at #28; those three teams though will rotate those three spots in subsequent rounds. That leaves just 4 picks to be decided: #s 29 and 30 will go to the losers of the conference finals on January 25th, while picks 31 and 32 will go to the Super Bowl finalists. At the same time, here is the updated listing of picks by team for the first three rounds.

Saints, Browns, Giants and Pats get top ESPN 2025 draft grades … For those that didn’t see it last week, ESPN ran a piece last week grading the productivity and potential of every team’s 2025 draft with New Orleans, Cleveland, New England and the NY Giants getting the highest grades.

First coaching dominos fall as Giants, Falcons get their man; Pack extend theirs … For those that have been out of the universe, the NY Giants and Atlanta were the first teams to sign new coaches this off-season with New York finalizing a 5-year deal with John Harbaugh yesterday, while the Falcons came to terms with Kevin Stefanski. Harbaugh, of course, was available after he was shockingly fired by Baltimore after a very successful 18-year run with the Ravens, while Stefanski was let go by Cleveland after a 6-year stint with the Browns. That leaves something like 7 other teams still without a head coach. One team that won’t have to worry about that particular problem, though, is Green Bay which extended Matt LaFleur over the weekend.

UM Safety gets 6th year … Michigan S Rod Moore has been granted a 6th year of eligibility. Moore was a rising star early in his career after being named all-conference in both 2022 and 2023, but has barely played since because of a serious knee injury.

LB Carter out of draft; QB Mensah to portal … We have a couple of deadlines coming up over the next 24 hours or so. On the one hand, the 3-day window of opportunity for underclassmen who applied to the NFL for early entry to the 2026 draft to withdraw their names ends on Saturday and at least one underclassman has in fact pulled out of the draft as Tennessee LB Arion Carter has said that he has withdrawn his name and instead popped his name into the transfer portal. And speaking of the portal, it closes at midnight tonight with at least one prominent new addition as star Duke QB, who had said he was staying with the Blue Devils, has now reportedly said he’ll be transferring, very possibly to Miami.

OB QB Mateer, LB Lewis to return … We kind of figured when there was no word on his entering the draft when the underclassman declaration deadline passed earlier this week, but Oklahoma has finally confirmed that star QB John Mateer will in fact be back with the Sooners next fall. He’ll be joined in the programs lineup by rising LB Kip Lewis.

Buckeyes lose star LB to pros; keep two OL … Ohio State MLB Sonny Styles has announced that he’ll be joining former teammate Arvell Reese in the 206 draft. Both are considered to be first-round prospects. The Buckeyes did get some good news though as both C Carson Hinzman and OT Austin Siereveld will be back with the program next year. Meanwhile, LSU WR Nic Anderson has also indicated that he’ll be back at school next fall. On the other hand, we have yet to see (or hear) any word from Oklahoma QB John Mateer.

Ducks’ Moore to return to school … Oregon QB Dante Moore has just announced that he will be returning to the program in 2026.  Possibly just got tired of wearing a green uniform!!

Ducks’ S enters draft; still crickets from QB … With just a few hours until the deadline for underclassmen to apply for early admission to the 2026 draft, Oregon junior safety Dillon Thieneman, one of the top 2-3 prospects at the position, has told ESPN that he is in fact entering the draft. The NFL, though, is still waiting for word from the Ducks’ star QB Dante Moore, who if he opts to enter the draft would likely be one of only a couple of passers to figure in the top 5. Stay tuned!

OL adds hilite latest Senior Bowl commits … The Senior Bowl has announced the addition of a dozen or so new commits this week including a number of prominent offensive line prospects including Iowa OT Gennings Dunker; OGs Emmanul Pregnon of Oregon, Jalen Farmer of Kentucky and Boston College’s Logan Taylor; and Alabama AA C Parkers Brailsford. Other recent Senior Bowl additions include Miami DE Ahkeem Mesidor; AA Texas Tech LB Jake Rodriquez, TEs Dan Villari of Syracuse and Ohio State’s Will Kacmarek; and LSU WR Aaron Anderson along with P Brett Thorson and AA LS Beau Gardner of Georgia. Mesidor, Dunker, Pregnon and Rodriquez are particularly noteworthy as they each have at least solid second day potential. We also note that Mesidor and BC’s Taylor are Canadians; Mesidor and Taylor, in fact, are currently the two top ranked prospects for this year’s CFL draft.

Draft deadline day for underclassmen … Underclassmen planning on entering the 2026 draft have until 4 PM ET later today to file paperwork with the NFL in order to be eligible to be selected this year. In fact, just about all the usual suspects have declared in one way or another with QBs Dante Moore of Oregon and Oklahoma’s John Mateer the only real exceptions, along with potential prospects from Miami and Indiana who play in Monday’s CFP national game, but they have an extension until the 23rd to apply to the league. Once today’s deadline passes, underclassmen have a 72-hour window to withdraw their applications.