NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

Longhorns QB Ewers to enter draft … And there you have it! Texas QB Quinn Ewers has just confirmed on social media that he will in fact be entering the 2025 draft. Ewers will almost certainly be in the mix for the 3rd QB off the board this coming April behind Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward, but could also very well end up being one of, if not the most polarizing player this draft year. Buckle up!!

UGA RB Etienne to enter draft; “Horns S Taafe won’t … With the deadline for underclassmen wishing to enter the 2025 draft just hours away, Georgia RB Trevor Etienne, the younger brother of Jaguars running back Travis Etienne, announced late last night that he would be entering the upcoming draft where he is projected to be a mid-to-late round pick. Etienne, who transferred to Georgia from Florida this past season led the Bulldogs in rushing, but with just over 600 yards in 10 games, while he chipped in 32 pass receptions. On the other hand, Texas S Michael Taaffe, the former walk-on who emerged as a second team All-American this year, announced that he will return to the Longhorns for his final year of eligibility next fall.

Selection order updated … With the wild card games now in the books we have updated the selection order for the first three rounds on the 2025 draft.

‘Horns WR declares for for draft; Lion DE to stay … With Thursday’s deadline for underclasssmen planning to enter the 2025 draft to file paperwork with the NFL looming, rising Texas junior WR Matthew Golden has confirmed that he will be turning pro this winter. The 6-0, 195-pound Golden led the Longhorns this season with 58 catches for 987 yards and 9 TDs and especially blossomed in the latter part of the season and playoffs. For good measure, Golden is also an excellent return man with a couple of return TDs on his resume. Because of his speed, he’s already being touted as at least a potential second day prospect. On the other hand, DE Dani Dennis-Sutton became the 3rd Penn State veteran to announce today that he will be returning to school for the upcoming season. He joins RBs Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton who announced earlier today that they would be back with Lions for the 2025 season.

PSU RB duo returning to school for 2025 … Taking a page from conference rival Ohio State’s playbook, the Penn State RB duo of Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton announced this afternoon that they would both be coming back for the 2025 season. With QB Drew Allar already having indicated that he too would be returning, the Nittany Lions should be a factor again next year after losing to Notre Dame in last week’s CFP semi-finals. Notre Dame will play Ohio State in Atlanta for the national title next Monday and the Buckeyes are there largely as a result of as many as 10 players with legitimate 2024 draft prospects opting to return to Columbus for one more kick at a playoff can. For the record, both PSU backs ran for over 1,000 yards this past season.

Clock ticking for undeclared underclassmen … Underclassmen wishing to enter the 2025 draft have until the end of business on Thursday, the 15th, to file paper work with the NFL office in order to be eligible for this year’s draft. In fact, as far as we can tell all the big-name juniors have announced their intentions in one way or another and the only major name that the NFL appears to be waiting is from Texas QB Quinn Ewers. Once the January 15th application deadline passes, underclassmen who have applied to the league have a 72-hour window of opportunity to withdraw their names from consideration.

Three more picks set, sort of … With 5 of the 6 wild card games in the books – the Vikings play the LA Rams in Arizona later this evening – we know that Denver, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay will be picking in the 19th, 20th and 21st slots, but it still isn’t totally clear which team which of the 3 picks. That’s because all three finished the year with the same strength of schedule number. In previous years, that tie would have been settled with a coin flip because the teams are from different conferences; that has been changed, though, and to be honest the NFL’s new rules for such a situation read to us as confusing and almost contradictory. And we don’t appear to be the only ones a little confused as at least two different orders have been posted online. For now, we’ll go with what both ESPN and NFL.com are posting which is Tampa Bay at #19, Denver at #20 and Pittsburgh at #21. Picks 23 and 24, though won’t be known until after tonight’s game; the LA Rams will get #22 with the Chargers at #23 and Green Bay at #24 if the Rams lose tonight, while it will be the Chargers at #22, Green Bay at #23 and Minnesota at #24 with a Rams win. For the record, the Rams will pick 26th with a win while Minnesota will be at #30 if the Vikings win. Also for the record, we can say that Houston is locked in, at least for the week, at #25.

‘Horns OT Banks, RB Blue enter draft … While the NFL patiently waits for word from QB Quinn Ewers on his plans for the upcoming season,a couple of 3rd year Texas players did announce they will be entering the 2025 draft. And it is certainly no surprise that Longhorns’ LT Kelvin Banks has thrown his hat into the draft ring; he’s a legit top 5-10 prospect who should be the first offensive lineman off the board this coming April. On the other hand, it is a bit of a surprise that junior RB Jaydon Blue will also be entering the upcoming draft. The 6-0, 200-pound Blue was generally the team’s complimentary back, though he did rush for 730 yards and 8 scores, while he’s also an accomplished receiver who had 42 catches this past season including 6 for TDs, including a couple in Friday’s CFP semi-final loss to Ohio State.

Dad/coach Deion says Buffs’ QB Sanders ‘won’t’ play for 2 NFL teams … Colorado head coach Deion Sanders and, of course, also the father of Buffaloes’ QB Shedeur Sanders who is projected to be one of the first players off the board at the 2025 draft, said during a podcast interview over the weekend that there were a couple of teams that he would not all his son to play for. However, the elder Sanders declined to say which those two teams were. Interestingly, son Shedeur has indicated in other press reports that he’d be happy to play for whichever team ends up selecting him. Time will tell, but certainly the isue of having to deal with Deion is going to be in the back of the minds of NFL people as they move toward the upcoming draft. The other thing that could also be in the back of the minds of any NFL team thinking of selected Shedeur would be the possibility of Deion ending up coaching an NFL team and Shedeur wanting to go there possibly making him potentially more difficult to resign after his initial 5-year contract expires. In fact, there was a report over the weekend that Deion has reached out to the Las Vegas Raiders about their vacant coaching position.

Nothing settled yet with 2 playoff games down; 4 to go … Yesterday’s 2 playoff games settled almost nothing in the 2025 draft selection order. In fact, the only thing that we can confirm is that when the wild card playoff round wraps up Monday evening Houston will be sitting on the 25th spot after knocking the LA Chargers out of the playoffs yesterday. And that could only be for the week as the Texans could drop even lower if they were to win their divisional round game next weekend. For their part, the Chargers will pick somewhere between 19th and 24th, but which spot exactly won’t be determined until the 3 games today and one on Monday evening are completed.

Pats get former star Vrabel as coach … In many ways it was the NFL’s worst kept secret that former star Mike Vrabel would not ultimately end up as New England’s new head coach once all the smoke had cleared. And after going thru all the niceties required to comply with the Rooney Rule, the Patriots have indeed signed Vrabel to replace Jerod Mayo who was fired after just one season. Vrabel, of course, had a very successful 6-year run as Tennessee’s head coach and takes over a Patriots’ team coming off a 3-14 season but with a rising young QB in Drake Maye as well as the 4th pick overall in this year’s draft.

Bucks to CFP title game; NFL waits on ‘Horns QB Ewers … Way back in 1935 Notre Dame and Ohio State played in what was then called the ‘Game of the Century.’ The two will meet again on January 20th in Atlanta for the national championship after the Buckeyes knocked off Texas 28-14 in another terrific game last night that came wasn’t decided until OSU DE Jack Sawyer returned a strip-sack 90-yards for a clinching TD with just 2 minutes on the clock. The Longhorns in fact had had a first and goal from the one with a chance to tie the game on that series. With Texas’ exit from the playoffs it means for the second straight year that no SEC will win the title; in fact, for the 2nd year in a row the the SEC won’t be represented in the title game after a run of 8 straight years in which the conference had a team in the final game. Also with Texas’ exit comes the question what does the Longhorns’ QB Quinn Ewers do next fall. Prior to last night game, there were stories that he would almost definitely enter the 2025 draft where he has a chance to be the 3rd rated QB behind Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward. After the game, though, a fresh set of rumblings emerged suggesting he is also seriously considering transferring with a potfull of NIL money likely awaiting should he opt to go that route. Stay tuned!

LSU WR Lacy charged with negligent homicide … State police in Louisiana have issued an arrest warrant for LSU WR Kyren Lacy accusing him of causing a crash that killed a 78-year-old man in December and then fleeing the scene without rendering aid or calling authorities. Lacy, who had declared for the 2025 draft earlier this month where he projected to be a mid-round pick, will reportedly be charged with negligent homicide, felony hit-and-run and reckless operation of a vehicle.Needless to say, but Lacy is likely off the board of just about every, if not every team at least until this is resolved.

Ex-UGA QB Beck lands at Miami … Former Georgia QB Carson did not  waste much time finding a new school after entering the transfer portal earlier this month as he announced today that he is moving to Miami ostensibly to replace Cam Ward one of the top 2 prospects for the upcoming draft.

Second surgery for Browns’ QB Watson; could impact #2 pick … Cleveland announced earlier today that enigmatic QB Deshaun Watson underwent another surgery yesterday after he reportedly re-tore the ruptured Achilles tendon that forced him to miss the 2024 season. It also appears now that Watson is also unlikely to play in 2025. There was a chance he wasn’t going to play anyway even though he still has two years left on the monster contract he signed a couple of years back that the Browns really can’t get out of without completely destroying their cap situation. However, there also was a chance that the Browns would ultimately opt to bite the bullet next year and play him because he was under contract. And that might have freed them up to pass to pass on a QB with the 2nd pick in this year’s draft and instead use it to build up the rest of the team around the QB, either by selecting the best player available or by trading down with a QB-needy team. If that even was under consideration by the Browns its likely less so with the latest news, although there are clearly still a lot of moving parts with this situation.

Hula Bowl kicks off star season … The 2025 all-star season gets underway Saturday with the Hula Bowl in Orlando. The game gets underway at Noon ET and will be televised by CBS Sports Network. Of course, the primary all-star games – the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine game – start later in the month such that few, if any of the players in Orlando this week are much more than later round or free agent prospects. However, the Hula game will feature a number of reasonably well-known names including QBs Will Rogers of Washington, Missouri’s Brady Cook and Peyton Thorne of Auburn; RBs Peny Boone of UCF and Liberty’s Quinton Cooley; WR Kobe Hudson of UCF; offensive linemen Eli Cox of Kentucky and Luke Kandra of Cincinnati; DE Steve Linton of Baylor; LBs Nick Jackson of Iowa, Karene Reid of Utah and Power Echols of North Carolina State; and NC State DB Ayden White. And as with the Senior Bowl and East-West game, NFL teams tend to care more about what they see in the practice sessions rather than the actual game and among players who stood this week include Rutgers DT Kyonte Hamilton who was noted by Brian Baldinger, while his All Access Football compatriot Ric Serraita pointed out Maryland LB Ryan Hippolyte along with CBs Kendall Boller of Florida A&M and 6-4 Bryan Addison of UCLA.

Irish on to CFP semis; ‘Horns, Bucks up next … For those who missed it last evening, Notre Dame advanced to the CFP national championship game in Atlanta with a dramatic 27-24 win over Penn State in the Orange Bowl in Miami on a last-minute FG. The Irish will play the winner of tonight’s other national semi-final pitting Texas against Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. Kick-off is at 7:30 PM ET on ESPN. A couple of draft related notes from last night’s game. Star Penn State DE Abdul Carter, a 3rd year junior who did play last night and had a sack after being something of a game time decision of an arm injury that kept him out of Penn State’s QF win over Boise State, announced that he will forego his final year of eligibility and enter the 2025 draft where he is expected to be a top 5 pick. On the other hand, there had been some speculation that PSU QB Drew Allar, who had previously announced that he would be returning to school in 2025, might reconsider if the Nittany Lions advanced deep into the playoffs, didn’t have the kind of night that normally launches a pro career. Allar did make some plays in the game, but mostly with his legs as he was just 12 of 23 passing and threw a last-minute interception that set up Notre Dame’s game-winning FG.

Vandy TE Stowers to stick with school … Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers, one of the top 4-5 prospects at the position for the upcoming draft, has announced that he will be returning to the program for his final year of eligibility next fall. The 6-4, 225-pound Stowers was named the All-SEC TE this past season when he hauled in 49 passes for almost 650 yards and 5 TDs. Alabama also gets one of its top receivers back as veteran WR Germie Bernard has decided to stick with the Tide next fall, although he is not considered to be much more than a late-round or free agent type prospect.

Raiders complete housecleaning; fire GM Telesco … Just a couple of days after firing head coach Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas, which holds the 6th pick for the 2025 draft, has now also released GM Tom Telesco. Both had been in their first full season with the Raiders.

UGA QB Beck shifts course; to transfer … Georgia QB Carson Beck, who announced late last month that he would be entering the draft despite having just undergone surgery on his throwing shoulder that was likely to keep him off the field thru the pre-draft process and possibly even into the fall, has changed course and announced instead that he will be entering the transfer portal. At one time early this season Beck was considered to be QB1 for the 2025 draft after a stellar 2023 season, but saw his stock drop over the course of the campaign as he did not play as well in 2024.