NEWS AND NEAR NEWS

Star RB Jeanty; top TE Taylor confirm draft entry … A couple more top 3rd junior prospects have confirmed that they will be entering the 2025 draft including star Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty and LSU TE Mason Taylor. Jeanty, of course, is one of the top 2-3 Heisman candidates for this year who has already run for over 2,200 yards on the season. And he’ll get a chance to add to that total, as well as perform for a national TV audience later this evening when the Broncos host UNLV in the Mountain West championship game with KO at 8 PM on Fox. For the record, Jeanty is also currently considered to be the leading prospect at the position for the upcoming draft with top 15 potential overall. LSU’s Taylor won’t go quite that high, but he’s rated as one of the top 2-3 prospects at his position with mid-to-late second day potential. he’s 6-5, 255 and is coming off something of a breakout season in which he had 55 receptions.

Who to watch in Saturday’s conference championships … It is conference championship weekend coming up in college football with some very intriguing games on the docket, particularly on Saturday. Indeed, both the SEC and Big Ten title games would be pretty much national semi-finals in the old 4-team CFP format with #1 Oregon facing #3 Penn State in the B10 championship and #2 Texas meeting #5 Georgia in the SEC. There are also several spots in this year’s 12-team playoff on the line this weekend in what should be a full day. Here’s who we’ll be watching in Saturday’s various conference championship games.

Who to watch in Friday night college title games … There are a trio of conference championship games on Friday evening including a key CFP play-in contest with #10 Boise State hosting #20 UNLV for the Mountain West title (8 PM ET; FOX). In fact, not only will Boise State make the playoffs with a win over UNLV, they’ll get a bye as well as home-field in the second round as one of the four top-ranked conference winners. UNLV will also make the national playoff with a win, although they’ll like only end up a very low seed. Of course, if its Boise State one gets to watch dynamic Broncos’ RB Ashton Jeanty (#2, 5-9, 215), arguably the only guy in the country who could deprive Colorado two-way star Travis Hunrer this year’s Heisman. For the record, Jeanty has already run for over 2,200 yards this fall and in fact has more yards after contact than every other back in the country has period. For good measure, BSU also has a rising ER in Ahmed Hassanein (#91, 6-3, 270) who among the national leaders with 8.5 sacks. Not to be outdone, UNLV also has several very good prospects in WR Ricky White (#11, 6-1, 190), who has 75 receptions for over 1,000 yards to date this fall; much-travelled veteran S Jalen Catalon (#1, 5-11, 205) who finally appears healthy this year as he’s picked off 5 passes; and underrated LB Jackson Woodard (#7, 6-2, 230) who leads the team with 114 tackles, including 17 for loss and 4 picks of his own.

Of course, 24th ranked Army (10-1) is still hopeful that a win in the American Athletic (8 PM ET; ABC) final over Tulane (9-3) could land them in the CFP playoff. Problem for the Cadets is that they are ranked behind both of the Mountain West championship game teams (above) and one of them isn’t going to lose on Friday and drop down. Even to win the AAC title is a pretty nice accomplishment for Army. And it should be an enteratining game, although there are no real draft prospects on either team. Army QB Bryson Daniels (#13, 6-0, 225) a dual-threat type who has run for for over 1,300 yards and 25 TDs this fall and could very well get a Heisman vote or two. Meanwhile, Tulane’s best players are underclassmen including redshirt freshman QB Darian Mensah (#10, 6-2, 200) and redshirt sophomore RB Makhi Hughes (#21, 5-9, 210) who has also run for over 1,300 yards this season. The other game Friday is for the C-USA title between a pair of 8-4 teams in Western Kentucky and Jacksonville State (7 PM ET; CBSSN.) And this game actually has at least one possible top 100 pick in JSU C/G Clay Webb (#74, 6-3, 310), a one-time big-time recruit at Georgia who made some All-America teams last fall.

QB issues to impact Jags, Giants runs to top pick … It now appears that the season of Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence is indeed over. Earlier in the day, the Jags announced that Lawrence was going on IR as a result of that late hit he took against Houston on Sunday. That meant that he would miss at least 4 of the Jags final 5 games. This evening, though, it has been revealed that Lawrence will now go-ahead with the shoulder surgery he has been mulling for several weeks. As a result, the 2-10 Jags who would have the #1 pick overall at the 2025 if it were held today, will go with Mac Jones as their starter for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile, the Giants, who would have the 3rd pick were the draft held this week, have confirmed that Drew Lock will start this weekend when the New Yorkers host New Orleans.

OSU OT Simmons confirms draft entry despite injury … Ohio State OT Josh Simmons, a 4th year junior with a year of eligibility remaining announced this morning that he will be entering the upcoming draft despite the fact that he missed the second half of the current season after tearing an ACL in the Buckeyes’ loss at Oregon. Prior to the injury Simmons had been considered a mid-to-late first round prospect. However, while Simmons reports that he is ahead of schedule in his rehab, it still seems unlikely that he’ll be able to work out prior to the draft. Simmons, who spent two seasons at San Diego State before transferring to Ohio State last year is 6-5, 310 with what has been described as freakish athletic ability at least for an OT.

Random thoughts on CFP and the conference championships … It is conference championship weekend coming up in college football with some very intriguing games on the docket. Indeed, both the SEC and Big Ten title games would be pretty much national semi-finals in the old 4-team CFP format with #1 Oregon facing #3 Penn State in the B10 championship and #2 Texas meeting #5 Georgia in the SEC on Saturday. There are also several spots in this year’s 12-team playoff on the line this weekend, although the reality is that the upcoming playoff field is already pretty much baked in. Indeed, all four of the SEC and Big Ten championship game teams are already in win or lose on Saturday, while there are another 4 teams with either one or two losses ranked in the top 10 – Notre Dame, Ohio State, Tennessee and Indiana – that aren’t in a conference title game, ie they aren’t going to lose this weekend, and as such also are pretty much guaranteed a playoff berth. Three other spots will go to the winners of the ACC (Clemson versus SMU); Big XII (Arizona State versus Iowa State) and Mountain West (Boise State versus UNLV) championship games, leaving one final spot that at this point in time seems to be pretty much guaranteed to 3-loss Alabama which is currently 11th in the CFP ranking. And the fact that Alabama – or whomever – gets the final spot is going to leave a handful of other teams including Miami and at least two other 3-loss SEC teams, not to mention schools like SMU and Arizona State should they lose their respective conference finals this weekend, fuming that they didn’t get in. Clearly, the CFP folks need to expand the playoff field!! Meanwhile, the other conference title games this weekend have Army playing Tulane in the American Athletic title contest; Ohio versus Miami (Ohio) in the MAC; Western Kentucky against Jacksonville State in C-USA; and Marshall versus Louisiana in the Sun Belt game.  

A&M QB Weigman to portal … Texas A&M redshirt sophomore QB Connor Weigman, another QB who was being talked about as a potential riser for the 2025 draft, has announced that he will be entering the transfer portal and be back at school somewhere next fall. In fact, Weigman will have two years of eligibility remaining.

LSU OT Campbell to enter draft … LSU 3rd year junior OT Will Campbell has announced that he will be foregoing his final year of college eligibility and entering the 2025 draft where he is projected to be a top 10-15 candidate. It is that time of the year when top prospects with remaining eligibility on team’s that will not be participating in the 12-team CFP playoffs will begin to make their intentions for the upcoming season known. Stay tuned.

Jags, Raiders, Giants 1-2-3 in updated weekly selection order … At least for this week, the top three picks in the updated first-round selection order for the upcoming draft will belong to Jacksonville, Las Vegas and the NY Giants. Note, that the SOS figures are based on each team’s full 17-game schedule rather than just the games played today.

Mizzou WR to enter draft; USC QB to transfer … No big surprise here as Missouri junior WR Luther Burden has announced that he will be entering the 2025 draft despite having a year of remaining eligibility. Burden, who has been comped to the 49ers Deebo Samuel, is considered to be a top 5-10 prospect for the upcoming draft, although he did not have the same kind of productivity this year as last when he had 86 receptions for over 1,200 yards. In contrast, Burden had just 67 catches this season for less than 700 yards. Meanwhile, Southern California QB Miller Moss, who had created a little 2025 buzz of his own earlier in the season, has announced that he will be entering the transfer portal after he was ultimately benched during the latter part of the campaign.

Iowa RB Johnson to enter draft … Iowa junior RB Kaleb Johnson, who emerged from obscurity to become one of the top backs in the country this fall, has announced that he will be entering the 2025 draft despite the fact that he has a year of eligibility remaining. Johnson was not even the Hawkeyes’ starter at the beginning of the season, but quickly went on to win the job and finished the season with over 1,500 yards and 23 scores on the ground. He is currently considered to be one of the top 2-3 prospects at the position for the upcoming draft with solid second-day potential.

Jags keep #1 pick; top 7 set for week … Although there are still a couple of games to go to wrap up this weekend’s action, but Jacksonville will hang onto the #1 pick overall in the opening round of the 2025 draft for at least another week. The Jags will be followed, again at least for this week, by Las Vegas and the NY Giants at #s 2 and 3. The Raiders had been behind the Giants entering the week. but which squeezed ahead of the NYers based on a weaker SOS figure that resulted because the Giants’ opponents had a much better week than those of the Raiders. Meanwhile, New England will be in the 4th spot, followed by Carolina at #5, the NY Jets at #6 and Tennessee at #7. And Cleveland will be in the 8th spot if the Browns lose to Denver in tomorrow’s Monday night game.

Jags QB Lawrence carted off after return … Jacksonville QB Trevor Lawrence’s return to action this afternoon after missing the past several weeks with a shoulder injury was relatively short-lived as we was just carted off the field with a head injury in their game with Houston. Lawrence was in the process of sliding when he took a nasty hit to the head that resulted in an ugly melee as well as several ejections. For now, Lawrence has been replaced by Mac Jones.

‘Horns star OT Banks dinged … For those not watching the SEC rivalry game between #3 Texas and #20 Texas A&M, Kelvin Banks, the Longhorns’ star LT who is a legit top 5-10 prospect for the upcoming draft, had to be helped off the field with a lower leg injury. It didn’t necessarily look all that bad and Banks did manage to at least walk off the field on his own, but with a noticeable limp. With the game coming up on halftime, Banks is back in the Longhorns’ room and likely won’t play again this evening, but we may very well not get any real updates for a day or so. Stay tuned!

Canes CFP hopes crushed; Irish, Lions move on … Miami looked like they were on cruise control to the ACC title game and an almost guaranteed spot in the CFP playoffs when they jumped out to a 21-0 lead at Syracuse this afternoon; however, it was not to be as the Orange stormed back to stun the ‘Canes 42-38 which puts their playoff hopes in major jeopardy. Miami will have only two losses but both were to unranked opponents and Miami has no wins over top 15-20 teams. One team’s misery, though, can be another’s opportunity as just like that Clemson, which looked to pretty much dead in the water, at least as far as the CFP goes, after the Tigers lost to cross-state rival South Carolina to drop to 9-3 earlier in the day. Instead, with Mimai losing, Clemson will now play upstart SMU in the ACC title game next Saturday with the winner advancing to the national playoffs. Meanwhile, several other teams pretty much guaranteed their calls from the CFP committee with wins in late afternoon games today including Notre Dame, which goes to 11-1 after beating USC in LA, courtesy in large part to a pair of endzone-to-endzone pick 6s, while 11-1 Penn State will play Oregon in the Big 10 championship game next week and win or lose the Nittany Lions should go the playoffs after trouncing Maryland.

Bucks lose THE game again! Likely out of conference title game … It does not appear as if there will be a replay of the #1 and #2 teams in the country after 2nd ranked Ohio State was upset by Michigan 13-10 in THE game earlier this afternoon in a game that ended with an ugly on-field brawl between the two teams. Penn State will play top-ranked Oregon if the Lions can knock off 4-7 Maryland in a late afternoon, while Indiana will get the berth if PSU were to lose and the Hoosier defeat Purdue in their season finale. Fear not for Ohio State, though, as even with the loss the Buckeyes will get a playoff bid, though they could conceivably have to play their first round game on the road. The Buckeyes will also get three weeks off before their first playoff game. Meanwhile, Tennessee appears to have punched their playoff ticket with a win over Vanderbilt in their local derby. On the other hand, it appears that Clemson’s faint playoff hopes went up in smoke with a 17-14 loss to South Carolina in their annual rivalry game.

Top QB prospects to star games??? … While we wait for the KOs of today’s college football games, there are a couple of updates from the post-season all-star games. In a bit of a surprise, Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders, arguably the top prospect at the position for the upcoming draft, and very possibly a strong candidate to be the first player selected next April, has committed to play in the East-West Shrine game rather than the Senior Bowl. The Shrine game is in Dallas again this year and that’s where the Sanders call home, so that may be a factor; Sanders’ brother Shilo, a safety with the Buffalos, has also committed to the Shrine game, although one would think that if that were an issue, the Senior Bowl could have invited him too. Of course, when it comes to post-season all-star games, the best laid plans often change, even at the last minute, but for now Shedeur Sanders seems to be committed to the Shrine game. At the same time, there are published reports that Miami’s Cam Ward, the other top QB prospect in the 2025 cycle, has committed to play in the Senior Bowl; however, Ward is not yet listed on the Senior Bowl commit list, nor have we seen it reported by a mainline news source. One QB who has committed to be in Mobile at the end of January is Riley Leonard of Notre Dame.

Meanwhile, speaking of Colorado’s Sanders, Giants’ GM Joe Schoen stopped by a Buffaloes’ practice session earlier in the week at which he also met with Deion Sanders. The Giants, in fact, would have the first pick overall were the draft held today (although Jacksonville could regain that top spot with a loss to Houston tomorrow) and after releasing Daniel Jones are in desperate need of a major upgrade at QB. Stay tuned!

Raiders snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in KC; will keep top 3 pick for the week … Almost incredibly, for the second time in as many days, a prohibitive NFL underdog botched a chance at a major upset in the final few seconds of a game. Yesterday, of course, Chicago, in position to possibly kick a last-minute game-tying FG in Detroit, completely and utterly mismanaged the clock to the point they never did get a kick off. That cost Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus his job as Chicago dropped its 6th straight game. Today, Las Vegas was well within range to attempt what would have been a game-winning FG in an upset bid over the two-time defending champion Kansas City, but botched the snap on what was supposed to be a throwaway play. The Chiefs recovered, in the process dropping the Raiders to 2-10 and keeping them at least in the top 3 picks when the weekly selection order for the opening round of the 2025 draft is updated on Monday night. In fact, the Raiders have at least for the next couple of days moved into the #2 slot behind the NY Giants, although both will drop one spot if Jacksonville loses to Houston on Sunday and reclaims the top spot for at least another week.

Who to watch in Saturday’s key college football games … As noted earlier, the really key college football games with conference and national playoff implications this weekend are on Saturday including traditional rivalries Ohio State-Michigan and Texas-Texas A&M. Here’s who we’ll be watching in those games with an eye toward the 2025 draft.

Michigan (6-5) at #2 Ohio State (10-1); Noon ET; FOX … It was pretty much a given in recent years that THE game between old rivals Ohio State and Michigan had huge national implications. Not so much this year, though, as the Buckeyes would appear to be in the CFP playoffs win or lose on Saturday, while Michigan has been out of the national picture for weeks. However, that said, its still Ohio State-Michigan with tons of bragging rights on the line. Its also Ohio State-Michigan which means tons of draft talent on the field. Indeed, the Buckeyes may have as many top prospects as any team in the country, although they don’t necessarily have anyone who is a legitimate lock to be an opening round pick this coming April. What they do have, though, is multiple players with at least a second-day grade including the dynamic RB duo of Quinshon Judkins (#1, 6-0, 220), who transferred up from Mississippi this year, and RB Tre’veyon Henderson (#32, 5-10, 215), along with WR Emeka Egbuka (#2, 6-0, 210), OG Donovan Jackson (#74, 6-3, 320), DEs JT Tuimoloau (#44, 6-4, 275) and Jack Sawyer (#33, 6-4, 265), DT Tyleik Williams (#91, 6-2, 290), CBs Denzel Burke (#10, 6-1, 195), Davison Igbinosun (#1, 6-1, 190) and Jordan Hancock (#7, 6-0, 190), LBs Cody Simon (#0, 6-2, 235) and Sonny Styles (#6, 6-3, 230), and S Lathan Ranson (#8, 6-1, 210). However, the key for Ohio State going forward could be QB Will Howard (#18, 6-4, 240), who is actually 3rd in the country in passing efficiency, although he’ll have to make do without two of his top offensive linemen as both LT Josh Simmons and C Seth McLaughlin are out for the rest of the campaign.

While Michigan has long been out of this year’s national championship discussion, the Wolverines could actually have a bigger impact on the 2025 opening round as they feature as many as four players with at least some first round potential. And two of those have legitimate top 5-10 potential in CB Will Johnson (#2, 6-2, 205) and DT Mason Graham (#55, 6-3, 320), both of whom are the consensus leading prospects at their respective positions. Unfortunately, though, Johnson will not play because of injury. The Wolverines will also feature arguably the top TE prospect this year in Colston Loveland (#18, 6-5, 245), while DT Kenneth Grant (#78, 6-3, 340) combines with Graham to give Michigan arguably the stoutest interior defensive front in the country; both should get some later first-round consideration. Meanwhile, several other Wolverines including RB Donovan Edwards (#7, 6-0, 215) and ER Josiah Stewart (#0, 6-1, 245), who leads the team with 8.5 sacks could get some second-day consideration.

#3 Texas (10-1) at #20 Texas A&M (8-3); 7:30 PM ET; ABC … The ‘Horns and Aggies hook up for the first time in what used to be their annual rivalry game since A&M left for the SEC back in 2011. And the winner gets  a spot opposite Georgia in the SEC title game next weekend. That’s a big deal for the Aggies as it appears to be their only route to a CFP playoff berth, whereas 1-loss Texas appears to be in no matter what happens Saturday afternoon in College Station. and even before the kick-off there is going to be intrigue as star Texas QB Quinn Ewers (#3, 6-2, 210) will likely be a game-time decision after he tweaked an ankle in last week’s win over Kentucky. ewers has seen his draft stock plummet somewhat this fall as he just doesn’t make enough NFL type throws, although he is also still generally considered to be the #3 prospect at the position for 2025 if in fact he does turn pro this winter. In fact, Ewers is not actually be the Longhorns top prospect for 2025 as OT Kelvin Banks (#78, 6-4, 320) is arguably the top tackle prospect with top 5-10 potential. Meanwhile, speedy WR Isaiah Bond (#7, 5-11, 180), an Alabama transfer who some think could give former UT WR Xavier Worthy’s record 4.21 40 clocking at the combine a run for its money, is a big play target who could get some mid-to-late first round interest this coming April. At the same time, other Texas prospects to watch include RT Cameron Williams (#56, 6-5, 335), TE Gunnar Helm (#85, 6-5, 250), S Andrew Mukuba (#4, 6-0, 190), a Clemson transfer who figures to be one of the leading prospects at that position next April, DE Trey Moore (#8, 6-3, 245), DT Alfred Collins (#91, 6-5, 320), DE Barryn Sorrell (#88, 6-4, 260), CB Jahdae Barron (#7, 5-11, 200) and LB David Gbenda (#33, 6-0, 235).

Texas A&M also has a potential top 10 prospect in rising in DE Nic Scourton (#11, 6-4, 285), a Purdue transfer who has one of the highest-ceilings of anyone in the upcoming draft. Indeed, the individual one-on-one match-up of the week should be when Scourton goes against the Longhorns’ Banks. Scourton anchors a very good defensive front which also includes a couple of Shemars: DT Shemar Turner (#5, 6-3, 300) and DE Shemar Stewart (#4, 6-4, 290), both of whom have second-day grades. . The Aggies also have an intriguing QB prospect in 3rd year junior Connor Weigman (#15, 6-2, 220) who has oodles of talent, but just hasn’t been able to stay on the field to date.