College Football Information - June 10
Teams on rise, fall this offseason
The college football offseason isn't as eventful as the ones in professional sports, but plenty of big news has kept fans (and teams) busy paying attention over the past few weeks and months.
Let's take a look at which teams have taken a step back -- and which have received a boost -- since the 2013 offseason began.
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Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Most college football observers, myself included, had a similar response when they learned that Notre Dame quarterback Everett Golson had been suspended from school.
"What?"
It was a pretty flooring bit of news for late May, without question. Vegas responded by pushing Notre Dame's odds of winning a national title from 25-1 to anywhere from 40-1 to 50-1. Golson, at least to the smarts, meant that much to the Irish's chances. Some Notre Dame fans told me they thought Golson could have -- or still could, I guess -- evolved into a Heisman-type player. While I never saw that, he's a nice player, and it will certainly have an effect on how the offense performs this fall.
When I covered the Oklahoma game last year, perhaps Notre Dame's best win, Golson's play in the fourth quarter was what helped deliver a victory on the road. He showed the earmarks of improving and being a player that Brian Kelly, at heart an offensive-minded coach, could build around to attain some balance with what was an elite defense loaded with NFL-level talent.
Kelly can talk about Tommy Rees playing some last season, but the reality is he threw just 59 passes and was only the occasional reliever to a redshirt freshman.
But potential was the most operative word when describing Golson.
"He was young, growing, but he was a threat," said one coach who followed Golson in high school, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. "They'll miss that threat, because they didn't have much else on offense."
And that's precisely why the odds sagged, although the Irish still present fairly strong value when some of the other schools in that neighborhood -- Oklahoma State, Nebraska and UCLA among them -- are considered.
Georgia Bulldogs
Steve Spurrier joked last year that he likes to play Georgia early in the season because it typically means a Bulldog or two (or more) is serving a suspension. So perhaps the Ball Coach got a chuckle last week (as he teed off?) when Mark Richt told reporters that safety Josh Harvey-Clemons would have to sit out the opener at Clemson.
One problem, on top of the fact that the Bulldogs are facing a talented team on the road: Defensive coordinator Todd Grantham had essentially been reworking the defense, one replacing a variety of starters, around Harvey-Clemons. He wanted to move the sophomore around, making him a sort of hybrid linebacker-safety, to offset what Clemson does with its tempo offense. And now? There's even more inexperience for a defense that lost 12 players who started a game in 2012. It doesn't make a win in Death Valley impossible, not with Aaron Murray and what should be an effective running game, but it doesn't help.
Oregon Ducks
I know plenty of coaches left for other jobs, but Kelly going to the NFL to coach the Eagles just feels different. It feels larger than a simple job switch.
Oregon was very close to joining college football's elite class of perennial title contenders, if it wasn't there already, and Kelly leaving makes you wonder what the future will look like. That's the case even if, with offensive coordinator Mark Helfrich's promotion, the infrastructure and philosophies will remain similar, if not the same.
We still have to see what Helfrich will do, even if most coaches I've talked to expect something close to the status quo. Remember, Kelly took the program to new heights. He inherited a good program, not a juggernaut.
"Phil Knight's still there, isn't he?" one coach said to me. The theory is that as long as the brand -- the uniforms, the cheerleaders and all that -- remains the same, Oregon will be fine. The Ducks had better be careful, though. Stanford, playing a different style entirely, is closing quickly as the class of Pac-12 North.
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Stanford Cardinal
On the subject of Stanford, it received good news this spring when Tyler Gaffney decided he would give up minor league baseball to return to play college football. For a team attempting to replace Stepfan Taylor, a career 4,300-yard, 40-touchdown rusher, that was a pleasant development.
Gaffney rushed for 449 yards and seven touchdowns in 2011, mostly spelling Taylor when he needed a rare breather. No one is expecting Gaffney to suddenly become an every-down back or some sort of all-conference superstar, but he will be a welcome veteran presence alongside senior Anthony Wilkerson (914 career yards, seven touchdowns). They will be the muscle as youngster Barry J. Sanders, who redshirted last fall, gets settled. We're all in agreement about wanting to see that first ankle-breaking cut, aren't we?
Michigan Wolverines
When I visited Ann Arbor in April, it was obvious that Devin Gardner was comfortable in his skin as Michigan's QB1. He was walking around the practice facility glad-handing friends and strangers alike, behaving every bit as much as the mayor of the place as coach Brady Hoke.
Part of that was the experience he received last year after being promoted in place of the injured Denard Robinson. Part of it was knowing he should have staying power following the NCAA's decision to grant him another year of eligibility, for the 2014 season.
The idea of Gardner being in Ann Arbor another year has more than just fans excited. UM coaches told me recruits who would enroll next summer like the idea who knowing who their first quarterback would be.
Do not be surprised if Gardner, who threw seven touchdowns in the final three games in 2012, is a breakout star this fall.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
It may seem odd to list a team that lost one of its quarterbacks to a transfer in the trending up section, so before we get into the juicy stuff on Wes Lunt's departure and the restrictions Cowboys coach Mike Gundy placed on it, let's start by saying this: Oklahoma State should be fine at quarterback this season.
When I visited Stillwater last spring, it was clear that coaches were impressed with J.W. Walsh's intangibles and athleticism, and he certainly put up some impressive numbers on the field last season. In fact, in the new college football QBR metric being developed by ESPN, Walsh had one of the highest ratings based on per-play production in the nation last season, ranking among the likes of Marcus Mariota, Collin Klein and Geno Smith behind the pacesetter Johnny Manziel.
As for what's next for Lunt? Some thought Kelly and Notre Dame might take a run at him, but according to a report Monday from Joe Schad, Lunt is taking a long look at Illinois. Louisville also remains in the mix, which would be interesting with the Cardinals likely losing Teddy Bridgewater and moving to the ACC in 2014.
Many came down hard on Gundy for his reluctance to let Lunt transfer to a number of places. Coaches I've talked to couldn't understand some on the list. Southern Miss was one. I was told former OSU OC Todd Monken, now USM's head coach, encouraged Lunt to stay. And, really, what harm could it do the Cowboys if Lunt helped a program that didn't win a game a year ago?
I was told by one coach that the across-the-board SEC ban was related to a growing irritation by Big 12 coaches toward the SEC. (See: Bob Stoops' comments and Charlie Weis agreeing with him.) What's sparking that? The coach wasn't quite sure but thought it was sort of an aggregated aggravation.
The indication is that Gundy was, more or less, acting on behalf of the entire conference. But keeping Lunt from the entire Pac-12? That didn't make sense to the coach I was speaking with. He reminded me that the ins and outs of a player-staff relationship are more complicated than the general public can realize.
Cincinnati Bearcats
Back to Notre Dame QBs. If only Gunner Kiel had known what would happen to Golson, Kiel might be in line to start for the Irish this season. He has become college football's journeyman quarterback, and he hasn't even taken a game rep.
Technically, the door for Kiel -- who reportedly will transfer to Cincinnati -- was open to come back to the Irish. But, from people I've talked to close to the situation, evidently he was too far down the road to make another change. (Recall that Kiel initially committed to Indiana before switching to LSU before landing at Notre Dame, only to leave after sitting last fall.)
Can Kiel actually play? Would he have even bested Rees or Andrew Hendrix? There's no way to know, since all we have to go on is high school hype and some practice snaps. But if the Golson suspension had happened in, say, February, it might have been a different spring for Kiel -- and the Irish.
Let's see how he fares with Tommy Tuberville at Cincy. The Big East/American might be crumbling in terms of football, but someone still has to win it. As Bridgewater and Louisville showed the Big East last season, an elite quarterback can go a long way toward league success.