CFB Monthly Round-Up: May 2024

A summary of the notable events in CFB for the month of May.

The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.

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Gather in to the tavern, my friends. In today’s ‘Monthly Round-Up’, I will cover at a high level the notable headlines, rumblings, and quotable quotes in College Football and their relevancy to CFF. These will include camp rumblings, notable transfer portal news (when applicable), and injury/suspension events.

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Paid subscribers have full access to these monthly recap articles, which summarize information from a variety of sources into one succinct, concise document to keep you on the cutting edge of the CFF market. As a paid subscriber, you also have access to my quarterly rankings reports, paid exclusive articles that I publish (about one in of every four articles), and finally, full access to my weekly rankings and waiver wire reports during the season.

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Spring Camp Rumblings

NOTE: I have been publishing separate reports covering the relevant details emerging from spring games, which you can find here.

This month’s section covers updates from: NC State, South Carolina, Ohio State, Minnesota, Ole Miss, Notre Dame, Michigan, Fresno State, San Jose State, Penn State, Texas A&M, Alabama, Oregon, BYU, Georgia Southern, Oklahoma, East Carolina, Washington, West Virginia, Kansas, Temple, Illinois, South Florida, Vanderbilt, Iowa, Tennessee, Washington State, App State, Miami, TCU, Ball State, Akron, and Sam Houston.

• From an NC State update post-spring camp:

  • QB

    • Graduate quarterback Grayson McCall is as advertised. He was 16-of-20 passing for 205 yards in the spring game as he showed off his accuracy against NC State’s defense.

    • Freshman signal-caller CJ Bailey created a lot of noise through each NC State practice this spring, his first taste of college football as an early enrollee. Bailey is a star in the making. He has the Murphy Center buzzing with his ability to make throws with some zip out of his hand, while also using his legs to make plays happen. Bailey will be behind McCall to start the season, but he has been viewed as the quarterback of the future at NC State.

  • RB

    • Duke transfer running back Jordan Waters is legit. It was obvious coming into the spring that Waters had the leg up on the running back room just with what he has done the last two years, including 819 rushing yards with an ACC-best 12 touchdowns on the ground this past season. When he showed up for spring football, Waters created buzz around the program.

  • WR

    • Noah Rogers, an Ohio State transfer, was the star of the show in NC State’s spring game this year. He is an impressive route runner and is expected to be a major contributor to the Wolfpack offense in the 2024 campaign. 

  • TE

    • UConn transfer Justin Joly turned heads within the Murphy Center and is expected to be a significant contributor this fall. Joly, who logged 56 receptions for 578 yards and two touchdowns last season, can be a potential game changer for the red and white at the flex-y position this season

    • Juice Vereen will find a receiving role in the NC State offense. After he had just four catches for 65 yards last season, fall camp will be pivotal for Vereen to earn Anae’s trust in the offense. If he does that, expect Vereen to see more targets in the 2024 season

• South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer opened up about South Carolina football’s quarterback competition, officially revealing that LaNorris Sellers is the team’s starter exiting spring practice.

• From an Ohio State update on the QB battle:

  • Will Howard progressed nicely over the course of the spring and, according to Lettermen Row sources, began flashing more and more as spring went on. Howard wasn’t perfect, but he flashed his arm talent and athleticism when he needed to. With all of that in mind, he’s still expected to win the starting job.

  • Every time it starts to look like Devin Brown won’t win the starting quarterback job, he flashes the potential and puts his name right near the top of the quarterback competition again. Brown was better this spring than he was last spring, when he almost beat out Kyle McCord for the starting role and pushed for playing time all the way into October.

• An Ohio State beat writer previewed the RB rotation:

  • Projected starters: TreVeyon Henderson, Quinshon Judkins

  • Projected backups: James Peoples, Sam Williams-Dixon

• Ohio State head coach Ryan Day specifically spoke at length about the progress of WR Jayden Ballard:

  • “I think Jayden took a step this last week. We’ve been challenging him. There was a really contested play in the red zone that he made, he made a big play on a post out here the other day. You’re starting to see him make those plays. If he can do that for us, with his deep speed down down the field, he can really stretch the field. We’re going to need him to. We did see things in the last couple of weeks that make us think he can.”

• From an Ohio State update on the WRs in mid-May:

  • For the first half of spring, second-year receiver Brandon Inniss broke out and