The CFB Degenerate's Newsletter: March Madness
This week--Spring Ball commences; CFB's most improved teams in 2024; More CFB rule changes; A VP March Madness pool?; and more...
It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
- Charles Dickens, writer
Spring Ball Commences
Texas Tech freshman WR Micah Hudson will miss spring camp (shoulder), but is expected to be ready to go for the season: A Tech beat writer spoke about what he expects from Hudson in year one, stating that the staff plans to move him around the formation, even potentially getting him carries out of the backfield. Despite missing spring ball, Hudson is expected to be a starter in the fall.
Ohio State (OSU) opened up spring camp with sophomore QB Devin Brown as its QB1: While this may be surprising on the surface, reading between the lines, it would appear as standard procedure for incoming transfers (Will Howard) to start the opening day lower on the depth chart. The same thing happened with one of the offensive linemen who is projected to start in 2024. I wouldn’t read too much into this, and I expect Howard to be the QB1 this fall.
OSU WRs check-in at: 6’3-215 for Jeremiah Smith, 6’2-191 for Carnell Tate, 6’2-195 for Jayden Ballard, and 6’0-203 for Brandon Innis. I remain firm in my belief that it’s going to be hard for Jeremiah Smith to cash in on some of the lofty expectations that the most panglossian among us have for him, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t worth a shot as a dart throw late in drafts. He arrives with an NFL-body day one, and plays in a historically productive system.
CFF darlings make highlight reel catches:
The momentum for LSU WR Kyren Lacy this offseason is starting to pick back up, both amongst the CFF crowd and the larger CFB crowd. CJ Daniels’ transfer in January captured headlines early on, but given his top six round ADP, it appears Lacy has become somewhat of a darling amongst the CFF crowd. He opened spring camp with a bang, reeling in a beautiful over the shoulder one-handed catch from QB Garrett Nussmeier.
Miami WR Xavier Restrepo also got in on the action, reeling in his own over the shoulder one-handed catch. Restrepo is a top four round selection in CFF drafts right now, coming off a 1000-yard season in Coral Gables. While his volatility was quite high in 2023, there is a lot of optimism with OC Shane Dawson in year two, and the incoming transfer QB Cameron Ward.
Marshall undergoing a philosophy change on offence for 2024: Marshall HC Charles Huff spoke candidly about how the Thundering Herd offence is being transformed this spring, details of which are provided here.
South Carolina’s sledgehammer has slimmed down: South Carolina RB Raheim Sanders, formerly of Arkansas, has apparently trimmed down from his 2023 weight of 240 pounds to 225. I remain perplexed on what I think about Sanders’ CFF value for 2024, but this is certainly a move in the right direction. He did not look like the same player last season, and a playing weight closer to his 2022 self is welcome news for those interested in acquiring the Gamecock runner.
Don’t sleep on UNLV QB Hajj Malik: Malik is on campus for spring ball, while his (presumed) main competitor, Matthew Sluka, formerly of Holy Cross (FCS) won’t arrive until summer. My stance is still that Sluka will open the season as QB1, but this nugget of information does dampen the mood on that somewhat. I am fairly agnostic here between Malik and Sluka, either one could mean a lot of fireworks in that offence in 2024.
Florida State (FSU) WR turning heads: The Seminoles’ latest transfer WR, Malik Benson, by way of Alabama, has apparently been impressing in the early stages of spring camp, not only on the field but off. FSU has developed a solid track record of taking veteran transfers and utilizing them heavily in their senior years—most recently Keon Coleman—could Benson be the next one up?
Arkansas RB gaining weight: Former Utah Ute Ja’Quinden Jackson is reportedly up to 235 pounds in his new program. I’m not sure how I feel about that in terms of his CFF outlook. It feels a bit heavy to be an every down type of player, but we have seen heavier players become feature backs in the past (albeit it is rare). Evidently—after seeing what happened with Raheim Sanders—Arkansas HC Sam Pittman must have a thing for heavier backs.
Recent Cal transfer and presumed starter looks to be #2 on the depth chart: Chandler Rogers, who transferred to Cal this offseason from North Texas, was expected to be the starting QB for the Bears in 2024. After all, what would be the point of leaving a team after a highly productive year, just to ride the bench somewhere else? Nonetheless, that appears to be the trajectory we’re headed towards, as Fernando Mendoza opened camp at the top of the depth chart. Given that it’s early days, this ordering has plenty of time to shuffle.
UGA transfer WRs checked in for official measurements: Miami transfer Colbie Young was listed as 6’5, 215 on the Hurricanes’ website (and Fantrax), but his official measurement is 6’3, 215. Vanderbilt transfer London Humphries’ measurement confirmed his height at 6’2; he also added 10 pounds from 2023 to 197 pounds.
NOTE: March marks the advent of my monthly recap articles, which will be a much more comprehensive summary of spring camp rumblings, injuries and suspension news. I am already in the process of drafting this article, so stay tuned for that at the end of the month.
CFB’s Most Improved Teams for 2024
Every year in June, July and August I lay a few boxes of ziti on CFB teams’ O/U win totals, and occasionally on conference champions. I generally perform quite well on the W/L O/Us, the conference champions are harder to hit—though the highlight of my betting career is probably cashing in on KSU winning the BIG-12 in 2022. It’s early days still, and I don’t even think the lines for W/Ls are available yet in most places, but a few programs I am cautiously optimistic about, both from a CFB-sense and a CFF-sense:
Virginia Tech: The Hokies finished last season with a 7-6 record. That’s not bad at all, though when you compare it to what this program used to be in the 2000s, anything less than a 10-win season was a disappointment. They return virtually everything on offence, including almost 100% of snaps on the OL. They return the primary RB in Bayshul Tuten, the QB, who some are comparing to Jayden Daniels’ profile this time last year, and the main WRs Da’Quon Felton and Jaylin Lane. The out of conference (OOC) opponents VT plays are ODU, Vanderbilt, and Marshall. They avoid FSU in-conference, but do play Miami and Clemson.
Miami: Speaking of the Hurricanes, the south Florida boys finished with a 7-6 record in 2023. Mario Cristobal was tasked with bringing UM out of the dungeons of mediocrity, and so far—on the field—he has not done so. Off the field, they have recruited at a very strong level, and the dividends of that should start paying off this season. They play a down Florida team to open the year, Ball State, Florida A&M (FCS), and USF as the OOC opponents. They avoid Clemson, but do play FSU. With transfer QB Cameron Ward, and some of the retuning weapons on offence (e.g., WRs Jacolby George and Xavier Restreppo), this might be the break through year for Cristobal’s gang. Don’t be surprised if they’re in the CFP discussion come November.
UCF: The Knights finished with a modest 6-7 record in their first year of P5(4) play. They actually finished with best record of the new BIG-12 teams, so that’s promising. One of those teams that handed them a loss in 2023 is now in another conference (OU), and UCF gets a down Florida, Sam Houston and New Hampshire as their OOCs in 2024. With returning tailback RJ Harvey and the major QB acquisition of KJ Jefferson, I like the prospects for the Knights to be a production factory for CFF, and an improved team in CFB this season.
Other News
OU hires ‘QB guru’ — Oklahoma has hired former Duke OC Kevin Jones as an offensive analyst, presumably to aid in the development of rising sophomore Jackson Arnold. Jones was integral in the development of Riley Leonard, who—despite a down year in 2023—was quite successful with the Blue Devils during his career.
UGA RB Trevor Etienne comments — UGA transfer RB Trevor Etienne spoke at length on a podcast about his decision to transfer from the Florida Gators this offseason. A few interesting tidbits: FSU were the first to contact him, apparently FaceTiming him within three minutes of his name entering. OU was next, messaging him five minutes after his name entered. Despite this, he mentioned that he only seriously considered UGA and OSU.
UGA TE Pearce Spurlin medically retires — Spurlin, a second year player, revealed on Tuesday that he has a rare heart condition forcing him to hang his shoes up on his football career. In hindsight, this makes the transfer acquisition of Stanford TE Benjamin Yurosek make more sense. It should be noted that Yurosek does not arrive on campus until later in the spring.
NCAA pausing all NIL-related investigations — As expected from the result of the Tennessee case, the NCAA—now powerless in enforcing any regulation on NIL infractions—has paused all investigations into NIL cases. A dark day for the sport indeed.
More CFB rule changes
Two min warning: College Football has never had a two-minute warning, dating back to its found in the 1860s. Evidently, some spiffy TV executives have had the genius idea to insert even more commercial time into the final product—because that’s exactly what we needed as fans. While a decision is not final, it appears imminent. A dark day for the sport indeed (x2).
Helmet communication: Here’s a change that could actually make some sense, though I don’t know if I’m convinced that it is absolutely necessary. The NCAA is kicking around the idea of adding speakers into helmets, allowing coaches to speak directly to players from the sideline, just as in the NFL. The crux of my hesitation with this change is that some programs may be able to afford to do this with all of its players, some not so much, and some perhaps not at all. Still, at least this change makes some semblance of sense.
VP March Madness pool — For those interested, there is a VP March Madness bracket challenge, which you can enter for free by clicking on the link provided here.
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