PURA VIDA!!! (pure life)
- Costa Rican saying
*There’s a section called “FOOTBALL” further down this article that you can skip to if you’re not interested in my travel story (which would make me sad but I also understand, don’t worry).
Hello Pigs, welcome back. You may or may not have noticed that it’s been a little longer than usual since my last upload. I spent the last 10 days in various regions within the country of Costa Rica with my wife and arrived in chilly Toronto late last evening.
Those of you who reside in northern cities and have done a similar trip may relate to the feeling I had last night while riding home in the taxi: I gazed out into the cold urban jungle and couldn't help but ruminate on the memories of floating in a beach and/or pool that still lingered in my brain from hours before. I’m pretty sure I could still smell the chlorine on my skin! A strange juxtaposition indeed. There was sort of a feeling of “where did I go wrong?” Hours ago, I was eating pancakes and a beautifully prepared plantain, for Christ’s sake!
Yes, a 10-day journey was had. And in truth, we were not sure; in fact, back in October, I was pretty sure that we were not even going to make this trip. As the regular readers know my health has been poor for the past month and a half. Thankfully 1) we have found some solutions, and 2) we were past the point of refunds on a few of our purchases and so there was sort of a sunk cost phenomenon going on to.
To put it shortly, going on this trip might have been the single greatest decision I’ve ever made in my entire life. I’m not a huge vacation guy and haven’t traveled as much as I would have liked to over the past few years, but this trip to Costa Rica was easily my most enjoyable traveling experience of my life.
It started pretty rough, as travels usually do. A long day of preparation and getting to the dreaded Pearson International Airport here in Toronto. Of course, we let our anxiety get the best of us and left way too early, despite my knowing better. For a 6:10 flight, we called the Uber at 2:30, arrived at the port just after 3, and were through security and everything by 3:30. That left us a few hours to kill—I decided to get some dinner and ordered the only half-decent looking item on the menu, steak and potatoes. I dared not look at the price, for it would have set in motion a series of bad juju to kick off the trip.
I used to go on 5-hour train journeys back and forth between Toronto and Ottawa for work and/or leisure frequently, so a 5.5-hour flight normally wouldn’t have affected me tremendously. We had done a similar trip a few years ago to the Dominican Republic, and I remembered thinking that was a breeze. However, this one was pretty brutal. It felt very long, and I realized I had become quite softened to the rougher edges inherent in traveling longer distances.
We arrived around midnight local time, then waited for our checked bags—which brings me to an important point. I’ve never checked bags for a flight before in my life. I always thought that was for losers. And within 10 minutes at our arrival destination, my presupposition on this topic was confirmed. We (more so I) had decided to pack some snacks to eat because I knew we’d arrive late in San Jose, CR, with nothing but a Denny's nearby, and we might want to have some food, especially since we wouldn't have eaten anything since around 4:30-5 p.m. Hence the checked bags.
We ended up waiting 45 minutes for our bags, and I made the decision right then and there that we would never be doing this again. There I sat, overdressed like everyone else coming from Canada/US, in sweatpants and a jacket, sweltering in this airport with the other travelers waiting for our bags on that goddamn stupid fucking conveyor belt thing. Who the hell does this? I thought to myself. This might be the worst thing imaginable.
It was a far cry from my usual traveling these days—a 45-minute flight from Toronto’s Billy Bishop (a small boutique airport) to Ottawa, off the plane in 15 minutes and into the cab approximately four and a half minutes later. It’s truly a great feeling to notice your belly rumbling from the food you are currently digesting from a meal that you just ate at your previous location an hour ago as you step off the plane.
Anyways, we finally get settled and it’s like 2AM in this noisy hotel. It’s too late to take a Benzo, so I pop a sleeping pill and a magnesium supplement, but it was all for not. No sleep was had that first night which set a bad tone for the following day.
However, that was essentially the last (well, save for one afternoon, more on this later) inconvenience of the trip. We got up the next morning to find the complementary breakfast provided by the hotel—which we feasted on and stowed away a few snacks for the road. An hour or so later we met our driver, Mario, a chubby Costa Rican man who was very jolly. The journey from San Jose to the Chachagua rainforest was about four hours, so we made some stops along the way.
One very important stop—and I was panicking a little, because I forgot to bring them—was to a San Jose supermarket in hopes to find a flosser. Not your regular dental floss, or pick, but like, one of those GUM Flosser things. I just find dental floss to be so inadequate for working the back molars, and it bothers me when I go a few days un-flossed.
We went into the market, and to my horror, they were nowhere to be found. Just your regular dental floss, which is not sufficient.
Well, we’ll have to make do, I thought. We then make a series of other stops. Mario tells me he is currently suffering from a month long episode of Gout. I tell him I’ve had that twice over the last two years—should I should pick up some Colchicine as a precaution while I’m here?
I tell him I’ll buy them off him if he has them. Unfortunately, he doesn't, so we decided to stop off at a pharmacy in this very small remote town halfway between the rainforest and San Jose. We find some Colchicine, and then my wife—with her eagle eyes—spots my saving grace. Some GUM Flossers reside right there on the shelf staring me in the face. Let’s fucking go. Mario practically shits his pants in disbelief—he’s never even heard of these things.
We then get some of the best tasting coconut water I’ve ever had an hour or so later, and then another hour passes and we finally arrive to the rain forest and where we’ll be staying for the next few days. Here’s a video of a little plunge thing I sat in:
We’re staying in something called a ‘jungle tree house,’ which is exactly as you’d imagine it, except with all the necessities we Westerners have become accustomed to—running water, AC, Wi-Fi, etc.
Within this area, there are hot springs and some natural pools stemming from waterfalls that people can swim in. There is also, well, the rainforest itself, with all the beautiful and wild animals that inhabit it. Costa Rica is a vast and diverse country, with dozens of endemic species among mammals, fish, insects, and plants.
There were a lot of great things about this first place we were staying at, but perhaps the best was simply hearing the sounds of all the different animals in the morning and occasionally seeing a few. There were things like sloths, howler monkeys, snakes, and some pretty massive insects hanging around. If you’re into that kind of thing, it’s a cool spot.
We went hiking around the area one day, and found one of the ancient Ceiba Trees in the area. These things can live over 500 years, and this particular one was probably 300-350 years old. Because the climate is very stable, trees in Costa Rica don’t have tree rings like they do in Canada/US (where there are dormant periods for winter etc.), so it’s harder to date trees with 100% accuracy. There’s also a Ceiba tree reference in the Mel Gibson movie Apocolypto.
Mayan civilizations regarded these trees as sacred, believing that these long structures connected earth to the heavens. Truly, these things were massive. There is something mythical and ominous about large, old trees. I love them. They populate the lands and make them so much more interesting, in my opinion.
It’s mind-blowing to think of all the events in history these trees have predated. What was the world like on the day that this particular tree began growing? It was something I wondered about often while here.
We eventually (accidentally) ran into a local family’s ranch. One of the things I love about this part of the world is just how friendly the locals (usually) are. With the help of Google Translate and our limited understandings of each other’s languages (plus some helpful body language), we conversed for a bit, and they offered us some food and drinks.
In the photo on the right, we are in an area that is essentially just a large open field in the middle of the forest, with two horses roaming around. I didn’t think much of them, and took in the views of the nearby mountains. I wandered off and then returned shortly to see my wife with a very worried look on her face, moving promptly towards me.
The horses started galloping towards us, so I also then started moving hastily away in concert with my wife. We eventually reached an understanding with the horses (this was their territory, and we were leaving). Here’s the last video I took of our final stand off:
The food at the rainforest resort we were staying at was very good, thankfully, and I was sleeping like a baby each night. I used medication each night during the trip, but it might have been overkill some nights as it probably wasn’t needed. Overall, this place was good, but was easily my least favourite part of the trip.
Next up was a 4.5 hour ride into the mountains of Monteverde. I asked our new driver if we could stop off at a nearby natural hot spring, that was mostly locals only and free entry, along the way. He obliged, here’s a video I took:
Wasn’t really dressed for it, since it was a last minute thing, and true to form with it being a rainforest, it was raining (which actually made the experience even neater TBH, I like swimming in the rain).
The driver then took as around the Arenal Lake—the area has many (mostly dormant) volcanoes—so the views were cool. We also saw some Coatis along the way:
This area was cool for driving. The road was in good condition, and it wasn’t too busy. Long, winding roads made for an enjoyable ride.
Then, for the last, let’s say, 2.5 hours of the journey, we were riding up the mountains. These are dirt roads, narrow and populated with a lot of very fast and crazy drivers on motorbikes, and more often, large trucks!
I honestly was in disbelief half the time about how this area can function with so many (what I perceived as) near-death accidents that I witnessed in a few hours' time frame. I also can’t comprehend how these guys drive these massive trucks around these areas. Truly, the margin for error is almost non-existent. You’re either nearly colliding with another vehicle or sliding off the road and down a cliff to certain death.
My wife didn’t seem bothered at all; in fact, she fell asleep. I was there, fully awake, to witness and experience everything with the driver. He, of course, is experienced in driving around this area and was (at least not visibly) concerned.
Eventually, we made it up to our next lodging in the cloud forest high up in the mountains. This place… was probably my favourite place on planet earth when we arrived.
The temperature was a moderate low 20s (for the Americans, think like 68-72 degrees F) during the day. It was cool, and windy. It kind of felt like when I stay in a family friend’s cottage up in Northern Ontario during late summer. The days were pleasant, and the nights cool.
And our hotel was incredible. Admittedly, I didn’t even want to come here when we were planning this trip, but my wife insisted. Probably her biggest single ‘hit’ since I’ve known her. Here’s a video I took the first day when we arrived around sunset.
And a photo at night:
What you see in the distance is part of the Pacific Ocean. Costa Rica has a peninsula sort of thing on the western end of the country, and so the water seen here is in the interior water between peninsula and mainland.
Our time here was short, but very stimulating. We took a night tour in the cloud forest, where we saw a lot of different animals (some photos included above of the Owl and Toucan), and eventually found ourselves in a field in the middle of the forest with unabated views of the sky. Here’s a video I took in the pitch black of the forest, with only a few specks of light from the stars.
And here are a few more things we saw in the forest:
We went back to another part of the forest the next day to walk on some hanging bridges. My wife is afraid of heights so this was a particularly harrowing experience for her.
There were eight of these in total that we went over, with some spanning over 500 feat in length and over 100 meters high in the sky. I really enjoyed this part of the trip, I would have liked to spend more time here.
Our next driver, Jose, has become one of my new best friends. This guy was incredible, and what was supposed to be a 3 hour drive to our next destination—Potrero, a coastal beach town on the pacific (the actually pacific, not the interior peninsula)—turned into a six hour journey! We made several stops, one at a local waterfall
This time your boy couldn’t resist—had to pop in for a dip. The water here was really nice. I also saw an iguana and a monkey.
He also brought us to a ‘Soda’ just outside Liberia. A Soda in Costa Rica is like a small, family restaurant. Jose insists that these are where you’ll find the best food. It becomes apparent during our journey based on how much interaction he’s having with other drivers and people on our journey that he pretty much knows everyone this side of Costa Rica.
We pass by many bars and restaurants that are clearly open only to park at a Soda that has just closed at 3pm (it’s 3:30 at this point).
Jose chats with someone he recognizes outside the Soda while my wife and I walk over to it. There, we are told that the place is closed. We sort of stand there not knowing what to do for a moment and then Jose comes in, says some things in Spanish, and the two lovely girls working the counter both smiled reluctantly.
10 minutes later comes out our food, and some Tamarind juice, which was lovely and well-appreciated on a hot day.
This was honestly probably the best tasting food we had—and there were many great meals—during our entire trip. Jose wasn’t kidding, this place was great and worth going out of our way for.
After days at hotels and such, we arrive at our Air Bnb in Potrero just in time for the Boise State vs. Washington game.
I liked this place a lot. It had a really nice large kitchen that I’ve always wanted. Toronto condo kitchens absolutely suck, so one often yearns for a proper dominion of cookery.
The one thing I would have done differently, if we were to check bags anyways, was to bring my bike. Instead, I caught up on some videos from a YouTuber I like who rides through NYC to enjoy as a proxy.
This video my wife took shows part of the outside area by the pool:
On our way to breakfast one day we saw this Iguana:
The vacation was going so well that I just had to (inadvertently) throw a wrench in. I decided to book a catamaran tour, which apparently included snorkelling, and was set to sail over to a really nice beach, locals call the honeymoon beach.
I figured, while we’re here in Potrero, we might as well do at least one tour-type thing. I didn’t really think much about it when I booked it—indeed, one would say I was on ‘vacation mode’; Plus, everything else we had taken a chance on had gone so wonderfully up to that point.
I actually really didn’t have much of a clue about what this type of ‘tour’ would include, and probably should have done some research beforehand. Immediately when we get to the pickup point on the beach my spidey senses go off. In hindsight, I should have listened to that voice and just turned around, asked for a refund, and left. Oh, how I wish I had.
Vessels that my wife referred to as ‘refugee boats’ carried patrons to these catamarans—the first one looking disgustingly packed with sweaty bodies. Yikes, I said to myself. That was when my first sense went off “maybe this isn’t such a good idea”.
But my initial fear was assuaged because the next boat carried our group to a different catamaran, and this one we had all to ourselves. Still, we’re talking maybe a dozen people here, not exactly a private pleasure cruise.
Within minutes I realized my inner voice was completely and utterly correct in assessing this situation. I overhear the conversations going on and whisper to my wife “We’ve made a mistake. I think these people are morons.”
Indeed, I’ve met many Americans, and Substack analytics tells me most of my readership comes from the USA. But, these people were probably like, the worst representatives of the country you could imagine.
All they wanted to do was lay around on this boat and drink alcohol—which I understand sounds great in a general sense, you know, when you’re at a cottage back home or something—but when you’re in a foreign country, there’s so much to see, it just feels like a huge waste of time. I’d also say that this type of thing is better spent with people you’ve already pre-vetted as ‘your tribe’ or at least, you know, family.
The guys working the boat would try to explain things about various animals we would see, like the Brown Boobie (yes, real name) who would sweep down into the water and pluck fish out. Nobody but my wife and I cared.
We did meet one nice woman who was travelling solo from Columbus, OH, though, which was nice. She had apparently been to her first Buckeye game this season vs. (?)NW. I asked her if it was possible that through all the hype, and the fact that he had such a great first year, that maybe WR Jeremiah Smith could potentially be… a bit overrated? His route running really isn’t as smooth as some would have you to believe. I like the comparison to Julio Jones, but watching Smith run routes is a reminder that JJ may really have been one of one.
She had no idea what I was talking about. To be fair, most wouldn’t. Then there was the twerk squad, a few freshly turned 30 somethings who insisted on twerking and screaming everywhere on the boat. Perhaps it was some sort of divine coincidence that upon my mention of Julio (a known frequent visitor at Magic City in Atlanta), that these three would start performing like strippers on this godforsaken boat.
And look, I’m not saying I don’t appreciate this energy, just that there’s a time and a place. When I’m in ATL for the peach bowl to see Javon Bullard knockout MHjr’s punk ass, I actually appreciate this type of vibe roaming around. But it was a bit jarring after spending several days looking at animals and nature, to then be confronted with, shall we say, the less dignified aspects of human behaviour. It’s just not the type of “Brown Boobie” I was expecting to see.
The other problem with this ‘tour’ was that it was very long. Like, four hours long. And only an hour and a half of it was spent at the beach snorkelling! And, get this, only the sweet lady from Columbus, my wife, and I even did the snorkelling.
The rest of these fucking ‘tards just laid around on these stupid fucking floaties in the water, or stayed on the boat with dumb expressions on their face. Like Tennessee Volunteer fans whenever they see the Georgia Bulldogs roll through their stadium, it was a mix of fear—pretending to play it off—and generally just dumb faces all over. “I don’t want anything to do with these fucking people” I thought, before diving back down into the water.
We saw some cool fish, no sharks or dolphins though, unfortunately.
Then, the experience went from mild inconvenience to an unmitigated disaster. I don’t know what exactly happened with my wife, but she got really sick, really fast, all of a sudden. She was vomiting constantly.
She’s now back on the boat, using the washroom they have, which was probably disgusting at this point, and then eventually migrated over to yacking directly off the side of the boat. We didn’t drink any alcohol on the boat, so I knew it wasn’t that. It’s not look we hit huge waves so sea sickness felt unlikely too.
I swim back to the Catamaran. I bring towels, water, and some words of encouragement, but there’s not much else I can do. She’s in a bad way. I stay for a bit of time, bringing more towels and more water, and then, I do what any good husband who loves his wife would do—I looked over at the shimmering clear blue water and thought “hell, when am I going to be back at a beach this nice again?” and dived back in the waters.
Some people are buoyant, some aren’t, I’ve learned. For me, I’m able to float with minimal effort in the water, even getting in some stretches while doing it, so that’s what I did. While there were sharks around (apparently), and you do have to always keep an eye out for crocodiles as well, we didn’t see any while snorkelling, so I figured hanging out here was fine. I then realized that despite the fact that there were a few boats around, there wasn’t anyone else actually in the water except me at this point.
Nothing happens and I eventually make my way back to the boat, where I find my wife looking very dejected and very ‘over’ this experience. Having been sea sick on a deep ocean fishing trip once before, I understood the feeling of being sick and trapped on a boat. It has to be one of the worst feelings in the world, and we still have several hours to go with these fucking people.
Things get even better when it starts RAINING, and my wife, who hates the cold, is now shivering. Fuck, this could be a vacation defining moment, I thought. The inflection point that overshadows everything.
After what felt like much longer, two hours later we slowly cruise back and arrive to the beach. Thankfully, we’re only 10 minutes away from our rental place and arrive home promptly. My wife is still not well. I look online and see that the pharmacy nearby has just closed, so there’s no anti-nausea medication on the way. Great!
Of course, I provide some water, bread, and a banana to my wife, assuming she’s dehydrated at this point. Another hour passes and now I’m getting worried as she continues to deteriorate. I message the BnB host, who’s also coincidentally from Toronto, and tell her that my wife is sick, and ask for some recommendations.
I put the plan together to get us to a hospital if things continue to get worse, and then somehow, from the back of my mind, remember that when I used to feel nauseas a lot, ice water would help. And thankfully, the fridge in this place has an ice-maker, which is really, maybe one of man’s greatest inventions.
My wife has another vomit episode, this one more violent than any I had seen before, and now I’m really worried— “here, drink this, it’s ice water”. She takes a gulp, and I immediately see a big sign of relief on her face “oh my god, this is making me feel so much better”.
More likely, the last vomit episode was the Big Bang emptying whatever the hell was causing this out, and it coincided with me then providing ice water, but either way, I was glad she was finding relief. I offer some helpful perspective “it could have been worse, could have been coming out the other end” she waves her hand signalling for me to get away and I do.
The next day she has fully recovered, and I decide to rent a golf cart to explore the immediate area, because there were some beaches I wanted to see up the coast line; namely: Penca, Prieta and Pan de Azucar, plus the Mirador observatory.
There was also an Italian gelato place that I was curious about:
So off we went—here’s some video my wife got. We also passed by my dream house.
Conveniently, at each stop on our trip in Costa Rica, someone who had previously been at these places forgot to log out of their Prime and Netflix accounts. We took full advantage, finishing our trip off by watching two Patrick Swayzee bangers back at the BnB—Point Break, an essential any time you're coastal (especially on the Pacific side), and Road House, which neither of us had seen.
In truth, I wanted to watch Bloodsport with my boy Jean Claude, but felt mixed emotions about putting a purchase on poor Tom’s Prime account. So we settled on Road House, which was when I realized the forces of the universe were finally on my side because this film had a lot of similar elements. Lovely.
I was beginning to worry earlier this year that when Wyatt Young put a 49 bomb on my ass in the semifinals vs. CFFNate in my Golden Pig Invitational league that I was cursed.
I even went to a Tibetan store back here in Toronto, and spent at least an hour with the lady there to buy a good artifact that would wade off evil spirits.
The problem, as I see it, was that I had not yet purchased this item prior to the semifinal match. Anyways, my future CFF enemies have been warned.
Oh and let me know if you have any travel horror stories like the one I described above. I’m always curious what people do in these situations.
FOOTBALL
Oh, and I almost forgot—there have been some things that have happened in CFB as well…
Notable transfer portal entrants:
NCST RB Daylen Smothers
Kenn St. QB Dexter Williams
Mizzou QB Beau Pribula
WVU RB Clay Ash
FCS RB Kente Edwards
FCS QB Brady Atkinson
FCS WR Nico Brown
UH WR Jackson Harris
OSU WR Bryson Rodgers
FCS WB Jaden Craig
UW RB Adam Mohammed
Sac St. QB Cardell Williams
OREG WR Justius Lowe
LIB RB Evan Dickens
UW WR Raiden Vines Bright
Mizzou WR Marquis Johnson
CU WR Omarion Miller
FCS WR Mason Humphrey
USC TE Walker Lyons
LSU QB Colin Hurley
UTST WR Braden Pagen
FSU TE Randy Pittman
FSU RB Jaylin Lucas
KSU WR Jayce Brown
UNT QB Drew Mestemaker
FSU RB Kam Davis
MIA WR Ny Carr
GT QB Aaron Philo
UF WR Aiden Mizzell
OKST TE Josh Ford → Bama
OKST QB Zane Flores
GSU QB TJ Finley
NEB QB Dylan Raiola
CINCY QB Brenden Sorsby
UB WR Victor Snow
UB WR Nik McMillan
WVU RB Diore Hubbard
WVU RB Jaheim White
TEX RB CJ Baxter
MSU QB Aiden Chiles
UF QB DJ Lagway
WF WR Chris Barnes
WF WR Micah Mays
SJSU WR Kyri Shoels
SJSU WR Danny Scudero
FCS RB CJ Miller
UConn RB Cam Edwards
WISC WR Trech Kekahuna
USC WR Prince Strachan
App State QB AJ Swann
Minn RB Fame Ijeboi
Troy RB Tae Meadows
OKST WR Cam Abshire
OKST WR Talyn Shettron
ND QB Kenny Minchey
FCS RB TJ Lester
UNC RB Davion Gause
TEM RB Joquez Smith
AUB WR Perry Thompson
UM QB Jadyn Davis
ODU QB Colton Joseph
KU RB Dylan Edwards
BSU RB Jambres Dubar
AUB RB Damari Alston
BC QB Dylan Lonergan
ASU QB Sam Leavitt
CSU QB Brayden Fowler Nicolosi
FCS QB Marcus Stokes
TEX RB Jerrick Gibson
SCAR TE Michael Smith
FCS RB Leonard Farrow → FAU
FCS WR King Phillips → FAU
FCS QB Taron Dickens
Ball St. RB Qua Ashley
MTSU RB JeKail Middlebrook
RU RB CJ Campbell
Memphis QB Arlington Maiden
MSU WR Nick Marsh
MSU RB Makhi Frazier
MTSU TE Hunter Tipton
MTSU WR Nahzae Cox
FCS RB Rodney Nelson
FCS WR Josh Derry
FCS WR Malachi Henry
UNC RB Davion Gause
FCS WR Demonte Green → Temple
FCS QB Landen Clark
UCF QB Tayven Jackson
UCF TE Kylan Fox
UConn RB Mel Brown
UConn RB Victor Rosa
RU RB Samuel Brown
UNCC RB Don Chaney
UMass WR Jacquon Gibson
FCS WR Zion Agnew → ODU
SALA WR Jeremy Scott
NIU WR DeAree Rogers
CSU RB Jordan Marshall
CSU RB Jalen Dupree
FCS WR Malik Knight
FCS WR Jayce Freeman
FCS WR Jared Richardson
FCS WR Bisi Owens
FCS WR Randall King
FCS WR Carver Cheeks
Div II. RB Jordan Barnett
FCS RB Latrelle Murrell
FCS WR TJ Chukwurah
Notable coaching movement:
MIZZOU OC Kirby Moore → WSU HC
UTAH HC Kyle Whittingham → Retired
TUL PGC Will Hall → TUL HC
WSU HC Jimmy Rogers → ISU HC
TOL HC Jason Candle → UConn HC
SMiss HC Charles Huff (probable) → MEM HC
OREG DC Tosh Lupoi → CAL HC
OREG OC Will Stein → UK HC
Alabama WRs Jamarcus Sheppard → ORST HC
UAB Interim HC Alex Mortensen → UAB HC
TUL HC Jon Sumrall → UF HC
GT OC Buster Faulkner → UF OC
JMU HC Bob Chesney → UCLA HC
Former UF/ULLAF HC Billy Napier → JMU HC
Former PSU HC James Franklin → VT HC
ISU HC Matt Campbell → PSU HC
SAC State/former UNLV OC Brennan Marion → CU OC
TXA&M OC Colin Klein → KSU HC
KSU HC Chris Kleiman → Retired
OSU co-OC/WRs Brian Hartline → USF HC
USF HC Alex Golesh → AUB HC
Ole Miss HC Lane Kiffin → LSU HC
Ole Miss OC Charlie Weis Jr. → LSU OC
Ole Miss DC Pete Golding → Ole Miss Interim HC
Former WVU HC Neal Brown → UNT HC
UNT HC Eric Morris → OKST HC
Liberty co-OC Willy Korn → Retired
Former NU HC Pat Fitzgerald → MSU HC
MEM HC Ryan Silverfield → ARK HC
CCU HC Tim Beck → Fired
Washington Commanders (NFL) QBs Tavia Pritchard → STAN HC
SCAR OC Mike Shula → Fired
Some Comments on Transfer/Coaching Movements
I’ll keep this section short and sweet given the length of this article already—don’t worry, there will be more analyses in a different article.
First and foremost, it’s a sad day whenever a coaching legend steps down. Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham ran a productive pig factory over there in Salt Lake for most of the 2010s. He lost his way a bit in the 2020s, but, shit happens, am I right? It doesn’t tarnish his legacy within the realm of CFF in my opinion.
Now, this is a roster filled with a lot of notable players on offence in particular. What happens with these guys? Dampier? Wayshawn? I’d imagine there will be some attrition.
On to the next—last time I wrote about UF’s new regime, and what the offence might look like in 2026. Well, QB DJ Lagway has already been shown the door—cough—entered the transfer portal willingly, and GT QB Aaron Philo is expected to complete the paperwork this evening or the next and compete to be Jon Sumrall’s starting QB next season. He has a familiarity with OC Buster Faulkner, who seems hellbent on coaching for everyone of UGA’s rivals since his departure.
RB Jaden Baugh is rumoured to have been tampered with by several elite programs currently (notably UGA, Texas, and OSU), a real who’s who there. You’d expect offers for RBs to not get too crazy, but it sounds like we’re veering into that territory. Texas in particular has been in need of a truly elite RB for two seasons now, and are likely setting the market for this player.
Some big time names hit the portal last week, including CU’s Omarion Miller, NCST’s Daylen Smothers, and UNT’s Drew Mestemaker, among others.
Smothers began his career at OU, and they probably are in the market again for a RB after the Ott disaster. Mestemaker, I’d imagine, will be throwing passes in Stillwater next season—the wait is just a formality to not set off any alarms in the NCAA’s office (hell hath no fury).
KSU WR Jayce Brown apparently wants to be a number one WR on a bigger program, at least, that’s what I hear on twitter. I don’t think he’s as good as he thinks he is, but what do I know. He had a good role already at KSU, a P4 program, but alas, I imagine he wants to play in the B1G or SEC.
Some other CFF relevant QBs also entered, namely Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola, Mizzou’s Beau Pribula, and Cincy’s Brenden Sorsby. Pribula can be a fun fit if he finds himself in the ACC or Big12, and I hope he does. I have no idea what Mr. Ravioli is going to do, maybe head back to Arizona? I hear the Sun Devils could use a QB. Sorsby started his career at IU, and they will be shopping for another pivot when Mendoza moves on.
Anyways, there will be more CFB analysis soon, these are just a few thoughts on my first day back home. Cheers. ◾
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Drew Mestemaker technically not in portal since the Mean Green QB practicing & playing in New Mexico bowl. Of course there’s little doubt that he will enter the portal after the bowl.