Category: College Football

Carson Beck commits to Miami, where girlfriend Hanna Cavinder is a basketball player

Congratulations to Carson Beck and Hanna Cavinder!

A big name in the college football transferred portal made a quick decision as former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck committed to Miami.

Beck, a two-time College Football Playoff national champion at Georgia, originally declared for the 2025 NFL Draft but reportedly entered the transfer portal on Thursday.

Then by Friday afternoon, his commitment to Miami was publicized.

He will replace Cam Ward, a Heisman Trophy Finalist who will turn pro as this season is complete. Ward played one season for Miami after transferring from Washington State and is considered one of the top quarterbacks in this draft class.

Beck is an experienced and accomplished quarterback who can help a program trying to win next season under head coach Mario Cristobal.

MIAMI WBB: Why Hanna Cavinder says she’s un-retiring from college basketball

He also has some immediate connections to the university as his girlfriend, Hanna Cavinder, is currently on the women’s basketball team.

She is in the starting lineup alongside her twin sister Haley Cavinder.

Although his girlfriend is currently in her final year of collegiate eligibility, perhaps her endorsement of the campus and athletic department helped to convince Beck to make his decision rather than stay at Georgia or turn pro.

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Washington offers 2026 four-star quarterback Tayden Kaawa

The Washington Huskies extended an offer to 2026 quarterback Tayden Kaawa, a four-star recruit from Hawaii playing in Utah.

Washington’s quest for a quarterback in the 2026 class has already felt like a long one.

The Huskies continued their search on Thursday, offering Hawaiian quarterback Tayden Kaawa, who is ranked as a four-star prospect and the nation’s No. 20 quarterback recruit by the 247Sports Composite, and currently plays his high school football at Orem (UT) High School, former Washington standout Puka Nacua’s old stomping grounds.

Jedd Fisch’s staff has taken some big swings in the 2026 quarterback class, working hard to land a commitment from five-star Brady Smigiel, who ultimately chose Florida State in June. Corner Canyon (UT) quarterback Helaman Casuga had the Huskies in his top three before picking Texas A&M in October.

Washington has shown they’re not afraid to get in on players early, however. They offered JSerra (CA) quarterback Ryan Hopkins in October when the junior was ranked as the No. 59 passer in the country. Hopkins has since risen to the No. 28 quarterback in the 247Sports Composite.

Kaawa is a bit more of a known commodity, holding offers from Arizona, Arizona State, Boston College, BYU, and Oregon, the Hawaiian had a huge junior season in his first action in Utah, throwing for 2,890 yards and 20 touchdowns, adding 318 yards and 4 scores on the ground.

Washington returns Demond Williams Jr. as the starter in 2025, but he is eligible to leave for the NFL Draft as soon as after the 2026 season. True freshmen Dash Beierly and Treston Kini McMillan will arrive on campus for spring practice.

Major programs typically take at least one quarterback every cycle, however, and a commitment from Kaawa could set up a fascinating competition for the right to succeed Williams on Montlake.

Two Trojans earn Pro Bowl invitations

Sam Darnold will make his first-ever Pro Bowl appearance, and he completely deserves it. Congratulations, Sam!

This past weekend marked the conclusion of the NFL’s 2024 regular season. With the playoffs on the horizon, there is still plenty of football left to be played. With the regular season now concluded, however, the league released its annual NFL Pro Bowl rosters earlier this week, and two Trojans saw their names selected. One of those players was Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold. After starting his career with six disappointing seasons and largely being written off, Darnold experienced a career resurgence in 2024. In his first season in Minnesota, he threw for a career high 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns.

In addition to making his first career Pro Bowl, Darnold led the Vikings to a 14-3 record and a playoff spot. Minnesota will take on the Los Angeles Rams in a homecoming matchup Monday evening. (The game was originally supposed to be a homecoming trip to LA for Darnold, but was instead moved to Glendale, Arizona, due to the ongoing wildfires in Southern California.)

While Darnold is headed to the Pro Bowl for the first time, Detroit Lions wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will be making his third straight appearance. St. Brown went over the 1,100-yard mark for the third consecutive year, and also caught a career-high 12 touchdown passes.

By finishing with a 15-2 record, St. Brown and the Lions earned the top seed in the NFC playoffs. They will enjoy a bye this weekend, where they will get to rest up and see who their opponent is for the divisional round. It could be the Vikings and Darnold if Minnesota beats the Rams, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeat the Washington Commanders,

Greg McElroy totally jinxed Drew Allar right before devastating interception

“I trust him.” Oops!

If Drew Allar wants to point any fingers of blame on anyone before throwing a game-changing pick in the loss to Notre Dame, he can do that with Greg McElroy.

MORE FROM THE ORANGE BOWL: This brutal James Franklin stat is damning

With 47 seconds left and Penn State tied with the Fighting Irish at 24, the ESPN analyst had this to say: “For the most part, all season long, his whole career, Drew Allar’s made good decisions. He’s got 50-plus touchdowns, only 9 career interceptions. It’s not likely a guy that’s gonna put the ball in harm’s way. I trust him.”

Oops. Guess what happened not long after. He threw an interception, and Notre Dame won.

That’s rough.

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Former Texas A&M commit Anthony Hill discusses playing at ‘crazy’ Kyle Field for Longhorns

“Playing at Kyle Field was crazy. I can’t lie, the atmosphere was jumping. It was really cool to play in that stadium. It was fun,” he said.

Texas sophomore linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. spoke to the media yesterday prior to playing in the semifinals of the College Football Playoff at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Hill, a former Texas A&M commit, reflected on his choice to sign with the Longhorns and what it was like playing in the stadium that he initially thought would become his home.

“Do I have to say anything? I mean, I feel like I made the right decision. Look where I’m at,” Hill proclaimed. “Decommitting, I want to leave that in the past.”

“Playing at Kyle Field was crazy. I can’t lie, the atmosphere was jumping. It was really cool to play in that stadium, of course after decommitting from there. It was fun.”

When he flipped to Texas, the Aggies set their sights on sophomore linebacker Taurean York, who Hill was complimentary of Thursday.

“He was playing fast,” Hill said of York. “It was pretty cool playing in the SEC and seeing him play that fast. He was playing really fast. And, his freshman year, he did a good job. He was running the show. So, it’s pretty cool seeing him play, since I’ve been knowing him since my sophomore year (of high school).”

Contact/Follow us @AggiesWire on X and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Texas A&M news, notes and opinions. Follow Shaun on Twitter: @Shaun_Holkko.

Drew Allar’s CFP semifinal shows he made the right decision to return to Penn State

Penn State QB Drew Allar’s poor CFP semifinal against Notre Dame shows he made the right decision to return to school

Penn State quarterback Drew Allar has already committed to return to the Nittany Lions for another season. He made that declaration weeks ago and has never publicly wavered from that stance.

Despite that, many NFL Draft analysts and college football media have not exactly taken Allar’s statement seriously. There’s been a strong undercurrent of doubt that Allar would ignore the potential to be a top-15 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft and renege on his commitment to Penn State.

Some of that was predicated upon an expected playoff run that would spotlight Allar’s outstanding arm, smartly aggressive decisions with the ball and triumphant performances in the CFP spotlight that would reflect his relative NFL readiness in a very underwhelming quarterback class. Alas, that’s not what happened for Allar in the Nittany Lions’ semifinal loss to Notre Dame.

Allar was tentative and inaccurate most of the night. He missed several open throws early, effectively proven unable to complete anything longer than a screen pass. The game ended with a very bad interception from Allar, who was under pressure but had options.

He had a few performances in 2024 that made Allar look unready for the NFL. The physical tools are definitely there, but his overconfidence in his arm and his struggles against well-coached, talent-laden defenses (Illinois, Ohio State and Oregon come to mind) revealed a young player with very serious concerns if entering the next level.

Under the bright lights and against an NFL-style defense, Allar wilted. There will still be folks who advocate for Allar to change his course and declare for the 2025 NFL Draft before the deadline in two weeks for players who participated in the CFP. Their case lost a lot of luster on Thursday night in Miami. A return to Happy Valley for more development, more consistency of performance, should suit Allar very well in his eventual NFL dreams.

This brutal James Franklin stat after Notre Dame loss is damning

This is rough.

James Franklin is a good college football coach on paper.

Just look at his overall stats at Penn State as their head coach for the past 11 years: 101-41 overall. Bowl appearances in all but one of his years (and that year happened to be 2020). His teams have finished top-10 in the AP poll four times.

THE BIGGEST LOSER FROM NOTRE DAME’S WIN: That would be … Brian Kelly!

But he’s going to continue to be criticized for not winning in big games. And after the loss to Notre Dame on Thursday night in the College Football Playoff semifinals, it’s continuing.

Here’s a stat for you: Franklin’s Penn State teams are 1-15 against teams ranked in the top-five. That’s downright damning.

Not much you can say there. He’s going to be followed by that until he wins a “big game” or two.

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Brian Kelly was the biggest loser of Notre Dame’s Orange Bowl win

Sorry, Coach Kelly… you were really wrong.

Notre Dame advancing to the College Football Playoff national championship game on Thursday night stunk really badly for one person in particular.

The Fighting Irish’s 27-24 Orange Bowl win over Penn State at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida proved former Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly very wrong about why he left the program.

NOTRE DAME FANS THREW BEERS ON THE FIELD: Quite a scene from the Orange Bowl

“I want to be in an environment where I have the resources to win a national championship,” Kelly said back in April 2022 about why he went to LSU, per NBC Sports’ Nicole Auerbach.

Well, LSU has failed to do anything meaningful with Kelly at the helm in Baton Rouge, and Marcus Freeman has the Fighting Irish in a title game in his third full season as head coach.

College football fans immediately noted the irony, as Notre Dame prepares to play for a championship a few seasons after Kelly basically said he left because he didn’t think that was possible.

With each Notre Dame win in the playoff, Brian Kelly resume as a coach looks worse and worse, which is something every college football fan should treasure.

— Stephen Thompson (@stephenthompson.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 10:33 PM

Brian Kelly since leaving Notre Dame for LSU where he could “have the resources to win a national championship” is 29-11 with 0 CFP appearances

Notre Dame since Brian Kelly left is 33-8 under Marcus Freeman and just punched a ticket to the National Championship Game

— Nathanael (@mrrutherford.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 10:32 PM

I wonder how long “Brian Kelly has made as many ACC Championships as SEC Championships” will remain true

— Ryan Nanni (@celebrityhottub.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 10:27 PM

Marcus Freeman has won two more major bowl games in a week than Brian Kelly did in 12 years!

— revsteve83.bsky.social (@revsteve83.bsky.social) January 9, 2025 at 10:24 PM

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Who is Drew Allar’s girlfriend? Meet Emma Bush, the Penn State QB’s significant other.

Meet the QB and his girlfriend, who are high school sweethearts.

Penn State QB Drew Allar — who could make a splash in the NFL Draft with an amazing playoff run — has had his biggest fan by his side for a while.

Per US Magazine, Allar has been dating his girlfriend Emma Bush way back in 2019 when they were in high school together back in Ohio. But Bush went to Ohio State while he was a Nittany Lion, but they’re still together despite the distance.

And as you’ll see in the photos below, they’ve been snapped together many times on Instagram. Here’s a look back at their relationship through a few of those photos over the years:

https://www.instagram.com/p/DD8XZLqxxP8/?hl=en&img_index=1

https://www.instagram.com/p/C5NH2VqMRDQ/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/CrZQR_JPad0/?hl=en

https://www.instagram.com/p/CiBSZTXrp3S/?hl=en&img_index=1

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Comedian Shane Gillis revealed that his College GameDay jokes about Alabama actually upset Nick Saban

Nick Saban was NOT a fan of the jokes.

It’s not uncommon for ESPN to bring comedians on College GameDay as a celebrity guest picker. And when that happens, the vibe on set is supposed to be, well, comedic. That didn’t exactly jell with Nick Saban.

Ahead of Notre Dame’s first-round College Football Playoff game against Indiana, comedian Shane Gillis appeared as the celebrity guest. In an earlier segment with Pat McAfee, Gillis made a joke about how Alabama and the rest of the SEC are on an even playing field now that every school can pay players. Apparently, Saban confronted Gillis about the remarks before they appeared together in the stadium. Things turned awkward quickly.

And despite Kirk Herbstreit and McAfee insisting that Saban loves the banter and was just joking, Gillis felt that Saban grew legitimately angry once he repeated the SEC joke and called the legendary head coach “Alabama Jones.” (Warning: The video contains strong language).

I must admit that the “Alabama Jones” comment was actually funny. I mean, look at that hat.

But it doesn’t sound like Saban will be in any rush to interact with Gillis again anytime soon.

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