247Sports ranks the Top 25 quarterbacks in college football

Brad Crawford shared who he views as college football’s top quarterbacks.

Texas’ Quinn Ewers is one of the top three quarterbacks in college football. That is, if one college football analyst is to be believed.

247Sports’ Brad Crawford shared his ranking of the top 25 quarterbacks in college football with Ewers ranking No. 3. He has the ability to become the best.

The Longhorns’ five-star talent is finally starting to live up to his five-star billing averaging 8.8 yards per attempt and completing 69% of his passes a season ago. Ewers could be even better next season. While he loses his best receiving targets from last year, Texas reloaded with rising talent and four new portal additions between receiver and tight end.

Only Carson Beck (Georgia) and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) rank higher than Ewers in the ranking. Beck and Sanders put up better numbers than Ewers a season ago.

A handful of other SEC quarterbacks were ranked by Crawford. The list goes in the following order: Carson Beck (No. 1, Georgia), Shedeur Sanders (No. 2, Colorado), Quinn Ewers (No. 3, Texas), Jaxson Dart (No. 4, Ole Miss).

Opinion: Texas’ size projects well into its new conference in 2024

Connor Stroh and Sydir Mitchell headline Texas’ list of big humans following weigh-ins.

Texas is built to dominate in the trenches. It’s evident in recent weigh-ins by Longhorns football players. Continue reading “Opinion: Texas’ size projects well into its new conference in 2024”

Social media reacts to significant new college football rules

The sign stealing era could be over in college football.

In-helmet communication appears on the verge of coming to college football. That along with a couple of significant, game-changing rules reportedly are now set to come to the game in the near future.

Three proposed rules changes are under consideration.

The first is the addition of in-helmet communication, presumably between the quarterback and head coach. Unequivocally, the rule is a huge win for the sport, and one that can limit the prevalence of sign stealing in college football. There is no clear downside to the move except to defensive play callers who steal signs.

The second is the addition of sideline tablets on which players can re-watch game video from the current game. That could certainly help with in-game adjustments, and could help both sides of the football in the strategic chess match.

The third is the addition of a two-minute warning. Some are opposed to the two-minute time stoppage, but it feels like a seamless transition from the pro game to college for the rule for those who watch football at both levels.

Here’s how social media is reacting to the potential rules changes.

Pre-spring bold predictions for the 2024 college football season

We give bold predictions for college football in 2024.

The 2024 college football season will be perhaps the most anticipated one in recent memory. It certainly will be that in Austin after the Texas Longhorns (12-2) won a conference title and made their first ever College Football Playoff.

Several coaches and players will have a change of scenery in the upcoming season. Presumably most of those coaches and players have already found their next stop.

Alabama head coach Kalen DeBoer leaves Washington after taking the team to a national title game. Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh departs for the NFL while Alabama legend Nick Saban will enjoy his first season of retirement.

With significant changes across the country, we could see significant shakeup atop the sport. Let’s predict what could happen in the 2024 college football season.

Nick Saban uses Bear Bryant, Bobby Bowden to place emphasis on the current state of college football

What would Bear Bryant and Bobby Bowden think about the current state of college football?

Do you ever sit back and wonder what the former generations would think about the current state of college football? If so, you are not alone. On Monday night, former Alabama head football coach [autotag]Nick Saban[/autotag] referenced two of the most legendary college football coaches of all time when discussing the sport we all love.

While speaking at the 2024 Nick Saban Legacy Awards, the recently retired coach used Bear Bryant and Bobby Bowden as examples of why change is needed in college football. Not only did Saban reference the two legends, but he also pledged to do his part in working with SEC commissioner Greg Sankey and Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne to help develop a plan.

“If coach Bryant or coach Bowden could all of a sudden be with us tonight, what would they think of college football right now? That should be the very reason that we’re all very much committed to what we can do to make college football something where players can have a great quality of life, but we still have a venue where they have an opportunity to grow and learn and be successful.

“I would like to be a part of trying to help people that are working hard to make that happen like Greg Sankey. Like Greg Byrne. Like our conference commissioners are trying to do. That’s really, really important for young people, and it’s something that we’re very much committed to.”

Even though he has been retired for less than two months, Saban is proving that he wants to continue to be active in the sport he dominated for so long.

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Stacey Blackwood on X (Twitter) @Blackwood89.

Texas ranks No. 1 in 247Sports’ most star-studded QB rooms

No quarterback room has more star power than Texas.

The Texas quarterback room has star power. According to 247Sports’ Brad Crawford, no other quarterback room can match the Longhorns in that regard.

Crawford ranked the top quarterback rooms in college football based on star quality. To qualify for the list, teams not only had to have a playmaking starting quarterback, but a room full of signal callers with potential to contribute positively on the field.

The Longhorns made the cut with three players with FBS starter ability. Starting quarterback Quinn Ewers leads the list after leading his team to a College Football Playoff and Big 12 championship. Fellow five-star Arch Manning prevents much drop off, while freshman quarterback Trey Owens also has starter potential down the road.

Here’s a look at Crawford’s six most star-studded quarterback rooms.

ESPN SP+ ranks the top college football teams for 2024

ESPN’s SP+ rating ranks the Texas Longhorns in the Top 5 for 2024.

Bill Connelly of ESPN has released his SP+ rating for the 2024 season. The metric views Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon and Texas as the four best teams in college football heading into the upcoming season.

The ranking adds credence to the widely accepted notion that the above four teams are the top contenders for the 2024 College Football Playoff and national title.

Connelly’s ratings metric covers three areas: returning production, recruiting and on-field success. Last season’s cycle saw all four of the above teams fare as well as anybody in the three categories with the potential to do more damage in 2024.

The rankings outside those four might surprise. Here’s a look at where Connelly and his SP+ metric has the top 15 teams for the next football season.

Texas’ Steve Sarkisian ‘borderline obsessed’ with winning national title

Nobody wants to win Texas a national championship more than Steve Sarkisian.

Steve Sarkisian is tirelessly pursuing a national title at Texas. The Longhorns’ head coach shared to media on Wednesday that he is almost obsessed with that championship pursuit.

Sarkisian said the following of that push to bring a title back to Austin.

“I came here to win a championship. If I can get one, I want to get two. I’m borderline obsessed with it at this point. I know what it tasted like last year. I know how close we were, and I couldn’t wait to get back. Hopefully that’s what our team really starts to exude, is this obsession with being the best.”

Those who scoff at the above statement were the same who believed Sarkisian would never make a four-team playoff or win a conference title at Texas. They lost their seat at the discussion table last offseason.

Sarkisian can win a title at Texas. Whether he will or not is up for debate, but the trajectory of his program is objectively impressive. The resurrected head coach just won 12 games, shellacked head coach Nick Saban’s Alabama in Tuscaloosa in unprecedented fashion, won the Big 12 title and made the College Football Playoff. The ceiling, at the very least, is already far higher than detractors placed it.

Some believed Texas was a place you couldn’t win at anymore. They viewed the Forty Acres as an untenable place for championship culture and development. How does the culture and development look now?

Any and all success Texas has achieved over the last season should be credited to Sarkisian. He built an elite staff, transformed recruiting at quarterback, offensive line, wide receiver, cornerback and edge, built a culture, developed players and is giving a schematic advantage that the program hasn’t seen in a long while. He’s not done yet.

Sarkisian has done a seemingly impossible task: After arguably the worst decade in program history, he has Texas “SEC ready” after just three seasons in Austin. But the job isn’t finished, and he’s aware. He’s borderline obsessed with maintaining a contender. His mentor Nick Saban likely ingrained that level of focus by example if not explicitly.

It will take obsession from Sarkisian to consistently compete at an SEC level while at Texas, but it appears he already understands that assignment. He will look to put together a second playoff run in as many seasons in 2024.

CFB analyst JD PicKell ranks Texas No. 3 in post-Saban, portal Top 12

Texas ranks in the Top 3 of another expert poll.

The Nick Saban effect changes everything. The retirement of the former Alabama head coach is changing our college football predictions and appears to be changing another.

College football analyst JD PicKell shared his Top 12 poll for the 2024 season on Thursday. The significance of the number is that 12 programs will make the College Football Playoff. At least one Group of Five team will be included, but one would still like to finish within the Top 12 among Power Five teams.

PicKell’s ranking goes as follows.

  1. Georgia
  2. Ohio State
  3. Texas
  4. Oregon
  5. Ole Miss
  6. Michigan
  7. Alabama
  8. Penn State
  9. Notre Dame
  10. Missouri
  11. Florida State
  12. Utah

Notably from the list, Alabama and Michigan are given plenty of credit for their reputation despite losing their head coach and not returning much from either squad. Penn State is given a high ranking as well, although the Nittany Lions do not seem to have won a big game in a long while.

Outside of the above potential areas in question, the Top 5 should probably be widely agreed upon among college football analysts. Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Oregon and Ole Miss all seem like teams you can trust in 2024. The rest of college football is anybody’s guess.

Wake Forest wide receiver Jahmal Banks commits to Nebraska

Another Power Five wide receiver is transferring to Nebraska.

Another Power Five wide receiver is transferring to Nebraska. Jahmal Banks from Wake Forest announced on Twitter he is transferring to Nebraska for his final year of eligibility.

Banks played four seasons for the Demon Deacons before hitting the portal back in December 2023. Before Nebraska, the 6-foot-4, 205-pounder took trips to Wisconsin, Purdue, Notre Dame, Minnesota, and Michigan.

The former three-star prospect played in 44 games at Wake Forest and became a full-time starter last season. In the past two seasons, Banks hauled in 101 catches for 1,289 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Banks now joins a packed wide receiver room at Nebraska, joining Malachi Coleman, Jaylen Lloyd, and Jeremiah Charles, along with newcomers like Texas wide receiver Isaiah Neyor.
Along with Neyor, Banks also joins the growing number of transfers Nebraska picked up this offseason. Other transfers include running back Dante Dowdell of Oregon and offensive guard Micah Mazzccua from Florida.

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