Tag: kentucky wildcats football

New win projections for every SEC team for the 2024 college football season

SEC win projections for the 2024 College Football Season.

2024 will mark a new era of the ever-evolving landscape of college football. The Oklahoma Sooners and Texas Longhorns make the move to the SEC and face new challenges.

Though if you hear former Texas tight end Ja’Tavion Sanders talk about it, the SEC won’t be much of a challenge.

After a 2023 season that didn’t see an SEC team in the national championship game, there might be something to it. Georgia didn’t make the playoff and lost to an Alabama team that wasn’t necessarily the best of the Nick Saban era.

At the same time, the Georgia Bulldogs have earned the right to be the favorites in 2024. However, if you look at ESPN data analyst Jake Wimberly’s latest win projections for the inaugural season of the new-look 16-team conference, the Dawgs aren’t the favorite. It’s one of the newcomers.

Here’s a look at the projected win totals for the SEC in 2024.

SEC quarterback rankings ahead of 2024 spring football

Where does Jackson Arnold rank among SEC quarterbacks heading into spring ball?

As the SEC expands to 16 teams in 2024, the conference is stacked at the quarterback position. From former five-star prospects to 2024 Heisman contenders to intriguing transfer additions, there will be some fantastic quarterback play on display this fall in the SEC.

Seven of the last nine Heisman winners have come from Oklahoma and the SEC. Two of those seven were non-quarterbacks, DeVonta Smith and Derrick Henry.

Much of what will determine which teams emerge as SEC title and College Football Playoff contenders will be on the shoulders of the quarterbacks who will lead their team in 2024.

There are some quarterback competitions that need to take place, but here’s our pre-spring ball SEC quarterback rankings.

 

Former Georgia LB makes PFF’s All-Transfer team

Georgia transfer linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson named to PFF’s All-Transfer team

Former Georgia Bulldogs linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson has made the Pro Football Focus All-Transfer team. Dumas-Johnson, who transferred to Kentucky, entered the 2023 college football season as a preseason All-SEC selection.

Dumas-Johnson’s 2023 season did not go as planned as he suffered a forearm injury and missed a few games to end Georgia’s season. Dumas-Johnson, a former four-star recruit, recorded 34 tackles and 3.5 sacks in 2023.

Dumas-Johnson will instantly be one of Kentucky’s top defenders. He is an excellent blitzer (9.5 career sacks) and has sideline-to-sideline speed.

Dumas-Johnson missed the final five games of the 2023 season with a fractured forearm. The year before, he paced all SEC linebackers with a 79.7 run-defense grade and ranked second with a 26.7% pressure rate. He’ll be a leader of Kentucky’s defense next season.

The former Georgia inside linebacker will play against his former collegiate home on Sept. 14 in Week 3. The Wildcats also picked up another elite Georgia transfer in quarterback Brock Vandagriff. Bulldog fans will be rooting for Dumas-Johnson and Vandagriff in 2024, but not in Week 3.

How do the Oklahoma Sooners compare to SEC teams in ESPN’s SP+ rating?

The Oklahoma Sooners are heading into a new era in the SEC and come in at No. 8 in the preseason SP+ rankings.

The Oklahoma Sooners had a really good season in 2023 as they bounced back from their 6-7 season in 2022 to win 10 games last year. Now, they prepare for a new era of Oklahoma football with the move to the [autotag]SEC[/autotag].

But they aren’t the only change coming to college football in 2024. The landscape as a whole has changed. The [autotag]Pac 12[/autotag] is essentially no more as everyone but Washington State and Oregon State left for the [autotag]Big 10[/autotag] or the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag].

With the new changes and the 2024 recruiting cycle coming to a close, it’s time to look at where Oklahoma ranks in ESPN data analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+ preseason rankings (subscription required).

For those that don’t know, Connelly releases a preseason SP+ ranking every February where he bases his projections on three primary factors weighted by their predictiveness. Those would be returning production, recent recruiting, and recent history.

So, let’s take a look at how Oklahoma stacks up against the rest of the SEC.

10 SEC teams featured in updated College Football Power Rankings from ESPN

The SEC was prominently featured in ESPN’s updated power rankings for 2024.

Winter workouts are happening across the country. Spring ball is right around the corner. Though the 2024 college football season is still more than six months away, the SEC is shaping up to be a lot of fun in the new era of college football.

Realignment has consolidated power in the SEC and the Big Ten, and it’ll be on full display this fall, especially as the College Football Playoff expands to 12 teams this season.

As the Oklahoma Sooners get set for their first season in their new conference, the schedule provides a number of challenges. But having marquee matchups throughout the schedule is what the Sooners were looking for. In ESPN’s most recent power rankings update ahead of spring ball, 10 SEC schools were featured. Here’s who made the cut.

Texas A&M hiring of Mike Elko classified as an ‘elite addition’ by 247Sports

“Not only is Elko respected on the recruiting trail, but he’s going to bring a sense of toughness and blue-collar mentality the Aggies didn’t seem to possess under the previous regime.”

The hiring of football head coach Mike Elko was the final major move by former Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork before departing Bryan-College Station for The Ohio State University.

247Sports writer Brad Crawford recently graded and organized the recent college football head coach hirings in tiers. Fans in Aggieland should be overjoyed with what Crawford said about Elko’s hiring, placing the move in his elite tier.

“This wasn’t rocket science for the Aggies after their initial pursuit of Kentucky’s Mark Stoops went awry down the stretch,” Crawford wrote. “The next choice was an obvious one with Elko, who transformed Duke in short order as a first-time head coach in the ACC after leaving Texas A&M’s staff previously as Jimbo Fisher‘s top assistant. Not only is Elko respected on the recruiting trail, but he’s going to bring a sense of toughness and blue-collar mentality the Aggies didn’t seem to possess under the previous regime.”

During his introductory press conference in Colombus, Bjork addressed his pursuit of Stoops.

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New Ohio State AD Ross Bjork explains interest in Mark Stoops from Aggies’ head coach search

“Mike Elko is a great coach and we’re gonna meet them in the playoffs because he’s going to build it,” Bjork said Wednesday at Ohio State.

As one chapter closes and another opens, former Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork had some explaining to do.

Bjork was hired as the future director of athletics at The Ohio State University on Tuesday afternoon, replacing Gene Smith who is retiring in June. Bjork held his introductory press conference in Columbus on Wednesday and answered a bevy of questions.

In Sept. 2021, Bjork gave former Aggies head coach Jimbo Fisher a 10-year contract extension, then fired him in Nov. 2023. On Wednesday, he addressed Texas A&M’s reported interest in Kentucky head coach Mark Stoops, before eventually hiring Mike Elko to lead the program.

“Here’s what people, they don’t really realize about the process,” Bjork said. “The athletic director and the team — whatever that may look like — we run a search process. We make recommendations to the president. ‘I would like to hire this person,’ or ‘I think this is the No. 1 candidate.’ That’s how it works in every institution. No athletic director has the full autonomy to say, ‘I’m absolutely going to hire this person and no one else is involved.’ That’s where it goes back to alignment, that’s where it goes back to process and communication.

“So how (Stoops’) name got out there, of course he was a candidate. But we didn’t hire him. We hired Mike Elko, Mike Elko is a great coach and we’re gonna meet them in the playoffs because he’s going to build it. So at the end of the day, who did you hire and how did you get there? That’s what matters the most. So searches in today’s world are really, really probably unrealistic because of social media, plane tracking, or whatever. And so that’s what you have to do is just go through a process and pick the right person, and that’s what we did.”

At this point, it’s time for all parties to move on — media included.

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Texas A&M sophomore WR Jordan Anthony enters the transfer portal ‘due to family health issues’

After one season in College Station, sophomore wide receiver Jordan Anthony has decided to re-enter the NCAA Transfer Portal per a report.

After one season in Bryan-College Station, Texas A&M sophomore wide receiver Jordan Anthony has decided to re-enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.

Anthony announced his decision to re-enter the portal via X on Saturday afternoon.

“First off, I would like to say I give all glory to God, and without God, none of this is possible,” Anthony stated on X. “I want to thank my teammates for everything they have done for me and the coaching staff for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to play for their program. To my friends and family, I want to thank you for always supporting me, no matter what I do.

“Lastly, I want to thank Aggie Nation for the love and support that you guys have shown throughout this past year.

“After taking some personal time to reflect and speak with my family and A&P Agency, I plan to enter the transfer portal due to family health issues with three years of eligibility left, in my next chapter, I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for me.

Sincerely – J. Anthony”

No one could blame Anthony for weighing his options given the recent coaching change from Jimbo Fisher to Mike Elko, and with that, the turnover of most of the coaching staff. Especially given the “family health issues” that he mentioned in his statement.

Anthony is 5-foot-10, 160 pounds and was a 4-star prospect coming out of Tylertown High School in Mississippi. He began his college career at Kentucky in 2022 as a multi-sport student-athlete, playing football and running track.

Anthony transferred to the Aggies program back in June. Six months and two weeks later, he is already searching for his next destination. He played in four games at Texas A&M this season, competing against New Mexico, Mississippi State and Abilene Christian University.

On Sept. 16, Anthony made three catches for 14 yards during a 47-3 win against the University of Louisiana at Monroe. He re-enters the portal with three years of eligibility remaining.

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Breaking: 4-star DL Kendall Jackson commits to Texas A&M after flipping from Miami and Florida

Johnny Manziel isn’t walking through that door but Aggies coach Mike Elko has been making money moves since coming home to College Station.

Johnny Manziel isn’t walking through that door but new Texas A&M head coach Mike Elko has been making money moves since coming home to College Station.

Elko’s latest move is a big one. 4-star defensive lineman recruit Kendall “Hollywood” Jackson committed to the Aggies on Tuesday afternoon.

“I want to thank my coaches, coach Wade and coach Bell, all my coaches. I appreciate y’all for these last four years. Y’all have been an integral part of my life today,” Jackson said Tuesday at a news conference held at Buchholz High School. “With that being said, I did post that I won’t be signing with Miami today. For the next three to four years, I’m taking my talents to Texas A&M.”

On July 12, the Gainsville, Fla. native initially committed to stay home and attend the University of Florida. He decommitted from the Gators on Dec. 2. One week later, he committed to the University of Miami.

Five minutes before holding a news conference to announce his decision Tuesday, Jackson announced via X that he would not be signing with the Hurricanes after all. He is 6-foot-4, 250 pounds and has 19 total offers.

Jackson’s taken four visits so far to Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky and Miami. Elko hired Sean Spencer from Florida as the new Texas A&M defensive line coach on Dec. 3. The hiring appears to be already paying major dividends with the commitment of Jackson this week.

The college football early signing period begins Wednesday and ends Friday.

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Ranking every SEC Bowl game from best to worst

The 2023 SEC Bowl season is just around the corner, and while only Alabama is in the CFB Playoffs, plenty of exciting matchups are ahead.

The 2023 college football regular season has ended, as the historic Army vs. Navy matchup will conclude the final season ahead of the many changes to come in 2024, including the first year of the 12-team playoff structure.

Focusing on the SEC, I guess you can say it’s been a down year for the conference. Alabama is the only representative in the College Football Playoffs set to face Michigan in the Rose Bowl Semifinal on New Year’s Day. At the same time, Georgia, who finished the regular season with an undefeated record, fell to the Crimson Tide in the SEC Championship to miss out on the playoffs for the first in two seasons after winning consecutive National Titles.

For Texas A&M, new football head coach Mike Elko brings a new vision to Aggie Football after six years of Jimbo Fisher at the helm. While the transfer portal has taken its toll on the roster, the future is still bright, but questions regarding who will play in the TexAct Texas Bowl vs. Oklahoma State.

However, LSU star quarterback Jayden Daniels is poised to win the Heisman Trophy after accounting for 4,946 yards and 50 touchdowns on the year. If it weren’t for the anemic Tigers’ defense, we’d probably be talking about an LSU team competing for a championship at year’s end.

9 out of 14 SEC teams will play in a bowl game this year, and yes, that’s an impressive feat in one of the most competitive conferences around. Here is a list of the most and least watchable SEC bowl games ahead of the always-entertaining yearly festivities.