COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCIV) — One day after South Carolina received word that star quarterback LaNorris Sellers was staying in town, another star said he plans to return to the fold.

Dylan Stewart, the Gamecocks’ star edge rusher, announced he is returning for his true junior season in 2026, according to Pete Thamel, ESPN’s college football insider.

Stewart has 11 sacks in his two seasons at South Carolina and has forced 6 fumbles. Among ESPN’s draft projections, he appears to be a top prospect for the 2027 NFL Draft.

READ MORE | “South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers stays put, vows stronger return for 2026 season.”

The former five-star recruit and rising SEC pass rusher chose continuity over the transfer portal, agreeing to an NIL deal that places him among the highest compensated non-quarterbacks in college football, according to ESPN’s reporting.

South Carolina’s defense is back in reliable hands, as the Gamecocks ready themselves to bounceback from a 4-8 season.

After the pitiful finish, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer shook up his coaching staff.

South Carolina is also expected to hire Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes as the defensive end and outside linebacker coach.

He’s been Penn State’s defensive line coach the past three years and worked with the line there since 2020. He coached Abdul Carter, Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac.

READ MORE | “South Carolina to kick off 2026 football season at home against Kent State.”

Until Michigan officially hires a head coach, the name Kalen DeBoer is going to be mentioned with the search. Even after DeBoer released statements saying he would stay with Alabama, rumors are out there. Folks in Ann Arbor might have been cheering for Oklahoma on Friday night to potentially speed up the process.

Instead, Alabama is heading to the Rose Bowl to face Indiana on Jan. 1. So, if DeBoer was going to be Michigan’s hire, the wait will continue. Which is exactly what ESPN’s Rece Davis believes the Wolverines should be doing in this situation.

“From Michigan’s standpoint, if that’s the guy you want, wait,” Davis said via the College GameDay Podcast. “If it takes waiting until they finish, if they were to upset Indiana, wait if that’s the guy you want. Why settle? One portal class, one recruiting class is not worth settling for a program like Michigan. Now, I understand the concept that there’s no guarantee you’re going to get him. I get that. But if you are convicted that this is your guy, wait it out. See what happens, push forward.”

If Alabama were to win in Pasadena, the next College Football Playoff date would be Jan. 8 or 9. A run to the national championship means DeBoer would not be done coaching the 2025 season until Jan. 19. But Davis mentions no singular NCAA transfer portal and/or recruiting class is as important as getting the right guy for Michigan.

When it comes down to it, Davis does not think DeBoer will leave Tuscaloosa this offseason. Those released statements were viewed as pretty telling in Davis’s eyes. And at the end of the day, DeBoer is still looking to prove to be the guy who can replace Nick Saban at Alabama.

“I do not think Kalen DeBoer will take the job,” Davis said. “Ultimately, because I don’t think he wants to be perceived as running from what he ran to. Michigan’s a great job. If he does, he does, and great for him if that’s what he decides. I don’t think he will end up doing that. Maybe he will.”

The latest update on where the Michigan coaching search came from On3’s Pete Nakos on Saturday. Nakos outlined who the top candidates are at the moment, mainly after Kenny Dillingham signed an extension to stay in Tempe with the Arizona State Sun Devils not too long ago.

A multitude of college football players are set to look for a new home for the 2026 college football season.

In the weeks before the NCAA transfer portal opens, quarterbacks across college football have expressed their desire to explore new destinations. These quarterbacks include DJ Lagway of Florida, Sam Leavitt of Arizona State, Josh Hoover of TCU and Brendan Sorsby of Cincinnati.

One intriguing name in the portal quarterback is former Nebraska signal caller Dylan Raiola. He will enter the transfer portal with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Raiola is expected to command around $2.5 million in NIL compensation from whatever school he lands at.

One school that has entered the sweepstakes for Raiola is Louisville. Steve Wiltfong of On3 mentioned the possibility of Raiola joining the Cardinals in a recent edition of “Wiltfong Whiparound.”

“They can be a program to keep an eye on for Dylan Raiola,” Wiltfong said.

In the three seasons Jeff Brohm has coached at his alma mater, Louisville has not started a quarterback it recruited from high school.

Former Purdue and California quarterback Jack Plummer transferred to Louisville and started for the Cardinals in 2023. The Cardinals acquired a former Oregon and Texas Tech quarterback from the portal to be their starter in 2024. Brohm brought in former USC quarterback Miller Moss to be the Cardinals’ starter in 2025.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder arrived at Nebraska as a freshman in 2024 as one of the highest-rated recruits in the country. Raiola started all 13 games for the Cornhuskers and set a program record for passing yards by a freshman with 2,819 yards to go along with 13 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions.

He guided Nebraska to its first bowl win since 2015 with a defeat of Boston College (20-15) in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.

A broken fibula cut Raiola’s 2025 season short after nine games in early November. He passed for 2,000 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions in his abridged season with the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska (7-5, 4-5) will face No. 15 Utah (10-2, 7-2) in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31 to end the season (3:30 p.m. EST, ESPN).

Miami finished the regular season 11–2 and earned a berth in the expanded College Football Playoff, advancing with a 10–3 first-round win over No. 7 Texas A&M.

The No. 10 Hurricanes will face No. 2 Ohio State on December 31 in the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic, with the winner advancing to face the victor of the No. 6 vs. No. 3 Georgia matchup in the Allstate Sugar Bowl.

With the Hurricanes set to lose starter Carson Beck after the season and the remaining depth chart made up of quarterbacks with limited in-game experience in Emory Williams and Judd Anderson, speculation has grown that Miami could pursue a proven signal caller in the transfer portal.

On December 19, Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong named NC State quarterback CJ Bailey as a potential option, despite Bailey not yet entering the transfer portal amid growing speculation that he could do so in the coming weeks.

“CJ Bailey, not in the portal, but a South Florida native. That’s a name that people bring up as a potential transfer portal option following his season and his upcoming bowl game,” Wiltfong said.

“Miami is another program that will be a major domino in the transfer portal deal.”

Bailey, a Hollywood, Florida, native, posted one of the more efficient quarterback seasons in the FBS in 2025, throwing for 3,105 yards, 25 touchdowns, and nine interceptions on 68.8 percent passing, while adding 215 rushing yards and six scores on the ground.

His 6-6, 210-pound frame and pocket mobility make him a high-upside, starter-ready option for Power Five programs.

Before arriving at NC State, Bailey starred at Chaminade-Madonna High School, where he was rated a four-star recruit and the No. 29 quarterback in the 247Sports Composite rankings for the 2024 cycle.

He held nearly a dozen scholarship offers, including Georgia Tech, Indiana, Louisville, Texas A&M, and Miami.

On3’s NIL trackers list Bailey’s current valuation at around $1.6 million, a notable asset for a program like Miami that can combine institutional NIL collectives with local South Florida opportunities.

Bailey’s hometown ties, starter-ready tape, recruiting familiarity, and Miami’s ability to offer larger third-party NIL packages and local marketing opportunities together create a plausible mutual fit for a portal move.

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ESPN personality Paul Finebaum has had plenty to say about Clemson and head coach Dabo Swinney over the course of the Tigers’ disappointing 2025 campaign.

This time, Finebaum attempted to sum up Swinney succinctly.

AL.com asked Finebaum for a single word to describe various college football coaches, including Swinney, following the 2025 regular season.

Finebaum’s word for the Tigers’ longtime head man?

“Grandpa,” Finebaum said.

Swinney, now finishing up his 18^th season (and 17^th full season) as Clemson’s head coach, is only 56 years old.

But of course, Finebaum’s “grandpa” description wasn’t centered around Swinney’s age. Rather, Finebaum was presumably referring to Swinney’s hesitancy to adapt to modern college football.

Finebaum has made it clear he believes Swinney’s reluctance to adapt to the changing college football landscape — specifically regarding NIL and the transfer portal — has caused his program to fall behind the times.

“It’s a very big factor, because he finally began to shift a little bit in the last year or two, but it was almost too late,” Finebaum said in late October. “And it’s really sad for me to say this, because I think everybody on this panel respects Dabo Swinney and appreciates that he has been one of the great coaches of this era, but that’s gone. It goes very quickly nowadays. And I think what’s even more irritating to that fanbase is he just keeps going to the well trying to live off of what he used to do, and unfortunately in college football, that doesn’t matter, especially if you don’t change. He did not change, and frankly, it’s too late.”

Finebaum has sounded off a lot on Swinney this year, with his team failing to live up to lofty expectations as the No. 4 team in the preseason AP Poll and a projected national title contender.

Following Clemson’s loss to Syracuse on Sept. 20 that dropped the Tigers to 1-3 for the first time ever under Swinney, Finebaum said he believed “it’s over” for Swinney at Clemson and “it’s time for him to go.” Finebaum suggested that Swinney should either leave Clemson to coach at another school, or become an analyst on TV like former coaches such as Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher.

“I think it’s over at Clemson. Let’s quit trying to sugarcoat it,” Finebaum said. “Sometimes it’s very difficult to get it back when you’ve lost it. He lost it, he got it back, now he’s lost it again and he’s lost it badly. It’s time for him to go.”

Following a 3-5 start to this season, Clemson bounced back to finish the regular season on a four-game winning streak to go 7-5 and become bowl eligible for a 27^th consecutive season.

Swinney’s Tigers are now set to take on Penn State (6-6) in the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx on Dec. 27 (noon, ABC).