The finances of the transfer portal are constantly shifting and adjusting. Before the institution of the revenue sharing cap, some massive numbers circulated: Darian Mensah’s $4 million per year deal at Duke was one of the more notable deals. But even in the current portal cycle, there are potential game changers.

A pair of CBS Sports writers, Chris Hummer and John Talty, surveyed the portal world and tried to define the financial grind of acquiring new players. While Hummer and Talty ultimately defined the wide receiver position, one of the higher priced groups, at a high end value of $1 million to $2 million for a top player, they did not include one potential contingency.

Ohio State star Jeremiah Smith is widely considered the top player in college football heading into the 2026 season. For that matter, Smith was arguably the best player in 2025. Hummer and Talty spoke with one Big Ten general manager who said that Smith, were he in the portal, “could command up to $4 million for one year of his services should he transfer.”

Before any Buckeye backers lose sanity, Hummer and Talty were careful to note that the issue is hypothetical– there has been no indication that Smith is even considering entering the portal. The writers noted that the gap of approximately $2 million between Smith and the top value for a portal receiver (at this point, Auburn transfer Cam Coleman). “Smith is a cut above the rest of the sport,” they wrote.

Even in CFP defeat to Miami, Smith was indeed standing alone atop college football. After a brilliant 2024 season as a freshman, he ends 2025 with 87 receptions for 1,243 yards and 12 touchdowns. He finished the year with his sixth 100+ yard game, with a season-best 157 yards on seven catches. He will likely finish re-writing the Ohio State record book in 2026.

On3Sports ranks Smith third in college sports with a $4.2 million estimated NIL valuation. That’s more than $1 million ahead of fourth-place Carson Beck (the two players ahead of Smith are Texas QB Arch Manning and college hoops star AJ Dybantsa). On3 ranks Cam Coleman as the second-leading wide receiver in its valuation rankings at $1.8 million.

Among the massive entities that Smith has NIL deals with are Nintendo, adidas, American Eagle, and 7-Eleven. He would likely be the projected top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, but he’s still a year young to be able to enter the Draft. Accordingly, he’s the presumptive 2027 top pick and will have a banner NIL year in college– although perhaps not as big of a year as he might have on the open market as the potential biggest transfer star ever.

FOX analyst Joel Klatt admitted the hiring of Kyle Whittingham by Michigan caught even the most plugged-in voices in college football by surprise. Still, he believes it may ultimately prove to be a program-defining move.

Speaking on The Joel Klatt Show, Klatt described the hire as both unexpected and masterful. He credited Michigan athletic director Warde Manuel for keeping the process quiet during a turbulent stretch for the program.

“This was massive, and I got to tell you, a little bit out of left field,” Klatt said. “I had not heard his name. It was very quiet. It was below the surface. Give Warde Manuel a lot of credit on this one.”

Alas, Michigan moved quickly after firing Sherrone Moore earlier this month following an investigation into an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. In Whittingham, the Wolverines landed one of the most respected and stable figures in the sport after a coaching search that came with significant challenges.

Klatt made it clear his enthusiasm for the hire goes beyond Whittingham’s on-field résumé: “I love this hire not just because I’m very fond of Kyle Whittingham and his style of coaching,” Klatt added. “But because of what Michigan was facing in this entire ordeal. There were many challenges.”

Moreover, Whittingham spent 22 seasons at Utah, becoming one of the longest-tenured head coaches in college football. Many assumed his resignation signaled retirement, but instead, he opted for a new challenge in Ann Arbor. Now, he’ll be stepping into a program just two years removed from a national championship in 2023.

Continuing, Klatt repeatedly emphasized Whittingham’s integrity and player-first approach, offering perhaps the highest praise a coach can receive: “My highest compliment that I can ever repay is that I would love my sons, if they ever played college football, to go play for Kyle Whittingham,” Klatt explained. “He’s a winner. He’s going to go to the Hall of Fame.”

At Utah, Whittingham compiled a 177–88 record, won two Pac-12 championships, posted eight double-digit win seasons and famously went 13–0 in 2008, capped by a Sugar Bowl victory over Alabama. His teams were defined by physicality, discipline and consistency. Those are traits Michigan is eager to restore.

Now, with Big Ten resources, elite recruiting infrastructure and a roster still stocked with high-level talent, Whittingham views Michigan as more than a late-career stop: “He looks at this as an opportunity to actually go out there and compete for a national championship,” Klatt concluded.

After weeks of uncertainty, Michigan found exactly what it needed, hiring a proven winner, a steady hand and a coach capable of restoring trust. All while keeping the Wolverines firmly in the national title conversation.

Florida State University Vice President and Director of Athletics Michael Alford announced the hiring of John Garrett as Deputy Athletics Director and General Manager of Player Personnel, a newly created position that will oversee all football roster construction, player evaluation, recruiting operations, and NIL integration. Garrett joins Florida State from Duke University, where he served as General Manager of Player Personnel.

Garrett will report directly to Alford and work in close partnership with head football coach Mike Norvell, aligning Florida State’s football program with an NFL-style operational model designed to maximize competitive success in the evolving college football landscape.

Garrett brings extensive experience across college football operations, player personnel, and strategic planning. He spent the last two seasons at Duke, where he helped build rosters that won 17 games and the 2025 ACC championship. He played a key role in roster management, recruiting coordination, and the integration of analytics and evaluation processes into football decision-making.

“This is a transformational step for Florida State Football,” Alford said. “The college game has fundamentally changed, and elite programs must operate with the same discipline, structure, and clarity of roles as professional organizations. John Garrett brings a proven background in roster management, player evaluation, and operational leadership that will allow our coaches to focus on coaching while ensuring we are building our roster in a smart, sustainable, and competitive way.”

Prior to his stint at Duke, Garrett played a pivotal role in FSU’s return to prominence while serving as director of scouting for offense during the 2022 and 2023 seasons at a critical moment when roster building in college football was rapidly changing. He helped bring an NFL-style evaluation approach to FSU, focusing on disciplined film study, transfer-portal assessment, and roster analysis to support smarter personnel decisions. During his first stint at FSU, the Seminoles posted a 23-4 overall record, including a perfect 13-0 regular season in 2023 that culminated in the program’s first ACC championship since 2014.

Garrett’s work emphasized identifying players who could contribute immediately, understanding positional needs and depth, and reducing risk in an increasingly competitive NIL and portal environment. Garrett’s role strengthened how the program evaluated talent and laid important groundwork for the front-office model now used across major college football programs.

Garrett was the head coach at Lafayette College from 2017-21 and also has collegiate coaching experience as the offensive coordinator at Oregon State and Richmond and wide receivers coach at Virginia. He has 18 years of experience in the NFL, spending six seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, including his last two seasons as passing game coordinator, as well as with the Cincinnati Bengals, Arizona Cardinals and Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Garrett earned his bachelor’s degree in history from Princeton in 1988. He and his wife, Honor, have four children, John Jr., Honor, Olivia and Caroline. His brother, Jason, was head coach of the Dallas Cowboys from 2010-19, and their father, Jim, spent 38 years in the NFL as a scout and assistant coach.

FSU’s New Football Operations Model

Under the new structure, Florida State Football will operate with a clear division of responsibilities between on-field coaching and off-field football operations:

• The Deputy AD/GM of Player Personnel will lead all aspects of roster construction alongside Coach Norvell, including high school recruiting strategy, transfer portal acquisition and retention, scholarship allocation, and long-term personnel planning.

• The Head Coach and coaching staff will maintain full authority over player development, game preparation, culture, and on-field performance.

• Football NIL, player evaluation, and recruiting analytics will be centralized and integrated into a single operational framework to ensure alignment, compliance, and competitive efficiency.

“John and I share a vision for building a championship program in today’s collegiate athletics structure,” Norvell said. “He was a valuable part of our staff when he was here previously, and I’m excited he will be leading this restructuring of our player personnel efforts. This new model shows our investment and will make us more efficient while enhancing player development, scouting and retention in a collaborative environment.”

Garrett is widely respected for his ability to balance competitive ambition with long-term program health.

“I am excited to return to Florida State University and to work closely with Michael Alford, Coach Norvell and the rest of the Florida State football staff,” Garrett said. “We will lead a collaborative effort to build a football team with the right kind of student-athletes that will consistently compete for championships. We will build a team that will make everyone associated with Florida State University proud to be a Seminole. Go Noles!”

The enhancement of the Deputy AD/GM of Player Personnel role and the restructuring of football operations reflect Florida State’s commitment to adapting proactively to ongoing changes in college athletics, including NIL, the transfer portal, and the increasing complexity of roster management.

“This is about putting Florida State Football in position to win, now and in the future,” Alford said. “We are investing in people, processes, and structure that give our student-athletes and coaches every opportunity to succeed.”

The 2026 NFL draft officially opens on April 23 in the shadows of Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

A prominent discussion around the draft is about the organizations in need of quarterbacks and which quarterbacks are expected to be selected in the first round.

Drafts like 2018 and 2021 have featured five quarterback selections in the first round. The 2022 NFL draft only featured one quarterback (Kenny Pickett) in its first round.

The 2026 NFL draft figures to split the difference. While there are franchises that need new quarterbacks, the number is limited to the ones drafting at the very top of the first round.

As for the quarterbacks who will be selected in the first round, Fernando Mendoza of Indiana and Dante Moore of Oregon are the two who have been connected with the very top of the order. Ty Simpson of Alabama has also been floated as a first-round choice, but his position is less well-known than Mendoza and Moore.

The Athletic compiled a projection of how each NFL team missing the playoffs is expected to approach the draft. The projection linked Moore with the Las Vegas Raiders.

Currently, the Raiders hold the worst record in the NFL at 2-14, putting them in line for the No. 1 overall pick. However, one week remains in the 2025 NFL regular season, and with a handful of teams at 3-13, the draft order can change if the Raiders win their regular-season finale.

Unless the season has produced one of the worst records in the league, a starting quarterback is not a position NFL teams look to draft in the first round.

The last multi-year starting quarterback the Raiders drafted was Derek Carr in the 2014 NFL draft, but that was in the second round. JaMarcus Russell is the last quarterback the Raiders selected in the first round, all the way back in 2007. Before Russell, the last quarterback the Raiders drafted in the first round was Todd Marinovich in 1991.

While the trend of the Raiders drafting first-round quarterbacks is few and far between, Oregon is no stranger to having its quarterbacks selected in the first rounds of NFL drafts. Dating back to 2015, Marcus Mariota, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix have all been selected by NFL franchises in the first round of the NFL draft.

Moore began his college football journey at UCLA in 2023. He played nine games for the Bruins and passed for 1,610 yards, 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.

When Chip Kelly left UCLA to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator that offseason, he transferred to Oregon.

After redshirting in 2024, he became the Ducks’ starter in 2025. Ahead of the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, Moore has thrown for 3,046 yards, 28 touchdowns and eight interceptions while rushing for 196 yards and two touchdowns.

One of the 2025 college football season’s major storylines has been Texas Tech‘s rise to the upper tier. The West Texas program made headlines throughout the year, positioning itself as a power player in the NIL and revenue‑sharing world. The Red Raiders dominated Big 12 play and earned a first‑round bye in the College Football Playoff.

When the Red Raiders take the field on New Year’s Day in the Orange Bowl against Oregon, an experiment four years in the making will play out on the big stage. There has been plenty written this year about Texas Tech’s “Maverick” super donor Cody Campbell, its swashbuckling general manager James Blanchard and fiery head coach Joey McGuire, along with a roster filled with high‑priced talent.

How did the Red Raiders get here?

It has been an intentional build since McGuire was hired Nov. 8, 2021, to save a program that was floundering in West Texas. Having resources is one thing, but executing the plan is another. The current Texas Tech team is an intricate puzzle put together over the span of a presidential term, and every piece matters.

By Ryan Canfield

Published December 31, 2025

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning continued to campaign for the college football season to end on Jan. 1 every year in an effort to fix multiple issues. 

Lanning noted the challenges of coordinators who take head coaching jobs being forced to juggle responsibilities and said he prefers to reduce the long layoff between games. The 39-year-old has been talking about ending the college football season sooner since the summer. 

“Every playoff game should be played every single weekend until you finish the season,” Lanning said during his press conference Wednesday. “Even if it means we start Week 0 or you eliminate a bye, the season ends Jan. 1. And then the portal opens. Then coaches that have to move on to their next opportunities get to move to their next opportunities.”

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Oregon Ducks head coach Dan Lanning during the fourth quarter against the James Madison Dukes at Autzen Stadium in Eugene, Ore., Dec. 20, 2025. (Craig Strobeck/Imagn Images)

Lanning reiterated throughout his news conference that he thought playing in the first round allowed his team to stay in a rhythm. Last season, Oregon was the No. 1 seed and lost in its first College Football Playoff game to Ohio State.

The NFL plays games on Saturdays throughout the month of December, which Lanning disagrees with. He would rather see Saturdays remain exclusive to college football to quicken the pace of the College Football Playoff to finish the season by Jan 1. 

“I’ve got a ton of respect for the NFL, but we’re a prep league for the NFL,” Lanning said. “We do a lot of favors for the NFL. We’re the minor league in a lot of ways, but there’s no money paid from the NFL to take care of college football.

NATIONAL CHAMPION COACH WANTS TRUMP ‘MORE INVOLVED’ IN NIL REGULATION: ‘OUR SPORT IS GETTING KILLED’ 

Oregon head coach Dan Lanning looks at the scoreboard during the first half of the first round of the NCAA College Football Playoff against James Madison Dec. 20, 2025, in Eugene, Ore. (AP Photo/Lydia Ely)

“We’ve given up some of our days to the NFL. We said, ‘Oh, you guys get to have this day, you get to have this day, you get to have this day.’ Saturday should be sacred for college football, and every Saturday through the month of December should belong to college football.”

Oregon’s offensive and defensive coordinators are both trying to navigate their dual responsibilities. Offensive coordinator Will Stein took the Kentucky job, while defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi took the California job. 

If Oregon advances beyond the quarterfinals, both coaches will be dealing with navigating the transfer portal, which opens Jan. 2, while also trying to coach the Ducks to a national championship. 

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“Our national championship game this year is Jan. 19, and that’s really hard to envision as a coach that’s going out and trying to join a new program and start a staff,” Lanning said. 

“It’s hard for players to understand what continuity looks like and where they’re going to be at and to manage that with visits, the portal, everything else that exists. The clear way to do that is to bump the season up and make sure these playoff games happen a lot faster.”

Oregon will take on Texas Tech in the Orange Bowl Jan. 1 at noon ET. 

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