UCLA has landed a transfer who could hasten Bob Chesney’s rebuilding efforts.

Wayne Knight verbally committed to following Chesney from James Madison to Westwood on Wednesday, giving the new Bruins coach a high-quality running back to pair with quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

Showing what he could do on a national stage last month, Knight ran for 110 yards in 17 carries against Oregon in the College Football Playoff. It was the fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season for Knight on the way to being selected a first team All-Sun Belt Conference player.

Combining excellent speed with the toughness needed to break tackles, the 5-foot-6, 189-pound Knight led the conference with 1,357 rushing yards. He also made 40 catches for 397 yards and averaged 22.3 yards on kickoff returns and 9.5 yards on punt returns. His 2,039 all-purpose yards were a school record, helping him become an Associated Press second team All-American all-purpose player after ranking third nationally with 145.6 all-purpose yards per game.

Knight, who will be a redshirt senior next season in his final year of college eligibility, becomes the seventh player from James Madison to accompany Chesney to UCLA, joining wide receiver Landon Ellis, defensive back DJ Barksdale, tight end Josh Phifer, edge rusher Aiden Gobaira, right guard Riley Robell and offensive lineman JD Rayner.

UCLA also has received verbal commitments from Michigan wide receiver Semaj Morgan, Florida wide receiver Aidan Mizell, San Jose State wide receiver Leland Smith, Iowa State running back Dylan Lee, Boise State offensive tackle Hall Schmidt, Virginia Tech defensive back Dante Lovett, Iowa State defensive back Ta’Shawn James and California edge rusher Ryan McCulloch.

But no incoming player can match the production of Knight, whose highlights included a career-high 211 rushing yards — including a 73-yard touchdown — against Troy in the Sun Belt championship game, earning him most valuable player honors for the Dukes’ 31-14 victory.

Knight will join a group of running backs that includes senior Jaivian Thomas (294 yards rushing and one touchdown in 2025), redshirt senior Anthony Woods (294 yards rushing in 2025) and redshirt freshman Karson Cox (nine yards in two carries during his only appearance as a true freshman).

With Knight on board, the Bruins presumably have their starting running back in Year 1 under their new coach.

Former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby took over the title as college football’s most-expensive player after reportedly inking a $5 million agreement with Texas Tech, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Sorsby formally committed to the Red Raiders on Sunday night over heavy interest from LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin.

According to Nakos, Sorsby’s deal with free-spending Texas Tech will make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in college football in 2026 after former Georgia QB Carson Beck signed a $3-3.5 million deal with Miami last offseason that could reach $5-6 million with incentives. Duke quarterback Darian Mensah earned $4 million this past season after transferring from Tulane.

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But before the oil money-backed Red Raiders raised the financial bar, LSU and Kiffin reportedly offered Sorsby a financial package much more in line with the Mensah deal last year, proposing a $3.5 million offer, according to documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger. LSU’s Sorsby offer included a third-party NIL marketing deal through the Tigers’ multi-media rights partner, Playfly Sports Properties, that would be exempt from counting against the school’s revenue-sharing cap, per Dellenger.

The 11-page NIL contract between Playfly and Sorsby, obtained by Dellenger, was never signed and is purely a proposed service agreement. Though it does provide an interesting look at how schools are utilizing outside NIL agreements to develop a compensation package without exceeding college football’s $20.5 million salary cap that stems from the House vs. NCAA settlement in June.

Dellenger also points out that the proposed contract would be, in theory, only a portion of Sorsby’s total compensation. The NIL deal even includes certain language suggesting LSU also planned to compensate Sorsby through direct revenue-share payments from the school, likely in the range of at least $1 million for a total figure that would be competitive with Texas Tech‘s $5 million package, per Dellenger.

The $3.5 million NIL deal is a marketing guarantee created by Playfly through NILSU MAX, an independent, self-sustaining collective formed in conjunction with LSU athletics and Playfly to “identify and secure NIL opportunities for Tiger student athletes,” according to the university’s website.

As Dellenger points out, the Sorsby contract obtained by Yahoo! Sports “shines a light on the method in which universities — not just LSU — are assembling financial packages for some athletes: with a portion of direct university revenue-share payments, plus a portion of NIL third-party guarantees that have been promised yet not cleared.”

How big did ESPN crash with its unfettered bias in promoting the SEC for postseason play?

Well, it’s hovering around a face plant.

The network’s favorite horses for college football’s greatest prize have mostly faltered.

Only one SEC team is left in the playoffs.

And what this all means is the SEC has been caught by the rest of college football. It is no longer, in a competitive sense, light years or even a bright blinking stop light, ahead of the rest of the Power Four conferences.

If the ACC’s Miami beats the SEC’s Mississippi Thursday night, ESPN and the CFP committee greasing of the SEC pathway was felonious piracy of playoff money.

When the SEC loses one of its biggest foghorns in Paul Finebaum, you know that storied, propped-up league is in the doldrums and exposed in the era of NIL, where everybody else can pay their players.

Finebaum, a longtime Alabama radio host and national TV personality, went on ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday and admitted, even he, voted by Awful Announcing.com as the most biased personality in college football, could not defend the SEC this season and its limitless hypothetical victories.

The CFP committee gave the SEC five of the 12 playoff berths. The SEC is 2-7 in bowl games this postseason.

No. 9 Alabama, gifted a berth after almost losing to two-win (SEC) Auburn got annihilated by No. 1 seed Indiana. No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 3 Georgia have all been eliminated. Only No. 6 Mississippi remains and plays No. 10 Miami Thursday night.

Here’s Finebaum’s admission.

“There’s no way to defend the SEC,” Finebaum told “First Take” with Stephen A Smith. “It’s been terrible.”

“I kept wrapping my arms around Alabama and saying, ‘Stephen A. remember what they did, they went through that gauntlet in the middle of the year,” said Finebaum.

“Well, a lot of those teams they beat really weren’t very good after all. They lost in bowl games, and they looked terrible. So it’s a rough year for the SEC. Ole Miss is it, regardless of the Lane Kiffin story, which I know we’re going to talk about. But if Ole Miss loses Thursday night and I’m sitting around having to defend this league to you, Stephen A. saying ‘No big deal that it’s three years without an SEC team in the national championship game’ there’s no defense. It’s been rough,” Finebaum admitted.

Writing for ESPN, longtime college football pundit Dan Wetzel put it this way:

“It’s not that the SEC isn’t still “good” or even capable of winning a national championship — Ole Miss might very well do it. Top to bottom, it might still be the best league, with the majority of schools all-in on football.

“That said, the days of complete domination, all-SEC national title games or deep, juggernaut teams are clearly gone, perhaps forever. This isn’t the same.”

What’s happened is both good and bad.

Good because college football television viewership is skyrocketing. It’s never been so popular to follow, watch and get involved in what’s going on between the sidelines.

It’s bad because of all the chaos, movement, gaudy money numbers and purchase of talent.

For the SEC, revenue sharing, NIL and the transfer portal has spread around talent to other programs and hurt the depth of their own teams.

Alabama used to be the king of talent. So was Georgia.

Now we’re seeing those storied programs get pushed around, ran past and chased down and tackled.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema told ESPN this week, “This is the most fun I’ve ever had in coaching because you know you’re on a more equal playing field. The introduction of the portal, NIL, and revenue sharing is the most game-changing development in my 32 years of coaching.

“It’s hard when you would do what you have to do as long as you possibly could and in the end, sometimes it just didn’t matter,” Bielema explained about recruiting back when he was at Arkansas and Wisconsin.

“Now you just come to work every day knowing that blue blood, red blood, orange blood, whatever, everybody’s got a chance, man.”

Before Texas Tech’s tires blew out against Oregon, we saw the Red Raiders purchase themselves a Big 12 championship and berth in the CFP.

We’ve seen Indiana, check that, Indiana, become the nation’s darling and No. 1 team in the country and favorite to win it all.

Ohio State is home. Oklahoma is home. Texas is watching from home with Georgia and Alabama and Penn State.

The door is open.

Yes, it’s all kind of a mess.

But recent chaos has become the game’s equalizer.

It has also exposed the raw brand worship and advancement of SEC teams by the media, especially ESPN, the owner of CFP television rights for all the games.

ESPN’s interest? Is it really determining a fair field? Or advancing its ratings by picking brands for increased revenue?

The fact the SEC gets an unfair advantage in preseason polls, then rides that with questionable scheduling and far too much credit for intra-conference wins, has been exposed.

It is a mess that’s taken the SEC off its high saddle ride and made the rest of the cowboys eligible to enjoy the roundup rodeo.

ATLANTA — Ahead of the College Football Playoff semifinal matchup between No. 5 Oregon football and No. 1 Indiana, the sometimes prickly and often witty and snappy personalities of head coaches Dan Lanning and Curt Cignetti shined Jan 8 at the College Football Hall of Fame down the road from Mercedes-Benz Stadium.

The coaches traded barbs about friendly competitions throughout the week, like signing footballs before the press conference, and discussed the transfer portal, affairs surrounding collegiate athletics and the upcoming Peach Bowl Jan. 9 in Atlanta.

The college football transfer portal opened on Jan. 2, and things have already gone wild.

In fact, on the very first day of the transfer portal being open, over 4,500 Division I football players entered their names. This portal window will close by Jan. 16, so we’re not yet halfway home. 

There have absolutely been winners and losers, though. Let’s start with the winners and go from there. 

Winners so far in the college football transfer portal

Indiana Hoosiers

There’s a trend happening in college football among the programs that have seemingly figured out the NIL and transfer portal era: bringing in established quarterbacks for a one-year run. 

That’s what the Indiana Hoosiers did with Fernando Mendoza, and now they’re doing the same thing with TCU transfer quarterback Josh Hoover, who threw for 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns compared to 13 interceptions this season.

Michigan State’s top wide receiver, Nick Marsh, also transferred to Indiana, as did Turbo Richard, who was Boston College’s leading rusher this past season. 

Curt Cignetti may be building a powerhouse for years to come.

Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Texas Tech Red Raiders are another college program that has embraced the NIL and transfer portal era, and they’re building yet another transfer class that could be considered among the best in the nation. 

The top quarterback target this cycle was Cincinnati’s Brendan Sorsby, and the Red Raiders threw the bag at him to bring him in via the portal. 

Sorsby threw for 2,800 yards and 27 touchdowns compared to five interceptions this past season for the Bearcats. The Red Raiders are hoping he can be the quarterback that puts them over the top.

Penn State Nittany Lions

The Penn State Nittany Lions have a new head coach in Matt Campbell, and it’s no surprise that the former Iowa State Cyclones head coach is bringing a ton of his old players with him to Happy Valley.

In fact, Penn State has already landed 23 players in the portal, 20 of whom have come from Iowa State.

That includes quarterback Rocco Becht, who threw for 2,584 yards and 16 touchdowns compared to nine interceptions. 

Losers so far in the college football transfer portal

Iowa State Cyclones

If Penn State is a winner in the portal because the Nittany Lions poached a ton of players from Iowa State, then it stands to reason that the Cyclones are one of the losers worth mentioning

Again, 20 players followed Campbell out the door, but in all, new Iowa State head coach Jimmy Rogers is going to have to replace 50-plus players (and perhaps counting) who have bolted into the transfer portal.

North Texas Mean Green

The North Texas Mean Green finished 12-2 this season and played in the American Conference title game.  

It was a banner year for North Texas, but the new reality for Group of Five schools is that good years will lead to a ton of poaching.

Head coach Eric Morris was tabbed as Mike Gundy’s replacement at Oklahoma State. Following him were star quarterback Drew Mestemaker, star running back Caleb Hawkins and star wide receiver Wyatt Young.

Mestemaker led college football with 4,379 passing yards this season, and he was tied for second place with 34 passing touchdowns. Hawkins rushed 231 times for 1,434 yards and 25 touchdowns. Young caught 70 passes for 1,264 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Losing those three players, in particular, will cripple North Texas in 2026.

Auburn Tigers

The Auburn Tigers have had a tough go of things, even after hiring Alex Golesh from USF to be the new head coach.

Many felt that freshman quarterback and former five-star Deuce Knight was the future of the program, but he entered the transfer portal and is now one of the top quarterbacks available.

The Tigers also lost sophomore wide receiver Cam Coleman to Texas, who caught 56 passes for 708 yards and five touchdowns this season. 

College football’s version of the Final Four is here and there are no signs of Alabama, Ohio State, Georgia, Michigan, LSU, Texas, Penn State, Notre Dame or Oklahoma. Instead, the last group still standing consists of Ole Miss, Indiana, Oregon and Miami and three of the four teams didn’t even qualify for their conference championship games.

What’s going on here?

As it turns out, NIL and the transfer portal, that some contend are destroying the game, have only created more contenders. There is more parity than ever before. Programs without much of a football history are on the brink of making some.

Indiana is a renowned basketball school, but with access to the transfer portal and the ability to invest in players, the Hoosiers are winning in football. No. 1 Indiana not only beat No. 2 Ohio State to win its first outright Big Ten championship since 1945, but they also routed No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl for their first bowl victory in 34 years. Quarterback Fernando Mendoza also became the first Hoosier in history to win the Heisman Trophy.

When have you ever heard of a top football target saying ‘No’ to Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State and ‘Yes’ to Indiana? It’s happening right before our eyes.

Ole Miss is still without an SEC title since 1963, but empowered by today’s new rules, the Rebels amassed enough talent to eliminate league heavyweight Georgia from the playoffs — even while their former head coach Lane Kiffin watched from his new job at LSU.

Oregon, with its rich banker — Phil Knight, founder of Nike, has never won a football national championship. Miami has won five national titles, but none since 2001 and they haven’t won a conference championship since 2003.

With rosters constructed around NIL and the transfer portal, all four programs are not only playing for a shot to be No. 1 this month, but they are fortified to hang around for a while. The blue bloods no longer have a monopoly on the nation’s best players.

For other examples of how the rule changes have leveled the playing field, just look at No. 4 Texas Tech, No. 14 Vanderbilt and No. 12 BYU. The Red Raiders may have bought their way out of obscurity, but in short time and with an excellent head coach, Texas Tech is likely to finish the season ranked higher than No. 13 Texas and No. 7 Texas A&M and begin next year the same way.

Vanderbilt lost its bowl game to Iowa, but before that, the Commodores (10-2) went to Knoxville and blew out Tennessee 45-24. They beat the Vols with better players — something unseen around the Volunteer State before NIL and the transfer portal. It’s not just football. Vandy is the only program in the nation that is still undefeated in both men’s and women’s basketball.

BYU was playing as a football independent when both the transfer portal (2018) and NIL (2021) were approved by the NCAA. At the time, the fear was whether the Cougars could or would even try to survive.

Two major developments followed. First, BYU was invited to join the Big 12 beginning in the 2023 season. Second, school leaders and its fan base committed to do what was necessary to be competitive, and the Board of Trustees concurred so long as athletics remained self-funded and true to the university’s core values.

How is that working out?

Men’s basketball is currently 13-1, ranked No. 9 in the country and showcasing freshman AJ Dybantsa — the projected top pick in next year’s NBA draft. Last season, BYU reached the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011. To keep it going, the Cougars quickly extended head coach Kevin Young’s contract.

Football is a combined 22-4 over the last two seasons with victories over ranked P4 opponents in both the Alamo Bowl and Pop-Tarts Bowl. More people watched the Cougars on television in those two games than any previous BYU broadcast in the modern era.

The Cougars extended head coach Kalani Sitake’s contract to 10 years and the following day, Sitake signed the program’s highest-rated recruiting class in history.

Truth be told, NIL and the transfer portal aren’t stumbling blocks for BYU at all. In fact, they are just the opposite — more like fertilizer for what the Cougars are growing. The ability to attract talent to the embedded culture, with the resources to support them, gives every team on campus a chance to succeed.

BYU doesn’t get or keep every player or coach, but they get enough and their all-important investor — Cougar Nation is all-in. Wherever BYU goes, the loyal crowds follow.

NIL and the transfer portal don’t function perfectly and still need some national oversight, but when it comes to the Cougars, they are tailor-made to keep them competitive just as they have helped Indiana, Miami, Oregon and Ole Miss, who are about to give college football a refreshingly new national champion.

Dave McCann is a sportswriter and columnist for the Deseret News and is a play-by-play announcer and show host for BYUtv/ESPN+. He co-hosts “Y’s Guys” at ysguys.com and is the author of the children’s book “C is for Cougar,” available at deseretbook.com