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).    

For years, NIL has often been framed as college football’s necessary evil — a chaotic marketplace blamed for roster churn, tampering fears, and short-term thinking. At Oregon, however, NIL is increasingly serving a different purpose. It’s not just reshaping how the Ducks build their roster, it’s reshaping how long they can keep it together.

Since the end of the regular season, two high-profile juniors on the Oregon roster have made decisions that quietly underscore that shift. Defensive lineman Bear Alexander announced first that he would return for the 2026 season. Shortly after, offensive lineman Iapani Laloulu, better known as “Poncho,” followed suit. Both will return to Eugene for their final seasons of eligibility.

Both decisions likely don’t happen four years ago at Oregon. Here’s why.

The Cincinnati Bearcats looked like a potential playoff team after a 7–1 start before dropping each of their final four games to close the 2025 season at 7–5 overall and 5–4 in Big 12 play.

Despite the late slide, it was Cincinnati’s highest win total since joining the Big 12 in 2023 and the program’s best season yet under third-year head coach Scott Satterfield.

Much of that success was fueled by junior quarterback Brendan Sorsby, who has since announced his intention to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal.

In 12 appearances during the 2025 season, Sorsby completed 61.6% of his passes for 2,800 yards, 27 touchdowns, and five interceptions, while also rushing for 580 yards and nine scores, establishing himself as one of the portal’s most coveted dual-threat quarterbacks.

On Tuesday, On3’s Pete Nakos reported that Sorsby could command NIL offers approaching $5 million on the open market, a figure that would place him among the highest earners in college sports.

A Lake Dallas, Texas, native, Sorsby was a three-star recruit and the No. 66-ranked quarterback in the 2022 class according to 247Sports.

He received nearly a dozen scholarship offers, including from Indiana, Army, Navy, and Delaware.

Sorsby initially signed with Indiana in February 2022 and emerged as the Hoosiers’ full-time starter in 2023.

He threw for 1,587 yards, 15 touchdowns, and five interceptions while rushing for 276 yards and four scores before entering the transfer portal and transferring to Cincinnati in 2024.

On3’s NIL tracker currently lists Texas quarterback Arch Manning as the nation’s highest-valued college athlete at $5.3 million, while Sorsby is valued at approximately $2.4 million, the 12th-highest overall.

Any deal approaching $5 million would immediately place Sorsby alongside Manning at the top of the NIL market.

Early links and reporting have connected Sorsby to programs including Texas Tech, Tennessee, Oregon, Indiana (return), and other Power-Five schools.

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Marcus Freeman to the New York Giants is the latest coaching carousel talking point that just won’t go away, amid rampant speculation that the Notre Dame head coach could have an escape plan ready to jump to the NFL, and that the interest may be mutual.

But where do things actually stand in the most talked-about coaching situation?

Analyst predicts Marcus Freeman’s future

Behind the scenes, the race is on for Notre Dame to come up with contractual terms to keep Freeman on their sideline, and from what it sounds like, the latest trend may be pointing in that direction.

Right now, the current trajectory suggests that Freeman will turn down any interest from the NFL and remain the Notre Dame head football coach into the future, according to On3 Sports analyst Eric Hansen.

“If Freeman does what I believe he will and he and agent Clint Dowdle find common contract ground — and athletic director Pete Bevacqua doesn’t appear to be offering even tactical resistance — the decision to stay in South Bend would be for the long haul,” Hansen said.

That may be what Notre Dame fans want to hear, but until a decision is made official, the lure of New York and the NFL is still out there.

NFL insiders reveal Giants, Freeman interest

The talk connecting Freeman to the Giants is not just random speculation at this point.

Freeman has also emerged as one of the most prominent names on the shortlist being assembled by the Giants franchise itself, according to The Athletic.

That is something to keep an eye on, as the NFL coaching bonanza is only just getting started, and Freeman is considered one of the best young coaching minds in circulation at any level.

What Freeman has done at Notre Dame

Freeman has just completed his fourth season at the helm of the Fighting Irish program and boasts a 43-12 overall record, winning more than 78 percent of his games.

Freeman led Notre Dame to a No. 2 national ranking and an appearance in the national championship game against his alma mater a year ago.

His team went 10-2 this season and seemed poised for another berth in the College Football Playoff, before the committee reversed course on Selection Day and left the Irish out of the field, leading the school to decline playing in a bowl game. 

Notre Dame won’t let him go

Cognizant of the talk around his head man, Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua is not willing to watch from the sidelines if his successful football coach is going to be courted by opportunities in the NFL, or anywhere.

“I would never say we wouldn’t match anything when it comes to Marcus,” Bevacqua said recently.

“I make sure that he knows that he will be where he deserves to be, and that is at the top, top, top tier of college football coaches when it comes to compensation every year.

“I view his contract, although a multiyear contract, as a living, breathing document that we will revise every year as need be to make sure he’s where he deserves to be. He knows he has that commitment from me and more importantly from the university.”

How exactly that commitment is formalized remains the sticking point that will either keep Marcus Freeman at Notre Dame, or have him looking elsewhere.

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