College Football News

Georgia wide receiver Rodarius "Rara" Thomas was arrested early Friday on a felony charge of cruelty to children-family violence and two misdemeanor counts of battery-family violence.

According to records from the Athens-Clarke County Jail in Athens, Ga., Thomas was booked at 3:20 a.m. No bond was set.

Georgia law uses the term "family violence" similarly to how other states use the term "domestic violence."

This is the second time the Eufaula, Ala., native has been arrested on family violence charges.

In January 2023, Thomas faced charges of felony false imprisonment and misdemeanor battery after the University of Georgia police said he prevented a woman from leaving a dorm by blocking her exit and telling her she couldn't leave, and of causing bruises to the woman's body, according to ESPN, which reviewed an arrest warrant.

Thomas successfully completed a pretrial diversion program to have those charged dropped in March 2023. The Athletic reported that Thomas was held out of much of Georgia's spring practice as a disciplinary measure.

Georgia officials were aware of the latest arrest.

"This is a pending legal matter. We will have no further comment at this point," Steven Drummond, Georgia's associate athletic director for strategic communications, told The Athletic.

Thomas, 21, spent two years at Mississippi State before moving to Georgia via the 2023 transfer portal. In 11 games (eight starts) for Georgia last season, he notched 23 catches for 383 yards with one touchdown.

With the departure of star tight end Brock Bowers and receiver Ladd McConkey to the NFL, Thomas was expected to play an important role for Georgia's passing game.

Defending Oregon's name, image and likeness program in the wake of recent comments from Georgia coach Kirby Smart, Ducks coach Dan Lanning said it's an "exaggeration" that his program receives significantly more funding than other top-10 teams.

"The reality is, find a top-10 team in college football right now that doesn't have great support," Lanning told ESPN on Thursday. "Do we have a lot more than everybody else? I think that'd be an exaggeration or we'd never lose. Everyone else right now is focused on our ice cream cone, and if I'm busy looking at theirs, that means mine's melting."

Last week at SEC Media Days, Smart -- whom Lanning coached under at Georgia before taking over at Oregon -- jokingly said he wished he "could get some of that NIL money (Nike founder and Oregon alum Phil Knight) is giving Dan Lanning."

Lanning said that the Ducks' NIL program, which helped them land key transfers such as linebacker Evan Stewart and quarterbacks Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore, will always give them a shot to land some of the country's best players, but they're hardly alone.

"I'm sure there's a correlation, right?" Lanning said, noting how defending national champion Michigan had 13 players selected in this year's NFL draft. "Is our situation different than other teams in the nation? Absolutely. Is our team's situation different than the premier teams in the nation? Probably not. And that's OK. We want to be in that (group)."

While there will be an adjustment period as Oregon prepares for its first season in the Big Ten, Lanning wants to see his players be themselves.

"We don't want to come in and be a team that follows the trends; we want to be a team that sets the trends," Lanning told ESPN. "That just means studying yourself and how you can improve. It'll be a learning experience."

When Jim Harbaugh bolted back to the NFL and took over as head coach of the Chargers, defending national champion Michigan already knew where it would turn.

Offensive coordinator Sherrone Moore was elevated to head coach with Harbaugh's typical energetic backing and a reset defined by major changes was underway.

A bunch of new coaches were hired, there will be a new starting quarterback in Ann Arbor -- J.J. McCarthy was the No. 10 pick in the NFL draft -- and a couple first-time conference opponents; USC pays a visit to the Big House on Sept. 21, and Oregon rolls in Nov. 2.

Moore didn't change one specific part of Harbaugh's program: the primary goal is still the same.

"I think every year for us, our goal is to win (the national title). We're not going to stray away from the goal of trying to win it all every year," Moore said Thursday at Big Ten Media Days in Indianapolis. "When you're at Michigan, that should be your goal every single year."

Harbaugh isn't an easy act to follow. He won 10 games six times in nine seasons and left after three straight years in the College Football Playoff, capped with a 15-0 season and national title.

The significance of standing before the media in Indianapolis as the head coach of the Wolverines wasn't lost on Moore.

"It's a humble blessing, first African American head coach at Michigan. It's a blessing," he said. "I think it's awesome. But it also shows that every young man, regardless of the color of your skin, wherever you're from, you can do whatever you want. Don't allow people to tell you that you can't do something. If you want to go do it, go take the opportunity and strive to be great."

Moore said there is no timetable for naming McCarthy's successor or any other depth chart decision. Each spot will be determined on merit in fall camp, he said, an intentional plot to encourage the collective group to focus on what he said Michigan defines as important.

"Taking the necessary steps to be elite, to do all the things that we set out to do -- win the big games, beat our rivals, beat Ohio State, win the Big Ten, go to College Football Playoff and win it," Moore said.

Cade Klubnik and Clemson are counting on experience to make a difference in the new-look ACC this season.

The Tigers bring back Klubnik and seven other starters on offense, an asset head coach Dabo Swinney understands can be a difference-maker.

"It's a blessing certainly when you have your starting quarterback back, for sure. I mean, we've had great ones that have come in, it was their first year in our system, and have done well," Swinney said Thursday at ACC Media Days in Charlotte, N.C. "It's always great when you're not starting over, and you've got a guy that's grown, had some experience under his belt. I mean, Cade is a great young man, a great talent. He's just blossoming right before our eyes physically and mentally, also as a leader.

"We're excited about Year 2 with him as our starter. Also with (offensive coordinator and QBs coach) Garrett (Riley). It will be Cade's first time to have the same coach, same system. I think we all expect to see some great growth from that."

Klubnik was a full-time starter for the first time in 2023 and also played under Riley in 2022. He had 19 touchdowns and nine interceptions last season and credits a simplification from Riley for his optimistic outlook on 2024.

"I would just say one of the biggest things is taking it one week at a time," Klubnik said. "I'm never looking to the next opponent, never looking to two weeks ahead, three weeks ahead. Truly just focusing on one day at a time. That's one thing we've talked about. Just being automatic in everything, every little play, automatic and efficient. Making the routine plays routine. Just sticking to the system."

In addition to Riley, Klubnik has used networking and resources available to pick the brains of other quarterbacks. He's checked in with Clemson greats Deshaun Watson and Trevor Lawrence in addition to Eli and Peyton Manning and a connection to Klubnik's hometown of Austin, Texas.

"I've talked to Deshaun and Trevor a little bit each. They're both chasing their NFL careers right now, so they don't have a lot of time to come back to Clemson and train with me," Klubnik said. "I've definitely had some great mentors. Nick Foles is a guy that went to my high school (Westlake). Got to spend a couple days with the Mannings, pick their brains. Learned a couple little cheat codes that I never even heard before."

ANOTHER ORANGE

Syracuse was excited to introduce another quarterback with experience -- Ohio State transfer Kyle McCord. He left the Buckeyes at the end of the 2023 season and said he didn't think twice about returning close to his New Jersey home for the "conference of quarterbacks."

Where does McCord fit in the league QB pecking order?

"I guess we'll see. I'm not one to stand up here and make predictions or whatever. But I'm confident in my game. I'm confident in the players around me. So more than anything, I'm excited to play," he said. "Still have a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth from the last time I was on the field against Michigan. I've been eager to get back out on the field and start competing."

NORTH BY SUBTRACTION

Mack Brown anticipates feeling the loss of his quarterback, No. 3 overall pick Drake Maye. But he also expects the Tar Heels to be ... better in 2024.

North Carolina enters fall camp eyeing a third different starting quarterback in three seasons following Sam Howell and Maye. The competitors include Jacolby Criswell, Texas A&M transfer Max Johnson and Conner Harrell.

"I remember the year that Drake started," said Brown, who returned to coaching from a broadcasting role at ESPN five years ago. "(Someone) told me the other day: There's not much buzz about your team right now. I think that's what was said when Drake and Jacolby were competing for the quarterback spot. We started 9-1. Conner has played enough now that he gets it. He's got to chance to be really good. Max has thrown 900 balls in the SEC.

"I do think what will happen is our defense is going to be better. Last year, we ran the ball more like we did when Michael Carter and Javonte Williams were here. We're going to help the defense more with our offense. These guys have to step up and they can't be Drake, they can't be Sam, but we can be a better team."

Although he hasn't been a head coach in college football for the past 10 years, Bill O'Brien isn't shying away from the changes that have impacted the sport during his layoff.

O'Brien, who took over as Boston College's coach in February, has fully embraced the evolution of the transfer portal, the world of name, image and likeness (NIL) and a new roster limit that allows 105 players to be on scholarships.

"Coaching is also all about being able to adapt," O'Brien said Wednesday at Atlantic Coast Conference media days in Charlotte, N.C. "In the guys I've worked for, Nick Saban would say it all the time, Bill Belichick, you've got to adapt. If you don't adapt, the game is going to pass you by.

"We're doing a good job of that at BC. We're adapting to the changing times. We have a lot of great people in the administration helping with that. Obviously, Blake James, our athletic director. We're very adaptable and I think we're on the right track."

A Boston native, O'Brien was Penn State's coach for two seasons (2012-13) before taking the reins of the Houston Texans from 2014-20. He then served as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Alabama in 2021 and 2022, holding the same two roles with the New England Patriots last season.

"I try to impart some of my experiences, my wisdom, I've been doing this for 32 years, on these guys," O'Brien said. "Hopefully, that's a role I can play on this team that can help this team get better every day because I've had a lot of great experiences, I've learned a lot."

The Eagles are coming off a 7-6 campaign under Jeff Hafley, who is now the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers. Boston College capped its 2023 season by topping SMU 23-14 in the Fenway Bowl, the program's first bowl victory since 2016.

O'Brien hasn't been surprised with the level of talent in the Eagles' locker room, and he believes the team is in good position to record back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 2017-18.

"These guys, like I said earlier, they show up on time, they buy into what we're trying to get done relative to offense, defense and special teams," O'Brien said. "I really like the staff. I've enjoyed working with the people at Boston College. ... There's nothing that really surprised me. It's been a job that I love to come to work to every single day."

--Eagles quarterback Thomas Castellanos is a firm believer that he will contend for the Heisman Trophy. Last season was his first at Boston College after one year at UCF, and he threw for 2,248 yards, rushed for 1,113 and totaled 28 touchdowns (15 passing, 13 rushing).

No other player in Eagles history has thrown for 2,000 yards and rushed for 1,000, and only five (including Castellanos) have accomplished the feat in the ACC since 1996.

"Last year kind of was thrown in the fire as a young guy. It was kind of a blur. I was out there just playing ball," Castellanos said. " ... This year, I'll be more mature, the game will be more slower. I think I'll do more things."

--Castellanos is hoping that O'Brien can help him limit his turnovers, though. The rising junior had 14 interceptions in 2023.

"What we've been doing this offseason, it's been really great," Castellanos said. "It will be great, but you definitely will see a change of protecting the ball, throwing the ball away, sliding, getting out of bounds, stuff of that nature."

--Drew Kendall, a native of Norwell, Mass., will be anchoring Boston College's offensive line while also trying to follow in his father's footsteps.

Pete Kendall, a former Eagle himself, went on to have a 13-year NFL career after being selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round (21st overall) of the 1996 draft. He played in 189 games throughout his career, making 188 starts.

"I was really excited about BC football growing up. I grew up going to games," said Drew Kendall, a redshirt junior. "It was really special when I first got that offer, visualizing wearing that 66 at Boston College with 'Kendall' on the back. It's really special. I enjoy it every day. It's special for me and my dad."

--Boston College senior defensive end Donovan Ezeiruaku believes the Eagles have the potential to reach new heights under O'Brien, who has already changed the culture within the program during his first five months in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

"I would say it added a new spark to this team, a new hunger. Like I said, guys decided to stay instead of leaving," Ezeiruaku said. "That just goes to show that guys are believing in what we have here, wanting to buy into what coach Bill O'Brien has brought to the team, has brought to the new program, the new mentality, the new culture."

With their summer 2022 joint declaration of intent to leave the Pac-12 in 2024, Los Angeles-based rivals UCLA and Southern California began a groundswell that fundamentally changed the college football landscape. The two programs hope to find stable footing as they begin membership in the Big Ten.

The first two newcomers in the Big Ten's Western expansion, which also includes Oregon and Washington with their Pac-12 exits announced in August 2023, add the nation's second-largest media market and brand recognition to the conference.

The promise of high-profile matchups fueled the move to expand the Big Ten from coast to coast, a topic that first-year UCLA head coach DeShaun Foster touched on at Wednesday's edition of Big Ten media days in Indianapolis.

"That's why we're excited for the Big Ten, just getting opportunities to play in a lot of stadiums that you usually wouldn't get an opportunity to," he said when asked about the Bruins traveling to Penn State's Beaver Stadium for the first meeting of the two programs since 1968.

Initial intrigue is undeniable as fresh as the pairings will be. But the ability of UCLA and USC to compete with, and not merely play against the upper echelon of the Big Ten, is a hot topic upon their introduction to the league.

The Bruins and Trojans left the Pac-12 with 54 combined conference football championships -- but just one in the College Football Playoff era. USC's 2017 Pac-12 title was its first since 2008 and the program's last of 37 claimed since 1927. UCLA joins its new conference on a quarter-century league-championship drought, last leading the Pac in 1998.

They will now contend with such programs as Penn State, which has finished ranked in the top 12 six times since 2016 -- and never qualified for the Playoff as a result of other Big Ten members' dominance. The four-team Playoff era opened and closed with Big Ten heavyweights Ohio State and Michigan claiming national championships, an accomplishment that eluded the Pac-12 as a whole every season after USC won its last in 2004.

The Trojans went 11-1 in the 2022 regular season, their first under head coach Lincoln Riley. Losses to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship Game and Tulane in the Cotton Bowl Classic, however, set the tone for a disappointing 2023. USC lost its last three games of the regular season to head to the Holiday Bowl unranked, and 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams exited without a team title.

USC's sour end to 2022 and middling final season in the Pac-12 generated plenty of buzz around college football media, which Riley addressed in Indianapolis.

"That's part of being at USC," Riley said. "It's part of being a blue-blood program. ... It's always going to be talked about, and you either want to be in programs like that or you don't."

--USC opens its inaugural Big Ten slate with one of the conference's most marquee matchups, as the Trojans travel to Ann Arbor to face reigning national champion Michigan. The Sept. 21 clash marks the first meeting between the two at the venerable Big House since a 20-19 Wolverines win in 1958.

-- UCLA beings Big Ten play on Sept. 14 when it hosts Indiana at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., in an unintentional reminder that the additions of Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington also have noteworthy impacts on other sports. The Bruins and Hoosiers claim the most and tied-for-fifth-most national championships in men's basketball, respectively.

-- Neither of the Los Angeles programs face Ohio State in their first year of Big Ten competition, denying UCLA a reunion with former head coach Chip Kelly. Kelly left the Bruins after going 35-34 in six seasons from 2018 through 2023, taking the offensive coordinator's post with the Buckeyes.

His departure for Ohio State reunites Kelly with Ryan Day, a former University of New Hampshire quarterback whom Kelly coached at the turn of the millennium.

"I trust Chip with my life," Day said. "And that's a big part of any time you are handing something over like that, that you have done almost your entire career."

While Kelly will not see his former UCLA team, he will return to Autzen Stadium and the University of Oregon on Oct. 12 in a matchup of teams with Playoff designs. Kelly left New Hampshire in 2007 to become the Ducks' offensive coordinator, then took over for Mike Bellotti as head coach in 2009. Kelly went 46-7 in four seasons at Oregon, helping the program ascend to the national stage -- and in the process, perhaps paving the way for its eventual addition to the Big Ten.

The Florida Gators are more than a month away from their 2024 season opener, but coach Billy Napier is already on the proverbial hot seat.

The Gators' third-year coach is being offered at +400 by SportsBetting.ag to be the first NCAA football coach fired this season. Napier, who is 11-14 in two seasons in Gainesville, failed to lead the Gators to a bowl game for the first time since 2017.

Napier leads a list of 18 names being offered by the sportsbook. The second shortest odds belong to Sam Pittman (+500), who is 23-25 through his first four seasons at Arkansas. Looking deeper, the Razorbacks are 11-14 over the past two years -- identical to Napier.

Next on the list is Miami's Mario Cristobal at +600. Those odds could shift significantly with Miami and Florida kicking off their seasons against each other in Gainesville on Aug. 31.

Cristobal, who is coming off signing a third consecutive strong recruiting class, is 12-13 entering the fourth year of the 10-year contract he signed to leave Oregon in 2022.

FIRST NCAA FOOTBALL COACH FIRED*

Billy Napier, Florida (4/1)

Sam Pittman, Arkansas (5/1)

Mario Cristobal, Miami (6/1)

Dave Aranda, Baylor (7/1)

Clark Lea, Vanderbilt (8/1)

Kalani Sitake, BYU (10/1)

Justin Wilcox, California (12/1)

Pat Narduzzi, Pittsburgh (12/1)

Ryan Day, Ohio State (12/1)

Neal Brown, West Virginia (14/1)

Scott Satterfield, Cincinnati (14/1)

Mike Locksley, Maryland (16/1)

Shane Beamer, South Carolina (16/1)

Tony Elliott, Virginia (16/1)

Dabo Swinney, Clemson (25/1)

Lincoln Riley, USC (25/1)

Brent Venables, Oklahoma (33/1)

Deion Sanders, Colorado (50/1)

*Odds by SportsBetting.ag provided for entertainment purposes only.

Following the first three names on the list is Baylor's Dave Aranda at +700 and Vanderbilt's Clark Lea at +800.

Aranda is 23-25 in four seasons at the helm of the Bears. Since winning the Big 12 in 2021, Baylor has only nine combined victories, including going 3-9 and closing with five consecutive losses last season.

Lea is 9-27 in three seasons leading the Commodores, including a 2-22 record against SEC opponents.

Perhaps the most intriguing name on the list is Ohio State's Ryan Day. Despite a 56-8 record with the Buckeyes, he enters this season facing a significant amount of pressure with Ohio State riding a three-game losing streak against bitter rival Michigan.