Miami's Carson Beck and Oklahoma's John Mateer head list of prominent players switching schools
Beck made one of the biggest transfer portal moves of the offseason when he left Georgia for Miami. Beck's decision came after he hurt his elbow in Georgia's Southeastern Conference championship game victory over Texas, ending his 2024 season prematurely.
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Winnipeg Free Press
25 minutes ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
No. 5 Georgia is looking for defense to reclaim standard set by 2021-22 national championship teams
ATHENS, Ga. (AP) — Glenn Schumann says comparisons are not fair to Georgia teams of the past or present. Even so, the defensive coordinator isn't ducking the fact that the 2024 defense didn't meet the Georgia standard even while the Bulldogs won their third Southeastern Conference championship in the Kirby Smart era. Georgia's path to 11 wins, the SEC championship game victory over Texas and a spot in the College Football Playoff was filled with harrowing results by the defense. The defense produced three NFL first-round draft picks — Mykel Williams, Jalon Walker and Malaki Starks — despite giving up 41 points in a loss to Alabama and closing the regular season with a 44-42 win over Georgia Tech in eight overtimes. It's no coincidence that Georgia's back-to-back national championships in 2021 and 2022 were built on defense under Smart, a former defensive coach. Georgia led the SEC in points and yards allowed in three consecutive seasons, beginning with the 2021 team that led the nation with 10.20 points allowed per game. The proud tradition of strong defenses slipped in 2024 when the Bulldogs fell to eighth in the league with 20.57 points and 329 yards allowed per game. 'You start rationalizing stats, then you're just making excuses for a performance that wasn't up to our standard,' Schumann said last week. 'The number one thing we need to do better in run defense is tackle better. In fact, we did not tackle to our standard last year.' Georgia, No. 5 in The Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll released Monday, carries high expectations, including on defense. The belief the 2025 defense can return to its lead role may be at least partly based on the championship standard of units led by such players as Travon Walker, Jordan Davis, Eric Stokes, Jalen Carter and Nolan Smith. 'Speaking of a defense, I think it really comes down to the little things,' said linebacker CJ Allen, expected to be a leader of the unit. 'Our whole theme and this message this whole offseason for the whole team has been fire, passion, energy. Playing with fire, passion, energy, being able to affect each other means a lot. Just coming out doing the little things.' Freshman defensive lineman Elijah Griffin, one of the top signees, has an opportunity to make an immediate impact. 'EG's doing great,' Schumann said. 'You always want to temper expectations on young players, but he has a maturity to him, a work ethic to him. He's obviously a big guy with a lot of athleticism. So we hope that Elijah's able to help us this year. … He's had a good start to camp.' Linebacker Raylen Wilson and safety KJ Bolden are other leaders of the defense. Smart said he is watching the defensive line, led by junior tackle Christen Miller, as a key to the emphasis on stopping the run. 'We need him to be a playmaker,' Smart said of Miller. 'We need him to be disruptive. We talk about habit, we talk about quickness, speed, experience. He's our most experienced player. He has taken on this role of knowing the burden lies with him to set a standard for that group.' Smart said the goal of stopping the run 'starts with that group. I mean, it's everybody, but it really starts with the defensive line, and what kind of mentality that room has. And so far, he has approached that the right way.' ___ Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college football: and
Toronto Star
4 hours ago
- Toronto Star
No. 4 Clemson's experience makes the Tigers the ACC favorite. Can anyone challenge them?
No. 4 Clemson won so much over more than a decade that it felt like a step back when the Tigers didn't reach 10 wins two years ago in the first of back-to-back four-loss seasons. Still, the Tigers are the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champions and coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff. Experience from that run is part of why the Tigers are the runaway preseason pick to finish atop the ACC again.
Winnipeg Free Press
4 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
No. 4 Clemson's experience makes the Tigers the ACC favorite. Can anyone challenge them?
No. 4 Clemson won so much over more than a decade that it felt like a step back when the Tigers didn't reach 10 wins two years ago in the first of back-to-back four-loss seasons. Still, the Tigers are the reigning Atlantic Coast Conference champions and coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff. Experience from that run is part of why the Tigers are the runaway preseason pick to finish atop the ACC again. 'Experience, as they say, doesn't come at a discount,' coach Dabo Swinney said. Clemson won at least 10 games from 2011-2022, including two national championships and eight ACC titles, before a nine-win year in 2023. The Tigers (10-4) beat SMU for last year's title. 'I think our mentality is, man, we're keeping our head down, just kind of keeping it low,' said quarterback Cade Klubnik, the preseason ACC player of the year. Clemson returns four Associated Press All-ACC picks from last year, including first-team offensive lineman Blake Miller and two defensive linemen (Peter Woods and T.J. Parker) ranked in the top three among returners at their position nationally by Pro Football Focus. Overall, Clemson held 11 of 27 spots on the preseason all-ACC team. No other team held more than three. If not Clemson, then who? The ACC has two other teams ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 with No. 10 Miami and No. 16 SMU. The Hurricanes were the league's highest-ranked team much of last year, though they missed the ACC title game after losing at Syracuse. They brought in Georgia transfer quarterback Carson Beck as the successor to No. 1 overall NFL draft pick Cam Ward. The Mustangs have back-to-back 11-win seasons under Rhett Lashlee, who led SMU to an 8-0 record in its first league season. SMU returns quarterback Kevin Jennings (28 total touchdowns last year), and AP all-ACC picks in offensive lineman Logan Parr, safety Isaiah Nwokobia and kicker Collin Rogers. Seminoles' response Florida State entered last season as the reigning ACC champion and preseason favorite, then went 2-10. Coach Mike Norvell's offseason included hiring two coordinators, notably former Auburn and UCF head coach Gus Malzahn for the offense. 'When you come to Florida State, you'd better embrace the highest of expectations, because it's what I have, it's what our program has,' Norvell said. New faces Three new coaches arrive in North Carolina's Bill Belichick, Wake Forest's Jake Dickert and Stanford's Frank Reich. Belichick led the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl titles but this is his first college season, while the school is betting on the 73-year-old to elevate its football profile after moving on from Mack Brown. Dickert left Washington State for Wake Forest after Dave Clawson unexpectedly stepped down after the season. Reich, who joins Belichick and Boston College's Bill O'Brien as the ACC's national-high three former NFL head coaches, is an interim coach after the spring firing of Troy Taylor due to off-field concerns. Irish factor Sixth-ranked Notre Dame has six games against ACC teams as part of its annual scheduling partnership with the league, with the football independent being a member of all other ACC sports. Those don't count in the league standings but certainly have CFP implications for last year's national runner-up. The biggest comes with an opening-game trip to Miami (Aug. 31), along with trips to Boston College (Nov. 1), Pittsburgh (Nov. 15) and Stanford (Nov. 29). The Irish's home games come against N.C. State (Oct. 11) and Syracuse (Nov. 22). Heading west Boston College, Duke, FSU, UNC, Pittsburgh and Virginia are this year's teams to touch all four U.S. continental time zones for a league road trip in Year 2 of westward expansion. California hosts the Blue Devils (Oct. 4), Tar Heels (Oct. 17) and Cavaliers (Nov. 1). Stanford hosts the Eagles (Sept. 13), Seminoles (Oct. 18) and Panthers (Nov. 1). That would leave Clemson and Georgia Tech as the only ACC teams yet to travel to California. Both go next year, the Tigers to Cal and the Yellow Jackets to Stanford. Marquee matchups The league gets immediate measuring-stick matchups. Week 1 features LSU visiting Clemson, Alabama visiting Florida State, TCU visiting UNC and Georgia Tech visiting Colorado. There are also Atlanta games with Syracuse meeting Tennessee and Virginia Tech facing South Carolina. Key conference games include Clemson visiting Georgia Tech (Sept. 13), hosting SMU (Oct. 18) and traveling to Louisville (Nov. 14). Miami hosts Louisville (Oct. 17) and visits SMU (Nov. 1), while SMU hosts Louisville (Nov. 22). The ACC title game is Dec. 6 in Charlotte, North Carolina. ___ AP college football: and
