College Football
The SEC Gets Deeper
By: Michael Spiers
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
If the recent reporting is accurate, the SEC has quietly made one of its most important decisions in years.
By voting to raise the football scholarship limit from 85 to 105, the league is finally acknowledging what people around the sport have known for a while. College football has changed, and there is no going back.
This is not just about adding 20 more scholarships. It is about keeping pace in a sport that demands more from players and programs than it ever has before.
Earlier this year, the NCAA eliminated sport specific scholarship limits following the House v. NCAA antitrust settlement. That decision pushed much of the responsibility to the conferences.
The SEC initially chose a conservative approach by keeping the 85-player limit for the 2025 season, aiming to provide stability during an uncertain period. At the time, that made sense. In practice, it also put the league behind.
Missouri Head Coach Eli Drinkwitz said it plainly earlier this week. The SEC, he argued, was putting itself at a disadvantage compared to the rest of the country. For a conference that proudly calls itself the best in college football, limiting scholarships while others expand never felt sustainable.
If the limit increases to 105, as many as 320 additional players across the conference could receive scholarships.
That matters now more than ever as the SEC prepares for a nine-game conference schedule. More conference games mean more physical play, more injuries, and fewer opportunities to rest.
Depth is no longer a luxury. It is essential.
Georgia Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart highlighted that reality after his team beat Alabama in the SEC Championship Game last Saturday.
Even after a convincing win, Smart focused on how worn down both teams were by the end of the night. Several key contributors were unavailable, while others tried to play through injuries.
Add another conference game to that grind, and the toll becomes even heavier.
The playoff picture also complicates matters. With 16 teams in the conference, a nine-game schedule guarantees eight additional SEC losses each season. Those losses don’t exist in a vacuum, especially when playoff resumes are compared across leagues.
Alabama found itself on the bubble entering championship weekend, and while the Crimson Tide remained in the mix, the concern is a real one.
SEC commissioner Greg Sankey has framed the schedule expansion as a commitment to elite competition. That argument holds weight.
Between the added conference game and the requirement to play a major non-conference opponent each season, SEC teams will face some of the toughest schedules in college football.
Tougher schedules, however, require deeper rosters, and deeper rosters require more scholarships.
The fact that this information is surfacing on the final day of the early signing period is definitely telling.
Rosters are in constant flux due to transfers, injuries, and early departures. The traditional 85 scholarship model no longer reflects the realities of the modern game.
The SEC dominated the first 12 team College Football Playoff, and this season it sent five teams into the field. That success will not maintain itself automatically.
Expanding scholarships is not about hoarding talent. It is about aligning resources with expectations.
If the SEC wants to remain the standard in college football, it has to match what it asks of its players. Bigger schedules require bigger rosters, and this move finally recognizes that reality.
Crazy Signing Day
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
For the first time in his career as a head coach, Lincoln Riley and USC are projected to finish with the nation’s top recruiting class, signifying that they are serious about competing for national championships in today’s era of college football.
The early signing period recently kicked off and the Trojans signed 35 prospects.
Oregon currently ranks second, followed by Alabama, Notre Dame and Georgia.
Once again, the SEC is dominating, with five of the top 10 classes (Alabama, Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Texas A&M), compared to three from the Big Ten (USC, Oregon and Ohio State), one from the ACC (Miami) and none from the Big 12.
Here’s everything you need to know:
USC has not finished with the No. 1 class since 2006.
Five-star tight end Mark Bowman headlines a class that includes four other top 50 prospects: wide receiver Boobie Feaster, edge rusher Luke Wafle, cornerback Elbert Hill and defensive lineman Jaimeon Winfield.
USC focused on California prospects (signing 20) while strategically dipping into other states as needed. Four signees are the top recruits in their home states: Wafle (New Jersey), Hill (Ohio), four-star quarterback Jonas Williams (Illinois) and four-star linebacker Talanoa Ili (Hawaii).
In case you missed it, the biggest news of the week — and of the entire recruiting cycle — dropped Tuesday evening when five-star quarterback Jared Curtis announced his flip from Georgia to Vanderbilt.
The Nashville native is the nation’s top prospect and had committed to Georgia twice, once in March 2024 and again in May after he decommitted for the first time in October 2024.
This decision had been expected this week, but Curtis pumped the brakes when news leaked Tuesday afternoon that his flip was official. He made his announcement Tuesday night and is now Vanderbilt’s first five-star signee of the modern era.
LSU coach Lane Kiffin is the self-proclaimed “Portal King,” but he’s got an important task at hand with high school recruiting next two months.
The nation’s No. 2 prospect, Lamar Brown, has been committed to LSU since July. Even after the Tigers fired Brian Kelly, Brown- a Baton Rouge native- has been one of LSU’s most loyal supporters, and he was expected to sign with the program on Wednesday.
However, Brown is now waiting until the February signing period to file his paperwork, meaning it’s now Kiffin’s job to convince the state’s best player that LSU is still the right place for him.
Five-star Ohio State receiver commit Chris Henry Jr. has not yet signed with the Buckeyes and said Wednesday afternoon that he is “still trying to weigh my options” on the heels of receivers coach Brian Hartline taking the head coaching job at USF.
Henry, who plays at powerhouse Mater Dei in Southern California, is the nation’s No. 10 prospect and No. 1 receiver. He committed to Ohio State in July 2023.
Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby and his staff scored a couple of significant wins on the recruiting trail this week. The Bulldogs flipped five-star safety Bralan Womack (the nation’s top safety) from Auburn. Followed by four-star edge Micah Nickerson from Missouri. Both signed on Wednesday.
Bill Belichick had a disastrous first year as North Carolina’s head coach, but it didn’t come back to haunt him on the recruiting trail. The Tar Heels had 39 signees, including 13 blue-chippers.
Among Belichick’s most impressive pickups: four-star athlete Jakob Weatherspoon, a former Ohio State commit, four-star wide receiver Keeyun Chapman and four-star quarterback Travis Burgess. And last minute, the Tar Heels flipped four-star defensive lineman Vodney Cleveland from Texas and four-star tight end Dream Rashad from Purdue.
Hats off to Franklin, who, despite being at Virginia Tech for two-ish weeks, is already on pace to finish with a top 25 class.
The Hokies signed seven blue-chippers and put the icing on the cake Wednesday when they flipped four-star linebacker Terry Wiggins from Penn State.
This, after they picked up a commitment from former Penn State quarterback commit Troy Huhn as well. So far, so good for Franklin, who might already have the Hokies ahead of schedule.
Signing day always brings a few fun surprises. With the transfer portal and NIL players who signed today with one team could be on another team by May.
Swimming In The Swamp
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Lane Kiffin accepted the head coach position at LSU. He was the top choice for the Florida Gators so they had to pivot.
They hired Tulane coach Jon Sumrall. Sumrall is 43 and he has compiled a 42-11 record as a head football coach with two conference championships and four league title game appearances in as many seasons.
This season he has led the Green Wave to a 10-2 record.
“The University of Florida is one of the premier programs in college football, and it’s an incredible honor to serve as the head football coach,” Sumrall said in a press release. “I believe in building a team rooted in toughness, accountability and a relentless competitive spirit. Florida has everything necessary to compete at the highest level — the resources, the support, the tradition and the passion of Gator Nation. My family and I are excited to get to work.”
“One of my first priorities will be to assemble an incredible staff, including an offensive coordinator who understands that, at Florida, having an explosive offense isn’t optional — it’s mandatory!” Sumrall added.
UF is also finalizing a deal to make David Caldwell the program’s general manager.
Caldwell served in the same role with the Jacksonville Jaguars from 2013-20. The team only won 30% of its games under his leadership.
He was hired as a personnel executive by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2021. His roles were senior personnel director and advisor to the general manager. The Eagles won Super Bowl LIX last season.
“Jon Sumrall is a proven winner and an exceptional leader who has built successful programs at every stop,” athletic director Scott Stricklin said.
“He brings tremendous energy, strong recruiting relationships across our footprint, and a philosophy rooted in toughness, discipline and player development. He will cultivate a daily culture of competitiveness, accountability and winning that drives success on the field and throughout our program. Jon fully understands the expectations at the University of Florida, including our expectations to produce championship teams that feature a dynamic offense. … Jon’s track record of rapid turnarounds speaks directly to his leadership and the culture he establishes.”
Sumrall was raised in Huntsville, Alabama and graduated high school in 2001. He played college football at Kentucky as a linebacker. He led the Wildcats in tackles in 2004 as a junior. Prior to his senior season he was diagnosed with a spinal condition that ended his playing career.
He was a graduate assistant at Kentucky from 2005-06. He spent five years at San Diego (2007-11) before joining Tulane as co-defensive coordinator under Curtis Johnson (2012-14).
He then went to Troy (2015-17) prior to beginning his Power Four coaching career leading linebackers at Ole Miss (2018) and his alma mater (2019-21), adding a co-defensive coordinator title in his final season with the Wildcats.
At Troy, he was 23-4 in his two seasons there.
On paper this seems like a good hire. There are some parallels to Billy Napier.
Napier coached at Louisiana before being hired by the Gators. They are a Sun Belt Conference team though.
Sumrall is coming from Tulane, which is in New Orleans. They are in the American Athletic Conference so the competition is a little tougher. I do like the fact that Sumrall played and coached in the SEC so he knows the conference very well.
Greener Grass
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Some thought that it was a done deal on the Ole Miss bye week two weeks ago, some still think there’s a chance for Houdini-like turn, but wherever it actually was finalized on that timeline, the Lane Train is headed to Baton Rouge.
Lane Kiffin, in the midst of Ole Miss’ first appearance in the College Football Playoff, has agreed to terms with LSU to lead the Bayou Bengals as the next Head Football Coach.
Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding will take over as the Interim Head Coach for the Rebels.
The highly scrutinized exit from Oxford for the, now former, coach of the Ole Miss Rebels comes after leading Ole Miss to an 11-1 regular season mark with the only blemish coming at the hands of Georgia 43-35 in mid-October.
Many believe (at least before Kiffin’s departure) that the Rebels would be a lock for a first round home game at Vaught-Hemmingway Stadium as the Rebels were ranked #7 in the CFP Committee rankings entering the final week of the regular season.
LSU decided to make a change and fired Brian Kelly following a loss against Texas A&M in late October after three and a half years and a 34-14 record in the Bayou.
While the firing had its fair share of controversy itself, it sparked the coaching search form LSU, that seemed to be focused on Kiffin from the word “go.”
It’s not so much of the fact that Kiffin is leaving Ole Miss to coach the LSU Tigers, but how the entire process came to fruition.
Ole Miss had an open date the week prior to the last regular season match-up, and rumors began floating then that members of the Kiffin family made trips to Baton Rouge and Gainesville (with rumors also he was interested in the Florida job).
Many within the LSU Athletics community felt that the decision was made during that week by both Kiffin and LSU.
However, much to ESPN’s Marty Smith’s dismay, it drug out much longer than that. Kiffin and Ole Miss AD, Keith Carter made the announcement leading into rivalry weekend that the decision of the future of Coach Kiffin would be made Saturday after the Friday Egg Bowl meeting with Mississippi State.
The Rebels handled the in-state rival Bulldogs with a 38-19 win, and then the waiting began across college football.
Saturday came and went with no announcement, but some loud rumors coming from the Magnolia state. Rumors that Kiffin was heading to LSU and had told coaching staff that if they wanted to come with him, they needed to decide immediately and leave prior to the anticipated College Football Playoff run.
Reports are that most of the offensive staff, including offensive coordinator, Charlie Weis Jr., will be following Kiffin to LSU. After delayed team meetings and many “expert” conspiracies, the announcement came down Sunday afternoon that indeed Lane Kiffin would be taking over as the head football coach at LSU.
Why did it take this long? While there are many berating Kiffin on social media on how he handled the situation (and not saying that it was perfect by any means), I truly believe that it would have been immensely smoother if Texas hadn’t beaten Texas A&M on Friday.
With the Longhorns victory, it signaled that Ole Miss had a chance to play for the SEC Championship if Auburn had beaten Alabama on Saturday evening.
At the end of the day, there’s not a whole lot of warm feelings between Lane Kiffin and the Oxford contingency, but it will make next year’s game in Oxford between LSU and Ole Miss one to watch!
Mediocrity Accepted
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After Florida State recently announced head coach Mike Norvell will return next season, and it’s worth revisiting what the Seminoles said last time they made an in-season announcement about an embattled head coach with an unimpressive record but enormous buyout.
“Frankly, 6-6 isn’t good enough …” That’s what then-athletic director David Coburn said the day after he fired Willie Taggart and signed off on a buyout (up to $18 million) that still ranks among the largest ever.
Taggart was 4-5 in Year 2 after a double-digit loss to Miami. Norvell is 5-7 in Year 6 and coming off a double-digit loss to Miami and a blow out loss to rival Florida.
Florida State’s board of trustees chairperson, Peter Collins, said in a statement that the on-field results “have been far from acceptable to the FSU standard.” But by retaining Norvell, who replaced Taggart after the 2019 season, FSU has accepted that standard: 6-6 or even 5-7 is now, apparently, good enough to keep a job. Maybe the Seminoles moved their goalposts during their recent nine figure renovation to Doak Campell Stadium.
The argument would be different if this season looked like an aberration. It’s not. If 6-6 or 5-7 isn’t good enough, then Norvell has failed in four of his six years. Even if we blame his 3-6 inaugural season on the COVID-19 shutdown. He still went 5-7 the next year and 2-10 last year.
This season has been particularly baffling. Florida State beat mighty Alabama by 14 in the opener and recently lost to Stanford’s interim coach. At NC State, the Noles muffed a kick that bounced off an FSU player’s helmet and was recovered by the punter … then muffed another punt moments later.
It was a damning showing for a coach who promised on Day 1 that special teams would form the Seminoles’ backbone, especially six years in.
Norvell’s entire tenure has been similarly confounding: The same coach and staff that went 13-0 in 2023 suffered on one of the largest collapses in modern day college football the next season.
Take the broader view, though — the kind of “comprehensive assessment” current athletic director Michael Alford promises last month and you can find a logical explanation.
What if 13-0 and 2-10 were both flukes? Split the difference, and Norvell is a six-to-eight-win coach. That’s what his 38-33 record says he is.
And Norvell’s patterns are apparently good enough for Florida State, apparently.
The Seminoles had other factors to consider beyond the record. More than 55 million of them, depending on when his buyout would have taken effect and the mitigation that would have come from Norvell’s next job.
FSU administrators acknowledged this obvious caveat in the announcement. Alford cited the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars into football facilities and other upgrades while stressing their responsibility to put FSU in the best position possible “not just today, but for years to come.”
Collins brought up administrators’ “responsibilities as stewards of program revenues” and the need to figure out how to best allocate finite resources.
“We will address performance deficiencies in the program,” Collins said. “These deficiencies may include structural changes to the very large and complex program FSU football has become, and these areas are where we will focus and invest.”
Translation: $60 million can and should be spent on players or front-office changes instead of paying Norvell and his underperforming coaching staff.
Perhaps they’re right. This era of player compensation is too new to give us many historical precedents, but after Oklahoma went all in on Brent Venables last offseason, the Sooners are in the College Football Playoff.
Florida State might have better luck trying to find its own John Mateer with that approach compared to entering a crowded coaching market that already includes Penn State, LSU, Auburn and Florida.
What evidence does FSU have to show that Norvell is the right person? His recruiting classes have consistently ranked among the Seminoles’ worst in recent history. It has been more than two years since his last road win. He has lost 18 of his last 23 games against FBS opponents and 13 of his last 16 conference games in a pedestrian ACC. His overall conference record of 22-26 (.458 winning percentage) isn’t much better than Taggart’s (6-8 record, .429 winning percentage).
Despite the on-field improvements from last year’s rock bottom, Florida State still sits outside the top 25 nationally in advanced metrics. It’s possible coaching continuity and more roster turnover will lead to a leap forward next fall, or that additional investments could address other issues lurking under the hood.
It’s also possible that FSU will waste a year in limbo as the landscape hurdles toward the next round of conference realignment. The massive contract extension Florida State gave — and probably had to give — Norvell to keep Alabama from poaching him to replace Nick Saban left the Seminoles with no real options.
The one they chose is an about-face from where FSU was six years ago when Coburn fired Taggart.
The administration has changed since then, but the expectations of a three-time national championship program were supposed to remain the same. They haven’t, no matter what the press releases say.
While 6-6 wasn’t good enough for Taggart, the Seminoles just showed that mediocrity is acceptable for the man hired to replace him.
Clean Old Fashioned Hate
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
We’re going into the last week of the regular season for college football. It seems like the season flies by.
We get all of the major rivalry games this weekend. Let’s focus on the Georgia/Georgia Tech game.
#16 Georgia Tech (9-2) is having a great season. Heading into last week’s home game against Pitt (8-3), they would have guaranteed a spot to play in the ACC Championship game with a win.
They have not played in the ACC Championship game since 2014. Instead, they lost 42-28 and the final score makes the game seem more competitive.
The Panthers were up 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. They added to that and had a 28-point lead. Tech got the score to 28-14 and had the ball inside the Pitt 10-yard line.
Haynes King threw an interception that was returned 100 yards for a touchdown. That was his second pick of the game.
“End of the day, there is no justification for it,” head coach Brent Key said. “You lose the game. A loss is a loss.”
I was not surprised by this loss because the Yellow Jackets were trending in the wrong direction the previous two games.
They narrowly beat a bad Boston College team on the road the week before, 36-34. The Eagles only have one win this season and they are winless in the ACC. It took a last second field goal for Tech to beat them.
The game prior to that was the first loss of the season at NC State, 48-36. Tech was ranked inside the top 10 before that loss.
It looked like they had a chance to make the College Football Playoff, now that probably won’t happen. The only chance they have to make it is to beat Georgia.
#4 Georgia (10-1) is a legit contender to win the national championship. Last week the played Charlotte (1-10) and beat them, 35-3. That was a game they just wanted to finish without any major injuries.
Freshman running back Bo Walker rushed for three touchdowns and Nate Frazier added two more. Quarterback Gunner Stockton has an outside chance of being invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony.
“We’re rolling, but every game is independent of itself,” said Georgia tight end Lawson Luckie, who said Georgia Tech will be “a great opponent. One of the best teams in the country right now, super physical, and they play the game kind of like us. So, we’re ready to bring it next week.”
The Bulldogs are strong on both sides of the ball. They are also balanced offensively. Georgia Tech’s defense has been playing poorly the last few games.
Last year’s Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate game was an instant classic. The Bulldogs won in eight overtimes, 44-42. Tech was leading for most of that game.
UGA currently holds a seven-game win streak in the series that dates back to 2017. Georgia leads the overall series 72-41-5.
This year’s game will be played at Mercedes-Benz Stadium at 3:30 p.m. the day after Thanksgiving.
Oddsmakers have made Georgia a 14-point favorite and I think that’s accurate. I believe they’ll win this game by double-digits but rivalry games can be tricky.
Florida Gators Plan B?
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Florida is aggressively pursuing Lane Kiffin to become its next head coach. That has become obvious in the first month of the program’s search to replace Billy Napier.
Since day one, Kiffin has been Florida’s top choice for many reasons; he’s a sentiment shared by athletic director Scott Stricklin and one of Florida’s most influential boosters and fans.
Florida’s interest has unsurprisingly already led to conversations between the Gators and Kiffin’s camp in recent weeks. While Kiffin is not directly involved yet, multiple sources confirm the Gator athletic department is making preliminary moves.
Beyond the clarity of the aforementioned pursuit, not much is clear at all regarding who UF will ultimately end up with.
No clear Plan B has emerged in Florida. Potential candidates such as former Penn State head coach James Franklin and Missouri’s Eli Drinkwitz have been floated as only potential candidates, but nothing more.
Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham privately turned down a spot in the candidate line behind Kiffin.
Washington head coach and UF alumnus Jedd Fisch has gone unmentioned as an option regarding plan B. It currently appears he is not seriously being considered for the role at this time.
Southern California’s Lincoln Riley, Louisville’s Jeff Brohm and Georgia Tech’s Brent Key are externally viewed as possible candidates; however, their internal standing on Florida’s board is unknown. We will have to wait and see what they do.
Call it bold, call it risky, call it whatever term you prefer, Florida’s coaching search can be summarized succinctly as ‘Lane Kiffin or bust.’
While their resumes are starkly different, that reality bears some similarity to UF’s pursuit of Napier four years ago: Stricklin zeroed in on one coach and one coach only, and it’s the hire he made.
While this coaching search has come with much more public consensus about who the “right” hire would be, Stricklin’s seemingly go-for-broke approach is no less precarious. If anything, it comes with even more pitfalls. And continuing to hire head coaches won’t get any easier.
Kiffin’s Rebels are all but certain to secure their first College Football Playoff berth in program history this postseason, with the first round kicking off on Dec. 19.
It would mark an unprecedented move for a coach to move on from a playoff team in the midst of its run.
The situation begs several critical questions. Among them:
How willing is Florida to be very patient for its top target?
Is Kiffin planning to leave Ole Miss at all?
If he is, but intends to coach the Rebels’ playoff run, would a handshake agreement be enough for the Gators?
If it all falls apart and Kiffin ultimately spurns UF, what would Florida do next?
It’s that last question that presents a rather considerable red flag.
The inherent risk in Florida’s approach to selling out for Kiffin is its potential backup options are currently having hiring conversations, if not making agreements with other programs, or their current program is taking the opportunity to lock them in.
Franklin, for example, is in talks with Virginia Tech for the Hokies’ head coach opening. Dillingham said he’s staying put at Arizona State. Brohm is reportedly discussing an extension with Louisville. Indiana’s Curt Cignetti signed a lucrative contract extension last month, three days before Napier was fired.
Florida’s engagements with non-Kiffin candidates or their camps have been limited to early-stage conversations about whether or not they would be willing to get in line behind the current Ole Miss coach.
Internally, there is a sense of confusion regarding what Florida’s backup plan would be.
The hope, of course, is that one isn’t needed. The worry is that one could be.
Kiffin is the most prominent perceived candidate of the 2025 college football coaching carousel for good reason. He turned Ole Miss into a team nobody wants to face year-over-year after decades of mediocrity.
Since John Vaught’s 1970 retirement, the Rebels have finished the season ranked only 10 times. Kiffin’s Ole Miss has won 10 or more games in four of his six seasons at the program’s helm; the team had only reached that mark seven times in its history prior to his arrival, including just twice in the 2000s.
Accordingly, Florida is not alone in its pursuit of Kiffin.
LSU, which fired Brian Kelly shortly after UF dismissed Napier, is targeting the 50-year-old. Kiffin is also rumored to be a person of interest for several NFL head coaching openings, including the New York Giants, where his former Rebels quarterback, Jaxson Dart, was a first-round pick this past offseason and has since turned heads.
Not only is Kiffin staying put in Oxford a threat to the Gators, so is the possibility that they simply finish second in the race to secure his services.
Florida feels like a high-performance vehicle pushing to its speed limit. It’s tearing down a narrowing road at a rate that leaves no margin. The wall ahead isn’t theoretical. It’s visible and closing fast.
The only thing between that machine and a catastrophic collision is Kiffin. He’s the emergency brake, the last-second steering correction, the only mechanism that keeps a reckless trajectory from becoming a ruin. But he is not a sure thing.
If the Kiffin plan connects, the whole thing could level out, the wheels grabbing just enough road to survive and potentially flourish.
If it doesn’t, though, and that single-coach system fails, then there’s presently nothing left between the Gators and catastrophic impact. No airbags. No backup plan. No Lane to save them. Just a spectacular, violent crash no one in the Gator Nation can afford.
Plain Candidates
By: Robert Craft
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
After Auburn lost 10-3 to a Kentucky team that was on a 10-game SEC losing streak, it was obvious head coach Hugh Greeze’s time with the Tigers was over.
In his third season, the program was floundering, with a 6-16 mark in SEC play. The offensive-minded head coach’s teams had been held to 17 points or less in 11 of those 22 games.
Whether the job is considered on the level of LSU and Florida or Arkansas depends on who you ask.
Gene Chizik did win a national title at Auburn within the last 20 years, but this Auburn program hasn’t won more than six games in a season since 2019. And it has often been very volatile SEC standards.
The Tigers should have some good options, but the candidate pool feels like a mixed bag between Group of 6 upstarts and retreads.
Last time, Auburn pursued Lane Kiffin before Freeze ended up with the job. We doubt Kiffin will be in play this time around. If he gets tempted to leave Oxford now, maybe it’s for Florida or LSU, but not Auburn. However, there is one sitting Power 4 coach we could see the Tigers pursuing hard.
Arizona State head coach Kenny Dillingham was Auburn’s offensive coordinator in 2019, the Tigers’ last good season. 35-year-old Dillingham has been fantastic at his alma mater, taking the Sun Devils into the College Football Playoff in Year 2 and then almost knocking off Texas in the Peach Bowl quarterfinal.
Arizona State finished 11-3 and No. 7. The Sun Devils are off to a 6-3 start this season.
They recently beat Iowa State in Ames despite losing their star quarterback Sam Leavitt for the season with a foot injury.
Dillingham is one of the most energetic and creative coaches in the Football Bowl Subdivision, but would he leave his home for this job? Especially when he has an easier path to the Playoff in the Big 12 than he would in the SEC?
Tulane head coach Jon Sumrall seems like another very attractive option here. The 43-year-old former SEC linebacker and Alabama native has coached in the conference at Kentucky and Ole Miss and did very well within the state in his first head coaching job at Troy, in the state. He’s 38-11 as a head coach and has the presence and authenticity that Freeze seems to lack.
The list of other G6 head coaches we think will be in play starts with Memphis’ Ryan Silverfield, a 45-year-old former NFL offensive line coach who keeps piling up wins, going 29-6 the past three years. Memphis could be a Playoff team this year, which could muck up the timing if Auburn really wants him.
South Florida coach Alex Golesh, formerly Tennessee’s offensive coordinator, took over a hapless program and got it going. The Bulls, who are 6-2 with a blowout win against Boise State and road win over Florida, also have legit CFP hopes this season. Golesh, we hear, also is drawing a lot of interest from Oklahoma State, where he spent a season as a grad assistant under Mike Gundy.
Southern Miss coach Charles Huff, a 42-year-old former Alabama assistant, did a very good job at Marshall, where he had a 10-3 season and won the Sun Belt championship last year.
In his debut season at Southern Miss, which had won a total of four games over the previous two years, he has the Golden Eagles 6-2 and in contention for a Sun Belt title.
The other intriguing option is former Texas A&M and FSU coach Jimbo Fisher, who is now doing TV work for the ACC Network.
He took the Seminoles to a national title following the 2013 season and led the Aggies to a No. 4 finish in 2020.
He did get a boatload of cash to leave College Station after things really fizzled out there, but his 45-25 record was a lot better than anything the Tigers have been doing of late.
It’s worth noting things also fell apart for him in Tallahassee late in his tenure. The 60-year-old played college football in-state at Samford, where he also started his coaching career, and he spent six seasons at Auburn as quarterbacks coach.
If Fisher really wants back into coaching and Auburn is game, this might be very tempting for him.
Coaching searches are running rapid in college football this season. Auburn isn’t the last SEC opening. It’s just another.
Empty Plains
By: Kenneth Harrison
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze was fired after losing to Kentucky at home recently.
Freeze was 15-19 in his two-plus seasons at Auburn. He will be owed $15.8 million in buyout money, with no mitigation, after he signed a six-year, $49 million deal to replace Bryan Harsin in 2022.
“I have informed Coach Freeze of my decision to make a change in leadership with the Auburn football program,” athletic director John Cohen said in a statement. “Coach Freeze is a man of integrity, and we are appreciative of his investment in Auburn and his relentless work over the last three years in bolstering our roster. Our expectations for Auburn football are to annually compete for championships, and the search for the next leader of Auburn football begins immediately.”
Defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin was named interim coach of the Tigers.
“It’s my fervent belief that great days are ahead for the Auburn football program,” Freeze wrote in a statement. “Thank you for allowing me to be a part of this chapter. I love this place, and I’ll carry the friendships with me always.”
Freeze is the eighth Power Four coach to be fired this season. That now makes four open positions in the SEC, which include Florida, Arkansas and LSU. If we are ranking these positions, obviously Arkansas is the worst job. Auburn has to be the second worst behind Florida and LSU. What direction will Auburn move in for their next head coach?
Lane Kiffin is being talked about for every major job opening. He has guided #7 Ole Miss to an 8-1 record so far. Kiffin has been mentioned for the Florida and LSU positions already.
Curt Cignetti (Indiana) is the best coach that we expect to leave for a bigger program. The Hoosiers are having a great season. He has won over 20 games at Indiana and he’s in his second season there. He should be a top candidate but he might consider other Big Ten programs like Penn State or UCLA as his top destination.
Eli Drinkwitz (Mizzou) is another good candidate. He’s a Gus Malzahn disciple and he became the head coach at Missouri in 2020. The Tigers have been very succesful over the past three seasons, including a Cotton Bowl victory and AP Top 10 finish in 2023. They have been in the upper tier of the SEC for most of the season.
Former Penn State coach James Franklin was fired earlier in the season but he still wants to coach. His record at Penn State was 104-45. He cannot win big games but he typically wins against lesser opponents. He also coached at Vanderbilt from 2011-13 with a 24-15 record. He led the Commodores to a bowl game each season.
Auburn used to be a program that would have one great season every few years. Some examples of this are the 1993 team that was 11-0 and finished #4. They were on NCAA probation so they were banned from postseason play.
In 2004, they went 13-0 and finished the season #2. In 2010, they won the national championship and went 14-0. In 2013, they made it to the national championship game but lost to Florida State 34-31. They were 12-2 and finished the season #2.
Their last season with at least ten wins was in 2017 when they finished 10-4. It will be interesting to see who they hire.
QB Comparision
By: Colin Lacy
TheSouthernSportsEdition.com news services
The matchup between the Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs has been full of outstanding games, Hall of Fame players and oddities all the same, but virtually every year, the game has seen a matchup of great quarterbacks.
Names like Rick Casares in the early days to Steve Spurrier, Buck Belue, Aaron Murray stood out in this Jacksonville based event.
This year’s rendition of the rivalry will see Georgia’s Gunner Stockton square off with DJ Lagway for the Gators. Both are relatively familiar within their respective fanbases, but let’s dive into the two signal callers.
Florida’s DJ Lagway will be going into his 15th career start and carries a 9-5 record as a starter. 2025 has been a slow start with the only FBS win of the year coming against Mississippi State.
Much of the “slow start” was because of missing much of the spring and fall camp with injuries.
Lagway was a highly heralded recruit coming out of Willis High School in Texas. His high school career was capped off with being named the National Gatorade Player of the Year and finished with 8,392 passing yards and 100 touchdowns (58 coming in his senior year).
Last season, he began the season as QB2 but was thrown into the fire after Graham Mertz went down with injury early in the season. Lagway would finish with 1,900 passing yards with 12 TDs and 9 picks thrown.
The freshman Gator racked in the FWAA and ESPN Freshman All American honors.
There were high hopes entering the season, but the 2025 campaign has been an up-and-down affair.
The lows came in the matchup with the Bayou Bengals when he threw 5 interceptions against LSU on September 13th.
However, since then, in the last four games, Lagway has only thrown 3 picks since. The previous three games before the bye week were arguably the most consistent of Lagway’s career.
The Sophomore slinger threw for 280 yards in the win against Mississippi State while connecting on 20 of 34 passes and neared the 300-yard mark against the 9 Texas Longhorns when DJ went 21-28 through the air with 298 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
Lagway has unreal talent and may be coming into his own finally in his Florida career.
On the flip side Georgia has been breaking in a first year starting quarterback, but a familiar name for Bulldog fans. Gunner Stockton took over the full time QB1 role as a redshirt-junior after serving as the backup to Carson Beck the last two seasons in Athens after redshirting in 2022.
Stockton comes from the athletic family and a “coach’s kid.” Gunner’s dad, Rob, was a Georgia Southern Hall of Fame safety from 1992-1995 and had a huge impact on the development of Gunner (to the point that Gunner wears “14” because that was what his dad wore in the Blue and White with the Eagles.
Stockton’s mom was also a collegiate athlete playing for Erskine women’s basketball in the 90’s in Due West, SC. Stockton (similar to Lagway) was thrust into the fire last season, but on a much larger scale.
Stockton had to come in to finish the first half and play the entirety of the 2nd half of the SEC Championship game against Texas last season when Carson Beck wind down with an injury.
The hard-nosed Stockton set a career high passing in his first true road game of his career when he connected for 304 yards against the Tennessee Volunteers in week 3 of the year.
So far, Stockton is completing 70 percent of his passes and has already eclipsed 1,500 yards through the air to go along with averaging 5.7 yards per carry on the ground this year.
While both are still relatively new in the starting role of QB1, both QBs have shown glimpses at least of greatness.
Stockton has been more consistent throughout the season, but Lagway could quiet the naysayers that want to bring up the 5-interception game with a big showing in Jacksonville.
