There are eight spring games being played on Saturday, each by high-profile programs surrounded by questions.

Oklahoma transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel arrives in Eugene coming off a 30-touchdown season last year with the Sooners. The question is, can he do even more with Oregon this coming season? Nineteen Colorado players have entered the transfer portal since its opening on April 16. How can coach Deion Sanders and the Buffaloes use the portal to its advantage to fill in those gaps?

We break down key position battles, potential breakout players and must-see newcomers for Saturday’s games.

Position battle to watch: The Terps have five players competing for the starting quarterback job following the departure of Taulia Tagovailoa, the Big Ten’s all-time leading passer. Sophomore Cameron Edge, redshirt junior Billy Edwards Jr. and NC State transfer MJ Morris have an edge in experience over redshirt freshman Champ Long and redshirt sophomore Jayden Sauray.

Coach Mike Locksley isn’t expected to name a starter until deep into summer camp. Edwards Jr. had seven rushing touchdowns in eight games last season — including three against Michigan. He was often used in short-yardage situations, and the staff would like to see if he can throw it a bit more. Morris played in nine games and started seven over the past two seasons for NC State, where he totaled 1,367 passing yards, 14 touchdowns and six interceptions. Edge played in two games and threw the ball just three times. — Heather Dinich

Most intriguing newcomer: Freshman quarterback Dylan Raiola has been the talk of Lincoln ever since he pivoted from Georgia to sign with the Huskers. Raiola has been competing throughout the spring with Heinrich Haarberg, who started in all five Nebraska wins in 2023, and fellow freshman Daniel Kaelin, who became the first in-state prospect to become an Elite 11 finalist. Both Haarberg and Kaelin are capable of winning the starting job, and Raiola can’t count on landing the QB1 title despite arriving at Nebraska as ESPN’s top pocket passer and the No. 11 overall recruit in the 2024 class.

Coach Matt Rhule told me that Raiola’s “courage” to move within the pocket and look downfield, even when pressured, has stood out. Rhule is in no rush to end the quarterback competition, but Raiola’s spring game performance will be under the microscope. — Adam Rittenberg

Position battle to watch: Quarterback. Rutgers coach Greg Schiano has marked this season for a potential breakthrough, and has enough back on defense, running back and other spots to deliver. To keep pace in the expanding Big Ten, though, the Scarlet Knights need more from a passing game that finished 124th nationally in yards and 125th in efficiency.

Returning starter Gavin Wimsatt and Minnesota transfer Athan Kaliakmanis, who started last season for the Gophers, have competed throughout the spring. They will be throwing to a group of young receivers who have drawn good reviews from Schiano, including freshmen Ben Black and KJ Duff. Wimsatt has started 19 games for Rutgers throughout the past two seasons but must show he can distance himself from Kaliakmanis. — Rittenberg

Most intriguing newcomer: It’s hard to look beyond Oklahoma transfer quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who is coming off a 3,660-yard, 30-touchdown season with the Sooners. The Ducks will be Gabriel’s third team during his college career, and after watching what Dan Lanning and Co. did with Bo Nix the past few years, it will be fascinating to see what they can get out of Gabriel in Eugene starting with the spring showcase.

Gabriel is no stranger to fresh starts — this will be his sixth season in college and, though he had a down year in 2021, he’s never thrown for fewer than 3,000 yards. Oregon has the talent to be a title contender, but a lot will rely on how Gabriel fits and excels within the Ducks’ system starting now. — Paolo Uggetti

Breakout player: Running back TJ Harden. With Carson Steele departing for the NFL after tallying over 3,000 rushing yards in three seasons with the Bruins, the stage is set for Harden to take on a bigger role in his third year at UCLA. Harden had a strong sophomore campaign, with 827 yards and eight touchdowns, and is primed to get more carries under a new-look Bruins attack. The spring game will be a display of a new-look UCLA team under first-time head coach DeShaun Foster and former NFL offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. But Harden — much like returning quarterback Ethan Garbers — are two of the players who should bring some semblance of continuity while excelling under a new offensive system. — Uggetti

Most intriguing newcomer: The Wildcats’ defense suffered heavy losses — both to the NFL draft and to the transfer portal with the departure of head coach Jedd Fisch to Washington. But new coach Brent Brennan brought some promising additions with him from San José State, including defensive lineman Tre Smith who was a first-team All-Mountain West edge rusher last season and had 6.5 sacks.

Everyone knows the Arizona offense will be a force in the Big 12 under returning phenom quarterback Noah Fifita, but it will likely be the defense — and players like Smith — who will determine how many wins Brennan can get in his first year. The Wildcats’ spring game should be an interesting test case of how that defense is jelling and how a player like Smith fits within it. — Uggetti

Breakout player: Defensive lineman Sean Martin missed the 2023 season, with coach Neal Brown saying he had an illness that led to him even being limited in practice. It was a blow for the Mountaineers as Martin showed flashes in 2022 in 12 games (eight starts), including registering two sacks against Oklahoma and six tackles, a sack, 1.5 tackles for loss and a forced fumble against Baylor. Brown said Martin is back, bigger and stronger at 6-foot-5, 295 pounds, and believes he could play his way into being an early-round NFL draft pick. — Dave Wilson

Most intriguing newcomer: Linebacker Kaleb Elarms-Orr arrives from Cal after racking up 87 tackles last year (third in the Pac-12 with 7.9 per game), including 15 against Arizona State, and was second team all-conference. He’ll plug into a new 4-2-5 defense run by Andy Avalos alongside linebacker Namdi Obiazor, a change from Joe Gillespie’s 3-3-5 scheme that ranked 100th in total defense last season.

Elams-Orr has all-conference potential and will be a crucial piece to fixing a defense that gave up 69 points to Oklahoma in the season’s final game. — Wilson

Position battle to watch: Running back. With senior Nakia Watson and his five seasons of tailback play no longer in Pullman, the competition to be the Cougs’ leading back come this fall appears to be wide open. Wazzu also dismissed sophomore running back Jaylen Jenkins from the team due to violating team rules in the middle of last season.

Djouvensky Schlenbaker, Dylan Paine and Leo Pulalasi all have minimal experience but are returning players looking to increase their carries this year. Schlenbaker and Pulalasi are two who have shown glimpses of their talent in the past, while Paine is a walk-on who has been around for five seasons now. Rounding out the group are two, three-star freshmen prospects Wayshawn Parker and Josh Joyner, who could get their share of opportunities to show off their potential too. — Uggetti

Position battle to watch: Cornerback. Last season, Travis Hunter showed off his versatile skill set, catching 57 passes for 721 yards and five touchdowns as a starting receiver, while racking up 31 tackles, three interceptions and five pass breakups starting at cornerback. This spring he’s shown more of his versatility, and we have the chance to see that on display in the spring game Saturday.

Hunter has shifted inside to play nickelback. Cornerbacks coach Kevin Mathis told reporters earlier in the spring that the decision to have Hunter take reps at nickel was a byproduct of a scheme that new defensive coordinator Robert Livingston has installed. Plus, it will allow him to cover the slot, where the best-opposing receiver lines up often. Transfer cornerbacks Preston Hodge and DJ McKinney have impressed in the early going, while former five-star cornerback Cormani McClain has entered the transfer portal. — Andrea Adelson

ELMONT, N.Y. — The New York Islanders‘ Ilya Sorokin got the start in Game 3 as a rested goalie seeking to give his team a fresh start after trailing the Carolina Hurricanes 2-0 in their opening-round series.

But things turned rotten quickly for Sorokin. He gave up three goals on 14 shots before he was pulled 7:14 into the second period. Semyon Varlamov, who started the first two games of the series, stopped all eight shots he faced in relief, but it wasn’t enough: The Hurricanes defeated the Islanders 3-2 on Thursday, and New York now faces elimination Saturday afternoon at UBS Arena.

Coach Patrick Roy, who made the decision to start Sorokin, refused to directly address his goalie’s performance in Game 3.

“I’m going to say this: We win and we lose as a team. So I’m not going to go there. But what I’m going to say is sometimes we make changes as a coach because we feel we just want to change the momentum in the game. I’ll leave it at that,” said Roy, who had a Hall of Fame career as an NHL goaltender.

When asked how getting pulled could impact Sorokin’s confidence, Roy deflected again.

“Right now I’m focusing more on the team than focusing on our goalie,” he said.

Varlamov started the Islanders’ first two playoff games in Raleigh, posting a .905 save percentage and a 3.03 goals-against average. He gave up six goals on 63 shots. That included two goals in the span of nine seconds in Game 2, as the Hurricanes tied it and took the lead in shocking fashion during the third period.

Roy justified making the goalie change Thursday because Varlamov had faced 39 shots in Game 2 and the Islanders intended to use both goalies in the postseason.

Varlamov said he respected Roy’s decision to bench him for Game 3, even after he was called back into action following Sorokin’s removal.

“I trust Patrick on the decisions he makes,” Varlamov said. “He’s a head coach. We have to respect any decisions they make as a coaching staff.”

Sorokin, 28, got the majority of starts this season, appearing in 56 games to Varlamov’s 28. But Varlamov, 35, won seven of his last eight starts to lead the Islanders to a playoff berth in April, and earned the crease to begin the playoffs.

Carolina scored against Sorokin just 4:46 into Game 3 as a Brent Burns shot deflected off an Islanders defender’s stick. Defenseman Dmitry Orlov made it 2-0 at 10:25 on a shot that Sorokin couldn’t get over to fast enough to stop.

After Peter Engvall cut the lead to 2-1 at 2:48 of the second period, Carolina’s Sebastian Aho beat Sorokin on another stoppable shot to make it 3-1 at 7:14 of the second period. Roy signaled to Varlamov that he was replacing Sorokin.

After being pulled, Sorokin stood in the hallway to the dressing room, hunched over with his mask still on, looking devastated.

“It’s the game. Anything could happen. It’s not the first time,” Varlamov said of his friend and teammate. “I mean, what are you going to do? You have to move on and then forget about it and then just get ready for the next game.”

After finishing second in the Vezina Trophy voting for the NHL’s best goaltender last season, Sorokin posted his worst save percentage (.908) and goals-against average (3.01) of his four-season career. He begins an eight year, $66 million contract extension next season for the Islanders, who did not make him available for postgame comments.

Before Game 3, Roy recalled how his goaltending coach with the Montreal Canadiens described him and backup goalie Brian Hayward as different kinds of automobiles.

“Hayward was a Cadillac. He was comfortable. I was the Ferrari. I could be a little more bumpy,” said Roy, who then applied the analogy to the Islanders. “We had the Cadillac in the first two games, and now we’re going with the Ferrari.”

Unfortunately for the Islanders, they experienced engine failure in Game 3 and the Hurricanes took control of the series.

TORONTO — Boston Bruins coach Jim Montgomery thinks goaltender Jeremy Swayman‘s dominance against the Toronto Maple Leafs — before and during their current first-round Stanley Cup playoff series — has started to rattle some players.

Montgomery made that suggestion in reference to an incident late in Boston’s 4-2 victory over the Leafs in Game 3 on Wednesday, when Toronto forward Max Domi appeared to seek out Swayman — owner of a 5-0-0 record versus the Leafs this season — during a TV timeout.

“Normally, I don’t think that [a goalie has one team’s number],” Montgomery said Thursday. “But when Domi goes off the bench and bumps [Swayman] on purpose, makes me think that maybe he’s in their head a little bit.”

Boston forward Trent Frederic — who got the Bruins on the board with a first-period goal in Game 3 — saw the interaction between Domi and Swayman, too. He agreed with Montgomery it might have revealed some mounting exasperation from the Leafs over Swayman’s recent success.

“Maybe Sway is getting in their head; he’s making a lot of saves,” Frederic said. “So, bump our goalies. I don’t know, didn’t work [for them] last night.”

That was ultimately true. Despite any on-ice antics, Swayman downed Toronto once again with a 28-save performance in Game 3 to give Boston a 2-1 series lead. Swayman previously made 35 stops in the Bruins’ 5-1 victory in Game 1, and then was replaced by Linus Ullmark in Game 2 (a 3-2 Bruins loss).

Toronto had better results against Ullmark, but the Leafs still haven’t managed more than three goals in a game so far this postseason. It’s a troubling trend that pre-dates facing Swayman and the Bruins (Toronto’s actually gone 10 consecutive playoff games scoring three or fewer goals) and those struggles have been magnified this time around by their lifeless power play (1-for-11) failing to fire in this series either.

Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe refuted the Bruins’ narrative though that their goaltender was somehow throwing Toronto off its game. In Keefe’s mind, the Domi bump was just part and parcel of this time of year.

“It’s playoff hockey, and things are happening all over the ice,” said Keefe. “With that logic [from Montgomery] you would say every time they bump into one of our guys maybe we’re in their heads”

Keefe also said he sensed “zero frustration” from his team over the low scoring output. The Leafs have generated their chances against Boston, averaging the third-most shots on goal per game in the postseason (33), but they’re also tied for the fewest goals per game (two).

Toronto’s offensive prospects would be helped by the return of forward William Nylander. The Leafs’ 40-goal scorer in the regular season has missed the first three games of their series due to an undisclosed injury. Keefe was asked again on Thursday about Nylander’s mystery ailment and would not confirm reports that the winger is dealing with migraines. Keefe did say the extra day of rest before Game 4 on Saturday does benefit Nylander though, who’s been classified as a game-time decision twice already in the playoffs.

“We’ve been working with Willy to give him the time that he needs to be ready to play,” said Keefe. “And the medical team works with him on a daily basis to see where he’s at and continue to assess that.”

As for who Toronto can expect to see in Boston’s crease for Game 4, that’s another mind game of its own. The Bruins have religiously rotated Swayman and Ullmark for nearly 30 games, dating back to February. Swayman said after Wednesday’s win that for him, “I don’t want rest; I just want to keep playing.”

The final decision will fall to Montgomery, who wasn’t saying whether Boston would stick with Swayman.

“Both goalies have been so good for us,” said Montgomery. “It’s a hard decision.”