TCU quarterback Josh Hoover intends to enter the NCAA transfer portal, he announced on social media Thursday.

Hoover will be one of the most productive and coveted players available, as he projects to have the most passing yards (9,629) and touchdown passes (71) of any player returning to college football next season. Hoover says he will not play for TCU in the Alamo Bowl.

Hoover reflected on his decision in a post on Instagram, writing, “I’ve prayed about this and decided that I will be entering the transfer portal,” and thanking his Horned Frogs coaches and teammates, among others.

“I’m so thankful to have had the opportunity to represent TCU for an incredible 4 years,” his post continued. “It has been a dream to be able to play and graduate from this university and I will forever be grateful for that.”

Hoover has been TCU’s starting quarterback since midway through the 2023 season, throwing for 439 yards and four touchdowns in his first start against BYU. In 2024, he set a school record with 3,949 passing yards.

Hoover will draw interest from the highest levels of the sport, as he is already considered a draftable prospect. Instead of entering the draft, sources said he intends to play out his final year of eligibility and polish his game for the next level. He will bring with him 19 wins as a starter over his four seasons, including nine wins in 2024 and eight this season.

He blistered North Carolina this year in a season-opening blowout, throwing for 284 yards and two touchdowns. He had four touchdown passes in the regular-season finale against Cincinnati and threw for 379 yards and five touchdowns against SMU in September.

Ohio University cited football coach Brian Smith’s romantic relationships, including one he admitted to with a student, as well as an allegation of public intoxication in a letter stating its intent to fire him for cause.

Smith, put on leave Dec. 1, was fired Wednesday for what the university called “serious professional misconduct and participating in activities that reflect unfavorably on the University.” The school did not provide specifics on Smith’s misconduct before Thursday.

In the intent to terminate letter, obtained by multiple media outlets through a public records requests, university president Lori Stewart Gonzalez wrote that Smith’s “extramarital affairs,” including one with an undergraduate student, brought “disrepute, scandal and ridicule,” which violated his employment agreement with the school.

Gonzalez also wrote that Smith told athletic director Slade Larscheid that he “carried on an affair” while at the Ohio University Inn, where he could be observed by athletes’ families, donors and others connected to the university. Smith had been under contract through the 2029 season and was owed about $2.5 million in remaining salary.

Rex Elliott, Smith’s attorney, responded in a letter to Gonzalez, obtained by media outlets through a records requests, and stated that Smith “didn’t participate in an extramarital affair and you know it.” Elliott added that Smith and his wife separated earlier this year, were going through a divorce and were living apart during the fall. Smith had been living at the OU Inn while looking for permanent housing and had told Larscheid that he saw athletes’ families there while with a 41-year-old woman he was seeing at the time, after he broke off the relationship with the Ohio student.

Elliott wrote that Ohio University had no policy prohibiting employees from dating students, and that Smith and a student engaged in a “perfectly appropriate consensual adult relationship that did not violate any OU rule or policy.” He said Smith and the student dated for about four months until early November, and that the student was part of the athletic department.

Elliott also responded to Gonzalez citing a reprimand for Smith for consuming alcohol in his office at the school, as a reason for his termination. Gonzalez wrote that the university was aware of a public appearance where Smith “smelled strongly of alcohol” and was “intoxicated in your demeanor.” Elliott wrote that Smith has “never been inebriated at an OU event” and that the reprimand and a meeting that occurred around it, which took place in late November, never mentioned other concerns related to Smith’s alcohol use. He added that Ohio University serves and encourages alcohol usage at other university-sponsored events and cited examples of faculty and staff drinking in their offices and other campus facilities.

“The reprimand related to coaches toasting in the [football] offices after home victories,” Elliott wrote to Gonzalez. “Finally, the coaches were toasting with Bourbon provided by your husband to Coach Smith in his office.”

In his letter, sent before Ohio terminated Smith, Elliott said Smith would “vigorously pursue” litigation for wrongful termination if Ohio fired him for cause.

Smith went 8-4 is his lone season as Ohio’s coach, after being promoted to the role from offensive coordinator. He had been on the football staff since 2022.

The Texas Longhorns are bringing back Will Muschamp to replace defensive coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski, who was fired along with defensive passing game coordinator Duane Akina on Thursday.

Longhorns coach Steve Sarkisian announced that he wasn’t bringing back Kwiatkowski, who had served as his defensive coordinator since 2021, and Akina in a major shakeup for a unit that didn’t meet expectations during a 9-3 season in which the preseason No. 1 failed to make the College Football Playoff.

Sarkisian is turning to Muschamp, who returns to Austin after serving as Texas’ defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2010 and was once the program’s head coach in waiting under Mack Brown.

“Having the opportunity to hire Will Muschamp provides us the leadership to take our defense to another level,” Sarkisian said in a statement. “Will is a guy I’ve known for a long time, always admired and is as good of a defensive mind and coach as I’ve ever coached against. His defenses are relentless; he absolutely gets the best out of his staff and players and is such an extremely well-respected coach.

“I know Longhorn Nation knows him well. He led some incredible defenses here on the Forty, and I’m so fired up to be bringing him back to Texas. He’ll be an awesome addition to our staff.”

In his previous stint at Texas, Muschamp helped the Longhorns get to the BCS national championship game in 2009 with a unit that ranked No. 1 against the run, on third downs and in takeaways. He was set to someday succeed Brown, but he instead departed after a 5-7 season in 2010 to become the head coach at Florida, succeeding Urban Meyer.

Muschamp went 56-51 as a head coach at Florida and South Carolina. He joined Kirby Smart’s staff at Georgia in 2021 and served as the Bulldogs’ co-defensive coordinator in 2022 and 2023 before transitioning to an analyst role in 2024 and then stepping away from coaching in 2025 to spend more time with his family.

Muschamp has done some advance scouting for Georgia during the season while spending most of his time in Tennessee, where his son, Whit, is a quarterback at Vanderbilt.

“This is an exciting day for the Muschamp family,” Muschamp said in a statement. “We loved our time in Austin and truly enjoyed everything about working with Texas Football. We’re thrilled to be coming back to a program with one of the richest and proudest histories and traditions in college football. With what Coach Sark has done in rebuilding this program — knowing there are even better days ahead — I was fired up for the opportunity.”

Texas’ defense was expected to be among the best in the country in 2025, with several returning All-SEC starters, but it gave up 29 points in a road loss to the Gators and allowed 30 or more points in four of its last five games, including a 35-10 loss at Georgia that effectively knocked the Longhorns out of the CFP race.

Kwiatkowski was a finalist for the Broyles Award as one of the top assistant coaches in college football in 2024, and the Longhorns finished with the No. 3 scoring defense in FBS during a 13-3 season that ended in the CFP semifinals against eventual national champion Ohio State. During his five years in Austin, Kwiatkowski helped Texas achieve back-to-back CFP appearances and top-four finishes, and developed 12 NFL draft picks on defense, including first-rounders Jahdae Barron and Byron Murphy II.

Akina, a former longtime Texas defensive backs coach, just finished his first year back with the program after stints at Stanford and Arizona. The Longhorns’ pass defense ranks No. 102 in the FBS this season.

The No. 13 Longhorns will finish their season against No. 18 Michigan in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl on Dec. 31 (3 p.m. ET, ABC).