The story behind the TCU coach who turned in his own team to the NCAA
Kenneth Davis shed more tears than he cares to admit 37 years ago when he was told he was being suspended from TCU‘s football team.
He may shed a few more tears Saturday, tears of joy, when he sees his alma mater playing the kind of high-stakes game he and his teammates dreamed about before the unthinkable happened.
Just prior to the second game of the 1985 season, a season filled with promise for the Horned Frogs, TCU coach Jim Wacker turned in his own team to the NCAA after learning that several players, including Davis, had been accepting illegal payments from boosters. Davis was coming off a season in which he had finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy voting after rushing for 1,611 yards and scoring 17 touchdowns.
“Yep, the same thing that’s legal now,” Davis told ESPN, referencing NIL. “It was devastating. I just cried and couldn’t quit crying. I think today that I’m still not over it because there was so much we could have done and would have done. They just brushed us out of there for what everybody else was doing in the Southwest Conference back then. And I mean everybody, a lot of it much worse at other schools.
“We didn’t set up any of it. The boosters set it up. They came to us. What kid isn’t going to accept that money if they’re offering it to you, especially the kids coming from tougher backgrounds?
“It was a hard time, not just for us, but for a lot of people who loved TCU.”
As dark as those days were for Davis and the Frog Nation, he said it would all be worth it to see TCU beat Michigan on Saturday in the College Football Playoff Semifinal at the Vrbo Fiesta Bowl, then finish off this dream season with a victory in the national championship game Jan. 9.
“They get a chance to do what I always wanted to do, to win a national championship, and maybe this is finally our time,” Davis said. “I’ll always wonder what we could have done because we had the right players, the right coaches, the right team, the right everything.”
They also had a head coach who was anything but conventional. He was deeply committed to doing what he felt was the right thing — even if that meant dropping a dime on his own team.
“Not many coaches would have done that, then or now,” said former TCU athletic director Frank Windegger, who will turn 89 next month. “What a hard decision, but the right decision despite everything we had to dig out of after that. It was a different time in college football. But Jim was determined to stand by what he had been preaching, that we weren’t going to try to win games by breaking the rules.”
Wacker, the son of a Lutheran preacher, died in 2003 at the age of 66 from cancer. Those closest to him said he was tormented by the aftermath of the scandal, but not by his actions.
“Dad never regretted his decision to do what he did because that decision had already been made,” said oldest son Mike Wacker, who played basketball at Texas and coached basketball for 37 years, recently retiring from Texas Lutheran University. “The last thing he was going to be was a hypocrite. He had said very publicly that he wasn’t going to buy players. He didn’t say it once. He said it a million times. He genuinely believed they could win at TCU without cheating.
“What Dad did regret was how much that decision adversely impacted so many people’s lives. He never wanted that to happen.”
Seven players were suspended, some of whom may have had potential pro careers stunted, and there was shame and embarrassment across the board at TCU. All after Wacker, who had come to the school from the NAIA and Division II ranks, had revived a moribund program that had 16 losing seasons in the previous 17 years before his arrival.
Tom Mueller was Wacker’s defensive coordinator and worked with him for 21 years. To this day, Mueller believes some people in the upper administration at TCU failed Wacker because they weren’t completely truthful with him when he took the job about whether players were getting paid.
“There was a meeting, and he looked the people in that room right in the eyes and said, ‘I need to know if we’re cheating because that’s not the way we’re going to do it. We’re going to do it the right way,'” Mueller recounted. “Maybe Jim was naive, but he believed you could win without cheating and was assured that wouldn’t be the case while he was the coach.”
Those close to Wacker, who was the eternal optimist with his catch phrases like “Unbeleev-able,” said he was surprised and disappointed by how harshly the NCAA penalized TCU even with Wacker being so cooperative. Wacker was insistent on turning over all the information the school uncovered from a payment plan that had been launched by boosters, including trustee Dick Lowe, before Wacker was hired. Lowe, a Texas oil man, died in 2020. He told the Orange County Register in 2010 that the payments were “stupid” and were born out of frustration because “everybody else was doing it and we were getting our asses kicked.”
Much to Wacker’s chagrin, the NCAA hardly took it easy on TCU, which was hit with a one-year bowl ban, the loss of 35 scholarships over two years and the forfeiture of its 1983 and 1984 television revenue. Those sanctions were a precursor to SMU receiving the so-called death penalty because of recruiting violations. The Mustangs had to shut down their program in 1987 and 1988. The sanctions against the two schools were part of a series of events that in many ways were the beginning of the end of the Southwest Conference.
“Jim went as far as to find out when NCAA investigators were coming to town and would send a car to pick them up at the airport,” said Bob DeBesse, TCU’s quarterbacks coach at the time. “Jim just felt by doing the right thing, calling the NCAA and handing over everything, that the NCAA would also do the right thing. But, no, it was just the opposite.
“We always said that SMU got the death penalty, but that we got life because we had to keep playing through impossible sanctions.”
In a flash, all the momentum of the TCU football program was gone. The Horned Frogs went 8-4 in 1984 and played in their first bowl game in 19 years. But over the next eight years, they would have just one winning season. It was 15 more years before they would make it back into the AP Top 25. And with the Southwest Conference’s demise on the horizon, TCU ended up bouncing around from one conference to another (WAC, Conference USA and Mountain West) until finally latching on with the Big 12 in 2012.
Davis, who played nine seasons in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and Buffalo Bills, has talked very little publicly over the years about the way it ended for him at TCU. The same goes for the other six players suspended for taking cash from boosters: Marvin Foster, Gary Spann, Gerald Taylor, Egypt Allen, Darron Turner and Ron Zell Brewer, who died in 2010.
“What happened happened, and there was a lot of anger over it at the time, but we’re all still Frogs,” said Davis. “A lot of the guys from that team keep in touch.”
Kevin Dean was a defensive end on the 1985 team and has remained close with Davis and some of the others who were suspended.
“Some people say they were suspended. I’d say they were more sacrificial lambs,” said Dean, who organizes get-togethers to watch some of the TCU games on television in the Dallas area. “Those guys paid a heavy price, but they’re not bitter. What happened in the past doesn’t define you, and TCU as a university didn’t turn its back on them. Most of them got degrees, and they’ve all been very successful.”
As the SMU investigation heated up in 1985 — and with Texas A&M and Houston also in the NCAA’s crosshairs — the NCAA got word that something might be going on at TCU after talking to other coaches and recruits, and informed TCU officials that it was coming to campus to take a look.
Wacker had already angered some fellow Southwest Conference coaches by sending out a letter soon after he took the job imploring them to clean up their acts in recruiting. Part of that letter, dated March 3, 1983, read: “The major violations — the blatant buying of athletes — is what must come to an end, or we will self-destruct before it is all over. At TCU, we did control our alumni this past recruiting season. We did not buy one athlete. It can be done if we let the alumni know that we will personally turn them in to the NCAA if they are involved in any illegal recruiting practices.”
Mike Wacker said one thing his father regretted was sending that letter because it immediately turned off other coaches in the conference and painted him as holier-than-thou even though that was not his intention.
“I think it became: ‘Who is this guy from Southwest Texas State, a Division II school, coming in here and telling us what we should be doing?'” Mike Wacker said. “That’s one he wished he could have back.”
The letter sparked a well-documented feud between Wacker and then-Texas A&M coach Jackie Sherrill, who called for an onside kick in the fourth quarter in a 53-6 rout of TCU at Fort Worth in the final game of the 1985 season. The following year, Sherrill had the Aggies go for a 2-point conversion late in a 74-10 rout of the depleted Horned Frogs.
Two years after writing that letter, Wacker’s worst fears came true. It was the Thursday before the trip to Kansas State in Week 2 of the 1985 season, and Wacker had given his team an impassioned speech about how proud he was that TCU was having success without cheating. He knew the NCAA was about to pay a visit to campus and wanted to make sure he had nothing to hide.
“Coach was convinced that any payments that had been going on before he got there had stopped, and in his mind, we were an open book for the NCAA and anybody else,” said David Rascoe, the quarterback on that 1985 team. “He was exactly who he said he was, nothing fraudulent about him.”
Tom Perry was the TCU running backs coach. He suspected that some players on the team might be getting money from boosters simply by looking at their cars, expensive boots and jewelry.
When Wacker quizzed his assistant coaches that Thursday about whether players were receiving extra benefits, Perry found himself in an impossible situation. He said he was one of two assistants in the room to raise his hand when asked by Wacker if there was reason to believe that boosters were still paying players.
Later that day, Davis met with Perry and asked if there was any way Wacker would know if players were indeed getting paid. That’s when Perry went to Wacker with the bad news.
“He just kept saying, ‘Why did you have to tell me? Why did you have to tell me?'” Perry recalled. “I know he was hurting because of how outspoken he had been that we weren’t cheating, and I don’t think Jim was complicit in any way. But I was doing what he’d asked us to do. So, yes, I was pissed at the way he reacted. I just think he was one of those guys who always thought the best of everybody. He was that naive, like he’d just fallen off the turnip truck.”
One by one, the players involved admitted they had been taking money from boosters. Six players were suspended late that Thursday night. Wacker went to meet with the chancellor, called the NCAA and conference officials and also alerted some in the media.
Longtime Dallas television personality Dale Hansen broke the story and remembers interviewing Wacker sometime around midnight on campus after doing his newscast that evening.
“There were some in the media who thought Jim was a fraud, but my argument, and I still stand by this, is that Jim knew they were getting paid when he took the job because everybody in the Southwest Conference was getting paid,” Hansen said. “But Jim also made it very clear to everybody at TCU, ‘From this day forward, it stops.'”
Hansen was doing a regular TV show back then with former Dallas Cowboys receiver Butch Johnson, and they showed a clip from Wacker’s introductory news conference where he said, “Wacker don’t cheat and Wacker don’t pay.”
Johnson looked at Hansen on the air and quipped, “Well, Wacker ain’t winning no football games.”
Gil LeBreton was a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram during that time and was on the team’s charter flight to Kansas State. He said TCU and Wacker wanted to be as transparent as possible and offered the seat.
“It was awful, like being on a flying funeral procession,” LeBreton said. “You could hear players just openly bawling and crying with their heads down in their laps. Their faces were red, like they’d been up all night. It was a surreal scene.”
Somehow, TCU won the game, and the Star-Telegram’s headline the next day read: TCU wins anyway.
The number of suspended players grew to seven after the Kansas State game when Brewer admitted that he, too, had been taking money.
“He felt badly for his teammates and didn’t want them to fall on the sword for something he knew he was also doing,” Dean said. “That tells you a lot about him and a lot about the brotherhood on that team.”
Wacker had his supporters on campus after disclosing the violations, particularly among students. A group of them held up “Wacker Backer” signs in the stands of home games. But not everyone was onboard with Wacker’s decision, particularly some of the more prominent power brokers. That was never more apparent than in 1991, the final year of Wacker’s contract, when he guided the Frogs to a 7-4 finish after they struggled through six straight losing seasons.
“We had [officials from] several bowls in attendance at our last game and knew we were going to one of them after we beat David Klingler and Houston in a great game,” Mueller said. “We’re all standing around in the locker room waiting to see where we were going, and Jim gets the call telling him the administration had declined a bowl bid. It was obvious Jim no longer had the support he needed. He didn’t want to leave TCU, but Minnesota came after him and he knew the time was right to leave.”
Wacker coached at Minnesota from 1992 to 1996, resigning after five losing seasons.
Davis said he rarely talked with Wacker after leaving TCU, although Davis said he doesn’t begrudge his former coach for going to the NCAA.
“It was his job to do what he did and to protect the team, and that’s what he did,” Davis said. “I understand and respect him for that. I don’t have nothing against him.”
Perry never coached college football again after leaving TCU, but went on to earn a doctorate degree. He hopes what people remember most from that time is the way Wacker came in and turned around the program and “did it his way by getting kids to believe.”
Mike Wacker said his dad will undoubtedly be smiling down from above when the ball is kicked off Saturday afternoon.
“He’d love this team,” Mike Wacker said. “And you know how he loved crazy things, all the rhyming and joking around and coming up with nicknames.
“The thing he’d really love is the Hypnotoad thing.”
“We know it hasn’t always been easy for TCU, and that’s going back a long way,” current TCU quarterback and Heisman finalist Max Duggan said. “There’s been a lot of tough times, so we’re playing for those guys and those teams as much as we are for anybody.”
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Jorge Castillo
NEW YORK — David Stearns was about to disappear into the New York Mets‘ clubhouse Monday afternoon when he stopped to answer questions about the one potentially prominent flaw remaining on his roster after the trade deadline: the starting rotation.
The glaring inability of Mets starters to pitch deep into games over the past two months — David Peterson is the only one to log at least six innings in an outing during that span — prompted fans to plead for the Mets’ president of baseball operations to fortify the rotation. After he elected not to acquire a starting pitcher at the trade deadline, the talk has turned to potentially improving from within by promoting Brandon Sproat or Nolan McLean, two standout pitching prospects excelling in Triple-A.
“I think it’s always a combination of when, developmentally, those guys are ready,” Stearns said. “And also when there’s the need and how to fit it on the roster. And so we may get to the point where we decide that it’s the best thing to do to bring one or both of them here. But we’re not at that point right now.”
The Mets’ front office acted aggressively ahead of last Thursday’s deadline, acquiring three top-tier relievers (Ryan Helsley, Tyler Rogers and Gregory Soto) to strengthen a taxed bullpen, and a veteran center fielder (Cedric Mullins) to improve the lineup. But while Stearns said he “engaged” teams on starting pitchers — including Washington Nationals All-Star left-hander MacKenzie Gore, sources told ESPN — he determined the costs were too high.
The Mets were far from the only World Series contender to not bolster their starting rotation in a deadline with an exorbitant trade demand for the few available. But the difference between most of those clubs and the Mets is that refusing to pay the going rate for elite major league starting pitchers — whether in free agency or via the trade market — has been a fundamental principle in Stearns’ roster-building.
One of the mysteries surrounding Stearns’ move to New York after a hugely successful seven-year run leading the small-market Milwaukee Brewers was how he would use owner Steve Cohen’s deep pockets. The Mets have spent large sums of money — they gave Juan Soto the richest contract in North American sports history in December — but Stearns has remained disciplined and methodical in building his pitching staff, preferring starting pitchers he says he believes have untapped potential.
After an unexpected run to the National League Championship Series without a true ace last fall, the Mets head into the stretch run this season with the same missing ingredient.
“I think there are multiple ways to build a pitching staff and we focused on the back end of the pitching staff, the bullpen,” Stearns said. “We’re really happy with the arms we were able to acquire who are going to pitch out of our pen and we have confidence, not only in the stars who are here who we think are going to keep us competitive and help us win games, we are also pleased with the development of how some of the guys in Triple-A are progressing. And we understand that they could … be part of the mix going forward if needed.”
The Mets strongly pursued Yoshinobu Yamamoto before last season and offered him a contract similar to the 12-year, $325 million deal — the largest ever for a pitcher — Yamamoto signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers. But Yamamoto was an outlier — not just an already highly accomplished pitcher in Japan, but, just as importantly, only 25 years old. That rare combination of age and talent met Stearns’ criteria to offer an expensive long-term contract.
Ultimately, the Mets signed Sean Manaea to a one-year deal with an option and Luis Severino to a one-year contract for the rotation, then opted for a similar blueprint this past winter, choosing not to strongly pursue any of the top three starting pitchers (Corbin Burnes, Max Fried and Blake Snell) on the free agent market.
Stearns instead re-signed Manaea to a three-year, $75 million deal (the biggest contract Stearns has given to a starting pitcher), inked Clay Holmes to a three-year, $38 million deal (with an opt-out after 2026) to convert him from a reliever to a starter, gave Frankie Montas a two-year, $34 million contract (with an opt-out after this season), and added Griffin Canning on a one-year deal.
“I still think it’s really valuable and there have been teams that I’ve been around in my career that have had one or multiple ace-level starters on their staff and got bounced early in the playoffs and that can be tough to figure out sometimes too,” Stearns said last month. “So, you’d always like to have the horse at the front of the rotation, there’s no question. But it’s not the only way to build a rotation, it’s not the only way to win a playoff series, it’s not the only way to win a World Series.”
The moves have so far yielded mixed results.
The Mets’ rotation led the majors with a 2.84 ERA and ranked 14th in innings pitched through June 7, when they were 41-24 and led the NL East by 3½ games. Since then, Mets starters rank 24th in ERA (4.74) and 28th in innings pitched. The club has a 22-27 record during the stretch and now trails the Philadelphia Phillies by 2½ games in the division.
Injuries have played a factor in the drop-off, with four starters landing on the injured list in June. Kodai Senga, who signed a five-year, $75 million deal in 2022 — a year before Stearns’ arrival in Queens — strained his hamstring and sat out nearly a month. Canning had been a strong contributor until a ruptured left Achilles tendon ended his season, and Tylor Megill (elbow) and Paul Blackburn (shoulder) are still working their way back.
Manaea, who began the season on the IL, has made only five starts since his return last month, the most recent Monday against the Cleveland Guardians, when he dominated for five innings before surrendering five runs in the sixth. Montas, who has posted a ghastly 6.68 ERA in seven starts, is in danger of losing his rotation spot when Blackburn and Megill are activated.
Holmes, meanwhile, hasn’t logged more than 5⅓ innings in a start since June 7 against the Colorado Rockies, and has already doubled his previous career high for innings in a season. And Senga yielded four runs over four innings Saturday, marking the fourth straight start he has failed to pitch into the sixth.
“We haven’t gotten consistency out of the starting pitching,” Mets manager Carlos Mendoza said Monday. “I think that’s where it starts every night. It starts on the mound, and we haven’t been able to get some quality starts.”
One of Sproat and McLean, if not both, could soon get the call to help. McLean has a 2.81 ERA in 15 games (12 starts) for Triple-A Syracuse after posting a 1.37 ERA in five games for Double-A Binghamton to begin the season. Sproat has emerged from early-season struggles with a dominant stretch for Syracuse, holding opponents to two earned runs in 33 innings over his past six starts.
The two 24-year-old right-handers, both drafted and developed by the Mets, have seemingly checked the necessary boxes in the minors. They could give the big league rotation the push it needs for the final stretch. For now, they and the Mets’ fan base wait.
Said Stearns: “I think they’re getting close.”
In the past six years, four of the College Football Playoff national champions have been SEC teams. Will 2025 be the season that yet another SEC team claims the title?
Texas, Georgia and Alabama all enter the season with new starting quarterbacks. Texas’ Arch Manning is under some very bright lights as we wait to see whether he lives up to the hype in his new starting role. Georgia’s Gunner Stockton got a taste at starting quarterback, stepping up in the 2025 Sugar Bowl after now-Miami quarterback Carson Beck got injured in the 2024 SEC championship game. And Alabama’s Ty Simpson has a big season ahead as Alabama looks to make a run at the CFP after just missing it last season.
Former Washington State quarterback John Mateer joins Oklahoma this fall after ranking No. 1 in the top 100 transfers list from the 2024-25 transfer cycle. Could Oklahoma bounce back after a seven-loss season last year?
We’re here to get you caught up on the SEC by breaking down the conference’s CFP outlook, Power Rankings, must-see games, top freshmen, key transfers and numbers to know.
Jump to:
CFP outlook | Must-see games
Freshmen | Transfers
Numbers to know
Power rankings
CFB outlook
Should be in: The SEC will attempt to restore its dominance after its teams failed to win each of the past two national championships. The league claimed four in a row from 2019 to ’22 and sent three teams (Georgia, Texas and Tennessee) to the CFP in 2024. Alabama was the first team left out of the 12-team bracket. The Longhorns should be right back in the mix, especially if former five-star quarterback Arch Manning is as good as advertised. Texas returns three potential All-Americans — edge rusher Colin Simmons, linebacker Anthony Hill Jr. and safety Michael Taaffe — from a defense that ranked No. 3 in the FBS in scoring defense (15.3 points) last season. Georgia will also be breaking in a new starting quarterback, as Gunner Stockton is replacing Carson Beck, who left for Miami. The Bulldogs will have four new starting offensive linemen, and they’re counting on Zachariah Branch (USC) and Noah Thomas (Texas A&M) to upgrade their receiver corps. The Crimson Tide will be looking to bounce back from a four-loss campaign in coach Kalen DeBoer’s first season, and their defense, led by an imposing front seven, should be good enough to get them back into the race for an SEC title. Ty Simpson is another first-year starting quarterback, and he’ll have plenty of weapons and a stout offensive line supporting him. — Mark Schlabach
In the running: LSU brings back the SEC’s most accomplished quarterback in Garrett Nussmeier, who threw for 4,052 yards with 29 touchdowns in 2024. With tailback Caden Durham and receiver Aaron Anderson returning, the Tigers should again be as explosive as any offense in the league. The question, of course, is whether LSU’s defense will be able to slow down opponents. The Tigers should be better after adding a plethora of defenders from the transfer portal, especially if Harold Perkins Jr. can stay healthy. Texas A&M is one of the few SEC contenders that won’t be breaking in a new quarterback. Marcel Reed was solid as a freshman, and if he can cut down on mistakes in his second season, the Aggies might be a big surprise. With tailbacks Amari Daniels and Le’Veon Moss running behind an offensive line that brings back five seniors, Reed won’t have to do too much. Ole Miss was in the running for a CFP bid until losing at Florida late in the 2024 season, and coach Lane Kiffin has used the transfer portal again to reload his roster. The Rebels will be breaking in a new quarterback, Austin Simmons, and they’re going to be relying on myriad transfers to rebuild their defense. They’ll play at Georgia and Oklahoma and get LSU, South Carolina and Florida at home. — Chris Low
Long shots: In what figures to be a big season for Oklahoma coach Brent Venables, the Sooners added former Washington State quarterback John Mateer and running back Jaydn Ott from Cal. The defense should be solid, and if new offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle can turn things around, the Sooners might be a sleeper. The Sooners play Texas in Dallas and South Carolina, Tennessee and Alabama on the road. South Carolina brings back one of the league’s best players in quarterback LaNorris Sellers, but it will have to replace its entire offensive line, leading rusher and most of its top playmakers on defense. Tennessee will be looking for a return to the playoff. Nico Iamaleava is out as quarterback, and Joey Aguilar comes in after spending the spring at UCLA. The Vols will again need Tim Banks’ defense to carry the load. Missouri has the most manageable schedule in the league, and this may be Eliah Drinkwitz’s best defense. The Tigers play eight of their 12 games at home and avoid Georgia, LSU and Texas. Florida will also be improved and has the quarterback and defense to make a run. But, whew, that schedule. — Schlabach
Must-see games
From Bill Connelly’s SEC conference preview
Here are the 10 games — eight in conference play, plus two of the biggest nonconference games of 2025 — that feature (A) the highest combined SP+ ratings for both teams and (B) a projected scoring margin under 10 points.
Texas at Ohio State (Aug. 30) and LSU at Clemson (Aug. 30). I have so many questions about each of these four teams, and I’m so happy that they’ve basically paired off with each other to help answer them. Toss in Alabama at Florida State in between the noon ET kickoff in Columbus and the evening kickoff in Clemson and you’ve got yourself a solid SEC headliner for each time slot on the first Saturday of the season.
Georgia at Tennessee (Sept. 13). The Bulldogs and Volunteers meet in September for the first time since 2018. Good. I like my UGA-Tennessee games early, when they can spark the largest possible existential crises.
Alabama at Georgia (Sept. 27). A rematch of the second-best game of 2024*. Aside from Ohio State-Michigan, no game did a better job of reminding us that huge college football games will still be huge and delightful even if the national title stakes are dampened by a bigger playoff.
(* Bama gets a rematch of the best game of 2024 the next week when Vandy comes to town.)
LSU at Ole Miss (Sept. 27). Is it too late to redraw the schedules? Between the Bama-Georgia and Oregon-Penn State main events and an undercard of LSU-Ole Miss, Indiana-Iowa, TCU-Arizona State and USC-Illinois (and, on top of everything else, South Dakota at North Dakota State), Week 5 might actually be too big! Goodness.
Texas at Florida (Oct. 4). Texas benefited from an easier slate (relatively speaking) in 2024, with just three regular-season opponents finishing in the SP+ top 20. But if Florida and Oklahoma improve as projected this fall, the Horns are looking at five such games, only one of which is in Austin. That’s the opposite of easy.
Ole Miss at Georgia (Oct. 18). Ole Miss might have enjoyed the single best performance of the regular season in last year’s 28-10 walloping of the Dawgs. That the Rebels turned right around and lost to Florida, eventually eliminating them from CFP contention, has to be one of the biggest on-field regrets of the past 50 years in Oxford.
Alabama at South Carolina (Oct. 25). South Carolina began turning its season around with a near-comeback win over Bama in 2024. This will be the Gamecocks’ third straight game against a projected top-20 team, so the season might have already gone in a couple different directions by the time Bama gets to town.
LSU at Alabama (Nov. 8). Bama crushed LSU in Baton Rouge last season, then pulled an Ole Miss and fell victim to a devastating upset two weeks later. Considering the expectations and pressure both of these teams are dealing with, this game could have playoff stakes and/or hot seat stakes. Or both?
Texas at Georgia (Nov. 15). Georgia was the only SEC hurdle Texas couldn’t clear last season. There’s obviously a chance this will be the first of two UGA-UT matchups in a four-week span.
Three freshmen to watch
Dallas Wilson, WR, Florida
Wilson showed up instantly by catching 10 passes for almost 200 yards and two touchdowns in Florida’s spring game. No matter who starts at quarterback on Week 1 for the Gators, there’s a good chance they’ll develop a quick connection with Wilson. The 6-foot-4 Florida native has a massive catch radius, 10-inch hands and surprising breakaway speed given his frame. He runs a legitimate 4.5 40-yard dash and has the shiftiness to pick up yards after the catch, making him a nightmare matchup who should see the field early in The Swamp.
David Sanders Jr., OT, Tennessee
Rarely does Tennessee turn a starting offensive line spot over to a freshman, but Sanders has all the developmental markers of an impactful tackle right out of the gate in Rocky Top. He was named North Carolina’s Gatorade Player of the Year as a junior, a rare accolade for an offensive lineman, and was the No. 7 recruit in the Class of 2025. Tennessee coaches challenged Sanders to put on weight after he enrolled early and he answered the call. The freshman now checks in at 6-6, 305 pounds with an exceptional combination of athleticism, lower body flexibility and reaction skills. Sanders will have every opportunity to win the starting right tackle spot on a Volunteers line that needs to replace four starters from last year as they retool in search of a national championship.
DJ Pickett, CB, LSU
At 6-4, Pickett has a monster frame and legitimate speed after recording a 10.7 100-meter time in high school, where he was a district sprinting champion. If he can carry over his momentum from spring practice into fall camp, Pickett has a shot to earn a starting job in Brian Kelly’s overhauled secondary. Pickett impressed LSU coaches with his combination of elite athleticism and playmaking. The five-star corner has a high ceiling and his combination of size and speed rarely seen on the boundaries in the SEC. — Billy Tucker
Three top transfers
These selections are based on Max Olson’s ranking of the top 100 transfers from the 2024-25 transfer cycle.
Transferring from: Washington State | Top 100 rank: 1
HT: 6-1 | WT: 219 | Class: Redshirt sophomore
Background: After spending two years behind Cam Ward, Mateer put together an impressive breakout season in 2024 that has made him one of the most coveted starting QBs in the country. Mateer threw for 3,139 yards and 29 touchdowns on 65% passing and ranked sixth among FBS starters with 1,032 rushing yards (excluding sacks) while scoring 15 rushing TDs. He’s explosive and fearless when he’s on the run, forcing 58 missed tackles according to ESPN Research (most among FBS QBs) with 22 rushes of 15 or more yards. The Little Elm, Texas, native went 8-4 as a starter, leading the Cougars as high as No. 18 in the College Football Playoff rankings, with a top-five expected points added (EPA) per dropback among FBS starters. Washington State put together a strong offer to bring Mateer back in 2025, but he chose to move on via the portal and has an opportunity to be the most impactful player in this portal cycle for 2025. — Max Olson
Scout’s take: Mateer is a true Air Raid guy in the passing game. He excels in rhythm and timing throws and is very decisive. He’s a very tough player to rush because he gets the ball out of his hand. He’s a solid runner who can get out of trouble and extend plays. He plays with a high confidence level and raises the play of the people around him. — Tom Luginbill
What he brings to Oklahoma: Much-needed swagger. Oklahoma hired Washington State offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle on Dec. 2, which made Mateer-to-OU the worst-kept secret in portal recruiting. Miami and others made a strong push, but Mateer couldn’t turn down a chance to join his coaches in Norman and play on a big stage next season. The Sooners have added a lot of talent via the portal to try to get things fixed, but Mateer will inject a ton of playmaking ability and confidence into their offense. — Max Olson
Transferring from: Georgia Tech | Top 100 rank: 6
HT: 5-11 | WT: 190 | Class: Sophomore
Background: Singleton was an instant difference-maker for Georgia Tech’s offense when he arrived, earning Freshman All-America honors in 2023 and finishing second for the ACC’s Offensive Rookie of the Year honor. The three-star signee from Douglasville, Georgia, caught 104 passes for 1,468 yards and scored 10 offensive touchdowns over the past two seasons. Singleton also ran track for the Yellow Jackets with a personal record of 10.32 in the 100-meter dash this spring. He has the talent to become an early-round draft pick and was one of the most coveted players in the portal. — Olson
Scout’s take: Singleton might be one of the best route runners and fastest overall players to enter the transfer portal. He’s really good in the underneath passing game, where he can turn screens and 5-yard catches into big chunk gains. He also has elite straight-line speed to get behind the defense and plucks most balls thrown in his vicinity. What made him such a high commodity in the portal are the intangibles. He’s a great blocker and tough player. — Billy Tucker
What he brings to Auburn: After the program’s fourth consecutive losing season, coach Hugh Freeze and the Tigers assembled an impressive transfer recruiting class that they hope will flip their fortunes in 2025. This is a significant win over Texas, Ole Miss and several other SEC foes; Singleton should play a high-target role for the Tigers as they replace talented pass catchers KeAndre Lambert-Smith and Rivaldo Fairweather. — Olson
Transferring from: USC | Top 100 rank: 8
HT: 5-10 | WT: 175 | Class: Sophomore
Background: Branch lived up to five-star hype right away with the Trojans and was one of the most dangerous all-purpose playmakers in the country in 2023. The No. 7 overall recruit became the first USC freshman to earn first-team All-America honors in program history. He was dominant in the return game (774 yards, two TDs) during his debut season and turned 89 touches on offense into 910 yards and four TDs over his two years at USC. He entered the portal along with his older brother, USC safety Zion Branch. — Olson
Scout’s take: One of the fastest players in the 2023 class, Branch quickly transitioned into one of college football’s most electrifying players as a true freshman at USC. He ran a verified 4.41 40 and had 100-meter track times in the 10.3 range coming out of national power Bishop Gorman in Las Vegas. That speed transferred to the field immediately as a returner in 2023. His special teams production dipped as a sophomore, but that might be more related to opponent scheme than any diminishing skill. In the passing game, he’s what you’d expect: a big-play weapon in the screen game, jet sweeps and on quick slants and crossers that get him the ball in space. He’s an underneath mismatch and a great YAC target. — Tucker
What he brings to Georgia: Branch is a big-time upgrade for a Georgia offense that must replace leading receivers Arian Smith and Dominic Lovett. The Bulldogs led all FBS teams with 36 receiver drops last season, according to ESPN Research, and will need Branch to be a reliable difference-maker for new starting QB Gunner Stockton. — Olson
Numbers to know
3: According to the Allstate Playoff Predictor, three of the four teams with at least a 10% chance of winning the national championship are in the SEC: Texas at 24%, Georgia at 18% and Alabama at 11%. (The fourth team is Ohio State of the Big Ten at 11%.)
0: The number of new head coaches in the SEC this season, marking just the fourth time that has happened since the league expanded to 12 teams in 1992. There also were only four coordinator changes this offseason after more than half of the SEC’s coordinators were replaced following the 2023-24 season.
+250: The odds of Texas winning the SEC championship, according to ESPN BET, which are the longest odds for an SEC favorite in at least 15 years. The preseason favorite has gone on to win the SEC title in six of the last 10 seasons. — ESPN Research
Power Rankings
Steve Sarkisian loves his roster, and he has plenty of reason to be excited with Manning, receivers DeAndre Moore Jr. and Ryan Wingo, and tailbacks Quintrevion Wisner and CJ Baxter returning. The Longhorns will have to replace four starting offensive linemen and fill some holes on the defensive front.
Stockton got a taste of being the starting quarterback in the second half of last season’s SEC championship game and a CFP quarterfinal and did an admirable job. If Georgia’s offensive line plays better and his receivers are more dependable, Stockton should be fine running the offense.
DeBoer’s first season didn’t go as planned, but replacing Nick Saban at Alabama would have been a nightmare for any coach. DeBoer’s track record of success is too good for the Crimson Tide not to bounce back in Year 2.
4. LSU Tigers
The Tigers are probably going to score a lot of points, and if Brian Kelly can figure out how to turn around his defense, they might be a legitimate SEC title and CFP contender. LSU has dropped five straight season openers, three under Kelly, and it plays at Clemson on Aug. 30.
The Aggies went 8-5 in Mike Elko’s first season after starting 7-1, and if the longtime defensive coordinator can figure out how to improve a unit that allowed 5.5 yards per play in 2024, they might be a CFP dark horse. The offense might be spectacular and pound teams in the running game if quarterback Marcel Reed continues to grow as a passer.
Lane Kiffin loves to score points, but the Rebels were in the CFP hunt in 2024 because of their defense, which ranked No. 2 in the FBS in scoring defense (14.4 points), behind only national champion Ohio State. If Austin Simmons takes care of the ball, the Rebels might be better than anticipated.
The SEC schedule gets a little harder for the Vols this season, with the Alabama and Florida games both being on the road. The Georgia game on Sept. 13 is also earlier than usual, albeit at home, as Tennessee breaks in a new quarterback. The defense should again be very good and keep the Vols in games, but they’re going to need more explosive plays on offense if they’re going to make the playoff again.
Mateer was a massive get in the transfer portal for the Sooners, who simply couldn’t score a year ago. They were held to 20 or fewer points in seven of their 13 games. Oklahoma addressed several other needs on offense in the portal, and Venables is taking over the play-calling duties on defense. A four-game stretch from Oct. 11-Nov. 1 against Texas in Dallas, South Carolina on the road, Ole Miss at home and Tennessee on the road will define OU’s season.
The two lingering questions with the Gators, who came back from the dead a year ago, are whether or not ultra-talented quarterback DJ Lagway can stay healthy for the season and how they navigate a killer schedule again. Florida plays six teams ranked nationally in the preseason polls.
The Gamecocks might have a bona fide star in Sellers, but they’re having to replace many of the key pieces around him, as well as several difference-makers on defense. South Carolina plays a five-game stretch against LSU (road), Oklahoma (home), Alabama (home), Ole Miss (road) and Texas A&M (road) in October and November.
11. Missouri Tigers
If the Tigers were more proven at quarterback, they’d probably be ranked a lot higher. Even so, don’t be surprised if Drinkwitz’s club makes a serious run at double-digit wins for the third straight season, which has never happened in school history. Penn State transfer Beau Pribula and Sam Horn, who missed all of last season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, are competing for the starting quarterback job.
12. Auburn Tigers
This should be Hugh Freeze’s best team on the Plains, and the Tigers could be one of those teams that makes a lot more noise during the season than some outside of the program are expecting. So much will depend on quarterback Jackson Arnold, who’s getting a reset after transferring from Oklahoma. He has a deep and talented receiving corps, and edge rusher Keldric Faulk leads a defense that needs to be better at getting off the field in key situations.
13. Arkansas is another team that has a chance to be much improved, although the final record might not reflect it. The Hogs have one of the trickier schedules in the league, and some new faces need to step up on defense. But returning quarterback Taylen Green is dynamic as both a passer and runner and should be even better in his second season under offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino.
14. This is no diss to Clark Lea and the Commodores to be ranked this low. They reveled in proving people wrong a year and may do the same again this year, especially if they can stay healthy. Quality depth has always been a problem for Vanderbilt. What’s not a problem is its quarterback. Diego Pavia returns after a terrific debut season on West End. His teammates feed off his energy and toughness.
15. Mark Stoops, in his 13th season at Kentucky, is the dean of SEC coaches. He has built the Wildcats’ program from the ground up, but they dipped to 4-8 a year ago and 1-7 in the SEC. That’s after winning 10 games in 2018 and 2021 and going to eight straight bowl games. The Wildcats need to regain their tough, blue-collar approach and get consistent play from transfer quarterback Zach Calzada (on his fourth different team) if they’re going to bounce back in 2025.
16. Mississippi State Bulldogs
It has been a whirlwind for second-year Mississippi State coach Jeff Lebby, who has had to completely overhaul the roster, 80% consisting of players in their first or second year in the program. Lebby is excited by what he has seen from quarterback Blake Shapen, who missed most of last season with a shoulder injury. The home schedule for the Bulldogs is one of the toughest in the country. Four playoff teams from a year ago (Arizona State, Tennessee, Texas and Georgia) visit Starkville. — Schlabach, Low
Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin has partnered with a Russian technology company to produce a movie, series or documentary about his NHL career.
Yandex and its streaming platform, Kinopoisk, announced the agreement Tuesday.
Ovechkin this past spring broke Wayne Gretzky’s career goals record and has scored 897 going into the final season of his contract with the Capitals. Ovechkin, who turns 40 next month, has along with his representatives granted the rights to adapt his career to Yandex’s production label, Plus Studio.
The Moscow native began his professional career in the Russian league, now the KHL. He is expected to take part in commercials and serve as a Yandex ambassador as part of the deal.
Ovechkin has played his entire NHL career with Washington since the Capitals drafted him with the first pick in 2004, and he debuted in 2005. He has been the face of the franchise since, served as its captain since January 2010. He was playoffs MVP in 2018 when he led the Capitals to their first Stanley Cup championship.
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