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FORT WORTH, Texas — A year ago at this time, Sonny Dykes sat in a sparsely decorated office and watched film during spring practice. He didn’t have a lot of time to worry about organizing his shelves when he was making a mad dash recruiting, hiring a staff and managing the transfer portal in his first few months on the job. And if he’s being honest, he wasn’t sure how the remodeling project was going with his team on the practice field out back either.

This April, his office is packed with the kind of hardware a historic season brings. There’s a purple Swarovski crystal football with a blinged-out TCU logo over his right shoulder (a gift from Penny Knight, wife of Nike founder Phil Knight). There are busts of Eddie Robinson, the legendary Grambling coach, and Bear Bryant, the Alabama icon, atop their respective coach of the year trophies — two of the nine national coaching awards Dykes won for 2022 alone. There’s even a plaque from the National Football Foundation, which named him a “Distinguished Texan” last month, which is about the highest praise you can give a guy from Lubbock.

“Ain’t that the truth?” Dykes joked. “I made the award up myself and paid them $100 to give it to me.”

All those awards and mementos commemorate last season, when TCU started 12-0, becoming the first current Power 5 school since Ohio State in 1944 to have a perfect regular-season record under a new coach after finishing below .500 in the previous season, with the Frogs having gone 5-7 the year before.

The storybook ride ended in disappointment with a 65-7 thrashing by Georgia in the College Football Playoff National Championship, but it doesn’t diminish the mountain the Horned Frogs climbed to get there, including eight second-half comeback wins and a CFP semifinal win over Michigan in the Fiesta Bowl.

With that comes a new level of expectations and a question for Dykes: Now that you endured the razor’s edge for a full season, coached a Heisman finalist (Max Duggan), a Thorpe Award winner (Tre’Vius Hodges-Tomlinson) and a probable 2023 first-round pick (Quentin Johnston), what do you do for an encore?

“You know, nobody wants the honeymoon to be the best part of the marriage,” Dykes said recently after a Saturday practice. “We’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen here.”

IT’S HARD TO quantify the exact formula that made that TCU team so special, a mix of gumption and chemistry. There was a hunger from missing three straight bowl games. Duggan proved to be a gamer who was hard to break, even when he could hardly pick himself up off the turf. Running back Kendre Miller (who is also preparing for the NFL draft) rushed for 1,399 tough yards. And, Dykes said, the Frogs will miss the leadership established by guard Steve Avila, the consensus All-American, along with SMU transfer Alan Ali, who helped Dykes install the offense.

“[Avila and Ali] are just as important as the others — or maybe even more important — because those guys brought toughness and accountability,” Dykes said. “Steve was a uniquely gifted leader. And when you have a uniquely gifted leader on the offensive line, those teams are always really good.”

There are going to be new faces all across the offense this year — TCU ranked 118th in returning production in Bill Connelly’s February outlook — but Dykes hasn’t had to do as much of an overhaul on defense, where seven starters return for the second year in coordinator Joe Gillespie’s 3-3-5 defense.

Compounding the offensive losses, just days after an emotionally drained team returned from the national title game, offensive coordinator Garrett Riley, the Broyles Award winner as the top assistant coach in the country, departed for Clemson. If Dykes was still in that honeymoon phase, it was over.

Dykes raised eyebrows in Fort Worth when he replaced Riley with Kendal Briles, son of Art Briles, the former Baylor coach. TCU and Baylor turned the heat up on their rivalry, dubbed the “Revivalry” in the early 2010s after TCU joined the Big 12 and reunited with its old rival in Waco. Things got more tense after a 2013 game when Frogs coach Gary Patterson ripped Art Briles in a postgame news conference over a targeting penalty by a Bears defender.

“I didn’t build this program backing down to anybody, and I’m not going to do it to him,” Patterson said afterward.

The next year, Baylor stunned TCU with a 61-58 comeback win, and Patterson said he was threatened on the field by a Baylor player, which Baylor denied. The hate between the two was cemented.

Two years later, in 2016, Art Briles was fired by Baylor amid an investigation of sexual assaults by football players. Kendal, who was his father’s offensive coordinator, was not implicated in any wrongdoing in the investigation and remained at Baylor for one more year after Art’s departure, then served as offensive coordinator for a year each under Lane Kiffin at Florida Atlantic, Willie Taggart at Florida State and Major Applewhite at Houston before joining Sam Pittman’s staff at Arkansas in 2020.

The two have known each other since 1999 when Dykes recruited Kendal Briles out of Stephenville, about 60 miles away from TCU, when Briles, a star quarterback, was a junior in high school and Dykes was an assistant at Texas Tech (Briles ultimately signed with Texas). And Briles has worked with several members of TCU’s staff at other stops, which Dykes said allowed Briles to understand how he expects his program to operate. Still, for Briles to land at TCU was shocking to many Horned Frogs fans, which Dykes understands.

“We’ve known each other for a long time,” Dykes said. “I don’t think I would have made the hire had that not been the case. I wouldn’t have been comfortable doing that if I didn’t know him well.”

Like Riley and Rhett Lashlee, who was Dykes’ OC at SMU before replacing him there, Dykes said he hired Briles because of his commitment to the run game, a complement to Dykes’ Air Raid background (Arkansas ran for 3,075 yards last year, the Razorbacks’ most since 2003). Briles said the offense will look a little different because they’ll play with a little more tempo and a lot more run/pass options.

“We want to run the football,” Briles said. “They weren’t as much RPO [last season], and we’re pretty heavy RPO. We’re going to tailor to our personnel and what fits. Production, at the end of the day, is what we want.”

TCU was able to reload after all the losses by landing several high-profile transfers. Whereas last year’s key finds came from Navy (linebacker Johnny Hodges) and Louisiana-Monroe (corner Josh Newton), this year Dykes added three transfers from Alabama: RB Trey Sanders, WR JoJo Earle and tackle Tommy Brockermeyer; two from LSU: WR Jack Bech and CB Avery Helm; and receivers John Paul Richardson of Oklahoma State and Jaylon Robinson from Ole Miss. He also landed a top-20 recruiting class that ranked third in the Big 12 behind Texas and Oklahoma, the highest-rated TCU recruiting class in the modern era.

“I think we’ve got tremendous speed and playmaking ability and we’re a year further along,” Dykes said. “I really like what we’re doing offensively. I think it fits the skill set of our quarterbacks. I think they’re excited about the direction of the offense. So I don’t know how much different it’s going to look to the typical fan in the stands, but it’s going to be a little bit different.”

It’ll start, more than likely, with Chandler Morris, the quarterback who beat Duggan last year before going down with a sprained knee in the season opener at Colorado. In his only previous start, filling in for an injured Duggan in 2021, Morris threw for 461 yards and two TDs and ran for 70 more and another TD in an upset of No. 14 Baylor, the eventual Big 12 champs that season. This spring, Morris has looked efficient in practice, distributing the ball and using his feet, in Briles’ offense.

“I’m really enjoying it,” Morris said. “Coach Dykes and I had a conversation the other day about how he thinks this is the best offense for me and thinks I’m built for this offense. We’re going to get the ball on the perimeter, put a lot of stress on the defense, try and get them in a bad situation and play with tempo, keep them on their heels and, and go after them.”

Dykes has been impressed with his performances, and also by the development of Josh Hoover, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound redshirt freshman from nearby Rockwall in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, who looks like a different player in 2023 after losing 15% of his body fat.

“We’ve got a couple of quarterbacks that can throw the ball around,” Briles said. “So I think we’ll be able to do some quick-game stuff. We’ve got some players that I think if we distribute the ball to, they can be really good in space.”

That’s especially true at inside receiver, where the Frogs believe they are stacked with players who can make people miss. On the outside, they still have to work in Bech, the 6-2, 215-pound LSU transfer who is recovering from an injury, and 6-4, 205-pound freshman Cordale Russell, one of the gems of that recruiting class who arrives later this summer.

“There are a lot of guys that people know that are here, but they haven’t really had a chance to produce yet,” Briles said. “So I’m kind of interested to see who’s going to kind of rise to the top and be one of those guys that we can rely on. I think we’ve got a lot of different options.”

IN THE BEGINNING stages of Year 2 of the Dykes era, coming off an appearance in the national championship game, some things feel different, like when he walked into high schools and students took photos of him with their phones.

“I wasn’t jacked about that,” he said. “Hopefully that goes back to normal soon.”

But he also knows that comes with the exposure from all those awards and all the camera time he got last year.

“You want credibility,” Dykes said. “It’s hard. … I didn’t play college football. I coached at historically bad places, coached in the ‘gimmick offense’ [as the Air Raid was often dismissed]. You know, you just hear all this stuff for all the years and all you want is a shot at the big time. I think it just gives you a little bit of credibility. When you walk into a room, it’s a little different now than it was before.”

Dykes said the thing he was proudest of last season was the Frogs’ will to win, no matter if it was pretty or ugly.

Now, after arriving there, he has to help figure out how to do it all over again. This time, the Frogs likely won’t be picked seventh in the Big 12 preseason poll and instead will try to prove the way last season ended was the anomaly, focusing on the fact that Dykes’ team was able to survive and advance all year last season, no matter the obstacle or which side of the ball had a rough day.

“We were able to win the Michigan game 51-45, and we were able to win the game at Texas the way we did, a 17-10 game,” Dykes said. “It’s too bad that we played our one bad game we played all year in the national championship. We turned the ball over three times in the first half. We didn’t do that, ever. We played desperate and did all the stuff that bad teams do. I hated that was in the national championship game, but again, you’ve got to give our guys credit because we played well for 14 weeks when we had to. There wasn’t a ton of margin for error.”

This time around, he has proof to show his players they can believe. And he’s embracing that same belief himself while challenging his coaches and players to figure out how to live up to last year’s example.

“I think talent-wise, this year’s team will be on par with last year’s team or maybe better, top to bottom, just looking at the roster,” Dykes said. “But can you do those little things that allow you to win those games? And do you have that same type of leadership? I think we’re trending in the right direction.”

Morris was part of a team that made TCU history, but he said history is exactly what it is now.

“Nobody’s really talking about last year,” Morris said. “I think we’re all just very hungry right now to go out there and show what this team is all about. We know what the blueprint looks like from last year. Obviously, we fell short in the conference championship game (a 31-28 overtime loss to Kansas State) and the national championship game. We know our goal, we know what it takes to get there. We’re ready to write our own story.”

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Spring game previews: Georgia, Florida, Miami among teams hitting the field

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April 11, 2025

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Spring game previews: Georgia, Florida, Miami among teams hitting the field

Apr 11, 2025, 08:00 AM ET

Many college football programs are wrapping up spring practices this weekend, which traditionally has included an intrasquad game, giving fans and players a sneak peek at what is to come on the field in the fall with a game-day atmosphere.

This year, for a variety of reasons, many programs are skipping the scrimmage for a different kind of spring showcase, including skills contests, fanfests and meet-and-greets. Among the teams taking this route as they close their spring sessions this weekend are Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Purdue and defending national champion Ohio State.

But several schools will be hosting spring games, including Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, Miami and Georgia Tech. Here’s a look at those teams and what to watch for this weekend.

All times Eastern.

Game time: Friday, 6 p.m.

2024 record: 9-4

Spring storyline: Just how good can this offense be? In his first year, Jeff Brohm made the most of veteran QB Jack Plummer. Last season, Tyler Shough developed into one of the most productive QBs in the country. Now Brohm turns to USC transfer Miller Moss, perhaps the most talented QB he has had at Louisville, and the Cards will surround Moss with a host of ubertalented skill players, including Caullin Lacy and Isaac Brown. Brohm’s offenses are always explosive, but this Cardinals squad has a chance to be one of the most terrifying units in America.

Position of intrigue: The secondary is littered with transfers — no shocker at Louisville — including the two corner positions, where Jabari Mack (Jacksonville State), Rodney Johnson (Southern) and Justin Agu (Louisiana) will be in the mix for playing time. There’s a big void in the secondary, after Louisville said goodbye to a host of veterans, including Quincy Riley. How this new unit jells will be crucial for a Louisville D that was far too susceptible to the big play in 2024.

Player to watch: Here’s a fun scenario: Isaac Brown was among the most prolific freshmen in the country last season, racking up 1,527 all-purpose yards. And yet, it’s another rising sophomore — Duke Watson — who might be the more explosive player. Watson got just 67 carries last season but averaged nearly 9 yards per rush and scored seven times. His role will grow alongside Brown in 2025, giving Louisville arguably the best one-two punch at tailback of any squad since last season’s Ohio State national champs. — David Hale

Game time: Saturday, noon (ACC Network)

2024 record: 5-7

Spring storyline: Virginia hit the transfer portal hard to boost its roster, signing 16 players in hopes of putting the Cavaliers in position to make a bowl game for the first time since 2021. While the program has made some strides since Tony Elliott was hired in 2022, he also knows the team must show significant progress this year. His players have already spoken confidently about putting Virginia in a spot where it can compete for championships. We will get our first glimpse at the possibility this spring.

Position of intrigue: Virginia lost quarterbacks Anthony Colandrea (portal) and Tony Muskett (final season) and went into the portal to find their replacements. The headliner is Chandler Morris, now at his fourth school after spending last season at North Texas. Virginia also signed Daniel Kaelin from Nebraska as the potential quarterback of the future with four years of eligibility remaining. Look for Morris to take the reins giving his experience.

Player to watch: Linebacker Fisher Camac, a transfer from UNLV, has the ability to make the types of plays that set the tone on defense. Last season, he had 15 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks, 5 pass breakups, 3 QB hurries and a forced fumble. — Andrea Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 8-5

Spring storyline: Embattled Gators coach Billy Napier completely flipped the narrative on his future at Florida by guiding his team to four straight victories to finish with an 8-5 record in 2024. That winning streak included upsets of then-No. 22 LSU and then-No. 9 Ole Miss. Much of the optimism is because of quarterback DJ Lagway, who was 6-1 as the starter as a freshman, and a veteran offensive line. Lagway threw for 1,915 yards with 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. He has been limited throughout spring practice because of shoulder and lower-body injuries and won’t play Saturday. Florida will play another brutal schedule in 2025 with road games at LSU, Miami, Texas A&M and Ole Miss and a neutral-site contest against Georgia.

Position of intrigue: Finding Lagway dependable targets on the perimeter will be a focus this spring. Top receivers Elijhah Badger and Chimere Dike departed for the NFL, and Eugene Wilson III is coming back from season-ending hip surgery. Receivers Vernell Brown III, Dallas Wilson and Naeshaun Montgomery were three of Florida’s highest-ranked signees, and J. Michael Sturdivant (UCLA) was one of the top pass catchers in the portal.

Players to watch: Florida’s strength coach called linebacker Aaron Chiles an “alien” before his freshman season because of his exceptional work in the weight room. With Shemar James leaving for the NFL draft, Chiles and Myles Graham will have a chance to make an impact on defense this season. Graham had 30 tackles and one sack in 2024; Chiles had 23 tackles with one sack. — Mark Schlabach

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 11-3

Spring storyline: Much of Georgia’s attention this spring will be focused on its offense, which struggled to catch the ball and run it when it mattered in 2024. The Bulldogs went 11-3, won an SEC championship and reached the CFP last season. But Georgia’s offensive production slipped mightily — it scored 31.5 points per game (after averaging 40.1 in 2023) and ranked next to last in the SEC with 124.4 rushing yards. Georgia will be breaking in four new starting offensive linemen and a new quarterback. Newcomers will also be counted on to improve an inconsistent receiver corps.

Position of intrigue: Georgia’s offensive line was expected to be one of the best units in the FBS in 2024, but it struggled to create holes in the running game and protect the quarterback. Four starters are gone, including center Jared Wilson and All-America guard Tate Ratledge. Earnest Greene III and Monroe Freeling have a lot of experience at tackle, and Micah Morris has been a mainstay at guard. Drew Bobo and Daniel Calhoun are the favorites to take over at center and right guard, respectively. Freeling missed spring practice after undergoing shoulder surgery; Calhoun was sidelined for much of it because of a foot injury.

Player to watch: No position on the team was criticized more in 2024 than Georgia’s receivers. The Bulldogs led Power 4 conference teams in dropped passes, and top receivers Arian Smith and Dominic Lovett left for the NFL. Georgia brought in two high-profile transfers, Zachariah Branch (USC) and Noah Thomas (Texas A&M), and Talyn Taylor and C.J. Wiley are two highly regarded freshman receivers. Branch had 1,863 all-purpose yards during his two seasons with the Trojans, including two kicks returned for touchdowns in 2023. He caught 78 passes for 823 yards and three scores. — Schlabach

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m. (ACCNX)

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: Georgia Tech ended last season with a good bit of buzz, and the Yellow Jackets return one of the most productive QBs in the ACC in Haynes King. Will all of that add up to a breakthrough season? There’s a lot to like on this team, but the story of coach Brent Key’s first few years in Atlanta has been the Jackets’ ability to play their best in big games then stub their toes against teams they should beat. Key is a ferocious competitor, and this spring seems like it should be a turning point when he pushes Tech from surprising upstart to a real contender.

Position of intrigue: The wide receiver room will look a lot different this spring. Three of the five wideouts with at least 100 receiving yards last season are gone, including star Eric Singleton, who exited via the portal for Auburn. Malik Rutherford is back, and he’ll be joined by a pair of FIU transfers in Eric Rivers and Dean Patterson, who combined for 112 catches and 19 touchdowns last year, as well as freshman Jamari Bruce.

Player to watch: Key is a former offensive lineman, and he believes championship teams are built in the trenches. Enter Josh Petty, a five-star recruit and arguably the most talented O-lineman the Jackets have landed in decades (and their first five-star signee since Calvin Johnson). Petty will need to work his way into the starting five, which already features talented veterans in Joe Fusile and Keylan Rutledge, but that doesn’t mean all eyes won’t be on the talented freshman to see just how much bang Georgia Tech is getting for its buck. — Hale

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: Pitt got off to an unexpected 7-0 start last season, only to finish on an equally unexpected six-game losing streak. After winning 20 games between 2021 and 2022, Pitt has struggled to find the same winning consistency the past two seasons. The hope is that the return of quarterback Eli Holstein and all-everything back Desmond Reid, plus a healthier offensive line, in Year 2 under offensive coordinator Kade Bell will allow the Panthers to find the rhythm and consistency to win.

Position of intrigue: Pitt struggled on the offensive line last season for a variety of reasons, including injuries that hindered the overall cohesion of the group. The Panthers put an emphasis on this position group in the portal, particularly offensive tackle, signing transfers Jeff Persi (Michigan) and Kendall Stanley (Charlotte). Stanley played 706 offensive snaps, all at right tackle, this past season, while the 6-foot-8, 310-pound Persi brings an imposing presence — though he has spent the majority of his career as a backup.

Player to watch: Pitt does a terrific job developing defensive backs, and safety Cruce Brookins could be next in line. With All-ACC safety Donovan McMillon gone to the NFL, Brookins has drawn praise for his striking ability and ball skills (two interceptions in reserve duty last season, including one against West Virginia). — Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 1 p.m.

2024 record: 7-6

Spring storyline: There’s a reason the coaches voted Clark Lea SEC Coach of the Year last season. He led the Commodores to their best season in more than a decade, took them to their first bowl game since 2018 and beat No. 1 Alabama for the first time since 1984, all this coming off a 2-10 season in 2023. The challenge now is building off such a solid season, creating more depth on the roster and continuing to develop players, which has been Lea’s strength. Some of the best news is that most of the key players are back, and there should be good carryover with Lea calling defensive plays for the second straight year.

Position of intrigue: With Diego Pavia back at quarterback, he’ll also have his favorite receiving target back. Eli Stowers, an All-SEC selection at tight end a year ago and the Commodores’ top receiver, bypassed the NFL draft to return for another season in Nashville. Stowers will need some pass-catching help on the outside from receivers. It’s a big opportunity for Junior Sherrill to have a breakthrough season, while Trent Hudson reunites with Pavia after spending last season at Mississippi State. Hudson and Pavia played together at New Mexico State in 2023, and Hudson had 10 touchdowns.

Player to watch: Who else but Pavia, who sparked Vanderbilt’s revival last season and electrified the SEC with his fearless play at quarterback. He gets another shot at SEC defenses after passing for 2,293 yards and rushing for 801 yards last season. Pavia, who’s seemingly never out of a play, accounted for 28 touchdowns (20 passing and eight rushing). — Chris Low

Game time: Saturday, 2 p.m.

2024 record: 11-3

Spring storyline: The Vols have knocked down several barriers under Josh Heupel. They’ve beaten Alabama twice and Florida twice in the past three seasons and made their first playoff appearance a year ago. The defense was the backbone of Tennessee’s run to the playoff, and several key pieces from that unit are gone and need to be replaced. Keeping defensive coordinator Tim Banks was a priority for Heupel. One of the big challenges for the Vols in Year 5 under Heupel will be playing better on the road, particularly in night games in hostile environments.

Position of intrigue: The young talent in Tennessee’s secondary is promising, and keeping safety Boo Carter from transferring was important. Carter may also play some offense in 2025. But at cornerback, it could be dicey. Jermod McCoy had an All-SEC season in 2024 after transferring from Oregon State. He tore his ACL in January, though, and is working toward getting back in time for the start of the season. Reports surfaced that the Vols’ other starting cornerback, Rickey Gibson III, was planning to enter the transfer portal, but he has changed his mind. His return would help the Vols’ situation in the secondary.

Player to watch: Nico Iamaleava has been the most closely watched player at Tennessee since his first season in 2023 when he arrived with a reported $8 million NIL deal. Now in his third season on campus and second as starting quarterback, Iamaleava would seem poised to have a breakout year. He was solid a year ago in leading the Vols to the playoff. He needs to provide more firepower in the downfield passing game if they’re going to get back to the playoff in 2025. — Low

Game time: Saturday, 3 p.m.

2024 record: 10-3

Spring storyline: Fran Brown surprised and impressed in Year 1, leading Syracuse to its first 10-win season since 2018, including a regular-season finale victory over Miami that kept the Hurricanes out of the ACC title game. But this will be a very different team on offense this spring with Kyle McCord, LeQuint Allen and Oronde Gadsden all gone to the NFL draft. Indeed, the biggest questions this spring surround how the Orange are going to replace all that production.

Position of intrigue: Replacing McCord is at the top of the list. Syracuse signed transfer Rickie Collins from LSU and Brown said earlier this week he has emerged as the starter to begin the season. The Orange also return backup Michael Johnson Jr. and redshirt freshman Jakhari Williams, and signed two freshman quarterbacks in Luke Carney and Rich Belin. Though the room is missing the veteran presence McCord brought last season, offensive coordinator Jeff Nixon said he is pleased with the depth he has among his QBs.

Player to watch: Syracuse was not nearly as aggressive in the transfer portal as it was a year ago, but landing defensive lineman Chris Thomas Jr. from Marshall should help shore up a run defense that was inconsistent for most of last season. — Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 3 p.m.

2024 record: 6-7

Spring storyline: Last season was supposed to be a breakout year for Virginia Tech. Instead, the Hokies struggled to a 6-7 record, lost 24 players to the transfer portal and saw some of their best players move on to the NFL draft. Though the Hokies bring back veteran quarterback Kyron Drones, there will a lot of changes, not only from a personnel perspective but among its coaching staff, with new offensive (Philip Montgomery) and defensive coordinators (Sam Siefkes).

Position of intrigue: The Hokies have holes to fill across the board, given the roster turnover. But let’s stick with offense and look at the running back room, where leading rusher Bhayshul Tuten is off to the NFL and backup Malachi Thomas transferred. Virginia Tech signed three transfer backs: Terion Stewart (Bowling Green), Braydon Bennett (Coastal Carolina) and Marcellous Hawkins (Central Missouri State) to fill the void.

Player to watch: Wide receiver Donavon Greene, a Wake Forest transfer, brings much needed experience and a veteran presence to the young, unproven Virginia Tech receiver group. Greene has been limited by injuries over the past few seasons, so staying healthy is imperative. — Adelson

Game time: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

2024 record: 10-3

Spring storyline: Can the defense get turned around? Miami parted ways with Lance Guidry after the D let the Canes down in 2024, and new coordinator Corey Hetherman is taking over with sights set on a far more dominant unit. Getting star defensive lineman Rueben Bain healthy will be a big first step, but figuring out a game plan for a beleaguered secondary will be even more significant.

Position of intrigue: Did we mention the secondary? Yes, breakout freshman OJ Frederique Jr. returns, but most of the rest of the DB room gets a fresh start with transfers Ethan O’Connor (Washington State), Charles Brantley (Michigan State), Zechariah Poyser (Jacksonville State) and Xavier Lucas (Wisconsin) arriving with ample hype, alongside blue-chip freshman Bryce Fitzgerald, among others. Miami’s DBs were a mess down the stretch last season — in part due to talent, in part due to injuries — so this spring is about breaking in the new faces and developing some depth at key spots.

Player to watch: New quarterback Carson Beck, transferring in from Georgia, would be the natural choice, but he is rehabbing from an elbow injury and hasn’t thrown this spring. Instead, we’ll look to Bain, who as a true freshman in 2023 was a force of nature on Miami’s D-line, racking up 7.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for loss and 3 forced fumbles. Injuries set him back from the outset in 2024, however, and his production regressed significantly. Bain had just 5.5 TFL last season and missed four games entirely. Bain appears healthy this spring, however, and if he can return to form this fall, he could be a key piece in revitalizing the Canes’ defense. — Hale

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ND boosts recruiting class with 4-star DE Dunham

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April 11, 2025

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ND boosts recruiting class with 4-star DE Dunham

  • Eli LedermanApr 10, 2025, 04:43 PM ET

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      Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.

Four-star edge rusher Rodney Dunham, ESPN’s No. 6 defensive end in the 2026 cycle, announced his commitment to Notre Dame on Thursday, landing with the Fighting Irish as the top-ranked prospect in coach Marcus Freeman’s incoming recruiting class.

A 6-foot-4, 220-pound recruit from Charlotte, North Carolina, Dunham is the No. 57 overall prospect in the 2026 ESPN 300. He picked Notre Dame over South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Duke following visits to all five schools in 2025. Dunham joins offensive tackle Tyler Merrill (No. 67 overall) and outside linebacker Thomas Davis Jr. (No. 146) as the Fighting Irish’s third top-150 commit and the program’s sixth ESPN pledge in the cycle.

Alongside two local programs (Duke and South Carolina) and a pair of nearby SEC powers (Georgia and Tennessee), Notre Dame stood as a regional outlier among Dunham’s finalists before surging in the late stages of his recruitment this spring.

Dunham told ESPN that his late March visit to see the Fighting Irish marked his first time on an airplane. That trip reinforced the school’s football tradition and academic prestige and strengthened Dunham’s connection with Notre Dame defensive line coach Al Washington. It also offered Dunham a valuable window into Freeman, the program’s fourth-year coach, through a chance encounter Dunham said ultimately helped seal his decision to commit.

“I was talking to one of the members of the staff there — someone who was serving food — and he was telling me how great of a leader [Freeman] is and how he presents himself in front of the players. That’s the type of guy you want to lead you growing up as a young adult and entering manhood. It’s not just all about football.”

Dunham projects as a high-upside, developmental prospect at the next level with speed off the line of scrimmage and standout pass-rush technique. He recorded 94 tackles (26 for loss) and 12 sacks across his sophomore and junior season at Myers Park High School in Charlotte.

An imposing pitcher with a fastball clearing 90 miles per hour, Dunham no longer plans to play baseball in college after initially considering a two-sport track earlier in his recruitment.

The defending national runner-up Fighting Irish closed the country’s 15th-ranked class in the 2025 cycle. If Dunham lands on campus in 2026, he’ll arrive to Notre Dame as the program’s highest-rated defensive signee since outside linebacker Jaylen Sneed, ESPN’s No. 48 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle.

Dunham’s pledge arrived less than a week after the Fighting Irish secured the commitment of four-star defensive end Ebenezer Ewetabe (No. 229 overall). With Davis — son of three-time NFL Pro Bowl linebacker Thomas Davis Sr. — also in the fold, Notre Dame has the early makings of a standout front-seven class in the 2026 cycle. Three-star cornerback Chaston Smith rounds out the program’s collection of four defenders committed so far in the class.

Dunham joins five-star Maryland pledge Zion Elee (No. 2 overall) and Texas A&M commit Jordan Carter (No. 59) among the earliest elite defensive ends to come off the board in 2026.

Five-star edge rusher JaReylan McCoy, a former LSU pledge, is set for a return to Florida this weekend, while fifth-ranked defensive end Nolan Wilson also remains on the Gators’ radar. Ohio State and Texas are two of the latest programs to host five-star reclass Richard Wesley, who will also take trips to Texas A&M and Tennessee over the next week. Five-star defensive end Jake Kreul visited Oklahoma on Thursday.

All told, seven of ESPN’s top 10 defensive ends in the 2026 class remain uncommitted this spring.

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Capitals celebrate Ovi’s record, wrap up top seed

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April 11, 2025

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Capitals celebrate Ovi's record, wrap up top seed

  • ESPN News Services

Apr 10, 2025, 11:04 PM ET

WASHINGTON — The Capitals wrapped up the top spot in the Eastern Conference with a 5-4 shootout win over the Carolina Hurricanes while celebrating new goals king Alex Ovechkin at Capital One Arena for the first time since he made history.

Ovechkin, who assisted on a goal in the win Thursday night, was treated to a pregame ceremony for scoring his 895th career goal to break Wayne Gretzky’s NHL record Sunday at the New York Islanders. The arena introduced Ovechkin before showing the crowd a video of the historic goal, and fans were able to cheer the Capitals legend for the first time at home.

Ovechkin and his family then were presented with a series of gifts, including an engraved gold stick commemorating breaking the goal record and a 6-foot sculptural painting of a puck with his image on it. The ceremony ended with a team photo before players from the Hurricanes lined up to shake Ovechkin’s hand one-by-one.

In the game that followed, Pierre-Luc Dubois scored the shootout winner after the Capitals rallied from a 2-0 deficit, then blew a 4-2 lead with Carolina’s Jordan Martinook and Seth Jarvis scoring in the third period to tie it. That came after Washington’s scoring spree in the second, with Dylan Strome, Nic Dowd and Tom Wilson all putting goals past Frederik Andersen.

Dubois also scored in regulation, while Charlie Lindgren made 31 saves and stayed in the game after a nasty collision seven minutes in on Carolina’s second goal.

The Hurricanes, who are locked into second place in the Metropolitan Division and a first-round matchup against New Jersey, managed to get to overtime but lost their fourth in a row. Logan Stankoven and Jackson Blake also scored, and Andersen allowed four goals on 28 shots in regulation.

Brandon Duhaime and Jalen Chatfield dropped the gloves early to settle a score from the teams’ game last week. The Capitals were unhappy with Chatfield’s takedown of Connor McMichael at the end of their fight.

Information from The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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