Spring practice is over and many of the key transfer portal decisions have been made, making it the perfect time to bring back Future Power Rankings — a personnel-based look at the next three seasons around college football.

After examining quarterbacks and defenses, the offenses are in the spotlight, and the landscape is always evolving. Last year’s FPR offense piece opened with a scene from Washington’s practice, noting standouts like quarterback Michael Penix Jr., wide receivers Rome Odunze and Jalen McMillan, and tackle Roger Rosengarten. All of them are gone, selected in the top 100 picks of last month’s NFL draft. Washington also has a new coach (Jedd Fisch) and an entirely new offensive depth chart. Given all the uncertainty, Washington barely made the top 25 offenses through the 2026 season.

There are changes elsewhere, even since the quarterback FPR list back in March. Georgia enhanced its future quarterback outlook with transfer Jaden Rashada, while Miami added to its offensive backfield with running back Damien Martinez. Colorado has reshaped its running back room with Ohio State’s Dallan Hayden and Miami (Ohio)’s Rashad Amos, while losing Dylan Edwards to Kansas State and Alton McCaskill to Arizona State.

Given all the roster fluctuation, the rankings lean more on coaching. Those who have overseen perennially elite offenses — USC’s Lincoln Riley, Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Alabama’s Kalen DeBoer, FSU’s Mike Norvell, Tennessee’s Josh Heupel and Texas’ Steve Sarkisian — will continue to be represented here. Coaches taking new jobs — Fisch at Washington, Jeff Lebby at Mississippi State — also will gain consideration.

As always, the offense rankings will largely mirror the quarterback ones, although there are some key differences, especially for teams that have fortified areas such as the offensive line.

Let’s get started.

The New York Yankees‘ bullpen, after posting the lowest ERA in the majors in 2023, is a very different group this season. Key players departed over the winter, replaced by relatively obscure newcomers, while others are out early with injuries. A decline would’ve made sense.

But the Yankees’ relief corps is again among the best in the sport, with the second-highest Win Probability Added and second-best ERA in the majors. The anchor is the most prominent holdover: Clay Holmes, the only qualified reliever yet to surrender an earned run in 2024.

With the Yankees off to a 27-15 start, fueled in part by their standout bullpen, Holmes just might be the best closer in baseball.

“STUD — all capital letters there,” Yankees reliever Luke Weaver said.

Holmes, in his second full season as New York’s closer, has registered 21 strikeouts with three walks in 17⅓ innings and leads the American League with 12 saves. And ask anybody in the Yankees’ clubhouse: Holmes’ performance in Baltimore earlier this month is still a talker.

The Yankees, six outs from victory, were nursing a 2-0 lead after falling to the Orioles in the first two games of the four-game series. A third straight loss to their chief competition for the American League East would be as backbreaking as it gets on May 1. The first two Orioles reached base in the bottom of the frame. Moments later, with one out and the top of the Orioles’ order looming, Yankees manager Aaron Boone summoned Holmes for a five-out save. What followed was an electric, eye-popping performance.

Holmes struck out Gunnar Henderson, named the American League Player of the Month two days later, with a pair of sharp sliders and a 97 mph sinker. He then whiffed Adley Rutschman, the Orioles’ All-Star catcher, on two hard sinkers over the plate, followed by a slider that nearly dropped Rutschman to a knee. Crisis averted. Holmes then kept the middle of the Orioles’ explosive lineup scoreless in the ninth to secure the victory.

“That’s about as nasty as it gets,” Orioles manager Brandon Hyde said after watching the display. “When you’re throwing 97 mph bowling balls with a slider, it’s going to be tough to score against.”

Veteran catcher Jose Trevino was around for Holmes’ All-Star season in 2022. He has caught some of Holmes’ most dominant outings. But that was the best he has ever seen from the closer.

“And I told him that,” Trevino said.

Now in his fourth season with the Yankees, Holmes has the second-highest ERA+ ever for a Yankees reliever with at least 160 appearances — behind only Mariano Rivera. He was an All-Star in 2022, snatching the closer job from Aroldis Chapman midseason. He was effective again in 2023, his first full season in the role, with a 152 ERA+ in 66 appearances.

But he has been even better in 2024. And with Holmes starring at the back end, the Yankees’ bullpen boasts a 2.69 ERA, trailing only the Cleveland Guardians, even after a near meltdown Sunday against the Tampa Bay Rays. All this despite the significant year-over-year turnover.

Michael King, the Yankees’ shutdown multi-inning weapon last season, was traded as part of the package for Juan Soto. Wandy Peralta, their best left-hander in 2023, is also in San Diego, after signing a four-year deal with the Padres in free agency. The hard-throwing Jonathan Loáisiga underwent season-ending elbow surgery after three appearances last month. Tommy Kahnle, currently on a minor league rehab assignment, has yet to throw a pitch in the majors this year.

The Yankees acquired left-handers Caleb Ferguson and Victor González from the Dodgers during the offseason. They signed Dennis Santana, on his fourth team in four years, to a minor league deal. They converted Weaver, a 30-year-old former first-round pick, from starter to reliever.

Ian Hamilton, one of the few relievers from 2023 still on the roster, had allowed eight earned runs in 15 appearances over three seasons when he signed with the Yankees before the start of last season. The 28-year-old right-hander was a revelation, recording a 2.64 ERA with 69 strikeouts in 39 games.

“There’s a lot of reassurance, of showing what we do can get people out all the time,” Hamilton said of the Yankees’ coaching staff. “It sounds ridiculous, but then [there’s] the Yankee Effect. When you’re in the bullpen here, you just want to perform, and you want to show off for the Yankees. It doesn’t make it easy, but that motivation is like always here. There’s always that drive.”

Boone credited the Yankees’ front office for its ability to identify undervalued arms and maximize their abilities. The expertise has produced bullpens that have finished in the top five in ERA over the past three seasons. Nobody embodies the organization’s knack for bullpen construction better than Holmes.

The Yankees acquired the 6-foot-5 right-hander from the Pittsburgh Pirates in July 2021 for infielders Diego Castillo and Hoy Park. Holmes had a 4.93 ERA in 42 innings that season at the time of the trade. He owned a 5.57 career ERA over parts of four seasons. Nothing indicated dominance was around the corner.

“We feel like he’s going to be a guy that is already very tough on righties,” Boone said at the time, “but we feel like he has the stuff and the repertoire to go to another place.”

The Yankees had Holmes ditch his curveball for a sweeper to complement his sinker and gyro slider. The sweeper, a slider with a bigger break, plays better against right-handed hitters. The gyro slider, a harder offering, is more effective against lefties. He allowed just five runs in 25 outings to close the regular season.

Three years later, Holmes has yet to give up a hit on either of his sliders while posting the second-highest ground ball rate (71.1%) among qualified relievers behind a devastating sinker averaging 96.3 mph. He has a 61.5% whiff rate on the 34 sweepers he has thrown — all to righties — with six strikeouts. His gyro slider ranks as the best slider in the majors, according to the stat Run Value/100 Pitches.

“A lot of it for me is nailing my direction,” Holmes said. “I’m able to just move down the mound faster and I just think it helps my body move a little better. Just kind of knowing my lanes, the direction I need to get going. It’s a product of me just moving down the mound better. It frees up my arm. The stuff moves from that.”

Holmes’ only blemish so far this season came after shortstop Anthony Volpe‘s error on a routine play led to three unearned runs in the 10th inning of a win over the Arizona Diamondbacks on April 3. On Friday, the Rays nearly ended his scoreless innings streak, but he escaped a bases-loaded jam with his third strikeout of the inning, closing out a 2-0 win and keeping his 0.00 ERA.

“Clay’s pretty much the same person every day: Calm,” Hamilton said. “He’s ready to get put in the game pretty much any day. However many times it takes.”

DENVER — Wyatt Johnston scored twice on the eve of his birthday as the Dallas Stars pushed Colorado to the brink of elimination Monday night with a 5-1 victory.

Johnston had shorthanded and power-play goals for the Stars, who grabbed a 3-1 lead in the second-round, best-of-seven series. Dallas can close it out at home in Game 5 on Wednesday.

Miro Heiskanen and Evgenii Dadonov also scored, while Sam Steel added a late empty-net goal. Jake Oettinger made 24 saves.

About an hour before the game, the National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association announced that Nichushkin was suspended for at least six months without pay. He was placed in stage 3 of the league’s player assistance program. It’s the second time this season Nichushkin has been in the program.

A Colorado lineup missing Nichushkin, the team’s leading goal scorer (nine) in this playoff run, struggled early to get on track and was outshot by a 16-2 margin in the first period. Casey Mittelstadt scored Colorado’s lone goal.

“We talked about (how) we’d been the best road team all year because regardless of the building or the lineup for the other team, who’s in, who’s out, we approach the game the same way,” Dallas coach Peter DeBoer said, “and took care of business.”

Colorado’s defense was unable to prevent Johnston and the Stars from building a 3-0 lead in the second period, and because of the hot start in the first, Dallas maintained its streak of not trailing in regulation at any point during the series. And the Stars have outscored the Avalanche 6-0 in the opening period alone.

Johnston, who turns 21 on Tuesday, scored his 10th and 11th career playoff goals. He became the eighth player in NHL history to reach double-digit postseason goals at age 20 or younger, according to league research.

Johnston took advantage of a Cale Makar turnover late in the first period and scored a shorthanded goal to give the Stars a 1-0 lead. It’s the second shorthanded goal of the series for Dallas.

“That was our worst game of the series,” Colorado coach Jared Bednar said after the loss, adding that it “atrocious.”

It wasn’t all good news for the road team, though. The Stars saw forward Roope Hintz leave the game after suffering an upper-body injury in the opening period. In his postgame news conference, DeBoer said he’d have more injury information on Hintz on Tuesday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.