Barry Switzer, ‘The King’ of Norman, is still unapologetically himself at 87
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Dave Wilson, ESPN Staff Writer
NORMAN, Okla. — Across the street from Oklahoma‘s campus, and a mile from the football stadium that bore witness to his legendary career, Barry Switzer sits in his home office at an ornate desk with his name on the front underneath an OU logo. Around him, commemorative footballs line the shelves, mementos of a time when he became known as “The King,” winning three national championships and 12 Big Eight titles.
There’s a replica Lombardi Trophy celebrating the Dallas Cowboys‘ 1995 championship in Super Bowl XXX, when Switzer became one of three men — alongside Jimmy Johnson and Pete Carroll — to win championships in college and the NFL. With the Sooners, he won 66% of his games against ranked teams and battled Tom Osborne’s Cornhuskers and Darrell Royal’s Longhorns — as well as the NCAA — during his career. He doesn’t go down without a fight.
That’s why, on a Friday afternoon before his Sooners play their first SEC game against Tennessee, Barry Switzer isn’t thinking about the Vols as much as he’s contemplating his own future.
“Last days of life, it says here,” Switzer says as he picks up a pamphlet from his desk and reads it aloud, before laughing and adding one of his most common refrains. “F— me.”
The booklet is a decision-making guide for whether to replace your implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD), a device that sends an electric shock to the heart when it detects a dangerous rhythm to correct it. The guide offers two ways to look at the decision.
The idea of dying quickly sounds painless. I’ve always said I hope to die in my sleep. Going through surgery and being shocked is not something I want.
Or, there’s the alternative:
I’m not ready to die. I have so much to live for. Even if it means being shocked, I’m willing to do anything that can help me live longer.
Barry Switzer has been in the spotlight for so long, and he still talks so fast that it would be easy to forget that he turned 87 on Oct. 5. Not that he shies away from it.
“I’m 87 years old,” he’ll say. “You better get your ass over here.”
This decision outlined in that pamphlet was not a question that the coach could comprehend. Who would just go quietly into the night? That’s not Switzer’s style. He had never even considered avoiding getting shocked — he had already had the ICD procedure done two weeks earlier. It walloped him for a week or so, the combinations of anesthesia and his age and surgery. But a couple of weeks later, he rounded back into rare form. His most pressing concern now is that some good ol’ boy will backhand him underneath his left collarbone where the device was implanted, so when he’s at events, sometimes he’ll raise his arm to guard his chest.
His legendary photographic memory is still sharp, though his recall may be a little slower, which frustrates him. But that even more legendary mouth is still firing on all cylinders.
“I’ve never known anyone who would say, ‘I’ve lived a good life and I’m ready to go home and kick the bucket? I’m not doing that s—. Who would say, ‘F—, I’ll die now?'” Switzer says, laughing. “It’s better to have the f—ing thing than not have the f—ing thing. I’m not going to slow down. I’m going a hundred miles an hour.”
He’s making and taking calls constantly, often merging them together to make sure connections happen. His iPhone “Blues” piano ringtone must ring in his dreams. He’ll stop and take photos with anyone who asks, naturally making sure his Super Bowl ring is prominently placed, usually on a shoulder facing the camera. He’s ensuring his players have tickets, friends have sideline passes, visitors have sleeping arrangements and dinner reservations, all while he’s fixing the gas grill at the Airbnb he owns behind his house (the Switzer Pigskin Palace, hosted by Barry, the listing reads) and making sure the Tennessee fans who are soon to be checking in can cook out on a nice fall football weekend.
And, not least of all, he’s making up for lost time with Ashley Snider, the 36-year-old daughter that he met for the first time five years ago. She grew up 10 miles away from Norman for three decades with no idea that the most popular man in Oklahoma was her father. But once they discovered each other, the embrace was instantaneous.
“She’s as much mine as the rest of my kids, as much me as all the rest of ’em got in them,” Switzer says. “She just got started a little late. I told her we ain’t got much time, I ain’t got much time left. We spend as much time together as we can.”
This is life at 87 for Switzer, who indeed is still going 100 miles an hour 50 years after winning his first national championship at Oklahoma. In Norman, he’s still The King, and he lives for his subjects — from former players, to OU fans, to local business owners, to Ashley and the rest of his family. He still has one mission that keeps him going.
“If you’re mine, I’m going to take care of your ass,” Switzer says. “If you need help, I’m going to help your ass.”
BARRY SWITZER’S LIFE was forged by tremendous loss. He came from the outskirts of Crossett, Arkansas, a paper mill town of about 2,000 people, where his dad Frank, a bootlegger who sold whiskey in a dry county, was unable to watch him play football his senior year of high school because he was in the state penitentiary.
In his autobiography, “Bootlegger’s Boy,” Switzer recalls how his mother, Mary, was a bright, voracious reader. But she lived an isolated life, knowing that many nights her husband was out with other women, and so she escaped into books, and then pills. In 1959, Barry Switzer was home from the University of Arkansas, where he played for the Razorbacks, for the summer before his senior year. In late August, Mary came to kiss him goodnight. She was drunk and her eyes were glassed over from barbiturates. After years of watching her struggle, he turned away, saying he’d rather not see her like this. She left the room. Thirty seconds later she shot herself dead on the porch. For 30 years, he blamed himself, until he discovered she had left a suicide note when he and his brother Donnie were researching a book about their family history.
She had already decided to end her life and was going to kiss Barry goodbye. She was 45.
In 1972, his dad, 66, was accidentally shot by a girlfriend who caught him with another woman and began threatening him with a gun. Frantically trying to get him to a hospital, his girlfriend lost control on a curve, hit a utility pole, and the car exploded, killing them both. Just 74 days later, Switzer, previously an assistant, was named the head coach of the Sooners when Chuck Fairbanks left to coach the New England Patriots.
“That’s one of my great regrets, that Daddy never got to know what we were able to accomplish when I was here,” Switzer said.
But Norman saw it all up close, with Switzer winning his first 15 home games, sending the Sooners into hysterics. He restored Oklahoma, which hadn’t won a national championship since 1956, to glory, going 32-1-1 in his first three seasons, with national titles in 1974 and 1975.
He became a legend by being unapologetically himself, from recruiting Black players at every position in the early 1970s when most major schools were still only reluctantly integrating their programs, to giving his outrageous sound bites, to wearing flamboyant fur coats and stirring up scandals, such as when Texas’ Darrell Royal, a frequent Switzer critic, accused Switzer of spying on his practices, which Switzer denied with a wink.
0:59
Barry Switzer’s fur coat embarrasses Brian Bosworth
Former Oklahoma head coach Barry Switzer recalls the first time he met linebacker Brian Bosworth on the recruiting trail.
“My coaches didn’t spy. When they spied, they were Chuck’s coaches,” Switzer says, laughing. “Chuck left. I inherited them f—ers.”
This is the paradox of Switzer. He broke rules. He sometimes had all 10 toes over the line. But he’ll spin even the smallest infractions into colorful tales, leaning into the character that made him a pariah among rival coaches, like when Joe Paterno said he couldn’t retire and “leave college football to the Jackie Sherrills and Barry Switzers of the world.” He already had a reputation, so why not make the tale even taller?
Switzer boasted in his autobiography that he paid Joe Washington, his first star running back, $100 an hour to babysit his kids in 1972, the equivalent of $750 today. In Switzer’s suite during the Sooners’ game against Tennessee, Washington, still one of Switzer’s best friends, laughs and scoffs at the claim: “I made $1.10 an hour. $3.30 for the whole night.”
In an era when coaches had my-way-or-the-highway rules, Switzer was an outlier. Hard-asses like Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler were gods, military-style rules governing hairstyles and facial hair were commonplace at programs across the country.
But Switzer was a players’ coach. He laughs with “Little Joe,” as he still calls Washington, asking Washington if he remembers borrowing his ’72 Cadillac so he could visit his girlfriend in the Dallas area. Washington says Switzer allowed players to be themselves on and off the field.
“I painted my shoes silver,” Washington says. “He treated us all as individuals. Most people don’t take that time to do something like that. If you worked hard, you could be yourself. He enjoyed that.”
In the 1970s, Thomas Lott, the Sooners’ first Black quarterback, wore a bandana under his helmet and on the sidelines. Brian Bosworth’s haircut inspired a generation of teenagers to get lines shaved in the side of their heads. He wore a T-shirt on the sideline during a game in which he was suspended that mocked the NCAA, calling the organization the “National Communists Against Athletes.”
Switzer didn’t like that one, but he also was no fan of the NCAA. A large portion of “Bootlegger’s Boy” is an angry screed against what he saw as an organization that lacked common sense or empathy. So he says, still today, that some of those were rules worth breaking, because while he might have been ethically wrong, he was doing things that were morally right. He recruited a lot of players from poor families and believed it unfair that rules prevented buying plane tickets for trips home, prevented buying players food or paying for long-distance calls home, prevented providing basic necessities. And he makes no apologies.
“I knew what the problem was and I knew how to solve the problem. NIL is ‘now it’s legal,'” Switzer says [he’s even filed to trademark that term]. “Fifty years ago it wasn’t legal. I’ve always had that attitude: If you’re a good kid and you try to be as good as you can be, as long as you do the right things, I’ll take care of you.”
That’s why Switzer built a bunkhouse in his Norman home, where his former players are welcome to stay any time.
“But you’ll have to fight Keith Jackson for a bed,” Switzer says of his former two-time All-America tight end. “He thinks it’s his damn house.”
Switzer recalls sitting with Jackson on the floor of his home in Little Rock, Arkansas, watching television with the high school star, while promising his mother, Gladys, that if she let Jackson come to Oklahoma, Switzer would treat him as one of his own children for the rest of his life.
Last month, 40 years later, Jackson walked into Switzer’s house and the old coach immediately greeted his old player — “HEY, BIG BOY!” — and then got after him about his weight. The Sooners are family.
“You better be nice to me, Coach,” Jackson says. “I’m going to speak at your funeral, and I haven’t decided what I’m going to say yet.”
Maybe Switzer’s deep connections with everyone around him stem from the dysfunctional home of his youth. Or, maybe, Switzer ponders, he was inspired to become a better version of his dad, the rogue bootlegger who made a lot of money skirting the law, but used it to help others who were looked down on by society like he was.
“Back when I grew up, I promise you a Black man had no justice or credit,” Switzer says. “They couldn’t go to the bank and borrow $500. S—, they’re working at the paper mill for a dollar an hour and 40 hours a week, making $40. They couldn’t buy a car on credit unless Daddy walked in with ’em and told the car dealer, ‘Sell this man a car.’
“I got it from my dad. I had the same attitude. I knew that a lot of kids needed help.”
In 1995, Switzer’s son Doug played quarterback for Arkansas-Pine Bluff, a historically Black college about 80 miles from Crossett, while Barry was the head coach of the Cowboys. Doug was the only white scholarship player on the team, and his dad would be one of the few white faces in the crowd during games. Barry was stunned when every week, total strangers — from principals to prison wardens — would stop him and tell him how his dad had paid for their college tuition or bought them a car, as long as they kept their grades up. Frank Switzer helped their asses.
BARRY SWITZER SAYS he takes care of his own. And Ashley Snider is his now.
In 2008, Snider was visiting family in Alabama and her grandmother ripped the Band-Aid off a deep family secret, blurting out, “You’re adopted. Now hold it together.”
Snider, who worked as a paralegal for a law firm in Oklahoma City, returned home and immediately cornered the lawyer she worked for to ask him how to unravel this mystery. But it was a closed adoption, which meant she couldn’t access any records. Her parents couldn’t help because they didn’t know her biological mother’s name. It was never listed publicly, and an attorney handled the entire adoption process.
She tried to let go, unsure she’d ever know the real story. But in 2016, her father gave her what would end up being a life-changing Christmas gift, buying her and her husband, Trevor, Ancestry.com DNA kits.
“I immediately found a bunch of relatives, an uncle and first cousins,” Snider says. They were all Switzers from Crossett, Arkansas. She started sending messages to some of her relatives on Ancestry’s site, finding few answers. Then, nothing happened for three long years.
In 2019, Snider had her third child — she named her Crimson — and was up with her in the middle of the night when she got a message on Ancestry from a woman in Oregon. Snider wrote back and the woman sent her a phone number. She wondered if she was really going to call a stranger and tell them her life story. But she did, telling her all of what she had been able to piece together over the years: She was born March 5, 1988, and believed her parents to be from the Noble, Oklahoma, area. She knew she had an older sister and that her grandmother talked her mother out of an abortion and into adoption.
“I know who your mother is,” the woman responded, telling her the name [which Snider wishes to keep private]. “She has an older child. Her mother was a nurse, and everyone knows that she dated Barry Switzer in the 1980s.”
Her brain starts processing it. Snider wasn’t a big Oklahoma fan. But she knew the name and that he had coached at OU, but not sure when or in what capacity. What she knew for sure was Barry Switzer was the same man who owned Barry’s Chicken Ranch, a defunct chain of restaurants. She had eaten there as a kid.
The stranger tells her to check her phone. She puts it on speakerphone to open her text messages. There’s a photo.
“All of a sudden, I see my mother,” Snider says. “It’s shock. It’s disbelief. It’s excitement. It’s relief.” She had waited so long for this and wondered if she had ever seen her before or been in the same place.
“Nobody knows about you,” the woman says. Nobody, except her biological mother.
Switzer didn’t, which Snider said she believes. He and his first wife, Kay, with whom he had three children — Kathy, Doug and Greg — had divorced in 1981, and Switzer’s reputation was well-known.
“I never claimed to be an all-American husband,” he wrote in his book. “I was too selfish and self-centered, and when I became successful, many temptations entered my path.” His dating habits raised eyebrows with the Oklahoma administration which disapproved of him seeing younger women. “A lot of gossips thought it was disgraceful,” he says. “I really didn’t give a damn about that, because I didn’t feel it was any of their business.”
He and Snider’s mother had an on-again/off-again relationship. When Snider was born in 1988, he was 50 and she was 24. Ashley has a deep respect for how difficult the situation must have been for her.
“She kept this man’s secret her entire life,” Snider says. “She already had a kid, and she just knew it wasn’t going to be white picket fences. She knew that she couldn’t do it on her own.”
They finally talked, and her mother confirmed Switzer was the father, before calling him to connect him with Snider. It was a shock to him, obviously, but he was also distraught she’d gone through this too.
“She was young, and we had agreed that if she ever found anyone, she’d just move on, and I thought that’s what she’d done,” Switzer says. “And what she’d done was gotten pregnant with my child. She went on and had the baby and gave her up. And it all came back.”
Snider wanted to do a paternity test to confirm, because she’d heard stories of others finding their presumptive birth parents, forging a relationship, then finding out they weren’t their actual parents.
Switzer remembers getting the call. “They said, ‘Coach, you don’t have a lot of wiggle room here,” he says. “The odds are 48 million to 1. I said, ‘She’s mine?’ She said, ‘She’s yours!'”
Snider, meanwhile, got a notification, logged into the system and saw the results: Barry L. Switzer, 99.99%.
Ten minutes later, her phone rang.
“I’ll never forget what he said,” Snider says.” He said ‘Is this Ashley? This is Coach Switzer and I’m your daddy and I love you, and I want to get to know you and your family and your kids.’ I’ll never forget, he introduced himself as Coach Switzer.”
It was the beginning of a whirlwind relationship. Switzer was fascinated by the names of Snider’s children. First was Atticus, after the character in “To Kill A Mockingbird,” a book Switzer loved, so they found a quick bond. Second was Memphis. And third, Crimson, the color of the Sooners. Switzer couldn’t believe it.
But there was a twist. Snider grew up a massive Alabama fan. She was named after the Crimson Tide. Switzer found it hilarious. “Her daddy that raised her was an Alabama fan,” Switzer says, laughing. “Can you believe that s—?”
Switzer pulled a few strings as a token of appreciation for the man who raised his daughter. He called Nick Saban’s secretary and asked her if she could get him to personalize a photo to David Snider.
“That was what I did for him for his first Christmas present,” he says. Snider said her dad proudly displays it on his bedside table.
Switzer bought her a car, which inadvertently outed her, when the dealership posted a photo on Facebook of them announcing that Barry Switzer had come in to buy a car for his daughter.
His statue in front of the Switzer Center had a plaque on the back of it with the names of all 10 of his grandchildren. He had it removed and redone to add the names of Snider’s three kids. Switzer started attending all of his new grandchildren’s sporting events. Switzer attended Grandparents’ Day at their schools recently.
“I’d walk into a gym and people would ask me, ‘What the hell are you doing here?'” Switzer says. “I’m here to see my grandchildren play!”
This wasn’t the chicken restaurateur. This was The King. She worried that people, particularly Switzer’s three kids, would think she was trying to be an opportunist, but said her siblings have all been kind and welcoming. Still, she has kept their story under wraps for almost five years.
Snider’s adoptive mother, Judy Godfrey, was unable to have children, and would always tell Ashley she was a gift from God.
“She was my person, my best friend in the whole wide world,” Snider says. “She used to always tell me, ‘I can never talk to your mother on the phone, because she was giving me a gift that I couldn’t give.’ That’s how I was raised, that my life mattered.”
Godfrey died in January 2019. Snider found Switzer in December 2019.
“She never got to hear any of this,” Snider says. “She never got to hear, ‘Mom, I found him.'”
Still, Snider was fortunate, she thought. These late in life meetings don’t always go well. But Switzer was taken with all of it.
Snider said she had no expectations, but just wanted to understand where she came from. Switzer’s embrace has allowed her to do that. He’s taken her to Crossett, where he got to meet family members she corresponded with years before on her quest to find her dad. Switzer has taken her to Dallas to meet Jerry Jones, his former Arkansas teammate and boss with the Cowboys.
Switzer said they share a quick, easy wit and that she’s as strong-willed as he is. She called him Barry once, and he said his kids call him Dad. She said, “Well you raised them.” Now she calls him the way he first introduced himself to her: Coach.
BOB THOMPSON FIRST knew Switzer as a childhood hero of his parents. Then the coach became a customer and a friend who would change the course of his life.
Thompson grew up in Minnesota, the son of Oklahoma natives who moved north, where his dad became a minister. Thompson’s family got one television channel and the one college football game he always watched growing up was Oklahoma-Nebraska.
In 1985, he purchased the Midway Grocery & Market, a neighborhood grocery store and meat market founded in Norman in 1926. He was just 27 and didn’t realize how in over his head he was. He was able to scrap and claw to keep it going, surviving with a skeleton staff.
“Coach Switzer walks into the store one day and just embraces us,” Thompson says. “Just absolutely loved the store.”
One day, Switzer was visiting while it was virtually empty, sitting with Thompson. Switzer told him he had to ditch the groceries. The college students want the sandwiches the store sold, and that’s what he needed to focus on. Get more tables, get rid of the Vienna sausages and Spam. And he was always there to help. Switzer, he said, became a coach to him too.
“That guy did everything he could to make me succeed,” Thompson says. “He’d sit up by the front door as people came in and could pick up on them not knowing what to do. He’d get up and show ’em how to order. He’d take out the trash. As we got busier and busier, I didn’t have enough people and he’d tell me, ‘You need to hire some more people. You need to put some more chairs in. The students are going to be here.’ It was just so amazing to me that he had sort of had a vision for my success. It’s one of those things that’s hard to take in.”
Switzer began asking reporters, photographers or TV crews to meet him at the Midway for interviews, and the publicity has been invaluable for Thompson.
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Barry Switzer shares his connection to Lee Corso
Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer talks about his ties to ESPN’s Lee Corso.
The Midway is where Switzer’s legendary interpersonal skills are often on display, along with his incredible recall for names and faces. Thompson said he’ll never forget a few years ago when a man in a wheelchair came in. The seating arrangements are tight, so Thompson helped clear space for him and get settled at a table.
The military vet asked Thompson if that was Coach Switzer across the way. He said it was, and the man, an amputee, told him he’ll never forget that he was waiting to welcome him home at the airport when he returned home from Iraq a few years before. Across the room, Switzer was talking to some guests at his table, and Thompson eased by to nudge him, knowing he’d want to say hello. “He turned around and looked at him and called him by name across the room,” Thompson says. “It just stunned me, and stunned the man. I get chills thinking about that moment.”
Tennessee fan Phillip Furlong and his friends ran into Switzer at the Midway on game day, just hours before the Vols faced the Sooners. They took a photo together out front and couldn’t believe it happened on the very first stop of his very first visit to Norman. He said in his travels across the SEC, you don’t see someone of Switzer’s profile just mingling with the masses.
“It’s absolutely surreal,” Furlong says. “That’s a guy you see on TV for the Sooners and Cowboys, and all of a sudden he’s just hanging out in a deli with you.” The Midway Deli is now a Norman institution with a sandwich named for Switzer, called the Coach: Peppered turkey and pepper jack cheese with lettuce and mayonnaise on wheatBarry bread.
The place is packed daily, the walls lined with OU sports memorabilia and history, and the coach is almost always there holding court, making meeting Barry Switzer exactly what you would want it to be.
“He doesn’t need any of this for his ego,” Thompson says as customers flocked to Switzer’s table. “He just knows this is what we need him to be for us.”
SWITZER ISN’T HARD to find in Norman. If he’s not at the Midway, he’s often at breakfast at Juan del Fuego, and has been such a longtime dinner guest at Othello’s that he has his own reserved booth, with a plaque commemorating it as the “Table of Truth.” At every stop, he spreads a little Sooner Magic, striking up a conversation with others before they meet him. If he sees a child staring in awe, he smiles, waves and gestures for them to come over.
“Coach Switzer, he’ll find any huddle, any conversation, any seat at the bar,” Oklahoma coach Brent Venables says.
Around town, Switzer’s photo is a fixture on restaurant walls and Switzer merchandise dominates the market. Stores sell socks, buttons and greeting cards with BMFS on them, for Barry Mother F—ing Switzer. Blush, a store on Campus Corner, sells “Hang Half A Hundred” throw pillows, commemorating Switzer’s famous mission statement to score early and often.
Blush owner Megan Benson said anything with Switzer on it is “an immediate sellout,” though she said he refuses anything free or at a discount, wanting to support her store instead, including thinking the pillow was so hilarious that the Switzers bought 20 of them to send out as Christmas gifts. Barry came in one day to buy a shirt with a photo of him underneath crimson lettering that says, “Winners Win.”
“I need that sweatshirt with my face on it,” Switzer tells them. “I got pulled over on Highway 9 and the cop told me if I came in here and bought it for her, she wouldn’t give me a ticket.”
It’s an only in Norman situation. Most legendary coaches retire to the lake or the golf course or a gated community, out of sight. When you sign up to coach the Sooners, you must make peace that you’re in Barry’s town. But Switzer understands it too, and instead of being domineering, he’s the ultimate cheerleader or sounding board, and has let his six successors handle the coaching, albeit inside a football complex named for him.
“I walked in the Barry Switzer Center every day for 18 years,” says Bob Stoops, OU’s head coach from 1999 to 2016, who also still lives in Norman. “I always embraced it. We have a great relationship. Always have from day one. I’ve heard previous coaches had kind of shied away from him and that made no sense.”
Venables said he’s almost afraid to ask Switzer for help, because he never says no. Rick Knapp, the executive director of the OU Touchdown Club for the past 35 years, said he has never asked Switzer to attend one of their events because he’s already doing so much for so many people. His connections and his persuasive personality combine to make him the most valuable fundraiser in Oklahoma for any cause. “Here’s the thing,” Stoops says. “He’s not afraid to ask for money. When he calls, everyone answers. He doesn’t get red buttoned like some people.”
The stories make the rounds. He’s got guys to help former players all over the country. A Norman car dealer says Switzer wouldn’t want it publicized, but he’s lost count over the years of how many times the coach has come in and written a check for $25,000 for a third-string player from decades ago who has fallen on hard times or has a sick child.
“The biggest, the most enduring part of his legacy is what he does for others,” says longtime OU athletic director Joe Castiglione, who arrived in Norman in 1998. “There’s no way there’s a scorecard for it all and nor would he want it to be. That’s just the part of Coach Switzer that few ever see. There’s more that he does that we will never know.”
“Bootlegger’s Boy” was published in 1990 after Switzer resigned under pressure after a roughly monthlong stretch in which Oklahoma was placed on NCAA probation, a player was arrested for shooting a teammate in an athletic dorm and three players were arrested for the alleged sexual assault of a woman in a dormitory. When starting quarterback Charles Thompson was arrested for selling cocaine to an undercover FBI agent, the heat was too much for Switzer to withstand. He resigned under pressure four months later.
Switzer was bitter about how his tenure ended, saying he recruited the same players everyone else did, and he couldn’t have imagined that he’d have to tell players not to commit crimes. He quit, saying at his news conference that “it’s no fun anymore. … I don’t have the energy level to compete in this arena today.” He ended his book about the end of his OU career by saying that he could always go back to Crossett, and if everything went south, he could always make a living running booze in a dry county. But he never had to. He stayed in Norman.
His wife, Becky Switzer, was a gymnast on the 1988 United States Olympic team who served as OU gymnastics coach from 1984 to 2001. She’s been in the spotlight herself but isn’t quite as fond of the crowds as Barry, particularly his enthusiasm for talking to strangers and more particularly random people who show up at their front door wanting to get a glimpse of OU history.
Once, she said they saw flashes going off outside their home around 11 p.m. They looked outside and there was a busload of Japanese tourists standing in their front yard taking photos.
“I was in my pajamas, and Barry answered the door, so I went and hid in the pantry,” she said. “He said, ‘Oh, you want autographs?’ And I was like, what? They came in for about 45 minutes and he signed autographs and showed them the house.”
“Poor Becky,” Jackson says in their dining room. “This is not a museum; this is a house.”
But to visitors in Norman, it might as well be a museum to Switzer. Everyone knows his address. He’s tweeted it to visiting fans. On the day of the Tennessee game, he’s entertaining guests, glad-handing at tailgates, taking pictures at the deli and signing autographs all day, all in 100-degree heat.
“You’re talking about someone who lives up to the nickname — The King — someone gave to him many years ago,” Castiglione says. “He is not living in anonymity by any stretch.”
AMONG SOME MISCELLANY on the floor of Switzer’s home office lies a Rolodex, found in a box in the Oklahoma football offices.
It was almost lost to the recycling bin of history, but a longtime staffer spotted it, saved it and returned it to him. As he flips it open randomly, the first name reveals how far Switzer’s fame reached beyond Norman.
Muhammad Ali.
It’s also a reminder of all that he’s lost. Switzer coached for 30 years, with thousands of players he considered children and assistants who were like family. At 87, he’s spent far too much time going to funerals, because Barry Switzer has to show up.
Switzer said he’s already made arrangements for Jackson, who he praises as such a gifted speaker he could’ve been a preacher, to handle his own funeral service. Little Joe and Lucious Selmon will tell stories. “But I bet there’s a couple they won’t tell,” he says.
Switzer’s back gives him a little trouble, he moves a little slower and his answers aren’t quite as loud or boisterous anymore. But he continues to juggle a handful of businesses, including his winery, Switzer Family Vineyards, and a new collaboration with an Oklahoma City brewery called Switzer Light Lager that’s become hard to score because of its popularity. The bootlegger’s boy is selling booze. But even his foray into the beer business has a mission: It’s a nonprofit enterprise, with all the proceeds going to Ground Zero, Barry and Becky’s organization that trains search and rescue dogs for first responders across the country.
Switzer’s kids were born in Norman and his oldest daughter Kathy lives directly across the street. Against Tennessee, Switzer had Jackson, Washington, Lott and Bosworth in his suite, all huddled around him. Switzer’s got everything he needs.
“Daddy got killed in ’72 and I’ve been here ever since,” he says. “Norman’s been home.”
Across the suite, Snider and her husband are surveying the scene. She said she’s so fortunate to have been raised by good parents, while also getting “the best version of Barry” at this point in his life. And Barry’s grateful to have a few more people to look after.
“I went to bed one night with three kids and 10 grandkids and woke up the next day with four kids and 13 grandkids. They came along at the right time in my life,” Switzer says. “I have been fortunate financially to do well here of late. I am glad I help them now instead of giving it to them when I’m gone. I can see them use it.”
He wants to keep on taking care of all their asses.
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Biggest concern, what’s left to play for and more: Post-trade-deadline guide for all 30 MLB teams
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Bradford Doolittle
For all the work we do in setting up and covering the MLB trade deadline, the transaction-related activity in some years is a little underwhelming. That was not the case in 2025.
According to my tracking mechanisms, the wild 2025 deadline featured 92 veteran trade candidates on new teams and, likewise, 92 prospects headed to new organizations, seeking their big league opportunity. After all that, we turn our attention to reassessing the new baseball landscape.
This is what we do with every edition of Stock Watch, but there is never as much mystery in the outcomes as there is after a heavy period of roster movement, which yields my two favorite Stock Watch editions: after the in-season trade deadline (now) and during the hot stove season, after the offseason’s heaviest waves of transactions are completed.
As we did last year at this time, we will hone in on each team’s stretch run. This looks different for contenders than those looking to the future, but even for the noncontenders, it’s about what is left to accomplish on the field in 2025 — and how those aims might be achieved.
Jump to a tier:
Top-tier contenders | Second-tier contenders | Teams just hanging on
Teams looking ahead | The Colorado Rockies
Top-tier contenders
Teams with a 90% or better shot at the playoffs
Win average: 95.9 (Last month: 87.5, 9th)
In the playoffs: 99.2% (Last: 61.7%)
Champions: 11.3% (Last: 2.1%)
Lingering concern: Middle-of-the-order power
The Brewers have soared to the top spot of Stock Watch with startling velocity. You might view Milwaukee’s deadline approach as a bit passive, but when you’ve gotten so far by finding solutions within your organization, why change? The Brewers don’t have many obvious needs. Even the shortcoming noted above was listed only because no roster is perfect. But though Milwaukee ranks 15th in isolated power for the season, its offense has been baseball’s hottest, joining a run prevention crew that was already stellar.
Win average: 95.8 (Last: 96.1, 3rd)
In the playoffs: 99.4% (Last: 97.2%)
Champions: 13.6% (Last: 12.6%)
Lingering concern: Frontline pitching
This seems like a big-ticket concern, and it is. Chicago’s rotation and bullpen have been more passable than good this season, at least when the offense has been rolling up big numbers. The club’s passive deadline approach didn’t upgrade that outlook. What the staff needed was some dynamism, whether one of the top closers who moved or a top-of-the-rotation starter. Given Kyle Tucker‘s walk-year contract status, a more all-in mindset was justified.
Win average: 95.8 (Last: 101.4, 1st)
In the playoffs: 99.4% (Last: 99.7%)
Champions: 15.4% (Last: 24.0%)
Lingering concern: Pitching health
What else could it be? All those hurlers who seemed to comprise a super team type of depth chart in the offseason still exist. But the Dodgers’ dizzying turnstile of pitchers going on and off the injured list has never let up. Given what happens to pitchers once they join the Dodgers, maybe L.A. was doing the rest of the majors a small favor by mostly standing pat at the deadline. With the Padres positioned to push the Dodgers to the finish in the National League West, the stretch run can’t just be about rehabbing pitchers for October, either.
Win average: 93.3 (Last: 97.9, 2nd)
In the playoffs: 99.2% (Last: 99.8%)
Champions: 11.3% (Last: 14.4%)
Lingering concern: Offensive consistency
When it comes to the overall pecking order, Detroit has come back to the pack. The Tigers focused their deadline work on the pitching staff, to mixed results. Yet, the Tigers’ offensive regression has been the primary culprit for their recent dip. Detroit is deep in prospects but has a right-now opportunity that doesn’t seem like it has been maximized. If Detroit returns to its early-season offensive exploits, though, it won’t matter.
Win average: 92.7 (Last: 93.5, 5th)
In the playoffs: 96.8% (Last: 93.8%)
Champions: 7.8% (Last: 7.6%)
Lingering concern: What about Andrew Painter?
After the Phillies’ deadline pickups of Jhoan Duran and Harrison Bader, this is their first-world dilemma. They don’t need Painter, the talented righty who has been in the minors all season after returning from injury. His recent outings have been solid, but he’s still not putting up his pre-injury strikeout numbers. He’s a secret weapon at this point. Painter might not appear in the regular season but make the postseason roster anyway.
Win average: 90.7 (Last: 86.9, 10th)
In the playoffs: 92.9% (Last: 72.7%)
Champions: 5.3% (Last: 1.8%)
Lingering concern: Anthony Santander
The Jays didn’t acquire Duran, but they made a couple of key bullpen pickups in Seranthony Dominguez and Louis Varland. We’ll see if that suffices. The other big need was a middle-of-the-order bat, a void Toronto thought it filled when it signed Santander. Santander has been out since the end of May and contributed little before that. The Blue Jays need Santander’s recovery to pick up and for him to be the thumper they signed.
Second-tier contenders
Teams with playoff odds between 40% and 89%
Win average: 90.2 (Last: 85.6, 11th)
In the playoffs: 89.0% (Last: 41.3%)
Champions: 4.5% (Last: 1.1%)
Lingering concern: History
Sure, a future All-Star Game might be half-populated with one-time San Diego prospects, but for now, A.J. Preller’s machinations have eliminated any glaring holes on his roster. The depth after the active-26 group isn’t great, so health is crucial. But as constructed, the Padres are as well-situated for the postseason as anyone. They, along with Seattle and Milwaukee, will try to snap a zero-for-eternity title drought. Any of the three could do it.
Win average: 90.1 (Last: 89.4, 7th)
In the playoffs: 89.4% (Last: 75.7%)
Champions: 4.5% (Last: 3.2%)
Lingering concern: Juan Soto
The Mets didn’t address their rotation at the deadline, but added enough to the relief staff that it’s not hard to lay out an October blueprint for a bullpen-heavy pitching staff. As for Soto, it’s perhaps not fair to call him a concern. This hasn’t been his best season, but it has been a good season, at least by the standards of most players. But Soto at his .300/.400/.600 best can carry a team, and as the Mets try to emerge from the crowded field of contenders, the time is coming for him to do it.
Win average: 89.5 (Last: 94.7, 4th)
In the playoffs: 88.0% (Last: 98.5%)
Champions: 6.1% (Last: 8.9%)
Lingering concern: How much Yordan Alvarez will the Astros get?
It has been a lost season for Alvarez, who has been out since early May because of a hand injury. Reportedly, Alvarez has been ramping up his activity and should return at some point. But can he be more than a marginal upgrade? Despite the Astros’ deadline pickups, their once-mighty offense won’t be an October threat — if Houston gets that far — unless Alvarez is ready to rake. As the Astros have come back to the pack in the American League West, their offense has been the coldest in baseball. Alvarez is their best hope of getting back to at least average.
Win average: 88.9 (Last: 79.8, 19th)
In the playoffs: 87.6% (Last: 17.8%)
Champions: 5.5% (Last: 0.3%)
Lingering concern: Starting rotation
This team makes a lot more sense if you plug a true No. 2 (or a co-No. 1) in the rotation next to Garrett Crochet. The Red Sox are playing so well it seems greedy to quibble, but what will this look like in the playoffs? Some teams tread water with the rotation and ride the bullpen in October. Boston’s bullpen has been solid, but it seems like the Red Sox will need more balance. Boston needs big finishes from every starter not named Crochet. And Crochet, too.
Win average: 88.8 (Last: 92.4, 6th)
In the playoffs: 87.2% (Last: 95.8%)
Champions: 8.0% (Last: 12.8%)
Lingering concern: Run prevention
With all of their bullpen pickups, the Yankees have set themselves up for the postseason, but they’ve got to get there first. New York still leads the AL in run prevention, but it has been two months since the Yankees have played like a playoff team. The rotation and bullpen have struggled, but so too has the mistake-prone defense. New York’s power-based offense is dangerous, especially when Aaron Judge is healthy, but the Yankees aren’t going to bludgeon their way back to the World Series.
Win average: 86.8 (Last: 85.6, 11th)
In the playoffs: 70.4% (Last: 66.5%)
Champions: 3.4% (Last: 2.4%)
Lingering concern: Offensive regression
Getting Cal Raleigh and Eugenio Suarez back in the same lineup is a coup, and there’s no doubt the Mariners’ offensive profile has improved. But it’s highly unlikely that what we’ll see from Raleigh and Suarez over the rest of the season will match what they’ve done to this point. It’s not saying they’ll collapse but to underscore how their output has been off the charts. Seattle will need plenty of production in addition to that duo, and the Mariners are well-positioned to get it.
Win average: 84.1 (Last: 81.1, 17th)
In the playoffs: 43.2% (Last: 27.3%)
Champions: 2.1% (Last: 0.5%)
Lingering concern: Bullpen
The Rangers’ offense remains confounding, but lately it has been so consistently productive that it has fueled Texas’ resurgence in the AL West race. The rotation remains the standout unit, especially with the addition of Merrill Kelly. Still, though newcomers Danny Coulombe and Phil Maton help, you can’t help but look at the prospects it took to acquire Kelly and wonder how much that offer could have been tweaked for Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran.
Teams just hanging on
Teams on the “miracles do happen” tier
Win average: 82.3 (Last: 82.5, 15th)
In the playoffs: 12.3% (Last: 19.4%)
Champions: 0.4% (Last: 0.4%)
Hope for a run: Powerhouse rotation
This was going to be the case even without the addition of Zack Littell during what was an odd deadline for the Reds, who reinforced areas of strength without addressing areas of greatest need. But with Hunter Greene nearing his return, if he, Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo all finish strong, the Reds will be a force down the stretch.
Win average: 81.8 (Last: 84.4, 14th)
In the playoffs: 9.4% (Last: 35.5%)
Champions: 0.2% (Last: 1.2%)
Hope for a run: Exploding stars
The Giants’ subtraction at the deadline wasn’t quite a white flag, but it was a recognition that the once-promising season had petered out. Still, with the Giants off the radar, you can see that each unit features at least one All-Star-level player: Rafael Devers, Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, Logan Webb, Robbie Ray and dynamic new closer Randy Rodriguez. The roster is thinner, but maybe the Giants have another run in them.
Win average: 80.9 (Last: 76.2, 23rd)
In the playoffs: 12.5% (Last: 5.9%)
Champions: 0.1% (Last: 0.1%)
Hope for a run: Belief
Some of the many teams in baseball’s wide midsection looked at their mediocrity as an excuse to punt. The Royals looked at it as an opportunity to have some fun. Kansas City was 39-46 at the end of June. Now, the Royals, in Boston facing one of the teams they are chasing in the wild-card race, are one of the AL’s hottest teams. Injuries and underperformance have hampered Kansas City for most of the season, but the front office believed in the group enough to address the holes in a meaningful way. It’s not fancy. It’s just trying.
Win average: 80.3 (Last: 88.2, 8th)
In the playoffs: 10.2% (Last: 82.4%)
Champions: 0.4% (Last: 4.5%)
Hope for a run: It can’t get worse?
The Rays are really hard to pin down. They exit the deadline as baseball’s coldest team. They aren’t out of the race in terms of record or games behind, but more because of trajectory. That downward trend was neither helped nor harmed by a deadline strategy that was an odd mix of adding and subtracting. Even the addition of the dynamic Jax is a mixed bag, given it took Taj Bradley to get him.
Win average: 79.4 (Last: 85.5, 13th)
In the playoffs: 2.6% (Last: 43.2%)
Champions: 0.1% (Last: 1.0%)
Hope for a run: There’s always another next year
The Cardinals’ slide, combined with their deadline-related offloading, has them on more of a path to challenge the Pirates for last than the Reds for third. And wasn’t that the design all along? It’s too bad St. Louis played well early this season, or it might have gone into full reset mode earlier, though all of those no-trade clauses would have made it difficult. This is a proud franchise, but this season has been a head-scratcher. If, from the end of last season, the aim of the organization was to maximize its chances of winning in 2025, the Cardinals could have mounted a sustained run. And it’s hard to see what would have been lost in the effort.
Win average: 79.3 (Last: 77.3, 21st)
In the playoffs: 6.5% (Last: 8.5%)
Champions: 0.1% (Last: 0.1%)
Hope for a run: Jose Ramirez
The Guardians underwent a soft unload at the deadline, trading franchise stalwart Shane Bieber to Toronto. Same old, same old for this franchise. The good part of that stick-to-the-plan organizational cornerstone is that it also encompasses keeping the great Ramirez, who shows zero signs of decline in his 13th season. He might be even better than ever, and if Ramirez were to finish on a massive heater and lead the Guardians into the playoffs on a miracle run, Aaron Judge’s injury problems and Cal Raleigh’s possible regression open the door for Ramirez to win his first MVP.
Teams looking ahead to 2026 and beyond
Playing out the string and hoping for better luck next time
Win average: 78.1 (Last: 69.7, 26th)
In the playoffs: 1.6% (Last: 0.1%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Remaining objective: Dig that pitching
The Marlins are really fun to watch, and have been for some time. After a weekend spent throttling the Yankees, it seems like others are taking notice. A true playoff push would involve a really unlikely acceleration of this surge, mostly because none of the current six playoff teams in the NL seems likely to collapse. That doesn’t mean the stifling Marlins rotation can’t hit the hot stove season with momentum, and focus the front office’s offseason plan on adding offense. Also note: The playoff-bound Tigers were in this tier in last season’s edition of this Stock Watch. You never know.
Win average: 77.3 (Last: 82.4, 16th)
In the playoffs: 0.9% (Last: 20.9%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.5%)
Remaining objective: See what’s what with Jordan Lawlar
It has been a disappointing season for Arizona. After lofty preseason expectations, injuries poked a hole in the Diamondbacks’ contention bubble, and an aggressive offloading deadline sucked out the rest of the air. Not that GM Mike Hazen did the wrong thing; it’s just a very different place than we thought Arizona was headed. The departure of Suarez is tough, but at least Arizona can take an extended look at Lawlar at the hot corner — if he can get healthy, which isn’t a given. It has been that kind of season.
Win average: 76.1 (Last: 79.7, 20th)
In the playoffs: 1.3% (Last: 18.0%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.3%)
Remaining objective: Learn everybody’s name
Some saw the Twins’ “everything must go” deadline approach as malpractice, probably more driven by money than winning. Others saw it as smart and a rapid accumulation of young prospect talent. The two conclusions aren’t mutually exclusive. It depends on how quickly the Twins can reconstruct their bullpen and how many of the newbies pan out.
Win average: 76.0 (Last: 76.3, 22nd)
In the playoffs: 1.1% (Last: 6.2%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Remaining objective: To keep trying
The Angels’ deadline behavior suggests they see themselves in the tier above this. The numbers don’t agree that that is likely, but, what is lost by the attempt? The Angels have exceeded tepid expectations for the most part. You wonder, given the need for an unusual leap from here, what sector of the Angels’ roster might be situated to fuel such a rise.
Win average: 72.4 (Last: 80.0, 18th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 11.2%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.4%)
Remaining objective: Get to the offseason
Atlanta’s season has been an exercise in waiting for a Braves surge that never happened. Underperformance put Atlanta in a hole and a worsening injury picture sealed its fate. Some hard questions will need to be answered in the offseason. You can blame injuries, but this season, after last season, constitutes an ugly trend.
Win average: 72.3 (Last: 71.1, 25th)
In the playoffs: 0.1% (Last: 0.7%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Remaining objective: Play the kids
The names you want to see as much as possible from here: Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson, Jackson Holliday, Jordan Westburg, Coby Mayo, Colton Cowser, Heston Kjerstad, Samuel Basallo … just turn them loose and see what it looks like. That’s what this deadline was all about, wasn’t it?
Win average: 69.9 (Last: 71.8, 24th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 0.3%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Remaining objective: Help Paul Skenes to a Cy Young
Give Pirates fans something to hang their horizontal-striped hats on. Give Skenes some support, allow him to finish strong and see if he can beat the NL’s other leading hopefuls despite a lack of high-stakes action. The Pirates haven’t had a Cy Young Award-winner since Doug Drabek … in 1990.
Win average: 69.5 (Last: 65.9, 28th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Remaining objective: Finish strong
Sure, this sounds like a generic, lame goal for the rest of the season. But the Athletics have been solid and fun to watch for long stretches of the season. A few weeks of historically awful pitching killed hopes of real competitiveness, but the A’s have responded nicely in the weeks since that slump. The deadline pickup of Leo De Vries only sharpens the anticipation of what’s to come. Keep the good tidings coming headed into the offseason.
Win average: 64.5 (Last: 68.3, 27th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Remaining objective: Develop some kind of foothold
The Nationals have me confounded. They have some clear reasons to be excited, led by James Wood. But they’ve been trying to piece together a rebuild for a long time and show no signs of coming out of it. Rather than showing positive strides like the team after them in this Stock Watch, the Nationals have trended ice cold on both sides of the ball as we’ve gotten deeper into the season. They fired their brain trust, which might have been necessary, but it only intensified the problem of figuring out what this team is or where it’s headed.
Win average: 62.1 (Last: 56.2, 29th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Remaining objective: Keep it going
The White Sox might lose 100 games again, but they might not. Seems like damning with faint praise, but given where Chicago was earlier this season, much less a year ago, it seems like a minor miracle. The exciting part is that the younger the White Sox lineup has gotten, the better it has played. Colson Montgomery, Kyle Teel and Chase Meidroth have played key roles, and the White Sox are getting good results from other teams’ castoffs. The newest project is deadline pickup Curtis Mead, who generated so much excitement for the Rays in spring training.
The Colorado Rockies
The horror!
Win average: 44.3 (Last: 41.8, 30th)
In the playoffs: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
Champions: 0.0% (Last: 0.0%)
When will it end? Could be sooner than you think
First, it’s not a given that a team gets its own class in this Stock Watch edition. You’ve really got to set yourself apart. The White Sox did it last season, and the Rockies are doing it now. Colorado has picked up the pace, especially on offense, so it is no longer a certainty that the Rockies will dip below Chicago’s record-setting 2024 thud. And the one-year vibe shift in Chicago would be a source of encouragement as well. At the same time … the White Sox had a plan.
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Bill Connelly
According to ESPN BET, there are currently 21 teams with at least +10,000 odds (equivalent to about a 1% chance) of winning the national title in 2025. Thirteen of them are starting new quarterbacks, and seven of those are extremely inexperienced. Three other contenders are starting sophomores who, while experienced compared to others, are still sophomores.
Translation: The quarterback position, already the most important in any team sport, is going to be more important than ever this fall. Whichever of the 21 contenders has a particularly good one will have a massive opportunity on their hands.
Some of these new starters will shine — three of the past seven Heisman winners have been first-year starters, after all. But some will inevitably fall flat or, at least, start slowly. Some have given us tantalizing tastes of potential in small samples. Others will be taking their first meaningful snaps since high school. Some inherit offenses with known stars. Others will be navigating through life with new lines in front of them or new skill corps around them (or, in the case of the No. 1 guy on the list below, both).
It’s time for my annual most important players list. Below are 40 players who could define the season with either moments or long spells of greatness. Some play for contenders, while others play for the teams that might prevent contenders from reaching their goals. All of them will have a chance to make their mark on 2025. As I write in this piece every year, there are birds in hand, and there are unfinished products. This list is typically about the latter. It’s always quarterback-heavy because, well, quarterbacks are always important. But this year, we’re on quarterback overload.
New starting quarterbacks for likely contenders
1. Arch Manning, Texas: I usually count down to No. 1 in this piece in an attempt to build some sort of suspense, but there’s no point in making you wade through 39 other names first when you know who’s going to be No. 1. The top quarterback prospect in the 2023 recruiting class, Manning attempted 108 dropbacks while backing up or filling in for Quinn Ewers the past two seasons. And now he enters 2025 as the Heisman betting favorite (+600), leading a team that is the national title co-favorite (+550) and the likely preseason No. 1 team.
For two years, we’ve looked at 2025 as The Year Of Arch, and now we get to find out if he’s up for the challenge. If he is, then Texas could remain atop the rankings all season and, after two straight College Football Playoff semifinal defeats, make it a couple of wins further. But if he’s merely very good, the Longhorns’ rebuilt offensive and defensive lines and unproven receiving corps could become major obstacles. No pressure, dude.
2. Gunner Stockton, Georgia: The small-town Georgia product and former blue-chipper found himself in an impossible situation, making his first career start in the 2024 CFP quarterfinals last season against Notre Dame. He made some fabulous throws, suffered a devastating sack-and-strip fumble and couldn’t quite get the job done. Now he has gotten an entire offseason to prepare for start No. 2 and beyond. Georgia has the highest floor in the sport, but the Dawgs’ ceiling will be defined by Stockton and a receiving corps that didn’t do nearly enough for its QBs last season.
3. Ty Simpson, Alabama: The Bama defense gave up only 14.4 points per game in its final seven contests, but the Tide went just 4-3 in that span because the offense disappeared, reappeared, then vanished for good. With Ryan Grubb rejoining Kalen DeBoer as offensive coordinator and receiver Ryan Williams returning, it seems this is a great situation for a new QB. Can Simpson, a longtime backup, seize his opportunity and lead Bama through tricky early road trips to Florida State and Georgia? Or will he be supplanted by a youngster by midseason?
4. CJ Carr, Notre Dame: Notre Dame made the national title game last season despite an offense focused mainly on short passes and lots of third-down QB keepers. Riley Leonard was really good at those things, but Carr, a top-40 prospect in 2024, brings quite the old-school, pro-style skill set to the table. Can he boost the Irish’s upside enough to maybe actually win the national title game (while providing enough of a floor to get them back there)?
5. Dante Moore, Oregon: Moore took on too much too soon as a true freshman at UCLA in 2023, but after a year as Dillon Gabriel’s understudy, he’ll try to guide a massively overhauled Oregon offense well enough to keep the Ducks in the hunt for a second Big Ten title in two tries. I’m not sure about his upside, but a good run game and good decision-making from Moore will take Oregon a long way down the road.
6. Julian Sayin, Ohio State: He has completed five career passes, all in fourth-quarter garbage time, and now he likely takes the reins for the defending national champ and a team that has ranked worse than seventh in offensive SP+ just once in eight years. There’s massive pressure that comes with that, and at some point Sayin will have to make some big third-down passes. But he’ll be throwing to the best receiver duo in the sport (Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate). That will help.
Quarterbacks with a potential game-changing leap in them
7. Drew Allar, Penn State (No. 2 in 2023, No. 5 in 2024): Two years ago, this category featured the quarterbacks who would go on to win the national title (J.J. McCarthy), win the Heisman (Jayden Daniels) and lead a team to an unbeaten start before a devastating late-season injury (Jordan Travis). Last year it featured the guy who would make a game-changing leap all the way to the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft (Cam Ward). This category is a good place to find guys who will define the season.
It’s also a good place to find Drew Allar. He’s in here for the second straight season. In his first season with offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, he took a clear step forward, from 2,631 passing yards to 3,327 and, more importantly, from 27th to 10th in Total QBR. His devastating pick late in PSU’s semifinal loss to Notre Dame has festered all offseason, but he’s clearly very good, and if he improves just a little bit more, his Nittany Lions might be just about bulletproof.
8. Cade Klubnik, Clemson: In six career games against top-10 opponents, Allar has completed 49% of his passes, averaged just 4.9 yards per dropback and 156.5 yards per game, produced a horribly mediocre 54.9 Total QBR and gone just 1-5. Klubnik hasn’t exactly thrived against that level of competition, but following his performance against Texas in last season’s CFP first round — 336 yards, 3 touchdowns and an 81.5 Total QBR — his hype has increased. He’s the No. 2 Heisman betting favorite (+800), and Clemson should start the season with its highest preseason poll ranking in at least three years. I’ve spent much of the offseason as a Clemson-as-contender skeptic, but if Klubnik torches LSU in Week 1, the table is set for a huge run.
9. Garrett Nussmeier, LSU (No. 7 in 2024): Klubnik vs. Nussmeier in Week 1 will be quite the market shifter when it comes to Heisman odds, and this game will give two teams with loads of upside and lots of question marks a chance to make a huge statement. LSU’s defense will probably determine its contention fate, but if Nussmeier, the No. 3 Heisman betting favorite (+900), takes a Jayden Daniels- or Joe Burrow-esque leap in his second year as a starter, the defense won’t have to make all that many stops.
10. Carson Beck, Miami: In two years as Georgia’s starter, Beck went 5-2 against top-10 opponents and produced a Total QBR over 92 on three occasions. Granted, he threw three picks twice as well (both times in 2024), but Georgia averaged a mammoth 36.6 points per game in those seven contests. He’s the most proven big-game player in the sport this season. But he also had a confusing run of poor play last season — 12 interceptions and 13 sacks in a six-game span — that damaged (or at least confused) perceptions. His final act will determine his legacy to a degree. Can he, with help from a theoretically improved defense, take Miami to its first CFP?
Young/inexperienced/new QBs with both spoiler and contender potential
11. LaNorris Sellers, South Carolina
12. DJ Lagway, Florida
13. John Mateer, Oklahoma
14. Marcel Reed, Texas A&M
15. Austin Simmons, Ole Miss
It was a jarring and repetitive theme in my SEC preview: “If [insert quarterback here] is awesome, [insert mid-level contender here] becomes a serious contender for a CFP bid.”
Granted, the paths for Florida and (especially) Oklahoma are trickier, and Lagway needs to be healthy before he can really threaten to upend this season. But any of these five QBs could lead playoff runs. Meanwhile, these five teams will play a combined 15 games against projected top-10 teams, per SP+, and 35 games against top-25 teams. If they don’t end up in the CFP hunt, they’ll have huge roles in determining who does.
These aren’t just five interesting quarterbacks — all five aspire to make plays, and that comes with risk.
• The national average for yards per completion last season was 12.1. All five of these QBs averaged at least 12.7, and Mateer (14.0 at Washington State), Simmons (14.8 in the smallest sample of the bunch) and Lagway (16.7) averaged far more.
• The national average for scramble rate (scrambles per dropback) was 6.6%. Lagway was at 7.2%, with Mateer at 11.1%, Sellers at 12.4% and Reed at 16.7%.
• The national average for air yards per pass was 8.6 yards downfield. Reed was at 9.3, Mateer 9.7, Lagway 10.6 and Simmons 11.3.
• Seeking out big plays comes with a sack risk. The national average for sacks per pressure was 17.8%. (Higher is worse in this case.) Simmons was at 25%, Sellers 25.6%, Mateer 28.4%.
• The national average for designed run rate (designed runs per snap) was 10.6%. Sellers was at 18.5%, Mateer 18.9%.
For that matter, Arch Manning had higher-than-normal numbers in terms of yards per completion, air yards, sacks per pressure and designed runs. These guys make huge plays and take hits. That will work out great for some and, perhaps, poorly for others. I can’t wait to see how this plays out.
Others: Joey Aguilar or Jake Merklinger, Tennessee; Beau Pribula or Sam Horn, Missouri; Bryce Underwood, Michigan
Potential stars in need of a breakthrough
16. Antonio Williams, Bryant Wesco Jr. or T.J. Moore, Clemson: Wesco had three 100-yard games and averaged 17.3 yards per catch as a freshman. Moore ended his freshman season by torching Texas for 116 yards in the CFP. Williams has almost 2,000 career receiving yards. They comprise the most impressive receiving corps Clemson has had in quite some time, but even with them, Cade Klubnik averaged only 11.8 yards per completion last season. The last eight national title quarterbacks averaged at least 13.6. (The last one who didn’t? Clemson’s Deshaun Watson at 11.8.) It’s really hard to nibble your way to the national championship, and Klubnik’s receivers need to come up big if the Tigers are going to deliver on what probably will be a very lofty preseason ranking.
17. Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State: OK, by most definitions, Dennis-Sutton is already a star. He made 15 tackles for loss with 8.5 sacks and 13 run stops last season. Few did better, but former teammate Abdul Carter was one of them. The new New York Giant was otherworldly last season, and his departure means 23.5 TFLs and 12 sacks need replacing. Can Dennis-Sutton raise his game just a bit more and make sure new coordinator Jim Knowles has elite disruption up front?
18. Harold Perkins Jr., LSU: Over the last seven games of his freshman season, Perkins hit a level we almost never see, recording 50 tackles, 11 tackles for loss, 6 sacks, 8 run stops, 2 forced fumbles and 2 pass breakups. In basically half a season. Just think of what he might be capable of when he knows what he’s doing. We’re still waiting to see what he’s capable of. He was good as a sophomore, then tore his ACL four games into the 2024 season. Now comes a golden opportunity. Perkins and Whit Weeks are both full strength, and Brian Kelly basically went out and grabbed every defensive end in the portal. It sure feels as if coordinator Blake Baker has the disruptors he needs. Can Perkins break through and lead the first genuinely awesome LSU defense since 2019?
Others: Dillon Bell (No. 12 in 2024) or Colbie Young, Georgia
Most important (non-QB) transfers
19. Makhi Hughes, Oregon: Hughes was just about the most proven and known quantity in the transfer portal. Over 28 games at Tulane, he touched the ball 553 times (523 rushes, 30 catches) and gained 3,022 yards with 24 touchdowns. He’s a fantastic yards-after-contact guy and has shown he can both grind out yards between the tackles and hit the afterburners when he finds space. If he can become the same type of go-to guy in the Big Ten, it will take immense pressure off Dante Moore and the rest of a completely revamped Oregon offense.
20. Zachariah Branch, Georgia: When Gunner Stockton was desperately trying to make plays against Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl, his supporting cast just didn’t support him enough. All season, in fact, it was clear offensive coordinator Mike Bobo couldn’t figure out around whom to build the offense. The returning receiving corps has decent experience, but Branch was a tantalizing but frustrating figure at USC. A former top-10 prospect, he’s a dynamic return man, but he managed only 823 total receiving yards at 10.6 per catch in two seasons. Can he give Stockton both a reliable set of hands and the occasional chunk play?
21. Dillon Thieneman, Oregon: The Oregon offense basically returns 1.5 starters. The defense is in slightly better shape — it returns three. But they’re all linebackers. The secondary lost all eight players who topped 80 snaps last season and will lean heavily on Thieneman and a pair of cornerback transfers to hold up. The good news? Thieneman is awesome. He was a third-team All-American as a freshman in 2023 and a steady playmaker (and play-preventer) for a dreadful Purdue defense in 2024. If he can lead a reliable secondary in the back, Oregon should have enough proven entities and former star recruits to survive up front.
Others: Nic Anderson, LSU; Malachi Fields and/or Will Pauling, Notre Dame; Will Heldt, Clemson; Elo Modozie, Georgia; Isaiah World and/or Emmanuel Pregnon, Oregon
Grizzled old spoiler quarterbacks
22. Diego Pavia, Vanderbilt: As far as final acts go, beating Alabama and leading Vandy to its first bowl win in 11 years would have been pretty spectacular. But Pavia sued to return for one final year of eligibility and won, and with a lot of the same players around him, he’ll try to make a few more memories. The Commodores get shots at Alabama, Texas, LSU, Tennessee and South Carolina, and though only one of those games is at home, Pavia & Co. probably will scare the hell out of someone in that group.
23. Haynes King, Georgia Tech (No. 21 in 2024): King’s Tech began 2024 by sending Florida State down its nightmare path, then finished it by KO’ing unbeaten Miami and nearly beating Georgia. King and running back Jamal Haynes can play the ball-control game as well as just about anyone, and they get home games against both Clemson and Georgia in 2025. OK, fine, the Georgia game is at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, and that only sort of counts. Still, that sounds semi-ominous.
Pure transcendence potential
24. Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State (No. 11 in 2024)
25. Caleb Downs, Ohio State
It was going to be almost impossible for Smith, a Hollywood, Florida, product, to live up to his recruiting hype. He did so almost immediately. He topped 80 receiving yards in 10 games and hit triple digits in five, including an all-time, 187-yard, two-touchdown performance against Oregon in the CFP quarterfinal (and his first Rose Bowl trip). Smith and Carnell Tate will give Julian Sayin the ultimate security blanket.
Meanwhile, though it was hard to be inspired by Ryan Day’s decision to replace outgoing defensive coordinator Jim Knowles with former Bill Belichick protege Matt Patricia — last truly strong performance as a coach: 2016; last year coaching in college: 2003 — Downs will give the Buckeyes basically a second coordinator on the field. He’s an almost perfect safety. He made 12 tackles at or near the line of scrimmage last season, delivered pressure on 31% of his pass rushes and gave up a 29% completion rate and 0.7 QBR when paired up in coverage. Ohio State faces a huge challenge, attempting to repeat as champ with a new starting QB and two new coordinators. But the Buckeyes could have the two best players in the sport. And that could be enough.
26. Peter Woods and/or T.J. Parker, Clemson: Nearly the perfect defensive line duo. Despite Woods sitting out three games, they combined for 24 tackles for loss, 23 run stops and 14 sacks last season, and they also welcome dynamic Purdue transfer Will Heldt to the party. But even with these two, the Tigers ranked just 29th in defensive SP+ last season. Most of the two-deep returns, and new defensive coordinator Tom Allen should provide a jolt of energy, but it might take a transcendent step from Parker or Woods for Clemson to make a title run.
27. Ryan Williams, Alabama: Jeremiah Smith had one of the best freshman seasons we’ve ever seen, but a different freshman might have made the best play of 2024.
1:02
Alabama answers right back with Ryan Williams’ 75-yard touchdown
Jalen Milroe heaves one to Ryan Williams, who goes 75 yards to restore Alabama’s lead.
Williams’ production trailed off after a torrid first five games, but it’s clear what he is capable of. If he channels Georgia energy for a larger portion of 2025, he’ll make the Tide awfully terrifying.
28. Leonard Moore and/or Christian Gray, Notre Dame: It was honestly incredible. Notre Dame lost all-world cornerback Benjamin Morrison to injury six games into 2024 and didn’t miss a single beat because Gray and Moore — then just a sophomore and freshman, respectively — were so damn good. They finished the season having combined for 5 interceptions, 19 pass breakups and 3 forced fumbles, and Gray’s spectacular interception of Drew Allar set up Notre Dame’s CFP semifinal win. Just imagine if even just one of these two hasn’t actually reached his ceiling.
Others: Anthony Hill Jr., Texas; Deontae Lawson, Alabama; Jeremiyah Love, Notre Dame; Colin Simmons, Texas; Nicholas Singleton and/or Kaytron Allen, Penn State; Dylan Stewart, South Carolina
Most important players in the ACC race
Though the list to this point has focused mostly on teams with the best national title odds, a 12-team playoff with five conference champion automatic bids assures that tons of teams actually have playoff shots. So let’s focus on the bids that won’t go to the SEC and Big Ten champs.
29. Kevin Jennings, SMU: Last season was supposed to be Preston Stone‘s moment, but Jennings won the quarterback job early in 2024, then proceeded to win nine straight starts and lead SMU to both the ACC championship game and the CFP. But mistakes — two early turnovers against Clemson, three picks (including two pick-sixes) against Penn State — ended the season in ignominious fashion. If Jennings rebounds and improves, SMU will again contend for a CFP spot. But wow, was that a crushing way to end 2024.
30. Rueben Bain Jr., Miami: After an incredible freshman debut in 2023, Bain was hurt just three snaps into 2024, sat out more than a month and flashed a true fifth gear only a few times while the Miami defense crumbled down the stretch. But as with Harold Perkins Jr., the potential here is obvious, and if he is all the way back up to speed and Miami’s transfer-heavy secondary holds up, the Canes could leave most league contenders in the dust.
31. Miller Moss, Louisville (No. 20 in 2024): Moss was on this list last year as he prepared to succeed Caleb Williams at USC. He started the season brilliantly in a win over LSU but finished it on the bench as the Trojans wound up 7-6. He wasn’t bad — he finished 26th in Total QBR — but a fresh start sure seemed like a decent idea. Jeff Brohm has a pretty good history with quarterbacks, and Moss will have one of the nation’s best RB duos (plus explosive receiver Chris Bell) in support. A big Moss season makes the Cardinals contenders.
32. Darian Mensah, Duke: Duke was a mini-Michigan last season, playing good enough defense to win nine games despite no run game and a passing game Manny Diaz disliked so much that he immediately went out and grabbed Mensah with what was believed to be a big-money deal. At Tulane in 2024, Mensah was excellent for a redshirt freshman; if he becomes simply excellent, period, why shouldn’t the Blue Devils be considered contenders? (Especially with a light conference schedule featuring only one projected top-40 ACC team?)
Others: Isaac Brown and/or Duke Watson, Louisville; Kyle Louis, Pittsburgh; Francis Mauigoa, Miami; Desmond Reid, Pittsburgh; Chandler Rivers, Duke
Most important players in the Big 12 race
33. Avery Johnson, Kansas State: The Wildcats don’t need a big-time, blue-chip quarterback to win a lot of games. Kansas State’s three straight nine- or 10-win seasons (and 2022 Big 12 title) are a testament to that. But it sure would feel like a waste if the Wildcats didn’t do something particularly impressive when they had a blue-chipper from their own backyard. Johnson, a top-100 prospect and product of Maize, Kansas, was fun if predictably mistake-prone in 2024, but if he phases out some of the errors and maximizes the big plays, K-State’s ceiling is higher than 10 wins.
34. Sam Leavitt, Arizona State: It was almost lost in the Cam Skattebo hysteria, but Leavitt was absolutely dynamite during ASU’s late-2024 hot streak. From November onward, he ranked second among all FBS starters in Total QBR, averaging 7.9 yards per dropback with a 16-to-2 TD-to-INT ratio (and scrambling beautifully) despite losing his go-to receiver, Jordyn Tyson, to injury. Having Skattebo next to him helped in obvious ways, but with a deeper receiving corps and a still-decent set of RBs, Leavitt could pilot an exciting Sun Devils offense and lead a second straight conference title charge.
35. Sawyer Robertson, Baylor: We’re going particularly quarterback-heavy in this section, but, well, this is a quarterback-heavy conference. And over the course of 2024, Robertson might have been the conference’s best. (He had the best Total QBR, at least.) He threw for 3,071 yards at an explosive 13.4 yards per completion, and he returns last season’s top two receivers, Josh Cameron and Ashtyn Hawkins. Baylor could have its best offense in a decade, which would give a work-in-progress defense quite a bit of margin for error.
36. Josh Hoover, TCU: Like TCU as a whole, Hoover spent much of 2024 looking great while under the radar. The Frogs won six of their last seven — they were probably the second-best team in the Big 12 after mid-October — and the quick-passing Hoover finished second in the conference in passing yards (3,949) and completion rate (66.5%), and first in yards per dropback (7.8). He’ll be working with a new receiving corps, but if he and TCU pick up where they left off, a conference title is within reach.
Others: David Bailey, Texas Tech; Rocco Becht, Iowa State; Devon Dampier, Utah; Spencer Fano, Utah; Behren Morton, Texas Tech; Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State
Most important Group of 5 players
37. Maddux Madsen, Boise State: Like Sam Leavitt, Madsen is going without training wheels this season. He no longer has the amazing Ashton Jeanty next to him, but he was still awfully good for a first-year starter in 2024. Madsen was fourth in Total QBR among Group of 5 QBs — second among those who threw more than 150 passes — and the Broncos were excellent on third downs, even when they had fallen off schedule. He’ll have experience all around him, and if he makes typical second-year-starter improvements, Boise State will be a runaway favorite to reach a second straight CFP.
38. Jake Retzlaff, Tulane: With both defending American Athletic champion Army and annual contender Memphis losing loads of production, Tulane has a massive opportunity to make a run in 2025, but it will require a quarterback. Jon Sumrall clearly knows this, as he brought in four QB transfers, and the latest might be the most vital.
1:13
How Jake Retzlaff ended up at Tulane
Pete Thamel gives the sequence of events that ended with former BYU QB Jake Retzlaff ending up at Tulane.
Retzlaff threw for 2,947 yards and 20 TDs as BYU surged up the Big 12 standings, and he’s now the biggest name in the Green Wave’s QB room. If he can get up to speed quickly, he’ll raise an already high ceiling in New Orleans.
39. Jayden Virgin-Morgan, Boise State: BSU must account for the loss of star pass rusher Ahmed Hassanein, but in Virgin-Morgan the Broncos might still have the best G5 defender in the country. He wasn’t quite as good as Hassanein against the run, but he has good size, and his 10 sacks as a sophomore (including 2.5 in two key wins over UNLV) were proof of massive potential. As with Madsen, a bit more development could make Boise nearly bullet-proof.
40. Alex Orji (No. 2 in 2024) or Anthony Colandrea, UNLV: The Rebels might be the single most fascinating team in the Group of 5. After winning 20 games in 2023 and ’24 (the same number they had won in the six years prior), they lost head coach Barry Odom and most of last season’s starters. That typically spells doom, but new head coach Dan Mullen has a fantastic résumé, and his transfer haul includes more blue-chippers than a lot of power-conference rosters can boast.
If either Orji or Colandrea thrive at quarterback, the Rebels could threaten Boise State. But Orji proved terribly one-dimensional in a failed audition at Michigan, and Colandrea was more confident than effective at Virginia. UNLV’s season could go in a lot of directions, but the ceiling is still high.
Others: Alonza Barnett III, James Madison; Walker Eget, San Jose State; Blake Horvath, Navy; Brendon Lewis, Memphis; Owen McCown, UTSA
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