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adminKFF Health News Dec 17 2024
Many of President-elect Donald Trump's candidates for federal health agencies have promoted policies and goals that put them at odds with one another or with Trump's choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., setting the stage for internal friction over public health initiatives.
The picks hold different views on matters such as limits on abortion, the safety of childhood vaccines, the covid-19 response, and the use of weight-loss medications. The divide pits Trump picks who adhere to more traditional and orthodox science, such as the long-held, scientifically supported findings that vaccines are safe, against often unsubstantiated views advanced by Kennedy and other selections who have claimed vaccines are linked with autism.
The Trump transition team and the designated nominees mentioned in this article did not respond to requests for comment.
It's a potential "team of opponents" at the government's health agencies, said Michael Cannon, director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian policy organization.
Kennedy, he said, is known for rejecting opposing views when confronted with science.
"The heads of the FDA and NIH will be spending all their time explaining to their boss what a confidence interval is," Cannon said, referring to a statistical term used in medical studies.
Those whose views prevail will have significant power in shaping policy, from who is appointed to sit on federal vaccine advisory committees to federal authorization for covid vaccines to restrictions on abortion medications. If confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy is expected to set much of the agenda.
"If President Trump's nomination of RFK Jr. to be secretary is confirmed, if you don't subscribe to his views, it will be very hard to rise in that department," said Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. "They will need to suppress their views to fit with RFK Jr's. In this administration, and any administration, independent public disagreement isn't welcome."
Kennedy is chair of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit. He has vowed to curb the country's appetite for ultra-processed food and its incidence of chronic disease. He helped select Trump's choices to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. If confirmed, he would lead them from the helm of HHS, with its more than $1.7 trillion budget.
Clashes are likely. Kennedy has supported access to abortion until a fetus is viable. That puts him at odds with Dave Weldon, the former Florida congressman whom Trump has chosen to run the CDC. Weldon, a physician, is an abortion opponent who wrote one of the major laws allowing health professionals to opt out of participating in the procedure.
Weldon would head an agency that's been in the crosshairs of conservatives since the covid pandemic began. He has touted his "100% pro-life voting record" on his campaign website. (He unsuccessfully ran earlier this year for a seat in Florida's House of Representatives.)
Trump has said he would leave decisions about abortion to the states, but the CDC under Weldon could, for example, fund studies on abortion risks. The agency could require states to provide information about abortions performed within their borders to the federal government or risk the loss of federal funds.
Weldon, like Kennedy, has questioned the safety of vaccines and has said he believes they can cause autism. That's at odds with the views of Marty Makary, a Johns Hopkins surgeon whom Trump plans to nominate for FDA commissioner. The British American said on the "Brian Kilmeade Show" on Fox News Radio that vaccines "save lives," although he added that it's good to question the U.S. vaccine schedule for children.
The American Academy of Pediatricians encourages parents and their children's doctors to stick to the recommended schedule of childhood vaccines. "Nonstandard schedules that spread out vaccines or start when a child is older put entire communities at risk of serious illnesses, including infants and young children," the group says in guidance for its members.
Jay Bhattacharya, a doctor and economist who is Trump's selection to lead NIH, has also supported vaccines.
Kennedy has said on NPR that federal authorities under his leadership wouldn't "take vaccines away from anybody." But the FDA oversees approval of vaccines, and, under his leadership, the agency could put vaccine skeptics on advisory panels or could make changes to a program that largely protects vaccine makers from consumer injury lawsuits.
"I do believe that autism does come from vaccines," Kennedy said in 2023 on Fox News. Many scientific studies have discredited the claim that vaccines cause autism. Related StoriesAI-generated handoff notes: Study assesses safety and accuracy in emergency medicineStudy: Brain volume changes correlate with social behavior differences in psychiatric conditionsResearch uncovers dietary patterns influencing Mediterranean Diet adherence
Ashish Jha, a doctor who served as the White House covid response coordinator from 2022 to 2023, noted that Bhattacharya and Makary have had long and distinguished careers in medicine and research and would bring decades of experience to these top jobs. But, he said, it "is going to be a lot more difficult than they think" to stand up for their views in the new administration.
It's hard "to do things that displease your boss, and if [Kennedy] gets confirmed, he will be their boss," Jha said. "They have their work cut out for them if they're going to stand up for their opinions on science. If they don't, it will just demoralize the staff."
Most of Trump's picks share the view that federal health agencies bungled the pandemic response, a stance that resonated with many of the president-elect's voters and supporters — even though Trump led that response until Joe Biden took office in 2021.
Kennedy said in a 2021 Louisiana House oversight meeting that the covid vaccine was the "deadliest" ever made. He has cited no evidence to back the claim.
Federal health officials say the vaccines have saved millions of lives around the globe and offer important protection against covid. Protection lasts even though their effectiveness wanes over time.
The vaccines' effectiveness against infection stood at 52% after four weeks, according to a May study in The New England Journal of Medicine, and their effectiveness against hospitalization was about 67% after four weeks. The vaccines were produced through Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership Trump launched in his first term to fast-track the shots as well as other treatments.
Makary criticized covid vaccine guidance that called for giving young children the shots. He argued that, for many people, natural immunity from infections could substitute for the vaccine. Bhattacharya opposed measures used to curb the spread of covid in 2020 and advised that everyone except the most vulnerable go about their lives as usual. The World Health Organization warned that such an approach would overwhelm hospitals.
Mehmet Oz, Trump's choice to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, an agency within HHS, has said the vaccines were oversold. He promoted the use of the anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. The FDA in 2020 revoked emergency authorization of hydroxychloroquine for covid, saying that it was unlikely to be effective against the virus and that the risk of dangerous side effects was too high.
Janette Nesheiwat, meanwhile, a former Fox News contributor and Trump's pick for surgeon general, has taken a different stance. The doctor described covid vaccines as a gift from God in a Fox News opinion piece.
Kennedy's qualms about vaccines are likely to be a central issue early in the administration. He has said he wants federal health agencies to shift their focus from preparing for and combating infectious disease to addressing chronic disease.
The shifting focus and questioning of vaccines concern some public health leaders amid the spread of the H5N1 bird flu virus among dairy cattle. There have been 60 human infections reported in the U.S. this year, all but two of them linked to exposure to cattle or poultry.
"Early on, they're going to have to have a discussion about vaccinating people and animals" against bird flu, said Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. "We all bring opinions to the table. A department's cohesive policy is driven by the secretary."
This article was reprinted from khn.org, a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF – the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Source:
KFF Health News

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Entertainment
Jeff Bezos’s Venice wedding celebrations begin with star-studded party after fresh protests
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3 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
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Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s star-studded wedding celebrations in Venice have begun, with VIP guests including the Kardashians descending on the Italian city.
The billionaire Amazon founder and his journalist fiancee waved to onlookers as they left a luxury hotel to travel to their pre-wedding reception by water taxi on Thursday evening.
Hollywood star Orlando Bloom was seen flashing a peace sign to fans as he left Venice’s Gritti Palace Hotel and he was soon followed by TV presenter Oprah Winfrey, who smiled and waved.

Orlando Bloom donning all white. Pic: Reuters

Oprah Winfrey is one of the 200-250 guests. Pic: Reuters
Kim and Khloe Kardashian travelled to the reception with their mother Kris Jenner – who snapped a picture of the pair on a water taxi – and other notable figures in town for the nuptials include Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

Kris Jenner snaps a photo of Khloe and Kim Kardashian. Pic: Reuters

Kim Kardashian gestures on a boat as Khloe appears to take a selfie.
Pic: Reuters
Some 200-250 A-list guests from showbusiness, politics and finance are expected to attend the events, with the wedding and its parts estimated to cost €40m-€48m (£34m-£41m).
Bezos, his soon-to-be wife and their famous guests have taken over numerous locations in the city, with the couple staying in the luxury Aman hotel, where rooms go for at least €4,000 per night.

The bride and groom leaving their hotel. Pic: AP
The first of the weekend’s many wedding parties is taking place in the cloisters of Madonna dell’Orto, a medieval church that hosts masterpieces by 16th century painter Tintoretto.
While the couple and their A-list guests were all smiles, some in Venice are not happy about the wedding – with protesters seeing it as an example of the city being gift-wrapped for ultra-rich outsiders.
Read more: Why are activists protesting the wedding?

An activist from Extinction Rebellion unfolds a banner in front of St Mark’s Basilica. Pic: AP
An activist climbed one of the poles in the main St Mark’s Square on Thursday, unfurling a banner which said: “The 1% ruins the world.”
Elsewhere, a life-size mannequin of Bezos clutching an Amazon box was dropped into one of the city’s famous canals.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez’s wedding in numbers
€48m price tag
The wedding and its parts are expected to cost €40m-€48m (£34-£41m), Luca Zaia, the president of Venice’s local government, said on Tuesday.
This includes sizeable charity donations from the Amazon founder, including €1m (£850k) to Corila, a consortium that studies Venice’s lagoon ecosystem, local media has reported.
90 private jets
The first private jets began landing at Venice airport on Tuesday and there will be around 90 in total, Mr Zaia said.
They’re not all arriving in Venice though, as some have landed at the nearby Treviso and Verona airports.
250 guests
Five of the city’s most luxurious hotels have been booked out to host an estimated 200-250 guests.
These include the celeb favourite Cipriani, where George and Amal Clooney married in 2014.
30 water taxis
Attendees of course aren’t hopping on public water buses to get around the city’s many islands.
The wedding’s organisers have booked at least 30 water taxis for them to use instead.
In a bid to keep demonstrators away from Thursday’s party, the city council banned pedestrians and water traffic from the area surrounding the venue, from 4.30pm local time to midnight.
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Bezos wedding protests explained
The couple will exchange their vows on Friday, on the small island of San Giorgio, opposite St Mark’s Square.
Another party will follow on Saturday – the venue for which was changed at the last-minute earlier this week.
Entertainment
Convicted killer jailed for stalking Cheryl admits another restraining order breach after turning up at her home
Published
3 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
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A convicted killer previously jailed for stalking Girls Aloud singer Cheryl has admitted another breach of his restraining order after turning up at her home.
Daniel Bannister, 50, pleaded guilty to the new charge at Reading Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday.
Confirming his plea, he told the court he attended an address he “reasonably believed or suspected” was the star’s home.
A court previously heard Bannister “can’t stay away” from the 41-year-old singer.
He was jailed for 16 weeks in March for repeatedly turning up at Cheryl‘s Buckinghamshire home while under a restraining order.
He had initially been jailed for four months in September last year and was handed a three-year restraining order, which he breached when he turned up at her home unannounced in December 2024.
At the March hearing, Cheryl said she “immediately panicked” when he rang the bell at the gate and was “terrified” when she saw him – fearing for the safety of her eight-year-old son Bear.

Cheryl in June 2022. Pic: PA
In 2012, Bannister killed 48-year-old Rajendra Patel in an attack at a south London YMCA shelter and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
He was remanded in custody on Friday and will appear at Reading Crown Court on 23 September.
Read more from Sky News
Star-studded guest list for Bezos’ wedding
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Bear’s father, former One Direction star Liam Payne, died last October in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony.
Cheryl described his death as “indescribably painful“, as she voiced fears about protecting their son.
Sports
What’s ahead in 2025 for Notre Dame, UConn and the Pac-2?
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3 hours agoon
June 27, 2025By
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Bill ConnellyJun 27, 2025, 07:07 AM ET
Close- Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.
Army and Navy are in the AAC. Liberty and New Mexico State landed in Conference USA. UMass decided to head back to the MAC. Sacramento State’s efforts to become an FBS independent aren’t working out. In a year, Oregon State and Washington State will be members of a fully stocked Pac-12 again. (They aren’t really indies now, either, but I’m putting them in here because I didn’t want to write a two-team conference preview.)
The indie party has thinned out significantly in recent years. It looks like we’ll be down to Notre Dame and UConn by next year, and, one of these years maybe those perpetual “UConn to the Big 12?” rumors will actually bear fruit, too. Regardless, these four teams bring loads of storylines to the table. Notre Dame might be more loaded this season than it was during last year’s earlier-than-expected run to the national title game. UConn has restocked after last year’s thrilling (and rather out of nowhere) nine-win campaign. Oregon State’s roster has stabilized after a tumultuous 2024, and Washington State is attempting a complete culture transplant.
Let’s preview 2025’s independents (and the final two-team Pac-12)!
Every week through the summer, Bill Connelly will preview another FBS conference, ultimately including all 136 FBS teams. The previews will include 2024 breakdowns, 2025 previews and team-by-team capsules. Here are the MAC, Conference USA, Mountain West, Sun Belt and AAC previews.
2024 recap
We had a lot of plot lines running here despite a small number of teams. In their first season after watching 10 conference mates (and a bunch of players) depart the Pac-12, Wazzu and Oregon State started strong and collapsed; the former started 8-1 and finished 0-4, while the latter started 4-1 and finished 1-6. Wazzu then lost its head coach and most of its stars as well.
Meanwhile, out East, Jim Mora was engineering UConn’s best season in 14 years while fending off all sorts of transfer portal vultures. Per SP+, the Huskies fielded their best defense since 2015 and their best offense since 2009, and after a pretty clear regular-season split — 0-4 against power conference teams, 8-0 against the Group of 5 — they capped a nine-win campaign with a 27-14 Fenway Bowl thumping of North Carolina.
Oh yeah, and Notre Dame reached the national title game. The Fighting Irish had their line depth tested significantly — only one offensive or defensive lineman started all 16 games — and passed with flying colors. After a shocking loss to NIU in Week 2, they had to win out to reach the CFP and did so, and then they beat Indiana, Georgia and Penn State before a midgame lull in the finals resulted in a 34-23 loss to Ohio State. It’s hard to find new firsts to accomplish in South Bend, but Marcus Freeman got to check the “Notre Dame’s first 14-win season” box.
Continuity table
The continuity table looks at each team’s returning production levels (offense, defense and overall), the number of 2024 FBS starts from returning and incoming players and the approximate number of redshirt freshmen on the roster heading into 2025. (Why “approximate”? Because schools sometimes make it very difficult to ascertain who redshirted and who didn’t.) Continuity is an increasingly difficult art in roster management, but some teams pull it off better than others.
For a title-game finalist, Notre Dame’s continuity is pretty impressive. Freeman didn’t have to do a ton of portal work because his Irish return 10 starters from 2024, plus loads of part-timers and some key injury returnees (namely, left tackle Charles Jagusah and defensive end Jordan Botelho). He plumped up depth at receiver (a necessity) and in the defensive line and secondary, but he stayed in-house to find a replacement for quarterback Riley Leonard. If that proves to be the right call, the Irish will contend again.
Elsewhere, UConn managed to avoid getting completely plucked apart by the aforementioned vultures, and while Wazzu is starting almost completely from scratch, Oregon State has encouraging continuity heading toward the fall.
2025 projections
Notre Dame’s schedule is a strange one: The Irish play projected top-15 teams in each of the first two weeks (at Miami in Week 1, then Texas A&M in Week 2) but don’t play another projected Top 25 team for the rest of the year. If they’re genuinely a title-caliber squad again, the Irish could roll, but all sorts of land mines await — at Arkansas, Boise State, USC, Navy, at Pitt — if their attention drifts.
Out West, OSU and Wazzu did something I enjoy: They arranged a home-and-home. They’ll face off in Corvallis on Nov. 1, then again in Pullman on Nov. 29. (Personally, I think they should make it a best-of-three and play on a neutral site over Championship Week if they split the first two games. Put it in Las Vegas. Call it the “Pac-12 Championship.”)
Notre Dame’s schedule strength will be impacted greatly by how good teams like Arkansas and Boise State turn out to be, but at this moment the Irish are one of the surest playoff contenders on the board. Start 1-1, and you’re in great shape from there. And while UConn does have some roster holes to fill, a schedule featuring nine opponents projected 91st or lower in SP+ should make a third bowl trip in four seasons pretty likely.
Five best games of 2025
Here are the five games involving independents that feature (a) the highest combined SP+ ratings for both teams and (b) a projected scoring margin under 10 points.
Cal at Oregon State (Aug. 30). With seven games projected within a touchdown or less, Oregon State’s season could go in quite a few different directions; the Beavers start out with two of those games, both at home. If they’re 2-0 when they head to Texas Tech in Week 3, they could be on their way to a lovely campaign. If they’re 0-2, well…
Notre Dame at Miami (Aug. 31). The single-digit requirement means that only one Notre Dame game shows up on this list. Even against Texas A&M in Week 2, the Irish are favored by 10.2. But this Week 1 battle is enormous. With a new quarterback and new defense, Miami is going to be a talented mystery right out of the gate. If the Irish survive this challenge, their CFP odds skyrocket.
Washington at Washington State (Sept. 20). With former South Dakota State head coach Jimmy Rogers taking over (and bringing lots of former Jackrabbits with him), Wazzu will be fascinating to follow. The Cougs will have a couple of decent tests before this Week 4 matchup, but the Apple Cup will be Rogers’ first big test to prove his physical identity is taking hold.
Houston at Oregon State (Sept. 27). Trips to Texas Tech and Oregon are likely to produce two OSU losses, which means that this one will represent the official start to Act II of the Beavers’ season. They could be 3-2 after the Houston game, but they could also theoretically be 0-5.
Duke at UConn (Nov. 8). Even if UConn struggles with an almost entirely new starting defense, the schedule is kind enough that the Huskies are never projected double-digit underdogs. Even Duke, the third of three ACC opponents and the best projected team on the schedule, will visit East Hartford as only about an eight-point favorite here.
CFP contenders
Head coach: Marcus Freeman (fourth year, 33-10 overall)
2025 projection: sixth in SP+, 10.5 average wins
Of the top seven teams in the current SP+ projections, only one, No. 3 Penn State, returns its starting quarterback. For that matter, only three of the top 13 teams do. This is part of the reason for what I feel is the relative offseason overhyping of Clemson — quarterback Cade Klubnik is the proverbial bird in hand even though he’s never ranked higher than 13th in Total QBR.
It’s worth remembering, however, that six of the top seven in Total QBR last year (and 10 of the top 12) were first-year starters at their schools of choice. The bird in hand is only preferable until we know which of the new guys is awesome.
CJ Carr might be awesome. The Saline, Michigan, product — and grandson of former Michigan head coach Lloyd Carr — was a top-40 recruit and the No. 2 pocket passer in the class of 2024. He is by most accounts super-smart with a super-strong arm, and he was solid enough this spring that a) Marcus Freeman didn’t feel the need to make any sort of desperate post-spring portal QB acquisition and b) 2024 backup Steve Angeli read the writing on the wall and transferred to Syracuse.
Carr (or, theoretically, sophomore Kenny Minchey) is one of the most important players of the 2025 season in that, if he’s good, Notre Dame might not have a single weakness. For starters, the Irish will have Jeremiyah Love and Jadarian Price (combined: 1,871 rushing yards, 24 TDs) back at running back. Love is the best returning yards-after-contact back in FBS; only Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Miami’s Damien Martinez topped him in 2024, and they’re both now in the NFL.
At receiver, CFP semifinal hero Jaden Greathouse is back in the slot, and while Freeman added fewer transfers than most, he did nab Malachi Fields (Virginia) and Will Pauling (Wisconsin), each of whom averaged more yards per route run than any Notre Dame receiver not named Greathouse. The offensive line overcame rampant injuries and extreme inexperience to play at a high level late last season; it lost two starters to the portal, but that was in part because others, like Charles Jagusah and center Ashton Craig, were likely to start over them. The defense, meanwhile, returns 12 of the 20 players who saw 200-plus snaps last season and welcomes 2023 starting end Jordan Botelho and potentially high-value transfers like tackle Jared Dawson (Louisville) and nickel DeVonta Smith (Alabama).
In a way, Notre Dame’s charge to the 2024 title game came ahead of schedule, as evidenced by the massive number of key returnees who are either juniors (Love, Price, Greathouse, Craig, right tackle Aamil Wagner, defensive end Joshua Burnham, defensive tackle Donovan Hinish, linebackers Drayk Bowen and Jaylen Sneed, cornerback Christian Gray) or sophomores (Jagusah, left tackle Anthonie Knapp, defensive ends Bryce Young and Boubacar Traore, linebackers Jaiden Ausberry and Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa, cornerback Leonard Moore, safety Adon Shuler). The passing game produced almost no big plays of note, and the Irish had to rely on long strings of error-free plays to score points, and despite all the youth around Leonard, they got it. And despite having to start 20 different guys at least once on defense, they consistently delivered, especially against the pass.
It was a seasonlong endorsement of what Freeman is building — right down to how this inexperienced Irish team responded to probably the single most shocking result of the season. And now, in theory, this team could continue growing and developing moving forward. As long as it has a QB.
Well, a QB and a defensive coordinator. With Al Golden moving on to the NFL, Freeman replaced him with former Rutgers head coach and Texas (among others) defensive coordinator Chris Ash. Ash and Golden are awfully similar from a résumé perspective — once up-and-comers, they were both relative failures as head coaches who spent time in the pros before landing in South Bend. But Golden’s overall track record as a head coach and coordinator was a little bit stronger, and the last time Ash was part of either a top-10 NFL defense or a top-40 college defense was 2015. Freeman’s presence assures a pretty high floor, Ash will have lots of fun toys to play with, and Freeman has quickly earned the benefit of the doubt. But it was hard to love this hire.
The schedule does present one extra obstacle: Not only will the Irish obviously need good quarterback play from an inexperienced player, but thanks to the two best projected opponents showing up in the first two weeks of the season, they’ll need it immediately. This roster positively screams “major national title contender in 2026,” but the Irish’s status as a 2025 contender will be determined by how quickly Carr (or Minchey!) looks the part and whether or not Ash can immediately thrive.
Everyone else
Head coach: Jim Mora (fourth year, 18-20 overall)
2025 projection: 84th in SP+, 7.4 average wins
You’re forgiven if you didn’t see this coming. Lord knows I didn’t. Jim Mora’s UConn tenure began with a massive surge from 1-11 to 6-7 in 2022, but the underlying stats suggested it was awfully fluky, and the Huskies crashed to 3-9 in 2023, then began 2024 with a 50-7 faceplant against Maryland.
Following that terrible trip to College Park, however, they ignited, winning nine of their final 12 games, losing to three ACC teams (Duke, Wake Forest and Syracuse) by a combined 15 points and beating everyone else on the docket. The offense dealt with ups and downs but got over 2,200 rushing yards and 18 TDs from a trio of backs — one of whom, Cam Edwards (830 yards, 5.7 per carry), returns — and random big plays from receiver Skyler Bell (who also returns). Under first-year coordinator Matt Brock, meanwhile, the defense basically started and ended drives brilliantly: The Huskies ranked first nationally in three-and-out rate (42.4%), fourth in third-down conversion rate allowed (29.1%) and eighth in red zone touchdown rate allowed (46.5%).
A lot of key components return in 2025: Mora, Brock, Edwards, Bell, quarterbacks Joe Fagnano and Nick Evers, four part- or full-time starting offensive linemen and a pair of excellent DBs in nickel D’Mon Brinson and sophomore corner Cam Chadwick. But when a mid-major team surprises in the mid-2020s, the vultures quickly start hovering. UConn lost four starters to power conference transfers, including three from the dynamite D. In all, of the 13 defenders who started at least four games, Brinson and Chadwick are the only returnees.
Mora tried to strike back the best he could in the portal. He landed 26 transfers in all, including smaller school standouts like running back MJ Flowers (Eastern Illinois), 6-foot-7 offensive lineman Hayden Bozich (Brown), defensive linemen Marquis Black (Gardner-Webb) and Stephon Wright (Texas Southern) and corners Kolubah Pewee Jr. (Georgetown) and Sammy Anderson Jr. (Austin Peay). He also might have identified a potential inefficiency by searching for either guys who were semi-proven but injured in 2024 — receivers Naiem Simmons (USF) and Caleb Burton III (Auburn) — or players like receiver Reymello Murphy (Arizona/ODU), receiver Thai Chiaokhiao-Bowman (Rice/Florida) and linebacker Bryun Parham (Washington/SJSU), multitime transfers who have fallen off of other teams’ radars after nondescript 2024 campaigns.
Mora has been pretty open and interesting regarding his thoughts on the transfer portal, the loyalty of players and whatnot, and in this increasingly transient college football environment, he’s made a lot of astute moves. The defense lost enough players that regression is conceivable, but a more experienced offense (and replenished receiving corps) could pick up the slack, and there are lots of potential wins on the schedule. The outlook for this program flipped quickly.
Head coach: Trent Bray (second year, 5-7 overall)
2025 projection: 73rd in SP+, 6.6 average wins
There are always going to be haves and have-nots in college football, but for a lot of us, it doesn’t seem like too much to ask for some semblance of fairness. If a program invests and hires smartly and puts a strong product on the field, it should be rewarded with more or better opportunities to prove itself, whether it is a historic powerhouse or not.
What happened to Oregon State and Washington State, then, will never sit particularly well. Jonathan Smith returned to his alma mater at a low point — OSU was 1-11 and 120th in SP+ the year before he arrived — and slowly built it into a top-30 program. The Beavers won 18 games with an average SP+ ranking of 23.5 in 2022-23. They beat Oregon and walloped Florida to finish 2022 and beat Utah (which then left for the Big 12), Cal (ACC), UCLA (Big Ten), Colorado (Big 12) and Stanford (ACC) in 2023. And they were rewarded for this turnaround by losing their power conference status … and eventually their head coach and 19 starters, too. With former defensive coordinator Trent Bray taking over in 2024, the Beavers flashed offensive potential and ran the ball well, but a decimated defense allowed at least 31 points seven times and plummeted from 35th to 107th in defensive SP+. The Beavers’ record fell accordingly.
While I can whine about fairness — and boy, do I! — Bray doesn’t have that luxury. He’s tasked with winning games no matter the situation, and he might have crafted a team that can do so in 2025. He held onto the offense’s two best players (running back Anthony Hankerson and wideout Trent Walker) and added former blue-chippers in quarterback Maalik Murphy (Duke) and tight ends Riley Williams (Miami) and Jackson Bowers (BYU), plus a number of offensive line transfers. On defense, he added six transfers to a lineup that returns 14 of the 21 players who started at least once. Edge rusher Nikko Taylor (nine TFLs) is excellent, 345-pound senior tackle Jacob Schuster is a keeper and sophomores like tackles Thomas Collins and Jojo Johnson, edge rusher Zakaih Saez, nickel Sailasa Vadrawale III and corner Exodus Ayers posted decent numbers in small samples. There aren’t any no-brainer successes among the incoming transfers, but edge rusher Walker Harris (Southern Utah) has the size to succeed.
As mentioned above, the schedule offers lots of win opportunities but few guarantees. The Beavers are projected to win 6.6 games on average, but thanks to the high number of close games, they have both a 7% chance of going 4-8 or worse and a 10% chance of going 9-3 or better. If Murphy and Walker form a strong rapport early on, and OSU gets past Cal and Fresno State to start the season, this could be a pretty fun fall in Corvallis. Of course, the opposite is also on the table.
Head coach: Jimmy Rogers (first year)
2025 projection: 82nd in SP+, 5.6 average wins
Wazzu’s 2024 season didn’t go off the rails the same way that OSU’s did. Despite losing quarterback Cam Ward and most of his skill corps — and despite watching Ward damn near win the Heisman and become the No. 1 pick while at Miami — Jake Dickert’s Cougars actually jumped to 22nd in offensive SP+ thanks to a new set of stars like quarterback John Mateer and freshman running back Wayshawn Parker. They beat back-to-back power conference foes, including Apple Cup rival Washington, during an 8-1 start, too. Defense and special teams were both pretty dire, which became particularly costly during four late losses, but they still improved by three wins. It could have been worse.
Of course, it then got worse. Dickert left for Wake Forest, and a whopping 60 Cougars eventually entered the transfer portal, including Mateer (Oklahoma) and Parker (Utah). Only three returning Cougs started more than two games last season; this roster has been stripped to the studs.
It’s been rebuilt with Jackrabbits. Former South Dakota State head man Jimmy Rogers took over and eventually brought 16 SDSU transfers with him. The success of the SDSU program and the volume of incoming Jacks made Wazzu one of the sport’s more interesting teams to me this spring: “Running backs Angel Johnson, Kirby Vorhees and Maxwell Woods combined to rush for 1,403 yards at 7.2 per carry at SDSU last year; they’re all Cougs now. So are defensive backs Tucker Large, Caleb Francl, Matthew Durrance and Colby Humphrey, who combined for 215 tackles, 14 TFLs, 7 interceptions and 20 breakups. This sort of culture transplant has produced both immediate brilliance (Curt Cignetti’s incredible Indiana turnaround in 2024) and the exact opposite (Jay Norvell went just 5-16 in his first two seasons at Colorado State after bringing double-digit transfers from Nevada). A good player culture is finicky and unpredictable, but if Pullman can become Brookings West in that regard, success will follow.”
Walking through the new Wazzu roster, position by position, there’s plenty to like. Quarterback Zevi Eckhaus looked good in relief of Mateer last season, the SDSU running back trio is absolutely dynamite, slot receiver Josh Meredith is a keeper, the offensive line returns two starters and maybe New Mexico State’s best player (guard AJ Vaipulu), the defensive line welcomes eight new transfers (including maybe NMSU’s second-best player, end Buddha Peleti), linebacker Keith Brown was a small-sample box-score filler last year, and the SDSU transplants in the secondary should hold up nicely. But there’s so much turnover that SP+ isn’t really keeping the faith: The Cougs are projected to fall to 82nd. That obviously comes with some massive potential variance, though, and it wouldn’t take much overachievement to flip a lot of games from toss-ups to wins. This is going to be a fascinating experiment.
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