Portal Rumor Mill: Transfer season kicks off with a bang
The transfer portal officially opened on Monday and hundreds of players have already entered looking for a new home and a fresh start. Here’s what Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney is hearing so far in this Portal Rumor Mill.
The former Florida defensive end who’s now a four-star in the portal rankings is hearing from “a lot of schools” but the only visit planned so far is to Texas A&M.
The Aggies are definitely a team to watch and this could be a quick flip unless Collins wants to wait and see some other programs before a decision.
Cooper does not have any visits finalized yet but the three-star defensive back from Florida State is hearing most from Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh, Oklahoma State and Memphis so far.
None of those programs were in Cooper’s top six before he chose the Seminoles coming out of high school.
Two official visits have been set up for the former Arkansas defensive end who finished with 23 tackles and one sack this season. Davillier is planning to see UCLA and Mississippi State before making any final decisions.
After one season at Nebraska, the former four-star is looking for a new home but the word is that the Huskers are not giving up on keeping him and continue to stay in communication about staying in Lincoln.
So far, the other main competitor has been Florida State but others are expected to jump in as no visits have been set yet.
Despite not putting up big numbers at USC, Eldridge is seeing major interest from Duke, Washington, Washington State, San Diego State, Boise State, Cal and Eastern Washington so far.
The former Bellingham (Wash.) Lynden Christian three-star tight end will visit Washington on Dec. 13 as the only visit planned so far. New interest from Georgia Tech and Ole Miss is also coming in now.
The four-star offensive lineman put up impressive PFF numbers at Harvard this season and it’s now given him offers from Virginia, Memphis, James Madison and a host of other programs with a ton of new interest coming in as well.
Programs from all Power Four conferences have reached out so Gentle’s list could change dramatically in the coming days. Gentle was at Memphis on Monday and then has trips to Virginia, Tulane and James Madison soon.
Nebraska will get the first visit from Graham on Thursday and the former Florida State linebacker will be at Kansas on Saturday as those two programs have emerged early on in Graham’s portal recruitment.
Many others are expected to get involved in the coming days.
After it didn’t work out at Texas Tech after one season, the five-star receiver was at Texas A&M on Monday and if all goes well the Aggies could be loading up majorly at wide receiver through the portal. Hudson is definitely one to watch as the Aggies were involved late in his high school recruitment.
Kelly caught 53 passes for 869 yards and four touchdowns this season and so the four-star receiver has received significant interest since entering the portal.
Michigan State and Louisville are Kelly’s visits that are set in stone and then Cal, Washington, Kansas, Memphis and North Carolina are reaching out most.
Key led Kentucky with 47 receptions for 715 yards and two touchdowns. Louisville, Nebraska, Georgia and South Carolina are the most involved in his recruitment now. The four-star is planning a visit to Louisville early next week as there continue to be rumors that Vince Marrow could join that staff so the Cardinals will be one to watch.
After backing up Ethan Garbers at UCLA this season, Martin is on the move and has a host of programs reaching out already for the former Inglewood, Calif., quarterback. Stanford, in particular, has reached out but eight or nine others will get involved with the talented QB as well.
The three-star linebacker from Dartmouth was a stat stuffer this season with 30 tackles, five sacks, five pass breakups, and Mullen is getting significant interest now.
Memphis, Georgia Tech, Nevada, UAB and a host of MAC programs are reaching out to Mullen as he’s finalizing visits at this point.
The four-star offensive lineman who was impressive at Cal Poly this season has five visits coming up before Christmas with four of them in the ACC.
Norton will be at Wake Forest on Dec. 14 and then every two days after that he will see Virginia, Syracuse, Georgia Tech and Kansas State to close things out on Dec. 22.
A four-star defensive end in the 2023 class, Osborne did not make much of an impact at Alabama this season but after jumping in the portal he’s seeing some significant interest already.
USC, LSU, Penn State and SMU are reaching out but Osborne has not finalized any visits yet.
The former four-star running back in the 2023 class signed with Iowa State but then bounced to New Mexico this season, and he rushed for 1,063 yards and nine touchdowns this season.
Sanders was at Michigan State on Monday and he’ll be at Arizona on Wednesday and Thursday. More trips could be coming as Oklahoma State, Arkansas, Virginia Tech, Stanford and Memphis have offered in recent days.
Texas Tech, Pitt, Florida State, Kentucky, South Carolina, Georgia Tech and Alabama will all receive visits over the coming weeks as Simmons is one of the most wanted offensive linemen in the portal coming out of Western Carolina.
Oklahoma offered Simmons on Monday and then Vanderbilt and Nebraska are also talking a lot, along with Michigan and Auburn.
With former coach Gus Malzahn leaving to be the offensive coordinator at Florida State, a whole bunch of UCF players have hit the portal including Threats, who has Nebraska, Northwestern, Michigan State, UCLA and Syracuse reaching out most.
The only visit the three-star defensive back has planned so far is with the Bruins this week.
The Alabama Crimson Tide are headed back to the Rose Bowl for the College Football Playoff.
One hundred years after Alabama football’s first appearance in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 1926, the Tide will face No. 1 Indiana (13-0) in the CFP quarterfinals in Pasadena on New Year’s Day.
Alabama (11-3) rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit to win its first-round playoff game, 34-24, against the Oklahoma Sooners (10-3) Friday night at Memorial Stadium in Norman.
Ty Simpson threw two touchdown passes to freshman receiver Lotzeir Brooks, cornerback Zabien Brown had a 50-yard interception return for touchdown, and Daniel Hill capped the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run as the Tide closed the game by out-scoring Oklahoma 34-7 over the final 36:52.
Conor Talty added two clutch field goals in Alabama’s win, its 10th victory overall in the College Football Playoff since 2014, and its first since the Crimson Tide defeated the Cincinnati Bearcats, 27-6, in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve 2021.
After Alabama’s rally, Tide players did some celebrating on the Sooners’ field.
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NORMAN, Oklahoma — The stage was set for Oklahoma. Heck, the Sooners earned the right to set it. This was supposed to be the ushering in of a new era of postseason football for the No. 8 team in the country that had won 10 games in what was one of the toughest schedules this year.
No. 9 Alabama was even one of those teams that Oklahoma beat on its way to earning this spot. And Saturday night, all was going well for the Sooners. It was going so well, in fact, that after the first quarter, some Oklahoma fans might’ve peeked at flights and hotel rates for the Rose Bowl from inside Memorial Stadium.
And then the Alabama Crimson Tide curled and rolled the Sooners, 34-24, and are headed to Pasadena. After opening with 17 unanswered points, Oklahoma collapsed under the weight of that wave, becoming the only team in College Football Playoff history to blow a 17-point lead. And now, the Sooners have done it twice — before Saturday, in 2018 against Georgia.
[Best Teams in the College Football Playoff Era: Creating the Ultimate 12-team CFP]
Here are my takeaways from Alabama’s College Football Playoff first-round victory against Oklahoma on Saturday:
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Zabien Brown #2 of the Alabama Crimson Tide stiff-arms John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners during the second quarter during the 2025 College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Crimson Tide quarterback Ty Simpson is an avid reader and listener of college football news. Following the largest comeback win in Alabama postseason history, Simpson took a moment to facetiously thank media members for choosing Oklahoma to win on Saturday night.
“I guess we can thank you guys for that,” an emboldened Simpson said. “You guys kind of wrote us off in a sort of way. So I appreciate that.”
After building a three-score lead, the Sooners watched the Crimson Tide recover a fumbled punt, pick off Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer and return it 50 yards to the end zone — all before their First Team All-American kicker Tate Sandell missed not one but two field goals in the final minutes to solidify the worst collapse in College Football Playoff history.
Meanwhile, the Alabama Crimson Tide will prepare to take on No. 1 Indiana in the Rose Bowl for the CFP quarterfinal game. This team that punches back and played its best football with its back against the wall is one that the Hoosiers must prepare for on New Year’s Day.
[College Football Playoff Predictions: First-Round Winners to The National Champion]
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: John Mateer #10 of the Oklahoma Sooners is hit by Deontae Lawson #0 of the Alabama Crimson Tide during the first quarter during the College Football Playoff first-round game on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
The Crimson Tide began down — just like they did against Georgia in the SEC championship game. But the last three quarters of Saturday’s game demonstrated Alabama to be just who it says it is: the kind of team that can open with a loss to a bad Florida State and also be the first team in six years to walk into Sanford Stadium in Athens, Georgia, and come out with a win.
DeBoer’s task now is to find a way to make certain that the team that showed up at Georgia earlier this season and at Oklahoma in the first round is the same one against the Hoosiers. Linebacker Deontae Lawson said that’s his job too. But Bama’s best trait isn’t one that shows itself until it’s in a fight for its life.
“Man, I just think we’re a resilient team,” Lawson said. “And even though we were down 17-0, we didn’t really look at the scoreboard. Coach DeBoer always says, ‘Keep playing the game. The game will come back to you.’ … We just keep fighting.”
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Head coach Brent Venables of the Oklahoma Sooners speaks to an official during the fourth quarter against the Alabama Crimson Tide on December 19, 2025. (Photo by Brian Bahr/Getty Images)
Let’s look at the bigger ones:
These are blunders. Errors that aren’t forced but self-inflicted. It’s difficult to win any game with those kinds of mistakes on your drive chart. It’s nearly impossible in a game of this magnitude, against a team as talented and as resilient as the Crimson Tide.
NORMAN, OKLAHOMA: Keon Keeley #31 of the Alabama Crimson Tide celebrates after defeating the Oklahoma Sooners in the College Football Playoff first-round game. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
Oklahoma usually plays 50 Cent’s “Many Men” before the start of the fourth quarter. In an attempt to make a statement for its first CFP game at Owen Field, the Sooners brought the rapper himself out onto the field to perform the song for fans in a Hard to Kill Hoodie.
“I didn’t know it was live,” DeBoer said.
“I didn’t know who 50 Cent was,” Simpson said, “but I know that song.”
“We play that song at practice on Fridays,” Lawson said.
RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him @RJ_Young.
Hello college football fans, and welcome to The Athletic’s live coverage of the 2025 College Football Playoff!
Yes, after a 2025 season full of an incredible amount of twists, turns, controversy and pure chaos, the second edition of the 12-team College Football Playoff gets underway tonight. Our opening matchup is a battle of blue-bloods whose first meeting this season contributed to that chaos, as No. 9 Alabama takes on No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Follow along for live pregame build-up and the latest news, play-by-play updates and real-time analysis from The Athletic’s college football staff!
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