This spring was unlike any other in college football.
For the first time in decades, retired Alabama coach Nick Saban wasn't running a spring practice. USC, UCLA, Oregon and Washington were preparing for their first season in the Big Ten, and Oklahoma and Texas were gearing up for their inaugural season in the SEC. The 16 schools in the Big 12 met at the Fiesta Summit, the first time they all gathered in person since Colorado, Arizona, Arizona State and Utah joined the league.
And for the first time in the history of college football, the five highest-ranked conference champions will earn a spot in the new 12-team College Football Playoff, along with the next seven highest-ranked teams.
The path to the playoff has unofficially begun -- with new coaching staffs, quarterback competitions and rising stars who will replace household names. Here's all the buzz ESPN college football reporters Adam Rittenberg and Heather Dinich were hearing this spring:
Jump to a section:
New coaches | QB battles
Breakout players | Playoff buzz
Spring football | Longshot contenders | Notes
How are new coaches fitting in?
Rittenberg: I spoke to several this spring, spanning from those who took over during the normal coaching cycle, such as Jonathan Smith at Michigan State, to those hired much later, such as UCLA's DeShaun Foster and Boston College's Bill O'Brien.
Smith's goal is to restore stability for an MSU program that made the CFP in 2015 and had six 10-win seasons between 2010 and 2017, but since then has only one season with more than seven wins and three different coaches. Although Smith brought quarterback Aidan Chiles and others with him from Oregon State, he's taking an "inside out" approach toward roster construction.
"When this place was having success under coach [Mark] Dantonio, Michigan, Ohio was a heavy part of the roster," Smith told me. "I'm not saying exclusive 100%, but that's the foundation. Trying to make the game physical on both sides of the ball, that fits historically, Michigan State. This place, it's won before. They've gone to the four-team playoff, won the Big Ten, so it's been done here."
Foster knew UCLA well as a former player and an assistant for the past seven years. His adjustment has been connecting with more players as well as key stakeholders around the program, as UCLA is trying to grow its NIL presence.
"I talk to donors on a daily basis, somebody," he told me. "It's a huge part of college football right now. I've known most of the people already. It's just in a different role. They're still understanding my vision. It's just explaining it to them on a bigger scale."
O'Brien hadn't previously worked at BC, but he's from Boston and a recognizable figure in the area after two stints with the New England Patriots. O'Brien is amplifying his NFL ties, noting that the staff has three former NFL head coaches -- himself, Doug Marrone and Rob Chudzinski.
"That's a big part of what is a sell to some of these kids," O'Brien told me. "If they have the desire to play pro football, in combination with getting a great degree, we can develop them to play pro football. We know what it looks like."
Heather Dinich: While those coaches are trying to establish their programs, Alabama's Kalen DeBoer is trying to maintain his.
DeBoer has officially moved into former coach Nick Saban's office but said "it's pretty bare" because Saban took his memorabilia with him -- decades of decorations.
DeBoer, though, said he's looking forward to piecing together his own collection, and while some tangible reminders of Saban's legacy went with him, the infrastructure and resources to win remain.
"We're going to embrace all of that and everything that this program has done before and during his time, but I'm hoping to not just hold that level, but improve on it," DeBoer said. "I know naturally you look at the number of championships, and it's really hard to look at that and say, 'Well, how are you going to do more?' But I think while you're aspiring to win those championships, there are other things that you can continue to grow the program. It's not a thing where there's these weaknesses in certain parts of the program, it's just continue to make it better and better."
Most interesting QB competitions moving forward?
Rittenberg: Washington. The 2023 national runner-up has a record-setting transfer from the SEC in Will Rogers, who initially committed to Washington then re-entered the portal after DeBoer left for Alabama, only to withdraw and stay with the Huskies. New coach Jedd Fisch told me Rogers has "embraced every piece of coaching that we've given him" and been the ideal teammate and leader. But Fisch also brought in Demond Williams Jr., who had signed with him at Arizona before transferring to Washington. Fisch, who just developed Noah Fifita into a star at Arizona, said Williams had the best spring for a freshman that he had ever seen.
"The way he's worked, the way he's prepared, the way he throws the football, the way he runs, the way he leads at the line of scrimmage, he has that 'it' factor that has been pretty cool to see," Fisch said of Williams.
Dinich: Most are expecting K-State transfer Will Howard to earn the starting job at Ohio State and understandably so -- he has the edge in experience. But there are five scholarship players at the position and Alabama transfer Julian Sayin was still in the mix for the starting job at the end of spring. Ohio State coach Ryan Day told me the staff is excited about Sayin and his future with the Buckeyes.
"He's got a quick release," Day said. "He learns quickly. He sees the field. He's got a good way about him. In terms of the other guys in the room, [offensive coordinator] Chip [Kelly] is still rolling those guys, we're starting to see a little bit of separation in certain areas, but we're not in a situation to name a starter right now. It's been fun to watch them grow this spring."
Breakout candidates for 2024?
Rittenberg: Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson. Will Howard helped Kansas State to a Big 12 title in 2022 and generally played well there, but the expectations are higher for Johnson, an extremely fast and athletic quarterback set to supplement what he showed as a runner last season (5.7 ypc, 7 touchdowns) with more refined passing ability, after taking reps with the starters this spring.
"Will was extremely efficient in what he did, and you could tell he was a veteran," defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman told me. "Avery isn't maybe quite to that level yet from figuring things out, but Avery is 10 times more dangerous as an athlete."
K-State coach Chris Klieman told me he wants more "layups" in the passing game -- easy throws to open targets, which should increase with Johnson's run threat.
"He's a very underrated thrower, a great thrower of the football," Klieman said. "Yeah, he's going to run the ball naturally, but we probably won't do a ton of designed runs for him. He's going to make plays on his own."
Dinich: Keep an eye on Oregon running back Noah Whittington, who is making a comeback from a season-ending injury against Colorado last September. Coach Dan Lanning told me the staff could have practiced him at full-go this spring, but decided to be "pretty conscientious" with him. "He looks really good," Lanning said. "He hit 100% of his highest speed he ever hit [recently]." Whittington is still working on change-of-direction.
Rittenberg: LSU's Kyren Lacy is set to step in as the team's top wideout following the losses of first-round NFL draft picks Malik Nabers (No. 6) and Brian Thomas Jr. (No. 23). Lacy averaged 18.6 yards per reception with seven touchdowns in 2023, and will have many more targets this fall from new quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. "He's always been really talented and always had really good moments, very consistent," an LSU source told me. "He only had one half of one [spring] practice where I thought he kind of dropped off, and he immediately noticed it got fixed."
Dinich: Ohio State freshman wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has drawn rave reviews from within the program this spring. "I don't think there's a deficiency in his game," first-year offensive coordinator Chip Kelly told me. "He's got a really good skill set -- an amazing skill set. He's tall, he's long, he's fast, he's tough. He's got a great work ethic and he's picked things up really quickly."
What's the latest playoff buzz?
Dinich: Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark recently told a small group of reporters at the Fiesta Spring Summit that the commissioners don't have a timeline for determining the format for 2026 and beyond. "I don't think there's going to be any decisions in the foreseeable future," he said.
Ohio State coach Ryan Day said he doesn't have a strong opinion right now on whether a 12-team or 14-team playoff is better for the sport in the future -- unless it means more Big Ten teams.
"I do feel like when you look at the Big Ten right now, at 18 teams -- great teams in the conference -- the more automatic qualifiers we can get for the Big Ten, the better," Day told ESPN. "I think we deserve quite a few automatic qualifiers. I know [Big Ten commissioner] Tony Petitti is working really hard to talk about those and advocate for the conference. If getting to 14 means one more automatic qualifier for the Big Ten, then I'm all in support of it."
Yormark, while speaking on a panel at the Fiesta Summit, said he would prefer to reward conference champions in the next iteration of the playoff along with the best at-large teams instead of seeing conferences have multiple automatic qualifiers.
Future of spring football?
Rittenberg: After another active spring transfer cycle, more coaches are wondering whether the spring football practice structure will soon go away or be modified, as rosters remain very much in flux. Although the 2020 offseason amid the COVID-19 pandemic provided many more obstacles than advantages, many coaches liked the OTA-like workouts that took place in the late spring and summer, and wonder if those could be replicable going forward.
"I don't necessarily think you'll have 15 [practices] in 34 days, you'll have minicamps, like OTAs," a Big 12 coach told me. "And I think that's good. I don't have any problem with that. Our deal is going to look more and more like the NFL."
An ACC coordinator added: "I think it's going away. You hate to waste all this time and energy with kids who are going to leave. Then just the player safety aspect. I would imagine it's probably going away quickly."
Dinich: Wake Forest coach Dave Clawson said that when the head coaches were together in January at the AFCA convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, the idea of turning spring football into more of an NFL model didn't get a lot of traction. He said he doesn't think a lot of the coaches are doing all of the tackling that's allowed because they're all very "safety-conscious" during the spring because rosters are getting thinner and they don't want to take any unnecessary risks. They're also trying to teach the proper techniques, he said.
"It's still a very valuable teaching time," Clawson said of spring ball. "Players come to our programs with all different levels of fundamentals. That transition period -- whether they're a transfer or midyear high school player -- it's still really critical to help get them ready for the fall."
West Virginia coach Neal Brown told me he's comfortable continuing to operate under the current guidelines for spring football, but that coaches need to be open to change as their sport begins to make drastic changes. Brown said he believes the college football calendar will look significantly different in three to five years -- from a recruiting standpoint to offseason workouts and practice models.
"I'm open -- and I think a lot of coaches are -- to more of an NFL model where you have OTAs and you have minicamps and it's a more open window where you can actually do more football from February through July," he said. "Maybe you have a three-day minicamp in February, you have two three-day minicamps in March, you do it in April, you come back and do OTAs in June and July. I'd be open to that style of thinking also. To me, you go to a year-round approach. We're in a year-round model anyway. If you only have a 34-day window where you put pads on in the spring, and you have your traditional season in the fall bleeding into January now, there are several people in college football who would be open to instead of having that designated period in the spring, you have more opportunities to participate with helmets and shoulder pads. Maybe it's not full tackle, but it's more opportunities to practice football-wise."
Boise State coach Spencer Danielson said spring football is essential to the Broncos because they're a "developmental program."
"We need every rep, every practice we can because we need to build our players," he said. "We recruit primarily high school kids -- and a lot of them early enrollees for us. We use that semester to get them to grow to where now they're almost like sophomores. If they do that for another year, by the time they go into their true sophomore year, they're pretty good players. The 15 true practices for us, that's a huge developmental piece."
Long shot to win the national title
Dinich: I'm spewing rat poison and going with Ole Miss. The Rebels would have qualified for a 12-team playoff in each of the past two seasons and this should be Lane Kiffin's best team yet. The Rebels finished third in the SEC last year in total offense (462 yards per game) and return quarterback Jaxson Dart, who should be one of the best in the country.
Cornerback Brandon Turnage, who's from Oxford and returned home for his senior season after stops at Tennessee and Alabama, has seen the evolution of the program since he was in high school at Lafayette.
"It's definitely more of a pro program now," he told reporters this spring. "That's something I really wanted to be a part of. I saw how they did things before I got here. I watched and played against them. With Coach Pete [Golding] coming here and the defense he runs, a pro-style defense, I said, 'Man, there's no better time and no better opportunity than this.'"
Rittenberg: Notre Dame fascinates me. The defense has been excellent under coordinator Al Golden and could be even better this fall, as Thorpe Award winner Xavier Watts and playmaking cornerback Benjamin Morrison lead an excellent secondary. Notre Dame usually can count on its offensive line and tight ends to be very good at worst, and I liked what I saw from running backs Jeremiyah Love, Gi'Bran Payne and Aneyas Williams in the spring game.
The big key is getting more from the quarterback spot and the passing game against top competition. Notre Dame didn't really get a chance to evaluate Duke transfer Riley Leonard this spring because of his lingering ankle issues, but the team thinks it has an upgrade from Sam Hartman. The return of coordinator Mike Denbrock, who oversaw a record-setting LSU offense last season and understands the unique elements at Notre Dame, is a very sharp move.
"I know the expectations, so I look forward to the challenge of Year 3," coach Marcus Freeman told me. "Our mindset is to reach our full potential. What is the result of reaching your full potential? We'll see. But I'm really confident that if this team is playing at its full potential, it's hard to beat. That's our daily challenge."
Rittenberg notebook
Nebraska coach Matt Rhule understands the urgency to win in Year 2, especially given the team's extended lull without even a bowl appearance. "The fans here have been loyal for so long," he told me. "They experienced unbelievably great football for such a long time, and there's a sense of, 'Hey, what's it going to take to get us there?' This football team is so central to so many people in this state that it really puts on your shoulders a tremendous obligation to do a great job."
Texas can access top transfers and has added several this offseason -- pass-rusher Trey Moore (UTSA), safety Andrew Mukuba (Clemson), wide receivers Isaiah Bond (Alabama), Matthew Golden (Houston) and Silas Bolden (Oregon State) -- but coach Steve Sarkisian continues to emphasize player development within the program. "You're going have to go to the portal and get some players, but it is not the end all, be all," Sarkisian told me. "We still believe in recruiting really good high school players that are highly competitive, have a big upside, and then our job is to develop them. That's why they call us coaches."
Kansas running back Devin Neal and the team's other seniors hoped to play their final season on campus, but they recognize the significance of the renovation to David Booth Memorial Stadium, especially on the heels of the team's first nine-win season since 2007. "It's realizing all the things that you've built, so the future generations get that amazing stadium, all the facilities," Neal told me. "Because if we don't do this, they don't get that. It's going to be a cool outlet to look back on, even though I'm not going to be playing in The Booth."
Washington coach Jedd Fisch has a lot to sort out internally before the season kicks off, after so many changes in Seattle. But he's not downplaying or distancing the team's move to the Big Ten. "If Washington wasn't in the Big Ten, I wouldn't have taken the job," he told me. "You start hearing about the different amounts of money that are coming to you in the College Football Playoff share, if you're in the Big Ten. You start seeing the different amount of revenue that's coming to you in the Big Ten. You start seeing the type of teams that are in the Big Ten that are going to be on your schedule. My mind has been on that daily."
Dinich notebook
There's definitely been a buzz this spring about a Group of 5 playoff, but the people willing to talk about it publicly are mostly opposed to it. Sources have said the idea isn't to run a separate playoff, but to host an event that compliments the CFP. Nobody in the G5 wants to surrender their seat at the grown-up table, but some believe there's room for more football.
As a 35-year-old head coach, Boise State's Spencer Danielson said he isn't shying away from asking for advice. "I tell people, 'You don't want me to get your number because I'm gonna be bugging you,'" he said. "I'll be calling because I know there's a better way to do it." At the top of his list? Former Boise State and Washington head coach Chris Petersen. Danielson said they talk on Zoom at least once every other week.
Clawson said his peers in the AFCA are pushing to make December a quiet period instead of a contact month so coaches can remain with their players to prepare for postseason games. They're also busy trying to recruit their own players who might be entertaining the transfer portal.
Brett Yormark said the Big 12 won't be attending the Fiesta Summit next year and will instead "consolidate" those meetings into the league's annual spring meetings. The Big 12 was the only power conference that attended this spring.
Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte said hosting a first-round CFP game will be the "same game day experience with a little more heightened awareness." One difference, he said, is the economics; the revenue goes to the CFP.
Former Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said the days of true compromise in college athletics have passed, and commissioners now have to "feed the beast." "They're saying, 'now wait, I'm worried about me,'" Thompson said, "and they're hesitant to say people don't care about the overall enterprise."