How Texas’ offseason is shaping up team for the fall (0:51)Max Olson reports the latest from Texas’ offseason dealings in Austin. (0:51)
Heather DinichMay 11, 2026, 08:00 AM ETMultiple Authors
Yes, Ohio State travels to Texas on Sept. 12 for what will be one of the biggest games of the season.
“We’re always looking at Texas,” he said. “We’re always looking at the first few teams on the schedule.”
From conference spring meetings and potential calendar changes to Notre Dame’s defense and the next Mendoza, here’s what we’ve heard from around college football this spring.
College football is on the brink of an earlier start in 2027. The NCAA’s Football Oversight Committee has proposed a standard start before Labor Day weekend that is expected to be approved in June.
Under the proposal, the regular season would begin on the Thursday of what is now called Week 0, and still end on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Schools would have 14 weeks to schedule 12 games. This model would give teams two open dates and allow for “flexibility for potential changes to the postseason.”
The SEC is interested in it, commissioner Greg Sankey said, but it’s “not at the finish line yet,” and if it’s going to change, it has to be done right.
“Are you doing it to start the playoff sooner?” Sankey asked. “Are you doing it to have two open weeks? Our tendency has been, you want the two open weeks.”
“But probably most importantly, it doesn’t work for the brigade and the Corps, in my opinion,” Kelly said. “It’s in essence asking the entire student bodies of two schools to give up Thanksgiving for this. It’s something that’s certainly not a priority for me.”
“Between our overall significance as a brand and our relevance as a football program, I think we certainly deserve to be included when warranted,” Kelly said. “Obviously we’d have to follow up. I don’t want to be excluded by a technicality that I think can be worked through.”
Army athletic director Tom Theodorakis said both programs have had seasons where they were “knocking on the doorstep to the College Football Playoff.” He said he understands a need to be flexible, but said the game deserves to be on “the biggest stage possible.”
Veteran quarterback Noah Fifita, college football’s active leader in touchdown passes with 73, was wearing an Arizona uniform. Brennan said Fifita “is the best story in college football” because he took $3 million less to stay with the Wildcats.
“That shouldn’t surprise me, considering he’s the most loyal, special young adult I’ve ever met,” Brennan said, “but everybody keeps trying to buy him and it doesn’t stop. And he keeps saying ‘No,’ because he’s loyal to the U of A. … I think we put some good pieces around him offensively, in the wide receiver room, and for us, so much of that was also just retention.
“I’m sure you have some understanding of what the economics are of us compared to the rest of the Big 12, but we’re not the f—ing Yankees, I can tell you that,” he said. “So the fact all these kids chose to stay for less money because they love each other, they love this school, they love the coaching staff, I think it’s pretty special.”
“Secondary,” he said. “I mean, we were the worst pass defense I’ve had ever. Since I’ve been a head coach. And we still somehow won seven games. Just terrible. I just think we’re much better in that area. We improved in every defensive statistic except pass defense. We were horrible. If we can stay the course in Year 2 with Coach [Tom] Allen and what we’re doing but improve in that area, then I think that makes a difference on the field and in close games.”
After ranking 118th nationally in passing yards allowed, Clemson added cornerbacks Elliot Washington from Penn State, who brings top-end speed, and Auburn transfer Donovan Starr, who was recruited by Clemson when he was in high school. Ronan Hanafin, who moved from receiver to safety, returns and is expected to have an increased role. Safety Jerome Carter III is another transfer, coming from Old Dominion. He will join veterans Ashton Hampton and Branden Strozier.
Georgia Tech: Coach Brent Key has had an important reminder for new QB1 Alberto Mendoza: Georgia Tech wanted him — not his brother, and not the Yellow Jackets’ last QB1.
After watching his brother, Fernando, lead Indiana to a national title, win the Heisman Trophy and go No. 1 in the NFL draft, it would be easy for Alberto to feel he has a lot to live up to. Add in the fact that he’s stepping into some very big shoes in Atlanta, where Haynes King became something of a cult hero during his three seasons with the Jackets. But Key said Alberto Mendoza’s success depends largely on avoiding those expectations and simply playing his own game.
Key said he has been impressed with Mendoza’s quick release, ability to process information at a high level and strong work ethic. That’s more than enough to build a winner, Key said, but the QB’s quest for perfection — particularly in the shadow cast by his brother and by King — can be a double-edged sword.
“The biggest thing we’ve worked on is getting away from the last play,” Key said. “Let go of the last play, the last drive. He’s made a ton of progress.” — David Hale
Indiana: When IU coach Curt Cignetti came to Bloomington, 13 players followed him from James Madison.
Redshirt senior defensive lineman Tyrique Tucker, a native of Norfolk, Virginia, is the only player from that group still on the roster.
“I kind of had a feeling,” he said. “I trusted the coaches and trusted the scheme. Knowing what I could do and what we could do in this scheme at the next level really stood out to me.”
This year? None of the players in IU’s transfer portal class were from JMU — and it’s one of the top five classes in the country.
Miami: True freshman offensive tackle Jackson Cantwell, the No. 3 overall prospect in the class of 2026, enrolled early and hasn’t wasted any time this spring.
Miami advanced to the national championship game last season in large part because of how strong and talented the Canes were up front, but four starters from that offensive line are gone, along with more than 100 combined starts. And on the defensive line, standout ends Rueben Bain Jr. and Akheem Mesidor leave gaping holes after getting selected in the first round of the NFL draft.
“We take a lot of pride in developing the trenches here at Miami,” coach Mario Cristobal said. “These guys go at it all spring … a lot of live work, everything good on good and, you know, ‘old and experienced teams win college football,’ is why the world’s been so effective. Well, the guys that aren’t old, they have to get older and more experienced by getting a lot of reps.”
“We stay away from expectations and comparisons, because all that matters is making sure we do everything we can to help him and the rest of his teammates get better and be able to play winning football, contributing to the team, and he has not disappointed,” Cristobal said. “… But the sky’s the limit, and we’re just going to keep working.”
Notre Dame: Notre Dame is No. 2 in the country in returning defensive production (77%), and the talent in the secondary is something cornerback Leonard Moore said could be quantified in the 2027 NFL draft.
Safety Adon Shuler turned down the NFL to return to earn his degree, cornerback Christian Gray is a consistent playmaker and returning starter, safety Luke Talich had three interceptions last year, and Brauntae Johnson is facing surging expectations.
“We’ve got some speed on the back end I’ve never really seen,” Moore said. “We might have the deepest DB room in all my three years being here and I don’t know, the deepest DB room I’ve ever seen in college football. I’m not just saying that. The dudes we brought in, plus the dudes that are returning, I could see more than a few of us going to the NFL after this year.”
Ohio State: Receiver Jeremiah Smith was the blueprint for playing receiver as a true freshman, and coach Ryan Day sees that potential in standout freshman Chris Henry Jr.
The entire offense has been working with first-year coordinator Arthur Smith, a longtime NFL coach who will take over the playcalling duties from now-USF coach Brian Hartline. Day said he never contemplated returning to playcalling this fall after Hartline left.
“That was why hiring somebody with Arthur’s experience was important,” he said, “somebody who has done it before at a high level.”
Ole Miss offensive coordinator John David Baker is back for his second stint with the Rebels. He was their co-offensive coordinator in 2023 when Golding was hired as the defensive coordinator. Baker was also with Kiffin at USC, and Golding hired him back because he “wanted to keep the stability in the system for the locker room.”
“He was kind of my first one, that, if you ask anybody that had been in that system, they felt like he was the next Charlie, so to say,” Golding said. “So it’ll be very similar.
“They had their non-dominant shoulder labrum surgery, and they literally had it at 7 o’clock, 9 o’clock and 11 o’clock,” he said. “They’ve all been on the same process of rehab literally the entire winter.”
The Nittany Lions have been in dire need of an upgrade at receiver, and Campbell thinks they got it in Brett Eskildsen (30 catches for 526 yards and five touchdowns) and Chase Sowell (32 catches for 500 yards and two touchdowns), who was the Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year.
“They’re both just trying to find the consistency it takes to be elite,” Campbell said. “It’s the natural growth pattern that you’ve had in the development process. They’re both really on the cutting edge to having really special years. They both can really run. I think they’re both draft picks for sure. We’re really bullish on this and we would have said even if we were at Iowa State their revolution to going from good to great would have been the key to our team having great success.”
Becht was able to return for the last three and a half weeks of spring practice to throw seven-on-seven, and while Eskildsen and Sowell weren’t allowed to do those, they were cleared for individual route running.