Over the past several days, the official Baylor Football Twitter account has been releasing the officially sanctioned guide Gameday Attire for each of the home games of the 2016 season. In the past, they’ve attempted to do coordinated attire with short notice, to extremely mixed results. The most successful efforts to date have been the Blackout of 2013 and the Stripe McLane effort for homecoming 2014. Other attempts have been thwarted by weather, for the most part, with others just being put out there with too short of notice. Not so this season. With over two months to go until the first game of the season, we now have a full season’s worth of suggested attire. You’ve got plenty of time to get gear corresponding to the suggestions, so let’s make it happen.

September 2: Split Green & Gold

Sept. 2 vs. Northwestern State is “First Responders Day.” Make sure to check your section, so you know what to wear. pic.twitter.com/BXpuwqnJxn

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 22, 2016

This first set is a split 50/50 on the stadium: West side wears Green, East wears gold. Easy.

September 10: Whiteout

What to wear, Game 2: We will white out @McLaneStadium on Sept. 10 vs. SMU. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/Vq4rpeBhRp

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 23, 2016

Interesting. We’ve never attempted a whiteout before, though if done correctly it can look absolutely striking. SMU tried a whiteout last season, and one of the more iconic pictures of the 2015 season came from it.

September 24: Goldout

What to wear, Game 3: Be bold, wear gold to #SicOSU Sept. 24. pic.twitter.com/PJ9CLWvSXH

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 24, 2016

We’ve tried this a couple of times (2013 WVU: sold out gold out) and it just wasn’t communicated well enough to make it happen.

October 15: Stripeout

Homecoming Oct. 15 vs. Kansas will be the annual #StripeMcLane game. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/MRraKuidPT

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 25, 2016

Go ahead and mark it down. For the foreseeable future, we’ll be striping McLane for Homecoming. It looked great two years ago, but last year was an epic failure because MONSOON. It poured rain the entire game, the parade was canceled, and Seth broke his neck. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.

November 5: Greenout

What to wear, Game 5: Nov. 5 vs. TCU, we will green out @McLaneStadium. #SicEm pic.twitter.com/8gqDGcr9Ol

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 26, 2016

This one is really interesting to me. I’m not entirely convinced that it will be all that striking of an image, but then, I was skeptical of the BlackOUt in 2013 and was SO happy to be wrong about that one. I’ll take a wait-and-see approach here.

November 19: Green, White, and Gold

Last, but not least… Check the map to see if your section is gold, white, or green for Senior Day Nov. 19 vs. KSU. pic.twitter.com/yEzH7ez5hc

— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) June 27, 2016

Senior Day is also an interesting one. The upper deck wears green. The 200 levels wear white, while the lower bowl wears gold. Not what I was expecting, but hey, I’m up for it. It could be really sharp.

With the release of the final Gameday attire this morning, we now know that there will NOT be a blackout this season as there has been the past three. I don’t know what spurred that decision. The 2013 BlackOUt was by far the best of the three. While folks point out that none of the rest have lived up to that first experience, I’d respond by saying that both Blackout attempts in McLane stadium have been marred by rain. The OSU 2014 game was a monsoon topped only by Homecoming 2015, and the OU game of 2015 was similarly rainy. Inclement weather really hurts efforts to coordinate gameday attire.

What do you think of these particular Gameday Attire choices? What about apparel coordination in general? Let us know in the comments.

In past years, we’ve come up with some creative ways to rank ACC players, Syracuse Orange football opponents and more, in the lead-up to the new season. This year, we’re going position by position, ranking the top five players SU faces at each. These are obviously just pulled from the 12 scheduled opponents, and only those. So when you ask “where is ACC player X?” or “how can you skip ACC player Y?”… that’s how.

Today:

Top Five Opposing Wide Receivers

1. Isaiah Ford, Virginia Tech Hokies

Surprised? Despite the glut of talent at Clemson and Florida State (see below), just one ACC wide receiver topped 1,000 yards last year, and it was Ford. The sophomore hauled in 75 passes for the Hokies last year, with a 15.5 yards per catch average and 11 scores. The only ACC player who equaled him in yards per catch (min. 50 receptions) was speedy FSU wideout Travis Rudolph. And remember, all of this was in a Virginia Tech offense that really wasn’t much to brag about last year. With Justin Fuente in the fold now… Ford could really blow up in 2016.

2. Mike Williams, Clemson Tigers

Williams was primed for a big 2015 following a standout sophomore campaign. But a neck injury in week one ended his season far too early. The fact that the Tigers were still able to put up the numbers they did without him is a testament to the talent in the offense and recruiting’s ability to continue to plug in elite athletes. Williams is a very capable deep threat, with quickness and great hands. Clemson lacked a true deep threat this past fall, but now they’ll get back a definitive one in Williams. The NFL-ready talent will be eager to return to the field and make up for his lost season. Everyone in the Tigers’ offense is going to put up big numbers, but his may be the biggest this fall.

3. Travis Rudolph, Florida State Seminoles

We mentioned Rudolph above too, and for good reason. Florida State’s most capable deep threat returns, much to the horror of Syracuse fans who probably remember the 191 yards and three scores he put up against them this past year. His quickness is obvious, and despite some inconsistency, he’s a force within this offense and one of the motors that will power it this season, no matter who’s at quarterback. Though Rudolph fell short of 1,000 yards in 2015, he did come pretty close. The Seminoles’ attack is likely going to push him toward that number again.

4. Artavis Scott, Clemson Tigers

Without Mike Williams around, Scott still managed just fine as Clemson’s leading receiver. He pulled in a conference-leading 93 catches to pair with 901 yards and six touchdowns. While the yardage and scoring numbers were down slightly, it’s at least a bit understandable that Scott would have to change his game as the focus of the passing attack, sans Williams. While playing a multitude of roles as a receiver, he was also the picture of consistency. Scott caught at least five passes in all but three games and you can really only categorize one game as less-than-great (the Miami game where he caught one pass… but the Tigers won 58-0, so who cares?). He’s primed to see numbers pick back up with Williams back in the fold.

5. Kermit Whitfield, Florida State Seminoles

To start, Kermit’s speed is devastating. And while he certainly had some of the same consistency issues as Rudolph for FSU, when he was on, it was incredibly difficult to stop him. Standout games against Louisville, NC State and Chattanooga showed glimpses of his greater abilities a a receiver — a player who can gain large chunks of yardage and find the end zone. The 2015 season was his first as a regular contributor, however. With that under his belt, Rudolph returning and a glut of additional playmakers at the Seminoles’ disposal, there’s a pretty convincing case to be made that Whitfield’s number are going up.

***

Receiver’s a tougher position to really nail down a top five, because there’s a lot of players to look at (much more than quarterbacks and running backs, anyway). But this is who we’ve settled on. Agree or disagree? Feel free to weigh in below.

SI.com came out with a first-person profile of South Carolina head coach Will Muschamp today. It’s an interesting read, and if you have a few minutes, you should give it a read. Obviously, one of the things he addressed was the elephant in the room: getting hired at South Carolina despite his rocky tenure at Florida, where he went 28-21 despite an 11-2 record in 2012. Muschamp compared his Florida stint to a time when his SEC football hopes looked to be sidelined thanks to a ugly leg injury suffered while playing high school baseball as a junior.

I called off the shortstop, but it had been raining before the game, and so he slipped and fell, his shoulder colliding with my right leg. Somehow I still caught the ball before crumbling to the ground. But when it was all over my right leg jutted out perpendicular to my body and a large part of my tibia and fibula poked through my skin.

Yuck. Long story short, he was able to bounce back by walking on to Georgia and ended up getting a scholarship and becoming the team captain as a senior.

Now this probably won’t do much to sway Muschamp’s critics who point to his first head coaching tenure as a reason why he won’t succeed in Columbia. And they have a point: though Muschamp has vowed to “get back up” and move past the Florida days, they’ll need to see results on the football field to make their final read. The good news for him is that he’s facing lower expectations than he did down in Gainesville when he replaced Urban Meyer.

There’s a few other tidbits on there, including Muschamp taking responsibility for the “issue on offense” the Gators had, and what he’s learned from coaches like Nick Saban, Tommy Tuberville, and others. Again, a very interesting read and a way to get into the mind of a man that has a lot to prove in his second head coaching gig. You can’t fault Muschamp for saying all the right things thus far during his tenure, and I admire his resilient spirit, but it’s a results-based business where your on-field performance speaks louder than what you tell the media. Come November 26, we’ll know whether or not Muschamp’s positive words will have ultimately come to pass.

Michigan redshirt junior quarterback John O’Korn has been ranked No. 7 among the Top 30 quarterback transfers for the 2016 season by Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports. The signal callers were ranked by “expected impact.” O’Korn transferred from Houston in February of 2015 and ran the scout team for the Maize and Blue last season.

“Jim Harbaugh had a lot of success with a transfer quarterback (Jake Rudock) last season,” Lassan writes. “Could the same formula work once again for the Wolverines in 2016? O’Korn had a promising start to his career at Houston, throwing for 3,117 yards and 28 scores in 2013. However, O’Korn struggled in 2014 and was benched in favor of Greg Ward after tossing eight interceptions through the first five games.

“The Florida native should benefit from a change of scenery and the opportunity to work under Harbaugh.”

O’Korn will continue in a heated battle with redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight for the starting quarterback job. Even redshirt senior Shane Morris is spending more time with the first unit, so he could be a possibility under center as well.

“It’s to be determined still,” Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh said to Max Cohen of the Detroit Free Press. “It means a lot to all of them. You can tell the way they play, just continuing to be able to play loose but play smart, continue to get repetition, continue to get looks, learn. That’s what they need to see right now.”

The top spot on the list was claimed by Davis Webb (California), then Kenny Hill (TCU), Trevor Knight (Texas A&M), Dakota Prukop (Oregon), Luke Del Rio (Florida) and Mike White (WKU) at the sixth slot. The last quarterback on the list is Zach Kline at No. 30. Zach Allen, who transferred from TCU to Rutgers, is at No. 16 as the only other Big Ten Conference quarterback on the list.

In recent memory, Lamar High School in Houston has been very friendly to the Texas Longhorns during the recruiting process, especially to its defensive backfield. During the 2014 and 2015 recruiting cycles, the Longhorns secured commitments from Lamar defensive standouts John Bonney and Holton Hill, who have both carved out playing time and contributed in their first years on the 40 Acres.

Before that, Mack Brown found Lamar defensive back Rod Babers, who went on to star for Texas, earning All-Big 12 honors and was later selected in the NFL Draft. Now, Longhorn coaches and fans hope that the ‘Lamar to Texas Connection’ will continue with talented 2018 defensive back Anthony Cook.

Cook enters his junior season as one of the highest-rated defensive backs in the country. As a sophomore, Cook capped an impressive sophomore season, which featured six interceptions, by earning All-District honors. With impressive quickness and physical tools, Cook has garnered national attention for his play already, particularly during summer camps where he shines in one-on-one match ups. Cook recently traveled to Atlanta for the Rivals Five-Star Challenge, where he believes he separated himself from other defensive backs in his class.

“I think I made it known that I’m one of the top DBs in my class” Cook said in an interview with BON. “I went against everybody regardless if they were in my class or not, so I think I proved that I’m the best defensive back in my class”

The recruiting process, in turn, has heated up for the rising junior. Cook has already received close to 25 scholarship offers from major programs around the country. Alabama, Florida State, LSU, TCU, Clemson, and Georgia are just some of the schools who have already shown interest and offered the 2018 prospect. Earlier this month, Charlie Strong joined other top programs in offering the Lamar standout.

Cook maintains that no school stands out to him this early, but as more schools join the race for the 2018 standout, he will begin to seriously consider his options soon. As for what that means for Texas, Cook recognizes that the offer from the Texas coaching staff meant a lot.

“[Texas] was a big offer, and definitely one of my bigger offers,” Cook said. “Texas doesn’t offer early, so to receive an offer from them was a blessing,”

Echoing the opinion of many other prospects across multiple classes, Cook believes that Strong is building something special in Austin.

“You know, Charlie Strong is bringing back the old DBU.” Cook said.

With glowing remarks about Texas and Strong’s early efforts, it seems the Longhorns fit in nicely for Cook’s future plans as he begins to make decisions. But perhaps an ace in the hole for the Longhorns will be that they already have two Lamar players in their defensive backfield, which could impact Cook’s decision.

“It has a little [impact] because to play with guys you’re familiar with — that’s a good feeling,” Cook said.

With so many teams in the hunt, that little familiarity may provide the ‘Horns a leg up in the competition. However, Cook mentioned he does not have current plans to visit Austin in the near future. For now, Cook’s recruitment is wide open, but he mentioned that he has plans to visit Georgia, Alabama, and TCU later this summer.

Since the 6’1, 168-pounder recently visited for a Texas summer camp in early June and already has a positive impression of the Longhorns, there’s no immediate cause for concern as Cook gets out to see some other top programs this summer.

For a look at Cook’s impressive play, check his sophomore highlight reel below.

The Penn State Athletic Department announced it will begin a home and home series with the Auburn Tigers. This will be the first regular season meeting with Auburn. The previous two meetings were a 43-14 Nittany Lion win in the 1996 Outback Bowl, and an Auburn win in the 2003 Capital One Bowl. Auburn will visit Beaver Stadium on September 18, 2021, and the Nittany Lions return the trip to Jordan-Hare Stadium on September 17, 2022.

The AD also announced games against Buffalo in 2019 and Ball State in 2021. This will be the fourth meeting between Buffalo and Penn State, while the Ball State game will mark the first meeting between the two teams.

With the addition of Buffalo, the schedules through the 2019 season are now complete. Here’s what the upcoming OOC schedules will look like:

2017:

Sept 2, vs Akron
Sept 9, vs Pitt
Sept 16, vs Georgia State

2018:

Sept 1, vs Appalachian State
Sept 8, at Pitt
Sept 15, vs Kent State

2019

Aug 31, vs Idaho
Sept 7, vs Buffalo
Sept 14, vs Pitt

If you’re looking for great non-conference match-ups against teams from conferences the Tigers don’t usually play… well, you may be a bit disappointed in this one.

Auburn has announced a home-and-home series with Penn State, to be played at Beaver Stadium on September 18th, 2021 and at Jordan-Hare Stadium September 17th, 2022. That is keeping with Auburn’s current scheduling practices of playing a road P5 team during even years when under current scheduling criteria the Tigers host Alabama and Georgia.

If you’re wondering about the 2021 game with Cal, as some did, since the two games were scheduled for the same day, it has reportedly been moved to 2023. The 2020 game is, however, still on. The Tigers play Oregon in 2019 and are still looking for a P5 opponent in 2018.

Instant Reaction

Sure, right from the start, the whole “Auburn hasn’t played a Big Ten team in the regular season since 1931” thing (thanks for that bit of trivia, Tuco) is awesome and makes this fun. However, the Tigers often play B1G teams in bowl games and have played the Nittany Lions as recently as 2003.

I also just realized how long ago 2003 is. Ok, nevermind, GET HYPED!

The two teams have played only twice in both of their long and storied histories. One was a 43-14 drubbing by Penn State in the 1996 Outback Bowl, and the other was a 13-9 Auburn victory over Penn State in the 2003 Capital One Bowl.

Really, though, playing teams we don’t normally see – and particularly getting them in a home-and-home series (the 2018 and 2019 home-and-home with Oregon was RIGHT THERE, y’all!!!) – is fun and exciting. It sure beats playing Clemson for the umpteenth time in the last 15 years.

I like this move. I hope that scheduling continues to reflect this trend of getting P5 opponents that we don’t often play or have never played. I’m still hoping for that Notre Dame game, someday.

So what do you think?

Notre Dame’s class of 2018 continues to set up nicely as Notre Dame received commitments from Jayson and Justin Ademilola today. The blue-chip twin brothers both attend St. Peter’s Prep in New Jersey, the same school that produced current Irish quarterback Brandon Wimbush. Both brothers took a visit to South Bend late last week, and evidently felt comfortable enough with the Irish to pull the trigger. This early commitment came as a pretty big surprise to everyone.

247Sports currently ranks 6’3″/285-pound Jayson as the #16 defensive tackle and the #178 overall player in the class of 2018.

247Sports currently ranks 6’3″/230-pound Justin as the #10 outside linebacker and the #170 overall player in the class of 2018.

God, Country, Notre Dame ☘☘ pic.twitter.com/QlyL1bVY8S

— Jayson k.Ademilola♚ (@jaysonademilola) June 26, 2016

IrishbouND baby!! pic.twitter.com/sbcX3F2dfS

— ♛JUSTIN (@JustinAdemilola) June 26, 2016

Recruiting Service Rankings

Jayson

247 — 4 star (90 rating), #178 overall, #16 DT, #6 in New Jersey

Rivals — Not Yet Rated

Scout —  Not Yet Rated

ESPN — Not Yet Rated

247 Composite — 4 star (.9289), #178 overall, #16 DT, #6 in New Jersey

Justin

247 — 4 star (91 rating), #170 overall, #10 OLB, #5 in New Jersey

Rivals — Not Yet Rated

Scout — Not Yet Rated

ESPN — Not Yet Rated

247 Composite — 4 star (.9321), #170 overall, #10 OLB, #5 in New Jersey

Cohort

Both brothers held offers from Michigan, Michigan State, Auburn, Georgia, and Penn State, among others.

Highlights

Jayson’s highlights show a kid that is surprisingly mobile for his size. He’s not particularly quick off the line, but he gets into the backfield pretty quick for a big boy. He also shows good pad leverage and enough awareness to get his hands up during passing downs to bat the ball down. And he clearly recognizes that he has to pursue the ball down the line of scrimmage as opposed to getting caught too far in the backfield to make a play.

Justin’s highlights show a good athlete with the ability to play with one hand down at defensive end. Although he is currently listed as a linebacker by the recruiting services, he very well could bulk up before arriving on campus and start out at defensive end. Justin has a lot of strength and power. He doesn’t have the technique down to play as a college DL at this point in time, but that is okay. He’s just heading into his junior year of high school, and that is something that can be learned. Like so many other blue-chip prospects in high school, right now he relies on his strength and leverage a lot to overpower his opponents.

Impact

With the addition of the Ademilola twins, Notre Dame’s class of 2018 is shaping up very nicely. Four players in the Top 247 are currently in the fold, the average composite score is .9435, and the Irish are currently sitting at #2 overall in the recruiting class rankings behind Miami (who, let’s be honest, always gets off to a fast start before dropping shortly before the season starts). Put me in the boat of being cautiously optimistic that the class of 2018 continues to develop well for Notre Dame.

Aside from the impact as far as recruiting, these are two players with a lot of skill and potential. And with both of them probable to end up on the defensive line, this really helps build talented depth at positions that the Irish tend to have some trouble recruiting. With Coach Gilmore doing his thing, the Ademilola brothers could end up being some really good players for Notre Dame in a few years.

Things continue to progress with OrTre Smith’s recruitment, and now we’re closer to knowing who his top teams are. Smith reported yesterday that he would release a top “four or five” next week.

It’s thought that South Carolina and Clemson are the two favorites in the Smith sweepstakes, but there might be a dark horse: Georgia. The Dawgs, specifically tight ends/special teams coach Shane Beamer (of course, a former Gamecocks staffer under Steve Spurrier), have been working the rising senior and looking to get into the mix. Smith mentioned that he and Beamer speak almost daily.

I don’t want to say anything, but it is a good situation for me. The depth chart is good for me. They don’t have a lot of tall receivers so the opportunity at Georgia sets up well for me…

It is a major contender…The people are great. It is nice. I like it. Coach Beamer is an amazing man. I also respect coach Kirby Smart a great deal.

A decision is still set for September 11 (Smith’s birthday), and while the Gamecocks will be going head-to-head with the Tigers to ultimately win him over, they might have a little company.

Deandre Johnson off the Gamecocks’ radar?

The Gamecocks have hauled in several Florida defenders over the past couple of weeks, namely Tavyn Jackson and Damarri Mathis. That might mean there’s no room for Deandre Johnson, who released his top six today – and South Carolina found themselves not on it. It’s interesting to mention that Tennessee offered him on June 10 but made the list despite offering rather recently.