“It’s not you, it’s me.”

Probably not the exact words that Oregon State Head Coach Gary Anderson used to “break-up” with select players immediately after the 2015-16 football season — but something along those lines. Following the surprise effort the Beavers put together in the 52-42 loss to the Oregon ducks in the 119th Civil War, one thing was pretty clear: “We’ll have some honest discussions…and see where we are” Anderson said.

In the aftermath, six Beavers transferred including starters Rommel Mageo and Justin Strong. Additionally, quarterback Nick Mitchell, linebacker/nickelback Malik Gilmore, defensive lineman Luke Hollingsworth and defensive back Chris Hayes all announced their departure from Oregon State.

The discussions that coach Anderson and his staff had with the Oregon State players were not entirely based upon talent or work ethic. The success that the ex-Beavers have had thus far in their new programs demonstrates this. Rather, coach Anderson had to be honest about players fit and role within his vision for the team. And certain players like Rommel Mageo had to be honest about the direction of the program and where they wanted to spend the remaining year(s) of their eligibility.

Coach Anderson had previously had the discussion revolving around ‘program fit’ in spring 2015 with quarterback Luke Del Rio. While a talented pocket passer, Del Rio would not be mistaken for a running threat.

Change is not easy. While the players may not have fit within the new schemes at Oregon State, several are making an impact on the field at their new programs:

Rommel Mageo – Ole Miss:

The Rebels quietly picked up Mageo as an immediate fill-in for C.J. Johnson at middle linebacker and he has been running with their first string defense at middle linebacker. Mageo can play immediately due to the graduate transfer rule. There were reports that Mageo had to adjust to the SEC speed of play, but is learning the new playbook quickly and has been lauded for being big and physical. Mageo’s size also impressed at least one Ole Miss reporter.

Luke Del Rio – Florida:

On Thursday, Del Rio was named the Gators starting QB by head coach Jim McElwain after sitting out the 2015-16 season per transfer rules. Del Rio was in competition with Purdue graduate transfer Austin Appleby after coach McElwain refused to name a starter for most of fall camp. Del Rio appeared to emerge as a front-runner for the job during the spring, where he went 10-for-11 with 176 yards and two touchdowns in the Orange & Blue Debut, but was not confirmed until recently.

Justin Strong – Montana:

Strong joined transfer TJ Reynard (Wisconsin) to bolster a secondary already featuring last year’s transfers Yamen Sanders (Arizona) and Markell Sanders (Washington State). Numerous sources state that the secondary is a major strength of the Grizzly defense with Strong playing a key role. In Montana’s second fall scrimmage, Strong was one of the top tacklers with five and and he snagged an INT.

Nick Mitchell – Dixie State:

Mitchell transferred to Dixie State, which is below the Football Bowl Subdivision Level, and thus is eligible to play immediately in 2016. He is battling sophomore Tyson Blackner who was the Dixie State’s starter last season. Regardless of whether he wins outright, Mitchell may see action as Dixie State head coach Shay McClure has been known to utilize multiple players in different situations based off of skill-sets.

Luke Hollingsworth – Southern Utah University:

Hollingsworth will play immediately after transferring to Southern Utah and will be in the two-deep on the defensive line behind entrenched starters Torgerson and Vaa’ivaka. Thunderbird’s head coach Demario Warren has praised Hollingsworth and the defensive line and expects to leverage his depth at the position to maintain pressure on opposing offenses.

Chris Hayes – Portland State University:

Re-locating 90 minutes north of Corvallis, Hayes joined the preseason No. 17 FCS Vikings on defense and looks to make in-game plays after spending two years on Oregon State’s scout team. Hayes will compete with Junior College transfer Taylor Biaggi and PSU juniors Beau Duronslet and Tyler Foreman to replace Viking All-American and National Defensive Player of the Year finalist Patrick Onwuasor.

On a day that featured a handful of long passes completed by the Texas Longhorns during the second scrimmage of fall camp, it was a touchdown catch by junior wide receiver Dorian Leonard that ultimately received top billing by the school:

The pass from senior quarterback Tyrone Swoopes was in a tough position for sophomore cornerback Kris Boyd to make a play on the football, as Leonard did an excellent job of attacking it at its highest point.

Leonard received praise from head coach Charlie Strong after the scrimmage for having a strong fall camp. The Longview product mostly played on special teams last season after falling out of the rotation and has only one career catch in 19 games.

Drew Dixon looks gassed. Sabino puts him in and he fumbles a handoff. On the next play he catches a swing pass and limps off after no gain.

— AZ Varsity- Football (@AZHSFB) August 19, 2016

Among Charlie Strong’s talking points during Saturday’s press conference was the progress of sophomore safety DeShon Elliott.

As a true freshman last season, Elliott struggled to crack the two-deep after a toe injury kept the former four-star talent out of fall camp and the early portion of the season. Now, after dropping about 13 pounds from his previously listed weight of 215 to his now-listed 202, Strong noted Elliott looks better and has taken strides in his understanding of his role.

“He’s cut down some weight; he looks really good now. It’s all about just learning the defense and then just playing within himself. At that position, you can’t give up big throws. You for sure can’t give up throws over your head. He just needs to settle down. He’s a heavy hitter.”

There’s never been any question of whether or not Elliott had enough talent to see the field, even as a true freshman – highlighted by opportunities against Oklahoma and Kansas. Elliott’s early shortcomings have been found in his understanding of alignments and his grasp of assignments in a fairly complex defensive system. To that end, senior safety Dylan Haines said earlier in the year that Elliott had taken ‘tremendous strides’ in the right direction:

“He’s made tremendous strides in the film room, in the classroom as we’d say, learning the game. He’s taking it to the field. He’s doing everything that he needs to be doing to get on the field. You have to honor that and you have to be proud of him for that.”

As a result of what Strong and Haines point out about Elliott, he’s pushed Jason Hall for the starting safety position opposite of Haines and has spent considerable time with the first team, but is still expected to back up the junior Hall. Should Elliott prove his grasp of the alignments, assignments and overall understanding his role are up to par, the sophomore safety may see some starts if Hall can’t take that needed next step.

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Clay Helton has finally made his decision on who his starting quarterback will be. Max Browne has been named the starting QB despite very intense competition from Sam Darnold. From spring through the majority of fall camp, it was assumed Browne was the leading candidate to take over the reins of the offense. So much so that most thought Browne would be named the starter back in the spring.

Helton repeatedly emphasized that he loved Max Browne’s performance in the off season and his abilities. Frankly, Helton just did not think Darnold would be nearly as impressive as he was and that was the reason the decision was not made in the spring as originally planned.

The narrative throughout the whole competition was that Browne was the quarterback who ran the offense most effectively who made the proper reads and quick decisions on releasing the ball. On the other hand Darnold was seen as the quarterback who brings a bit more athleticism to the position, someone with a very strong arm who could also create plays with his legs if things broke down.

This past week of practice may have been the little extra push that Browne needed to solidify himself as the man to lead the Trojans through the most difficult schedule in the country. Helton stated that Browne looked very smooth in practice all week and excelled when the pressure was on.

Browne does not have much time to celebrate, however, as Sunday the USC Trojans officially begin installing their gameplan for their opening week matchup with Alabama.

The Wildcats have been receiving a good deal of praise from some major media sources this football offseason, which is a promising sign for this upcoming season. From the running backs to the wide receivers and tight ends, this Kentucky team is being complimented quite a bit.

First off, the running backs have been viewed by ESPN as some of the best in the SEC. Here’s what Edward Aschoff had to say about the backfield.

Stanley Boom Williams and Jojo Kemp aren’t exactly household names, but they combined for 1,410 yards last season, and Kemp averaged 7.1 yards per carry. Mikel Horton rushed for 318 yards last fall. All three have looked good in camp, and freshman Benny Snell is pushing for the third spot.

The Wildcats have great depth, and you can tell by his comments that Aschoff agrees. Cats Pause went on to add that the Cats’ top four backs racked up 1,855 yards lasts season, which shows that they got a lot of production from the entire depth chart. And with a healthy Boom Williams and more backs on the list, it’s likely that the back production will only get better this season.

ESPN and 247 Sports weren’t the only news companies to talk about just how deep the Wildcats are at running back, as USA Today has taken note as well. Here’s what they had to say about the depth in Kentucky’s backfield.

In addition to Horton, the Wildcats return All-Southeastern Conference contender Stanley “Boom” Williams, 1,000-yard-career-rusher Jojo Kemp and spring game star Sihiem King. Freshman Benny Snell has been a consistent target for praise from UK coaches during preseason camp, and his classmate A.J. Rose has also received positive reviews.

On top of people praising the depth at that position, there have been no shortage of compliments directed at the star of the backfield, Boom Williams. Southbound and Down of FanSided recently named Williams the best player on Kentucky’s team.

Williams is averaging 6.9 yards per carry over his the life of his Kentucky football career and his 2015 was even more impressive. While he only had 121 carries, Williams still managed to average 7.1 yards per carry. Expect that to remain close to the same as his rush load increases on the way to attaining a 1,000 yard season for Kentucky football in 2016.

It’s not just the running backs that are getting attention, but the pass catchers are getting national recognition as well.

ESPN ranked the Wildcats receivers and tight ends as the 6th-best pass catchers in the SEC. Here’s what Sam Khan Jr. said.

The Wildcats have a nice collection of talent here with their top five pass-catchers from 2015 all returning: receivers Garrett Johnson, Dorian Baker, Jeff Badet, Blake Bone, and tight end C.J. Conrad. Ryan Timmons, who has also seen significant playing time, also returns. They provide a good mix of size, speed, and playmaking ability for quarterback Drew Barker to target.

Getting all five of the top receivers back, along with a new wide receivers coach means there will likely be an upward trend in receiving yards and receptions from this group this season.

With Kentucky football still working on their rebuild process, it’s great to see that some of the better players and star position groups are getting recognition for their abilities. We hope to see more deserved media recognition as this preseason continues.

The Arizona Wildcats have had to deal with their fair share of adversity throughout the three weeks of fall camp in August, and they finished it off with a scrimmage in front of family members in Sancet Stadium.

Media members could not watch practice, but we did chat with Rich Rodriguez, who was visibly upset with the morning’s action, especially with the cornerbacks. He did compliment the entire secondary during the post-practice availability.

We also heard from quarterbacks coach Rod Smith as the competition for the quarterback competition continues.

Wide receiver Nate Phillips also gave his thoughts on the day, and what it has been like going up against Arizona’s new defense.

And finally, after scrimmage, we went live on our Facebook page to chat about what the coaches have told us throughout camp, and answer all of your questions before school gets underway on Monday.

With the Smash Brothers a little beat up and Texas Longhorns head coach Charlie Strong reluctant to risk further injury to his two workhorse backs, junior D’Onta Foreman and sophomore Chris Warren, freshman Kyle Porter is stepping up in a big way.

Once potentially headed for a redshirt season with sophomore Kirk Johnson able to flash some incredible lateral quickness months removed from an ACL tear, Porter now looks like a player who will be difficult to keep off the field for the Longhorns.

One clip from last Saturday’s scrimmage showed Porter charging through a hole, breaking an arm tackle from freshman defensive tackle Gerald Wilbon, and then darting past senior safety Dylan Haines in the open field with a stiff arm and a lateral cut.

Of course, gaining big yardage like that is nothing new for Porter, a product of Katy, the Houston-area football powerhouse that still heavily emphasizes the running game and churns out backs like a factory.

During his three seasons on varsity, Porter carried the ball 643 times for 4,903 yards and 75 touchdowns.

“For two years, I had the chance to watch him coming from an unbelievable program,” head coach Charlie Strong said on National Signing Day. “You look at Katy High School and the championships they win, so you know what type of player you’re going to get there.”

What Texas got is a quiet kid who shunned the recruiting process — he didn’t like giving interviews and doesn’t have a Twitter account, leading to his commitment to the ‘Horns breaking from a teammate posting to his own Twitter account.

Strong and his staff also got a player who worked hard to come back from an ankle injury that required surgery after costing Porter nearly four games in 2016, but didn’t keep him from carrying Katy to a state title courtesy of a dominating victory over Lake Travis.

Porter ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns in that 34-7 win.

And the rehab was clearly successful, as the 5’9 Porter is now up to 208 pounds and made the middleweight final in Week Five of the “Battle for the Belts” during the summer.

Described by sophomore offensive guard Patrick Vahe as “swole,” Porter has a prototypical build for a running back and a prototypical skill set — he can jump cut, slide step, use his vision, find the cutback, hit the open field, and finish with good speed.

In particular, Strong noted his ability to stay behind his pads, get low, and finish plays by picking up extra yardage. The Smash Brothers can leverage the roughly 500 pounds possessed between them to punish defenders, but Porter does it in a different way with his low center of gravity that is unique in his position room.

He’s also well-rounded with 40 catches and six touchdowns in the passing game.

And Vahe added that Porter is a fast learner, so he’s quickly adapted to the simple offense run by Sterlin Gilbert. After the second scrimmage, Strong agreed.

Beating out another hard-working back in the sophomore Johnson won’t be an easy task, but after the breakout performance in last week’s scrimmage, Porter will continue going about his business, as always — quietly, and punctuated by touchdowns.

The Trojans took the pads off for practice on Thursday ahead of Friday night’s planned scrimmage which according to Helton will “solidify” his decision on the quarterback. Helton reiterated that he was meticulously watching every snap on film from both quarterbacks. It would seem from his choice of words that Helton is leaning towards either Max Browne or Sam Darnold right now and he is using Friday’s scrimmage to reassure him of his inclination.

The final question of the presser, however, directly asked Helton if he was leaning toward one player based on his choice of the word “solidify” Helton replied:

“No, I know both attributes of each kid right now, and I look forward to that type of atmosphere when they know its their last time out there how they perform. That’s one of those things you get to see this is the body of work they’ve put together through a spring, through 18 practices of Fall camp. Let’s see them in that last situation and see how they perform. So, it is important. It is very important to myself. I thank goodness that we took the time to be able to go through the Spring and not just name it there but also go through a training camp so we can make the best decision for our football team.”

It seems that Helton is not interested in discussing rotating quarterbacks during the season. He was asked if the backup would get any reps and he replied that everyone has to prepare and be ready to go. He then specifically cited having to use the fourth string center last season.

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