The top Broyles Award nominee snubs, plus notes on Virginia Tech, Alabama

On Monday, the Broyles Award released a list of 58 nominees for this season’s award, which is presented annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Since each school can only have one nominee, there are deserving assistants every year who ultimately aren’t in the running for the award. Here are three of the biggest snubs from this season’s nominee list:

Ohio State WR coach Brian Hartline

You could make a strong case that Hartline may be one of the 10 coaches most deserving of consideration for the award. Led by Hartline’s wide receiver group, Ohio State is No. 1 nationally in total offense (550 yards per game) and scoring (46.3 points per game). Under Hartline, Chris Olave and Garrett Wilson have developed into potential first-round picks in the 2022 NFL Draft, while sophomore Jaxon Smith-Njigba has gone from catching 10 passes last season to ranking second in the Big Ten with an average of 102.7 receiving yards per game. It’s also worth noting that Alabama star wide receiver Jameson Williams, who leads the SEC with 10 receiving touchdowns, spent two years learning and growing under Hartline before transferring to the Crimson Tide this summer. Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson is the Buckeyes’ nominee for the Broyles Award.

Michigan DC Mike Macdonald

Under Macdonald, Michigan has improved from 11th in the Big Ten in total defense last season under Don Brown (429.3 yards per game) to third this season (306.9). Macdonald’s defense has limited nine of the Wolverines’ first 11 opponents to 17 or fewer points, which is a big part of Michigan being 9-1 and ranked No. 8 in the College Football Playoff rankings after finishing 2-4 last season. Under Brown, the Wolverines allowed at least 24 points in each of their six games last season. Offensive coordinator Josh Gattis is Michigan’s nominee for the Broyles Award.

Tennessee QB coach Joey Halzle

A Josh Heupel protégé, Halzle has helped Hendon Hooker go from an average starter at Virginia Tech to one of the top quarterbacks in the SEC. Hooker, who threw 22 touchdown passes total in his final two seasons with the Hokies, has thrown 20 in his first eight games as the Vols’ starting quarterback, with four additional rushing touchdowns and only three interceptions. Hooker’s development has contributed to Tennessee being third in the SEC in scoring in conference games (33.3 points per game) after ranking 12th last season (21.5). Defensive coordinator Tim Banks is the Vols’ nominee for the Broyles Award.

Some names to keep an eye on at Virginia Tech

Virginia Tech became the seventh Power 5 program to have a coaching vacancy. With Justin Fuente now officially out, here are three names that industry sources have mentioned most to On3 as potential fits for the Virginia Tech opening.

Louisiana coach Billy Napier

Napier, who inherited a team that was 5-7 in 2017, is 30-4 in his past 34 games at Louisiana, including 19-2 the past two seasons. The Ragin’ Cajuns have won nine in a row since a season-opening loss at Texas.

Liberty coach Hugh Freeze

Liberty, whose campus in Lynchburg is located less than two hours from Virginia Tech’s, has followed up its 10-1 season in 2020 with a 7-3 start to this season. Two of the three losses came to Power 5 programs — a 24-21 loss to Syracuse and a 27-14 loss to No. 15 Ole Miss.

Coastal Carolina coach Jamey Chadwell

After posting an 11-1 record in 2020, Coastal was 6-0 to start this season and ranked as high as No. 14 in the AP poll. Without injured star QB Grayson McCall, the Chanticleers lost to Georgia State on Saturday, which dropped them to 8-2.

A concern for Alabama

For the second time in a month, Alabama has lost one of its top running backs to a season-ending knee injury.

Roydell Williams, who took over as the Crimson Tide’s No. 2 back when Jase McClellan was hurt in early October, is out for the season because of an injury sustained during the Crimson Tide’s rout of New Mexico State on Saturday. It further depletes a group that was so deep entering the summer that national top-50 recruit Camar Wheaton appeared likely to end up as the team’s fourth- or fifth-string back.

Now, the Tide is down two of its top three backs and three of the top five if you include Wheaton, who hasn’t played after suffering a preseason injury. The sudden lack of depth behind starter Brian Robinson is a definite concern for Alabama’s staff.

Robinson and Trey Sanders, who spent the offseason working back from injuries sustained in a serious car accident last November, are Alabama’s only healthy scholarship running backs aside from two players who recently moved to the position to add depth — true freshman wide receiver Christian Leary and redshirt freshman linebacker Demouy Kennedy.