Dear Andy: Which freshmen & transfers could be household names by December?

We are only two more empty Saturdays away from actual football, and you, the listeners of Andy Staples On3, have some great questions. Let’s dive into the latest edition of Dear Andy.

From Caleb
What player on your college football team will we all know about in December?

Caleb tagged me in this post, so for the purposes of this answer “my college football team” will be “all college football teams.”

This is a tricky one to write now that I work for On3. At my previous employers, I could populate the list with highly touted freshmen and be reasonably certain that at least half the people reading hadn’t followed the recruitments of those players. 

But when I put Jeremiah Smith on this list at On3, most of the people reading will instantly recall that Smith was the No. 1 recruit in the class of 2024 and probably will be the next great Ohio State receiver. I’m doing it anyway, though, because this feels like an extraordinary circumstance. I’ll explain below.

Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State
Since Smith arrived on campus prior to spring practice, the buzz has been palpable. Reports from spring practice and from preseason practice suggest the freshman from Miami Gardens, Fla., not only will live up to the considerable advance hype but will surpass it. Veteran DBs are asking to rep against Smith at practice because he presents the greatest challenge. Quarterback Devin Brown revealed that Smith was the first true freshman to receive an Iron Buckeye award from strength coach Mickey Marotti, a man who has seen his share of freshman phenoms come through his weight room. 

Marvin Harrison Jr. didn’t immediately become Ohio State’s best receiver as a freshman. Neither did Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave or Jaxon Smith-Njigba. There’s a chance Smith will.

Cam Coleman, WR, Auburn
We may wind up looking back on the receivers in the 2024 recruiting class and marvel at the depth of talent. We just discussed Smith, and Coleman — the No. 2 receiver and No. 4 overall player in the On3 Industry ranking — might be following a similar path in terms of instant impact.

The difference is Ohio State is the undisputed Wide Receiver U at the moment and Auburn has been desperate to find a game-changing receiver for the better part of this century. If Coleman is indeed as good as early reports suggest, he’ll make Payton Thorne a better quarterback and make Auburn a much more dangerous team.

Trey Moore, Edge, Texas
If you follow the American Athletic Conference, then you already know Moore from his 14-sack season at UTSA last year. The wider football world is going to get to know Moore this year. All you need to know is that Moore is making Texas left tackle Kelvin Banks —one of the nation’s best offensive linemen — better each day at practice by challenging him in ways he hasn’t been challenged at practice before. Not many teams on the Texas schedule have a Kelvin Banks-type playing tackle, which means Moore could devastate opposing offenses.

Kris Mitchell, WR, Notre Dame
Notre Dame’s offense floundered last season because of a lack of quality targets. A healthy Mitchell Evans at tight end helps that, but Mitchell’s addition might make the biggest difference. The 6-footer transferred away from FIU before he could play in Pitbull Stadium, but his 64 catches for 1,118 yards in 2023 suggest he can provide a lot of production in the shadow of Touchdown Jesus.

Lance Heard, OT, Tennessee
Had Heard played anywhere other than LSU, he probably wouldn’t have been in the transfer portal for Tennessee to grab. But with stars Will Campbell and Emery Jones locking down the offensive tackle spots for another year in Baton Rouge, Heard had to leave to get on the field. The result? Tennessee gets an uber-athletic tackle who can allow the Volunteers to keep expanding what they do in the run game. Heard, meanwhile, gets to line up against likely first-round edge rusher James Pearce Jr. at practice to get a taste of what life will be like each Saturday as an SEC starter.

Dequan Finn, QB, Baylor
Finn was the MAC Most Valuable Player last season at Toledo, and this season he’ll pilot new coordinator Jake Spavital’s offense at Baylor. The Bears will look drastically different on offense than they have the past few years, and having a QB with 32 collegiate starts on his resume should help everyone with the transition. Finn has thrown for more than 7,000 yards and run for more than 1,800 yards in his career. He also might be the transfer who helps save Baylor head coach Dave Aranda’s job.

From Otto
Andy… do you think Jim Harbaugh forcing the hand in revenue sharing is the biggest factor as to why the NCAA disliked Harbaugh so much?

The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions handed down a four-year show cause penalty Wednesday to former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh that includes a year suspension should he coach in college again before Aug. 6, 2028. The penalties, according to the committee, came because Harbaugh committed recruiting violations and then violated the NCAA’s unethical conduct statute by claiming he didn’t recall the violations even after he was presented with evidence of them. These penalties, it should be noted, have nothing to do with the Connor Stalions advance scouting case. That one is ongoing.

None of this actually matters because Harbaugh is the coach of the Los Angeles Chargers. He won’t be coaching in college between now and 2028, and he may never coach in college again. He knew he wasn’t coming back to Michigan, which is why he didn’t bother cooperating with this investigation once the 2023 season ended. 

As for why the committee handed down this particular punishment, I don’t think Otto’s hypothesis is correct. The members of the Committee on Infractions don’t work for the NCAA. They work for schools and conferences. While some of them may be true believers who thought it was OK that the schools and NCAA colluded for decades to create a horizontal price fixing scheme, that likely isn’t true of all of them. In fact, there probably are members of the committee who agreed with Harbaugh that “we’re all robbing the same train here.”

While Harbaugh was one of the most outspoken coaches on this topic, he wasn’t the only one. And it wasn’t coaches who forced the schools to share money. It was state legislatures — which made NIL laws that neutered certain NCAA rules — and the federal court system, which has begun to hold the schools and NCAA accountable for violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.  

Harbaugh received a harsh penalty because the NCAA enforcement staff accused him of lying to the NCAA and the Committee on Infractions agreed with that finding. But again, it doesn’t matter. 

Unlike 12 years ago when the Indianapolis Colts effectively ported an NCAA suspension for former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel before he could work as a consultant for them, no one in the NFL cares what the NCAA does or wants in 2024. It was stupid that Tressel had an NCAA ruling following him then, and it would be incredibly stupid now.

Plus, Harbaugh wouldn’t even be the only AFC West head coach affected. Remember, Raiders coach Antonio Pierce also is the subject of an NCAA investigation involving violations of pandemic-era recruiting rules dating back to when Pierce was the defensive coordinator at Arizona State. Like Harbaugh with Michigan, Pierce did not take part in Arizona State’s negotiated resolution — choosing instead to go it alone. But like Harbaugh, Pierce doesn’t have to cooperate. And given that he has become an NFL head coach since resigning at Arizona State in 2022 amid the investigation, he probably doesn’t give a rip what the Committee on Infractions ultimately decides.

From Al in Arlington, Va.
Questions about details in the playoffs: Is it a true bracket (like March Madness) or does it reseed after each round (like NFL)?  How are the quarterfinal and semifinal sites selected?  Will it be selected by seed (Rose Bowl knows before the season that it has 1 vs 8/9 for example) or will it depend on which teams are in which seeds (like the 4 team playoff)? 

In other words, if I am fan of a team, will I know where all my games will be played from the date of the selection show? Or will it change throughout the playoffs?

Unlike the question about the Big Ten and SEC tiebreakers to determine who makes their championship games — I’m taking that one on the video version of Dear Andy on Thursday’s episode of Andy Staples On3 — I can definitively answer these questions.

I included this one because while this information has been publicly available for a while, I think there are a lot of college football fans out there like Al who probably haven’t had time to keep up with the seemingly constant changes in the sport. So let’s provide some answers.

The bracket is fixed. The teams are not reseeded after each round. As you’ll see, though, this plus the requirement to be a conference champion to get ranked No. 1 through No. 4 creates an odd dynamic that likely gives the No. 5 seed an advantage.

While No. 5 doesn’t get a bye like the top four seeds do, the No. 5 seed — which could be the actual second- or third-best team in the country — gets to open at home against the No. 12 seed. This team likely will be the highest rank Group of 5 champ. If we go by the preseason coaches poll released this week, that would be Memphis. The Tigers aren’t even ranked in the top 25. They’re in the “also receiving votes section.”

If the No. 5 seed (No. 3 Oregon in the case of our coaches poll hypothetical) wins that game, it would play the No. 4 seed in the second round. Using the coaches poll, that would be No. 13 Utah (the presumptive Big 12 champ). 

Meanwhile, No. 1 seed Georgia would have to play the winner of No. 8 seed (actual No. 6) Ole Miss and No. 9 seed (actual No. 7) Notre Dame. 

For this season and next, quarterfinal destinations will be determined by the old conference bowl affiliations. The semifinals already have been decided. So the SEC champ will play in the Sugar Bowl and the Big Ten champ will play in the Rose Bowl. The ACC champ would play in the Orange Bowl, but the Orange Bowl and Cotton Bowl are semifinals this season.

So let’s use that same coaches poll hypothetical and say you’re an Ole Miss fan. You’ll know the first game is in Oxford. If the Rebels win, they’d face Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. The semifinal destination for that winner will have been announced with the bracket, so you’d already know whether a win would send the team to South Florida or north Texas.

A Random Ranking

Crawford, a Georgia fan whose daughter is getting married the same day the Bulldogs play Florida in Jacksonville — he’s already checked out the wi-fi at the venue — has asked me to rank the top wedding songs. This actually requires two lists. One for the reception dance-floor fillers and one for the happy couple first-dance songs so you don’t accidentally have your first dance to Wonderful Tonight, which was inspired by Eric Clapton being exasperated that Pattie Boyd was taking too long in the bathroom. You’ll probably be able to guess which song Mr. and Mrs. Staples first danced to at their wedding back in 2001. 

Dance Floor Fillers

1. I Want You Back, The Jackson Five
2. September, Earth, Wind and Fire
3. The Cupid Shuffle, Cupid (Especially if Nick Saban is invited)
4. Higher and Higher, Jackie Wilson
5. Da Butt, E.U.
6. I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Whitney Houston
7. Single Ladies, Beyonce
8. Don’t Stop Me Now, Queen
9. Love Shack, The B-52s
10. This Is How We Do It, Montell Jordan

Happy Couple First Dances

1. When You Say Nothing At All, Alison Krauss and Union Station
2. At Last, Etta James
3. Let’s Stay Together, Al Green
4. Can’t Help Falling In Love, Elvis Presley
5. Forever and Ever Amen, Randy Travis
6. All Of Me, John Legend
7. Unchained Melody, Righteous Brothers
8. You Are The Best Thing, Ray LaMontagne
9. Your Song, Elton John
10. Crazy Love, Van Morrison