College Football

Tennessee's Hendon Hooker and Georgia's Stetson Bennett were named as the All-SEC Team quarterbacks for the 2022 season, leaving Alabama's Bryce Young on the outside looking in.

Young, the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, spent much of the middle part of the season dealing with injuries and was not considered a serious contender to repeat. He finished with 3,007 yards and 27 touchdowns against five interceptions while adding 195 yards and four touchdowns on the ground.

Hooker outperformed Young in nearly every statistical category while also winning a head-to-head battle in Knoxville. Bennett threw for fewer touchdowns and threw one more pick than Young, but it would be hard to justify leaving off the quarterback leading the nation's best team.

It's also worth noting that Bennett is a Heisman finalist.

Of course, this is likely to have absolutely zero bearing on Young's future. He's a future high first-round pick and could be the first person to hear his name called in next April's NFL draft.

The vast majority of quarterbacks taken high in the first round have made their all-conference team before being drafted. The last Power Five quarterback to not do so was...well, it was Justin Herbert. Suffice it to say the Los Angeles Chargers are perfectly fine with him having never made an All-Pac-12 team.

The University of Virginia granted football players Devin Chandler, Lavel Davis Jr. and D'Sean Perry posthumous degrees Tuesday. All three players were killed in an on-campus shooting in November.

According to ESPN's Andrea Adelson, University of Virginia Associate Dean for Undergraduate Academic Programs Rachel Most was the catalyst behind requesting that the players be honored with degrees.

Chandler, Davis and Perry were shot and killed on a charter bus on Nov. 13 after returning from a class trip to Washington, D.C.

Virginia student and former UVA football player Christopher Darnell Jones Jr., who was also on the trip, is alleged to have shot and killed the players. Two other Virginia students, Marlee Morgan and Cavaliers running back Mike Hollins, were also injured in the shooting.

Jones has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, as well as two counts of malicious wounding.

Chandler was a junior wide receiver from Huntersville, North Carolina, who transferred from Wisconsin. He had two catches for 28 yards for the Badgers in 2020 and was exclusively a special teams player in 2021.

Davis was also a junior wide receiver who hailed from Dorchester, South Carolina. He had 20 receptions for 515 yards and five touchdowns for the Cavs in 2020 and followed that up with 16 grabs for 371 yards and two touchdowns this season.

Perry was a junior linebacker from Miami, Florida, and had seven tackles this season. Back in 2020, Perry returned an interception 84 yards for a touchdown against Abilene Christian.

The Virginia football team finished 3-7 this season after cancelling its final two scheduled games against Coastal Carolina and Virginia Tech in the wake of the shooting.

USC's Caleb Williams, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Georgia's Stetson Bennett and TCU's Max Duggan will be heading to New York City for the 2022 Heisman Trophy ceremony after being named finalists Monday.

By this point in the season, the consensus has typically coalesced around one player as the Heisman favorite. Perhaps the voting will ultimately be pretty one-sided, but this seems to be a somewhat open race, especially after a topsy-turvy final few weeks.

Stroud's candidacy might have suffered a fatal blow with Ohio State's 45-23 loss to Michigan, a game that saw him finish 31-of-48 for 349 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions.

It's not often a player finishes significantly higher on the Heisman ballot—Stroud was fourth in 2021—after posting worse numbers than the year before.

In the same number of games, the Buckeyes star has 1,095 fewer passing yards (3,340), fewer touchdowns (37) and worse efficiency (66.2 percent completion rate and a 176.2 passer rating).

Williams became the front-runner with Stroud's campaign losing steam, only for USC to fall in the Pac-12 title game and miss out on a College Football Playoff berth.

The sophomore shouldn't shoulder much blame for the 47-24 defeat. He played through a hamstring injury and went 28-of-41 for 363 yards, three touchdowns and one interception, and he was a bystander as the Trojans defense allowed 533 yards to the Utah offense.

If anything, the outcome underscored Williams' value to the team and how much his performance helped compensate for a suspect defense. In 13 games, he threw for 4,075 yards, 37 touchdowns and four interceptions and ran for 372 yards and 10 scores.

Of the players still in the Heisman discussion, Bennett unquestionably had the best championship week. He threw for 274 yards and four touchdowns as Georgia dropped 50 points on LSU in the SEC title game.

It might have come far too late to change the minds of the voters, though. The Bulldogs quarterback didn't put up gaudy numbers (3,425 passing yards and 20 touchdowns) overall.

The same goes for Duggan.

The senior quarterback undoubtedly played a massive role in TCU finishing 12-1 and reaching the CFP semifinals, but it's tough to make a case for why he was the most outstanding player in FBS. Duggan posted 3,321 passing yards, 30 touchdowns and a 165.5 passer rating in the regular season.

The Heisman will be handed out Saturday at 8 p.m. ET.

Colorado is hiring Kent State head coach Sean Lewis to be its offensive coordinator, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel.

This is the Buffaloes' first major addition to their staff since naming Deion Sanders their new head coach.

Lewis went 24-31 in his five seasons with the Golden Flashes and led them to a bowl game in 2019 and 2021.

Focusing on the record alone doesn't do justice to the work the 36-year-old did.

Kent typically schedules challenging non-conference games to pad its financial coffers, meaning it's essentially guaranteed three losses every year outside of MAC play. In 2022, it played Washington, Oklahoma and Georgia all on the road.

Lewis also inherited what might've been the most difficult rebuilding job at the FBS level.

Kent State won 11 games and climbed to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 poll in 2012, but that was a significant outlier for the program. The Golden Flashes had just one bowl appearance before that, and they immediately fell back to earth after Hazell left for Purdue before the 2013 season.

Paul Haynes succeeded Hazell and compiled a 14-45 record over five years. Kent State never won more than four games in a single season.

The Golden Flashes enjoyed a level of success with Lewis they hadn't seen for decades, and they did it with an entertaining brand of football, too.

It was only a matter of time before Lewis left for greener pastures, with The Athletic's Justin Williams including him among the candidates for Cincinnati before the Bearcats hired Louisville's Scott Satterfield.

This move qualifies as a coup for Colorado since he presumably could've held out for another job if he had been so inclined. It's also an encouraging sign for the fanbase as to how Sanders will run things.

The Hall of Fame cornerback has never coached at the FBS level and remains somewhat inexperienced as a coach, having worked for three years at Jackson State. By poaching Lewis, he seems to be recognizing his own limitations and showing a willingness to empower his top assistants.

As much as Lewis is downgrading in terms of his title, going to Colorado and transforming the offense might be a better showcase toward putting him on track for an attractive Power Five gig down the road.

The LSU Tigers are getting one of their top offensive weapons back for the 2023 season.

Wide receiver Kayshon Boutte announced he will return to the program next season, adding he will "lock in and focus on the main goal of any LSU Tiger: winning a national championship."

This is somewhat of a welcome surprise for LSU, considering Boutte was a potential first-round pick had he decided to enter the 2023 NFL draft. B/R's NFL Scouting Department listed him as the No. 31 overall player and No. 6 wide receiver in its most recent big board.

However, B/R's Derrik Klassen highlighted that there is room to improve:

"Drops that plagued him early in the season have waned as the year went on, but they haven't disappeared. Moreover, Boutte transitioned to play more from the slot this year, which is a somewhat concerning—or at least curious—move for a player who previously made his mark working outside the numbers.

"Stack those potential concerns on top of Boutte's less explosive play this season, and it's hard to justify giving him a first-round grade despite how naturally talented he is."

There is no doubting Boutte's talent after he arrived at LSU as a 5-star prospect and the No. 2 overall wide receiver in the class of 2020, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He wasted no time making an immediate impact with 735 receiving yards as a freshman and nine touchdown catches in just six games as a sophomore, but his numbers took a hit this year.

He posted 538 receiving yards and two touchdown catches in 11 games for the SEC West leaders. To Boutte's credit, he was at his best in important moments this season with 115 receiving yards in a win over Florida and 107 yards and a touchdown in the SEC Championship Game loss to Georgia, but there was plenty of inconsistency along the way.

Perhaps steadier play to go with his talent level could bolster his status ahead of the 2024 NFL draft.

The college football transfer portal will feature several big names as top players look to get a fresh start in 2023.

Former Clemson quarterback DJ Uiagalelei is among the long list of veteran passers hoping to change teams this offseason, with Drew Pyne, Kedon Slovis, Devin Leary and others already registering significant experience at the college level.

Here are the biggest names already in the transfer portal.

• DJ Uiagalelei, QB, Clemson
• Drew Pyne, QB, Notre Dame
  
• Kedon Slovis, QB, Pittsburgh
  
• Devin Leary, QB, North Carolina State
• Hudson Card, QB, Texas
• Graham Mertz, QB, Wisconsin
• Mason Cobb, LB, Oklahoma State
• Brennan Armstrong, QB, Virginia
• Jeff Sims, QB, Georgia Tech
• Fentrell Cypress II, CB, Virginia
• Dasan McCullough, LB, Indiana
• Denver Harris, CB, Texas A&M
  
• Javion Cohen, OG, Alabama
• JQ Hardaway, CB, Cincinnati
• Haynes King, QB, Texas A&M
• Hank Bachmeier, QB, Boise State
• Theo Wease, WR, Oklahoma
  
• Dorian Singer, WR, Arizona
• L.J. Johnson, RB, Texas A&M
• Justin Flowe, LB, Oregon
• Spencer Sanders, QB, Oklahoma (per, Chris Hummer of 247Sports.com)

The number of big-name quarterbacks will especially create a ripple effect throughout college football, depending on where they land. We have seen several elite players make an impact after changing teams in recent years, including USC star Caleb Williams after transferring from Oklahoma.

Joe Burrow, Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield all won the Heisman Trophy with their second college teams, while Jalen Hurts and Justin Fields also had huge seasons after transferring.

Uiagalelei will try to be next in line as a former 5-star recruit who was considered the No. 1 quarterback in the 2020 recruiting class, per 247Sports composite rankings. Despite some up-and-down play for Clemson, he still threw 22 touchdown passes this year and has plenty of upside in a new location.

Leary also should be highly sought-after in the transfer portal.

The North Carolina State quarterback had 35 touchdowns with only five interceptions in 2021, although his 2022 season was cut short due to a torn pectoral. If he returns to full strength, he could be a difference-maker in 2023.

Notre Dame's Drew Pyne has experience leading an elite team and could be an instant starter for a championship contender next season.

Other high-upside players could be seeking a fresh start after falling behind on the depth chart at their previous spots, including Hudson Card. The former 4-star recruit couldn't pass Quinn Ewers at Texas, but he could be a starter for a lot of teams at the FBS level.

Kedon Slovis will move to a third team after struggling the past few years with USC and Pittsburgh, but with 68 career touchdown passes, there will be options in the transfer portal.