Our Favorite Coaches Have New Homes

Good morning and welcome to 4th & Forever, Rand & Tate’s College Football Newsletter. We have to give a quick shoutout to Army, who defeated Navy 17-11 on Saturday in yet another classic game between the two academies. The Black Knights moved to 6-6 and became bowl eligible for the 6th time under head coach Jeff Monken, who we think certain programs around the country should be taking a more serious look at as a potential hire in the future. Go Army! Elsewhere in the college sports world, coaches are being hired, players are choosing new homes, and Wake Forest and Georgia may be the two greatest basketball teams in recorded history. There’s plenty to discuss, so without further ado, let’s get to it!

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We Like The Hires

It may be a little bit of a quieter coaching carousel than college football is used to, but we have still been intrigued by the firings and hirings that have been made across the country this fall. One of 4th & Forever’s favorite coaches in the country, Tulane’s Willie Fritz, announced last week that he’d be taking the job at Houston. After the Green Wave went 12-2 and beat Caleb Williams’ USC in the Cotton Bowl in 2022, Fritz looked all but set to become Georgia Tech’s next coach (which would have upset us both dearly) until money became an issue for GT, whose athletic department was/is in an apparent world of financial hurt. Fritz remained at Tulane for this season where the Green Wave won 11 regular season games, with its only loss coming without its star QB Michael Pratt to a top-15 Ole Miss team. Fritz will now move up to the Big 12 at Houston where money is, uh, not an issue. We couldn’t be more intrigued by this pairing, and we’d be pretty surprised if Fritz didn’t have Houston competing for Big 12 titles sooner rather than later.

Back at Tulane, the Green Wave have found their replacement for Fritz in Troy’s Jon Sumrall, another contender for 4th & Forever’s favorite coach. At only 41 years old, Sumrall has been a head coach for only two seasons - but those two seasons have gone pretty swimmingly! Sumrall has gone 23-4 over the past two seasons as a Trojan, winning back-to-back Sun Belt titles and winning the only bowl game he coached in against a very good UTSA team last season. Sumrall is thought of as one of the best up-and-coming coaches in the country, and while this Tulane job may only be another stepping stone for as his career skyrockets upward, we expect that he’ll keep the Green Wave’s recent success rolling for the time being. Great hire.

In the ACC, Duke has officially announced its hiring of Penn State Defensive Coordinator Manny Diaz, who you may remember better as Miami’s head coach before the Hurricanes ousted him for Mario Cristobal. We like this hire because even with Diaz’s struggles at Miami, it seems pretty clear to us that there have been issues in Coral Gables that extend far beyond what a head coach is able to solve on his own. Coaches have a way of improving, too - look at Steve Sarkisian, who was somewhat successful at Washington before getting fired at USC, going to actual rehab, failing as the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive coordinator, then going to coaching rehab under Nick Saban at Alabama. He’s the head coach of the Texas Longhorns and will be coaching a playoff game in under three weeks. Coaches can improve! Diaz is a bright guy with tons of experience, and we think this is a great landing spot for him.

In the Big Ten, Indiana has officially announced its hiring of James Madison head coach Curt Cignetti, yet another favorite of the 4th & Forever fellas. Cignetti’s record during his time at JMU was a staggering 52-9, which is even more impressive when you consider that JMU made the move from FCS to FBS before the 2022 season, a historically difficult jump that Cignetti seemed to not give a damn about, going 19-4 in the Dukes’ first two seasons in major college football. Indiana is a very difficult place to win at, but Cignetti has won everywhere he’s been, often in difficult situations. We’re very intrigued to watch Indiana football moving forward, which is a sentence that even us two college football maniacs weren’t sure we’d ever be writing.

Transfer Portal

The transfer portal is an incredibly polarizing topic amongst college football fans. 10 years ago if someone transferred they’d have to sit a year per NCAA guidelines. Nowadays, players like NC State QB MJ Morris quit in the middle of the season to enter the portal and preserve their redshirt status. Stories like Morris’ are met with backlash with fans claiming players have no loyalty to their school, they’re chasing the bag, blah blah blah. We get it. The system sucks especially when a transfer happens to your team. But every program in the country has been a victim and a beneficiary of the transfer portal and the official 4th & Forever stance is that it’s a good thing. We’re in a player empowerment era and favor the opportunity for players to move freely throughout college football. For 100+ years, players were trapped at a school and had no easy escape route if they picked the wrong school, their coach got fired, or willingly left for another job. Consider this: USC just hired North Dakota State’s head coach Matt Entz to be the new linebacker coach for the Trojans. Interesting move because we think he could’ve gotten a head coaching role at the FBS level, but NDSU played a quarterfinal playoff game on Saturday. They won and play again this Saturday, and their coach just got up and quit? Sucks for the NDSU players but Entz seemingly did what was best for his career, and with the transfer portal, players have the same opportunity. 

One player whose career has been helped significantly by the transfer portal is Oklahoma’s Dillon Gabriel, who announced over the weekend that he’ll be playing his final year of college football at Oregon in 2024. Gabriel started his career at UCF where he was very successful before transferring to Oklahoma where he continued to play at a high level. This is a huge pickup for the Ducks who will be losing Heisman finalist Bo Nix to the NFL Draft but will otherwise be returning a ton of talent next season, their first in the Big Ten. 

Elsewhere in the Big Ten, Ohio State’s QB Kyle McCord and former 5-star WR Julian Fleming are reportedly visiting Nebraska next weekend. These would be big pickups for Matt Rhule, who we here at 4th & Forever think may be the one to get the Cornhuskers back to glory. McCord may not be a superstar and Fleming has dealt with numerous injuries over the years, but both are far better than anything Nebraska had at either position this season. We’re interested to see if Nebraska can pull this off.

One of the SEC’s best players, South Carolina WR Juice Wells, entered the portal last week and while not official yet, the word is he’ll be headed to Ole Miss to catch passes from Jaxson Dart. This would be a huge boost to the Rebels already-good team that will be returning a ton of talent in 2024. It’s way too early to predict anything now, but we’re expecting Ole Miss to be in the thick of the 12-team playoff race next season, and getting Wells would go a long way into making that happen for the Rebs.

There are still a ton of really good players - including Walter Nolen, maybe the best player to ever hit the transfer portal - looking for new homes, so we’ll keep you updated as #PortalSzn rolls on.

Wake Forest & Georgia

Georgia: After a slow start out of the gate to open the season against one of the toughest schedules in the country, the Hoop Dawgs are now the greatest basketball team the world has seen since the 2015-2016 Warriors. Last week, UGA went on the road to face a tough, defensive minded Florida State team that was coming off of a huge win against Duke. Down 17 with under 8 minutes left to play, the Dawgs stormed back and won in a moment that may have just kickstarted this team and turned this season into a very interesting one. Georgia has been playing with a new demeanor ever since, beating Mercer two nights later and then shellacking rival Georgia Tech last Tuesday. The Dawgs are off until Saturday when they’ll take on a solid High Point team, and then have two more tune-up games before league play begins right after New Years. If you’ve been waiting to see a Georgia basketball team give you something to hope for deep into February, this team may be giving you a reason to start tuning in.

For the football Dawgs, the focus is entirely on the transfer portal at the moment. Georgia has now had 13 players announce they’ll be entering the portal, with the first 12 being very expected and/or players who have not contributed much at all during their time in Athens. Unfortunately, unlucky #13 was true freshman receiver Yazeed Haynes, who drew a lot of buzz in practice last offseason, and was expected to contribute in a big way starting next season (and maybe even get some run in the Orange Bowl). The Dawgs are looking to upgrade the receiver room via the portal, and while losing Haynes sucks, Vanderbilt WR London Humphreys, one of the fastest players in the sport, appears to be all but a done deal to the good guys. If a white wide receiver from Vanderbilt doesn’t excite you too much, I’d note that Humphreys is the #6 rated player in the transfer portal according to 247Sports, ahead of players like South Carolina’s Juice Wells, Duke’s Riley Leonard, and Florida’s Trevor Etienne (who UGA may also be the favorites for). Coaches around the country appear to think he’s a future Sunday player, so don’t let his appearance or former team deceive you - there’s a reason Kirby Smart called him to schedule a visit the night he entered the portal.

There should be some more news this week as portal players get closer to making decisions and bowl practices begin, so we’ll keep you updated on all things Dawgs on Thursday.

Wake Forest: Vibes are pretty high for the Demon Deacon faithful after a fall of misery and a disappointing start to the basketball season. That all changed last week when the NCAA got its head out of its ass and finally approved Efton Reid’s waiver making him immediately eligible. Reid is a 7’0 center who transferred from Gonzaga and in his first game against Rutgers last week had a clean 12 point, 14 rebound game. His defensive presence down low completely changes the dynamic of this team and with Damari Monsanto expected back from injury later this month, the Selection Committee will be looking at an entirely different team come March than the one we’ve seen in close losses to Utah, Georgia, and LSU. It’s been opined on Twitter and message boards, but when Monsanto comes back and hits the floor with Parker Friedrichsen they will be college basketball’s version of Steph & Klay. Monsanto & Friedrichsen are two of the best 3-point shooters in Wake Forest history and if you think I’m getting ahead of myself, come back to me in January. It’s going to be a fun season in the ACC.

As for football, the transfer portal giveth & the transfer portal taketh. As of writing, Wake currently has 14 players in the transfer portal with the most impactful being RB Justice Ellison, WRs Jahmal Banks, Wesley Grimes, Ke’Shawn Williams, QB Mitch Griffis, and S Brendon Harris. Long Snapper Jacob Zuhr also hit the portal and Clawson better make finding his replacement priority #1 or else we’re going 4-8 again next year. Ellison committed to Indiana and if you remember the last Wake RB to transfer to a Big 10 school, it worked out pretty well for Michigan State and Kenneth Walker III. Ellison likely saw the writing on the wall with the emergence of RB Demond Claiborne who announced he’s coming back which is huge for the Deacs. Grimes was a massive commitment coming out of high school after the Deacs held off NC State, Notre Dame, and Penn State for his services, but after an up and down year he entered the transfer portal and committed to the Wolfpack soon after. It sucks because there was a lot of hype of him becoming the next great Wake WR but as we mentioned earlier, he’s gotta do what’s best for him and don’t blame him. To soften the blow, WR Taylor Morin announced he’s coming back for his millionth year and all indications are WR Donovan Greene will be back after missing all of last season with an injury, although he hasn’t officially announced anything just yet. Jahmal Banks entered the portal as a grad transfer two years after leading the ACC in receiving TDs and that was even when we had AT Perry on the team. Best of luck to him and hope he balls out at wherever he goes next. I hear the SEC runner ups are looking for WR help…

As for players who will be suiting up for the Deacs next year, seemingly our entire defensive line announced they’ll be back, including DE Jasheen Davis who likely would’ve been a mid-round NFL draft pick. S Malik Mustapha, CB Caelen Carson, and LB Jacob Roberts are heading to the draft and will need to be replaced but Clawson & Co. are wasting no time finding their replacements. On Sunday, Southern Illinois LB Branson Combs announced his commitment to the Deacs and was considered one of the best FCS LBs in the country. Thank you Clawson for giving me an excuse to watch Saluki highlights during work. I buried the lede here but Wake also might’ve found their QB for 2024 after Hank Bachmeier committed to the Deacs on Sunday as well. Bachmeier started his career at Boise State before transferring to Louisiana Tech last year. Bachmeier is the latest example of “holy shit, THAT dude is still in college?” In the 2019 season opener against Florida State, then-freshman Bachmeier threw for over 400 yards and led the Broncos back from 18 down to beat the Noles in a game that was supposed to be played in Jacksonville but got moved to Tallahassee because of a hurricane. Bachmeier has battled injuries throughout his career but when he’s healthy he’s shown the consistent ability to limit turnovers and get the ball out quickly, something the Deacs were less than stellar at this past season. It’ll be an open competition between Bachmeier and Michael Kern throughout the spring and fall, but getting Bachmeier on the roster solves Wake’s biggest offseason need.

Texts of the Week

“Gonna need 1,500 words on Hank Bachmeier pronto” - Jack Zucker. Ask and you shall receive, Zuck.

Hope you have a great day, and we will talk to you again on Thursday.

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Rand Fisher & Tate Smillie met a few years ago through their good buddy Dave Peljovich who went to college with Rand and high school with Tate. Tate went to Georgia and has spent the last two years collecting championship rings while traveling to watch the Dawgs. Rand went to known CFB powerhouse Wake Forest and currently pays rent in Atlanta but is rarely found there with all the work & CFB travel he does.