Transfer Portal, Recruiting, and Bowl Preview Pt. 2

Good morning and welcome to 4th & Forever, Rand & Tate’s College Football Newsletter. Bowl season is officially off and running and we’ve got two shocking leaders atop our bowl pick ‘em group that will certainly (read: hopefully) not continue but we give them their flowers while we can. Additionally, we discuss the latest movements in the transfer portal and why we’re boycotting two different establishments out of spite. So without further ado, let’s get to it. 

4th & Forever Bowl Pick ‘Em Group

Rand here and wanted to quickly thank everyone who joined our Bowl Pick ‘Em group and/or participated in our survey. We’ve got a pot of $250+ in our Bowl Pick ‘Em group and spoiler alert: we will also be having a March Madness bracket pool when the time comes. After this weekend's results, we’ve got a three-way tie at 6-1 for first place between Sam Weinbach who watches an obscene amount of college football, Ben Cook who I can personally guarantee hasn’t watched a full college football game in his life, and…TATE? Please Santa, all I want for Christmas is for Tate not to win this group after his horrendous and despicable betting season. As for our political pawn fathers, Mr. Smillie has a one-game lead on Mr. Fisher which will hopefully change, or else Rand isn’t coming home for Christmas.

Transfer Portal

Picture this: You are a 20-year-old college football player and you just entered the transfer portal. You were an elite recruit, you have developed into a future NFL player, and you now have your pick of the litter when it comes to who you will be playing for next season. Will it be two-time defending national champion Georgia? Will you go play for seven-time national champion Nick Saban? How about Ohio State or Michigan?

Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. The answer is you move to central Mississippi to play for Lane Kiffin. On Sunday, South Carolina star receiver Juice Wells made it official and committed to Ole Miss, on the same weekend that Tennessee stud EDGE Tyler Baron and Florida EDGE Princely Umanmielen, one of the best players in the SEC, also packed their bags for Oxford. And while not official yet, the #1 player in the transfer portal, former 5-star Walter Nolan of Texas A&M, is expected to become a Rebel very soon. With QB Jaxson Dart, RB Quinshon Judkins, and WR Tre Harris returning to Oxford in 2024, the Rebels look primed to take a big step forward. Ole Miss avoids both Alabama and Texas in SEC play due to the league’s new scheduling format, and the Rebs’ game against Georgia comes in Oxford. Game-changing players on the defensive line have been lacking for the Rebels for years now, and getting these three guys absolutely helps solve that issue. It appears that Ole Miss has stacked up a ton of NIL funds that it has planned to use at exactly the right time, and considering the returning talent and schedule for the Rebs next year, Lane Kiffin seems to think now is the time to strike. This is an interesting approach that we may see from teams more often in the world of the transfer portal and NIL.

Another school that is off to a hot start in the transfer portal is Syracuse under new head coach Fran Brown, who was Georgia’s defensive backs coach the last two seasons. Brown has already managed to land a pair of young and promising Georgia receivers in Yazeed Haynes and Jackson Meeks, and on Saturday former Ohio State QB Kyle McCord officially committed to the Orange as well. Syracuse is a notoriously difficult place to recruit to, but there’s a reason ‘Cuse hired a coach who was rated as the #1 recruiter in the country by 247 Sports earlier this year. We’re interested to see how Syracuse finalizes this roster because it might end up being the most talented Orange team we’ve seen in years.

Out west, 5-star freshman QB Malachi Nelson, the assumed heir apparent to Caleb Williams, surprisingly announced he’d be entering the portal on Sunday. USC looks to be the favorite to land Kansas State transfer Will Howard to replace Caleb, which, uh, might be a little bit of a dropoff. Nelson apparently saw the writing on the wall there and decided to pack his bags, and because of his insanely high ceiling, we’re very intrigued to see where he ends up.

As for the Dawgs, starting inside linebacker Jamon Dumas-Johnson is entering the portal after seeing his snaps dwindle down the stretch of the season in favor of freshmen studs CJ Allen and Raylen Wilson. The uniquely thick JDJ, as well as 5-star freshman CB AJ Harris who also entered the portal late last week, will reportedly be visiting Auburn soon, which would instantly cause Georgia fans to hate them both forever. Interesting move. The Dawgs still look primed to land Vanderbilt WR London Humphreys and Florida RB Trevor Etienne, so we think the Dawgs might still be able to make a bowl game next year.

National Early Signing Day

National Early Signing Day is Wednesday and all eyes are on Nebraska as they look to flip 5-star QB Dylan Raiola from Georgia. We detailed the potential flip last Thursday which you can find here. While Raiola will get all the attention, look out for Deion and Colorado as he’s pulled off two straight signing day stunners in flipping former 5-star CBs Travis Hunter from FSU & Cormani McClain from Miami in previous years. According to 247 Sports, Georgia, Ohio State, Florida State, Alabama, and Florida currently have the best recruiting classes in the nation. Unless you’re a Georgia or Florida State fan, there is nothing Florida & Billy Napier need more than a stress and surprise-free Wednesday morning. Napier has been preaching patience since he arrived in Gainesville two years ago much to the disdain of the Gator faithful. The on-field results have been abysmal (6-7 in 2021 and 5-7 this year) and some boosters are already calling for his head. If he can get this recruiting class led by 5-star QB DJ Lagway signed and onto campus, he might finally be able to show proof of concept, but the SEC did him no favors with the 2024 schedule they released last week. After playing Georgia in Jacksonville on November 2nd, they travel to Texas, get LSU & Ole Miss at home, and finish in Tallahassee. There’s a decent chance next year’s Florida team is much improved but Napier gets canned anyway. Meanwhile, Rand will be feverishly refreshing Twitter on Wednesday morning to ensure Jeremiah Melvin of Fayetteville, NC signs his NLI. Melvin is a 6’5 4-star WR from Fayetteville, NC and if signed, he’d become one of the highest-rated recruits in Wake Forest history since the recruiting database era began in 2000.

Bowl Previews

Thursday’s newsletter will be the last one of the year but we will return on January 4, 2024. As much as we love college football, we’re taking the holidays off from writing given Christmas falls on a Monday and our parental units likely wouldn’t be too happy with us spending Christmas Eve writing about why you should watch the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl between Georgia State and Utah State. Have no fear, we’re certainly going to tell you that in our Thursday newsletter which will preview every remaining bowl game and playoff. We won’t be making picks and will continue the preview format below due to the vested interests we have in the bowl pick ‘em group.

Famous Toastery Bowl: Western Kentucky (7-5) v Old Dominion (6-6): ODU -2.5, O/U 54.5 - Monday 2:30pm ET ESPN

Location: Jerry Richardson Stadium in Charlotte, NC on UNCC’s campus. If the Panthers can tear down a statue of their former owner and sexual predator, I think UNCC can rename their stadium after him. Who cares he donated a ton of money, he’s a creepy old dead dude and you can sell the naming rights to Cookout.

One reason to watch: Not only is this game on in the middle of the workday, but you can also watch this game out of sympathy. This game was originally slated and called the Bahamas Bowl but because of stadium renovations, the Hilltoppers and Monarchs have to play in Charlotte instead. Thinking you’re going to the Bahamas and instead getting sent to Charlotte might be worse than finding out Santa isn’t real. 

Who’s the sponsor: Famous Toastery looks to be a boozy brunch spot with locations throughout the southeast but primarily in Charlotte. ‘The Toastery with the Mostery’ might be the worst slogan we have ever heard in our lives and even though Rand just found out there is one 10 minutes from his house in Winston, he will not be trying it until the slogan is changed. 

Scooter’s Coffee Frisco Bowl: UTSA (8-4) v Marshall (6-6): UTSA -13.0, O/U 52.5 - Tuesday 9:00pm ET ESPN

Location: Toyota Stadium in Frisco, TX where FC Dallas plays. 

One reason to watch: UTSA QB Frank Harris is one of the most exciting QBs in the nation and is literally the only reason to watch this nondescript bowl game. 

Who’s the sponsor: Scooter’s Coffee. Pretty self-explanatory. A wanna-be Starbucks with locations throughout the country. We would consider trying Scooter’s but after we saw they sell a shirt that says ‘Big Dreams and Whipped Cream’ they’re officially under a 4th & Forever boycott. Your coffee (probably) sucks and so does your bowl game. 

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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.