Month: February 2026

This is college football. At some point, the games pause, but the news and drama never does. Here’s an offseason tracker for buzz across the college football landscape, including coaching changes, injury news, personnel moves and more. Kentucky lands a top QB recruit Momentum has been building for the Kentucky Wildcats football since the hiring of coach Will Stein and now the program has its first major recruiting win to show for it. The Wildcats landed a commitment from four-star quarterback Jake Nawrot out of John Hersey High School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. He is the No. 2-ranked quarterback and No. 40 overall recruit in the 2027 recruiting class, according to 247Sports. Nawrot chose the Wildcats over Missouri, Oregon, Washington and Florida State, among several other Power Four programs. Nawrot is coming off a strong junior season. He led the Huskies to a 9-3 record while completing 71% of his passes for 3,078 yards and 41 touchdowns with just two interceptions, along with adding eight scores on the ground. Stein is entering his first season as the Wildcats’ head coach after spending the past three years as offensive coordinator at Oregon under coach Dan Lanning. Nawrot’s commitment marks one of the biggest recruiting wins in program history. With Nawrot’s commitment, the Wildcats’ 2027 recruiting class now ranks among the top 20 nationally. Virginia extends head coach Tony Elliot Virginia football coach Tony Elliott, coming off a school-record 11-win season, has agreed to a contract extension through the 2030 season. The extension was announced Wednesday by athletic director Carla Williams. The Cavaliers finished 11-3 overall and 7-1 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2025 and No. 16 in the final AP Top 25 poll. It was Virginia’s highest ranking in the last poll of the season since 1995, and Elliott was named AP ACC coach of the year. “We are extremely fortunate to have Tony Elliott continue to lead our football program,” Williams said in a statement released by Virginia. “His commitment to the values of the University of Virginia and his commitment to developing the whole person through football have been a blessing. His vision of building the model program has never wavered, despite extraordinary adversity. The future is bright for UVA football and we’re excited to continue this work together.” Virginia capped its season with a 13-7 win over Missouri in the Gator Bowl after losing to Duke in the ACC championship game. It was Virginia’s first bowl victory since 2018. Elliott is 22-26 in four years at Virginia. “The commitment to football at the University of Virginia is real and palpable throughout our building,” Elliott said. ‘I’m proud of the foundation that we have laid and excited for what we can do together in the years to come.” TCU extends coach Dykes TCU and coach Sonny Dykes have agreed to a contract extension after back-to-back 9-4 seasons, the school said Friday. The private Big 12 school does not disclose contract terms, but his previously extended deal went through the 2028 season. This multiyear agreement would take Dykes at least a couple of years past that. Dykes is 36-17 in his four seasons with the Horned Frogs, who set a school record for wins while going 13-2 and making the four-team College Football Playoff at the end of his 2022 debut season after replacing long-time coach Gary Patterson. Dykes originally got a six-year contract, which was extended after that first season when they finished No. 3 in the final AP Top 25 college football poll. They were 25th in the final poll last season. “The opportunity to pursue a national championship, the College Football Playoff, and Big 12 championships exists right here in Fort Worth, and my family and I, as well as our entire staff, are excited to continue that pursuit as Horned Frogs,’ Dykes said. The Frogs will open next season against North Carolina in Ireland on Aug. 29, when they will have a new starting quarterback and new offensive coordinator. They finished last season with a three-game winning streak capped by a win over Southern California in the Alamo Bowl after their three-year starting quarterback Josh Hoover had entered the transfer portal and later joined national champion Indiana as the likely replacement for Heisman Trophy winner Fernando Mendoza. Offensive coordinator Kendal Briles left for South Carolina and was replaced by former UConn OC Gordon Sammis. Virginia Cavaliers QB Chandler Morris denied seventh year Virginia quarterback Chandler Morris was denied in his bid for a preliminary injunction as he seeks a seventh season of eligibility. Morris had filed a lawsuit in Charlottesville (Virginia) Circuit Court last month seeking the injunction after the NCAA denied his medical redshirt waiver and appeal. A circuit court judge ruled against Morris on Thursday. “The NCAA is pleased by the court’s decision today, which protects the integrity of collegiate competition,” the NCAA said in a statement. “As additional lawsuits challenging common-sense, academically-tied eligibility rules are filed, the NCAA will continue to defend against attempts to rob high school students across the nation of the opportunity to compete in college and experience the life-changing opportunities only college sports can create. “The NCAA and its member schools are making changes to deliver more benefits to student-athletes, but the patchwork of state laws and inconsistent, conflicting court decisions make partnering with Congress essential to provide stability for all college athletes.” Morris’ case is one of 71 eligibility lawsuits that have been filed. Of those cases, 33 preliminary injunctions have been denied and 13 have been granted. Twelve eligibility lawsuits are still pending in lower courts and 13 have been voluntarily dismissed prior to a decision on a preliminary injunction. The dispute surrounding the 25-year-old Morris involves his 2022 season with the TCU Horned Frogs and whether it should count against his eligibility. Morris suffered a knee injury that season and applied for a medical redshirt, but the NCAA denied that request after Morris made limited appearances in three games later that season. West Florida moves up to Division I West Florida will begin the transition from NCAA Division II to Division I on July 1 and compete in the United Athletic Conference in football and the Atlantic Sun Conference in other sports, the school announced Thursday. The Argonauts have had one of the top Division II athletic programs and lead the Gulf South Conference in all-time championships and all-sports trophies. Their 15-sport program has won 11 national and 136 conference championships. The United Athletic Conference was established in 2023 as a single-sport football conference through a partnership between the ASUN and the Western Athletic Conference. The UAC plays in the Football Championship Subdivision. The eight-team ASUN was founded in 1978. West Florida will not be eligible for NCAA postseason tournaments during the three-year reclassification process. The school will be eligible for ASUN and UAC championships immediately. NCAA sued by Heinecke over eligibility Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Owen Heinecke is suing the NCAA for an additional year of eligibility, according to court documents. Heinecke played briefly in three games of lacrosse at Ohio State in February 2022, costing him a year of eligibility. He transferred to play football at Oklahoma, then sat out a year because of injury. He was mostly a special teams player in 2023 and 2024 before breaking out last season with 74 tackles, including 12 for loss, and three sacks. Oklahoma submitted a request for an eligibility waiver, but it was denied in January, and an appeal was denied in February. An emergency hearing is set for April 16 in Norman, Oklahoma. The timing is critical — Oklahoma’s Spring Game is April 18 and the NFL Draft is April 23-25. Heinecke has hired an agent and participated in the Senior Bowl, Oklahoma Pro Day and the NFL Scouting Combine while trying to regain the year of college eligibility. Heinecke’s lawyers say he should get the additional year because of factors beyond his control. They say Heinecke lost his year of eligibility as a freshman because the Ohio State’s lacrosse coach ignored his request to redshirt so he could recover from high school injuries. They say the NCAA “breached its duty of good faith and fair dealing owed to Owen, and acted in bad faith, in denying Owen an additional year of eligibility so that he can compete as an intercollegiate athlete in the year 2026-27.” The filing says Heinecke wants to return to school to improve his draft stock and seek his master’s degree in accounting. Oklahoma is backing his quest. “OU fully supports Owen and his pursuit of a fair opportunity to continue playing the game he loves,” Oklahoma athletic director Roger Denny said in a statement. “We’ll stand firmly beside him as he works to do just that.” Warren Sapp leaving Colorado Pro Football Hall of Famer Sapp is no longer on Deion Sanders’ staff at Colorado after two seasons. Sapp joined CU during the 2024 season as the team’s senior quality control analyst and served this past season as its defensive pass rush coordinator. “Warren Sapp has resigned from the CU football coaching staff to pursue other opportunities,” Colorado’s athletic department said in a statement Feb. 26. “CU Athletics thanks Warren for his contributions to our football program over the last two seasons and for his commitment to our student-athletes.” Cincinnati suing former QB Brendan Sorsby The Bearcats are suing their former starting quarterback of two years, claiming that he breached his NIL contract by failing to pay Cincinnati a $1 million exit fee for transferring to Texas Tech in January, per ESPN. Sorsby reportedly signed an NIL contract with Texas Tech in the range of $4-6 million for next season and is being advised to not pay Cincinnati $1 million in estimated liquidated damages. Last season, Sorsby totaled 2,800 passing yards, 27 passing touchdowns, five interceptions and a Big 12-high 155.1 passer rating for the Bearcats, while completing 61.6% of his passes in 12 games. He also rushed for 580 yards and nine touchdowns. Sorsby spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Indiana (2022-23) before transferring to Cincinnati for the 2024 season. Virginia QB Chandler Morris seeking seventh year of eligibility Morris continued his fight for a seventh season of eligibility by filing a lawsuit against the NCAA, his agent confirmed. The NCAA denied Morris’ medical redshirt waiver and appeal last month, and he is seeking a preliminary injunction in Charlottesville Circuit Court. The NCAA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Morris could be making an argument similar to Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss, who received a preliminary injunction from a Mississippi judge on Feb. 12. Chambliss’ case was based on injuries severely limiting his playing time and not allowing him to make the most of his athletic eligibility. The 25-year-old Morris applied for a medical redshirt for the 2022 season at TCU after suffering a knee injury. The NCAA denied that request after Morris made limited appearances in three games later that season. Philip Rivers’ son commits to NC State Quarterback Gunner Rivers has committed to NC State — his father’s alma mater — he announced on Feb. 23. Rivers is a four-star quarterback at St. Michael Catholic in Fairhope, Alabama. His father coached his high school team as well, doing so before he made his return to the NFL in 2025. The younger Rivers threw for 2,813 yards, 44 touchdowns and five interceptions this season, leading his high school to the state title game. Tennessee QB Joey Aguilar denied sixth season Aguilar’s injunction for a sixth season of eligibility has been denied, and he will now go pro, per ESPN. Aguilar was previously granted a temporary restraining order in his lawsuit against the NCAA as he sought an extra year of eligibility, which would’ve enabled him to continue playing for the Volunteers this fall. Aguilar played the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Diablo Valley (2021-22), followed by two seasons at Appalachian State (2023-24) before transferring to Tennessee for the 2025 season. Indiana HC Curt Cignetti gets a raise The Hoosiers have raised their head coach’s salary to $13.2 million through the 2033 season, per ESPN. This deal comes in the wake of Indiana winning its first national championship in program history in January and already raising Cignetti’s salary to $11.6 million in October 2025. Moreover, this raise makes Cignetti the second-highest paid coach in college football. Since Cignetti took over in Bloomington for the 2024 season, the Hoosiers are a combined 27-2, highlighted by going 16-0 en route to winning the national championship last season. North Illinois head coach Thomas Hammock leaving for NFL Hammock is leaving NIU to become the running backs coach for the Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks, according to CBS Sports. Over Hammock’s seven seasons as NIU’s head coach (2019-25), the Huskies went a combined 35-47, a stint highlighted by three bowl game appearances and a win at South Bend against Notre Dame in 2024. Hammock, who played running back at NIU, was previously a running backs coach for the Baltimore Ravens from 2014-18, among other assistant coaching stints. Four-star prospect de-commits from Michigan Peter Bourque, a four-star quarterback out of Massachusetts in the 2027 class, reopened his recruitment on Feb. 17. Bourque had been verbally committed to Michigan in Aug. 2025 under previous head coach Sherrone Moore. Michigan finds its DT coach The Wolverines are hiring Vanderbilt defensive line coach Larry Black to be new head coach Kyle Whittingham’s defensive tackle coach, per ESPN. Black was Vanderbilt’s defensive line coach from 2022-25 and previously held the same role at Toledo from 2019-21. In other news, Michigan has reportedly parted ways with general manager Sean Magee. Michigan is also expected to part ways with Sam Popper, its director of recruiting, and Albert Karschnia, its director of player personnel. SEC cuts massive checks to its members The SEC is distributing more than $1 billion to its 16 universities for the 2024-25 fiscal year, which ended last August. The total distribution jumped more than $200 million from the previous year. The current total includes $37.4 million retained by universities that participated in the College Football Playoff and bowl games. The amount distributed from the conference office, including bowl revenue retained by participants, averaged $72.4 million for schools with full year financial participation. Oklahoma and Texas, which joined the conference in July 2024, received distributions of $2.6 million and $12.1 million, respectively, related to CFP and bowl participation and designated NCAA funds. The $72.4 million average per school is approximately $18.6 million above the 2023-24 average of $53.8 million for full members. The payout for the 14 schools receiving a full share consists of revenue generated from television agreements, postseason bowls, the CFP, the SEC title game, the SEC men’s basketball tournament and NCAA championships. The Associated Press contributed to this report.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Beginning Jan. 27, when then-No. 5 Nebraska traveled to the Crisler Center for a date with then-No. 3 Michigan, the Big Ten ushered in a wave of high-leverage games that pitted the league’s best teams against each other at the midway point of the conference schedule. First, the Wolverines upended the previously unbeaten Cornhuskers, whose roster that night was diminished through injury. Then, Michigan scored its second victory over a top-10 opponent in the span of four days with an emphatic, emotional rivalry win against then-No. 7 Michigan State at the Breslin Center. And finally, on Sunday afternoon, white-hot Illinois, previously ranked ninth, conquered a raucous atmosphere at Pinnacle Bank Arena to hand Nebraska a second consecutive loss and extend its own winning run to 11, the seventh-longest streak in the country. What amounted to an in-season round-robin began to establish a more legitimate pecking order in the Big Ten after teams entered the weekend at 9-1 in league play. Michigan and Illinois, who have combined for just one loss since Nov. 28, are playing like favorites entering the back half of their respective conference schedules. That leaves Nebraska and Michigan State jockeying for position behind them, with both teams seeking to address the issues that cost them in marquee moments last week. And then there’s Purdue, winners of the regular-season title in 2023 and 2024, lurking in the background following an uncharacteristic three-game skid. Our newest Men’s College Hoops Spotlight sizes up the Big Ten race with five weeks remaining in the regular season: Big Ten title race: The frontrunners Michigan Even though Michigan’s win over Nebraska came against an injury-depleted squad — the Cornhuskers were without two of their three leading scorers in Rienk Mast (flu) and Braden Frager (knee) — a subsequent victory over rival Michigan State was particularly convincing, especially considering the Wolverines hadn’t won in East Lansing since 2018. They led for more than 35 minutes against the Spartans and withstood a ferocious second-half comeback before pulling away in the closing stages. Head coach Dusty May’s group will now enter its game against Penn State on Thursday night as the most balanced team in the conference, according to KenPom, ranking ninth nationally in offensive efficiency and first in defensive efficiency. The latter is a spot Michigan reclaimed from the Spartans following last week’s head-to-head matchup in which it limited Michigan State to 37% shooting overall and 17% from 3-point range. But the Wolverines have arguably the most difficult finishing stretch of anyone in the Big Ten with remaining games against No. 12 Purdue, No. 4 Duke (non-conference), No. 5 Illinois, Iowa and the rematch with No. 10 Michigan State, among others. So while it’s unlikely that Michigan can navigate that stretch unscathed — especially with games against Duke, Purdue and Illinois all on the road — May’s team has already racked up enough wins to remain in the thick of this year’s conference championship race. Coach quote: “I think we proved that we can still win in different ways,” May said in a news conference following his team’s win over Michigan State on Friday. “We haven’t been in two games like we were in this week where there’s so little movement. You’re challenged for every inch of the court. You’re challenged for every step. And so last year’s team, we didn’t respond very well once the Big Ten got into this part of the season. And we addressed that through recruiting. Our guys were able to do that tonight. They were able to get just enough space and separation and create the angles, and guys stepped up and made plays.” Illinois Even though Illinois has suffered three times as many defeats as Michigan this season, the quality of opponents its lost to can’t be questioned: a neutral-site game against then-No. 11 Alabama on Nov. 19, a neutral-site game against then-No. 5 UConn on Nov. 28 and a home game against then-No. 23 Nebraska on Dec. 13. Two of those teams — UConn and Nebraska — are ranked among the top-10 nationally in the latest AP Poll, though Alabama has since slipped to No. 27 overall. Still, few teams in the country — if any — are as hot as the Illini amid their ninth season under head coach Brad Underwood. A scorching offense that is averaging 131.2 points per 100 possessions currently leads the nation in efficiency by nearly two full points over second-place Purdue and nearly four full points over third-place Alabama. Underwood’s team is on pace to record the most efficient offense this sport has seen across 30 years of data tracked by KenPom, with last year’s Duke squad (130.1 points per 100 possessions) being the only other program to top 130 during that span. For the Illini to be doing this without starting point guard Kylan Boswell (14.3 points per game), who suffered a broken hand in practice on Jan. 19 and will miss at least a few more weeks, adds to the impressiveness of the feat. Without him, true freshman guard Keaton Wagler, a former three-star recruit, has morphed into one of the most dynamic players in the country and is averaging 21.2 points per game over his last 13 outings. Coach quote: “I think we’ve got some toughness,” Underwood said in a news conference following his team’s win over Nebraska on Sunday. “I think we’ve got some connectivity. Every game [has] its own identity, and we’ve got to solve different problems [each night]. I think this team has tremendous problem-solving ability. I think our basketball IQ is pretty high. I think our toughness is growing. I think we’ve got a little of that [toughness already], but I think we’ve still got some room to improve.” [NCAA TOURNAMENT: Kansas Looking Strong, Nebraska Drops in New Bracket] Big Ten title race: Next in line Michigan State The Spartans saw their seven-game winning streak snapped in a disappointing home loss to then-No. 3 Michigan, falling behind by 16 in the first half and then running out of steam down the stretch after clawing back to take a 57-55 lead with 7:27 remaining. Head coach Tom Izzo spent plenty of time in the post-game news conference lamenting his team’s performance — particularly in a turnover-ridden first half — while also alluding to the idea that certain flaws he and the staff had recognized earlier in the month were finally exposed by a quality opponent. It’s possible Michigan State’s lofty conference record is somewhat overinflated given that the Spartans have now lost their only two Big Ten games against ranked opponents so far this season. So what are some of the pitfalls? For starters, Michigan State is the most imbalanced of the five primary contenders for the Big Ten title. Michigan, Illinois, Purdue and Nebraska all rank among the top 27 nationally in both offensive and defensive efficiency, according to KenPom, which is something the Spartans can’t match. Izzo’s group sits 48th in offense and second in defense entering Wednesday’s game against Minnesota. There are also ongoing issues surrounding subpar backcourt play from everyone not named Jeremy Fears Jr., who is a legitimate Player of the Year candidate in the conference, and a team-wide 3-point shooting percentage of 35% that ranks 117th nationally. Moving forward, Izzo suggested the Spartans will introduce freshman wing Jordan Scott to the starting lineup in an effort to jump start the offense. Coach quote: “We got guys that are trying to do stuff they can’t do,” Izzo said in a news conference following his team’s loss to Michigan on Friday. “That’s why in the last [few] games, our bigs have had 10 turnovers and nine turnovers. It’s hard to do that. It’s hard to do that. That means they’re trying to do more than they can do. We’re gonna have to talk about that. There’s things I’ve wanted to do for a couple weeks because I saw some things coming, and we’ll do that now. And yet I’m not gonna panic over getting beat in a game that we had that one stretch where it was just a bad stretch, there, in the first half. And then the second half, we battle all the way back [but] to not quite get it done at the end.” Nebraska A dream-like run of 20 consecutive wins to begin the season finally came to an end for Nebraska last week during a difficult stretch in which the Cornhuskers fell to Michigan and Illinois in the span of six days, tumbling from No. 5 to No. 9 in the national rankings. In some respects, the idea that head coach Fred Hoiberg’s team remained undefeated through late January was something of a miracle, considering Nebraska had been picked to finish 14th in the Big Ten preseason media poll. The Cornhuskers have never won more than 23 games in a season under Hoiberg, who is partway through his seventh year, and have only finished above .500 in Big Ten play three times since rejoining the conference ahead of the 2011-12 campaign. But because Nebraska played so well for so long to begin this season, the nature of those back-to-back defeats rang particularly hollow. Despite injuries to two of their three leading scorers, the Cornhuskers led, 50-48, at halftime on the road against Michigan before scoring just 22 points in the second half. Then they led, 39-33, against Illinois at home on Sunday afternoon — this time at full strength — only to go cold once more in the second half, leaving Hoiberg & Co. feeling like they let another game slip away. Nobody seemed to embody that Jekyll-and-Hyde demeanor more than sharpshooting forward Pryce Sandfort, the team’s leading scorer at 17.2 points per game. Sandfort scored 26 combined points on 8-for-16 shooting from beyond the arc in first halves against Michigan and Illinois. But in the second halves of those games, he scored just 8 points on 1-for-9 shooting from 3-point range. Hoiberg told reporters he believed officiating was a significant part of that equation. Coach quote: “They’ve got to let Pryce run, you know?” Hoiberg said in a news conference after his team’s loss to Illinois on Sunday. “He’s getting held, he’s getting grabbed. Our offense, freedom of movement, that’s gotta be enforced, you know? We run, I think, a pretty aesthetically pleasing offense, you know? But when you’re being held, you can’t run it. So we’re gonna continue to try to do it — cut, force, do everything we can to get these guys open and free them up — but it’s tough at times when you’re out there.” [MEN’S HOOPS RANKINGS: Florida, Illinois Climbing; Purdue Falls] Big Ten title race: The dark horse Purdue Entering a road game at UCLA on Jan. 20, the Boilermakers were comfortably positioned among the best teams in the country. They’d won nine consecutive games to improve to 17-1 overall and 7-0 in the Big Ten with an impressive résumé that included noteworthy non-conference victories over then-No. 8 Alabama, then-No. 15 Texas Tech and then-No. 21 Auburn. At that point, the only team to beat Purdue was then-No. 10 Iowa State, a team now ranked seventh in the latest AP Poll. Head coach Matt Painter’s team was firmly in the mix for both another Big Ten regular season title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament. But then came three consecutive losses in a calendar week by 13 combined points — first to UCLA, then to Illinois, finally to Indiana — and suddenly, somewhat inexplicably, it seemed like the West Lafayette sky was falling. It marked just the second time in the last six seasons that Purdue suffered a losing streak of three games or longer, and this one sunk the Boilermakers into a tie for fifth in the Big Ten standings. A dominant, 30-point win over lowly Maryland on Sunday vaulted Painter’s team, which still ranks second nationally in offensive efficiency, back in the right direction, but there are plenty more challenges to come. The Boilermakers’ finishing kick includes games against No. 9 Nebraska, Iowa, No. 2 Michigan, No. 10 Michigan State and Wisconsin. It might be difficult for Purdue to win a third Big Ten regular season title in four years given where Painter’s group currently sits, but the roster certainly has enough talent to make a push down the stretch. Coach quote: “You get yourself in a position where you’re 7-0 in the league, and you’re 17-1, then you lose three straight, and you find out a lot about your guys,” Painter told reporters following his team’s win over Maryland on Sunday. “And that’s the type of adversity you’re going to see at times. You’ve got to be able to weather through it and play better. But also, I think, our concentration hasn’t been at a high tilt. That’s come in and out. If you can hold your concentration and have discipline and embrace the physicality of the game and go out there and compete, you know, we’ve been a pretty good team, right? So that’s what we have to keep doing and keep building off that. You never have that figured out, but you’re always working on those areas.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports