Defending SEC champion Alabama hits the practice field on Friday, and the questions head coach Nick Saban must answer this spring could make or break his team's title chances this fall. One look at the depth chart on the offensive side of the ball, and you'll see a laundry list of new players who are being counted on in 2015. Saban and second-year offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin must replace nine starters off of last year's Allstate ...

College football is one of the most popular sports in America largely because of its unpredictability. Every fall, contenders emerge from unexpected places and teams pegged for the Top 10 fall out of favor in ugly fashion. Last July, who would’ve predicted Oklahoma's and South Carolina’s struggles would've coincided with the rise of the likes of TCU and Mississippi State? Nobody. That’s what makes college football great. It won’t be long before college football preseason preview ...

In the high-stakes world of college football, it seems like almost every coach is one bad year away from getting sent packing. It's not really that drastic a situation, but the reality is that in the FBS ranks, the concept of job security is completely independent of the salary a coach earns. More than half of the coaches at the FBS level of college football make more than $1 million, with more than two dozen earning north ...

The coaching silly season has passed. If you're one of the college football programs fortunate enough to have kept that highly sought assistant, count your lucky stars. He may not be around for much longer. Every coordinator on the following list has reportedly received some sort of interest from another program over the past couple of years about becoming a head coach. However, for one reason or another, things didn't work out. Which coordinators are already qualified to ...

For the first time in several seasons, the Tennessee Volunteers won't be so dependent on freshmen. Even though the Vols signed a consensus top-five class (including the fourth-ranked haul on 247Sports' composite rankings), it's difficult to find a handful of surefire first-year players who'll log significant snaps. While head coach Butch Jones did grab a couple of junior college transfers who will factor into the immediate equation, the Vols are finally in a position to bring a ...

College football players only have four years to show their programs and people at the professional level of football that they're valuable and can always be counted on to put up great numbers. The players who show consistency every season—or, better yet, show improvement with each passing season—have the advantage. Unfortunately, for any number of reasons, not every college football player can do this. This slideshow includes eight players who, I believe, will actually have worse ...

The 2016 recruiting cycle presents the UCLA football team with a golden opportunity.  There's excellent talent coming out of the state of California—particularly at wide receiver and linebacker. Coincidentally enough, these are two areas of need when looking at the Bruins' roster going forward.  This piece will rank the top five recruiting targets heading into the spring. The rankings will be based on the overall upside of the prospects, as well as the need from a positional ...

Twenty hours of organized activities may not seem like much, but for Michigan, those hours have been a welcome sign of progress, change and development. Spring football is designed in such a way, and the Wolverines continue to learn about themselves as they approach April 4’s spring game. For the most part, coach Jim Harbaugh’s staff has expressed nothing but optimism. Everyone is genuinely excited to see what their players can do in 2015. But none of ...

Nebraska football fans know it’s never too early to look toward recruiting for 2016. New head coach Mike Riley took the job in late 2014 and has not yet had a full recruiting season to show off his skills. 2016 will be the first time Nebraska fans will truly get an idea of how skilled Riley and his staff are at luring top talent to Lincoln. At this stage, trying to determine who a school’s top targets ...

Chip Kelly wasn't back at his old stomping grounds to watch Oregon's pro day. That said, it felt like the rest of the NFL's free world was. Marcus Mariota, Arik Armstead and a host of other former Ducks were greeted by a full complement of NFL personnel Wednesday, watching on to get their last one-stop shopping on those stars before April. Mariota, a potential No. 1 overall pick, drew the most attention. The reigning Heisman winner ...