Tomorrow, I have the High Honor of attending the Army Navy game in Philadelphia. It will be the last year that I get to watch my young son March On as a Midshipmen. He is graduating in May.

I will tell you that the Army Navy game represents all the best about College Football. It is one of those rare times when all the people on the field are willing to give their lives for all the people in the stands.

I invite you all to watch the game tomorrow. If any of you would like to be a fan of the Naval Academy, I hereby grant to you all the rights and privileges that come with being a fan of the GREATEST COLLEGE TO EVER EXIST ON THE PLANET.

And finally, my Midshipmen son sends his highest regards. He is still a massive UCLA fan and the only team he loathes more than Army is SUC.

GO NAVY, BEAT ARMY.

QB Austin Reed (Western Kentucky)

He’s the nation’s second-leading passer (4,247 yards, 36 passing TDs)

WR Kaleb Smith (Virginia Tech)

An all-ACC honorable mention honoree, Smith had 37 catches for 674 yards to lead the team in both categories.

DL Kyon Barrs (Arizona)

He was an all-conference second-team selection in 2021. This past season, he had 39 tackles (4.5 for a loss)

DE Marshawn Kneeland (Western Michigan)

Had 38 tackles (10 for a loss)

Safety Jonathan McGill (Stanford)

Was second on the team with 51 tackles to go with an INT and 7 PBUs. The academics between the schools and the hole at safety makes him one of the bigger targets.

RB Anthony Adkins (Army)

He’s been in the portal for a while now as he elected to sit out this entire season. He took an unofficial visit earlier this year and was at the USC game. In 2021, Adkins ran for 355 yards and 5 TDs on 76 carries.

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UCLA rushes for the Big Ten and the big payday. But what about the players?​

BY DAVE ZIRIN
Big Ten football means something in the national psyche. It’s the Midwest. It’s Frigidaire-snowy Saturdays after a crisp fall. It’s teams defined by tough running games and rounded shoulders. One thing it is not and has never been is a coastal operation of golden beaches and year-round sunshine.
And yet, here is UCLA, planning to abandon the Pac-12 conference and join the Big Ten, following a vote from the University of California Board of Regents next week. Opponents of the move are hoping to block it; they will almost certainly lose.
They will lose because this is not about a sports tradition or weather patterns. This is about big business and treating our college campuses as settings for in-demand entertainment and only incidentally places where students happen to attend classes. This is about cold hard cash.
(USC is also moving to the Big Ten, which is similarly silly and craven, but as a private institution, USC does not have to go through a state board to make it a reality.https://www.latimes.com/sports/usc/story/2022-12-04/usc-to-face-tulane-in-the-cotton-bowl
With the addition of the Southern California teams, the Big Ten’s new media deal is expected to bring in roughly $100 million annually for each of its 16 member schools, far outpacing the $31 million that the current Pac-12’s television deal promises.
Boosters of the UCLA switch say this money is desperately needed or the university may have to cut sports teams. The school’s athletic department posted an unheard of $62.5-million budget shortfall for fiscal 2021, and a three-year deficit of more than $100 million.
The department blames its disastrous ledger sheet on the pandemic, the elimination of home football games in 2020, and losing a lucrative deal with Under Armour in which the school’s athletes were walking billboards for the company.
Interestingly, when it comes to UCLA budgeting, cutting coaching salaries, including football coach Chip Kelly’s latest four-year $23-million deal or hoops coach Mike Cronin’s six-year, $24.5-million contract never seems to be up for discussion.
And with Big Ten money about to flow into the school’s coffers, making everyone who doesn’t actually play a nice chunk of change, the toll on the players is also going underdiscussed. In effect, the plan is to treat UCLA’s 18-to 22-year-old student athletes as fungible material in the manufacture of money.
The players will have to travel a great deal more throughout the season once UCLA moves to the Big Ten. Their flight schedule will be comparable to a pro team, but charter airfare’s not the only price players and the schools will have to pay.
Figures presented at the UC Board of Regents meeting in November indicated that as much as $10 million will need to be spent on more academic advisors to travel with the team, more mental health therapists to get them through the rigors of the new schedule, and in addition to that, the program will also allocate “$252,000 for education, preventative measures and direct psychiatric care to help with sleep, eating disorders, substance abuse and other acute care.”
These figures are cited as financial costs instead of social costs, to the shame of all parties involved: The nine-figure payday at the end of the rainbow will be offset only a bit by the risks to the academic and mental health of the players the adults are supposedly there to safeguard.
I’m reminded of the words of former college basketball player Laron Profit who told me, “We’re not student athletes. We are athlete students because the moment we are on campus, it is made clear to us what our priorities are supposed to be.”
At UCLA, those priorities are now crystal clear, and they argue for treating the Bruin players like the employees they are, with a salary and healthcare benefits.
I once asked a prominent college football coach about paying athletes in the revenue-producing college sports, especially football and basketball. He answered that there was value in the “purity” of amateurism, in the role of the student athlete. Paying players would sully that special experience.
I followed up by asking why his team, historically in the Atlantic Coast Conference, planned to blow up the purity of its history by moving to — yes — the Big Ten. His response was, “This is big business and sometimes big businesses must restructure to survive.”
So are we talking warm and fuzzy amateurism or cutthroat big business?
Many college coaches hold this kind of duality in their heads: College sports is amateurism/college sports is business. It is obvious which one of those statements is the truth and which at best is a self-delusion.
Treat UCLA players like the workers they are, or don’t expect them to travel the country performing in the name of paying the salaries of administrators and coaches. Don’t destroy traditions — or “student athletes” — in the name of the bottom line.

About 25 mins to tip-off. David Singleton, who missed practice Wednesday with food poisoning, is warming up and looks good to go.

Jaylen Clark’s career-high 24 points led the way as he played his best game in more than 2 weeks

Before today’s noon men’s basketball, the football team will be practicing at 10 a.m.

There’s only a 15-minute observation period and no interviews today as that official bowl practice schedule is still to be worked out.

But will at least give me a chance to get a look at who is practicing and see how many attendees there are as far as recruits/portal visitors.

WR commit Grant Gray was one of the major risers in the new Rivals250 rankings, jumping from outside the 250 to No. 145. I think he's earned it -- impressive player.

Amari Bailey is playing well over his last four games while point guard Tyger Campbell is still looking for more consistency in his shot

He's the younger brother of Laiatu Latu, a TE from Cal. Seems like UCLA needs TEs

Frankly, I think I would be okay if they chose not to play. I'd rather see Garbers and Harden play as a peak into next season.

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UCLA has quietly been putting in some work behind the scenes with five-star quarterback Dante Moore. The No. 4-ranked prospect in the 2023 class has finally decided today to make an official visit to Westwood this weekend to get an up-close look at the Bruins ahead of the early signing period. Moore, who has been committed to the Ducks since the summer, is slated to enroll early so he only has a short period of time to settle on a final choice. UCLA faces a bit of an uphill battle here as the feeling remains that he will remain locked in with the Ducks, but convincing a recruit of his stature to visit this late in the process is a big step in the right direction for a program hoping to flip him late.

Oregon recently lost its offensive coordinator, Kenny Dillingham, who is taking over the head coach position at Arizona State. Dillingham is a big reason Moore decided to end up committing to the Ducks originally, but Dan Lanning has taken a personal role in recruiting the star quarterback from Detroit in recent weeks to help take some of the concern away from Moore. The expected NIL deal Moore is set to receive at Oregon is reportedly substantial, and that is going to be part of any decision he makes. However, the success of the Bruins with Dorian Thompson-Robinson has certainly piqued Moore's interest enough to push him to make the trip out to Los Angeles this weekend.

The story on the UCLA freshman reserve from Italy

Cronin and players begin media availability at 11:30 a.m. before starting practice. So, if I miss anything in the football portal news cycle it’s because I’m starting my drive to campus.

Both Ethan Young and Josh Irvin on UCLA’s recruiting staff are following 2023 4-star Arkansas commit Jaylon Braxton and his brother Braylon Braxton, a Tulsa QB who entered the transfer portal

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Has anyone else heard the rumor that now DJ is in the portal he and his brother are a combo pack to Ucla most likely? I’ve read this rumor twice in the last 3 days.

Laiatu Latu and Zach Charbonnet on the first team, Atonio Mafi and Darius Muasau on the second team, Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Jake Bobo, Stephan Blaylock and Jon Gaines II earn honorable mention honors.

Story to come.

Atonio Mafi joins Dorian Thompson-Robinson in accepting an invitation to play in the game

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There goes Pitts starting QB....perhaps a parting gift to UCLA??

We’re playing North Carolina on ESPNU for a national championship.
NC is dominating play in first half but Bruins are slowly finding a rhythm.

Defensive end Hunter Clegg, a 2023 four-star defensive end from Utah who is committed to Stanford, will be on campus starting Friday.

Obviously, with the coaching change at Stanford, that makes him viable to be poached and look elsewhere.

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This has been updated a few times, even as recently as today, to be as up to date as we can get it before the transfer portal throws everything into even more of a cluster.

For players who can take advantage of an extra year because of the pandemic, it was easiest to just lump them all as TBD (unless they’ve stated one way or another what their plans are). So, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re gone or for sure coming back (and really that goes for anyone regardless of class standing).

But here’s how the 2023 roster is shaping up as of this moment:

A miraculous come-from-behind win in 2OT over UNC. 3-2.

Here are a few names from the portal who could be good great additions.

OT
P J Williams TAMU
Andrej Karic Texas
Cameron Williams Texas
Jake Hornibrook Stanford
Kevin Pyne BC
Bram Walden Oregon

IOL
Drake Nugent Stanford

WR
Cody Jackson Houston
D’onte Thornton Oregon
Theo Wease Oklahoma

K
Caden Davis TAMU

DL
Tunmise Adelye TAMU
Elijah Jeudy TAMU
Omar Lott ASU

Edge
D J Harris

LB
Julien Simon $UC
Ernest Hausman Nebraska
Levani Dumani Stanford

CB
Brian George TAMU
Joshua Eaton Oklahoma
Fentrell Cypress Virginia
Jayden Bellamy ND
Jaeden Gould Nebraska
Khyree Jackson Bama

S
J D Coffey Texas

Because of the number of players in the Portal. I don't think it will happen but now Bowls are rendered meaningless...a product of a past era of college football.

Sun Bowl
UCLA vs. Pittsburg

Holiday Bowl
Oregon vs. North Carolina

Las Vegas Bowl
Oregon State vs. Florida

Cotton Bowl
USC vs. Tulane

Rose Bowl
Utah vs. Penn State

Alamo Bowl
Washington vs. Texas

LA Bowl
Washington State vs. Fresno State