*Checks watch* Yep, it’s portal time. Again.
The latest FBS program to see a potential personnel move is Ole Miss, with Matt Zenitz of al.com tweeting that Montrell Custis has decided to enter his name into the ever-growing NCAA transfer database. Thus far, there’s been no public confirmation from either the player or the program.
Was a starter last year before suffering a season-ending injury. Would be a grad transfer.
— Matt Zenitz (@mzenitz) October 2, 2019
Custis was a three-star member of the Rebels’ 2015 recruiting class. After redshirting as a true freshman, the defensive back played in a combined 19 games the next two seasons. The Georgia native then started the first three games of 2018 before suffering a knee injury that cut short his redshirt junior campaign.
This season, Custis had yet to see action in any of the first five games.
Because of the injury in 2018 plus the redshirt his true freshman year, it’s likely that Custis could receive a sixth season of eligibility from the NCAA. Obviously, he will likely use that additional year somewhere other than Oxford.
Earlier this week, Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm announced his Boilermakers will be without starting quarterback Elijah Sindelar and wide receiver Rondale Moore when the team visits No. 12 Penn State this weekend. While Sindelar will reportedly be out for the year, the outlook for Moore remained uncertain. During his weekly radio show Wednesday night, Brohm provided a mild update to say Moore will be week-by-week.
Brohm confirmed once again Purdue will be without their top wide receiver this week against the Nittany Lions, but there is no suggestion Moore will be out fo the rest of the season.
— mike carmin (@carmin_jc) October 2, 2019
The loss of Moore is a tough blow to the Purdue offense (as well as the starting quarterback). Moore leads Purdue with 29 receptions for 387 yards and two touchdowns. His ability to make big plays has made him one of the best receivers in the Big Ten, if not the entire country. The extent of the injury to Moore has never been clarified, and it remains a question with Purdue moving to a week-by-week situation monitoring his status. Purdue has played in four games, so the possibility of redshirting Moore this fall remains a scenario in play as well. If Moore won’t be back in the next few weeks, that could remain an option if the injury is severe enough to keep Moore off the field for a prolonged period of time. But with Moore being week-by-week, it sounds as though Brohm is anticipating Moore will be back.
For the sake of entertainment, the sooner the better.
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It must be extension season in Waco, Texas. Just a few days after Baylor announced a contract extension for football head coach Matt Rhule, Baylor has announced yet another contract extension. This time it was athletics director Mack Rhoades getting a new contract.
As announced by Baylor, Rhoades has a new 10-year contract that runs through July 31, 2029. The contract includes two one-year extensions that will kick in automatically as well, providing a good amount of job security for an athletics director that has done yeoman’s work to change the image of the Baylor athletics department.
“As I’ve stated on many occasions, Amy and I feel called to be at Baylor University. I am blessed to work with an incredible leader in President Livingstone and alongside the most talented and committed coaches, staff and student-athletes in the country,” Rhoades said in a released statement. “There is tremendous alignment in our University leadership from the Board of Regents, the President and President’s Council, to our athletics staff and coaches in support of our institutional goal of Preparing Champions for Life. I appreciate the confidence reflected in me from the Board of Regents and Dr. Livingstone. Great things are happening at Baylor, and we have an incredibly bright future ahead.”
As far as football is concerned, Rhoades and Rhule appear to be in this for the long haul with each of their recent contracts, and that appears to be a good thing moving forward. After a rough 1-11 season for Rhule in 2017 as the work on picking up the program from the fallout of the Art Briles era, Baylor won seven games in 2018 and capped the season with a victory in the Texas Bowl. Baylor is now off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2016. Of course, time will tell if Rhule ultimately stays at Baylor. The more success he continues to have, the more interest he will continue to receive from potential suitors, including from the NFL.
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Just a few days ago, Kansas was bracing for the probability of not having leading rusher Khalil Herbert for an undetermined amount of time. Today, Kansas head coach Les Miles confirmed Herbert will not be back in a Kansas uniform at all.
“We would like to wish Khalil Herbert and his family well moving forward,” Miles said in a released statement. “With that said, Khalil is no longer a member of our football program and will not participate in any football activities.”
It was previously reported Herbert left the football program initially for personal reasons, the details of which were not revealed. Whatever the personal issues were off the field, it was clearly serious enough to no longer have Herbert be a member of the team, regardless of who made the decision.
— Kansas Football (@KU_Football) October 2, 2019
Herbert left the team as the leading rusher for the Jayhawks with 384 yards. He rushed for 187 yards in a big road win at Boston College to help snap a long road losing streak against power-conference opponents for the Jayhawks.
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One of the first members of a recruiting class signed by Mario Cristobal at Oregon has been forced to medically retire. Justin Johnson, a redshirt freshman offensive lineman, has been confirmed to have medically retired. Duck Territory broke the news following confirmation from Cristobal.
Johnson was a three-star recruit in Oregon’s Class of 2018, but he never got the chance to step foot on the football field for a game due to injuries. An injury suffered in fall camp ahead of the 2018 season put Johnson on the shelf for his first season in Eugene. Another injury has reportedly been to blame for his lack of being able to practice this season, leading to a continued absence from the football field on game day for the Ducks. The specifics of the injury are unknown.
the loss of a player that has never stepped on the field for a game may not seem like the worst news for Oregon, but it is still a problem. losing a scholarship player on the offensive line always hurts a team. Add that to the fact Johnson is already the fourth member of the Class of 2018 to leave the team for one reason or another and it would seem Cristobal has a few more holes to plug on the recruiting trail than he likely anticipated and hoped for in 2020 and 2021.
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