College Football

Matt Rhule and Nebraska have once again landed a star quarterback recruit.

Trae Taylor announced his commitment to the Cornhuskers on Thursday, per 247Sports' Allen Trieu. The 4-star quarterback out of the Class of 2027 is considered to be the No. 35 player overall and the No. 3 quarterback in his class by 247Sports' Composite rankings. The Mundelein, Illinois, native is the No. 2 player in his state. As a sophomore, he threw for 3,061 yards with 20 touchdowns and 7 interceptions

Taylor is the first commit for the Huskers out of the Class of 2027. He picked Nebraska over Michigan, LSU, Texas A&M and other top programs.

The commitment followed a recent visit to Lincoln, where he got to spend time with Huskers' quarterback Dylan Raiola and quarterbacks coach Glenn Thomas.

"Sitting down with Coach Thomas and getting into the offense, seeing how he coaches Dylan and how he can prepare me for the next level -- I really just can't wait," Taylor told ESPN's Eli Lederman. "For me, it's kind of hard committing too early because I have to wait so long to get there."

After Taylor visited Nebraska, he went to College Station for a visit at Texas A&M. He said Rhule and the staff's pursuit of him in the weeks after helped sway him to the Cornhuskers.

"The day after I got home from A&M, I was in contact with one of Coach Rhule, Coach Thomas and Dylan [Raiola] every day for the next two weeks before I decided this was where I needed to be," he said, per Lederman. "Everybody in that building has made it clear that they want me. Their offense fits me the best -- very pro-style. Any quarterback who wants to go to the NFL can be successful there."

Taylor, who won't be able to sign with Nebraska for nearly two years, said that while he won't take any more visits, he will keep in contact with other schools.

The reactions to Bill Belichick's viral interview with CBS Sunday Morning featuring a cameo from his girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, haven't stopped yet.

On the latest episode of Netflix's Everybody's Live hosted by John Mulaney, the incident was spoofed with Richard Kind in the Belichick role and Fran Gillespie playing the Hudson avatar.

The sketch starts with Mulaney and Kind making innocuous small talk when Gillespie interjects to say, "We're not talking about that." It goes on to include Instagram pictures mocking some of the images that Hudson has shared of her and Belichick together.

Belichick sat down for an interview with Tony Dokoupil of CBS Sunday Morning to promote his new book. When Dokoupil asked how Belichick and Hudson met, she chimed in off-camera with the now-infamous "we're not talking about this" remark.

That has led to a back-and-forth between Belichick's camp and CBS about the parameters of the interview.

Belichick said in a statement released by the University of North Carolina, where he is entering his first season as head football coach, he only agreed to the interview with the understanding the focus would "solely" be on the contents of the book and Hudson was "doing her job to ensure the interview stayed on track."

A CBS News spokesperson issued a subsequent statement, writing "there were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation" and that was "confirmed repeatedly" with the publishers of Belichick's book who set up the interview.

Whatever the truth is between Belichick and CBS, the fallout from the interview has led to a lot of responses.

Netflix was able to get in on the action using the comedic brilliance of someone like Richard Kind, who makes for a very strong Belichick stand-in.

In addition to her nebulous professional role with North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, Jordon Hudson is becoming a savvy real estate investor.

Charlie Lankston of Realtor.com reported Hudson has bought up properties with a combined value of $8 million within the last few years. She bought three multi-family homes around the Boston metropolitan area in December 2023. They cost $2.2 million, $2.3 million and $3 million individually.

Hudson also claims residency at a single-family home that was purchased in October 2023 for $610,000.

Hudson and Belichick's relationship has been a subject of fascination given their 49-year age gap. They've become increasingly under a microscope after Belichick was hired at North Carolina.

Belichick's recent appearance on CBS Sunday Morning, in which he was promoting his forthcoming book, made headlines as well.

At one point in the interview, CBS Mornings' Tony Dokoupil asks Belichick about his relationship with Hudson and how they met. In regard to the origins of their relationship, Hudson says off-camera they're "not talking about this."

Belichick issued a statement Wednesday alleging that CBS presented a "false narrative" by editing the interview in a way that gave the impression Hudson "was attempting to control the conversation." The legendary head coach also said any interviews he said in connection to his book were intended to "focus solely on the contents of the book."

CBS News responded and said "there were no preconditions or limitations to this conversation" ahead of time. The outlet confirmed as much "repeatedly" with Belichick's publisher.

In his statement, Belichick classified his relationship with Hudson as a "personal and professional" one.

Former Colorado star quarterback Darian Hagan said he was "flabbergasted" to see the numbers of Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter retired shortly after the star duo moved on from college football, according to USA Today's Brent Schrotenboer.

Sanders' No. 2 and Hunter's No. 12 were retired on April 19, making them the fifth and sixth players in Colorado's history to receive the honor.

Hagan, who was the Buffaloes' starting quarterback during the program's only national championship in 1990, has not yet seen his own No. 3 retired by the program.

“We were always told there was a waiting period,” Hagan told Schrotenboer. “There was a policy in place. It had to be voted upon. I was never told that it was at the discretion of the athletic director or the head coach. That was shocking news to me. It was hard to stomach.”

Hagan added: "I just thought about the pride and tradition of the Colorado Buffaloes. That’s what I thought about. That seemed to be diminished."

Colorado said in the 1990s that players could not have their numbers retired unless they graduated from the university, according to Schrotenboer. A spokesperson for the athletic department told Schrotenboer that Sanders and Hunter have not yet graduated and that the graduation rule was the "preference of an academic counselor at the time."

The Associated Press' Pat Graham previously reported that Colorado's jersey retirement decisions are now "based on the discretion of the Colorado athletic administration and the current head coach," a policy Hagan told Schrotenboer he disagreed with.

"It should not be at the discretion of the athletic director and the head coach. Head coaches come. Head coaches go. ADs come, and ADs go… We had a policy in place. Where is that policy? We need to abide by that policy," Hagan said.

Colorado's website describes Hagan as "arguably the best all-around athlete in the history of the CU football program." He led the Buffaloes to a 28-5-2 record over two seasons with the program and was inducted into the CU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2002.

The Buffaloes went 13-12 with Sanders and Hunter, which marked a significant jump from the program's 1-11 slate before they arrived but did not include a bowl game win.

Hagan currently works as the running backs coach at San Diego State. He previously worked on Colorado's coaching staff in a variety of capacities from 2004 to 2023.

Colorado retired Byron White’s No. 24, Joe Romig’s No. 67 and Bobby Anderson’s No. 11 before 1971. Prior to Hunter and Sanders' ceremony, the program since then had only granted posthumous retirement to Rashaan Salaam's No. 19 in 2017.

North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick issued a statement addressing his appearance on CBS Sunday Morning that quickly grabbed headlines.

Belichick said he agreed to sit down with the idea that the interview would "focus solely on the contents of" his forthcoming book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football.

The coach argued that in addition to CBS reporter Tony Dokoupil asking questions that went beyond his book, he said the interview that aired "presents selectively edited clips and stills from just a few minutes of the interview to suggest a false narrative — that Jordon [Hudson] was attempting to control the conversation":

CBS News responded with a statement saying they agreed to speak with Belichick "for a wide-ranging interview" and "there were no preconditions or limitations" to the conversation:

While it isn't featured in the book, Dokoupil asked about Belichick's relationship with Hudson. When Dokoupil questions how the couple met, Hudson says off-camera they're "not talking bout this." She's also described as being "a constant presence" throughout the interview:

TMZ Sports subsequently reported at one point Hudson "stormed out of the room and delayed shooting for 30 minutes."

"We're told outside of that baffling moment that made the final edit, there were numerous other instances of Hudson butting in — even when the legendary coach was answering questions about football, she would stop and correct him," the report said.

TMZ Sports added that some within UNC are even growing "concerned about Hudson's influence on Belichick's tenure as the head football coach in Chapel Hill."

This also comes after The Athletic's Matt Baker requested public records for communications between Hudson and UNC employees. According to Baker, she doesn't have an official role with the school but did in one case offer guidance on how to frame the hiring of Belichick's son, Steve, to the coaching staff.

In an Instagram post Tuesday, Hudson shared a screenshot of an email from Belichick written on April 10. In the message, he laid out his frustrations with how the promotional work for his book was straying far from its actual content:

Hudson wrote in the caption accompanying her post that a full statement would come later in the day. Belichick's newest remarks appear to be just that.

Belichick's confirmation that he and Hudson have a "personal and professional relationship," along with the fact they met on a 2021 flight, is unlikely to quell the outside interest.

Amid the ongoing fallout from Shedeur Sanders' slide to the fifth round in the 2025 NFL draft, Deion Sanders is keeping an optimistic outlook.

In a post on X, Coach Prime wrote "I can do better" and he's "thankful for another opportunity" to do his job.

It's hard to know exactly what to read into this, both because it's vague and Sanders makes a post like this on social media every morning.

For example, here are two posts from before the draft even started that could also be interpreted about Shedeur's fall if they had come out after the event had started.

If we are to interpret this new message as Sanders talking about Shedeur's unprecedented draft fall relative to where most analysts expected him to be taken, it could be related to some of the reporting that came out afterward.

On Tuesday's episode of the Scoop City podcast (starts at 8:50 mark), former NFL quarterback Chase Daniel explained that Deion's comments from 2024 about having Shedeur pull "an Eli" by refusing to play for certain teams if they were to draft him impacted his standing with NFL clubs.

Even though Deion later walked those remarks back by saying he would be happy with any team that drafted his son, there were other factors at play.

Per NFL Network's Tom Pelissero, the Sanders camp botched the pre-draft process with some teams feeling like Shedeur "made them feel small."

The Athletic's Mike Jones reported he "had an off-putting air that NFL talent evaluators perceived as arrogance and entitlement."

NFL draft guru Todd McShay wrote in his newsletter hours before the first round of the draft started on April 24 that the New York Giants weren't high on Sanders because his interview with head coach Brian Daboll didn't go well.

"The friction centered on some frustration between the two regarding Sanders’s preparation of an install package," McShay wrote.

There were a million things that played into Shedeur going from a perceived first-round talent to a fifth-round pick by the Cleveland Browns.

At the end of it all, Shedeur got to hear his name called as a pick in the 2025 NFL draft. He landed in a good spot with an organization that is looking for a long-term starting option at quarterback and has a good offensive-minded head coach in Kevin Stefanski to maximize his talents.

Deion will certainly be paying close attention to everything that happens with his son, supporting him the whole way.

If people were upset about Ohio State's $20 million NIL budget helping it win a national title last season, they're going to scream when they see how much Texas is spending on its football team for the 2025 season.

Per Kirk Bohls of the Houston Chronicle, the Longhorns roster currently costs somewhere "between $35 million and $40 million" that includes money from the revenue-sharing allotment that is expected to be around $20.5 million plus payouts from the school's official NIL collective, the Texas One Fund.

Bohls added that Arch Manning is "by far the highest-paid Texas player," but none of his money comes from the school because "he and his family acquired all his deals on their own 'with no help from the school.'"

It's unclear exactly how much money individual players, including Manning, are making.

One person told Bohls they didn't want to reveal how many players will earn at least $1 million "because such transparency foments comparative discussions and locker-room chaos."

University spending on athletics has been a huge topic since the NCAA adopted a name, image and likeness policy in 2021.

Sportico's Ebon Novy-Williams wrote in January, after Ohio State's victory over Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff Championship Game, that the Buckeyes spent $274.9 million on athletics during the 2022-23 academic year and that figure could end up being more than $300 million when the 2023-24 figures are released.

Ohio State's spending was, by far, the most for any university. Texas was second at $232.3 million, followed by Michigan at $225.6 million. The Buckeyes' $20 million NIL budget last year was believed to be the highest in the nation.

As part of the House vs. NCAA settlement that is still awaiting approval from a federal judge, the business of college athletics could change from one with an NIL collective to a revenue-sharing model that would allow schools to directly pay athletes.

According to Bohls, Texas athletic director Chris Del Conte anticipates the spike in NIL budget for this season will likely "one-time exorbitant expense" as they plan to phase out the NIL collective for the revenue-sharing model if it gets approved.

Per On3.com, Manning has a $6.6 million NIL valuation from marketing deals with five different companies.

Texas has the nation's No. 1 recruiting class for 2025 with 25 total commitments, per 247Sports' composite rankings. The program also landed 10 commitments in the transfer portal.

The Longhorns made the College Football Playoff as the No. 5 seed and advanced to the semifinals before losing to Ohio State.

Jordon Hudson, girlfriend of North Carolina head coach Bill Belichick, shared an email from Belichick amid rumors regarding her reported influence on the UNC football program.

Hudson posted a screenshot of what appeared to be an April 10 email from Belichick on Instagram Tuesday, set to Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do."

"I don't think this is fantastic, but it probably will hype the book, which is clearly the ongoing theme here... This is about what I expected from the media," Belichick writes in the email.

Belichick continued, per the email shared by Hudson: "We can expect that the 'interviews' and 'podcasts' that will supposedly drive the sales will also come from similar samples. These appearances will, no doubt, want to focus on whatever negatives they can extract from the book, and all the current events that don't have anything to do with the book, but are most relevant to their "ratings" and their agenda (which is not mine)."

"I have, at times reluctantly, gone along with the title, cover, and language in the book. I am not going to be the conductor of a hype train in the book promotion - we have enough hype to work with. I hope we can get on the same page in promoting the book authentically."

Hudson's post follows Belichick going on CBS News Sunday Morning to promote his upcoming book, The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football.

A clip from the Monday interview went viral when Hudson cut in on CBS' Tony Dokoupil's question say the couple would not be discussing how they met.

The Assembly's Matt Hartman reported in March that Hudson had been copied on emails, including some regarding Belichick's interview requests. The Athletic's Matt Baker later acquired some of these emails, which showed Hudson offering input to the program's social media team.

Hudson has not been reported to have an official role on the UNC staff. Baker reported her email signature identifies her as the COO of "Belichick Productions," a company The Athletic could not find on record.

After the CBS Sunday Morning interview, TMZ reported that a UNC source said the program has a "growing sense" that Hudson's influence "could become a problem."

Hudson said in her Tuesday post that she would release a full statement regarding the email screenshot. She had yet to post more as of Wednesday morning.

If you want to purchase the former residence of an NFL legend and current college football coach, it will cost you a pretty penny.

Colorado head coach Deion Sanders' 29,220 square foot home in Texas is up for sale for $5.5 million.

According to the Zillow listing, the house features nine bedrooms and 11 bathrooms and a plethora of other amenities. It has a private dock, indoor and outdoor pools, an indoor basketball court and a home theater. It also comes with a 14-bay garage that has the space to hold a yacht or an RV.

The house is located in Prosper, Texas, just outside of Dallas.

While taking care of the sale of his house will be on the back of his mind, Sanders has other things to worry about as he gears up for Year 3 in Colorado. The Buffaloes are coming off a season in which they improved tremendously and finished 9-4.

But things might not be as easy in 2025 since Colorado has to replace a lot of talent, including stars Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, who are now off to the professional ranks.

The Buffaloes will begin their season in late August against Georgia Tech, and Sanders will hope to have sold his house by then.