The College Football Playoff National Championship Game didn’t disappoint with Alabama pulling out a very narrow win over Clemson on the biggest stage of them all. While that game signaled the end of the college football season, it marked the beginning of a busy offseason for teams across the country. While most of the college football news was focused on what Nick Saban’s next steps might be, it turns out that that’s been more of a non-story than anything else. With that put to rest, here is a look at the important college football news and notes from around the college game this past week.
Oregon Ducks Hire Hoke To Coordinate Defense
The Oregon Ducks entered this offseason with one major priority that stood above the rest as they take aim at repairing a defense that ranked worst in the Pac-12 in scoring this past season, giving up an average of 37.5 points per game. Oregon’s defensive problems were on full display in this year’s 47-41 triple overtime loss to TCU in the Valero Alamo Bowl and after defensive coordinator Don Pellum was demoted to linebackers coach after that defeat it didn’t take long for the Ducks to find a more than capable replacement. Oregon hired former Michigan head coach Brady Hoke as their new defensive coordinator and his addition should give them an instant level of credibility on that side of the football. Hoke turned the Michigan defense around in his first year with the program, taking them from 110th in the nation to the top-17 in three of his four seasons including the seventh-ranked defense in the country in his final year with the Wolverines. The Ducks’ offense has been extremely consistent over the years and if Hoke can turn the defense around then Oregon could have the potential to become a national championship contender once again.
Derrick Henry, A’Shawn Robinson Set To Leave Alabama Crimson Tide
After a busy week in which the players that declared for the NFL Draft stole the majority of the spotlight heading in to the National Championship Game, two of Alabama’s biggest stars followed up a national title victory with news that they would make the jump to the NFL. Heisman trophy-winning running back Derrick Henry was the obvious choice to make the move to go pro as he’s coming off an incredible season. His stock couldn’t be any higher at this point and there’s no sense in him returning to the college landscape. There’s nothing left for him to prove.
However, some were surprised that defensive lineman A’Shawn Robinson decided to skip his senior season and head straight to the NFL. It will be interesting to see how high both players go in the 2016 NFL Draft with the NFL Combine the next step for this young group of players.
Jonathan Allen Confirms His Return To Alabama
Henry and Robinson announced their decision with head coach Nick Saban by their side but the one notable absence from that announcement was junior defensive lineman Jonathan Allen, who decided to return to Alabama being considered a consensus top-five defensive lineman prospect for the 2016 NFL Draft. Allen led the team with 12 sacks this past season but will forego the opportunity to turn pro in exchange for one more year at Alabama where he will lead a Crimson Tide defense that will undoubtedly have the chance to be one of the best in the nation once again.
Epensa Commits To Iowa
The Iowa Hawkeyes closed out a busy 2016 recruiting season with a bang but it had nothing to do with this year’s class and everything to do with their 2017 class. It’s not often that they are among the headline acts in recruiting but they definitely delivered a home run this week. They were able to land star defensive end prospect A.J. Epenesa, who is a five-star defensive end prospect. Epenesa made the announcement via social media and automatically became the Hawkeyes’ highest-ranked commitment since 2006. Holding Epenesa’s commit should be a little easier for Iowa considering his father played for the Hawkeyes in the 1990’s, so they have to be excited about the prospect of what he can bring to the table looking forward to 2017 already. They’re typically built around a strong offensive and defensive line, and this will only bolster those linchpins in the future.
