SEC coach puts DJ Lagway above Arch Manning for 2025 college football season
Texas quarterback Arch Manning is among the top 10 passers returning to college football in 2025, while Florida’s DJ Lagway just missed the cut. However, an anonymous SEC coach says he would vote for the young Gators star over Manning in his 2025 Heisman Trophy ballot. Lagway played 12 games (seven starts) for Florida as a true freshman this season and completed 59.9% of his passes for 1,915 yards and 12 touchdowns against nine interceptions. He added 101 yards on the ground.
“[Lagway] at the top of my list,” an anonymous SEC coach told ESPN this week. “If I was right now voting for a Heisman guy, it would probably be him over Arch. He’s going to be their team. They’re going to go as he’s going to go.”
The former five-star recruit and top-ranked prospect in the class threw for 456 yards in his first career start, a Week 2 matchup against Samford, breaking the single-game program record for most passing by a freshman. HE recorded his second 300-yard outing in the Gasparilla Bowl win over Tulane with 305 yards and a touchdown with two interceptions.
“Lagway kind of built like a running back, hard to tackle, probably a little bit more athletic than some people give him credit for, and he seems to be a good passer,” an anonymous SEC defensive coordinator added. “Some of the decision-making that he showed as a freshman was pretty impressive.”
The Manning era at Texas officially kicks off in 2025 as Quinn Ewers departed for the NFL draft. The former five-star prospect out of New Orleans Isidore Newman made two starts during the 2024 regular season as Ewers nursed an abdominal injury and impressed with a 325-yard, two-touchdown passing performance in a win over Mississippi State in Week 5. He’s completed 66.3% of his passes for 969 yards and nine touchdowns with two interceptions and rushed for 115 yards and four more scores in his two seasons in Austin.
Manning turned heads with his legs this season, galloping for a season-high 53 yards against UTSA and running six times for 33 yards and a score against Mississippi State. He also scored the first touchdown of the SEC Championship games against Texas A&M with a tough 15-yard scamper on 4th A& 2 late in the first quarter.
“That was way more natural than I thought it was going to be,” an anonymous opposing coach said of Manning’s rushing ability. “I was blown away by how effortless it looked. Going into the game, I had respect for his body size, the way he threw it, how he commanded things. But then, obviously, he ran well in the game. He’s going to be in the Heisman conversation for damn sure.”
An Elite Eight appearance was not in the cards after top-seeded Auburn rallied in the second half to hand Michigan a season-ending 78-65 loss in Friday’s Sweet 16, but the Wolverines are back where they belong after a one-year stay in the Big Ten cellar. Dusty May will head into a critical offseason armed with oodles of momentum after Michigan went 27-10, advanced to the second weekend and won the Big Ten Tournament title.
College basketball’s transfer portal has been simmering for weeks, but it officially opened Monday. Big moves are on tap.
Let’s dive into who is on the way out, who will be back, who has decisions to make, and which players we know are joining the roster for next season.
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BREAKING: UCLA earns commitment from five-star transfer point guard Donovan Dent
UCLA has picked up a commitment from five-star transfer point guard Donovan Dent.
David Woods
UCLA has landed its No. 1 target — and arguably the No. 1 player in the Transfer Portal — in five-star point guard Donovan Dent.
Dent is the No. 2 overall player in 247’s Transfer Portal rankings, and UCLA beat out heavy and elite competition for his services, including Kentucky. Dent has signed his NIL deal with the marketing agency, Men of Westwood.
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Dent spent three years at New Mexico, starting every game of the last two seasons at point guard. He rose to a truly elite level this season, scoring 20.4 points per game while also recording 6.1 assists per game. He shot splits of 50/40/78, and had a reasonable turnover rate of 16.6% despite being very ball dominant for the Lobos.
He’ll immediately step into a starting role, obviously, at point guard, but beyond that, he’s the coveted missing piece from this year: the guy to trust with the ball in his hands at the ends of games and the end of the shot clock. He does turn the ball over slightly more frequently than Mick Cronin would like from his point guard, but with a different emphasis from the head coach, a player as talented as Dent would probably be able to figure that part out without sacrificing too much aggression. He’s elite at getting to the rim and drawing fouls, but he’s not single-minded in his approach, as indicated by his assist rate.
With Dent in the fold, that will push Skyy Clark into the two-guard and secondary ball-handler role, where he should be able to hunt three-point shots to a greater degree than he was this year. Clark was a 40% shooter from three this season, and with the attention Dent and the front court may draw, Clark could find even more open looks in 2025-26.
UCLA’s confirmed backcourt at this point is Dent, Clark, sophomore Trent Perry, and then Eric Freeny, who hasn’t announced anything but everything we know indicates he’s a sure thing to return next season.
(Photo: Jason Miller, USA TODAY Sports)
Transfer portal intel: The latest scoop on top targets Donovan Dent, Isaac McKneely, Adrian Wooley
Is Donovan Dent really a Kentucky lean? Who are the primary contenders for Dedan Thomas? What is happening with Isaac McKneely, Silas Demary, Adrian Wooley, Josh Dix, and more.
Travis Branham
We’ve never seen anything like the 2025 transfer portal, and we are just getting started. When the transfer window opened on Monday, a tidal wave of players flooded into the market, shattering the previous record of entries in a day with more than 700 players entering.
There are still some very big names expected to hit the portal in the coming days and weeks, but there is already a lot of roster-transforming talent who put their names in, like Bennett Stirtz, Donovan Dent, Bryce Hopkins, and many others.
Visits are getting lined up, and options are being narrowed down. Here is the latest we are hearing on guys like Dent, Isaac McKneely, Adrian Wooley, Josh Dix, Silas Demary, and Dedan Thomas.
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