By Michael GallagherShareNewsweek is a Trust Project memberAs the college football coaching carousel heats up, all eyes are on Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin.
Recent reports indicate LSU is prepared to make Kiffin a massive Kirby Smart-esque offer to entice him to come to Baton Rouge, which would leave both Ole Miss and Florida scrambling for a backup plan.
There’s also attractive head-coaching vacancies at Auburn, Arkansas, and Penn State, and there’s a list of “Tier 2” candidates those schools are considering.
Three of those contenders come from the American Athletic Conference — North Texas’ Eric Morris, Tulane’s Jon Sumrall, and South Florida’s Alex Golseh.
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But of that trio, Morris may be the most intriguing for one simple reason: he could potentially bring a high-performing starting quarterback with him, according to ESPN’s Eli Lederman.
“Morris is among the leading candidates for multiple Power 4 openings,” Lederman wrote. “Mestemaker will instantly become one of the cycle’s most attractive transfer quarterbacks if he enters the portal after this season.
“There’s a real possibility that Mestemaker could follow Morris to his next school, as Ward did when Morris left Incarnate Word for Washington State in 2022, presenting an intriguing package deal.”
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...The 40-year-old Morris has led the Mean Green to a 9-1 record this season, and he has them in contention for an AAC championship. Wins over Rice and Temple over the next two weeks certainly bode well for North Texas’ chances of playing in the AAC Championship Game.
Morris has also worked with several elite college quarterbacks including Baker Mayfield, Patrick Mahomes, Cam Ward, and John Mateer, and he’s turned Mestemaker into one of the country’s top signal-callers.
The 6-foot-4 redshirt freshman currently ranks fifth in the nation in passing yards (3,000), seventh in touchdowns (23), and 15th in completion percentage (69.3) among qualified QBs.
Luring a head coach who could also bring one of the country’s top passers may be appealing to schools like Arkansas, Auburn, Stanford, and UCLA.
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