The Tennessee Volunteers will have a new quarterback for the 2026 season. Joey Aguilar lost his case for another year of eligibility, so now the focus shifts to the highly touted recruits. The battle will be between redshirt freshman George MacIntyre and incoming freshman Faizon Brandon. Andy Staples, Ross Dellenger and Steven Godfrey discuss what the quarterback position may look like for the Vols in 2026. They also dive into the evolution of quarterback development in college football. What was once a recruit and develop process has seemingly shifted into just grabbing a quarterback from the transfer portal, but how long can that trend be successful? Are teams starting to shift back to focusing on recruiting young talent?
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Then, the guys dive into some news that has the potential to cause a big shift in the college football calendar. Army head coach Jeff Monken has said they could be open to moving the Army-Navy game to Thanksgiving weekend. This is a big piece of the puzzle that people have tried to navigate when looking at how the college football calendar could be rearranged. Andy, Ross and Godfrey discuss the impact of this suggestion, how it could work and what it would do for college football.
Later, the crew discusses how a recent college football awards banquet turned into a comedy club. Mario Cristobal and Kirby Smart took the stage at the Steve Spurrier Awards dinner the other night. A dinner that honors various coaches and players turned into something more like a roast when Kirby Smart and Mario Cristobal started poking fun at each other while on stage. This led to a debate among Andy, Ross and Godfrey about who the funniest coaches are in college football.
All of this and more on College Football Enquirer.
Is George MacIntyre Tennessee’s next QB? Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images
(Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images)
0:00:00 – Who will be Tennessee’s new QB?
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11:46 – The evolution of development for college quarterbacks
23:59 – NCAA tampering
28:01 – Army-Navy game open to moving date
45:57 – Mario Cristobal vs. Kirby Smart roast
55:50 – Who are the funniest coaches in college football?
One storyline from the NFL head-coaching cycle this offseason was that Black coaches had a difficult time getting hired.
There were 10 teams looking for a new head coach and none of the open spots went to a Black coach. The coach who came the closest might have been Denver Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, who got multiple interviews due to his work leading a fantastic Broncos defense each of the last two seasons. Joseph didnât get one of the open jobs, and heâll return to the Broncos.
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Thatâs good news for the Broncos, but Denver head coach Sean Payton was still confused over why Joseph didnât get a head-coaching spot. Payton did not mention the aspect of no Black head coaches being hired this offseason when he was asked about Joseph not being hired, but he clearly thought NFL owners made a mistake passing on his defensive coordinator.
âItâs hard to tell ⌠thereâs 32 of these teams that are owned individually and everyone is different,â Payton said at the NFL scouting combine. âAnd yet, a lot of them have trouble getting out of their own way.â
Denver Broncos head coach Sean Payton said he was surprised defensive coordinator Vance Joseph (left) wasn’t hired as a head coach. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
(AAron Ontiveroz via Getty Images)
Payton praised Joseph, whose Broncos defenses have finished top three in the NFL in points allowed each of the last two seasons. Denver led the NFL in sacks last season, went 14-3 and advanced to the AFC championship game for the first time in 10 years.
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That got Joseph interviews, but not any head coaching job.
âI am a little surprised, with the season we had as well as how well we played defensively and 10 openings,â Payton said.
Payton said Joseph is adept at getting the best out of his players, and his calming influence is his âsuperpower.â
Josephâs first stint as a head coach, when he went 11-21 with the Broncos in 2017 and 2018, might have worked against him. However, four of the 10 new hires this cycle were on their second stints as head coaches. New Titans head coach Robert Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent, has a 20-36 career record as a head coach.
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Payton joked, âI love that heâs backâ in reference to Joseph, but appeared confused over why Joseph was passed over.
âHe felt like he had a handful of interviews that were productive and good opportunities,â Payton said. âI know when that opportunity comes, heâll be successful.â
Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe has been sidelined for six games with a calf strain.
Now he’s facing an extended absence, potentially for the remainder of the season. The Trail Blazers announced Tuesday that new imaging has revealed that Sharpe also has a stress reaction in his fibula.
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He’ll be reevaluated for the injury in 4-6 weeks, putting the remainder of his 2025-26 regular season in doubt. Portland’s last game this season is scheduled for April 12 against the Sacramento Kings, less than two weeks out from the back end of the 4-6 week timeline.
As of Monday, the Trail Blazers were in ninth place in the West at 28-30, putting them in position to make the play-in.
Shaedon Sharpe’s 2025-26 season is potentially over.
(Alika Jenner via Getty Images)
Sharpe is Portland’s second-leading scorer with averages of 21.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Portland’s leading scorer, Deni Avdija (24.4 ppg, 7 rpg, 6.6 apg), meanwhile, is dealing with a lingering lower-back injury that’s sidelined him for multiple games. He’s listed as out for Tuesday’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Trail Blazers have a six-game cushion over the 11th-place Memphis Grizzlies (21-35), who would be the first team in the West out of the play-in based on Tuesday’s standings. But the injuries to key players have put Portland’s play-in hopes at risk.
The Trail Blazers are seeking their first playoff appearance since 2020-21 with a team that featured Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum and had veteran Carmelo Anthony coming off the bench. But with little hope of advancing out of the first round if they get there, there may not be much motivation for Portland to push their young stars back from injury.
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Avdija has already experienced a setback after returning to game play from his back injury. He played just one minute in Sunday’s win over the Phoenix Suns after deciding late to play. He was listed as questionable before the game and was ruled out of Tuesday’s game a day in advance.
Lesley Manville and CiarĂĄn Hinds are such terrific actors that a lot of us would follow them anywhere. But in the wee drama âMidwinter Break,â these two pour their skills into playing a couple of fuddy-duddies â a homepsun Northern Irish married couple, Stella and Gerry, who have reached their early seventies and are so set in their dainty, placid ways that theyâve become like two old pieces of cozy matching furniture. They sit, they read, they have a drink, they have a meal, they exchange comforting pleasantriesâŚand then another day is behind them. And another, much the same, lies ahead.
The whole design of the movie is to take these two out of their comfort zone, to dip beneath the stodgy surface contentment of their well-worn habits and touch the explosive emotions that the couple â or, at least, one of them â has been covering up.
At Christmastime, theyâre at home, Gerry seated in the living room nursing an evening cocktail, when Stella asks if she can still tempt him; we wonder if she means something erotic, and when he turns her down, we really wonder. (Is the threadbare dimension of their marriage that the fire has gone out in the bedroom?) But no, sheâs just talking about going to church. Stella and Gerry exist in a state that looks halfway between retirement heaven and a coma. The two have a son, who is grown, who they donât see very much. They are also exiles: residents of Glasgow, Scotland, even though the film presents them as Irish to the core. Thereâs a reason they left their homeland behind. Â Â Â
In the middle of the night, Stella gets up and goes over to the computer, acting on a sudden inspiration. A bit later, after exchanging Christmas presents, she hands Gerry an envelope with a surprise gift inside: two plane tickets to Amsterdam, where she has arranged for them to have a four-day getaway. She wants to shake up their routine. But as soon as they arrive in that elegant Dutch city of bridges and hidden corners, itâs clear that itâs going to take more than a change of locale to do it.
The movie opens with a jarring flashback. We see the young Stella (Julie Lamberton), very pregnant, being rushed to a hospital after some kind of accident (she has blood on her arm). A cataclysm took place, but weâre not sure what, and our first thought is: Did she lose the baby? Is their son not their actual son?
As Stella and Gerry settle into their Amsterdam vacation, having breakfast at the hotel, visiting a fabled art museum, always lubricating the day with a pint, a glass of wine, a tumbler of Scotch (Gerry brings a bottle along with him in case he needs a quick refill), we register the depth of their connection. (In the bedroom, it turns out, the fire is still alive.) These two fit into each otherâs lives as snugly as nesting dolls, to the point that they may have no surprises left, nothing new to discover.
Except that they do. Stella wants to visit a womenâs housing facility thatâs also a stately convent: a Catholic retreat nestled right in the middle of Amsterdam. A devout Catholic herself, sheâs intensely interested in the women who live there. She tells Gerry, who has always been a secular man, that she wants to find a way to be more devout in her own life. And the reason for that is that she wantsâŚmore. More than what the two of them already have. This leaves Gerry flabbergasted. Whatâs the âmoreâ that she could be talking about? He has no concept of it. He thinks their lives are perfect.
It all connects, of course, to that opening flashback. But what happened there is not, perhaps, what we suspect. Was it a miracle? Stella thinks it was. But the real point may not be about what did or didnât happen. Itâs about how two people in a marriage this close could be so cut from the same cloth and, at the same time, so different. Not because thereâs some deep dark secret, but because people areâŚdifferent. Gerry, we can see, drinks too much (heâs the definition of a happy âfunctionalâ alcoholic), and Stella has a problem with that, but the real problem isnât the drinking. Itâs the void Gerry is covering up. And Stella now wants to fill her own void with faith.
The director, Polly Findlay, presents all of this in a fluid and fastidious prestige-teleplay-of-the-week way. Adapting a 2017 novel by Bernard MacLaverty (the script is by MacLaverty and Nick Payne), she creates a generous space for her actors, who turn what might have been a rather staid movie â and still, at times, is â into a meticulous duet.
Manville has often played characters of magnetic will (just think of her domineering snob of a sister in âPhantom Thread,â her lusciously obnoxious tippling receptionist in âAnother Yearâ), but in âMidwinter Breakâ she throws us for a while because her Stella, at first, seems the picture of dowdy devotion. But it turns out that sheâs devoted to something deeper, a mystery she can no longer repress. Manville, in a nifty feat of acting, lets that unruly spirit poke through, even as she persists in trying to keep a polite lid on it. She shows us the spirituality of an ordinary woman. And Hinds, dolefully bearded, makes Gerry as comfy and trusting as an old sheepdog: a genuinely benevolent man, yet one who is starting to drown in his quiet complacency. âMidwinter Breakâ does nothing earth-shattering (it remains wee), but the movie touchingly colors in how it might be possible for two people to know each other too well and also not well enough.
Nate Tice & Matt Harmon join forces from Indianapolis as they preview what to watch at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine. The duo kick things off with some of the buzziest news items from around Indy, including the Atlanta Falcons franchise tagging Kyle Pitts, some uncertainty from the Philadelphia Eagles around AJ Brownâs future with the team and the New York Jets planning to use a tag on RB Breece Hall.
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Next, Nate & Matt dive into their top prospects to watch this week at the NFL Combine. Matt shouts out LB Sonny Styles topping an insane linebacker class and WR KC Concepcion, while Nate talks about the entire Ohio State defense and Notre Dame RB Jeremiyah Love.
Later, the two hosts cover a few of the most underrated prospects to watch this week, including WR Omar Cooper, TE Kenyon Sadiq, RB Jonah Coleman and more, plus a few spare news items from Indianapolis (could a Trent Williams release be looming?)
(2:10) – Top Combine storylines and news
(24:00) – Top prospects to watch
(40:20) – Underrated prospects to watch
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(55:00) – Odds and ends from Indianapolis
Indiana QB Fernando Mendoza & Ohio State LB Arvell Reese are expected to draw eyes at the 2026 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. (Jamie Squire, Getty Images; James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
(Jamie Squire, Getty Images; James Black/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Samuel L. Jacksonâs long-gestating âTulsa Kingâ spinoff is finally moving forward â but with a new title and setting. Paramount+ announced Tuesday that âFrisco Kingâ â formerly titled âNOLA Kingâ â will start production next month in Ft. Worth, Texas.
âTulsa Kingâ creator Taylor Sheridan is now set to write all eight episodes of âFrisco Kingâ Season 1, which comes from Paramount Television Studios and 101 Studios. News that Sheridan would write all of âFrisco Kingâ comes seven months after Variety first broke the news that original âNOLA Kingâ showrunner Dave Erickson had exited the spinoff.
âWe are honored to have Taylor Sheridan write the first season of âFrisco Kingâ and bring to life Samuel L. Jacksonâs iconic character,â said Paramount Television Studios prexy Matt Thunell. âHaving him pen all episodes of the season with his singular voice will be a treat for fans of âTulsa Kingâ and audiences around the world.â
Back when it was called âNOLA King,â the spinoff was to have been set in New Orleans. But with the title change also comes a setting change: âFrisco Kingâ will mostly be set in Frisco, Texas. (According to insiders, the show will still briefly visit New Orleans, but the bulk of the story now takes place in Frisco.)
Jackson was introduced to âTulsa Kingâ viewers in Season 3 as Russell Lee Washington Jr., âwho, after befriending Dwight Manfredi (Sylvester Stallone) during a ten-year stint in federal prison, is sent to Tulsa by New Yorkâs Renzetti crime family to take Dwight out once and for all.â Instead, per the original logline, heâs âinspired by what Dwight created in Tulsa and impressed with the possibilities of second chances.â
Said Paramount+ head of originals Jane Wiseman: âTaylor Sheridan continues to build worlds that attract some of the most iconic talent working today, and âFrisco Kingâ is no exception. Having Samuel L. Jackson step into this universe is a testament to the scale and ambition of the storytelling Taylor is crafting. Weâre thrilled to expand this storyline with such a powerhouse creative team and cast on Paramount+.â
Production was previously announced to begin in early 2026; now, the word is cameras will start rolling late March in Fort Worth.
Sheridan, Stallone and Jackson are all EPs on âFrisco King.â David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin, Bob Yari, Christina Alexandra Voros, Michael Friedman, LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Keith Cox also executive produce.
Paramount+ noted that âTulsa Kingâ hit Nielsenâs top 10 streaming originals chart for eleven consecutive weeks in Fall 2025.
Jacksonâs recent TV output includes the Apple TV limited series âThe Last Days of Ptolemy Grey,â the Marvel-Disney+ show âSecret Invasion,â and Peacockâs âFight Night: The Million Dollar Heist.â He also previously voiced the title character in the animated series âAfro Samurai.â
Matt Harmon, Justin Boone, and Jori Epstein are live from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, breaking down the free agency and trade rumors that could shake up the fantasy landscape. The trio reveals the crown jewel free agent, potential blockbuster trade candidates, and the players most likely to receive the franchise tag.
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(4:30) Crown jewel free agent: Malik Willis
(11:40) Free agents in weird situations: Aaron Rodgers, Daniel Jones
(20:30) Likely on the move via trade: Kyler Murray
(27:20) Free agent difference makers at RB: Breece Hall, Kenneth Walker III, Rico Dowdle, Travis Etienne Jr, Tyler Allgeier
(47:15) Real free agent WRs: George Pickens, Alec Pierce, WanâDale Robinson
(56:00) WR trade targets: Brandon Aiyuk, AJ Brown, DJ Moore
Matt Harmon, Justin Boone, and Jori Epstein are live from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, breaking down the free agency and trade rumors that could shake up the fantasy landscape. The trio reveals the crown jewel free agent, potential blockbuster trade candidates, and the players most likely to receive the franchise tag.
Before Davis Webb was promoted to offensive coordinator, the Denver Broncos assistant interviewed for head-coaching opportunities this offseason. One of those was with the Buffalo Bills.
Later in the day, Broncos head coach Sean Payton confirmed that he is, in fact, handing over play-calling duties to Webb.
Payton made a name for himself in the NFL as a play-caller and continued to call plays as a head coach, first with the New Orleans Saints and then with the Denver Broncos.
Although Payton made it clear he’ll still be calling some plays on game day, he’s entrusting Webb to direct the Broncos’ offense. It’s a decision Payton believes is best for his team, which earned the AFC’s top seed and reached the conference title game during the 2025 campaign.
“It was something that I kind of knew during the year,” Payton said, eventually specifying that he had the realization midseason.
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“[Davis] and I visited on a handful of occasions. He’s extremely talented. With regards to play-calling, it’s something that I think he’ll be really good at. I know that’s like, ‘Man, are you going to give up play calling?’ And I would only do that if I felt like it would help our team.
“I’ll still be involved with what we do offensively, just like what we do defensively. But I do think he has a gift. I think he’s real sharp. I’m glad he’s on our staff.”
That said, play-calling wasn’t necessarily a bargaining chip to keep Webb in Denver, according to Payton.
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“I don’t know that this was, ‘Well, I’m staying if I get to do this,’” Payton said.
“I don’t think that was the case. … I think he really likes what he’s begun to do here with us and the start of working with a young quarterback. It’s hard to leave that. It was something I was already moving toward before anyone had even discussed it.”
That said, Payton knew he needed an offensive mind of Webb’s caliber to follow through with this type of transition.
He liked what he saw from Webb this past preseason. At the time the Broncos’ quarterbacks coach and offensive pass game coordinator, Webb called plays in Denver’s final exhibition game, a 27-7 win over the Arizona Cardinals.
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The former Texas Tech and Cal standout and NFL backup quarterback oversaw the team’s QB room from 2023-25. He was part of Payton’s inaugural Broncos staff.
Most notably, he’s assisted the development of Bo Nix, whom the Broncos selected No. 12 overall in the 2024 draft. Nix has thrown a combined 54 touchdowns in two seasons, and he’s already engineered 11 total game-winning drives: Eight of them came in Year 2, including one in Denver’s AFC divisional-round win versus the Bills.
Webb will be tasked with helping Payton enhance an offense that was 10th in offensive EPA in 2025 yet was inconsistent at times, had too many drops at the receiver position and too often sputtered in the run game.
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But it’s important to note that Webb has coached for only three seasons.
Payton said that, even though Webb will be calling plays, the Broncos aren’t straying from their offensive system.
Payton’s had games before where he hasn’t called plays.
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“Sometimes you feel like you’re used to carrying something in a hand so your hands feel empty when you’re not doing that,” he said. “Look, I think it’s going to help our team, and I’ll do everything I can to support him. It’s something that I wouldn’t do if I didn’t think would help.”
He also said, with a splash of his signature humor: “I’m going to have opinions with plays. Mine will be the bad ones, his will be all the good ones.”
The franchise tag salary for tight ends in 2026 is projected at roughly $16 million. Franchise tag values are calculated by averaging the top five salaries in the league at a given position.
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NFL teams have until March 3 to apply the franchise tag to a single player. Players under the franchise tag will then have until July 15 to negotiate a long-term contract. After that deadline passes, a player is required to play under the franchise tag, barring a holdout.
Pitts, 25, played in 2025 on the $10.9 million fifth-year team option of his four-year, $32.9 million rookie contract he signed as a first-round pick in 2021. He has totaled $43.9 million in career earnings.
After tallying 68 catches for 1,026 yards as a rookie, Pitts has failed to reach 1,000 yards again and has largely failed to meet the expectations that he arrived in the NFL with as the fourth overall pick. He entered the final year of his rookie deal without a contract extension.
In 2025, Pitts had his most productive campaign since his rookie season with 88 catches for 928 yards and five touchdowns. His yardage tally was the second-highest in the NFL for a tight end behind Trey McBride of the Arizona Cardinals. He reached that tally despite shaky production at quarterback from Michael Penix Jr. and Kirk Cousins.
It was enough for the Falcons to prioritize using the franchise tag on Pitts. Whether it turns into a long-term contract for Pitts is yet to be seen.
In 2024, Republican candidate Heather Lappin lost out on the Pima County sheriffâs seat to incumbent Democrat Chris Nanos, the man currently in charge of finding Nancy Guthrie, by 481 votes in a recount. More than 487,000 people voted in the election, making the margin of victory less than 0.1 percent.
There is no love lost between Lappin and her former boss, and you can count Lappin among those who believe Sheriff Nanos is currently bungling the Guthrie kidnapping case, which may soon be a murder case. Speaking with The Hollywood Reporter, Lappin, a former Nanos lieutenant (literally â that was her rank), had nothing nice to say about Americaâs Sheriff.
âHe is a tyrant,â Lappin says. âHe tries to be super charming. Like when he did his quote [at the Guthrie press conference], âIâm not used to people hanging on my every word and trying to hold me accountable.â And then he put his hands on his hips because he was trying to be cute. Nobody thinks youâre cute. Youâre a 72-year-old man, nobody thinks youâre cute.â
OK, so maybe some of Lappinâs grievances are a little petty. But not all of them.
After her loss, Lappin says she asked to be transferred to another county department â any of them. The request was denied and she eventually relocated to Phoenix, a one-hour, 40-minute drive from Tucson, where she found new employment.
Itâs been a ride. After challenging him for the sheriffâs post, Lappin claimsNanos transferred her to a corrections role at the Pima County Adult Detention Center. Lappin had no corrections experience (but 20 years as a cop on the street), and by then, the jail was a very bad place to be â even for jail.
âWe had an exorbitant amount of jail death because Nanos decided to come in and fire corrections officers only for not getting the COVID vaccine,â Lappin says. âThey didnât fire deputies, they only fired corrections officers.â
Nanos lost an election for sheriff in 2016 amid a RICO investigation. He won in 2020. The same year, COVID-19 began to kill inmates, but so did the realities of a small staff, Lappin says. â[The inmates] were literally kept in these rooms, just getting food,â she adds. âThatâs it â no exercise, no nothing.â
It was also difficult for the remaining corrections officers to monitor drugs coming into the prisons, she says.
In a few years, Lappin would face those challenges, the consequence of being on the ballot opposite Nanos, she contends. Her new work was hard and unfamiliar, and her nights werenât a whole lot better than her days. Lappin says she was the target of 13 internal affairs investigations in just six months, each allegedly an effort for Nanos to discredit his political opponent.
Nanos also attempted to âintimidateâ Lappin at campaign events, she claims. âHe sent his two female captains to my campaign events to try to intimidate me,â Lappin says. âHeâs like a mafioso, thatâs what heâs like.â
âRight now, our focus is on this investigation and serving the victims and this community. Political commentary distracts from this active investigation, and it is unfortunate,â Sheriff Nanos tells THR when asked for comment on the accusations in this story. âMy focus remains on justice and transparency.â
Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images via Getty Images
After Nanos won by a razor-thin margin, Lappin says, âHe just kept coming after me.â The result of the efforts was an administrative leave for Lappin, where she says she was basically put under âhouse arrest.â She sued for $2 million.
Now, Lappin is trying to not talk about the Guthrie case â but she did criticize the sheriffâs work. (Lappin declined to comment on plans to run for Pima County sheriff in 2028, though she says she can from an eligibility standpoint.)
Earlier this month, Nancy Guthrie, the elderly and infirm mother of Today show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie, was violently taken from her home in Tucson, Arizona. More than three weeks into the investigation, law enforcement, which now includes the FBI, have no real leads.
âA lot of the Guthrie case is just consequences of his really bad decision making, the years of decimating his units,â Lappin says. âThree of our best homicide detectives, probably in [all of] southern Arizona, were removed from Homicide because they supported me [in the election].â
One popular criticism of Nanos, who to his credit has taken much of it head on, is a reported rift between his office and the feds. It is not entirely clear who has primary jurisdiction as the details of the crime remain so unknown. Lappin says she would have handled the case differently.
âWhy didnât you become the support agency and give this to the FBI? They have the resources. They can bring in the hundreds and hundreds of people that command those tip lines. Heâs trying to do that with 395 deputies â we donât have the resources,â Lappin says.
In our phone call, I informed Lappin of the latest beat of the ongoing Nancy Guthrie case: a $1 million reward âfor any information that leads to her recovery,â as Savannah Guthrie laid out in a Tuesday video. An individual close to the family told THR the Guthries wanted the reward out there on day one, but law enforcement discouraged the idea in an effort to prevent fake tipsters.
â[Nanosâ] ego doesnât let him make the decision to give it up because he thinks itâs going to make him look bad,â Lappin says. âWhen you put your own ego and your own [image] to the public over the health and safety of an 84-year-old woman, then thatâs a problem.â
