TALLAHASSEE — Florida State softball will hold Fan Day and a scrimmage on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Then a few days later, on Thursday, the season officially begins for the Seminoles who enter the season as a Top 5 squad. On Tuesday, head coach Lonni Alameda, as well as veteran catcher Michaela Edenfield and returning pitcher Makenna Reid spoke about the preseason so far and looked ahead to the start of the 2024 campaign.
Dust continues to settle in the college football transfer portal as recent coaching turnover has kept the market busy nearly two months after the winter window opened Dec. 3. Nick Saban’s retirement at Alabama and Kalen DeBoer’s decision to leave Washington to replace him created an exodus of talent at both schools, and Late Kick host Josh Pate shared his five biggest transfer portal winners this offseason on Tuesday’s episode.
Ohio State was arguably the biggest beneficiary of Saban’s retirement. The Buckeyes landed All-America safety Caleb Downs from the Crimson Tide and former five-star quarterback Julian Sayin, helping the Buckeyes surge into the top 10 of the transfer portal team rankings.
Texas landed three former Alabama players in the portal, headlined by five-star wide receiver Isaiah Bond and four-star tight end Amari Niblack. Bond was the top-rated pass-catcher in the portal and second-best offensive player overall, behind former Alabama teammate Kadyn Proctor (Iowa).
Transfer Portal Class: No. 3 Overall | 11 Commits | Five-Stars (1), Four-Stars (5) | AVG Rating: 90.45
Bo Nix left, and Oregon quickly found his replacement for the 2024 season in Oklahoma transfer Dillon Gabriel. The Ducks didn’t stop there. Dan Lanning and Co. went after a younger signal-caller to groom behind Gabriel and came out with former five-star recruit Dante Moore, the No. 3 quarterback in the portal. Oregon further revamped its offense with five-star transfer receiver Evan Stewart and nabbed former Washington corner Jabbar Muhammad to complete a late surge up the rankings.
Pate: “Oregon killed it. Oregon keeps killing it. They got the No. 1 portal class. They added Dillon Gabriel and Dante Moore. They watched Bo Nix walk out the door and listened to people say, ‘Uh, oh. There’s questions at Oregon all the sudden.’ They just laughed. They said, ‘Yeah, we got questions. Which of these starting quarterbacks are we going to play this year?’ The answer is Gabriel. Evan Stewart transferred there as well. Oregon wanted him. Oregon got him. Jabbar Muhammad is a big get. They got four defensive backs out of the portal. Oregon can win a national championship this year.”
