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Cincinnati officially announced the addition of Notre Dame transfer quarterback Gunner Kiel on Friday.

Kiel has enrolled in school and begins classes May 6. He previously told ESPN's Joe Schad he planned to play for the Bearcats. Kiel must sit out the 2013 season because of NCAA transfer rules.

"We are very excited Gunner has decided to enroll at UC," coach Tommy Tuberville said in a statement. "He’s a great talent and an even better person. He comes from a great family with some strong quarterback lineage. Our quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw has developed an outstanding relationship with Gunner. We are looking forward to getting him here and seeing what the future holds."

Kiel passed for 2,517 yards and 27 touchdowns, and ran for almost 500 yards with 11 touchdowns in leading Columbus East to a 12-2 record and a berth in the state semifinals as a senior. He was named the 2011 Indiana Mr. Football by the Indianapolis Star.

How many times have you heard fans and coaches shaking their fists at the scheduling gods whenever a new conference slate is announced?

Well, my friends, Friday's Notre Dame-ACC scheduling announcement should not be one of those times. Both the Irish and the league should be applauded for the way they handled an often maddening process to provide a win for all parties involved.

The schedules for 2014, 2015 and 2016 are perfectly balanced. Each season features one major high-profile game with national implications. Simply put, it was a wise move to have the Irish play Florida State in 2014, Clemson in 2015 and Miami Hurricanes in 2016.

Both the Seminoles and Tigers have elevated themselves back into the national spotlight and appear to be annual Top 25 programs again. Both the Irish-Noles and Irish-Canes rivalries are classics with huge national interest (even if the Miami game last season was decidedly one-sided).

In addition to those games, Louisville snagged a huge spot in Year One of the three-year rotation -- potentially adding two more Top 25 teams onto the Irish schedule from the ACC. Not a bad way for the Cardinals to start off their first year in a new league, especially with the subpar nonconference slate they have for 2013.

As for some of the games that had already been on the Irish schedule, Notre Dame was able to keep its two-game series with Syracuse intact. The Orange are actually the only one of the 14 ACC teams that will play Notre Dame twice in this three-year cycle. But, as expected, Pitt and BC will lose games previously set.

Pitt -- the ACC team that has played the Irish the most with 68 previous appearances -- remains on the schedule for 2015. That means its games against Notre Dame for 2014 and 2016 are off. Pitt will play Delaware, FIU, Akron and Iowa in nonconference in 2014.

Boston College remains on the schedule for 2015 as well. That means its game against Notre Dame scheduled for 2016 is off as well.

Folks in Pittsburgh and Boston have had time to come to terms with these expected changes as part of the ACC-Notre Dame partnership. Looking at the bigger picture, the ACC stands to benefit from what should be an overall stronger nonconference schedule -- especially since that is going to play such a large factor in the future playoff. Should Notre Dame continue what it started last season, the ACC benefits even more.

As for the Irish, their future ACC schedules are not totally daunting. On paper, 2014 looks to be the most difficult with Florida State, Louisville and North Carolina all on the slate. But the Louisville and UNC games are in South Bend. Even in 2016, both Miami and Virginia Tech play at Notre Dame.

Of course, predicting the ease or difficulty of future schedules is an exercise in the unknown, since teams change so much year-to-year. But at least today, the schedule split looks exactly right.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — With his first spring as The Guy at Notre Dame winding down, Everett Golson is scaling back.

He has had to do this before, whether it was relearning a few things after a rocky home debut last season or spending more time in the athletic trainer's room than he would have liked after his relatively small frame took too many hits throughout 2012.

But with Season 1 as Notre Dame's starting quarterback in the rear-view mirror, with the experience of a national title game under his belt and with outside starting threat Gunner Kiel off to Cincinnati, Golson, at times, simply has not stopped talking.

Now the fun begins for the Fighting Irish offense, a unit that faces at least the possibility of having the same man directing it for 39 more games, this after each of coach Brian Kelly's previous three springs with the program began with quarterback uncertainty.

"I don’t know that you could even put him in the same category with where he started last year to where he is now," Kelly said of Golson. "Strong command of our offense. I think where we’re at with him more than anything else is we have to now begin to pull back a little bit. He wants to do a little bit too much. He knows his toolbox very well. He didn’t know anything relative to what he had for tools last year in terms of what he could do with the offense.

"Now, he wants to maybe do a little too much, so we’re at a totally different point in his development. I think the thing that stands out the most to me, though, is his command. His communication and command and his leadership has been evident as we started spring ball."

Whereas Golson entered last spring as one of four candidates fighting for the starting job, this year, he is being more assertive, taking coaching better and strengthening his relationship with position coach Chuck Martin by exchanging calls and texts or by shooting around on the basketball court when time allows for it.

Golson is becoming a more vocal presence on the field, and he is making the leap in what Kelly hopes will eventually be a quarterback-driven offense.

Notre Dame finished 80th nationally in scoring offense last season, getting to 12-1 in large part on the back of the nation's No. 2 scoring defense and by minimizing the turnover chaos that had plagued it a season earlier.

"I think for me personally it's more on us, just because I expect more of us," said Golson, who netted 2,703 total yards, 18 touchdowns (12 passing, six running) and 10 turnovers while completing better than 58 percent of his throws last season.

"Last year, 2012, we didn't really make our mark. You can kind of blame it on excuses -- it was our fist year going through it -- but at the end of the day, we didn't do our job. So that's definitely an emphasis for me personally to make this offense better and have a better season."

Fifth-year left tackle Zack Martin said of Golson: "Every week he was better, and better not only on the field but in practice with the offensive line, with the other receivers. That's the stuff we see from him on a consistent basis now. We expect Everett to be out front, telling the offense what to do. We expect him to be out there, and he's done a great job this spring."

Golson was listed at 185 pounds last season but was likely 10 or so pounds lighter by the end of the season. Bulking up was deemed a point of emphasis in the months after the Jan. 7 title-game loss to Alabama and a 94-carry season. The third-year sophomore is currently listed as nine pounds shy of the goal of 195.

With Tommy Rees and Andrew Hendrix back for their fourth seasons, Golson knows there is little time to rest on his laurels, especially after an inaugural starting campaign that saw him get yanked three different times, leave another game with a concussion -- which forced him to miss the next game -- and miss the first series of one more contest because he was late for a meeting.

Golson might not be looking over his shoulder the way he had to a season ago, but that does not make him any less cognizant of what he has to do moving forward.

"I don't think I necessarily think about that a lot," he said. "The No. 1 [position] is only good for so much. You go out there and throw a couple picks, who knows? Maybe it's another controversy again and your job is back up. So my thing was I'll never be complacent. I never want to get complacent. Just always stay hungry and stay driven, and that's how I kind of went through this whole process."

CHICAGO -- The Loyola Ramblers are on the move.

The school made it official Friday and announced it will move from the Horizon League to the Missouri Valley Conference, changing affiliations for the first time since 1979. Loyola will replace Creighton, which announced a move to the Big East in March.

"I think our brand will raise the profile of the institution and the fact that we're in the Chicago market place is going to do wonders for the Missouri Valley," Missouri Valley Commissioner Doug Elgin said at Loyola.

Read the entire story here.

Notre Dame and NBC have renewed their football deal for 10 more years, the network announced Thursday, taking the two through the 2025 season.

The length of the deal will make their partnership 35 years old in all, and it will run as long as the agreement for college football's new playoff.

The NBC Sports Group will retain global media rights on all platforms to a minimum of seven Fighting Irish home games per year. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

“While our relationship with NBC Sports is longstanding, the more recent merger between NBC and Comcast has opened up additional avenues to expand the breadth of Notre Dame-related sports programming on NBC platforms,” Notre Dame vice president and athletics director Jack Swarbrick said in a statement. “Specifically, the evolution of the NBC Sports Network has provided opportunities for special programming featuring inside looks at our football team and several other Notre Dame sports programs and in-depth profiles on the unsung heroes of Notre Dame athletics. These are examples of the growth of our partnership, and we look forward to collaborating on additional projects and distribution strategies in seasons to come.”

Notre Dame's seven games on NBC this past season averaged 4.4 million viewers and a 2.8 household rating, up 69 percent and 67 percent, respectively, according to the network.

Previous extensions between the two had run for five years, with the most recent one having been set to expire in 2015.

“Coming off one of Notre Dame’s best and most dramatic seasons in decades, we could not be more proud to extend this historic partnership, which continues to be one of the most innovative in sports-media history,” NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus said in a statement. “We are particularly excited that this extension offers enhanced rights that allow us to bring Notre Dame Football to fans on more platforms than ever before.”

Illinois-Chicago announced Wednesday men's basketball coach Howard Moore received a three-year contract extension.

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Illinois State forward Jon Ekey said Tuesday he will transfer to Illinois for his final season.


Ekey, a 6-foot-7, 220-pound redshirt junior forward, will be immediately eligible at Illinois as he will pursue a graduate degree unavailable at Illinois State. He also received interest from Boston College, Creighton, Nevada, Purdue, among others schools after recently announcing he was leaving Illinois State.

Read the entire story.

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Once the crowning of Alabama had become official, Robby Toma walked off the field first with his helmet still on. Theo Riddick struggled to hold back tears. Louis Nix insisted his team was not dominated in the 28-point loss.

Then there was Elijah Shumate, virtually clueless about this whole exercise.

Notre Dame's 42-14 loss in the Discover BCS National Championship ruined its perfect season, and it ruined Shumate's perfect streak.

A football career that saw three perfect prep seasons and a perfect regular season in his first year of college ball had become re-acquainted with the sting of defeat, Shumate's first after a 55-game winning streak.

"That was a tough loss," Shumate said of the title game. "They came out and they played hard and they really beat us. They handed us a big loss. Before the game I didn't think they were any way better than us. They played better than us, they were the better team that night and I definitely think we have a great team and that we were young. And we're still kind of young, but we're getting better and we're learning, so I think we're just going to keep working. Hopefully we'll see them again."

Not since the second game of his freshman season at Paterson (N.J.) Catholic had Shumate experienced a loss, as the next eight games that season and the three ensuing years at powerhouse Don Bosco Prep all culminated with state titles.

Now the player who made his mark as a nickelback in Year 1 with the Irish is transitioning to a full-time safety, the spot he was initially recruited to play. He has emerged from the crowded field to this spring to take first-team reps much of the way.

"He is what we thought he was in terms of a tackler," coach Brian Kelly said. "He’s a very good tackler, a sure tackler, he’s physical. He can play the safety position. I think [safeties] coach [Bob] Elliott's done a nice job with the learning curve. That’s certainly what this is all going to be about, and picking up the nuances. Matthias [Farley] has done a very good job in helping him. But I think the entire defense is helping as well. So he’s our guy back there, and he’s got to continue to learn. The spring has been very good for him. He’s going to have to continue to take steps forward in the summer."

The 6-foot, 213-pound rising sophomore has attacked the challenge after a year spent mostly getting his feet wet in the secondary, where coverage responsibilities were fairly straightforward and he had the luxury of working with three-year starter Zeke Motta.

This year brings other challenges, such as making calls and pre-snap adjustments, responsibilities he says he is slowly but surely growing more comfortable with.

Anything, it would seem, in order to return to his version of normalcy, which looks nothing like the one the Crimson Tide painted Jan. 7.

"It was really hard, I never want to have to go through that again," Shumate said. "But it's part of life. And it's part of growing up: You're going to win some, you're going to lose some. Go hard and learn from it."

Loyola has accepted an invitation and agreed in principle to join the Missouri Valley Conference, a school spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

Read the entire story.

Seton Hall sophomore guard Aaron Cosby said Friday he will transfer to Illinois.

Read the entire story.

Dave Telep and Paul Biancardi break down the top recruiting classes in the ACC. The wealth is spread across the top, as the five highest rated prospects all committed to different schools.

Dave Telep and Paul Biancardi offer a blueprint for success for coaches taking over programs this offseason.

New Northwestern coach Chris Collins left his comfort zone as an assistant at Duke. But he didn't venture outside his area of expertise when he returned to where he grew up.

He is now at a school where the pool of talent is small and is limited by the highest academic standards in the Big Ten.

Collins, who been on the job for a little more than a week, has one goal, and that is to get Northwestern to the NCAA tournament for the first time.

Since he arrived in Evanston last week, his main focus has been on these five items:

This weekend is a big one for spring games in the Big Ten, as five teams will hold their fan-friendly events (Northwestern will stage a regular practice instead of a traditional spring game).

Illinois will get things started off on Friday night in Champaign. We're previewing them all, so let's see what's in store for coach Tim Beckman's second spring game.

When: Friday, 9 p.m. ET

Where: Memorial Stadium

Admission: Free. Gates open at 7 p.m. Only the east side of Memorial Stadium will be open for the public. Fans are asked to enter through Gates 17, 19 and 21. Parking around the stadium is free.

TV: Live on Big Ten Network

Weather forecast: The temperature is expected to be about 62 degrees at kickoff, and there's a chance for some storms later in the evening.

What to watch for: The Illini lost the last nine times they took the field in 2012, but fans are guaranteed to see an Illinois win on Friday night. So that's something.

The faithful will be seeking any reason for optimism from this team. The new offense, spearheaded by former Western Michigan head coach Bill Cubit, could provide just that, although it likely will have a very vanilla aroma in the spring game. There are also some junior college additions who promise to bring some immediate help, like receiver Martize Barr and linebacker/safety Eric Finney, both of whom have had good springs.

Overall, Beckman's team just needs to look like it knows what it's doing in all three phases and not show off the big mistakes that cost it repeatedly during last year's 2-10 campaign. It would be nice if quarterbacks Nathan Scheelhaase and Reilly O'Toole can get something going in the passing game, and if the offensive line can give them time to do so. This program needs all the positivity and momentum it can get, even from a spring game setting.

The game will feature a normal clock for the first three quarters and a running clock in the fourth quarter aside from the final two minutes. There will be no kickoffs or returns, and no rush will be allowed on field goals and extra points. Several players could play on both teams because of depth problems.

Much of college football debate is based on lists and rankings. Notre Dame fans know this as much as anyone after a 2012 regular season that did not see the Irish rise from fourth to first in all of the major polls until the three teams ahead of them dropped games.

Those same fans will have a hard time being upset with the list that AthlonSports released this week: College football head coaches, Nos. 1-125.

Brian Kelly's spot? No. 4.

Steven Lassan writes:

Not many coaches in college football can rival Kelly’s resume in four stops as a head coach. Kelly’s first head coaching gig came in 1991 at Grand Valley State, and he stayed in that capacity until 2003. During 13 years with Grand Valley State, Kelly went 118-35-2 and won two Division II titles. After his success with the Lakers, Kelly went 19-16 with Central Michigan, which included a MAC championship in 2006. Kelly moved on to Cincinnati at the end of the 2006 season and guided the Bearcats to back-to-back Big East titles in 2008 and 2009. After back to-back 8-5 seasons with Notre Dame, Kelly led the Fighting Irish to an appearance in the BCS National Championship game at the end of the 2012 season. Despite the blowout loss to Alabama in the title game, Kelly clearly has the program back on track to be an annual top 10-15 team.

The three men ahead of Kelly? Alabama's Nick Saban, Florida's Urban Meyer and Kansas State's Bill Snyder. Few can make a legitimate argument right now against the first two, as each is the owner of multiple national championships at college football's highest level. The Snyder spot could be up for debate, but when you take into account his longevity -- and remember just how bad the Wildcats were before his arrival -- it is tough to top what he has done in his 21-year career, ring or no ring.

How about some of the names above whom Kelly is ranked? South Carolina's Steve Spurrier (No. 5), Oklahoma's Bob Stoops (No. 7), LSU's Les Miles (No. 24) and Texas' Mack Brown (No. 28) are title-winners who finished behind Kelly on the list, though Miles is the only of that quartet whose best years have been among his most recent ones.

Other names of note to Notre Dame fans are UCF's George O'Leary (No. 68), New Mexico's Bob Davie (No. 89) and Kansas' Charlie Weis (No. 106).