NCAA Football News and Notes: Buffaloes Hiring Dorrell

While eyes have turned to the NFL offseason with the combine and draft quickly upcoming, there is still plenty of news circulating in the college football world. From teams finalizing their coaching staffs to issues both on and off the field, let’s take a look at some of the news from around the country this last week.
Colorado Finds Its Coach
It appears that Colorado may have finally found its head coach. According to Yahoo Sports, it appears that Colorado is ready to make Karl Dorrell their new head coach. Dorrell has been serving as the wide receivers coach with the Miami Dolphins. Prior to that, he had served in the same role for several years with the New York Jets.
Just because he has spent a lot of time recently in the NFL does not mean that Dorrell is new to the college ranks. Dorrell was the coach at UCLA from 2003-2007, amassing a record of 35-27 and winning one of four bowl games during his time there (the Sun Bowl in 2005).
The Colorado head coaching position became vacant after Mel Tucker left to replace Mark Dantonio at Michigan State. Early beliefs were that Eric Bieniemy was a frontrunner for the position if he was interested. The Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive coordinator and former Colorado running back seemed like a natural fit, but he withdrew his name from consideration earlier in the week.
That very well could be because Bieniemy seems like the perfect Andy Reid protégé to eventually become an NFL head coach, continuing the Reid coaching tree.
Still, Colorado has to be happy if they can officially nail down a contract with Dorrell as he will bring experience and prior success to Colorado.
Tragic News For Navy
In remarkably tragic news, Navy offensive lineman David Forney passed away on Thursday after being found in his dorm room unresponsive. Despite CPR being given and being rushed to the hospital, Forney was pronounced dead that evening.
At this point, there has been no cause of death stated; however, according to Ryan Young of Yahoo Sports, foul play was not suspected.
Forney was expected to graduate this May. He played in all 13 games for Navy this past season and had played in 39 straight for the Midshipmen to end his college career.
He did not expect to play in the NFL; rather, he was expected to be commissioned to the Navy after graduating.
Penn State, Paterno Family Finally Come To Resolution
It has almost been a decade since Jerry Sandusky was arrested on child abuse in 2011 and the subsequent firing of Joe Paterno in 2012, but this week Penn State and the Paterno family finally came to an agreement.
After being fired and then dying later in the year, Joe Paterno was vilified for his role in not stopping the issues that happened on campus under his watch by Sandusky. In response to this, the Paterno family had brought multiple lawsuits against the school for hurting the reputation of the family.
While it is questionable whether the family would have won any of the lawsuits, it is likely that the legal fights had gone on long enough for the school. Penn State has dealt with multiple sanctions from the issues stemming around Sandusky and Paterno, ranging from NCAA sanctions (like loss of scholarships) to financial settlements with many of the victims.
Utah Wide Receiver Dismissed
Terrell Perriman has been released by Utah after allegations that now include eight felony charges have been brought against him after allegedly raping a 17-year-old girl as well as two other young women. Perriman was arrested on Jan. 30, but his charges were just finalized on Friday. That is the same day that the school dismissed Perriman from the team.
Perriman, a freshman with the Utah Utes, only played in two games this season. In those two games, he logged just two receptions for nine yards. Going forward, though, it does not appear that Perriman will be thinking football anytime soon, particularly if he is ultimately found guilty of the charges.
Arkansas Gets Transfer
Arkansas is bringing in a defensive end that has a lot of talent and a ton of experience on a high caliber defense. Clemson transfer Xavier Kelly announced that he will be finishing his playing days at Arkansas. The graduate transfer will be eligible immediately for the upcoming season.
Part of the reason that Kelly likely transferred is that he has been little more than a backup in Dabo Swinney’s defense over the first three years.
Last season, Kelly had just six tackles and half a sack during the season. He also had one fumble recovery. For Kelly, this gives him an opportunity to play one more season of college football while hopefully getting a little more playing time to finish out his career.
Buffalo Coach Gets New Contract
It definitely pays to win bowl games. After three trips to bowl games without a single victory, Buffalo’s head coach Lance Leipold led the team to a 31-9 victory over Charlotte in the Bahamas Bowl.
That win, accompanied by a MAC coach of the year award in 2018 and an 8-5 record this season, earned Leipold a new five-year extension, keeping Leopold with Buffalo through the 2024 season.
He had agreed to an extension last season with Buffalo but was rewarded again after his successful season. After all, it pays to win bowl games.