With the college football season concluding only five weeks before the NFL Scouting Combine, many draft prospects had their alma maters on their minds in Indianapolis.

Indiana players mostly tried to nudge the conversation away from their team’s College Football Playoff title and toward their NFL futures. Others were eager to talk about their former coaches and discuss the changes at their schools, including the Ole Miss players still harboring animosity toward former coach Lane Kiffin.

Here are five more college football storylines from the NFL combine that bear watching for the upcoming season.

What’s next for Clemson?

Clemson has reached a crossroads after the program’s second 4-4 ACC record in the last three seasons. The Tigers finished 7-6 in 2025, their worst overall record since 2010.

For Clemson’s former players, 2025’s performance was a major disappointment. The Tigers began the season ranked No. 4 and were considered a CFP title contender.

“Part of the reason we all came back, we had our goals set on one thing, and that was a national championship,” receiver Antonio Williams said. “It didn’t go according to plan.”

The Tigers sat at 3-5 in early November but won their last four regular-season games to land in the Pinstripe Bowl, where they lost to Penn State. For a program with a pair of national titles under Dabo Swinney, just a few years removed from a streak of 12 straight double-digit winning seasons, something needs to change.

“Coach Swinney has a process,” linebacker Wade Woodaz said. “He’s had a lot of success. He knows what to do. I think they’re back on the right track. I’m not happy that my senior year we went 7-6, but I think it was needed for the trajectory of Clemson.”

And how should Clemson get back on the right trajectory?

“I would say, just get the guys in the room who love Clemson,” Woodaz said. “I think coach Swinney did that, using the portal this year.”

“They have all the pieces,” Williams said. “You’ve got to get that mentality back where nothing’s given to you or everything’s earned. Five years ago, they were at the pinnacle of sports, and Clemson was the team everybody wanted to watch. And we’ve kind of taken a step back in recent years and haven’t been as dominant in the playoffs.”

Swinney famously avoided using the transfer portal for years, but the down season led to changes this winter. The Tigers signed 10 transfers, including four defensive backs and four defensive linemen, according to 247Sports.

The Tigers’ draft prospects have faith that Swinney will steer the program in the right direction.

“I love coach Swinney,” quarterback Cade Klubnik said. “One of the things that I appreciate most about him is he’s always able to tell us the truth. If we needed to get better at something, he would tell us, and I always really appreciate that. But he was always encouraging, not discouraging.”

“Coach Swinney will never shy away from the truth and what he believes,” Woodaz said. “In today’s world, it’s not very common. So, I’m so grateful for him for that, and a lot of times the truth is not what we want to hear, but it’s what we need to hear.”

“This year we’re gonna be back,” cornerback Avieon Terrell said.

Iowa State’s Orange on Matt Campbell’s big move

Perhaps no program experienced greater upheaval this offseason than Iowa State, which lost head coach Matt Campbell and much of his staff to Penn State. After Campbell’s departure, 55 Cyclones players entered the transfer portal, and new coach Jimmy Rogers brought in at least 50 newcomers.

At the combine, Iowa State defensive tackle Domonique Orange straddled the line of representing his alma mater while still praising Campbell, with whom he was close.

“People can hate me all you want, argue with me all you want, but he’s the best coach in college football, in my opinion,” Orange said. “Coach Campbell was the reason why I went to Iowa State and I stayed at Iowa State.”

Campbell became the winningest coach in program history over his 10 seasons in Ames. Before his arrival, the Cyclones had finished above .500 in conference action just once in the 20 years since the Big 12 began play in 1996. Iowa State posted a winning record in Big 12 play eight times over his final nine seasons.

Orange nodded to the differences in history and financial situation between Campbell’s old school and his new one during an animated discussion.

“He better win a national championship,” Orange said. “He’s got all the resources. It ain’t Ames, Iowa. He better win. I’m still a Cyclone for life, but I got a little Nittany Lion in my heart, too.”

Penn State had at least 49 players enter the transfer portal, including 12 who followed former coach James Franklin to Virginia Tech. The Nittany Lions then signed 38, including 24 who came from Iowa State.

One of Campbell’s first moves at Penn State was to retain interim coach Terry Smith, a decision that helped stabilize the program after a prolonged coaching search. Smith, who played receiver at Penn State (1987-91) and has served as associate head coach since 2021, guided the Nittany Lions to four straight wins to close the season, including a bowl victory.

“I think that’s major, man,” Penn State defensive tackle Zane Durant said. “Terry Smith knows everybody at Penn State. He kind of was the key holder to us last year, all that adversity that we had. So, I think bringing him back was a must to keep the tradition, the culture at Penn State intact.”

New leadership in Utah

Utah had its own coaching whirlwind this winter when longtime head man Kyle Whittingham announced on Dec. 12 that he would step down after the Utes’ Las Vegas Bowl appearance. Two weeks later, Whittingham accepted the head coaching job at Michigan, five days before he was supposed to lead the Utes into action one last time. Coach-in-waiting Morgan Scalley assumed full control of the team for the bowl.

The situation left Utah players like linebacker Lander Barton with mixed emotions.

“Coach Whittingham, I owe it all to him,” Barton said. “I believe he’s gonna do amazing things in Michigan, but Utah is a hard place to play. It’s a hard program to grow into, and you’ve got to battle every single day. And he kind of instills that in you when you get there. He always said, ‘You become us. We don’t become you.’”

Scalley, who had worked under Whittingham since 2006, was tabbed as coach-in-waiting in 2024.

“I don’t think that program can be in any better hands,” Barton said of Scalley. “He really just embodies the Utah culture. He’s been there for forever. He’s an extremely intelligent coach, and he knows how to coach players well.”

Barton added that Scalley will infuse the entire program with “his defensive culture.”

“As a coordinator, he wasn’t able to share his philosophies, his culture with the entire team,” Barton said. “Now in the head coach role, he can do that.

“I’ve been talking to my buddies on the team, and they’re holding team meetings where they’re not really talking football, they’re just talking straight culture and what’s expected of the players. And that’s something I like.”

Carson Beck on his former coaches’ roast

Last weekend’s Steve Spurrier Awards, which honor the nation’s top freshman players and head coach, turned into an impromptu roast between Miami (Fla.) coach Mario Cristobal and Georgia’s Kirby Smart. Hurricanes receiver Malachi Toney won offensive freshman of the year and Georgia defensive back Ellis Robinson IV earned the top defensive honor, but their coaches stole the spotlight during the ceremony with multiple zingers at each other’s expense.

“It’s a great piece right there to watch what a player like Carson Beck can do with great coaching,” Cristobal said to laughter.

Smart shot back with, “You ought to spend more time with Steve Spurrier because he won more conference championships at Duke than you have in Miami.”

Beck spent four years at Georgia and was the backup quarterback for the Bulldogs’ national championship teams in 2021 and 2022. He helped Georgia win the 2024 SEC championship but transferred to Miami in the winter and guided the Hurricanes to a CFP title game appearance in his final college season.

So, what did Beck think of the exchange?

“One of my boys had walked up to me, and he’s like, ‘Dude, you’ve got to see this, this is hilarious,’” Beck said. “It had me rolling and laughing, and those two are going back and forth. I mean, all jokes, all fun, but I thought it was pretty funny.”

Beck was asked about his current relationship with Georgia, which was rumored to have deteriorated leading up to his transfer. The quarterback refuted that notion.

“There was no bad blood. I’m really never sure where that came from,” Beck said. “I love the University of Georgia. I love coach Smart, coach (Mike) Bobo, coach (Todd) Monken, all the other coaches that I was able to have there and all my teammates there as well that I’m still really, really good friends with today.”

North Dakota State steps up

After developing into a Football Championship Subdivision dynasty with 10 national titles over a 14-year period, North Dakota State got the call to the FBS ranks in February, receiving a formal invitation from the Mountain West to begin play as a football-only member this fall.

“Honestly shocked at first, because I wasn’t expecting it this soon,” Bison quarterback Cole Payton said. “Eventually, it was going to happen. They’re going to have so much success. I’m a little biased, but they’re gonna kill it this year in the Mountain West.”

“I’m really excited for that team,” said receiver Bryce Lance, the younger brother of NFL quarterback Trey Lance. “I’m sure that will bring even more fan engagement and different kinds of fans down to the Fargodome.”

As part of the FBS move, North Dakota State is ineligible for bowl games for the next two seasons, though the Bison could play in one should they go at least 6-6 in a year when there aren’t enough eligible teams available.

“Hopefully they can get past this postseason ineligibility with the reclassification,” Payton said. “That’s, frankly, not a cool rule.”