Spring football has changed dramatically over the last decade. In the past, coaches utilized 15 practices to develop depth and integrate freshmen and newcomers. Then, they'd give the fans what they want with a scrimmage featuring their top returning stars.
Today, it's a full-on reset for most programs. Player movement in the transfer portal, along with rising turnover in the coaching ranks, has made spring practices essential for coaches to install schemes and reestablish their programs' identities.
Thirty-three FBS programs head into spring drills with new head coaches, with countless new faces on the coaching roster and support staffs. Even the blue-bloods are not immune, including college football's new blood, Indiana. The Hoosiers are still riding high as the first 16-0 national champion in the modern era, fresh off bucking convention and shattering outside expectations, a reminder that anything is possible in this new era of NIL and free agency.
But can they sustain that momentum?
What about mainstays like Dabo Swinney? The Clemson coach hit the reset button this offseason, but the changes he made seem a little too familiar.
Alabama needs a new quarterback. Notre Dame is college football's new villain.
And the most interesting storylines might be what's developing in courtrooms, boardrooms and the marble halls of Congress.
So before the games count and before the playoff debate inevitably reignites, here are the 25 most pressing storylines shaping college football this spring. As always, it's the power struggles that will define the season long before kickoff in September.
Coaches are paranoid by nature. They're also relentless copycats.
Last spring, at least 17 power-conference programs either canceled their spring games or morphed them into glorified practices that barely resembled live football. Many feared other coaches would watch those spring games, evaluate players and poach their rosters during the spring transfer portal window. Now that the spring portal is no more, at least seven schools are bringing their prototypical spring scrimmages back online for 2026. Among the notable returns: Auburn, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.
"We want to do it," Nebraska's Matt Rhule said. "It's a great thing for the fans. It's a great thing for people who want to come watch us play, and once they kind of changed the calendar, we went back to a more traditional setting."
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Stability isn't the ACC's strength at quarterback this year. Only five starters return (and some at new schools). The rest of the league went shopping.
Eleven programs are expected to roll out transfer quarterbacks this fall, turning the conference into a proving ground for second acts and fresh starts. We'll get our first read on them this spring.
The headliner is Miami's Darian Mensah, who guided Duke to the ACC Championship Game and threw for nearly 4,000 yards last season. Miami already looks like a national contender again.
The anchors returning to the league are Cal's Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele, SMU's Kevin Jennings and NC State's CJ Bailey. It's a top-heavy group, but the depth across the league is apparent with Clemson's Christopher Vizzina, Georgia Tech's Alberto Mendoza (Indiana) and Wake Forest's Gio Lopez (UNC) as prime candidates for breakout seasons in the fall. Keep your eyes on this group.
Well, Indiana did it. The Hoosiers are national champions, and as the sport continues to wonder how Curt Cignetti lifted the program from the bottom to the top in two seasons, the coach has moved on to a bigger question: Can they do it again?
There are important departures to account for this spring. The defense loses cornerstone pieces, and the offense must replace two receivers and a pair of running backs who were central to the title run. But the offensive line brings back three starters, including Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year Carter Smith, providing a stabilizing force that gives the Hoosiers a fighting chance.
The tell won't be the spring depth chart. It'll be Cignetti himself. Listen closely. What he says, and how he carries it, will reveal whether Indiana is beginning a run or a rebuild.
4. Is Clemson's reset more like a soft reboot?
Dabo Swinney still isn't interested in adapting to your version of college football.
The Clemson coach stirred the pot this offseason by publicly accusing Ole Miss of tampering -- receipts in hand -- underscoring his ongoing resistance to the sport's new order. Yes, he signed 10 transfers, the most he's ever taken at a program that once treated the portal like a last resort. Yes, he fired offensive coordinator Garrett Riley after two uneven seasons. On the surface, that looks like evolution.
But do we buy what Swinney is selling?
Swinney replaced Riley with Chad Morris, his former right-hand man from 2011-14, back when Clemson's rise was just beginning. The Tigers went on to win two national titles after Morris left, and Morris hasn't exactly been in high demand since. This feels less like innovation and more like comfort food.
Is this the final act of a stubborn dynasty, or the reset of a two-time national champion who still knows which levers to pull? Right now, it looks more like a reboot no one asked for than a bold reinvention.
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The American has separated itself as the premier Group of Six league. Now it has to prove it can stay there.
Four of its top head coaches bolted for power-conference jobs this cycle, and three didn't leave quietly. They brought their best players with them to Auburn, Oklahoma State and Arkansas, forcing a hard reset at the top of the league.
South Florida pulled perhaps the best hire by convincing Ohio State's Brian Hartline to Tampa, Tulane looked inward and promoted Will Hall, and North Texas leaned on retread Neal Brown. Those programs are well prepared to reload, particularly Tulane and USF.
But upheaval creates opportunity. Navy, stable and disciplined, suddenly has a lane to enter the playoff conversation if it can capitalize on the chaos.
The uncertainty isn't limited to the sidelines. Commissioner Tim Pernetti, widely viewed as a forward-thinking leader, is reportedly a finalist for the NFLPA job just two years into his tenure. If he departs, the league loses an architect in the middle of a crucial rebuild.
Michigan has been tangled in noise the last few years, and Kyle Whittingham should reset the room. You'll hear a lot about Whittingham providing a steady, disciplined hand and reinforcing high standards that slipped out of the Wolverines' grasp under Jim Harbaugh and Sherrone Moore.
But what I'm more interested in seeing is the development of rising sophomore QB Bryce Underwood in Jason Beck's jet-fueled offense. If he can turn Michigan into a top-15 offense overnight as he did at Utah, the Wolverines could be a contender in the Big Ten next fall.
7. Another Buckeyes rebuild on defense
Expectations do not rise and fall based on returning starters at Ohio State. Still, this spring feels like a recalibration for the Buckeyes.
Brian Hartline, the wunderkind assistant responsible for a generational run of receiver recruiting and development, is now the head coach at USF. On defense, Ohio State replaces eight starters from a unit that allowed only 9.3 points per game.
History shows we shouldn't discount the Buckeyes.
Matt Patricia stepped in as defensive coordinator last season and replaced a wave of starters from the nation's top-ranked defense -- only to produce the nation's No. 1 scoring defense again. The roster is still deep and built to win championships.
Replacing and replicating the production of Caleb Downs and Arvell Reese, along with Kayden McDonald, is going to be difficult, but it's certainly doable with this roster.
