General Manager

[jbcarol]

Matt Zenitz
@mzenitz

SMU is hiring Baylor's Connor Morgan as its new director of player personnel, sources tell @247Sports.

Spent the last three years at Baylor under Dave Aranda, including most recently as an associate director of player personnel for the Bears. Previously worked at Alabama.

https://247sports.com/college/smu/board/105959/contents/new-director-of-player-personnel-231544516

[jbcarol]

When the head coach is acting GM:

Matt Cohen: Freeze says he couldn't bring himself to spend $1 million on a QB

He's received heavy criticism for it, but Auburn head coach Hugh Freeze has continued to stand behind and support quarterback Payton Thorne.

His case is heavy on the belief that if he can surround Thorne with better talent among wide receivers — which Freeze feels he has done —

"I believe in our quarterback room," Freeze said Wednesday on Greg McElroy and Cole Cubelic's radio show while at the Regions Tradition in Birmingham. "I believe in Kent Austin. I believe that if you have the right pieces around Peyton that we can have success. I think you saw some glimpses of that. I don't think we had a really total package around him really."

Freeze added seven new scholarship receivers around Thorne including four freshmen and three transfers. But that route, Freeze said, was because he wanted to focus Auburn's Name, Image and Likeness resources on bringing more pieces in for the whole offense instead of dumping a massive sum on a new quarterback.

"The options that you are presented with: develop Payton, develop Holden (Geriner), develop Hank (Brown) develop Walker (White) or go spend a million dollars on this guy," Freeze said. "And I just couldn't bring myself to doing that."

His comment is referencing the bidding wars and large NIL deals often handed out as recruitment for top quarterbacks in the transfer portal. Nebraska head coach Matt Rhule has previously said publicly that it costs upwards of $1 million to land a good transfer quarterback.