CFB notebook: Freshman walk-on named Minnesota QB

Zack Annexstad, a true freshman walk-on, will be the starting quarterback at Minnesota this season. Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck made the announcement on Monday. Annexstad beat out Tanner Morgan, a redshirt freshman, for the starting job. Annexstad is believed to the second walk-on true freshman to start a season opener at a BCS school. Baker Mayfield was a true freshman walk-on when he started the season opener for Texas Tech. Mayfield later transferred to Oklahoma, where he won the Heisman Trophy and became the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Minnesota opens the 2018 season on Thursday, August 30, at home against New Mexico State. The Gophers went 5-7 last year in Fleck's first season as their head coach. --The defending national champion Alabama Crimson Tide will start the college football season as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 poll for the third straight year. The top ranking in the AP preseason media poll is Alabama's seventh time in history and fifth under coach Nick Saban. The Crimson Tide are just the second team to top the preseason AP poll for three straight years since Oklahoma accomplished the feat from 1985-87. Alabama, which also topped the coaches poll released earlier this month, will start the season ranked in the top five for the 10th consecutive time. The Crimson Tide received 42 of 61 first-place votes from the media panel and 1,505 points overall. No. 2 Clemson received 18 first-place votes and 1,476 points to reside ahead of Georgia. No. 4 Wisconsin, which received one first-place vote, had 15 more points than Ohio State. --Texas Longhorns sophomore Sam Ehlinger took the bulk of first-team reps at practice and is in line to start the team's season opener, coach Tom Herman said. Ehlinger and junior Shane Buechele battled through spring practice and fall camp. Ehlinger started six games and played in nine as a true freshman last season, when he led the team in passing (1,915 yards) and rushing (385). Buechele, who started 12 games as a true freshman in 2016, started seven times last season while battling injuries. --Colorado State quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels is listed as the team's starter on its depth chart. Carta-Samuels, who is nearly five months removed from transferring from Washington, is expected to start in the Rams' season opener against Hawaii on Saturday. Carta-Samuels' backups are listed as redshirt freshman Justice McCoy or sophomore Collin Hill. Hill is working his way back from a torn ACL sustained in a pickup basketball game in mid-March. --Maryland offensive linemen Johnny Jordan and Ellis McKennie announced the team's plan to "honor their fallen friend, brother and teammate" Jordan McNair. McNair died June 13 from heatstroke he sustained at a May 29 workout. McNair was 19. Maryland will hold a moment of silence before its Sept. 1 season-opening game against Texas at FedEx Field. The Terrapins will hold another moment of silence to honor McNair before the first home opener on Sept. 15 against Temple. The players also announced that McNair's No. 79 jersey will not be worn until 2021, which would have been the season after McNair graduated. His locker also will be encased in glass in the Gossett football building. Maryland players will also wear No. 79 decals on the backs of their helmets and the offensive line room in Cole Field House will be named after McNair upon completion. A scholarship will be listed in McNair's name to a Maryland football player every year moving forward. --Quintez Cephus, Wisconsin's top returning receiver, has been suspended, although it is not clear whether he will be available for the Badgers' season opener. He was suspended for an unspecified violation of the university's student-athlete discipline policy. The statement does not specify the length of the suspension, so reinstatement prior to Wisconsin's season opener on Friday, August 31, at home against Western Kentucky is possible. Cephus said on Twitter over the weekend that he was taking a leave of absence to deal with a legal issue. He said he was wrongfully accused of unlawful conduct in an incident that took place in April. ESPN.com reported Cephus has been charged with felony sexual assault of an intoxicated victim and felony assault. He is accused of assaulting two women and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.