CFB notebook: Six UCLA players suspended for opener

Chip Kelly will be short-handed in his first game as UCLA coach after six Bruins players were suspended for Saturday's season opener against Cincinnati. The suspensions were announced Monday, and the reason was reported as a violation of athletic department policy. The players suspended were tight end Devin Asiasi, running back Soso Jamabo, defensive linemen Osa Odighizuwa and Moses Robinson-Carr, defensive back Mo Osling, and offensive lineman Boss Tagaloa. Kelly told the Los Angeles Times that Tagaloa's suspension is for three games and Jamabo's is for two. --Mississippi State's Nick Fitzgerald, who is considered one of the top quarterbacks in the Southeastern Conference, has been suspended for the Bulldogs' season opener. First-year Mississippi State coach Joe Moorhead made the announcement of the suspension, saying only that Fitzgerald had violated team rules. The violation occurred in March, but Moorhead did not expand on the incident. As a result, Keytaon Thompson will start Saturday's season opener against Stephen F. Austin, an FCS school. --Clemson quarterback Kelly Bryant will start the team's season-opening game against FCS opponent Furman. Bryant landed the job after resting atop the Tigers' first depth chart, which was released Monday. He started every game for Clemson last season and held off a push from highly touted freshman Trevor Lawrence. Bryant passed for 2,802 yards and 13 touchdowns with eight interceptions in 2017. He added 665 rushing yards and 11 rushing scores for a team that finished 12-2 and reached the College Football Playoff before losing to Alabama in the semifinal. --USC quarterback J.T. Daniels reclassified to the Class of 2018 to compete for the starting vacancy left by first-round draft pick Sam Darnold. The decision paid off: Coach Clay Helton named Daniels the Week 1 starter. Daniels beat out Matt Fink and Jack Sears. "I understand this is a huge responsibility and I need to work hard to be prepared to handle it," Daniels said in a statement. "It was a tight competition between all the quarterbacks throughout camp. We pushed each other every day." Daniels becomes USC's first true freshman starter since Matt Barkley beat out Aaron Corp in 2009. --USC wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown arrived at USC with five-star recruiting billing from a pipeline that has historically been good to the program at nearby Mater Dei. St. Brown received praise coming out of training camp, and his integration into the lineup adds another dimension to a wide-receiving corps that returns promising 2017 contributors Tyler Vaughns and Michael Pittman Jr. --Washington quarterback Jake Browning begins his fourth season starting at quarterback. Browning hit his statistical peak in 2016, passing for 34 touchdowns and just three interceptions through the first nine games. But a late-season shoulder injury slowed him (nine touchdowns, six interceptions) and in 2017, he never regained that initial 2016 output. Coach Chris Petersen said for Browning to reach his ceiling is a matter of "consistency of decision-making." That should play an especially key role in the opener against an Auburn defense that ranked No. 18 against the pass nationally a season ago. --Washington outside linebacker Ryan Bowman delivered on an impressive freshman season, leading Washington in 2017 with 5.5 sacks. His aggressive edge-rushing should set the tone for coordinator Pete Kwiatkowski's defense in the opener against an Auburn offense that last season allowed 36 sacks, tied for 13th most in the FBS. --Washington defensive tackle Greg Gaines faced some injury questions in training camp, though multiple reports suggest the 6-foot-2, 322-pound presence on the interior of the defensive line will be ready for Week 1. Gaines becomes the focal point on the Huskies' front with Vita Vea gone for the NFL. His ability to plug running lanes will be pivotal in Washington's attempt on Saturday to slow explosive Auburn running back Kam Martin, whose 6.1 per carry average led the Tigers' three-man running back rotation a season ago. --LSU announced that Joe Burrow, a graduate transfer from Ohio State, will be the Tigers' starting quarterback in their opener against Miami. Burrow beat out sophomore Myles Brennan for the job. Burrow transferred from Ohio State in May after he lost a quarterback competition to Dwayne Haskins, who was officially named the Buckeyes' starter on Monday. Burrow had been the favorite to win the starting job at LSU ever since he transferred. He becomes the second straight LSU starting quarterback to arrive as a transfer from a Big Ten school. Purdue transfer Danny Etling started for two seasons for the Tigers. Burrow threw 39 career passes in his two seasons at Ohio State. He was 22 of 28 for 226 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions in six games in 2016, and he completed 7 of 11 passes for 61 yards in five games last year. Despite being a graduate transfer, Burrow has two seasons of college eligibility remaining. Brennan, who was a backup last year to Etling, is listed No. 2 on the depth chart released Monday, and sophomore walk-on Andre Sale is at No. 3. No. 25 LSU opens its season against No. 8 Miami on Sunday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. --Florida announced that Feleipe Franks will be the Gators' starting quarterback for their season opener. First-year Florida coach Dan Mullen selected Franks in what the Florida release characterized as a close competition with redshirt sophomore Kyle Trask and freshman Emory Jones. Franks seemed to be the favorite from the start after playing 11 games, including eight starts, for the Gators last season as a redshirt freshman. Mullen said, according to Fox Sports, that Franks' "ability to extend plays, some of his athleticism right now, will give us the best opportunity to win games." Franks completed 54.6 percent of his passes last season for 1,438 yards and nine touchdowns while throwing eight interceptions. --Kellen Mond is expected to be Texas A&M's starting quarterback for its season opener. New head coach Jimbo Fisher has not officially named Mond the starter, but Mond reportedly won a competition with Nick Starkel for the starting job. That is a reversal from last season, when Kevin Sumlin, then the Aggies' head coach, chose Starkel as his opening-game starter over Mond, then a true freshman. Both players are now sophomores and both are expected to get playing time in Thursday's opener against Northwestern State, an FCS school. The bigger test will come in Texas A&M's second game, when the Aggies host Clemson.