Boyd gives verbal to UNLV

“He gave a verbal to them today,” Cahill said.

The 6-foot-2-inch, 180-pound Boyd had 66 catches for 1,081 yards and 18 touchdowns this fall.

“He’s just got that competitiveness, a good drive,” Cahill said. “He has all the intangibles of a good wide receiver. And his competitive nature will allow him to compete up there.”

Boyd often made tough catches in traffic, and he also picked off eight passes as a defensive back.

“He’s just a ball hawk,” Cahill said. “He’s always around the ball.

“It’s a big advantage to have somebody like that that you can just throw it up to there and nine times out of 10 he’s going to come down with it.”

Boyd led the area in receiving yards, and was second in receptions. His 18 TD catches also were the best in the area.

“I think he’ll do great,” Cahill said. “I think it’s a great situation over at UNLV. The program’s up and coming over there, and they’ve got a quarterback that’s going to be there for a while and he should fit right in and help them out.”

Oral commitments are nonbinding. The football signing period begins Feb. 6.

■ BIG NIGHT FOR TE’O – Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o was honored three times at the 22nd Home Depot College Football Awards show at Disney World at Lake Buena Vista, Fla., including the Maxwell Award for the nation’s most outstanding player.

Te’o has now won six major awards since the end of the regular season, also taking home the Bednarik Award for top defensive player and Walter Camp Foundation player of the year award Thursday. He became the first defensive player to win the Maxwell Award since 1980, ending a string of nine straight quarterbacks.

Next up is the Heisman Trophy ceremony Saturday night, with Te’o and Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel considered the favorites. Then, Te’o will try to help the Fighting Irish dethrone defending champion Alabama in the BCS national championship game.

“I’m at a loss for words,” he said of winning the Maxwell. “The last time I ever dreamt of winning that award was on a video game. So to win it is a mind-blowing experience.”

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly won the Coach of the Year award after leading the Irish to their first 12-0 regular season since 1988.

Manziel won the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback Award, and teammate and junior offensive lineman Luke Joeckel took home the Outland Trophy for the nation’s best interior lineman.

Other players honored were Southern California’s Marqise Lee (Biletnikoff Award for top receiver), Tulane’s Cairo Santos (Lou Groza Award for top kicker), Louisiana Tech’s Ryan Allen (Ray Guy Award for top punter), Mississippi State’s Johnthan Banks (Jim Thorpe Award for top defensive back) and Wisconsin’s Montee Ball (Doak Walker Award for top running back).

■ WISCONSIN – The Badgers are going retro for the Rose Bowl, talking Barry Alvarez – their former football coach-turned athletic director – into returning to the sidelines on New Year’s Day against Stanford after Bret Bielema bolted for Arkansas this week.

But this is a one-night-only gig, Alvarez insisted. He’s already looking for a replacement for Bielema and plans to begin interviewing candidates next week.

“No one likes change, but you can grow through change, and there’s opportunity through change,” Alvarez said. “I want the seniors to go out the right way, and I want the young players to understand that I will put a coach in place that they’ll be pleased with.”

It won’t, however, be Paul Chryst.

The first-year Pittsburgh coach was considered the favorite to replace Bielema, as a former Badgers offensive coordinator who is from the area and remains a popular figure at Wisconsin. Alvarez pulled some strings to help get Chryst the Panthers job last year and said it wouldn’t be “appropriate” for him to hire Chryst back such a short time later.

Wisconsin was little more than a Big Ten bottom feeder when Alvarez arrived in 1990. The Badgers had all of six winning seasons from 1964 to 1989 and went 19 years without another bowl appearance after losing to Southern California in the 1963 Rose Bowl.

Four years after taking over, Alvarez led the Badgers to a 10-1-1 record, a No. 4 ranking and the 1994 Rose Bowl. Wisconsin has had only two losing seasons since then.

Alvarez’s 118-73-4 record in 16 seasons includes a 3-0 mark in the Rose Bowl – Wisconsin’s only victories in eight trips to Pasadena. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

■ COLORADO – Cincinnati coach Butch Jones has rejected an offer to become the Buffaloes’ next coach, a person familiar with the decision said.

The Cincinnati Enquirer first reported Jones had withdrawn his name from consideration for the Buffaloes job, just as he had the Purdue opening earlier in the week that subsequently went to Kent State’s Darrell Hazell.

■ LOUISVILLE – Charlie Strong’s decision to stay at Louisville is the second major coup for the Cardinals in eight days.

After reports linked Strong to several openings in the Southeastern Conference, he said Thursday he wasn’t going anywhere. Keeping the coach had become a priority for Louisville after announcing last week it will join the Atlantic Coast Conference in 2014.

“I knew this would be a big opportunity,” Strong said during a news conference at the Cardinals’ football stadium. “It was the best decision to stay here, continue to build a program and fulfill our dreams on the football field and in the classroom.”

Strong rejected an offer from Tennessee on Tuesday night to replace Derek Dooley, who was fired on Nov. 18. Strong had been in discussions with the Volunteers since Nov. 29 but did not provide any details of their offer.

Now that Louisville knows Strong is staying, athletic director Tom Jurich said they will begin renegotiating the seven-year contract Strong received last year that pays him $2.3 million per season.

■ TEXAS – President Bill Powers gave coach Mack Brown his “full support,” saying Brown will remain the Longhorns coach after an 8-4 regular season and missing a BCS bowl for the third consecutive year.

Writing on his university blog, Powers cited an “increase in media speculation” about Brown’s future.

“I’d like to state unequivocally that Coach Brown has my full support as well as the support of Men’s Athletics Director DeLoss Dodds. Put succinctly, Mack Brown is and will remain the Longhorns’ head football coach,” Powers wrote.

Brown is 149-43 in 15 seasons at Texas, with two Big 12 championships and the 2005 national championship. But since playing for the 2009 national title, Texas is 21-16 overall and 11-16 in the Big 12.

Also Thursday, Brown would not commit to either David Ash or Case McCoy as his starting quarterback for the Alamo Bowl against Oregon State.