Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning on Monday shot down rumors he had made plans to enter the transfer portal at the end of the season as the team prepared for its next College Football Playoff matchup against Arizona State.

Rumors have swirled around Manning for the entire season as he sat as a backup to Quinn Ewers. When Ewers went down with an injury, Manning stepped up and the offense didn’t miss a beat. He has 939 passing yards and nine touchdowns.

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“I mean, I really have no plans on entering the portal or anything,” the redshirt freshman said, via Rivals. “So, I don’t really know about it, about all the windows and everything.”

He did acknowledge that being a backup quarterback was an adjustment after being a celebrated high school quarterback whose family is one of the most celebrated football players of all time.

“It’s definitely an adjustment,” Manning said. “No one ever wants to not play. But like I said, doing anything I can help the team win, whether it’s playing or not playing, that’s what I’m going to do.”

UCONN’S JIM MORA WARNS SCHOOLS TO ‘THINK HARD BEFORE YOU TAMPER WITH OUR PLAYERS’

Texas quarterback Arch Manning (16) tries to break a tackle by Clemson defensive end T.J. Parker (3) during the second half in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas.  (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

He did credit Ewers for helping him learn the ropes of being a collegiate football player.

Ewers echoed the sentiment.

“We’ve got a good relationship, so it makes it easy to be like that for sure,” Ewers said.

Manning is definitely in line to become the starting quarterback in 2025 barring Ewers deciding to stay in school for another year before turning pro.

Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers throws a pass during the second half against Clemson in the first round of the College Football Playoff, Saturday, Dec. 21, 2024, in Austin, Texas.  (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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Texas also has quarterback Trey Owens on the depth chart behind Manning.

The Associted Press contributed to this report.

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Billionaire entrepreneur and top adviser to President-elect Donald Trump, Elon Musk, touted that he has reaped the benefits of a controversial class of weight-loss drugs, after fellow top Trump adviser, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., said the trendy new class of drugs is bad for Americans’ health. 

“Ozempic Santa” Musk posted to X, formerly Twitter, on Christmas Day, alongside an image of himself in front of a well-decorated Christmas tree dressed as Santa Claus — but without his signature big belly. “Like Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic!”

In a follow-up post, Musk clarified that he is taking the brand-name version called Mounjaro, but said the clunky name didn’t “have the same ring to it.”

‘MRS. DOUBTFIRE’ STAR DOWN 120 POUNDS AFTER WEIGHT-LOSS DRUG MAKES HIM FEEL ‘LIKE A NORMAL PERSON’

Musk has been tapped by Trump — along with former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy — to head the soon-to-be Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) aimed at cutting down on wasteful government spending and red tape. Meanwhile, Kennedy is Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services and, if confirmed, Trump has given Kennedy permission to “go wild on health” as long as he doesn’t interfere with Trump’s domestic energy goals.

Musk’s social media post over the holidays turned heads, considering Kennedy has expressed opposition to semaglutide. Originally developed as a diabetes medication, semaglutide has been used more widely in recent years for its appetite-suppressing effects.

“There’s a huge push to sell this to the American people,” Kennedy said of the semaglutide medication Ozempic when asked about his thoughts on the medication in October by Fox News’ Greg Gutfeld. “They make this drug in Denmark, and in Denmark they do not recommend it for diabetes, or for obesity. They recommend dietary and behavioral changes.” 

“They’re counting on selling it to Americans because we are so stupid and so addicted to drugs,” Kennedy added. He also concluded that the U.S. could solve the obesity crisis in America “overnight” if they just had access to, and ate, better quality food.

WEIGHT LOSS DRUGS COULD SHAKE UP FOOD INDUSTRY

Kennedy has run on a platform to “Make America Healthy Again,” but Ozempic, he says, will not help in those efforts. Musk, however, has said that “nothing would do more to improve public health” than making Ozempic more widely available.

During President Joe Biden’s final days in office, his administration proposed expanding Medicare and Medicaid coverage for semaglutides to make them more widely available for those who want to reap the weight-losing benefits of the drug.   

President-elect Trump shared a McDonald’s meal with Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., House Speaker Mike Johnson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (Donald Trump Jr./X)

Besides Musk, Kennedy could also potentially clash with Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who has also expressed support for drugs like Ozempic. 

“I think the amount of good done by these medications by helping people lose weight and improve their cardiovascular system — and it might have long-term benefits in a lot of other areas as well, where obesity causes inflammation — is massive,” Oz said last year in a video posted to his Instagram account.

CHEAP OZEMPIC KNOCK-OFFS HAVE RISEN IN POPULARITY – BUT ARE THEY SAFE?

Kennedy, who very well could become Oz’s boss if they are both approved by the Senate, appeared to scale back his criticism of the new weight-loss drug amid his efforts to court support for his nomination from members of Congress.

Former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gives remarks at the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on Aug. 23, 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona, ahead of his decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race and throw his support behind Trump. (Rebecca Noble/Getty Images)

“The first line of response should be lifestyle. It should be eating well, making sure that you don’t get obese,” Kennedy said during a quick interview with CNBC on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, before adding that anti-obesity drugs like Ozempic “have a place” in the American medical community.  

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Representatives for Musk, Kennedy and the Trump transition team did not provide a comment to Fox News Digital for this story.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said Monday it continues to operate under a “heightened threat environment” ahead of the Times Square New Year’s Eve celebration. 

More than a million visitors are expected in Times Square on Tuesday to attend the 120th tradition of watching the ball drop on the stroke of the New Year. 

This year, the NYPD’s class of more than 600 new recruits will work their first detail Tuesday night. At a press conference about security preparations on Monday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said there are no credible threats to the Times Square event at this time, but the department has been operating in a “heightened threat environment” since the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks in Israel. 

New York City has seen mass demonstrations against Israel, including the encampments, antisemitic rallying cries and clashes with police seen at Columbia University and New York University earlier this year. 

ERIC ADAMS REPORTEDLY SIGNALING HE WILL COOPERATE WITH TRUMP, ICE TO CRACKDOWN ON IMMIGRATION

“We remain vigilant,” Tisch told reporters. “The public can expect to see a tremendous amount of police resources deployed throughout the area and across the city. That includes members of some of our elite specialized units, including our emergency services unit, who will be strategically deployed throughout the area on rooftops. Our K-9 teams, who will patrol with bomb sniffing dogs. Our aviation unit will be in the skies scanning the event and the surrounding areas with special attention to the bridges and other landmarks. And of course, our drones will be deployed overhead to monitor the crowds in real time and watch for any suspicious or unusual activity.”

Last year, the NYPD had about four drone teams inside the “bow tie” and “frozen area” around Times Square for New Year’s Eve. That will increase to six drone teams – four inside the bow tie and two on the outer perimeter – this year, NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry said, adding that mobile drone teams will also operate around Manhattan and the rest of the city and monitor activity over the water as well.  

A reporter at the press conference asked the NYPD if any extra security measures are being brought into Times Square in the wake of the suspected terror attack on a Christmas market in Germany last week. A psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia was reportedly arrested in connection to the Dec. 20 car-ramming at a crowded Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany, that killed five people, including a nine-year-old boy, and injured over 200 others.

“Every year we formulate our plan based on incidents that are happening around the world, here in the city,” Rebecca Weiner, NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism, said. “Christmas markets – you just flagged a terrible incident in Germany involving Christmas markets – they’re a persistent, high-risk target, and so, frankly, are New Year’s Eve celebrations around the world, which is why we put so much emphasis on all of the resources that are here focused on keeping this city and this event safe. So it’s absolutely calibrated to what’s happening overseas.”

Noting precautions against vehicle ramming incidents, including NYPD trucks and blocked cars at the scene, Weiner added, “We are very confident it’s going to be a safe and enjoyable evening for all.” 

People participate in the New Year’s Eve Confetti Test in Times Square on Dec. 29, 2024, in New York City. On New Year’s Eve, 3,000 pounds of confetti will be released over Times Square.  (Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)

The NYPD was also asked to address the emerging threat of the Venezuelan gang known as Tren de Aragua (TdA). Weiner said there was no specific threat related to the gang in connection to the Times Square event, but the TdA matter is “just something persistently that we deal with in the large panoply of crime issues that we are very good at handling all year.” 

“There’s been a ton of work being done by our detective bureau, patrol bureau, our bureau over in intel and counterterrorism,” she said. “This is an issue that we’re dealing with not specific to New Year’s Eve, Times Square. But some newly emergent threats, newly emergent crime patterns that we have, again, tried to combat very early and very deeply so that we haven’t had the entrenchment of some of this gang here in the city that you’ve seen elsewhere across the country.” 

The NYPD will also utilize pickpocket teams, as well as “hotel response teams” to monitor for suspicious activity or other “anomalous” events. 

An aerial photo taken on New Year’s Eve in Times Square on Dec. 31, 2023.  (Craig T Fruchtman/Getty Images)

Tisch said all manholes, mailboxes, vending machines and litter baskets in the “frozen zone” around Times Square will be either sealed or removed, and frozen safety lanes will be created around the event using blocker cars and concrete barriers. 

“And, as always, there will be plenty of security measures that you will not see,” the police commissioner said. “No one handles large-scale events like this better than the NYPD, but of course we do not do it alone. The Joint Operations Center will be fully activated with all of our city, state, and federal partners.” 

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Amid a string of high-profile subway crimes and killings – notably, Daniel Penny’s acquittal and the arrest of an illegal immigrant who allegedly set a sleeping woman on fire – New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD officials still urged crowds to use public transportation to get to the Times Square New Year’s Eve event. Despite forecasts of rain, NYPD officials said no umbrellas will be allowed in the viewing area. Backpacks, large bags, coolers, chairs and alcohol are also prohibited. 

UConn Huskies head football coach Jim Mora called out other schools on Monday for allegedly trying to tamper with his players after the team won the Fenway Bowl.

Mora fired the message on social media with a picture of him near the trophy for winning the bowl game. The Huskies topped the North Carolina Tar Heels, 27-14, and finished the season with a 9-4 record.

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“A simple note to the schools and coaches that have blatantly broken @NCAAFootball rules by tampering with our players in the last 24 hours,” Mora wrote on X. “We do know who you are, we will pursue all avenues to hold you accountable. We are excited that we’ve built a program where coaches have to cheat to beat us and we will protect that program. 

“Think hard before you tamper with our players.”

The transfer portal has been a source of contention with coaches over the last few years.

NICK SABAN ‘OBVIOUS CHOICE’ FOR POSSIBLE COLLEGE FOOTBALL COMMISSIONER, PENN STATE COACH SAYS 

Dec. 28, 2024; Boston, MA: Connecticut Huskies head coach Jim Mora holds the Champions trophy after defeating the North Carolina Tar Heels in the Fenway Bowl at Fenway Park. (Eric Canha-Imagn Images)

Antonio Pierce was hit with an eight-year show-cause order over violations as an assistant coach at Arizona State, including tampering with a player who was at another school. Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and Colorado head coach Deion Sanders were accused of tampering.

On the reverse side, Former Washington State coach Jake Dickert said that in 2022 there was “more tampering going on than you could ever imagine. UAB head coach Trent Dilfer warned other schools 2023 against tampering with players in the transfer portal.

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The NCAA logo is displayed at center court as work continues at The Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

The NCAA has been called on to do more when it comes to rules and regulations over the transfer portal and name, image and likeness. 

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Six states, including one with a Democratic governor, have either banned or prohibited the use of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in public colleges and universities this year.

The practice of DEI in higher educational institutions has been controversial for several years, most frequently opposed by Republicans and described by critics, such as civil rights attorney Devon Westhill, as an “industry that pushes a left-wing, far-left ideological orthodoxy in essentially every area of American life.”

In 2024 alone, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Indiana, Kansas and Utah either banned or limited the use of such teaching or use in the application process in their state’s education system.

In January, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, signed legislation to prohibit institutions from engaging in “discriminatory practices” such as “that an individual, by virtue of the individual’s personal identity characteristics, bears responsibility for actions committed in the past by other individuals with the same personal identity characteristics.” 

INDIANA UNIVERSITY COURSE TEACHES PEOPLE ARE INHERENTLY ‘OPPRESSORS’ BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE, SEX, RELIGION

The anti-DEI law also banned schools from having any policy, procedure, practice, program, office, initiative, or required training that is referred to or called “diversity, equity and inclusion.”

In March, Republican Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama signed SB 129 into law. It prohibits certain DEI offices, as well as the “promotion, endorsement, and affirmation of certain divisive concepts in certain public settings.”

The bill bans “divisive concepts,” such as “that any individual should accept, acknowledge, affirm, or assent to a sense of guilt, complicity, or a need to apologize on the basis of his or her race, color, religion, sex, ethnicity, or national origin” and “that meritocracy or traits such as a hard work ethic are racist or sexist.”

The legislation also required that restrooms be used on the basis of biological sex rather than gender identity, and that public institutions of higher education “authorize certain penalties for violation.”

Gov. Kay Ivey takes questions from reporters during a press conference at the Alabama State Capitol Building in Montgomery, Ala. (Reuters)

Also in March, Indiana adopted legislation to amend the duties of state educational institutions’ diversity committees and increase “intellectual diversity.” Additionally, the Indiana House introduced legislation to further prohibit DEI teachings in schools by mandating that educators “shall not promote in any course certain concepts related to race or sex.”

BIDEN EDUCATION DEPARTMENT SPENT OVER $1 BILLION ON DEI GRANTS: REPORT

Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly, a Democrat, allowed legislation prohibiting postsecondary educational institutions from engaging in certain DEI-related actions to become law without her signature. The bill, passed in April, imposes a $10,000 fine on any public institution that employs DEI practices in faculty hiring or student enrollment processes.

“While I have concerns about this legislation, I don’t believe that the conduct targeted in this legislation occurs in our universities,” Kelly wrote in her passage of the bill.

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, another Republican, signed an education-funding bill in May that contained provisions to limit DEI in schools, just months after the state’s board of education began to scale back on such practices in higher education.

University of Iowa spring campus scene in Iowa City. (Don and Melinda Crawford/UCG/Universal Images Group)

The bill prohibits “any effort to promote, as the official position of the public institution of higher education, a particular, widely contested opinion referencing unconscious or implicit bias, cultural appropriation, allyship, transgender ideology, microaggressions, group marginalization, antiracism, systemic oppression, social justice, intersectionality, nee-pronouns, heteronormativity, disparate impact, gender theory, racial privilege, sexual privilege, or any related formulation of these concepts.” 

Idaho became the latest state to determine that institutions may not “require specific structures or activities related to DEI.”

In December, the Idaho Board of Education unanimously agreed on a resolution requiring that institutions “ensure that no central offices, policies, procedures, or initiatives are dedicated to DEI ideology” and “ensure that no employee or student is required to declare gender identity or preferred pronouns.”

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Other states, such as Florida, Texas and Tennessee, have all previously banned the practice of DEI in higher education.

German government officials accused Tesla founder Elon Musk on Monday of attempting to interfere in the country’s upcoming parliamentary elections on behalf of the country’s far-right political party, citing recent social media posts and a weekend op-ed doubling down on his endorsement.

Musk has attempted to bill the German Alternative for Germany (AfD) political party as the party best positioned to usher in a fiscally responsible economy in Germany—praising the party’s approach to regulations and taxes, while also strenuously defending against allegations of radicalism and neo-Nazi ties.  

His comments have sparked the ire of top German government officials, who noted Monday that the timing comes just weeks ahead of Germany’s snap parliamentary elections—and are, in their view, clearly intended to influence a German audience, regardless of whether Musk’s messaging accomplishes that goal. 

RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT SAYS IT IS WILLING TO IMPROVE TIES—BUT ONUS IS ON TRUMP TO MAKE FIRST MOVE

“It is indeed the case that Elon Musk is trying to influence the federal election,” German government spokesperson Christiane Hoffmann told reporters at a press briefing Monday. 

Hoffmann said that Musk is free to express his opinion, adding: “After all, freedom of opinion also covers the greatest nonsense.”

Musk has come under sharp criticism for his apparent endorsement for the Alternative for Germany political party just weeks before it holds snap parliamentary elections in February.

Musk has railed against German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this fall as a “fool.” 

Musk also praised the AfD last week on his social media platform, X, writing: “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrives on Capitol Hill.  (Anna Moneymaker/Getty)

Musk doubled down on his endorsement in an op-ed published in the German center-right newspaper, Welt am Sonntag.

“The portrayal of the AfD as right-wing extremist is clearly false, considering that Alice Weidel, the party’s leader, has a same-sex partner from Sri Lanka! Does that sound like Hitler to you? Please!” Musk said of AfD co-chair Alice Weidel.

He added that in his view, the AfD “can lead the country into a future where economic prosperity, cultural integrity and technological innovation are not just wishes, but reality.”

Those remarks have sparked criticism from current and former U.S. lawmakers, and from leaders in Berlin, who noted the party’s reputation as a neo-Nazi group. 

German health minister Karl Lauterbach, also a member of the Social Democratic party (SPD), criticized Musk’s intervention as “undignified and highly problematic.”

TRUMP URGED TO STEP IN TO UNITE GOP AS LAWMAKERS FEAR SPEAKER SHOWDOWN COULD DELAY ELECTION CERTIFICATION

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with House Republicans at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Washington, D.C. (Allison Robbert/AFP/via Getty Images)

All mainstream German political parties have ruled out working with the AfD, and its youth wing was designated as a “confirmed extremist” group by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency earlier this year. 

The AfD, for its part, has rejected that characterization.

The pushback from U.S. and German officials has done little to deter Musk, who used his op-ed to argue that the German economy is crippled by regulatory overreach and bureaucracy, describing the Alternative for Germany (AfD) as “the last spark of hope for this country.”

“The traditional parties have failed in Germany,” Musk wrote in the op-ed of Germany’s SPD and other mainstream parties. “Their policies have led to economic stagnation, social unrest, and the erosion of national identity.”

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The decision to run Musks’s op-ed in a center-right newspaper was heavily criticized and prompted Welt am Sonntag’s opinion editor, Eva Marie Kogel, to announce her resignation.