Here are the Philly-area connections to know in the College Football Playoff semifinals

Two defensive players from the Philadelphia area will be in the spotlight for Miami when it takes on Mississippi in a College Football Playoff semifinal on Thursday (7:30 p.m., ESPN).

The Hurricanes will face the Rebels in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. In the other semifinal, Indiana will face Oregon in Atlanta’s Peach Bowl on Friday (7:30 p.m., ESPN). The winners will advance to the national championship on Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

There are several local connections on the rosters and coaching staffs in both games. Here’s a look at some of the Philadelphia-area ties in the national semifinals:

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The Hurricanes’ defense features two players with local connections, with David Blay on the defensive line and Mohamed Toure at linebacker.

Toure, who hails from Pleasantville in Atlantic County, leads the Hurricanes defense with 69 tackles in 14 games. Toure was a three-star recruit out of Pleasantville High School, where he starred as a running back and linebacker.

After graduating from Pleasantville in 2019, Toure spent six years at Rutgers. He missed the 2022 season after a preseason ACL tear but returned in 2023 to lead the Scarlet Knights in sacks and tackles for loss. Toure was on the preseason watch list for the 2024 Butkus Award, given to the nation’s top linebacker, but suffered another ACL tear in training camp and missed Rutgers’ 2024 campaign.

Toure transferred to Miami as a graduate student this offseason and has emerged as a crucial part of a defense that is limiting opponents to 13.1 points per game, ranking fourth in the FBS. He recorded eight tackles in a 10-3 win over Texas A&M in the first round of the College Football Playoff and seven more in Miami’s 24-14 upset of Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl quarterfinal.

Blay also is in his first season with the Hurricanes. The fifth-year senior is from Levittown. Blay was a standout defensive tackle at Harry S. Truman High School but went nearly unnoticed in recruiting. He spent the first two seasons of his college career at West Chester before transferring to Louisiana Tech in 2023, where he was named to the All-Conference USA first team in 2024.

Blay transferred to Miami for his fifth season of college football. In 11 games, Blay has recorded 27 tackles, including 2½ for loss.

Coach Curt Cignetti’s roster features Jah Jah Boyd, who was a three-star recruit out of Roman Catholic in 2024. Boyd has appeared in five games at defensive back for the Hoosiers this year. He was the MVP of the Catholic League in 2023 after setting Roman’s single-season reception record as a senior, catching 38 passes for 769 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Cignetti also has ties to the city. The back-to-back AP Coach of the Year was the quarterbacks coach at Temple from 1989 to 1992 under coach Jerry Berndt. Cignetti also was a head coach at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Ola Adams, who coaches safeties and defensive backs for Indiana, spent seven seasons as an assistant coach at Villanova. Adams served as the Wildcats’ running backs coach in 2015 and 2016 under Andy Talley, then was promoted to special teams coordinator and cornerbacks coach when Mark Ferrante succeeded Talley in 2017.

Adams was promoted to Villanova’s defensive coordinator in 2019, a role he held for three seasons before joining the Denver Broncos as an assistant defensive backs coach in 2022. Adams made a stop as a defensive analyst at Penn State in 2023 before joining Cignetti’s staff in Bloomington, Ind.

Jovon McRae II is the only Oregon player with a Philadelphia-area connection. The freshman wide receiver is from Camden, although he played his high school football at Mojave High School in North Las Vegas, Nev.

McRae, who also played basketball and ran track at Mojave, has yet to appear in a game for Dan Lanning’s Ducks.

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Eagles fans may remember Joe Judge from an unsuccessful two-season stint as the head coach of the New York Giants in 2020 and 2021. More recently, he has been on the sidelines for Ole Miss. He joined Lane Kiffin’s staff as a senior analyst in 2024 and was promoted to quarterbacks coach ahead of the 2025 season.

Judge grew up in Doylestown and graduated from Lansdale Catholic in 2000. He played quarterback for Mississippi State from 2000 to 2004 and joined the Bulldogs’ staff as a graduate assistant in 2005. Judge spent time on Nick Saban’s staff at Alabama and with Bill Belichick’s Patriots before becoming the head coach of the Giants.

Despite Kiffin’s departure for LSU ahead of the College Football Playoff, Judge will remain on staff at Ole Miss. He’s expected to return as an assistant during Pete Golding’s first full season as head coach.

Penn State fans tuning in for the Fiesta Bowl will recognize Harrison Wallace III, who spent four seasons at State College. The receiver joined Ole Miss as a redshirt senior after the Nittany Lions’ run to the College Football Playoff semifinal last season. Wallace led Penn State’s wideouts in receptions and yardage in 2024, although he trailed former tight end Tyler Warren in both categories. Wallace has emerged as quarterback Trinidad Chambliss’ top target this season, leading Ole Miss with 57 receptions for 894 yards.