Michigan, UCLA, Clemson, Houston featured on SI college football preview covers

Four schools are on the covers of Sports Illustrated’s annual college football preview.

The start of the 2016 college football season is around the corner, and four schools are featured on regional covers of Sports Illustrated’s annual preview issue. 

Michigan, UCLA, Clemson and Houston each have their own cover, with SI’s experts projecting two of those programs to reach the College Football Playoff. 

The Michigan cover, featuring Jabrill Peppers—who is profiled by Andy Staples in the magazine—will be sent to Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, Maryland, Washington D.C., New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, South Dakota, Nebraska and Eastern Missouri. 

The Clemson cover, which features Heisman favorite Deshaun Watson, will go to subscribers in Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. 

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The Houston cover, starring quarterback Greg Ward Jr., will be sent to Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Missouri. In the issue, Pete Thamel writes about how Ward and Houston coach Tom Herman had to overcome serious doubts about each other to find success. 

The UCLA cover, featuring brash quarterback Josh Rosen—who Pete Thamel also writes about in the issue—will go to readers in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Alaska and Hawaii. 

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The preview also includes SI’s top 25, as well as expert predictions for the upcoming season—including the national champion. 

Elsewhere in this week’s issue, which will hit newsstands later this week, are dispatches by Alexander Wolff and Tim Layden from the Rio 2016 Olympics.