It’s decision day for three in-state Texas targets: Aledo Top247 WR Kaydon Finley, Mansfield Lake Ridge five-star OT Felix Ojo, and North Crowley Top247 IOL John Turntine III.

Here’s what you need to know heading into each announcement.

Kaydon Finley, 4-star WR, Aledo 

Height/Weight: 6-foot, 2o0 pounds 

Rating: No. 110 overall prospect, No. 14 wide receiver, and No. 15 overall prospect in the state of Texas per the 247Sports Composite rankings. 

Scouting report: 

“Massively productive receiver with a solid, sturdy build in the 6-foot, 200-pound range and gifted with big hands. Strong football pedigree as the son of a former standout pass-catching tight end at the high-major college and NFL level (Jermichael Finley). Know-how shows in route-running acumen, in-the-air ability, and run-after-catch toughness. Three-sport experience that includes basketball and track and field. Explosive testing numbers in broad jump and vertical categories. Physical pass catcher who transfers that play style to RAC situations. Still developing more juice at the top end, but initial juice consistently eats up cushion to get on top of DBs. Capable of playing outside or in the slot. Could potentially excel as a short-to-intermediate chain mover who can break chunk plays with that aforementioned RAC ability. Build and run strength suggest possible wildcat option if desired. Projects as a valuable asset in a high-major receiver room who could follow family footsteps to the pro level.”

Schools in contention: Arizona State, Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M

Crystal Ball: 100 percent Notre Dame 

Announcement time: 6:30 p.m. CT 

Announcement method: Social media — X: @KaydonFinley… Instagram: @kaydon.finley18

What Horns247 makes of his recruitment: 

The Texas legacy was one of the first prospects in the 2026 cycle to pick up an offer from the Longhorns. The burnt orange were in great standing for most of the time since, but eventually Notre Dame weaseled into the recruitment and went from dark horse to legitimate contender after hosting Finley for several unofficial visits earlier this spring. The Fighting Irish made a savvy move by getting Finley to campus for an unofficial visit in early June about a week and half before his Notre Dame official visit, and the Fighting Irish have been trending since and have weathered the storm that was Finley’s June 20-22 official visit to Texas. Horns247 likes Notre Dame ahead of the evening decision. 

The era of revenue sharing is here, opening on July 1st. Since then, Opendorse and Teamworks, both of which are systems that schools are using to distribute that rev-share to athletes, have told On3’s Pete Nakos and Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger that there are some staggering numbers.

Between Opendorse and Teamworks, Dellenger reports that more than $16 million was distributed from schools to student-athletes, and Nakos reported Opendorse distributed $10 million on July 1. That, notably, doesn’t include any information on distribution from the Big 12 and Big Ten, who reached an agreement to distribute through PayPal, and PayPal hasn’t shared any of that information to this point.

However, it goes beyond those rev-share numbers, making $16 million seem like a relatively small figure. Teamworks also tells Dellenger that there were massive June numbers being paid to student-athletes through collectives. That’s over $71 million to athletes in June. The reason that number got so high is likely due to schools and collectives front-loading payments before the House settlement took effect on July 1st.

The House settlement allows for rev-share. It has also changed enforcement over NIL deals. NIL deals above $600 will need third-party approval and will be sent to a new clearinghouse called NIL Go. That oversight is hoping to set a new market. There is, on top of that, a new enforcement agency in place called the College Sports Commission. 

In essence, schools and collectives wanted to get those deals done in June, so there would be less oversight on them. There can still be NIL deals, which are different and unique from rev-share, but they’re going to need approval. There’s also going to be questions about how the College Sports Commission handles these types of investigations.

The House settlement allows for rev-share where each school can distribute as much as $20.5 million to their student-athletes. Schools can distribute that as they wish, but football is expected to receive the most at schools with FBS programs.

The Big Ten, PayPal make payments on behalf of schools

While Ross Dellenger reported that PayPal had not made its figures public, there is some interesting insight that can be gleaned from their process with the Big Ten. In it, Dellenger adds that it is the conference itself making payments on behalf of schools.

Essentially, it works by the schools submitting the athletes who are supposed to receive payments, and for what amount. It is supposed to avoid complications from the school managing those payments. On Tuesday, July 1st, the Big Ten began this process by sharing revenue with athletes from three schools. By the end of the month, all schools will have money distributed.

As was the case with schools using Opendorse and Teamworks, many Big Ten schools front-loaded payments in June. That helped to create those smaller initial distributions on Tuesday.

Oklahoma has been playing varsity college football for 131 years this coming season, but it was the Bud Wilkinson era beginning in the late 1940s that truly started the Sooners’ ascendancy to the blue blood level of the sport.

Bob Stoops (190 wins) and Barry Switzer (157) both had more wins than Wilkinson’s Oklahoma teams, but it was Wilkinson’s teams of the 1950s that combined for 93 wins in 103 games and a decade-best winning percentage of .895 that produced the best decade in OU football history.

Which decade of OU football was the greatest?

During that record-setting decade of Oklahoma football, the Sooners won three national championships (1950, 1955 and 1956), 10 consecutive conference championships and produced a Heisman Trophy winner in Billy Vessels (1952), who played halfback, wide receiver and returned kicks for OU. Also during that decade, Oklahoma ran off a record-setting 47 consecutive wins between 1953 and 1957, a mark that still stands today and many believe may never be broken.

The 1950s proved to be the first of several more decades of Oklahoma football supremacy under legendary coaches Switzer and Stoops. In the six decades that followed the 1950s, the Sooners ended the 10 years among the top four teams in total wins in four of the six, and was No. 2 in that category twice (1970-79 and 2000-09).

Not every decade of Sooner football since the 1950s, however, has lived up to typical Oklahoma standards. The two least satisfactory decades in the last 75 years were in the 1960s and1990s.

Gary Gibbs, Howard Schnellenberger and John Blake were at the helm for Oklahoma in the 1990s before Bob Stoops took over in 1999. From 1990-99, Schnellenberger and Blake were a combined 17-27 over four seasons and Oklahoma was 61-51 (.543), 49th among teams at the NCAA Division I level.

OU also went through a period of coaching transition in the 1960s. It was the tail end of the Wilkinson era (1963 was his final season), and the Sooners would have three other head coaches (Gomer Jones, Jim Mackenzie and Chuck Fairbanks) before the decade ended. Oklahoma was tied for 23rd in the country in the decade of the ’60s with 62 wins and 40 losses and a winning percentage of .606.

Oklahoma’s 706 wins since 1946, or the end of World War II, are the most of any team in college football. Over that period, the Sooners have won all seven of their national championships and 44 of their nation-best 50 conference championships.

In the seven decades beginning with the 1950s, Oklahoma has won more than 90 games in a decade, an average of at least nine wins per season, five times with a winning percentage of .820 or better in four of the seven decades.

For those who might be interested, Oklahoma is 42-21 through the first five seasons of the 2020s. Two of those (2022 and 2024), however, were losing seasons in three seasons under head coach Brent Venables. To put that into context, Oklahoma has only had seven losing seasons total since 1950.

Read more about OU football

Audio By Carbonatix

Division-I colleges and universities were allowed to share revenue with their student-athletes for the first time on Tuesday, which actually creates a competitive advantage for mid-major basketball programs. Smaller schools with FCS football programs are able to distribute more money elsewhere.

It will be interesting to see whether this new era of collegiate athletics allows for more parity on the hardwood.

The last four years of Name, Image and Likeness were largely unregulated. There were no rules. Schools, through their NIL collectives, were able to spend whatever amount of money they wanted on any player in any sport without any guidelines on how to operate. Inducements were common. Tampering was rampant.

Although some of that behavior will surely continue under the table, this new revenue sharing model is supposed to provide some semblance of structure when it comes to finances across college sports. Universities must operate under a set cap for direct compensation. Outside NIL deals must undergo approval from an outside entity. The entire pay scale will be limited. (We’ll see!)

Generally speaking, SEC programs will have a maximum annual budget of approximately $21 million. Approximately $14 million will go to football, $4 million to men’s basketball, $1 million to women’s basketball and $2 million to the other sports combined. Those numbers will obviously vary.

This is where smaller schools might find some common ground if they do not compete in college football on the FBS level. They can pump more money toward college basketball.

Smaller schools could choose to split its revenue share money as follows:

• TOTAL — $4.8 million
  • Men’s basketball: $2.66 million
  • Football: $1.31 million
  • Women’s basketball: $485,000
  • Other sports: $350,000

The $2.66 million for men’s basketball is not too far off from $4 million at SEC schools. That $2.66 million number is more or less on par with high-major programs.

However, those numbers are not the same at every school. Some mid-majors have larger goals for compensation. Others have less.

Athletic departments could spend a similar amount of money on basketball as the “bigger” schools that focus on football to be just as competitive in terms of compensation as, say, Wisconsin. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. How long will those “bigger” schools allow for this somewhat level playing field? When will they starts pumping more money in the direction of men’s basketball?

AJ Dybantsa, widely considered the top high school basketball prospect in the class of 2025, is drawing national attention as he prepares for an anticipated standout freshman year at BYU and eyes a likely spot in the 2026 NBA Draft.

His rise highlights how Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals are reshaping college sports, giving elite players more options than ever before.

Yet, even as Dybantsa’s profile soars, not everyone in the basketball world is up to speed – as evidenced by a recent podcast slip-up from veteran NBA champion Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.

AJ Dybantsa’s Name Slips from Kentavious Caldwell-Pope’s Memory

Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, now with the Memphis Grizzlies, joined the latest episode of The Dawg Talk Podcast to discuss the impact of NIL contracts on college basketball.

He emphasized how NIL has broadened opportunities for top recruits, making it possible for standout players to choose programs outside traditional powerhouses.

During the conversation, Caldwell-Pope tried to reference Dybantsa’s high-profile commitment to BYU, but stumbled over the player’s name:

“Now you got more players to like…just it ain’t all on one team. That’s one of the reasons I like the NIL. You can put some in these top ranks, you know, back down all American kids, and put them in a school like…I forget the number one kid…he went, he is going to…what college is he going…?”

With help from the hosts, Caldwell-Pope eventually recalled Dybantsa’s name and used the moment to reflect on his own college choice.

He pointed out how the landscape has evolved, noting that top prospects now have more freedom to pick schools where they can make an immediate impact rather than joining already stacked rosters.

“Kentucky used to have the whole McDonald’s All American class. My year, I went to Georgia. They had six PAC All American going to their school. Six of them. And I was going to go, but I was like: ‘Oh no, I ain’t going to even get no playing time. I want to see playing time…’”

Caldwell-Pope’s experience offers a useful comparison for today’s recruits. He played two seasons at the University of Georgia, where he earned SEC Player of the Year honors before the Detroit Pistons selected him eighth overall in the 2013 NBA Draft.

Over his NBA career, Caldwell-Pope has won championships with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and the Denver Nuggets in 2023, solidifying his reputation as a reliable veteran.

Meanwhile, Dybantsa is making headlines of his own. He is expected to play just one season at BYU before entering the NBA Draft, where he is projected as a lottery pick.

His recent performance with Team USA at the FIBA U19 World Cup has only boosted his profile. Through the tournament, Dybantsa is averaging 16.7 points, 4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game, while shooting an impressive 75% from two-point range.

These numbers demonstrate his readiness for the next level, and his success on the international stage is a strong indicator of his potential impact in college and beyond.

Dybantsa’s journey reflects a changing landscape in college basketball, where NIL deals and increased player mobility are giving top prospects more control over their futures. As Caldwell-Pope’s podcast moment shows, even established NBA stars are still getting used to the new era of recruiting and player movement.