NIL
Florida State linebacker Shawn Murphy plans to enter NCAA transfer portal
According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Florida State linebacker Shawn Murphy plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Murphy spent just one season with the Seminoles after transferring in from Alabama. A loss in the middle of the defense for head coach Mike Norvell. Murphy played in just four games with Florida State, all coming in […]

According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Florida State linebacker Shawn Murphy plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Murphy spent just one season with the Seminoles after transferring in from Alabama. A loss in the middle of the defense for head coach Mike Norvell.
Murphy played in just four games with Florida State, all coming in the month of November. He recorded 13 tackles in total and a season-high of five in the finale against in-state rival Florida. Injuries were a problem for the linebacker earlier in the season.
Murphy spent two seasons in Tuscaloosa and played in 18 total games. Numbers were not too eye-popping while with Alabama, having five tackles. However, he was able to take a redshirt season and maintain a year of eligibility. Five games were played during the 2022 season but since one was the Sugar Bowl against Kansas State, it did not count again his four-game maximum.
When head coach Nick Saban left, Murphy decided to enter the portal. The original hope was for him to be a big contriubtor for Florida State’s defense, a unit needing some replacements following their great 2023 campaign.
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To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.
“I just wanted to come where I could make an impact and be a great teammate,” Murphy said on his transfer to Florida State before the season began. “And just find a new team to help go to the next level.”
Unfortunately, the plan did not come to fruition and Murphy finds himself back on the open market. Three schools in three years for him, hoping to settle into one place and fully blossom as a player.
Murphy played high school football at Manassas (VA) Unity Reed, where he was a four-star prospect. He was the No. 65 overall recruit in the 2022 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.
The post Florida State linebacker Shawn Murphy plans to enter NCAA transfer portal appeared first on On3.
NIL
Illinois basketball poised for strong Big Ten title run despite underrated odds
Caesars Sportsbook recently released its Big Ten hoops title odds, and the Illinois basketball team finds itself slotted at fifth with a respectable +1200 to win the conference championship. As discussed on Locked On Illini with host Sunny Verma and me, this ranking places the Illini behind Purdue (+150), Michigan (+360), Ohio State (+575), and […]

Caesars Sportsbook recently released its Big Ten hoops title odds, and the Illinois basketball team finds itself slotted at fifth with a respectable +1200 to win the conference championship.
As discussed on Locked On Illini with host Sunny Verma and me, this ranking places the Illini behind Purdue (+150), Michigan (+360), Ohio State (+575), and UCLA (+750). While the odds might not scream “favorite,” they signal a team ready to compete at a high level in what promises to be a fiercely competitive Big Ten season.
The Illini’s fifth-place projection could spark some surprise for Illini fans. Illinois’ roster this year is a healthy mix of veteran talent and new additions. With players like Kylan Boswell and Tomislav Ivisic returning, and adding the promising Andrej Stojakovic, Illinois boasts a versatile and experienced lineup.
Brad Underwood’s roster construction is loaded with quality players who have played a lot of basketball and have well-defined roles, positioning them as a sleeper to outperform their odds.
Although a team like Ohio State has higher odds and returns more of its star players from last year, they are still banking on improvement for the Buckeyes, which is much less reliable than the chemistry Illinois will aim to build throughout the season.
While Purdue and Michigan lead the pack, Illinois should be up there as well and could argue to have the second-best odds. But for now, bettors will need to live with +1200 odds that offer tremendous value for a program with a proven coach in Underwood and a roster built for success.
The Big Ten is one of the toughest conferences in college basketball, but Illinois has the pieces to make noise. Don’t sleep on the Illini—they’re ready to prove the oddsmakers wrong and light up Champaign with a thrilling 2025 campaign!
NIL
MLB Draft could send OU star to a doomed destination
There are 29 other better options for Kyson Witherspoon. ESPN on Friday released its third mock draft just days ahead of the 2025 MLB Draft and had Witherspoon, Oklahoma’s right-handed ace, going 11th overall to the Athletics, who don’t even have a real home right now. The Athletics are in shambles as an organization while […]

There are 29 other better options for Kyson Witherspoon.
ESPN on Friday released its third mock draft just days ahead of the 2025 MLB Draft and had Witherspoon, Oklahoma’s right-handed ace, going 11th overall to the Athletics, who don’t even have a real home right now.
The Athletics are in shambles as an organization while currently playing their home games at a minor league park in Sacramento, California. The Athletics left Oakland after last season and will eventually move to Las Vegas, but that won’t happen until the 2028 season, leaving the Athletics without an actual home until then.
Latest mock has Kyson Witherspoon to Oakland Athletics
As for Witherspoon, his recent fall in mock drafts has put him in this spot. In ESPN’s previous mock draft last month, the outlet had Witherspoon going No. 13 to the San Francisco Giants. It was a drop outside the top-10 after being the projected eighth pick in ESPN’s first mock. However, two spots later to the Giants would still be better than going a little earlier to the Athletics.
Witherspoon was one of the best pitchers in college baseball this past season. He finished as a First-Team All-American by Perfect Game and NCBWA Second-Team All-American. He was also an All-SEC First-Team honoree.
He led the SEC with a 2.65 ERA, which also ranked 23rd in the country. He was also first in the conference with 10 wins and fourth with 124 strikeouts. He had a 10-4 record in 16 starts. In his two-year career at OU after transferring from Northwest Florida State College, Witherspoon posted a 3.16 ERA and 18-6 record.
MLB.com has also recently dropped Witherspoon in its draft prospect rankings from No. 8 to 10th, meaning he’ll likely get selected outside the top-10 come draft day. All this decline in stock has come while Witherspoon hasn’t even taken the mound to pitch in a game.
The 2025 MLB Draft will start at 5 p.m. CT on Sunday.
Read more about the Oklahoma Sooners
NIL
The new college sports agency is rejecting some athlete NIL deals with donor-backed collectives
FILE – Camp Randall Stadium is seen during an NCAA college football game between Wisconsin and Miami of Ohio, Sept. 12, 2015, in Madison, Wis. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash, File) The new agency in charge of regulating name, image, likeness deals in college sports sent a letter to schools Thursday saying it had rejected deals between […]


The new agency in charge of regulating name, image, likeness deals in college sports sent a letter to schools Thursday saying it had rejected deals between players and donor-backed collectives formed over the past several years to funnel money to athletes or their schools.
Those arrangements hold no “valid business purpose,” the memo said, and don’t adhere to rules that call for outside NIL deals to be between players and companies that provide goods or services to the general public for profit.
The letter to Division I athletic directors could be the next step in shuttering today’s version of the collective, groups that are closely affiliated with schools and that, in the early days of NIL after July 2021, proved the most efficient way for schools to indirectly cut deals with players.
Since then, the landscape has changed yet again with the $2.8 billion House settlementthat allows schools to pay the players directly as of July 1.
Already, collectives affiliated with Colorado, Alabama, Notre Dame, Georgia and others have announced they’re shutting down. Georgia, Ohio State and Illinois are among those that have announced plans with Learfield, a media and technology company with decades of licensing and other experience across college athletics, to help arrange NIL deals.
Outside deals between athlete and sponsor are still permitted, but any worth $600 or more have to be vetted by a clearinghouse called NIL Go that was established with the help of auditing giant Deloitte and run by the new College Sports Commission.
In its letter to the ADs, the CSC said more than 1,500 deals have been cleared since NIL Go launched on June 11, “ranging in value from three figures to seven figures.” More than 12,000 athletes and 1,100 institutional users have registered to use the system.
But the bulk of the letter explained that many deals could not be cleared because they did not conform to an NCAA rule that sets a “valid business purpose” standard for deals to be approved.
The letter explained that if a collective reaches a deal with an athlete to appear on behalf of the collective, which charges an admission fee, the standard is not met because the purpose of the event is to raise money to pay athletes, not to provide goods or services available to the general public for profit.
The same would apply to a deal an athlete makes to sell merchandise to raise money to pay that player because the purpose of “selling merchandise is to raise money to pay that student-athlete and potentially other student-athletes at a particular school or schools, which is not a valid business purpose” according to the NCAA rule.
Sports attorney Darren Heitner, who deals in NIL, said the guidance “could disproportionately burden collectives that are already committed to spending money on players for multiple years to come.”
“If a pattern of rejections results from collective deals submitted to Deloitte, it may invite legal scrutiny under antitrust principles,” he said.
On a separate track, some college sports leaders, including the NCAA, are seeking a limited form of antitrust protection from Congress.
The letter said a NIL deal could be approved if, for instance, the businesses paying the players had a broader purpose than simply acting as a collective. The letter uses a golf course or apparel company as examples.
“In other words, NIL collectives may act as marketing agencies that match student-athletes with businesses that have a valid business purpose and seek to use the student’s NIL to promote their businesses,” the letter said.
NIL
Dick Vitale Names College Basketball Program Who ‘Dominated’ Transfer Portal
Dick Vitale Names College Basketball Program Who ‘Dominated’ Transfer Portal originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Dick Vitale has been around the game of basketball for a very long time. He began as a high school basketball coach in the early 1960s, turned to college, then the NBA in the ’70s and finally started his illustrious […]

Dick Vitale Names College Basketball Program Who ‘Dominated’ Transfer Portal originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
Dick Vitale has been around the game of basketball for a very long time. He began as a high school basketball coach in the early 1960s, turned to college, then the NBA in the ’70s and finally started his illustrious announcing career after that.
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With his breadth of knowledge about the sport, Vitale’s takes peak the interest of many around the country every time he makes them. This week, he gave his opinion on the winners of the transfer portal this offseason.
In this article, Vitale shared that the defending national champion Florida Gators are in the top five on his list of teams that “owned the portal.”
Apr 7, 2025; San Antonio, TX, USA; Florida Gators players hoist the trophy after defeating the Houston Cougars in the national championship game of the Final Four of the 2025 NCAA Tournament at the Alamodome. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images© Robert Deutsch-Imagn Images
Vitale named head coach Todd Golden’s Gators fourth on his list, falling behind the St. John’s Red Storm, Kentucky Wildcats and Michigan Wolverines. The Washington Huskies landed one spot behind Florida at fifth.
“Reigning champs didn’t need quantity, just quality,” Vitale said. “Enter Boogie Fland and Xaivian Lee, a backcourt quicker than an airline Wi-Fi drop. Todd Golden’s chomp stays ferocious.”
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Fland comes to Gainesville after one year under John Calipari with the Arkansas Razorbacks. In his freshman season, Fland was one of the premier guards in the SEC, scoring 13.5 points per game to go along with 5.1 assists and over one steal per contest. He missed two months of the year with an injury but has made a full recovery since.
Lee joins the Gators as a senior after playing his first three seasons with the Princeton Tigers. Last year, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged just under 17 points with over six rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.
The combination of Fland and Lee in the backcourt to go with a very promising returning frontcourt has people around the country excited about what Golden’s squad can do, including the legendary Vitale.
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
NIL
Auburn basketball star Tahaad Pettiford arrested on DUI charge
Auburn men’s basketball star Tahaad Pettiford was arrested early Saturday morning in Alabama on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office recent arrests database. Pettiford, 19, was booked into the Lee County Jail at 12 a.m. Saturday before being released on a $1,000 bond. Advertisement “We […]

Auburn men’s basketball star Tahaad Pettiford was arrested early Saturday morning in Alabama on a charge of driving under the influence of alcohol, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office recent arrests database.
Pettiford, 19, was booked into the Lee County Jail at 12 a.m. Saturday before being released on a $1,000 bond.
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“We are aware of the situation, and we will handle internally with Tahaad and his family,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said in a statement to Yahoo Sports. “We take these matters seriously and will learn and grow from it moving forward.”
Pettiford’s arrest comes less than two months after he announced he was withdrawing from the NBA Draft and returning to Auburn for his sophomore season. The 6-foot-1 point guard averaged 11.6 points and three assists as a freshman, helping lead the Tigers to an SEC regular-season title, a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament and a Final Four appearance.
Had Pettiford remained in the 2025 NBA Draft, he was projected to be selected somewhere in the late first or second round. He instead returned to Auburn in hopes of solidifying himself as a 2026 first-round pick while capitalizing on college basketball’s soaring NIL market.
“I was happy to go through the process, getting feedback from NBA teams,” Pettiford told ESPN in late May. “Going back to Auburn is a better situation for me. I see myself being a higher pick next year. It wasn’t 100% this year, so I didn’t want to take that chance.”
NIL
Dan Patrick Brushes Off Deion Sanders’ Salary Cap Pitch With Blunt ‘Under-the-Table’ NIL Warning
The college football NIL debate just got a lot more heated. Deion Sanders wants salary caps, Dan Patrick thinks that’s naive, and coaches across the country are losing their minds over what recruiting has become. When Coach Prime and a veteran broadcaster can’t agree on the solution, you know this mess is far from over. Dive […]
The college football NIL debate just got a lot more heated. Deion Sanders wants salary caps, Dan Patrick thinks that’s naive, and coaches across the country are losing their minds over what recruiting has become. When Coach Prime and a veteran broadcaster can’t agree on the solution, you know this mess is far from over.

Why Does Deion Sanders Want a Salary Cap in College Football?
During the 2025 Big 12 Media Days, Sanders made his case for bringing some order to the chaos. Speaking alongside Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy, the Colorado coach expressed frustration with the current system.
“I wish there was a cap,” Sanders said during the roundtable discussion. “Like, the top-of-the-line player makes this, and if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does.”
Sanders believes the current model creates unfair competition, where less-talented players can secure massive payouts from wealthier schools. His concern centers on talent evaluation getting thrown out the window when money talks louder than ability.
“You got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he could go to another school and they give him a half million dollars,” Sanders added. “You can’t compete with that.”
“All you gotta do is look at the [CFP] and see what those teams spent, and you’ll understand darn well why they’re in the playoffs.”
Deion Sanders on NIL and the current state of college football. pic.twitter.com/y6A5C3dWUP
— ESPN (@espn) July 9, 2025
However, Dan Patrick didn’t buy Sanders’ solution. Reacting on his show, the veteran broadcaster delivered a reality check about what salary caps would accomplish.
“There is a salary cap, but that doesn’t stop collectives or boosters from getting money,” Patrick said. “It’ll be back to the way it was years ago when you paid people under the table. You got NIL, but that doesn’t matter. There’s way too many windows.”
Patrick raised a concern that cuts to the heart of the issue: any attempt at regulation, without robust enforcement, would just push money back into the shadows. This would reintroduce the secrecy and underhandedness that NIL was supposed to eliminate.
What Other Coaches Are Saying About NIL Frustrations?
Sanders isn’t the only coach feeling the heat from the current system. Georgia head coach Kirby Smart expressed similar frustration earlier this offseason, though his approach differs from Sanders’ salary cap proposal.
When asked during a press conference if recruits ask the Bulldogs to match NIL deals from other programs, Smart admitted he shuts those conversations down immediately.
“I’m over that, because if that’s all that matters, you need to send out a bid like they do for jobs and say, supplement your bid, let me take visits, and I’m going to go to the bid and go to the highest bidder,” Smart said. “I really believe there still does matter a relationship. And if relationship doesn’t matter, then I’m probably not going to have a kid that wants to play hard for Georgia.”
Smart also identified what he sees as missing in the current NIL landscape: “But I’ll pay a premium for fire, passion, and energy, because in the market we’re in, there’s a lack of that.”
Smart’s comments highlight a broader concern among coaches that the current system prioritizes financial incentives over the intangible qualities that traditionally defined successful college programs.
Can Anyone Fix the NIL System Before It’s Too Late?
Despite recent changes, the fundamental problems remain unsolved. While the July 1 House v. NCAA settlement allows schools to distribute up to $20.5 million directly to athletes, it doesn’t address the deeper issue. NIL remains uncapped and wide open to interpretation.
Schools with deeper pockets or more aggressive collectives continue to dominate the recruitment battles, and the promise of parity feels further away than ever. Sanders, who connected the dots between spending and success, hasn’t escaped this reality.
Sanders also took issue with the College Football Playoff selection process, pointing to financial clout as a driving force behind which teams consistently make the cut.
“It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody who’s giving $25-30 million to a freshman class,” Sanders said, calling for more transparency and fairness in how players are compensated.
With more deals, expanded playoffs, and rising stakes ahead, the question remains: Can the NCAA, or any new governing body, get a grip before the gap between the haves and have-nots grows too wide to close? With SEC and ACC Media Days scheduled, more voices against the NIL and transfer portal will be heard.
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