The top overall recruit from the 2025 cycle, AJ Dybantsa is already generating buzz as the potential No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NBA Draft. Wednesday, he secured another major NIL deal.

Dybantsa has signed a multi-year partnership with Fanatics and Fanatics Collectibles, the company announced. The deal, focused on trading cards and memorabilia, will also continue beyond his college career once he eventually heads to the NBA. Dybantsa has a $4.1 million On3 NIL Valuation.

Additionally, Dybantsa will be featured in Fanatics’ Bowman U Program and other Bowman offerings. He previously partnered with Fanatics Collectibles during the McDonald’s All-American Game. Now, he has a multi-year deal through his freshman year at BYU and into the NBA in one of Fanatics’ most significant NIL deals yet.

Dybantsa is the latest addition to Fanatics’ basketball roster. The company also signed former Duke star Cooper Flagg to a lucrative deal before his standout freshman season. Flagg became the No. 1 overall pick in this past year’s NBA Draft, landing with the Dallas Mavericks.

Fanatics is the latest addition to Dybantsa’s growing NIL portfolio. As his recruitment heated up, he also landed partnerships with Redbull and Nike. Additionally, his $4.1 million On3 NIL Valuation ranks No. 4 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation.

Dybantsa’s recruitment was high-profile as he eventually committed to BYU during an appearance on ESPN’s First Take. On3’s Pete Nakos also reported details on the lucrative NIL package the school was putting together for him amid the pursuit.

BYU is getting ready for the second year of the Kevin Young era following an impressive 2024-25 season. The Cougars made a run to the Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2011 as they finished with a 26-10 overall record and a 14-10 mark in Big 12 play.

AJ Dybantsa was also the headliner for a Top-5 recruiting class during the 2025 cycle. That group also includes four-star center Xavion Staton, and those incoming freshmen join a group of transfer portal additions led by former Baylor guard Rob Wright. Wright was the No. 9 overall transfer from this past portal cycle, according to the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings.

Deion Sanders was in his usual form when he met with reporters at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday, exuding his typical charisma while at the podium. However, the Colorado coach didn’t provide updates on his health. 

Sanders said he wanted to keep the focus on his football team when he was asked about the challenges he’s faced as he’s been away from the program for the last couple of months due to an unknown health issue.

“Average day, I’m looking good. I’m living lovely,” Sanders told reporters. “God has truly blessed me. Not a care in the world. Not a want or desire in the world.”

While he was coy about his health status, Sanders thanked Big 12 commissioner Brett Yormark and the rest of the conference’s coaches for checking up on him during his recent struggles.

“I love them, they’ve been calling and checking on me, making sure I’m straight,” Sanders said.

Sanders, who’ll turn 58 in early August, missed Colorado’s annual summer camps in June due to the undisclosed health issue and has been spending time at his home in Texas. Big 12 Media Days were held in Frisco, which is roughly 90 minutes away from Sanders’ residence in Canton, Texas. 

The only information Sanders has shared about the illness came when he appeared on former NFL player Asante Samuel’s podcast in late May. As Samuel wished Sanders well, the Colorado coach said what he was “dealing with right now is at a whole ‘nother level” and that he had lost 14 pounds. Still, Sanders said he planned to return to coaching whenever the illness subsided.

Sanders certainly spoke like someone who would be back on the sideline for the upcoming season on Wednesday, fielding numerous questions over his near-20-minute-long press conference. In terms on-field matters, the biggest question surrounding Colorado is its quarterback situation. Colorado brought both Kaidon Salter and Julian “JuJu” Lewis to Big 12 Media Days this week, with Sanders saying he hasn’t decided which one of the two will replace his son yet. 

“We brought both of them because we don’t know which one is going to start,” Sanders said. 

In a follow-up, Sanders said there would be situations where he would feel comfortable playing both quarterbacks.

“As long as they’re doing their jobs and winning,” Sanders said. “We definitely want to continue to develop JuJu. But Kaidon is unbelievable. Kaidon is off the chain. He’s been there, done that and he can get the job done. I wouldn’t have brought him here if I didn’t trust him. But JuJu is coming around the mountain when he comes. I love him. I love what he brings to the table. 

“I don’t know how it’s going to play out, as long as it plays out. We can’t lose either way, with either of those two.”

Salter was one of the top quarterbacks to transfer this past offseason. The former Liberty quarterback is 20-4 all-time as a starter, winning Conference USA’s Most Valuable Player in 2023 as he helped the Flames go 13-0 before losing in the Fiesta Bowl. He threw for 1,886 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions to go with 587 rushing yards and seven rushing touchdowns in 11 games last season.

Lewis, meanwhile, was widely viewed as one of the best quarterback prospects in the 2025 recruiting class. The incoming freshman was ranked as the 10th-best quarterback in the class by 247 Sports. 

Sanders also weighed in on larger matters throughout the college football landscape on Wednesday. When he was asked about his relationship with Texas Tech head Joey McGuire, Sanders ribbed his counterpart for the recent spending the program has done to land top transfers and recruits. 

“Joey got some money! Joey, where you at, baby? Spending that money! I love it,” Sanders said with a wide grin. “Once upon a time, you guys was talking junk about me going in that portal. Now, when everyone go in the portal, it’s OK. It’s cool when they do it. It’s a problem when I do it.” 

Sanders later said “I love me some Joey McGuire,” praising him for how he handled Texas Tech fans when they threw tortillas during Colorado’s game against the Red Raiders in Lubbock last season. 

Still, Texas Tech has formed a squad that will likely threaten to try and take Colorado down from one of the top spots in the Big 12 in 2025 and beyond. The Red Raiders landed the No. 2 class in the transfer portal this offseason, via 247 Sports, reportedly spending more than $10 million to do so. Texas Tech also agreed to a lucrative revenue-sharing deal with 2026 five-star recruit Felix Ojo earlier in July.

Texas Tech’s deal with Ojo was made possible after the approval of the House v. NCAA settlement in June, which allowed schools and student-athletes to agree to revenue-sharing deals starting on July 1. The approval of the lawsuit brought further questions about the future of college sports as schools will be allowed to spend roughly $20.5 million in revenue-sharing deals with student athletes for the 2025-26 academic year.

In his first comments since the approval of the lawsuit, Sanders iterated that he’d like to see a salary cap be implemented in college football moving forward. 

“That’s what the NFL does,” Sanders said. “The problem is, you’ve got a guy that’s not that darn school and you could give him a half-million dollars and you can’t compete with that. That don’t make sense. 

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent, and you understand darn near well why they’re in the playoffs. It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody that’s giving $25, $30 million to a freshman class. It’s crazy. We’re not complaining. … But what’s going on right now don’t make sense.” 

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“Of the more than 1,200 deals submitted to the clearinghouse so far, about one-third have been approved — many of them with little to no issue, those with knowledge tell Yahoo Sports. About 80 have been denied and are likely, if they haven’t already, to be resubmitted (deals can be resubmitted once).”

There is an alternative interpretation of the statement: Of the 1200 submissions, they have approved 400 and denied 80, and 720 or so are still being worked on. Those 80 cases have one more shot to resubmit before going to arbitration. Interpreted that way, the clearinghouse is quite lenient.

These last few seasons have been quite uneven at Ohio State though there’s hope that Jake Diebler can actually take this team back into Big Ten contention. He took over as interim head coach in February 2024 and led a brilliant push which led him to getting the full-time job a few weeks later. Last season was largely underwhelming, with a 10th place conference finish and a record only a hair above .500, though Diebler and company are hoping to learn from that experience.

First comes the good news, and this is news that’s rare in this era of college basketball. The Buckeyes return arguably their top three players from last season, each of whom averaged at least 13 points per game in freshman John Mobley, sophomore Devin Royal, and junior Bruce Thornton. Where things went wrong last season was largely in that frontcourt, as highly-touted talents Aaron Bradshaw and Sean Stewart didn’t pan out and went back into the transfer portal.

Ohio State’s own transfer class this season doesn’t exactly jump off the page but Diebler and staff gained four pretty solid athletes for next year. The backcourt gets a notable boost with Gabe Cupps, the former Indiana point guard looking for his chance after limited minutes in Bloomington. Former Wright State forward Brandon Noel could carve out a decent role in the frontcourt while Josh Ojianwuna is a highly-regarded big man that started to come into his own at Baylor last season.

Keeping in mind those centers that didn’t work out last season, it’s ever more important how Christoph Tilly fits in with these Buckeyes. A 7-footer from Germany, Tilly just spent three years out at Santa Clara developing into a reliable paint presence. He’s fresh off a junior year where he put up 12.5 points and 4.9 rebounds a game with his most consistent production, starting 31 games in a nice year for the Broncos.

The question becomes how this 7-0 talent can continue to grow his game in the Big Ten. He has the size and ability to be a potent weapon on both ends of the court and fills an enormous hole for the Buckeyes. Ohio State already knows what they have in a backcourt led by Mobley and Thornton, but this frontcourt is full of question marks. A stable senior season with even more growth out of Tilly would go a long way to shoring up a recent problem for the Buckeyes.

Last year Ohio State still won 17 games with those returning three stars carrying much of the load. If they can play to that same level or better and get legitimate play in the paint from Tilly then Ohio State can be a contender in this conference again. Diebler’s work this season to grab talent didn’t just stop at Tilly either, with Ojianwuna more than capable as well, but will the results be any different this season?

MUNCIE, Ind. – – Ball State Athletics is thrilled to unveil the first renderings of the new clubhouse facilities for its softball program, following approval by the Ball State University Board of Trustees on May 2.
 
The $8.8 million project, designed by MSA Design, will bring state-of-the-art facilities to the Ball State Softball Stadium. Construction is expected to begin in Fall 2025 and be completed by Summer 2026.

 

“It’s an exciting time to be a Cardinal,” Head Softball Coach Helen Peña said. “The athletic department and university continue to raise the bar in supporting our student-athletes. I’m incredibly grateful and thrilled about this project and the impact it will have on both our current team and future generations of Ball State softball.”

 

The softball clubhouse will span approximately 6,000 gross square feet and will be located adjacent to the program’s home dugout. Designed with student-athlete experience in mind, the new facilities will include fueling stations, team lounges, study spaces and other key amenities.

 

“Our new clubhouse will enhance the daily experience of our student-athletes,” Peña added. “From nutrition and recovery to academics and team bonding, this facility will be a difference-maker. It’s also a powerful recruiting tool, as the best clubhouse in the MAC, while we continue to build a championship-caliber program. The best is yet to come. Chirp Chirp!”

 

In addition to the clubhouse project, the Ball State Softball Stadium is currently receiving a new turf field as part of a broader facilities enhancement initiative. This follows the recent resurfacing of the football field at Scheumann Stadium and the basketball court at Worthen Arena and is in conjunction with the turf resurfacing at Shebek Stadium.

 

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FRISCO, Texas – In prior years, when a college football coach went on vacation in July, he had a pretty good idea who most of his starters were before the start of preseason camp.

Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said today at Big 12 Media Days that he might be able to name eight of his 22 starters, which is considerably more than West Virginia’s Rich Rodriguez knows right now.

“I might not know five,” Rodriguez says, “but I feel like we’ve got a dozen or so guys I think we can win with, so that’s a good thing.”

Currently, Rodriguez is welcoming 74 new players this season, which represents about 70% of his football team. 

He admits that part can be pretty unnerving.

“I think it’s good because we lost a lot of seniors and we needed a whole new group of replacements, but at the same time the unknowns make you nervous,” he said. “It’s kind of like, ‘Well, this is what we’re going to feature on offense, and this is what we are going to do on defense,’ but we’ve still got to figure out what we do well. This August is going to be the most important time, not only figuring out who we got, but what we can do with them.”

When you factor in an entirely new football staff, those 30 days beginning on Wednesday, July 30, until Friday, Aug. 29 – a day before the season opener against Robert Morris, are going to be vitally important for the Mountaineers.

A lot of the coaches on Rodriguez’s staff have worked together before in some capacity, but not as a full group, so there are lots of moving parts he must address.

“We’ve got a plan. I’m not worried about it. I’m actually kind of looking forward to it, and usually the most enjoyable (aspect of coaching) is putting it all together that first year,” he explained.

Rodriguez said he liked what his team accomplished in June up through the July 4th break, and with roughly three weeks left before camp begins, he believes his players are embracing what is being asked of them.

The veteran coach spent this past spring reluctant to single out individual players, and he continues to be vague in terms of what they can do. That’s because he simply doesn’t know enough about them yet.

“Until we go against each other a little bit and play somebody else, I don’t really have anything to compare them to,” Rodriguez pointed out. “Until we play a game, it’s still going to be figuring out what we’ve got.”

And that includes Preseason All-Big 12 running back Jahiem White, who was limited for most of spring practice.  

Can White run the football more than 200 times in a season like some of Rodriguez’s most productive feature backs have in the past?

Avon Cobourne carried the football 335 times at West Virginia in 2002. A year later, Quincy Wilson got 282 carries, and Steve Slaton ran the ball 248 times for the Mountaineers in 2006. When he was at Arizona, Rodriguez gave Ka’Deem Carey the football 349 times in 2013, and Tre Stewart had 278 rushes last year at Jacksonville State.

Even quarterback Denard Robinson ran the ball 256 times for Rodriguez at Michigan in 2010.

White got 109 carries two years ago and 148 last year in Neal Brown’s offense.

It will probably take Rodriguez a couple weeks of practice in August to know if the junior is capable of handling that many carries.

Rodriguez has run the gamut, from small college football at Glenville State to major college football at Michigan. In between have been head coaching stops at West Virginia, Arizona and Jacksonville State. He says his formula has always been to find the best players that he can get, whether that’s transfer portal, junior college or high school guys.

“Ideally, you’d like for them to have three or four years so you can build them in your program. This past year, we had to get what we could get,” he said. “Next year, we will have a lot more high school guys than transfer guys, and that will probably be the formula going forward. I’m not trying to overthink it because we’re never going to turn down a great player.”

In the order of things that needs to be establish, acquiring talent is always No. 1, but conditioning and toughness are two aspects the coaching staff can establish right away. The toughness and “hard-edge” play that Rodriguez talks about must be unique to West Virginia and something that sets his program apart from the other teams on its schedule.

There were many times last year, and in recent years, when that wasn’t the case.

“(Toughness) is what is going to separate us, and we’re going to get talent,” he predicted. “And our environment is going to help. I’m talking about coming to a game and watching a game here. It’s different, and I think that’s one thing that we have an advantage.

“I haven’t been in this league yet, but I know what it’s like to play a game in sold-out Mountaineer Field, and I know what it’s like to play here, and it’s different than a lot of the teams in our league and that’s an advantage to us,” Rodriguez pointed out.

The process of studying the Big 12 teams is underway, and Rodriguez admits he’s impressed with what he’s seen so far.

“It’s a really good quarterback league with really talented teams,” he said. “We’ve done our summer scouts, but I haven’t done too much because there are a lot of teams that are just like us. I don’t know who they’ve got either.

“Scheme-wise, we do a lot of stuff defensively and offensively; we’re not that complicated, but we can be,” Rodriguez said. “Execution is more important to me than fancy play calls. We will be a little different than we were a year ago, and we will be a little different next year than we are this year.”

As he counts down the remaining days until preseason training camp, Rodriguez said he will take what he learned last year incorporating a large influx of new players at Jacksonville State and use that this year at West Virginia.

“We thought we were ready the first game and we weren’t, so I’ve reviewed how we went about doing it and some of it was leading up to the summer, and some of it we were doing too much in all phases,” he explained. “Our first game, we weren’t executing because we were doing too much, so I’m very conscious of that.”

Finally, Rodriguez indicated that this year’s roster is nearly complete except for a couple of players who are still dealing with some eligibility issues.

“The good part about it is they are all here this summer; we are not waiting on anybody to get here in August,” he concluded.