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Arch Manning's Texas Longhorns have fierce competition in NIL sphere from next door rival

Heading into the 2025 college football season, there are clear favorites to make it to and win the College Football Playoff. Perhaps no team comes into the season with more eyes on it than the Texas Longhorns, even though they may not be the flat-out favorite to win it all. That’s thanks to Arch Manning, […]

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Arch Manning's Texas Longhorns have fierce competition in NIL sphere from next door rival

Heading into the 2025 college football season, there are clear favorites to make it to and win the College Football Playoff. Perhaps no team comes into the season with more eyes on it than the Texas Longhorns, even though they may not be the flat-out favorite to win it all. That’s thanks to Arch Manning, who has shined in his limited appearances.

There are certain games on the Longhorns’ schedule that will be circled. Of course, the season opener against the reigning champion Ohio State Buckeyes. Then there’s the regular season finale, against neighbor Texas A&M. But beyond the games, there are battles behind the scenes occurring with the Longhorns, the big schools and other teams in Texas. And the Longhorns may be falling slightly behind.

Arch Manning causes chaos at Texas campus as students scramble to stop him

Texas Tech considered the college football team with most offseason hype

Carter Bahns of CBS Sports recently listed out the 12 teams across the nation who have generated the most buzz during this offseason. While the Longhorns appear on the list, it’s their in-state rivals, the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who topped it. Bahns had this to say about their offseason.

Bruce Feldman on Arch Manning’s expectations and Texas outlook | The Herd

There is a new player in the NIL arms race as Texas Tech ramped up its spending across all sports, and nowhere was that more evident than in the football program. Seemingly out of nowhere, the Red Raiders built the nation’s second-ranked transfer portal class with 13 blue-chip additions — the most of any team in the country. The Big 12 is as wide open as any conference, and Joey McGuire’s squad is well-positioned to take advantage of the logjam and emerge as the league’s top College Football Playoff contender on the heels of its splashy offseason.

The Red Raiders have come in between 15-25 on most preseason Top 25 ranking lists. Much of those high rankings are simply due to their transfer portal and recruiting moves. In three seasons under head coach Joey McGuire, Texas Tech has gone 8-5, 7-6 and 8-5.

With quarterback Behren Morton back for a final season after showing marked improvement in 2024, the sky is the limit for the Red Raiders with all of their new additions. Texas Tech paid particular attention to the defense through the portal, as well as by hiring defensive coordinator Shiel Wood from the Houston Cougars.

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LaNorris Sellers listed as Clemson football’s No. 1 archvillain for 2025

Less than two weeks separate us from ACC Media Day. Clemson football fans are excited to hear from their favorite stars, as well as Dabo Swinney at media day, and see where they stand heading into fall camp and a much-anticipated regular season. It’s that time of the offseason where we feel so close to […]

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Less than two weeks separate us from ACC Media Day. Clemson football fans are excited to hear from their favorite stars, as well as Dabo Swinney at media day, and see where they stand heading into fall camp and a much-anticipated regular season.

It’s that time of the offseason where we feel so close to kickoff but it’s still too far to really get excited but thankfully we have College Football 26 to keep us occupied.

Clemson is expected to be one of the best teams in college football this season, and many believe the Tigers are going to represent the ACC in the College Football Playoff and push for that first national title since 2018. This is probably Dabo’s best team since Trevor Lawrence was still the quarterback and every position group feels loaded.

However, there are going to be some roadblocks en route to a title run this season.

There are going to be internal struggles and potential slumps or injuries to deal with as well as external roadblocks like opposing players and teams looking to ruin Clemson’s season.

In fact, ESPN released its list of the top archvillains for every team in the Top 25 heading into the season, and Clemson’s was fairly obvious, if I’m being honest. ESPN tabbed South Carolina quarterback LaNorris Sellers as the Tigers’ top archvillain for the 2025 campaign.

After watching him rush for 166 yards and two touchdowns while throwing for another 164 yards in last season’s upset in Death Valley, this pick makes sense. Not only did Sellers nearly ruin the Tigers’ playoff chances, but he also pulled off a massive upset against his top rival, swiping in-state bragging rights that mean so much to both Clemson and South Carolina fans.

Shane Beamer may have been my No. 1 pick for Clemson, but after that 166-yard rushing game, Sellers just makes sense.



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EA Sports CFB 26: MAC team ratings and player overalls

Last summer was a monumental one for the sport of college football. The old generation was reunited with and the new generation was introduced to a college football video game. After 11 years in hibernation, the passing of NIL legislation ultimately made way for EA Sports to produce a college football video game again. EA […]

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Last summer was a monumental one for the sport of college football.

The old generation was reunited with and the new generation was introduced to a college football video game. After 11 years in hibernation, the passing of NIL legislation ultimately made way for EA Sports to produce a college football video game again.

EA Sports College Football 25 was a resounding success, and now the game will be released on an annual basis. On July 7, EA Sports College Football 26 first became available to the public, implementing new features and showcasing updated rosters.

What does the Mid-American Conference look like in EA Sports CFB 26? The team ratings and players overalls are listed below:


Team Ratings

Team Overall Offense Defense
Team Overall Offense Defense
Toledo 78 76 78
Buffalo 77 75 78
Western Michigan 73 69 68
Central Michigan 72 66 76
Miami (OH) 72 71 70
Ohio 72 73 64
Bowling Green 72 71 64
Eastern Michigan 72 71 64
Northern Illinois 70 64 68
UMass 69 66 64
Akron 69 67 60
Ball State 68 67 60
Kent State 68 62 64

Toledo leads all 13 MAC programs with an overall of 78, ranked one point ahead of Buffalo. On the other end, Ball State and Kent State are tied for the lowest rated teams on the entire game at 68 overall.


Program Prestige

Each program is assigned a “prestige” value on a star system. The highest rated programs including perennial playoff contenders Georgia, Alabama, and Ohio State are labeled 5 stars. Conversely, lower rated programs, such as recent FBS additions Kennesaw State and Delaware, are labeled 1 star.

Program prestige plays a key role in recruiting in the game’s “Dynasty Mode.” Below is each MAC program’s prestige rating. No MAC program is rated higher than 2 stars — the prestige given to Miami (OH). Two MAC programs — Akron and Kent State — are given 0.5 stars, a prestige level which wasn’t present in EA Sports CFB 25.

Program Prestige

Team Prestige (☆)
Team Prestige (☆)
Miami (OH) 2
Bowling Green 1.5
Central Michigan 1.5
Eastern Michigan 1.5
Northern Illinois 1.5
Ohio 1.5
Toledo 1.5
UMass 1.5
Western Michigan 1.5
Ball State 1
Buffalo 1
Akron 0.5
Kent State 0.5

Compared to CFB 25:

  • Miami (OH) upgraded from 1.5 to 2 stars
  • Akron downgraded from 1.5 to 0.5 stars
  • Buffalo downgraded from 1.5 to 1 star
  • Kent State downgraded from 1 to 0.5 stars

Player Ratings

The 10 highest rated players by overall are listed below for each MAC program.

Akron

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Jake Newell TE 82
Taven Curry HB 79
Alex Adams WR 76
Jordan Gant HB 75
Chris Gee HB 75
Gage Summers MIKE 75
Conner Cravaack TE 74
Ben Finley QB 74
Cyrus Durham LEDG 74
Mekhi Flowers FS 74

Ball State

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Qua Ashley HB 81
Qian Magwood WR 76
Kiael Kelly QB 75
Tremaine Ferguson* HB 75
Willizhuan Yates CB 75
Elijah Jackson HB 74
Chris Hood LT 74
TJ Horton HB 74
Joey Stemler MIKE 74
Maximus Webster TE 73

* Tremaine Ferguson is not a real person

Bowling Green

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Nate Pabst RT 79
Alex Padgett RG 79
Arlis Boardingham TE 78
Drew Pyne QB 77
Tunde Fatukasi LT 77
John Henderson P 77
Darius Lorfils SS 76
Chris McMillian HB 75
RJ Garcia II WR 75
JoJo Johnson CB 75

Buffalo

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Red Murdock MIKE 90
Al-Jay Henderson HB 88
Kobe Stewart REDG 85
Victor Snow WR 84
Dion Crawford WILL 83
Solomon Brown FS 83
Tyler Doty RG 83
Trevor Brock LG 80
Marquis Cooper CB 77
Nik McMillan WR 77

Central Michigan

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Jordan Kwiatkowski MIKE 85
Michael Heldman REDG 80
Dakota Cochran WILL 80
Caleb Spann SS 80
Trey Cornist HB 77
Tyson Davis WR 77
Kalen Carroll CB 77
Nahree Biggins HB 77
Brady Ploucha RG 76
DeCorion Temple TE 76

Eastern Michigan

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Mickey Rewolinski LG 87
Terry Lockett Jr. WR 82
Dontae McMillan HB 80
James Jointer Jr. HB 78
Jefferson Adam REDG 77
Nick Harris TE 77
Dramarian McNulty CB 77
Mitchell Tomasek P 77
Tyrell Martin DT 76
Joshua Anderson RT 76

Kent State

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Gavin Garcia HB 80
Jordan Nubin HB 80
CJ Young SS 75
Antoine Campbell Jr. LEDG 75
Mattheus Carroll REDG 74
Junior Diallo LT 73
Dustyn Morell RG 73
Dimitri Irwin* FS 73
Canaan Williams WILL 73
Ayden Harris HB 72

* Dimitri Irwin is not a real person

Miami (OH)

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Eli Blakey FS 85
Silas Walters SS 84
Dequan Finn QB 82
Dom Dzioban K 82
Kenny Tracy HB 81
Jordan Brunson HB 78
Greg Smith Jr. LG 77
Mychal Yharbrough SS 77
Corban Hondru WILL 76
Deion Colzie WR 76

Northern Illinois

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Jacob Finley CB 83
Telly Johnson Jr. HB 80
Jalonnie Williams LEDG 79
Jaylen Poe HB 79
Evan Malcore LT 79
Andrew Glass K 78
DeSean Maze* HB 77
Muhammed Jammeh SS 75
Jake Appleget TE 74
Justin Lynch HB 74

Ohio

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
DJ Walker FS 83
Sieh Bangura HB 82
Parker Navarro QB 81
Tank Pearson CB 81
Jalen Thomeson FS 79
Davion Weatherspoon LT 78
Chase Hendricks WR 78
Mason Williams TE 77
Adonis Williams Jr. SS 77
Andres Dewerk LT 75

Toledo

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren SS 90
Junior Vandeross III WR 86
Avery Smith CB 84
Terrence Moore C 84
Nasir Bowers CB 84
Trayvon Rudolph WR 84
Chip Trayanum HB 83
Tucker Gleason QB 80
Malachi Davis LEDG 79
Anthony Dunn Jr. LEDG 79

UMass

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Juwaun Price HB 80
T.Y. Harding WR 80
Rocko Griffin HB 79
Tim Grant-Randall DT 77
Brandon Hood HB 76
Derrieon Craig WILL 76
Cookie Desiderio HB 76
Da’Marion Alberic HB 76
Kendall Bournes FS 74
Sullivan Weidman RG 74

Western Michigan

Player Position Overall
Player Position Overall
Jalen Buckley HB 87
Blake Bosma TE 84
Tate Hallock SS 82
Raheem Anderson C 80
Popeye Williams LEDG 78
Tyson Lee REDG 77
Christian Leary WR 77
Cole Cabana HB 77
Tailique Williams WR 76
Cade Conley TE 76

Top Players in the MAC

Buffalo middle linebacker Red Murdock and Toledo strong safety Emmanuel McNeil-Warren are the highest rated players in the MAC at 90 overall. Nine MAC players received a rating of 85 or greater.

MAC Players with Overalls 85+

Player Team Position Overall
Player Team Position Overall
Red Murdock Buffalo MIKE 90
Emmanuel McNeil-Warren Toledo SS 90
Al-Jay Henderson Buffalo HB 88
Mickey Rewolinski Eastern Michigan LG 87
Jalen Buckley Western Michigan HB 87
Junior Vandeross III Toledo WR 86
Kobe Stewart Buffalo REDG 85
Jordan Kwiatkowski Central Michigan MIKE 85
Eli Blakey Miami (OH) FS 85



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Will revenue sharing and NIL restrictions bring a more level playing field to college athletics, or is more action needed? – Deseret News

On July 1, college sports entered a new frontier. For the first time ever, universities began directly paying their players as part of the “House v. NCAA” settlement. The settlement allows each university to pay its student-athletes up to $20.5 million per year, which works out to approximately 22% of the average athletic department revenue […]

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On July 1, college sports entered a new frontier.

For the first time ever, universities began directly paying their players as part of the “House v. NCAA” settlement. The settlement allows each university to pay its student-athletes up to $20.5 million per year, which works out to approximately 22% of the average athletic department revenue at Power Four schools. The vast majority of that money will go to pay athletes in football and men’s basketball, the two most revenue-generating sports for most universities.

With the revenue-sharing agreement comes a crackdown on NIL (name, image and likeness) deals. Prior to revenue sharing, the NIL was the Wild West, and essentially boiled down to pay for play.

The new system attempts to make NIL what it was originally intended to be — sponsorship opportunities for athletes at a true market value.

“Biggest issue is we’ve got to have somewhat of a level playing field with the NIL space, I shouldn’t say NIL, but with what we’re paying them.”

—  Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

Every NIL deal will now be sent through a clearinghouse managed by accounting firm Deloitte, which will assess those deals and has the ability to approve or deny each NIL deal according to if it meets “fair market value.”

Already, the system is working, sending some NIL deals back for reworking — including a few at the University of Utah.

“I will say with the settlement, with the cap, with NIL Go and our athletes have been submitting on NIL Go. Since the settlement was decided three or four weeks ago, the turnaround has been pretty quick,” Utah athletic director Mark Harlan said in an interview on ESPN 700.

Utah Director of Athletics Mark Harlan speaks at a press conference to introduce Alex Jensen the new head coach for the University of Utah men’s basketball team at the Jon M. Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 17, 2025. | Tess Crowley, Deseret News

“We’ve had all but a few approved here at Utah, the ones that haven’t been approved, we go back and we help the student-athlete restructure to make sure it’s in that range of compensation.”

From the beginning, Harlan has said Utah will be “all-in” on revenue sharing. Men’s basketball player Keanu Dawes was the first to receive a revenue-sharing deal from the university, with others, including football players, following shortly after.

Utah was able to retain key players like offensive tackles Spencer Fano and Caleb Lomu, cornerback Smith Snowden and others, and got New Mexico quarterback Devon Dampier and Washington State running back Wayshawn Parker out of the transfer portal.

“We’re excited to be able to, again, to have a dramatic increase for what football had,” Harlan said. “You don’t retain two first-rounders (Fano and Lomu) and guys like Smith Snowden and others if you don’t have capital and great donors involved. It’s never enough because there’s always someone that’s got more, obviously Texas Tech.”

Texas Tech, as Harlan mentioned, has made waves in the past year, signing one of the top transfer classes this offseason, including Stanford edge rusher David Bailey and North Carolina offensive tackle Howard Sampson, spending over $10 million, according to The Athletic.

California Power's Felix Ojo during OT7 Week 2 Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Dallas.
California Power’s Felix Ojo during OT7 Week 2 Sunday, March 23, 2025, in Dallas. | AP

Texas Tech followed that up by signing five-star high school offensive tackle Felix Ojo, who will receive “an annual compensation of $775,000 per year for three years from Tech’s revenue-sharing pool,” according to The Athletic.

There was a mad dash to sign and pay out NIL deals before July 1; deals paid out thereafter would be subject to review by Deloitte. One NIL deal platform, Opendorse, had its biggest day in company history on June 30, processing nearly $20 million in payments.

“There’s teams that are front-loading all the extra money they had prior to the rev share kicking in,” Utah coach Kyle Whittingham said. “We got teams spending supposedly $50 million or more on players, and that’s five, six times what we got.”

The Houston Chronicle reported that Texas will spend $35-$40 million on its 2025 roster, between revenue sharing and NIL deals, many of which were signed before the NIL clearinghouse went into effect.

“Biggest issue is we’ve got to have somewhat of a level playing field with the NIL space, I shouldn’t say NIL, but with what we’re paying them,” Whittingham said.

“Bottom line, they’re professionals, they’re getting paid like professionals and we’ve got to get a handle on that. We can’t have X amount of schools paying, spending $50 million on rosters and the rest of us $12 million … There’s about 12 teams that’ll have a chance to win it all every year and that’s it. So I would say leveling the playing field with a salary cap, again, back to the NFL model, and making things more uniform. It works in the NFL, so why can’t it work at this level?”

The big question around college sports is this — will the revenue-sharing cap and “true market value NIL” bring a sense of parity in terms of what teams can spend?

That’s the hope — but Whittingham is unsure if it will work in practice.

“I don’t think the rev share is an equalizer or is going to be the equalizer that everyone thinks it’s going to be because they’re going to circumvent it,” Whittingham said.

“They’ll find ways around it just like everyone always has. And so you’re still going to see a big disparity in the opportunity to build rosters. But again, until we get to an NFL model, where there’s a salary cap and that’s it, and if you break that cap, then you get huge penalties — I mean huge penalties, then it’s not going to work.”

Fueled by the infusion of money into the space, the unlimited transfer portal has turned college football from a place where players would be developed for three or four years at one school into one in which half or more of every annual roster is comprised of new players.

“Instead of 20 or 30 guys turning over each year, it’s 60 guys. Half your roster is new,” Whittingham said.

The new age, where players can transfer without penalty, has both helped and hurt the Utes. This offseason, Utah lost star defensive tackle Keanu Tanuvasa to BYU and star cornerback Cam Calhoun to Alabama. After spring practices, promising receiver Zacharyus Williams took off for USC.

Meanwhile, Utah has used the transfer portal to its advantage with players like Dampier, Parker, Cal receiver Tobias Merriweather and cornerbacks Don Saunders (Texas A&M) and Blake Cotton (UC Davis).

Even players not in the transfer portal are being contacted to play for other schools.

In a video published by the Daily Universe’s Sam Foster, Snowden replied to a question about if BYU reached out to him this offseason.

“It wasn’t directly to me,” Snowden replied. “… BYU wasn’t the only school (to reach out), it’s kind of what the name of the game is right, with the transfer portal. I wouldn’t say that it was any tampering type thing, it was more of agents and all that type of stuff.”

Nowhere else in sports is every player a free agent after every season, except in college sports right now. But after the NCAA and the Department of Justice reached a settlement in 2024, the NCAA was permanently barred from restricting a player’s eligibility. In the previous iteration of the rules, athletes had to sit out a year before joining their new team.

A solution to all of it could be collective bargaining, just like what happens in all of professional sports, but the implementation could be extremely difficult.

Collective bargaining could make players employees of the schools, set a clear total salary cap and perhaps create contracts that lock a player into a school for a certain number of years.

Nearly every Big 12 coach at media days told Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger that they support employment/collective bargaining.

“I think it’s heading that way,” Whittingham said of collective bargaining.

“I don’t know if I support or don’t support it. I know that the system we have in place is not sustainable and even with the rev share and the changes that have been made, I’m still not buying the fact that it’s the answer.”

Whittingham supports going to an NFL minor league model, he said this week.

“I realize when you say, well, college football’s not the NFL, but the NFL has been doing some good things for a lot of years and we ought to take some pages from them on how to implement salary cap, collective bargaining if it comes to that,” Whittingham said.

“I think that’s the only real way to get a grasp and a handle on things. As distasteful as it might sound to some people, I think an NFL minor league model is the best direction to head personally. That’s my own opinion.”

Whittingham has long said that there will eventually be a “super conference,” and he doubled down on that this week.

“I still believe that super conference concept is on its way. I really buy into that and I think that there’ll be X amount of teams that break away. They’ll have their own conference commissioner and they’ll do things the way they want to do and everyone else is going to kind of have to fend for themselves,” Whittingham said.

Another avenue for change in college sports would be congressional action.

On Thursday, members of the House of Representatives introduced a bipartisan bill — the SCORE act — that would make conferences exempt from antitrust lawsuits and would let the NCAA once again set parameters “for the manner in which a student-athlete may transfer between institutions, if such rules provide that at least one occasion each student-athlete may transfer between institutions and be immediately eligible.”

It would also codify into law the House settlement, including the current 22% revenue-sharing cap and the new NIL rules. NIL deals would need to serve a “valid business purpose” and have fair market value compensation.

“Instead of 20 or 30 guys turning over each year, it’s 60 guys. Half your roster is new.”

—  Utah coach Kyle Whittingham

The bill wouldn’t advance collective bargaining, in fact, it would prevent college athletes from being employees of their schools, conferences or an athletic association

The bill would also provide protections for athletes, such as requiring schools to provide “coverage of medical expenses for athletic injuries for up to 3 years post-enrollment,” and would cap agent fees at 5%.

It would also establish a process for registering and certifying agents and “setting parameters for the ability of member institutions to negotiate with agents who are not registered under such process.”

Capping agent fees is something Whittingham is in favor of.

“I think it would help the players. Some of these guys are taking 20, 25% from these guys. That’s outlandish. It should be 3 to 5%, just like the NFL is, and certification would be certainly, absolutely a step in the right direction.”

One thing is clear from talking to coaches across the Big 12 — the current system is unsustainable.

Whether through the new NIL rules and revenue-sharing cap being tightly enforced, collective bargaining or an act of Congress, the powers that be feel like change needs to come to college sports.

Coaches and media participate in the Big 12 NCAA college football media days in Frisco, Texas, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham will take center stage in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, along with seven other Big 12 head coaches.
Coaches and media participate in the Big 12 NCAA college football media days in Frisco, Texas, Tuesday, July 8, 2025. Utah coach Kyle Whittingham will take center stage in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, along with seven other Big 12 head coaches. | AP



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Seattle Drafts LSU Star Third Overall

Image credit: Kade Anderson (Photo by Eddie Kelly/ ProLook Photos) Though he didn’t go first overall, Kade Anderson didn’t have to wait very long to hear his name called, as the Mariners selected the star LSU lefthander with the third-overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday. A draft-eligible sophomore, Anderson last year as […]

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Kade Anderson (Photo by Eddie Kelly/ ProLook Photos)

Though he didn’t go first overall, Kade Anderson didn’t have to wait very long to hear his name called, as the Mariners selected the star LSU lefthander with the third-overall pick in the 2025 MLB Draft on Sunday.

A draft-eligible sophomore, Anderson last year as a freshman showed flashes of his tantalizing stuff and pitched to a 3.99 ERA with 59 strikeouts across 38.1 innings. In 2025, however, he took his game to another level and compiled a 3.18 ERA with a nation-leading 180 strikeouts against just 35 walks across 119 innings. Anderson took home a litany of postseason awards and was a first team all-SEC selection, a first team all-American and BA’s College Pitcher of the Year.

Anderson has a slender frame at 6-foot-2, 185 pounds with some present strength in his lower half. He has a simple delivery in which he starts with his shoulders almost square to the first base dugout. Anderson begins his motion with an extremely small sidestep that leads into a high leg lift. He has a short and compact arm action and attacks from a high three-quarters slot with above-average arm speed. Anderson’s fastball sits in the 92-95 range, but has been up to 97 with plus carry in the top of the zone. 

The biggest revelation in Anderson’s arsenal in 2025 was his mid-80s slider—a pitch he threw just two percent of the time in 2024. It emerged as an above-average offering that flashes plus with lateral life, and it garnered a 31% miss rate. Anderson’s upper-70s, high-spin curveball is a plus pitch that has great pure spin rates, excellent depth and distinct shape from his slider. Anderson rounds out his arsenal with a mid-80s changeup that also took a step forward in his sophomore season. It’s an above-average fourth pitch that flashes plus with tumbling life, and it’s especially effective against righthanded hitters. Anderson’s curveball and changeup also generated impressive whiff rates of 35% and 48%, respectively.

Anderson is a plus strike-thrower who has an above-average feel for his entire four-pitch mix. Perhaps the only blemish on Anderson’s resume is the fact that he’s already had Tommy John surgery. He’s a high-probability starter with physical projection, and an exciting blend of strikes and stuff that gives him potential front-end of the rotation upside.



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Longhorns baseball commits Gavin Fein, Kayson Cunningham drafted in 1st round of MLB Draft

Two of the centerpieces of Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle’s 2025 recruiting class are likely going pro before ever arriving onto the 40 Acres. Both Gavin Fein and Kayson Cunningham were drafted in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft. Third baseman Fein was drafted No. 12 by the Texas Rangers. Cunningham, a shortstop, […]

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Two of the centerpieces of Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle’s 2025 recruiting class are likely going pro before ever arriving onto the 40 Acres. Both Gavin Fein and Kayson Cunningham were drafted in the first round of the 2025 MLB Draft.

Third baseman Fein was drafted No. 12 by the Texas Rangers. Cunningham, a shortstop, was drafted No. 18 by the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Fein, of The Temecula (Calif.) Great Oaks, has been committed to the Longhorns for nearly four years. As a senior, he hit .358 with 16 RBIs and five home runs. In 2024, his brother Dylan was drafted in the seventh round by the A’s.

Cunningham, a San Antonio Johnson product, committed to the Longhorns in June of 2024. He hit an astounding .509 as a senior, with 27 RBIs and 39 runs scored. He also stole 21 bases on 25 attempts. Cunningham was both the Gatorade Player of the Year and USA Baseball Player of the Year.

Neither player is expected to end up playing for the Longhorns now. First round money in the MLB Draft is higher than any college baseball player could make via NIL.

Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @LonghornsWire.

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This article originally appeared on Longhorns Wire: Two Longhorns baseball commits drafted in first round of MLB Draft



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Georgia star Tre Phelps forgoes 2025 MLB Draft, will return to Bulldogs in 2026

Tre Phelps has announced his return to Georgia baseball in 2026. He was previously considered an MLB Draft prospect as a draft-eligible sophomore. “Let’s run it back,” he posted on X followed by a graphic. 2026 will be his third season with the program. Phelps was used in multiple spots on defense during the 2025 […]

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Tre Phelps has announced his return to Georgia baseball in 2026. He was previously considered an MLB Draft prospect as a draft-eligible sophomore.

“Let’s run it back,” he posted on X followed by a graphic. 2026 will be his third season with the program.

Phelps was used in multiple spots on defense during the 2025 season. He started 50 games for the Bulldogs including 17 at first base, 12 in left field, 10 in right field and two at third base. He played nine games as the Bulldogs designated hitter as well.

He finished the 2025 season batting .318 with 14 doubles, one triple, 10 home runs and 44 RBI. He was at one time considered a potential first-round draft choice after his freshman season after being named to the First Team Freshman All-American and averaging a .353 batting average with 12 home runs, 40 RBI and a .699 slugging percentage in 42 games.

“After standing out with the ability to make both consistent contact and hard contact as a freshman, Phelps has regressed in both regards this spring,” his MLB scouting report reads. “He’s trying to do too much at the plate, chasing too many pitches and letting his right-handed swing get too long and uphill. He showed the possibility of becoming a solid hitter with power to match a year ago but has struggled mightily with non-fastballs in 2025.

“Phelps displays fringy speed out of the batter’s box but is closer to solid once he gets going. He moves well in the field and shows soft hands and a strong if sometimes inaccurate arm, but he loses focus much too often.”

Phelps will have two seasons of college baseball eligibility if he chooses to use it. This past season, he helped lead Georgia to a 43-17 (18-12, SEC), advancing through and hosting the Athens Regional as the No. 7 national seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Despite the Bulldogs season ended earlier than anticipated, Phelps had a strong showing in the regional matchup, being named to the NCAA Athens Regional All-Tournament Team after batting .538 (7-for-13) with five runs scored, two doubles, two home runs and five RBIs across three games.

Phelps decision comes on the day of the 2025 MLB Draft, which is being held on July 13-14 in Atlanta, as part of MLB’s All-Star week. Coverage of the annual event will begin at 6 p.m. ET live on ESPN and the MLB Network.



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