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College football analyst identifies Texas Tech football’s most important game in 2025

Heading into 2025, the Texas Tech Red Raiders have a lot to look forward to. Joey McGuire has assembled an incredibly interesting roster that is loaded with talent and he’s brought in a couple of fascinating coordinators to help round out a really solid coaching staff. As Texas Tech looks to make its mark in […]

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Heading into 2025, the Texas Tech Red Raiders have a lot to look forward to. Joey McGuire has assembled an incredibly interesting roster that is loaded with talent and he’s brought in a couple of fascinating coordinators to help round out a really solid coaching staff.

As Texas Tech looks to make its mark in the Big 12 this season, the Red Raiders will need to take on a number of conference opponents who could create headaches for McGuire and his Texas Tech football team.

But what is Texas Tech’s most important game in 2025? Well, if you ask CBS Sport’s Will Backus, that’d be the mid October matchup with the Arizona State Sun Devils.

Texas Tech’s October 18 meeting with Arizona State could be one of the most important games in the Big 12 in 2025

While I don’t totally know if I’m convinced of this assertion of this game being the most “important” game for the Red Raiders in 2025, there are certainly more than a few aspects of this game that will be interesting to keep up with. As Backus notes, and as plenty of others are going to point out, Arizona State won the Big 12 this past season.

The Sun Devils were great and a fun team to keep up with. Kenny Dillingham really overhauled that roster in a hurry and implemented a thrilling offense that put up points left and right all the way to a Big 12 title and an appearance in the College Football Playoffs.

But, it’s important to remember that before Arizona State hit that hot streak to claim the conference crown, the Sun Devils lost to the Red Raiders last September. And there will certainly be a storyline there to keep up with.

So, if you take the fact that Arizona State won the conference last year, the Red Raiders beat the Sun Devils in 2024, add in the fact that TTU and McGuire are in a prove it year following some massive roster investments and you get a game that could be pretty dang noteworthy on October 18.

This could be among the most important games in the Big 12 this season, especially as we find out just how good Arizona State will be this season following last year’s stunning (and definitely unexpected) success.

Interestingly enough, Backus doesn’t list Tech as Arizona State’s most important game. Instead, he gives that title to Iowa State.



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Who is ESM’s Dan Everett? The story of the man who reps top UGA players

Dan Everett says NIL era demands personalized brand deals for athletes ESM’s Dan Everett shares how the NIL world has evolved and why authentic partnerships matter more than ever. ESM, a sports marketing company, connects athletes, primarily football players, with brands and revenue-sharing deals. The company has grown significantly over the past decade, expanding its […]

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  • ESM, a sports marketing company, connects athletes, primarily football players, with brands and revenue-sharing deals.
  • The company has grown significantly over the past decade, expanding its clientele and services.
  • ESM represents numerous high-profile athletes, including college and professional players, and even high school prospects.
  • The company is actively involved in NIL deals, including revenue sharing agreements with schools.

GREENVILLE, S.C. — A decade before the advent of NIL deals, Dan Everett was hustling to set up autograph appearances for Georgia football players readying for the NFL Draft.

A.J. Green and Aaron Murray were some of his early clients.

These days, Everett and his ESM sports marketing company match primarily college, NFL and now high school football players with brands, in addition to representing many in revenue-sharing deals with schools.

He’s working with Georgia quarterback Gunner Stockton and tight end Oscar Delp on this year’s team, just like he did with Brock Bowers, Ladd McConkey, Malaki Starks, and perhaps most notably, quarterback Carson Beck, who pulled out of the NFL draft this year and transferred to Miami after two years as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback.

Two years earlier, Everett and ESM partner Jeff Hoffman were in a Range Rover with quarterback Stetson Bennett when he drew a crowd of some 300 at an appearance at Raising Cane’s on Baxter Street in Athens three days after winning a second straight national title.

Besides Georgia, ESM has worked most with Alabama players over the last 10 years in endorsements and public and media appearances.

“When you go and sign those players and do right by them, word gets spread around the locker room and, to some degree, we can be picky,” Everett told the Athens Banner-Herald during an interview in his office on July 8. “For Georgia, we’re just blessed that we’ve been there and done it for so long.”

Everett and ESM — formally known as Everett Sports Marketing — are signing players before they even play a college snap.

Georgia freshman Talyn Taylor, a five-star wide receiver signee, is an ESM client.

Everett has signed five high school players — including 14-year-old 2028 wide receiver Brysen Wright from Jacksonville, four-star Florida State quarterback commitment Jaden O’Neal and four-star Florida quarterback commitment Will Griffin — whose names are on his office whiteboard along with other top prospects that ESM is targeting.

ESM is located in Greenville, S.C. — a city just named the No. 7 U.S. travel destination by Travel & Leisure and one that is just a two-hour drive from the UGA campus. The office that used to be a bakery was overhauled into the home for a staff of 10.

“We grew this from the ground up,” Everett said. “Now, we’ve become one of the most powerful national firms in the country.”

A decade ago, ESM was primarily an event company and consisted of just four people, including co-founder Rachel Everett, who now is the executive director of the Jalen Hurts Foundation.

ESM now has more than 30 clients, including twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder, who played basketball at Miami but are best known as social media influencers, and 17-year old tennis player Anna Frey who has 853,000 Instagram followers.

It also represents brands like Nerds candy, Academy Sports & Outdoors and Zoa Energy drink in their talent decisions.

Everett estimates Georgia players have made more than $10 million in NIL deals through ESM.

That’s not including what Bowers and McConkey, who remain clients, now make as NFL players in sponsorships.

Everett set up an autograph session, memorabilia deals and youth football camps for Murray after his college playing days ended with a torn ACL.

“He’s just kind of blown up since then and is kind of all over the place now,” said Murray, who remains close with Everett. “He grinds. He finds ways to get you what you want. Obviously, they want to make you as much money as possible but they do such a good job of making it authentic. That’s especially what you need nowadays when it comes to deals. He builds a really good relationship with his clients.”

Everett worked in electrical engineering before working with athletes.

“Everything inside these walls is either self-taught or learning from one another,” said Everett, 41, who graduated with a degree in chemistry from Georgia Southwestern.

Everett grew up in the town of Buena Vista near Columbus. His grandfather owned chicken houses and his father picked up dead chickens out of broiler houses for Tyson and cleaned out the manure.

When Dan was 11, he asked his parents — both bus drivers — to buy him goats to breed and said he used some of that money to buy his first house in Athens.

He took classes at Georgia Tech before working at Power Partners on Newton Bridge Road in Athens.

“This was just a side hustle,” said Everett, who was 22 when he moved to Athens.

While going to Georgia Southwestern, he took summer classes at UGA and reached out to a friend from his hometown who was dating Georgia running back Danny Ware.

Everett ended up living, for a time, with Georgia fullback Des Williams, which resulted in him making connections with Bulldogs players. It was then that his “passion project” of working with players started.

“You probably always thought you’d be lucky to make five figures a year messing around with it,” he said. “Every year it grew. Even during COVID, we’ve never had a year where our revenues didn’t grow.”

College football players and other athletes are now being paid directly by schools under revenue sharing that began July 1. ESM represents more than 20 players for both marketing and revenue-share deals.

“We will be as active as any agency in the country in negotiation of rev-share deals,” Everett said. “We’re helping some 2026 players decide where they’re going to college. We have three four-star quarterbacks and two of the three have changed their mind and are going to a different school.”

Third-party NIL deals worth at least $600 must get approval from a clearinghouse run by Deloitte, but Everett and ESM may have a leg up over collectives because Everett said “all ESM procured endorsement deals are true NIL opportunities that are negotiated by sports marketing agents with decades of experience.”

It’s a long way from a mall autograph signing when he was just starting out.

“The business of college sports is significant,” Everett said. “It’s a minor league program for the NFL. With that, there’s a lot of responsibility and nuances to be protected and negotiated on these players behalf.”



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Wildcats to Meet Wisconsin in Milwaukee Hoops Showdown

Story Links MILWAUKEE, Wis. (July 11, 2025) – Wisconsin will face Villanova at the Milwaukee Hoops Showdown on Dec. 19 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis.,  a critical neutral site contest in what will be one of the final non-conference tests for each program ahead of their respective conference schedules for the […]

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MILWAUKEE, Wis. (July 11, 2025) – Wisconsin will face Villanova at the Milwaukee Hoops Showdown on Dec. 19 at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis.,  a critical neutral site contest in what will be one of the final non-conference tests for each program ahead of their respective conference schedules for the 2025-26 season.
 
Game time and broadcast designation will be announced at a later date. Intersport, a Chicago-based sports marketing and events agency, will manage all aspects of the event.
 
Tickets for the event are scheduled to go on sale Sept. 24, and fans can register to receive dedicated event information and be eligible for ticket presale access, which will take place on Sept. 23, by registering online at www.fiservforum.com/showdown.
 
It will be the third all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Wildcats defeating the Badgers in 1995 and Wisconsin earning an NCAA Tournament second-round victory over top-seeded Villanova in 2017.

It will be Wisconsin’s first regular season neutral site game at a traditional basketball venue in Milwaukee since the 1989-90 season, when the Badgers faced Gonzaga at the Bradley Center on Dec. 1. Wisconsin has played numerous regular season games in Milwaukee when visiting both Marquette and UW-Milwaukee in addition to NCAA Tournament contests on three separate occasions in the city. Wisconsin also played a neutral site contest at American Family Field as part of the Brew City Battle against Stanford in 2022.

 

Wisconsin is led by Greg Gard, who is entering his 11th season as head coach with the program. Gard and the Badgers won 27 games last season, the team’s most since 2016-17, and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Villanova welcomes new head coach Kevin Willard, who has a proven track record of success with Iona, Seton Hall and Maryland. Willard brings 335 career wins with him to Villanova, which won 21 games and advanced to the semifinals of the College Basketball Crown last season.

 

This will be the first of two visits for the Wildcats to Fiserv Forum in 2025-26. Villanova will visit Marquette in BIG EAST regular season action there. That date will be announced in September when the conference reveals its complete schedule.

 

For more information on the event and to receive email alerts regarding future event news, follow Intersport Basketball on Twitter (X) and Instagram at @IntersportHoops.

 

About Intersport

Intersport is an award-winning agency that fills the empty space between marketing campaigns and consumers—helping brands make more meaningful connections. Its industry-leading team offers expert insights in content marketing, experiential marketing, hospitality, partnership consulting and platform development. The Chicago-based agency also owns and operates events across the professional and collegiate sports landscape, including basketball, football, golf, pickleball and volleyball. Intersport has been headquartered in Chicago since its inception in 1985 and has an additional office in Detroit. Learn more at www.intersport.global and on social media (LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook).

 





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Mike Gundy calls for the obvious next step in College Football’s NIL Era

This Summer, College sports underwent one of it’s biggest changes yet when the House Vs NCAA case was finally settled. Among the many changes to the landscape of college sports was the arrival of revenue sharing as programs now have the ability to pay their players directly. NIL payments came from outside parties but, the […]

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This Summer, College sports underwent one of it’s biggest changes yet when the House Vs NCAA case was finally settled. Among the many changes to the landscape of college sports was the arrival of revenue sharing as programs now have the ability to pay their players directly. NIL payments came from outside parties but, the athletes are now cut in on the money the schools are earning for the first time ever.

Revenue Sharing arriving in College Football will only help calm some of the chaos with NIL as it gives schools a clear path to money which will help some of the schools without the massive boosters. Each NIL deal now needs to be cleared by a third party which will help ensure that NIL is being used the way it’s supposed to be rather than teams just buying players.

In order to keep some of the chaos under control in College Sports, many have called for the sport to start using collective bargaining as the professional leagues do. While that change hasn’t arrived at the college level yet, it could be the next massive shift in the near future.

This week while attending Big 12 Media Days, Mike Gundy appeared on The Andy & Ari On3 Podcast where he called for everyone to finally restructure and admit that the athletes are now employees this way the College model can start to match the NFL model.

“You’ve gotta restructure your systems and admit players are employees, then you can build collective bargaining. We’ve all talked about it. But you have to admit they’re employees. You can do it all. You can have a [salary cap] and you need an entry level for a high school player coming in because it’s not sustainable.”

Mike Gundy

Given the recent events in college athletics, Mike Gundy’s sentiment has never been more true but, changes may be far down the line. When the athletes were receiving NIL payments, they weren’t technically employees of the school as other outlets were paying them but, after the House Settlement brought revenue sharing into College Football, the schools now directly pay their athletes.

Everyone saw with the House Vs NCAA Settlement how long these cases and changes take to clear the courts and then actually get implemented by the NCAA. It’s clear that athletes should now be considered employees like in every other sport where the players get paid but, every party involved may not want to push for the changes.

More Oklahoma State Cowboys News:



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2026 NBA Draft Could Be Historic for Virginia…

Since the NBA Draft shrunk to two rounds, Virginia Tech has never had two players selected in the draft. Prior to that, the Hokies only had two players selected in the top 60 (the equivalent size of today’s draft) of the same draft once in 1986 when Dell Curry was selected 15th overall by Utah […]

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Since the NBA Draft shrunk to two rounds, Virginia Tech has never had two players selected in the draft. Prior to that, the Hokies only had two players selected in the top 60 (the equivalent size of today’s draft) of the same draft once in 1986 when Dell Curry was selected 15th overall by Utah and Keith Colbert was selected 56th overall by Philadelphia. Bobby Beecher was also selected 91st overall by Sacramento during that draft.

That could change in 2026 with Neoklis Avdalas being on the first round radar and Tobi Lawal being a potential second round pick.

Let’s start with Avdalas who has already been listed by many as a name to the watch in the 2026 NBA Draft.



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LSU Football Lands Top-Ranked 2026 Recruit Over Texas A&M, Texas, Miami

Great news, Tiger fans. Five-star high school recruit Lamar Brown, a defensive tackle, has committed to Louisiana State University, he announced on SportsCenter on Thursday afternoon. The sought-after prospect had been choosing between a final four of Texas, Texas A&M, Miami and LSU. Brown kept viewers on their toes by opening his remarks by giving […]

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Great news, Tiger fans.

Five-star high school recruit Lamar Brown, a defensive tackle, has committed to Louisiana State University, he announced on SportsCenter on Thursday afternoon. The sought-after prospect had been choosing between a final four of Texas, Texas A&M, Miami and LSU.

Brown kept viewers on their toes by opening his remarks by giving thanks to God and his support system, but soon moved on to the big announcement.

“Hard choice, but I decided to do it. With that being said, for the next three to four years, I’ll be committing to Louisiana State University.”

After briefly donning an oversized LSU hat, the DT unzipped his jacket to reveal a Tigers jersey, further signifying his commitment.

Watch that fun moment below:

Brown, who is from Louisiana, is the No. 1 prospect on the ESPN 300 for 2026. He is also the third five-star to commit to the Tigers for the 2026 cycle, including defensive tackle Richard Anderson and wideout Tristen Keys.

More College Football on Sports Illustrated





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Bueckers Is NIL Store’s Top-Earning Female for 15th Straight Month

CHICAGO (July 10, 2025) – For the 15th consecutive month, UConn’s Paige Bueckers was the top-earning collegiate female athlete on the NIL Store. Joining Bueckers as June 2025 leaders were Duke’s Cooper Flagg as the top-earning male athlete, and the University of Connecticut as the top-selling school. The NIL Store supports more than 25,000 athletes […]

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CHICAGO (July 10, 2025) – For the 15th consecutive month, UConn’s Paige Bueckers was the top-earning collegiate female athlete on the NIL Store.

Joining Bueckers as June 2025 leaders were Duke’s Cooper Flagg as the top-earning male athlete, and the University of Connecticut as the top-selling school. The NIL Store supports more than 25,000 athletes and 115 institutions nationwide.

June marked the end of Bueckers’ illustrious NIL Store run as a collegiate representative with the 2024-25 academic calendar officially coming to a close.

Bueckers’ gear will remain available for sale, however, thanks to the NIL Store’s partnership with the WNBPA which provides WNBA athletes a platform to earn proceeds on their collegiate gear. 

Bueckers’ collegiate legacy gear is available alongside other WNBA legends including Kelsey Plum, Breanna Stewart, Brittney Griner, Angel Reese, Alyssa Thomas and more.

June ’25 Top-Selling Schools

  1. UConn

  2. Arkansas

  3. UCLA

  4. Duke

  5. Louisville

  6. Tennessee

  7. Syracuse

  8. LSU

  9. Texas Tech

  10. Florida

June ’25 Top-Earning Male Athletes

  1. Cooper Flagg – Duke Men’s Basketball

  2. Gage Wood – Arkansas Baseball

  3. Roch Cholowsky – UCLA Baseball

  4. Wehiwa Aloy – Arkansas Baseball

  5. Kade Anderson – LSU Baseball

  6. Kiyan Anthony – Syracuse Men’s Basketball

  7. Liam Doyle – Tennessee Baseball

  8. Blake Balsz – UCLA Baseball

  9. Steve Angeli – Syracuse Football

  10. Roman Martin – UCLA Baseball

June ’25 Top-Earning Female Athletes

  1. Paige Bueckers – UConn Women’s Basketball

  2. Azzi Fudd – UConn Women’s Basketball

  3. Karlyn Pickens – Tennessee Softball

  4. NiJaree Canady – Texas Tech Softball

  5. Sarah Strong – UConn Women’s Basketball

  6. Bri Ellis – Arkansas Softball

  7. KK Arnold – UConn Women’s Basketball

  8. Jordan Woolery – UCLA Softball

  9. Hailey Toney – Texas Tech Softball

  10. Megan Grant – UCLA Softball

ABOUT CAMPUS INK AND THE NIL STORE

Backed by Mark Cuban, Campus Ink expanded into the Name, Image, Likeness (NIL) space in 2021 and launched the NIL Store which serves as a merchandising solution for student-athletes and schools across the country. The NIL Store operates with the firm belief that every student-athlete has an opportunity to capitalize on their NIL and should earn industry-leading payouts. Campus Ink was founded in 1947 on the campus of the University of Illinois and was reimagined in 2015 with an office in downtown Chicago and a production facility in Urbana, Ill., where the company handles all of its own production and fulfillment.



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