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How creative activation unlocks sports marketing effectiveness

It is often the case in sports marketing that the most effective partnerships are also the most creative in their execution. When it comes to delivering impact through sports sponsorship in particular, creativity and effectiveness go hand in hand. Sponsorship, as part of the overall marketing mix, sits somewhere between those two interconnected axes, depending […]

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How creative activation unlocks sports marketing effectiveness

It is often the case in sports marketing that the most effective partnerships are also the most creative in their execution.

When it comes to delivering impact through sports sponsorship in particular, creativity and effectiveness go hand in hand. Sponsorship, as part of the overall marketing mix, sits somewhere between those two interconnected axes, depending on the sponsoring brand’s objectives, and its value can only really be judged on a case-by-case basis.

Over time, however, approaches to sports sponsorship have become increasingly scientific and sophisticated. Across the industry, advanced brand tracking tools, real-time measurement platforms and analytical insights are now widely used to inform strategy amid a growing emphasis on delivering business outcomes and proving ROI. This focus on data-led, objective performance is hugely important for brands investing significant sums in sports marketing, yet the role of creativity in driving value through sponsorship cannot be overstated.

Unlocking value through creativity

Today, an entire creative industry has grown up around sports sponsorship activation. Populated by creative and experiential agencies, production studios and talent managers, it exists to bring partnerships to life through compelling content and culturally relevant campaigns. Its overarching aim is to produce work that not only cuts through but also, most importantly, generates commercial value for brands and rights holders.

For those who operate in this space, sports marketing represents a form of creative art. Though a business that is intended to deliver against corporate objectives, it views sponsorship, at its core, as the expression of an idea, one which manifests in myriad different ways but consistently permeates the messaging and activation.

“At the end of the day, we are in a business, and a business wants to see results,” says Matt Hunt, executive strategy director at Manchester-based creative agency MATTA. “But I think it’s about what is the most effective way of achieving those? And often it’s creativity that unlocks that.”

Any brand worth their salt will enter a partnership with clear objectives in mind. It could be that they want to grow brand awareness, boost purchase consideration or drive direct sales – or, as is often the case, a mixture of all three, plus many potential others depending on the brand’s specific goals. But when brands rely too heavily on metrics alone, there is a risk the data ends up dictating creative direction rather than informing it. 

“I think that the value of creativity in this space is sometimes overlooked,” continues Hunt, whose company works with the likes of the ATP, England Rugby, Clinique and Emporio Armani. “People are buying rights without necessarily maximising the value that they can take from them. And it is simply a badging exercise, which I think, for us, is dramatically underplaying the potential value that you could achieve through thinking about what you’ve got, how it aligns with your brand, with your objective, with the entity that you’re sponsoring, and activating that in a way which does engage and delight.”

Michelob Ultra’s creative, tech-led activations, such as its DreamCaster work featuring blind basketball fan and aspiring broadcaster Cameron Black, have earned the beer brand widespread marketing plaudits and delivered meaningful results

Viewed through the prism of creative effectiveness, sports sponsorship need not be measurable to be truly meaningful, says Hunt. For brand marketers under internal pressure to rationalise their spending decisions, there must naturally be a business case behind any sponsorship investment, with performance tracked according to identifiable KPIs. But in the minds of fans, marketing effectiveness really boils down to emotional impact and cultural relevance.

“We do feel that there is a possibly a lack of creativity in how some sponsorship is applied and activated,” adds Hunt, “and more just about marketing by numbers, rather than really taking the time to think deeply about how we are genuinely going to make an impact that people may possibly remember beyond simply our logo being on a shirt or on this LED board.”

Indeed, quantitative data seldom paints the full picture. Traditional measures of success, such as brand affinity, purchase consideration and social media engagement, provide only a limited view of marketing effectiveness. Often, it is the intangible, less easily quantifiable measures that reveal most about the performance of a partnership.

“The more unexpected it is, the more it will cut through creatively,” insists Hunt. “When something’s unexpected, a consumer brain opens up to take in new information, and it also becomes more remarkable, I think, on that basis as well.

“So the more unexpected you can make the partnership, but give it authentic meaning at the same time, that’s the perfect alchemy for making sports sponsorships work as hard as they possibly can.

“The power of the unexpected and the ability to disrupt is something that has to be grasped and utilised, and that only comes with a degree of creativity and flair in its execution.”

Some of the best work in sports marketing is indeed born of unconventional ideas or atypical collaborations. On the surface, a women’s skincare brand isn’t a natural fit for rugby, while an agricultural tyre manufacturer based in India doesn’t sit comfortably in European club basketball. Yet partnerships that appear incongruous at first glance are rarely ever random acts of marketing. On the contrary, they are often those which are underpinned by the soundest strategic rationale.

“I think that’s one of the powers of brands showing up in sport,” says Hunt. “It can be more remarkable if it isn’t naturally something that you would put together. Finding meaning in putting these two rather disparate things together is where the magic happens.

“If you create something that engages your audience in a way that they’re enthralled by, or taken aback by, that is ultimately going to be more effective than just simply creating visibility and awareness for something which doesn’t really have a sense of meaning behind it.”

MATTA’s ‘Powered Differently’ campaign – produced in collaboration with Premiership Women’s Rugby and Getty Images – was 100% powered by women, from the ideation and creative direction to the photography and curation. 

Embrace the third space

“We really think about how we can become part of fans’ everyday life and part of fan culture,” says Alexander Michaelsen, executive creative director and board member at Jung von Matt SPORTS, a Hamburg-based agency whose brand client portfolio includes everyone from Adidas and BMW to Fanatics, Google Pixel and Spotify. “So what do they consume? How do they spend their day? How do they spend their match day? What’s the journey? And how can we be part of that journey in a way that complements, that makes it better, and doesn’t distract from what they want to consume?

“When talking to fans, you only get one chance as a brand to really hit it home and to set yourself up to become hopefully a loved brand. But there are also huge mistakes you can make if you don’t speak the lingo or if you don’t respect the culture, especially in Europe.”

Nowadays, so much of sports consumption happens in the so-called ‘third space’ – non-traditional channels and mediums including, but not limited to, social media platforms, online chat forums, WhatsApp groups, watch parties and live streams. In the third space, content is disseminated, dissected and debated organically in disintermediated discussions, filtered through the lens of discerning fans. Here, every piece of content has the potential to take on a life of its own, beyond the control of any publisher, and in the court of public opinion, of course, everything is open to interpretation.

Brands must earn the right to play in this subjective, ever-evolving and fragmented third space, bringing something that is authentic and additive, not intrusive and overengineered. In a world where feedback is constant, immediate and unfiltered, sentiment means everything. Reading the room is therefore paramount when gauging the impact of any creative output.

“The good thing about most of our campaigns is that they, in some shape or form, happen on social media, and you get a direct response,” says Michaelsen. “I often think this sentiment is as important as the facts and numbers behind it that you can measure, because people on social media may hate, they may love, but they don’t lie.

“They are brutally honest – and if you are doing a shit job, you get shit feedback. That’s the reality.”

@tobiasdahlhaus Gave the @Skoda UK Draw de France Strava challenge a go. Might not be the prettiest car in the world but at least you know it is one. Elapsed duration – 2h44 Elapsed distance – 68km #drawdefrance #stravaart #gpsart ♬ Ms. Jackson (Instrumental) – Outkast

Skoda’s ‘Draw de France’ activation around last year’s Tour de France engaged cyclists through Strava, encouraging them to get creative while driving participation

While social media heightens scrutiny and therefore increases the potential for reputational risk for sponsor brands, it can also lead to greater rewards.

Earned media coverage may be a traditional measure of success in marketing but in the fast-paced, memeified world of the third space, virality is now the holy grail. Bold ideas executed via riskier campaigns invariably cut through, for better or worse, and brands who are willing to step outside their comfort zone stand to benefit.

It is a cliché to say fortune favours the brave but dull ads are said to cost the marketing industry millions of dollars in additional media spend. In sponsorship as in traditional advertising, it is often the case that ambitious ideas fly, whereas conservative ones require far greater expenditure – normally on paid media – just to get off the ground. As Hunt analogises: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”

In that sense, audience understanding is key. That is perhaps marketing 101 but in the highly pressurised, hyper-critical world of sport, with its minefield of fan allegiances and tribalist mentality, the adage rings particularly true.

Creating impactful, emotionally resonant campaigns that capture the cultural zeitgeist and get people talking requires a willingness to constantly listen and adapt. Often, the strongest ideas are rooted in insight. Recent research by Lions Advisory found that brands with stronger insight development respond more effectively to cultural moments. Yet while online behaviour tracking and social media sentiment analysis can surface valuable real-time data, brands and agencies must be ready to conduct and act upon in-depth qualitative research as well.

“Every single thing that we do, every brief that we do, we will collaborate with fans on,” says Simon Luff, head of strategy at Ear to the Ground. “We’ll talk to those fans. We’ll understand what’s moving culture and how brands can show up in that culture in a way that’s really authentic and additive, rather than parasitic.

“I think having fan insight at the heart of every single decision – every creative decision, every strategic decision – and actually bringing fans into that creative process, is the way to really build more impactful collaborations.”

Crossover collaborations like FC Barcelona’s partnership with Spotify have huge cut-through potential, leveraging the reach and influence of two brands to engage a wider audience

Understanding what drives fan passions is crucial, particularly in the third space, says Luff. Utilising first-hand feedback enables brands to keep their finger on the pulse and connect “at a much deeper level”, he adds: “I think also having an acute understanding of how sport is merging and morphing into other worlds – into music, into fashion, into art, and into all of these other different cultural crossovers – enables you to play at the edges.”

But fan insight not only informs sponsorship strategy – it also helps shape the creative process for the agencies tasked with plotting activations.

As its name suggests, Ear to the Ground prides itself on listening to target audiences above anyone else. Its ‘fans to consumers’ approach has been built on an intelligence network of 12,500 sports, gaming and entertainment experts around the world, comprising a mix of fans, creators, influencers, producers, community leaders and business owners. The company has also developed proprietary AI-powered tools and specific methodologies to monitor cultural insights, analyse and foresee trends, test creative ideas, and ultimately enable its clients to make faster, more effective decisions.

“From there we’ll start thinking about how that strategy will then manifest through the third space: the types of formats, the type of talent that we might work with, and creators that we might work with in order to create the right types of content to connect with fans,” explains Luff. “That creative process will then bring the fans back in, and we’ll start co-creating with the fans as well. So we’ll test ideas and concepts with them born off that initial insight, and we’ll use that as a way to refine our creative development and ideation.”

Ear to the Ground was the creative agency behind Paris Saint-Germain’s Snipes Deck, a branded hospitality and experiential space at the Parc des Princes complete with DJ sets, local cuisine and a barber service

Creativity within constraints

Creativity, in the context of sponsorship, comes in many forms. The creative output invariably garners most of the attention, but that is not the only factor which sets great activations apart. Sometimes the best and most original work is produced when creative minds are forced to think, well, creatively.

Budweiser’s brilliant Bring Home the Bud campaign during the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup, where the consumption of alcohol was banned on the eve of the tournament, provides a high-profile case study for how brands, working closely with a partner agency, can turn a negative situation into a positive one if they are able to stay agile and reactive. But there are countless other examples of genuinely innovative work being produced when those involved are constrained by, say, restrictive commercial rights or budget limitations, or perhaps backed into a corner by timing or circumstance.

“Often the best ideas happen when you’re with the back against the wall and everything is against you,” says Michaelsen, who notes how smaller budgets, in particular, force creatives to think differently. “You just have to build the confidence in your own capabilities, surround yourself with good people and a good team, and stay close to your client.”

Budweiser’s ‘Bring Home the Bud’ campaign during the Qatar 2022 Fifa World Cup delivered a masterclass in crisis management and drove massive worldwide engagement on social media

According to Michaelsen, belief in the creative process is vital for sponsorship success. Brand-agency relationships must be built on trust, he says, and creative tension can lead to better results if the relationship is open and strong enough to withstand some friction. That dynamic is key to maximising the power of sponsorship, enabling brands to overcome marketing challenges and ultimately produce the most impactful work.

“We are the experts in the field of sports marketing and often a brand comes in that isn’t too familiar with that field, because maybe it’s their first sponsorship or partnership,” says Michaelsen. “So really challenging the brief and setting it up for success is the first crucial step. For us as an agency, often it’s not finding the answers, it’s finding those questions that deliver the answers.

“Being brave enough to open the doors to your process and let the client come in, I think, is important in a time where timings get shorter, budgets get tighter, and you can’t allow to do too many feedback loops that will then end up in some compromise that no one really likes.

“Often, as a creative, you want to protect your ideas as long as possible, to really make them shiny and perfect. But this is really where you have to build confidence and have to be also a good salesman to your client so that they trust you, so that this maybe unpolished idea can turn into something beautiful.”

Produced by SportsPro in collaboration with SportQuake, Impact X is a new annual initiative spotlighting the most impactful, creative and effective partnerships in sport. Click here to find out more.

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The Journey of Nebraska Football Jacob Bower

In an era where college football is increasingly defined by transfer portal headlines and NIL deals, Jacob Bower’s story cuts through the noise with raw authenticity. A former walk-on who once paid his way just to be part of the Nebraska program, Bower has transformed himself into a scholarship linebacker and a symbol of everything […]

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In an era where college football is increasingly defined by transfer portal headlines and NIL deals, Jacob Bower’s story cuts through the noise with raw authenticity.

A former walk-on who once paid his way just to be part of the Nebraska program, Bower has transformed himself into a scholarship linebacker and a symbol of everything the Huskers hope to build under head coach Matt Rhule. His journey, from scout team reps to spring standout, isn’t just a feel-good tale. It’s a blueprint for the kind of player development that still matters in Lincoln.

Bower’s rise from walk-on to scholarship linebacker at Nebraska is the kind of story that reminds fans why they love college football. At just 10 years old, Bower wasn’t chasing tackles; he was singing in a traveling church choir. But during a performance stop at Memorial Stadium, something shifted.
Bower fell in love with Nebraska football, planting the seed for a journey that would one day bring him back, not as a visitor, but as a linebacker.

The Rancho Santa Margarita, California, native had a full ride waiting at Army, with the chance to play rugby and earn a free education. But the pull of Nebraska was stronger. He turned down certainty for a shot at something bigger, walking on in Lincoln and footing the bill himself, all to chase a dream that started in the stands of Memorial Stadium.

After piling up 174 tackles, 6.5 sacks, and 4 interceptions over his final two seasons at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, Bower arrived in Lincoln in 2023 as a walk-on determined to earn his place in the Huskers’ locker room. Capping off his senior season, Bower earned a spot in the Orange County All-Star Game, where he earned recognition as one of the game’s top defensive performers.

After redshirting in his first season at Nebraska, Bower saw action in six games during the 2024 season, making his Husker debut against UTEP. He logged his first career tackle in the win over Northern Iowa, quietly beginning to carve out a role on Nebraska’s special teams and defensive depth chart.

Bower’s relentless drive and breakout spring showing in 2025 didn’t go unnoticed. During a routine practice, Rhule halted the action to deliver a moment that would redefine Bower’s journey, awarding him a scholarship in front of the entire team.

Next. Nebraska Football Season Central. Nebraska Football Season Central. dark

Bower’s path to a Nebraska scholarship wasn’t paved with headlines or shortcuts. From choir kid to walk-on to game-changer, his story is a reminder that in Lincoln, heart still matters. For the Huskers, Bower isn’t just a player; he’s proof that the dream is still alive.

Nebraska Football 2025 Schedule

Home games are bolded. All times central.

Stay up to date on all things Huskers by bookmarking Nebraska Cornhuskers On SI, subscribing to HuskerMax on YouTube, and visiting HuskerMax.com daily.





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Pay to Play: College Baseball and the NCAA’s New Economy of Visibility

  About 6 minutes reading time.  Reginald Armstrong  |    Aug 12th, 2025 10:55pm EDT Apparently, a judge—Claudia Wilken—has ruled that NCAA Division I universities can now be legitimate modern-day Robin Hoods and pay “student” athletes. On June 6, 2025, she approved the House v. NCAA settlement—a federal court decision that fundamentally reshapes the NCAA’s amateurism model. […]

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  About 6 minutes reading time.
 Reginald Armstrong  |    Aug 12th, 2025 10:55pm EDT

Apparently, a judge—Claudia Wilken—has ruled that NCAA Division I universities can now be legitimate modern-day Robin Hoods and pay “student” athletes. On June 6, 2025, she approved the House v. NCAA settlement—a federal court decision that fundamentally reshapes the NCAA’s amateurism model.

 

 

No more scholarship caps. A new structure for revenue-sharing. And perhaps most notably: the creation of a Name, Image, and Likeness clearinghouse for NIL deals exceeding $600—for transparency, of course.

 

As an additional development in the House v. NCAA settlement, attorneys have now agreed to allow NIL collectives to exceed the proposed $20.5 million revenue-sharing cap—provided deals meet a loosely defined “fair market value” threshold. This adjustment effectively softens the cap and reopens the door for high-dollar NIL arrangements, particularly among power programs with deep-pocketed boosters.

 

The payout? $20.5 million per school annually. How that sum gets divvied up remains unclear—I haven’t drilled down into the particulars. But let’s not kid ourselves: the lion’s share will likely be funneled toward college football and men’s basketball.

 

Still—college baseball is stirring. With the 2025 College World Series freshly concluded and the transfer portal buzzing like a switchboard, this offseason isn’t idle—it’s ideological. NIL valuations, roster reshuffles, and coaching chess moves now rival the MLB draft in drama. LSU, Arkansas, and Texas A&M are stacking talent like hedge funds stack assets. We’ve entered an era where a pitcher’s arm comes attached to a media strategy. 

 

Just look at the decisions being made now—

Dylan Loy

A lefty who pitched in Tennessee’s CWS finals and SEC title game, Loy opted to transfer to Georgia Tech rather than go pro—likely weighing brand development and NIL upside against draft uncertainty.

Gavin Kash

#image_title

One of college baseball’s top sluggers with 41 career home runs, Kash remains unsigned, evaluating portal offers with six-figure NIL implications.

Brady Neal

LSU’s promising catcher, entered the portal post-surgery and has since committed to Alabama. His stat line (.276/.408/.578 with 9 HRs) suggests future draft appeal—but his decision to stay collegiate ensures medical recovery, visibility, and a fresh start under Alabama’s rebuild.

Zach Root

Alabama infielder Jason Torres (32) during an NCAA baseball game against Presbyterian on Sunday, March 9, 2025

Arkansas pitcher Zach Root (33) throws a pitch against Washington State during an NCAA baseball game on Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, in Fayetteville, Ark. (AP Photo/Michael Woods)

East Carolina’s lefty ace, transferred to Arkansas after injury rather than jump into the 2025 draft—presumably to reset valuation through performance and pitch under the spotlight of SEC competition.

Jason Torres

Alabama infielder Jason Torres (32) during an NCAA baseball game against Presbyterian on Sunday, March 9, 2025

Miami’s injured first baseman committed to Alabama—choosing legacy rebuild over uncertain draft slotting.

Conner O’Neal

A senior catcher drafted in the 9th round by the Dodgers, O’Neal received a paltry $2,500 signing bonus. Meanwhile, unsigned collegians are fielding NIL deals at ten to forty times that. It’s a reversal of the path once considered inevitable.

These aren’t isolated cases. They’re proof points. College isn’t just a stop on the way to the majors—it’s a strategic platform, and sometimes, the more prosperous one.

That in turn reawakens the longstanding tension around Title IX, as questions of equitable access and compensation intersect with economic realities. Revenue sports will drive the bulk of distribution. But fairness? That depends on who’s holding the purse—and the mic.

 

Even Dabo Swinney, Clemson’s Head Football coach and a symbol of collegiate consistency, recently dismissed the playoff structure as doomed to “blow up in five years.” His frustration didn’t end there—it echoed the silent groan of coaches and traditionalists who see NIL, the portal, and the new power dynamics as a departure from collegiate soul, not an evolution.

 

And I get it. I’ve long believed that athletes—true student-athletes—deserved stipends. Even a slice of their NIL. But now? Now we’re staring down a landscape where kids not old enough to legally toast a win in some states will earn more than seasoned professionals—teachers, lawyers, even broadcasters. When that level of income arrives before the diploma, it alters incentives and confuses identity.

 

The most troubling part? Athletes may now weigh whether to go pro at all. The path to prosperity for many was the draft. Suiting up at the highest level wasn’t just a dream—it was survival strategy. But now, campus can be more lucrative than rookie ball. College isn’t just a proving ground—it’s become a platform. And increasingly, a destination.

 

I still miss the voices of Keith Jackson and Chris Schenkel. I miss when athletes stayed four years on balance, honoring the name on the front of the uniform as much as the one on the back. When a college athlete’s story began at freshman orientation and didn’t end until graduation caps flew.

 

As a lifelong USC Trojan supporter since 1973, I remember when the band struck up “Conquest,” the cardinal-and-gold pageantry unfolded, and Saturdays felt like sacred ritual—rooted in rhythm, pride, and continuity. The culture wasn’t curated—it was lived.

 

Today? Athletes hop universities like we change socks. Only now, they’re paid—legally, openly, and no longer through booster laundering.

You might call this progress. You might call it overdue. But let’s not pretend there hasn’t been a cost.

 

Something rooted. Something rhythmic. Something undeniably collegiate has been quietly traded for something transactional.

And as college baseball recalibrates—with expanded rosters, NIL money chasing exit velocity and ERA, and players weighing pro dreams against collegiate branding—we stand at a threshold. If the game still wants heart, it will need storytellers, not just scouts. If it wants culture, it must frame the moments that echo—beyond bat speed and box scores.

 

We’ve entered the age of visibility economics. The question now is: What will we show—and what will we remember?

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Bill Belichick era begins at UNC :: WRALSportsFan.com

Here with WRL sports executive producer Pat Welter, Mark Bergen, it’s double duty. WRL Triangle 2 and the WREL daily download. Pat, football season is days away. And the three triangle teams UNC, Duke, NC State, a ton of storylines. So I thought, what better way to preview the season than to do a draft […]

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Here with WRL sports executive producer Pat Welter, Mark Bergen, it’s double duty. WRL Triangle 2 and the WREL daily download. Pat, football season is days away. And the three triangle teams UNC, Duke, NC State, a ton of storylines. So I thought, what better way to preview the season than to do a draft of the top storylines in advance of the 2025 season. Hey man, I’m getting ready for my fantasy football draft with my college buddies. I’m making rankings. I got spreadsheets. Why not apply the same logic to college football. I’m all in. Absolutely. You’re the guest of honor, Pat. So, uh, I’m gonna give you the very first pick of the three triangle teams. Imagine the conversation starts with Bill Belichick, but the first pick is yours, the top story line going into the 2025 season. Yeah, I think this is an example of an obvious first pick. How it plays out is the question, right? Will it work with Bill Belichick? Will he win football games? He’s won the offseason. We’ve seen that like they are the number one storyline in all of college football, you know. Ohio State, we don’t know who their quarterback is, the defending champ. Alabama, Nick Saban’s 2 years removed. How are they gonna bounce back? Texas Arch Manning, small potatoes compared to one of, if not the greatest NFL coaches of all time, coming to Chapel Hill trying to prove. That not only can he still coach because there were some question marks about him at the end with Patriots, but can’t he coach in college, it’s one of the biggest storylines in sport and certainly our biggest storyline here in the triangle. So when you were in Charlotte for the ACC kickoff event, how much more attention did Bill Belichick get while he was there compared to some of the other coaches and players that were at the event? It was entirely different. Now this is my 4th year covering this event, so it’s like I’ve been doing it, you know, for decades, uh, but my understanding, he’s one of, if not the only coaches to not do Radio Row, which was partly because of the circus that would ensue if he did and probably all these podcasts and radio hosts around the country trying to trap him into going viral. So you know, a way I can’t really blame the PR staff, but uh yeah man, it was, it was wholly different like there was more security. Uh, there were so many one on one requests locally that we got a private invitation only media session with Bill Belichick about like 9 a.m. before the day had really even started and then it kind of just became. He took over, right? Like you’re supposed to be in the room for Dave Doran’s big podium moment and everyone’s just getting in line in the room next door for the what’s called the breakout room, which is like a secondary interview where you can ask even more questions and there was every camera available there and not everyone there is covering Bill Belichick. They’re covering Clemson, they’re covering Florida State, etc. etc. and anyone and everyone just had to be there to get the footage to see what was said. Yeah, and the, the stakes are huge. I mean, it’s UNC’s commitment to go all in to keep up with the Joneses, not just in the ACC, but I think keeping up with the SEC, the top dogs in, in the Big 10 as well. And I think we’re gonna look back on this of a few things for this current season. UNC hasn’t won a conference title since 1980. Can he help guide the Tar Heels back there maybe this season, maybe future seasons? We’ll get into that in a second. Or I mean, we, we can’t be remiss of the fact of. That CBS This Morning interview with his 24 year old girlfriend Jordan Hudson and was that the start of when things started to go awry with this how this plays out, you know, we’re gonna look back on this so was that a sign of things to come, or is that just, uh, something that just so happened the offseason we’re laughing about it months later if UNC has on field success, those are the stakes. No, I mean, and I feel like we could go down this draft right now and just like select Bill Belichick’s storyline A, B, C, and D. I, I mean, I guess I’ll give you an opportunity to make your second pick before I just start blowing all the way through. No, uh, I, I think one other thing you have to say about Belichick, UNC is paying him an average of $10 million per year through 2029. How many seasons he coaches at UNC, so like he’s here for the time being, but keep in mind his buyout if he chooses to leave UNC, only $1 million at this point. It was $10 million before June 1, so it’s just things to keep an eye on as the season plays out. But you know, on field two QNC TCU, that, uh, Labor Day night at Keenan Memorial, it’s gonna be huge prime time game two. That’s gonna be your first litmus test in those 1st 4 games to me those are huge because you go into those 4 games and then what is UNC’s record going into week 5 against Clemson, where traditionally Clemson’s been one of the top dogs in the conference year in and year out. If you look at say the last 10-20 years in the ACC. I think the question I keep asking myself more and more is how long is he gonna stick around some of your points there about the buyout and whatnot. And he stuck around this long, like he’s, he coached in week one and that was a box check that we weren’t sure it was going to happen a few months ago. And it’s not like I’m saying this with like any inside knowledge. I’m just kind of reading the writing on the wall. It seems to me that. There’s gonna be an opportunity for Bill in the NFL next year if this stays on the tracks at all. Like he’s not gonna need to go to the college football playoff for an NFL team to look around that’s, you know, how many teams in the NFL are there that are just desperate for the same kind of attention, relevancy, competency. You know, you’re telling me like a downtrodden franchise. I guess I don’t want to put franchises through the mud, but like the Cleveland Browns place that Belichick is in history. The Arizona Cardinals, like some of these teams are the Miami Dolphins that are just trying to find their way back, aren’t gonna be looking at Bill Belichick if he shows a degree of competency at Carolina. So the question comes down to is like how much does he actually like college? How much does he still want to stick it to all those NFL. Owners that didn’t hire him this previous cycle and how much does he want to set up his son potentially Steven Belichick for potential inheritance situation? Not that that is like what’s been set in stone here, but it’s hard not to acknowledge that it could be a possibility that Steven Belichick could inherit this down the line. I would think that UNC would be heck of a lot stronger defensively, the discipline, not beating yourself, and what I’m talking about, and I don’t mean to short change Mack Brown. Contributions to this program, and I promise you we’ll get some other picks here. One last thought is this is North Carolina is ranked bottom half in the FBS in scoring defense, total defense in penalties in each of the last four seasons. I don’t envision you’ll have those same issues with the team that is coached by Bill Belichick for the 2025 season. I expect those things to be improved upon tenfold this season for the North Carolina Tar Heels. I agree with you. At a minimum, like they aren’t gonna go to a Boston college and get blown out and embarrassed. They aren’t gonna lose to James Madison giving up 70 points. The, they ultimately might end in the same result, like they might land at 8 and 4 with a trip to the Mayo Bowl, which is like Groundhog Day all over again for Carolina fans, but I think you’re gonna be. I think you’re gonna be prouder of that 8 and 4. I think it’s gonna be not as maybe empty calories as some of what it was with Matt Brown. Certainly a ton of excitement with Belichick. I’ll go to my next, uh, to my pick, my very first pick. I’m gonna go to Duke, which the best team in the state a year ago, getting votes in the coaches poll, the AP preseason poll, only team in North Carolina to do that. And I go to Duke in specifically the quarterback position. Darien Mensa is going to make a reported $8 million over the next two seasons with Duke. And I just feel like we’re not talking nearly enough about this of how he performs year two of Manny Diaz, but $8 million when you’re talking the NIL era Patrick Welter. We’re talking about among the highest paid players in the NIL era. Duke has one in the quarterback Darren Min and how he’s able to translate, translate that to on-field success. Don’t forget too, he’s playing his former team on September 13th when Duke takes on Tulane as well. So I’m keeping an eye on this just because I see that $8 million. Can you imagine having millions of dollars walking around out of? College campus, I, oh man, but that’s the cost of doing business in, in college football in 2025. I can tell you I saw Da Menta walking around ACC kickoff with some very fine clothing and, uh, and a handbag. Uh, I have not quite graduated to, uh, designer handbag levels myself, uh, so props to Mensa for the style choice, just a really smooth kid, the way he conducts himself. The way he talks, the way he interacts with other people. I’ve been impressed by that, and he plays football the same way. And one of the most like under discussed storylines is like the investment that Duke has made into football. Like we all know about their basketball program and everything that they have done and what they have built and how they’ve kind of really capitalized in this modern, um, college sports landscape. Nina King is trying to do the same thing in football. Now they’re a private institution. Our access to their records and finances and sources are, are not as readily available as they are with NC State, uh, and, and UNC, but to your point there, that reported figure about, uh, Mensa’s salary, I happen to know one of his agents from a prior story, and I texted him after that. He didn’t like confirm that number, but he didn’t deny it either, uh, and that’s a lot of money and you think about this is a team that. Hired Mike Elko. Who brought the program back to relevancy, they lose him, you’re like, oh, well where are they gonna go from here? Well, they bring in another top coach and Manny Diaz, and like I guess probably another draftable storyline would be like how long is is Manny Diaz gonna stick around? But like I think Duke’s certainly gonna try to keep him, you know, like they’re gonna try, they’re gonna try to give him a number that he can’t refuse if there’s, if he’s successful again, um, you know, he could, he could have been one and done with a nine win season his first year certainly. Like is this a guy that could. Go back to Miami, you know, where he’s from, you know, the ball is, OK, he just broke my brain a little bit, Pat, you know, I could see it though. I could see it though, or any number of those type of level of programs are gonna be looking for a coach. Coming off a 9 win season, uh, Mensa replacing Malik Murphy. Malik Murphy transfers to Oregon State. We’re talking about a player too when you talk about all the transfers and how big the transfer portal is in modern college football. ESPN had Mensa as the number 3. Overall transfer in its final transfer rating, so we’re talking about a very high caliber recruit at the quarterback position. I’m excited to see him play this fall. One note from uh from Manny Diaz we got on Mensa and the recruiting. I think it was generally understood that Malik Murphy, you know, left on his own to get quote unquote bigger bag. I don’t know that not to be true, but something that Manny Diaz said kind of sparked my eyebrow that made me think that maybe they didn’t want him back. He said that they thought they could be more efficient passing the ball, throwing more touchdown passes, so it sounded a little bit to me reading between the lines that they were like. You can go ahead and leave. We think we can do better. And they think this Mensa guy is the guy that can take their offense to the next level. And you might be laughing, see Duke football. Why are you guys talking about this compared to state Wake Forest? You would see Duke beat all three a year ago. Duke beat all. 3 year ago, so we’ll see. We, we got to get a team in the, in the top 25 but before seasons end going into this preseason, I want to have some more excitement, but Duke getting some votes in some of those preseason rankings, we’ll see how this shakes out Duke kicks off the season. Uh, against Elon to, to kick off the season. Uh, Pat, you have the next pick in terms of top storylines. All right, well, I know Wolfpack fans are already emailing me. You guys haven’t still talked about NC State minutes in. I got this email. I’m not gonna put the guy out there on blast about talking about Belichick. He was very upset that. I called Chapel Hill the center of the college football universe. But look, it’s tongue in cheek, but it’s kind of true right now, at least from an intention standpoint. But yes, NC State, the place that has the most fans in this region, a team that we obviously should respect for what they’ve done the last, what, like 13 years under Dave Doran. But my draft pick here for the #3 overall pick is how hot is the seat on Dave Dorn? Oh, OK. All right, make the case. Make the case. Now I, I like, I like Dave Doran even though sometimes he feels like he doesn’t like me, but that’s just, that’s just how he is. He’s a prickly guy. He’s got for his guys. He’s a super lo. Loyal guy, I respect all those things about him and by far the longest tenured coach here in the state of North Carolina. If you take all of the other head coaches at the FBS level, Dorn has more experience at state than the rest of them combined at the college level, at the college level, and that’s a great point because it leads into the hot seat. It’s not that Dave Dorn is doing a bad job, but what happens when a coach stays at one school for so long, there’s a complacency that starts to set in among the fan base, among the donors, and eventually you need a change in momentum. You, you need a spark, you need a new direction, and I always, you know, advise against that in a way because the grass is not always greener as we’ve seen in college sports. But when you’ve got Bill Belichick coming in to Carolina, that changes the equation. They are making a serious investment in football. Duke is making a serious investment in football. We just heard from Boke Oregon the other day. NC State is as well. We saw them last season. The transfer portal, they bring in a lot of high profile names Grayson McCall, Noah Rogers, a lot of receivers. That does not work out for a variety of reasons. It seems like this year Dave’s getting a little bit more back to basics, a team that he’s called more coachable, seems to fit his character, uh, more appropriately. So we’re going to see if it nets out results because. Just rinse it and repeat 8 and 4 and he beat Carolina and not to throw the Mayo Bowl under the bus again. Like that’s not gonna be good enough for Wolfpack fans. Like and like everybody now is, is poisoned by the college football playoff. Everybody wants a taste. It’s expanded now. NC State fans feel, and as they rightly should like they should be competing for it and if, and if they’re not. We’ll see how hot that seat gets. Yeah, so in his 12 years he’s had 9 wins in 4 of the 12 years he’s had here in Raleigh, but he’s never eclipsed that 9 win mark. So you never get to the bottom of the barrel, but you never quite get to the elite of the elite. Now something that will help Dave Dorn in the 2025 season, NC State doesn’t play Clemson this year, so you get to bypass Clemson at least during the regular season. That helps a lot. And I know Wolfpack fans. will say, well, you only have to go back to 2023 and 2021. Dave Dorn is 2-9 against Clemson as the head coach of the NC State Wolfpack. Now Dorn, you mentioned his contract situation under contract through 2029 at the time of this recording, his buyout would be about $15.5 million. That goes down as time goes on, but you’re kind of just stuck in this middle ground where he’s not bad enough to justify firing. I don’t think it’s that bad. But it’s uh also how many times can you get 8 wins, 9 wins, and then say, you know, again you mentioned the college football playoff and the expansion, just getting in on that conversation being, say the 12th team would be huge for this program and again you look at what UNC is doing, you know, uh, down the street with Belichick, there’s a lot of excitement with that. So it’s like it’s not to say he hasn’t been successful, but it’s leaving you wanting more. In his 12 years so far, but look, he’s got a quarterback coming back with CJ Bailey, um, who we’ll talk about, but that actually dovetails perfectly my next pick, Pat, and that is your 4 game winning streak against UNC. So that’s one thing that Dave Dorn’s been able to hang his hat on. He’s 8 and 4 against the Tar Heels during his tenure, but the 4 game winning streak, if that’s extended again, especially now that they have Belichick, that final game of the regular season. Even if the teams have seasons that, you know, go off the rails, that game will still matter to the people here in this state, especially the investment that UNC made with Belichick. So that, that’s huge considering NC State. Dave Dorn’s had the Tar Heels number for several years now. When you look about what got Matt Brown fired was like he didn’t beat his rivals other than Duke. Didn’t beat NC State, which everyone in the tribe knows actually the more important football rivalry, and then he also would have like inexcusable no shows. You can’t have both, was kind of my argument with Matt Brown. You can’t have maybe one or the other, but you can’t have both. Now, what Dave Doran has had, to your point is he’s beating his rivals and that’ll keep you around for a long time because NC State fans at the end of the season, helps with that placement of that game. Right after Thanksgiving, everybody’s watching that game versus Carolina, and no matter how the season goes, like, even as bad as last season was, to go in there into Chapel Hill and to beat Carolina the way they did. Makes you feel pretty good. So it goes a long way, but I, I know Dorn, Dorn has tapped into that rivalry better than anybody in the triangle. Like Matt Brown never really seemed to get it. Like he, Carolina for whatever reason downplays the rivalry at NC State, almost like, oh, we’re, we’re too good for it. Like we’re, we’re above it not in recent history, but the results don’t say so, but, uh, Dave Doran, you know, what do you call it, there’s that quote where he called, uh, those. This podcast, but I can’t swear, so we just, I just bleeped out myself, but you know what I mean? Like that kind of stuff maybe doesn’t resonate with like reeds poorly and social media resonates great with the players in the locker room. Google it if you don’t know what we’re talking about. Google it if you don’t know what we’re talking about. And here’s the thing ECU sitting here and saying, wait a second, we just beat State in the Military Bowl and we get a rematch of that game, opening week of the season, Carter Findley Stadium. I can’t wait for that. That’s beautiful poetry and irony. Shakespearean, right? We’re like. Carolina is too good for the state rivalry, but state’s too good for the ECU rivalry, and they got, they lost there, but I know Doran’s not gonna overlook that one now. We’ll see. Um, I think it’s your pick. You’re up. Well, this is where we are. We’ve each had two picks each so far, so it’s number 5 or 4. Who’s counting? Who’s counting? Either way, this is the steal of the draft. Am I blowing out this mic? I don’t know. It’s worth it. Jordan Hudson, we’ve barely mentioned her. How much of a factor is she gonna play in the season? How visible is she going to be? I mean, this was, we talk about Bill Belichick being the center of the college football universe. It was really Jordan Hudson was the center of the college football universe and that all peaked, um, and we may be exhausted and bit off more than we could chew with it after that CBS interview debacle. She’s not really been seen from or heard from much since. Now I can say now I didn’t tweet this out at the risk of like. Doing, uh, uh, like it being more than it was because I didn’t witness it firsthand, but I was at Carolina last week for the Bill Belichick press conference. One of my colleagues over there said that he saw Jordan Hudson in the building. OK, she was so much for that, that band for Pablo Torre. Maybe I should have tweeted that out. It’s on the podcast. I’m we’ll get this out there. It’s not like we, it’s not like she disappeared off the face of the earth. It’s not like she broke up. They just wisely put the focus back on football. It’s kind of been the message and that’s been. Everything they’ve done publicly since, but will she be at the first game, um, you know, is she gonna, is she gonna make hay again? Is she gonna make headlines again in some way, fashion? Certainly I think she’ll be there. I think she’ll be there, um, in what capacity we’ll see, sidelines, box, what have you, uh, again I go back to what I said off the top. If the season goes south for the Tar Heels, I think you go that CBS This Morning interview was. You know, maybe the moment you look back to where things went awry or if it’s something that you look back on, it was like, oh, isn’t that hilarious when that happened, uh, that’s huge, that’s huge. So we’ll see how that unfolds. That wasn’t even on my boards, that is a good pick, Pat, right? It’s like, it’s like it’s, it’s part of your fantasy draft. Like you gotta have your rankings, and it’s like there’s always like, oh wait, there’s tiers of rankings, and that Jordan Hudson was a tier of her own and it’s not to say that like. I guess I would just say this, like what, what we saw out of the Jordan Hudson Hudson saga the first few months raised the alarms of like how into this is Bill Belichick really, you know what I mean? Like is he just. Having fun, is he just like setting up his kids for success, setting up his girlfriend for success, and he’s just kind of like coaching football, but he’s not like he’s on a retirement tour. I think he wanted to coach because I look at all the media he did in this this gap year, if you will, not coaching the Patriots anymore. How many different shows and podcasts and programs he was on. No, and I, and I, and I agree with you now. Ultimately, like what we’ve seen in the last few months, and this is the power of. Of good PR is at least now I’m back in like I think he is in. I think he is locked in. Um, some of the cracks that were showing initially with Carolina seem to be buttoned up. They brought in a ton of players. They seem to be doing things the best that they can. Ultimately how good Carolina is doesn’t really have anything to do with Jordan Hudson. It has to do with how talented they are. They’ve brought in 70 new players and it’s good if a coach as Bill Belichick can be. Ultimately college football is about your talent level like Nick Saban. Kirby Smart, great coaches. Those teams have the best players. That’s what it takes to win. So how you can say all you want about Vo check this, Bill Balichick that situation of football. Jordan Hudson, it’s about your players. I’m not sure Carolina really is talented enough to go better than around 8 and 4. This is perfect for my next pick quarterback battle. G Lopez Max Johnson, the battle of the lefties. Let’s go. It’s a lefty right here. All right. All right. Here’s how I read this. G Lopez was the one who was at the ACC kickoff event, so to me he would get first crack at it. Max Johnson working his way back from that femur injury he had in the opener a year ago, has a lot of experience at both, uh, previous stops LSU and Texas A&M, but Lopez, another transfer that we’re talking about, I think he’s gonna get the first crack at it when we see the Tar Heels trot out of the field and it’s like. You know how we expect North Carolina to perform this year. I don’t think we’ve talked nearly enough about the players on the field and who your starting quarterback is. I’d imagine it’s gonna be Gio Lopez. Time will tell between now and, uh, kickoff on Labor Day. Uh, it’s a similar storyline to where like last year I wrote a colum. that was like Carolina needs Jacoby Criswell to be its starting quarterback and that wasn’t to say that like Jacoby Criswell was like the savior. It was just like as things were constituted after the spring. It’s pretty clear to me and most of the people like on the Carolina beat that Max Johnson nor Connor Harrell were it. Like after having seen Drake May for a couple of years, you go to that oppression. Howe is well before Drake May, so you had, you had a nice several year stretch of of strong, I don’t know, elite level, but very strong quarterback play. Yes, yes, and so to see that was a contract. And I think everybody knew it or was talking around it. So when Jacoby Crys came in, it’s like, well, clearly the staff probably knows it too, and they need to make this work. Now they, they kind of kept him as like a distant third the whole time and then ultimately he finds his way in and and the cream rises to the crop. Some of that was obviously Max’s injury. But just seeing Max in that first game, I just, yes, he’s played at LSU. Yes, he’s played at Texas A&M. He’s super experienced. Matt Brown seemed to really like him. Bill Belichick seems to really like him. He’s the son of an NFL quarterback. All these things can be true, but prior to his injury, I don’t think he really had the measurable physical skills to really be anything more than a game manager in the NFL. I mean, he’s famously the son of the ultimate game manager and Brad Johnson, um, nothing to take away from a Super Bowl winner, um, but I just, I just, I just don’t think he’s the solution. He’s coming back from a whole. Horrific injury. So I think whether Gio Lopez is the guy or not, they need him to be the guy. You will learn this about me, Pat Walter, and there’s one thing I abide by, and it’s follow the money talking about the reports of how much players are making. Geo Lopez, 2 years, $4 million with North Carolina. So again, you’re paying this, paying him to sit on the sideline and then why would you bring him to the ACC kickoff I again, I’d imagine he gets first crack at it again if North Carolina goes off the the rails though. The freshman Bryce Baker, I know has shown some promise. There’s some intrigue there. I’d imagine they red shirt him. He could play up to 4 games and still maintain his red shirt status, something to keep an eye on though, but I’d imagine it’s gonna be Go Lopez. If not, I would say Max Johnson and Baker would be 3rd in line, but that’s just my guess. I am not boots on the ground, but that’s looking at this from afar, how I’m reading the tea leaves with the quarterback position again, the most, the most important position in all of football. Well, like it’s important to note that like. Came in after the spring and, and any Tar Heel fan obviously already knows that but that is significant. You got a guy coming in on a team full of all new players and then your most important new player wasn’t even here in the spring with the new coach coaching college football for the first time. That’s a lot of things. What could go wrong. Yeah, what could go wrong. And oh, by the way, he’s only played in, uh, what, what conference is South Alabama in? Not exactly we’re we’re gonna get IT on that exactly the biggest conference. College football, but I mean, you know, looking at some of his clips, I like what I see. I talked to him a little bit at ACC kickoff. I was like, dude, you just seem like a gamer. And he was like, Yeah, I think I like that assessment. You know, he’s, he’s like, I don’t know if he’s an NFL caliber quarterback, but he’s very much the kind of quarterback that seems to win in college just from what I’ve looked at and clearly that South Alabama proved it to be true. We’ll see if it translates to, to the ACC. Let’s go rapid fire. Let’s go 2 more picks each or 1 more pick each, but, uh, you’re up next, Pat. Well, it’s, I would say CJ Bailey. I’ll, I’ll save that one. I’m gonna go back to NC State though. The defense. Like if NC State’s gonna win, like, yeah, CJ Bailey’s gotta be good. I think he will be good. But if NC State’s gonna really get back to form, it starts defensively. They were not a Dave Doran football team. Anybody on that team would tell you that there was big injuries. There was Dave Doran talked about kind of a coachability issue. I think, you know, the NIL seemed to maybe kind of blister that locker room a little bit last year. And it’s from all our accounts this team is much more together, much more coachable, much more in Dave’s DNA, which I already covered earlier, and I think if NC State’s gonna get back to form, it starts on that side of the ball. You got a new defensive coordinator Tony Gibson’s gone now the head coach at Marshall’s. So you’ve got, uh, DJ Elliott, Charlton Warren as well taking over there, new offensive coordinator as well. Curt Roper taking over as OC as well. So don’t shortchange that that you’ve had coaching turnover coming off a 6 and 7th season for the Wolfpack. Yeah, and Curt Roper, I guess it is. But he’s also a guy that recruited CJ Bailey, had been on the staff previously as the quarterback’s coach, huge relationship with Bailey. So in a way it’s continuity in all the most important respects, but you’re right, DJ Elliott’s a guy that Doran as far as I know, has not worked with, came from the NFL though, which is something that that they like that kind of resonates with the locker room. I’ll take Bailey in the sophomore season and it’s more so it’s gonna kind of be a two full pick is his rapport with receivers. There’s a lot of returning talent on this team. But coupled with the fact that KC Concepcion is also gone now over at Texas A&M playing for Mike Eo, former Duke coach, uh, in College Station, yes, yes, yes, uh, but a a guy I thought had played well as a freshman thrust into action because Grayson McCall had career ending injuries. So Bailey’s development, it’s only the 3rd true freshman to start in program history. Uh, a guy by the name of Philip Rivers, one being one of the other, the other two, and. And MJ Morris as well, so I thought Bailey played well. He’s added some weight since he came in as a true freshman, but his development’s gonna be huge for NC State in the 2025 season, and he’s just like a bright light. Like he’s a guy that just like walks into the room, lights it up, very positive, big smile. He had that from like the beginning and then the difference this year is that maturity. Uh, you talked about the physical weight there’s just like the, the intangible kind of weight that comes with being the guy the the force. That when he walks in the room when he steps into the huddle and it seems like everybody respects him and like Dave Dorn has thought about too, just like what just having an unquestioned leader and a returning quarterback does for an entire team and like he hasn’t had that. Like it’s been transferred the last couple of years and that and neither of them has worked out from Grayson McCall uh to Brandon Armstrong and it’s just derailed the entire season. So for them to come in with a guy that is the guy that I think does have NFL potential. It’s absolutely huge for NC State and you know they are gonna like actually get in a college football playoff conversation. The defense gets them back to a baseline and then CJ Bailey take them over the top. OK, OK, and he’s got some pass catchers. Justin Julie at the tight end position, uh, yeah, so Hollywood Smothers back as a running back, so they do have some offensive talent. Uh, Pat, you’ve got one more pick and I’ll give you my last pick, and we’ll wrap up here. OK. My last pick is whatever the crazy thing that’s going to happen this season that we can’t possibly imagine is, I want that. Like I want chaos. Pat Walter, agent of chaos. Was it JJ Jones planting the flat or stealing the flag that NC State planted on his own field leading to a giant fight. Matt Brown, you, you wanna see ECU and NC State throw up their dukes again like they did in the military. I can’t say yes. I don’t want to say yes, but yes, no, but you know, you took like the spirit of it, yes, you know what I mean, what a good-natured rivalry is, and that’s, uh, I, I’m with you in terms of that, that opening game of everything as much excitement as there is in Chapel Hill. The bad blood between ECU and NC State is something absolutely I’m watching opening week of the season and every year here there’s something that’s going to happen that we can’t possibly imagine like Bill Belichick being the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. Like there’s going to be something that happens that we can’t possibly imagine that we couldn’t possibly draft. I’m all in for that. That’s why I love working here and you know what’s gonna happen. All right, age of chaos, uh, I’ve got an honorable mention. I’ll go to my actual pick. Duke cornerback Chandler Rivers might be the best pro prospects, one of the best cornerbacks in the nation. Keep an eye on him. I wanna give him a shout out. Duke has a linebacker named Memorable Factor from British, and if he’s watching this, we want to interview you. He also has a YouTube channel about rugby and cricket, 113,000 YouTube subscribers. Memorable factor, yeah, yeah, he’s a British linebacker on Duke comes from a rugby background and a rowing background. Apparently has won national medals doing this, and he just so happens to play linebacker for the Duke Blue Devils. I’m blowing your mind right now. I did not know about this, and my first question. as you listen to all these like random like third tier sports like rugby and and what was the other one cricket, uh, well, his YouTube channel is about rugby and cricket. This is a Bill Belichick guy. This is a he play lacrosse because maybe that’s why he’s not on the cardios. Maybe he can transfer next year. Shout out memorable factor though that is my final pick. I saw I was going through Duke’s roster. I was like, wait a second. It was almost like one of those things you’d see on The Onion or the old Keel and Key and Peele sketch where they’re going through their backgrounds, but oh man, shout out. Memorable factor and uh I’d love to see him get on the field. I know Duke’s got a talented defense this year, but I was going through the roster. I’m like, wait a second. I had like let me double check. I gotta start working on my puns now for the highlights a memorable factor. He’s the one and only Pat Walter Mark Berg and we appreciate you watching here on the WRL Daily Download and WRL Triangle and 2. We’ll have plenty of analysis all season long. Football is also is almost here. Pat, thank you so much for your time today. Let’s draft. Here we go. Fantasy football is back. And, and, and so is college. So long, everybody. Sweet. Yeah, that was great. I remembered it after our first topic cause I.



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NIL

In-house collective, intellectual property, and asset protection

The “BBNIL Suite” is now officially the in-house collective for University of Kentucky athletics. Now run by JMI, this new agency will help athlete secure third-party NIL deals in addition to the rev-share payments that will be made by school. Kentucky has officially become one of the few schools to move a collective in-house. This […]

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August 13, 2025

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The “BBNIL Suite” is now officially the in-house collective for University of Kentucky athletics. Now run by JMI, this new agency will help athlete secure third-party NIL deals in addition to the rev-share payments that will be made by school. Kentucky has officially become one of the few schools to move a collective in-house.

This group’s top priority will be to negotiate deals, build athlete brands, and ensure every deal passes through the newly established NIL Go clearinghouse. Kentucky is moving everything under one roof and attempting to protect the brand.

“It gives us an opportunity so that our partners are somewhat protected, Kentucky athletic director Mitch Barnhart said on Tuesday. “The intellectual property, institutional property; it’s really important that if people want to use our marks, use our facilities for part of their endorsement property, that’s part of the deal. You come to the University of Kentucky and you’re part of our family and you get to use our things, but also that’s part of the relationship. There’s a responsibility and a right that comes with that.”

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This new collective will replace Club Blue as the official collective for Kentucky athletics. However, it will not be the only avenue for athletes to try and broker NIL deals. Barnhart says that UK players can try and get deals elsewhere but it will be tricky. The UK brand will not be available if they leave the BBNIL umbrella.

“Under the rules, they can still provide NIL opportunities. They would have to go through the range of compensation in NIL Go nationally like everybody else. We think that now if they do that, they probably wouldn’t have the IP rights and those kind of things. So we’re hopeful that as we go, we can sort of keep folks focused on what has been sort of our pathway forward. We have the financial responsibility in this new world that we’ve gotta take care of,” Barnhart said. “We gotta make sure that we protect both the folks that are in the program in terms of the sponsors as well as protect our student-athletes.”

“If a couple athletes decide to go off and do their own thing, it sort of hurts the entire team. The team is stronger together in everything you do. On the field and off the field. On the court and off the court. Your marketing value and those kind of things are better if you can do those things together. There’s lots of examples of that.”

Barnhart also specifically mentioned that BBNIL would strike some individual deals when needed, but to use the Kentucky brand, athletes will need to work directly with JMI. This is important because collectives are not going away anytime soon. The SCORE Act is a bill that codifies the House settlement and will provide national framework for NIL enforcement. This would give college athletics antitrust protection and could legitimately enforce “valid business purpose” rules upon booster-drive third-party collectives. However, it needs to pass first. Schools need collectives and rev-share payments to fund programs.

The athletic department is eliminating its successful third-party collective and handing the keys over to JMI in this historic deal. UK is all-in on this new NIL venture as the school adjusts to the rev-share era.



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Preseason AP Poll: First Top 25 revealed ahead of 2025 College Football Season

The preseason AP Poll is here as the top 25 rankings were revealed ahead of the 2025 college football season. It’s time to gear up for the regular season. There are plenty of national championship contenders near the top of the AP Poll. This could very well be a wide open college football season. Without […]

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August 13, 2025

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The preseason AP Poll is here as the top 25 rankings were revealed ahead of the 2025 college football season. It’s time to gear up for the regular season.

There are plenty of national championship contenders near the top of the AP Poll. This could very well be a wide open college football season.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the AP Poll Top 25 ahead of kickoff. We start at the top!

Texas is geared up to win a national title this season with what they have at their disposal. Arch Manning steps in at quarterback and, arguably, he’ll be the most responsible.

Steve Sarkisian has led this program to the CFP semifinals twice but it’s time to take the next step. They’re all in to become kings of the college football world.

Practice (Photo by Steve Manuel)

Penn State is running it back, similar to what Big Ten foe Ohio State did last season. Drew Allar leads the charge at QB and is aided by RBs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen.

On defense, Dani Dennis-Sutton headlines an elite defensive unit, as they’ll collectively replace Abdul Carter. The Nittany Lions are on the short list of national title contenders.

Ohio State comes in as the defending national champions but can they win back to back? Georgia did it recently of course, but the Buckeyes have to replace their QB.

Even with someone new like Julian Sayin under center, WR Jeremiah Smith can make him look like a superstar. On defense, DB Caleb Downs is back and captains a very solid defense, despite the unit losing NFL-talent to last year’s draft.

Dabo Swinney and Clemson returned to a large national spotlight last season with their most successful year in a few seasons. Winning the ACC and returning to the CFP was just the first step.

As far as how the AP Poll sees them, this will be a very competitive team that could climb its way to national title contender. QB Cade Klubnik is the de facto leader, but there are first round picks, potentially, on defense with Peter Woods and TJ Parker on the defensive line.

Georgia HC Kirby Smart
(Joshua L. Jones | USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Georgia comes into the season, perhaps, more under the radar than in recent seasons. The AP Poll has them high up considering this team just won the SEC and had the No. 2 seed.

Kirby Smart is arguably the best coach in college football, so thinking this team’s time at the top is done would be foolish. But a lot hinges on Gunner Stockton at QB. Good thing he has new WR Zachariah Branch (USC transfer).

Marcus Freeman and Notre Dame nearly won it all last year. If that was the case, maybe this team could’ve been No. 1 in the AP Poll!

Still, RB Jeremiyah Love is back, and he’s a Heisman contender. The defense is veteran-heavy as well. They added DB transfer DeVonta Smith (Alabama).

Oregon had a massive opportunity to make a run for a national title last year, but were picked off by Ohio State in the CFP quarterfinals. Still, the Ducks went 13-0 and won the Big Ten.

Now how do you follow that up? Dan Lanning ushers in a new quarterback in Dante Moore, keeps attacking the recruiting trail and transfer portal and hopes it all breaks right. The AP Poll is a bit of a believer.

Alabama WR Ryan Williams
Ryan Williams (Courtesy of Alabama Athletics)

Year 1 for Kalen DeBoer and Alabama didn’t go as planned, not making the playoff and losing to Michigan in a bowl game. Still, DeBoer’s coaching prowess and development can’t be understated.

Ty Simpson is the expected QB and he has an all-star at WR in Ryan Williams to throw to. The defense is loaded with stars such as LT Overton. They’re back to SEC contender and have a chance to make a run in the CFP.

LSU gets preseason respect from the AP Poll and now it’s time to prove their worth. Brian Kelly goes into Year 4 with the Tigers and the CFP has to be the requirement right?

Garrett Nussmeier is back at QB and is firmly in the Heisman Trophy race. Harold Perkins, should he return to form, could be one of the best linebackers in the country.

Miami fell short last season with some missed opportunities to get to the ACC title game. To be fair, they had a little bit of Lady Luck on their side as well.

Carson Beck transferred in to replace Cam Ward at QB. That’ll be the biggest spotlight in Coral Gables this season. Mario Cristobal has a lot of talent at his disposal and the College Football Playoff should be the minimum.

Preseason AP Poll: First Top 25 revealed

11. Arizona State
12. Illinois
13. South Carolina
14. Michigan
15. Florida
16. SMU
17. Kansas State
18. Oklahoma
19. Texas A&M
20. Indiana
21. Ole Miss
22. Iowa State
23. Texas Tech
24. Tennessee
25. Boise State

Others receiving votes: BYU 156, Utah 144, Baylor 132, Louisville 90, Southern Cal 64, Georgia Tech 63, Missouri 33, Tulane 23, Nebraska 23, UNLV 21, Toledo 13, Auburn 10, James Madison 9, Memphis 9, Florida St. 8, Duke 6, Liberty 5, Navy 5, Iowa 5, TCU 4, Pittsburgh 3, Army 2, Colorado 1, Louisiana-Lafayette 1.



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Middle, high school athletes can now get NIL deals in West Virginia

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August 13, 2025

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Middle, high school athletes can now get NIL deals in West Virginia


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