Welcome to the new college math: A college football player’s name, image, likeness dollar value is based on his marketability as much or more than his performance.

ARLINGTON, TEXAS – JANUARY 10: Arch Manning #16 of the Texas Longhorns warms up before the Goodyear Cotton Bowl at AT&T Stadium on January 10, 2025 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by CFP/Getty Images)

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Arch Manning going into the 2025-26 football season has the highest NIL valuation in college football at $6.8 million according to Sports Illustrated. More than $2 million higher than the next closest player. He has yet to start a game for Texas.

The Current State of College Football: The Wild West

Three issues have turned college football into the wild west entering the 2025 season:

1. The NCAA Transfer Portal

2. The Player Opt-Out Option

3. NIL Valuations

The main focus of this article will be around issue 3. NIL Valuations but I want to touch briefly on issues 1 and 2 first.

The NCAA Transfer Portal

Today coaches have to not only manage the year-round recruitment of high school players; They must be constantly vigilant of their own rosters and players transferring. Players can transfer currently during two windows a year: December 9-28 and April 16-25. Think about it. You are a head coach. Your team works hard and has a good season and gets rewarded with a bowl game in December or January. Then while preparing for the bowl game you unexpectedly lose a key player to the December portal!

Starting Georgia Cornerback Julian Humphrey is Exhibit A but just one of many. Last December Humphrey committed to Texas A&M after starting all 10 games for Georgia during 2024. I would presume Head Coach Kirby Smart did not see that one coming.

The Player Opt-Out Option

It used to be more rare but today many key players on college teams are opting out of bowl games or even entire seasons. Why? To avoid possible career threatening injuries. For upperclassmen to further prepare for the NFL draft. Understandable on one level, yes. But for a team sport like football where players depend on one another like soldiers in a foxhole during war, it can demoralize teammates. Opt-outs can undermine the collective commitment to team goals, particularly in high-stakes games.

In 2024 Michigan Football All-American defensive tackle Mason Graham opted out of the Wolverines’ upcoming bowl game, and skipped his senior year of eligibility to declare for the 2025 NFL draft. Graham was already a two-time all Big 10 player and second-team All-American as a junior. “Yes Mason has declared and will sit out of the bowl game,” his agent Ryan Matha said in a text message in December 2024. I am sure Head Coach Sherrone Moore took the high road wishing Graham well and defending his right to do what was in his best interests–while now scrambling to prepare for a bowl game without his best defensive lineman. Again Graham was just one of many examples in 2024.

NIL Valuations

I am not against college athletes getting paid based upon the perceived commercial value of their name or image or likeness. It is wrong for an institution or a retailer to profit off an athlete’s name and keep 100% of the profits generated by merchandise, ticket sales, etc., But too many student-athletes are making decisions more on potential NIL earnings and less on athletic development and academic fit.

Secondly the disparities in earning potential among teammates can create resentment and fracture team unity. Individual stars can overshadow team achievments. In the end NIL makes college football a more transactional relationship between a player and a program/university.

Lastly as was stated at the beginning of this story, NIL rewards an athlete as much or more for their marketability as their performance. NIL reflects as much as anything an athletes’ ability to “Sell snow to Eskimos.” No value judgements here–just calling it the way I see it.

Shedeur Sanders Versus Jeremiah Smith

Two college football stars from the 2024 season best illustrate this dichotomy between marketability and performance: Shedeur Sanders, quarterback of the Colorado Buffalo’s and Jeremiah Smith, wide receiver for the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Shedeur Sanders was the top NIL earner for the 2024-25 season. By the end of the season his NIL value was estimated at $6.5 million. He signed endorsement deals with brands like Nike, Gatorade, Beats by Dre, Google, and the 5430 Alliance. Many of those deals are likely to follow him into the NFL.

In the meantime, what did Sanders accomplish on the football field for the Buffs? Make no mistake, he was truly good. In just two seasons with the Buffs, he threw for 7,364 yards with 64 touchdowns and 13 interceptions. He led his team to a four-way tie for first in the Big 12 only to lose to BYU in a bowl game 36-14. He was named the Big 12 Conference offensive player of the year as he helped turn the Buffaloes back into a winning football program. He set a program record for touchdown passes on the season with 37, and his 74% completion rate was both a program and FBS record for a single season. And he finished 8th in Heisman trophy voting.

However he would fall to the fifth round in the 2025 NFL draft. The Cleveland Browns took him No. 144 overall. The NFL uses a slotting system for rookie salaries, based on where a player is selected. Sanders’ pick, No. 144 overall, is expected to get a four-year deal worth $4.6 million. Sanders’ NIL value had little to do then with his NFL draft value which is a more purely performative-based metric.

Jeremiah Smith on the other hand.had an NIL valuation at the end of the 2024 season of $4.2 million ($2.3 million less than Sanders). And regardless of position or age, many around college football would argue today that Ohio State’s true sophomore wide receiver is the best player in the sport.

The former number-one recruit in the class of 2024 more than lived up to the billing, as he played a key role in the Buckeyes winning the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff.

In his 2024 season with Ohio State, Jeremiah Smith had a remarkable freshman campaign, recording 76 receptions for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns. His 1,315 receiving yards ranked fourth in single-season history for Ohio State, and he became the first Buckeye freshman to surpass 1,000 receiving yards. He also led the team in receptions (76), receiving yards (1,315), and receiving touchdowns (15).

In the end Smith was arguably a better performer at his position and a more crucial piece of the puzzle in the Buckeye’s national championship run in 2024 than Sanders as quarterback of a 9-4 Colorado Team that lost their bowl game. Yet Sanders made millions more in NIL money.

College football desperately needs some new guard rails put in place to manage all these new capitalist trends and forces. I believe it can and must happen. But for now, welcome to the wild west.

by Rachel Duke, USA Gymnastics Communications

NEW ORLEANS – Asher Hong (Tomball, Texas/Stanford University) dominated the senior all-around competition Saturday evening to conclude men’s action at the 2025 Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships in New Orleans. The Senior National and World Championships Teams Presented by Xfinity were selected following competition.

Hong commanded the all-around both Thursday and Saturday, winning the title with a combined 170.020 – a nearly eight-point lead from second place. He also collected gold medals on vault (29.594), floor exercise (30.016) and still rings (29.286), and picked up silver on parallel bars (28.100).

With a late push, Frederick Richard (Stoughton, Mass./University of Michigan) rallied to a second-place finish in the all-around, winning silver with a 162.555. Fuzzy Benas (Richmond, Texas/University of Oklahoma) completed the top three, securing bronze with a 162.310.

Winning apparatus titles on Saturday were Patrick Hoopes (Lehi, Utah/U.S. Air Force Academy) on pommel horse (31.300), Brody Malone (Aragon, Ga./EVO Gymnastics) on parallel bars (28.150), and Taylor Burkhart (Arvada, Colo./Stanford University) on horizontal bar (28.960).

The 2025 Junior and Senior National Teams and World Championships teams Presented by Xfinity also were announced Saturday evening. Complete teams are listed alphabetically below.

Senior Men’s World Championships Team Presented by Xfinity

October 19-25 in Jakarta, Indonesia

• Taylor Burkhart — Arvada, Colo./Stanford University^
• Brandon Dang — San Jose, Calif./University of Illinois
• Asher Hong — Tomball, Texas/Stanford University
• Patrick Hoopes — Lehi, Utah/U.S. Air Force Academy
• Brody Malone — Aragon, Ga./EVO Gymnastics
• Kameron Nelson — Columbus, Ohio/Ohio State University
• Donnell Whittenburg — Baltimore, Md./EVO Gymnastics

Junior Men’s World Championships Team Presented by Xfinity

November 20-24 in Manila, the Philippines.

• Maksim Kan — Muskego, Wis./Salto Gymnastics Center*
• Danila Leykin — Sarasota, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Dante Reive — West Point, N.Y./United States Military Academy
• Nathan Roman— Poway, Calif./University of Oklahoma
• Hunter Simpson — Palmetto, Fla./EVO Gymnastics^

Senior Men’s National Team Presented by Xfinity

• Fuzzy Benas — Richmond, Texas/University of Oklahoma
• Taylor Burkhart — Arvada, Colo./Stanford University
• Crew Bold — Delray Beach, Fla./University of Michigan
• Brandon Dang — San Jose, Calif./University of Illinois
• Asher Hong — Tomball, Texas/Stanford University
• Patrick Hoopes — Lehi, Utah/U.S. Air Force Academy
• Jun Iwai — Lewisville, Texas/Texas Dreams Gymnastics
• Josh Karnes — Erie, Pa./Penn State University
• Riley Loos — El Dorado Hills, Calif./ Stanford University
• Brody Malone — Aragon, Ga./EVO Gymnastics
• Kameron Nelson — Columbus, Ohio/Ohio State University
• Dante Reive — West Point, N.Y./United States Military Academy
• Frederick Richard — Stoughton, Mass./University of Michigan
• Donnell Whittenburg — Baltimore, Md./EVO Gymnastics
• Colt Walker — Austin, Texas/Stanford University

Senior Men’s Development Team Presented by Xfinity

• Sasha Bogonosiuk — Buffalo Grove, Ill./University of Oklahoma
• Danila Leykin — Sarasota, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Preston Ngai — Elk Grove, Calif./University of Illinois
• Alex Nitache — Knoxville, Tenn./University of Nebraska
• Nathan Roman — Poway, Calif./University of Oklahoma

Junior Men’s National Team Presented by Xfinity

• Peyton Boerner — Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Gym World
• Hayden Brown — Corona Del Mar, Calif./SCATS Gymnastics
• Lincoln Dubin — Bellefonte, Pa./EVO Gymnastics
• Hunter Egan — Montgomery, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics
• Cooper Gunderson — Delano, Minn./Mini-Hops Gymnastics
• Elijah Gutierrez — South Lyon, Mich./Infinity Gymnastics Academy
• Kiefer Hong — Tomball, Texas/Cypress Academy of Gymnastics
• Maksim Kan — Muskego, Wis./Salto Gymnastics Center
• Jakson Kurecki — Nokomis, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Jovan Jimeno — Manassas, Va./Capital Gymnastics
• Ori Reilly — Windermere, Fla./Gymnastics USA
• Hunter Simpson — Palmetto, Fla./EVO Gymnastics
• Anthony Ruscheinsky — Summit, Wis./Salto Gymnastics Center
• Jay Watkins — Morristown, Tenn./GymTek Academy

*Denotes traveling replacement athlete

^Denotes non-traveling replacement athlete

The Xfinity U.S. Gymnastics Championships conclude Sunday with the final day women’s competition. The 2025 Junior and Senior Women’s National Teams will be determined along with national titles.

MARYLAND HEIGHTS, Mo. — The St. Louis Blues have been steadily expanding the Girls Hockey Development Program they launched in 2020 as the organization’s NHL All-Star Legacy initiative.

The Blues marked a new milestone this weekend when they hosted the inaugural 12U Tier 1 Ice Breaker Invitational at Centene Community Ice Center from Friday to Sunday, bringing together elite programs for both on-ice competition and off-ice development.

Event coordinator Brittany Koch is Blues senior coordinator, community hockey, and an on-ice instructor for the program with playing experience at the high school and college level.

“This is really important because I grew up playing hockey,” Koch said. “I’ve been to plenty of youth tournaments, so I’ve kind of seen what’s been done, and I haven’t really seen anything like this. We’re just really focusing on the off-ice portion. I’ve went to games and either I made it to the championship game, or I left, but I never got to learn what to do off ice. We didn’t have anything. The tournaments were fun, don’t get me wrong, but there was nothing to do between games, but to do this and have something for the girls to keep them going and not have them sit in their hotel rooms, was really important.

“Games are great, but think we also need to focus on the off-ice aspect as well.”

Five of the nation’s top Tier 1 girls hockey programs — the St. Louis AAA Lady Blues, Carolina Jr. Canes, San Jose Jr. Sharks, Arizona Kachinas, and Milwaukee Jr. Admirals — took part in a round-robin style tournament with a four-game minimum and a championship game.

They also participated in a session on nutrition and leadership training from 1st Phorm, a Women in Sports Panel and Festival, and a Skills Competition.

Two-time Olympic medalist Alex Cavallini is an on-ice instructor and youth hockey ambassador for the Blues. The goalie won gold with the United States at the 2018 PyeongChang Olympics and silver at the 2022 Beijing Olympics.

“It’s such a special event,” Cavallini said. “When I first spoke to the Blues about it when they came to me, I was so ecstatic for it. It’s something that I’ve been personally looking forward to just bring in teams here to St. Louis to see how great the Blues organization is because I just know how important girls hockey is to the St. Louis Blues and how much they want to grow the game. This is just a testament to what they are out here trying to do every day in St. Louis.”