When Ohio State made the decision to hire Ross Bjork as athletic director once Gene Smith stepped down, a large reason was that he was supposed to be an expert in the NIL space. Bjork touted his ability to galvanize donors and pay the athletes what they rightly deserved.

The end of his tenure at Texas A&M did see the football program spend a lot of money on recruits. It backfired spectacularly. Jimbo Fisher did not coach the team well, and Bjork had to fire him and pay him around $77 million to not coach the program.

Since coming to Columbus, Bjork has used the opposite approach. He has been borderline stingy at every corner when it comes to NIL for the Ohio State football program. Instead of helping the Buckeyes, he is actively sinking the ship just a year after winning a national title.

Ross Bjork is actively hurting the Ohio State football program

30 players have entered the Transfer Portal from this year’s version of the Ohio State Buckeyes. That is by far the most since the portal became a widely used thing. What’s even worse is that Bjork has refused to pay enough to bring enough players in to replace those guys leaving.

There have been several instances of the Buckeyes losing out on talented portal players because they did not use their NIL money correctly. Bjork seems to think that the College Sports Commission is actually going to be able to enforce any sort of cap when it comes to revenue sharing.

No other high-major program is operating under those assumptions. In fact, most of Ohio State’s competitors keep reloading in the portal. Indiana is arguably passing the Buckeyes when it comes to finding talented older players in the portal, and that’s why they are playing for a national title.

Bjork was a questionable hire when he was brought in. The shine has worn off from the 2024 national championship, and more people are realizing that the title was won in spite of him, not because of him. Ryan Day needs to start putting his foot down when it comes to the football program.

After some marquee portal losses, the Texas Longhorns needed to add elite talent to the wide receiver room and did just that with the addition of Auburn Tigers transfer Cam Coleman over the Alabama Crimson Tide, Texas A&M Aggies, and Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Coleman is one of the crown jewels of the portal class, the No. 4 player overall and the No. 1 wide receiver and five spots ahead of the next-best offensive player — former Alabama wide receiver Isaiah Horton. The elite wideout made the most of his second recruiting cycle, but traveled to Austin first before trips to College Station, Lubbock, and Tuscaloosa. He’s ranked as a five-star portal prospect after arriving at Auburn two years ago as a five-star high school prospect, the second-ranked wide receiver behind Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith.

In two years at Auburn, the 6’3, 200-pound wideout emerged as one of the nation’s most explosive targets despite the Tigers struggling to find consistency at quarterback. In two seasons, he accounted for 1,306 yards and 13 touchdowns catching passes from Peyton Thorne, Jackson Arnold, and Ashton Daniels. The hope for both Texas fans and Coleman is that putting him with a quarterback who specializes in the deep ball, like Arch Manning, will both open up the Texas offense and set him up for a one-year springboard on the Forty Acres.

This plan has worked wonders for Texas in previous years, with Matthew Golden and Adonai Mitchell putting up big numbers in Burnt Orange and hearing their names called early in the NFL Draft.

Texas was likely heading to the portal in the offseason regardless, but the departures of DeAndre Moore and Parker Livingstone made it a true necessity for the Longhorns. The Longhorns have bolstered the skill position talent on offense with the additions of Coleman and former Arizona State running back Raleek Brown.

As more and more Ohio State football players enter the Transfer Portal, the Buckeyes continue to let prospects go by without adding them to the roster. Despite several high-profile visits, the Buckeyes have only brought in five players from the portal to offset the 30 they’ve lost.

Ross Bjork should receive the majority of the blame. His failure to use NIL effectively, while every other major program seems to be able to, is a massive problem. Of course, there is something to be said for the change in mindset for some of the college football players these days.

Former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett had his own gripes with the NCAA. He tried to challenge the NFL rule so that he could enter the NFL after his freshman season. Ultimately, that failed. Regardless, he gave his take on the portal situation.

Maurice Clarett explains why Ohio State football players are transferring

From Clarett’s perspective, he believes that college kids are just looking around to capture the most money possible.

Clarett isn’t wrong that Ohio State certainly props up other kids who aren’t at the top of the depth chart. The cache of being at an elite program for a year helps them get more NIL money from a lower-level school, allowing them to maximize their earning potential.

That’s still no excuse for what is happening with the Ohio State Buckeyes. There is no reason that they should have this many players exiting the program and so few coming in. Ryan Day needs to get Bjork’s expectations in line for how the NIL game is played.

If that doesn’t happen, Ohio State is going to start to fall behind very quickly. Other programs have risen, and old powers are using NIL to get back to the top, as well. The Buckeyes need to fix their approach before it is too late and they fall too far behind.

The college football transfer portal often features unproven talent looking for a second chance, but this cycle featured a rare commodity in a proven statistical leader with multiple years of eligibility remaining.

Several top-tier programs engaged in a competitive pursuit to land one of the most productive passers from the FCS level to bolster their rosters for the 2026 season.

Coaches from the ACC, Big 12 and national independent brands identified this young signal caller as a primary target to solve depth chart issues or compete for a starting job immediately. His availability sparked a significant recruiting battle that spanned multiple time zones and conferences following his breakout debut campaign.

That pursuit ended abruptly on Sunday when the highly coveted prospect announced his decision to head to the Pacific Northwest. The move sends a ripple effect through the market and forces several major programs to look elsewhere for quarterback help as the offseason moves forward.

Mercer QB Braden Atkinson commits to Oregon State over Notre Dame, Baylor

Former Mercer quarterback Braden Atkinson has committed to Oregon State. His agents at AiC Athletes confirmed the decision to On3’s Hayes Fawcett. The move is a significant recruiting victory for the Beavers and a setback for five other major programs that showed interest in the prolific passer.

Atkinson enters the Oregon State program following a historic season at the FCS level. He threw for 3,611 yards and 34 touchdowns while completing 66 percent of his passes. Those numbers helped him win the Jerry Rice Award, which is given annually to the national freshman of the year in the FCS. He also finished fifth in voting for the Walter Payton Award while leading his team to a 9-3 record and a playoff berth.

His entry into the portal came after Mercer head coach Mike Jacobs left for Toledo. That coaching change sparked a recruitment battle involving Notre Dame, Baylor, Syracuse, Boston College and Cal. Each program had specific reasons for pursuing the 6-foot-1 standout.

Notre Dame explored adding Atkinson to a room that features starter CJ Carr. The Fighting Irish sought experienced depth to protect against injury, but will now have to look elsewhere. Baylor viewed Atkinson as a potential solution to replace Sawyer Robertson after he leaves for the NFL Draft. Head coach Dave Aranda faces pressure to find a competent starter after a difficult 5-7 season.

The ACC also missed out on a potential starter. Boston College is losing Grayson James to graduation and Dylan Lonergan to the transfer portal. This leaves head coach Bill O’Brien with limited proven options on the roster. Syracuse hoped to add competition behind Steve Angeli but failed to close the deal.

Cal viewed Atkinson as a way to bolster the roster under Tosh Lupoi, despite the presence of Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele. The Golden Bears’ freshman starter has indicated he plans to return, but depth remains a priority.

Atkinson ultimately chose the Beavers and brings three years of eligibility to Corvallis.

Read more on College Football HQ

Frequently these days, we’re reminded that the Alabama Crimson Tide is no longer, in fact, the biggest, baddest recruiting powerhouse in the country. Not with rev-share and NIL essentially serving as a salary cap-less spending spree.

Rev-share has a cap, but NIL doesn’t. Schools can only offer $20.5 million as part of the sport’s rev-share agreement that went into effect at the start of the 2025-2026 academic calendar. NIL is the supplemental cash that big-time boosters, like Cody Campbell with the Texas Tech Red Raiders and Larry Ellison with the Michigan Wolverines, pay beyond that. How every team’s payroll shakes out each season isn’t as transparent. It’s unclear what comes from the school and how much comes from the boosters. Much of it is via taxpayers, who pick up the slack in states across the South because of tax-free NIL payments to players that exist because of these states’ laws.

To that end, the Texas Longhorns have multiple high-spending boosters that can help UT win any bidding war. The Crimson Tide does not.

On3’s Shannon Terry reminded the College Football world of that in the aftermath of former NC State Wolf Pack and Oklahoma Sooners running back Hollywood Smothers flipping his commitment from Alabama to Texas on Sunday.

“Another NIL-driven move. Texas is loading up and has the resources to do it. Alabama has resources, but not at this level. ‘FU money’ is driving the game — just the facts,” Terry wrote.

The Longhorns’ booster network is powered by its top donor, TRT Holdings, the parent company of Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym, and its owner, Robert Rowling.

Who is Alabama’s top booster?

The Crimson Tide, like Terry, said, isn’t broke. C.T. and Kelly Fitzpatrick, the founders of Vulcan Value Partners, a Birmingham-based investment firm, are financially invested in the program. Yea Alabama, the Tide’s official NIL collective, also chips in for the cause.

UAT AD Greg Byrne has gotten on Yea Alabama’s case for not doing enough spending. We’ll see if the fanbase has enough Bama in them to donate the Tide back into contention with deep-pocketed Texas schools.