MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Dante Moore wanted to clear things up regarding Troy Aikman’s remarks about an NIL donation the pro football Hall of Famer made a player at UCLA.

During an interview on the Sports Media podcast with Richard Deitsch earlier this month, Aikman said he is “done with NIL” after not receiving any gratitude for a “sizable check” he donated to UCLA for a player who later transferred.

“I gave money to a kid, I won’t mention who,” Aikman told Deitsch. “I’ve done it one time at UCLA, never met the young man. He was there a year, he left after the year. I wrote a sizable check, and he went to another school. I didn’t even get so much as a thank you note. So, it’s one of those deals, to where I’m done with NIL. I want to see UCLA be successful, but I’m done with it.”

Though Aikman did not name Moore, many assumed it was the former five-star recruit, who transferred from UCLA to Oregon after his freshman year.

The Los Angeles Times reported UCLA’s collective, Men of Westwood, did not disclose donor information to players receiving NIL deals and that Aikman was thanked by then-coach Chip Kelly and athletic director Martin Jarmond.

Moore said he has never spoken to Aikman, but expressed gratitude to the former UCLA and Dallas Cowboys legend if he was who Aikman was referring to.

“If he sent it to me, I didn’t know it was him,” Moore said. “I didn’t see it. When it comes to people thinking it’s me, of course, everybody’s going to think it’s me. It’s quarterback-to-quarterback. I don’t want that false narrative being put out there that I didn’t say thank you. I didn’t hear nothing from him. I didn’t see nothing from him. So, if he sent it, thank you, but I don’t know what he’s talking about.”

LUBBOCK, Texas – Texas Tech was back in the national spotlight Tuesday ahead of its first appearance in the Capital One Orange Bowl, meeting with media who have arrived in Miami Gardens from across the country.

The 45-minute media session was an opportunity for many of the Red Raiders to see Hard Rock Stadium for the first time ahead of Thursday’s 11 a.m. CT kick in the College Football Playoff quarterfinals against Oregon. The Ducks followed later in the day to close out the Media Day portion of the Orange Bowl festivities.

The Red Raiders previously held a nearly hour-long walkthrough practice earlier in the morning on the campus of Florida Atlantic University. It was one of two practices the Red Raiders will have in Florida ahead of the Orange Bowl as Texas Tech will go through its typical “Fast Friday” workout Wednesday morning similar to its schedule during the regular season.

Below is coverage of the Red Raiders from Media Days as well as behind-the-scenes footage from our TexasTech+ cameras.

RED RAIDERS IN THE NEWS

Dec. 30, 2025 – “We found our guy:” Texas Tech’s gamble on HS legend pays off (ESPN.com)

Dec. 30, 2025 – ‘It’s like euphoria’: How Jacob Rodriguez mastered the art of the punch-out fumble (CBSSports.com)

Dec. 30, 2025 – How Skyler Gill-Howard remains one of Texas Tech’s best leaders while injured (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Dec. 30, 2025 – Behren Morton and the journey that shaped him (Dave Campbell’s Texas Football)

Dec. 30, 2025 – Caleb Douglas back in Florida, excelling with Texas Tech (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Dec. 30, 2025 – Why former Texas star is backing Texas Tech in CFP (Houston Chronicle) 

Dec. 30, 2025 – How Bryce Ramirez turned a walk-on opportunity into a Texas Tech legacy (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Dec. 30, 2025 – Which Texas Tech team is better – 2008 or 2025? (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Dec. 29, 2025 – Behren Morton carries name for two families (Lubbock Avalanche-Journal)

Dec. 29, 2025 – Big time boosters transformed Texas Tech, but that’s not all it took to reach CFP (The Athletic)

Dec. 29, 2025 – Ben Roberts and the making of a Red Raider Dynasty (Dave Campbell’s Texas Football)

Dec. 29, 2025 – Can Texas Tech’s Cody Campbell fix college sports? (ESPN.com)

Iowa State finished the 2025 campaign with a winning record (8–4 overall, 5–4 in the Big 12), highlighted by a five-game win streak to start the season, but an uneven finish set the stage for major staff turnover.

On December 8, head coach Matt Campbell was officially named Penn State’s head coach, departing Ames after 10 seasons as the program’s winningest coach (72–55 overall).

Iowa State moved quickly, naming Jimmy Rogers as head coach on December 6.

Rogers comes from Washington State, where he led the team to a 6–6 record in the 2025 season, and previously held assistant and defensive coordinator roles at South Dakota State and Florida Atlantic.

Since the coaching change, multiple Cyclones have entered the transfer portal, most recently wide receiver Chase Sowell on Monday.

He becomes the 41st player from Iowa State to enter the portal and the 16th starter, according to analyst Josh Pate.

Sowell was Iowa State’s second-leading receiver in 2025, tallying 32 catches for 500 yards and two touchdowns, after spending two seasons at East Carolina (2023–2024) and one at Colorado (2022).

Since Campbell’s departure, several other high-impact players have announced their intentions to enter the transfer portal, including starters QB Rocco Becht, RB Carson Hansen, TE Ben Brahmer, and WR Brett Eskildsen, as well as multiple defensive backs and linemen.

As Pate noted on his podcast, top cornerbacks Jontez Williams and Jeremiah Cooper have also announced their intention to enter the transfer portal and are currently ranked sixth and seventh among available players.

The departures remove several established starters and depth, including the starting QB, lead rusher, lead receiver, and multiple starters on both sides of the ball, creating an urgent rebuild task for Rogers and his new staff.

Practically, that means accelerated recruiting/portal work, accelerated opportunity for younger players, and a likely short-term performance reset.

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, has been trying for years now to get more regulations around name, image and likeness (NIL) deals in college sports, saying back in 2023 that the landscape was “in peril.”

Now, in 2025, Cruz sees college football specifically as a “disaster.”

Cruz responded to a post on X, which called the “current college football landscape…unsustainable.”

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Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, arrives to a hearing in the U.S. Capitol on Dec. 17, 2025, in Washington, D.C. The Federal Aviation Administration hearing with the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, Subcommittee on Aviation, Space, and Innovation focused on evaluating progress, ensuring accountability and results. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

The post pointed out that the Iowa State Cyclones, who just lost longtime head coach Matt Campbell to the vacant Penn State Nittany Lions job, only has 17 players remaining on their roster for next season. Among those players, only one was a starter.

Essentially, the Cyclones will have to field an entirely new roster and team and hope they can jell heading into 2026.

SCORE ACT RECEIVES SUPPORT FROM OVER 20 CONSERVATIVE GROUPS AS NIL REFORM FIGHT REVS UP

Cruz slammed the fact the NCAA allows this.

“An absolute crisis,” he wrote on X. “Congress NEEDS to act. For months, I’ve been working night & day to try to bring Republicans and Democrats together to save college sports.

“If we fail to do so, it will be an utter tragedy. And it’s happening right before our eyes.”

Cruz introduced a bill in 2023, two years after NIL was born, in hopes that tighter regulations would help college sports nationwide. Instead, we’ve seen programs paying for top players through NIL deals, while the transfer portal has allowed players to move from school to school each year.

Cruz is one of the top lawmakers in support of the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act, which would give the NCAA a limited antitrust exemption in hopes of protecting the organization from potential lawsuits over eligibility rules and would prohibit athletes from becoming employees of their schools.”

FILE – Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, Feb. 20, 2025, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

“The SCORE Act is the free market, individual liberty, limited government fix to the ‘name, image, and likeness (NIL)’ issue in college athletics,’” a letter addressed to House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., read earlier this month.

The groups in favor of the SCORE Act said the bill is the “common-sense way” to establish rules and preempt confusing state laws in the NIL era.

“H.R. 4312 prohibits trial lawyers from suing under federal or state antitrust law. It also provides that athletes receiving NIL compensation need not be employees of these universities, protecting them from compulsory unionization. This means student-athletes can be treated as small business owners, not unionized workers,” the letter added.

The conservative groups framed the SCORE Act as being a better plan than the “Student Athlete Fairness and Enforcement (SAFE) Act,” which has mostly been backed by Democrats. The SCORE Act has at least scored some bipartisanship support in the House.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) holds a press conference with families who lost loved ones in the January 29, 2025, DCA plane crash on Dec. 15, 2025, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC. The bipartisan press conference addressed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) language, which changes military airspace policy. (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)

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The SCORE Act also calls on schools to share revenue, per terms of the House settlement to the tune of 22% “if such rules provide that such pool limit is AT LEAST 22 percent of the average annual college sports revenue of the 70 highest-earning schools.”

Finally, the SCORE Act prohibits schools from using student fees to fund NIL payments.

Fox News’ Ryan Gaydos and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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