Look at Sacramento State, man. They are trying their absolute hardest to get into a major conference, they are throwing money into athletics and making hires like Mike Bibby for basketball: 

They then go and get Shaq to be the GM. That’s just smart business. There’s not a man on this planet who will do an ad deal faster than Shaq. Doesn’t matter what, he’s on every commercial just raking in money. Now you get him assisting with brand deals, NIL deals, recruiting, that’s how you become a powerhouse in the mid-major world. I say that loosely, because, well, Sacramento State simply doesn’t win. 

What they should do is simple though. Load up on former NBA players kids. You already got Shaq’s son there. They should reach out to every single player they played with, see if they want some sort of role and make Sacramento State NBA university. Why not? You’re Sacramento State. It’s not like you’re competing for titles, go outside the box with it. Hell, just run back the 90s Kings and see what their kids are up to. That team fucking ruled.

Rocky Widner. Getty Images.

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Yeah, I know Peja’s kid just committed to Illinois. Hard to beat that out when Illinois is becoming a Balkan empire and you got Brad Underwood doing this: 

It does feel weird seeing a Lakers star help a former Kings star. I know it was back in the day, but those teams shouldn’t be helping each other. I don’t care that Shaq and Bibby played for a combined 12 teams, I think of them as a King and Laker. All I know is they got me thinking about Sacramento State, so it’s already a win for them. Just send Shaq out on recruiting trips like it’s Blue Chips all over again. The man was made to be in this role for college basketball and just remember: 

Joining TexAgs Live from Ohio State as part of the Pate State Speaker Series, college football analyst Josh Pate offered plenty of thoughts on standouts taken in the 2025 NFL Draft, discussing Shedeur Sanders’ slide, how NIL is impacting draft decisions and much more.

Key notes from Josh Pate interview

• It always depends on your priorities to go to the NFL Draft. I’ve watched people do something completely foolish, but then you learn the reason behind it, and you say, ‘Well, maybe it doesn’t sound so crazy.” If a guy doesn’t have two dimes to rub together and his family depends on him, and he doesn’t have the clearly stated dream to play pro ball, then maybe he did make a dumb decision.
   
• None of those things are true. Quinn Ewers is well-off financially, and it was well known internally that this was it for him in college. He looks at it and says he is going to bet on himself. He’ll earn less on the front end of his rookie deal, but if he’s right, his second deal will be monstrous. Let’s say he bets on himself and is wrong. We know what it means. In that state, what it means to just market yourself as a former Texas quarterback instead of transferring out your last year? Over the long haul, that nets you a whole lot more than he may have left on the table in NIL.
   
• When I started hearing the criticism, I thought to myself, “Hold on. Let’s view this in totality.” One of the key complaints that many people have in this sport is the mercenary angle, which is tied to NIL, but it is also married to the fact that there is a lot of money, and these guys are bag chasing. I do question someone who has a problem with a kid who goes from Oregon to Michigan because they offer him $750,000 more per year in housing and travel. You criticize that kid for chasing a bag, but then also criticize Ewers for turning one down. Where’s the consistency? You’ll be shocked that there really isn’t any.
   
• People always say that things are cyclical, which is not true because the concept of a straight line exists. There is an evolutionary nature to college football. I am at Ohio State right now. They didn’t lose a kid in the post-spring portal. That wasn’t always the story in the last few years. Are guys starting to learn the lesson on their own? Maybe the highest bidder isn’t winning at the same percentage as it was a few years ago.
   
• It’s semantics. You could have a star quarterback and make your way through the Big 12 and make the playoff, but what you are talking about is the ability to compete for a title. To compete for a title, you are talking about sending eight-plus guys to the league, or everyone one of your guys is coming back. You have to consistently do that. It is year over year over year.
   
• We are looking at a situation where the odds-on favorites are not returning quarterbacks or returning 50 percent production. Seemingly blindly, they are expected to win. There is a track record. How many times have we seen Alabama lose talent and its coaching staff? Fast forward to the modern day, but does the future start to teach us lessons about how vulnerable even the top programs are?
   
• It was straightforward to me. I think the league viewed Shedeur Sanders was viewed as a backup quarterback. You are relying on your backup to be a church mouse and disappear. The last thing you are willing to accept is drafting a backup with baggage and drama. Whether it is real or not, it was perceived. I was talking to some front office guys, and they said to me, “What is the market for these guys?” Because it isn’t 32 teams, it was five or six teams. They only come around so many times. It was a spectacle. I think if given time, Sanders could emerge as a good player. I’m almost glad he is not being depended on to be the face of a franchise in 2025.
   
• I think it is a product of people’s camps becoming bigger. That is kind of a product of NIL. I think it is a product of how many more people the money sucks into your orbit. There were several teams that spoke for Nico Iamaleava, and it created a hurricane. It was never him, but it was people speaking for him. I don’t think it is a direct result of NIL, but it is related.
   
• The farther you get away from 2024, all someone in Clearwater, Florida, is going to remember is that Ohio State finally won a title, and Ryan Day won a title. They don’t remember what the next 72 hours after the Michigan loss were like. Day does because he lived it. It’s so easy to tell the story in a fortune cookie manner, but had they not gotten themselves off the deck, it would be a footnote in history for the wrong reasons. I don’t know if that story has been told. I don’t know if that is something you tell until your career is over. It callouses you. You probably saw one of the most intriguing stories in the sport last year.
   
• Same story every year with Penn State. You say here are four-fifths of a championship team, but where are the wide receivers? Well, they just got three in the portal. If bounces go their way, if they are fortuitous on the injury front, you execute how you know you can execute. For Penn State, it comes down to whether they respect your ability to throw the ball on key downs. If the answer is yes, that’s the difference.
   
• I think it is the same theme as Penn State. If you play the schedule Texas A&M will play, you can bank on one-possession games. You can bank on four to six plays being the difference. It is not just having a receiver who can make a play in this moment? it is over the span of an afternoon, do they have to respect it? It changes the game when they have to respect whether you could do it. That is offensive balance. Balance is not allowing that safety to creep down because you are willing to throw it to your wide receiver.

An offseason favorite took place on Tuesday. Some of college football’s top coaches got together to play in a golf tournament dubbed the 2025 Southern Company Peach Bowl Challenge. And for a second straight season, Florida State‘s Mike Norvell plus former Florida and Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer found themselves at the top of the leaderboard.

Per a release from the Peach Bowl, Norvell and Meyer had four birdies and three eagles throughout their entire round. Meyer was the clutch one of the pairing, sinking a 15-foot putt to clinch the championship on the 18th hole. They wound up scoring 45 total points.

“Early in the round, we put the ball where it needed to be and were able to be aggressive going into the greens,” Norvell said. “We had some good opportunities and were able to capitalize on them. Urban was clutch in some big moments and we really played well together. When we had to have each other’s backs, we did. It was great partner golf.”

“This year Mike drove the train,” Meyer added. “He was phenomenal off the tee and long. His tee shots were unbelievable all day. On the final putt, Mike gave me a great read. It was one of those things where you think it’s going to go in and then it goes in. I knew it was going in.”

Both Norvell and Meyer went into the event representing charities. Norvell planned to support the Keep Climbing Family Foundation while Meyer went with the Urban and Shelley Meyer Family Foundation. $32,500 will be going to those foundations now because of the coach’s efforts.

“The Keep Climbing Family Foundation and the Urban and Shelley Meyer Family Foundation will each receive $32,500 with the first-place finish by Norvell and Meyer,” the statement said. “Norvell has now won a total of $75,000 in the event’s history, while Meyer has taken home $225,000 all-time for his charities.”

Plenty of other high-profile names participated on Tuesday. Finishing with the silver medal were Pitt‘s Pat Narduzzi and his teammate Rick Neuheisel. A good chunk of money, $22,500, will be heading to their charities as well.

Third place was two experienced SEC head coaches, Hugh Freeze and Steve Spurrier. Freeze, currently entering his third season with the Auburn Tigers, got paired with the Ol’ Ball Coach, who is enjoying retirement. Those two will see $17,500 sent to the charities they decided to represent.

The matches between the United States and International squads will be played June 5-7 at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina.

The Arnold Palmer Cup was co-founded by Arnold Palmer and the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and began at the Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Fla., in 1997. The event is a Ryder Cup-style tournament featuring the top men’s and women’s university/college golfers matching the United States against a team of International players.

In his first season in Stillwater, Fang started his Cowboy career with seven consecutive top-10 finishes, including a pair of top-five showings to wrap up the fall. He tied for third place at the Amer Ari Intercollegiate during his string of top 10s. The Plano, Texas native has earned top fives in his last two starts as well, tying for third at the Mountaineer Invitational and sharing fifth place at the Big 12 Championship.

Stout is coming off his second win of the spring in OSU’s most recent outing as he repeated as medalist at the Big 12 Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa. The Richardson, Texas native has reeled off four consecutive top 10s and has been inside the top 10 in six of his last seven starts. In addition to his conference victory, Stout finished first at the Cabo Collegiate and has finished in third on three other occasions.

Fang is currently ranked ninth in the country, while Stout is No. 12.

This year marks the seventh time the Cowboys have had multiple representatives in the same year. Overall, the Cowboys have now had 25 selections for the event to go along with two U.S. Team Captains.