NIL

Hogs' signed transfer list reaches 27

Published

8 months ago

May 2, 2025

FAYETTEVILLE — With the University of Arkansas football program having signed seven transfers so far during the spring, the Hogs have signed 27 scholarship transfers since the December-January transfer window for early enrollees.

The spring transfer window began April 16 and ended April 25. It appears the Hogs could add another receiver, defensive back and linebacker to the class.

Rivals and 247Sports currently rate Arkansas’ transfer class No. 9 and No. 17 nationally, respectively.

The Hogs’ latest addition to the transfer class, defensive lineman Frank Mulipoa, isn’t rated by either recruiting service.

Mulipoa, 6-4 and 275 pounds, played three seasons at Division II Texas-Permian Basin after playing a season at Independence Community College in Kansas.

From Pago Pago, American Samoa, he played at Tafuna High School before entering college.

He recorded 51 tackles, 8.5 tackles for loss, 6 sacks, 7 quarterback hurries, 2 pass breakups, and blocked kick last season as a redshirt junior. He’s capable to playing inside or the edge.

Former Pittsburgh and Florida receiver Andy Jean signed with Arkansas on Monday.

Jean, 6-1 and 184 pounds, played two seasons at Florida and was hampered with hamstring issues before transferring to the Panthers in January. He recently re-entered the NCAA transfer portal.

He was rated as a 4-star recruit by On3 and Rivals as a senior at Miami Northwestern High School in 2023 and picked the Gators over Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Florida, Miami, LSU, Penn State, Arkansas and others.

Jean is rated as a3-star transfer by Rivals and 247Sports.

Stanford transfer defensive back Julian Neal, who signed with the Hogs on April 20, is rated as a 3-star transfer by Rivals and a 4-star by 247Sports.

Neal, 6-2 and 200 pounds, started 4 of 12 games and recorded 35 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 2 interceptions and 6 pass breakups at Fresno State last season before signing with Stanford. He re-entered the portal when Troy Taylor was fired as the Cardinal coach this spring.

Florida State transfer quarterback Trever Jackson, 6-3 and 187 pounds, signed with Arkansas on April 24. Both recruiting services rated Jackson as a 3-star transfer.

The Hogs signed Troy transfer defensive end Phillip Lee (6-4, 240 pounds) and Maine transfer defensive back Shakur Smalls (6-0, 205 pounds) on April 19. The two services rate Lee and Smalls as 3-star transfers.

Kent State transfer linebacker Trent Whalen, 6-2, 235 pounds, signed with the Razorbacks on April 18. 247Sports rates him a 3-star transfer while Rivals rates him a 2-star.

Arkansas’ top-rated transfers from December-January were former Texas A&M tight end Jaden Platt (6-5, 260 pounds), former Georgia Tech offensive tackle Corey Robinson (6-5, 307 pounds), former Oregon offensive tackle JacQawn McRoy (6-8, 370 pounds) and former UNC-Charlotte receiver Blake O’Mega (6-2, 182 pounds).

Platt and McRoy were rated as 4-star transfers by 247Sports and 3-stars by Rivals, while Robinson and O’Mega were rated as 4-star transfers by both services.

Rivals has Ole Miss with the nation’s top transfer class with 12 4-star transfers followed by LSU at No. 3 with nine 4-star transfers. Missouri comes in at No. 6, Kentucky at No. 7 and Mississippi State at No. 8.

The Tigers have four 4-star transfers, while the Wildcats are credited with six. The Bulldogs have two 4-star transfers.

247Sports lists LSU with the nation’s top transfer class that includes 11 4-star transfers, while Ole Miss is credited with 11 4-star transfer, and the No. 3 class in the country. Missouri’s class features one 5-star transfer and six 4-stars for the No. 7 class nationally.

Auburn comes in at No. 8 with six 4-star transfers and Kentucky is listed at No. 10 nationally with seven 4-stars, followed by Texas A&M at No. 11 with 6 4-stars and Oklahoma at No. 12 with five 4-stars.

South Carolina has the No. 15 class nationally with six 4-star transfers and Mississippi State is the No. 16 class with four 4-stars.

Email Richard Davenport at [email protected]

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Taylor column: Wyoming’s Wicks not using NIL as an excuse | University of Wyoming

Published

39 minutes ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

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NIL

How to make college football worse

Published

2 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Dec. 26, 2025, 5:03 a.m. ET

Tennessee Sen. Marsha Blackburn has proposed the HUSTLE Act to create tax-deferred savings accounts for college athletes’ NIL income.
The need for congressional intervention is questionable, given that other wealthy groups, like NFL players, do not receive similar legislative protection.

If the hollowness of the bowl season or the irrationality of the playoff system has you saddened by the state of college football, it could always be worse. Congress could get involved.

It’s already bad enough that NCAA apologists want Congress to grant college athletics an antitrust exemption. Now Tennessee Senator (and gubernatorial candidate) Marsha Blackburn, in a timely act of pandering, wants to give college athletes special tax-advantaged savings accounts – “for their own protection.”

Blackburn’s comically named “Helping Undergraduate Students Thrive with Long Term Earnings (HUSTLE Act) would allow certain college athletes to create tax-deferred accounts for their Name Image and Likeness (NIL) income.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m a big fan of saving and investing, especially in a tax-deferred vehicle. But the aim of this act ‒ somehow protecting young people from squandering their NIL riches ‒ raises an obvious question: Where exactly is the constitutional mandate (or even suggestion) for Congress to pass laws discouraging 19-year-old millionaires from buying expensive cars and jewelry?

If Blackburn is genuinely concerned about young, wealthy athletes squandering their money, why didn’t she start with the NFL? A widely cited 2009 Sports Illustrated article claimed that 78% of NFL players “face financial stress or bankruptcy” within two years of retirement. This figure was likely exaggerated, but a statistically sound study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that 15.7% of NFL players file for bankruptcy within 12 years of retiring. Yet this hasn’t prompted any urgent Congressional push to save professional athletes from themselves.

If age is really the determining factor in financial responsibility, why is the fastest growing demographic of bankruptcy filers over 65? Why is the median age of someone filing for bankruptcy 49 and not 29?

Blackburn could, of course, propose legislation allowing college athletes to participate in the existing tax-deferred retirement accounts at their respective universities, but that would concede that the players are employees ‒ something universities want to avoid at practically all costs.

Not to be outdone by the Senate, the House of Representatives proposed the SCORE Act, which would grant NCAA institutions exemptions from antitrust laws – essentially codifying the illegal wage collusion the schools practiced for decades ‒ while also legally declaring that players are not employees of the universities that pay for their athletic services. Too many old timers simply can’t accept the end of decades of illegal (and in my opinion, immoral) athletic department business practices, so they are begging Congress to protect them.

Even if you concede the premise that 20-year-olds are incapable of making wise financial decisions and require assistance, why would Congress be the entity to turn to for financial wisdom?

David Moon, president of Moon Capital Management, may be reached atdavid@mooncap.com.

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NIL

Chiefs Stadium Deal Is Insane

Published

3 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

stl.pony said:

Feel like it’s largely being paid for by sales tax the new stadium development will generate.

Not in finance, so someone should absolutely check my math/analysis on this.

State of Kansas has an 8.25% sales tax. For the sales tax to generate 3 billion, the total sales would need to be about 36 billion. According to this article the Royals stadium and Arrowhead stadium collectively generate 55 million a year in tax revenue. (Don’t know what the analysis is to produce that; admit it could be wrong.) If you round it up to 60 million a year, the break even point is 600+ years.

If you take the numbers the Chiefs put out, 1 billion in economic impact for the region and 29 million in tax revenue per year. The break even point from tax revenue would be 1800 years?

I don’t know what is considered the region for the economic impact evaluation and how that changes based on if the stadium is on the Missouri side or the Kansas side of Kansas City. I also remember reading a report about the state fair of Texas that claimed that events like the state fair and sporting events don’t necessarily generate additional economic activity in a region, it just concentrates it into the event rather the wider community. (Admittedly, that could mean more tax revenue for one city in the region over another.) In my layperson’s opinion, a sports stadium deal like this doesn’t seem to be as smart of a decision as offering economic incentives to a Toyota or other non-entertainment business to move to your city.

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Michigan urged to hire SEC coordinator over head coaches to replace Sherrone Moore

Published

4 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

As Michigan’s coaching search drags on, some overlooked possibilities could be floating back to the forefront. After apparently striking out on established head coaches like Kenny Dillingham and Kalen DeBoer, one SEC coordinator is exactly such a possibility for the Wolverines.

In a recent episode of Andy and Ari On3, Andy Staples and Ari Wasserman pointed out that the current coaching carousel has been virtually obsessed with established head coaches. Kentucky hired Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein as its next coach, but otherwise, schools have passed on coordinators in favor of coaches with head coaching experience.

Both Staples and Wasserman singled out Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann as a strong coaching possibility who Michigan should consider. “Why hasn’t he been in the conversation,” asked Wasserman. “He’s been intereviewed by schools, they just haven’t hired him,” noted Staples. “Normally, multiple coordinators would have either gotten these jobs or been finalists for these jobs.”

“If I were Michigan, I would hire Schumann over all the others,” said Wasserman. “I feel like if you’re Michigan, you want to get the guy that reshapes how you do things. It’s not that Jedd Fisch wouldn’t or Jeff Brohm wouldn’t….Don’t you want to go get the younger coordinator from Georgia who recruits his ass off and has been around big builds and has he defense playing like this at the right time and try to build you program around that?”

Schumann is only 35 years old, but has spent the last 17 seasons with either the Alabama or Georgia programs. He went to Alabama to be a student assistant coach under Nick Saban, then moved up to graduate assistant and then to Director of Football Operations.

When Kirby Smart left Alabama to take the Georgia head coaching job, Schumann went with him. First, he was the inside linebacker coach. In 2019, he added co-defensive coordinator to his responsibilities and ahead of 2024, he became the sole defensive coordinator

Georgia has historically been a very aggressive big-play-oriented defense, but Schumann has helped remake them on the fly. In 2025, the Bulldogs have held opponents to 15.9 points per game, second in the SEC, despite being near the bottom of the conference standings in sacks (tied for last), tackles for loss (next to last), and turnovers forced (13th).

Schumann was considered in 2023 for the Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator role, but hasn’t been significantly linked with another collegiate job. Despite his relative youth, his experience inside two of the foremost college football dynasties of recent vintage makes him an intriguing possibility, should Michigan decide to take a chance.

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No easy fix for what ails college football, but it’s still fun

Published

10 hours ago

December 26, 2025

Your Sports Nation

As much as the state of college athletics these days drives people to distraction, coaches and administrators don’t have many options.

So, you don’t like players being paid? You don’t like players have the ability to transfer to another program anytime they choose? You don’t like lawyers and agents raking in huge amounts of cash? What can unhappy fans do about it?

You can stop supporting your favorite program. You can stop going to games or even watching games. If enough people do that, what they will accomplish is making it more difficult for their favorite programs to win. They will change nothing.

Despite all of it, coaches are expected to win. Athletics directors are expected to provide the resources for them to win. They have no choice but to play the game with the rules – or lack thereof – in place today.

Is it out of control? Of course it is, in football and basketball. Will there be efforts to mitigate the damage that is being done to the sports so many love? There will be. Will they be successful? Maybe, but so far we’re not seeing it. Yet, TV ratings are higher than ever. Stadiums are filled. It’s still fun, which is what it was always meant to be.

For sure, there are some misconceptions out there.

Players, in fact, can and do sign contracts. There is nothing to keep them from signing multi-year contracts, but those are iffy for both sides. Maybe a player turns out not to be worth what he is being paid. Or maybe he turns out to be worth more than he’s being paid.

None of this is simple. It is further complicated by agents who are neither qualified nor interested in much anything beyond making money for themselves.

Maybe, one day, someone will find a solution. Maybe Congress will step in and help, though there has been no indication that is close to happening.

Players and coaches are better-trained, better-informed and more knowledgeable than they have ever been. Players are not the spoiled, entitled young men they are accused of being. They are being pulled in all sorts of directions by family, agents, boosters and others with agendas of their own.

Almost every effort to find common ground has blown up.

The December signing period was meant to give players who had made up their minds opportunities to get the recruiting process over with. Previous to that move, it was rare for players to graduate early and enroll in time for spring practice. Now, it’s what every coach wants and most players want.

NIL was supposed to be about players having opportunities to earn spending money, maybe even get a car. It was never meant to make anybody wealthy. Along came collectives, and that changed.

Penalty-free transfers were supposed to be about players having opportunities to go in search of more playing time. Instead, added to NIL, it become a monster. Without penalty-free transfers, things would be different today.

For now, if people let this destroy their love for the game, they are letting the forces of chaos win. It’s still college students – yes, they are students – playing football. And they pay a fearsome price in blood, sweat and mental challenges to do it.

Once the portal has opened and closed and rosters begin to be set, things will calm down. The focus will return to where it should be, on those who play the game and the season ahead.

***

To all of you who do us the honor of coming here to read and comment and debate, and to Ron Sanders, Nathan King, Christian Clemente, Jason Caldwell and Patrick Bingham, my valued colleagues, I wish joy, peace and love on this day.

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