As an Auburn fan, I remember the Cam Newton saga all too well.

The 2010 Auburn football team, led in many ways by the one-man-team of Newton, would go on to post a perfect 14-0 record and pick up many awards accolated to the greatest players in the sport. Newton had one of the best seasons in college football history and made his team one of the most fun to watch in recent memory.

Still, Auburn and Newton were painted as the sport’s supervillains in 2010 – due to unproven allegations of Auburn paying Newton less than $200,000.

In today’s climate, a player of Newton’s caliber would command seven figures to play quarterback in college, and whichever college team paid him would be lauded for their ability to out pay everyone else. Times have changed.

College athletes deserved some of the compensation, with the athletic conferences signing deals in the $100s of millions for television contracts and top tier coaches making north of $5 million per year, but the lack of rules around paying players for their Name Image Likeness (NIL) has made the top-tier of college athletics the wild west of sports.

Due to a powerful booster signing on, Brigham Young University (BYU) was able to secure the commitment of the No. 1 high school basketball player in AJ Dybsanta – a player who had no connections to the Utah based school before he heard the reportedly $7 million offer.

Pay for play instances can be good for parity, but it also lets traditional powerhouses gobble up commitments. Without rules, things were bound to spiral out of control.

Now, through the results of several court cases levied against the NCAA, new rules are on the horizon. And through revenue sharing, clearing house protocol, and public endorsements deals, fair market values for NIL are close to being established and monitored.

If things go well with revenue sharing and the clearing house models, teams will have similar cap spaces for contract spending and any given athlete will have the same price tag at any school they choose. If a team tries to overpay, in theory, the clearing house could deny the deal.

The gist of the new revenue sharing model is that any school can share up to $20.5 million of its revenue throughout its athletic department. In an example from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, Texas Tech University plans to split all of its $20.5 million, with its football team earning 74 percent, its men’s basketball team earning about 18 percent, and the remaining four percent split among other sports.

While the splits don’t seem completely fair out of context, the football team demands more than 80 players and the price tags for football and men’s basketball far exceed other sports.

With revenue sharing, the rich will stay rich – but it won’t allow the richest of the rich to run wild with pay-for-play contracts. It’ll also give the smaller schools more resources to draw from for their own contracts, as NIL deals were required to come from boosters and outside resources in the past. Now, the schools can pay some of that money.

This is a move to make college sports more legitimate in a world where NIL rules. These rules will help college sports keep the passion that comes from being an “amateur” while athletes rake in some of the perks that come with being a famous athlete.

Long gone were the days of under-the-table fast food bags filled with cash to entice top-tier recruits to join one football program or the other, or at least the college football world thought when introducing a way for athletes to benefit from their Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) in 2021.

The new NIL era has introduced a wave of problems, litigation, and it is safe to say that the NCAA is still working out a solution on how to fairly compensate athletes and reduce tampering in what will likely be known as the “wild west” of college athletics in the years to come.

No program is immune to scandals with such a vast amount of revenue being poured through its locker room, but one Florida State rival seems to be on the brink of facing consequences after getting caught with its hand in the cookie jar.

The University of Wisconsin and its NIL collective filed an unprecedented lawsuit against the University of Miami Hurricanes in state circuit court on Friday, accusing the university of tortious interference, according to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports.

The suit claims that Miami illegally poached defensive back Xavier Lucas, referred to in the filing as “Student-Athlete A,” while he was under contract with the Badgers.

“Miami interfered with UW-Madison’s relationship with Student-Athlete A (Lucas) by making impermissible contact with him and engaging in tampering.”

READ MORE: Three former Seminoles listed in ESPN’s NFL All Quarter Century Team

“Knowingly inducing” an athlete to have a change of heart and play for your school while they are currently under contract is a blatant violation of transfer practices and NCAA policies (in fact, the transfer portal was closed at the time of the violation). Although Wisconsin reportedly was hesitant to escalate the issue, the school said that it was “committed to ensuring integrity and fundamental fairness in the evolving landscape of college athletics.”

While the school won’t be pursuing any legal action against Lucas, the move could (and should) prompt a higher oversight at the program level from administrations that would like to keep their hands clean of the bad press, lawsuits, and relationship-breaking consequences that can arise as the country tries to paddle the murky waters of the new NIL era.

As for Miami? Well, some habits are hard to break.

READ MORE: Cornerback prospect shuts down recruitment, sticks with Florida State

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The high school softball season around the country finally came to an end this past weekend with the Maine Principal Association (MPA) state championships. The four contests were played between St. Joseph’s College and the University of Maine.

Four state title games took place from Classes A to D, with the MPA crowning champions in each classification.

In the Class A state championship tilt between Windham and Edward Little, the Eagles blanked the Red Eddies, 7-0, behind a strong pitching performance from senior hurler Kennedy Kimball. The pitcher went the distance, allowing just two mere hits and striking out a game-high 11.

Medomak Valley edging Hermon, 1-0, for the Class B state crown was the tightest contest in terms of scoring of any game out of the weekend. Panthers’ pitcher Sydney Nichols brought her best stuff in the circle, striking out 12, yielding just three hits and leading the program to their first state championship since 1995.

Another Maine state championship game that involved a stellar performance from their senior pitcher was Bucksport upending Hall-Dale, 6-2, for the Class C title. It was senior Natalie Simpson closing the door on the Bulldogs, with the pitcher pitching all seven frames, giving up four hits, two runs and fanning 12 batters along the way.

Lastly in the Class D state title tilt between Buckfield and Penobscot Valley, it would be the Bucks defeating the Howlers 5-0. Brittany Carrier belted a home run and Carmen Crocket pitched a nearly perfect game, going seven innings, one hit, no walks and striking out 16 batters. With the win, Buckfield notched the program’s 10th state championship.

The New England region has always been one of the final areas around the country to wrap up spring sports. Just last weekend, Connecticut held its state championship games.

• UNC athletes in football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, and baseball will receive a share of revenue starting July 1st.
• UNC will increase its athletic scholarships from 338 to 532 across all sports.
• UNC is exploring new revenue streams like naming rights and sponsorships to offset increased costs.

University of North Carolina athletes will be paid revenue directly by the school, beginning July 1, in addition to income they already earn for use of their name, image and likeness.

Tennessee baseball made a big splash in the transfer portal on Sunday, picking up a commitment from the top-rated player in the transfer portal as former Virginia first baseman and right fielder Henry Ford made his pledge known to Tony Vitello and the Tennessee staff.

The slugger was on campus the first week the portal officially opened for an official visit ahead of Tennessee’s super regional matchup at Arkansas. Tennessee beat out Mississippi State and Texas for Ford, who is playing in the Cape Cod League this summer.

Ford, who stands in at 6-foot-5 weighing 225 pounds, is draft eligible this summer. He’s currently listed as the No. 73 MLB Draft prosect by MLB Pipeline and No. 70 by Baseball America. He has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining but is a serious draft risk.

Virginia head coach Brian O’Connor left his post to take on the head job at Mississippi State after the season. Ford, along with several of his fellow teammates, entered the NCAA transfer portal.    

The Charlottesville, Va. Native, who attended high school in Chattanooga at Baylor School, broke onto the scene as a true freshman in 2024, landing on three Freshman All-American teams after hitting .336 at the plate with 17 home runs, 69 runs batted in and 13 doubles in 61 starts. The home runs and RBI tally were both freshman records for the program.

In 2025, Ford registered a .362 average with 11 home runs, 46 RBI, nine doubles and 42 runs scored across 50 games played. He primarily played first base as a freshman before shifting more towards the outfield as a sophomore. In total, Ford played in 74 games at first base and 34 games in the outfield while at Virginia in two seasons.   Ford was named second-team All-ACC following the 2025 campaign as an outfielder.

Baseball Transfer Portal

The 2025 non-graduate transfer portal opened on June 2 and will remain open until July 1. Players must have their name entered in the transfer portal by July 1 if they want to move on, but new destinations do not have to be made by that time.

The Vols have benefited greatly from the transfer portal in recent cycles, reeling in the likes of Chase Dollander (2022), Griffin Merritt (2023), Maui Ahuna (2023), Zane Denton (2023), Billy Amick (2024), Cannon Peebles (2024), AJ Causey (2024), Chris Stamos (2024), Liam Doyle (2025), Andrew Fischer (2025) and Gavin Kilen (2025).

Ford becomes the seventh addition for the Vols via the transfer portal, joining right-handed pitchers Clay Edmondson (UNC Asheville), Mason Estrada (MIT), Bo Rhudy (Kennesaw State), RHP Brady Frederick (ETSU), utility Garrett Wright (Bowling Green) and RHP/OF DJ Newman. Tennessee has also added junior college players such as RHP Matt Barr (SUNY Niagara) and Tyler Myatt (Walters State) and picked up catcher Trent Grindlinger as a late add to the 2025 class in recent weeks.

Tennessee has now lost 13 players to the transfer portal so far: INF Jack Jones, INF Robinson Martin, LHP Bryson Thacker, RHP Brayden Sharp, RHP Austin Hunley, RHP Thomas Crabtree, OF Colby Backus, LHP Ryler Smart, LHP Dylan Loy, LHP Andrew Behnke, RHP Austin Breedlove and RHP/OF Beau Revord.