NIL

New tools help college coaches and GMs determine which players to acquire, which to keep and which to let walk

Published

7 months ago

May 24, 2025

I’m asking Brian Spilbeler and Drew Borland a question that Boise State coaches, administrators and donors probably asked multiple times last offseason. How much will it cost to keep Ashton Jeanty?

But I want to tweak the question. What if Boise State had been in exactly the same situation — with the star back coming off an excellent sophomore season and expecting a transcendent junior season — but with the boosted dollar amounts for player pay that have come this offseason as schools prepare to start paying players directly based on the terms of the House v. NCAA settlement?

Borland taps his mouse a few times, and the living spreadsheet on my computer screen changes. I’m still looking at Boise State’s roster going into the 2024 season — and the evaluation of Jeanty is the one teams would have had going into last season — but Borland has adjusted the amount of money in the team budget to $20 million to simulate what a competitor trying to take away Jeanty might offer.

The total: $722,670.

Knowing what we know now — that Jeanty was the most dominant back in America as a junior — that number is still a bargain, even if it’s probably more than what Boise State had to pay to actually keep Jeanty last year. And it’s the kind of data crunching happening in every major college football program across the country as coaches and personnel officials try to manage their rosters going forward.

Spilbeler and Borland are showing me the product their companies have combined to create to help them manage all this data. Spilbeler works for Tracking Football, which began as a firm that matched documented track data with football recruiting data to help coaches find reliable information to judge players’ athleticism. Tracking Football has evolved into a much larger storehouse of data that builds platforms allow college personnel staffers to compare all manner of performance and evaluation data. Meanwhile, Borland works for SportSource Analytics, which provides data and analytics services to schools and professional teams in various sports.

The general manager tool they’re demonstrating has rolled out this spring, and it’s an evolution of the product the companies teamed up to create earlier this decade when the loosening of transfer rules created an explosion of demand for a way to quickly cut through the volume of data to identify which transfer portal players could be matches for schools.

It’s also not the only product in this space. Teamworks has created a general manager tool as well to help teams manage their payrolls in the revenue-share era. That product helps schools more on the financial side — allowing them to manage deals and even assisting in payroll services. The Tracking Football/SportSource Analytics collaboration is more of an evaluation tool designed to help schools that now need to run their personnel departments like NFL teams do but must be able to evaluate thousands more players on a smaller budget.

The tool uses Tracking Football’s data plus the FBS and FCS data compiled by SportSource. It also ties in data from subscription services all the schools use. Pro Football Focus data is included for schools that subscribe to PFF. Also, On3 and 247Sports recruiting evaluations are included as well as On3 NIL and roster valuations.

It’s a college football nerd’s dream, because it allows coaches and personnel staffers to customize the weighting of different data and factors to help them search for players who might fit in their programs. But now it also incorporates NIL valuation data to help those people answer three key questions:

Who can we afford to get?
Who can we afford to keep?
Who can we afford to lose?

“None of what we do is intended to replace you using intuition, you evaluating tape,” Spilbeler said. “It’s a supplement. It’s providing a framework to provide a starting point and help you defend the spend.”

The process begins with deciding what matters. How do you want to spend your budget? Will it mirror an NFL team? Or will the split be customized to your coaching staff’s preferences? Will you bump up the percentage you give your running back room? And if you do, what position group do you take away from?

If you’re seeking players in the transfer portal, recent production probably should matter more. So you might bump up the weight of the recent PFF score over the career PFF score. If you need help at a position now — which is probably why you’re looking in the portal in the first place — you probably want to boost game experience and experience level and you also probably want to weight more heavily whether someone has been an all-conference performer.

Or maybe you have a deep position group and know you probably can’t afford to keep everyone on the roster. Spilbeler and Borland allowed me to play with Florida’s roster since that’s my alma mater, and one of the situations I wanted to examine was how the Gators’ coaches and collective leaders might have decided which edge rushers to keep.

Florida ended the 2024 season with a really deep room at a position most teams need. That meant it probably wasn’t going to be possible to keep everyone.

Tyreak Sapp led the Gators in sacks with seven. T.J. Searcy, Kamran James and Jack Pyburn looked as if they could be capable SEC starters in 2025. George Gumbs Jr. started his college career as a walk-on receiver at Northern Illinois and had moved to tight end and then defensive end. In his first season at Florida, while still fairly new to the position, he’d finished second on the team in tackles for loss (8) and sacks (5). L.J. McCray, a five-star recruit in the class of 2024, looked the part and made significant progress as a freshman. Justus Boone had logged solid snaps in 2022, missed 2023 because of injury and probably was a victim of the depth in front of him last year.

Most teams would love to have two or three players matching any of those descriptions, which meant some competitive offers were going to be coming for any player considering a transfer.

I asked Spilbeler and Borland to show me the edge rusher group at the end of the 2024 season. Sapp and Searcy were rated the highest, and McCray, James, Pyburn and Boone were clustered closely together. Gumbs ranked lower, dragged down by his initial recruiting rankings. (Walk-on receivers at Northern Illinois don’t come into college with much hype.) But knowing Gumbs’ story — as Florida coaches obviously do — probably allowed them to make an easy upward adjustment.

As I expected, the Gators probably had to make some difficult choices as the collective made offers for the 2025 season. They kept Sapp, McCray, James and Gumbs. Searcy likely will start at Texas A&M. Pyburn likely will start at LSU. Boone transferred to Arkansas.

This type of situation, Spilbeler said, is why it’s important for staffs to know exactly what matters to them and weight the factors accordingly. That way, when a tough decision has to be made, staffs can decide on the best way to spend their budget. It also helps when a player’s agent is using other offers to drive up the price.

“It’s super tempting to be overly concerned with what representatives are telling you other teams are willing to pay for somebody and let that drive your decision making because you want to compete and you want to win,” Spilbeler said. “But if that’s how you’re going to continue to develop your strategy, I don’t know how long that’ll last.”

Conversely, being able to compare all this data — including across multiple teams or portal entries — should allow staffs to narrow down who they might want to add. And Borland points out that if the tool says that linebacker you like should be worth $250,000 and his agent is only asking $200,000, that’s money saved that can be put toward another player.

“There’s your Moneyball right there,” Borland said.

General managers and coaches across the country are trying to find ways to win on those margins. The tools are coming to help them do it.

Link

NIL

Nick Saban’s new role with the Nashville Predators

Published

3 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Nick Saban knows his strengths with seven national championships as a college football coach. He also understands how to put coaches and athletes in the best position to succeed.

That’s what he hopes to bring to the NHL’s Nashville Predators after joining the franchise as a minority owner.

“I’m no expert in hockey, so don’t look at me like I’m going to make some huge impact coaching around here because that’s not going to happen,” Saban said Monday. “But I do have a pretty good idea of what it takes to have successful organizations.”

Saban made his first appearance Monday in his new role as a minority owner alongside Predators chairman Bill Haslam.

The Predators announced Saban’s purchase Dec. 16 through Dream Sports Ventures LLC, an entity controlled by Saban and business partner Joe Agresti. That business group features 10 car dealerships, including two in Nashville.

Haslam, a former Tennessee governor, was working on a possible WNBA expansion franchise when Saban told the Predators controlling owner that he also might be interested in hockey.

“I thought, ‘Well, that’s the greatest no brainer of all time,’” Haslam said. “You have somebody who understands building a championship culture, who understands, I think, better than almost anybody in sports the process that’s needed to get to where you can compete as a champion.”

Saban grew up in West Virginia with no hockey around. He became interested in hockey when coaching at Michigan State and became friends and shared ideas with that team’s coach. Saban called this an opportunity to be involved with a team for the first time since he announced his retirement Jan. 10, 2024.

So what will Saban bring to the NHL and the Predators in his newest role?

His experience building programs both in college football and six seasons in the NFL working for Bill Belichick in Cleveland and as head coach of Miami. A “transformational leader” as Saban put it. Once college football season ends, Saban said he will be involved as much as Haslam wants.

Saban already has spoken to coaches and some players during what he called a minicamp. Saban also has met a couple times with general manager Barry Trotz, saying his goal is to support Trotz and everyone else with the Predators.

Nashville won the Western Conference before losing the Stanley Cup Final in 2017 to Pittsburgh in six games. The Predators won the Presidents’ Trophy for the 2017-18 season but ranked 26th out of 32 NHL teams Monday five points back of the second wild-card spot in the West.

“To be a part of the hockey team here is something special, and we’d love to build it into a championship,” Saban said. “We’d love to partner with Mr. Haslam to do anything that we can do to help this organization be successful.”

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Link

NIL

Missouri linebacker Damon Wilson II accuses Georgia of illegal punishment in transfer portal lawsuit

Published

4 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Missouri pass rusher Damon Wilson II claims that the athletic department at Georgia is trying to illegally punish him for entering the transfer portal in a lawsuit filed by the linebacker in state court Tuesday in Boone County, Missouri.

Wilson transferred to the Tigers last January after signing a 14-month deal with Georgia’s booster collective to capitalize on his name, image and likeness. He received $30,000 in an initial payment on a $500,000 deal before entering the transfer portal.

Georgia filed a lawsuit last month claiming that Wilson owed its athletic department $390,000 in liquidated damages for leaving the team. Wilson’s countersuit claims that his former school is using such damages to “punish” him for his decision to leave.

Georgia spokesman Steve Drummond said the school had no comment because it involves pending litigation.

“When the University of Georgia Athletic Association enters binding agreements with student-athletes, we honor our commitments and expect student-athletes to do the same,” Drummond said upon the school’s initial lawsuit in early December.

Wilson had nine sacks and an interception this season for the Tigers. They will play Virginia in the Gator Bowl on Saturday.

Link

NIL

Dylan Stewart, top 2027 NFL prospect, stays with Gamecocks, lands major NIL deal

Published

4 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCIV) — One day after South Carolina received word that star quarterback LaNorris Sellers was staying in town, another star said he plans to return to the fold.

Dylan Stewart, the Gamecocks’ star edge rusher, announced he is returning for his true junior season in 2026, according to Pete Thamel, ESPN’s college football insider.

Stewart has 11 sacks in his two seasons at South Carolina and has forced 6 fumbles. Among ESPN’s draft projections, he appears to be a top prospect for the 2027 NFL Draft.

READ MORE | “South Carolina QB LaNorris Sellers stays put, vows stronger return for 2026 season.”

The former five-star recruit and rising SEC pass rusher chose continuity over the transfer portal, agreeing to an NIL deal that places him among the highest compensated non-quarterbacks in college football, according to ESPN’s reporting.

South Carolina’s defense is back in reliable hands, as the Gamecocks ready themselves to bounceback from a 4-8 season.

After the pitiful finish, South Carolina head coach Shane Beamer shook up his coaching staff.

South Carolina is also expected to hire Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes as the defensive end and outside linebacker coach.

He’s been Penn State’s defensive line coach the past three years and worked with the line there since 2020. He coached Abdul Carter, Chop Robinson and Adisa Isaac.

BE THE FIRST TO COMMENT

READ MORE | “South Carolina to kick off 2026 football season at home against Kent State.”

Link

NIL

Michigan coaching search: Rece Davis advises Wolverines to keep waiting if they want Kalen DeBoer

Published

5 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Until Michigan officially hires a head coach, the name Kalen DeBoer is going to be mentioned with the search. Even after DeBoer released statements saying he would stay with Alabama, rumors are out there. Folks in Ann Arbor might have been cheering for Oklahoma on Friday night to potentially speed up the process.

Instead, Alabama is heading to the Rose Bowl to face Indiana on Jan. 1. So, if DeBoer was going to be Michigan’s hire, the wait will continue. Which is exactly what ESPN’s Rece Davis believes the Wolverines should be doing in this situation.

“From Michigan’s standpoint, if that’s the guy you want, wait,” Davis said via the College GameDay Podcast. “If it takes waiting until they finish, if they were to upset Indiana, wait if that’s the guy you want. Why settle? One portal class, one recruiting class is not worth settling for a program like Michigan. Now, I understand the concept that there’s no guarantee you’re going to get him. I get that. But if you are convicted that this is your guy, wait it out. See what happens, push forward.”

If Alabama were to win in Pasadena, the next College Football Playoff date would be Jan. 8 or 9. A run to the national championship means DeBoer would not be done coaching the 2025 season until Jan. 19. But Davis mentions no singular NCAA transfer portal and/or recruiting class is as important as getting the right guy for Michigan.

When it comes down to it, Davis does not think DeBoer will leave Tuscaloosa this offseason. Those released statements were viewed as pretty telling in Davis’s eyes. And at the end of the day, DeBoer is still looking to prove to be the guy who can replace Nick Saban at Alabama.

“I do not think Kalen DeBoer will take the job,” Davis said. “Ultimately, because I don’t think he wants to be perceived as running from what he ran to. Michigan’s a great job. If he does, he does, and great for him if that’s what he decides. I don’t think he will end up doing that. Maybe he will.”

The latest update on where the Michigan coaching search came from On3’s Pete Nakos on Saturday. Nakos outlined who the top candidates are at the moment, mainly after Kenny Dillingham signed an extension to stay in Tempe with the Arizona State Sun Devils not too long ago.

Link

NIL

Damon Wilson ll files countersuit against UGA, claims NIL contract non-binding

Published

6 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Georgia Bulldogs

Wilson’s lawsuit states that UGA’s attempt to collect the $390K lump sum was a ‘strong-arm tactic.’

Damon Wilson II played 417 defensive snaps for UGA during the 2024-25 season. He transferred to Missouri. (Jason Getz / AJC)

Damon Wilson ll, who transferred from Georgia to Missouri, is suing the University of Georgia Athletic Association and the Classic City Collective claiming the term sheet he signed to remain with the program is not a legally binding agreement.

The 42-page lawsuit, acquired by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution after it was filed in the circuit court of Boone County, Mo. on Tuesday, seeks to grant Wilson relief from UGA seeking a $390,000 lump sum it claims Wilson owes by contract and hold defendants liable for “damages sufficient to compensate him for the financial and reputational harm” suffered.

hcihw saw saw rednu ot ot setats dengis stcelfer diap eno no fo htnom gnisnecil sih gnilif seef lauqe noitatnemucod ,tcartnoc kcab nosliW s’AGU .ceD .ceD ,12 .4202 )4202 ,1 gnitad( ,000,03$

nihtiw htiw nehw latot ot ot eht eht eht eht eht eht maet mus dengis skees redniamer krowrepap fo fo fo shtnom pmul gnisnecil tfel .tiuswal sti si rof tsrif delif eef eud syad eb ,tnemeerga gnidrocca nosliW AGU ehT aigroeG 03 41 000,093$

a“ — — tuohtiw hcihw egap-eerht eht eht ”smret mret setats dengis teehs tes .tneserp reyalp fo gnidnib-non lagel ti remrof tiusretnuoc lesnuoc sniatnoc smialc s’nosliW aigroeG

”,gnidnatsrednu“ eb“ dluow dluow saw desu eht eht taht taht smret mret teehs tes gnihcaer rep krowrepap fo yllagel lagel ni ,delif gnidnib eb ”.tnemeerga a a s’nosliW LIN tI

emit“ htiw saw dlot ot ot eht eht eht eht mret maet ngis teehs lanifretrauq ecitcarp yalp no fo gnidael ,tiuswal ni mih mih eh emag ”,ecnesse seeyolpme deunitnoc erofeb dna tsniaga s’nosliW AAGU raguS ffoyalP reP ertoN .naJ llabtooF .emaD egelloC ’sgodlluB lwoB 2

nettirw gniwardhtiw wardhtiw yletamitlu refsnart ot ot eht eht eht eht eht maet loohcs dedeecorp latrop no no fo eciton txen gnivael noitnetni sih evig emag morf deretne .yad erofeb dna retfa nosliW AGU .naJ .naJ ,6 31

gniwonk“ pord“ ot ot ot semit eht ”,smaet setats lliks esacwohs tes emehcs deriuqer latrop dedeen tiuswal otni sih sih mih eh dah lluf retne evisnefed noisiced ”.egarevoc egnahc emac kcab ta sa retfa a s’nosliW s’AGU LFN

”kcaJ“ htiw esoht eht spans nosaes hsur nur .noitisop deyalp rep ssap ssap fo rekcabenil ni ni ni sih morf rof gnirud evisnefed ,esnefed egarevoc dna nosliW AGU orP llabtooF ,sucoF 84 714 612 52-4202 351

ot“ mra-gnorts“ detanidrooc“ htiw saw ,refsnart ot ot eht eht eht eht taht taht mret ”citcat mus setats teehs secivres gnizilaer hsinup tneverp ,latrop nepo fo pmul ”.gnisnecil tiuswal erefretni ni deifitnedi sih sih mih morf eerf rof rof gniretne ”troffe noititepmoc tcelloc yb stifeneb nageb tpmetta citelhta dna dna dna osla ytiliba a a s’nosliW nosliW s’AGU AAGU LIN

htiw htiw erehw nehw detaloiv ,refsnart ot ot esoht eht smret mret teehs ylcilbup snoisivorp smargorp smargorp rehto fo detneserpersim rojam edam ,tiuswal snoissucsid gnisolcsid ediced tcatnoc ytilaitnedifnoc yb .tuoyub nageb dna dna osla tnemeerga a a s’nosliW nosliW AAGU reP

ot eht eht tnemetats nosrepsekops no deussi gniwollof AGU :yadseuT CJA A

sihT“ ew ”.emit siht gnidnep on rettam ,noitagitil sevlovni evah tnemmoc ta dna

nehW“ htiw ew ot ot eht eht taht ,setelhta-tneduts setelhta-tneduts tnemetats nosrepsekops ”.emas :dias suoiverp detniop ruo fo ronoh tcepxe sretne od stnemtimmoc gnidnib dna osla stnemeerga a ytisrevinU ehT aigroeG citelhtA noitaicossA

Mike is in his 10th season covering SEC and Georgia athletics for AJC-DawgNation and has 25 years of CFB experience. Mike is a Heisman Trophy voter and former Football Writers President who was named the National FWAA Beat Writer of the Year in January, 2018.

Link

NIL

$2.5 million QB linked to unexpected college football program

Published

7 hours ago

December 24, 2025

Your Sports Nation

A multitude of college football players are set to look for a new home for the 2026 college football season.

In the weeks before the NCAA transfer portal opens, quarterbacks across college football have expressed their desire to explore new destinations. These quarterbacks include DJ Lagway of Florida, Sam Leavitt of Arizona State, Josh Hoover of TCU and Brendan Sorsby of Cincinnati.

One intriguing name in the portal quarterback is former Nebraska signal caller Dylan Raiola. He will enter the transfer portal with two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Raiola is expected to command around $2.5 million in NIL compensation from whatever school he lands at.

One school that has entered the sweepstakes for Raiola is Louisville. Steve Wiltfong of On3 mentioned the possibility of Raiola joining the Cardinals in a recent edition of “Wiltfong Whiparound.”

Nebraska Cornhuskers quarterback Dylan Raiola (15) runs off after scoring a touchdown against USC | Dylan Widger-Imagn Images

“They can be a program to keep an eye on for Dylan Raiola,” Wiltfong said.

In the three seasons Jeff Brohm has coached at his alma mater, Louisville has not started a quarterback it recruited from high school.

Former Purdue and California quarterback Jack Plummer transferred to Louisville and started for the Cardinals in 2023. The Cardinals acquired a former Oregon and Texas Tech quarterback from the portal to be their starter in 2024. Brohm brought in former USC quarterback Miller Moss to be the Cardinals’ starter in 2025.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pounder arrived at Nebraska as a freshman in 2024 as one of the highest-rated recruits in the country. Raiola started all 13 games for the Cornhuskers and set a program record for passing yards by a freshman with 2,819 yards to go along with 13 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions.

He guided Nebraska to its first bowl win since 2015 with a defeat of Boston College (20-15) in the Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl.

A broken fibula cut Raiola’s 2025 season short after nine games in early November. He passed for 2,000 yards, 18 touchdowns and six interceptions in his abridged season with the Cornhuskers.

Nebraska (7-5, 4-5) will face No. 15 Utah (10-2, 7-2) in the SRS Distribution Las Vegas Bowl on Dec. 31 to end the season (3:30 p.m. EST, ESPN).

Link