NIL
Five Members of Softball Garner CSC Academic All-District Honors
GREENWOOD, Ind. – Five members of the Saint Joseph’s softball team have been named 2025 College Sports Communicators Academic All-District as announced by the organization on Tuesday afternoon.
Sarah Cancila, Sierra Fretz, Hailey Malito, Meghan Sinkus and Taylor Trowbridge earned the honor. Malito was selected by CSC as a finalist for Academic All-America. She is one of seven Atlantic-10 players who will now be entered into a vote by organization members for AAA honors.
To be eligible, student-athletes must have achieved sophomore standing or higher and have a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above. Position players must have played in 90 percent of team games or started 66 percent of team games. Pitchers must have appeared in 17 contests or pitched 35 innings.
Malito was First Team All-Atlantic 10 for a year where she ranked sixth in A-10 in slugging and OPS, seventh in walks and 11th in RBI. Overall, she hit .333 with three homers and 32 RBI. She collected her 100th career hit as her first career homerun in a hometown game at Loyola Chicago.
In the classroom Malito graduates with a 3.69 GPA in HR and people management and was on the Atlantic-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll three times.
Fretz was also First Team All-10, ranking fourth in the conference in homeruns, sixth in slugging, seventh in OPS and 10th in RBI. She led A-10 and was in the top-60 nationally in HBP (12). She hit .282 and her 10 homeruns are fourth in a season in team history. She had five consecutive hits that went over the fence from March 26-April 9 and only committed one error in 189 total chances combined between catcher and third base.
Fretz graduates with a 3.48 GPA in chemical biology. She was also CSC Academic All-District in 2023 at UAlbany.
Cancila became the 27th player in Saint Joseph’s history with 150 career hits and finished 20th with 161. Her 37 walks are second all-time in a single season at SJU and her 41 runs scored are fifth. Overall, she hit .302 with three homers and 22 RBI, ranking eighth in the A-10 in OBP, fifth in runs scored, fourth in walks and ninth in SB.
A three-time member of the Atlantic-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Cancila is a nominee for Allstate NACDA Good Works Team and graduates with a 3.57 GPA in health sciences.
Trowbridge was a two-time A-10 Pitcher of the Week and was on the Atlantic-10 All-Tournament Team. She finished sixth in A-10 in IP, 10th in ERA, seventh in strikeouts, seventh in wins and sixth in complete games.
On the Atlantic-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll twice in her career, she has a 3.83 GPA as a political science major.
Sinkus hit .280 and was fifth in A-10 triples, ninth in at-bats and sixth in A-10 sac flies. She collected her 100th career hit during the season and had six RBI against Saint Bonaventure, most in a game for SJU since 2021.
The junior has been on the Atlantic-10 Commissioner’s Honor Roll twice and has a 3.57 GPA as an international business major.
TEMPE — The NIL sphere has created a seismic shift in the world of college athletics – the ways in which Arizona State has been impacted are very real in the midst of the changes to the structure of athletics.
ASU football head coach Kenny Dillingham has been quite vocal in finding avenues for the football program to improve in that sphere – most recently making a plea for a mega-donor to make a program-changing contribution – much in the same way that Texas Tech’s fortunes were changed nearly overnight.
Arizona State on SI selects four power brokers who are affiliated with the school and have the potential to become folk heroes in Tempe.
Phil Mickelson
Mickelson – an Arizona State graduate in 1992 – is considered one of the best golfers of all time, ranking 8th in PGA Tour victories (45) and earning six major victories.
The legendary golfer has frequently shouted out the football program in social media posts over the last two seasons as well, confirming that he still associates with the university.
Mickelson is also reportedly boasting a net worth of $350 million, making the golfer one of, if not the prime candidates, to commit a hefty check to not only improve the football infrastructure, but university athletics as a whole.
Jon Rahm
Rahm, 31, is a native of Spain who played at Arizona State from 2012-2016, becoming one of the top amateurs in golf during those four years.
Rahm continues to maintain a residence in the Phoenix area and has seemingly stayed connected with the university over the years – he has the potential to be another heavy-hitting contributor alongside Mickelson.
Jimmy Kimmel
Kimmel, 58, is an outside-the-box addition to the equation here, as he attended, but didn’t graduate from Arizona State.
Still, it’s fascinating to bring up the possibility of a late-night show host contributing to the program and becoming immortalized amongst the fanbase despite not holding a diploma from the school.
James Harden
Harden is another clear option that is out there for a mega-donor.
The 36-year-old NBA star has built up multi-generational wealth over his career, and has never shied away from continuing to proudly display his affiliation with the program – even openly donating in the high-six figure totals to the basketball program’s NIL efforts, as well as returning to interact/practice with Sun Devil teams that are incoming each summer.
Regardless of what happens in NIL efforts of the university moving forward, there are options that could surely fulfill Dillingham’s desires.
Read more on why the Arizona State men’s basketball team will exceed expectations in the 2025-26 season here, and on why the bright future of the football program isn’t dimmed by the loss to Arizona here.
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Duke’s Peyton Jones runs the ball during the second half of the Blue Devils’ 45-17 win over Elon on Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025, at Wallace Wade Stadium in Durham, N.C.
The News & Observer
With roster management and player retention a big part of coaches’ jobs, Duke’s Manny Diaz had some good news to share at Christmastime: Quarterback Darian Mensah and wide receiver Cooper Barkate are both returning for the 2026 football season.
Mensah, a redshirt sophomore this season and the ACC’s leading passer, had talked with Diaz and others about his NFL possibilities. But the former Tulane transfer decided to come back for a second year with the Blue Devils, where he again is expected to receive one of the top NIL packages in college football.
Barkate, who transferred to Duke from Harvard before last season, had 68 catches for 1,069 yards for the 2025 ACC champions, averaging 15.7 yards a grab, and scored six touchdowns.
The Blue Devils, who face Arizona State in the Dec. 31 Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas, had just three players miss bowl practices, according to Diaz. One was offensive tackle Brian Parker II, who announced he would leave Duke early to enter the NFL Draft. Cornerback Chandler Rivers and defensive end Vincent Anthony Jr., also are preparing for the 2026 draft.
Duke also has another departure: running backs coach Chris Foster, who has joined the Florida staff after one year on the Diaz staff.
“The situation is always fluid, but I expect our retention rate to be very good, again,” Diaz said. Here’s a look at who the Devils will have leaving when the NCAA transfer portal opens Jan. 2:
Entering the portal
RB Peyton Jones: Became something of a forgotten man in the offense in 2025 with the emergence of Nate Sheppard and power running of transfer Anderson Castle. Played in four games after being Star Thomas’ backup in 2024 and rushing for 317 yards.
TE Vance Bolyard: The redshirt sophomore from Greensboro was used primarily on special teams in 2025. Played in 10 games in 2024.
OL Jack Small: A redshirt freshman this year, the 6-6, 300-pounder was used in just two games.
S Kenzy Paul: Redshirt junior saw little action in the secondary this season, playing in one game, the win over Clemson.
S Maliki Wright: Did not play as a freshman this past season.
CB Kyren Condoll: The California native played in one game in 2024 and again saw little action this season.
CB Vontae Floyd: Limited to three games because of injury in 2025, the sophomore played in 11 games in 2024 and was one of four true freshmen to letter for Devils.
DT Terry Simmons Jr.: The redshirt sophomore, a 6-2, 305-pounder, played nine games in 2025 as a backup defensive tackle and was at Duke for three seasons.
Chip Alexander
The News & Observer
In more than 40 years at The N&O, Chip Alexander has covered the N.C. State, UNC, Duke and East Carolina beats, and now is in his 15th season on the Carolina Hurricanes beat. Alexander, who has won numerous writing awards at the state and national level, covered the Hurricanes’ move to North Carolina in 1997 and was a part of The N&O’s coverage of the Canes’ 2006 Stanley Cup run.
Dec. 26, 2025, 5:40 a.m. CT
NORMAN – For University of Oklahoma defensive lineman Danny Okoye, his current spot – as the face of a social media campaign seeking to spread awareness of a life-saving drug for those who have overdosed on opioids – was a case of fortuitous timing.
Okoye is the first of a series of OU student-athletes who will participate in an NIL (name, image and likeness) deal with the nonprofit HarborPath of Charlotte, North Carolina, to promote Narcan, the brand name under which the generic drug naloxone is distributed.
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.
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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