It’s a Monday and Mid-June, over two months before actual football games start, and you’re starving for new deep-diving local college and prep football content.

We have the freshest insight from the ultimate “insider” ready for you!

Enjoy a smorgasbord of meaty information and educated opinions on the hottest topics from Kurtiss Riggs, our Happy Hour with John Gaskins lead football analyst, the Sanford Sports Academy football director, veteran high school and college TV game commentator, and 11-time league champion former head coach of the Sioux Falls Storm.

Topics covered:

• What chances will SDSU fans see the top two local true freshmen — receiver Landon Dulaney (Brandon Valley) and offensive lineman Lincoln Semchenko (SF Christian) — on the field and making plays right away?
• For SDSU and USD, what are the advantages and disadvantages of “opting in” to sharing revenue with athletes (and therefore having NIL money regulated) for the first time, a result of the recently-approved NCAA-House Settlement? 
• What are some things about NIL most people don’t know — the effects it has already had on coaches and locker rooms at all levels, where most of the NIL money at schools like SDSU and USD is going, and how some local players left a lot of money on the table?
• Who are the top three 2026 prospects in this region right now? We’re talking Power Four offers and commitments and possible different makers at the highest level of college football.
• What would it take for the Sioux Falls Storm to return to the field in 2026, and what do we make of last week’s resignation of head coach and long-time Storm staple Andre Fields? 

John Gaskins hosts “Happy Hour with John Gaskins,” a sports talk show for Sioux Falls and beyond that blends entertaining commentary and conversations.

Alexi Lalas recently blamed the U.S. Men Soccer’s struggles on “diversity,” following some disappointing games of late. The former Rutgers and Team USA standout chalked it up to 11 men representing the United States and all being on the same page is going to be difficult.

It’s certainly an interesting reason as to why the men’s team is struggling right now, at least according to Lalas. He argued being “exclusive” rather than “inclusive” would be key to the U.S’s success in the future.

With just a year to go before the FIFA World Cup is held on American, as well as Canadian and Mexican, soil, some fans are panicking. That was after a 4-0 loss to Switzerland ahead of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, which the USA won 5-0 over Trinidad and Tobago in the opening group stage game. 

“We oftentimes talk about our diversity and we talk about it in the fact that it is one of the advantages we have, and of the great things about our country,” Lalas said on First Things First. “But with that diversity comes diversity of thought. If I go and ask a hundred soccer people out there, ‘What’s beautiful soccer?’ I’m going to get a hundred different answers. And it might be based on ethnicity, where you grew up, even geography. All of these different things.

“So I’ve argued that the homogenous nature of some other countries and cultures just in population in terms of size are much more manageable. And there is a collective understanding and, more importantly, an agreement in this is how we’re going to play. But getting 11 men to represent this great country of 350 million people, and all be on the same page, that is very, very difficult.”

Team USA isn’t helped by the fact that star player Christian Pulisic, who’s considered one of the best American soccer players in recent memory, isn’t playing in the Gold Cup. He decided not to play due to a grueling season with his club team AC Milan.

As Awful Announcing pointed out, France won the last World Cup with a very diverse group, so it’s hard to understand when Lalas is coming from, at least from that perspective. But Lalas, who initially bought into the melting pot argument, wants all players to be on the same page and develop more of an American style, so to speak.

“I’ve argued before that maybe our best route to actually being better from a men’s perspective in soccer is actually being more exclusive, not being as inclusive,” Lalas said. “In that if you went to the New York metropolitan area or Southern California and you just took players that all grew up in the same area, had all this shared experiences, maybe that would be better in terms of an understanding.

“This melting pot fallacy that I’ll be the first to admit, I bought into. And I’m not saying it can’t happen. It just takes a lot longer and with a lot more work. And especially when it comes to a national team, you don’t have time to be able to do that.”

LaNorris Sellers established himself as one of the quarterbacks to watch in 2025. The 2024 SEC Freshman of the Year threw for 2,534 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season, and added 674 yards and seven more touchdowns on the ground as the South Carolina Gamecocks put together a 9-4 campaign — the most successful season of the Shane Beamer era.

Sellers became just the third freshman in FBS history to throw for 2,500 yards and rush for 500 yards, joining Johnny Manziel and Jalen Hurts. Naturally, he caught the attention of the college football world, and the interest of other programs as well. In fact, Sellers’ father told The Athletic that his son fetched an NIL offer from an interested team worth $8 million for two years.

“He was offered all kinds of crazy numbers,” said his father, Norris Sellers. “I told him he could say, ‘I’m gonna stay or I’m gonna go.’ By my two cents: It was to get into college on a scholarship, play ball, get our degree and go on about our business. This NIL deal came later. We didn’t come here to make money. We came here to get our education, play ball. And with schools calling, we’re not gonna jump ship because they’re offering more than what we’re getting. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“You’re 19. You don’t need ($8 million). You’re in a great spot. There were several talks, but it never really crossed his mind (to leave). It’s a challenge with colleges offering younger guys that kind of money. Who’s gonna say no to $8 million for two years? They’re gonna be swayed if you don’t have the right people in your corner.”

Beamer told The Athletic that he wasn’t too worried about his quarterback leaving in this new era of college football, because he believed Sellers realized he had a good situation in Columbia, on and off the field. 

“I’ve been playing football all of my life for free,” Sellers said. “I’ve built relationships here, my family’s here, my brother’s here. There’s no reason for me to go someplace else and start over.”

With his performance in 2024, Sellers firmly placed himself on the radar of NFL teams. Over at DraftKings Sportsbook, he is listed at +800 to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft — the fourth-shortest odds behind Arch Manning, Drew Allar and Garrett Nussmeier. 

LaNorris Sellers established himself as one of the quarterbacks to watch in 2025. The 2024 SEC Freshman of the Year threw for 2,534 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season, and added 674 yards and seven more touchdowns on the ground as the South Carolina Gamecocks put together a 9-4 campaign — the most successful season of the Shane Beamer era.

Sellers became just the third freshman in FBS history to throw for 2,500 yards and rush for 500 yards, joining Johnny Manziel and Jalen Hurts. Naturally, he caught the attention of the college football world, and the interest of other programs as well. In fact, Sellers’ father told The Athletic that his son fetched an NIL offer from an interested team worth $8 million for two years.

“He was offered all kinds of crazy numbers,” said his father, Norris Sellers. “I told him he could say, ‘I’m gonna stay or I’m gonna go.’ By my two cents: It was to get into college on a scholarship, play ball, get our degree and go on about our business. This NIL deal came later. We didn’t come here to make money. We came here to get our education, play ball. And with schools calling, we’re not gonna jump ship because they’re offering more than what we’re getting. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“You’re 19. You don’t need ($8 million). You’re in a great spot. There were several talks, but it never really crossed his mind (to leave). It’s a challenge with colleges offering younger guys that kind of money. Who’s gonna say no to $8 million for two years? They’re gonna be swayed if you don’t have the right people in your corner.”

Beamer told The Athletic that he wasn’t too worried about his quarterback leaving in this new era of college football, because he believed Sellers realized he had a good situation in Columbia, on and off the field. 

“I’ve been playing football all of my life for free,” Sellers said. “I’ve built relationships here, my family’s here, my brother’s here. There’s no reason for me to go someplace else and start over.”

With his performance in 2024, Sellers firmly placed himself on the radar of NFL teams. Over at DraftKings Sportsbook, he is listed at +800 to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft — the fourth-shortest odds behind Arch Manning, Drew Allar and Garrett Nussmeier. 

The House settlement was passed and with it the rules for new roster limits in college athletics were approved. But what do the new limits mean practically?

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy spent some time on his Always College Football podcast breaking down the implication of the new rules. He came away with some positives and negatives from the new changes.

“The positives that come from roster limitations is that it increases the scholarship opportunities that you might find in other places,” McElroy said. “For instance in football, in time, not immediately, but in time, there might be 105 scholarships available, whereas in the past it was just 85. We’re not there right now, but maybe here two, three, four years down the road that could be a real positive. And I think people are excited about that possibility.”

Many programs have budgeted for more scholarships being available across the entirety of the athletic department than before. That’s because the roster limits in some sports have changed from the old scholarship limits.

McElroy pointed out one sport that should benefit massively from the changes. That’s baseball.

“Then if you care about the other sports, ala college baseball, which is in the midst of their College World Series pursuit right now … they now will go from 11.7 scholarships to potentially 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, whatever it ends up being,” McElroy said. “So that’s all really beneficial.”

Another benefit? Easier financial planning.

“We’re also really happy in many ways that the compensation, there’s some clarity now surrounding compensation,” McElroy said. “Now it’s not directly tied to roster limits, but this new system as a whole provides clarity as to what rosters might cost in the future and it also provides a streamlined operation for these athletic departments.”

That said, one of the biggest hurdles around roster limits was that the initial focus only really applied to scholarship players and scholarships. It sort of ignored walk-ons, the impact of which can be large depending on the program.

“The big issue is that there would be many, many lost opportunities to players,” McElroy said. “I referenced the 128 to 105 just in football alone, well, people were having a real hard time with that. And players were writing in to the judge and saying, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to be able to play football as a result of this decision.’

“So they decided to implement a grandfather clause, which means players that are potentially at risk of losing their roster spot would receive a designation. It would be a designated student-athlete tag. And that student-athlete tag will be included throughout their entire careers. So these players, they won’t count against the cap. They can move freely. They can go play elsewhere, but they’re able to play and if they are the 106th player on a team in which roster limits are at 105, they won’t count against the cap. So that’s beneficial. That will obviously expire at some point here in the near future, but it is worth noting at least in the near term.”

Then what are the negatives of roster limits? For McElroy, it’s the potential disappearance of the walk-on caliber player.

“I’ve been one that has kind of been outspoken about roster limits. I can’t be in favor of them,” McElroy said. “I was on a team with 85 scholarship players, but we had 125, 126, 127, 128 guys that were on the roster. And those 42, 43 guys that weren’t on scholarship that practiced with us every day were vital to the college experience.

“I believe that the walk-on is as important as the starting quarterback. I’ve always felt that way, I think that’s the beauty of the team. That, yes, they might not receive financial aid but they were every bit a part of the team as anybody else that had a jersey, NIL compensation, all these other aspects. They might, in some cases, graduate with student debt, but they were part of the team.”

Walk-ons have a big impact on a college roster. They might not be out there on the field on Saturdays making plays, but they help put the guys that are in position to do so.

The occasionally, of course, someone will exceed expectations. The Rudy stories make college football.

“They are part of the development process and there are a million examples of stories in which guys went from walk-on, to scholarship, to star, to NFL, to crazy high levels of NFL,” McElroy said. “And the fear of that potentially going away was something that kind of kept me up at night if I’m going to be completely honest. But now your fears and concerns can be put at ease, at least in the near term. Because of that grandfather clause these guys will still have the opportunity to play. Might not be at the school that they initially intended to go, but they at least will have that opportunity to play the rest of their years.”

Bottom line: Change is coming to the sport with the implementation of roster limits. But, if handled correctly, the sport can still thrive at a high level.

“The walk-ons as we know if will not look exactly the same, but here’s hoping that there will be loopholes and opportunities for those guys to still play college football,” McElroy said. “And maybe with limitations elsewhere they can play at a different level and maybe get more opportunities at a different level.”