As the Baltimore Orioles continue to sign their 2025 MLB Draft picks, one deal is not going to get over the finish line. Odessa College pitcher Daniel Lopez was taken in the 12th round by Baltimore but instead will return to college for another season, he announced via social media on Thursday.

Lopez will still be playing baseball elsewhere next season. He committed to the Kansas Jayhawks as well, making a jump up to the power conference ranks. Huge news for head coach Dan Fitzgerald, snagging a top arm out of the NCAA transfer portal.

“After talking with my family and coaches, I’ve decided to return to school and continue my academic and athletic journey at the University of Kansas this season,” Lopez said via X. “Thank you to the Orioles and everyone who supported me. Grateful for what’s ahead! Let’s go to Omaha.”

Last year was considered Lopez’s freshman year, putting up good numbers for Odessa College. He appeared in 16 games, six of which were starts – all of which were in conference play. In 49.2 innings, Lopez recorded a 4.89 ERA with 81 strikeouts and 38 walks.

Playing for Kansas will be a big step up for him. D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rogers believes Lopez possesses a “big-time arm” and can be a “strong asset” for them moving forward. In an interview with KUSports.com, the right-hander revealed his fastball got up to 98 miles per hour.

“It’s kind of putting everything you can into baseball, making your life about baseball,” Lopez said of his mentality via KUSports.com. “I’ve always taken it serious, I’ve always loved the sport, the game, but as soon you get more into it, I feel like the culture was what really drove me at Odessa. It was kind of like a family, you know, everybody’s pushing you to be better.”

Kansas put together a successful 2025 season, making the NCAA Tournament for the first time in over a decade. As Lopez mentioned, the goal is to get to Omaha this upcoming year. If the Jayhawks can, it would be just the second time the program has gotten to the College World Series, going back to 1993.

In fact, KU has only once made it out of a regional. Any kind of advancement in the NCAA Tournament would be a major stepping stone. Lopez turning down the Orioles to play in Lawrence only helps their cause moving forward.

President Donald Trump on Thursday issued an executive order titled “SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS,” a directive aimed at regulating the rapidly shifting landscape in college sports.

Since 2021, college athletes have been able to profit off their name, image and likeness after a Supreme Court ruling on antitrust laws went in favor of the athletes. In the ensuing years, players have been able to get paid legally via third parties, and after a separate lawsuit was settled in June, athletes can now also be paid directly by their schools.

The NIL era, however, has raised a variety of concerns for both schools and athletes, with issues ranging from maintaining equality in women’s sports to a potential push for collective bargaining between athletes and their respective colleges.

Trump’s order, which is not itself a law, essentially calls for an implementation of policies that are widely viewed as NCAA (as opposed to athlete) friendly.

Here’s what to know.

What exactly does Trump’s order call for?

Trump’s order said that, in the wake of legislation that allows athletes to be compensated and transfer freely between schools, “the future of college sports is under unprecedented threat.”

The EO goes on to say that the recent rulings have unleashed “a sea change that threatens the viability of college sports” and more guardrails are needed to ensure a fairer system.

So, what would Trump like to see? The order calls for the following:

• Prohibiting third parties from engaging in direct “pay-for-play” payments to athletes, which the order deems improper. Currently, school boosters can sign players to multimillion-dollar NIL deals that are widely viewed as a workaround to directly paying players to attend a certain university. Trump’s order says players should only earn “fair market value” for a legitimate service to a third party, such as a brand endorsement. Advocates for athletes say this would impose a cap on their earnings.

• Protections on scholarships for nonrevenue sports, requiring schools to maintain or increase scholarships for such sports, depending on the revenue of their athletic departments. This would be a measure largely to protect Olympic sports and women’s sports from potential decreases in funding as more money goes to revenue-generating athletes in football and basketball.
• A clarification from the National Labor Relations Board on the employment status of athletes “that will maximize the educational benefits and opportunities provided by higher education institutions through athletics.” During the Biden administration, the NLRB issued a memo stating that certain college athletes should be considered employees. That memo was rescinded earlier this year, and now Trump is seeking to codify athletes as non-employees, which would almost certainly take away any opportunity they have to collectively bargain with schools.
• Protections for the NCAA from lawsuits by athletes. The NCAA has been lobbying for these protections for many years, as many of the big changes in college athletics have come as the result of antitrust lawsuits. Protections against further court cases would allow the NCAA to enforce its rules on issues such as transfers and third-party payments without fear of them being upended by another court ruling.

What does this all mean for the immediate future?

Nothing immediately.

Trump cannot unilaterally impose rules in this scenario. His executive order also comes as the House tries to push through the SCORE Act, a bipartisan piece of legislation that is aligned with much of Trump’s executive order. The SCORE Act has moved through committee and can be debated on the House floor when representatives return from recess in September.

Meanwhile, there has been a bipartisan push in the Senate to introduce its version of legislation regarding college athletes, with Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., among those involved.

“The many challenges facing college sports are important and complex,” Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in a statement to NBC News. “The Executive Order recognizes the importance of preserving Olympic sports, women’s sports, and maintaining competitiveness for big and small schools alike. I’m disappointed that the President abandoned his earlier plan for a commission to examine all the issues facing college sports. We need a sustainable future for college sports, not a future dominated by the biggest and wealthiest schools who can write their own rules without accountability.”

Trump’s Executive Order on College Sports Sparks NCAA, Mountain West, and More — With Support from Nick Saban

In a major development for college sports, President Donald Trump signed a sweeping executive order Thursday called “SAVING COLLEGE SPORTS,” sparking debate and raising awareness about issues related to name, image, and likeness (NIL), athlete pay, and the NCAA’s role.

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While the immediate effects are mostly symbolic and not structural, its potential impacts on the NCAA—and on conference groups like the Mountain West—could be far-reaching.

The move comes amid growing national concern that college sports have become a “headless system,” now seen as “free agency,” with mega-collectives and multi-million-dollar payouts replacing tradition, loyalty, and balance.

While not the main focus here, Trump has spoken about this complaint many times in conversations with retired Alabama football coach Nick Saban, who met with the president earlier this month to discuss the declining state of college athletics.

According to sources familiar with their discussion, Saban told the president some hard truths about the unintended consequences of the NIL era, emphasizing that federal protection is crucial.

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“We are losing what has made college sports special,” Saban reportedly said. “And without a national standard, the unfair imbalance will only worsen, and it will be the Olympic sports, non-revenue programs, and student-athletes at smaller schools who suffer most.”

After reviewing the executive order, Saban praised it, calling it “a step in the right direction.” He added that while legislative action will still be required, the president’s directive sends “a strong message that college athletics still have some integrity.”

Trump’s five-page order highlights this urgency. He criticizes recent court rulings and policy shifts that have caused bidding wars by boosters, large payments to players, and free transfers. “College sports is not, and should not be, professional sports,” the order states. “Without guardrails to curb the chaos… many college sports will likely cease to exist soon.”

Among the proposals in the order are:

– Protecting scholarships for non-revenue sports—requiring schools with large athletic budgets to increase or maintain scholarships for Olympic and women’s sports.

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– Banning “pay-for-play” models—preventing booster collectives from offering athletes payment unrelated to commercial ventures,

– Clarifying athlete status—directing the Secretary of Labor and the National Labor Relations Board to confirm that athletes are students, not employees,

– Limiting legal risks for schools—advising that they be shielded from antitrust lawsuits that could threaten NCAA governance and transfer policies.

While Trump’s executive order does not have the power of federal law, it can put pressure on Congress members, especially now that the SCORE Act—an NCAA-friendly piece of legislation—is officially moving through Congress.

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Senate leaders, including Ted Cruz, are involved in bipartisan talks to create a companion bill.

Effects on the Mountain West and the NCAA

For mid-major conferences like the Mountain West, the executive order offers both hope and concern.

There is hope because an executive order could support a quasi-policy to stabilize scholarship opportunities for non-revenue sports at schools like UNM, Utah State, and San Diego State.

The concern is that this hope comes with unpredictability because decisions can change, and the playing field will still be heavily skewed in favor of power conferences that can capitalize on NIL-driven disparities in strength.

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The Mountain West has much smaller budgets—$50 to $60 million per sports program—and recruiting and keeping top talent will be especially difficult under current free-market conditions.

An executive order that limits unregulated booster interference to protect opportunities in non-revenue sports could be crucial for their survival—if subsequent actions make this possible.

Nevertheless, many experts, including NCAA President Charlie Baker, insist that there is no long-term solution without Congressional intervention. “You can’t fix this stuff from executive order,” Baker said on Thursday. “Our focus … has got to be the legislative process.”

However, as the saying goes in politics, just like in sports, momentum matters. Trump’s executive order, along with high-profile support from coaching legend Saban, could speed up legislative action on Capitol Hill.

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When a sport urgently needs stability and reinforcement during rapid changes, that signal might be enough to cause a ripple effect.

As Purdue coach Barry Odom recently stated, “The game’s been here for a hundred years and it’s gonna be here for a hundred more.”

That might be true, but after this order and with prominent figures like Trump and Saban finally aligned, the game could begin to resemble what it once was.

All this being said, I think we can all agree that something needs to be done to address the issues in NCAA college sports and protect its original purpose for college athletes when competing at any university.

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Ultimately, Trump’s executive order — along with voices like Nick Saban’s — could mark a turning point in a historically chaotic and often unchecked era of college sports.

The introduction of NIL and the transfer portal has brought positive changes for student-athletes, but perhaps the pendulum swung too far, too quickly.

Guardrails aren’t about limiting opportunity — they’re about ensuring fairness, preserving all sports, and restoring the balance that originally made college athletics special.

Therefore, this correction isn’t just warranted; it’s long overdue.

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