NIL
BSB | Madrigal Named Second ABCA All-American in Program History, First Since 2008
Story Links 2025 ABCA All-American Selections GREENSBORO, N.C., For just the second time in program history and the first time in 17 years, Saint Mary’s has produced an ABCA All-American in junior first baseman Eddie Madrigal. Madrigal was named to the American Baseball Coaches […]

GREENSBORO, N.C., For just the second time in program history and the first time in 17 years, Saint Mary’s has produced an ABCA All-American in junior first baseman Eddie Madrigal. Madrigal was named to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) All-America Second Team as the lone WCC recipient. Madrigal was the focal point of a magical 2025 season for Saint Mary’s as they won their second WCC Tournament Championship to earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. In just their second ever NCAA Regional appearance, they added another chapter to the story with their first ever regional victory defeating 8th ranked Oregon State 6-4 on the opening day of the tournament.
Madrigal’s list of accomplishments and awards include All-WCC First Team, WCC Tournament Most Outstanding Player, ABCA All-West Region First Team, NCBWA Second Team All-American, and now an ABCA All-American for the program’s first since 2008. That season, sophomore Kyle Jensen hit .421 for the Gaels with 13 homers and 52 RBI to be named an ABCA Second Team All-American. Madrigal capped his 2025 season with a .368 batting average, 21 home runs, 78 RBI, a .698 slugging percentage and a 1.160 OPS to lead all starters for Saint Mary’s. He also broke the single-season program records for hits (89), RBI (78) and runs scored (66) as his junior campaign will go down as one of the best in program history.
The complete release with the 2025 ABCA All-America teams can be found HERE or at abca.org.
About the ABCA…
The ABCA, founded in 1945, is the primary professional organization for baseball coaches at the amateur level. Its over 15,000 members represent all 50 states and 41 countries. Since its initial meeting of 27 college baseball coaches in June 1945, Association membership has broadened to include nine divisions: NCAA Division I, II and III, NAIA, NJCAA, Pacific Association Division, High School, Youth and Travel Baseball.
Be sure to follow your Gaels on Facebook, Instagram, and X to get all the latest Saint Mary’s athletics updates and information.
#GaelsRise
NIL
Paul Finebaum Claims College Football Playoff Team is Better Off Despite Losing Elite QB
Paul Finebaum Claims College Football Playoff Team is Better Off Despite Losing Elite QB originally appeared on Athlon Sports. The quarterback position is often considered the most crucial in all of sports. The quarterback is usually the first to take the snap, and it’s his responsibility to make the right decisions in both the passing […]

Paul Finebaum Claims College Football Playoff Team is Better Off Despite Losing Elite QB originally appeared on Athlon Sports.
The quarterback position is often considered the most crucial in all of sports. The quarterback is usually the first to take the snap, and it’s his responsibility to make the right decisions in both the passing and running games, especially given the variety of options teams employ today to score points.
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As a result, losing a top quarterback is typically not advantageous. However, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum believes that one team has benefited this offseason from the loss of its star quarterback. That team is the Tennessee Volunteers, who unexpectedly lost redshirt sophomore quarterback Nico Iamaleava to the transfer portal.
Iamaleava entered the portal just before the spring game, reportedly due to a dispute over an NIL contract. He transferred to the UCLA Bruins, while a former Appalachian State quarterback, who was initially committed to UCLA, changed his commitment and instead joined Tennessee.
On “The Paul Finebaum Show,” the SEC Network analyst expressed his belief that Tennessee is in a better position without Iamaleava.
Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel talks to Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava.Caitie McMekin/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
“It’s pretty obvious the chemistry was not great last year,” Finebaum said. “I think just from a locker room standpoint, Tennessee is in much better shape. Now, is Aguilar the quarterback potentially that Nico was? No. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. But I don’t think he has to be elite. He just has to get the ball down the field, which Nico could not do very often.”
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Finebaum has been quite critical of Iamaleava this offseason. He recently remarked that he believes it won’t be difficult for another player, Aguilar, to have a better season than Iamaleava did last year. Finebaum anticipates that Aguilar will outshine Iamaleava’s performance in 2024.
Despite the criticism, Iamaleava played a crucial role in leading the Volunteers to their first appearance in the College Football Playoff, demonstrating flashes of his elite potential. As a former five-star recruit and the top player in the 2023 class, he had an impressive inaugural season as a starter, throwing for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns, and just five interceptions.
In contrast, Aguilar accumulated 6,760 passing yards, 56 touchdowns and 24 interceptions while completing 60.1% of his passes over his two seasons at Appalachian State. He also rushed for 452 yards and five touchdowns.
The Volunteers are set to kick off their season on Aug. 30 against the Syracuse Orange at noon ET.
Related: Paul Finebaum Names Major College Football QB Whose Career Has Been Set Back
This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jul 5, 2025, where it first appeared.
NIL
Texas Tech’s latest recruiting coup: 5-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo
By Sam Khan Jr., Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams Texas Tech continues to be a major player in college sports’ new era of player compensation, with the latest evidence coming in the form of a football recruiting coup. The Red Raiders landed a commitment on Friday from five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, the No. 1 […]

By Sam Khan Jr., Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams
Texas Tech continues to be a major player in college sports’ new era of player compensation, with the latest evidence coming in the form of a football recruiting coup.
The Red Raiders landed a commitment on Friday from five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, the No. 1 recruit in Texas and a top 10 national recruit in the 2026 class, after the parties agreed to a three-year, $2.3 million revenue-sharing contract, two school sources confirmed to The Athletic on Saturday.
Ojo, a 6-foot-6, 275-pound recruit from Lake Ridge High in Mansfield, Texas, was one of the most heavily recruited prospects in the country, with 50 scholarship offers, according to 247Sports. In addition to Texas Tech, Ojo took official visits to Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas and Utah. If Ojo officially signs with the Red Raiders during the December signing period, he would be the highest-rated prospect Texas Tech has signed in the modern recruiting era and the second five-star, joining 2024 receiver Micah Hudson. Ojo is the No. 7 recruit in the 247Sports Composite and No. 6 in the On3 Industry rankings.
It was a bit of a surprise on the recruiting trail, as Ojo’s reported finalists were Texas, Ohio State, Michigan and Florida, with the Longhorns and Buckeyes leading the race in the home stretch, according to Rivals.com. But Texas Tech, which has proved to be one of the biggest spenders in name, image and likeness compensation in the last year, remained firmly in the recruitment — even if not publicly — since Ojo’s official visit to Lubbock in April.
During his commitment announcement on Friday, Ojo initially put on a Longhorns hat before switching to a Texas Tech hat.
Mansfield Lake Ridge 5-star offensive lineman Felix Ojo first puts on a Texas hat, and the crowd goes wild, then he pulls a surprise and says he is actually committing to Texas Tech.#txhsfb @SportsDayHS @dctf @MISDathletics @247sports @TexasTechFB @TexasFootball @Rivals pic.twitter.com/WwbhCpjS3S
— Greg Riddle (@DMNGregRiddle) July 4, 2025
ESPN reported on Friday that Ojo was receiving a three-year deal worth $5.1 million, according to his agent, Derrick Shelby of Prestige Management. Shelby confirmed those figures to The Athletic on Saturday, but three Texas Tech sources refuted that number, with two confirming that Ojo is scheduled to receive an annual compensation of $775,000 per year for three years from Tech’s revenue-sharing pool. Ojo’s deal, according to a Tech source, includes a verbal agreement that can escalate the total value of the contract into the $5 million range if there were a large jump in the revenue sharing cap for schools or if there is minimal regulation of schools’ adhering to the cap, in much the way there has been minimal regulation of NIL since its institution in 2021. Shelby declined to share a copy of the contract with The Athletic but stood by the initially reported numbers.
The news of Ojo’s commitment and contract agreement represents the continued changing tides of college recruiting. After the approval of the House v. NCAA settlement and implementation of revenue sharing, colleges can allocate up to roughly $20.5 million to pay athletes across their sponsored sports. Schools could begin directly paying players on their current roster on July 1. They can verbally negotiate deals with future recruits and send official written scholarship offers and revenue-sharing contract offers beginning Aug. 1 of the recruit’s senior year of high school, but those contracts cannot be signed until each respective sport’s signing period begins, which is Dec. 3 for the FBS.
The national letter of intent program, which used to bind a recruit to a school, was eliminated by the NCAA in October and replaced by financial aid agreements that prohibited other schools from recruiting a prospect once signed.
Texas Tech has been aggressive in the NIL space in recent years and will continue to be in the era. The Matador Club, the school’s NIL collective, was one of the first to implement team-wide NIL contracts for football players in 2022. The Red Raiders made a splash in softball, signing former Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady to a one-year deal worth more than $1 million last summer (Canady led Tech to the Women’s College World Series final, where the Red Raiders lost to Texas). In men’s basketball, the team retained second-team All-American JT Toppin to a deal of more than $3 million in April.
Tech’s football team spent more than $10 million on its transfer portal class this offseason, landing multiple highly coveted transfers, including former North Carolina offensive tackle Howard Sampson, former Stanford edge rusher David Bailey and former Georgia Tech edge rusher Romello Height. The Red Raiders’ portal signing class is ranked No. 1 by On3 and No. 2 by 247Sports.
Billionaire oil magnate Cody Campbell, a former Texas Tech offensive lineman, co-founder of the Matador Club and chairman of the school’s board of regents, told The Athletic last month that Tech would spend an estimated $55 million combined in revenue-sharing dollars and NIL money for players across the athletic department for the 2025-26 cycle. After the House settlement approval, the Matador Club merged with Texas Tech’s Red Raider Club, the longtime donor arm of Texas Tech athletics.
Ojo’s commitment was part of a successful recruiting week for Texas Tech, as they also landed commitments from four-star running back Ashton Rowden and four-star cornerback Donovan Webb. Ojo, Rowden and Webb are the three highest-rated commits in Tech’s 2026 class, which is currently No. 24 in the country, according to 247Sports. Texas Tech is also considered to be in a strong position to land a commitment from Cooper Hackett, a five-star offensive tackle in the 2027 class from Fort Gibson, Okla. Both 247Sports and On3 have predicted Tech to land a commitment from Hackett.
If Texas Tech is able to close on Ojo and Hackett, that would make three consecutive years of the Red Raiders signing a five-star high school recruit after not landing one from 2000 to 2023.
(Photo of Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire: Justin Ford / Getty Images)
NIL
PFF ranks Top 50 college football players ahead of 2025 season
The 2025 college football season is officially just 50 days away, as week zero kicks off on August 23. Using their data and grading, PFF identified the most dominant and valuable players in the country. They ranked the top 50 college football players ahead of the 2025 season. Alabama, Penn State and Texas lead the […]

The 2025 college football season is officially just 50 days away, as week zero kicks off on August 23.
Using their data and grading, PFF identified the most dominant and valuable players in the country. They ranked the top 50 college football players ahead of the 2025 season.
Alabama, Penn State and Texas lead the way with five players in the top 50, followed by Clemson with four. Ohio State however boasts the top two players in the country, while Clemson has three in the top-10.
True sophomore wide receiver Jeremiah Smith was tabbed as the best player in the country heading into the 2025 season.
As a freshman, Smith was a key cog in Ohio State‘s first National Championship winning team since 2014. With Will Howard at quarterback, Smith hauled in 76 receptions for 1,315 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was named a First Team All-American, earned First Team All-Big Ten honors and was the Rose Bowl Offensive MVP. Big things are expected from Smith as a sophomore, who shattered Cris Carter‘s Ohio State freshman receiving records last season.

In Downs’ first season in Columbus in 2024, he was named a unanimous First Team All-American and was named the Big Ten Conference’s Defensive Back of the Year. He, just like Smith, was a key member of a National Championship winning team last season.
As a sophomore, the Alabama transfer totaled 81 tackles, 7.5 TFL, 0.5 sack and two interceptions. He is lauded as the best defensive player in the country heading into the 2025 season.
Junior defensive lineman Peter Woods is the first of three Clemson Tigers in the top-10 of PFF’s top-50 rankings.
Woods emerged as a defensive monster in the ACC last season, recording 28 tackles with 8.5 TFL and three sacks en route to an All-ACC Honorable Mention last season. Over his first two years of college football, he is both the highest-graded and most valuable returning Power Four defensive tackle, according to PFF WAA.
Notre Dame‘s Jeremiyah Love is tabbed as the highest ranked running back in the country, fresh off a 2024 campaign in which he rushed for 1,125 yards and 17 touchdowns.
His defining moment came in the Fighting Irish’s Allstate Sugar Bowl victory over Indiana, when he rushed for a 98-yard touchdown. Love was the second-most-valuable running back in college football in 2024, according to PFF WAA, and his 91.0 PFF overall grade ranked fifth.

OT Spencer Fano is just the latest Utah offensive tackle to earn national praise, as he is the highest ranked offensive lineman in the country heading into the 2025 season.
Fano was named a PFF First Team All-American last season, along with being tabbed to the All-Big 12 First Team. He brings a wealth of experience with 25 career games played for an Utah team looking to get back in the College Football Playoff conversation. The Spanish Fork, UT native’s 93.0 PFF overall grade in 2024 led all FBS tackles.
Moore was a standout at his position as a true freshman last season, as he was named the 2024 FWAA Freshman Defensive Player of the Year along with being named a FWAA Freshman All-American.
In 16 games, Moore recorded 48 tackles, 2 TFL, 11 pass break ups and two interceptions for a Fighting Irish team that fell just shy of a National Championship. He finished his true freshman season as the third-most-valuable cornerback in college football, according to PFF WAA, trailing only Texas‘ Jahdae Barron and Colorado‘s Travis Hunter.
Clemson‘s Cade Klubnik has been tabbed as the top-ranked quarterback in the country heading into the 2025 season.
As a junior in 2024, Klubnik passed for 3,639 yards, 36 touchdowns and just six interceptions. He is one of only three two-time ACC Championship Game MVPs all-time and ranks in the top five in Clemson history in nearly every passing category. He has been lauded as a pre-season favorite for Heisman, joining Texas‘ Arch Manning and LSU‘s Garrett Nussmeier.

The 2024 Shawn Alexander National Freshman of the Year award winner heads into the 2025 season as one of the best defensive players in the country.
Simmons exploded in Texas‘ first season in the SEC last season, recording 48 tackles, 14 TFL and nine sacks as a true freshman. He selected to Freshman All-America teams by ESPN, FWAA, PFF and The Athletic and was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
Much like Simmons, Stewart emerged as a superstar freshman last season for Shane Beamer‘s Gamecocks.
As one of the nation’s top pass rusher last season, the Washington, D.C. native recorded 23 tackles, 10.5 TFL and 6.5 sacks with three forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries. Look for Stewart and Simmons to battle over the SEC Defensive Player of the Year honor this season.
Clemson EDGE rusher T.J. Parker is the last of three Clemson players to round out the top-ten.
As a sophomore last season, Parker recorded 57 tackles, 19.5 TFL and 12 sacks. His 12 sacks led all power-four rushers last season, leading him to be currently projected as the No. 2 overall pick in PFF’s 2026 NFL Mock Draft.
Players 11-50
11. C Jake Slaughter, Florida
12. WR Ryan Williams, Alabama
13. CB Jermod McCoy, Tennessee
14. LB Anthony Hill Jr., Texas
15. EDGE Reuben Bain Jr., Miami
16. G Ar’maj Reed-Adams, Texas A&M
17. QB Sam Leavitt, Arizona State
18. WR Jordyn Tyson, Arizona State
19. TE Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt
20. S Koi Perich, Minnesota
21. QB Carson Beck, Miami
22. QB Drew Allar, Penn State
23. QB Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
24. CB D’Angelo Ponds, Penn State
25. S Dillon Thieneman, Oregon
26. S Michael Taaffe, Texas
27. CB Avieon Terrell, Clemson
28. RB Isaac Brown, Louisville
29. LB Taurean York, Texas A&M
30. EDGE Keldric Faulk, Auburn
31. RB Nick Singleton, Penn State
32. RB Jonah Coleman, Washington
33. CB Chandler Rivers, Duke
34. EDGE LT Overton, Alabama
35. EDGE Tyreak Sapp, Florida
36. EDGE Mikail Kamara, Indiana
37. RB Makhi Hughes, Oregon
38. WR Elijah Sarratt, Indiana
39. DT Zane Durant, Penn State
40. DL Tim Keenan III, Alabama
41. OT Francis Mauigoa, Miami
42. S KJ Bolden, Georgia
43. OT Kadyn Proctor, Alabama
44. LB Whit Weeks, LSU
45. LB Austin Romaine, Kansas State
46. CB Malik Muhammad, Texas
47. S Bray Hubbard, Alabama
48. EDGE Dani Dennis-Sutton, Penn State
49. S Terry Moore, Duke
50. QB Arch Manning, Texas

NIL
Tennessee Basketball in
Tennessee Basketball target and 2026 four-star power forward Trey Thompson committed to Iowa on Saturday and reclassified to 2025. The in-state prospect picked the Hawkeyes over the Vols, Purdue and Vanderbilt, among others. “I chose Iowa because there was a need for me now,” Thompson told Joe Tipton. “I wanted a significant role and I […]


Tennessee Basketball target and 2026 four-star power forward Trey Thompson committed to Iowa on Saturday and reclassified to 2025. The in-state prospect picked the Hawkeyes over the Vols, Purdue and Vanderbilt, among others.
“I chose Iowa because there was a need for me now,” Thompson told Joe Tipton. “I wanted a significant role and I wanted to get better this year. They gave me both of those, so I decided to say yes.”
Thompson, the 6-foot-8, 220-pound prospect out of Greeneville, was ranked No. 55 overall player in the 2026 class. After the move to 2025, he’s a three-star prospect ranked No. 125 overall, including No. 28 at power forward and No. 1 overall in the state of Tennessee.
“I wanted to reclass up to get better this year,” Thompson told Tipton. “I want to be the best basketball player I can possibly be and going to coach (Ben) McCollum and doing this now is the best way for that.”
Tennessee hosted Thompson on an official visit in early June. His list of offers included Purdue, Connecticut, Indiana, Providence, Villanova, Virginia, Virginia Tech and Stanford, among others.
He was one of the biggest risers in the 2026 class when On3 updated its rankings earlier this year, jumping up 60 spots. Along with being ranked No. 55 overall in the class, he was the No. 8 power forward in the class and the No. 3 in-state prospect.
Vols signed five players in the class of 2025
Tennessee does not yet have any commitments in the 2026 class. The Vols signed five prep prospects in 2025, headlined by five-star small forward Nate Ament, the No. 2 overall player in the class.
The 6-foot-9 Ament is a consensus five-star prospect, ranked no lower than No. 4 in any of the ranking systems.
His commitment moved Tennessee’s 2025 class up to No. 14 nationally in the class rankings. The Vols are No. 4 in the SEC and have an average class score of 92.29.
Tennessee has added eight new players to 2025-26 roster
Amari Evans, the 6-foot-5, 204-pound shooting guard, is ranked No. 69 overall in the On3 Industry Rating. Dewayne Brown II, the 6-foot-9, 235-pound big man and the first commitment in the class, is ranked No. 96 overall.
The Vols this spring added three-star point guard Troy Henderson and three-star shooting guard Clarence Massamba, a French prospect from AS Monaco.
Tennessee’s offseason roster overhaul also included the addition of three players from the NCAA Transfer Portal: Point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie, power forward Jaylen Carey and combo guard Amaree Abram.
Gillespie, another Greeneville native, spent last season at Maryland after playing two seasons at Belmont. Carey transferred from Vanderbilt and Abram was the last transfer addition, coming to the Vols from Louisiana Tech.
NIL
Texas Tech's latest recruiting coup
By Sam Khan Jr., Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams Texas Tech continues to be a major player in college sports’ new era of player compensation, with the latest evidence coming in the form of a football recruiting coup. The Red Raiders landed a commitment on Friday from five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, the No. 1 […]


By Sam Khan Jr., Bruce Feldman and Justin Williams
Texas Tech continues to be a major player in college sports’ new era of player compensation, with the latest evidence coming in the form of a football recruiting coup.
The Red Raiders landed a commitment on Friday from five-star offensive tackle Felix Ojo, the No. 1 recruit in Texas and a top 10 national recruit in the 2026 class, after the parties agreed to a three-year, $2.3 million revenue-sharing contract, two school sources confirmed to The Athletic on Saturday.
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Ojo, a 6-foot-6, 275-pound recruit from Lake Ridge High in Mansfield, Texas, was one of the most heavily recruited prospects in the country, with 50 scholarship offers, according to 247Sports. In addition to Texas Tech, Ojo took official visits to Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Ole Miss, Texas and Utah. If Ojo officially signs with the Red Raiders during the December signing period, he would be the highest-rated prospect Texas Tech has signed in the modern recruiting era and the second five-star, joining 2024 receiver Micah Hudson. Ojo is the No. 7 recruit in the 247Sports Composite and No. 6 in the On3 Industry rankings.
It was a bit of a surprise on the recruiting trail, as Ojo’s reported finalists were Texas, Ohio State, Michigan and Florida, with the Longhorns and Buckeyes leading the race in the home stretch, according to Rivals.com. But Texas Tech, which has proved to be one of the biggest spenders in name, image and likeness compensation in the last year, remained firmly in the recruitment — even if not publicly — since Ojo’s official visit to Lubbock in April.
During his commitment announcement on Friday, Ojo initially put on a Longhorns hat before switching to a Texas Tech hat.
Mansfield Lake Ridge 5-star offensive lineman Felix Ojo first puts on a Texas hat, and the crowd goes wild, then he pulls a surprise and says he is actually committing to Texas Tech.#txhsfb @SportsDayHS @dctf @MISDathletics @247sports @TexasTechFB @TexasFootball @Rivals pic.twitter.com/WwbhCpjS3S
— Greg Riddle (@DMNGregRiddle) July 4, 2025
ESPN reported on Friday that Ojo was receiving a three-year deal worth $5.1 million, according to his agent, Derrick Shelby of Prestige Management. Shelby confirmed those figures to The Athletic on Saturday, but three Texas Tech sources refuted that number, with two confirming that Ojo is scheduled to receive an annual compensation of $775,000 per year for three years from Tech’s revenue-sharing pool. Ojo’s deal, according to a Tech source, includes a verbal agreement that can escalate the total value of the contract into the $5 million range if there were a large jump in the revenue sharing cap for schools or if there is minimal regulation of schools’ adhering to the cap, in much the way there has been minimal regulation of NIL since its institution in 2021. Shelby declined to share a copy of the contract with The Athletic but stood by the initially reported numbers.
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The news of Ojo’s commitment and contract agreement represents the continued changing tides of college recruiting. After the approval of the House v. NCAA settlement and implementation of revenue sharing, colleges can allocate up to roughly $20.5 million to pay athletes across their sponsored sports. Schools could begin directly paying players on their current roster on July 1. They can verbally negotiate deals with future recruits and send official written scholarship offers and revenue-sharing contract offers beginning Aug. 1 of the recruit’s senior year of high school, but those contracts cannot be signed until each respective sport’s signing period begins, which is Dec. 3 for the FBS.
The national letter of intent program, which used to bind a recruit to a school, was eliminated by the NCAA in October and replaced by financial aid agreements that prohibited other schools from recruiting a prospect once signed.
Texas Tech has been aggressive in the NIL space in recent years and will continue to be in the era. The Matador Club, the school’s NIL collective, was one of the first to implement team-wide NIL contracts for football players in 2022. The Red Raiders made a splash in softball, signing former Stanford pitcher NiJaree Canady to a one-year deal worth more than $1 million last summer (Canady led Tech to the Women’s College World Series final, where the Red Raiders lost to Texas). In men’s basketball, the team retained second-team All-American JT Toppin to a deal of more than $3 million in April.
Tech’s football team spent more than $10 million on its transfer portal class this offseason, landing multiple highly coveted transfers, including former North Carolina offensive tackle Howard Sampson, former Stanford edge rusher David Bailey and former Georgia Tech edge rusher Romello Height. The Red Raiders’ portal signing class is ranked No. 1 by On3 and No. 2 by 247Sports.
Billionaire oil magnate Cody Campbell, a former Texas Tech offensive lineman, co-founder of the Matador Club and chairman of the school’s board of regents, told The Athletic last month that Tech would spend an estimated $55 million combined in revenue-sharing dollars and NIL money for players across the athletic department for the 2025-26 cycle. After the House settlement approval, the Matador Club merged with Texas Tech’s Red Raider Club, the longtime donor arm of Texas Tech athletics.
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Ojo’s commitment was part of a successful recruiting week for Texas Tech, as they also landed commitments from four-star running back Ashton Rowden and four-star cornerback Donovan Webb. Ojo, Rowden and Webb are the three highest-rated commits in Tech’s 2026 class, which is currently No. 24 in the country, according to 247Sports. Texas Tech is also considered to be in a strong position to land a commitment from Cooper Hackett, a five-star offensive tackle in the 2027 class from Fort Gibson, Okla. Both 247Sports and On3 have predicted Tech to land a commitment from Hackett.
If Texas Tech is able to close on Ojo and Hackett, that would make three consecutive years of the Red Raiders signing a five-star high school recruit after not landing one from 2000 to 2023.
(Photo of Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire: Justin Ford / Getty Images)
NIL
Gators Celebrate Fourth of July with New Portal Commitments
Florida continues to make moves in the transfer portal, with two new additions since the portal closed back on July 1. As everyone celebrated the United States’ 249th birthday on July 4, the Gators added catcher Cole Stanford and shortstop Sam Miller. Stanford is a 6-foot 215-pound redshirt senior from Ellerslie, GA, who is transferring […]


Florida continues to make moves in the transfer portal, with two new additions since the portal closed back on July 1. As everyone celebrated the United States’ 249th birthday on July 4, the Gators added catcher Cole Stanford and shortstop Sam Miller.
Stanford is a 6-foot 215-pound redshirt senior from Ellerslie, GA, who is transferring from Lenoir-Rhyne University, a Division II school out of Hickory, NC. In 58 games this season, he hit .393 with 18 doubles, 20 home runs, 56 RBIs, and only 27 strikeouts in 214 at-bats. Behind the plate, Stanford threw out 15 runners with a .984 fielding percentage.
— Cole Stanford (@colestanford9) May 24, 2025
There is a clear direction for Florida as they sign their third catcher this offseason. Stanford will join AJ Malzone (Wabash Valley College) and Karson Bowen (TCU), who both committed in June.
It is worth noting that Luke Heyman, Brody Donay, and Bowen are all eligible for this month’s MLB Draft. The Gators could be planning for the future, as they expect to lose multiple catchers soon.
Shortstop Colby Shelton is a player Florida knows will not be in Gainesville next season. The Gators are hopeful that Miller will make a smooth transition as Shelton’s replacement. Miller, a 6-foot, 205-pound incoming senior from McMurray, PA, is transferring from Columbia University, where he was named the 2025 Ivy League Player of the Year.
Former Columbia shortstop Sam Miller is transferring to Florida, according to a change to his bio. He’s coming off a huge 2025 season in which he batted .343 with 16 homers and 57 RBIs. Gators are losing Colby Shelton to the pros so this is a huge add. pic.twitter.com/SW01hqO5rX
— Jacob Rudner (@JacobRudner) July 4, 2025
Miller had a season to remember, as he led Columbia in batting average (.338), OPS (1.013), hits (73), home runs (16), RBIs (57) and runs scored (50). In the NCAA tournament, he hit .214 with two doubles, a pair of RBIs, and a run scored. The offense is something any team would drool over, but Miller’s defense will need to improve heading into the 2026 campaign.
With a .937 fielding percentage, Miller led the team with 14 errors in 223 chances. To put things in perspective, Shelton committed eight total errors, in his two seasons combined at Florida. Fortunately, the former Lion heads to one of the top programs in the country–an ideal place to maximize potential as a ball player.
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