On Thursday, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban reportedly met with President Donald Trump to discuss the issue of NIL in college athletics. Just one day later, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is considering an executive order that could increase scrutiny on NIL payments to college athletes.

Trump was in Tuscaloosa to deliver the University of Alabama’s commencement address. Saban introduced Trump at the event. On Monday, college football analyst David Pollack weighed in on Saban’s influence on Trump and the NIL situation.

“The guy that can fix it is Nick Saban. The guy [Trump] is meeting with is the guy that can fix it,” Pollack said. “That’s who I want to fix it. Listen, everybody knows NIL is broken. Like there’s not a coach in America that doesn’t know NIL is broken. It’s absolutely broken. The system needs more accountability for players, for coaches.

“To have accountability, to have more rules, more guard rails, to protect the sport, to protect the stuff that’s gone. We could go through the offseason with the Nico [Iamaleava] and his brother and that. We could go down a litany of stuff to prove that and why you should fix it. Nick Saban lived it. Like, he was in it. He retired because of it. He left because of it. The kids walking into his office and being like, ‘I want a raise or I’m leaving.’

“He understands that inside and out. He would be such a great person to fix it. I don’t, I don’t know how Trump stays involved in this but here’s the thing I love — that he’s talking about it. Because the more we talk about it, the better.”

While Pollack believes Saban’s involvement in NIL reform will help the collegiate landscape, others aren’t convinced. After the Wall Street Journal report emerged on Friday, attorney Steve Berman, who is representing current and former college athletes in the proposed $2.8. billion House vs. NCAA settlement, criticized Saban for his actions.

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement,” Berman said. “College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

Berman and others have until Wednesday to address concerns that prevented U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken from granting approval to the deal last month. Berman recently said they are on track to meet the deadline.

NEW YORK – After earning the third seed and the program’s ninth straight berth in a BIG EAST Tournament with a sweep last weekend, Villanova softball picked up a trio of all-conference honors as Kat Gallant, Maranda Runco and Kelsey White were each named to the All-BIG EAST First Team.

White was unanimously selected to her first career all-conference list in the First Team’s utility/pitcher slot, earning the top dual-threat honor among league players. 

The senior allowed the fewest hits and runs in conference games among qualified pitchers, and was the only eligible pitcher not to allow a home run in BIG EAST play. The Taunton, Mass., product is sixth in the league for opposing batting average and eighth in earned run average at 3.73.

At the plate, White notched career bests across the board with a .263 average, 35 hits, 28 runs scored, eight home runs and a team-high nine doubles. The everyday starting left fielder when not pitching, the senior accumulated a .979 fielding percentage with 75 putouts and 18 assists on the year in addition to a number of highlight reel catches.

Gallant received her second career All-BIG EAST accolade but her first nod on the conference’s top team after assuming the ace role of the Villanova pitching staff in her junior year.

The Connecticut native led the league with a 1.84 earned run average in conference games, coming in third for wins (eight) and fewest walks allowed (13) while striking out 52 batters in 76 innings against BIG EAST competition for the third highest mark in the league for both.

The junior led Villanova’s staff in nearly every category, tossing over 130 innings with a 1.32 WHIP, 15 complete games and a BAA below .290 with 13 total wins.

Runco burst onto the scene in her first season as a regular contributor for the ‘Cats, picking up her first career honor after placing on the All-BIG EAST First Team as the top designated player in the league. The sophomore paced the conference in slugging percentage (1.029, only BE player above 1.000) and home runs in BIG EAST play (12, set a conference single season record).

The Scranton area native led Villanova with a .370 average overall, totaling team bests in home runs (18, tied program single season record), runs batted in (44), walks (24) and total bases (24). Runco finished in the BIG EAST’s top five for on-base percentage (second), total bases (third) and batting average (fifth).

Gallant, Runco, White and the Wildcats begin postseason play on Wednesday afternoon, taking on the #6 seed Providence Friars at 3:00 p.m. from the Villanova Softball Complex.

2025 BIG EAST SOFTBALL AWARDS

Player of the Year: Grace Jenkins, Jr., C, UConn

Pitcher of the Year: Ana Serafinko, Jr., P, St. John’s

Co-Defensive Players of the Year: Ashten Pierson, So., SS, Creighton & London Jarrard, Sr., SS, St. John’s

Freshman of the Year: Cat Petteys, Fr., SS, UConn

Coaching Staff of the Year: St. John’s

All-BIG EAST First Team^

Sydney Carter, Sr., 2B, Butler

Cate Lehner, Jr., OF, Butler*

Kaitlyn Breslin, So., OF, UConn

Rosie Garcia, Sr., 3B, UConn*

Grace Jenkins, Jr., C, UConn*

Payton Kinney, Gr., P, UConn

Cat Petteys, Fr., SS, UConn

Sydney Potter, So.,1B, Creighton

Sydra Seville, Sr., OF, Creighton

Loreley Francia, Jr., P, St. John’s

Ana Serafinko, Jr., P, St. John’s

Kat Gallant, Jr., P, Villanova

Maranda Runco, So., DP, Villanova

Kelsey White, Sr., UT/P, Villanova*

All-BIG EAST Second Team^

Lexi Hastings, Sr., OF, UConn

Hope Jenkins, Jr., P, UConn

Kaelan Schultz, So., DP, Creighton

Lily West, Jr., C, Creighton

Baylee Cosgrove, Sr., 2B, DePaul

Victoria Grifone, Gr., P, Providence

Elisa Smith, Jr., OF, Providence

Jess Bianco, Jr., OF, St. John’s

London Jarrard, Sr., SS, St. John’s

Madison Konopka, Fr., 3B, St. John’s

Kelsey Carr, Gr., DP, Seton Hall

Olivia Gilbert, Sr., 1B, Seton Hall

Caroline Hobbes, Jr., 2B, Seton Hall

Kyra Kreuscher, Jr., P, Seton Hall

* Denotes a unanimous selection

^ Denotes a tie in voting

Keep up with the Villanova University softball program through social media by following on X formerly known as Twitter (@VUSoftball) and Instagram (@novasoftball) and ‘liking’ on Facebook (/VUSoftball).

 

When Todd Graves, the owner and founder of Raising Cane’s, was opening a new restaurant in Miami in January of 2023, he knew exactly who he wanted to help promote the venture: the Cavinder twins. Haley and Hanna, then guards on the Miami basketball team, were pioneers in the burgeoning NIL market with millions of followers. Since then, they’ve completed their eligibility, done plenty more NIL work and launched their own app, TWOgether, a fitness and nutrition program they hope will especially appeal to young girls.

Recently, the twins sat down with Graves—a high school QB turned multibillionaire—to discuss their business philosophies and plans for the future as part of a video series called The Playbook, which was created by Entrepreneur and Sports Illustrated.

Graves: I learned so much from sports that I carried over into being a business leader. How did y’all carry over being college athletes into your social posting and then in the businesses you started?

Hanna: Haley and I are very consistent, routine-like people. College athletics teaches you that and sets the standard for that. So it was very seamless when we got into the NIL space and then in starting our TWOgether app—all those traits just kind of carried over. 

I think that starts with college athletics: the discipline and the routine and the commitment to it, that you’re going to give your 100% to something.

Haley: So being an athlete and then going into business—do you think you were really routine-based? Do you have a daily routine or does it change?

Graves: I really don’t have a routine. My schedule is crazy. Two days ago I was with Luke Bryan at the Raising Cane’s restaurants in Nashville, raising money for charity. Doing that means a lot to me … but I’m gonna be up till 2 a.m. doing emails, right?

Hanna: Where did that drive come from?

Graves: So I don’t think entrepreneurs are created. I think entrepreneurs are born, like it’s an art. It’s in our DNA. I was the kid in the neighborhood that had the lemonade stand when I was old enough. So I was always interested in business and creating that economy. But what I like more about it is bringing people in to do that with me.

So you guys have a great personal brand. What is your secret sauce with creating these communities, where people who like to follow you then like to buy the products because they trust you?

Haley: With social media, there’s a lot of negative and there’s a lot of positive thinking. And I have learned that [you need] a community with positivity on social media apps. That’s what really helped us when we started our health and fitness side of things, really having a purpose in helping young girls who need help, whether it’s with nutrition or if it’s working out.

Graves: When NIL came around, how did you get that fire to do it—and do it right?

Haley: We understood that we could brand ourselves and make a career out of this and try to build a business with the same fire that we had [in basketball]. It was the same juice that keeps flowing—how we continue to want more and more and more.

Hanna: And female athletes, they don’t always get the same opportunity to go professional. When NIL did pass, at first it just started off as something fun when COVID was going on, us working on something that we enjoyed that took up time. We were bored in the house, didn’t know what to do and then when NIL passed, we started understanding that you can get all this revenue from different sources of income from social media.

Graves: What’s the next plan?

Hanna: Just constantly having more ideas. I don’t want to ever box us in.

Graves: You’ve got a 40-year plan. What is that?

Haley: Growing up, our dad embedded into us at a very young age that it’s not a four-year plan. It’s a 40-year plan. Save your money and invest it. And that’s always stayed with Hanna and me. We never touched our money with any NIL deal. The 40-year plan is what we always tell ourselves. So, yeah, that’s what it is. So talk to us when we’re 40.

Graves: It’s a marathon. Look, if you love what you do, you’ll do it till the day you die. I think [too] often in business, people value money and wealth more than purpose. People ask me, What’s your endgame? Yeah, there’s an endgame. I’m going to grow old and die with this business, and the kids are going to take it on and keep those values going. And then hopefully their kids, and we’ll just keep those values going forever.

North Carolina‘s football program has undergone a massive roster overhaul in the last five months. A total of 51 players left UNC to enter the college football transfer portal this offseason, the most transfer departures of any ACC team and the most for the Tar Heels in the portal era. General manager Michael Lombardi told ACC Network’s Mark Packer on Monday that multiple players have backed out of signed NIL deals since he and Bill Belichick arrived on campus in December, citing the “loosely written” language of the contracts as a contributing factor.

“The most disappointing thing about the college game that I’ve experienced is that the players don’t view the contracts as binding,” Lombardi said. “I come from a league where the contracts are binding. We’ve had four or five players we signed in in December, before we got here, that have left already without any hesitation. They’re free to do that because the contracts are loosely written based on NIL. We, as a league, the NCAA, and all these conferences have to make players honor a contract when they put their John Hancock on it. Just like I have to honor my contract. That’s part of life. That’s the only disappointing thing.”

Two of UNC’s biggest transfer portal departures came in recent weeks as last season’s sack leader Beau Atkinson and top returning linebacker Amare Campbell entered the transfer portal. Atkinson landed at Ohio State, while Campbell visited SMU and Penn State ahead of his decision. 

Lombardi and Belichick have assembled an impressive transfer portal class. The Tar Heels’ 34-man portal class ranks No. 9 in the nation and No. 3 in the ACC behind Miami (No. 3) and Florida State (No. 6). Only three Power Four schools have larger commitment lists than UNC: West Virginia (51), Purdue (50) and Oklahoma State (38). There’s been a noticeable emphasis on size with UNC’s portal additions. Ten of the Tar Heels’ transfers are 6-foot-5 or taller and nine are 300+ pounds.  

“I’ve got to make this team look like a Southeast Conference team,” Lombardi said. “We need a roster conducive to building a big, fast, physical football team. A roster that can play in any kind of weather, has mental and physical toughness and can control the middle of the field. You cannot be a great executive in football without studying the past history of football. Why did Clemson win a national championship? Why was Florida State good in the ACC? What made Miami good? It’s because they’ve been so damn good along the offensive and defensive lines. They’re physical, and they’re big up front. They have 6-foot-5 defensive linemen, not 6-foot-1. The first thing I noticed on this roster is that we have to get bigger, more physical and stronger. We’ve added an (NFL) weight program. We’ve added 450 pounds of muscle and lost 125 pounds of fat within the team that we have since January. We’re making progress.”