NIL

Federal Court Approves Landmark NCAA Settlement, Reshaping College Athletics in the Era of NIL

Published

7 months ago

June 12, 2025

Federal Court Approves Landmark NCAA Settlement, Reshaping College Athletics in the Era of NIL

While the settlement is certain to face additional legal challenges and scrutiny, the NCAA’s new compensation model will mirror elements of professional sports leagues, marking the official end of the “amateurism” era in college athletics.

On June 6, 2025, Judge Claudia Wilken issued a highly anticipated 76-page order approving the proposed settlement in House v. NCAA, Oliver v. NCAA and Hubbard v. NCAA (collectively, the House settlement). As discussed in a prior Alert, the settlement—between the NCAA and its Power Five conferences (Atlantic Coast, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and Southeastern) and a class of current and former NCAA athletes—provides for approximately $2.8 billion in back-pay damages and sets forth the initial revenue share framework that will allow colleges and universities to offer direct payment to their student-athletes.

Judge Wilken’s approval of the settlement follows her directive for multiple revisions to the agreement initially presented at the April 7, 2025, final approval hearing. During that hearing and in the ensuing two months, Judge Wilken expressed significant concerns, particularly regarding whether the NCAA would agree to grandfather in current athletes to protect them from potentially losing scholarships under the new House settlement framework. The judge was ultimately satisfied with the modifications made, and the revised settlement is set to become effective on July 1, 2025.

Key Settlement Provisions

Back Pay

As finalized, the House settlement requires the NCAA and its Power Five conference members to pay approximately $2.8 billion in damages, characterized as “back pay,” to compensate student-athletes for the denial of name, image and likeness (NIL) opportunities under prior NCAA eligibility rules. This component of the settlement was not contested during the approval process. The settlement class—subject to certain exclusions—includes all Division I student-athletes who competed from 2016 to the present, reflecting the applicable statute of limitations. Compensation will be distributed to eligible athletes to account for lost NIL, video game and broadcast-related opportunities that were previously restricted under NCAA rules.

Permissive Revenue Sharing

With Judge Wilken’s approval, the House settlement ushers in a more professionalized era of college sports, effective July 1, 2025. Participating NCAA Division I institutions will be permitted to directly compensate student-athletes with up to 22 percent of the school’s average annual athletic revenue derived from media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. This amount is capped at $20.5 million per school in the first year of the agreement, with the cap projected to increase by approximately 4 percent annually over the 10-year term of the settlement.

Importantly, the court-imposed “salary cap” excludes contributions from boosters or alumni groups, third-party NIL deals, traditional scholarships and any payments made prior to July 1, 2025.

Participation in the revenue-sharing framework is entirely voluntary. Institutions are not obligated to adopt the model, nor are those that do required to pay student-athletes the full $20.5 million annual cap. The Ivy League, for example, has opted out entirely, citing its recent antitrust victory affirming its policy against athletic scholarships. As such, Ivy League schools will continue to operate under traditional amateurism principles and will not participate in the new compensation structure.

For schools that elect to opt in, the settlement permits direct athlete payments from institutional revenues, subject to the cap. While the model introduces a regulated mechanism for athlete compensation, it also has the potential to create competitive disparities. Institutions with larger alumni bases and robust booster support may continue to offer additional NIL compensation outside the cap, which could significantly enhance their recruiting advantage.

Moreover, few institutions may be in a financial position to fully utilize the cap. Outside the Big Ten and SEC—whose media contracts generate substantial revenue—most Division I schools lack the revenue base to allocate $20.5 million (or more in future years) to athlete compensation. Data indicates that approximately 75 percent of athletic revenue at many institutions comes from football, with an additional 17 percent from men’s and women’s basketball. This structure disproportionately benefits programs with strong football revenues and places smaller or football-absent schools (e.g., Big East basketball programs) at a disadvantage, as their 22 percent revenue share may fall well below the cap.

As such, institutions must conduct a thorough financial and legal assessment to determine whether opting into the revenue-sharing model is feasible. Those that opt in must also ensure that their distribution plans are compliant with the settlement’s terms and applicable legal requirements. In many cases, a significant portion of compensation is expected to flow to revenue-generating sports, potentially pressuring athletic departments to reevaluate their support for nonrevenue sports. This could lead to budget cuts, program reductions or reclassification of certain sports to club-level status.

Institutions adopting the revenue-sharing model should take care to develop clear and compliant agreements and implementation plans. Legal counsel, if engaged early, can help ensure compliance with Title IX, labor laws and evolving NCAA regulations.

Scholarship Limits

A key component of the House settlement is the elimination of NCAA-imposed scholarship limits, allowing institutions to offer a greater number of full or partial scholarships to student-athletes. This shift grants schools increased flexibility in structuring team rosters and allocating financial aid, aligning more closely with professional team management models.

An earlier draft of the settlement included roster limits that would have gone into immediate effect and, in some cases, would have resulted in current athletes losing their roster spots or scholarships. Judge Wilken raised significant concerns about this approach, particularly because affected athletes would have had no opportunity to opt out of the settlement to preserve their eligibility or position.

In response to the court’s concerns, the NCAA and plaintiffs’ counsel revised the agreement to include a “grandfathering” mechanism. Under the final settlement terms, schools may elect to retain current student-athletes and recruits on their rosters for the duration of their NCAA eligibility without those individuals counting toward any new roster or scholarship limits. This adjustment is intended to ensure continuity and fairness for athletes already enrolled or committed.

Despite this revision, certain objectors challenged the adequacy of the provision, arguing that it fails to protect athletes at institutions that choose not to implement the grandfathering option. In rebuttal, the NCAA and plaintiffs’ counsel noted that roster spots in college athletics have never been guaranteed and are traditionally subject to coaching decisions and program needs.

Judge Wilken ultimately approved the revised provision, concluding that it provided a reasonable and sufficient remedy under the circumstances.

Pay-for-Play and Evaluation & Conditional Approval of NIL Deals

Although the settlement creates a path for more direct compensation of student-athletes, it includes significant oversight mechanisms. Any NIL deal exceeding $600 must be reported to and reviewed by the NCAA. This relatively low threshold ensures ongoing NCAA involvement in most NIL arrangements.

The NCAA retains the authority to approve NIL agreements only if they meet two criteria:

The deal must serve a valid business purpose, meaning it must promote or endorse goods or services offered to the general public for profit; and
Compensation must be commensurate with the value of similarly situated individuals, including nonathletes.

To facilitate fair compensation, Deloitte has been appointed to assess the market value of NIL agreements based on 12 evaluative factors, including the athlete’s social media reach, athletic performance, geographic market, deal duration and scope, and potential red flags indicating impropriety. These criteria, however, leave considerable room for litigation over their precise interpretation, requiring schools to invest significant resources in research to accurately determine fair market values ahead of Deloitte’s assessments. Meanwhile, the NCAA retains oversight by mandating that all NIL agreements serve a “valid business purpose,” defined broadly as promotion or endorsement of goods or services offered to the general public for profit, and that compensation be “commensurate with the NIL value of similarly situated individuals.” This framework grants the NCAA substantial discretion to approve or reject NIL agreements, ensuring that payments align with rates and terms paid to comparable individuals outside the institution who possess similar NIL value.

Despite this framework, it remains unclear how the NCAA will define “similarly situated individuals” and apply this standard consistently—leaving open the possibility of further legal disputes.

Does This Settlement Solve All Outstanding Legal Issues?

Although Judge Wilken’s approval was expected, it is not the end of this story. There are still many open legal questions and issues that this settlement did not address and that will be the subject of ongoing litigation for years to come:

Ongoing Litigation for Opt-Out Plaintiffs

Student-athletes who opted out of the settlement continue to pursue their claims (e.g., Fontenot v. NCAA), which will now proceed on an individual basis.

Transfer Portal Rules

The House settlement agreement does not establish specific guidelines regarding the transfer portal or how the “fair market value” analysis will apply to transferring athletes. The process for assessing a player’s fair market value in the fast-moving transfer portal environment remains undefined and is likely to create challenges and potential disputes. Additionally, some institutions have already developed or implemented buyout provisions for athletes who leave early or transfer, particularly those subject to third-party NIL agreements.

Impact on Nonrevenue Sports

The salary cap structure may lead institutions to cut costs associated with nonrevenue sports, potentially reducing participation opportunities in these programs.

Title IX Concerns

Judge Wilken acknowledged that the settlement may raise significant gender equity concerns. Although Title IX compliance was not addressed within the scope of the settlement, the order notes that affected athletes may need to pursue separate legal remedies if violations occur. As Judge Wilken emphasized, potential challenges related to Title IX, state NIL statutes and federal or state employment and labor laws fall outside the court’s jurisdiction. It is widely anticipated that the revenue-sharing framework will face Title IX litigation, given that participating schools are expected to allocate substantially more revenue to male athletes—particularly football players—than to female athletes.

Federal Government Intervention

Congress and President Donald Trump could also consider legislation that alters the legal landscape of various college sports issues, and the president is weighing an executive order on college athlete compensation that might spawn new legal challenges.

Conclusion

The House settlement represents a seismic shift in the regulation of college athletics, formalizing a compensation model for student-athletes and introducing robust oversight of NIL activity. While it provides much-needed clarity and structure, it also opens the door to new legal challenges—particularly around compliance, enforcement and equitable treatment across sports and gender lines.

Colleges, collectives and student-athletes must now carefully navigate this evolving regulatory environment. Institutions should consult with counsel to address these considerations and develop strategies, including draft template agreements, that adequately address all of these considerations to optimally position institutions to comply with and profit from this new opportunity.

For More Information

If you have any questions about this Alert, please contact Sean P. McConnell, Andrew John (AJ) Rudowitz, Bryan Shapiro, any of the attorneys in our Antitrust and Competition Group, Gerald L. Maatman, Jr., any of the attorneys in our Class Action Defense Group, any of the attorneys in our Education Industry Group, any of the attorneys in our Sports Group or the attorney in the firm with whom you are regularly in contact.

Disclaimer: This Alert has been prepared and published for informational purposes only and is not offered, nor should be construed, as legal advice. For more information, please see the firm’s full disclaimer.

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Paul Finebaum names SEC coach who is ‘badly losing the PR battle’

Published

8 minutes ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

A dream season that propelled a Southeastern Conference football program into the national title conversation has been marred by a chaotic coaching exit, leaving an elite roster in limbo. The sudden departure of the program’s architect to a fierce conference rival during the most critical stretch of the postseason has created an unprecedented conflict of interest for the remaining staff.

These assistant coaches are currently attempting to balance their loyalty to a group of championship-bound athletes with the demands of their new employers who are already focused on the next recruiting cycle.

The tension reached a boiling point after an unexpected victory against a top-ranked opponent extended the season and complicated the logistics for everyone involved in the building. ESPN analyst Paul Finebaum recently weighed in on the situation, noting that the optics of this exit have shifted from a standard career move to a damaging public image crisis.

While the departing head coach claims there is a transparent plan for his assistants to support both programs, the reality on the ground suggests otherwise: restricted access and divided loyalties.

The decision to prioritize the transfer portal over a chance at a national title has sparked a national debate about professional integrity and the responsibility a coach has to the players who helped build a winning culture.

Finebaum suggests that one specific individual is responsible for the ongoing friction and has failed to take the necessary steps to protect the program he built from unnecessary distractions. The fallout has created a significant hurdle for a team preparing for a semifinal matchup that represents the pinnacle of their school history.

Paul Finebaum says Lane Kiffin is poorly handling LSU transition

Appearing on the McElroy and Cubelic in the Morning podcast on Monday, Finebaum offered a scathing review of how LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin has handled his exit from Oxford. The veteran broadcaster did not hold back when discussing the optics of the situation as the Rebels prepare for a historic playoff game without total clarity regarding their coaching staff.

Finebaum pointed directly at the new Tigers leader as the primary source of the friction that has dominated the national conversation.

LSU Tigers head coach Lane Kiffin is not navigating the postseason well, according to ESPN college football analyst Paul Finebaum. | Matthew Hinton-Imagn Images

“I think it’s incredibly sad,” Paul Finebaum said during the broadcast. “There’s one person who can make all this easier and that’s Lane Kiffin. Lane Kiffin is badly losing the PR battle. I know he’s working hard. I’d love to look at Kiffin’s phone right now, guys, you can probably attest to this. To see how many media members he has texted, trying to spin them on how much he cares about the Ole Miss program. But it’s pretty obvious that he doesn’t.”

The analyst argued that the coach’s focus has clearly shifted to his new surroundings at the expense of his former players. “He cares about where he is now, which is understandable but it also negates a lot of what he said leading into his departure that he really wanted to stay there,” Finebaum noted.

“I think it turns out that Keith Carter and a lot of the administration at Ole Miss made a real good decision because I don’t think Ole Miss would’ve beaten Georgia if Kiffin had been going back and forth between Baton Rouge and Oxford.”

Ole Miss Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) — Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss (6) threw for 362 yards and two touchdowns in the Rebels’ 39-34 win over Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. | Amber Searls-Imagn Images

As the postseason reaches its peak, the veteran journalist lamented the lack of resolution for the remaining staff and athletes. “I’m not going to try to sound like I’m a peacekeeper for the UN,” Finebaum added.

“I think it’s really tragic that more hasn’t been done by all parties, but mainly Lane Kiffin, to make this transition for Ole Miss easier as they get ready to go to the Fiesta Bowl.”

The Ole Miss Rebels will play the Miami Hurricanes in the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

FSU football Mike Norvell, Michael Alford addressing new structure

Published

1 hour ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Updated Jan. 5, 2026, 6:01 p.m. ET

Florida State football leadership will meet with the media to discuss the program’s future.
Topics will include a front office restructure, NIL, and revenue sharing.
The program is undergoing a “comprehensive review” after a 7-17 record over the last two seasons.
FSU is actively recruiting from the transfer portal, including former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway.

Florida State football head coach Mike Norvell, Athletic Director Michael Alford and new Deputy AD and General Manager of Player Personnel John Garrett will meet with local media on Monday, Jan. 5.

The trio is expected to talk about the Seminoles’ front office restructure, Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) and revenue sharing, among other topics related to the FSU football program.

The Seminoles are hosting multiple transfer portal visitors, including former Florida quarterback DJ Lagway on campus as the program looks to restructure its roster following two dismal seasons that ended with a combined 7-17 record.

Norvell, whose job was under pressure during the season, will be back for a seventh season in charge of the program, and he promised a “comprehensive review” of the program that would change how the Seminoles operated. One of those changes is the hire of Garrett and Taylor Edwards as director of football and player acquisition.

Alford hired an outside consultant, Jake Rosenberg, to give a review of the program and help the Seminoles position themselves to best compete in the modern era of college athletics.

The Tallahassee Democrat will provide live updates from the discussion.

Live updates from Michael Alford, John Garrett and Mike Norvell press conference

Decision-making, leadership key to FSU’s next quarterback

Garrett said that what FSU wants in a quarterback goes beyond the intangibles they have, and they need to be mentally tough, make tough decisions and be a leader.

He said the “fun part” of recruitment is getting to know a player and finding out their fit within the program beyond their physical skill set.

Garrett said being an “accurate thrower of the ball” is the key physical trait that any quarterback needs to have.

Garrett describes new player recruitment structure

Garrett said there is constant evaluation going on with staff members assigned to certain regions of the country. Staffers will watch tape, communicate with high school coaches and talk with recruiting liaisons on a weekly basis to help evaluate and find the “best” fit for the Seminoles.

On the portal, Garrett called it a “mad dash” and something a program has to get ahead of when doing evaluations of players and who to bring in. He said the recruitment process is similar to prep evaluations, but done in a quicker timeline.

Alford describes the timeline for “review” and making changes to the FSU front office

Alford said that the decision to make these changes to the personnel staff has been something that has been discussed for a long time, and that after further analysis on what Norvell’s responsibilities were and how much he had to do, they felt it was right to make the changes now.

He said for an accurate “review,” the program had to wait for the season to end, because it’s where a “fair review” can take place.

Norvell, Garrett praise collaboration, ‘checks and balances’ critical to FSU’s success

“Everyone’s enthused,” Garrett promises that the Seminoles have the right “team” in place to build the right roster for FSU football.

Garrett said the staff is here to help Norvell make the most informed decision on the program. He said Norvell allows everyone to have a say on what is being discussed. Garrett said that collaboration allows all the different perspectives within the staff to have a say on what the program does.

Norvell said “checks and balances” is “critical” in modern-day college football.

Norvell said there won’t be a player brought into the program that everyone doesn’t agree upon.

On negotiations, Norvell said he doesn’t want to be the one negotiating with the players. He said his job is to coach and develop the players.

Norvell praised the work of Garrett and Edwards when discussing negotiations and helping bring players together.

Norvell labels college football as being in a “unique” position

On the transfer portal, Norvell said that working alongside Garrett and Edwards has been good through the first few days of the transfer portal.

He said there has been constant collaboration and that the staff has been very receptive to evaluations and decisions about who to target and what needs the program has.

Norvell called the state of college football “unique.” He said the program is going to find the “right people” to push FSU forward. He said he’s got a lot of confidence in what he and Garrett can do together when building FSU’s future.

Norvell says the new personnel department was a “necessity.”

Norvell said there was an aligned vision and constant collaboration throughout the restructuring of the program’s personnel.

“I’m excited for what this thing will mean, and how it will operate,” Norvell said.

Norvell said the willingness to allow the changes from everyone in the program will allow FSU to be taken to the “next level.”

Michael Alford opens the discussion by speaking on the program review

Alford said that FSU used both resources, both inside and outside the Seminoles program, to evaluate the operations of FSU.

John Garrett will lead recruiting efforts, retention and long-term decisions, while Norvell will have the final say on all decisions within the program. Garrett called it a “wonderful opportunity.”

FSU football players in the transfer portal

DL Darryll Desir, Jan. 5
DL Mandrell Desir, Jan. 5
DL Amaree Williams, Jan. 5
P Mac Chiumento, Jan. 1
DL KJ Sampson, Dec. 31
OL Ty Hylton, Dec. 30
OL Lucas Simmons, Dec. 29
RB Gavin Sawchuk, Dec. 28
OL Manasse Itete, Dec. 28
DB Ashlynd Barker, Dec. 28
WR Jayvan Boggs, Dec. 27
DE James Williams, Dec. 27
QB Brock Glenn, Dec. 25
WR Elijah Moore, Dec. 22
QB Jaylen King, Dec. 17
TE Randy Pittman, Dec. 16
LB Omar Graham, Dec. 16
DL Jaden Jones, Dec. 16
RB Kam Davis, Dec. 16
DB Cai Bates, Dec. 15
WR Camdon Frier, Dec. 12
DB Smoke White, Dec. 10
DB Edwin Joseph, Dec. 10
WR Willy Suarez, Dec. 10
RB Jaylin Lucas, Dec. 10
DT Jamorie Flagg, Dec. 10
TE Luke Douglas, Dec. 10
OT Mario Nash Jr., Dec. 9
DT L.A. Jessie Harrold, Dec. 6
DT Tyland Coleman, Dec. 9
LB Jayden Parrish, Dec. 5

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Quarterback Market In College Football Has Become As Bloated As The NFL

Published

2 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

There are a lot of underqualified QBs making big bucks this season.

PublishedJanuary 5, 2026 6:27 PM EST•UpdatedJanuary 5, 2026 6:27 PM EST

NFL fans are all too familiar with the market for quarterbacks.

The demand for great signal callers in pro football FAR exceeds the supply, so teams are more than willing to pay top dollar for mediocre (at best) QBs to help deliver some wins to their franchise.

Look at some of the quarterback contracts in the NFL, and you will see several players being paid either purely on potential or because their team just didn’t have a better option.

READ: NFL Teams Not Enjoying Dividends From Big Money QB Investments

Guys like Daniel Jones and Tua Tagovailoa were given massive contract extensions just for being “good enough,” but it isn’t entirely their teams’ faults.

The market for quarterbacks is so bloated – thanks in part to more deserving signal callers like Matthew Stafford and Patrick Mahomes inking mega deals – that even mediocre quarterbacks can command a fortune, hamstringing their franchises from making other moves to help the team.

It looks like college football, in their quest to be the NFL Jr., is following down a similar path.

Trey Wallace wrote earlier about how bad the market has gotten in the transfer portal, but it’s at its absolute worst when it comes to quarterbacks.

The latest offender is a familiar one: the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

I’ve written extensively about how Texas Tech has spent their way into becoming the next college football powerhouse, and while I can’t fault them for playing within the rules (because there are no rules), it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

The Red Raiders are all in on Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby, inking the former Bearcat to a $5 million payday.

I mean absolutely no disrespect to Sorsby, but is he worth more money than most NFL players on rookie contracts?

The answer is actually more complicated than that, though, as there isn’t a salary cap (yet) in college sports, so Sorsby is technically worth whatever a team is willing to pay for him.

The problem is that for every Texas Tech (oil money) or Michigan (Larry Ellison), there are several other programs that won’t be able to keep up in the arms race.

I’m not even talking about the Tulanes and James Madisons of the world. Even blue-bloods like Georgia and Ohio State don’t have the booster base to keep up with any of the Texas schools.

That means teams like Tech, A&M, and even Houston can theoretically price out everyone for almost any player they want.

READ: College Footbal Is SIck – Transfer Portal, NIL, And More

Unqualified quarterbacks commanding top dollar in college football isn’t a new phenomenon, either.

Miami reportedly paid Carson Beck somewhere in the vicinity of $4 million to forgo his final season at Georgia and skip the NFL Draft to come down to Coral Gables, and while the Hurricanes are in the College Football Playoff semifinals, most of that is thanks to their dominance on the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage.

The Canes probably could have gotten a similar result this season if they had cut that quarterback budget in half or, God forbid, actually developed a quarterback that was already on their roster for a fourth of Beck’s price tag.

Even non-traditional powers are upping the ante for quarterbacks.

A team like Duke paid their QB, Darian Mensah, $8 million over multiple years to leave Tulane after a stellar true freshman season.

Giving $8 million to a Group of 5 freshman feels risky, and while it paid off for the Blue Devils, it also robs a team like the Green Wave of the ability to develop a special talent like Mensah.

I don’t have a solution to any of this, and I doubt the NCAA does either.

They let this genie out of the bottle and have no desire nor power to put it back, so we as fans are now forced to deal with the consequences.

Regardless of what ends up happening, this is just another example of college football following in the footsteps of its older brother, the NFL, and being all the worse for it.

I’ve said it before, and I will say it again: I want my college football back.

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Is it too late to save college football?

Published

3 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

As another college football season winds to a close, it’s difficult to imagine that the game could be a bigger mess. Not even Congress could’ve conceived of a plan that would produce the anything-goes state of affairs.

Everyone knows this. Everyone from fans to coaches to journalists talk about it and complain about it. Its flaws and excesses are obvious, and some of college football’s smartest have offered sensible ways to fix it. It’s not that difficult.

But no one is doing anything about it. And the reason no one is doing anything about it is simple: The people in charge are the people who are making money and they have ZERO incentive to change anything.

They have the money and the revenues to continue the status quo. Who’s in charge, you ask? Not the NCAA, that’s for sure. There is no central government to oversee the overall good of sports; the NCAA ceded control of football to the SEC and the Big Ten and ESPN a long time ago. They are the de facto commissioners of college football, their very own cash cow.

“We’ve created a mess. Point blank,” Arizona State coach Kenny Dillingham said last month. “The whole industry is a mess. The only thing that’s not a mess is the dollar signs. Those are still pointing up. The dollar signs, the business of it, that’s skyrocketing. Everything else is a mess. That’s just being transparent and honest.”

“It’s broken; college football is broken,” says Scott Frost, the Central Florida football coach. “Everyone would agree if they were honest.”

“College football is messed up,” former coach Nick Saban said on “The Pat McAfee Show” last month. “The playoffs have created tremendous interest in college football. … There’s more interest than ever, higher TV ratings and all that. But the underbelly underneath, that is not really good. It’s not really good for the development of players. It’s not really good for all the sports that we try to sponsor in college. …

“We’ve got to decide (if) we want to be a professional developmental league, or are we really going to have college athletes who go get an education and develop value for their future as they’re playing and making money?”

Every aspect of college football is messed up. NIL. The transfer portal. The scheduling. The uneven playing field. The lack of central leadership. Disruptive and frequent conference realignment. The constant player turnover. The playoff selection process. The length of the season. The bowl system.

The biggest problem is the combined effect of the transfer portal and NIL. The transfer portal enables players to transfer at will — it has created annual free agency for all — and NIL money has been used as the carrot to lure players into the portal and to other schools. Rosters are turned upside down every season. Players have more freedom than professional and high school players.

So far, more than 4,000 players have entered the portal, which opened Jan. 2 and closes Jan. 16. That’s about one-third of all DI scholarship players. That’s more than double the total number of players in the NFL.

In 2025, The Athletic examined the top 50 prospects at every position in the Class of 2021, which was the first to begin their careers with the ability to transfer and play immediately. In all, The Athletic followed the collegiate careers of 600 prospects. Result: 60.3% of the players transferred at least once, and one-third of that group transferred multiple times. College football allows annual free agency.

“I don’t think that’s really good for college football,” then-Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin told ESPN in 2023. “These massive overhauls of rosters every year really is not in the best interest of college football.”

(For the moment, let’s ignore the abject hypocrisy of a coach who abandoned his playoff-bound Ole Miss team to take the head coaching job at LSU.)

Players are chasing the NIL money. They (or their agents) are telling their current coaches, “Pay me or else.” They sell themselves off to the highest bidder. Boosters, rival coaches and agents encourage it. They are poaching players from other schools, offering endorsements, appearance fees and cash as a lure.

It’s the holiday shopping season for coaches, and it’s expensive. CBS posted a position-by-position price list for players on sale in the portal. The average price of a quarterback is $1.5 million to $2.5 million. An elite quarterback goes for $3.5 million. A running back averages $400,000 to $700,000. An offensive tackle: $500,000 to $1 million. A safety is on the low end of the hire-for-pay scale, $350,000 to $500,000.

It’s an easy fix. Limit players to one entry into the transfer portal, period. And/or make them sign contracts with a school, like the professionals they are. Let’s end the charade that this is anything but a professional football league and require contracts and a salary cap.

When a school makes a financial commitment to a player, he should make a commitment to the school. Big schools have turned Group of Five and FCS schools into farm clubs. These schools invest a year or two in developing a player, and then when he’s a finished product, the big schools swoop in and take him.

All that money and time is wasted. James Madison, which won one of the 12 spots in the College Football Playoff, has reportedly lost 11 starters to the transfer portal. At the very least, a school should be able to protect 80 players, and if one of them wants to transfer, he must sit out a year.

“I think (players) should make money, but there should be some restrictions on how they go about doing it,” says Saban. “And the movement is as big an issue, to me, a bigger issue than even the money. I mean, everybody being able to transfer all the time … that’s not a good thing.”

The lawless landscape has fomented other problems. Tampering is probably much more rampant than anyone realizes. Last spring, Colorado self-reported 11 tampering violations, which consisted of interactions with players from other schools who had not entered the portal.

The portal is bad enough, but now coaches are ignoring an NCAA bylaw that requires that players must actually enter the portal before they can have contact with another school. The irony is that Colorado coach Deion Sanders had accused Virginia’s coaching staff of tampering with Colorado players.

Florida State accused Oregon of tampering with running back Rodney Hill before he entered the transfer portal, while the player was practicing for the Orange Bowl. He eventually transferred to Miami.

Jeff Traylor, the head coach at Texas-San Antonio, says a school used an NIL offer to lure two of his players to leave his team before they were in the portal.

Agents also play a huge, underrated role in college football by facilitating, if not urging, transfers. NIL agent Noah Reisenfeld once claimed that “pretty much every NIL agency charges 20%” compared to the NFL/NBA standard of 3-5%.

They have every incentive to encourage players to leave for another school, annually.

Rodney Hill blames a bad agent for his much-traveled career. He says his agent pretended to be Hill and texted various schools attempting to get more money. When Florida State learned of these texts, Hill was shown the door. Hill went to Florida A&M, then decommitted after a coaching change, then committed to Miami, decommitted again, returned to Florida A&M, then entered the transfer portal again and landed at Arkansas.

“I wasn’t trying to leave (Florida State),” Hill told ESPN. “I didn’t want to leave, so I just had to, and the portal was closing up.”

He was fortunate, in a way. It has been widely reported that a high percentage of players in the transfer portal (40%, according to some reports) never find another school.

No matter how you cut it, college football is a mess for everyone except for a few very elite schools and players.

Mississippi head coach Lane Kiffin, left, cheers on wide receiver Miles Battle (6) as he runs along the sideline during the second half of an NCAA college football game against LSU in Oxford, Miss., Saturday, Oct. 23, 2021. The Rebels will be playing the CFP semifinals later this week, but Kiffin won’t be coaching them on account he took a job with LSU after the regular season ended. | Rogelio V. Solis, Associated Press

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Trinidad Chambliss agrees to new Ole Miss deal

Published

4 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Jan. 5, 2026, 12:30 p.m. ET

As it sits just two wins from a national championship, Ole Miss could be set to return its star quarterback in 2026.

On Monday, Rebels quarterback Trinidad Chambliss reportedly agreed to a new NIL deal with Ole Miss, according to Yahoo Sports’ Ross Dellenger. The deal is contingent on Chambliss being granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA.

A transfer from Division II Ferris State, Chambliss began the year as the backup to Austin Simmons but took over the starting job due to injury and never gave it back. He has started the last 12 games, leading Ole Miss to an 11-1 record and a spot in the CFP semis.

Dellinger added that the school is hoping for a resolution to his eligibility waiver in the next week, with his father being “confident” it will go through.

Chambliss spent four seasons at Ferris State before transferring to Oxford, and he’s seeking a medical redshirt for the 2022 season. After redshirting in 2021, Chambliss didn’t play in any games as a redshirt freshman as he dealt with health issues that ultimately led to tonsil surgery.

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NIL

Miami’s Beck, Ole Miss’ Chambliss take different paths to College Football Playoff

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5 hours ago

January 6, 2026

Your Sports Nation

By JOHN MARSHALL

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Miami’s Carson Beck is the prototypical power-program quarterback, a former four-star prospect with a massive NIL portfolio who knows what it’s like to play on the big stage.

Mississippi’s Trinidad Chambliss nearly gave up football, won a Division II national championship and has shined since being unexpectedly thrust into the spotlight.

Their paths will converge in the desert at Thursday’s Fiesta Bowl, with a spot in the national championship game on the line.

“Only four teams have the opportunity to go play this week,” Beck said. “I’m super grateful for that.”

Beck has been building toward this since starring as a high schooler in Jacksonville, Florida.

The 6-foot-4, 225-pound pro-style passer won a national championship in 2022 — the Bulldogs’ second straight — as a backup to Stetson Bennett IV, learning as he went. Beck took those lessons onto the field, throwing for more than 7,000 yards and 52 touchdowns in the next two seasons while leading Georgia to 24 wins.

A knee injury kept Beck out of the Bulldogs’ College Football Playoff loss against Notre Dame in early 2025 and, after initially declaring for the NFL draft, he opted to transfer to Miami, a school with a potent offense and plenty of NIL cash to throw around.

He’s been a perfect fit.

Poised and steady, Beck has thrown for 3,313 yards and 27 touchdowns on 74% passing with 10 interceptions. He led the Hurricanes (12-2, CFP No. 10 seed) to wins over Texas A&M and Ohio State in the playoffs and is 36-5 as a starter as he winds down his college career.

“He’s very experienced, he’s been successful everywhere he’s been,” Ole Miss coach Pete Golding said. “He’s always had his teams competing at a championship level and being in the playoffs.”

Chambliss’ career took a different trajectory.

With no Division I offers out of high school, the quarterback from Grand Rapids, Michigan, opted to play at Ferris State, where he redshirted the first two seasons — the second due to respiratory issues. He considered transferring to a Division III school to give college basketball a try, but chose to give football one more shot.

Good decision.

Chambliss led the Bulldogs to the Division II national championship in 2024, leading to offers from numerous Division I programs. He chose to play at Ole Miss, figuring he would be a backup but at least have the DI experience.

Chambliss’ fate changed when starter Austin Simmons went down with an ankle injury during the second game of the season. Chambliss took off and kept going, throwing for 353 yards against Arkansas in his first start and playing so well he kept the starting job once Simmons was healthy.

The dual-threat quarterback put pressure on defenses all season, rocketing passes into tight windows with his strong arm while extending plays with his legs.

Chambliss has thrown for 3,660 yards and 21 touchdowns with just three interceptions on 66% passing, adding 520 yards and eight more scores rushing. He led the Rebels (13-1, CFP No. 6 seed) to a win over Tulane in the CFP opening round and picked apart Georgia in the quarterfinals with 362 yards and two touchdowns in a 39-34 win.

“He’s a limitless football player,” Miami coach Mario Cristobal said. “Certainly, you could see on the sideline and watching some of the stuff on TV, his leadership skills and the way people gravitate to him. He’s had a tremendous impact on the program and plenty of respect for him.”

So has Beck, setting up a showdown in the desert.

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