Oregon has won some massive recruiting battles during Dan Lanning‘s tenure, including a few in the 2026 class. But it’d be hard to argue many were bigger than landing five-star edge rusher Anthony Jones over both Texas A&M and Alabama on Thursday.

The St. Paul’s Episcopal (Ala.) product was considered a longtime lean to the in-state Crimson Tide, and even named them as his No. 1 school in the past few weeks. But behind the scenes, Dan Lanning and Co. continued to push the right buttons. The distance from Alabama all the way up to Eugene ultimately didn’t deter him from committing to the Ducks.

He has a strong relationship with Oregon’s coaching staff, led by Lanning and defensive coordinator Tosh Lupoi, his primary recruiter. But the Ducks were also very competitive when it came to the NIL/revenue-sharing offer they made to Jones, too.

“Certainly, you don’t win this kind of recruiting battle without being heavily armed on the NIL front,” Rivals VP of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong said on Friday. “I think Anthony ‘Tank’ Jones is someone that is getting a deal worth over $1 million for his first season. Oregon, Texas A&M and Alabama all battled on that front. And then where Oregon is at as a program. He said, ‘I think we can get Oregon closer to that first national championship that they covet.”

Oregon has known be one of the premier spenders in college football since the advent of the NIL era, both in the transfer portal and in high school recruiting. But their money is not limitless, especially in the new revenue-sharing era. Earlier this spring, they bowed out of the race for Five-Star Plus+ OT Jackson Cantwell, who is reportedly set to receive in the $2.5 million range from Miami.

The Ducks were a top school and at one time predicted to land Cantwell before the Hurricanes made their final push and got him in the boat in May. Among other top recruits, USC tight end commit Mark Bowman is reportedly set to receive $5 and $6.5 million over three years, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Mirroring the NFL, quarterbacks, offensive tackles and pass-rushers are premium positions on recruiting. Five-star passers Faizon Brandon, Ryder Lyons and Jared Curtis are set receive between $750K and $1.5 million, per Nakos’ reporting.

Jones give the Ducks another elite prospect to build around

The 6-foot-3, 245-pound Jones is the No. 22 overall prospect in the 2026 class, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting media companies. He also ranks as the nation’s No. 4 edge rusher and the No. 2 recruit in the Yellowhammer State.

With him in the fold, Oregon now has four five-star commitments and seven commits ranked in the top-100 nationally.

As a junior, Jones recorded 84 tackles, 18 tackles for loss, and 16 sacks.

He is also a standout on the track, winning the Alabama 6A discus state championship as a junior with a toss of 161 feet, 5 inches. In the shot put, he threw 56 feet, 3.75 inches to take home silver.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Head softball coach Tyra Perry announced on Friday the addition of Megan Mattingly as the program’s director of operations.

“We are thrilled to welcome Megan to our staff!” Perry said. “Having grown up immersed in the Fighting Illini sports culture, she brings a deep passion for the game and a strong connection to our community. Her dedication and competitive spirit were evident during her playing days, and we are confident that she will bring that same drive and excellence to this new role.”

Mattingly returns to her home state and joins the Fighting Illini after spending the last three years working at Southridge High School in Huntingburg, Indiana. While there, she served as the head softball coach while working within the physical education/strength and conditioning department from 2022-25. Mattingly also held roles as an assistant volleyball coach from 2023-24 and assisted with graphic design in 2024. She was the Southridge Middle School athletic director during the 2022-23 academic year.

During the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Mattingly was a regional site representative at the University of Oklahoma, acting as the NCAA’s on-site liaison while collaborating with athletic directors to ensure full compliance with tournament policies, procedures, and game day operations during NCAA Regionals. In that role, she also coordinated communication between NCAA staff, the host institution, teams, officials, and media to ensure smooth event execution; oversaw game day logistics including team arrivals, facility readiness, credential distribution, and schedule adherence; and resolved real-time issues related to weather delays, protocol enforcement, and team logistics while maintaining professionalism and NCAA standards.

A native of Danville, Illinois, Mattingly – née Megan Burton – played softball at the Division I level at Eastern Illinois, where she competed from 2018-22. As a senior in 2021, she earned OVC Player of the Year, All-OVC First Team, OVC Scholar Athlete of the Year, and NFCA All-Mideast Region First Team honors. Across her five-year career with the Panthers, Mattingly played in 220 games, making 218 starts, while hitting .302 with 212 hits, 151 runs scored, 115 RBI, 74 stolen bases, 55 walks, and 46 doubles. She was tabbed an All-OVC Second Team selection as a sophomore in 2019.

Mattingly graduated from EIU with a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and sports studies in 2020 before getting her master’s in educational leadership in 2022.

“I am so grateful for the opportunity to work for the University of Illinois,” Mattingly said. “I am excited to be a part of Illinois Softball and the strong culture that is embedded within the program. This is home, and I am truly excited to be part of the FamILLy.”

Summer 2025 was a period of change in college football, as the House Settlement regarding college sports was approved, forever changing the landscape of college football and how college athletes can make money.

It was also a rough time for Auburn football’s recruiting efforts. The Tigers’ 2026 class suffered a handful of decommitments and dropped all the way down to No. 89 in 247Sports’ recruiting team rankings at one point.

Head coach Hugh Freeze and athletic director John Cohen attributed the issues to the changes brought on by the House Settlement and how the athletic department put together its revenue sharing plan.

“I’m here to tell you, we’re gonna do this the right way,” Cohen told reporters on July 2 before an AMBUSH alumni event in Alexander City.

Cohen was alluding to the idea that other schools may not be following the new rules of the settlement. He hinted at schools throwing out unrealistic numbers to recruits in verbal offers, something he said Auburn wasn’t going to do.

In that same breath, Cohen told reporters that Aug. 1 would be a big day for the long-term success of Auburn’s recruiting. That’s the day that those verbal offers can start going into writing, a chance for schools to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak.

“That’s a big day,” Cohen said. “It’s not rumor, it’s not innuendo, it’s not, ‘This person said this.’ It’s an offer on paper.”

Now, that day is here. While Cohen and Freeze never said that things would turn around immediately, the recruiting efforts will be looked at through a different lens until signing day.

But how did things get here, and where could they go from here?

Within 11 days in June, Auburn lost three four-star recruits before adding one three star and a four-star quarterback by month’s end. After losing one more four-star recruit, Auburn addressed its challenges with the 2026 recruiting class before picking up four recruits to finish July, including three four-stars.

Here’s a timeline of how the summer unfolded:

Timeline

June 6 | The House Settlement officially passes, meaning schools can officially begin paying athletes directly starting July 1

June 12 | 4-star linebacker JaMichael Garrett decommits from Auburn

June 22 | 4-star linebacker Shadarius Toodle flips from Auburn to Georgia

June 23 | 4-star wide receiver Devin Carter flips from Auburn to Florida State

June 24 | 3-star offensive tackle Nikau Hepi commits to Auburn, breaking the streak of decommitments

June 26 | 4-star quarterback Peyton Falzone commits to Auburn, becoming the first quarterback commit in the Tigers’ 2026 class

July 1 | 4-star wide receiver Denairius Gray flips to Kentucky, dropping Auburn’s class to No. 89 in the country

July 2 | Cohen and Freeze address the media in Alexander City, explaining the recruiting struggles and pointing two Aug. 1 date

July 4 | 3-star tight end Kentrell White commits to Auburn

July 8 | 4-star linebacker Adam Balogun-Ali commits to Auburn

July 17 | 4-star offensive lineman Wilson Zierer commits to Auburn

July 21 | 4-star linebacker Jaquez Wilkes commits to Auburn, becoming the Tigers’ first top 100 commit in the 2026 class

July 31 | The College Sports Commission provides new guidance for third-party NIL deals, allowing NIL collectives to pay athletes if the deals are for a “valid business purpose.”

Aug. 1 | Verbal offers to recruits in the 2026 class can begin going into writing

What lies ahead?

Aug. 8

Four-star wide receiver Jase Mathews announces his commitment. His finalists include Auburn, LSU, Ole Miss and Texas A&M.

Aug. 21

Five-star safety Bralan Womack announces his commitment. His finalists include Auburn, Ohio State, Florida and Texas A&M. If Womack and Mathews both choose Auburn, it would raise the Tigers’ class ranking from 70 to 33, according to 247Sports.

Aug. 29

Auburn opens the 2025 football season at Baylor.

Peter Rauterkus covers Auburn sports for AL.com. You can follow him on X at @peter_rauterkus or email him at prauterkus@al.com

“The newspaper told me how much I made and I couldn’t believe how much I made,” he said, according to TechCrunch.

O’Neal’s portfolio also includes Big Chicken, a fast-casual restaurant chain with restaurants nationwide, and Authentic Brands Group, where he is its second-largest shareholder. The brand management company profits from not only O’Neal’s name and likeness but also Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, Muhammad Ali, and Michael Jackson. O’Neal has also said on record that his investment decisions were influenced by billionaire Mark Cuban, who encouraged him to invest in the alcoholic beverage brand BeatBox. It is no surprise that the next generation is studying O’Neal’s footprint.

“Shaq’s portfolio is the most impressive crazy business portfolio that I’ve seen,” Johnson explained on the “Club Shay Shay” podcast. “And my coach coached him, coach Bob Starkey. So he be telling like, ‘No, you got to watch Shaq, like you got to do what he did in business and all the companies and things he’s over.’ It’s just incredible.”

As expected, Mitch Barnhart didn’t share specifics on Kentucky’s revenue-sharing plans for the 2025-26 season; however, he did pull the curtain back just a tiny bit.

In his press conference at Kentucky Football Media Day, Barnhart said six programs will split the $20.5 million the department has set aside for revenue-sharing this year: football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball. He also said that the $20.5 million is actually $18.5 million when you account for scholarships.

How much will each of those six programs get? Barnhart is keeping that close to the vest.

“The speculation is wonderful,” Barnhart quipped when asked about fans wanting to know revenue-sharing specifics. “I think that not only do the fans want to know, but our opponents want to know. And so I think we’re going to sort of keep it fluid with us and keep it inside our framework.”

That said, Barnhart made it clear that UK’s coaches are happy with the plan, specifically mentioning “great conversations” with Mark Stoops, Mark Pope, and Kenny Brooks. That’s in large part because the amounts each sport gets can change each year based on each team’s needs.

“I will say this: our coaches are pleased with where we are and what we’re doing. And I think that’s the beauty of this cap system that we’re in, is that it is pretty fluid from season to season, from sport to sport, and it can change. And so to sit here and say, we’re going to focus and put this number on that, it may change by the time we get to the end of the semester. It may change by the time we get to the end of the year, based on rosters, based on who’s in your program and who’s not in your program.

“And so we want to be really thoughtful about how we do that. And we think our best advantage in being able to help our coaches in the best way possible is to be really, really nimble in what we do, and we can only do that, we think, if we structure it this way.”

When asked, Barnhart said that the revenue-sharing money doesn’t roll over, meaning that you have to either use it this year or lose it. Helping matters is that this year’s rosters were funded by NIL dollars set in place before the House Settlement went into effect on July 1. How NIL will be handled now, and the role of collectives seems to change by the minute, especially as lawsuits mount. Federal legislation would certainly help.

“The change that has occurred has been massive,” Barnhart said. “We don’t even have a governance structure in place, really, to be honest with you. So you’re asking people to say, hey, this is absolutely the highway or the pathway we’re supposed to go down. I don’t think that’s a reality in anybody’s world. There’s going to be a clunkiness to it, and a getting-started piece to all of this. And hopefully the waters will smooth a little bit, but it is going to be a little bit clunky at the beginning, you have coaches coming out and saying the NIL piece of NILGo is not working. You have others saying it’s working fine. You have the revenue cap.

“So, everyone’s in the weeds, and everyone understands exactly what’s going on. I’ve been in the middle of those conversations for 10 months, 12 months, and it’s a lot. It is an absolute lot. And I’m thankful for people who want to jump alongside federal legislation and help out of Washington. If anybody wants to help, that would be awesome. That’d be great. If we can get an alignment and get people to help. That would be great. But to sit here and be critical of the system that’s only been in place for four weeks, it’s really, really difficult. So, we’ve got to find our way through it and just gently walk through this thing and let it smooth itself out.”