Connect with us
https://yoursportsnation.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/call-to-1.png

NIL

How LSU signed the No. 1 transfer class in college football | LSU

Last December, during a crucial fundraising push for LSU football’s roster, coach Brian Kelly and general manager Austin Thomas went to the corporate headquarters of MMR Group, a national construction firm based in Baton Rouge. They met with Pepper Rutland, the founder and president. Rutland, a former LSU linebacker and team captain, has donated to […]

Published

on


Last December, during a crucial fundraising push for LSU football’s roster, coach Brian Kelly and general manager Austin Thomas went to the corporate headquarters of MMR Group, a national construction firm based in Baton Rouge.

They met with Pepper Rutland, the founder and president. Rutland, a former LSU linebacker and team captain, has donated to LSU for years. He already knew Kelly, but this was the first time the coach visited his office.

“I’ll bet you never thought you would be doing this when you came to LSU,” Rutland told Kelly.

“You’re correct,” he remembered Kelly saying.

But after losing at least three games for the third straight season, LSU had to persuade its donors to invest more than ever in the football team’s name, image and likeness efforts. The Tigers had financially trailed other major programs for the past three years. To retain key players and recruit top transfers, LSU needed to raise more NIL money.

“We had to go around the community,” Kelly said. “We had to go see donors and have meetings and show them our game plan and our business plan for what we were gonna do and how we were gonna do it.”

The goal was to raise at least $13 million for LSU’s NIL collective, Bayou Traditions, with the intention of front-loading deals before the school expects to begin paying players this summer. Over the previous three years combined, the collective’s general counsel said it had spent $11 million on the roster, including $5.5 million last season.

“We competed very well,” athletic director Scott Woodward said, “but we had to really step up our game.”

Planning began in August, and yet LSU needed to raise more money before the transfer portal opened. In a roughly two-week stretch beginning in late November, Kelly and LSU administrators visited several high-level boosters, showing them a new approach to roster management that has been inspired by the NFL.

Their presentation resonated. Donors, some motivated by five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood’s flip from LSU to Michigan, provided multiple seven-figure gifts. The money helped LSU retain starters, add a top-10 freshman class and, according to 247Sports, sign the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country, shaping the season’s outlook.

“We have a football team that now is poised to play with anybody in the SEC,” Kelly said. “We didn’t before.”

LSU looks to the NFL

During one of LSU’s open dates this past fall, Thomas and Woodward visited the Seattle Seahawks. They wanted to understand how an NFL team navigates the salary cap, so they compared ideas and asked questions to ensure LSU took the right approach to roster management.

Woodward called the trip “an affirmation that we were in the right direction and doing the right things.” Thomas also used connections with the Houston Texans to refine his monetary valuation system as LSU’s collective prepared to spend big before schools begin paying athletes July 1 as a result of the House settlement, which still requires final approval.







NO.lsufbsalabama.092924 HS 2597.jpg

LSU athletic director Scott Woodward walks the field in the first half against the Jaguars, Saturday, September 28, 2024, at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.




If the settlement takes effect, schools will be able to distribute up to $20.5 million in the 2025-26 academic year, creating a salary cap that increases annually based on rising revenues. Like other major programs, LSU plans to allocate $13.5 million to football, dividing the money between the 2025 and 2026 teams.

The settlement is designed to curb spending by collectives. Though questions remain about the effectiveness of new enforcement measures, LSU wanted to use the money in Bayou Traditions before deals would need to pass through a clearinghouse designed to judge fair market value. It plans to pay out $10 million in the first half of 2025, money that does not factor into the revenue sharing cap.

“We were able to give (players) a glimpse of what that plus revenue sharing looked like with an assertive and confident contract that could be backed up without guessing,” Kelly said. “We felt confident that we could do some things financially without being put in a situation where we would have to claw it back.”

Thomas has overseen a lot of this in his third stint at LSU. First named LSU’s general manager in 2016, he contributed to the 2019 national championship run before helping assemble Texas A&M’s 2020 Orange Bowl team. Thomas had a hand in signing back-to-back top 2 transfer classes at Ole Miss before LSU hired him again.

“I knew this thing was developing, and I knew we needed to get a top manager in here to do it who understood it and who had done it well,” Woodward said. “Austin is one of the best in the business.”

Thomas uses the valuation system to keep track of spending. Using how much NFL teams spend on certain positions as a guide, LSU set a financial starting point for every spot on the roster. If Thomas inputs a new value somewhere, the other positional values change to stay under the cap. It lets him quickly input and interpret information, helping him make formulaic decisions.







NO.lsuniu.022324 HS 655.jpg

LSU senior associate athletic director for football administration Austin Thomas watches as the Tigers host Northern Illinois, Thursday, February 22, 2024, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.




“Knowing when to walk away is just as important as it is to know when to invest,” Thomas said. “And so for us, having the discipline to do that and stay within our model was what was really important.”

Thomas first used the technology created by NextGen Prospect as Ole Miss’ chief of staff in 2022. It started as basic spreadsheets, and the system became more interactive over time. NextGen Prospect co-founder Marc Vittacore said the company works with 39 teams, and about half of them use the technology the way LSU does.

LSU had worked with the service since early 2022, primarily for advanced scouting of opponents. But when Thomas was still at Ole Miss, he asked about improving the system’s ability to monitor spending. Now able to blend advanced scouting with recruiting boards and financial modeling, it made the work easier when someone entered the transfer portal.

“We were able to create a database that allows us to track all of this in real time,” Thomas said. “That helped us get really streamlined as guys would enter the portal and we could see visually where they were for us.”

Planning for the transfer portal

During his two years as Ole Miss’ chief of staff, Thomas worked for a program that built its roster through the transfer portal. The Rebels have been one of the most active teams in the market under coach Lane Kiffin, signing at least 20 transfers in each of the past four years.

Kelly has a different philosophy, preferring to build through the high school ranks and supplement needs in the portal. LSU has target percentages for how many freshmen, returning players and transfers it wants to have on the team every year. Although Thomas declined to share those numbers, the highest percentage is for returning players.

“More times than not, we really want to focus on retention and high school recruiting because we think that’s going to be the sustainable model,” Thomas said. “But as we’ve shown, we’re not afraid to go acquire pieces as needed.”

A year ago, that was not the case. LSU signed nine transfers, giving it the No. 43 class in the country, according to 247Sports, and missed out on top defensive tackles. Kelly said it was a calculated decision not to sign a large transfer portal class because he thought young players needed to gain experience.

“We knew going into the season that our roster was not at the level that it needed to be, but we weren’t ready to do the things necessary to address that,” Kelly said. “We were still a year away in terms of the development of our program. And so for us to go into the transfer portal would have been premature.”

Said Woodward: “We did not do as well as we should have in probably filling the needs that we needed to do from the portal, which other schools did better than we did. I think we clearly saw that and saw that deficiency and made up for it.”

Thomas spent considerable time last year assessing the team to understand skill sets, strengths and weaknesses. Then, in August, LSU’s player personnel staff began rating and calculating the potential value of every player in college football. The staff created a national board of potential targets based on certain metrics, including their background, experience and competition level, in case those players entered the transfer portal.

“A lot of work happens that doesn’t come to fruition,” Thomas said, “but at the end of the day, the ones that do, it was worth it and it paid off.”

At the same time, LSU began to raise money, knowing it needed more. Woodward acknowledged that LSU was behind other top schools. Jared Wilson, the president of Bayou Traditions, said in February that LSU’s collective “did not spend, on the team, what most of the SEC schools really spent” last year. Ole Miss, for example, reportedly invested more than $10 million.

Some high-level donors were still skeptical of NIL and found it hard to believe the numbers circulating around other teams. LSU also does not have a singular booster who supports the fund, which Rutland said “puts a pretty big drain on the donor arrangements in this state,” and the collective had struggled to establish a grassroots pipeline.

“We always had a plan to fundraise and to raise money, and we have good, loyal donors that step up,” Woodward said. “But we just did not have that whale of a donor to come in and say, ‘Hey, carte blanche, go’ like other institutions.”

Bryce Underwood’s impact at LSU

The night of Nov. 21, Carlos Spaht sat in a bank board meeting, listening to a presentation as his phone began to buzz. Spaht, the general counsel and former manager of LSU’s collective, got so many calls and text messages that he thought something had happened to a member of his family.

Underwood, the No. 1 overall recruit in the country, had flipped to Michigan. LSU’s offer would have made Underwood the highest-paid player on the team last year, but he reportedly received a lucrative NIL deal funded by the billionaire co-founder of Oracle, a multinational computer technology company.

“Everybody who has given more than $100,000 over the last three years called me within a 12-minute span is what it felt like,” Spaht said.

From Spaht’s point of view, the effect of Underwood’s decision on LSU donors “cannot be overstated.” He said some contributed to NIL for the first time, and LSU’s collective received several seven-figure donations in December.

“I think we would have been fine, ultimately,” Spaht said, “but that sort of turned on a faucet that was pretty amazing.”

Thomas acknowledged that losing Underwood resonated with donors, but he said it did not change LSU’s approach.

“We had plans long before that,” Thomas said. “That just shed, in my opinion, some light on the situation with the general public and our donors and fan base, you know? We knew leading into the portal season, we were already going to have to be very buttoned up in what we did and how we did it.”







Signing Day Underwood Football

Belleville High School quarterback Bryce Underwood reacts after signing to play NCAA football at Michigan during a news conference in Belleville, Mich., Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)




With about two weeks until the transfer portal opened, Kelly said LSU “had to raise millions of dollars in a very short period of time to be able to influence the roster.” He matched up to $1 million in NIL contributions with a donation to the Tiger Athletic Foundation’s scholarship fund.

Thomas estimated LSU met with 20-25 donors, giving them a presentation that included the monetary valuation system, the importance of NIL and the spending of other programs.

“It was an aha moment for a lot of donors,” Woodward said.

One of them, Rutland, had given smaller amounts to LSU’s NIL fund before and has donated to other projects. He thought about what could happen if LSU fell further behind. Though he doesn’t like the current set-up, he has seen losing eras. He gave a seven-figure donation, fearing how long it would take to return from irrelevancy.

“You just have to make the decision,” Rutland said. “Are you willing to help participate in a system that you don’t agree with, that you think is flawed terribly but keeps you in the mix of a winning program while this all gets sorted out? That was it. I just thought coming back would be way too hard. It may take years and years and years.”

LSU’s ‘unique situation’

As LSU landed transfers, including three senior edge rushers, sophomore defensive end Gabriel Reliford wondered what their arrivals meant for him.

“Dang,” Reliford said, “are they trying to replace me?”

Reliford asked LSU’s coaches, who told him the additions created competition that would make him better.

“They only replace you if you let them,” Reliford said, “so just go out and work and show that you’re the better man.”

When the transfer portal opened, LSU looked for experienced players who could immediately contribute and wanted to compete for a championship. It intentionally did most of its work in the December portal window before landing two more players this spring in USF defensive lineman Bernard Gooden and Houston safety AJ Haulcy, whose commitment Sunday night finished the class.

The Tigers added 18 transfers, the most in one year under Kelly. Seven were ranked in the top 100 transfers, according to 247Sports, which tied for the most in the country with Miami and Texas Tech. The class has a combined 262 career starts, and all but two of them played for another power conference team last season.

“This couldn’t be ‘We’re taking a flier on a guy from Cornell,’ ” Kelly said. “They had to be frontline starters with experience because then what you did last year doesn’t matter. The lumps that you took last year, they don’t help you with the depth that you need in your program.”

As LSU worked on its class, Kelly referred to donors as “shareholders” in the process. He said they were allowed access he had never given in three decades of being a head coach. However, LSU had exceeded its $13 million fundraising goal, some of which was used on the 2024 team. Spaht said the majority of the money came from five to seven donors.

“I’d field calls, ‘Hey, what’s going on? We got a shot? How’s it going?’ ” Kelly said. “That’s the only way you could do it in the manner that we needed to do it. I had never done it that way before, but that’s what we needed to do to get the kind of impact in our program that we needed.”

LSU does not expect to sign this many transfers every year. Although needs can shift, affecting the ideal percentages, Thomas said dipping so heavily into the portal will not be the “norm.” LSU still wants to build through traditional recruiting and retention, and so far, it has the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class in 2026.

“It was a unique situation this year,” Thomas said. “The assessment of where we were and what we could accomplish in bringing this group of players together — both in retention, portal and high school — gave us the best opportunity to win a championship.”

That is the expectation now — or, at least, to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in Kelly’s LSU tenure.

The team has to make all the new players fit together before a difficult opening game at Clemson and a tough conference schedule. But Kelly has expressed confidence in the possibility, calling this the best roster in his four years at LSU.

“Regardless of how we played the game before, we would have needed help,” Kelly said. “Something favorably would have had to happen. We don’t need that. We need to play the game, play the game the right way, be prepared, do the right things in all areas. If we do that, we’ve got a team that can win the SEC.”



Link

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

NIL

The Blackhawks will have to deal with speculation regarding 1st-round pick Mason West

The Blackhawks took a gamble on Mason West in more ways than one. The Hawks traded back into the first round of last month’s draft to take the hulking forward with No. 29 overall pick. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson admitted he wanted to roll the dice on a hunch that West is going to […]

Published

on


The Blackhawks took a gamble on Mason West in more ways than one.

The Hawks traded back into the first round of last month’s draft to take the hulking forward with No. 29 overall pick. Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson admitted he wanted to roll the dice on a hunch that West is going to be a great NHL player.

West has major boom-or-bust potential.

He is massive at 6-foot-6 with good skating ability and excellent vision. He gets that vision from being an elite high school quarterback. The bust ability comes from still being raw, and the speculation he can still choose to play football.

West is a standout prep quarterback at Edina High School in Minnesota. West has said his future is in hockey. That has not dissuaded some college teams.

College football programs are still interested in changing West’s mind.

According to the Athletic’s Blackhawks beat writer Scott Powers, college football programs are still trying to recruit him.

Powers talked with West’s high school coach, Jason Potts, who confirmed that programs are still making inquiries.

West is committed to playing his senior football season. Once the season is over, the plan is for him to go play for the USHL’s Fargo Force, where he will focus on hockey full-time.

He is committed to play at Michigan State next year on a hockey scholarship. You can be sure some Michigan State fans will be calling for him to join the team the moment a major injury at quarterback or defeat hapens.

The Hawks will just have to deal with that speculation.

Potts did say West has not thrown for any major programs and seems committed to playing hockey once the football season ends.

West even talked with controversial Super Bowl-winning head coach Jon Gruden on his Barstool show about his commitment to hockey over football.

The Blackhawks are reportedly fine with him playing one more year of high school football. The chances of him getting severely injured are just as good in the USHL as they are on a Minnesota high school football field.

Both are contact sports.

It is good that the Hawks are not sweating a potential injury.

What they will need to sweat out is the draw of college football and the NIL money that comes along with being a college quarterback. College QBs are getting millions. He could potentially make more playing one season of college football than he can on his NHL entry-level contract.

He can still draw NIL dollars playing college hockey. Also, he is already an NHL first-round pick with a chance to have a pro career. An NFL future is a huge unknown, so it makes sense for him to take the better odds of being a professional hockey player.

That still does not mean the draw of playing college football will go away. It will probably not go away until West signs his entry-level deal.





Link

Continue Reading

NIL

Nico Iamaleava hopes Vols fans ‘understand’ why he left Knoxville

LAS VEGAS — College football’s future wore a baby blue suit, a gold pin that read “UCLA” and a pair of diamond-encrusted hoop earrings. He glided toward the microphone, sat down, then prepared for the grilling about how much money he makes, why he left the University of Tennessee, who betrayed who when he departed […]

Published

on


LAS VEGAS — College football’s future wore a baby blue suit, a gold pin that read “UCLA” and a pair of diamond-encrusted hoop earrings.

He glided toward the microphone, sat down, then prepared for the grilling about how much money he makes, why he left the University of Tennessee, who betrayed who when he departed Knoxville, and what it all means for the college football world that his story now defines.

Bottom line: If quarterback Nico Iamaleava handles this season as well as he did his half-hour Q&A on Thursday as the Big Ten Conference’s media days event wrapped up, chances are, UCLA will be good — maybe even very good — in 2025.

“I think it’s just: Keep my head down and be humble,” the 20-year-old California native said. “And try not to let the outside noise affect you.”

If he succeeds at that, he will have more discipline than a great majority of fans, experts and journalists who have filled the internet and airwaves with timelines and tick-tock analysis of a decision that shook college football and seemed to say everything about the burgeoning power that players wield in a world of name, image and likeness deals and a rapidly rotating NCAA transfer portal.

The thumbnail of the story is that Iamaleava was a successful quarterback who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season, then abruptly picked up stakes to head much closer to home and play for UCLA.

Money seemed to be the most obvious motive. Reports circulated that he was looking for a raise — maybe a doubling to nearly $4 million a year — to remain with the Volunteers for his redshirt sophomore season this fall. Then in mid-April, he missed Tennessee’s final spring practice the day before its Orange & White intrasquad scrimmage. Just as abruptly, he was gone.

Tennessee coach Josh Heupel handled it diplomatically.

“Today’s landscape of college football is different than it has been,” he said at the time. “It’s unfortunate — the situation and where we’re at with Nico.”

Before he’d even enrolled at Tennessee, Iamaleava was causing his share of turmoil. It was his NIL deal with the Vols that triggered an NCAA investigation and a lawsuit by the attorneys general of Tennessee and Virginia in January 2024.

The NCAA settled that lawsuit, and though there aren’t as many questions about who makes the payments to the players (the colleges can do it themselves now as result of another lawsuit settlement), recriminations that flowed when Iamaleava enrolled at Tennessee kept flowing after he made his move to UCLA.

Asked about what triggered his move and exactly when it happened, Iamaleava said it came around the time “false stuff about whether it was a financial thing or not” started coming out that made him “not feel comfortable in the position I was in.”

Then, in a revelation that not everyone appears quite ready to accept, he said moving closer to where he grew up — in Long Beach, about 30 miles from the UCLA campus — was the biggest piece of the puzzle. He was soon after joined by younger brother Madden, a 6-foot-3, 195-pound freshman quarterback who went through spring practices at Arkansas this year before transferring to UCLA.

“My driving factor to come back home was my family, and I hope every Tennessee fan understands that,” Iamaleava said. “It was really one of the hardest decisions I’ve ever had to make.”

He will not delve into finances, though most of the reporting has shown that Iamaleava will make about as much, or just barely more, with the Bruins than he was making at Tennessee.

“All that stuff is for my business team and my agents to handle,” he said. “I just focus on football.”

Among the other questions consuming college football, and that Iamaleava’s saga reflects as well as anyone’s, is how a player who makes more money and generates more hype than anyone else in the locker room can possibly fit on a team that is still, at its core, filled with teenagers whose football lives will end in college.

UCLA’s second-year head coach, DeShaun Foster, said he scouted that part when the prospect of Iamaleava coming to Westwood became real.

“He’s a team guy and a family guy,” Foster said. “It just felt good that we were getting the right kind of quarterback.”

From a pure talent standpoint, hardly anyone argues that. Iamaleava was considered one of the country’s top prospects coming out of high school. The 6-6, 215-pounder threw for 2,616 yards and 19 touchdown last season, his first as Tennessee’s full-time starter, while leading the Vols to a 10-3 record overall, a 6-3 mark in the powerful Southeastern Conference, and the first 12-team edition of the College Football Playoff. Tennessee lost in the opening round, 42-17, at eventual national champion Ohio State.

As one of the theories about his departure goes, though, he and his family were less than thrilled about Tennessee’s ability to protect him. The Buckeyes sacked him four times, which meant Iamaleava finished the season having been sacked 28 times.

None other than ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit — a former Ohio State quarterback — dove into the mix when he said he’d heard Iamaleava’s dad had gone to Heupel in December and said, “Like, hey, listen, you’ve got to get better at offensive line, better at receiver.”

Speaking not so much about that specific story but to the realities of football, Foster said he knows keeping things clean in the pocket for Iamaleava will be key to his success.

“If he stays upright, things are going to go the right way,” said Foster, a former NFL running back who led the Bruins to a 5-7 overall record (3-6 in Big Ten play) last season in his debut campaign as his alma mater’s head coach.

And if things do “go the right way,” there’s at least a chance Iamaleava could be a one-and-done player at UCLA. He is widely thought to have NFL talent if he improves his mechanics and accuracy — two areas that will be helped by better protection — and might need only this season before declaring for the draft.

During his news conference at Big Ten media days, the quarterback brushed aside questions about pro football.

He also said he pays no mind to the billion-dollar questions swirling around the college game every day — most of them revolving around student-athlete compensation, freedom to transfer and other issues that have turned UCLA’s quarterback into a villian in some places, a hero in others, and a player to watch everywhere.

“I love college football,” Iamaleava said. “Everything that goes on with my name, that’s not going to change my love for the game. Obviously, everyone has to move on. I’m excited about what’s next for me. But I’m where my feet (are), and right now, I’m a UCLA football player and I’m excited to go to camp.”



Link

Continue Reading

NIL

Can USC Trojans Make NCAA Tournament Without Alijah Arenas? Analyst Weighs In

The USC Trojans suffered a devastating blow earlier this week with the news that freshman guard Alijah Arenas had suffered a torn meniscus in his knee. This injury puts his entire 2025-2026 season at risk. Who will Coach Eric Musselman and the Trojans turn to in his absence?  Mar 8, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; […]

Published

on

Can USC Trojans Make NCAA Tournament Without Alijah Arenas? Analyst Weighs In

The USC Trojans suffered a devastating blow earlier this week with the news that freshman guard Alijah Arenas had suffered a torn meniscus in his knee. This injury puts his entire 2025-2026 season at risk. Who will Coach Eric Musselman and the Trojans turn to in his absence? 

USC Trojans Eric Musselman NCAA Tournament Alijah Arenas Knee Injury Big Ten Jon Rothstein

Mar 8, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Eric Musselman reacts in the second half against the UCLA Bruins at Pauley Pavilion presented by Wescom. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

College basketball analyst Jon Rothstein attended a USC Trojans practice earlier this week. Rothstein addressed the Arenas injury, but said that Eric Musselman still has the piece to get the Trojans to the NCAA tournament. USC has not made an NCAA Tournament since the 2023 season and will look to put a stop to that this season.

“The Trojans may not have a traditional point guard at the point of attack this season after highly touted freshman Alijah Arenas is out (6-8 months) with a knee injury,” Rothstein said. “but Eric Musselman still has enough to get USC to the NCAA Tournament in 2026.” 

Musselman is coming off very successful runs at both Nevada and Arkansas prior to taking the USC job last season. Musselman led Nevada to a Sweet 16 in 2018 and Arkansas to the Elite Eight in both 2021 and 2022. Rothstein sees similarities in this USC team compared to Musselman’s teams at those schools.

“Similar makeup to his teams at both Nevada and Arkansas, USC possesses really good positional size,” Rothstein said.

USC was aggressive in the transfer portal, landing a handful of power conference transfers with Terrance Williams, Rodney Rice, Chad Baker-Mazara, and Ezra Ausar. Rothstein notes that USC’s size should make them a threat next season in the Big Ten.

“(USC) should have a formidable perimeter once Michigan transfer Terrance Williams comes back to the lineup,” Rothstein said. “With Williams, Maryland transfer Rodney Rice, Auburn transfer Chad Baker-Mazara, and Utah transfer Ezra Ausar, the Trojans should have the positional size to be a factor in the Big Ten and compete for a NCAA tournament berth in year two under Musselman. “

MORE: USC Trojans’ Lincoln Riley Expanding Recruiting Efforts With Elite Safety

MORE: Paul Finebaum Goes After USC Trojans’ Lincoln Riley Again Before Big Ten Media Days

MORE: USC Trojans Receive ‘Surprising’ Ranking Before First AP Top-25 Poll

MORE: Chicago Bears’ Caleb Williams Reveals Lofty Goals Under Coach Ben Johnson

USC Trojans Eric Musselman NCAA Tournament Alijah Arenas Knee Injury Big Ten Jon Rothstein

Apr 1, 2025; Brooklyn, NY, USA; McDonald’s All American West guard Alijah Arenas (16) dribbles the ball during the first half of the game McDonald’s All American East at Barclays Center. Mandatory Credit: Pamela Smith-Imagn Images / Pamela Smith-Imagn Images

Alijah Arenas was USC’s highest graded recruit in the class of 2025. The five-star guard was ranked as the No. 7 overall player in his class according to 247Sports. Arenas is estimated to be out from 6-8 months. Depending on how USC is faring and his recovery progress, this could be for the whole season.

“I probably feel closer to him (Alijah Arenas) than anybody that I’ve coached in a two-month span since he’s been on campus,” Musselman said to the Los Angeles Times about Arenas.

Unfortunely, it might not be until 2025-2026 until Musselman gets an opportunity to coach Arenas. Musselman once coached Alijah’s dad, former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas, with the Golden State Warriors back in the early 2000’s.

Continue Reading

NIL

FAU LHP Trey Beard commits to Florida State from NCAA Transfer Portal

FAU LHP Trey Beard spent a week available in the NCAA Transfer Portal. Now, his recruitment over with his decision, to stay in-state at that, being made. Beard has committed to Florida State from out of the NCAA Transfer Portal. He made that announcement with a video posted on social media on Friday morning. “K […]

Published

on

FAU LHP Trey Beard commits to Florida State from NCAA Transfer Portal

FAU LHP Trey Beard spent a week available in the NCAA Transfer Portal. Now, his recruitment over with his decision, to stay in-state at that, being made.

Beard has committed to Florida State from out of the NCAA Transfer Portal. He made that announcement with a video posted on social media on Friday morning.

“K Time,” Beard captioned the post.

Beard entered his name into the portal earlier this month on June 5th. He did so with a do-not-contact tag per On3’s Pete Nakos. Now, after having momentum in this recruitment per sources speaking to Nakos on Tuesday, FSU has earned the commitment of Beard.

Beard spent a pair of underclassman seasons at Florida Atlantic. He appeared in 32 games, 30 being starts with a record of 11-5, while in Boca Raton. He’d, in that career, post an ERA of 4.16 with 186 strikeouts across a total of 151.1 innings pitched. That includes an even better season this past year as a sophomore, posting an ERA of 3.14 with 118 strikeouts, both being among the best this year in college baseball, over 86 innings pitched in being a selection to the All-AAC First Team.

Beard is now an in-state addition to the roster. That’s with him being a native of Dunedin, Florida down around Tampa.

This report will be updated further

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

The post FAU LHP Trey Beard commits to Florida State from NCAA Transfer Portal appeared first on On3.

Continue Reading

NIL

NIL promises made to recruits, now coaches wait for key decision to learn whether they can keep them

In anticipating the future, some schools have disbanded their collectives while others, such as Ohio State, have brought them in-house. It is all a bit of a gamble. If the agreement that comes out of these negotiations doesn’t restrict collectives, they could be viewed as an easy way to get around the salary cap. Either […]

Published

on


In anticipating the future, some schools have disbanded their collectives while others, such as Ohio State, have brought them in-house. It is all a bit of a gamble. If the agreement that comes out of these negotiations doesn’t restrict collectives, they could be viewed as an easy way to get around the salary cap. Either way, schools eyeing ways for players to earn money outside the cap amid reports that big programs have football rosters worth more than $30 million in terms of overall player payments.



Link

Continue Reading

NIL

College Football Analyst Blasts QB Nico Iamaleava’s ‘Family Reasons’ for Leaving Tennessee

The biggest quarterback controversy in college football isn’t happening on the field. Nico Iamaleava’s sudden departure from Tennessee to UCLA has college football insiders questioning everything they thought they knew about player loyalty and NIL deals. At Big Ten Media Days, the former Vols star faced the rumors head-on, but his answers only deepened the […]

Published

on


The biggest quarterback controversy in college football isn’t happening on the field. Nico Iamaleava’s sudden departure from Tennessee to UCLA has college football insiders questioning everything they thought they knew about player loyalty and NIL deals. At Big Ten Media Days, the former Vols star faced the rumors head-on, but his answers only deepened the mystery surrounding one of the most scrutinized transfers in recent memory.

PFSN College Football Playoff Predictor
Dive into Try out PFSN’s FREE college football playoff predictor, where you can simulate every 2025-26 NFL season game and see who wins the National Championship!

Why Did Nico Iamaleava’s Family-First Explanation Fall on Deaf Ears?

Iamaleava’s decision to transfer from Tennessee to UCLA continues to generate widespread skepticism among college football analysts, despite his public insistence that the move had nothing to do with money.

The former 5-star quarterback recruit, who led Tennessee to a College Football Playoff appearance in 2024, addressed the mounting controversy during Big Ten Media Days in July 2025. His explanation centered on family ties rather than financial incentives.

“My decision to leave was extremely hard. You know, one of the hardest decisions that I ever had to make,” Iamaleava told reporters. “Family was the biggest thing for me.”

The California native dismissed speculation about NIL disputes driving his transfer, emphasizing his desire to return home. “A lot of things about financial stuff, it was never that. It was me getting back home, close to my family, and playing at the highest level with my family support.”

However, college football analysts aren’t buying his explanation. RJ Young, host of the show “Adapt and Respond,” openly questioned Iamaleava’s narrative during a recent segment.

“Reportedly, he did not report to camp or show… if he did not get a raise,” Young said. “So, he held out. He didn’t show up to practice, and he didn’t show up to the spring game.”

Young’s theory suggests Iamaleava believed Tennessee would cave to his financial demands, only to discover the program’s unwillingness to negotiate under pressure.

“They told him he could kick rocks. Go enter the transfer portal. That’s what you want to do. You’re not going to hold us hostage,” he said, noting how many in the college football world applauded Tennessee’s firm stance.

What Makes Iamaleava’s UCLA Move So Hard to Believe?

The skepticism intensified when Iamaleava doubled down on his family-focused reasoning during media availability. “Not at all. My family was strictly the main importance for me. I let my business team, my parents handle that side of the NIL. Just being closer to family was the most important thing.”

For Young, the timeline doesn’t support Iamaleava’s explanation.

“So why’d you commit to Tennessee? So why’d you sign with Tennessee? Why’d you play two years there?” he asked. “It’s hard for me to take that quote and make it feel like it is trustworthy.”

Multiple reports backed up the financial angle behind the transfer. Sources from On3’s Pete Nakos and the Knoxville News Sentinel’s Adam Sparks indicated that NIL concerns played a significant role, with Iamaleava’s absence from team activities coinciding with financial negotiations.

Young remained unconvinced by the quarterback’s public statements.

“It’s hard to believe. Now, if he turns UCLA into a world-beater, the segment might feel bad. But even if he does, Tennessee is probably gonna feel about Nico the way they feel about Lane Kiffin.”

The comparison to Lane Kiffin suggests lasting resentment among Tennessee fans, who watched their former coach leave for USC after just one season in Knoxville.

Meanwhile, Iamaleava acknowledged that the ongoing speculation created an uncomfortable environment during his final months with the Volunteers. The constant rumors about NIL negotiations and his commitment to the program cast a shadow over what should have been preparation for another championship run.

Despite his efforts to control the narrative, analysts and fans continue questioning the true motivations behind one of college football’s most controversial transfers. Whether Iamaleava’s tenure at UCLA vindicates his decision or proves his critics right remains to be seen.





Link

Continue Reading

Most Viewed Posts

Trending