Deion Sanders revealed he was cured of bladder cancer Monday and the Colorado coach can make a little light of the situation at this point. He even joked about a Google search when he looked up his symptoms and what could happen.

Basically, Sanders won’t exactly Google a health issue again, especially one of this magnitude. Coach Prime was very thankful to his doctors and supporters and pleaded for others to get checkups. Heck, he even made a will because he thought this could be it.

Safe to say, the Google search could’ve accelerated those fears. Although, Sanders did joke about it a bit, just to remove any tension during his press conference.

“Well, the initial thing you do is what we all do. We Google, and that’s the wrong thing to do, because they tell you, ‘you gon’ die dawg,’” Sanders said, talking next to Dr. Janet Kukreja. “I mean, like they pretty much say that when you Google it and you don’t want to see that mess, whoever doing Google, you may want to change it up, because that ain’t the thing to look at when you’re going through what I went through. Like, ‘you got about 30 days, man,’ like, that’s the way it seems like it’s talking to you, and you don’t want that. 

“And, you know you gotta, that’s why you gotta rely on your faith. You gotta rely on your faith and these wonderful people that’s telling you the truth. Like dog, shoot it straight. You know, when they start turning their head to the side, it’s getting ready to come. You know, it’s real. But she never falsified anything. She told me what was 100 and never said, ‘Well, you should do this. You should do that.’ She just explained everything to me so that I can make the decision that I felt like I needed to make for me and my family.”

Sanders acknowledged that “God is good” over and over and was truly thankful for all those around him. After this harrowing ordeal, he’s certainly ready to fully get back to football.

Sanders is getting ready for his third season at Colorado after leading the Buffs’ impressive turnaround in 2024. The program went 8-5 one year after a 4-8 record, making it to the Alamo Bowl. However, star players Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter are off to the NFL, meaning CU will have a new-look roster in 2025.

Coach Prime pointed out the impact of losing its quarterback and Heisman Trophy-winning two-way threat. That said, he thinks the rest of the group has a chance to be even better this season.

“They were great players. We have a better team,” Sanders said during an appearance on ESPN at Big 12 Media Days. “There’s a difference between great players and a great team. We have a better team, but we can never replace those type of players.”

Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt ranked the Top 10 players in college football ahead of the 2025 college football season. Some programs even have multiple players on this list!

Skill guys, linemen, you name it! Klatt scoured across college football to find the 10 best players across the sport going into the fall.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the best players in college football. We start in the Big Ten!

Smith broke out as a freshman and even before he stepped on a college football field, people knew he was special. He helped Ohio State capture last year’s national championship and look to add at least one more before he heads to the 2027 NFL Draft.

Last year, Smith reeled in 76 catches for 1,315 yards, 15 touchdowns and 17.3 yards per catch. He’ll be in Heisman discussions this season.

The second best player in college football is Smith’s teammate, Caleb Downs. Downs transferred in from Alabama last season after a standout freshman year in 2023.

Klatt already pegged him as the best defensive back in the game with his coverage skills and tackling ability. He was NFL-ready last year, but could be a top 10 pick by the time spring rolls around.

Klubnik had the best year of his college football career in 2024. Klatt has him No. 3 overall and the top QB in the nation.

It took him a few years, but the Clemson signal caller really slinged it last season, helping the Tigers win the ACC and get to the CFP. He threw 36 touchdowns, just six picks and had nearly 3,700 yards.

Manning is already in the top five college football players per Klatt. He had limited action in terms of starting under center, but he has the tools.

It’s just about Manning proving it over the course of a full season with a team that has national title expectations. If he does just that, he might skyrocket to the top spot and maybe actually go to the 2026 NFL Draft, rather than play another year at Texas.

If Smith is the best wide receiver in college football then Williams is a close second. Also only a sophomore, Williams’ breakout came against Georgia last season.

So not only did people obsess over his skill, they did the same with his age considering he was playing college football at 17. Insane. Anyway, Williams finished his freshman year with 48 catches, 865 yards, eight touchdowns and 18 yards per catch.

The best running back in college football comes from Notre Dame. Love helped the Fighting Irish get to the College Football Playoff national championship last season and will certainly be in the Heisman conversation this fall.

As a sophomore, Love got more than double the work as a freshman. He had 163 carries for 1,125 yards, 17 touchdowns and 6.9 yards per catch.

Hill Jr. is a menace on defense and could be key to the Longhorns winning a national title this year. Going into Year 3, he’s poised for a career year.

One of the best, if not the best, linebacker in college football, Hill really stood out through 16 games last season. He had 113 tackles, 17 tackles for loss, eight sacks, an interception, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one pass deflection.

Parker is the second of three Clemson players on Klatt’s top 10 college football players. The EDGE rusher might have a banner year with a teammate who we’ll get to in a second. 

Parker was a menace in the backfield last season, logging 20 tackles for loss. He had 57 total tackles and 11 sacks to go along with six forced fumbles as well.

Proctor was dubbed the best offensive lineman in college football per Klatt. The Alabama offensive tackle will be key to the Crimson Tide offense.

Ty Simpson is the projected starting QB and Proctor will have to showcase his freakish abilities to protect him. That could turn him into a high first round pick this spring!

We already broke down Parker on the Clemson defensive line, so here’s another stud defender in college football. Woods will plug up the middle of the line to stuff the run and be able to rush the passer.

Last season, Woods logged 28 total tackles, but nine tackles for loss and three sacks. Expect some gaudier numbers this coming season.

WISCONSIN (Civic Media) – As the calendar turns to August, it marks the start of a new school year, and in turn, new high school sports seasons for 2025-26.

In Wisconsin, the first high school sports action is the beginning of football practices on Aug. 5. The rest of the WIAA-sponsored fall sports get underway by mid-August, with competition beginning as early as Aug. 14 (girls golf).

With the new school year, there are plenty of changes to sports on tap for the 2025-26 season. Here are a few of the most notable impacts to high school sports as a whole in Wisconsin, as well as individual sport changes.

Name, Image, and Likeness

Perhaps the biggest change to high school sports in Wisconsin — and one of the most misunderstood changes — is the introduction of name, image, and likeness policy to the WIAA.

NIL, which was one of four constitutional amendments approved by school administrators around the state at April’s WIAA Annual Meeting, comes as nearly every state has passed some regulation about amateur eligibility and NIL in the past few years, with Wisconsin being one of the last handful to approve an NIL rule.

High school NIL opportunities in Wisconsin are much different than what is available to NCAA college athletes, and also different than what is available in other states.

The new NIL rules note several ways in which deals must be executed in order to preserve amateur eligibility. NIL appearances can’t involve any school, conference, or WIAA mentions, uniforms, or logos. That’s one key difference from NCAA rules.

Another difference is that high school students can’t endorse products that are age-inappropriate, such as tobacco, alcohol, gambling, firearms, or adult entertainment, to name a few.

High school students also can’t have an agent or other professional representation to make NIL deals, and anyone associated with a school program can’t act as a facilitator for deals. That’s a big departure from the NCAA rules that allow for agent representation.

One area where the WIAA rule and the NCAA rule are in agreement on: So-called “pay for play” practices are illegal. That means student-athletes can’t enter into NIL deals that reward athletic performance, influence a student to transfer or remain in a particular school, or are otherwise contingent on player or team achievements.

Other restrictions on high school student-athletes include hosting and running their own camps or clinics, school-based activities for NIL-related activities, or missing class to participate in an NIL-related activity.

The WIAA’s constitutional amendment change also doesn’t forbid individual schools from adding additional requirements for NIL.

One major component of the new rule is the clause that people associated with the school can’t contribute to NIL deals. The list is long, but it includes parents of other student-athletes, coaches, school staff, volunteers, or anyone that takes part in any activity at the student’s school.

A more cumbersome list of people considered associated with the school includes former coaches or staff members during the student’s tenure in the district, any person, business, or organization that has contributed financially or materially to a school, or booster clubs. Wisconsin’s rule on personal association with a school is considered to be much more restrictive than what other states have in place for NIL.

WIAA membership easily passed the rule at April’s meeting. The same amendment was considered in 2024, where it failed 170 to 219. It easily passed 293 to 108 in 2025.

New sportsmanship rule

Before this spring’s rule change, anyone ejected from a game had to miss one additional home game, a rule the WIAA member schools adopted in 2021.

Now, ejected spectators have an additional requirement to satisfy before being allowed to return to attending events. WIAA membership easily approved the measure at the 2025 WIAA Annual Meeting by a 335 to 67 margin.

The new rule, which passed each stage unanimously before being approved by administrators statewide, requires anyone tossed from a game or meet to take a free online course from the NFHS on sportsmanship. Spectators ejected from a contest would still have to miss one additional home event, even if they take and pass the course before the next event.

Fan behavior has been an important topic, especially in the age of declining participation by students, officials, and coaches, who all cite unruly behavior as one of the drawbacks towards taking part in high school athletics. In 2019, a bill was introduced to make harassing sports officials a crime. the bill was brought back in 2021.

Expanded summer coaching contact

One change has already happened and was in place for this past summer. For the first time, expanded coaching contact was allowed, meaning that instead of only five summer coaching contact days, coaches could now work with student-athletes for all of June and part of July without the five-day restriction.

The rule allows for unrestricted coaching contact days during the summer except July 1 to July 7 for the Independence Day holiday, as well as the seven days leading up to the first day of football practice, known colloquially as the “dead week.” Football is further restricted in not allowing fully-padded summer practices. Student-athletes are restricted to helmets and shoulder pads only after heat acclimation.

In neighboring states, Illinois schools voted to trim summer coaching contact days from 25 to 20. Minnesota allows varying levels of coaching contact days during the summer, but football is limited to 11 practices, four of which can be full contact. Iowa already allows unrestricted summer contact.

Per NFHS rules, all summer coaching contact can’t be mandatory – student-athletes can choose whether to participate.

Football playoff qualification overhauled

Football is the most-participated-in sport in Wisconsin by student-athletes, and this year will be historic in that there are major changes to the postseason qualification structure for the sport.

A proposal by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association to change playoff qualification to a transparent wins-based metric was approved by a 10-1 vote. The approved proposal means that high school football playoff qualification will change from winning over 50% of conference games to a win-based formula against all opponents.

It also means that seeding and regional grouping in the postseason will be done by the metric, as opposed to the current computer algorithm that is unknown to coaches. The lack of transparency frustrated coaches after some questionable seeding in recent playoff fields. The measure to change how regional groupings are done passed with an 8-3 vote.

A third major decision expanded the field for 8-player football playoffs to 32 teams. The change also moves the season start date to line up with 11-player football. 8-player football will still play eight regular-season games, with five weeks of playoffs culminating in a championship game played in Wisconsin Rapids. The change was approved unanimously.

READ MORE: WIAA approves high school football playoff changes beginning with 2025 season

READ MORE: Proposal to overhaul prep football playoff system receives overwhelming support from coaches

READ MORE: Wisconsin coaches, officials address challenges in playoff qualifying system for high school football

WATCH/LISTEN: Jesse Norris explains the details of the WFCA’s proposal on The Dom Salvia Show

WATCH/LISTEN: Brian Kaminski reveals that the WFCA’s survey shows overwhelming support from coaches and explains what is next for the proposal on The Maggie Daun Show

Changes for other fall sports

Some of the other changes for this year include seven new rules for tennis, with the majority of those changes for seeding at subsectionals. The rules for tennis were also changed to include a minimum match requirement, banning smart watches or electronic communication devices from play, and adjusting the tournament schedule to account for Memorial Day.

Volleyball will see two changes affecting the state tournament. One change is increasing the number of students in uniform from 15 to 18. The other is criteria for who is the home team at neutral sites.

In golf, practicing at a regional tournament site during the regular season on non-school days is now allowed. Finally, in cross country, language was changed to match track and field rules for permitted headgear.

A rule to exclude cross country from the Tournament Performance Factor failed at the WIAA Annual Meeting.

Postseason changes coming for wrestling, basketball

Winter sports also will see some significant changes, while basketball’s hottest topics failed to advance for a vote.

In wrestling, the state tournament series is being completely redone. The individual regional tournament is now gone, replaced by an expanded team sectional on the calendar. The expanded sectionals are part of the biggest changes for the sport. Updates to the girls wrestling tournament were also made as part of the change in tournament structures.

For basketball, some of the bigger changes proposed were voted down before they could be considered by the WIAA Board of Control. That includes implementing a shot clock, which has been done by most states, as well as expanding the state tournament.

The changes that did get approved for basketball address the electronic seeding process in efforts to make it more transparent, flexibility with tournament scheduling on weekends, and the ability to switch home and away uniforms with mutual consent up to three times per season.

Transgender participation

Following changes to federal law in February, the WIAA updated its policy and now bans transgender student-athletes from competing in girls sports.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order banning anyone assigned male at birth from competing in girls or women’s sports. The federal directive essentially reverted Title IX requirements to what they were during the first Trump administration, last updated in 2020, doing away with changes made by former President Joe Biden.

The NCAA made a similar decision in updating its transgender student-athlete policy following federal guidance.

The start of a new sports calendar year

High school sports begin officially on Aug. 5, when football programs can hold their first practices.

Golf, tennis, and swimming and diving can begin practices the following week, while cross country, volleyball, and soccer are the final fall sports to get underway on Aug. 18.

The first high school sports competitions can be held on Aug. 14 with girls golf, followed by girls tennis on Aug. 16. Swimming and diving can begin their meets on Aug. 20, and the earliest date for high school football is Aug. 21. All remaining sports can begin competing on Aug. 26.

Fall sports typically run through October or November, culminating with the high school football state finals the week before thanksgiving. Winter sports practices begin in late October or November and last until February or March. Spring sports get underway in late February or March and run well into June.

You can view specific start dates and tournament series dates on the WIAA website.