NIL

Insider Hard Checks Talk of Mizzou Offering JJ Andrews The Biggest NIL Bag

photo credit: Craven Whitlow / Nick Wenger When you get down to it, the decision of JJ Andrews is a Rorschach test. Except, in this case, there almost certainly will only be two reactions. If the blue-chip talent out of Little Rock Christian dons a cardinal red cap on Thursday at 4 p.m. during his […]

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1 month ago

May 15, 2025

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Dennis Gates, JJ Andrews, Arkansas basketball, Missouri basketball, Arkansas vs Missouri — photo credit: Craven Whitlow / Nick Wenger

When you get down to it, the decision of JJ Andrews is a Rorschach test.

Except, in this case, there almost certainly will only be two reactions. If the blue-chip talent out of Little Rock Christian dons a cardinal red cap on Thursday at 4 p.m. during his commitment announcement, the Arkansas basketball faithful will see his decision as a vindication for loyalty to one’s native land and further evidence that John Calipari is the greatest recruiter the game has ever seen.

If the junior instead chooses to go with Missouri, then Lord have mercy. It would be like the Malik Monk racket all over again. Instead, this time, the legacy recruit’s Razorback football star relative would be a father and not an older brother.

The amount of angst generated by JJ Andrews going to Mizzou would be like the very bowels of hell opening up across the land, with the Razorback faithful dropping to their knees, hands and eyes heavenward, their lips quivering. “Oh why? How could this happen?”

JJ Andrews and Missouri

The first answer is easy enough: relationships.

Andrews plays for the Bradly Beal Elite AAU program based out of St. Louis. It’s produced both future Razorbacks (Moses Moody, Nick Smith Jr.) and future Tigers (Jeremiah Tilmon) over the years, and naturally Andrews would have made connections in the state of Missouri basketball circles over the last couple years. Plus, he already knows fellow Little Rock native Annor Boateng, the former LR Central star who just finished his first season in Columbia rotting away on the bench.

“He’s really enjoyed the process of them developing his game and learning different ways to just become a better overall person, not only a player,” Andrews told Mizzou Today’s Drew King after his official visit in September.

On that same trip, he enthused about Mizzou basketball coach Dennis Gates and the staff: “I got the feeling of family there … (Gates is) definitely a person who views family over basketball. From what I’ve heard from the players, he’ll check on you, make sure you’re good.”

Historically, relationships and proximity have probably ranked the top reasons for recruits choosing one specific program over another. While Arkansas basketball fans wouldn’t like it, they could at least swallow such an old-fashioned cause of defeat. It’s understandable enough, especially since Malik Monk already ripped off the bandaid 10 years ago by jilting Arkansas for Kentucky because, in part, he simply wanted to ball out with his buddy De’Aaron Fox.

The second biggest motive for elite recruits is one that didn’t enter the equation with Malik Monk: heaps and heaps of over-the-table money.

In the 2024-25 season, incoming freshmen ranked in the top 30 nationally like Andrews would often command in the upper six digits in NIL compensation, according to various sources.

But going into the 2025-26 season, those amounts have surged upward, fueled by a veritable shopping spree on the part of deep-pocketed donors looking to spend their budgets before the pending revenue sharing likely curtails the degree to which NIL money will factor into future recruits’ decisions.

Even though Andrews still has another year of high school left, state law permits him to enter NIL deals so long as he’s accepted into an Arkansas university or college.

In other words, the 17-year-old Andrews chose the right time to be born. He projects to make much more than On3’s valuation here:

No question, he’s fielded nice NIL offers from Arkansas and Mizzou. Insiders, however, appear torn on which side is likely offering more.

Pig Trail Nation’s Kevin McPherson, for instance, got a tip that indicates Mizzou is the clear leader here.

On his Tuesday HogvilleNET live show, he said somebody with ties to the Bradley Beal Elite program told him that Mizzou had made a recent NIL offer that is the highest Andrews has received. “I wasn’t given specifics other than their lead in that and that the [Mizzou] coaching staff over there feels good that he’s going to be a Missouri tiger,” McPherson added. (247Sports’ Eric Bossi recently also forecasted Andrews to Missouri.)

Arkansas basketball insider Bart Reid, meanwhile, has heard all the trending Andrews-to-Missouri talk, but doesn’t think recent developments are enough to push Arkansas off its perch as the favorite in this recruitment.

His perspective comes from years as a skills development coach in the state, working with the likes of Jaylin Williams, Layden Blocker, Terrion Burgess and Boateng.

Arkansas Basketball Insider Knows Specific NIL Details

“I know what Annor was being paid and I know what Missouri was paying some of their other recruits coming in. I was a little bit involved in that process,” Reid told “Drivetime Sports” co-host Randy Rainwater on Wednesday.

“I also know what the Razorbacks have paid [recruits],” he added on the Buzz 103.7 FM show. “The disparity between what I think Arkansas would be willing to pay JJ versus what Mizzou is currently paying their top guys coming in, it wouldn’t be on the same threshold. I’m not saying [Mizzou] wouldn’t match that, but I’m saying in dollars and cents, there’s a gap Mizzou would have to make up for.”

This certainly goes against the grain of thinking on Andrews’ situation. “Arkansas has had the inside track on JJ,” Reid continued. “If they did something to lose it, I am not seeing it. I still think it’s Arkansas’s race to lose.”

Don’t relax too much, though, Arkansas fans. Later he added: “But Mizzou could come in tonight and offer a staggering amount of money.”

The Arkansas basketball program, for sure, has a larger warchest than that of Mizzou. In CBS’ reporting last month, Matt Norlander listed Arkansas as one of eight programs with a $10+ million NIL budget and didn’t even bring up Mizzou in the tier below that.

But in Fayetteville, the pie also gets sliced in a different way. The Hogs bring on board more four- and five-star recruits each year than most other programs, including Mizzou. That may mean it can’t pay one individual four-star who ranks as the program’s third-highest ranked recruit as much as a program where that guy is the top-ranked recruit.

No matter what happens, fair or not, you can be sure JJ Andrews’ college choice will be seen through the lens of loyalty vs lucre.

***

UPDATE:

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NIL

Auburn basketball adds Matt Gatens as general manager

Auburn brings back a familiar name in Matt Gatens as general manager for basketball On Friday, Auburn announced a new addition to the men’s basketball team with Matt Gatens returning to be the general manager. Gatens is leaving the Iowa Hawkeyes where he was an assistant coach the last three seasons. He was a graduate […]

Published

26 minutes ago

June 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Auburn brings back a familiar name in Matt Gatens as general manager for basketball

On Friday, Auburn announced a new addition to the men’s basketball team with Matt Gatens returning to be the general manager. Gatens is leaving the Iowa Hawkeyes where he was an assistant coach the last three seasons. He was a graduate assistant for the Tigers from 2016-18 before becoming an assistant coach at Drake from 2019-22. Per the official press release, Gatens will handle roster management and evaluation, agent and donor relations, scouting, recruiting, and game planning.

In the ever-changing landscape of college athletics with NIL teams are adding a general manager to their coaching staffs. Head coach Bruce Pearl knew the importance of having someone in that role. Pearl was quoted in the release saying, “It was important for me to have someone who had strong experience and understanding the challenges of Name, Image and Likeness”. He also added, “I also wanted someone who could help us not only be the best we can be in NIL, but also with managing player and roster development.”

Gatens was part of the Tigers program the year before the 2019 Final Four run. Two key players he coached from that team were Bryce Brown and Jared Harper. He will be a key part of finding more players of that quality for the Tigers.

He played his college career for Iowa from 2019-22 where he was a two-time All-Big Ten player. During his career as the Hawkeyes point guard, Gatens averaged 12.8 points per game and shot 37% from the three-point line. After his college career was over he spent time playing professionally in Europe and the NBA G-League. Gatens will transition to his new role smoothly with his experience coaching for Pearl and the Tigers.

Contact/Follow us @TheAuburnWire on X (Twitter), and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Auburn news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Phillip on Twitter @PJordanSEC

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Louisville baseball’s Bayram Hot enters NCAA transfer portal

Louisville baseball’s Bayram Hot has entered the NCAA transfer portal, On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed. Hot played one season with the Cardinals. Hot saw action in 36 games for Louisville in 2025. Across 92 at-bats, Hot averaged a .326 batting average to go with 30 hits, 22 RBIs and three home runs. 2025 was Hot’s third […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Louisville baseball’s Bayram Hot has entered the NCAA transfer portal, On3’s Pete Nakos confirmed. Hot played one season with the Cardinals.

Hot saw action in 36 games for Louisville in 2025. Across 92 at-bats, Hot averaged a .326 batting average to go with 30 hits, 22 RBIs and three home runs.

2025 was Hot’s third season at the collegiate level, spending his first two years at Marist. There, he earned 2023 MAAC Rookie of the Year honors after finishing his true freshman season with a .382 batting average across 50 games played. Hot wasn’t a home run threat, but logged 73 hits, scoring 47 runs, 37 RBIs and 19 extra base hits.

In 2024, Hot’s batting average regressed to a career-low .278. That doesn’t mean he wasn’t productive, however. As a sophomore, he logged career highs in walks (29) and home runs (7).

Hot then transferred to Louisville, where the Cardinals finished the 2025 season with a 42-24 overall record. They reached College World Series for the sixth time in program history and the first since 2019. Their record allowed the program to surpass the 40-win threshold for the 14th time in program since Dan McDonnell came to the program 19 seasons ago. Before his arrival, Louisville baseball had never reached that win total.

Now, Hot will have one year of eligibility remaining to play for his new college baseball team. Chose Louisville over Kentucky, Mississippi State, East Carolina, Kansas, Michigan and Maryland. It’s unclear if any of these teams will pursue him in the portal this cycle. Whichever program it will be, it’ll be Hot’s third in four seasons.

The transfer portal wire provides a real-time feed of player activity, including basic player profile information, transfer portal ranking and original On3 Industry recruiting ranking, as well as NIL valuation (name, image and likeness).

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.

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Rece Davis Names $6.8 Million QB As Best In College Football

We are only two months away from the start of the 2025 college football season. Media days are on the horizon, and preview magazines are hitting the shelf, which has created plenty of chatter about who the best returning players are in college football. On a recent episode of the ‘College GameDay Podcast,’ ESPN’s Rece […]

Published

2 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

On a recent episode of the ‘College GameDay Podcast,’ ESPN’s Rece Davis discussed his top returning quarterbacks in college football going into next season.

Davis highlighted multiple notable returning stars, including LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Clemson’s Cade Klubnik, and South Carolina’s LaNorris Sellers. Even with all the returning talent, Davis made it clear that there is one quarterback who is primed to take a massive leap in his first year as a full-time starter.

Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

“My number one quarterback, guy who’ll have the best season for his team, put up the best numbers? Arch Manning,” Davis said. “And I know that’s what you expected, but not for the reasons.

“This is a healthy chunk of my belief in Arch Manning’s talent and a gargantuan check of my belief in Steve Sarkisian as a guy who can take quarterbacks and make them succeed beyond what their experience might indicate they would.”

Over his first two seasons, Manning has seen limited action in a reserve role but made two starts last season in relief of Quinn Ewers. He’s recorded 969 passing yards, nine passing touchdowns, and two interceptions. He added 115 yards and four scores on the ground. Manning enters next season 2-0 as a starter, with the expectations to lead Texas back to the College Football Playoff.

The expectations are not only tied to the high standard at Texas. Manning has the highest NIL valuation in college football, according to On3. He’s valued at over $6 million, which includes NIL deals with Panini America, Uber, Red Bull, and Vuori. Manning’s NIL valuation is over $2 million more than any other college athlete, with the next closest being Miami quarterback Carson Beck.

Manning signed with Texas as the No. 1 overall prospect in the 2023 recruiting class. He finished his high school career with a 34-9 record as a starter, recording over 8,500 passing yards and 115 passing touchdowns. He broke multiple school records, including the career records for passing yards, passing touchdowns, total offense, and total touchdowns.

The Arch Manning era of Texas football will begin on Aug. 30 against Ohio State. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. CT on FOX.

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Ed Graney

LAS VEGAS — Bill Paulos is happy there will be more oversight, that the House vs. NCAA settlement demands more scrutiny of name, image and likeness deals within college athletics. That a centralized clearinghouse will be in charge of regulating any NIL transactions. Friends of UNILV is the collective for UNLV, one in which Paulos […]

Published

6 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LAS VEGAS — Bill Paulos is happy there will be more oversight, that the House vs. NCAA settlement demands more scrutiny of name, image and likeness deals within college athletics.

That a centralized clearinghouse will be in charge of regulating any NIL transactions.

Friends of UNILV is the collective for UNLV, one in which Paulos leads.

The House settlement allows athletes to be directly compensated by their schools via revenue sharing. There is a limit of $20.5 million this season, though that number has yet to be officially decided.

UNLV has opted in to terms of the settlement and will pay athletes directly. It’s unknown to what threshold the Rebels will reach when deciding how much to distribute.

Then there is the NIL money athletes can continue to receive.

NIL Go is the clearinghouse that will require any athlete to report deals more than $600. Contracts will be reviewed to guarantee they represent fair market value.

Whole new world

“I’m absolutely in favor of there being more (oversight),” Paulos said. “The unfortunate thing is there is a lot of mud in the water. Do you know how many applications there will be for anything over $600? Mind-boggling. We still don’t know what the real definition of revenue is going to be.

“It’s a new world with (the settlement) that will be in constant change. It’s like a new business model — NIL is the startup business. There will be trips and falls and mistakes, but there are a set of rules now. That’s a big step and certainly what the universities want.

“Things have gotten ridiculous with (NIL) across the country. It’s the Wild West. Hopefully, this means you will no longer have someone reach in their pocket and give a kid a million dollars for coming to their birthday party. You won’t be able to do that if you follow these new rules.”

Translation: A large percentage of previous NIL deals would not have been approved under the new system. Most of those were funded by boosters. You have a better chance at being approved via corporate sponsorships.

Which goes to the point about fair market value.

You would guess a starting quarterback at Alabama might be compensated more for a car dealership sponsorship in Tuscaloosa than one with the same deal in Provo, Utah. Even perhaps one in Las Vegas.

But the real goal is to eliminate any “pay for play” situations defined by NIL dollars. To curtail the millions often thrown at recruits to attend certain schools. The real goal is to tame the Wild West.

Here’s one fear, however: that many of the bigger deals simply won’t be reported for approval. That it will be more of a wink-wink situation between collectives and athletes.

“Look, if there’s a rule, someone out there is going to cheat it, unfortunately,” Paulos said. “But at least this is a beginning to try to control things. That’s a positive thing right now.”

Paulos said UNLV’s collective will pay the university some out of its donations while still compensating athletes via NIL deals. That there is still a Rolodex of donors willing to pay and that the collective can be a conduit between them and UNLV.

That commercial donors use such deals as business expenses when the athlete performs a service for them once cleared through NIL Go. The contract just can’t be excessive in what will be deemed fair market value or risk being rejected.

“We’ll be another fundraising arm for the university as long as it wants us,” Paulos said.

Coaches matter

The collective has taken in more money in the past four months than the past four years, Paulos said. He credits much of it to the excitement and anticipation of the football season, but also to coaches the Rebels have hired.

Lindy La Rocque reaffirmed her commitment to the women’s basketball program, ending rumors that she might be on the way out to take the head coaching job at Arizona.

Former Mississippi State and Florida coach Dan Mullen was hired to continue the historic levels football reached over the past two years under Barry Odom.

Josh Pastner, a former coach at Memphis and Georgia Tech, now leads the men’s basketball program.

It has all made for more interest in UNLV athletics and more donations to NIL efforts.

“Quite frankly, the entire university has also stepped up,” Paulos said. “We’re doing this the right way in accordance with every rule. I can tell you exactly what each kid has made over the last four years — how many hours he or she has worked and where. And we will continue to operate in this manner.”

Get those contracts ready to be approved.

It’s a whole new NIL world, is right.

NIL

Ed Graney

LAS VEGAS — Bill Paulos is happy there will be more oversight, that the House vs. NCAA settlement demands more scrutiny of name, image and likeness deals within college athletics. That a centralized clearinghouse will be in charge of regulating any NIL transactions. × This page requires Javascript. Javascript is required for you to be […]

Published

7 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LAS VEGAS — Bill Paulos is happy there will be more oversight, that the House vs. NCAA settlement demands more scrutiny of name, image and likeness deals within college athletics.

That a centralized clearinghouse will be in charge of regulating any NIL transactions.

NIL

Ed Graney

LAS VEGAS — Bill Paulos is happy there will be more oversight, that the House vs. NCAA settlement demands more scrutiny of name, image and likeness deals within college athletics. That a centralized clearinghouse will be in charge of regulating any NIL transactions. × This page requires Javascript. Javascript is required for you to be […]

Published

7 hours ago

June 22, 2025

Your Sports Nation

LAS VEGAS — Bill Paulos is happy there will be more oversight, that the House vs. NCAA settlement demands more scrutiny of name, image and likeness deals within college athletics.

That a centralized clearinghouse will be in charge of regulating any NIL transactions.