Whoever the coach and whatever the league during during this month’s football media days events for the Power Four conferences — the Atlantic Coast, Big 12, Big Ten and Southeastern — one theme remained consistent at the speaker’s podium.

In an era when revenue sharing and NIL opportunities can swiftly steer athletes toward the NCAA transfer portal, and immediate eligibility has become the rule rather than the exception, programs across the country are racing to master the art of player retention.

Its importance is crystal clear to Arkansas coach Sam Pittman, who has seen all but five players from his 2023 recruiting class leave for other programs.

“Here’s what it’s not because of: the way they’re treated, because of the way they’re developed, because of the way they’re taught,” said the 63-year-old Pittman, who is entering his sixth season in charge of the SEC’s Razorbacks but had prior experience in the vaunted conference as an offensive line coach at Tennessee (2012), Arkansas (2013-15) and Georgia (2016-19).

“That’s not the reason,” he continued. “It could be playing time. It could be finances. Probably the majority of it is finances, but you’d have to ask those guys.”

More than 3,000 players from the Football Bowl Subdivision, the upper tier of NCAA Division I, reportedly entered the transfer portal this past spring. That would average out to close to 22 players per team.

For the Razorbacks, 10 starters will be back, and one of them is senior defensive lineman Cam Ball. He has remained with Arkansas his entire collegiate career, a somewhat rare occurrence for an NFL hopeful these days.

“I’m just a loyal guy,” Ball said. “I’m loyal to the state of Arkansas; Arkansas has been loyal to me.”

Arkansas, like many schools, is also trying to scare up more money from donors as it faces the financial ramifications of the $2.8 billion House v. NCAA antitrust lawsuit settlement. Last fall, Arkansas athletic director Hunter Yurachek said the school needed some $12 million more annually to “be in the NIL game from a football perspective.”

Besides the money, though, the Razorbacks have to find talented players. Ball grew up in Atlanta, just barely within the regional footprint in which Pittman prefers to recruit.

“We have to go outside our state,” Pittman said. “In-state recruiting has changed over the last three or four years because of NIL. So you have to think about the talent — who it is versus what pay is expected. So that’s been a little bit more difficult in our state.”

Pittman isn’t the only coach who wants prospects to be familiar with what their college experience will look like before making any life-changing decisions. Florida’s Billy Napier, facing the same SEC competition, paints a clear picture of life in Gainesville and the challenges and perks that come with it.

“We present our product in a way where we’re selling the degree, the alumni network, the Gator-made program, and you have to be up for the challenge of trying to get Florida back to where it’s been before,” said the Murray County (Georgia) High School graduate who is entering his fourth season with the Gators, who have won four national championships and eight SEC titles, but none since the 2008 season. “And I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to keep it together.”

Florida’s 2023 recruiting class remains mostly intact, and from Napier’s perspective, hungrier than ever after going 8-5 last year to follow up a 5-7 season.

Compared to other SEC teams, the Gators have had more success with retention. Napier doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.

“We told them when they came in, ‘You know, look, it’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows here. We’re in this thing for the long haul,'” Napier said. “I think a lot of this is how you pitch it in recruiting. We’re going to continue to do that, and retention is more important than it’s ever been.”

Coaches scrambling to prevent transfers and maintain consistency isn’t exclusive to the SEC. The approval of the House settlement is a double-edged sword when it comes to retention, and Power Four schools and beyond are feeling the effects. Third-party NIL deals are no longer the only negotiation tactic schools need to worry about.

Complex contracts are becoming common, and legal risks grow for athletes and programs alike as college football increasingly resembles the NFL and other professional leagues. Some deals are being negotiated solely by athletes as young as 18.

As a redshirt senior at ACC member Louisville, linebacker TJ Quinn is used to the process.

“I wouldn’t say I was nervous (to negotiate) because this is my third year of having to do that,” Quinn said. “You’ve got to kind of stand your ground with what you feel like is your worth. If you’re comfortable with their offer, then sign.

“Then you have some guys that’ll leave and go to schools to get more money and stuff. That was never really like a big pusher for me, to go out and get more money, because I feel like I’m in a good situation here at Louisville.”

Quinn’s loyalty could be the most convincing negotiation tactic of them all. While programs use revenue-sharing dollars to sway prospective transfers, coaches have begun to reward loyalty.

“To some degree, it’s capitalism that you get what you earn. So the guys that go out and play well are going to get more than the guys who haven’t proven it yet,” said SMU coach Rhett Lashlee, whose Mustangs reached the ACC title game last year in their first season in the conference. “Everybody on the team’s not going to make the same. Fair doesn’t always mean equal.”

He also said the Mustangs are not going to add players “making a whole lot more than those guys who have already earned it here.”

“And I think that’s what helps us keep a good culture, is try to start with let’s retain first, and then whatever’s left, let’s go build the best team we can for those guys,” Lashlee added.

North Carolina State’s Dave Doeren, another ACC coach, doubled down.

“A guy that’s been on a team three years, that’s playing well and earned it on the field, should make more than a guy coming in the door. I think that’s a proper way to do business,” Doeren said, though he warned that might not be the case across the board. “Right now, common sense is not prevailing in college football.”

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Go Bowling at the Glen will feature a Syracuse Football NIL car courtesy of NY Racing.

The partnership came about from Syracuse alumni who had connections to NASCAR and NY Racing Team Owner John Cohen.

Cohen has had a longtime connection with Syracuse Football, and bought the No. 44 car in honor of Syracuse legend running back Ernie Davis.

“He was one of the main focuses of me having 44.”

Davis was the first African-American Heisman Trophy winner and played for SU from 1959 to 1961.

Cohen said that he feels a connection to Davis, being a pioneer in his field too.

He is one of the first African-American majority team owners in NASCAR.

NY Racing last competed in the Daytona 500, widely considered the largest NASCAR race, in 2022.

That year featured four African-American team owners: Cohen, Michael Jordan, Brad Daugherty, and Floyd Mayweather.

However, Cohen has always had a connection to the Tri-State area, having grown up in New Jersey.

This led to a connection with head coach Fran Brown, who also grew up in New Jersey.

Brown was a part of the NIL deal discussions.

“We have a direct correlation as far as the way we approach things, as far as athletics,” Cohen said. “I approach that same feel in my team that he approaches in his players.”

Cohen and his team will be bringing the car to Syracuse Football practice on Friday to show it off to the current players.

“Syracuse was one of the greatest football organizations in college football.” He adds, “I think Fran Brown and NIL and the university is trying to bring that nostalgia back. This partnership with my car is highlighting the football team from past to present.”

For more details on the car and event itself, click here.

“Here’s what it’s not because of: the way they’re treated, because of the way they’re developed, because of the way they’re taught,” he said. “That’s not the reason. It could be playing time. It could be finances. Probably the majority of it is finances, but you’d have to ask those guys.”

More than 3,000 Bowl Subdivision players reportedly entered the transfer portal this past spring, approximately 22 players per team on average. For Pittman’s Razorbacks, only 10 starters will be back this season. One of them is senior defensive lineman Cam Ball, who has remained with Arkansas his entire career, a somewhat rare occurrence for an NFL hopeful these days.

“I’m just a loyal guy. I’m loyal to the state of Arkansas; Arkansas has been loyal to me,” Ball said.

Arkansas, like many schools, is also trying to scrounge up more money from donors as it faces the financial ramifications of the $2.8 billion House settlement; last fall, the athletic director said the school needed some $12 million more annually to “be in the NIL game from a football perspective.” Besides the additional money, the Razorbacks have to find talented players to begin with; Ball, for example, grew up in Atlanta, just barely within the regional footprint in which Pittman prefers to recruit.

“We have to go outside our state,” Pittman said. “In-state recruiting has changed over the last three or four years because of NIL. So you have to think about the talent — who it is versus what pay is expected. So that’s been a little bit more difficult in our state.”

Pittman isn’t the only coach who wants prospects to be familiar with what their college experience will look like before making any life-changing decisions. Florida coach Billy Napier paints a clear picture of life in Gainesville and the challenges and perks that come with it.

“We present our product in a way where we’re selling the degree, the alumni network, the Gator-made program, and you have to be up for the challenge of trying to get Florida back to where it’s been before,” he said. “And I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to keep it together.”

Florida’s 2023 recruiting class remains mostly intact, and from Napier’s perspective, hungrier than ever. Compared to other SEC teams, the Gators have had more success with retention. Napier doesn’t think it’s a coincidence.

“We told them when they came in, look, it’s not going to be all sunshine and rainbows here. We’re in this thing for the long haul,” Napier said. “I think a lot of this is how you pitch it in recruiting. We’re going to continue to do that, and retention is more important than it’s ever been.”

Coaches scrambling to prevent transfers and maintain consistency isn’t exclusive to the SEC. The approval of the House settlement is a double-edged sword when it comes to retention, and Power Four schools and beyond are feeling the effects. Third-party NIL deals are no longer the only negotiation tactic schools need to worry about.

Complex contracts are becoming common and legal risks grow for athletes and programs alike as college football increasingly resembles the pros. Some deals are being negotiated solely by athletes as young as 18.

As a redshirt senior, Louisville linebacker TJ Quinn is used to the process.

“I wouldn’t say I was nervous (to negotiate) because this is my third year of having to do that,” Quinn said. “You’ve got to kind of stand your ground with what you feel like is your worth. If you’re comfortable with their offer, then sign. Then you have some guys that’ll leave and go to schools to get more money and stuff. That was never really like a big pusher for me, to go out and get more money because I feel like I’m in a good situation here at Louisville.”

Quinn’s loyalty could be the most convincing negotiation tactic of them all. While programs use revenue-share dollars to sway prospective transfers, coaches have begun to reward loyalty.

“To some degree, it’s capitalism that you get what you earn. So the guys that go out and play well are going to get more than the guys who haven’t proven it yet,” SMU coach Rhett Lashlee said. “Everybody on the team’s not going to make the same. Fair doesn’t always mean equal.”

But he also said the Mustangs are not going to add players “making a whole lot more than those guys who have already earned it here.”

“And I think that’s what helps us keep a good culture, is try to start with: Let’s retain first, and then whatever’s left, let’s go build the best team we can for those guys,” Lashlee said.

North Carolina State’s Dave Doeren doubled down.

“A guy that’s been on a team three years, that’s playing well and earned it on the field should make more than a guy coming in the door. I think that’s a proper way to do business,” Doeren said, though he warned that might not be the case across the board. “Right now, common sense is not prevailing in college football.”

Before Damon Wilson was a five-star recruit, he began his football journey at the youth level in his hometown of Venice, Fla. He went on to play college football at Georgia before transferring to Missouri this year.

As he prepares for his first season in Columbia, Wilson saw an opportunity to give back. Using his NIL dollars, he donated to his hometown Pop Warner program.

Wilson made a donation to the Venice Vikings youth team, vowing to match donations made during a fundraising drive which brought in more than $6,000. He also previously donated to the Venice high school program, where he developed into a five-star recruit and a Top-20 player from the 2022 cycle.

Between the two, Wilson’s donations totaled more than $10,000, per the St Louis Post-Dispatch. The former highly rated recruit said it’s part of his goal to give back using the NIL money he’s earning in the SEC and remembering where it all started.

“NIL is not going anywhere,” Wilson told the Post-Dispatch. “It’s probably gonna be here forever. Just starting a cycle of athletes who come back and give back to their community and to their local Pop Warner or youth football team, because we were all kids at one point who played football. That’s just what we’re meant to do.”

Wilson – who has a $989,000 On3 NIL Valuation – spent two years at Georgia and turned in his most productive season in 2024. He totaled 22 tackles, including six tackles for loss and three sacks, while adding two fumble recoveries across 14 games.

Following his sophomore campaign, Wilson entered the transfer portal and came in as the No. 7-ranked player to hit the open market this past cycle, according to the On3 Industry Transfer Rankings. He announced his commitment to Missouri in January and is set to take his first snaps with the Tigers next month.

But even before his Mizzou debut, Damon Wilson said he wants to join the group of college football stars giving back through NIL. While it’s not always possible, he pointed out more players across the sport are making donations with their dollars.

“I just hope they’re able to see what I can do,” Wilson said. “Not everybody has the ability (to donate NIL earnings) because other people might be trying to take care of their family or other situations like that. Some people aren’t in the position to donate a large amount. But if they are, I feel like a lot of people in college football are kind of trending towards that and trying to better their own communities.

“That’s one thing that a lot of college football teams talk about: giving back to your community instead of just taking, taking, taking, taking all the time.”

On July 24, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order relating
to college athletics and name, image, and likeness (NIL)
payments. This order seeks to limit third-party NIL payments
and require universities to preserve Olympic sports programs as
they work to implement the House settlement, which permits
universities to engage in direct revenue sharing contracts with
their athletes. This order also aims to prevent, as stated in a published fact
sheet, “endless litigation seeking to eliminate the basic
rules of college sports.” The legal significance and
correctness of this order, which implicates student athletes’
right to contract, the anti-commandeering principle of the United
States Constitution as applied to state universities, and other
significant legal matters, will be hotly debated.

Regardless of this executive order’s direct legal impact,
however, it displays the competing policy positions and concerns at
play in this area. As has been widely reported, many universities
in the so-called “Power Four” conferences intend to
provide a significant majority of revenue sharing funds to their
football and/or men’s basketball teams. These sports are the
revenue drivers for most institutions and financially subsidize
other programs. To defray the cost of revenue sharing, some
universities have implemented or considered cuts to
non-revenue-generating sports and/or various roster limits. This
executive order, however, states plainly the President’s intent
to ensure that such Olympic sports are preserved at the collegiate
level. This creates uncertainty as to how and whether universities
can focus their funds on football and men’s basketball, as many
intend.

Perhaps most significantly for universities, this order requires
that “any revenue-sharing permitted between universities and
collegiate athletes should be implemented in a manner that protects
women’s and non-revenue sports.” Providing a majority of
revenue sharing payments to football and men’s basketball
players would not appear to comply with this intent. Although
stated in the executive order as more of a policy goal, the major
question it begs is whether the Executive Branch interprets Title
IX as requiring such balanced implementation of revenue sharing
payments. If so, this would absolutely prohibit any football and
men’s basketball-focused model and force many universities back
to the revenue-sharing drawing board.

The competing policy considerations and legal issues reflected
in this executive order only make the need for federal legislation
in this area even more apparent. Currently, federal courts are
considering issues such as college athlete employment, as well as
the legality of the House settlement itself. Legal
disputes relating to whether and which third-party NIL payments
will be permitted and whether Title IX applies to such payments
will come in the near future. This executive order attempts to
resolve these issues with a priority on protecting women’s and
Olympic college sports programs. However, aside from additional
litigation this order might invite, doing so could threaten the
projected financial model for college football and men’s
basketball. The only manner to definitively establish law and
policy around these questions is through federal law.

In these uncertain times, universities require partners who can
assist them with not only fighting and interpreting legal matters,
but also with shaping the legal landscape itself. To the extent
universities wish to advocate for a future in which they can
financially prioritize certain sports or avoid apparent legal
problems, they must be prepared to actively engage in the federal
legislative process to make their interests known. Otherwise, as
discussed in the executive order, “the basic rules of college
sports” will be decided around them.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general
guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought
about your specific circumstances.