The Miami Hurricanes made a lot of waves when they gave 2026 top offensive line prospect Jackson Cantwell a massive NIL package. The high-school star committed to the Canes last week. Since then, plenty of people have weighed in on the deal that will allocate about 10% of their available money to a player who will not even be able to step on the field for a full season. There have been mixed opinions on the deal from college football sources. This is what they had to say…

An SEC Director of Player Personnel:

“If you can pay it, do it. Go get that guy… If it’s coming out of the rev share, there’s no f—ing way. That’s a quarterback or a starting left tackle. Cantwell is going to start his career and be at best a quality starter. Not a great one. Not an elite one.”

An ACC Director of Player Personnel:

“Yeah, but you can only have one of them. You have to invest up front, and that’s what the market is around. You gotta be damn sure (they’re the one).”

An SEC Director of Scouting:

“I don’t find that to be the most effective way to build a roster long term. But in reality, yes, some teams are going to spend that on a premium position or two each class because either they badly need the position in the short term or maybe they just don’t want to play against them for three-plus years.”

A Big 12 Director of Player Personnel:

“It’s an interesting case study.”

Miami’s aggressive NIL investment in Jackson Cantwell reflects a win-now mentality that’s becoming more common in the modern recruiting landscape. Whether it sets a new precedent or becomes a cautionary tale will depend on Cantwell’s development—and how well the Hurricanes manage the rest of their roster around him.

More Miami Hurricanes News:

From now until preseason camp starts in August, Land-Grant Holy Land will be writing articles around a different theme every week. This week is all about what we would do if we were in charge of our favorite position group, team, conference, or sport. You can catch up on all of the Theme Week content here and all of our ”If I Was in Charge” articles here.

We can all agree that we love college football. Even though some areas of college football definitely could use an overhaul, we tend to put the issues we have at the back of our minds during the season.

Now that spring practices are over and we are just twiddling our thumbs until late August when the Buckeyes kick off their 2025 season against Texas. This is a perfect time to look deeper into the sport we love so much, and kick around some ideas on how to make it better. Over the last decade, there have been a number of new issues that have popped up, which seem to dominate the conversation when it comes to areas of college football that are a little tougher to stomach.

Today, we are going to look at things we would change about college football. Maybe it’s a rule change that you feel is desperately overdue for change. Or it could be changing something that has recently been introduced into college football, like NIL or the expanded playoff.

A change you are passionate about making could be something simple, like kickoff time for games or uniforms that are worn for certain contests. With so many hardcore college football fans, there should be an interesting collection of ideas on how to make college football better than it has ever been.

Today’s question: What is one change you would make to college football?

We’d love to hear your choices. Either respond to us on Twitter at @Landgrant33 or leave your choice in the comments.

Brett’s answer: Adjusting the college football schedule

The current college football schedule was fine when there was just a four-team playoff. Now that the College Football Playoff features 12 teams, and likely will soon expand to 16 teams, there is absolutely no reason to start the season as late as they currently do. I know that Labor Day weekend is unofficially the start of the college football season, but I think the start of the season needs to take place more in the middle of August.

There are a number of reasons I am in favor of an earlier start to the college football season. The first is that there really isn’t much going on when it comes to the sports world in mid-August. There is baseball and some preseason NFL games, although we are not about to pretend that preseason NFL games are important events. Even though some schools likely won’t have started fall classes yet with an earlier start to the season, student-athletes should have no problem overlooking that fact since they are now able to pocket NIL money.

Another reason an earlier start to the season makes sense is that there is way too much for college football programs to deal with when it comes to December and January, especially if teams are involved in the playoff.

The awards circuit, December’s National Signing Day, the opening of the transfer portal, and the coaching carousel all take place in December and January. With the season starting Labor Day weekend, there is a crush of activities coaches have to focus on when the regular season ends.

At least if you start the season a few weeks earlier, then things can be spaced out a little better. Plus, an earlier start to the season makes conference title games a little easier to stomach. With the current schedule, they feel a little unnecessary, but if the season starts earlier, then they can be held, and more of a rest period following the conference title games can be given to those teams playing in them.

The earlier start to the college football season also won’t have college football going up against the NFL as much at the end of the season. Last year, the CFP title game felt a bit more like an afterthought since a lot of people’s main focus was on the NFL playoffs. There really is no reason for the final college football game of the season to be played in the latter half of January.

Even when the championship game of the four-team playoff felt a bit late. At the very latest, the title game should be held the day after the final day of the NFL regular season game of the year. While a Monday championship game isn’t ideal, it is obvious that the NFL won’t back down from holding Saturday games in December and January, so Monday title games are something we’ll have to continue to deal with.

Maybe there is some pushback from teams farther south that an earlier start to the season wouldn’t work because of the heat in some areas. Too bad. Any complaints about player safety went out the window when championship teams are now expected to play 15-16 games a season.

Broadcast partners should be in favor of an earlier start to the season since, with no other sports really on in mid-August, ratings would be even bigger than normal since fans are so starved to see any type of real football at that time of the year. An earlier start to the season, to go along with an earlier end to the season, is something we need sooner rather than later.

Matt’s answer: Introducing a college football commissioner

I’m not going to lie, Brett is 100% correct on this. Many of the ways that the college football season has grown and expanded are positive, as far as I am concerned. However, the way that they have impacted the schedule is approaching a net negative for me. The physical impact of the increased number of games, the overlap with the NFL playoffs impacting excitement, the issues with the academic schedule and the transfer portal, and much more have created just as many problems as these things were meant to solve.

So, while Brett is right that the schedule needs to be pushed up, what we really need is a college football commissioner to help guide the sport through the idiocy that has popped up as it has naturally evolved.

The big story of last week was whether or not Ohio State is playing too many noon games; now the big story of this week is whether or not USC and Notre Dame are going to continue scheduling their annual rivalry game. Both stories are deeply rooted in the ever-changing business of sports media rights and conference expansion (which itself is just a byproduct of sports media rights).

So they are both emblematic of just how complex and complicated the modern world of college football is given the billions of dollars being spent on it, but they are both incredibly stupid stories. Of course Ohio State’s biggest games of the year (outside of The Game) should be played at night, or at least 3:30 p.m. ET. Save the noon kicks for MAC schools and maybe an occasional up-and-coming Big Ten squad.

And of course USC and Notre Dame should play every season. I know that Notre Dame isn’t in the Big Ten, so that makes it complicated yada yada yada, but both sides need to grow up and get a contract signed that locks them into the series for the next 100 years.

You know who could make sure that these types of things got done, and ensure that college football doesn’t completely abandon what makes it the most emotionally satisfying (and sometimes torturous) sport in existence? Someone who, by the power vested in them by the member conferences, has the authority to squash incipient stupidity for the good of the sport. Someone who, in similar sporting structures, is known as a commissioner.

Rodger Goodell wouldn’t suffer this asininity; he would make a ruling, and that’s the way it would be. For decades, CFB fans have wanted someone to expedite common-sense rule changes to keep the sport the best in the world, but no one has yet been installed to this seat of authority. Instead, we have had to see every well-intentioned decision splinter off into a dozen or so easily foreseeable unintended consequences that have undermined the initial move.

We need someone to sail the ship through these increasingly choppy waters and get us onto the solid shores on the other side of NIL, conference realignment, and media rights deals; and I am willing to make the sacrifice and volunteer as tribute. So, friends, with great humility, today I declare that I am ready to serve as college football’s first commissioner.

The UCF Knights Softball team’s historic season ended Sunday with a 9-0 loss to No. 6 national seed Texas.

The Longhorns (49-10) advance to the NCAA Super Regionals for the sixth straight season, their first as a member of the SEC after leaving the Big 12. They will host No. 11 Clemson in a best-of-three series next weekend for a spot in the Women’s College World Series.

As for UCF (35-24-1), it extends its record run of consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances to five while reaching a regional final for the seventh time in program history in 12 NCAA Tournament appearances and first regional final since 2022.

It also marks the 15th time in 24 seasons the Knights have won at least 35 games in a season.

The Knights also notched seven wins over top 25-ranked opponents this season, the most ever. This counts their final win of the season over the Wolverines, who were ranked No. 25 in the most recent ESPN/USA Softball poll. Impressive accomplishment considering the youth on the roster.

Once again, UCF Softball showed it is arguably the most successful UCF program, especially since the arrival of Cindy Ball-Malone, who may have done her best job this year, taking basically a new team after graduating the greatest senior class in program history.

Saturday Offense Explosion

The Knights knocked off the Eastern Illinois Panthers and the No. 25 Michigan Wolverines, 10-2 and 10-8, respectively, to punch their ticket to the Regional Final out of the loser’s bracket after losing to the Wolverines 4-3 on Friday.

Head coach Cindy Ball-Malone earned the 250th win of her UCF career in the team’s rout of the Panthers, and with the win over the Wolverines, recorded the 350th win of her NCAA head coaching career.

The Knights pulled off their run on the strength of a prolific offense between the two elimination games, highlighted by three home runs, 20 combined runs, 21 combined hits and 34 combined total bases.

Pitchers Isabella Vega and Kaitlyn Felton combined to keep Eastern Illinois at bay throughout the matchup, allowing just two runs on four hits in the Knights’ five-inning 10-2 win.

Stormy Kotzelnick led the way in the Michigan win, tying a career-high she set against Houston on April 27. She also became the third Knight in program history to record four hits in an NCAA Tournament game, joining Tiffany Lane (2008) and Chloe Evans (2024).

Looking Forward To 2026

Looking into the future is risky in the age of the transfer portal, as we learned with other UCF sports, but the Knights could field a top 25 team that can contend for the Big 12 title in 2026, even if it loses a couple of players.

Sunday’s lineup featured two juniors, two sophomores and three freshmen, plus a redshirt freshman pitching ace in Vega — UCF’s All-Big 12 First-Team selection. The entire infield, SS Aubrey Evans, 3B Sierra Humphreys, 2B Coco Jaimes and 1B Ashleigh Griffin, is projected to return, along with DP/RF Izzy Mertes, catcher Beth Damon and LF Samantha Rey.

Jaimes hit a team-best .667 (8-for-12) during the weekend in the Austin Regional, and in UCF’s last 14 games of the season represented her team’s leading hitter, going 16-for-34 (.471) with seven runs scored, two doubles, one home run, eight RBI and 21 total bases in that span.

Aubrey Evans paced the Knights with 10 home runs, 33 RBI, 99 total bases and 20 walks with a 576 slugging percentage and .320 batting average. She earned All-Big 12 and All-Region honors.

Humphreys set single-season career-bests in average (.355), on-base percentage (.440), slugging percentage (.506), runs scored (43), hits (61), doubles (10), total bases (87), home runs (4), walks (26) and stolen bases (15) as she made All-Big 12 honors.

Mertes was UCF’s third leading hitter by average (.315) and leads UCF in doubles (16) and walks (30). Her 16 doubles not only rank second-most in the Big 12 Conference, but also second all-time at UCF behind Evans’ 2023 program single-season record of 18 as she made All-Region and All-Big 12.

Damon, like Mertes, joined the Knights as a four-star recruit out of high school, made an immediate impact, hitting .277 with eight home runs and 37 RBIs, and made All-Big 12.

Vega’s historic freshman season concluded with a 14-7 record with a 1.70 ERA and getting named a Freshman All-American by Softball America. She also received a Wilson/NFCA National Pitcher of the Week award, two D1Softball National Freshman of the Week awards, and two Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Week awards while getting All-Big 12 First Team.

Ball-Malone is also adding another freshman class headlined by left-handed pitcher/outfielder Hildie Dempsey and infielder Kendall Trimm, the latter of whom is the No. 59 overall player in the nation and a four-star recruit per On3 Sports. Dempsey ranked 33rd.

The 2025 Knights have given fans hope not just for the future of softball, but for all UCF Athletic teams that they can succeed at this level of the P4/NIL era. The culture is there as long as Ball-Malone is here. She earned the most benefit of the doubt of any UCF head coach.

Now it is up to UCF to be aggressive and provide some more financial support to back Ball-Malone, such as upgrades for the currently outdated softball facilities and NIL backing. The program has earned it on the field and proven it can make revenue for the school, so now is the time for it to be provided support before other schools call and try to lure Ball-Malone with said support. That assist could lead the program to future trips to OKC in June for the World Series.