The 2025 MLB Draft will be held in Atlanta, Georgia on July 13, and with the 2025 season over for a lot of college baseball players, the time now is shifted towards which players should enter the draft or stay in college for an extra season, or who should return to try and win a College World Series with their team. One of those players that has to make that decision will be Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets sophomore outfielder Drew Burress.

Burress has had a historic start to his college career, as he had one of the best freshmen seasons in not only Georgia Tech history, but also college baseball as a whole. Burress was named the NCAA Freshman of the year in 2024, and led the Yellow Jackets in five hitting categories that season. Then came 2025.

While some of his numbers did take a dip, Burress still had a phenomenal season, hitting 19 home runs and 23 doubles, as he propelled himself as one of the top prospects in the nation.

Burress now has the decision to stay with the Yellow Jackets or go to the MLB, where he will undoubtedly be a top five pick in the MLB Draft. If you ask me, I think Burress should go, and that’s simply because he deserves to be on an MLB roster.

Burress is going to be a star player at the next level, and I would want him to start that career as soon as he can, even if it means moving away from the Yellow Jackets.

I get the fans that want him to come back, but Burress is destined for so much more than what the Yellow Jackets can offer him at the collegiate level. Go to the big leagues and make us proud to have someone of your magnitude play on the big stage.

FSU softball lost in the Super Regionals for the second consecutive season. They lost to the eventual national champions in 2024 and ran into a unicorn pitcher from Texas Tech in 2025.

Coach Lonni Alameda addressed the pitching concerns from 2024 and had one of the best and deepest pitching units nationally.

It was a historic year for the offense:

FSU losing Kennedy Harp for the season late in the year didn’t help their chances in the postseason. The Noles will lose some firepower with the departures of Michaela Edenfield, Jahni Kerr, and Kate Dack.

However, they have offensive players returning like: Isa Torres, Kennedy Harp, Jaysoni Beachum, Ashtyn Danley, Shelby McKenzie, Angelee Bueno, and likely players from the transfer portal.

Ashtyn Danley and Jazzy Francik will return inside the circle, which provides two outstanding options with tons of experience.

FSU has added freshmen who have been impact players over the last couple of years, and the Noles have reloaded with an outstanding recruiting class again for 2026:

Hinde will likely look to fill the vacancy left by Edenfield’s departure behind the plate. She was excellent power with seven home runs, batting .679. and a .809 on-base percentage as a senior.

Griggs will play in the infield and bring a monster bat to college. She batted .656 with 23 home runs, 64 runs scored, 55 RBI, and 29 stolen bases.

Dimitrijevic has over 1,000 strikeouts in his high school career and had 347 K’s in 147.2 innings and a 0.43 ERA as a senior.

Other standout players in the class:

Harlie Chism-No. 17 player overall and No. 5 infielder from Oklahoma. 3-time state track champion

Marlee Gaskell-No. 4 pitcher via Extra Innings Softball. 133 innings with a 1.21 ERA with 174 strikeouts compared to 30 walks

Makenna Sturgis-Hit .518 with 16 home runs, 60 RBI, and 47 stolen bases

The 2025 recruiting class was No. 3 nationally and boasts nine players total. FSU has power, speed, and another freshman pitcher who could serve in a similar role as Ashtyn Danley and Jazzy Francik over the past two years. It looks like Lonni Alameda is positioning FSU to make another deep run in the postseason.

Ohio State is officially bringing its NIL collectives in-house.

According to multiple reports, Ohio State’s athletic department is teaming up with Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties to form “Buckeye Sports Group,” an initiative designed to support and enhance NIL opportunities for Ohio State athletes.

This news comes on the heels of the House v. NCAA settlement being formally approved, in return, paving the way for schools to now begin paying their athletes millions of dollars as soon as next month. The terms of the House settlement include approval for each school to share up to $20.5 million with athletes over the next year and $2.7 billion that will be paid over the next decade to thousands of former players who were barred from that revenue for years.

With the creation of the “Buckeye Sports Group,” Ohio State will now consolidate the school’s two existing NIL collectives, the 1870 Society and The Foundation. The partnership with Learfield will allow Buckeye athletes to access the sports marketing companies’ NIL technology, which will in return assist athletes with brand deals, corporate partnerships and personal brand development in a more organized manner.

“Ohio State has always been a leader in college athletics, and this initiative is another step forward to build upon our strong NIL foundation,” Ohio State’s Deputy Director of Athletics Carey Hoyt said in a release, announcing the NIL partnership. “By combining the power of our athletic brand with Learfield’s expansive network, we are creating an innovative, full-service approach to NIL that directly benefits our student-athletes.”

Moving forward, financial agreements reached between athletes and third parties won’t count toward an athletic department’s annual cap, though any deal greater than $600 is now subject to approval by NIL Go, an online clearinghouse within the College Sports Commission, a freshly formed regulatory body created in response to the House v. NCAA lawsuit. 

Ohio State has already been at the forefront when it comes to success in the NIL space. Sophomore wide receiver Jeremiah Smith has a reported NIL valuation of $4.2 million according to On3, which ranks third-highest among all college athletes, and he’s inked notable deals with Nintendo, Red Bull and Lulelemon. Smith was recently unveiled as a co-cover star athlete for “College Football 26.”

Fellow Buckeye football standout Caleb Downs has already had remarkable NIL success as well, carrying an NIL valuation of $2.4 million, which also ranks among the top valuations in college athletics. Downs, who transferred to Ohio State from Alabama following Nick Saban’s retirement in 2024, has partnerships with Panini, Beats by Dre and American Eagle.

“As we enter a new era for college athletics, we’re excited to build on our past successes and create even more meaningful NIL opportunities for Ohio State student-athletes,” Vice President & General Manager of Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties Todd Knisley said in the release. “With the strength of Buckeye Nation behind us, we’re able to unlock incremental opportunities for partnerships on a local, regional, and national scale.”

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College Football

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The past few years have brought massive changes to the world of College Football as the landscape continues to shift. NIL and the Transfer Portal were the first dominos to fall as it allowed players to get paid which then brought a form of free agency as players would enter the transfer portal seeking the next big deal.

On Friday, Judge Claudia Wilken finally approved the NCAA House Settlement which brings even more changes to College sports. Colleges can now pay their players directly through revenue sharing, a clearinghouse now has to approve NIL deals over $600, and roster limits will soon be enforced.

All of the chaos and changes in College Football have been difficult to keep up with and the latest set of changes won’t be the last changes we see in the years to come as College Football seeks a set format.

As the sport continues to change, legendary Head Coach Mack Brown appeared on “See Ball Get Ball with David Pollack” where he pitched several massive changes to College Football.

Mack Brown calls for the NCAA to adopt the NFL Model

On the show, Mack Brown gave his suggestions for where College Football should head next suggesting that a model similar to the NFL’s may be the best route. The idea that Mack Brown likes the most from the NFL is the salary cap which he feels should come into effect in College Football.

“I think we should have a salary cap period, and we should definitely have a rookie salary cap. Coaches are calling around anyway and saying, ‘What’s the going rate for a quarterback, a great quarterback,’ so we’re kind of doing that anyway. But if the NFL can do it, then why can’t college do it? And it would be better for the players, it’d be better for the families”

Mack Brown

Mack Brown later went on to talk about how a decision that once was made to benefit the rest of your life was being made to instead benefit the most in the short term which will likely hurt the players down the line.

“We always said it’s a 40 year decision. It’s not four. Well, the last few years, it’s been a one year decision. It’s been a six month decision.”

Mack Brown

The idea of a salary cap in College Football would be the best approach to ensuring that every program is on a level playing field. As things currently stand, programs can take an approach like Texas Tech has taken spending more than most programs could ever imagine in a single year to build a roster.

Where a salary cap may not work in College Football is with some of the issues we’ve seen before the NIL era even began. It’s always been discussed that players have gotten paid under the table and if a salary cap came into place, it could once again bring back that dark area of the sport that is impossible to police.

The current model of College Football is certainly broken in some ways but, there also needs to be some time to get better insights into what the effects have been. Revenue sharing could prove to be a great solution to the issues and it comes with a salary cap in a way as programs have a limit on how much can be distributed to the athletes.

We’re far from the end when it comes to changes to the sport but, with the House Settlement approved, College Football could finally be reaching a moment where the entire landscape isn’t being changed.

More College Football News:

One of the early shifts in mixed martial arts came when dominant American wrestlers entered the game, nullifying strikers and often being able to smother jiu jitsu specialists with their size, strength and dominant top games. Former interim Bellator welterweight champion and current PFL contender Logan Storley believes MMA’s future will see far fewer wrestlers make the transition to the sport thanks to name, image and likeness (NIL) deals at the collegiate level.

The ability of college athletes to make significant money through NIL deals has caused a massive shift in how sports operate at the university level. While splashy deals around “revenue sports” such as basketball and football, oft-overlooked sports have seen an influx of cash for athletes.

Take, for example, NiJaree Canady, the softball player who transferred to Texas Tech and signed a $1 million NIL deal (she just signed a second such deal for next season). Texas Tech made the investment into their program and it paid off with a run to the finals of the Women’s College World Series.

With programs expanding their push for championships to “non-revenue sports” through NILs for elite athletes, Storley — himself a four-time NCAA Division I All-American for the Minnesota Golden Gophers — thinks college careers could be enough for wrestlers to avoid moving to a high-risk career in MMA.

“Right now we’re in a weird time with MMA with NIL money coming in and we’re not seeing as many wrestlers come over,” Storley told MMA Fighting. “NIL has changed a lot. Guys are getting paid a lot of money. So we haven’t seen a ton of wrestlers come over. … Some of these guys are making a million, $1.5 million-with your top recruits, do you come fight after that?”

UFC Pound-for-Pound Fighter Rankings: Merab Dvalishvili closing in on top spot; Kayla Harrison moves up

Brian Campbell

MMA has never been a guaranteed path to financial security, even if you prove to be a very good fighter, and that has not changed in the current landscape.

Building yourself up on the regional scene to get experience means small purses while also paying to train, and the better the training, the higher the cost.

With the UFC as the end goal for most fighters, with the most prestige and the highest potential pay, most fighters now come into the UFC through competing on Dana White’s Contender Series (DWCS). Impress enough on DWCS and you’ll be offered a UFC contract which pays $10,000 to fight, with a $10,000 win bonus. Assuming three fights per year, all victories, that’s $60,000 annually. And that’s before taxes, fees paid to managers and coaches, specialized diets, basic training costs and gear. Oh and then whatever is left you get to live off of.

Two-time former GLORY light heavyweight kickboxing champion Artem Vakhitov split a pair of kickboxing fights with former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and earned a contract on DWCS with the hopes of meeting Pereira in a big-money UFC clash in the near future.

Vakhitov then walked away from the UFC contract when UFC officials were not willing to budge on their entry-level contracts, even for a fighter with a built in rivalry with one of their biggest fighters that could be used to sell tickets and pay-per-views.

Secondary promotions have also continued to fall under the UFC’s dominance. Pride, EliteXC, Strikeforce, Bellator, and so on, have all folded over the years, with just PFL and ONE standing as potentially valid places for a top athlete to ply their trade outside of the UFC’s Octagon. And PFL purchased Bellator before not using many of the top athletes that came with the deal, releasing many of them with one, or even zero, PFL fights.

“I think the landscape of MMA has changed,” Storley, who fights in the 2025 PFL welterweight tournament semifinals on Thursday, said. “With Contender Series and less guys on the roster with PFL, Bellator’s gone, it’s changed a little bit. Wrestling has some money, and there’s no security in your early career in MMA. That’s just the truth of it. The first few years are very, very tough, and I think with guys making money over there and going into coaching and coaching roles, you have a little more security.”