Nick Saban, the most decorated coach in college football history, is trading playbooks for policy as he steps into a new role: leading a Presidential Commission on college sports.

Announced this week, Saban will co-chair the commission alongside Texas businessman and NIL collective founder Cody Campbell, reported by Pete Nakos. The initiative, backed by former President Donald Trump, will dive headfirst into the increasingly chaotic world of name, image, and likeness (NIL) compensation, transfer portal volatility, and whether college athletes should be considered employees.

Former Alabama head coach Nick Saban met with President Donald Trump last week about NIL, and Trump has now set his plan in motion to remedy the growing problem of NIL in college football.

According to On3 Sports, former Alabama head coach Nick Saban is expected to be named co-chair of the Presidential Commission studying college sports.

What does that mean?

President Donald Trump, after meeting with Nick Saban and Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville, plans to form a commission focused on collegiate sports. The Athletic reported Trump will be “very engaged” because of the national importance he sees in collegiate athletics.

Trump is also considering an executive order creating more scrutiny around NIL deals.

According to the report, the commission on college sports is expected to “deeply examine the unwieldy landscape of college sports, including the frequency of college sports, including the frequency of player movement.”

Trump’s plan to consider an executive order and form a commission came with the House v. NCAA settlement, which is still ongoing.

Attorney Steve Berman called out Nick Saban and President Trump’s discussions as the settlement seeks approval. Legal executives say an executive order could create more problems than it could solve, and Berman called for conversations to end while both sides work toward final approval.

“While he was a coach, [Nick] Saban initially opposed NIL payments to athletes, pushing to add restrictions and red tape through national legislation to add ‘some sort of control,’” Berman said in a statement. “During his time scrutinizing the athlete pay structure, he made tens of millions of dollars and was previously the highest-paid coach in college football.

“Coach Saban and Trump’s eleventh-hour talks of executive orders and other meddling are just more unneeded self-involvement. College athletes are spearheading historic changes and benefitting massively from NIL deals. They don’t need this unmerited interference from a coach only seeking to protect the system that made him tens of millions.”

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men’s basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.

DeSa ranked as one of the top goaltenders in the nation this past season having been selected as the Brianne McLaughlin AHA Goaltender of the Year and an All-AHA First Team selection. She is the second Nittany Lion to win the conference’s Goaltender of the Year award, joining Josie Bothun who won in 2020-21. The junior was named a semifinalist for the HCA Goalie of the Year Award on February 7.  

The Pawcatuck, Connecticut native earned two AHA Goaltender of the Month honors (December and January) and seven AHA Goaltender of the Week awards (Sept. 30, Oct. 21, Nov. 25, Dec. 9, Jan. 6, Jan. 20 and Jan. 27). 

She compiled an impressive 27-6-0 record this past season. Her 27 victories are the most in a season in program history. She finished tied for the most shutouts in a season in team history with nine. That mark placed her second in the country. 

Nationally, DeSa finished the 2024-25 campaign ranking second in wins, second in winning percentage (.818), fourth in goals against average (1.418) and 16th in save percentage (.932). She led the AHA in all five categories. 

For her career, she is second on Penn State’s all-time wins list (37) and second in shutouts (13). Her current career winning percentage (.7857) and goals allowed average (1.47) top the program’s career leaderboard. 

DeSa served as the goaltender for the Nittany Lions as the team won a program-best 31 games, including an AHA record of 19 conference victories. The team won its third consecutive AHA Championship en route to an NCAA Tournament appearance. Penn State finished eighth in both the DCU/USCHO and USA Hockey/The Rink Live women’s college hockey polls. 

TROY, N.Y. – A program-record 110 Union College student-athletes were recognized for academic success this year by earning spots on the Liberty League Spring All-Academic Teams, the conference announced on Tuesday.
 
The Liberty League’s spring championship sports include baseball, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s rowing, softball, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s and women’s track and field. To be recognized as a member of the All-Academic team, a student-athlete must be a sophomore or higher in class standing, have one year of residency at the school, and have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.30.

The 110 spring honorees are nine more than the previous standard of 101 set during the 2022-23 school year, and when combined with the 69 athletes recognized in the fall and the 25 honored in the winter, bring the total number of student-athletes honored by the Liberty League this year to 204, marking the fifth straight year that at least 200 student-athletes have been recognized for academic success.

More than 58 percent (57 of 98) of Union’s honorees are repeat selections to the All-Academic Team, while nearly one-fifth (19 of 98) were selected for the usual maximum third straight season. The men’s track & field team and the baseball team, which set a team record for the third straight season, led all spring sports with 15 honorees each, followed by the women’s lacrosse team with new program record of 14 honorees. Women’s track & field (13), women’s crew (13) and men’s lacrosse (12) all reached double figures as well this season. 

All of Union’s 2025 Spring All-Academic Team honorees are listed below:
 
Baseball
*Cooper Ames, Jr.
Noah DiCaprio, So.
**Nick Hiltsley, Sr.
Anthony Izzo, Sr.
*Andrew Keaveney, Jr.
Ryan Kolodziejczyk, So.
Brody McCabe, So.
*Caleb Miller, Jr.
Cal Place, Sr. 
Ben Raphael, So.
**Dan Sheeran, Sr.
**Sam Strazza, Sr.
*Chris Suter, Sr.
Danny Talacci, So.
Ethan Weitz, So.

Men’s Track & Field
**Sam Ahern, Sr.
Aaron Binion, So.
Will Bonnette, So.
**Thomas Breimer, Sr.
**Chris Bulmer, Sr.
*Tony Cocchiaro, Jr.
**Kyle Collins, Sr.
Nick Entner, Jr.
Michael Fitzmaurice, So.
*Adam Hecker, Jr.
Jackson Klehr, So.
*Mason Lang, Jr.
**Ben Neff, Sr.
Ben Pistiner, So.
*Will Plante, Jr.

Women’s Lacrosse
Hannah Compa, So.
*Rosie Crooker, Jr.
Anna Dembowski, So.
Maddie Doyle, Jr.
*Christina Guanci, Jr.
Gillian Joseph, So.
Bella Juliano, So.
Greta Maurer, Sr.
*Emily Moore, Jr.
**Sarah Murphy, Sr.
*Claudia Patz, Jr.
*Abbi Uhl, Jr.
Lexi Varano, So.
Sydney Widlitz, Jr.

Women’s Crew
**Olivia Anderson, Sr.
**Julia Cole, Sr.
Emma Friedman, So.
Amy Gagliardi, So.
Sarah Hannan, So.
Nora Hillery, Jr.
Mariah Jackson, So.
*Melina McGovern, Jr.
**Lena Nowell, Sr.
**Claire Schroder, Sr.
Carly Thompson, So.
Olivia Werkema, So.
*Sadie White, Jr.

Women’s Track & Field
*Grace Ardito, Jr.
**Lauren Armstrong, Sr.
*Gabby Baker, Sr.
Maggie Buckley, So.
**Cat Dacey, Sr.
Annabel Dobash, So.
Kat Doran, So.
**Caroline Kelly, Sr.
Ella McCarthy, So.
Emilie Rosecan, So.
Ashley Sheldon, So.
*Keelin Virgulto, Sr.
Amelia Wagner, So.

Men’s Lacrosse
**Chris Connolly, Sr.
*Seamus Foley, Jr.
Joe Hennessey, So.
***Peter Kip, Sr.
Jack Lucey, So.
***Liam McGovern, Sr.
**Luke McHugh, Sr.
Matt McKenzie, Jr.
**Henry Quaintance, Sr.
*Luke Tranter, Jr.
Mike Wall, So.
*Chris Weitzel, Jr.

Softball
*Riley Callahan, Sr.
Maddy Ewald, So.
*Haley Gibbons, Jr.
Sophia Gomes, So.
Riley Jahnle, Jr.
**Tatum Perkins, Sr.
Sam Rose, So.
*Nahnny Sobetzko, Sr.

Men’s Crew
**Sarah DeRosa, Sr.
**Miles Fee, Sr.
*Sam Flynn, Jr.
Stuart Livingston, So.
*Erik Roberts, Jr.
Jack Savage, Jr.
*Ben Stern, Jr.
**Josh Vaidman, Sr.

Women’s Tennis
*Kennedy Alexis, Jr.
*Sydney Alphabet, Jr.
Claire Langille, Jr.
Chara Meidani, Jr.
*Skylar Semon, Jr.
**Paige Tromblee, Sr.
 
Men’s Tennis
Solen Bellemare, So.
**Austin Gregory, Sr.
**Ben Jacobs, Sr.
Shreyas Kode, So.

Women’s Golf
**Liz Bentsianov, Sr.
*Katerina Dimacopoulos, Sr.

*** Four-time All-Academic selection
** Three-time All-Academic selection
* Two-time All-Academic selection
 

In the NIL landscape of today’s college football, commitments from recruits are never set in stone.

Top prospects have backed off initial commitments to test name, image, and likeness opportunities, but, as is often the case, the grass isn’t always greener.

That was the case with future Georgia Bulldogs five-star quarterback Jared Curtis, who On3 Sports reports committed a second time to the program on Monday.

After initially choosing Georgia football, Curtis elected to explore his options, ultimately deciding between the Bulldogs and Oregon Ducks. 

Jared Curtis’ NIL contract details

While NIL played a role in the process, Brooks Austin, lead editor for Bulldogs On SI, reports that Curtis actually took less money than he would’ve stood to make at Oregon.

“He took a pay cut coming to Georgia compared to what he was going to get at Oregon,” Austin said. “I don’t know the number there, but I’ve been told it’s considerably higher — noticeably higher was the wordage, I believe.” 

Curtis reportedly will make between $600k and $800k in his freshman season, with a bump to $1.2 to $1.4 million in 2027. Austin notes that the contracts are all back-loaded at Georgia, a contrast from programs hoping to entice recruits with high amounts upfront.

What gets intriguing is Curtis’ contract entering year three. Depending on his performance, the two sides will look to renegotiate based on a critical factor—whether he’s the starter under center for the Bulldogs.

Should that be the case, they’ll elect to look at the market value of starting quarterbacks, in which starters are set to earn over $3 million in 2025, with stars like Duke’s Darian Mensah and Miami’s Carson Beck reportedly adding one million to that number.

It’s a fascinating clause, considering pay-for-performance is prohibited in college football. However, Georgia may have found a fair loophole in adding a clause in for the third year outright.

Starters at premium positions are likely renegotiating their NIL deals each season, often midway through it, but nothing explicit has been made the norm of contracts containing performance-based escalators.

By 2027, that might not even be the case, as college football chaotically transforms by the day.