LaNorris Sellers established himself as one of the quarterbacks to watch in 2025. The 2024 SEC Freshman of the Year threw for 2,534 yards, 18 touchdowns and seven interceptions last season, and added 674 yards and seven more touchdowns on the ground as the South Carolina Gamecocks put together a 9-4 campaign — the most successful season of the Shane Beamer era.

Sellers became just the third freshman in FBS history to throw for 2,500 yards and rush for 500 yards, joining Johnny Manziel and Jalen Hurts. Naturally, he caught the attention of the college football world, and the interest of other programs as well. In fact, Sellers’ father told The Athletic that his son fetched an NIL offer from an interested team worth $8 million for two years.

“He was offered all kinds of crazy numbers,” said his father, Norris Sellers. “I told him he could say, ‘I’m gonna stay or I’m gonna go.’ By my two cents: It was to get into college on a scholarship, play ball, get our degree and go on about our business. This NIL deal came later. We didn’t come here to make money. We came here to get our education, play ball. And with schools calling, we’re not gonna jump ship because they’re offering more than what we’re getting. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

“You’re 19. You don’t need ($8 million). You’re in a great spot. There were several talks, but it never really crossed his mind (to leave). It’s a challenge with colleges offering younger guys that kind of money. Who’s gonna say no to $8 million for two years? They’re gonna be swayed if you don’t have the right people in your corner.”

Beamer told The Athletic that he wasn’t too worried about his quarterback leaving in this new era of college football, because he believed Sellers realized he had a good situation in Columbia, on and off the field. 

“I’ve been playing football all of my life for free,” Sellers said. “I’ve built relationships here, my family’s here, my brother’s here. There’s no reason for me to go someplace else and start over.”

With his performance in 2024, Sellers firmly placed himself on the radar of NFL teams. Over at DraftKings Sportsbook, he is listed at +800 to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft — the fourth-shortest odds behind Arch Manning, Drew Allar and Garrett Nussmeier. 

The House settlement was passed and with it the rules for new roster limits in college athletics were approved. But what do the new limits mean practically?

ESPN analyst Greg McElroy spent some time on his Always College Football podcast breaking down the implication of the new rules. He came away with some positives and negatives from the new changes.

“The positives that come from roster limitations is that it increases the scholarship opportunities that you might find in other places,” McElroy said. “For instance in football, in time, not immediately, but in time, there might be 105 scholarships available, whereas in the past it was just 85. We’re not there right now, but maybe here two, three, four years down the road that could be a real positive. And I think people are excited about that possibility.”

Many programs have budgeted for more scholarships being available across the entirety of the athletic department than before. That’s because the roster limits in some sports have changed from the old scholarship limits.

McElroy pointed out one sport that should benefit massively from the changes. That’s baseball.

“Then if you care about the other sports, ala college baseball, which is in the midst of their College World Series pursuit right now … they now will go from 11.7 scholarships to potentially 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, whatever it ends up being,” McElroy said. “So that’s all really beneficial.”

Another benefit? Easier financial planning.

“We’re also really happy in many ways that the compensation, there’s some clarity now surrounding compensation,” McElroy said. “Now it’s not directly tied to roster limits, but this new system as a whole provides clarity as to what rosters might cost in the future and it also provides a streamlined operation for these athletic departments.”

That said, one of the biggest hurdles around roster limits was that the initial focus only really applied to scholarship players and scholarships. It sort of ignored walk-ons, the impact of which can be large depending on the program.

“The big issue is that there would be many, many lost opportunities to players,” McElroy said. “I referenced the 128 to 105 just in football alone, well, people were having a real hard time with that. And players were writing in to the judge and saying, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to be able to play football as a result of this decision.’

“So they decided to implement a grandfather clause, which means players that are potentially at risk of losing their roster spot would receive a designation. It would be a designated student-athlete tag. And that student-athlete tag will be included throughout their entire careers. So these players, they won’t count against the cap. They can move freely. They can go play elsewhere, but they’re able to play and if they are the 106th player on a team in which roster limits are at 105, they won’t count against the cap. So that’s beneficial. That will obviously expire at some point here in the near future, but it is worth noting at least in the near term.”

Then what are the negatives of roster limits? For McElroy, it’s the potential disappearance of the walk-on caliber player.

“I’ve been one that has kind of been outspoken about roster limits. I can’t be in favor of them,” McElroy said. “I was on a team with 85 scholarship players, but we had 125, 126, 127, 128 guys that were on the roster. And those 42, 43 guys that weren’t on scholarship that practiced with us every day were vital to the college experience.

“I believe that the walk-on is as important as the starting quarterback. I’ve always felt that way, I think that’s the beauty of the team. That, yes, they might not receive financial aid but they were every bit a part of the team as anybody else that had a jersey, NIL compensation, all these other aspects. They might, in some cases, graduate with student debt, but they were part of the team.”

Walk-ons have a big impact on a college roster. They might not be out there on the field on Saturdays making plays, but they help put the guys that are in position to do so.

The occasionally, of course, someone will exceed expectations. The Rudy stories make college football.

“They are part of the development process and there are a million examples of stories in which guys went from walk-on, to scholarship, to star, to NFL, to crazy high levels of NFL,” McElroy said. “And the fear of that potentially going away was something that kind of kept me up at night if I’m going to be completely honest. But now your fears and concerns can be put at ease, at least in the near term. Because of that grandfather clause these guys will still have the opportunity to play. Might not be at the school that they initially intended to go, but they at least will have that opportunity to play the rest of their years.”

Bottom line: Change is coming to the sport with the implementation of roster limits. But, if handled correctly, the sport can still thrive at a high level.

“The walk-ons as we know if will not look exactly the same, but here’s hoping that there will be loopholes and opportunities for those guys to still play college football,” McElroy said. “And maybe with limitations elsewhere they can play at a different level and maybe get more opportunities at a different level.”

The NCAA transfer portal is in full swing, and some notable players across the country have already changed teams. Now, On3 has ranked the top 10 players to commit to a new school so far.

This year’s transfer portal cycle has been heavily impacted by a pair of coaching changes. Mississippi State filled their vancancy with Virginia‘s Brian O’Connor. Virginia then turned to Duke‘s Chris Pollard, and the Blue Devils’ job remains open.

While some of the top commitments in the transfer portal so far are a direct result of those coaching changes, there are plenty of others, too. That includes some dominant arms that are heading up to the spotlight in a bigger league in 2026.

Players have until the end of the portal window, July 1, to enter their name to transfer. The window opened on June 2.

1. OF AJ Gracia (Duke to Virginia)

Not long after Pollard left Duke for Virginia, AJ Gracia hit the portal and he quickly committed. That’s an absolutely difference-making addition for a Virginia team that has lost so many key players already.

Gracia hit .305 as a freshman in 2024, with 14 home runs and 58 RBI. This season, Gracia hit .293 with 15 home runs and 54 RBI. He struck out just 36 times compared to 57 walks, and slugged .558 with a 1.007 OPS. With another strong season, Gracia will be a top prospect in the 2026 MLB Draft.

2. OF Aidan Teel (Virginia to Mississippi State)

Aidan Teel is the younger brother of Kyle Teel, the former Virginia star who was a first-round pick in 2023. The younger Teel is off to an impressive start in his career. He was limited to just 10 at-bats as a freshman in 2024, but hit .400 with three home runs and an OPS of 1.755.

In 2025, Teel was an everyday player for Virginia and hit .317 with seven home runs and 40 RBI, slugging .538 with a .979 OPS. Teel primarily played center field as a sophomore, and he also did make 20 appearances on the mound with six saves as a freshman. He’s a massive get for Brian O’Connor as he moves from Virginia to Mississippi State himself.

3. LHP Tomas Valincius (Virginia to Mississippi State)

2025 was Tomas Valincius’ freshman season, and he flashed elite potential as part of Virginia’s rotation. He was 5-1 across 13 appearances (12 starts) with a 4.59 ERA and a 1.253 WHIP.

Valincius is viewed as a pitcher with a great amount of upside, and he showed that with 70 strikeouts compared to just 17 walks across 64.2 innings pitched as a freshman.

This season was Ryan Wideman’s first at Western Kentucky after he hit .423 across two seasons in JUCO. It’s safe to say he adjusted just fine to the D1 level. He appeared in 60 games in 2025, hitting .398 with ten home runs and 68 RBI. He slugged .652 with a 1.118 OPS.

Wideman, who played all 60 games in center field this season, is also a dangerous threat on the basepaths. He stole 45 bases on the year on 57 attempts, too. This will be a massive addition for Clemson, should he make it to campus through the MLB Draft.

Trey Beard made 15 starts as a freshman at FAU in 2024, posting mixed results. This year, though, he put it all together and became one of the best pitchers in college baseball.

In 16 appearances (15 starts) in 2025, Beard pitched to a 3.14 ERA and a 1.08 WHIP in 86 innings. He struck out 118 compared to 32 walks, showcasing his elite swing and miss stuff from the towering lefthander. Florida State is likely to lose Jamie Arnold to the 2025 MLB Draft, but Beard is more than capable of stepping into a key rotation spot.

6. RHP Brady Frederick (ETSU to Tennessee)

As soon as Brady Frederick entered the transfer portal, he became one of the most coveted pitchers available. The SoCon Pitcher of the Year dominated in 24 appearances and 77.2 innings in 2025.

On the year, Frederick was 8-2 with a 2.67 ERA and a 0.88 WHIP. He struck out 76 compared to 19 walks, and will instantly become a pivotal part of Tennessee’s pitching staff in 2026.

Ethan McElvain had an up-and-down tenure at Vanderbilt, but the potential is there and that’s what Arkansas is banking on. He appeared in 11 games (four starts) in 2024, with a 3.24 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP, striking out 29 compared to 15 walks.

McElvain opened the 2025 season as a starter for the Commodores, starting each of his first five appearances. After early-season struggles, he moved into a bullpen role and found his groove. McElvain’s numbers took a dip as a sophomore, pitching to a 7.24 ERA. He struck out 45 compared to 28 walks in 27.1 innings, but did not allow a run in six of his last seven appearances on the season.

8. OF Vytas Valincius (Illinois to Mississippi State)

The brother of Tomas, Vytas Valincius is also heading to Starkville to join Mississippi State in 2026. After starting his career at South Carolina in 2022, Valincius made his way to Illinois for the past two seasons.

Valincius enjoyed a lot of success over the last two years in the Big Ten. He hit 12 home runs in 2024, but had a better all-around year in 2025. In 2025, he hit .348 with seven home runs and 58 RBI, slugging .520 with a .953 OPS. He has primarily played left field in his career.

9. RHP Bo Rhudy (Kennesaw State to Tennessee)

Tennessee has been agressive early in the portal. In addition to Frederick, they also add Bo Rhudy, who was one of, if not the, best relievers to transfer in this cycle.

Rhudy has dominated in two years at Kennesaw State. In 2024, he had a 2.78 ERA with a 1.06 WHIP through 35.2 innings. In 2025, he tossed 37 innings with a 3.16 ERA and 0.91 WHIP, striking out 44 compared to just five walks. The Volunteers will lose some key pitchers to the professional ranks, but have done a great job already at replacing that lost production.

Matt Scott has spent three years at Stanford, and he’s a draft risk due to his electric stuff. While the numbers won’t blow you away, Scott has the potential to be a massive addition for Georgia if he makes it to campus.

In three college seasons, Scott has a 5.69 ERA and a 1.47 WHIP. He has struck out 221 batters compared to 95 walks in 199.1 innings, and struck out a career high 103 in his best full season as a starter in 2024.

To stay up to date on players in the portal, visit On3’s 2025 transfer portal live tracker here. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

Another significant rule change could be on its way to the college football world.

According to The Athletic’s Chris Vannini, the Football Bowl Subdivision Oversight Committee is expected to meet for a call next Monday to discuss moving from a double portal window to a single portal window. Vannini reports that the hope is to have this change ready and in place ahead of the 2025 season.

“I’m confident we’ll get there,” committee chair and Buffalo athletic director Mark Alnutt said, per The Athletic.

As of right now, the current system features one 20-day window in December following the conclusion of the regular season and then another shorter, 10-day window in April. If the proposed change were to happen, it would likely move to one 10-day window in early January, although there is movement for it potentially being pushed back to the spring.

January makes sense on the football calendar, only interfering with a few teams still playing in the College Football Playoff, but it interferes with the academic calendar. Unless schools make changes, there isn’t enough time to transfer schools before spring semesters begin. SEC coaches are in favor of the January window, while Big Ten coaches are pushing for it to be in the spring (March, April, or even May).

A move to a single window in January would allow schools to complete the season with their full team intact while also ensuring rosters are locked in for spring practices. Notably, Kentucky lost a handful of transfers in the April portal window who had committed during December.

Players are not required to choose a new school during the portal windows, but they can only enter their names into the portal while the windows are open. That being said, there is nothing preventing a player from unenrolling at one school and enrolling at another, much like what happened earlier this year with Xavier Lucas, who left Wisconsin for Miami (FL) without officially entering the portal.

In short, the state of college football is still a bit of a mess right now, but steps are slowly being taken to sort things out. A single portal window makes the most sense at this stage, and it sounds like it’s coming sooner rather than later.

We hope you got to participate in a wonderful Father’s Day over the weekend … but it’s back to business.

Ohio State is hosting 7-on-7 showcases and more prospect camps this week. Keep it locked right here for all the coverage you need.

Today’s show – it’s Dan Rubin and Steve Helwagen sitting in for the tropically inclined Dave Biddle – and we responded to a litany of great questions posed by users on our Front Row message board.

We touch all the hot spots: NIL craziness, Buckeyes QB vibes, emerging stars, national title and B1G title games and more.

Spend 5ish with us this a.m., ‘Nutters!

What’s next for the Buckeyes? Make sure you’re in the loop — take five seconds to sign up for our FREE Buckeyes newsletter now!

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This is a summer series in which I, Brian Stultz, examine questions for the Auburn athletic department and its teams entering the 2025-26 sports year. Today: how will the apparel deal with Nike benefit the Tigers?

It seemed inevitable that when Auburn’s apparel contract with Under Armour expired on July 1, 2025, Nike would take over outfitting the Tigers. Kevin Plank and his staff didn’t let go easy, though, constantly traveling to the Plains to meet with John Cohen, his staff and many of the coaches.

But in two weeks, Auburn will have a deal with a new apparel company since joining Under Armour in 2026. And for all the essential reasons: recruiting, player approval and being associated with one of the largest brands in the world.

For years, coaches, led by Bruce Pearl, spoke about being behind the eight ball when it came to landing the top players in the country. And while Pearl has done one helluva job still getting those guys to play in the orange and blue, there were still feelings that recruiting would rise to yet another level once Phil Knight’s company was represented and the famous swoosh logo adorned on the Auburn jersey.

Not only do players in every sport relate to Nike — I’m 44, and the company has been at the forefront of sports apparel for as long as I can remember — but they also want to wear that gear. And it’s not just the jerseys, but the shoes. Oh yes, one of the biggest gripes from players and coaches was the shoes, some of which were so bad that they would hurt the feet of those wearing them.

While Under Armour certainly got that under wraps as much as they could, Nike was, first and foremost, a shoe company, and their technology is second to none.

But how much difference will being a Nike school make for Auburn other than the financial effect? One downside is that while the Tigers were once among the major schools for Under Armour, one of the reasons Plank tried so hard to win an extension on the contract, Auburn is now just one of the schools that wears the Nike logo. Not to say that Nike won’t pay a lot of attention to their new partner, but it will be interesting to see how attentive they are to what the Tigers need in terms of equipment and marketing.

We won’t see the total impact of the move for a while, especially not this upcoming sports year in which almost all of the teams’ rosters are already set. However, access to Nike camps and the ability to sell kids on the fact that if they come to Auburn, they will be part of the Nike brand will play a crucial role in recruiting wars to come. It’s not that Pearl, Hugh Freeze and Butch Thompson needed help in the recruiting field. All three have demonstrated their ability to bring talent to the Plains with top-10 classes and quality players, but every edge is needed to continue winning these battles.

Granted, those three already had that edge in the past offseason, as they knew the Under Armour contract was done by the time they retook the field or court.

It was a massive move by John Cohen to get this deal done when there was so much pressure on Auburn to transition to Nike. During his time in charge at Mississippi State, the Bulldogs were an Adidas school, but Cohen knows how important Nike means to his student-athletes, coaches and staff at Auburn.

Time will tell how this partnership works out, but right now, it is a massive moment in Auburn athletics. It should give the Tigers a step up in numerous ways.