According to On3’s Hayes Fawcett, Cal Golden Bears linebacker Cade Uluave plans to enter the NCAA transfer portal. Uluave was one of the best players in college football this past season after being a tackling machine during the 2025 season. Now, the plan is to hit the open market and see what is out there moving forward.

Uluave played in 12 games this past season, recording exactly 100 tackles. Of those, 42 were solos, and the remaining 58 were assisted. No matter how you spin it, Uluave usually finds himself around the football and bringing people to the ground.

Elsewhere, 12 tackles for a loss and three sacks also pop up on the stat sheet. Uluave also recorded five quarterback hurries and five pass breakups when dropping into coverage. No interceptions came during the 2025 season but Uluave does have three throughout his career.

“Invaluable,” former Cal head coach Justin Wilcox said of Uluave preseason. “I mean, when you have a guy who’s got the character traits that Cade has, I mean, he is a solid guy. He’s the real deal human being. And then, I mean, that guy’s a baller. He is a baller. I’ve been around a little while now and seen defensive football players.

“He’s had a couple things that kept him out of games last year with some injuries. But when he’s healthy, like, I don’t know that there’s a lot of guys better than him as a defensive football player. He’s incredibly explosive. He’s got great instincts and he’s a great human being. So, yeah, I’m a big believer in Cade.”

In the end, Uluave is another example of Wilcox developing a quality defensive player. Uluave was just a three-star recruit coming out of Herriman (UT) Mountain Ridge. He finished as the No. 926 overall recruit in the 2023 cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

Cal’s official roster bio for Uluave listed him as a junior during the 2025 season. Wilcox continually used Uluave throughout his tenure in Berkley, meaning no redshirt was ever taken. One year of eligibility is expected to remain at whatever school the linebacker ends up at.

You have to imagine plenty of schools are going to be interested. Uluave might wind up having multiple options at his disposal, while new Cal head coach Tosh Lupoi will work hard to bring him back.

Most of the SEC didn’t get their return on rev-share investments over the past two seasons. “Pay-to-play” has been a boon for the Big Ten, which has won the last two College Football Playoff titles and has two teams remaining in this year’s field.

For the “It Just Means More” conference, though, it has evened the playing field in a way the SEC’s elite isn’t keeping up with.

ESPN LA’s Su’a Cravens, who played for the USC Trojans, owners of the No. 1 recruiting class in 2026, celebrated the sport’s massive changes and rubbed it in the SEC’s faces. Cravens did claim that five SEC schools would be able to compete “year in and year out,” though:

The Georgia Bulldogs, Texas A&M Aggies, LSU Tigers, Ole Miss Rebels, and Alabama Crimson Tide.

Cravens blamed it on NIL payments, which are a component of roster-building, but are not direct payments from schools; instead, they come from a third party.

“I absolutely love the correlation between NIL and the immediate parity in CFB! It’s hilarious to see the very theory we all knew was true come to fruition. The moment everybody could pay to play, the SEC’s dominance evaporated. And that doesn’t mean the SEC won’t have good teams, I never said that. I expect UGA, A&M, LSU, Ole Miss, and Bama to be able to compete year in and year out. But being able to compete vs juggernaut dynasties are a VAST DIFFERENCE to what the SEC is accustomed too… It’s almost like once the monopoly vanished, so did the chokehold on college football! I LOVE IT!! Justice has been served,” Cravens said.

Ole Miss, Alabama not guaranteed to be relevant in rev-share/NIL era

Truth be told, Ole Miss and Alabama’s inclusion here may be faulty. Those two programs are not flush with the kind of super-donor alums that the B1G has, and lacks the oil money that Texas A&M and the Texas Longhorns have.

Speaking of which, where is Texas on Cravens’ radar? If there’ a school that could compete when big money is being thrown around, it’s the Longhorns.

In the ever-competitive SEC, teams will shuffle in and out of relevance. Kirby Smart is likely to keep the Dawgs in the hunt, while Lane Kiffin will surely keep program-building his way deep into the CFP.

Other than those two, there are no guarantees for teams in that conference to be competitive year in and year out.

Which may have been the point of rev-share and NIL all along.

Back in December, LSU offensive lineman Carius Curne revealed his intentions to enter the NCAA Transfer Portal when it opened. However, he hasn’t been able to yet, and he’s blaming the Tigers for that.

In a social media post on X (formerly Twitter), Curne accused LSU of holding his paperwork, preventing his entry into the portal: “Holding my paper work trying to prevent me from opportunity is crazy work (two lagging face emojis),” Curne posted on X. ” I just want to ball out (two laughing face emojis).”

It’s certainly a large accusation from Curne. This past season the offensive lineman played in seven games as a true freshman for the Tigers. He started in five of them, earning starts at both right and left tackle.

Despite the fact that he was one of the more productive players for the Tigers in the trenches, Curne was limited to seven games in part due to injury. He made only one appearance during the month of October.

The lineman was hurt during LSU’s loss to Texas A&M on Oct. 25, suffering a leg injury during the fourth quarter. That came after he went a month without appearing in a game. He was later able to return against Alabama on Nov. 8.

What is clear, though, is that Carius Curne will be a highly sought-after player in the transfer portal, when he’s officially entered into college football’s version of free agency. SEC experience at offensive tackle does not come cheaply.

Prior to enrolling at LSU, Carius Curne was rated as a four-star prospect and the No. 49 overall player in the nation in the 2025 class. He checked in as the No. 2 interior offensive lineman and the top overall player from the state of Arkansas, hailing from Marion (AR) Marion.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.

The 2025-26 college football transfer portal will last 15 days, spanning from Jan. 2 to Jan. 16, the NCAA decided. While players have just over two weeks  to enter the portal, they’re not under a deadline to commit when they enter. Traditionally, the cut-off for committing has been how late a school can enroll a player through admissions, so it varies throughout the sport.

— On3’s Thomas Goldkamp contributed to this article..

Koi Perich has thrown his hat into the NCAA transfer portal and there’s no way to spin this as a positive for the University of Minnesota’s football program.

Or college football.

Even if he wasn’t the Gophers’ best safety this season — that was Kerry Brown — and coach P.J. Fleck can use the money the U was paying Perich on more than one transfer who can help next season, the fact is, the best in-state prospect to buy into P.J. Fleck’s row-the-boat paradigm has taken a long look and decided he’s more interested in the big-time NIL paradigm.

Whether it’s more money, more national exposure or a more likely path to the NFL — debatable — Perich has decided it won’t happen at Minnesota.

As a college football fan, one has to wonder if watching most of your school’s best players go look for the bigger, better thing after every season is palatable. And as a Gophers’ fan, one has to accept that this just doesn’t bode well for the program’s viability as, for all intents and purposes, a small-market professional football franchise.

One could look at what Indiana has done the past two seasons and see a crack under the fence just big enough for those without a ticket to crawl through. We know that, for now, it’s possible for an also-ran Power Four program to genuinely contend for a national championship. But Minnesota appears to be moving the other way at an inopportune time.

The Gophers went 8-5 after beating New Mexico in the Rate Bowl in Phoenix. The Lobos were one of two bowl teams they beat this season, and Minnesota was 0-3 against the best Big Ten teams they played — Ohio State, Iowa and Oregon — and was outscored 123-19.

With talented young quarterback Drake Lindsey under center and what they believed would be a prolific running game — it wasn’t — the Gophers had their eyes on another move up the conference ladder. Instead, it was a typically OK season.

It’s probably not lost on longtime Gophers fans that Indiana started the season as the only other OG Big Ten school with a Rose Bowl drought (1968) nearly as long as Minnesota’s (1962). And the Hoosiers just humiliated Alabama in Pasadena on New Year’s Day to advance to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

This space has been used, fairly recently, to praise the job that Fleck has done in his nine seasons in Dinkytown. A large reason for that is the way he cleaned up an ugly culture fomented by former coach Jerry Kill that later exploded into ugly, and very public, behavior under replacement Tracy Claeys.

What was once a national embarrassment for the Gophers has changed for the better under Fleck. Against most odds, his dedication to teaching his players how to meditate and where to place the salad fork has, in fact, resulted in a program that Minnesota can be proud of off and, largely, on the field.

When, for instance, they were short of the six wins required to earn a berth in one of 41 bowl games in 2023, they became eligible because they had the best graduation rate of available teams. That matters, or used to, anyway.

Further, Fleck’s teams are 7-0 in bowl games, including a victory over a then-Top 10 Auburn team in the 2019 Outback Bowl that pushed them to a program-record 11 wins and No. 10 in the final Associated Press poll. The Gophers also have been sending more players to the NFL, a recruiting point that could help build the talent coffers.

Landing Perich, a four-star recruit from Esko who turned down 2025 national champion Ohio State to stay home, was another positive step. Losing him, as seems inevitable, is two steps back, because whatever the safety and kick returner’s goals are, he’s convinced they will be easier to meet elsewhere.

Even Darius Taylor, a talented but oft-injured tailback, who will no doubt be the Gophers’ starter next season, waited until the last moment — at least publicly — to renew his vows with Minnesota.

Fleck did something smart when this season ended, when he publicly revealed that he was allowing Lindsey to help him target receivers in the next recruiting class. In the absence of the big, big money, giving a promising QB like Lindsey that kind of ownership is the next best thing to the bigger, better thing.

But isn’t it exhausting? Not just for Fleck, or athletics director Mark Coyle, but everyone with an emotional stake in the Gophers’ success.

Fleck has been conspicuously tied to just about every coaching opening that appears to be a step up from Minnesota. If any of that was real, and those offers come again, he might want to finally take one with more money in the slush fund.

Oklahoma State just got itself a boost at the quarterback position.

Drew Mestemaker, who led all of FBS college football in passing yards with North Texas this season, will be transferring to Oklahoma State next season, according to multiple reports.

According to On3, Mestemaker also has a “two-year deal” worth $7 million attached to his commitment to Oklahoma State, which is seemingly connected to an NIL contract.

Mestemaker, who just completed his freshman season with the Mean Green, will be joining former North Texas coach Eric Morris, who signed a five-year deal with Oklahoma State to replace Mike Gundy in December.

“I think just the relationships that I’ve built there with Coach Morris, Coach [Sean] Brophy and that whole staff, offense and defense,” Mestemaker said to ESPN. “I think Coach Morris is the best play-caller in the nation. The insight he has, and the way he sees offense, and the way he makes me at quarterback comfortable in everything we are running.

“I feel like sets me up for success in everything that he calls.”

Mestemaker led the FBS by throwing for 4,379 yards and 34 touchdowns while completing 68.9 percent of his passes, helping lead North Texas to a 12-2 record and a bowl win over San Diego State.

The 20-year-old chose to remain loyal to Morris, saying that he is excited to continue playing under him in Stillwater.

“To be the starting point of it all, and the one that’s locked in first, I hope getting that out there will help more name [players] realize how special this staff really is,” Mestemaker added. “If I didn’t 100 percent trust these guys with my career, I’d take longer to see what’s out there and test out the waters.”

The move comes following another underwhelming season for the Cowboys, who finished with a 1-11 record, failing to land a win in the Big 12.

Mestemaker acknowledged that there is a lot of work to do in Stillwater for a potential turnaround.

“I know Coach Morris knows there’s work to do,” he said. “But he’s never shied from that. We knew last year, there was work to do. People thought we’d be struggling to make a bowl game again.

“I know this staff on offense and defense never shied away from a challenge.”

With collective bargaining at the forefront of the college sports conversation, former Auburn coach Bruce Pearl voiced his support. He discussed his plan to help try and settle the landscape.

Pearl, now an analyst for TNT Sports, broke down four things he would do differently. One would be to pave the way for collective bargaining, allowing for the players to be involved in talks about the rules. That, he argued, would take the courts out of the equation.

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Pearl then argued for multi-year contracts and a new approach to revenue-sharing with different funds for football and basketball. Finally, he said players should get five years of eligibility without the ability to appeal.

“No. 1, we’ve got to get Congress to help us establish some collective bargaining,” Pearl said Saturday. “What that would do is, that would have the players and both parties be able to agree. That’s where the courts would have no say. We’d have to adjust the transfer portal. My idea is to let the kids sign two- or three-year contracts. If you want out of a two-year contract, both have to agree.

“I think we’ve got to decide what the rev-share is going to be. … The last thing is, five years of eligibility, no appeals. That takes a lot of the legislation out of it.”

Bruce Pearl: Collective bargaining is ‘where we need to go’

While there’s still a debate around whether college athletes could be considered employees, collective bargaining continues to be floated as a potential answer. Tennessee athletics director Danny White most recently spoke in support of the idea, and ESPN analyst Jay Bilas – a practicing attorney – has done so, as well.

In August, On3’s Pete Nakos reported 23 Power Four football general managers also backed collective bargaining in a closed-door meeting. Bruce Pearl is also among those in favor of the move, calling the current off-court situation “out of control.”

“Guys, collective bargaining, for me, is where we need to go,” Pearl said. “I just don’t see Congress fixing it. In other words, somebody representing college basketball, college football. Somebody representing the players. Have them get together, decide what the rules are going to be. Agree to it, then the courts are out of it.

:Right now, the game is terrific on the court. But it’s completely out of control off the court.”