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Patrick Mahomes in OKC for WCWS, praises NiJaree Canady and Texas Tech

OU softball coach Patty Gasso calls 2025 season one of her ‘favorite years of all-time’ OU softball coach Patty Gasso calls 2025 season one of her ‘favorite years of all-time’ NCAA Patrick Mahomes is showing love toward Texas Tech softball by visiting Oklahoma City this week. The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, along with wife Brittany Mahomes, were […]

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Patrick Mahomes is showing love toward Texas Tech softball by visiting Oklahoma City this week.

The Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, along with wife Brittany Mahomes, were in attendance for Game 2 of the Women’s College World Series championship finals between the Red Raiders and Texas at Devon Park.

“First off, I love Texas Tech and everything Texas Tech is about. To have NiJa (NiJaree Canady) here, along with the other girls, it’s been fun to watch,” Mahomes told ESPN’s Holly Rowe during the telecast. “I’ve always loved softball and watched it. I’m happy to be back in the Olympics and glad to have them here in Oklahoma City.”

REQUIRED READING: Why is Patrick Mahomes at Texas Tech-Texas game in Game 2 of WCWS finals?

The three-time Super Bowl champion also spoke at length about Texas Tech ace NiJaree Canady, who is a big reason why the Red Raiders were able to make it to the WCWS for the first time in program history and in Year 1 of the Gerry Glasco era in Lubbock.

“It’s special. The way she’s able to control the softball and the way she’s able to locate in the strike zone, I mean it is special,” Mahomes told Rowe on Canady’s arm talent in the circle. “And to be able to watch it firsthand all season long, you know why we’re in the position that we’re in. It starts off with her and her leadership.”

Canady entered Game 2 of the WCWS with a 33-6 overall record and a nation’s best 0.94 ERA on the season. The Stanford transfer signed a $1,050,024 million dollar NIL deal with the Red Raiders over the offseason, a process that Mahomes was believed to have played a part in.

REQUIRED READING: WCWS first-time champions: Texas, Texas Tech softball have chance at historic win

In August, Mahomes signed Canady and five other Texas Tech student-athletes to his Adidas “Team Mahomes” NIL team, a NIL partnership that allows all six student-athletes to participate in brand marketing campaigns, including for Mahomes’ signature shoe and apparel line with Adidas.

Mahomes finished with 11,252 career passing yards and 93 career touchdowns in his three seasons at Texas Tech from 2014-2016. He’d be taken with the No. 10 overall in the 2017 NFL Draft by the Chiefs. Ahead of Game 1 of the WCWS, Mahomes sent varsity letter jackets and Adidas shoes to each member of the Red Raiders team.

Texas Tech is looking to extend the best-of-three WCWS championship series against Texas another day by forcing the “If Necessary” Game 3 on June 6 with a win on Thursday.



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Deion Sanders suggests radical change to college football

Colorado coach Deion Sanders thinks one radical change could help address the NIL issues that continue to go unaddressed around college football. Speaking at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday, Sanders was asked how he believes NIL should be handled by the NCAA. The coach essentially called for some sort of salary cap to create […]

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Colorado coach Deion Sanders thinks one radical change could help address the NIL issues that continue to go unaddressed around college football.

Speaking at Big 12 Media Days on Wednesday, Sanders was asked how he believes NIL should be handled by the NCAA. The coach essentially called for some sort of salary cap to create some parity across the sport.

“I wish there was a cap. The top of the line player makes this, and if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does,” Sanders said. “The problem is, you’ve got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he can go to another school, and they give him a half a million dollars. You can’t compete with that.

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent. You understand darn well why they’re in the playoffs. It’s kind of hard to compete with someone who’s getting $25-$30 million to a darn freshman class. It’s crazy. We’re not complaining, because all these coaches up here and coach their butts off … but what’s going on right now don’t make sense. We want to say stuff, but we’re trying to be professional.”

Sanders’ point is that teams with the most NIL funds available to them are inevitably going to land the best players and make the playoffs repeatedly. NIL creates plenty of other problems and nudges players to transfer sometimes, but the wealth is not exactly being spread around.

We have seen that a big NIL budget is no guarantee of success. There is no doubt, however, that it helps. The irony is that Sanders used the transfer portal to establish his program nationally, but there is only so much he can do now that other programs are catching up.





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Why Colorado’s Deion Sanders pushing for college football salary cap

NIL has dramatically altered the college sports landscape. Now that colleges are allowed to pay student-athletes, players can often go to the highest bidder — usually a Power 5 program. That’s why Colorado head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is calling for a salary cap in college football. Speaking at Big […]

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NIL has dramatically altered the college sports landscape. Now that colleges are allowed to pay student-athletes, players can often go to the highest bidder — usually a Power 5 program. That’s why Colorado head coach and Pro Football Hall of Famer Deion Sanders is calling for a salary cap in college football.

Speaking at Big 12 Media Day on Wednesday, Sanders explained why schools without deep financial resources are at a disadvantage when trying to attract elite talent.

“I wish there was a cap. Like, the top-of-the-line player makes this, and if you’re not that type of guy, you know you’re not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does,” said Sanders.

“So the problem is, you got a guy that’s not that darn good, but he could go to another school and they give him a half-a-million dollars. You can’t compete with that. And it don’t make sense.”

Sanders pointed to the programs that routinely make the College Football Playoff — like Alabama, Texas, and Ohio State — as examples of schools that can afford to spend tens of millions on incoming freshman classes. That kind of financial muscle, he said, creates a lopsided playing field

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent and you understand darn near why they’re in the playoffs,” he said. “It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody who’s giving $25–30 million to a darn freshman class. It’s crazy.”

Sanders continued: “What’s going on right now don’t make sense. We want to say stuff but we’re trying to be professional, but you’re going to see the same teams darn near the end, with somebody who sneaks up in there, but the teams that pays the most is going to be there in the end.”

Colorado had two of the highest NIL earners in college football in 2024 in Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, who are now in the NFL with the Jacksonville Jaguars and Cleveland Browns, respectively. The university also shut down its NIL collective before the House v. NCAA settlement, which now allows schools to directly pay athletes across all sports a combined $22 million annually.

In his second season at Colorado, Deion Sanders led the Buffaloes to a 9–4 record after going 4–8 in his first year. It was a solid 2024 campaign — Hunter won the Heisman Trophy, and Colorado finished 25th in the final AP Top 25 poll. However, with the departures of Hunter and Shedeur Sanders, expectations have cooled for the 2025 season.

Matt Higgins worked in national and local news for 15 years. He started out as an overnight production assistant … More about Matt Higgins





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Deion Sanders Advocates for Salary Cap As College Football Revenue-Sharing Era Begins

FRISCO, Texas — Of all the chapters in Deion Sanders’s colorful career as a player, broadcaster and coach, one of the most overlooked nowadays was his brief stint as a rapper.  Years ago and right before he won his first Super Bowl, the Colorado Buffaloes coach dropped his first and only album that was appropriately […]

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FRISCO, Texas — Of all the chapters in Deion Sanders’s colorful career as a player, broadcaster and coach, one of the most overlooked nowadays was his brief stint as a rapper. 

Years ago and right before he won his first Super Bowl, the Colorado Buffaloes coach dropped his first and only album that was appropriately titled Prime Time. On it was a lone single, “Must Be The Money,” that is as forgettable in verse as it was unforgettable for the music video it spawned which still lurks in certain corners of the internet.

Three decades later, however, it might be time for Coach Prime to update the lyrics and cut a new track by the same name. 

Appearing at Big 12 media days on Wednesday despite battling a health issue that prevented him from being around his team much in Boulder, Colo., recently, the always loquacious football icon cut right to the heart of what was on everybody’s mind. 

“Joey’s got some money! Yeah, baby. Spending that money! I love it,” said Sanders, shouting out his counterpart Joey McGuire of the Texas Tech Red Raiders. “Once upon a time you guys were talking junk about me going into that portal. Now everybody’s going into the portal and it’s O.K., it’s cool when they do it.

“I love Joey. Joey, I know you out there, I love you man. I appreciate you. Can you send a few of those dollars to us so we can get some of those players, too?”

Many of Sanders’s peers have been asking much the same thing about a topic far less taboo than ever in the sport: money.

Part of this is simply it’s one week into the onset of new rules that permit direct revenue sharing between schools and athletes for the first time. 

In the Big 12, it has far more to do with the Red Raiders, who have used a swaggering money cannon to assemble their roster.

“There’s a lot of teams in the country where that [revenue sharing] number will mean nothing. They’ll exceed that number by double or triple,” Utah Utes coach Kyle Whittingham says. “There’s teams front loading, you know, all the extra money they had prior to the revenue sharing. We got teams spending supposedly $50 million dollars on players. And that’s five to six times what we have. It’s tough to compete.”

It’s also a fact of life nowadays in college football as schools like Tech look to use the dollars flowing into the sport to more earnestly compete on the field beyond diverting things into opulent new facilities. The Red Raiders moved into their new $250 million football building a few months ago, so they’ve done that, too. 

“We’ve got to go do it. We’ve got a great opportunity, so why not us? Why not us this year? Yeah, that’s the plan. I think this year is huge—not just for this year but for the future of Texas Tech. To continue to push us to a different level, we checked a lot of boxes,” McGuire says about a roster most believe to be among the most expensive in the country. “People say, Well, Tech has never played for a Big 12 championship. This is the team that we need to go do it. 

“I’d rather be in this position than a position in which you’re hoping and praying that everything can go right.”

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire addresses the media during 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days

Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire has the sort of financial resources to recruit players afforded to none of his predecessors. / Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Indeed, leave no stone unturned has been replaced with leave no dollar unspent coming into this season.

Just a few days prior, Texas Tech received a commitment from five-star offensive lineman Felix Ojo. Recruiting services consider him as one of the highest-rated players ever to announce a pledge to the program. According to ESPN, Ojo received a three-year contract worth at least $2.3 million guaranteed with the possibility of topping $5 million down the road. 

While that contract is not public knowledge—and sources close to the school say Ojo’s revenue-sharing figure is set to be far less than reported—such stories are now the new normal in college football, to the point where Texas Tech’s billionaire booster Cody Campbell even showed up Wednesday to give interviews along radio row. 

“There is a salary cap now. We’re kind of like a pro team,” West Virginia Mountaineers coach Rich Rodriguez says. “I’ve got more confidence in what we’ve been doing [moving forward] because everyone realizes what we’ve been doing since has been a cluster. Until we get some federal help and get some more athletics directors in charge of making decisions on how we want to run things and do things, it’s still going to be a mess.”

“Everyone is trying to figure out exactly how this is going to look like with NIL Go. What does that mean, how are those contracts evaluated? How are those deals evaluated?” Arizona Wildcats coach Brent Brennan says. “How do we build the best football team that we can so that we can play the best football in the fall?”

That’s something that is particularly top of mind for Sanders, who has garnered plenty of attention for his roster-building methods since arriving at CU three years ago. Now, he must balance the new demands that come with allocating actual resources, not unlike NFL franchises once did with Coach Prime himself … albeit in a much more structured way.

“There has to be a salary cap on this stuff because the stuff is going crazy. Nobody knows where it’s gonna land, where it’s going to end,” Sanders says. “I see a player said he got an offer from another school and I’m trying to figure out why you guys haven’t investigated and how that is even possible when the guy hasn’t got in the portal? … I’m trying to figure out how can somebody say you’ve got a $5 million offer?”

Colorado notably announced it recently shuttered its NIL collective, 5430 Alliance, in order to shift resources into paying players directly through the school. That’s part of the plan as the administration has attempted to do what it can to help supplement Sanders’s natural star-attracting persona with some cold, hard cash to keep the Buffs near the top of the Big 12 standings.

Those efforts were apparent at media day with the players who accompanied the team’s head coach: one of the most sought-after quarterbacks in the transfer portal this offseason, ex-Liberty Flames signal-caller Kaidon Salter, and blue-chip freshman Julian Lewis—Colorado’s highest-rated recruit in the past 20 years. 

“We will be seen. We will be heard. And we will be known,” Sanders says. 

Judging by the diamond-encrusted watch on Lewis’s wrist that he wore around media day which retails for what some might consider a yearly salary, paid, too. 

That’s no judgment in this era of the sport. It’s just the new normal that leaves everybody comfortable with knowing there must be some money around as well.

More College Football on Sports Illustrated



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Deion Sanders Rips on NIL in College Football: ‘It Don’t Make Sense’

Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders took the stage at Big 12 media day in Frisco, Texas on Wednesday. Coach Prime was asked about his thoughts on the current state of NIL in college football and how that has played an affect on not only his team, but other teams in the conference. Sanders admitted that […]

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Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders took the stage at Big 12 media day in Frisco, Texas on Wednesday. Coach Prime was asked about his thoughts on the current state of NIL in college football and how that has played an affect on not only his team, but other teams in the conference.

Sanders admitted that he would like there to be a salary cap on players, just like how it is in the NFL. 

Deion Sanders Rips on NIL in College Football: 'It Don't Make Sense'

Jul 9, 2025; Frisco, TX, USA; Colorado head coach Deion Sanders speaks with the media during 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days at The Star. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images / Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

“I wish it was a cap. The top of the line player makes *this* and if you’re not that type of guy you know you are not going to make that. That’s what the NFL does,” Sanders said. “The problem is you got a guy that is not that darn good, but he could go to another school and that gives him a half a million dollars and you can’t compete with that. It don’t make sense.”

Sanders brought up how there are schools out there that can pay much more money for players than others. It puts coaches that aren’t backed by that type of NIL funding at a major disadvantage.

In the end, most of the teams that get to the finish line during the season in the College Football Playoff are the teams that have the capability to pay the most money. 

“All you have to do is look at the playoffs and see what those teams spent, and you’ll understand darn well why they’re in the playoffs. It’s kind of hard to compete with somebody who’s giving $25-30 million to a darn freshman class,” Sanders said. “We want to say stuff, but we’re trying to be professional, but you are going to see the same teams darn near at the end, and somebody who sneaks up in there, but the team that pays more is going to be in.”

MORE: Deion Sanders Hints At Colorado Buffaloes Return After Battling Health Issues

MORE: Colorado Buffaloes Battling Ole Miss, Florida State For 4-Star Linebacker Recruit

MORE: Why Jacksonville Jaguars’ Travis Hunter Deserves Top-100 Player Status As NFL Rookie

Deion Sanders Rips on NIL in College Football: 'It Don't Make Sense'

Jul 9, 2025; Frisco, TX, USA; Houston head coach Willie Fritz shakes the hand of Colorado head coach Deion Sanders on stage while Arizona head coach Brent Brennan looks on during 2025 Big 12 Football Media Days at The Star. Mandatory Credit: Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images / Raymond Carlin III-Imagn Images

Was Sanders throwing a shot at a team like the Ohio State Buckeyes? Ohio State won the National Championship last season and according to their athletic director Ross Bjork, spent “around $20 million” on their players last season. 

With NIL being so new in the world of collegiate athletics, it has been difficult to regulate and set rules. Additionally, there is no commissioner of college football. Instead, each conference has their own commissioner, which further complicates things when trying to put rules in place for the sport as a whole.

The reality is, a conference like the Big 12 doesn’t have the NIL opportunity like the schools in the SEC and Big Ten. This issue of not being able to pay the same amount of money for players in recruiting or the transfer portal as the SEC and Big Ten will continue for coaches in the Big 12 conference until something changes. 





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In the last few years of collegiate sports, we have seen name, image and likeness, NIL, completely flip the sports world on its head. Many fans across social media and in discussions have made claims that it has ruined the sports they love.   While it has changed the way teams function, mainly in football, […]

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In the last few years of collegiate sports, we have seen name, image and likeness, NIL, completely flip the sports world on its head. Many fans across social media and in discussions have made claims that it has ruined the sports they love.  

While it has changed the way teams function, mainly in football, NIL is an important fundamental right of college athletes. Up until 2019, when California passed the Fair Pay to Play Act, allowing college athletes to earn money from their NILs, the NCAA profited off their names.  

However, anytime players or coaches were involved in a situation where they profited from the same thing, they would be punished through suspensions and award reductions. So, it was great to see this glaring hole in the system addressed at the time.  

The brand that is the NCAA and the brands that many schools have are built off the production and hard work of college athletes. Not to be compensated for that and reap the same benefits that top brands like SEC schools and Big Ten schools do is a major shortfall for college athletes.  

It’s been interesting to see the number of 18- and 19-year-olds becoming millionaires before even touching the field or court. NIL has reshaped recruitment, and many arguments are made that it has destroyed program loyalty. It is a fair case to make; former Tennessee Volunteers quarterback Nico Iamaleava is a perfect example of it.  

Over the course of the offseason, Iamaleava looked to renegotiate his NIL deals with Tennessee by seeking more money to stay with the school. This created a heated mainstream media debate and ultimately led to him transferring to the UCLA Bruins after Tennessee wouldn’t come to the table with him.  

Program loyalty has been negatively impacted by the rise of NIL deals and the use of the transfer portal. The portal has created the collegiate version of free agency. While both concepts are important to the function of college sports, they must be regulated.  

With NIL deals driving recruitment at the high school level and in the portal, players should not be able to force programs into renegotiations with ultimatums of jumping into the transfer portal.  

The best place to start is the NCAA, finding ways to collaborate with state governments to standardize rules, preventing bigger athletic programs from abusing these resources. As of now, states make their own laws around NIL compensation, most of which allow booster collectives to influence recruits to commit to their schools with NIL money. The NCAA has clashed with these laws on several occasions, but it is often ignored and rendered powerless.  

It would be a complicated road to finding common ground on a universal rule, but all parties should work not to compromise an athlete’s right to profit from their name, image and likeness. What comes to my mind is how beneficial NIL deals are to young athletes who come from difficult economic backgrounds.  

Until NIL money was allowed, many athletes from challenging environments had to bank everything they could on making it to the professional level. The probability of making it to the professional level of any sport is low, and even if some make it, not all experience the necessary longevity to benefit financially. 

With NIL money, these athletes now have a leg up, and it’s not the end of the world if they don’t make the NFL or NBA. They still receive an opportunity to create financial opportunity without having to wager their whole lives on their sport of choice.

As the era of NIL continues, programs and organizations will only continue to challenge the boundaries of the NCAA’s rules around NIL compensation. The sooner regulation can be made to give athletes and schools a balanced playing field, the sooner tradition and pageantry can be preserved in this modern era of collegiate sports.  

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Duke expert just admitted Louisville’s 5-star phenom is a walking nightmare

Louisville basketball’s incoming freshman Mikel Brown Jr. has been the talk of the summer so far, and not just for Louisville fans but the entire nation. The 5-star phenom recently represented Team USA in Switzerland at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup, earning his second gold medal in his young career. While delivering elite performances, […]

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Louisville basketball’s incoming freshman Mikel Brown Jr. has been the talk of the summer so far, and not just for Louisville fans but the entire nation. The 5-star phenom recently represented Team USA in Switzerland at the 2025 FIBA U19 World Cup, earning his second gold medal in his young career. While delivering elite performances, he impressed the rest of the nation.

Brown had experts from all over the world praising him, including some Kentucky fans and announcers, but the glorious silver lining was that Brown is emerging as one of the best players in college basketball. The 6-foot-5 guard showed off his elite playmaking ability the entire tournament, and led Team USA in points, assists, efficiency, and made 3-pointers.

While he was blatantly snubbed of the MVP award, his dominant gold medal run has a Duke expert warning Blue Devils fans of what is to come next season, and they are shivering with fear.

Related: Louisville basketball’s Mikel Brown Jr. proves he’s the best PG in college basketball

Duke expert just admitted Louisville’s 5-star phenom is a walking nightmare

Brown went on to average 14.9 points, 6.1 assists, and 2.1 rebounds per game while shooting 46.7 percent from the field and 47.6 percent from the 3-point line. When Brown was on the floor, he controlled the pace of the game while playing his style of play. He was nailing 3-pointers from well beyond the arc while penetrating the defense and either finishing through contact or finding a shooter in the corner.

Louisville fans cannot wait to see him in red and black this upcoming season, playing alongside Adrian Wooley, Isaac McKneely, and Ryan Conwell. Brown should be just as dominant, and considering what’s to come, not only has Cardinals Nation been excited, but it has also left a Duke Blue Devils expert terrified.

Jason Evans, the host of Duke Basketball Roundup, is an expert who put out a social media post over the weekend about the Cardinals’ incoming freshman and warned Duke fans of what is to come.

Evans went on to state Brown is “HIM” and was referring to the viral image of Brown soaring through the air and trying to tomahawk and dunk on the New Zealand defender. While some Kentucky experts and fans only view this as a missed dunk, the rest of the nation is realizing this 6-foot-5 185, 185-pound guard is going to be an absolute beast.

Brown is the second-highest commit in program history, and with Pat Kelsey’s addition from the Transfer Portal and the key veterans he brought back, the 5-star guard is poised to break out next season.

Louisville currently has the No. 10 best odds to win the 2026 National Title and the second-best odds to win their first-ever ACC Title. Brown is expected to lead the ship and guide the Cards to their first Title since 2013, and be the first Cardinal selected as a top-five pick in an NBA Draft since Pervis Ellison in 1989.

Related: Louisville basketball’s Mikel Brown Jr. has Kentucky fans admitting the hype is real

For all the latest on Louisville basketball’s offseason and recruiting, stay tuned!





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