NIL

Rossini aims for exponential growth in transitional year for college sports

Published

6 months ago

June 27, 2025

May 2024 marked a brand new chapter in the history of Arizona State athletics, with the hiring of alumnus Graham Rossini as the university’s newest athletic director following the departure of Ray Anderson, who served in that capacity for roughly a decade.

Year one brought a whirlwind of unanticipated success for Sun Devil athletics as the school transitioned from its former home in the Pac-12 Conference to the Big 12 Conference in the vast majority of its sports. Despite this significant period of change, many Sun Devil programs saw significant success over the last nine months, winning four conference championships (football, volleyball, men’s, and women’s swimming).

On Thursday morning, Rossini held a press conference, which, among other topics, reviewed the first full sports year for ASU in their new conference.

“26 sports, 15 of them finished in the top 25,” Rossini noted in his opening remarks. “This last year, we had 10 combined first or second-place conference finishes, four Big 12 championships, which led the Big 12, and four Big 12 runners-up as well.

“I think the nation has started to really understand what we’re capable of accomplishing at Arizona State University. We want to win, we talk about Operation: Rings and Banners all the time, we want to compete at the highest level.”

Rossini credits a large portion of the success of the 2024–25 athletic year to the connectivity of the coaching staff across the department that has worked amongst themselves to foster growth at ASU. Rossini noted that the university coaching tree at ASU feels more intertwined now than it did back in May 2024.

“We no longer have these 26 sports that operate largely like independent contractors,” Rossini noted. “They’re connected, they’re collaborating, they’re pushing each other in ways that are healthy and competitive.”

With the additional success comes added fandom and excitement in the Valley toward Sun Devil football. Much of Rossini’s remarks looking ahead to the 2025–26 athletic year were related to the boom of popularity and resources ASU has earned heading into the fall, starting with football, as the ASU craze has made Tempe the new hotspot for Saturday afternoons in the Phoenix metropolitan.

“Seven thousand new season tickets for next football season as of today,” Rossini stated. “We expect to exceed 7,500 new season tickets by the start of the season. That puts us at the most total season tickets in well over a decade.”

As the rapidly changing environment of collegiate athletics continues, the Sun Devils feel comfortable in their foundation to this point. Revenue for the university has seen exponential growth starting in August 2023, when Sun Devil Stadium, the home of ASU football, agreed to a naming rights deal with Mountain America Credit Union worth over $50 million at the time.

“I think it’s still the largest investment in college football history. That really started our evolution of building out a better business within Sun Devil Athletics,” Rossini remarked. “That’s continued with the partnerships that we’ve started to create. We have a number of new partners coming in at seven-figure levels, really focused on ticket selling and fundraising.”

As money flows through the veins of college athletics, changes in NCAA rules, regulations, and guidelines for NIL and other compensation for college athletes continue. The summer of 2025 is no different than many in years past, as the NCAA settles on new financial decisions meant to aid in monetary regulation.

This time around, the NCAA has settled upon a maximum of $20.5 million that each university can supply in revenue sharing for its student-athletes. This decision is based on the percentage of the school’s commercial-driven revenue through athletics. Due to the fact that Arizona State is expanding its number of scholarship athletes across its sports to meet the max numbers, it will actually have roughly $18 million this year to distribute in revenue share funds to all of its scholarship student-athletes. This figure is expected to increase by 4% annually to keep pace with rising living costs.

It is essential to note that this is not a salary cap on the amount a collegiate athlete can receive through NIL contracts. However, it does impose a restriction on the amount of money that can be received directly from the university. For Rossini, this was an anticipated step in the direction of college athlete compensation, as the NCAA continues to look for a permanent solution to the chaos surrounding name, image, and likeness (NIL).

“I think the overall benefit is that there are steps toward uniform guidelines,” Rossini commented. “And at least in terms of rev share and NIL and roster caps, we understand that environment. I think we’ve got a long way to go as an industry in terms of officiating and some of the sport-specific rules that need to be unified at a Division I level or an NCAA level. I don’t think each conference should have different interpretations of competitive rules. I think we need to really focus on balancing out that landscape.”

The balance of the landscape is set for now, but the NCAA doesn’t regulate where each school spends its annual revenue share funds. Proposed distribution models across the country for colleges that have a football program suggest that roughly 75% of the annual revenue share funds will be allocated to football. The majority of the remaining 25% will be allocated to men’s basketball, with the remaining funds distributed to the rest of the collegiate athletes at any given university.

Ultimately, Rossini stayed far away from floating numbers or percentage points on Thursday, and no figures were implied on how much ASU will spend per program. The monetary structure is centered on scholarship growth while unifying the athletic department and all 600 student-athletes at Arizona State, ensuring they are adequately compensated.

“We’ll be spending off about $18 million on the rev share,” Rossini said. “So, the available dollars are $20.5 million. If you follow the documents, there are two separate deduct categories. There’s up to $2.5 million in additional scholarship. We’ve blown beyond that number, adding 200-plus, so we hit that threshold no problem.

“We are discontinuing the Alston program (education-related financial awards provided directly by universities for academic-related expenses) that we’ve had for the last three or four years, which allows us to maintain $18 million going into rev share. Again, our scholarship investment is significant, but we’re convinced that it’s the right way to put our dollars into our department.”

Rossini’s long-term vision for the athletic department differs from that of the majority of Power Four programs. Fourteen of ASU’s 26 athletic programs are women’s sports, and the school is focused on building a culture that uplifts every team in the athletic department.

It was announced in May 2025 that multiple Division I universities, including UTEP and Cal Poly, would be dropping women’s tennis, along with swimming and diving. In the Valley, Grand Canyon’s men’s volleyball team is also on the chopping block, with monetary reasoning at the forefront of the unprecedented waters that athletic departments now have to navigate.

Arizona State’s 26 sports tops all Big 12 teams, and the conference has only two other teams exceeding 20 sports (Arizona at 22 and TCU at 21). It’s possible that this new college sports landscape could ultimately force some schools in this league to go through a program attrition process, yet that does not appear to be an even remote possibility in Tempe.

“We’ve added scholarships to all 26 (sports),” Rossini proudly stated. “There are a lot of schools that are maybe incrementally adding a small number or pulling scholarships out of sports, giving them to football to go from 85 to 105, or giving these two extra men’s basketball scholarships. I’d be nervous if I were at that school. If I’m a sport that’s not a big revenue driver and it is a cost center, you better have some incremental value to the university. So, we’re looking at ways to just resource our programs.

“There’s a pathway where eventually every athlete at ASU could be on some form of athletic aid. And we’ve added operational budget to all 26 sports. So, we’re continuing to invest in all 26. This isn’t an isolation around football and men’s basketball. They’re certainly heavily involved in the rev share distribution, but all 26 have a place at the university, and we really try to be as diligent and aggressive in resourcing all of them as best we can.”

Every NIL deal an ASU student-athlete earns will need to be approved by the university before it can become official—a process that is already in place but with slight variations for future use.

“Our athletes are used to disclosing their NIL deals,” Rossini remarked. “There have been different tools that we’ve used for that, but we’ve always encouraged that. It’s been part of our process. Where it benefits moving forward is the new NIL Go (a Deloitte-run clearinghouse) process that we’ll be using. Deloitte is involved in managing that. And again, a lot of people are maybe skeptical about the reality of holding up to these new guidelines.”

Deloitte’s NIL Go system is becoming the newest standard in NIL structure. The accounting giant launched the program on June 11, 2025, and numerous Division I programs will use it entering the new athletic cycle. It requires all students to submit NIL deals worth $600 or more for review by a third party, in order to streamline the regulatory process.

An ASU athlete who will likely utilize NIL Go frequently is Sun Devil quarterback Sam Leavitt. The redshirt sophomore enters his second year in Tempe as a player in the upper echelon of collegiate quarterbacks, with Heisman Trophy potential being floated by analysts. Perhaps more remarkable than his playmaking on the field is his selflessness off it. While other universities tangle in bidding wars for their star signal-callers, Leavitt donated his 2024 season earnings back to the Sun Angel NIL Collective, along with $15,000 donation to the Pat Tillman Foundation.

At the head of Rossini’s vision for ASU athletics is a team leader such as Leavitt who is willing, able, and excited to replant fruitful seeds in the program for others to benefit from.

“I love the kids who are in our department. Sam Leavitt is really taking on massive leadership at ASU, not just for football, but for all of ASU,” Rossini said. “I think when you see a check like this where he’s donating his NIL money back to the Pat Tillman Foundation, it just tells me that they understand the legacy of our institution. They understand what it’s like to be a Sun Devil. They understand the spirit of giving back, and that’s what NIL is for.

“I think college has historically been very selfish. It’s ‘help us because we’re inefficient at running the industry ourselves. We need a handout for people to come and give us resources.’ We want to give that back. We want to build a better business, but we want to be very community-oriented, where we’re affecting causes that are important in the Valley.”

ASU’s 2024 football campaign is forever ingrained in the history of Sun Devil football, finishing with the second-highest win total in program history. However, Thursday marked an incredible day for the team that still holds the all-time record. Led by legendary head coach Frank Kush, the 1975 ASU football team finished the season 12–0, culminating in a Fiesta Bowl victory over Nebraska, marking the only undefeated season in school history.

It was announced Thursday that the 1975 team would be inducted into the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame, 50 years removed from its unforgettable run.

“We knew that this 50th anniversary was significant, and they’re going to be a member of the Hall of Fame class this fall, which is also the 50th anniversary of the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame,” Rossini noted. “So, we only have two other teams that have ever been inducted into the Hall of Fame. The ’75 football team will be the first football team, and it very well deserves to come in.”

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Major SEC program emerges as candidate for $2.4 million college football quarterback

Published

40 minutes ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Brendan Sorsby, a redshirt junior who split his first two years at Indiana before transferring to Cincinnati in 2024, posted an efficient, productive 2025 season.

In 12 games, he threw for 2,800 passing yards with 27 passing touchdowns and five interceptions, plus 580 rushing yards and nine rushing scores, making him among the more complete dual-threat QBs in the country.

Unfortunately for the Bearcats, he informed Cincinnati of his intent to enter the NCAA transfer portal on Monday and is also awaiting an NFL draft grade while he gauges options.

Brendan Sorsby’s public NIL profile ranks him among the higher-valued transfer assets nationally, with a reported valuation of around $2.4 million, ranking 12th among all NCAA athletes in 2025.

As college football’s winter transfer market quickens, Tennessee has now been connected to Sorsby, according to reporting by On3’s Pete Nakos.

Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby. — Fort Worth, Texas, USA; Cincinnati Bearcats quarterback Brendan Sorsby (2) throws the ball during the second half against the TCU Horned Frogs at Amon G. Carter Stadium. | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The link arrives as the Vols’ quarterback picture for 2026 grows murky, creating a plausible landing spot for a veteran signal-caller.

Tennessee starter Joey Aguilar closed the 2025 regular slate with 3,444 passing yards, 24 TDs, and 11 INTs, but the depth chart behind him has thinned.

Backup Jake Merklinger has reportedly told staff he plans to enter the portal, and the only experienced alternatives are true freshmen and early enrollees such as George MacIntyre and incoming five-star signee Faizon Brandon.

That combination leaves Tennessee weighing whether to chase an established transfer or roll with youth.

Several other programs, including Big Ten and Big 12 teams, have also been linked to Sorsby, notably Indiana, Oregon, Penn State, and Texas Tech.

Sorsby’s decision will likely hinge on three factors: NFL feedback on his draft prospects, immediate playing opportunity, and a clear path to a starting role.

Tennessee checks two of those boxes: potential playing time if depth erodes and a high-usage offense, though competition from programs willing to offer larger NIL guarantees remains a factor.

Expect conversations and movement to heat up with the portal opening on January 2, 2025.

NIL

Ohio State football has set a new record with its unanimous All-American selections

Published

2 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Receiver Jeremiah Smith, safety Caleb Downs and defensive tackle Kayden McDonald have earned first-team All-American honors from all five major publications this postseason, officially making them unanimous selections.

In doing so, the collection of stars helped Ohio State football set a record.

The Buckeyes now have a college-football best 42 unanimous All-Americans in program history.

Alabama, which entered the season with a record 41 unanimous selections, had none. Notre Dame, which was tied with OSU at 39 coming into the season, had two (Jeremiyah Love, Leonard Moore).

This is the first time Ohio State has ever had three unanimous selections in the same year.

Five major All-American publications
Walter Camp Football Foundation
Associated Press
American Football Coaches Association
Sporting News
Football Writers Association of America

Downs is the first defensive player in program history to earn multiple unanimous All-American honors.

He’s in his second campaign at OSU after transferring from Alabama. Along with his All-American honors, Downs won the Lott IMPACT Trophy and Jim Thorpe Award this year.

Smith is also in his second season with the Buckeyes after arriving as one of the most highly-touted recruits in program history. He’s lived up to the hype, highlighted by his 80 receptions for 1,086 yards and 11 touchdowns this season.

McDonald has been a fixture in the middle of Ohio State’s defensive line, collecting 57 tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles. He’s anchored a unit allowing only 84.46 rushing yards per game.

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Joel Klatt admits his viral NCAA Tournament stance ‘was a terrible take’

Published

3 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

FOX Sports analyst Joel Klatt drew instant scrutiny this week when he made the claim that the only reason the Group of Five was in the College Football Playoff was the threat of litigation. He also suggested, in a parallel vein, that the NCAA basketball tournament isn’t an effective way to crown a champion in the sport.

He railed against Cinderellas a bit and just generally came off seeming a touch antagonistic toward both college basketball and the G5. On Thursday, he apologized for his delivery.

“I had an interesting take. It was a bad take. It was a terrible take,” Joel Klatt said on The Joel Klatt Show. “I have this take about the NCAA Tournament that is a bad take. And it’s a hot take. But it’s what I believe about the NCAA Tournament.

“Now, to be fair, what I said on their show on Monday morning early was sloppy and worded wrong. So it was kind of like I landed the plane but it was in a corn field and so like we had to hit the eject and the plane didn’t crash necessarily. Here’s the deal: I did not articulate what I wanted to articulate.”

He later spent a few minutes on his podcast further outlining his thoughts on Thursday morning. But has his stance really changed?

“Here’s the take: The NCAA basketball tournament, if the objective was to crown the best basketball team of the college basketball season, then it’s a bad format,” Klatt said. “And because of that, then it’s not fair, is what I said. And I said it is a joke and it’s the dumbest, and that’s obviously going to grab headlines. That’s stupid of me to use those terms.

“But the structure of the NCAA basketball tournament, its objective is entertainment, it’s meant to be a gauntlet. So the point is the best college basketball team for the year doesn’t always win the NCAA basketball tournament. That tournament is set up to just crown its own champion. It’s a made-for-TV, entertainment event. And it’s great. And by the way, I do love the NCAA basketball tournament. But if you’re asking me if it’s structured properly to crown the best team of the season, then the answer is no.”

Klatt would admit his opinion is unpopular. But he was unflinching in defending the heart of his point, even if not his delivery of the initial comments.

“Now… it’s a hot take. It’s a bad take,” Klatt said. “Not everyone’s going to share that with me, because everyone loves the entertainment value of Cinderellas in the NCAA basketball tournament. But there’s the thing, if you’re actually honest with yourself, you love the Cinderellas early, but late, you want to see the best teams playing against each other. You want to see incredible regional finals. You want to see Kentucky and Duke with (Christian) Laettner hitting it at the buzzer. Why? Because that’s greatness. So I root for good teams to become the participants late in the tournament.”

Here’s where the argument starts to come back around to the Group of Five and the College Football Playoff a little more. The links that were perhaps missing or not well-enough established in Joel Klatt’s initial go-round were filled in.

“In college football, ours is much more selective. We have 12 teams of 130-whatever in college football,” Klatt said. “So once we’re down to 12, well, now we don’t really want Cinderellas. And I will maintain that opinion. You can disagree and more power to you.”

As for the NCAA basketball tournament, perhaps it was just a case of Joel Klatt conflating two ideas and two different opinions that didn’t need to intersect. Maybe.

Still, the analyst stuck to his guns on his overall points. Especially with the G5 in the playoff.

“The way I said it on Monday morning was so dumb. Dumb take,” Klatt said. “And I prefaced it by saying it’s like the hottest of all takes. There’s 68 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament. So yeah, people love the Cinderellas, but you want the great teams playing late. That makes it awesome in the Final Four and the regional finals. And I’m saying we’re already at that point in college football.”

So what should the Group of Five do if they’re no longer welcome in the playoff? Well, Klatt suggested an alternative. It’s likely to be controversial. But it’s not something totally out of the realm of possibility, either.

“By the way, I’m not a Group of Five hater,” Klatt said. “I think it would be better for the Group of Five if they played their own championship, so that we could celebrate them. Focus on them. More teams could be involved, more fanbases could be involved. That would be awesome. I think that would be great for everyone. Not having to go up to Autzen and face one of the best five teams in the country. That’s impossible for JMU. … I will just say I think it would be better if they played their own playoff.”

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Marshall Faulk adds Les Miles’ son to football staff

Published

4 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

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Texas’ Michael Taaffe reveals ‘different’ approach to navigating NIL

Published

5 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

During his time at Texas, Michael Taaffe built an impressive social media following with more than 80,000 followers across Instagram and X. That platform is important in the NIL era – but Taaffe took a “different” approach.

Taaffe didn’t ink many high-profile deals during his time at Texas. He was part of Sonic’s activation along with some Longhorns teammates and Texas A&M players, and he joined Seat Geek’s initiative ahead of last year’s College Football Playoff.

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Instead, Taaffe’s focus remained on the big picture, which included his efforts with Texas Against Fentanyl. That’s why he wasn’t necessarily active in the NIL space with deals.

“I think NIL, for me, has been a little bit different because there’s opportunities that I have taken to get a little cash in the wallet, in the pocket,” Taaffe told On3 via Zoom on behalf of Allstate. “But I think, would you much rather have this little success? This little financial success that at the end of the day, when you have to go buy a house, when you have to get a car, when you have to pay rent, this little success isn’t going to matter in the long-term? Or, would you rather have success and significance to the University of Texas that will last 100 years? I chose that route.”

Taaffe focused on giving back throughout his time at Texas. His efforts in substance abuse prevention helped him win the Wuerrfel Trophy, the premier award for community service. He helped raise nearly $60,000 for Texas Against Fentanyl through a fundraiser, which he said helped cover the organization’s yearly budget.

Taaffe’s efforts went beyond substance abuse awareness, though. He also helped raise more than $100,000 for the Texas Flood Relief Foundation after the flooding at Camp Mystic earlier this year and has visited the Dell Children’s Hospital to distribute food.

But while other athletes star in ads or promote different products through NIL, Michael Taaffe wanted the ability to have a platform to make a difference. He understands why his peers have a different approach, though. It just didn’t fit with his goals.

“I don’t fault anybody for the routes they take,” Taaffe said. “But I just knew that I believe being significant is way more important than being successful.”

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Michael Wilbon claims Kalen DeBoer will leave Alabama for Michigan with loss in College Football Playoff opener

Published

6 hours ago

December 19, 2025

Your Sports Nation

The College Football Playoff gets underway Friday night as Alabama heads to Norman to take on Oklahoma. But to ESPN’s Michael Wilbon, there’s even more at stake for Crimson Tide coach Kalen DeBoer.

DeBoer’s name has been the subject of rumors throughout the offseason in the coaching carousel. Most recently, he received questions about the opening at Michigan following Sherrone Moore’s firing for cause, though he made it clear he intends to be at Alabama in 2026.

However, Wilbon didn’t sound as convinced. He predicted Alabama would not only lose to Oklahoma on Friday night, but DeBoer would also be on a flight to Ann Arbor to take the Michigan job afterward.

“Let me tell you about … two schools that could be in the coaching carousel after [Friday night],” Wilbon said Thursday on Pardon The Interruption. “Because when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – let me say it again, when Alabama loses to Oklahoma – the coach of Alabama, half the people in the state will want to run him out. And he’ll be on the carousel – oh, wait, that’s a G5 being flown to Ann Arbor, Mich., where he has said, ‘Oh, no. I ain’t got no interest in that.’ He’ll have interest [Friday night].

“And then, Alabama will be in the coaching carousel because they’ll be looking for a coach. … The Alabama coach is going to have a job-on-the-line situation in 24 hours and then, headed to Michigan once he loses. And then, Alabama’s looking. Then, what are you going to say?”

During a press conference this week ahead of the College Football Playoff opener, Kalen DeBoer was directly asked if he intended to be Alabama’s head coach next season. He responded, “Yes.”

Earlier in that press conference, DeBoer received a question about the rumors surrounding him. He again spoke highly of his tenure at Alabama so far and made it clear he’s happy in Tuscaloosa.

“A lot of the same things I said before, a couple weeks ago, when asked really the same question, just feel completely supported,” DeBoer said. “My family loves living here. Just all the things that we continue to build on, love the progress. Haven’t talked with anyone, no plans of talking with anyone. So just, I think that’s a lot of what I said a couple weeks ago, and continues to be the same thing.

“Feel strong about it. And our guys, if there’s been any distraction, I haven’t seen it, haven’t felt it. I’m really proud of the way they’ve handled whatever noise is out there. And again, we probably all season long, have dealt with enough noise to where it wouldn’t surprise me on how they handle this.”

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