CLEVELAND – – For their strong play over the course of the 2025 Mid-American Conference season, redshirt senior catcher McKayla Timmons and sophomore shortstop Maia Pietrzak were honored by the MAC’s 11 head coaches Tuesday (May 6) with the release of the league’s postseason honors.
 
Along with earning First Team All-MAC honors for the third consecutive season, Timmons was named both the MAC Player of the Year and the inaugural recipient of MAC Defensive Player of the Year. Timmons is the seventh different player in program history to earn MAC Player of the Year honors.
 
Meanwhile, Pietrzak earned First Team All-MAC honors for the first time in her collegiate career. 
 
With both Timmons and Pietrzak earning First Team All-MAC accolades, the Cardinals have now had 58 all-time first team selections and 37 since the 2009 season, second only to Miami’s 41 during the same span.
 
The Ball State softball team opens Mid-American Conference Softball Championship play Wednesday at Noon as the No. 4 seed and will take on fifth-seeded Akron at Firestone Stadium in Akron, Ohio.
 
MORE ON TIMMONS:
Recognized as one of the top catchers in the nation by both D1Softball.com and SoftballAmerica.com, Timmons paced all Mid-American Conference players with a 1.486 OPS during league play. The effort helped her drive in 27 RBI and score 27 runs to account for 45 total runs (factoring out driving herself in with nine home runs).
 
Timmons owned a MAC-best .903 slugging percentage and a league-high .583 on base percentage and reached base safely in 24 of Ball State’s 25 league games, including via a hit in 19 of those games. She produced a .403 batting average in MAC play, which ranks eighth among all league players, while her 27 walks in #MACtion were nine more than the next closest player. She was hit by four pitches, giving her 31 free bases against MAC foe.
 
All those free bases, along with her 29 hits, helped her rank fourth in the league with 10 stole bases. Looking back at her 29 hits, 17 went for multiple bases, including her nine home runs, seven doubles and one triple.
 

On an individual game basis, Timmons scored at least one run in 17 league games, while driving in at least one RBI in 13. She started league play by driving in what proved to be the game-winning runs with two-run home runs in Ball State’s two wins over Akron (March 14 & 15), while adding another game-winning two-run blast versus Buffalo (April 27).
 
Along with her offense, Timmons set the defensive tone for the squad with her play behind the plate. Not only did she not commit an error in 93 chances in league play, but she shut down the running game of opposing teams by her presence behind the plate.
 
Teams have a league-low six stolen base attempts against Timmons in MAC play, with her throwing out one of the runners trying to steal. She also kept runners closer to the first base bag than any other league catcher, with a pair of pickoffs in MAC play.
 
MORE ON PIETRZAK:
No player scored more runs in MAC play than Pietrzak who crossed the plate 37 times in BSU’s 25 league games, which is nine times more than the next closes player. She boasted a .398 batting average in league play, which tied ninth overall, registering five doubles a triple and four home runs.
 
Along with her team-leading 33 hits in MAC play, Pietrzak drew 13 walks and was hit by a pitch nine times for a .519 on base percentage. The effort helped her tie for team-high honors with 10 stolen bases in league games.
 
Pietrzak also scored what proved to be the game-winning run in four of BSU’s 16 league wins, while also collecting three game-winning RBIs. The first came on a two-run triple in the eighth inning at Kent State (April 5). She added a two-run double in the bottom of the fourth in BSU’s first win over Miami (April 12) to give BSU the lead for good in that contest, while plating the eventual winning run with a sac fly in the opening-game victory at Western Michigan (April 16).

2025 Softball All-MAC Teams & Specialty Awards

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Central Michigan Softball had their name on five spots in the post-season awards for the 2025 season.
 
Carly Sleeman and Mackenzie Langan were honored as First Team All-MAC members after stellar years in MAC play.
 
Sleeman ends her regular season as a sophomore posting an impressive .390 batting average which is 15^th best in the conference. Sleeman posted high offensive numbers all season for the Chippewas, including 30 hits in MAC play, four doubles, nine home runs, 27 RBI and slugged .792 across 25 games played.
 
Against Bowling Green this season, Sleeman charted her 48^th RBI of the 2025 year – the best in a single season in program history.
 
In MAC play, Sleeman threw four runners out who attempted to steal on her, holding her opponents to just nine stolen bases across 25 games. Three of the four runners caught by Sleeman had been caught one time in the entirety of the 2025 season – by the Chippewa catcher.
 
In twelve different MAC games, there was not one runner who even attempted to steal on Sleeman.
 
The last Chippewa catcher to earn first team honors was Masion Kalina in 2018.
 
Mackenzie Langan emerged as not only a strong arm for the Chippewa squad, but also as a perennial arm in the MAC. Langan boasts a 2.03 ERA in conference play which is second best in the conference through the 25 games played for CMU.
 
Langan collected nine wins in her 10 games started for CMU through MAC play with 65.6 innings pitched, allowing just 61 hits, good for 10^th best in the conference. The junior struck out 53 conference foes, 11 of which were strikeouts looking. Holding her opponents to just a .241 batting average, Langan truly emerged as one of the best in the MAC earning her first team honor.
 
Langan is the first pitcher for CMU to be named First Team All-MAC since Grace Lehto earned the honor in the 2023 season.
 
Earing Second Team All-MAC honors were sophomore Grace Koenig and freshman London Williams.
 
Koenig, who earns the spot as a third baseman for the Chippewas hit .364 in MAC play, with 24 hits, 16 runs scored, five doubles, a triple and a home run with 13 RBI.
 
The last third baseman to earn a post season honor for CMU was Amy Hudson in 2008.
 
Serving as the designated player for CMU all season, freshman London Williams has already established herself as one of the greats in Chippewa softball from an offensive standpoint. Williams posted a .338 batting average in conference play with 27 hits, six doubles, seven home runs.

Williams’ offensive numbers were not only impressive on the Chippewas’ team, but also throughout the MAC.

 

Of all players, Williams ranked in the top 25 in seven categories through MAC play – the most by any freshman in the conference. Williams total for home runs, slugging percentage, OPS, walks and hit by pitch totals, doubles, on-base percentage and runs scored rank her in that top 25.

 

Her batting average and total number of hits rank her in the top 30 in the conference.

 

These numbers earned Williams not only a Second Team All-MAC honor, but also a spot on the All-Freshman team.

 

Three CMU Softball players have ever tagged a spot on either First or Second Team All-MAC and a spot on the All-Freshman team in the same season: London Williams (2025), Allison Curtis (2016) and current assistant coach for CMU, Brittini Merchant (2008).

 

Maddison Diekman also earned a spot on the All-Freshman Team after her standout year at the plate and defensively. Starting every MAC game as the Chippewa shortstop, Diekman boasted a .957 fielding percentage with 32 putouts, 34 assists over 69 chances.

 

At the plate, Diekman served as both the leadoff and in the nine-hole for CMU in her freshman season.

 

Diekman posted a .302 batting average in conference play, charted 16 hits, three doubles with eight RBI. Diekman also drew eight walks for CMU with four stolen bases.

 

The two earning the honor marks the first time in program history that the Chippewas have had two freshmen named to the All-Freshman team, with 12 total honorees in program history. Most recently when Carly Sleeman earned the honor in the 2024 season.

 

Team 47 will start the Mid-American Conference Tournament on Wednesday, May 7^th in Akron, Ohio. The Chippewas enter the tournament as the No. 3 seed and will face NIU, the No. 6 seed for their first game.

 

For the latest news and updates on CMU Softball, follow the team on X (@cmusoftball) and Instagram (@cmichsoftball).

 

 

FORT COLLINS – The Colorado State softball team had three Rams named to Mountain West All-Conference honors the league announced Tuesday. Brooke Bohlender and Kaylynn English were named to the second-team All-Mountain West, while Reagan Wick was named as an honorable mention.
 
The first honoree for the Rams is middle-infielder Kaylynn English who was named to the All-Mountain West second-team. The sophomore led the Ram’s offense with a .375 batting average, good for 14th in the Mountain West. English finished tied for second in the league in triples after recording three during Mountain West games, contributing to her .556 slugging percentage, which ranks 20th in the conference. With 27 hits during conference games, English ranks eighth in the Mountain West in hits. English earns the first all-conference honor of her career in her second season as a Ram while adding 46 putouts and 43 assists from shortstop and second base.
 
The second honoree for the Rams is catcher Brooke Bohlender, who was named to the second-team all-conference. The Fort Collins native finished the conference regular season just behind English for the Rams’ offense in batting average at a .348 conference clip. The senior totaled 24 hits, ranking 17th in the Mountain West. Bohlender boasted a .420 slugging percentage as well as a .400 on-base percentage. Defensively, Bohlender maintained a 1.000 fielding percentage, tying for first in the Mountain West. From catcher and first base, Bohlender added 72 putouts and seven assists. This is the first all-conference honor of Bohlender’s career.
 
Reagan Wick rounds out the list as the second sophomore Ram to earn her first all-conference honor as a pitcher, being named to the honorable mentions list. From the circle, Wick made 15 conference pitching appearances and 13 starts for a 5.40 ERA and 59 conference strikeouts. Earning the first all-conference honor of her career, Wick pitched 80.1 innings, a career high for the sophomore. She also earned a Mountain West Pitcher of the Week honor, adding to her career resume at CSU.
 
Colorado State concluded its season last weekend in its final conference series of the year. The Rams will look forward to both Wick and English returning next season while wishing Bohlender luck in her graduation and future endeavors.
 

Rock Hill, S.C. – Coming off consecutive midweek games at home vs. Queens and Wofford last week and a six-day break due to final exams, Winthrop heads to Charleston for a re-match with The Citadel beginning on Wednesday, May 7. The game will start at 2:00 p.m. on ESPN+.
 

A LOOK AT THE CITADEL

• The two schools will meet for the 63^rd time with Winthrop leading the series, 33-29
• The most recent meeting was on Apr. 2, 2025 in Rock Hill with the Bulldogs winning 7-5
• The Eagles and the Bulldogs met for the first time on Mar. 31, 1988 in Rock Hill, with Winthrop winning 14-2 on the way to winning 17 of the first 29 contests from 1988-2006
• From 2007-2015, The Citadel won 14 of the next 18 meetings
• But since then, Winthrop has struck back by winning 12 of the next 15
• TJ Anderson was honored as the SoCon Player of the Week after leading The Citadel to a 2-1 record against UNCG
• He achieved a 5-for-8 performance (.625) with two doubles, one home run, and four RBIs. He recorded a 1.250 slugging percentage and a .727 on-base percentage and drew three walks.
• Travis Elliott, the second baseman for The Citadel, was named to the 2025 Southern Conference Preseason First Team
• A native of Lexington, South Carolina, Elliott has been a member of The Citadel baseball program for four years and is in his fifth season as a graduate student
• During the 2024 season, Elliott enjoyed his best season as a Bulldog. He started in all 52 games and recorded a batting average of .282 with 48 hits, 11 doubles, one triple, one home run, and 20 RBIs
• The Bulldogs were selected to finish seventh in the preseason coaches poll

LAST TIME OUT

• Winthrop scored their most runs since 2003 as the Eagles shutout Queens 25-0 in seven innings at home on Apr. 29
• Eagles led 11-0 after three innings of play
• Winthrop scored 10 runs in the sixth to wrap up the night
• Queens never threatened in the contest
• It was the most runs the Eagles have scored this season
• It was also the most runs the Eagles have scored vs. any opponent since defeating Wagner 28-5 on Feb. 21, 2003
• Winthrop scored in every inning
• Three Eagles had three or more hits
• Winthrop then won their fifth straight contest in a re-match with the Wofford Terriers at home the next night on Apr. 30, 5-3

A LOOK BACK AT 2024 

• The Eagles finished the 2024 season with a 19-29-1 (8-15 Big South) record
• Jaylen Hernandez and Owen Sarna were both named to the Big South All-Freshman Team
• The Sacramento Athletics in the 13th round selected Riley Huge in the MLB Draft
• Overall, Huge marks the 37th Eagle in history to be selected in the MLB Draft
• This was the second straight year that a Winthrop baseball player was drafted
• Winthrop also earned the Team Academic Excellence Award from the ABCA for the fifth consecutive year
• Winthrop finished last season having recorded the most strikeouts in nine inning games in a single season in program history (9.60 over 413.1 IP)
• Winthrop also finished last season sixth in a single season in program history with 440 strikeouts
• Against Davidson on Apr. 16, 2024, Winthrop set a new team single-game record for most times hit by pitch with seven
• In a minimum of 500 chances, Nate Chronis is currently tied for fourth in school history with a .989 fielding percentage
• He also finished last season tied for fifth in school history in most times hit by pitch in a single season with 12
• Chronis led the team in putouts last season with 275 and total chances with 306
• He was named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. Chronis started in 33 of 44 games played, batting in a season-high two runs vs. Radford on May 5
• Joey Hylinski led the team in lowest ERA last season with 2.35

WINTHROP AT A GLANCE IN 2025

• Winthrop enters 2025 predicted to finish sixth in the Big South Conference
• In his first season at the helm of the program is Mike McGuire
• McGuire is the fourth head coach in program history
• His career record is 504-377-1 in 16 years as a head coach
• McGuire returns to the Winthrop baseball program after serving as head coach at USC Upstate the last five seasons. This marks McGuire’s third stint with the Eagle program as he spent 12 seasons as an assistant coach from 1997-2002 and again in 2006-11
• The Eagles also welcome back 13 players, 11 of them starters and 27 newcomers, all either freshman or transfers
• The program has a record of 1,408-1,021-7
• Winthrop is 890-407-4 all-time at home
• Winthrop is 494-373 all-time in conference play, the winningest record in conference history
• Winthrop is 28-17 all-time in season openers
• Winthrop leads the nation in hit by pitches with 129 as of Tuesday, May 6
• Gabe Natividad is 2^nd in the nation in hit by pitch with 27 as of Monday, Apr. 28
• Following a 10-3 win over UNC Asheville, Winthrop had been hit by pitch up to that point in the season with 92
• This set a new school single-season team school record
• Last year’s team was hit by pitch 86 times
• Winthrop is 18^th in the nation in doubles with 107 as of Tuesday, May 6
• Winthrop is 14^th in the nation in runs with 420 as of Tuesday, May 6
• Koby Kropf and Owen Sarna were voted to the Big South Conference Preseason All-Conference Team
• Kropf was selected as part of D1Baseball’s Top 100 Outfielders entering the 2025 season, slotting Kropf as the 26-best in the country
• Kropf started all 60 games for conference rival USC Upstate in 2024, and became just the third player in Big South history with 20 doubles (21) and 20 home runs (20) in a season. He hit .352 overall with 20 homers, 67 runs batted in, a .704 slugging clip, 81 hits and 56 runs scored. Kropf also drew 29 walks and five hit-by-pitch and finished with a .431 on-base percentage. Kropf recorded a career-high five hits versus Presbyterian on April 27, collected a career-high five RBI versus Queens on April 16, and recorded 25 multi-hit and 19 multi-RBI games a season ago
• In Big South contests, Kropf batted .363 with eight home runs, 28 RBI, a .714 slugging average and .463 on-base clip
• Last season at USC Upstate, he earned Second-Team All-Big South honors and was a back-to-back Player of the Week honoree (April 22 and April 29)
• Kropf was named the 2025 Big South Preseason Baseball Player of the Year Kropf is the first Winthrop baseball player to earn Preseason Player of the Year honors since 2007 and the third time overall
• Sarna is coming off a freshman campaign in which he was named to the 2024 Big South Conference All-Freshman Team. He finished 9th in the Big South in overall pitching with an ERA of 4.74. His most notable performances last season were pitching a season-high 6.0 innings vs. Longwood on Mar. 17 and a season-high six strikeouts vs. Maine on Mar. 3
• Sarna ended 2024 having pitched 49.1 innings with a record of 4-4 in 13 games played. He was 2nd on the team in ERA and wins with four. He started nine games, striking out 38 batters, which was good for 4th on the team
• Harrison Wilson was named to the initial Watch List for the 20th Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, given to the top relief pitcher in NCAA Division I Baseball
• Wilson is one of the key relievers to return for the Eagles in 2024. Wilson started in nearly all the 49 games that the Eagles played last season. He started in 45 of 47 games he played in and pitched three games in relief, the only Winthrop offensive player on the season to do so. Wilson pitched a season-high 4.0 innings with 10 strikeouts and one walk at Queens (2/27) and offensively had a season-high five RBI’s vs. USC Upstate (4/6). Wilson will also play infield as well
• Wilson was also recognized by D1 Baseball as the #3 top prospect in the Big South Conference
• He tied for the team lead in walks last season with 44
• Hernandez had a terrific freshman season with the Eagles in 2024. He finished tied for 7th in the Big South in doubles with a team-leading 15 doubles; starting in all 45 games he played in, finishing the season with 157 at-bats. He was also tied for the team lead in games started and home runs with seven and led the team in RBI’s with 30 and walks with 19. He was named the Big South Freshman of the Week on May 6, which was the first weekly award of his career. A versatile player, Hernandez will DH, play first base and play in the outfield in 2025

2025 SEASON HONORS

• Koby Kropf – Redshirt senior – Outfielder
  

  • 2025 Big South Preseason Player of the Year/Preseason All-Conference Team

• Owen Sarna – Sophomore – Pitcher

  • 2025 Big South Preseason All-Conference Team

• Koby Kropf – Redshirt senior – Outfielder

  • 2025 D1Baseball’s Top 100 Outfielders

• Koby Kropf – Redshirt senior – Outfielder

  • 2025 DIBaseball’s Big South Preseason Player of the Year

• Harrison Wilson – Junior – Infielder/pitcher

  • 2025 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award Initial Watch List And The #3 Pro Prospect By The Big South Conference

• Owen Sarna-Big South Co-Starting Pitcher of the Week

  • Sarna allowed one hit and no runs over 5.2 innings to earn the win for Winthrop against Merrimack
  • He walked one and struck out nine, a new career-high
  • The right-handed sophomore struck out the side in the top of the first inning and the first four batters of the game overall
  • He finished with at least one strikeout in every inning, including fanning the final batter he faced in the sixth
  • The only hit Sarna allowed was a single to center in the top of the fifth

• Colin Crowley-Big South Freshman of the Week

  • Crowley batted .429 (6-14) with seven runs, four RBI and four doubles in Winthrop’s three-game sweep of Merrimack
  • He posted at least one double and one RBI in all three games and walked once
  • The freshman infielder went 3-for-5 with three runs, a double and one RBI in his collegiate debut on Friday
  • He added another double and an RBI in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader and then capped off the weekend with two doubles, three runs, and two RBI in the final game of the series on Sunday

• Harrison Wilson-Big South Co-Starting Pitcher of the Week

  • Wilson earned the win for Winthrop with a career-long 7.0 innings against UNC Asheville
  • The junior right-hander allowed just three hits and one run while striking out a season-high nine batters
  • He walked only two, didn’t allow an extra-base hit, and surrendered his lone run on a fielder’s choice groundout in the fourth
  • Wilson recorded strikeouts in six of his seven innings and got stronger as the game went on, fanning two batters in each of his final three frames

• Harrison Wilson – Junior – Infielder/pitcher

  • 2025 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List by the College Baseball Foundation

• Liam McCallum – Senior – Pitcher/first baseman

  • 2025 John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award Watch List by the College Baseball Foundation

• Walker Brodt-Big South Relief Pitcher of the Week

  • Brodt came on in relief in consecutive games
  • He pitched one inning vs. Davidson, giving up just one hit and striking out three batters
  • He then outdid himself two days later in the first game of the series with Gardner-Webb, pitching the final four and one thirds inning to cement the 7-5 victory, giving up a pair of hits, one and punching out six Runnin’ Bulldogs

• Nate Chronis-Big South Player of the Week

  • Chronis batted .438 (7-for-16) for the week with 15 RBI in a series sweep at Longwood, highlighted by a historic nine-RBI performance on Saturday
  • Over four games overall, he tallied four doubles, a home run, four runs scored, and two stolen bases
  • The senior delivered a career day in game two against the Lancers, going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, a pair of bases-clearing doubles, and a sacrifice fly to finish with nine RBI, tying for the most in the NCAA this season
  • Chronis opened the week by going 2-for-4 with a double at Davidson, then added a double and two RBI in Friday’s series opener in Farmville
  • He capped the weekend with another four RBI and two stolen bases to help lead the Eagles to a three-game sweep in conference play
  • He rounded out the week slugging .875 with a .455 on-base percentage

• Josh Skowronski-Big South Freshman of the Week

  • Skowronski homered twice, doubled twice, posted a pair of three-hit games, and drove in five runs across four games for Winthrop
  • He batted .421 (8-for-19) for the week, recorded at least one hit in every game, and added six runs and two stolen bases
  • After opening the week with an RBI double at Davidson, Skowronski totaled seven hits during a three-game series sweep at Longwood
  • He went 3-for-6 on Saturday, blasting a solo homer, adding an RBI single and a double, and scoring three times
  • He followed that performance by going 3-for-5 with a two-run homer on Sunday to help cap off the sweep
  • Skowronski finished the week slugging .842 with a .476 on-base percentage

• Mason Tompkins-Big South Freshman of the Week

  • Tompkins earned the midweek win for the Eagles by limiting Queens to just two hits and four total baserunners over 6.0 scoreless innings, striking out four
  • He needed only 75 pitches to complete his outing, inducing 10 popups and four groundouts while striking out the side in the second inning
  • The only hits he allowed were a leadoff single in the first and another to open the fifth, with just one runner advancing into scoring position all game

WATCH THE EAGLES ON ESPN+
Of the 33 home games this season, 22 of them will air live on ESPN+. You can also catch most of the road games in Big South Conference play on ESPN+. To watch Big South games on ESPN+ you must have a subscription to ESPN+. For more information on how to subscribe, click here.
 
WHERE TO SHOP
Find all your needs for Winthrop gear– ShopWinthropeagles.com | ShopWinthropGear.com | BSNTeamSports.com
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Winthrop heads to Radford for a three-game weekend Big South series with the Highlanders beginning on Friday, May 9 at 6:00 p.m. All three games of the series will be televised on ESPN+.

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

To keep up with the latest news on the Winthrop baseball program follow the Eagles on Twitter (@WinthropBSB), Instagram (@winthropbaseball) and Facebook (winthropbaseball).

PITTSBURGH – The No. 12 West Virginia University baseball team fell to Pitt, 10-9, Tuesday evening at Charles L. Cost Field as the Panthers rallied for five runs in the ninth inning. The Mountaineers fall to 39-8 on the season while Pitt improves to 25-21.
 
Senior Jace Rinehart had three hits and two RBI while junior Sam White collected two hits and drove in two runs. Senior Kyle West hit his seventh home run of the season and reached base four times.
 
White got the Mountaineers on the board in the first with an RBI single before a fielder’s choice from junior Logan Sauve and groundout by senior Brodie Kresser pushed across two more. In the second inning, West launched a solo home run the other way, his second in as many games.
 
Pitt got on the board in the third with three runs before senior right-hander Tyler Hutson came in and cooled the Panthers bats with six strikeouts in 4.0 innings.
 
A single from West and sacrifice fly by White extended the lead to 6-3 in the top of the sixth before a two-run home run by Pitt in the home half made it a one-run game once again.
 
In the eighth, Rinehart knocked in two with a single before senior Grant Hussey laid down a squeeze bunt in the ninth to score Kresser from third, making it 9-5.
 
However, in the bottom of the ninth, the Panthers scored five runs on three hits, a walk, two hit-by-pitches, and couple of fielder’s choices to get their first win the Backyard Brawl since 2022.
 
The Mountaineers will return to Big 12 play this weekend, May 9-11, at Kansas State. WVU sits in first place at 18-4 in conference play and is up by three games on Arizona State with six games remaining.
 

 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUBaseball on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

Former Wildcat football standout Anthony Egbo, Jr., spoke on March 4 to a congressional committee about the potential changes to name, image and likeness deals for college athletes. 

Egbo, the vice-chair of the NCAA Div. I Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, spoke to the House Energy and Commerce Committee about the importance of letting student-athletes remain students. 

“There’s been a strong push to have student athletes classified as employees,” Egbo said. “What that would do is that student athletes wouldn’t be students anymore.”

This potential legislation is based on the fact that student-athletes may be considered employees of the university instead of students who attend the school for education. Egbo said this would be detrimental to student-athletes because the quality of their education could decrease. 

Egbo emphasized the importance of letting student-athletes remain students to the Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade Subcommittee. 

“They are students who dedicate their time and energy to their sport while simultaneously earning their degree and catapulting themselves into life after athletics,” he said. “For these student-athletes, the unique opportunity to do all these things at once is unique to college sports.”

Many departments of athletics across the country have seen how some schools have lobbied their congressional representatives to write different legislation, some asking for advantages over other states. 

“Some states are writing bills that will pretty much exempt NIL money from getting taxed,” Egbo said. “So now if the University of Oregon is trying to recruit a kid that also is getting recruited by the University of Idaho, now they can offer him this amount of money and tell him that it’s not gonna get taxed, versus if he goes to another state that doesn’t have that in place, he’s gonna get taxed.”

Egbo said the most important thing for legislators to realize when it comes to NIL is that all schools need to be on a level playing field.

“Uniform rules and clarity on them are needed to ensure that NIL is here to stay;” Egbo said, “it fulfills its intended purposes and is not harmful to the ones it was created to benefit.”

Another setback for smaller universities like ACU is that football has become the basis for how popular a school is, which widens the gap even further between Football Championship Subdivision and Football Bowl Subdivision schools, even if FCS schools have basketball programs far better than FBS schools.

“As beloved as the NCAA basketball tournament is to many,” said Paul Weir, deputy athletic director and chief operating officer, “college football has become the primary element in defining a school and its relevance in the national landscape and many schools right now are jockeying for where they will end up in that landscape.”

Another drawback to classifying student athletes as employees is that it would hurt the athletics programs that do not draw as much attention or revenue. While most sports bring in at least a little bit of revenue, the main revenue-gaining sports are football and men’s basketball, Egbo said. 

“Most every other sport across the NCAA doesn’t generate revenue,” he said. “So going to an employment model would just pretty much deteriorate the opportunities of all these sports that probably don’t generate revenue.”

Another result of NIL now being considered employment law is that Title IX legislation is no longer required to be taken into consideration. Previously, universities had to provide the same opportunities to male and female athletic programs but no longer do.

Hannah Gonzalez, sophomore volleyball player from Lucas, said this makes sense, as unfortunate as it is for female athletics. She said she understands sports that make more money should receive more money, no matter if it is a male or female sport. 

“It makes sense for schools to pay money to what brings in money,” she said. “So if football is bringing in the most money, then it makes sense that football is receiving the most money. But, for example, a school like Nebraska, where volleyball is one of their biggest sports, if it’s bringing in the most money, then give those student athletes the most money.”

Egbo said schools will have to be more intentional about giving female athletes opportunities since it is no longer required by law to do so.

“I think the biggest thing is that schools have to take the initiative to make sure that they’re highlighting and giving due attention to non-revenue generating sports, specifically their women’s sports,” he said. “There has to be more of an emphasis from institutions to push that forward.”

Gonzalez has an NIL deal as the brand ambassador for First Financial Bank, a role that belonged to Egbo during his time as a student athlete. The bank recently signed six other Wildcat athletes to NIL deals in addition to Gonzalez’s deal.

The three women are Bella Earle, senior women’s basketball player from Corinth, Lili Ross, junior soccer player from Beaumont, and Elizabeth Schaefer, junior softball player from Rockwall. 

The male athletes are Bradyn Hubbard, junior men’s basketball player from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Zion Stephens, sophomore baseball player from Missouri City, and Jed Castles, junior football player from Wichita Falls.

Gonzalez said the other six were signed to deals as a group effort to introduce a new First Financial debit card, and Samantha Baker, vice president of marketing at First Financial, believed a larger group would help sell to more people. 

“This particular advertising movement was that they wanted to promote the new ACU Wildcat debit card,” Gonzalez said. “But she just wanted to get a bigger audience because it is targeted towards Wildcats.”

Many people are concerned with how student athletes will have their academics impacted in this new “era of NIL,” but Weir said college athletics has faced threats to academics several times in the past.

“The ‘one and done’ basketball players, athletes who leave early for professional opportunities, the entire idea has been around for quite some time,” Weir said. “This new era of NIL will take on a new meaning, but nothing that the NCAA, the term student-athlete, or our higher education institutions haven’t faced questions about before.”

Egbo agreed this is not new for college athletics, but also said the education of these student athletes needs to be taken more seriously, especially when it comes to athletes potentially attending four schools in four years. 

“I think a lot of these student athletes, a lot in the revenue-generating sports, are chasing the dollars right now,” Egbo said, “but they’re sacrificing educational experience, and it’s sacrificing the networking experience you get when you stay somewhere.”