NIL

Sports Business

Published

8 months ago

May 25, 2025

The headline on CBS Sports website told a depressing story, one that poisons our love of collegiate athletics — “Women’s College World Series 2025: Texas Tech’s historic NIL investment leads to program’s first appearance.” The subhead is even worse. “NiJaree Canady became the first softball player to net a $1 million NIL deal; now, she’s leading the Red Raiders to history.”

Like most of you I hate the “Wild West” we have been relegated to until the adults in the room – athletic directors, commissioners, lawyers, judges and politicians – can agree to set fence lines with the student-athletes. And the longer it takes to get ‘em strung, the more fans collegiate athletics will lose.

These kinds of stories, while true, make me angry because they are dominating the narrative of collegiate athletics. But can two things be true at the same time?

I’ve devoted the better part of my life to college athletics and frankly, the same way you’ve considered giving up your season tickets, I’ve considered pulling the plug on this old keyboard. But that was before I walked into the Friday post-game press conference, where the losing team was understandably emotional after the loss.

But it was as if someone attached me to the business end of a defibrillator as my heart started to beat for college athletics again.

On the same day we saw how money ball can change the destiny of a program with the hiring of a coach and a generational arm talent, FSU catcher Micheala Edenfield and head coach Lonni Alameda’s five-minute post-game conversation reminded us of what we have loved about college athletics, and what makes it so fundamentally different from professional sports.

The patient may be on life support, but as you listened to the interaction between Edenfield, herself an NIL recipient, and Alameda, who is battling cancer, you feel hearts beating, theirs and yours.

“While I was catching, I was looking around, trying to soak in all my surroundings at the Plex, trying to recognize the changes that happened during my time here, the new scoreboard, the speaker system, the plaque with all the All-American pieces behind home plate, taking a look at my family and really soaking that part in,” Edenfield said. “I really couldn’t have asked for anything more than for the team to be present on defense at that point.”

Down 2-0 in the top of the final inning, with a runner on first and no outs, Edenfield came to the plate to face the “Million Dollar Arm” with a chance to extend the series to game three.

“I was still very, very, emotional. It was tough; the acceptance piece,” Edenfield recalled. “I think I was 0-2 and I was breathing some of the biggest breaths of my life. And I told myself the work has been done. You just have to trust it.”

She delivered a double. Runners on second and third. No outs. The crowd was on their feet as a base hit would tie the game against the dominating Canady.

Edenfield gave credit to the mentorship of her college coach for the peace she felt at the plate with her team’s season on the line.

“She told me this past week, ‘It has all been written. It’s just a matter of trusting our process and what that looks like. Control the ‘feelings’ part and come out with the facts,’ ” Edenfield said of the softball coach’s hardball life lesson.

Yes, there were questions about softball but it was the conversations in between those questions that remind us of why college sports, played by 17- to 22-year olds, is foundationally different than adult pro leagues.

“What did this team mean for you?” a reporter asked Alameda, who paused to gather herself before answering what was a question she answered from the heart.

“You talk about adversity,” she began, choking back tears. “It has definitely meant a lot. For me personally, it has been my rock (during cancer treatment). “(I) could come here for four or five hours and not have to think about what is going on.

“(The team) are so good about having love. ‘How you doing?’ Check in. And go from there. So it’s been cool, you know? It’s been part of my process — going every week — and now I’m going to have to call someone for that process to help me out. Yeah, it’s been a lot. It’s been emotional a lot. We’ll see how we move forward. I have a couple more infusions to go.”

Alameda had more to say about the life lessons they experienced together.

“It’s crazy. We talked about adversity in the beginning, not knowing this was going to happen,” she said. “We’ve had so many things hit us left, right and center, and we bounce back. I would just allude to what Michaela said, we’ve been a really tight group, so we’ve been able to handle any kind of adversity. And when I introduced the word adversity, I knew we would be travelling a lot, so the girls would be tired because we would be in a lot of different time zones. I had no idea Kennedy (Harp) would go down, we’d have a (campus) shooting, we would have cancer… I just had no idea all those other things would be coming, and they’ve handled it with great grace and pride and love and I’m just thankful for my situation in particular, too.”

The next question went to Edenfield who had been crying through Alameda’s answer.

“Oh God,” she said, between a sob and a laugh. “I can’t even look over (at Alameda).”

And then she spoke of what I believe is the reason collegiate athletics is so worth fighting for, and that is the personal development that occurs when a program does it right.

“She truly represents what she speaks of,” Edenfield said of her coach and life mentor. “You’ve got to think (about) 17- and 18-year-old girls deciding to commit to Florida State and you think about the word family. A lot of programs talk about family. I always said the reason I came to Florida State was because family was felt, not spoken. And it speaks volumes top down.”

Now looking directly at Coach Alameda, Edenfield said, “She would probably take the selfless route here, but this place would not be anywhere how it is without her. And I hope you know that.”

In athletics we talked about the collegiate years, from 17 to 22, being the most formative of a student-athlete’s life, where everyone in the building and in the community has an impact on the student-athlete, by their walk as much as their talk.

“I can’t tell you how many times life isn’t perfect and for someone to recognize that from a people perspective and from a softball perspective is so special here,” Edenfield said of Alameda, “because it’s about growing the game but it’s also about growing better people at the same time. I’ve just been so grateful for all five years I’ve spent here, not only to become a better softball player than I ever thought I would be but to leave here a better person, to leave here feeling I’m ready for the real world. For all the girls going through committing and deciding where to go, it speaks volumes when family is felt and not told.”

That short five-minute segment brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my face because it reminded me, and I suggest it should remind us all, that even though Edenfield received NIL compensation from FSU, she also earned a degree and it is abundantly clear she is grateful for the rich developmental experience, which again remains the essence of collegiate athletics even in this NIL era.

Not just women’s sports

I know what you are thinking, the cynic in you says FSU’s women’s programs are awesome and have always been about more than just money. And that may be a fair point as a stereotype. Yes, many women do express their feelings better than most men, including gratitude, but I have the benefit of being exposed to enough male athletes who are also earning degrees and are grateful for their collegiate experience, even if they don’t express it as eloquently as Edenfield.

In fact, FSU Athletics set a record for highest GPA on its football team and across all 18 sports, each of which averaged a 3.0 or better GPA. So obviously not every athlete is attending FSU just to collect their NIL paycheck.

Can we find just a little balance in the narrative we choose to write and talk about?

That CBS headline, while true, is one of many that are fueling a not-completely-accurate narrative that is eroding fan support for collegiate athletics. Those of us who love the game and can still see it’s redeeming value, need to balance the narrative by telling the tradional collegiate stories when we see them.

As I write this, the network ran a long, pre-game feature on FSU star pitcher Jamie Arnold who has raised over $11,000 thus far for a young fan, Bradley, who suffers from Cystic Fibrosis. Arnold is donating $25 per strikeout this season and encourages others to help his friend too.

For more information and to donate,

In the coming months I want do more old-school player features, which introduce players to readers in a way that could help to balance the narrative. What are their interests, college major, and life ambitions? Allow the readers to judge for themselves whether the player is appreciative of the opportunity he’s being afforded to develop as a person or playing strictly for the money.

Some thoughts after the game

Canady is the real deal as a pitcher and helped her own cause with a home run in a 3-0 win in game one and its fair to say the 2024 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award winner is also a good interview and ambassador for both Texas Tech and Women’s Collegiate Softball.

But, it’s also objective to note, she didn’t single handedly win the series without help from the Seminoles and her teammates.

Going into the game, you knew FSU’s pitching would have to hold Texas Tech to two earned runs or less per game, which they did. And, the defense would have to play characteristically good defense, which they did not with seven infield errors alone in the second game, which accounted for both unearned runs in the 2-1 loss. That was a surprise.

I think we all thought generating runs would be a challenge. But if FSU could barrel enough balls, you would expect the No. 12 seed to kick the ball around enough for FSU to score more than one run. FSU did barrel some but too frequently they were right at a TT defender who fielded their positions better than expected.

Tip of the cap to Tech; they were a more complete team than expected.

Was it just the million dollars?

Let’s be honest. Canady didn’t transfer from Stanford to Texas Tech for the academics. There are 210 schools ranked between Stanford at No. 4 and Tech at No. 214.

I squirmed when I read this ESPN quote about her decision. “I feel like people thought I heard the number and just came to Texas Tech, which wasn’t the case at all,” she told ESPN. “If I didn’t feel like Coach Glasco was an amazing coach and could lead this program to be where we thought it could be, I wouldn’t have come.”

Don’t miss the relevance of the second part of that quote as not only did Tech invest in an arm, in 2024 they invested in a sport with the hiring of Cary Glasco.

Glasco’s resume lends credence to the back half of that quote. He’s been successful at Georgia, Texas A&M, LSU and Louisiana, as well as at the professional level, so she did have reason to believe he could do what they just did, take TT to the Women’s College World Series.

Glasco has been a part of 12 NCAA Tournament appearances, six NCAA Super Regionals and three Women’s College World Series. Make that four. He also engineered three championships in the National Pro Fastpitch League, and a national championship at the 18U level in travel ball.

Obviously, the relevance of her quote is challenging. Programs with alumni bases with passion for a sport have always been able to invest in that sport by building eye-catching facilities, paying top dollar for coaches, and illegally paying players. Now it’s legal and out in the open.

How did Tech do it?

Do you recognize the name Cody Campbell? He’s the 39-year-old Texas Tech booster who formed the “Matador Club,” Texas Tech’s NIL collective.

A Google search on Campbell tells us his money comes from the sale of his oil company for $4.08 billion in cash and stock, and that he chairs TT’s board of regents.

You may remember when President Donald Trump wanted Nick Saban to co-chair a college athletics review committee? We’ll it was Campbell who was to be Saban’s co-chair. Yeah, that committee – the one Saban says there’s no reason for – and is now “on hold.”

Don’t sleep on programs like the Red Raiders or Lubbock for that matter. Love me some Buddy Holly, so I won’t hate on a town that counts two monuments to Holly among its top five attractions. Hard to believe that beautiful voice was silenced at 22.

Lubbock, a pretty-enough town of 267,000, is what I consider a Texas version of Tallahassee, only without the state Capital or the Gulf of Mexico or however we choose to identify with it. Let’s just say no one has ever woken up in either town wondering how they got there. You must try. Planes, trains and automobiles … and a burro just in case.

Lubbock is 381 miles from Dallas and 591 miles from Houston and there’s nothing but tumbleweeds, longhorn cattle and tiny towns like Spur and Muleshoe in between. Lubbock is 641 miles from Canady’s hometown of Topeka, Kansas, which could help explain her move as well as her friendship with KC Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

No, Lubbock is not Palo Alto, where within a short drive you can be watching the Giants in San Fran, the 49ers in San Jose, drive the Monterey Peninsula to Carmel, or spend a day at Half Moon Bay watching big wave surfers wrestle 60-footers at “Maverics.”

If you are going to invest $1 million in one player

More than in any other sport, a great softball pitcher can dominate a series like no other sport. And Canady is one of, if not the hardest throwers ever in the sport, consistently hitting mid-70s. Understand that in softball the pitching rubber is just 43 feet from the plate, where it is 60 feet away in baseball. A 75-mph softball gets to the plate as quick as a 115.5 mph baseball. The fastest pitch in MLB history is 105.8 mph.

While Seminole fans would have rather not have seen Canady, they did get to see one of the best to ever play the game.

“We’re talking about Bo Jackson. We’re talking about Herschel Walker,” Glasco said via ESPN. “We’re talking about a once-in-a-generation player that’s already made a name all over America. She’s a folk hero in our sport and she’s a sophomore.”

While we find collegiate athletics in these troubling times, looking for a lifeline from anyone, let’s try to remind ourselves of those good things about college athletics that are still worth fighting for.

NIL

Demond Williams announces he’ll return to Washington for junior season

Published

5 minutes ago

January 9, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Demond Williams Jr.’s dalliance with the transfer portal has come to an end.

The Washington quarterback, who announced Tuesday that he planned to enter the portal despite signing a contract with Washington four days prior, wrote in an Instagram post Thursday that he is “excited to announce that I will continue my football journey at the University of Washington.”

Williams wrote that the decision came “after thoughtful reflection with my family.”

Williams’ return ends a two-day saga over the quarterback’s status.

Williams signed a contract agreeing to return to the Huskies in early January, a Washington source close to the negotiations told The Athletic on Tuesday night. Yet, Williams said in an Instagram post Tuesday that transferring was “best for me and my future.” Williams had not filed any paperwork with Washington compliance officers to have his name entered into the portal before making his announcement on social media.

Washington sources told The Athletic after Williams’ announcement that the program had “no intention” of releasing the quarterback from the contract he signed Jan. 2 and was prepared to pursue legal action to enforce the terms of the contract, according to a person briefed on the situation.

On Thursday night, ESPN reported that Williams was “leaning toward returning,” and a Washington source told The Athletic that the program was willing to “take back” its star.

Shortly after Williams posted that he was returning, Washington head coach Jedd Fisch and athletic director Patrick Chun also released statements on social media confirming Williams’ return.

Statements from Head Coach Jedd Fisch and UW Director of Athletics Pat Chun. pic.twitter.com/gq7wDL0cn5

— Washington Athletics (@UWAthletics) January 9, 2026

“Over the last few days, Demond and I have engaged in very honest and heartfelt conversations about his present and future,” Fisch wrote. “We both agree that the University of Washington is the best place for him to continue his academic, athletic, and social development.

“I appreciate Demond’s statement. I support him, and we will work together to begin the process of repairing relationships and regaining the trust of the Husky community.”

Chun wrote that the situation was “emblematic of the many current issues in college sports,” adding, “It is critical in this post-House, revenue-sharing environment that contracts with student-athletes are not only enforced but respected by everyone within the college sports ecosystem.”

Leaving Washington after signing a contract could have potentially been costly for Williams.

The Big Ten has a revenue-share contract template that its schools use, varying slightly based on different state laws or individual negotiations. Those contracts state that if a player intends to transfer before the end of a payment period, he owes the remaining amount on his contract, unless the school agrees to accept a buyout from the player or the player’s next school, according to multiple copies obtained by The Athletic. The contracts also state that the school is “not obligated” to enter a player into the portal.

In this case, Williams would likely have owed Washington $4 million for the one-year deal if his deal was based on those templates. The buyout also could have counted toward his next school’s revenue-sharing cap, according to Collegiate Sports Commission rules.

However, it’s unclear if such contracts would hold up in court. Williams obtained the services of noted NIL lawyer Darren Heitner earlier Thursday, but it doesn’t appear this will be challenged. Former Georgia defensive end Damon Wilson II last month sued Georgia’s athletic association over its attempt to get $390,000 from his decision to transfer last year. The case is ongoing.

Big Ten officials held a call with the conference’s athletic directors earlier Thursday to assure them that the league office would support Washington in its enforcement of the contract, according to a person involved in the meeting.

Williams followed Fisch to Seattle two years ago after committing to Arizona out of high school. However, before signing with Fisch at Arizona, Williams initially committed to Ole Miss and Lane Kiffin in late 2022. He de-committed the following summer. Williams started the 2025 season, with Fisch not holding back the hype for his quarterback entering the season.

“I would probably say, at this age, not even 19, he’s the best player I’ve ever been around,” Fisch said on the “Until Saturday” podcast last spring. “… My goal from when I started recruiting him in high school, and I told him this, we’re going to partner up and find a way to be in New York City when it’s time for the Heisman.”

Williams has thrown for 4,009 yards and 33 touchdowns against nine interceptions, adding 893 rushing yards and eight rushing touchdowns in 26 career games at Washington. In his first season as the starter, he passed for 3,065 yards and 25 touchdowns, earning All-Big Ten honorable mention honors.

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Bo Jackson could leave Ohio State, seeking major NIL deal

Published

1 hour ago

January 9, 2026

Your Sports Nation

After Ohio State’s College Football Playoff exit at the hands of the Miami Hurricanes, the Buckeyes have been bleeding players to the transfer portal.

22 Buckeyes have entered the portal as of Wednesday afternoon, including two running backs, James Peoples and Sam Williams-Dixon.

Now, Ohio State may be at risk of losing a third, the program’s star freshman.

Ohio State portal entries so far, with 9 Days left in the portal:
– QB Lincoln Keinholz
– RB James Peoples
– RB Sam Williams Dixon
– WR Quincy Porter
– WR Mylan Graham
– WR Bryson Rodgers
– WR Damarion Witten
– TE Jaleni Thurman
– IOL Tegra Tshabola
– IOL Jayvon McFadden…

— Swish (@swishxvibes) January 7, 2026

Ohio State running back Bo Jackson may be entering the transfer portal if the Buckeyes cannot meet the desired amount he and his camp are seeking. According to WBNS-TV, Jackson is seeking an NIL deal that would surpass what Ohio State’s running backs earned last season and rival some NFL rookie contracts.

“From what I understand, the request from [Bo Jackson] is more than what TreVeyon [Henderson]’s salary was for the New England Patriots this year,” Jeremy Birmingham said on The Beat with Austin & Birm Thursday morning. “And, more than both TreVeyon and Quinshon [Judkins] made in their final year at Ohio State, and maybe combined.”

Per reports from On3, Judkins’ NIL valuation at the end of his Ohio State career was $1.1 million. For Henderson, while less than his counterpart, reportedly made over $700,000 at the end of the 2023 season.

Additionally, Henderson’s contract with the New England Patriots is a four-year rookie deal valued at just over $11 million, with a $4.7 million signing bonus. Henderson’s rookie year base pay with New England is $840,000, with a $1.1 million signing bonus.

Based on those figures, it appears that Jackson and his camp may be requesting the Buckeyes to pay somewhere in the realm of $1.8 million to retain the freshman.

If all the rumors are true, Ohio State will have to decide whether spending a huge chunk of its NIL money to pay just one starter is worth not letting him slip into the transfer portal. A nearly $2 million NIL deal for Ohio State would cost around 10 percent of the program’s total NIL budget of last season, which Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said cost around $20 million.

Ohio State will have to decide if Jackson’s freshman performance is worth the high pay. During his first year as a Buckeye, Jackson rushed for 1,090 yards (No. 24 nationally) and six touchdowns (No. 120 nationally) over the span of 13 games. Jackson averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

In Judkins and Henderson’s final seasons with Ohio State, the running back duo both rushed for more than 1,000 yards each and combined for 24 rushing touchdowns in 16 games.

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College football program loses 34 players to transfer portal

Published

2 hours ago

January 9, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Just one year ago, Colorado was one of college football’s most talked-about success stories.

The Buffaloes finished 9–4 in 2024, riding national attention, high-profile transfers, and head coach Deion Sanders’ star power into bowl relevance and Big 12 respectability.

As a result, expectations entering 2025 were significantly higher, with the belief that continuity and experience would push the program forward.

Instead, the season collapsed: Colorado stumbled to a 3–9 record, managing just one conference win and struggling on both sides of the ball.

The Buffaloes routinely found themselves outmatched, and the optimism that defined the previous year slowly gave way to frustration as the team lost its final five games, including back-to-back conference losses to Utah and Arizona, both of which saw Colorado allow 50-plus points.

Adding insult to injury, former blue-chip recruit Kam Mikell announced his decision to enter the transfer portal on Wednesday, becoming the 34th Colorado player to leave the program since the end of the season.

A highly regarded, four-star recruit (No. 2 ATH in the 2024 class by 247Sports) when he arrived, Mikell was initially viewed as an offensive chess piece capable of contributing at wide receiver or in the backfield.

In 2025, Mikell’s role shifted primarily to the run game as Colorado searched for offensive answers, appearing in 10 games and totaling 75 rushing yards on 19 carries (3.9 yards per carry), along with two receptions for 5 yards.

Despite his athletic upside, a defined role never materialized, ultimately leading him to pursue another opportunity elsewhere.

More concerning, however, is that his exit reflects a broader exodus that has rapidly reshaped the roster.

Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Kam Mikell. — Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; Colorado Buffaloes wide receiver Kam Mikell (18) runs the ball during the second quarter against the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium. | Ben Queen-Imagn Images

More than 30 scholarship players have entered the portal, highlighted by leading receiver Omarion Miller (808 yards, eight touchdowns on 45 receptions) and leading tackler Tawfiq Byard (79 total tackles), along with several linemen and depth contributors.

The volume of departures is among the highest in the country this cycle.

This level of churn is not entirely new under Sanders, who, since arriving at Colorado in 2023, has aggressively leveraged the transfer portal to rapidly overhaul the roster with experienced college players and high-profile recruits.

To his credit, those exits have been paired with incoming talent, as Colorado has already added 22 transfers, including Texas linebacker Liona Lefau, Missouri offensive tackle Jayven Richardson, and Notre Dame cornerback Cree Thomas.

Still, the scale of departures following a losing season is far from ideal.

NIL

UCLA lands a top transfer in James Madison running back Wayne Knight

Published

3 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Your Sports Nation

UCLA has landed a transfer who could hasten Bob Chesney’s rebuilding efforts.

Wayne Knight verbally committed to following Chesney from James Madison to Westwood on Wednesday, giving the new Bruins coach a high-quality running back to pair with quarterback Nico Iamaleava.

Showing what he could do on a national stage last month, Knight ran for 110 yards in 17 carries against Oregon in the College Football Playoff. It was the fifth 100-yard rushing game of the season for Knight on the way to being selected a first team All-Sun Belt Conference player.

Combining excellent speed with the toughness needed to break tackles, the 5-foot-6, 189-pound Knight led the conference with 1,357 rushing yards. He also made 40 catches for 397 yards and averaged 22.3 yards on kickoff returns and 9.5 yards on punt returns. His 2,039 all-purpose yards were a school record, helping him become an Associated Press second team All-American all-purpose player after ranking third nationally with 145.6 all-purpose yards per game.

Knight, who will be a redshirt senior next season in his final year of college eligibility, becomes the seventh player from James Madison to accompany Chesney to UCLA, joining wide receiver Landon Ellis, defensive back DJ Barksdale, tight end Josh Phifer, edge rusher Aiden Gobaira, right guard Riley Robell and offensive lineman JD Rayner.

UCLA also has received verbal commitments from Michigan wide receiver Semaj Morgan, Florida wide receiver Aidan Mizell, San Jose State wide receiver Leland Smith, Iowa State running back Dylan Lee, Boise State offensive tackle Hall Schmidt, Virginia Tech defensive back Dante Lovett, Iowa State defensive back Ta’Shawn James and California edge rusher Ryan McCulloch.

But no incoming player can match the production of Knight, whose highlights included a career-high 211 rushing yards — including a 73-yard touchdown — against Troy in the Sun Belt championship game, earning him most valuable player honors for the Dukes’ 31-14 victory.

Knight will join a group of running backs that includes senior Jaivian Thomas (294 yards rushing and one touchdown in 2025), redshirt senior Anthony Woods (294 yards rushing in 2025) and redshirt freshman Karson Cox (nine yards in two carries during his only appearance as a true freshman).

With Knight on board, the Bruins presumably have their starting running back in Year 1 under their new coach.

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NIL

LSU’s $3.5 million NIL offer to Cincinnati transfer QB Brendan Sorsby revealed

Published

4 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Your Sports Nation

Former Cincinnati quarterback Brendan Sorsby took over the title as college football’s most-expensive player after reportedly inking a $5 million agreement with Texas Tech, according to On3’s Pete Nakos. Sorsby formally committed to the Red Raiders on Sunday night over heavy interest from LSU and new head coach Lane Kiffin.

According to Nakos, Sorsby’s deal with free-spending Texas Tech will make him one of the highest-paid quarterbacks in college football in 2026 after former Georgia QB Carson Beck signed a $3-3.5 million deal with Miami last offseason that could reach $5-6 million with incentives. Duke quarterback Darian Mensah earned $4 million this past season after transferring from Tulane.

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But before the oil money-backed Red Raiders raised the financial bar, LSU and Kiffin reportedly offered Sorsby a financial package much more in line with the Mensah deal last year, proposing a $3.5 million offer, according to documents obtained by Yahoo! Sports insider Ross Dellenger. LSU’s Sorsby offer included a third-party NIL marketing deal through the Tigers’ multi-media rights partner, Playfly Sports Properties, that would be exempt from counting against the school’s revenue-sharing cap, per Dellenger.

Documents: LSU proposed to QB Brendan Sorsby a $3.5M NIL guarantee thru its MMR partner.

In a fascinating window into QB bidding wars, schools are using corporate sponsors to exceed the cap with lucrative promises that haven’t yet passed the clearinghousehttps://t.co/5Or09TFtk9 pic.twitter.com/pOztmpsOK2

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) January 7, 2026

The 11-page NIL contract between Playfly and Sorsby, obtained by Dellenger, was never signed and is purely a proposed service agreement. Though it does provide an interesting look at how schools are utilizing outside NIL agreements to develop a compensation package without exceeding college football’s $20.5 million salary cap that stems from the House vs. NCAA settlement in June.

Dellenger also points out that the proposed contract would be, in theory, only a portion of Sorsby’s total compensation. The NIL deal even includes certain language suggesting LSU also planned to compensate Sorsby through direct revenue-share payments from the school, likely in the range of at least $1 million for a total figure that would be competitive with Texas Tech‘s $5 million package, per Dellenger.

The $3.5 million NIL deal is a marketing guarantee created by Playfly through NILSU MAX, an independent, self-sustaining collective formed in conjunction with LSU athletics and Playfly to “identify and secure NIL opportunities for Tiger student athletes,” according to the university’s website.

As Dellenger points out, the Sorsby contract obtained by Yahoo! Sports “shines a light on the method in which universities — not just LSU — are assembling financial packages for some athletes: with a portion of direct university revenue-share payments, plus a portion of NIL third-party guarantees that have been promised yet not cleared.”

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NIL

SEC’s great college football ride over

Published

5 hours ago

January 8, 2026

Your Sports Nation

How big did ESPN crash with its unfettered bias in promoting the SEC for postseason play?

Well, it’s hovering around a face plant.

The network’s favorite horses for college football’s greatest prize have mostly faltered.

Only one SEC team is left in the playoffs.

And what this all means is the SEC has been caught by the rest of college football. It is no longer, in a competitive sense, light years or even a bright blinking stop light, ahead of the rest of the Power Four conferences.

If the ACC’s Miami beats the SEC’s Mississippi Thursday night, ESPN and the CFP committee greasing of the SEC pathway was felonious piracy of playoff money.

When the SEC loses one of its biggest foghorns in Paul Finebaum, you know that storied, propped-up league is in the doldrums and exposed in the era of NIL, where everybody else can pay their players.

Finebaum, a longtime Alabama radio host and national TV personality, went on ESPN’s “First Take” on Tuesday and admitted, even he, voted by Awful Announcing.com as the most biased personality in college football, could not defend the SEC this season and its limitless hypothetical victories.

The CFP committee gave the SEC five of the 12 playoff berths. The SEC is 2-7 in bowl games this postseason.

No. 9 Alabama, gifted a berth after almost losing to two-win (SEC) Auburn got annihilated by No. 1 seed Indiana. No. 8 Oklahoma, No. 7 Texas A&M, No. 3 Georgia have all been eliminated. Only No. 6 Mississippi remains and plays No. 10 Miami Thursday night.

Here’s Finebaum’s admission.

“There’s no way to defend the SEC,” Finebaum told “First Take” with Stephen A Smith. “It’s been terrible.”

“I kept wrapping my arms around Alabama and saying, ‘Stephen A. remember what they did, they went through that gauntlet in the middle of the year,” said Finebaum.

“Well, a lot of those teams they beat really weren’t very good after all. They lost in bowl games, and they looked terrible. So it’s a rough year for the SEC. Ole Miss is it, regardless of the Lane Kiffin story, which I know we’re going to talk about. But if Ole Miss loses Thursday night and I’m sitting around having to defend this league to you, Stephen A. saying ‘No big deal that it’s three years without an SEC team in the national championship game’ there’s no defense. It’s been rough,” Finebaum admitted.

Writing for ESPN, longtime college football pundit Dan Wetzel put it this way:

“It’s not that the SEC isn’t still “good” or even capable of winning a national championship — Ole Miss might very well do it. Top to bottom, it might still be the best league, with the majority of schools all-in on football.

“That said, the days of complete domination, all-SEC national title games or deep, juggernaut teams are clearly gone, perhaps forever. This isn’t the same.”

What’s happened is both good and bad.

Good because college football television viewership is skyrocketing. It’s never been so popular to follow, watch and get involved in what’s going on between the sidelines.

It’s bad because of all the chaos, movement, gaudy money numbers and purchase of talent.

For the SEC, revenue sharing, NIL and the transfer portal has spread around talent to other programs and hurt the depth of their own teams.

Alabama used to be the king of talent. So was Georgia.

Now we’re seeing those storied programs get pushed around, ran past and chased down and tackled.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema told ESPN this week, “This is the most fun I’ve ever had in coaching because you know you’re on a more equal playing field. The introduction of the portal, NIL, and revenue sharing is the most game-changing development in my 32 years of coaching.

“It’s hard when you would do what you have to do as long as you possibly could and in the end, sometimes it just didn’t matter,” Bielema explained about recruiting back when he was at Arkansas and Wisconsin.

“Now you just come to work every day knowing that blue blood, red blood, orange blood, whatever, everybody’s got a chance, man.”

Before Texas Tech’s tires blew out against Oregon, we saw the Red Raiders purchase themselves a Big 12 championship and berth in the CFP.

We’ve seen Indiana, check that, Indiana, become the nation’s darling and No. 1 team in the country and favorite to win it all.

Ohio State is home. Oklahoma is home. Texas is watching from home with Georgia and Alabama and Penn State.

The door is open.

Yes, it’s all kind of a mess.

But recent chaos has become the game’s equalizer.

It has also exposed the raw brand worship and advancement of SEC teams by the media, especially ESPN, the owner of CFP television rights for all the games.

ESPN’s interest? Is it really determining a fair field? Or advancing its ratings by picking brands for increased revenue?

The fact the SEC gets an unfair advantage in preseason polls, then rides that with questionable scheduling and far too much credit for intra-conference wins, has been exposed.

It is a mess that’s taken the SEC off its high saddle ride and made the rest of the cowboys eligible to enjoy the roundup rodeo.