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HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – The Marshall Men’s Soccer team was picked to finish first in the 2025 Sun Belt Conference Preseason Coaches Poll, as announced by the league office on Wednesday.
 
In addition to being picked atop the poll, junior defender Takahiro Fujita was named SBC Preseason Defensive Player of the Year and as a member of the conference’s all-preseason team.
 
Marshall received eight first place votes out of 10 in the poll coming in ahead of second-place WVU by five points after a run to the 2024 College Cup Championship match in 2024.
 
A native of Nara, Japan, Fujita was a Second-Team All-SBC selection in 2024 and was taken in the third round of the 2025 MLS SuperDraft by Orlando. Fujita tallied a pair of assists and a goal during the 2024 season while helping The Herd to 11 shutouts.
 
MU concludes the preseason with an exhibition at Maryland on Friday at 7:30 p.m. before opening the regular season at Hoops Family Field on August 22 at 7:15 p.m. against George Mason.
 
To donate to the Championship Fund for Marshall men’s soccer, please click HERE. All proceeds go directly to the Marshall men’s soccer team.
 
For all the latest information about Marshall men’s soccer, follow @herdmsoccer on Twitter and Instagram.

To follow all Thundering Herd sports and get live stats, schedules and free live audio, download the Marshall Athletics App for iOS and Android.

 

—HerdZone.com—

Over the last half decade, Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL), the transfer portal, and the intertwining of the two have been some of the biggest topics discussed in college football outside of the actual games, and sometimes even more so.

It’s a new era in college sports, and the current Presidential administration has taken steps to try to address the chaos. President Donald Trump recently signed an Executive Order establishing national standards surrounding NIL. Additionally, a bipartisan bill known as the Student Compensation and Opportunity through Rights and Endorsements (SCORE) Act was introduced in the House of Representatives last month.

RELATED: As new Alabama-driven NIL bill gains traction, Congress moves to rein in ‘Wild West’ of college sports

Now more so than ever, the federal government is trying to get a handle on things, and former Auburn Tigers head coach and current U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) has spoken often on the subject.

Tuberville joined Lance Griffin on Sports Talk The Ball on FM 100.1 in Dothan to discuss a myriad of topics, including NIL. When asked for an update on the legislation, the senator revealed that while he is optimistic, it’s also an extremely complicated issue to tackle.

“We’re getting a little closer, but it’s almost impossible,” Tuberville said. “The President did a lot that he can do with his Executive Order, trying to put things into place…I visited with him quite a bit about it, and if there’s one thing I wish could be addressed, it’s the transfer portal.”

The lawmaker argued that the sport should go back to the former rule where players are allowed to transfer, but they must sit out a full season once they make the move.

“That would quit probably about 70 or 80 percent of the transfers because people aren’t gonna pay a kid to sit on the bench for a year…we have got to come to some sense of reality that education [comes] first, look out for the well-being of the player in terms of getting that degree, but also being fair. I’m for them making money, but this is getting ridiculous the way they’re transferring every year…the NCAA has no backbone…they have no sense of requirement or responsibility for these kids. They have to be accountable, players as well as coaches, and the schools.”

RELATED: Tuberville calls out Texas Longhorns while speaking about issues with NIL

Tuberville said he is continuing to work directly with Trump to analyze how the old rules of the transfer portal can be enforced. Whether or not any change becomes a reality remains to be seen, but the Senator is certainly correct in saying it would cut down on the total amount of transfers, something which most fans would be for.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Aug. 13, 2025) – The West Virginia University men’s soccer team was tabbed to finish second in the 2025 Sun Belt Men’s Soccer Preseason Poll, as announced by the conference on Wednesday.
 
Senior Marcus Caldeira was named the Preseason Offensive Player of the Year while graduate student Carlos Hernando and sophomore Isaac Scheer joined him on the Preseason All-Conference Team.
 

The Mountaineers tallied 92 points, including two first-place votes in the coaches poll. Marshall, the 2024 national runner-up, was picked to win the conference with 97 points and eight first-place votes. UCF was slotted in third behind WVU with 74 points while Kentucky (67) and South Carolina (65) were fourth and fifth, respectively.
 
James Madison was voted sixth (48), ahead of seventh-place Old Dominion (36) while Georgia Southern (30), Georgia State (24), and Coastal Carolina (17) rounded out the poll.
 
Caldeira is the Sun Belt Preseason Offensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. In 2024, he finished the season with 11 goals and 23 points en route to being named to the All-Sun Belt second team and United Soccer Coaches All-Southeast Region second team. In his career, he has 28 goals, ninth most in WVU history.
 
Hernando returns for his third season as an anchor for a strong WVU back line that allowed just 1.05 goals per game last season and recorded 10 shutouts. He totaled 1,548 minutes played, scoring two goals and tallying one assist. Both his goals came in the Sun Belt Championship as he was named to the All-Tournament Team.
 
Scheer is back for his second season after a strong freshman campaign. He played in all 22 games with 13 starts, logging 1,255 minutes. He scored three goals and had five assists, second most on the team.
 
Preseason Offensive Player of the Year:

Marcus Caldeira, West Virginia (Sr., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada)

 

Preseason Defensive Player of the Year:
Takahiro Fujita, Marshall (Jr., Nara, Japan)
 
Preseason Goalkeeper of the Year:
Sebastian Conlon, Kentucky (Sr., Reston, Va.)
 
Preseason All-Sun Belt Team
F – Ethan Ballek, South Carolina (Sr., Timnath, Colo.)
F – Marcus Caldeira, West Virginia (Sr., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada)
F – Ryan Holmes, Georgia Southern (Jr., Milton Keys, England)
M – Agustin Lopez, Kentucky (So., Santa Fe, Argentina)
M – Isaac Scheer, West Virginia (So., Charlotte, N.C.)
M – Alexander Stjernegaard, South Carolina (Sr., Rungsted Kyst, Denmark)
M – Alejandro Velazquez-Lopez, South Carolina (So., Knoxville, Tenn.)
D – Takahiro Fujita, Marshall (Jr., Nara, Japan)
D – Carlos Hernando, West Virginia (Grad., Madrid, Spain)
D – Josh Gordon, Kentucky (Jr., Scarborough, Ontario)
GK – Sebastian Conlon, Kentucky (Sr., Reston, Va.)
*Ties were not broken.
 
2025 Sun Belt Conference Men’s Soccer Preseason Coaches Poll

 
1. Marshall (8) – 97
2. West Virginia (2) – 92
3. UCF – 74
4. Kentucky – 67
5. South Carolina – 65
6. James Madison – 48
7. Old Dominion – 36
8. Georgia Southern – 30
9.  Georgia State – 24
10. Coastal Carolina – 17
Parentheses indicate first-place votes
 
For more information on the Mountaineers, follow @WVUMensSoccer on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
 

Despite prepping for the upcoming season, Auburn Tigers head coach Hugh Freeze continues to work on recruiting for the future. Being a college coach requires the ability to multitask, juggling several responsibilities at one time in order to keep the program moving. 

Additionally, while Freeze hopes that many players will return next year, with the transfer portal and NFL looming for some, standing pat and waiting idly as players depart is a losing strategy. Instead, the coaching staff endeavors to stack talent, not just filling out a roster but assembling a future depth chart that can withstand the rigors of the season, where attrition becomes a fact of life.

NIL Futures

With recruiting comes the talk of NIL deals, which can often act as deal-sealers. Unlike before, when it felt like the untamed West, safeguards and regulations found their way into the process, giving schools guidelines and barriers to how they spend money and how that money will be divided among the players.

Additionally, third-party NIL deals could generate serious cash for recruits. Freeze spoke to AL.com’s Peter Rauterkus about the NIL landscape.

“I’m pretty confident that the transfer kid has probably earned the right that you can say to him, ‘You’re going to get some outside NIL deals.’ And give samples of what’s happened in the past for a similar player at that position,” Freeze told Rauterkus.

That (more) honest approach, due to the changing landscape, is a far cry from the $100 handshakes and shady booster involvement of college football’s past. 

Keeping Up with the Joneses

In Auburn’s backyard, Georgia and Alabama will always spend money. To the north, Tennessee will dole out cash for elite players. Life in the SEC dictates that if teams want to compete, they need to find a way to spend money on players.

Gone are the days of playing just for the love of the game. Love may make the world revolve, but it neither pays the rent nor puts gas in the car. Instead, the players hope to market their skills for cash. 

Antique Sale

Freeze, from all indications, looks fully on board with leaving behind the old-school notions that players are being paid in a free education. While Auburn is one of the best schools in the SEC, and its students do receive a top-notch education, equating classes with helping the football team generate millions is uneven. Now, that doesn’t mean that the head coach appears like he wants to willy-nilly throw money at players. 

Overview

Each football team is different than the last. No team stays the same from year to year. Expecting that is, on its face and above all else, ludicrous. Each fall, high school players take the field hoping to catch a program’s eye. It’s the nature of the game. Standing still in college football is never a sound move.

Auburn chose a proactive route instead of a reactive one.