NIL

The inside story of how LSU football signed the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country

Published

7 months ago

May 6, 2025

The inside story of how LSU football signed the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country

Last December, during a crucial fundraising push for LSU football’s roster, coach Brian Kelly and general manager Austin Thomas went to the corporate headquarters of MMR Group, a national construction firm based in Baton Rouge.

They met with Pepper Rutland, the founder and president. Rutland, a former LSU linebacker and team captain, has donated to LSU for years. He already knew Kelly, but this was the first time the coach visited his office.

“I’ll bet you never thought you would be doing this when you came to LSU,” Rutland told Kelly.

“You’re correct,” he remembered Kelly saying.

But after losing at least three games for the third straight season, LSU had to persuade its donors to invest more than ever in the football team’s name, image and likeness efforts. The Tigers had financially trailed other major programs for the past three years. To retain key players and recruit top transfers, LSU needed to raise more NIL money.

“We had to go around the community,” Kelly said. “We had to go see donors and have meetings and show them our game plan and our business plan for what we were gonna do and how we were gonna do it.”

The goal was to raise at least $13 million for LSU’s NIL collective, Bayou Traditions, with the intention of front-loading deals before the school expects to begin paying players this summer. Over the previous three years combined, the collective’s general counsel said it had spent $11 million on the roster, including $5.5 million last season.

“We competed very well,” athletic director Scott Woodward said, “but we had to really step up our game.”

Planning began in August, and yet LSU needed to raise more money before the transfer portal opened. In a roughly two-week stretch beginning in late November, Kelly and LSU administrators visited several high-level boosters, showing them a new approach to roster management that has been inspired by the NFL.

Their presentation resonated. Donors, some motivated by five-star quarterback Bryce Underwood’s flip from LSU to Michigan, provided multiple seven-figure gifts. The money helped LSU retain starters, add a top-10 freshman class and, according to 247Sports, sign the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country, shaping the season’s outlook.

“We have a football team that now is poised to play with anybody in the SEC,” Kelly said. “We didn’t before.”

LSU looks to the NFL

During one of LSU’s open dates this past fall, Thomas and Woodward visited the Seattle Seahawks. They wanted to understand how an NFL team navigates the salary cap, so they compared ideas and asked questions to ensure LSU took the right approach to roster management.

Woodward called the trip “an affirmation that we were in the right direction and doing the right things.” Thomas also used connections with the Houston Texans to refine his monetary valuation system as LSU’s collective prepared to spend big before schools begin paying athletes July 1 as a result of the House settlement, which still requires final approval.

NO.lsufbsalabama.092924 HS 2597.jpg — LSU athletic director Scott Woodward walks the field in the first half against the Jaguars, Saturday, September 28, 2024, at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.

STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK

If the settlement takes effect, schools will be able to distribute up to $20.5 million in the 2025-26 academic year, creating a salary cap that increases annually based on rising revenues. Like other major programs, LSU plans to allocate $13.5 million to football, dividing the money between the 2025 and 2026 teams.

The settlement is designed to curb spending by collectives. Though questions remain about the effectiveness of new enforcement measures, LSU wanted to use the money in Bayou Traditions before deals would need to pass through a clearinghouse designed to judge fair market value. It plans to pay out $10 million in the first half of 2025, money that does not factor into the revenue sharing cap.

“We were able to give (players) a glimpse of what that plus revenue sharing looked like with an assertive and confident contract that could be backed up without guessing,” Kelly said. “We felt confident that we could do some things financially without being put in a situation where we would have to claw it back.”

Thomas has overseen a lot of this in his third stint at LSU. First named LSU’s general manager in 2016, he contributed to the 2019 national championship run before helping assemble Texas A&M’s 2020 Orange Bowl team. Thomas had a hand in signing back-to-back top 2 transfer classes at Ole Miss before LSU hired him again.

“I knew this thing was developing, and I knew we needed to get a top manager in here to do it who understood it and who had done it well,” Woodward said. “Austin is one of the best in the business.”

Thomas uses the valuation system to keep track of spending. Using how much NFL teams spend on certain positions as a guide, LSU set a financial starting point for every spot on the roster. If Thomas inputs a new value somewhere, the other positional values change to stay under the cap. It lets him quickly input and interpret information, helping him make formulaic decisions.

NO.lsuniu.022324 HS 655.jpg — LSU senior associate athletic director for football administration Austin Thomas watches as the Tigers host Northern Illinois, Thursday, February 22, 2024, at Alex Box Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.

STAFF PHOTO BY HILARY SCHEINUK

“Knowing when to walk away is just as important as it is to know when to invest,” Thomas said. “And so for us, having the discipline to do that and stay within our model was what was really important.”

Thomas first used the technology created by NextGen Prospect as Ole Miss’ chief of staff in 2022. It started as basic spreadsheets, and the system became more interactive over time. NextGen Prospect co-founder Marc Vittacore said the company works with 39 teams, and about half of them use the technology the way LSU does.

LSU had worked with the service since early 2022, primarily for advanced scouting of opponents. But when Thomas was still at Ole Miss, he asked about improving the system’s ability to monitor spending. Now able to blend advanced scouting with recruiting boards and financial modeling, it made the work easier when someone entered the transfer portal.

“We were able to create a database that allows us to track all of this in real time,” Thomas said. “That helped us get really streamlined as guys would enter the portal and we could see visually where they were for us.”

Planning for the transfer portal

During his two years as Ole Miss’ chief of staff, Thomas worked for a program that built its roster through the transfer portal. The Rebels have been one of the most active teams in the market under coach Lane Kiffin, signing at least 20 transfers in each of the past four years.

Kelly has a different philosophy, preferring to build through the high school ranks and supplement needs in the portal. LSU has target percentages for how many freshmen, returning players and transfers it wants to have on the team every year. Although Thomas declined to share those numbers, the highest percentage is for returning players.

“More times than not, we really want to focus on retention and high school recruiting because we think that’s going to be the sustainable model,” Thomas said. “But as we’ve shown, we’re not afraid to go acquire pieces as needed.”

A year ago, that was not the case. LSU signed nine transfers, giving it the No. 43 class in the country, according to 247Sports, and missed out on top defensive tackles. Kelly said it was a calculated decision not to sign a large transfer portal class because he thought young players needed to gain experience.

“We knew going into the season that our roster was not at the level that it needed to be, but we weren’t ready to do the things necessary to address that,” Kelly said. “We were still a year away in terms of the development of our program. And so for us to go into the transfer portal would have been premature.”

Said Woodward: “We did not do as well as we should have in probably filling the needs that we needed to do from the portal, which other schools did better than we did. I think we clearly saw that and saw that deficiency and made up for it.”

Thomas spent considerable time last year assessing the team to understand skill sets, strengths and weaknesses. Then, in August, LSU’s player personnel staff began rating and calculating the potential value of every player in college football. The staff created a national board of potential targets based on certain metrics, including their background, experience and competition level, in case those players entered the transfer portal.

“A lot of work happens that doesn’t come to fruition,” Thomas said, “but at the end of the day, the ones that do, it was worth it and it paid off.”

At the same time, LSU began to raise money, knowing it needed more. Woodward acknowledged that LSU was behind other top schools. Jared Wilson, the president of Bayou Traditions, said in February that LSU’s collective “did not spend, on the team, what most of the SEC schools really spent” last year. Ole Miss, for example, reportedly invested more than $10 million.

Some high-level donors were still skeptical of NIL and found it hard to believe the numbers circulating around other teams. LSU also does not have a singular booster who supports the fund, which Rutland said “puts a pretty big drain on the donor arrangements in this state,” and the collective had struggled to establish a grassroots pipeline.

“We always had a plan to fundraise and to raise money, and we have good, loyal donors that step up,” Woodward said. “But we just did not have that whale of a donor to come in and say, ‘Hey, carte blanche, go’ like other institutions.”

Bryce Underwood’s impact at LSU

The night of Nov. 21, Carlos Spaht sat in a bank board meeting, listening to a presentation as his phone began to buzz. Spaht, the general counsel and former manager of LSU’s collective, got so many calls and text messages that he thought something had happened to a member of his family.

Underwood, the No. 1 overall recruit in the country, had flipped to Michigan. LSU’s offer would have made Underwood the highest-paid player on the team last year, but he reportedly received a lucrative NIL deal funded by the billionaire co-founder of Oracle, a multinational computer technology company.

Woodward”It was an aha moment for a lot of donors.”“Everybody who has given more than $100,000 over the last three years called me within a 12-minute span is what it felt like,” Spaht said.From Spaht’s point of view, the effect of Underwood’s decision on LSU donors “cannot be overstated.” He said some contributed to NIL for the first time, and LSU’s collective received several seven-figure donations in December.

“I think we would have been fine, ultimately,” Spaht said, “but that sort of turned on a faucet that was pretty amazing.”Thomas acknowledged that losing Underwood resonated with donors, but he said it did not change LSU’s approach.

“We had plans long before that,” Thomas said. “That just shed, in my opinion, some light on the situation with the general public and our donors and fan base, you know? We knew leading into the portal season, we were already going to have to be very buttoned up in what we did and how we did it.”

Belleville High School quarterback Bryce Underwood reacts after signing to play NCAA football at Michigan during a news conference in Belleville, Mich., Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

Paul Sancya

With about two weeks until the transfer portal opened, Kelly said LSU “had to raise millions of dollars in a very short period of time to be able to influence the roster.” He matched up to $1 million in NIL contributions with a donation to the Tiger Athletic Foundation’s scholarship fund.Thomas estimated LSU met with 20-25 donors, giving them a presentation that included the monetary valuation system, the importance of NIL and the spending of other programs.

“It was an aha moment for a lot of donors,” Woodward said.One of them, Rutland, had given smaller amounts to LSU’s NIL fund before and has donated to other projects. He thought about what could happen if LSU fell further behind. Though he doesn’t like the current set-up, he has seen losing eras. He gave a seven-figure donation, fearing how long it would take to return from irrelevancy.

“You just have to make the decision,” Rutland said. “Are you willing to help participate in a system that you don’t agree with, that you think is flawed terribly but keeps you in the mix of a winning program while this all gets sorted out? That was it. I just thought coming back would be way too hard. It may take years and years and years.”

LSU’s ‘unique situation’As LSU landed transfers, including three senior edge rushers, sophomore defensive end Gabriel Reliford wondered what their arrivals meant for him.

“Dang,” Reliford said, “are they trying to replace me?”

Reliford asked LSU’s coaches, who told him the additions created competition that would make him better.

“They only replace you if you let them,” Reliford said, “so just go out and work and show that you’re the better man.”

When the transfer portal opened, LSU looked for experienced players who could immediately contribute and wanted to compete for a championship. It intentionally did most of its work in the December portal window before landing two more players this spring in USF defensive lineman Bernard Gooden and Houston safety AJ Haulcy, whose commitment Sunday night finished the class.

The Tigers added 18 transfers, the most in one year under Kelly. Seven were ranked in the top 100 transfers, according to 247Sports, which tied for the most in the country with Miami and Texas Tech. The class has a combined 262 career starts, and all but two of them played for another power conference team last season.

“This couldn’t be ‘We’re taking a flier on a guy from Cornell,’ ” Kelly said. “They had to be frontline starters with experience because then what you did last year doesn’t matter. The lumps that you took last year, they don’t help you with the depth that you need in your program.”

As LSU worked on its class, Kelly referred to donors as “shareholders” in the process. He said they were allowed access he had never given in three decades of being a head coach. However, LSU had exceeded its $13 million fundraising goal, some of which was used on the 2024 team. Spaht said the majority of the money came from five to seven donors.

“I’d field calls, ‘Hey, what’s going on? We got a shot? How’s it going?’ ” Kelly said. “That’s the only way you could do it in the manner that we needed to do it. I had never done it that way before, but that’s what we needed to do to get the kind of impact in our program that we needed.”

LSU does not expect to sign this many transfers every year. Although needs can shift, affecting the ideal percentages, Thomas said dipping so heavily into the portal will not be the “norm.” LSU still wants to build through traditional recruiting and retention, and so far, it has the nation’s No. 4 recruiting class in 2026.

“It was a unique situation this year,” Thomas said. “The assessment of where we were and what we could accomplish in bringing this group of players together — both in retention, portal and high school — gave us the best opportunity to win a championship.”

That is the expectation now — or, at least, to reach the College Football Playoff for the first time in Kelly’s LSU tenure.

The team has to make all the new players fit together before a difficult opening game at Clemson and a tough conference schedule. But Kelly has expressed confidence in the possibility, calling this the best roster in his four years at LSU.

“Regardless of how we played the game before, we would have needed help,” Kelly said. “Something favorably would have had to happen. We don’t need that. We need to play the game, play the game the right way, be prepared, do the right things in all areas. If we do that, we’ve got a team that can win the SEC.”

NIL

Heisman winner Fernando Mendoza, Indiana football emerges as superpower

Published

24 minutes ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Updated Dec. 13, 2025, 8:16 p.m. ET

Fernando Mendoza balked at entertaining the Heisman Trophy ceremony as an assured outcome Friday, even as he arrived in New York a comfortable betting favorite to win the award.

As of an afternoon press session, Mendoza hadn’t even finished his speech.

Yet even as he artfully sidestepped suggestions the award was already won, Mendoza did have a firm answer for where the 45-pound bronze trophy should live, if he is selected as its winner Saturday night.

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NIL

Fernando Mendoza wins the Heisman Trophy as college football’s top player :: WRALSportsFan.com

Published

1 hour ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

By EVERETT MERRILL, Associated Press

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Fernando Mendoza, the enthusiastic quarterback of No. 1 Indiana, won the Heisman Trophy on Saturday night, becoming the first Hoosier to win college football’s most prestigious award since its inception in 1935.

Mendoza claimed 2,362 points, including 643 first-place votes. He beat Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia (1,435 points), Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love (719 points) and Ohio State quarterback Julian Sayin (432 points).

Mendoza’s Heisman win was emphatic. He finished first in all six Heisman regions, the first to do so since Caleb Williams in 2022. He was named on 95.16% of all ballots, tying him with Marcus Mariota in 2014 for the second highest in the award’s history and he received 84.6% of total possible points, which is the seventh highest in Heisman history.

“I haven’t seen the numbers yet,” said Mendoza, “but it’s such an honor to be mentioned with these guys (Pavia, Love and Sayin). It’s really a credit to our team. It’s a team award.”

Mendoza guided the Hoosiers to their first No. 1 ranking and the top seed in the 12-team College Football bracket, throwing for 2,980 yards and a national-best 33 touchdown passes while also running for six scores. Indiana, the last unbeaten team in major college football, will play a College Football Playoff quarterfinal game in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

Mendoza, the Hoosiers’ first-year starter after transferring from California, is the triggerman for an offense that surpassed program records for touchdowns and points set during last season’s surprise run to the CFP.

A redshirt junior, the once lightly recruited Miami native is the second Heisman finalist in school history, joining 1989 runner-up Anthony Thompson. Mendoza is the seventh Indiana player to earn a top-10 finish in Heisman balloting and it marks another first in program history — having back-to-back players in the top 10. Hoosiers quarterback Kurtis Rourke was ninth last year.

With his teammates chanting “HeismanDoza” as he addressed the media, he said there felt like a realistic chance of winning the Heisman when the Hoosiers routed then No. 19 Illinois 63-10 on Sept. 20.

“At that point my boys (teammates) said we might make it to New York (for the award ceremony),” he said. “It was lighthearted at the time, but that’s when it started. “

Quarterbacks have won the Heisman four of the last five years, with two-way player Travis Hunter of Colorado ending the run last season.

Mendoza is the 43rd quarterback to win the Heisman and the second winner of Latin American descent to claim the trophy. Stanford’s Jim Plunkett was the first in 1970.

“Although I grew up in America, my four grandparents are all from Cuba,” he said. “I had the opportunity to go there and that was important to me. I credit the love to my grandparents and the Hispanic community.”

The Heisman Trophy presentation came after a number of accolades were already awarded. Mendoza was named The Associated Press player of the year earlier this week and picked up the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien awards Friday night while Love won the Doak Walker Award.

Mendoza and Pavia clearly exemplify the changing landscape of using the transfer portal in college football. Mendoza is the seventh transfer to win the award in the last nine years. Vanderbilt is Pavia’s third school.

Pavia finished second with 189 first-place votes. He threw for a school-record 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns for the Commodores, who were pushing for a CFP berth all the way to the bracket announcement. He is the first Heisman finalist in Vanderbilt history.

Generously listed as 6 feet tall, Pavia led Vanderbilt to its first 10-win season along with six wins against Southeastern Conference foes. That includes four wins over ranked programs as Vandy reached No. 9, its highest ranking in The Associated Press Top 25 since 1937.

Pavia went from being unrecruited out of high school to junior college, New Mexico State and finally Vanderbilt in 2024 through the transfer portal.

Vandy next plays in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Iowa on Dec. 31.

The last running back to win the Heisman was Alabama’s Derrick Henry in 2015. Love put himself in the mix with an outstanding season for Notre Dame. He finished with 46 first-place votes.

The junior from St. Louis was fourth in the Bowl Subdivision in yards rushing (1,372), fifth in per-game average (114.3) and third with 18 rushing touchdowns for the Fighting Irish, who missed out on a CFP bid and opted not to play in a bowl game.

He was the first player in Notre Dame’s storied history to produce multiple TD runs of 90 or more yards, a 98-yarder against Indiana in the first round of last year’s playoffs and a 94-yarder against Boston College earlier this season.

Sayin led the Buckeyes to a No. 1 ranking for most of the season, throwing for 3,329 yards while tying for second in the country with 31 TD passes ahead of their CFP quarterfinal at the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31.

The sophomore from Carlsbad, California, arrived at Ohio State after initially committing to Alabama and entering the transfer portal following a coaching change. He played four games last season before winning the starting job. He led the Buckeyes to a 14-7 win in the opener against preseason No. 1 Texas and kept the team atop the AP Top 25 for 13 straight weeks, tying its second-longest run.

Sayin follows a strong lineage of Ohio State quarterbacks since coach Ryan Day arrived in 2017. Dwayne Haskins (2018), Justin Fields (2019), C.J. Stroud (2021), and Kyle McCord (2023) averaged 3,927 passing yards, 40 TDs, and six interceptions, along with a 68.9% completion rate during their first seasons.

___

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NIL

Here’s how much money Heisman Trophy finalists Mendoza, Pavia and Love made from NIL deals this season

Published

2 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

By Weston Blasi

The Heisman Trophy award may not come with a cash prize, but these finalists have already scored millions through their name, image and likeness deals

Fernando Mendoza of the Indiana Hoosiers celebrates after defeating the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec. 6.

It pays to be the Heisman.

The final voting for the 2025 Heisman Trophy will take place on Saturday, as the top players in college football compete for the game’s highest individual honor.

The Heisman Trophy, given to the most outstanding player in college football, doesn’t come with any cash prizes – just prestige. But while the Heisman finalists may not be paid for winning, they’re still among the highest earners in college sports when it comes to name, image and likeness (NIL) deals.

College athletes have been allowed to leverage their influence and make money from NIL deals since 2021, after decades of having to avoid any form of payment that could compromise their amateur status and NCAA eligibility. Now, many of the top student-athletes earn millions of dollars each year from NIL arrangements.

The four finalists for the Heisman this year are Fernando Mendoza, Diego Pavia, Julian Sayin and Jeremiyah Love.

Here’s at look at what the 2025 Heisman finalists are estimated to have made from NIL deals this year, according to On3’s deal tracker.

Fernando Mendoza, QB, $2.6 million

Fernando Mendoza of the Indiana Hoosiers runs the ball in a game against the Oregon Ducks.

Indiana University quarterback Fernando Mendoza was not a highly rated Heisman contender headed into the season – but Mendoza had a great 2025 campaign, leading Indiana to its first Big Ten conference title since 1967, a 13-0 record and the No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff.

Mendoza won a separate Associated Press player of the year award, and is the betting favorite to win Heisman, according to DraftKings (DKNG) odds.

Mendoza has an NIL deal with sports-apparel giant Adidas (XE:ADS) (ADDYY).

“At the beginning of the year, I saw the list of the top 10 Heisman contenders, and evidently [my name] wasn’t there,” he said about the award.

But that didn’t discourage Mendoza. “I was like, ‘Wow, I want to make a goal for myself.’ I prayed about, like, if I could make it to the ceremony, how cool that would be,” he said. “Now that it’s come to fruition, I’m able to share that moment with people who appreciate it. It’s such a cool moment.”

Related: A $100 million NFL contract isn’t enough money to last a lifetime, says former football star Odell Beckham Jr.

Diego Pavia, QB, $2.5 million

Quarterback Diego Pavia on the Vanderbilt Commodores celebrates after defeating the Auburn Tigers.

Vanderbilt University quarterback Diego Pavia threw 27 touchdowns this season, leading his team to the eighth-best scoring offense in the country.

Pavia, who has the second-best odds to win the Heisman, behind Mendoza, is expected to declare for April’s NFL draft.

Pavia has NIL deals with AutoPro, Raising Cane’s and the NIL Store.

He also recently joked on “The Pivot Podcast” that he would donate his 2025 NIL money if one of the lower-ranked teams like Tulane or James Madison won the College Football Playoff this year.

Julian Sayin, QB, $2.5 million

Quarterback Julian Sayin of the Ohio State Buckeyes enters Ohio Stadium prior to a game against the Minnesota Golden Gophers.

Ohio State University quarterback Julian Saying led his team to yet another College Football Playoff bid this year, in addition to his Heisman-hopeful season. It’s the fifth time in the last eight years that an Ohio State signal-caller has been a Heisman finalist.

Sayin threw 31 touchdown passes this season, which was third in the nation. He has NIL deals with The Foundation (Ohio State’s collective), Panini and EA Sports (EA).

Related: Why Michigan’s Sherrone Moore probably won’t get paid the millions left on his contract – unlike other recently fired college football coaches

Jeremiyah Love, RB, $1.6 million

Jeremiyah Love of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish celebrates after a touchdown.

University of Notre Dame running back Jeremiyah Love is the only non-quarterback among this year’s Hesiman finalists.

Love was fourth in the nation with 1,372 rushing yards, and led Notre Dame to a 10-2 record. Unfortunately for the Fighting Irish, they narrowly missed out on the College Football Playoff.

Love has NIL deals with Samsung (KR:005930), Celsius (CELH) and New Balance.

The 2025 Heisman winner will be announced at 7 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday, Dec. 13, on ABC.

From the archives: The number of millionaire college athletes has tripled

-Weston Blasi

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NIL

Donald Trump Looks at Federal Government While Hinting at NIL Changes Amid ‘Disastrous’ Run

Published

3 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

US President Donald Trump’s dislike for the NIL system in college sports may end up bringing a major reform as he reportedly looks pursue federal measures to address NIL issues or regulate the system more strictly.

During his appearance honoring the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team at the White House, Trump said the current NIL system is “a disaster for college sports.” He added that it will highly impair the US’s ability to compete at the Olympics, as several universities are looking to shut down programs because they don’t result in good revenue, as football and men’s basketball do.

“I think the NIL is a disaster for sports. It’s horrible for the Olympics, and I think it’s actually horrible for the players,” Trump said. “Those sports don’t exist because they’re putting all their money into football, and by the way, they’re putting too much money into football.”

This is a result of the House v. NCAA settlement that allows universities to pay up to $20.5 million per year to their athletes. Because of this, the universities are largely using this sum to attract top talent in football and basketball through NIL money, resulting in the elimination of non-generating revenue sports.

“You can’t pay a quarterback $14 million to come out of high school. They don’t even know if he’s going to be a very good player,” Trump said. “Colleges cannot afford to pay the kind of salaries you’re hearing out there.”

In order to keep these NIL dealings in check or maybe even put a stop at it, Trump indicated a possible interference of the federal government.

“You’re going to have these colleges wipe themselves out. And something ought to be done and I’m willing to put the federal government behind it,” Trump said.

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Donald Trump Fears the Worst For College Sports If NIL System Continues

Given the spike in NIL payments, US President Donald Trump thinks that this could wipe out some of the top programs in the country if nothing is done to control, regulate or eliminate.

“But if it’s not done fast, you’re going to wipe out colleges. They’re going to get wiped out, including ones that do well in football,” Trump said. “Colleges cannot afford to play this game, and it’s a very bad thing that’s happening.”

Overall, Trump thinks that this NIL payments are not for the betterment of the sports and are instead dragging the entire college sports ecosystem into the toilet.

NIL

Rising $54 million college football HC linked to major NFL coaching vacancy

Published

4 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

One of college football’s most accomplished young head coaches is now among the candidates being considered by a fledgling NFL franchise for its coaching vacancy.

Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman has emerged as a candidate for the open position with the New York Giants, according to The Athletic’s Diana Russini.

Interest in Marcus Freeman is rising

New York isn’t the only place that could be taking a close look at Freeman, as the Tennessee Titans may also become interested in him, according to the report.

Freeman, who will turn 40 next month, signed a contract extension with Notre Dame last year that will lock him in with the school through the 2030 season, but if this carousel has proven anything, it’s that almost any contract can be gotten out of.

Notre Dame is a private school and is not obligated to publish its coaching salaries, but insiders contend his deal pays him $9 million per season and is worth a total of a reported $54 million.

But that raise is already somewhat out of date after Indiana recently inked Curt Cignetti to a new deal that will pay him $11.7 million per season.

Rising $54 million college football HC linked to New York Giants job — Charles LeClaire-Imagn Images

Notre Dame knows Freeman is getting that interest

“Everybody has eyes on Marcus,” Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua said.

“College has eyes on Marcus. NFL has eyes on Marcus. I bet Hollywood has eyes on Marcus. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s in the next Leo DiCaprio movie with Martin Scorsese.

“Marcus is Marcus. All the credit to him. He deserves it. He’s the absolute best coach in the country for Notre Dame, full stop. One of the greatest college coaches in the country.

“And people forget how young he is, so I get it. That’s a compliment to him and his success and the way he represents himself and the way he prepares and who he is and how he talks.”

What Freeman has done at Notre Dame

Freeman has just completed his fourth season at the helm of the Fighting Irish program and boasts a 43-12 overall record, winning more than 78 percent of his games.

Freeman led Notre Dame to a No. 2 national ranking and an appearance in the national championship game against his alma mater a year ago.

His team went 10-2 this season and seemed poised for another berth in the College Football Playoff, before the committee reversed course on Selection Day and left the Irish out of the field, leading the school to decline playing in a bowl game.

Notre Dame's Marcus Freeman targeted by New York Giants — Michael Caterina-Imagn Images

Notre Dame won’t let him go

Cognizant of the talk around his head man, Bevacqua is not willing to watch from the sidelines if his successful football coach is going to be courted by opportunities in the NFL, or anywhere.

“I would never say we wouldn’t match anything when it comes to Marcus,” Bevacqua said recently.

“I make sure that he knows that he will be where he deserves to be, and that is at the top, top, top tier of college football coaches when it comes to compensation every year.

“I view his contract, although a multiyear contract, as a living, breathing document that we will revise every year as need be to make sure he’s where he deserves to be. He knows he has that commitment from me and more importantly from the university.”

(Athletic)

Nike Signs 10 LSU Athletes to NIL deals

Published

5 hours ago

December 14, 2025

Your Sports Nation

Nike announces a new NIL venture, and it has chosen LSU as the first school to partner with.

Nike, along with other equipment manufacturers, have been partnering with university athletic departments for decades. But Nike’s Blue Ribbon Elite NIL program is the first to partner with the athletes themselves.

Zach Greenwell, LSU’s deputy athletic director for external affairs, said Nike is partnering with ten athletes on a very extensive campaign to promote Nike products.

“They brought in a very large-scale production company from out of town to work with those athletes, and it was 15-hour days with our athletes doing individual shoots,” Greenwell said. “They did a big group shot, which was a big part of our roll-out.”

Among the LSU student-athletes joining Nike’s growing roster of elite NIL athletes are: Kailin Chio, Gymnastics, Derek Curiel, Baseball, Tori Edwards, Softball, Casan Evans, Baseball, Trey’Dez Green, Football, Jayden Heavener, Softball, ZaKiyah Johnson, Basketball, DJ Pickett, Football, Jurnee Robinson, Volleyball and Dedan Thomas Jr., Basketball. Greenwell said Nike is working with them on product that they like, and they’re promoting products on the Nike store that’s specific to them and their respective sports.

“It’s a big thing for Nike to work with this demographic whether it be college kids, teenagers, so they’re going to work with all of those ten athletes across seven sports to tap into that demographic and they think LSU is a great place to start,” Greenwell said.

Greenwell said it’s a tremendous honor for LSU to be the first school that Nike selected for its new Blue Ribbon Elite NIL program.

“I think we’re the envy of a lot of people around the country to be able to launch this program with them (Nike) and we know they’ll work with other teams as they go, but our first immediate thoughts are, ‘How can we grow this? How can we take this to the next level?’” Greenwell said.

Along with the Blue Ribbon Elite NIL program, LSU Athletics and Nike have announced an extension to their five-decade long partnership through 2036.

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