As football season nears, Howard University is getting a huge NIL boost courtesy of the Mecca Society. In 2023, the Mecca Society partnered with myNILpay to launch a NIL Collective for Bison student-athletes. Now, they are forging a strategic partnership with 360 NIL Group per a report by Fox40.

The partnership will launch a short-term, high-impact fundraising campaign as part of a larger initiative to develop a sustainable NIL strategy for Howard University’s athletic programs.The campaign kicks off with a Day of Giving and targeted outreach to donors, aiming to rally alumni and supporters to strengthen Howard’s competitive edge. This marks the beginning of a long-term plan to create a robust fundraising and NIL model, ensuring the growth of Howard Athletics and ongoing development for its student-athletes.

“Howard University has always been a beacon for excellence, leadership, and social change,” said Dr. Gregory J. Vincent, CEO and Co-Founder of the 360 NIL Group. “This partnership with the Mecca Society is about investing in our scholar-athletes so they can remain at the forefront—academically, athletically, and civically. We’re honored to support Howard’s historic mission.”

Mecca Society Board Member Eric Grant added, ““The Mecca Society is committed to providing the resources our scholar-athletes need to succeed. Partnering with the 360 NIL Group enhances our ability to move swiftly and strategically. This is about building a stronger future for Howard Athletics and for the leaders our student-athletes are becoming.”

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Howard University basketball coach Kenny Blakeney, who made headlines for his innovative plan for Bison Hoops last August, also spoke highly of the pedigree of the athletic department.

“At Howard we develop the whole student-athlete. We offer a platform rooted in purpose, power, and potential—where young men and women learn to lead, compete, and represent a legacy of greatness.”

New Howard University Vice President of Athletics Kery Davis also chimed in on Howard’s athletic excellence .

“Howard University is the embodiment of excellence, empowerment, and enduring impact. We offer first-class academics, elite athletic competition, and a legacy that inspires greatness and service. Howard is where future leaders are born—and where they are supported every step of the way.”

With revenue sharing expected to start on July 1, this offseason likely marked the peak of the NIL era for college football. Many programs took advantage of what may be the last true Wild West portal season, pushing all their chips to the middle of the table to maximize their roster talent with major upgrades.

Glancing at 247Sports’ transfer portal rankings, there are a few familiar programs near the top along with a surprising newcomer that broke the bank after making progress in the Big 12 last season. Not only did these six programs address needs at the skill spots, but they went heavy in the trenches and signed necessary depth additions at a variety of positions.

These teams are hoping their enhancements jump off the page this fall and result in banner seasons. Here’s a look at teams that went all in this past offseason. 

Key additions: Nic Anderson, WR (Oklahoma); Patrick Payton, Edge (Florida State); Sydir Mitchell, DL (Texas); Barion Brown, WR (Kentucky); Jack Pyburn, Edge (Florida)

Brian Kelly’s 29 wins over three seasons aren’t good enough for a program like LSU. That’s why the Tigers exhausted resources and landed the nation’s top-ranked portal class. Not only did the Tigers add weapons for returning quarterback Garrett Nussmeier, they made it a point to go after the big fish on the other side of the football. LSU signed a pair of new edge defenders from Power Four programs, then added Houston safety A.J. Haulcy and USF nose tackle Bernard Gooden in the spring window. 

Miami Hurricanes

Key additions: Carson Beck, QB (Georgia); CJ Daniels, WR (LSU); Emmanuel Karnley, CB (Arizona); Xavier Lucas, CB (Wisconsin); Ethan O’Connor, CB (Washington State)

Arguably the biggest winner in the post-spring transfer window, the Hurricanes signed BYU playmaker Keelan Marion, took a flyer on talented Rutgers linebacker Mohamed Toure and added depth in the secondary with safety Jakobe Thomas (Tennessee) and cornerback Keionte Scott (Houston). Those additions just supplemented the Hurricanes’ blockbuster winter portal window haul. Beck nixed another year at Georgia for a better payday in Coral Gables and TCU’s James Brockermeyer is a plug-and-play starter on the offensive line. A source close to the ACC program told CBS Sports this week Miami’s offensive line is “the most complete” the team has had under Mario Cristobal.

Key additions: David Bailey, EDGE (Stanford); Howard Sampson, OT (UNC), Romello Height, EDGE (Georgia Tech); Will Jados, OT (Miami, Ohio); Quinten Joyner, RB (USC)

Thanks to the highest-rated transfer class in program history, the hype is real for the Red Raiders ahead of Joey McGuire’s fourth season. Texas Tech revamped the line of scrimmage with a number of key signings, including elite edge rushers Bailey and Height along with a couple new starting offensive tackles. The Red Raiders are bringing back former five-star signee Micah Hudson at receiver following his cup of tea with Texas A&M. Former UCF run-stopper Lee Hunter fills a massive hole at 6-foot-4, 325 pounds.

Florida State Seminoles

Key additions: Duce Robinson, WR (USC); James Williams, EDGE (Nebraska); Jeremiah Wilson, CB (Houston); Micah Pettus, OT (Ole Miss); Squirrel White, WR (Tennessee)

Mike Norvell landed nearly two-dozen transfers — along with wholesale coordinator changes — to try and direct the ship back in the right direction this season. Successfully hitting on player evaluations is vital at all programs in transition roster-wise, but especially for the Seminoles who whiffed last cycle compared to elite success with 2023 additions. Former Boston College quarterback Thomas Castellanos might be the most important transfer this fall and how the Seminoles adjust to run-heavy looks with Gus Malzahn as their new play-caller.

Oklahoma Sooners

Key additions: John Mateer, QB (Washington State); Jaydn Ott, RB (Cal); Marvin Jones, EDGE (Florida State); Kendal Daniels, LB (Oklahoma State); Derek Simmons, OT (Western Carolina)

This will be a vastly different offensive look for the Sooners as they try to rebound from Brent Venables’ second losing season in three years. Oklahoma has invested in Mateer and his former offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle to bring the program back to respectability in the SEC. And with Venables taking over the defense, grabbing a player of Daniels’ caliber from former Big 12 rival Oklahoma State was a big-time win. An underrated storyline from the spring window was Oklahoma holding onto former five-star defensive tackle David Stone. He entered the portal after the final spring scrimmage before changing his mind.

Key additions: Damon Wilson II, LB (Georgia); Ahmad Hardy, RB (ULM); Beau Pribula, QB (Penn State); Kevin Coleman Jr., WR (Mississippi State); Nate Johnson, Edge (Appalachian State)

Replacing multi-year starters Brady Cook (quarterback) and Luther Burden III (wideout) would make most coaches lose sleep, especially in the SEC, but Eli Drinkwitz is confident in his portal assessments with the addition of Pribula and Coleman in those roles. Hardy should get the lion’s share of the workload in the backfield after rushing for 1,351 yards as a freshman last season. Wilson was one of the top available players this cycle and the Tigers made the outside linebacker a priority.

Mr. Hockey has hit 90, but he’s still not ready to put his love for the sport on ice.

Paul Hruby, whose impact on hockey in Oak Park has been so significant that the ice arena at the Ridgeland Common Recreation Center was named after him in 2007, began his ninth decade of life on May 31. He has worked for the Park District of Oak Park in some capacity for 62 years, teaching and coaching hockey and getting people comfortable in their skates.

He still works there. He has a simple job title: hockey coach.

Hruby still comes to the Paul Hruby Ice Arena for adult hockey three days a week, often making the long drive from Antioch where he and his wife often stay with a daughter. He supervises, coaches and offers tips to players over the age of 40 and many over the age of 60.

Some of those players have known Hruby since they were pint-sized kids.

One of those is John Muldoon, 66, now a lawyer who first met Hruby when Muldoon was six years old. Muldoon’s mother took him to Ridgeland Common for a kids hockey camp that Hruby ran. One of the first lessons was how to fall.

“By 6 through 9 he was a staple of my life,” Muldoon said after playing hockey with the over-60 group on a recent Wednesday afternoon.

Now, some 60 years later, Hruby is coaching him again after Muldoon, who lives in Chicago, began playing hockey at Ridgeland Common again a few years ago.

“It’s great to have him back in my life again,” Muldoon said.

Mark Ferrante, 67, another lawyer and over-60 hockey player, has an especially close relationship to Hruby.

“I’ve been playing for Paul Hruby since I was 10 years old,” Ferrante said.

After a year of coaching and seasoning by Hruby, Ferrante, who grew up on the northwest side of Chicago, played on the Oak Park peewee travel team and played on Oak Park’s first state championship team. When Ferrante was a teenager, Hruby recruited him to help teach and coach younger players on Saturday mornings at Ridgeland Common.

Now, as an over-60 hockey player, Ferrante, like many of the adult players, still refers to Hruby as “coach.”

But he’s more than that to them. He’s become a friend and a bit of a father figure, especially to those he has known for decades.

“Coach Hruby always greets you with his wickedly energetic smile and always has a good story about one of the many players he has coached and mentored,” Ferrante has said. “He has a knack for finding a cohesive bunch of players for scrimmages.”

Ferrante described Hruby as “a good egg” and a member of the “great guy hall of fame.”

Hruby has been inducted into two actual halls — the Illinois Hockey Officials Hall of Fame and Amateur Hockey Association of Illinois’s Hall of Fame.

In Oak Park, the adult players typically don’t keep score, although sometimes they do for the last 10 minutes of the hour or so of hockey. Hruby divides up the players so each team is relatively equal in talent. The emphasis is on fun. Body checking and slap shots are not allowed to reduce the risk of injury.

“Safety is number one,” Hruby said.

Hruby is a stickler for sportsmanship and he does not tolerate rough or selfish play. He watches the play from the bench and judiciously gives out tips and pointers. He’s still a coach but he often waits until the scrimmage is over to offer advice.

“I don’t talk to them during the game, I wait until the next day because a man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still,” Hruby said. “When you talk to guys and they’re still a little heated up and angry you have to let it die.”

Rich Murawski, 67, was 20 years old and playing hockey at Ridgeland Common with his brothers when he met Hruby. Rich Murawski and his brother Dennis, a retired high school English teacher, both still play with the over 60 group at Ridgeland Common. Their bond with Hruby is close.

The comradery between Hruby and the adult players goes both ways. They give Hruby a chance to still do what he loves, coach and be around hockey.

“I’m talking to these guys,” Hruby said. “I’m not playing cards or sitting in a nursing home. I’m with younger people. They keep me active.”

Hruby started playing hockey as a kid growing up in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago.

“I went to my first Blackhawks game when I was five and fell in love with what they were doing,” Hruby recalled.

He loved the teamwork of hockey.

Hruby played roller hockey in the streets and he played on frozen playgrounds that were flooded to create ice rinks. As a teenager he played for a team called the West Side Royals that was sponsored by the Home Run Inn. He played college hockey at Michigan State.

After graduating from college, Hruby became a physical education teacher at Lincoln Junior High in Berwyn. He eventually became a principal at Custer Elementary School in Berwyn.

He was hired by the Park District of Oak Park in 1963 to run the Ridgeland Common pool and then outdoor ice rink.

“I came here to get kids off the streets,” Hruby said.

A roof was put over the rink in 1965 and the rink was fully enclosed in 1982. In 2013 the rink was demolished and rebuilt using some of the original wood ceiling beams.

“Paul was instrumental with the entire program,” said Bob Jacklin, 74, who works part time doing maintenance work for the Park District of Oak Park and still plays hockey when he can.

Jacklin said many of Hruby’s hockey players rang doorbells and campaigned for the 2005 referendum that helped pay for the construction of the new ice rink and other improvements,

“If it wasn’t for him and his band of followers there would never be a facility like this,” Jacklin said.

Hruby taught Olympic bronze medalist speed skater and Oak Park native Emery Lehman how to skate when Lehman started playing hockey at the age of 6 before ultimately concentrating on speed skating. Hruby says that he also taught Brett Hull, the fifth highest career goal scorer in the NHL and the son of Blackhawks legend Bobby Hall, how to skate.

Hruby played competitive hockey until 1962 when he started coaching. He was a hockey official from 1959 until 1980. He coached hockey at Fenwick High School from 1965 until 1972 and also coached hockey at Morton College. He played hockey recreationally for a few decades more. He skated occasionally until last July when a bum left knee caused him to hang up his skates.

“My knees started buckling,” Hruby said.

At the Park District, Hruby has taught and coached hockey to thousands of people of all ages over the decades and taught many more how to skate.

“We’re incredibly grateful for Paul’s longstanding commitment to our hockey program, his passion for the game and ability to connect with players of all ages, it’s truly inspiring,” said Jan Arnold, the executive director of the Park District of Oak Park.

On May 31 some of Hruby’s many friends and former players celebrated him with a 90th birthday party at Ridgeland Common.

There was no better place for the celebration.

“It’s my home,” Hruby said. “People are nice here. It’s a great community.”

Bob Skolnik is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press. 

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