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Where Will Sydney Berzon Go Next? LSU Star Pitcher Joins Transfer Portal

One of collegiate softball’s biggest pitching names has officially entered the transfer portal. Junior right hander Sydney Berzon is exiting LSU. While in the Tiger purple and gold, Berzon accumulated a 2.02 career ERA and notched 416 strikeouts in 486.1 innings. Berzon in 2023, was named the first NFCA All-American freshman pitcher since 2015 when […]

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Where Will Sydney Berzon Go Next? LSU Star Pitcher Joins Transfer Portal

One of collegiate softball’s biggest pitching names has officially entered the transfer portal. Junior right hander Sydney Berzon is exiting LSU. While in the Tiger purple and gold, Berzon accumulated a 2.02 career ERA and notched 416 strikeouts in 486.1 innings.

Berzon in 2023, was named the first NFCA All-American freshman pitcher since 2015 when Carly Hoover and Allie Walljasper were awarded the honors. Over her career at LSU she has been named to the 2024 All-SEC First Team, 2023 All-SEC Second Team, 2024 All-SEC Tournament Team, 2023 and 2024 NFCA All-Region First Team.

However, the larger question is where will the pitching ace end up next? There is no doubt Berzon will make her mark at another Power 4 institution and program, but which one? Here are some of the premiere programs that could be hunting Berzon.

Texas A&M

After being shocked and sent home early in regionals as the No. 1 overall seed, the Aggies could look to the portal to enhance their pitching rotation. Texas A&M sat squarely in the middle of the SEC in ERA this year as senior Emiley Kennedy harbored majority of the workload (157.2 innings). For Trisha Ford’s pitching staff no other pitcher threw more than 66 innings this year, thus, perhaps an arm with experience and power could elevate the Aggies next season.

Georgia Bulldogs

Georgia sits patiently awaiting SEC rival Florida in the Super Regionals that begin play on Friday. Despite the Bulldogs pitching staff being a senior heavy squad with Lilli Backes and Rachel Gibson, they do not have a pitcher with an ERA under a three and ranked 11th in the SEC in ERA. Perhaps Berzon’s ability to strikeout batters would assist the pitching rotation and take some pressure off a defense that sat second to last in the SEC.

Washington Huskies

Although Berzon is originally from the east coast, perhaps a cross country move to Washington is not out of the question. The Huskies recently fell and were booted out in their second consecutive regional. Although this does not seem dire to some, the Washington fan base is accustomed to a certain level of winning with the Huskies competing in the World Series 15 times, taking the runner-up spot in 1996, 1999, and 2018, and winning the title in 2009.

This year Washington finished the year in the Big 10 in the middle of the pack, but finished the regular season ranked third in staff ERA. However, Berzon could be a third arm added into the rotation that consistently has over 100 strikeouts a year, joining junior Sophia Ramuno (144) and freshman Morgan Reimer (125).

Washington players wait to greet Ava Carroll at home after a home run against Mississippi State in the Lubbock regional.

Washington players wait to greet Ava Carroll at home after a home run against Mississippi State during a game in the Lubbock Regional of the 2025 NCAA softball tournament, Friday, May 16, 2025, at Rocky Johnson Field. / Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Programs That Love the Portal: Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, & Texas Tech

Other potential programs that have had success in the portal are softball powerhouse Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, and Texas Tech. Oklahoma won their fourth Women’s College World Series due to the pitching performance of Oklahoma State transfer Kelly Maxwell in 2024. This year the Sooners’ pitching staff is ranked fifth in the SEC. However, Oklahoma is known for taking in transfers and making them exceptional. Sam Landry who transferred from Louisiana-Lafayette is now the ace of their staff and was recently drafted No. 1 overall to Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL). Landry’s exit would leave a hole that needs to be filled and perhaps Berzon is the answer.

Oklahoma's Sam Landry (21) pitches during a softball game in the Norman Regional of the NCAA Tournament.

Oklahoma’s Sam Landry (21) pitches during a softball game in the Norman Regional of the NCAA Tournament between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Boston University Terriers at Love’s Field in Norman, Okla., Friday, May 16, 2025. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Oklahoma State head coach Kenny Gajewski is known for being a portal wizard. This year he picked up ace Ruby Meylan who left Washington. Meylan pitched majority of the innings this year for the Cowgirls (209) and could use another experienced arm to compliment her next season. Additionally, OSU was knocked out of regionals on Sunday in Fayetteville to Arkansas, perhaps Berzon is the addition Gajewski needs to make it back to a deep run in post season in 2026.

Although Texas Tech has National Player of the Year candidate NiJaree Canady, Gerry Glasco is another Power 4 coach known to hunt talent out of the portal. Canady leads the nation right now in ERA and the pitching staff ranks second in ERA in the country, but could another powerful presence on the mound assist the Red Raiders in 2026? Potentially, but I would not be surprised if the Red Raiders do not go after Berzon either; they currently have a young pitching staff outside of Canady and Chloe Riassetto.

Texas Tech's NiJaree Canady pitches against Mississippi State in the Lubbock Regional.

Texas Tech’s NiJaree Canady pitches against Mississippi State in the Lubbock Regional championship game of the 2025 NCAA softball tournament, Sunday, May 18, 2025, at Rocky Johnson Field. / Nathan Giese/Avalanche-Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

More News: Oklahoma State Softball Three-Year Starter Enters Transfer Portal

More News: NC State’s Leading Hitter Transfers to ACC Rival in Shocking Move

More News: Oregon’s Chambers’ Heroics in the Circle Led to First Super Regional Berth since 2023

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Ex-Georgia QB Carson Beck’s Massive NIL Deal With Miami Revealed

Ex-Georgia QB Carson Beck’s Massive NIL Deal With Miami Revealed originally appeared on Athlon Sports. In the NIL era of college football, quarterbacks don’t have to make the NFL to become millionaires. Signal-callers are reaching paydays in the multi-millions per season at the college level. Advertisement There’s few better examples of that than former Georgia […]

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Ex-Georgia QB Carson Beck’s Massive NIL Deal With Miami Revealed originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

In the NIL era of college football, quarterbacks don’t have to make the NFL to become millionaires. Signal-callers are reaching paydays in the multi-millions per season at the college level.

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There’s few better examples of that than former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck.

On3’s Pete Nakos reported Sunday that Beck will make in excess of $4 million to play for the Miami Hurricanes this fall.

“One thing is clear: The price of an elite quarterback is not dropping,” Nakos wrote. “In this year’s college football transfer portal, jaw-dropping quarterback numbers included a $3 million offer from Duke for Darian Mensah.

“Georgia’s Carson Beck transferred to Miami and stands to make more than $4 million. Missouri agreed to terms on a $1.5 million deal with Penn State transfer Beau Pribula in December, too.”

Former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck© Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Former Georgia Bulldogs quarterback Carson Beck© Joshua L. Jones / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Bobby Carpenter Show host Anthony Schlegel said during the first week of June that Beck was going to make $4.3 million with his NIL deal in 2025.

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Schlegel said that is ranked second-highest in college football behind only Texas Longhorns quarterback Arch Manning.

Beck announced his decision to transfer from Georgia to Miami on January 10, which was just a little more than a week after the Bulldogs suffered their playoff defeat to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Beck didn’t play in that game because of an elbow injury, which he sustained in the SEC Championship Game versus Texas.

During his final season with the Bulldogs, Beck completed 64.7% of his passes for 3,485 passing yards with 28 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. The quarterback posted significantly better statistics during 2023.

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In Miami, Beck will replace quarterback Cam Ward, who became the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Related: Coveted Playmaker Sends Clear Message on Future With Historic College Football Program

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.



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Gamecocks Athletic Director Hesitates to Reveal NIL Budget for Football vs Basketball, Others

Gamecocks Athletic Director Hesitates to Reveal NIL Budget for Football vs Basketball, Others originally appeared on Athlon Sports. South Carolina’s Director of Athletics, Jeremiah Donati, gave a cryptic answer when a reporter asked how the NIL salary budget is going to be split among different sports teams like football and basketball. The response comes months […]

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Gamecocks Athletic Director Hesitates to Reveal NIL Budget for Football vs Basketball, Others originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

South Carolina’s Director of Athletics, Jeremiah Donati, gave a cryptic answer when a reporter asked how the NIL salary budget is going to be split among different sports teams like football and basketball. The response comes months after women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley mentioned that new players shouldn’t join her team if they wanted to make a lot of NIL money.

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Following a federal judge’s approval of the landmark House vs. NCAA settlement, universities will be able to distribute up to $20.5 million directly to student athletes this year. In a letter posted online, Donati said they planned to give the maximum to students this year.

But when The State previously asked Donati how the Gamecocks will be splitting the budget up among different sports teams, like football or basketball, he wouldn’t give specifics, citing competition.

“Well, one, (the settlement) needs to be approved, but we know what those budgets will be and we’ve already communicated that with coaches,” Donati said in late May, before the judge’s final approval. “All those budgets are set (but) that’s not something we’ll reveal publicly, just for competitive purposes. It’s proprietary, but all that stuff has been baked.”

© Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

© Jeremy Reper-Imagn Images

The response came after Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks had initially said that 75% of their money would go to football players, 15% to men’s basketball, 5% to women’s basketball, and 5% to other teams. Brooks later walked back those comments and said distributions were evolving, The State reported.

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In late March during a postgame press conference, when talking about how upcoming NIL shifts might impact recruiting, Staley said she wasn’t sure that NIL payments were fair.

“I don’t think we’re paying the most in the NIL space,” she said. “But I don’t even know if it’s fair, to be quite honest. It’s what it is.”

Staley added that players shouldn’t join her team if they wanted to make a lot of money.

“You either have it or you don’t in the NIL space, and then you just have to communicate that to agents, to parents and give them a choice…” she said. “You got non-negotiables, you got priorities. What are your priorities? Is it NIL? If it’s NIL, I’m quick to say, ‘Go get the money. Put it away.’ … If you want something different, a different experience, then we’ve been the five straight final fours. We know what that looks like and feels like and sounds like and what goes into that. We’re gonna give you a different experience, you know, that’s gonna cost you a few dollars.”

Related: Gamecocks Star Football Player Ranks in Nation’s Top 10 for NIL Valuation

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 9, 2025, where it first appeared.



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Paul Finebaum: House settlement will only help the rich in college athletics

Paul Finebaum gave a stern warning about the implications that the recently approved House vs. NCAA settlement will have on college athletics. It is set to bring a wave of changes to the sport, most notably allowing universities to directly pay athletes for the first time ever. But according to Finebaum, it might not have […]

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Paul Finebaum gave a stern warning about the implications that the recently approved House vs. NCAA settlement will have on college athletics. It is set to bring a wave of changes to the sport, most notably allowing universities to directly pay athletes for the first time ever.

But according to Finebaum, it might not have the desired impact save for the two most powerful conferences in the sport already, the SEC and Big Ten. He believes those schools will see bigger benefits as well as bigger pay days as a result of the new changes while the remaining conferences will be left picking up the scraps. He also worried how it might affect sports outside of football and men’s basketball.

“It means very little, really,” Finebaum said on the Dan Patrick Show. “This is all very complicated. A lot of legal mumbo jumbo. What I think it will really mean, though, if you’re a fan of a Group of 5 school, if you’re a fan of a school somewhere in the middle, get ready for hard times.

“This is only going to help the rich. The big leagues, the Big Ten, the SEC will more than likely profit because they have so much money. Women’s sports, in my opinion, will be hurt. Olympic sports will be crushed. Football wins. Basketball, other than maybe the Big East, takes a slight backseat.”

Direct payments to players isn’t the only change coming as a result of the new settlement. There will also be set roster limits for each sport as well as an NIL clearinghouse for deals greater than $600.

Ultimately, Paul Finebaum sees this possibly being the final nail in the coffin for the NCAA. The organization has already been losing power due to all the recent changes and Sankey revealed at the SEC Spring Meetings that people within the SEC have brought up the possibility of separating from the NCAA entirely.

This settlement only makes that an even stronger possibility. However, as Finebaum mentioned, one has to wonder what that could mean for a vast majority of other schools left in the wake.

“The NCAA is essentially dead and I know a lot of people are celebrating,” he said. “But the damage that has been done by this organization is incalculable and it’s really about time. What did we grow up thinking about when we thought of the NCAA? The enforcement part of it. The big, bad NCAA is coming to your town. They don’t even have any jurisdiction for that any more.

“By the way, not that they have in about the last five years. They’ve been completely ineffective. So if you’re the NCAA president, who happens to be Charlie Baker, you get to fly around on a luxury plane, you’re welcomed at Taj Mahal, you stay at five-star resorts. But essentially, you have absolutely nothing to do but try to look busy.”



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New NIL Clearinghouse to Use Arbitration in Evaluating Athlete Deals

With final approval being granted on Friday, the House settlement brings several new elements to the NCAA beginning next season, highlighted by the revenue sharing cap and the implementation of roster limits. One of the controversial aspects of the settlement is the clearinghouse procedure for reviewing NIL deals that exceed $600. The accounting firm Deloitte […]

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New NIL Clearinghouse to Use Arbitration in Evaluating Athlete Deals

With final approval being granted on Friday, the House settlement brings several new elements to the NCAA beginning next season, highlighted by the revenue sharing cap and the implementation of roster limits.

One of the controversial aspects of the settlement is the clearinghouse procedure for reviewing NIL deals that exceed $600.

The accounting firm Deloitte has established a clearinghouse, known as NIL Go,  that will audit and manage NIL deals, verifying whether or not agreements between athletes and boosters are for a valid business purpose rather than a recruiting incentive.

According to Sportico, “the clearinghouse will use a fair market algorithm to assess if an NIL deal has a plausible relationship to the value of the athlete’s right of publicity in the context of a proposed deal.”

The process of what happens once NIL Go evaluates a deal was recently reported by The Athletic‘s Chris Vannini:

Although there is a concern that the denial of NIL deals will lead athletes and businesses to file lawsuits against the clearinghouse, the presence of arbitration will likely “deter attorneys who would otherwise jump at the chance to bring a lawsuit that would attract media attention,” Sportico‘s Michael McCann reports.

Once a case is taken to arbitration, things are conducted outside of public view, and the arbiter’s decision is final.

The College Sports Commission, which is reportedly looking to hire a lead investigator who would be the arbiter of NIL deals, recently announced MLB executive Bryan Seeley as its CEO.

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Jenna Lord Tabbed at No. 70 in Softball America Postseason Top 100 Player Rankings

Story Links MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — Charlotte Softball third baseman, Jenna Lord, named to Softball America Postseason Top 100 Player Rankings list at No. 70 after historic 2025 season.  Lord, who was named American Conference Player of the Year, clocked in at number 70 in the nation on Softball America’s postseason top […]

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MERCER ISLAND, Wash. — Charlotte Softball third baseman, Jenna Lord, named to Softball America Postseason Top 100 Player Rankings list at No. 70 after historic 2025 season. 

Lord, who was named American Conference Player of the Year, clocked in at number 70 in the nation on Softball America’s postseason top 100 players list after one of the greatest single seasons in Charlotte Softball history. 

Lord’s 2025 season included batting .410 in 178 at-bats, a slugging percentage of .865%, 21 home runs, and 65 RBI. Lord is now the single-season record holder in Charlotte Softball history for both RBI and Slugging Percentage. Her 2025 season also ranks in the top three in Charlotte history in homers, batting average, total bases, hits, and runs. 

Not only did Lord make a splash in the Charlotte record books, but she also led the American Conference in nearly every batting stat, including slugging, home runs, hits, OPS, runs scored, and RBI, earning her title of 2025 American Conference Player of the Year. 

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Stay up to date with everything Charlotte Softball by following the team on X (Formerly Twitter) @CharlotteSB and Instagram and Facebook @CharlotteSoftball.

 



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Ohio State launches groundbreaking NIL initiative for Buckeye sports

After Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House vs. NCAA settlement on Friday, collegiate athletics changed forever. Now, teams are trying to keep up with the changing landscape, while trying to allocate the new ‘salary cap’. Schools will have roughly $20.5 million to pay their sports — with college football and men’s basketball getting most of […]

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After Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House vs. NCAA settlement on Friday, collegiate athletics changed forever. Now, teams are trying to keep up with the changing landscape, while trying to allocate the new ‘salary cap’. Schools will have roughly $20.5 million to pay their sports — with college football and men’s basketball getting most of the money. But on top of that, schools are attempting to come up with new ways to help their players utilize their Name, Image, and Likeness to get paid.

The Ohio State Buckeyes moved quickly and came up with a groundbreaking initiative designed to support, streamline and enhance NIL opportunities for Ohio State student-athletes. The Ohio State University Department of Athletics and Learfield’s Ohio State Sports Properties have announced the formation of Buckeye Sports Group (BSG).

Jeremiah Smit

Samantha Madar/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

“Ohio State has always been a leader in college athletics, and this initiative is another step forward to build upon our strong NIL foundation,” said Carey Hoyt, Ohio State’s Deputy Director of Athletics. “By combining the power of our athletic brand with Learfield’s expansive network, we are creating an innovative, full-service approach to NIL that directly benefits our student-athletes.”

You can read the detailed press release below revealing which three key areas it will focus on.

The Buckeye Sports Group will support Ohio State’s student-athletes with comprehensive efforts within three key areas: deal facilitation and management, content creation and storytelling, and support services.

§ NIL Deal Facilitation & Management
o Negotiating and securing brand partnerships locally, regionally, and nationally for student-athletes.
o Overseeing contract preparation and fair market value assessments.
o Utilizing analytics to track NIL performance and return on investment.
Content Creation & Student-Athlete Storytelling, powered by Learfield Studios
Creating athlete-driven digital content, including social media campaigns, video series and podcasts.
Leveraging Learfield’s Fanbase data and digital expertise to optimize distribution across social media and digital channels.
Providing marketing resources for brand collaborations to maximize results, including the use of Ohio State marks, logos and access to campus facilities.

§ Athlete Support & Services
o Providing financial literacy and tax support through partnerships with industry experts.
o Offering branding and social media growth training to help athletes build their personal brands.
o Connecting student-athletes with brand partners to provide business experience, micro-internships and build professional networking relationships with companies.

Ohio State basketbal

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images



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