Auburn forward Johni Broome emerged as one of the top players in college basketball last season, earning All-American and SEC Player of the Year honors starring for a Bruce Pearl-led Tigers team that made just its second Final Four in program history.

In his fifth and final season of college basketball, Broome averaged 18.6 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2.1 blocks per game. He finished as runner-up in National Player of the Year honors behind Duke‘s Cooper Flagg, who will be the No. 1 overall pick in the upcoming NBA Draft.

Pearl however believes that nobody had a better year in college basketball last season than Broome, he revealed on Andy Katz’s “The Sidelines with Andy Katz” podcast.

“Johni Broome wasn’t the best player in college basketball last year and the [NBA] Draft will probably point that out in terms of being a pro prospect, but nobody had a year in college basketball like Johni Broome,” Pearl said. “Nobody affected winning more than Johni Broome. Every level, whether it be high school coming out of Tampa Catholic or being overlooked in AAU basketball or having to go to Morehead State first instead of the SEC or ACC first coming out of Florida. “

Pearl says Broome’s NBA future depends on team

“And he was too slow at Auburn and he wasn’t gonna be able to move his feet quicker or be a good athlete [Pearl said while mocking his doubters], and all he did was become All-League his first year, All-American his second year and National Player of the Year in his third year.”

Broome, who turns 23 in July, is currently projected to be drafted by the New York Knicks with the No. 50 overall pick in On3’s latest NBA Mock Draft.

“He’s not gonna get drafted high. He’s probably not gonna get drafted in the first round. He might maybe the right team. And so again he’s just gonna have to prove them wrong. He’s an elite passer, he’s an elite scorer, he’s an unbelievable kid and he’s a great teammate. He just knows he’s got it. He just knows how to play. Is he a freaky athlete? No. But he’s affective, and the right team that needs a piece and a guy that can play right away as a backup stretch-five man. If he goes to the right team, he’ll do good in the NBA.

When it comes to Broome’s future, we’ll have to wait and see where he ends up. Wherever it may be however, Bruce Pearl will always be his No. 1 supporter.

Of all the stellar throws Jake Fette made in 2024 — and there were a bevy of them during the Del Valle High School quarterback’s junior year, a campaign that saw the Conquistadores complete their first undefeated regular season in more than two decades — it was a set of tosses during a seemingly innocuous January workout that have reverberated. The plays touched off a frenetic 16-month period that placed the 17-year-old football phenom amid a national conversation.

That day, Kirk Bryant, then an assistant coach at Texas Tech, was in El Paso with a small contingent of Red Raider coaches to scout potential high school talent. As Del Valle head coach Rudy Contreras recalled, Bryant was getting ready to catch a flight out of the city on the heels of a conversation about a “pretty good quarterback” Contreras wanted him to see. Bryant’s flight, however, got delayed. And he reached out to Contreras to ask if he could make an unplanned visit to the Del Valle campus.

“I said, ‘We’re about to go out here and throw a little bit,’” Contreras said. “Yeah, come back.” 

Bryant did more than see. 

“After about four throws,” Contreras said, “(Bryant) said, ‘Hold on,’ and took out his phone, started recording.” 

Bryant began FaceTiming other Texas Tech coaches, offering them a virtual glimpse of the 6-foot-2, 180-pound player who threw for 2,488 yards that fall en route to a third consecutive District 2-5A title. After the session, the coaches convened and Bryant told  Contreras, “This kid is the real deal. He could be at Texas Tech and be our third best quarterback right now.”

Before the group headed back to the airport, Texas Tech extended an offer, the first of numerous schools over the last year-and-a-half that offered Fette a scholarship to play collegiately. Bryant also had some prophetic parting words for Contreras.

“He said, ‘Coach, I want you to remember we were the first ones to offer him because it’s going to get crazy here in the next couple of years,’” Contreras said. “I thought he was exaggerating. I was thinking maybe we get a couple more schools. But, two years later and, yeah, it’s been crazy.”

Fette’s story captures a transformative moment in high school and college football. As he prepares to compete this week in the prestigious Elite 11 Finals quarterback competition, he’s also navigating a recruiting process shaped by seismic shifts in college athletics. The rise of name, image and likeness compensation has rewritten the rules of recruitment and athlete branding. 

Setting the stage

As a junior, Fette was unflappable, throwing for 32 touchdowns and rushing for 11 more in leading Del Valle to its second undefeated regular season in school history. In the UIL Class 5A state football playoffs, the Conquistadores became the first El Paso program to defeat Abilene Cooper in the postseason. Fette threw for over 200 yards and three touchdowns while also running for two scores. He threw his lone interception of the season in the subsequent area-round loss to Lucas Lovejoy.

Fette’s story took another major turn in September 2024, just as the season was getting underway. With Del Valle off to a 3-0 start and Fette already compiling 612 passing yards and 148 rushing yards — including wins over Franklin and Canutillo — he announced his verbal commitment to Arizona State on social media.

This week, Fette will be in Los Angeles to compete in the Elite 11 Finals — one of the country’s most prestigious quarterback competitions for high school seniors. The invite-only event June 17-19 at Mira Costa High School will bring together 20 of the nation’s top prospects for advanced training, on-field evaluation and leadership development. Fette is the only quarterback from the El Paso area selected to compete and will represent Del Valle among peers already committed to programs such as Texas, Clemson, Penn State and USC.

Fette chose ASU over offers from Kansas, SMU, Houston, Texas Tech, New Mexico State, Texas State, California and UTEP. His feats on the field have drawn national renown. This spring, Fette was named the No. 4 quarterback prospect in the nation in the Class of 2026 by On3 Recruits, a leading sports publication that tracks high school and college athletics. 

“Jake is a great person, and he’s a great college prospect,” Contreras said. “This is a decision he took time in making and he’s got our full support here at Del Valle. He has so much promise as a player and he puts in the time to get better. He is a leader for us.”

Fette’s journey is unfolding in an era of historic change in college athletics. Since 2021, NCAA rules have allowed college athletes to profit from their name, image and likeness — a legal right often referred to as NIL. This means student-athletes such as Fette can now earn income through endorsements, social media, autograph signings and personal appearances, all while in college.

For top-tier prospects, NIL is a key part of the recruiting conversation. College programs are increasingly evaluated not just for their coaching and facilities, but for the strength of their NIL infrastructure — including what kind of opportunities and support they offer athletes. While Texas currently does not allow high school athletes to enter into NIL deals, prospects such as Fette are already being recruited into environments where those opportunities are front and center.

Athletes and their families must now navigate an unfamiliar mix of traditional sports decision-making and modern brand-building. For Fette and his family, this balancing act has played a central role in the decisions they’ve made and how they’ve approached the spotlight.

From the ground up: Early days and athletic roots

Jake Fette’s athleticism showed itself early, according to his father. From YMCA basketball games to flag football and soccer, he dabbled in everything. 

“He was always good at sports,” said Rick Fette. “Always a little bigger, faster than the other kids. It was just fun. He had fun doing it and we had fun watching him.”

The elder Fette recalled Jake’s transition to quarterback came unexpectedly. In 2019, Del Valle’s previous head coach, Jesse Perales, left for the same position at Garland Naaman Forest. Perales’ son, DeAngelo, was the quarterback of the sixth-grade youth team where Jake played wide receiver. 

“They tried out a few guys and realized (Jake) could throw a lot farther than they could,” Rick said. 

Initially, the position change was jarring for the younger Fette. 

“To be honest, I didn’t even like it at first,” Jake Fette said. “But, being able to control the game, I really like. I like having the ball in my hands and I get to make the decisions that choose the outcome of the game.”

Rick Fette, who played at UTEP, was cautious but observant as the years progressed. 

“I knew very little about quarterbacking,” he said. “But, I saw he looked like one of the better ones. Strong arm, moved well, decent size.”

That mix of tools, versatility and parental guidance became more evident as he reached high school. 

“His coaches liked him,” Rick Fette said. “We knew that people were going to be more receptive to a kind, polite kid that’s got his manners.”

A coach and a father

Rick Fette brings a unique perspective — he is both Jake’s father and one of his team’s coaches. The elder Fette, who played football at Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi, has been an assistant defensive coach at Del Valle for 16 years. 

He arrived in El Paso to play defensive end for UTEP in 1999 and was part of the Miners’ 2000 Western Athletic Conference championship team. Rick Fette said he chose UTEP over North Texas, Air Force and SMU because of the demeanor of then-defensive line coach Lorenzo Constantini, but also because of what he perceived as the success of the school’s strength and conditioning program. 

“I thought, ‘Man, the guys are huge here,’” Rick Fette recalled of former UTEP players such as Brian Young and Paul Smith, both of whom played in the NFL. “It felt like an impressive club to be a part of.”

Rick Fette was part of stalwart defensive line units that produced NFL draft picks Leif Larsen and Menson Holloway. He said apart from his teammates, he was also impressed with the school’s amenities. 

“It felt really big-time,” Rick Fette said. “When I was at UTEP, we had trainers giving us water. We had cold water in all our drills. It felt like I was in the NFL.”

That sense of professionalism, structure and preparation has shaped how he has helped guide his son through the recruiting and NIL maze.

“There’s two ways we could probably do it right now,” Rick Fette said of NIL. “You can go get an agent and have that agent go to work for you and shop you around to the highest bidder … or you go where you want to go.”

Rick Fette said they preferred the second approach — focusing on fit, relationships and values. 

What Rick Fette saw in Arizona State was a program that was building the right way. 

“Their background in general … what they were talking about and what they were doing even before they had a really good season, it all kind of made sense,” he said.

The Arizona State commitment

Jake Fette committed to Arizona State as his junior year at Del Valle got underway — before the Sun Devils’ surprise run to the 2024 College Football Playoff.

At the time, ASU was coming off a 3-9 season and was picked to finish at the bottom of the Big 12 Conference in preseason rankings. But as the 2024 college football season unfolded, the Sun Devils shocked the country.

Behind the leadership of second-year head coach Kenny Dillingham and breakout performances from players such as quarterback Sam Leavitt and running back Cam Skattebo, ASU won the Big 12 championship and earned a berth in the inaugural postseason tournament. In the Peach Bowl quarterfinal, they pushed national powerhouse Texas to double overtime before falling 39-31.

Leavitt’s postseason success elevated him to national prominence — and, according to On3, a top-10 NIL valuation of $3.1 million.

Despite the meteoric rise of ASU and Leavitt’s emerging stardom, Jake Fette said he has not wavered in his commitment even as schools continue to make overtures. 

“I was committed to stay committed,” he said. “I wasn’t looking to flip or anything. You know, for them to have a season like they did, it just made me more and more excited to be a part of that program.”

Jake Fette said he was impressed not just by the system, but by the authenticity of the coaches. In addition to Dillingham, Fette was courted by offensive coordinator and quarterback coach Marcus Arroyo, who has coached numerous NFL quarterbacks, including the San Diego Chargers’ Justin Herbert. 

“They’re gonna tell you what it is and how it is,” Jake Fette said. “I really appreciate that. Just telling me, like, I’m not guaranteed to play or any of that, but just the fact that they’ll work with me and not lie to me.”

Contreras saw the effect ripple beyond just Jake. 

“Jake Fette is spearheading that ’26 class,” Contreras said. “Now, they have a lot of commits because of Jake Fette, so they’re going to be very talented in the upcoming future.”

NIL in focus

As the family learned more about NIL, they stayed focused on the long-term benefits rather than immediate payouts, Rick Fette said.

“Now you’ve got to basically show proof of value,” Rick Fette said. “They’re trying to follow kind of an NFL model on it.”

He pointed out that most players aren’t raking in millions — despite headlines. 

“That’s a very, very select view of, like, five-star guys that they think, ‘This guy’s generational,’” he said.

On June 6, a major shift in the NIL landscape was made official with the ratification of the House v. NCAA settlement. The class-action lawsuit, brought by former college athletes including Arizona State swimmer Grant House, challenged the NCAA’s longtime restrictions on athlete compensation and forced a landmark agreement that will allow schools to share revenue directly with players for the first time. 

Starting July 1, universities will be allowed to directly pay athletes through revenue-sharing agreements. Power conference schools such as Arizona State are expected to allocate up to $20.5 million annually across their athletic departments, with football projected to receive the lion’s share. 

The Sun Angel Collective, the official NIL collective of Arizona State athletics, did not respond to a request for general information on how it will conduct operations during the 2025-26 athletics season. 

This pay-for-play model marks a new era in college sports. Compensation is expected to be governed by a College Sports Commission, which will enforce caps and ensure NIL deals meet fair market standards. While athletes will remain classified as non-employees, their compensation could reach levels once unthinkable in college athletics. NIL contracts will be vetted through a clearinghouse run by Deloitte, with booster-funded deals facing increased scrutiny.

For Jake Fette, this means he will enter college amid a structured, high-stakes NIL system. While he has not spoken publicly about pursuing NIL deals, the infrastructure surrounding him will change significantly by the time he arrives in Tempe.

And through it all, the family’s guiding principle has remained steady: “He made that decision for the right reasons early on,” Rick Fette said.

Contreras agreed. 

“The process and the steps that Jake has taken to get to where he’s at … he’s never asked about money,” he said.

Lessons from the past: Advice from El Paso’s quarterback trailblazers

Jake Fette isn’t the first El Paso quarterback to draw national attention — but his journey is unfolding in a landscape far different from those navigated by Steven Montez and Ed Stansbury.

Montez, also a Del Valle alumnus now living in northern California, graduated in 2015 and played at the University of Colorado and later in the NFL with the Washington Football Team. He sees continuity in the school’s culture of quarterback development.

“Even before me, Del Valle was already kind of a powerhouse and a QB factory,” Montez said. “Jordan Baeza, Tury Rios, Adrian Gonzalez — all those dudes had really good runs into the playoffs and played high-level football.”

Montez believes the longevity in the school’s coaching staff is at the heart of that legacy. 

“They’ve managed to keep that staff relatively intact. We had a ton of high-level coaches who taught us how to play the game and play it at a high level.”

Asked about Fette, Montez didn’t hesitate: “He’s a phenomenal player in his own right. His accuracy at his age is much farther along than I was. He spins the hell out of the ball. There’s really no weaknesses in his game.”

Stansbury, who graduated from Irvin High School in 1997, and played at UCLA and in the NFL with the Houston Texans, also sees Fette’s character as a difference-maker. 

“He’s active on social media, but he’s in no way showing off or taking advantage of the situation,” Stansbury said. “It’s been all business for Jake.”

Stansbury said his own recruiting journey was different: “A lot of my success and my exposure was due directly to my high school football coach (Tony Shaw) … he spent countless hours sending out VHS tapes.”

Now, watching NIL transform the landscape, Stansbury said Fette is handling it the right way.

“What parents and players can take away from Jake is how he has conducted himself,” Stansbury said. “The humbleness he’s carried throughout this speaks volumes.”

These lessons carry personal relevance for Stansbury, too. His son, West Stansbury, is an up-and-coming quarterback at Coronado High School. As West enters his sophomore year and begins what could become his own recruiting journey, Ed is already thinking about how to prepare him for a future that includes the realities of NIL.

“We’ve built his brand pretty good for what he’s done so far,” Stansbury said. “Now the second part is being a productive, good athlete that colleges want. The NIL opportunities will follow if those things are done. Jake’s journey shows how to do it right.”

Both Montez and Stansbury emphasized that the spotlight brings pressure, but Fette appears well-prepared.

“Just don’t let anybody take your confidence away,” Montez said. “He knows he’s a great quarterback. He just has to keep pushing to be great — and he will.”

What comes next

Jake Fette will graduate in December and enroll at Arizona State in the spring of 2025, giving him a head start to learn the playbook and adjust to the pace of college football. But before that, he has one final high school season to complete.

“Last season doesn’t matter anymore, so we’ve got to prove that we’re good again,” Fette said. “I don’t think anyone’s expecting us to be as good as we were last year with all the graduates, but we’re reloaded. We’re not rebuilding.”

His preparation for his senior season, which begins Aug. 29 against Montwood High School, continues. 

“I’m just gonna stick to what I’ve been doing,” he said. “Regularly work out and just get my mind ready to go.”

Contreras is already thinking ahead. 

“We’re gonna miss his talent and everything he does on the field, but we’re also gonna miss the way he represents Del Valle football, the leadership he brings to this team in the locker room, the way he carries himself in the building,” he said.

As for Jake Fette, he remains focused on what matters most. 

“At the end of the day, I’m going to college to play football because I love football,” he said.

For his school, his city, and the next wave of El Paso athletes, he has shown what the new standard can look like.

“Football ends at some point or another for everybody,” Contreras said. “But to know that he has some money to kind of start his life on — his adulthood on — who knows, maybe the rest of his life. It’s a good deal for them. And we’re proud.”

It’s the offseason for college basketball, but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any controversy. In particular, there’s been a growing debate surrounding playing two halves or four quarters. Now Auburn Tigers head coach Bruce Pearl has joined the conversation, sharing his thoughts.

While being interviewed by Andy Katz on The Sideline, Pearl shared that he prefers quarters over halves. After all, that’s how the game is played at every other level.

“Quarters,” Bruce Pearl said. “Just like everybody else.”

Pearl didn’t expand on his reasoning beyond that. Part of that might have been because Andy Katz asked him for a rapid-fire answer, though. Still, to his point, basketball is played in a four-quarter format in the NBA, in high school, and even in women’s college basketball. Women’s basketball made the switch back in the 2015-16 season. So, men playing two halves does remain an odd outlier.

This growing concern over halves and quarters stems from a recent NCAA press release. In it, the NCAA was announcing some changes to help with the flow of the game. Among those changes was the move to allow coaches to challenge and review out-of-bounds calls and goaltending or basket interference. However, deeper inside that press release was an interesting note about the halves and quarters format.

The NCAA has since announced that there’s been “positive momentum” toward the switch. Bruce Pearl, seemingly, is a good example of that momentum now. The NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel also recommended that Division I conferences actually develop a working group to provide further feedback on the option.

“In considering the decisions last month, the NCAA Men’s Basketball Committee had conversations about ways to continue this direction in the upcoming years, which includes positive momentum for moving the men’s game from halves to quarters,” the NCAA’s press release read. “The committee realizes there are hurdles to implementing the quarter format to the game, including the structuring of media timeouts to accommodate commercial inventory. The committee recommended NCAA Division I conferences create a joint working group to provide feedback on the potential change from halves to quarters.”

For many coaches, this would be a massive change. In particular, they’d have to adjust to a new system as it relates to clock management. For some, that may be more difficult than others. Still, if Bruce Pearl, who has been in college coaching since 1982 and has been a head coach since 1992, wants the change, then he is probably confident that he can adjust just fine. After a trip to the Final Four, of course, it’s easy to be confident.

Associated Press

COMMERCE CITY, Colo. (AP) — Martin Ojeda scored a goal and Pedro Gallese had his eighth shutout of the season to help Orlando City beat the Rapids 1-0 on Saturday night, Colorado’s third consecutive loss.

Gallese finished with two saves for Orlando (8-4-6), which had lost back-to-back games following a 12-game unbeaten streak.

Ojeda gave Orlando a 1-0 lead in the 24th minute. On the counter-attack, Marco Pasalic flicked a low cross along the top of the penalty area to Ojeda for a rolling shot the bounced off the outstretched arm of diving goalkeeper Nico Hansen into the top-net.

The Rapids (6-8-4) outshot Orlando 14-7.

Hansen finished with two saves for Colorado.

Orlando is 6-1-2 all time against the Rapids.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/soccer

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Kade Anderson limited Arkansas’ high-powered offense to three hits and a run in seven-plus innings, LSU knocked Razorbacks ace Zach Root out of the game early, and the Tigers beat the rival Razorbacks 4-1 in the College World Series on Saturday night.

Anderson, a projected top-five overall pick in the MLB amateur draft next month, kept Arkansas batters off-balance with his four-pitch mix and struck out seven to become the national leader with 170.

“Outstanding performance, one we’ve been accustomed to on opening night of every weekend,” LSU coach Jay Johnson said. “He got stronger as the game went along, and he executed pitches at a high level, which you have to do against that offense. Offensively, we did just enough.”

LSU (49-15), which won the SEC regular-season series against the Razorbacks in Baton Rouge last month, improved to 4-0 in all-time CWS meetings. The Tigers will play UCLA on Monday night as they continue their bid to win a second national title in three years. Arkansas (48-14), in its 12th CWS and looking for its first championship, meets Murray State in an elimination game Monday.

“Obviously, we need to move on from this one and get over it and not think too far down the road,” Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn said. “We have to take care of business Monday because if we don’t, there’s no Tuesday. You can’t get all uptight about it. These guys have come back and won games. They’ve done some great things this year.”

The matchup between the No. 3 national seed Razorbacks and No. 6 Tigers marked the first time since the NCAA Tournament went to its current format in 1999 that the highest remaining seeds have met in their CWS opener.

The Tigers were up 3-0 in the second inning after Root (8-6) issued two walks and allowed a bunt single to Daniel Dickinson to load the bases. Chris Stanfield singled in a run and another was forced in when Root plunked Michael Braswell III in the foot. The third came home when Josh Pearson grounded to short and beat the relay throw to first on the double-play attempt.

That was all for Root, whose 1 2/3 innings marked his shortest start of the season.

“When you’re facing that caliber of arms, you aren’t going to get a ton (of runs) maybe like you would playing in SEC ballparks where home runs are a real thing with every pitch of the game,” Johnson said. “We did an excellent job setting the table. I’ve coached enough games here to know getting the lead is really important.”

Van Horn said it was a hard decision to take out Root.

“The game was about to get out of hand,” Van Horn said. “Yeah, it’s early. The wind was blowing in. Scoring a lot of runs against Anderson, to me, was something that wasn’t going to happen. I hated to do it, but I felt like it was the right decision and I’ll stand by it.”

Gabe Gaeckle, who moved to the bullpen after making nine starts, kept his team in the game. He allowed just three hits, and his 10 strikeouts and six innings were career highs.

Gaeckle left with two outs and a runner on second in the eighth. Cole Gibler came on and Derek Curiel sent his 0-2 pitch to left for an insurance run.

Anderson (11-1) held the Razorbacks scoreless until the sixth when Reese Robinett connected for his third homer of the season.

“Real cool moment,” Anderson said of his night. “Just taking it all in. That’s why you come here. Really proud of our team. Doesn’t matter the stat line. We won the game and that’s all I really care about.”

The left-hander from tiny Madisonville, Louisiana, went seven innings for the third straight start and departed after Cam Kozeal singled leading off the eighth. Chase Shores retired three straight and turned things over to freshman Casan Evans in the ninth. Evans worked around Charles Davalan’s leadoff single to finish off the Razorbacks.

The full house of more than 25,000 was evenly split between the fan bases. Well before first pitch, Arkansas fans countered passionate “L-S-U” chants by raising their arms and doing the Hog call: “Wooooooooo. Pig. Sooie!”

Influencer and former LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne was in the front row in a half-LSU, half-Pittsburgh Pirates No. 30 jersey with the name of her boyfriend, Paul Skenes, on the back. Skenes pitched on LSU’s 2023 title team before he made his fast rise in the majors.

___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

If it weren’t for Clemson, perhaps it wouldn’t have happened at all.

Just ask Ben Haulmiller.

Long before College Football 25 was the highest-selling sports video game in the history of the United States, one of the many tasks to accomplish to get the game in development was bringing the schools on board.

There needed to be proof of concept, or something that could be a minor selling point to enticing the rest of the universities to take action. One of the key issues was hesitancy due to the uncertainty of how to create a video game without having the players in it. At the time, Name, Image and Likeness compensation was not a thing, and a lawsuit over use of student-athletes’ NIL brought the game to a halt after the 2013 edition.

In NCAA Football 14, players were listed by their position and jersey number. Tajh Boyd was “QB10,” and Sammy Watkins was “WR2.”

Was there a way to show this concept could work?

Enter the Madden Franchise.

At the time, Madden was the king of football video games, and “Madden 20” was set to unveil a unique aspect of its career mode, particularly when it came to quarterbacks. The player could select from a variety of programs, including Clemson, Texas, Florida, LSU, Oklahoma, USC, Florida State, Miami, Oregon, and Texas Tech.

You would assume control of the quarterback in the College Football Playoff, playing in the semifinal and national championship before heading to the NFL.

Nobody knew it at the time, but those 10 programs were the stepping stones to eventually bringing back college football to video games. On the “Two Right Turns” Podcast, Haulmiller, EA Sports’ principal game designer, broke down how Clemson, along with nine other universities, stepped up to pave the way for CFB 25.

“Honestly, too, it’s a big reason why we’re even back is going back to when we first put in a kind of a pilot program for college in Madden,” Haulmiller said. “There were 10 schools you can go through, and you can kind of work your way from college to the NFL and superstar mode. And we selected 10 schools, and we were working with them, but a lot of schools were hesitant to work with us because we were still in the dark ages of how can we work with making a video game without having players in them, and not infringing on player rights, and all of those.”

As it turns out, Clemson was the first one of the bunch to step up to the plate. In Haulmiller’s eyes, the Tiger program had recognized that this small mode in an NFL-based game could prove to be incredibly valuable.

Once Clemson jumped on board, it was only a matter of time before other top programs wanted in on something special.

“And honestly, Clemson was the first school to step up and say, we want to do this with you guys,” Haulmiller said.” “And now you have a school in your back pocket, you can say, Hey, everybody else, Clemson’s on board, are you on board too? Let’s go. And it really got the ball rolling to get those schools to sign up to be in the game and then prove out to schools that we can do this in a way that if we don’t have player rights, we’ll be able to make it without players and be fine. But if we do have players, man, we can really make some magic here.”

Eventually, that source of magic would come. On July 1, 2021, the NIL floodgates were opened, and the possibility of using players in a college football video game was no longer a distant dream.

In many ways, Haulmiller believes Clemson’s trust in the process is what laid the groundwork for such a project to happen. At the time, it seemed that Madden’s small mode was the only way fans could play as college teams in video games again.

Little did they know, those 10 schools were an early demo for what was to come. Years later, that groundwork turned dreams into reality.

“So it’s that relationship we have with schools and specifically Clemson here,” Haulmiller said. “I mean that’s why we’re talking today in some way, shape, and form is because way back a few years ago, Clemson had the foresight to say, this is something that matters. This is maybe a way we can get the game back. And so here we are.”