Category Archives: NIL

It’s Not Retired, But It’s Disrespectful

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Man, this is just…just weird, and possibly unnecessary.

If you get right down to it, though, LSU is within their rights to give the jersey number to any athlete, as they have made this a public facing policy.

LSU has retired the jerseys of four of its former players — halfback Billy Cannon (No. 20), defensive back Tommy Casanova (No. 37), halfback Jerry Stovall (No. 21) and running back Charles Alexander (No. 4) — and plans to retire former quarterback Bert Jones’ No. 7 jersey on Nov. 14.

However, LSU’s current policy regarding jerseys being retired, which is published on its athletic department website, states that any number retired after Jan. 1, 2007, “does not preclude a current student-athlete in that sport from wearing the jersey number in that or any other sport, subject to the discretion of the head coach.”

The No. 20 jersey made famous by Cannon, who was the team’s first Heisman Trophy winner in 1959, is the only number that can’t be worn again by a football player.

The jersey numbers worn by former LSU basketball stars Bob Pettit (No. 50), Pete Maravich (No. 23) and Shaquille O’Neal (No. 33) and former Tigers baseball coach and athletic director Skip Bertman (No. 15) have also been permanently retired in their respective sports.

The LSU policy states that an athlete must have completed competition for five years before being nominated for jersey retirement, and he or she must have “demonstrated truly unusual and outstanding accomplishments, such as winning a Heisman Trophy or National Player of the Year award and should be based on the total LSU career.”

In the cease and desist letter sent to Ausberry, attorney Adam Kenner noted that Daniels’ contract with LSU permitted the school to use his name, image and likeness for 180 days beyond his final game in college.

“Accordingly, LSU must immediately cease and desist from any further issue use, display, publication, distribution, promotion, commercialization, or other exploitation of Mr. Daniels’ NIL in any manner or medium,” Kenner wrote. “Any use of Mr. Daniels’ NIL occurring after LSU’s receipt of this notice will be deemed knowing and willful and will be pursued vigorously through all available legal and equitable remedies, without further notice.”

Funny, the only thing I can remember about Daniels is this:

Maybe he should’ve changed his number to 1, instead.

Small Ball in Colorado

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Shot:

Chaser:

You’re not being fooled…that is a practice for Colorado Football. No, not the high school team…the Coach Amazon Prime Team.

As a friendly reminder, going in to the 2025 College Football Playoffs, Sanders had a higher salary than Mario Cristobal, Curt Cignetti, and Marcus Freeman. And Neon Deion has a $33 million dollar buyout.

Careful What You Wish For

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As you are aware, there are several former student athletes (chuckle) who are now in a position to get a fifth year of eligibility given the Colorado injunction that was provided last week.

Enter Thomas Castellanos.

Former Florida State quarterback Thomas Castellanos is pursuing legal action regarding his eligibility for a fifth year of college football, his agent Joe Hernandez told On3. He will be represented in the matter by attorneys Darren Heitner and Ryan Downton.

Castellanos is expected to file a lawsuit in Texas, requesting an injunction against the NCAA and for a judge to allow him to enter the transfer portal. With last week’s ruling in the U.S. District Court of Colorado, Castellanos was granted a fifth year as part of the class-wide preliminary injunction against the NCAA.

Now he is suing the NCAA to ensure he can enter the transfer portal. Judge Charlotte Sweeney wrote in an order earlier this week that the Colorado suit does not open the transfer portal, which is why Castellanos is preparing to file one.

On the up side, Castellanos could suit up and play for Florida State for another year, earning some additional NIL money since he went undrafted in the spring NFL Draft.

On the downside, Castellanos could suit up and play for Florida State for another year.

What do they say about being damned?

Shocker: Indiana Calls Back a Fifth Year for 2026

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Why is it absolutely no surprise that Indiana made the first big splash using the Colorado injunction?

Daley, if you can recall, is the one who hurt his leg while celebrating the Hoosier B1G Championship win and rendered himself out for the CFP. Indiana won it all anyway, but he watched it from the sideline.

Looks like he’ll have a chance to run it back, and even if he’s out of game shape, he won’t have to worry about playing until sometime in late October, anyway.

Protect College $port$, Act 2

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A revised copy was sent to the SEC and B1G at the midnight hour, and they have 25 minutes left to respond to proposed changes.

A 10 a.m. ET deadline has been set for the conferences to sign off on the bill. The two conferences were not involved in the drafting of the bill when it was initially released earlier this summer.

“If this thing doesn’t happen, it’s 100% on them,” a source told On3. “These Senators and everybody else has bent over backwards for them.”

The Senate is only days away from its month-long summer recess, which would put Division I universities with the same patchwork of state laws to operate from as the college football season kicks off.

This comes after Sens. Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell made concessions on Tuesday and Wednesday to get the legislation’s wording to meet the Big Ten and SEC. Among the concessions that have been made are an additional $25 million pool for player retention, entities cannot acquire media rights to create a new conference and a prohibition of compensation to recruits before enrollment.

“Major concessions were made overnight,” a source told On3 on Wednesday. “At this point, with every passing minute, odds are slimmer that we can move the bill before the August recess. We’ve been working night and day to make the revisions they said they needed, and we need an answer. That wasn’t a superficial deadline. There’s a lot that goes into passing legislation – a lot of work behind the scenes and it just takes time.

“The Big Ten and SEC have been in the loop throughout the entire process – they’re familiar with the bill text and the changes we’ve discussed.”

I think I know how the final decision will be made, if I’m being honest:

I wonder if they’ll ask Pope Bevacqua at Notre Dame for a final blessing, too?

And the Richest Got Richer…

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Funny how Notre Dame waited around until Ohio State announced their deal with Chase Morgan to drop a little “one-up” on the Buckeyes.

Now while this looks like a battle of the corporate sponsors and we await to see if any other program dares to meet Notre Dame’s $20 million prize purse, let us remind ourselves that the BigXII…yes, the entire conference, inked a deal with Monster Energy that covers the entire conference and all program teams…and it just matches Notre Dame’s deal.

Really, at this point, you can’t blame Notre Dame for choosing to stay independent. In a time where we pine for things to be like they used to be “back in the day”, it could be that Notre Dame is the only program remaining true to form.

Ironic.

Tuesday Refugee Roundtable: Is the Sport Completely Corruptible Now?

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To frame the question, take a look at this name soup and scratch your head and wonder…what the hell?

Probst & Pruitt could be a law firm for football shenanigans, but it’s a reality of modern “forgive, forget, and forge ahead”.

Georgia’s most recent QB commit, Colton Nussmeier, is currently unenrolled for his senior season of high school football in Texas because of transfer rules, so something leads me to believe that he’ll be moving to a Georgia high school near you sometime very soon, or he’ll be playing little league football a la Arch Manning at some private academy…or maybe he’ll land at IMG.

It’s hard to ignore what the portal and NIL has done to the college game, but it’s trickling into high school athletics now, too. While transferring to better programs has been a thing for quite some time, we’re seeing the same with coaching changes that are similar to some of the college coaching drama, too.

Dylan Raiola is on his fifth team in six years, hopping from Texas to Arizona to Georgia to Nebraska, and now, Oregon. While that might make for a lovely family vacation, it’s obvious that the lack of commitment to a program isn’t something that is born in college, but begins earlier in an athlete’s career and collective minds prior to the NIL and Portal nonsense that defines the college game today.

From Friday Night Lights to AGTG posts announcing transfers, it permeates the game at all levels today.

So question for the Refugees…is the sport fundamentally ruined from top to bottom now? Or has a fundamental flaw been made louder given the money and media that accentuates it today?

Discuss.

The Rich Get Richer

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As if the Suckeyes needed another drop of money in their program, they’ve signed a corporate sponsorship with a bank.

Meanwhile, the BigXII is getting a million dollars per program for signing with a teenager’s energy drink. Coach Amazon Prime is exactly where he belongs, no?

Delta or Coca-Cola, you’re our only hope.

Quick, Call the Lawyers

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With recent news that freshman wunderkind Jared Curtis won’t be starting for Vanderbilt, and interesting option has come to light.

The Baltimore Ravens cut Pavia, the former Vanderbilt University star quarterback, on Thursday. The Ravens open full-squad training camp practices next Wednesday, so Pavia didn’t even make it to the start of camp.

That’s good.

And bad.

Both.

It’s probably the best timing for Pavia because he was a long shot to make the Baltimore roster anyway.

After going unselected in the 2026 NFL Draft, he is now free to sign with another NFL team before training camp begins, giving coaches a longer look as he competes for a roster spot.

If that’s not an option, one supposes Pavia can set his sights on maybe catching on with a CFL team that might have a QB need as a result of an injury. The CFL season runs through October.

But being cut at this stage is also a blow to Pavia because it says the team that showed the most interest in adding him after the draft, bringing him in for a workout and keeping him around the entire offseason, has decided he’s not good enough.

I keed, I keed. Kind of.

Today, In Volunteer Frivolity

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Imagine running an offense that leans heavily on the passing game and deciding to pay the most for a running back. No, that’s not a Mike Bobo decision…look no further than our Hillbilly friends up north to do just that.

That’s a lot of Dollywood money for a guy you’ll barely use. Might’ve been better invested in folding chairs and offensive linemen.

I’m sure we’ll be seeing him in the portal soon…and wearing an Ole Miss or Suckeye uniform before we know it.