ncaa: the game

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Name and image is here. The floodgates have opened and now Jordan Bohannon can help sell fireworks. Lo, it is a new era. A couple of Michigan players have signed on with a company that will pair you with athletes so you can play games with them, and Adrien Nunez—who has 1.6 million TikTok followers—launched some merch. Social media!

…as Nuñez received cupping therapy in a training room, he pulled out his phone and filmed his legs. “People on TikTok go viral for literally the dumbest reasons possible,” a voice says in the published clip, which has since been played 116,000 times.

There was a brief Michigan-related kerfuffle when human-type object Darren Rovell tweeted out that Michigan's policy is that athletes have to file their deals with the AD a week before they're actually signed, causing 1) a bunch of people saying that's bad and dumb and 2) an even larger number of people pointing out that Michigan is aligning their policy with state law:

It's possible the state will revisit the NIL bill they passed if that actually turns out to be a problem.

Note that the version of NIL that passed is the most permissive, and opens virtually all the doors:

the Council rejected another proposal that — while largely similar — also included the proviso that schools’ NIL policies not allow payments from “any booster, or any person or entity acting on behalf” of the school.

This indicates that the Council was concerned that virtually any restriction in a temporary policy would draw a legal challenge based on the Supreme Court’s ruling last week in the Alston antitrust case.

So the doors are all the way open. Guy Who Sells Cars can give people loaners above-board now. Handshakes are probably going to continue but their relative importance will plummet. 

[After THE JUMP: 420 games!]

our campaign of deception has failed [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Hello. EA has detected a shift in the tides:

EA Sports is coming back to college football.

After last making a college football video game in 2013, the possibility of the game returning had been in limbo. Now, it isn't. EA Sports vice president and general manager, Daryl Holt, told ESPN the game maker will be returning to the space with "EA Sports College Football."

"As we look for the momentum that we're building on in sports, it all starts with the passion of our fans and the opportunities of what they are interested in," Holt said. "I don't think a visit where I go outside wearing a piece of EA Sports branded apparel, that someone doesn't go, 'Hey, when is college football coming back?'"

It will -- at some point. Holt said there is not a date on when the game will return or even a date where the return will be announced other than it won't be coming back for this year.

Announcing a return without a solid date looks like EA saying that they'll have a college football game as soon as they can get a license in a Name and Image era. This is now inevitable enough for EA to start sinking resources into a new version of NCAA Football, except they're going to call it "EA Sports College Football," following along in college football's rich tradition of naming things in the most store-brand fashion possible. (The previous notable entry: The College Football Playoff.)

[After THE JUMP: terrifying dad energies]

[Cover art by Seth]

This week’s podcast is, as always, sponsored by the law offices of E. Jason Blankenship, whose website is now fully operational.

Today’s mailbag isn’t quite as wide-ranging as last week’s—that would be difficult—but still hits on a number of mostly football-related topics, including:

  • What would make you content with the season?
  • Is Don Brown a “genius or a has-been” or somewhere in between?
  • How does the offense move forward, literally and figuratively?
  • Which player from the last 30 years would you add to the team?
  • Who looked the best in their uniform?
  • Favorite version of the NCAA video game
  • The increasingly generic stadium experience
  • Who’s the most important basketball recruiting target?
  • Getting your eye off the ball
  • Why I eat like a trash panda on game days

Consume! Also rate and review, if you’re feeling generous.

MUSIC:

“Natural Blues” — Natural Child

DOWNLOAD:

Link.

I’m just looking for signs that they didn’t take a year with nine returning starters and a five-star coming in at running back and light it on fire.

finishing this post revealed to me that we have two different tags demanding the abolition of offsides in hockey 

Will waded right into that one 

Goal line fades: usually a bad idea. Soccer stoppage time: what! RIP NCAA, for the fifth year running. Absurd roster lies! And a long story about a friendly hamster!