Maybe it’s time to start evaluating the clear and present more substantially. 

Instead of overreacting to every possible unintended consequence.

I know this is going to shock you, but there will be more college football players in the very near future holding out and demanding restructuring of NIL contracts. 

Prior to the start of fall camp in 14 weeks. 

Prior to the start of the season in 18 weeks. 

Prior to the start of the College Football Playoff in December. 

If you think Nico Iamaleava’s now failed leverage game with Tennessee is a one-off, you obviously haven’t been connecting the dots. The great college money rush is on.

“Just the landscape of college football,” Tennessee coach Josh Heupel said after last weekend’s spring game. “That this happens at this point.”

And it’s going to happen again. 

Look, this isn’t about complaining or pining for yesteryear, or blaming greedy players for the ills of the game. It’s about solving the problem, one that’s slowly eating away at the soul of the sport.

This is about adding hefty buyouts to NIL deals. This is about corralling the unbridled mess that is NIL money.

What did college football’s braintrust think was going to happen when the figurehead NCAA followed orders from the power conference presidents in 2021 to set up a system that allowed unregulated name, image and likeness deals — and free player movement? 

It should come as no surprise that Ohio State, which spent nearly $42 million last season on its football program – head coach, assistant coach and player salaries – won the national championship. 

It should also come as no surprise that without critical transfers Will Howard (Kansas State), Caleb Downs (Alabama) and Quinshon Judkins (Mississippi), the Buckeyes don’t even reach the playoff.

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And now we’re shocked that Iamaleava, a heralded recruit that was solid in his first-year starter in 2024 at Tennessee, was holding up the program for more cash — or else?

The solution, everyone, is in the regulation. But the easy solve is one college sports continues to avoid at all cost: employee status, contracts and collective bargaining.

Absent that, we’re forced down the nonsensical road of maybe Congress will help with federal legislation (it won’t). Or maybe the NCAA can come up with “guardrails” that won’t be challenged in court (they will).

I’ve seen this dance before, and it doesn’t end well for all things NCAA. 

For decades upon decades, the NCAA fought to the bitter end for its pollyanna ideal of the amateur model, losing case after case in legal proceedings while holding on like grim death to outdated philosophy. 

I’ve got a better idea: treat players like coaches and solve the problem. 

Hello, buyouts. 

Buyouts don’t restrict coaching movement, they’re simply an addendum to a contract outlining a fee paid to the employer if the employee decides to leave for another job prior to the end of the contract. 

That fee is agreed upon by both parties during initial contract negotiations, and is legally secure. If a coach wants to later leave one job for another, it’s on him to pay his buyout.

He can pay it, or the school hiring him can pay it. But you better believe it’s getting paid. 

While buyouts rarely stop a school that wants to hire a coach or a coach who wants out of a deal, they do create pause in the procedure. That hesitation, meanwhile, can eventually leads to a restructured deal.

Or maybe it simply leads to a more organized departure. 

Nearly a decade ago, Jim McElwain wanted to leave Colorado State to take the Florida job. His buyout was $7 million, and Colorado State wasn’t giving in. 

So Florida paid Colorado State $3 million, gave the Rams another $2 million for a future guaranteed game, and McElwain paid the remainder of the buyout. 

Now trace that process to players and power and all things NIL. Before we go further, understand that a majority of power conference schools must buy into the process. 

In other words, schools must start inserting significant buyouts into contracts. It can’t be hit and miss, or high school and transfer portal players will simply shop and sign with schools that don’t have buyouts. 

If all power conference schools have NIL deals with buyouts, the possibility of player holdouts at least comes with a caution signal. The machinations within the deal are then inherent obstacles.  

How much is the buyout? Who pays the buyout? How much will the buyout affect the new deal? 

“Not 100 percent of it is exactly what you want,” Heupel said when asked about the current state of college football. 

Then the former player in Heupel showed up, the junior college transfer quarterback who led Oklahoma from mediocrity to the 2000 national title. And didn’t get an NIL nickel for it.   

“I can understand a player’s perspective, too,” Heupel said. “There’s some benefits to it.”

This isn’t about vilifying players. It’s about evaluation and finding answers.

Solve the problem. 

Matt Hayes is the senior national college football writer for USA TODAY Sports Network. Follow him on X at @MattHayesCFB.

If I told you there was a player in Major League Baseball who had one of the highest chase rates in the league, had some of the worst hard contact metrics, and never walked, what would you expect his batting average to be?

Somewhere around the Mendoza line? Maybe if he was lucky and had a super high BABIP he could sneak into .250 territory? Now, what if I told you he was batting nearly .350. Among qualified hitters, that player, with zero bat control ranks 11th in MLB in batting average.

The Athletics’ shortstop Jacob Wilson has always been a high-average hitter. He hit over .400 across two seasons in the minors after all. However, his method of approach is baffling.

Plate discipline? What’s that

The best contact hitters in baseball more or less share a lot of the same traits. Steven Kwan, Luis Arraez, Jung Hoo Lee, all of them strike out very little, hit the ball to all fields, and are very patient at the plate. Wilson follows the first two rules, but treats the third like a five-year-old treats a ‘No running’ sign at the local pool, like it doesn’t exist.

Steven Kwan’s on-base percentage in 2024 was 76 points higher than his batting average that same year. Luis Arraez’s was 32 points higher. And while we haven’t seen much from Jung Hoo Lee given that he was injured for most of 2024, his OBP in 2025 is currently 72 points higher than his average.

Wilson’s batting average and OBP are much closer together. In fact, they’re the same number. That’s right. Across 61 plate appearances this year, Wilson has not walked a single time. Where Kwan and Lee each boast a walk rate of at least 6%, Wilson sits at 0.0%. Where Kwan, Arraez, and Lee each swing at fewer than 50% of the pitches thrown their way, Wilson is taking his bat off his shoulder 59.1% of the time.

It’s especially bad out of the zone. Wilson is chasing an enormous 38.4% of pitches thrown out of the strike zone to him. That ranks in the 8th percentile among MLB players. For even more perspective, Javier Baez, known for his lack of plate discipline, is chasing 32.2% pitches outside the zone. Yet while Baez is striking out 22% of the time, Wilson has struck out just three times all year, good for a 4.9% rate.

Contact metrics

So clearly, if Wilson is chasing a lot of bad pitches and still getting hits, he must be making great contact, right? In a normal world, that would make perfect sense. In Jacob Wilson’s world, that’s a ridiculous assumption, and we should be ashamed of ourselves.

In today’s MLB, a player’s potential as a hitter is often boiled down to their bat speed and hard-hit rate. Wilson does not excel in either category. He ranks in the 16th percentile of MLB hitters with a 29.3% hard-hit rate. He ranks in the ninth percentile with an average exit velocity of 85.1 mph. But those aren’t even the most shocking metrics.

Jacob Wilson has the absolute slowest average bat speed in MLB. This man is the antithesis of everything MLB scouts look for in a hitter, yet he’s hitting .344 with an .852 OPS.

Is he beating out little dribblers with his blazing speed? No. He ranks in MLB’s 48th percentile in sprint speed. Is he getting extremely lucky? Not really. His expected batting average is .338. He’s just unlike anything else in MLB currently.

What to make of Wilson

The cynics of the world would probably argue that Wilson is bound to come back to Earth, but he’s been doing this his entire career, and he’s never fallen off. Through two full years in the minor leagues, Wilson only ever drew 20 walks, and he had a .401 batting average with eight home runs to boot.

Some people break all the rules and still find success. Wilson is a weirdo, a freak, an anomaly that shouldn’t work but does anyway. His Baseball Savant page is chaotically magnificent. The man isn’t average at anything. He’s either one of the best in the league or one of the worst, nothing in between.

But that’s what makes baseball incredible. As much as statisticians and analysts like to boil the game down to numbers, sometimes all that math accounts for diddly-squat. Sometimes people are just ballers.

By the way, I don’t know where to bet on the AL batting title or what Wilson’s odds are but that’s definitely something I’d keep an eye on as the season progresses.

NEW YORK ― Georgia Amoore’s first-round WNBA draft selection seemingly eases much of the doubt surrounding her smaller stature.

On Monday, fans, family members, coaches and draft prospects entered The Shed in Manhattan full of chatter and anticipation ahead of the 2025 WNBA draft. As they filled the building, drifting off to their seats, trying the on-site activations or strolling to the WNBA orange carpet, a line formed at a nearby escalator. Upon approach, the patrons waiting seemed like ordinary people excited to watch history being made at of the biggest events in women’s sports. But, they needed the line to move along to do it.

‘Are we allowed to use this escalator?’ one person said. ‘What’s going on?’ said another. Then, a woman, unsuspecting, but warm, flashed a darling smile as bright as the leather jacket she was wearing ― with ‘Honor Tailoring: custom alteration’ stitched onto the back ― and briefly turned around to say she was waiting like everyone else to get upstairs.

That woman was Kentucky guard Georgia Amoore, wearing a custom outfit designed by Denver Nuggets guard Russell Westbrook.

‘Honor the gift,’ she told media members about the look moments later on the league’s orange runway. As Amoore explained how her outfit came to life, her eyes lit up with a childlike twinkle. She explained with enthusiasm and appreciation how the collaboration with Westbrook encapsulated everything she wanted, and she was thankful that the Denver guard was detailed in his approach. Then, Amoore revealed that Westbrook wouldn’t let her leave parts of the design to him.

‘He actually checked me at one point because I told him to just go ahead and do whatever, and he was like, ‘Nah, Nah. It’s your night,’ she said.

It was Amoore’s night. The Washington Mystics selected the Australian native with the No. 6 overall pick, pairing her with other first-round selections, Notre Dame guard Sonia Citron and USC forward Kiki Iriafen. The Mystics’ new floor general was selected higher than various predictions leading up to the WNBA draft had her landing, but it’s hard to pass up elite talent ― even with a smaller 5-foot-6 frame than most WNBA guards. So, what potentially drew Washington’s front office to Amoore?

‘Just my brain,’ Amoore proudly shared after being drafted. ‘ I think, you know, it’s no secret. I’m on the shorter side. So, having to use my brain and my abilities in different ways ― I’ve had to study the game like I studied for a test in college.’

The Mystics needed shooting and additional guards on Monday evening, and with the Kentucky product, they have both. Amoore’s cerebral approach to basketball makes her an immediate asset for a franchise that is rebuilding and likely wants to compete sooner rather than later. What’s more, her no-fear mentality and confidence practically leap off the court every time she slashes through opposing defenses or unleashes her signature step-back jumper, something she improved with the help of Kentucky coach Kenny Brooks.

‘Yeah, these quads and Coach Brooks,’ Amoore joked. However, when speaking about what else helped her to get to the WNBA draft, she credited Brooks’ impact again. ‘He’s always told me (to) stop and smell the roses … just be super present with everything that’s happening. That helped me tonight, and it’ll help me going forward.’

As she begins her professional career, Amoore has a steep rookie learning curve ahead of her. The WNBA is one of the premier leagues in the world and the guard play and basketball knowledge is top-tier. The ebbs and flows of the season are often unforgiving for first-year players, and when carrying the load of being one of the faces of the franchise, the curve becomes even steeper. Still, true to form, Amoore is undeterred by any perceived obstacle she faces. ‘Iron (sharpens) iron. When you get thrown into that situation you either adapt or drown,’ she said. ‘I’m excited to go and be challenged mentally and grow my game.’

‘As long as people have called me too short, I’ve been looking to counteract that … But I think with my competitive background, I have a little bit of dog in me that’s gonna keep fighting.’

The Atlanta Braves broadcast team is facing backlash and criticism over unprofessional behavior after a segment during Monday’s game against the Toronto Blue Jays in which a sideline reporter got the phone number of a female fan he had just interviewed when encouraged to do so on-air by his fellow announcers.

FanDuel Sports Network Braves reporter Wiley Ballard hosted ‘The Field Report’ during the top of the fifth inning in Toronto and spoke to two female fans about their Braves fandom. One noted she was ‘not quite’ a Braves fan yet. Ballard then attempted to transition back to Braves play-by-play announcer Brandon Gaudin and color analyst C.J. Nitkowski.

‘I’m gonna go to work up here, guys,’ Ballard said. ‘Good luck the rest of the way.’

Gaudin replied with more suggestive and flirty language.

‘Ok, Wiley,’ he said, ‘You got four innings to get the numbers.’

‘I’m on it. I’m on it. I’m on it,’ Ballard responded, and immediately pulled out his cell phone.

‘Alright, so they want me to get your number,’ Ballard said to a woman who had identified herself as ‘Lauren’ during the interview.

She wondered aloud, ‘They want you to get my number?’

‘I’m dead serious. They’re saying it in my ear right now,’ Ballard said back before speaking to Gaudin and Nitkowski through the camera.

‘She doesn’t believe me because she thinks you guys, she thinks we’re making this up. Even if you guys weren’t, I may use that in the future. It’s actually a pretty good move.’

‘This is unbelievable,’ Gaudin said.

Then, Nitkowski chimed in. ‘So the best part about this is Wiley could totally be faking it,’ he said. ‘This might be the new move. Just walk around with a fake FanDuel microphone and an ear piece in and convince fans that they’re actually on TV.’

As this was happening, Lauren did appear to type her phone number into Ballard’s phone.

‘I got the number. We’re good,’ Ballard said at the end of the clip that subsequently went viral once it was shared on social media.

But the segment appears to have drawn a polarizing reaction from those watching live and and generated an immediate rebuke online as the footage was disseminated nationally, particularly in the broadcasting and journalism communities.

Many called the behavior unprofessional and misogynistic, and pointed toward a double standard that exists as it relates to the way male and female reporters are expected to conduct themselves. Others found the unorthodox on-air exchange to be funny and came to Ballard’s defense.

Here’s a sampling of what the sports world is saying on social media about an Atlanta Braves broadcast that was anything but normal:

Philadelphia Phillies’ first baseman Bryce Harper is known for his wild gear. Whether it’s his iconic American flag headband as he wore during the 2018 Home Run Derby or his massive collection of cleats he wears for specific games, Harper is always elevating the gear game, and Monday was no different.

During the first at-bat of Philadelphia’s 10-4 loss to the San Francisco Giants, Harper carried a blue bat into the batter’s box, revealing to himself and the entire baseball world that the two-time MVP’s fourth child is going to be a boy.

Not even Harper knew what color his bat was going to be as the game started. Prior to the contest, he asked teammate Trea Turner to hand him a blue or pink bat depending on his child’s gender.

Turner revealed that he got a text message with the gender, and even messed with Harper in the dugout beforehand, giving the pink bat a few swings to throw Harper off the trail. ‘I ended up handing him the blue one, and he was pretty happy,’ said Turner.

Bryce Harper’s family

Harper and his wife Kayla married in December 2016. The couple have a son, Krew, and two daughters, Brooklyn and Kamryn.

Krew is the oldest, born August 22, 2019. Brooklyn was born a year later in November 2020. Kamryn was born in April 2024.

On the eve of the NCAA spring transfer window for college football, Brent Venables and Oklahoma football have landed a big piece to their roster for the upcoming season.

The Sooners announced on the program’s social media platforms Tuesday that they have signed former California running back Jaydn Ott, who was ranked the No. 3 player in his position unit in the transfer portal according to 247Sports.

Ott’s signing with the Sooners comes less than one day after the 6-foot running back abruptly entered his name into the transfer portal ahead of the spring window, which opens on Wednesday, April 16 and closes on Friday, April 25.

247Sports listed Ott as the No. 3 running back and No. 50 overall player in the transfer portal. He was also ranked a four-star recruit in the transfer portal. The Chino, California native is now one of 17 players that have transferred to Oklahoma this past season according to 247Sports, and the 13th offensive player.

Ott is coming off a limited junior campaign with the Bears, as he battled an ankle injury throughout the season. In 10 games for Cal this past year, Ott ran for 385 yards and four rushing touchdowns, while adding a receiving touchdown vs. Miami on Oct. 5.

He rushed for 2,586 yards and 24 touchdowns over his three seasons in the Pac-12 and ACC with Cal. Of his three seasons in Berkeley, his best came in his sophomore season as he broke out for 1,305 rushing yards and 12 rushing touchdowns.

The addition of Ott is a big one for the revamped Sooners offense under first-year offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, who previously held that position at Washington State. He joins a running back group with Jovantae Barnes, Xavier Robinson, Gavin Sawchuk and Taylor Tatum according to Colton Sulley of The Oklahoman, part of the USA TODAY Network.

The Sooners also announced they signed former Stanford offensive lineman Jake Maikkula on Tuesday.

The Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies face off Tuesday night to determined the Western Conference’s 7-seed. The winner of this game will go on to face the Houston Rockets in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The loser, meanwhile, will be forced into a winner-take-all contest for the 8-seed on Friday.

There’s a lot on the line for this matchup, which has become somewhat commonplace for the two teams involved. Just a few years ago, in 2021, the Grizzlies and Warriors faced off in the play-in tournament for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, with the Grizzlies emerging victorious in overtime. That game came just a few days after the Warriors won their final regular-season game over Memphis to give them the 8-seed in the West. Obviously, that win did them no good, though.

Now the Warriors are looking to avenge that loss with mostly the same cast of characters but a key addition in midseason acquisition Jimmy Butler. Since trading for Butler from the Miami Heat, the Warriors have gone 23-8, yet still find themselves in the play-in. The Grizzlies, meanwhile, have lost nine of their last 14. Had they gone an even .500 in that stretch they would’ve avoided the play-in tournament altogether.

With so much on the line for this contest, it’s a can’t-miss affair for NBA fans. Here’s how to watch.

How to watch Grizzlies vs. Warriors play-in game:

Time: 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT
Location: Chase Center in San Francisco, California
TV: TNT
Stream: Sling TV, YouTube TV

Watch the NBA play-in tournament with Sling TV