Good morning, and welcome back to CFB Roundup from CFB Home – the first daily newsletter that’s all college football, all the time with no bias, no slant, and no fluff.

EA Sports CFB 26 Cover Athlete Rumors

Reports have shared with On3 that several prominent players were in Pasadena at the Rose Bowl for the EA CFB 26 photoshoot.

Reportedly in attendance were Michigan’s Bryce Underwood, Florida’s DJ Lagway, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Notre Dame’s Jeremiyah Love, Alabama’s Ryan Williams, Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith, Ohio State’s Caleb Downs, Arizona State’s Sam Leavitt, and South Carolina’s Dylan Stewart.

Former Michigan QB Denard Robinson and Florida QB Tim Tebow were also in the photoshoot – both former cover athletes before the NCAA Football franchise was indefinitely shelved.

There were also plenty of coaches in attendance, including Ohio State’s Ryan Day, Georgia’s Kirby Smart, Penn State’s James Franklin, Ole Miss’ Lane Kiffin, Oregon’s Dan Lanning, and Arizona State’s Kenny Dillingham.

The expectation is EA College Football plans to release multiple covers in 2026, which would explain why the wide array of players, coaches, and eras were represented.

Greg Sankey on ACC’s Revenue Model: “Hasn’t Worked Well”

Greg Sankey shared via Scott Hamilton of The Post and Courier, “there’s a history of unequal revenue sharing, and those conferences, it just hasn’t worked well for a long-term situation. In fact, the conferences that have chosen to do so have generally, either they don’t exist at a high level, or they’ve gone a different direction. I’m sure that what others have done will introduce the conversation. I would hope we’re careful and responsible in how we do that. They made the decision for their purposes. That doesn’t necessarily mean that fits our purpose or our values.”

This comment came up in regards to the ACC’s new plan for an unequal revenue sharing model which is part of the settlement the ACC is working towards with Florida State and Clemson. Other parts of the settlement include the reduced exit fee.

UNLV Can Only Cover First Two Years of Coach Mullen’s Contract, Currently

UNLV AD Erick Harper recently shared with the school’s Board of Regents, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Mick Akers that the Athletic Department can currently only cover the first two years of Coach Dan Mullen’s contract, as the department is operating with $26-31M in debt.

Harper shared that UNLV can afford the first two seasons of his contract, and then the rest of the funding will have to come from donations and increased revenue from football games to cover the final three years of the contract.

Part of Coach Mullen’s deal with UNLV included commitments for NIL and revenue-sharing, according to On3’s Pete Nakos.

Arizona Board of Regents Announces Partnership with WME Sports

The Arizona Board of Regents announced yesterday that it had approved a strategic partnership with the agency WME Sports.

As part of this deal, WME Sports will work with Arizona, Arizona State, and Northern Arizona with NIL development, revenue generation, and media strategies.

Gregg Brewster, regent and co-chair of the Arizona Board of Regents athletics task force, shared in a statement, “in today’s landscape of higher education, athletics play a pivotal role like never before. [Arizona Board of Regents] is excited to partner with WME Sports and local experts to establish a robust foundation that will not only benefit all three state universities but also create an unforgettable experience for fans of all ages.”

LSU’s Brian Kelly on When to Expect LBs Whit Weeks and Harold Perkins Back in Action

LBs Whit Weeks and Harold Perkins suffered severe injuries last year, and Coach Brian Kelly shared in a press conference an update on the both of them:

“They’re both moving around. They’re very active in our progression of their rehab, if you will. They’re both gonna be ready for our June training and fully cleared, so that gives them the whole month of June and July prior to coming into camp. So, they’ll have no restrictions [during the 2025 season]. A good eight weeks leading into the camp, we feel really good about it. Those are probably the two big ones I would say.”

Greg Sankey on Regional Ties in College Athletics

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey recently spoke on regional ties in college athletics and how he wants that to stay to be the case, which is an interesting stance to have given the direction of college athletics and conference realignment:

“I think what we’ve done in the Southeastern Conference is taken a sport that was historically based regionally and we’ve elevated ourselves nationally and even internationally from an interest standpoint. We have a Netflix opportunity that will emerge in July that has a global reach to it. We want to continue to build, but I just was on radio talking about you can get from one end of the league to another on an airplane in two hours. When we expanded, we added 10 minutes to a flight. Others are going coast to coast. … I’ve been in the airport in Dallas and Chicago, watching other conferences – transiting the conference. That’s not the way we’re functioning.”

Details on LSU’s NIL Budget and Spending for 2025

LSU Coach Brian Kelly recently shared with Wilson Alexander of The Advocate, sharing that the number $26.5M is the number that was spent to put together last year’s roster.

Alexander wrote, “so far, Kelly said that $26.5M combined has been allocated for the 2024, 2025, and 2026 teams. About $13M has come from LSU’s NIL collective the past few months. Kelly did not specify how that money was divided but we know a chunk went to the 2024 team and a significant portion went has been used to retain key players, bring in freshmen, and sign the No. 1 transfer portal class in the country. The other half of the money is coming. Teams are expected to be able to start paying players this summer and, similar to their peers, LSU officials have said they are preparing to pay their athletes a projected $20.5M during the next school year. Of that, Kelly expects $13.5M to go to football.”

Kirby Smart on Georgia’s Spring Practice Availability

Georgia’s Kirby Smart shared an availability update on his guys in spring practice recently, sharing that there are 9 guys who are out for the rest of spring.

“2024, we had 12 outs. 2023, we had 8 outs. 2022, we had 14 outs. I think we’re at 8 or 9, depending on how you classify a couple guys. We’ve got five shoulder surgeries that happened at the end of the year.”

Coach Smart shared that the shoulder injuries being repaired are fairly common labral repairs, and that the Bulldogs average 5 to 6 every spring.

“Then we’ve got Ryan Montgomery, who has the ACL repair, Branson Robinson, who had the PCL repair, Rod Robinson, who had the ankle repair. And then Brett Thorson, who you know had the ACL and MCL repair. … and then limited, Joseph Jonah-Ajonye, coming off the foot navicular surgery he had. … We do have some soft tissue injuries coming out of the offseason, but nothing substantial there.”

Arkansas WR Khafre Brown Enters Portal

On3 is reporting that Arkansas WR Khafre Brown has entered the portal.

Brown started his college career with North Carolina back in 2019. He spent 3 seasons in Chapel Hill, before transferring to USF for 2022 and 2023, and then transferring to Arkansas for 2024.

With UNC, Brown had 15 catches for 337 yards and 2 touchdowns as a redshirt freshman in 2020. His biggest season, though, was with USF in 2023, when he had 27 catches for 435 yards and a touchdown. In his 6 year career thus far, he has 49 catches for 950 yards and 8 total touchdowns.

With Arkansas he appeared in just 1 game, tallying 2 catches for 42 yards. He presumably should only have one season of eligibility left.

Other Commitments/Decommitments

3-Star (87) LB Wassie Lugolobi flips from Washington to Stanford (will be included in tomorrow’s edition)