The Morning Commute for Wednesday, April 30th
Welcome to the Morning Commute
Today we’re talking about NIL.
At the risk of being unfairly labeled as the cranky old guy who doesn’t like progress, I found the following news absolutely fascinating. Even better that it’s Arkansas having to deal with the fallout of NIL-gone wrong.
Arkansas collective has sent demand letters concerning payment on NIL buyouts, including Madden Iamaleava.
AD Hunter Yurachek posted on social media that he supports the collective going after buyout money. 1st reported @achristovichh
Will it work? https://t.co/2IiR3SN5Vy
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) April 23, 2025
This is crazy stuff to me. I’ve been on record in the past stating that I am not opposed to college athletes getting paid for their name and what they put into their university coffers, so don’t take this as me saying NIL is inherently bad.
But when the system began and there were hardly any guardrails, I was definitely among those who were warning that it wouldn’t go well in many aspects – and the above story is perfect evidence of that. It feels like this could be a tipping point for things to either get fixed or completely go off the rails from here.
I’m not a Chicken Little type who is trying to say that college sports is a doomed entity. But if the powers that be don’t get hands around this stuff in the near future, then those of us lifetime college sports enthusiasts will be much worse off when it morphs into an even more unrecognizable mess.
Some wise person at some point said that hope isn’t a great strategy. Unfortunately, that’s about all us fans can do is cross our fingers and hope for the best. I also pray that wasn’t the primary strategy employed by college athletics leaders when the NIL concept began, but it’s looking more and more like that’s exactly the case.
Yesterday at Rock M and Rock M+
The strength of the 2023 Missouri squad was that it brought back a ton of production to an SEC that was losing a lot of production, specifically at quarterback. In 2024, Missouri once again ranked near the top of the league in production (and once again boasted a proven quarterback) to a league that once again was losing a bunch of production and quarterbacks. But that’s not the case in 2025…
It’s a great breakdown and analysis of what to look for this fall, so be sure to check it out…
For the ninth time in the past 20 years, the program saw three or more players taken in the National Football League’s annual draft. And there’s a good chance that number could rise in 2026…
Josh gives a list of 10 Tiger who he feels can put themselves in position to drafted with solid 2025 season at Mizzou. Check out the article to read who’s on his list heading into the fall…
Kaden Peer put the Tigers on the board in the top of the first with a solo home run down the right field line for a 1-0 lead. But the Jayhawks struck back with a home run of their own in the inning’s bottom half, taking a 3-1 advantage on Brady Counsell’s three-run homer to left-center field…
It was mostly downhill from there for the Tigers, who fell to 13-31 on the season…
On Monday, the whole coaching staff was named to the Coaching Staff of the Year award by College Gym News. How about Helen Hu? The program’s first individual National Champion was named Comeback Gymnast of the Year.
If you want to follow along the gymnastics tracker, Karen Steger had some updates to the living document on Tuesday as well right here…
Smith brings a wealth of college basketball experience to Columbia, playing in 92 games as a Boilermaker. Her best season came during 2022-23, averaging 7.8 points and 2.1 rebounds. The 6-foot guard has found production almost exclusively off the bench, starting only five games across her full four seasons at Purdue…
Smith will be expected to challenge for major minutes in the rotation, and increases the Tiger roster to 10 at the current moment… still waiting for one more bat signal announcement
- Over at Rock M+: All of the Mizzou football, basketball, and Olympic Sports coverage!
Rock M Radio: Dive Cuts Examines Mizzou Hoops Roster
Subscribe to Rock M Radio on Apple Podcasts. Or stream episodes through Megaphone or Spotify. Have a question for us? Leave a 5-star review with your question and that show just might answer it in an upcoming episode!
If you like Rock M Radio drop us a Review and be sure to subscribe on your preferred podcasting platform. Follow @RockMRadio on Twitter and if you heaven’t already head over to our YouTube channel and click that subscribe button!
(** RockMNation has affiliate partnerships. These do not influence editorial content, though RockMNation may earn commissions for products purchased via affiliate links.**)