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Good morning. It's Wednesday, August 21.

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Ingram Smith delivered a promise when he founded The Battle's End NIL collective for Florida State football in December 2022. 

"I'm not going to tell you that I'm John Ruiz, and I have unlimited money," the collective's president said at the time. "But I will tell you that we can be as competitive as we want to be in this space."

The third-party NIL collective is now set to begin its second college football season supporting the Seminoles. From the beginning, Battle's End has been one of the most aggressive in the NIL space, allocating significant dollars to roster retention and the transfer portal.

Now expanded to assisting sports like golf and soccer, multiple sources tell On3 the collective will spend in the $18-million range for all sports in the 2024-25 academic year. Florida State is coming off a 13-1 season, its lone loss in the Orange Bowl with a depleted roster.

Now with the expanded College Football Playoff and a 12-team field, expectations are high for the Seminoles. They kick off the year across the pond with an ACC matchup against Georgia Tech in Ireland.

Smith and The Battle's End have ensured the roster can compete for positioning in the CFP.

"Do you keep the players in the program that you want to keep in the program?" Smith told On3. "Our focus since day one has been retention. Candidly, we've never lost a player that we wholeheartedly didn't want to lose, even be that to the NFL Draft within reality. Jared Verse wasn't coming back for another year. We've kept guys that would have been fifth or sixth rounders that have come back and turned into second, third-rounders."

Florida State finished with the No. 3 class in On3's transfer portal rankings this offseason, landing 17 transfers. As Smith has emphasized since the beginning, NIL dollars make a difference during college football's free agency. Especially in the portal, making a competitive financial offer can make all the difference in landing a game-changing player.

The top players on last year's roster came from the portal – Jordan Travis, Trey Benson, Keon Coleman and Verse. The Seminoles dipped into free agency again this offseason, landing quarterback DJ Uiagalelei and Georgia EDGE Marvin Jones Jr.

"Mike Norvell and his staff displayed a significant propensity to use the portal as a tool," Smith said. "Our ability to add a competitive asset of NIL has only allowed that to transpire all the more.

"... We were one of the first collectives to just say, 'Yeah, y'all are being very stupid if you're spending 70% of your money on high school kids. We went heavily into retention and portal. That has changed as Florida State has signed higher-ranked high school prospects and will continue to do so."

The Battle's End has tried to keep sustainability top of mind from the start. Max Moody was brought on as the collective's full-time COO in early September 2023. An FSU alumni and senior consultant at Deloitte, Moody focuses on the collective's financial sustainability and growth strategy.

"There's not a day that goes by that I don't do fundraising, but honestly, there's probably not an hour or two-hour block that goes by where something's not focused on a revenue-generating conversation," Smith said.

Trying to keep up with programs like Ohio State, which is spending $20 million on this year's roster, is a difficult task.

"I don't know that anybody can look themselves in the mirror and say, 'Hey, we're looking for sustainability," he said. "Either there has to be a massive course correction in spending, or we need to acknowledge that this is going to be a much different-looking model to continue to drive this thing."

Battle's End will also be tasked with evolving in the upcoming revenue-sharing era.

Power Four institutions have spent the summer preparing for the impact of the multibillion-dollar House settlement. Schools will opt-in to a revenue-sharing agreement, with the option to share roughly $20 to $22 million per year with players. That number will increase over the 10-year settlement. Judge Claudia Wilken will rule on preliminary approval of the settlement on Sept. 5.

Sources across the country have told On3 that programs have offered higher packages this cycle because of the pending settlement.

"This is definitely the year to be a high-level football recruit," Smith said. "People are making assumptions based on budgets that I don't know are going to be there. I don't know how you're going to justify paying a player $500,000 when he's your left tackle and you're paying your right tackle $40,000." – Pete Nakos

College football continues to evolve after the additions of NIL and the transfer portal in recent years. Super-agent Drew Rosenhaus recently sat down with On3's Phillip Dukes and discussed what's next for the sport.

Rosenhaus believes college athletes becoming employees and starting a union would be a positive step in the right direction. Yes, there challenges associated with making college football players employees, but overall he believes it would make the sport better.

"I think that would be great, and then that would allow college athletes to unionize," Rosenhaus told On3. "It would allow for a more structured approach to NIL. What we have right now is a very fragmented system that there's not a lot of rules and regulations. There's not a lot of, I think, structure."

Current rules allow for collectives to raise money and pay athletes without many guidelines as far as how much money they can make. College athletes are also allowed to collect money after signing with a school and then transfer out before even appearing in a game in some cases.

Rosenhaus believes a salary cap would be beneficial to universities and to the entire sport of college football.

"I believe in NIL, and I think it's great for everyone involved," Rosenhaus said. "But I do think that there needs to be structure, that all colleges in major conferences should operate with a salary cap like we have in professional sports. And I think structure would be great to give everybody a fair shot at being competitive, and we're not just seeing the collectives with the deep pockets dominate recruiting."

"It would be outstanding to see more of a level playing field and everybody operate within the same rules and structure."

Rosenhaus is one of the top agents in sports and has several high-profile clients, including several college football players. A couple of his NFL clients include Dolphins' receiver Tyreek Hill and Bears' receiver DJ Moore.

As far as NCAA clients, Rosenhaus said in February that his company Rosenhaus Sports: "Had 70 NIL clients. It's chaotic. I love the fact that college guys are finally getting paid. It's about time. I think it's awesome. I mean, why are college football players the only athletes or guys that provide a service, a skill, that can't get paid their fair market value? It's absolutely awesome." – Matt Connolly

"Ooh, that NIL money treating you well," LSU women's basketball standout Flau'jae Johnson pointing out a shiny piece of jewelry on UConn star Paige Bueckers' hand at an Overtime Next Up 5s event.

Ahead of LSU kicking off its season in Las Vegas, Will Campbell is giving back to his offensive line.

The offensive tackle inked a partnership with Bose, gifting nearly $10,000 in Bose products to his offensive line room, a source told On3. The NIL deal included handing out new headphones to his teammates and coaches. Campbell received the product in exchange for sharing the news on Instagram.

Beats by Dre and Bose have emerged as two major spenders in the NIL era.

"Y'all know I love y'all and appreciate y'all," he said in the video. "I was lucky enough to partner up with Bose and get everybody a pair of headphones."

Viewed as one of the top left tackles in the nation, Campbell was a 2023 first-team All-SEC selection and former Freshman All-American. He's started all 26 career games he's played in.

Campbell has logged 1,687 career snaps and has not allowed a sack in 15 consecutive games going into his junior year. During his first two seasons, the LSU offense has averaged 39.8 points. Quarterback Jayden Daniels won the 2023 Heisman Trophy Award, too.

Campbell previously worked with the LSU-driven collective Bayou Traditions in March. He also has renewed his agreement with John Deere dealer Sunshine Quality Solutions for a second year.

Campbell also has more than 38,000 social media followers. His On3 NIL Valuation of $710,000 ranks No. 30 in the college football NIL rankings. It is also No. 55 in the On3 NIL 100, the first of its kind and defacto NIL ranking of the top 100 high school and college athletes ranked by their On3 NIL Valuation. – Pete Nakos

+Ohio State teammates Will Howard and Carnell Tate are promoting Grippo's Chips in a new NIL deal facilitated by Haystack Sourcing Solutions.

Howard, the Buckeyes' starting quarterback, and Tate, a key receiver for Ohio State, both appear on the front of Grippo's Honey BBQ chip bags. The chips are sold at top grocery and convenience stores throughout Ohio.

Grippo's made national headlines last football season with a NIL deals featuring former Ohio State star Marvin Harrison Jr. and former Duke basketball standout Kyle Filipowski. Howard has an On3 NIL Valuation of $973,000, while Tate's valuation is $285,000.

+Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah and defensive lineman Patrick Jenkins signed NIL deals to promote Campus Connection, a Green Wave merchandise and apparel company. As a freshman, Mensah entered the 2024 season third on the depth chart, but he's impressed, and Tulane coach Jon Sumrall said he would have no problem playing him. Jenkins was recently named to the preseason Lombardi Watch list.

+Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan are the first duo to ink an NIL deal with a private jet company.

Fifita and McMillan are starring in a new commercial for Alerion Aviation. The private jet charter and aircraft management services company joins a growing list of private jet brands investing in college athletics.

While the full terms of the agreement were not disclosed, the athletes will be allotted a set number of hours on Alerion's jets for philanthropic use along with personal and team use, the company told On3. The terms are similar to other private jet partnerships, with athletes exchanging NIL rights for the use of jets. The agreement was facilitated by Alerion's Rosie Haynes and agent Kyle Schaufel.