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Good morning. It's Monday, Jan. 27.

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Bill Belichick enters college football at an interesting time at North Carolina. Because of the advent of the transfer portal and NIL, tampering is becoming a more prevalent issue.

The whispers of tampering at the college level have grown louder, reaching a zenith last week after a report from On3's Pete Nakos.

Nakos reported that the Buckeyes' NIL collective, The Foundation, was aggressively working to retain star receivers Jeremiah Smith and Carnell Tate amid serious interest from outside programs looking to entice them into the portal.

Nakos reported Smith, who rewrote Ohio State's freshman receiver records in 2024, is drawing strong interest from other elite college football programs allegedly offering NIL deals in the range of $4.5-$5 million. Tate is allegedly commanding a NIL deal in the $1 million range.

In the meantime, Ryan Day has pushed back on the issue, and Belichick took time out of his recruiting calendar to give his thoughts on the matter.

He likened it to a combination of the NFL's legal tampering period prior to free agency, as well as the time when franchises are signing undrafted free agents, although he noted some key differences, as well.

"It's pretty similar to what we have in the NFL," Belichick explained, via "The Pat McAfee Show" last Friday.

"It's a little bit of a combination between the day when a couple of players after the draft, the undrafted players are negotiating to be on a roster, and free agency, just in general, where, those couple of days – it's called the legal tampering period, I think they call it, when you're talking to agents, trying to work out deals with them before the players are actually allowed to visit, and you're allowed to talk to them. It's not the same, but it's sort of a combination of those two NFL events.

"It is what it is. There's a lot of money, promises and opportunity being discussed, and everybody is in on it. The players. The teams that have the players. The teams that are looking for the players, and following the guidelines of the process, which are not as well-defined as they were in the NFL, but that's what it is."

While Belichick may be well equipped to handle the controversial tampering in college football, he's pushed for some guidelines that need to be implemented.

How the sport goes about it and who enforces them remains to be seen, but more big names like Belichick agree that the tampering issue needs to be addressed. – Steve Samra

"Everybody acts like, 'Ah, the best teams are going to get the best players.' But to me, there are a couple of factors. One, you've gotta have the money. Two, then you've gotta be able to have the relationship to get the right players with the money. And then three, you've gotta have the sense to be able to fit it all together. Just because you have money, money doesn't solve all the problems." – McNeese basketball coach Will Wade talking about how money doesn't always equate to NIL and on-court victories

For the past four years, vintage clothing company Charlie Hustle has been one of the most aggressive brands in NIL – striking deals with some of the top names in college football and college basketball.

Now, the Kansas City-based company returns to the market once again with the launch of its 2025 Team Hustle roster.

The 2025 Team Hustle roster features:

• Arizona's Carlie Ciseneros (volleyball)
• Arkansas' Kendall Diggs (baseball)
• BYU's Parker Kingston (football)
• Iowa State's Audi Crooks (women's basketball)
• Kansas' Patrick Cassidy and Dillion White (basketball)
• Kansas State's Jericho Frigon (soccer), Ayoka Lee, Brylee Glenn and Jaelyn Glenn (women's basketball)
• Missouri's Hannah Lithacum (women's basketball)
• Nebraska's Bergen Reilly (volleyball)
• Oklahoma State's Sarah Stair (cross country and track)
• Texas' Ella Swindle (volleyball)

"In 2021, we had a vision at Charlie Hustle to support student-athletes in their journey both on and off the field," Charlie Hustle's Jon Felton told On3.

"We wanted to create something foundational to bring these athletes into our Charlie Hustle family and tell their stories to our community. It started with two athletes from the University of Kansas, Ochai Agbaji and Mitch Lightfoot, and 50-plus NIL deals later, this foundational principle still drives us.

"Team Hustle was established to allow our fan base to get to know every athlete's story. The transition from student-athlete to life beyond the game is challenging, and every athlete's journey is unique. Our goal is to provide opportunities that allow athletes to continue pursuing their passions while building their personal brands and connecting with fans."

The 2025 roster features plenty of top names in their respective sports.

For example, Diggs is an All-SEC pick as an outfielder, Kingston earned All-Big 12 honors in 2024 as a returner, Crooks is one of Iowa State's all-time top women's basketball players, Lee is an All-American at K-State, Reilly is a two-time All-American for the Huskers' premiere volleyball squad, and Swindle is also an elite volleyball standout.

Not only does the roster have strong play on the field, many of the athletes have built massive followings away from the game. Reilly has nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram and also has an NIL deal with Red Bull. Crooks and Swindel are others with top NIL games, with a combined 100,000 followers and multiple NIL deals.

This Charlie Hustle NIL program allows each athlete to be represented on the company's website and social media channels. Athletes are also spotlighted with personalized landing pages. Each athlete who joins the program receives a product package from Charlie Hustle, a photo shoot opportunity and professional development on personal brand building.

"With this program, we can tap into new avenues of athlete relations," Charlie Hustle founder Chase McAnulty told On3.

"For years, we've held ourselves to a very high standard of helping support student-athletes and this significantly increases how we can interact with athletes that are fans of Charlie Hustle and want to be involved more." – Jeremy Crabtree