From Buzzer-Beater to Brand Builder: Braylon Mullins cashes in

Good morning.

It’s Final Four Saturday, one of the best sports days of the year. And this year should not disappoint with four phenomenal teams in Indianapolis. One of the players involved is Braylon Mullins, who is becoming an NIL sensation. Today’s dispatch also includes notes on face masks and concussions, the Cody Campbell-Brett Yormark spat and a money message from College of Charleston.

Have a great weekend.

— Kyle

THE BIG 3

Braylon Mullins turns iconic shot into NIL gold

Life changes fast when you hit one of the most iconic shots in NCAA tournament history. And Braylon Mullins is making sure he doesn’t waste a second of it.

In the week since his unforgettable game-winner, Mullins has leaned all the way into the moment. He launched his own apparel line, “Money Mullins,” and inked a partnership with pet brand Greenies, proving his appeal stretches well beyond the hardwood.

The collaboration has already produced a viral highlight of its own. In a playful social media spot, Mullins joins forces with Jonathan the Husky, the beloved UConn mascot, to recreate his buzzer-beater, this time launching a bag of Greenies treats instead of a basketball. If UConn’s men’s or women’s team cuts down the nets, one lucky fan’s dog will score a year’s supply of treats.

“There’s always time to shoot your shot,” Mullins wrote on social media. 

This isn’t new territory for the freshman from Indiana. Even before the shot that made him a household name, Mullins had built an impressive NIL portfolio, with partnerships including Olipop, NBA 2K and Vuori. Now, with momentum on his side, Mullins is turning it into something much bigger.

The next football safety flashpoint could be face masks

This isn’t a college sports story – yet. But it’s headed there. When it comes to football safety, the NFL sets the standard, and college football follows close behind.

The NFL is trying to understand why concussions rose again in 2025 after a significant drop the previous season. The emerging culprit is something long overlooked in safety discussions: face masks. While helmet technology has rapidly improved, face masks haven’t kept pace.

Ahead of the 2025 season, the league banned seven helmet models and labeled three others “not recommended,” despite those same models being considered top performers as recently as 2022. That evolution will continue into 2026, with roughly 12 percent of players expected to transition out of newly non-compliant helmets and into updated designs.

But the gains in helmet safety have revealed a new vulnerability. While modern helmet shells are better at absorbing and dispersing force, face masks lack those same protective qualities. As a result, they’re playing a larger role in injuries. League data shows 44 percent of concussions in 2025 were linked to impacts involving the face mask, up significantly from 29 percent in 2015. According to NFL executive Jeff Miller, face masks simply don’t provide the same level of force mitigation as the rest of the helmet.

Overall, the league recorded 168 in-game concussions in 2025, a 30 percent jump from 129 in 2024. Rule changes also played a role. The “dynamic kickoff” led to a sharp increase in returns, creating more high-speed collisions and, in turn, more opportunities for injury. With contact on the rise, the NFL is reexamining not just rules, but the equipment itself.

To address the issue, the league has launched a global, crowdsourced innovation challenge aimed at rethinking face mask design ahead of Super Bowl LX. The hope is to accelerate new ideas and better integrate face masks into the broader safety advances already happening in helmet technology.

If history is any guide, the implications won’t stop at the professional level. What the NFL learns should shape the future of football safety at every level of the game.

Texas Tech’s Friday Fight: Booster vs. Commissioner

A dispute is brewing in the Big 12 between Texas Tech billionaire booster and board chairman Cody Campbell and commissioner Brett Yormark. The reason is fairly innocuous: Campbell is upset that Texas Tech might play a Friday night game against Houston on Oct. 18. 

Campbell publicly criticized the impending decision, arguing that Friday nights in Texas are for high school football. He called the decision “absurd” and called out Yormark by name. 

In response, Yormark told the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal that “Cody Campbell does not run the Big 12.” But Campbell wasn’t done. He came back at Yormark and the Big 12 on their decision to ban Texas Tech’s tortilla-throwing tradition and rebuked Yormark’s leadership, suggesting that he rules like a “dictator.” 

Yormark defended the conference’s scheduling, noting that Big 12 leadership approved up to 12 non-Saturday games per year to boost exposure and that Friday night games delivered strong TV ratings – 64% higher than the conference average in 2025. Last season, Texas Tech and Iowa State were the only teams not to appear in a Friday game. Historically, the Red Raiders have tried to avoid non-Thanksgiving-week Friday games. 

Campbell’s main beef is the belief that the Big 12 prioritizes ratings over team considerations. Texas Tech would have a short week after a road trip to Oregon State. Campbell has become one of the most influential and outspoken figures in college athletics, with this clash highlighting where he stands in the sport.

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VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Show me the culture

I enjoyed this impassioned message from College of Charleston AD Matt Roberts. Obviously, money has to be part of the equation. But we all understand his sentiment. The irony is that John Groce left Akron in part because of the money.

NIL BLITZ

♦️ Alabama AD Greg Byrne says the SEC championship game has outlived its usefulness.

♦️On the subject of conference championship games, Matt Brown of Extra Points examines the games’ economics.

♦️With UConn’s basketball teams in the Final Four this weekend, what is the status of the school’s independent football program?

♦️ Ross Delleger has details on a story that’s been written lately with increasing inevitability: the NCAA tournament is going to expand 🤮 .

♦️ Brandon Marcello of CBS Sports spoke with power conference executives and coaches about “ghost” transfers, with many of them not strongly believing in potential penalties.

♦️ Division II West Florida is transitioning to Division I with plans to compete in the ASUN. Football will compete in the UAC beginning this fall.

♦️ The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s dismissal of claims that the Ivy League violates antitrust law by agreeing not to offer athletic scholarships.

♦️Mississippi State University has launched STATE 1878, an independent membership community aimed at driving NIL funding while strengthening fan engagement.

♦️ The South Carolina Senate voted 30–12 to join the House in overriding Gov. Henry McMaster’s veto, clearing the way for a bill that shields collegiate revenue-sharing contracts and sport-specific financial data from public records requests.

♦️ South Carolina had a $1.3 million surplus in FY205. But it came with an SEC-high $42.6 million in direct institutional support.

♦️ Western Michigan men’s hockey will host Michigan next season at Waldo Stadium.

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BATTER UP

Today’s Poll Question:

Last Edition’s Poll Results:

What is your favorite round of the NCAA tournament?

• First round - 30%

• Second round - 9%

• Sweet 16 - 37%

• Elite Eight - 8%

• Final Four - 15%

• National championship game - 1%