Mike Farrell joins me on today’s Show Pony Live to try to make sense of a college football world where the rulebook increasingly feels like a suggestion.
The biggest story is the wild ruling out of Louisiana that could potentially open a door we never thought we’d see: players who are currently in NFL training camps getting another chance to play college football.
A Louisiana judge granted temporary relief to a group of former college athletes, including football players who have signed NFL contracts, allowing them an avenue back toward college eligibility. The ruling is narrow — it currently applies to the plaintiffs — but the precedent and the questions it raises are enormous.
Think about how crazy that sentence would have sounded a few years ago.
You can leave college. Sign an NFL contract. Go through an NFL training camp. Get cut — and potentially wind up back on a college campus?
Some players named in the litigation are already with NFL teams, and the league’s final roster cutdown comes August 30.
Mike and I get into what this could mean, whether we’re headed toward even more eligibility lawsuits, and just how difficult roster management becomes when coaches aren’t even sure who is finished playing college football anymore.
And if you think the portal is chaotic now, imagine NFL cutdown day becoming another version of the transfer portal.
Oklahoma Makes Its Bet on Brent Venables
We also react to today’s news that Oklahoma has agreed to a new six-year contract with Brent Venables, extending his deal through January 2032.
It’s fascinating timing.
Venables has taken Oklahoma through its transition into the SEC and got the Sooners into the College Football Playoff last season. Now Oklahoma is making it clear that it believes he’s the guy to lead the program through this next era.
The reported deal pays Venables $10 million this season with $200,000 annual increases over the following five years.
Mike and I debate the extension, what Oklahoma is really buying with it and where Venables fits in the SEC coaching hierarchy entering 2026.
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🎙️ Show Pony Live with Chris Childers
Today: Mike Farrell
We cover:
The Louisiana eligibility ruling that could create a path from NFL training camp back to college football
What this latest legal battle means for NCAA eligibility
Oklahoma’s new commitment to Brent Venables
Whether Venables is the right man for the Sooners in the SEC
How NIL, the portal and roster management have transformed recruiting
Where the college football recruiting business goes from here
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