🌅 Good Monday Morning. Just one more sleep.

📆 What’s Happening Today. The DIII NIL Working Group meets virtually today.

🎶 Your Morning Pick Me Up. Ring of Fire. Social Distortion

“Imagine the Dallas Cowboys threatening to sue the NFC East, then teams in the division saying they won’t play them unless they remove a player from their roster. No well-run pro sports league would dream of it.

College sports? Threats, lawsuits and instability are now as common as play-action passes and handoffs.”

» Court Awareness. “As Barbara Osborne, a professor at the North Carolina law school who is an expert on NCAA governance put it: “The difference between a professional sports league and collegiate athletics is literally night and day.” Indeed, most colleges are public institutions whose athletic departments are a small part of the overall equation on their campuses. Unlike pro sports, where finances usually rule the day, decision-makers in college come from classrooms, boardrooms and research programs. Even when teams in a certain conference (like the SEC) or division (like Division I) agree, the decisions don’t always lead to smooth sailing.”

» Reality Check. “On all the different forms the eligibility issue takes, the courts are having quite a say. The smartest plaintiffs’ attorneys are doing a good job shopping for judges sympathetic to their cases — and there are more than 30 at the moment with nearly 400 athletes involved. Most claim it is unfair to exclude high school Class of 2022 athletes the way the NCAA rule did, but it’s also clear that many athletes hoping to come back can count on money — revenue-sharing, NIL deals — that were not available six years ago.”

» Worth Noting. “One of the most pressing issues is a federal antitrust exemption, the likes of which most pro sports have some part of but college does not. Not having it has left the NCAA and its schools open to legal challenges for decades. The most notable — and the genesis of the trouble college sports currently finds itself in — involved players’ right to earn endorsement money.”

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The 2026 DIII gridiron season kicks off on Thursday with a 13-game slate. Here’s what you need to know to get ready for the new campaign.

» D3Football Preseason Rankings. 1-North Central, 2-Bethel, 3-Mount Union,
4-Johns Hopkins, 5-Wheaton, 6-UW-Platteville, 7-UW-River Falls, 8-John Carroll,
9-Wartburg, 10-UW-La Crosse

» AFCA Preseason Rankings. 1-North Central, 2-Bethel, 3-Mount Union, 4-Johns Hopkins, 5-Wheaton, 6-UW-Platteville, 7-UW-River Falls, 8-John Carroll, 9-Wartburg, 10-UW-La Crosse

» InsideThe(D3fb)Huddle Preseason Rankings. 1-North Central, 2-Mount Union, 3-Bethel, 4-Johns Hopkins, 5-John Carroll, 6-Wheaton, 7-UW-La Crosse, 8-Saint John’s, 9-UW-Platteville, 10-Wartburg

» Players to Watch (Offense). Andrew Belford (OG, Sr., Christopher Newport); Harrison Hensley (RB, Sr., Coast Guard); Cortez Jones (OT, Sr., North Central); Joe Pruchnic (OG, Sr., Adrian); Albert Rundell (WR, Sr., Bethel); Garret Wilson (QB, Sr., North Central)

» Players to Watch (Defense). Jason Bateman (LB, Sr., Eastern); Phil Conant (DT, Sr., Bethel); Giani Derameaux (DT, Sr., Rowan); Nolan Hartsel (LB, Sr., Baldwin Wallace); Nazair Jean-Lubin (CB, Sr., Cortland); Galen Limantour (DE, Sr., Susquehanna); Conner McDonald (DT, Sr., Wartburg); Kaiden Roden (LB, Sr., Hardin-Simmons)

» Players to Watch (Special Teams). Cade Johannsen (P, Sr., Linfield); Austin Niederkohr (Jr., ST, Heidelberg); Joel Perez (So., PR/KR, Delaware Valley); Cooper Tracy (P, So., Adrian).

» Returning Rushing Yds/Game Leaders. Harrison Hensley (Sr., RB, Coast Guard), 156.5; Drew Miller (Sr., RB, Heidelberg), 138.3; Nahjiir Seagraves (Sr., RB, N.C. Wesleyan), 137.3; Mekhi Wilson (Sr., RB, UMass Dartmouth), 129.4; Bubba Mustain (Jr., QB, Merchant Marine), 127.1.

» Returning Pass Efficiency Leaders. Garret Wilson (Jr., North Central), 197.8; Brady Kelly (Sr., Coe), 190.0; Mikey Maloney (Jr., Mount Union), 189.2; Trey Feeney (Sr., Saint John’s), 176.3; Alex Thole (Sr., Hope), 168.5.

» Returning Receiving Yds/Game Leaders. Grayson Kerscher (Sr., Denison), 123.9; Albert Rundell (Sr., Bethel), 122.8; Chris Downs (Sr., Saint Vincent), 120.5; Eli Aston (Jr., Mount St. Joseph), 119.0; Westin Bruce (Sr., Hendrix), 110.9.

» Returning Sack Leaders. JP Chaney (Sr., Aurora), 14.0; Galen Limantour (Sr., Susquehanna), 13.5; Tyler Sordillo (Sr., Springfield), 11.5; Bobby Medina (Sr., North Central), 10.0; Phil Conant (Sr., Bethel), 10.0.

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» Membership. The DIII Membership Committee denied requests from Mary Baldwin, Medgar Evers, and York (N.Y.) for minimum sports-sponsorship requirement waivers, citing insufficient mitigation in all three.

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