Highest paid athletes in college sports

April 11, 2026·12 min·1 clip

Jeff Ward reveals the top 10 highest-paid college athletes and asks why no female influencers are on the list.

1. The Jeff Ward Show from Austin, Texas briefly examines the highest-paid college athletes list as a lens for understanding the real economics of name-image-likeness payments. 2. Jeff Ward hosts solo; he references 'Brandon,' a producer, and mentions catching a segment on the Paul Finebaum Show. 3. The episode's core argument is that the top-10 highest-paid college athletes list reveals that almost none of the money qualifies as genuine advertiser spending — it is instead 'sugar daddy money,' transferred outside normal market dynamics. 4. Ward opens with a note about the NCAA's lack of regulatory guardrails, arguing that presidents and athletic directors are unwilling to impose rules because the wealthy boosters who control the money will not allow it. 5. He flags two methodological problems with the list: the dollar amounts are not public record even at public universities, making the figures unverifiable; and the list includes no female athletes despite Ward's suspicion that female influencers may be earning substantial sums. 6. Reading in reverse order from number ten: Lenore Sellers of South Carolina appears at the bottom; J.T. Toppin of Texas Tech at number nine earned $2.8 million despite a season-ending knee injury and no conference or national title. 7. Cam Coleman, a football player at the University of Texas who left Auburn, is listed at number eight earning approximately $3 million, with Ward noting he has not seen any advertisements featuring Coleman. 8. Dante Moore of the University of Oregon, from Detroit, is listed at number seven earning $3 million with deals including Nike and Beats by Dre. 9. Bryce Underwood, quarterback at Michigan, earns $3.1 million; Brendan Sorsby of Texas Tech earns $3.1 million despite playing in Lubbock, a market Ward argues could not sustain meaningful advertising spend on a single athlete. 10. Ward asks whether listeners could recognize Brendan Sorsby from a focus group of 100 people and estimates that maybe five would know who he is — making the $3.1 million figure implausible as real advertiser money. 11. Sam Levitt of LSU earns $4 million at number four; Jeremiah Smith of Ohio State is number three; A.J. DeBansta of BYU earns $4.2 million at number two, with BYU being knocked out by Texas. 12. Through the first nine athletes, Ward tallies zero conference championships and zero national championships among the group — his framing device for exposing the non-market nature of the payments. 13. Arch Manning is revealed as number one at $5.4 million, with his portfolio of brand deals including Panini America Trading Cards, Warby Parker, Red Bull, Viore, and Raising Cane's. 14. Ward argues Manning is 'the one outlier' because his money is genuine advertising spend — blue-chip companies investing in a spokesperson — unlike the nine athletes ranked below him. 15. He states that if Manning had a different name and played for a different program, 'that would all be sugar daddy money' — the famous name and the Texas program are what generate the real advertiser market. 16. Ward doubts that any individual in Lubbock, Baton Rouge, or Salt Lake City could earn more than $50,000 per year from a real advertising market, regardless of local fame, making multi-million-dollar figures in those markets suspicious. 17. He notes that the exclusion of female influencers from the list is implausible and implies some may be earning through social media and lifestyle content that does not appear in sports rankings. 18. The episode is short — approximately 12 minutes — and consists primarily of Ward reading the list with running commentary; the style is rapid-fire editorial with rhetorical questions directed at the listener. 19. The episode suits college football fans and anyone interested in the true economics of NIL and how college sports money actually flows. 20. Listeners expecting full analysis of all ten athletes, or interviews with the athletes themselves, will find the episode too brief and editorially one-sided.

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A blunt ranking that turns college football money into a question of value, visibility, and winning.

Jeff Ward runs through the biggest paydays in college football and uses them to press a simple question: what is that money actually buying? The piece is strongest when it links pay to market size, name recognition, and the uneasy split between compensation and winning,…

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Want a blunt read on why college football players are getting huge NIL checks?

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