Sending emails and opening bills: Inside Nick Saban’s ‘new reality’
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Chris Low, ESPN Senior Writer
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The stress level of former Alabama football coach Nick Saban is down exponentially these days, though there are some harrowing moments.
Like when his 3-year-old grandson, James, joins him on the golf course.
“The challenge is keeping him out of the sand traps,” Saban said. “He likes to play in the sand. That’s about the most stress I’ve had.”
The legendary coach’s meticulous attention to detail and unmatched work ethic during his 17 seasons in Tuscaloosa produced six national championships (after he won one at LSU), 123 NFL draft picks — including 44 first-rounders — and a new standard in college football.
But it left little time for anything else. Remember, Saban once reportedly complained about the national title game costing him a week of recruiting time.
So how has Saban adapted to his new life? It’s something his closest confidants, family members and Saban himself are still coming to grips with.
“When you’re in a rat race like he’s been, you could never really step away and appreciate what you’ve accomplished,” said Alabama head athletic trainer Jeff Allen, the only football staff member Saban brought to the Tide who was there for his entire tenure.
“You just never could because in this business as soon as you take a breath, you’re getting beat. He wasn’t going to take a breath.”
Not only is Saban now taking a breath, he’s seeing the world outside of football. He’s experiencing things he never had time for in the past. He’s actually relaxing, a word that previously wasn’t really part of his vocabulary.
“The biggest change for me as a person is that I lived my whole life for the last 50 years being in a hurry,” Saban told ESPN. “It was, ‘Hurry up to go here. Hurry up to go there. Don’t be late for this meeting. You’ve got another meeting in an hour. What are you going to say to the staff? What are you going to say to the team?’
“I mean, it was just deadline after deadline after deadline. Even when I was driving to the lake to go on vacation, I’d be in a hurry, and for what? But that’s just how you were built.”
‘The Ten Commandments of Retirement’
THERE WAS NEVER any debate about who was in charge of Alabama’s football program, but Saban has often joked that his wife of 52 years, Terry, was the family member most proficient at giving orders.
The day after he retired in January, Saban said he had a note from Ms. Terry, as he refers to her, sitting on his chair. It spelled out “The Ten Commandments of Retirement.”
Terry wouldn’t share all of them, but near the top was the decree that Saban wait for her to sit down at the dinner table and to slow down when eating. She also told him it was polite to leave a little something on his plate when eating at a restaurant.
“So at our first dinner at home, he brought his plate to me with half a pickle on it and said, ‘To be polite!'” Terry said.
Another commandment calls for Saban to alter his behavior when they are settling in on the couch. For years, when Terry would get a blanket for herself, she always picked one up for Saban.
“Now, I’d appreciate the same courtesy,” she wrote.
Terry has enrolled Saban into her own version of a “Tech 101” class.
“He’s actually texting and reading his own emails and sent his first-ever email,” Terry said. “He even took his first trip to the pharmacy to pick up his first prescription. He’s actually quite proud of himself.”
To be clear, Saban has hardly become a homebody. He doesn’t hang out watching television, though he admits to being a big fan of “Game of Thrones.”
“I can’t stand sitting around now any more than I could stand it when I was coaching,” Saban said. “I want to stay busy. I think everybody looks at me like, ‘This guy’s a ball coach and that’s all he does.’ I’ve got businesses, I do speaking stuff. I’ve got my TV job now with ESPN. I like to play golf. I’ve got tons of stuff to do. So I’m not retiring to quit working.”
Saban is part-owner of multiple car dealerships, including a Ferrari dealership in Nashville and a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Birmingham. He has a stake in a boutique hotel, The Alamite, in downtown Tuscaloosa.
“What’s so exciting for all of us, especially him, is that he kind of has a blank slate now that he can play around with,” said Saban’s daughter Kristen, who lives in Birmingham. “It’s really nice to see him not have this big stressful thing hanging over him. He’s accomplished so much that I don’t think he feels like he’s leaving anything behind. He’s leaving with no regrets and stepping away with a lot of gratitude and a lot of relief at the same time.
“He’s in a relaxed state of mind that I haven’t really seen him in, and it kind of puts everybody else at peace too.”
Now that Saban is home more, he has been doing the kind of mundane household tasks most don’t even think about but that weren’t part of his routine. Imagine being the delivery driver who finds himself face to face with college football’s greatest coach.
“It’s funny to see people’s reaction when he opens the door because for 17 years he has never been there to answer it,” said Terry, who has had as much fun as anybody reveling in the changes in her husband’s lifestyle.
She joked that Saban has now learned where all the light switches are in the house and has taken to getting the mail. He even opens up some of the bills now.
“Sometimes ignorance is bliss,” Terry said.
Kristen is confident her dad will continue to evolve and adapt in retirement, much as he did when he was coaching. But don’t expect him to show up on social media.
“No chance,” Kristen said, laughing. “People have said they want him on it, and I’ve said it’s just not going to happen. He just learned to text and email. How’s he going to tweet something?”
Kristen promises to post a few pictures of the retirement version of her dad from time to time on her social media accounts.
“But could you imagine him doing an Instagram selfie or something somewhere on the golf course?” she said. “We can hope, but it’s not going to happen.”
And don’t expect Saban to make many grocery store runs, as Kristen and Terry learned their lesson a few years ago when the family was at their old home in Boca Grande, Florida. They sent Saban to the store to restock the fridge with ketchup, mustard and other condiments, and to fill the car with gas. But the perfectionist in Saban quickly became a problem.
“He was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, I can do it,’ and he’s not even in the store for five minutes when he calls and says, ‘There’s a hundred bottles of ketchup and mustard on the shelf. Which kind am I supposed to get?'” Kristen recounted.
Saban was persistent: “Is there a specific brand or size?”
Kristen, who laughs as hard now as she did when the grocery store excursion occurred, said the general response from her and her mom was the same.
“God forbid he grabs the wrong bottle,” she said. “We were like, ‘OK, just grab whatever.'”
A windowless office and lunchtime golf
THE SABANS HAVE a new home in Jupiter Island, Florida, not far from where Tiger Woods lives. They’ve been there for most of March, and though they will spend plenty of time there in the offseason, they will remain based in Tuscaloosa. Saban wants to be close enough where he can be a resource for the university and will also have more time to join Terry in her philanthropic work.
“I want to bring the least amount of attention to me being around here as possible,” Saban said. “So I want to be supportive. I want to be helpful, but I don’t want to be looking over anybody’s shoulder.”
In other words, don’t expect him to be walking around the hallways at the football complex and poking his head in meetings. He’s talked multiple times with new coach Kalen DeBoer and even had a conversation with new defensive coordinator Kane Wommack, but Saban will steer clear of the day-to-day football operation.
He will keep an office on campus, but not in the Mal M. Moore Athletic Facility where it had been for the past 17 years. His new office is located above the south end zone of Bryant-Denny Stadium, the opposite side from the Walk of Champions and Saban’s statue, so he won’t have to walk past the 9-foot bronze likeness of himself every morning. His office is modest in size with no windows, and his desk is the same one he had at the football complex.
“It’s just a hell of a lot cleaner,” Saban said.
When he’s heading to the office, Saban leaves the house about the same time he always did, just before 7 a.m. Depending on what he has going on, he may head home around 4 p.m., or he may leave at lunchtime and go hit golf balls. He’s not naïve and knows there will be some football withdrawal as he settles into retirement life.
When Saban was nearing a decision about whether to retire, he spoke with Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, who has a house in the same area of Jupiter Island. Parcells is in the thoroughbred racing business and cautioned Saban not to fall into the same trap as some of the jockeys he’s seen who keep riding into and beyond their 50s because it’s in their blood and they just can’t give it up.
“It’s a hazardous occupation, and I’m talking about screws just holding those guys’ chests together, and they’re still taking every mount they can get. There’s no way they’re ever going to quit,” Saban said, relaying his conversation with Parcells. “Coaches are like that, too, because as a coach, you think you’ve got to keep coaching, you’ve got to keep teaching, that you can’t do without it.
“But Parcells’ analogy was a good one for me, because you step back and realize that you can.”
Mark Dantonio, who was Saban’s defensive backs coach at Michigan State in the 1990s and was later the Spartans’ head coach for 13 seasons, remembers getting a call from his old boss about two or three days after Dantonio retired in 2019.
“He called just checking on how I was doing, and then two days after that call, he called me back again to check on me,” recalled Dantonio, who is part of the College Football Hall of Fame class of 2024. “When you retire in this business, you’re jumping off a fast car. There’s no landing place. You go from working 365 days, 24 hours a day, to being retired. There’s going to be other things that replace that, but nothing like you’re used to. So there’s quite an adjustment.”
Football will always be a part of Saban’s DNA, whether he’s lending his voice in an attempt to help ease the current chaos in the sport, as he did earlier this month when appearing before a congressional committee in Washington, D.C., or breaking down a matchup on ESPN’s “College GameDay,” which he will be a part of this season. Saban has been working overtime watching tape and researching players — many of whom he coached, coached against or recruited — in preparation for ESPN’s NFL draft coverage.
His desk is surrounded by a stack of boxes filled with notes going back more than 20 years. He’s in the process of consolidating his notes from some of the talks he had with coaches and players.
“It’s taken forever because they’re not in order,” Saban said. “I was looking at a talk today, for instance, when I was with the Dolphins before we played the Oakland Raiders. I want to be able to remember what I said to the players, the points I was trying to make, some of the things you want to get across when you’re talking to some of these groups about leadership.”
Joe Pendry was one of Saban’s most trusted confidants in football, and they go all the way back to their West Virginia roots. Pendry, who was Saban’s first offensive line coach at Alabama, offered his longtime pal a very simple piece of advice.
“‘Turn that phone off and leave it off,'” Pendry said he told Saban. “It’s never easy when you’ve done it as long and as well as Nick has and then walk away and not undergo a little bit of a debriefing process. He’ll get there. It just might take him some time, especially on those dates like preseason camp starting and the season starting. As much as anything, he’s going to miss practice because nobody loved being out there coaching and teaching those players more than Nick did.”
Enjoying a ‘new reality’
Saban promised Terry he would walk away from football while their quality of life would still allow them to do things they’ve wanted to but couldn’t because of his schedule. That may mean more trips to their home in Lake Burton, Georgia, where they have a group of friends who don’t bombard him with football talk. Saban has celebrated his birthday (he turns 73 this year) the past few years with those friends. And since his birthday falls on Halloween, usually during an open date on Alabama’s schedule, they don’t gather to watch football, but occasionally dress up in costumes.
Last October, Saban dressed up as explorer John Smith from “Pocahontas.” Other costumes included Thurston Howell III and Lovey from the old television show “Gilligan’s Island.”
“We all are enjoying this new reality of more time, more choices and less stress,” Terry said.
And more time to play golf.
Last month Saban played at a celebrity tournament in Florida with rappers 50 Cent and Travis Scott. When Kristen caught wind of that, she couldn’t resist needling her dad.
“I said, ‘Do you understand who you’re playing golf with right now?'” she asked. “He goes, ‘Yeah, they’re rappers.’ I told him they’re not just rappers, that 50 Cent was the biggest rapper of my generation and Travis Scott is one of the biggest of the current generation. I was like, ‘You have no idea the people you’re in the presence of,’ and he really didn’t.
“He could meet the Dalai Lama and not realize who it was.”
On a typical workday, Saban ate lunch at his desk, the same salad, with turkey slices and cherry tomatoes, day after day. His new office on campus is just steps away from Rama Jama’s, an iconic area restaurant that is a virtual football museum filled with helmets, jerseys and other memorabilia. On the day Saban moved into his new digs, Allen pointed to Rama Jama’s and said, “Coach, now you can walk across the street and get you a hamburger for lunch.”
Saban looked quizzically at the restaurant and said, “Yeah, what is that place? Has it been there for a long time?”
Allen, who had a front-row seat for Saban’s singular focus for 17 seasons, could only laugh.
“Yeah, Coach, for decades,” he responded.
Saban nodded and said that he might try it sometime.
“I just want to be there when he walks in and orders a hamburger,” Allen said with a laugh.
So does Kristen.
“We all do,” she said. “Seeing him sitting there and eating a hamburger in the middle of the day might be the surest sign yet that he’s really retired, and he deserves every bit of it.”
Saban smiled when asked how long it took for a sense of relief to set in after telling his players he was retiring.
“Really as soon as I did it,” he said. “Now, I had to adapt. People would call me and ask me questions. Players would call and ask what they should do, and I would commiserate on it and tell Terry that so-and-so is calling about this or that or whatever.”
Terry’s response was always the same: “It’s not your problem anymore.”
“I had to get used to that part of it,” Saban said.
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Kristen Shilton
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Tomas Nosek was experiencing every hockey player’s worst nightmare.
It was overtime in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, and the veteran fourth-line forward for the Florida Panthers was sitting in the box for a delay of game penalty after flipping a puck over the glass with 1:42 remaining in extra time. He could only watch helplessly from there as Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl scored the game winner on the ensuing power play.
That was a devastating moment for Nosek. The response from coach Paul Maurice was to ensure that the crushing feeling wouldn’t linger.
“You just remind him after the game of being down 2-0 to Toronto [in the second round] when that [fourth] line came in and changed everything for us,” Maurice said in his postgame media availability. “And how we are not here [in the Final] without Tomas. It’s a tough break. So, we’ll just make sure he doesn’t eat alone tonight. He’s got lots of people sitting at his table and reminding him how good he’s been to us.”
Nosek didn’t see that kind of empathy coming. The 32-year-old has skated for five NHL clubs in his career and called the interaction with Maurice following his gaffe special compared to other dressing rooms.
“He’s a tremendous person. He said some things that he didn’t need to say, but he said it,” Nosek said. “And that’s what makes him, for me, a really, really good coach and a really good person as well.”
Like Nosek, Maurice has journeyed around the league. It’s at his sixth stop — behind the Panthers’ bench — where he has created his finest work. It’s not just that he has guided Florida to a third consecutive Cup Final, where the Panthers are vying for a second straight title after claiming the organization’s first one 12 months ago. Maurice has been at the center of his team’s cultural movement.
Before Maurice arrived in 2022, the Panthers were a good team on the cusp of greatness. Three years later, Florida is verging on dynastic territory.
That’s not all Maurice’s doing, of course. But whether he takes credit or not, Maurice has been a linchpin in making the Panthers shine, both as a group and individuals.
“Every single guy respects him so much,” forward Sam Bennett said. “When he speaks, everyone’s listening, and I think the team’s really just bought into the culture that he’s implemented into this team. We’re all willing to do whatever it takes and play that hard style that he keeps preaching to us, night in and night out, and we’ve all just bought into that over the years.”
IT WAS JUST PRIOR to Christmas in 2021 when Maurice believed his time was up.
He had been the Winnipeg Jets‘ head coach for nine seasons and could see, with the team limping through a 4-7-2 stretch, that they needed someone else to start calling the shots.
“If you’ll allow me some arrogance, I feel I’m better positioned than anyone to know that they need a new voice,” Maurice said while announcing his resignation. “They need somebody that can get them to that next place.”
Ironically, the same would shortly be true of the Panthers. Little did Maurice know at the time he was the right man for that job. Because when Maurice was bowing out in Winnipeg, he cited a loss of passion for the game itself and swore that without recapturing it, “you can’t be as good as you could be or should be, and that’s how I feel.”
While Maurice was contemplating his future, the Panthers were basking in their present. Florida tore up the NHL with a 122-point showing in 2021-22 to earn the franchise’s first Presidents’ Trophy as the league’s top regular-season team. That accolade didn’t serve them well in the postseason though, where Florida flamed out in a second-round sweep by the Tampa Bay Lightning.
It was Florida, then, that needed the new voice. After the season, GM Bill Zito parted with interim head coach Andrew Brunette, who had taken over when Joel Quenneville resigned in October following sexual assault allegations reported by Kyle Beach against the Chicago Blackhawks during Quenneville’s tenure there.
Despite how far Brunette had taken Florida, Zito wanted to woo someone else for the permanent role — and Maurice was willing to give his past love one last chance.
It’s been a match made in heaven, in more ways than one.
Maurice was barely in the fold when Zito rocked the hockey world with a blockbuster trade in July 2022, shipping the Panthers’ top scorer Jonathan Huberdeau and defenseman MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames for forward Matthew Tkachuk.
That haymaker dwarfed the Maurice news, but both acquisitions were integral to redefining the Panthers’ brand. Tkachuk exemplified the type of physically focused structure Maurice was sermonizing. Almost in one fell swoop, Florida had found harmony between a superstar and coach. Easy enough then to get everyone else on board too, what with Maurice’s knack for knowing how to read his room.
“He’s open, honest and speaks his mind,” forward Evan Rodrigues said. “I don’t think he holds back by any means. [He’s] very smart. Knows kind of what to say and when to say it, and does a great job of motivating us.”
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Matthew Tkachuk: ‘When we’re playing at our best, we’re pretty hard to beat’
Matthew Tkachuk speaks with Emily Kaplan about the Florida Panthers’ pursuit of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships and what it would mean for their legacy.
Talking might be one of Maurice’s greatest strengths — unless it’s about himself. Maurice earned his 1,000th career win when Florida topped Edmonton 6-1 in Game 3 of the Cup Final on Monday, an accomplishment he declined specifically commenting on. But Maurice was touched to hear Bennett’s comments about the Panthers’ esteem for their coach, calling it “a very kind thing” for his top skater to say about how Maurice has handled leading the Panthers.
“If you walk into the room and you just tell the truth,” Maurice said, “whether they want to hear it or not but it’s the truth, and over time you could look back and say what that person told me was the truth, you’ll have respect for that, I think. So I work hard at trying to find the truth every day and then just telling it as simply as I can with the occasional joke slipped in. Most times I’m the only one that thinks it’s funny.”
Carter Verhaeghe can’t suppress a grin when asked about Maurice and the quirks that make him a unique personality in today’s game.
“He’s one of a kind,” Verhaeghe said. “We see his sense of humor with [the media] and he kind of has the same sense of humor with us. He keeps everything light but makes you want to work; and for the right reasons, for each other. At any given time, he knows what the group needs … it keeps us loose and focused at the same time.”
Fortunately for Maurice it’s not his comedic timing that has cemented the Panthers’ status as a destination spot for players — particularly those in search of revitalizing their résumé. While it used to be — and still is — thought that Florida’s lack of state income tax is what drives NHL free agents to their doorstep, the pull of a Panthers’ sweater goes beyond the potential to save some cash. Florida is 141-87-18 under Maurice, a perennial playoff powerhouse and wields some sort of elixir that, when injected into countless newcomers, has resulted in some of their best years ever.
Just ask A.J. Greer.
The veteran signed a two-year deal with Florida this past July 1 and posted a career-high 17 points in the regular season on his way to being a key piece of the Panthers’ impactful fourth line during this postseason run. And the way Maurice has made his unit with Nosek feel important is testament to that skill Maurice has in getting the most from his group.
“Every player that comes into this organization elevates their game and gets to a certain point where you’re like, ‘Wow. Why wasn’t he like this in the other organizations?’ It translates from the head coach,” Greer said. “He’s a lot of different coaches that I’ve had kind of combined into one. He’s kind of just a complete package of being able to motivate us and elevate our games mentally.”
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A.J. Greer helps Panthers regain 2-goal lead
A.J. Greer scores early in the second period to help Florida regain a two-goal advantage over the Hurricanes.
It’s become the standard in Florida that entering the den comes with high expectations for soaring results. No one epitomizes that more than Maurice. There’s a core belief in his system and how he wants to run the team, but personal evolution has taught Maurice to be less rigid in his everyday approach to the game.
“I’ve spent a lot of years in this league grinding and spitting nails every single day,” Maurice said. “It’s too hard to do. You have to be able to find places where you can laugh a little bit and enjoy it. Once you know everyone’s going to work their butt off, it’s easy to do.”
That translates into how Maurice puts the Panthers through their practice paces during the playoffs. Florida didn’t get on the sheet at all after winning Game 3 and held only an optional practice the morning before Game 4. Maurice is open to adjusting the Panthers schedule as they go, and in tune with what players need to be successful, a vital combination that allows Maurice to know when it’s the right time for a skate — and just how long to keep it going.
“In my relationship with these players, [I ask], when was the last time we added a drill or a skate to practice? I haven’t done it in three years,” he said. “All I do is as soon as I think I get them to the threshold, I shut practice down. Then you get to have a good time. If you believe that you’ve worked as hard as you can, then there’s nothing left to do.”
THEY SAY WINNING can change a man. Maurice, apparently, is not one of them. At least not to his team, who are still getting the same ol’ chestnuts from their leader even after hoisting hockey’s holy grail a season ago.
“He [brings] pretty much the same stuff. Nothing really changed,” Anton Lundell said. “I think you guys know, too; he’s got a lot of things to say, so it’s not only one or two things. He always switches it up and rotates his quotes. But it’s fun to be here, and as a group we like him.”
If there has been a shift in Maurice at all it’s been a positive for the Panthers. Florida’s road to the Cup Final this year was rockier than before, oscillating between dominant stretches and spans of adversity that drew questions about their ability to contend for back-to-back championships.
Maurice kept the Panthers even-keeled through those highs and lows until Florida had fully blossomed.
“He’s the same guy, the same coach,” defenseman Gustav Forsling said. “Maybe even better, probably. He’s really good. He’s still very much looking at every game and he’s reading into everything. And he’s giving us the best chance to win every night.”
That might be Maurice’s greatest superpower — an ability to instill confidence. Whether Florida is up or down in a postseason series — as they have been at times this spring — the Panthers don’t panic. They don’t crumble. Stumble, maybe. But the safety net is there. It comes from Maurice and his philosophies that are well-received because they work. Florida can trust that if it follows his lead, good things happen.
And the Panthers could be days away from proving that fact. Again.
“I don’t think he’s changed since winning [the Cup]. He’s the same,” Bennett said. “He can be hard on us. He’s hard on us when he needs to be. And then he’s relaxed with us when he knows that we need [it], so I think he really does have a good feel for what our team needs. We all have the most respect for him.”
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Kiley McDaniel
The prospect talent in Omaha is strong this year. Even though only two SEC teams made it, the Men’s College World Series field is full of traditional powers with first-round talents.
Before regionals, I ranked the programs with the most MLB draft prospects and though the second-, third- and eighth-ranked teams made it to Omaha, the other five MCWS teams didn’t crack the top dozen. Most of them would’ve been in the next tier — with the notable (and fantastic) exception of Murray State.
Below, I rank the top 15 prospects in the tournament (regardless of draft class), who are all strong candidates to be drafted in the first or compensation rounds. Some underclass prospects could belong in that conversation, and they’re all covered below in the team-by-team breakdown. This ranking is based on major league potential and draft stock, not potential College World Series impact, and prospects are 2025 draft-eligible unless noted otherwise.
Here are all the top pro prospects in Omaha this year.
Watch: MCWS, starting Friday on ESPN | Storylines, predictions | Schedule
Top MLB draft prospects in MCWS
1. Roch Cholowsky, SS, UCLA (2026)
2. Kade Anderson, LHP, LSU
3. Aiva Arquette, SS, Oregon State
4. Dax Whitney, RHP, Oregon State (2027)
5. Wehiwa Aloy, SS, Arkansas
6. Brendan Summerhill, CF, Arizona
7. Gage Wood, RHP, Arkansas
8. Derek Curiel, CF, LSU (2026)
9. Casan Evans, RHP, LSU (2027)
10. Cole Gibler, LHP, Arkansas (2027)
11. Caden Bodine, C, Coastal Carolina
12. Anthony Eyanson, RHP, LSU
13. Patrick Forbes, RHP, Louisville
14. Charles Davalan, LF, Arkansas
15. Zach Root, LHP, Arkansas
Arizona
Top Prospect: Brendan Summerhill, CF
Summerhill is the clear headliner here, tracking as a mid-first-round pick with above-average tools, but Arizona also has a ton of pro talent depth who should be drafted in later rounds.
The Wildcats outfield features Aaron Walton and Easton Breyfogle (2026), while the infield has some pro talent in shortstop Mason White, third baseman Maddox Mihalakis and catcher Adonys Guzman. The pitching staff also has some depth with right-handers Collin McKinney, Owen Kramkowski (2026) and Smith Bailey (2027), along with a few more in the bullpen.
One or two will sneak into the third round, but most fit just beyond that.
Arkansas
Top Prospect: Wehiwa Aloy, SS
Arkansas is flush with early-round pro talent, finishing second in my rankings of teams with the most pro talent and now first among the programs in Omaha. Aloy leads the way — he’ll likely be selected by Pick 15 in this summer’s draft — but right-hander Gage Wood, left-hander Zach Root and left fielder Charles Davalan should all go by around Pick 50. Third baseman Brent Iredale is a sleeper pick who should also go in the top three rounds of this draft.
Catcher Ryder Helfrick and right-hander Gabe Gaeckle lead the 2026 group, and left-hander Cole Gibler tops the 2027 hopefuls. All three players could go in the first two rounds.
Coastal Carolina
Top Prospect: Caden Bodine, C
The Chanticleers are similar to Gonzaga’s men’s basketball team — a perennial, nationally relevant mid-major program. Bodine leads the way as a late-first/early-second-round prospect who stands out for his contact and framing. There isn’t a ton of top-five-round depth talent, but right-handers Jacob Morrison and Cameron Flukey (2026) and left-hander Dominick Carbone (2026) are the next-best talents, with Flukey the best of the bunch.
Louisville
Top Prospect: Patrick Forbes, RHP
Forbes is a late-first/early-second-round fit as a starter with big stuff but could end up as a reliever in the majors. Louisville’s lineup has some pro prospects: outfielder Zion Rose (2026), center fielder Lucas Moore (2026), first baseman Tague Davis (2027), third baseman Jake Munroe and catcher Matt Klein. Right-hander Tucker Biven, who has been trending up in the second half of the year and getting some starts.
LSU
Top Prospect: Kade Anderson, LHP
LSU was third (now second among teams in Omaha) in my rankings of the programs with the top pro talent. Anderson could be the No. 1 pick and seems like a lock to at least go in the top five. Outfielder Derek Curiel and shortstop Steven Milam lead the way in their 2026 group while right-handers Casan Evans and William Schmidt are the team’s top 2027 prospects.
There’s also plenty of depth beyond those players. Right-handers Anthony Eyanson and Chase Shores, second baseman Daniel Dickinson and designated hitter Ethan Frey are all in the conversation to go in the first three rounds of the 2025 draft.
Murray State
Top Prospect: Will Vierling, C
The Racers might be the team with the most improbable Cinderella run to Omaha in our lifetime. Vierling (cousin of Detroit Tigers outfielder Matt Vierling) is a later-round prospect for this year as a left-handed-hitting catcher. After checking with some scouts, that might be all of the pro talent on this team. A college team full of good college players who are hot at the right moment might be enough to make some noise in Omaha, but just getting this far is an incredible accomplishment.
Oregon State
Top Prospect: Aiva Arquette, SS
Arquette and right-hander Dax Whitney (2027) are both top-half-of-the-first-round talents to headline a strong Beavers club. There’s more high-end talent in the lineup and rotation with third baseman Trent Caraway, left fielder Gavin Turley, left-hander Nelson Keljo, right-hander Eric Segura (2026) and left-hander Ethan Kleinschmit (2026), who are all top three-to-four-round talents playing key roles for Oregon State this year.
UCLA
Top Prospect: Roch Cholowsky, SS (2026)
Cholowsky is the top pro prospect in college baseball, making him an early candidate to go first overall next summer. He has a complete game and is above average at almost everything on the field.
There’s some depth for the Bruins in the third-to-fifth-round range, particularly in the infield: catcher Cashel Duggar (2026), third baseman Roman Martin (2026), first baseman Mulivai Levu (2026), second baseman Phoenix Call (2026), left fielder Dean West (2026) and right-handers Cal Randall (2026) and Easton Hawk (2027). But they don’t have much else in the 2025 group.
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