BILOXI, Miss. (WLOX) – Changes to transfer rules and NIL laws have shifted the way college football rosters will look for seasons to come.

WLOX Sports Anchor Matt Degregorio spoke with Yahoo Sports Senior College Football Reporter Ross Dellenger about the financial effects for the NCAA member institutions and athletes moving forward.

College sports fans have spent the past three seasons trying to understand the ins and outs of both the transfer portal and NIL along with the impact each one has on their favorite programs. During that time, major lawsuits including the House v. NCAA were taking place in court to determine if, when, and how college athletes will be compensated.

Dellenger, a Mississippi Gulf Coast native and Mercy Cross High School graduate, has followed these changes in the NCAA at a national level for the past six years.

“NIL is about three years old,” he explains. “It was started from the state level. State lawmakers said what the courts are saying now, you need to compensate athletes. So, the NCAA lifted its rule, allowing athletes to earn compensation on their name, image, and likeness — NIL — and now we’re onto the next evolution with the NCAA and power conferences trying to settle these lawsuits. Along with that settlement is basically a revenue sharing concept so they will begin to share a certain portion of their revenue with college athletes.”

With schools set to have the ability to pay athletes out of pocket, one question comes to mind: How will Power 5 schools like Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and LSU share revenue with their athletes?

“We don’t really know yet,” said Dellenger. “Each school will have its own discretion, but as part of the settlement, they’ll have to share 22% of their revenues at the power conference level. It’s an average power conference revenue number that they generate and they’ll have to share 22% of that. It ends up coming out to the low 20 millions. Bottom line is each school will share around $20-23 million a year with their athletes. They’ll be permitted to that. They don’t have to. They’re not required to.”

Power 5 schools, especially in the Big 10 and SEC, are expected to spend to the limit allowed — but what does the revenue-sharing change look like for Group of 5 schools such as Southern Miss?

“A school like Southern Miss almost certainly will not,” he claims. “In fact, I can’t imagine Southern Miss being able to afford to share much revenue with athletes at all. I think they will, but it will be a small portion probably just like it is now. In the world of NIL now, those Group of 5 programs average around $1-2 million that their NIL programs generate for their rosters. You look at power conference schools — like an Ole Miss, for instance — generating 8, 10, 12 million dollars a year for their roster. It will equate to probably the same in the revenue-sharing world. You’re going to have schools, especially Group of 5, C-USA, Sun Belt, that are not being able to afford to share revenue with athletes.”

Schools will not be paying their athletes directly for the upcoming season, so what does the timetable look like?

“All of this is on a delay,” Dellenger concludes. “It’s not going to be implemented immediately. The settlement isn’t even finalized. It should be by early next year, by January or February of next year. It will be implemented next August, probably the Fall semester of 2025 schools will be permitted to be able to pay athletes directly.”

Next summer will certainly be interesting as the transfer portal has the potential to look even more like NFL free agency.

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NATCHEZ — Natchez police officer Kajlil Jenkins said whatever resources they could find, including civilian ones, came quickly to help rescue three juveniles from the Mississippi River at Silver Street on Sunday afternoon.

One of the victims, a 16-year-old attempting to rescue her younger brothers from drowning, was “in the water a good 20 or 25 minutes,” Jenkins said.

He saw people in the water before anyone had time to call 911 and called it in on his radio at approximately 5:30 p.m.

Seven-year-old Lakeithius “Eli” Brashears reportedly slipped on wet pavement and fell into the water and his brother Lakeivion Brashears, 8, and sister Jaila Tobias, 16, jumped in after him.

Doug Pruett from Montgomery, Alabama, said he and his wife Judy were eating at a nearby restaurant for their 25th anniversary and saw the commotion. He and another man whose name he didn’t know were able to get the two younger children out safely. Tobias, however, was caught in the current and carried beyond their reach about 250 yards out, authorities said.

Natchez Fire Chief Robert Arrington said while first responders were en route to the river, they spotted civilians Jackson Moody and Taylor Little at Fat Mama’s Tamales on Canal Street with a boat on a trailer and asked them to help.

Authorities also asked another civilian Jake Meriwether to stop with his boat and he did, but it wasn’t needed.

Civilians Jackson Moody and Taylor Little used a boat to rescue a teen who jumped into the Mississippi River trying to rescue her two younger siblings and got swept up by the current. Each of the three juveniles are safe and expected to recover. (Submitted)

Moody and Little “were able to get their boat into the water and get her out,” Arrington said, adding, “She is on her way to the (Merit Health) hospital. She was conscious but not feeling well at all. She drank a lot of river water but we expect her to be OK.”

Arrington said the young people were very fortunate that the civilians were there, some with boats, to get to them quickly.

“The teenager was too far out and I knew good and well I couldn’t swim that good,” added Pruett.

WAYNE COUNTY, Miss. (WKRG) — A man from Washington County, Alabama is dead after a shooting at a Mississippi bar.

The coroner in Wayne County, Mississippi confirms 24-year-old Brandon Cartwright, from Fruitdale, was shot and killed at High Noon Lounge and Karaoke in Waynesboro at about 2 Saturday morning.

Waynesboro Police are also investigating and believe the suspect may have driven away in a tan SUV.

A post from the bar says “The entire High Noon family prays that Heaven comforts both the victim and his entire family for this tragic loss of life this past Saturday morning. Lately, our community has been victimized by a group of ruthless criminals and we are committed to assisting law enforcement in bringing the responsible parties to justice.”

Family members have already set up a GoFundMe account for funeral expenses. Tributes online say Cartwright was a young father.