By Cory Washburn, BGSU Sport Management

For better or worse, the dollar has become more important than ever in the NIL era of college sport. But not every athletic department has access to a major corporate sponsor or billionaire alumni like some high major/power conference schools do. In order to help ease this difference and maximize our athletics’ potential, I suggest BGSU begin aiding athletes in growing their personal brands as creators. While, of course the game comes first, taking some time here and there to promote players showing their day-to-day routine, personal hobbies, funny/relatable moments, and other behind-the-scenes content will ensure the fan base becomes more familiar with the program.

It’s no secret that fans love to engage and build connections with their school’s players off the field. Feeding into this will make people feel more a part of the team/school as a whole, further leading to an increase in tickets sold, higher concession sales rates, and hopefully a rise in donor interest. We saw a version of this last year during the Pudge saga, but that was just a taste of the buzz you can generate from (figuratively) letting the public in the locker room. Though this alone can’t make up for all disadvantages small schools have in today’s dollar-driven college sport climate, it could play a key role in maximizing BGSU’s potential.

By Mason Hurley, BGSU Sport Management

The Bowling Green Falcons have flown into the 2026-27 College Football Season with a new signal caller under center. The man of the hour is Jay Kastantin. Coming into the pre-season, many expected the former 4-star recruit and Oregon transfer, Austin Novosad, to be the starting quarterback for the Falcons this fall. But as training camp progressed, the former 0-star recruit from Division II Assumption College did enough to win over Eddie George and the rest of the staff. Eddie George described this decision as being “tough” and embraced the competition within the program. George also stated, “The consistency, the command of the huddle … I feel comfortable with either quarterback going out there but we have to name a starter and (Kastantin) has the nod from us.” (Cubberley 2026).

Jay Kastantin runs the ball in the season opener against Tarleton State.

Last season at Assumption College, Kastantin appeared in 9 games, throwing for 1,974 yards and running for another 530. That along with his 24 total touchdowns was enough to win him the Northeast-10 Conference MVP and land him a Division I offer at Bowling Green. Unfortunately, his debut with the Falcons resulted in a tough loss. Despite the loss, Kastantin had moments of success that can give Falcon fans hope. Kastantins 80.0% completion rate, as well as his 262 yards as a passer were some of few bright spots during the Falcons week one loss. If the Falcons can structure the offense to embrace Kastantin’s playmaking ability at quarterback, they may be able to turn things around offensively.