
Adam Breneman joins Tranquilo Sports to talk NIL, the transfer portal, playoff expansion, and why college football is changing faster than ever. Former Penn State tight end turned analyst and Forbes 30 for 30 entrepreneur, gives his take on the biggest debates in the sport. #collegefootball #nil #cfb #transferportal
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Host
All right, all right, all right. We are here live in San Fran, and we are joined by Adam Brennaman. How you doing, my man?
Adam Brennaman
Doing good. Thanks for having me, guys. I love this setup. One of the best setups I've seen right here with the Miami setup.
Host
Yeah, yeah. And listen, like I told you before, we're only talking FIU today. All right, let's go.
Adam Brennaman
Fiu, man. FIU football.
Host
Oh, give. Give us a pause up.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah. What is that? I don't know what that was. Is that.
Host
Is that.
Adam Brennaman
What's that? You. All three of them did the. Paul,
Host
let me see, let me see. There are only three of us here. But no, listen, like, thank you for joining us. And, you know, 22 is that I'm a big FI guy, yada, yada. My brother went to Penn State.
Adam Brennaman
Oh, cool.
Host
So I kind of. Kind of want to talk a little bit about that, your, you know, playing career and obviously, you know, what happened with you and what led you to essentially joining the broadcast space. Tell us a little bit, A little bit about it.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah. So played at Penn State, as you said, was one of the top recruits in the high school coming out, went to Penn State. You know, when you're 16, 17, 18 years old, and everyone tell you, tells you how great you are, you think you got it all figured out, like, life's going to be really easy. But, you know, had some adversity in my career. Went to UMass, sat through Penn State, had a lot of success there. Spent some time coaching at Arizona State. Was the tight ends coach there for Herm Edwards, Antonio Pierce and those guys at asu. Marvin Lewis was on staff. We all got fired at asu. And then I, like anyone does, pivots the media.
Host
Yeah,
Adam Brennaman
yeah, no doubt. Yeah. We had Jaden. I mean that when I was at asu, we had a. We had a star studded roster. We had Jaden Daniels, Ricky Piersall, Rashad White, Johnny Wilson, Jalen Conyers, all these guys that played in the NFL. They all transferred to other schools and had success other places anyway, but got in the media and it's been a fun journey since then. And I built a following and do broadcasting. As I said, I called an FIU game this year, which I don't. Don't remember a lot about it, but no, no, Willie Simmons doing a great job there. So I do want to say that in case FIU fans come at me, but yeah, it's been a fun.
Host
I'm gonna send them after you. All right. I'm gonna, I'm gonna clip this and I'm gonna send them out. I actually want to ask because obviously, like you mentioned, the transfer, the transfer portal, it's. It is. It really has become really crazy. What are your thoughts about it? Like, do you think. Do you think it's good or do you think it's like it needs tweaking? Like, what do you think about it? Like, I have my, my thoughts in terms of, like, where it's the good and the bad. Everything's got pros and cons, but yeah,
Adam Brennaman
the portal has been a good thing for college football and a good thing for the players. Think about some of these guys who had challenging careers in college and got the chance to transfer and get another, another shot at making their career great. I mean, to ask a high school kid to make the right decision every time when he's 17 years old to pick the right school. Yeah, it's challenging, but when we have. We've gone too far in the direction of the players. Now we have guys. There's no reason a player should be having. At seven different schools over seven years. It's not good for anybody. Yeah. So I'd be a fan of bringing, of keeping the portal. Keep the players allowed, being allowed to transfer one time, but bring it back to the middle a little bit where these players can't just transfer three times with no penalty. You should be. You should have to sit out some kind of penalty. But I'm a fan of kind of the freedom We've given players, players in college sports.
Host
It's. It's kind of like. Like one of the best, I guess, like, fixes that I've seen is that, yeah, like, you get one unlimited transfer, and then if you want to transfer again, it goes back to. You got the wait a year.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah. Unless you're a graduate. Unless you're a graduate and you can accept just like the old rules. So I'd be a fan of that.
Host
I think it works. And then like, you see stuff like. Like everything. Funny enough with Miami, with getting Mensa. Right. Like, that was, you know, he essentially signed with Duke.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah.
Host
And then he's like, now he's like, nope, you know, I'm heading to Miami. So, like, it's a lot of craziness. There's. It is a lot of good. And it's really.
Adam Brennaman
It's.
Host
It's made college football, like the parody in the league, way more competitive. I mean, the fact that you have Indiana winning the national championship right now, like, things like that are really good for the sport. But I do think, like, it's like toeing the line of, like, getting. It can go down a dangerous path.
Adam Brennaman
Well, you also have some of the benefits of NIL and the portal where the sport of college football, the product on the field has gotten better because you have guys like Dante Moore who could go to the NFL and be probably a top two round draft pick, but he decides to stay in College for one more year, make $6 million. But as a college football fan, the product's even better on the field. Yeah. Because now Dante Moore is in school one more year. So because of nil, you have these guys staying a little bit longer in school. So what we're watching on Saturdays is a better product. So those guys get to develop. It's more competitive. And then the parody, as you mentioned, makes it even more competitive. That's why you have schools like Texas Tech and Indiana who traditionally have not been in there winning the national championship and making the cops playoff and some of the powerhouses struggling to be. To be good year for year.
Host
Yeah.
Dolphins Fan
As Dolphins fans, we like to think that Dante Moore went back to school because he didn't want to be a Jet.
Adam Brennaman
No doubt. No, I mean, that's. That's probably why. 6 million in Oregon to go be a Jet. I'm picking Oregon every time.
Host
100%.
Dolphins Fan
Well, you kind of touched on the playoffs. I want to get your thoughts about kind of the. The playoff layout altogether. I kind of think Notre Dame got screwed not because of Miami because of Alabama. Yeah, but talk about the format and then talk about the, you know, the results. Obviously Miami losing Indiana.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah, I got it. I got a serious issue with what happened to Notre Dame. Not because of that. I'm necessarily convicted that they should have been in the playoff. But if you're going to have them in the playoff for the. All the rankings leading up to the
Host
finals,
Adam Brennaman
it's just absurd. I'm like, I'm not even saying they should have been in over Miami or Alabama. I just mean like the whole system of the playoff ranking show and then like the last one just booting them out of playoff. Yeah.
Dolphins Fan
You said they deserve it all year.
Adam Brennaman
Crazy. And now you're saying they don't. Yeah. So it's. Yeah, I'm not a fan of that. I will say. I mean, I think I'd be a fan of maybe going to 16, expanding a little bit. I'm not a fan of getting to 20 plus teams in the playoff.
Host
I think we don't need Mars Madness for sure.
Adam Brennaman
But think about this. One of the reasons that college football is such a powerful sport, the reason that college football has better TV ratings than the NBA Finals. So a college football game between Alabama and Auburn will have better ratings than a five, than game five of the NBA Finals. The reason is because every single game in college football matters. It makes a difference. If you lose one of those games, it impacts your entire season. Yeah. And I'm a fan of expansion, but at some point, what happens when you create more of something, you delete, you dilute the value of everything else and everything else is less valuable. So you don't want to make the games less important by allowing 35 teams in the country a playoff where then if you lose week four, week five, week six, you're like, man, we can still make the playoff.
Host
Yeah. Yeah. I've kind of sticking with the playoffs. Obviously, it's a big, Really a big conversation around the G5 spot. Right. Or like the, you know, the automatic. Obviously I'm biased. I love the G5 spot because in the sense of like one day, you know, it opens the door for FIU to get in there.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah.
Host
What do you think about it? Do you think they should or do you think that? Well, especially if they expand, I guess they'll still keep it, but.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah.
Host
What are your thoughts on that?
Adam Brennaman
Yeah, I'm, I've said for a while that I think there should be a group of five playoff, like and kind of like have them compete with each other. I got a lot of a Lot of hate for that on social media, fans saying like people don't like that.
Host
My dad was probably in your mental.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah, people were killing me for it. And I guess maybe the thing I didn't consider was like this, the ability for a group of five team to compete at the highest level. Like yeah, it's just really having two different leagues at that point. But I do think that more football for the group of five is better and give them a chance. So you know, I'd be a fan of putting one team in the, in the, in the 12 team playoff and the rest of them have a playoff. I don't know what it looks like, man.
Host
I kind of like that.
Adam Brennaman
I would be a fan of letting them compete in the big dance with the top teams and then also having a group of five system that. That works.
Host
Yeah. Because like if you look at it, and I get the argument also. Right. But you look at, at, you know, the JME Oregon game wasn't really close. They still dropped 34 points on Oregon and next week Texas Tech dropped zero.
Adam Brennaman
You know, I think we can all agree that we don't need two of them in the playoff though.
Host
Yes. And listen, you can blame the ACC for that one. You can blame them for that. But I actually like that because I do think that a G5 Versa should have a representative in the concert world playoffs. They're all division one, you know what I mean? But I like the idea of, you know, kind of having another G5 playoff too. Like almost like the nil or not nil. What's the one in March Madness? That's technically the second NIT.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah.
Host
And a bunch of P4 teams playing that too. You know what I mean? So I think that's thing but also like one of the things that I miss about college football in the sense of it's still there, but balls used to matter more, no doubt. And I miss and like they still matter to teams like fiu. Right. Like I went to, went to the first Responders bowl in Dallas and it was. They're always a blast and they're always awesome. But like I feel like because of the playoffs and because the nil stuff and the transportal, obviously you've got a bunch of people opting out and then you have people that, you know, don't want to get hurt in these games. That's like the one thing that I miss the most of. Like, you know, even if you didn't make the playoffs or at the time the BCS take four, those games still matter to Almost everybody.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah, no doubt. And you got to think about the development of the players, giving them more opportunities to have practice and to have reps. Those bowl games are important, man. And I really think there's no one. If you really think that the players don't want to win those games, you haven't been in awkward. Like, everyone wants to win. Conference championships still matter. Bowl games still matter. I just think it's a matter of figuring out the scheduling more than anything else, like, keeping the bowl games. But how do we. How do we make sure that the last game of the regular season isn't, and then the time to the national championship game isn't. Two months.
Host
Yeah.
Adam Brennaman
It's just way too long to get to that point.
Host
Then they push it back even further this year.
Adam Brennaman
Like, January 25th is, like, the national championship in 27.
Host
I think that's insane.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah. Wow. So not a fan of it.
Host
Yeah. Yeah.
Adam Brennaman
Yeah.
Dolphins Fan
I think what makes, like, March Madness so special is, like, every game could be your last. So I think you're right about the whole, like, no one cared if it was the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Tostitos Bowl. When you growing up, watching Vince Young running into the end zone version, it was all awesome. And you knew this game, whoever lost was done, and whoever won was the winner. But, yeah, I definitely think they kind of ruined the kind of, like, specialness of the bowl games.
Host
Oh, man. Well, Adam, this is awesome. This is great. Thank you for joining us.
Adam Brennaman
Thanks for having me, guys. Appreciate it.
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Episode: Adam Breneman on the Transfer Portal, NIL, & Why the College Football Playoff Format Is Broken
Date: March 10, 2026
Host: Stay Tranquilo Network
Guest: Adam Breneman (former Penn State/UMass player, coach, broadcaster)
This episode features a lively barbershop-style discussion with Adam Breneman, diving into three pressing issues in college football: the chaos and impact of the transfer portal, the role of NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) on the college game, and why the current College Football Playoff (CFP) format is broken. Delivering sharp Miami flavor, bold takes, and real talk, the crew explores how these evolving factors are reshaping the sport, from player movement to the meaning of bowl games.
Adam Breneman unpacks why the transfer portal and NIL have both improved and complicated college football, calls out the CFP for inconsistency and dilution, and longs for the days when bowl games truly mattered. The hosts riff on solutions that keep both tradition and evolution in mind—all in the confident, community-focused style that defines Miami sports talk.