The 12-team College Football Playoffs kickoff tonight with the first-round match-up pitting No. 8 ranked Oklahoma (10-2) versus No. 9 ranked Alabama (10-3).

The winner of that game will then have a tough game in the quarterfinals facing the No. 1 team in the nation–undefeated Indiana (13-0)–on January 1 in the Rose Bowl, but first either the Sooners or Tide must win tonight’s game at OU Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla. to advance.

Cheering Oklahoma on will be two of the school’s most prominent athletic alums as four-time National Champion Jayda Coleman and her partner, current Atlanta Falcons safety Billy Bowman Jr., will be in attendance after driving the two and a half hours yesterday from Dallas to get back on campus where they had such accomplished careers.

This is Line Drive’s Brentt Eads… I caught up via cell call with Jayda on Thursday while she was driving with the intent to get the latest on the 2028 Olympics hopeful and see what 2026 looks like for her.

I must admit I’m partial to the softball legend from The Colony, Texas, who I’ve covered for more than a decade after I discovered her talents when she was starring for the DirectTVGenies, coached by her father, Cedric, and would help lead her team to the 2014 PGF 12U Nationals.

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Legend From the Earliest Days

I’ve been ranking players for a long time and Jayda was the only player I’ve ever had ranked No. 1 every year she was in high school…. the talent was just impossible to ignore.

Click HERE to read a story I wrote about Jayda eight years ago which includes video of her at the PGF Nationals and something known as the “Jayda Curse!”

As followers of college softball know well, the Texas native ended her Sooners career in the summer of 2024 by winning her fourth straight National Championship as she batted .441 with 18 home runs and was named as an All-American for the third time in her illustrious career.

Later that year, she was the No. 1 draft pick in the first-ever Women’s Professional Fastpitch (WPF) draft and earlier this month was drafted by the Talons in the allocation draft held by the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL) as the third overall selection (behind Kelly Maxwell, who went to the Cascade, and Kinzie Hansen, who was chosen by the Oklahoma City Sparks).  

The Talons (based in Tuscaloosa, Ala.) were the champions earlier this year in Year 1 of the league and Jayda hopes to make it two in a row in 2026.

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What’s Up in 2026… Including Growing the Pro Game

I asked Jayda what the new year will hold for her.

“I’ll be traveling around doing softball camps and making appearances,” she explained. “I’ll be with the Talons in training camps starting in late May and play through early August. I’ll then be with the U.S. National Team competing in the USA Softball International Cup in late July/early August.”

In essence, Jayda is splitting her softball time in three areas: pro play, Team USA competition and personal appearances, camps and instruction to pay the bills.

Unfortunately, the professional side is not yet to the point of giving participants a comfortable means of making a living, Jayda acknowledges.

“The good side is our games will be on ESPN,” she explains, “but the pro dollars are not livable, not enough to make a living but every year we’re making a step in the right direction.”

Jayda sees herself and her softball contemporaries as being trailblazers in advancing the pro game to where it matches other women’s sports dollars earned by players such as the WNBA.

“It’s hard being at the forefront of the sport,” she confesses. “The NIL system is like being a guinea pig in that way and, hopefully, if and when I have a daughter someday, she’ll be able to make a living by playing a sport.”

Driving with her Bowman, her beau of six years, to the football game Friday night, Jayda says the contrasts in pay is stark between men’s and women’s pro sports, but the disparity does show one positive about the females dedicated to fastpitch softball.

“It’s the hardest challenge, being a female athlete and taking the bullet in terms of not making a lot of money but it shows that, by our dedicating our careers like we do, we’re doing it for the love of the game.”

“It tells you a lot about these female athletes showing such dedication because of the love we have for this game.”

“Billy and I are very motivated in our careers and are individually hitting goals, but we have a long way to go (in female pro sports), Lord willing, that we can make careers out of it.”

Jayda has the goal of making the 2028 Olympics which will be unusual that it’s the “Los Angeles Olympic Games” but the competition to win the Gold Medal will be held in Oklahoma City, more than 1,200 miles away from the West Coast host city.

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The Long Term… & The Very Short Term

Then what?

The Texas native is still in the process of planning what she’ll be doing after that.

“It’s hard to put up the cleats for what has been a job or hobby the last 18 years,” Jayda admits. “For all of my life, I’ve been consumed with it—I want to play softball and retire off of it, but that’s not the case now. I have to continue grinding to build the sport.”

Definitely someone who “walks the walk,” Jayda is an ambassador for the game and one of the most elite softball players at every level—high school/club, college, pro and international—over the last decade.

She says she’s content with her life today, uncertain as the future may be down the road.

“When I’m not doing softball camps across the country, I’m a girl who loves being with my family. I like to travel and watch Billy play in the NFL. It allows my dreams to come true watching his dreams come true.”

Jayda adds about her future:

“Nothing is really set; I’ll allow the Lord to set my path. I want to play the sport I love and hopefully compete for the U.S. in the Olympics.”

Right now, the outfielder is in the USA pool of players that was originally at 50 but is down to 36. She’ll continue to play for Team USA in events overseas in places like China and Australia and hopes to make the expected 15-player Olympic team.

For the short term, meaning over the holidays, Jayda does know exactly where she’ll be… and that’s with family for Christmas, yes, and then a wonderful event for her oldest sister, Ashley.

“We’re super excited because she’s getting married on January 3^rd in Dallas and for Christmas I’ll be with my mom and dad and my sisters. I’m just a family girl who likes to watch movies and play games with them.”

And the tremendous athlete will defer to her father and younger sister Jhanna who she admits have skills that she may not have at their level but loves to benefit from.

“They’re both really good bakers and I’m excited to enjoy what they’re going to make over the holidays!”