Assume you're a 18/19 year-old 4/5 star in-state football recruit that grew up cheering for the Tigers. LSU, Alabama and Texas A&M are all in its current football situation. You're faced with this NIL situation: LSU is offering $50,000 Alabama $100,000 Texas A&M $150,000 Who do you pick? Remember, you're a 18/19 year-old kid! Thinking about it, I'm probably going to the Aggies. I hate Jimbo Fisher, but I have to remember I'm a teenager that grew up loving LSU, but that's a lot of money to turn down. Also, A&M just beat Alabama, Fisher is going to be there for a long time and I'm a part of a loaded class. On top of that, $150,000 at that age is the equivalent to hitting the lottery, and if I play well, that money could double or triple with all those rich A&M oil barons sitting in those luxury boxes. What would you do?
Some of the recruits are jerkish in their approach at times. Putting on this hat or that hat and not just selecting a school but demeaning the ones before. I think that part sucks. However, I do not blame the choices they make given all you laid out. I admit… Then be hard enough for me as an adult with a stable career. I can’t imagine the pressure on a 18-year-old kid. NIL is a death spiral. What happened in recruiting this year is child’s play compared to what’s coming..,that is, if somebody doesn’t get a hold of this thing.
Im wondering how many of these kids who have never seen that kind of money get popped for tax evasion/fraud when they fail to file or some shady "uncle" runs off with their money.
I think it depends. NiL is already a multi billion dollar industry. It's not going anywhere, at least anytime soon, IMO. If you try to cap it, with say $100K, you'll get called racist, probably by ESPN & others. Let's say those numbers are accurate. I'd either go for A&M, or split the difference, & get "Coached up" by the greatest CFB coach still alive. That level of coaching has value too. Sadly that leaves LSU out, at least until they ante up the $$. One of the saddest thing this season is realizing guys like Kayshon Boutte doesn't really give a shit about LSU. Had a booster not "received a call" & ponied up a ton of $$, Boutte would be playing elsewhere. Not just him other players too. Hard to pull for guys like that, at least for me. Boutte will be a 1st round draft pick. He just didn't care where he played while waiting for that call. "Former 5-Star recruit and LSU wide receiver, Kayshon Boutte was giving indications he wanted out of LSU and was heavily interested in the Alabama Crimson Tide. Since then Boutte has not entered the Transfer Portal. There are rumors Boutte has changed his mind about leaving Baton Rouge." Dec 24, 2021 "I was duck hunting and got a call,” McKernan says. “I jumped in and cut a deal with him." - Gordon McKernan LSU booster Way to geaux Gordo !? Are college boosters the new 'Heros' of CFB?
That was very sad about how all that Boutte situation went down. Kids these days have no loyalty, but coaches don't either. Money is what made college football so great and it will also be its undoing. Money can be a good thing when used correctly, but NIL, with basically no rules, is an absolute train wreck!
What would ‘I’ do? No question… Go to LSU. At 18, I lived and died LSU. Plus free scholly…. Even if $50 grand was only about 10 back then… cars were about 3-4, so that was still plenty for me…
Since NIL deals are private deals that are technically not supposed to be sanctioned by schools, is there anything stopping a recruit from taking NIL money from a business that supports one school, then going to play for another? I don't pretend to be an expert at all, but Name, image, and likeness is independent of any particular university, so to me, that's a possibility, at least theoretically. Or, what if an athlete is offered 100k by school A in year 1, but year 2, school B offers 150k. Couldn't he play the system like that if he were good enough?
No idea, I would think the deal would be structured in a way that says something to the effect of "this deal is valid only if you are at school #####" but you are correct as far as I can tell as we just don't know. Honestly maybe someone that cares enough to get that far into the weeds may be able to find out, I simply don't have enough shits to give.
